Live Your Best Life Now

Keep a Thought Diary

2007-08-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

It might seem like a strange purpose for a diary, but writing down repetitive thoughts in a diary is a great way to discover the underlying beliefs that are influencing your life. If you can change harmful beliefs about yourself and the world, you can change your thoughts about yourself and the world. Our thoughts influence our emotions and our actions and in a mystical way they seem to affect the opportunities that come into our lives and the ways in which people respond to us.

Another benefit of a thought diary is that you can monitor how your thoughts are changing over time. As negative thinking decreases, you can reprogram your mind with positive thoughts about yourself and your life. Your diary should increasingly reflect positive thoughts. As time goes on, you should also be able to recognize positive changes in your life to match your transformed thinking patterns.

The thoughts you need to record in your diary are not deliberate thoughts such as affirmations, but repetitive thoughts that intrude unasked for at different times of the day. For example, you may be driving and for no reason a thought will come into your mind such as "I am a failure." This thought comes from an underlying belief and will affect how you feel and act. This is just an example, your thoughts might be different entirely. Whatever they are, write them down. Then take some time to look for patterns over time. The thoughts that come most often are the ones you need to focus on. Ask the question: "What does this mean?" or start a sentence off with "This means" and see what comes to your mind. You need to start digging deep in an effort to discover the beliefs that you hold that are limiting your life. This can be difficult emotionally but well worthwhile when you get to the bottom of what is driving you.

If you change your thoughts, you can change your life. The first step to doing this is to understand what your thoughts actually are, and the beliefs that underlie them. A thought diary makes this process easy and provides a permanent record that can help you track the changes in your life.

Anthony Robbins' Personal Power II

2007-08-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago I purchased Tony Robbins' Personal Power II CD set and was amazed by how effective it was. Over the years, I have purchased various personal development programs and read countless books on the subject, however Personal Power II has offered the best value of all of them. Not only is the guidance given on the CDs personally very valuable, it generates a focus that actually creates magical results that cannot be simply explained by taking specific actions. The shift in focus and perception that is generated by working through the program can actually cause a change in personal reality as new experiences are attracted to one.

I know this sounds very mystical and new-age (and I am not at all that way) but it happens to be true. For some reason, when I go back and do Tony Robbins' program again, my telephone starts ringing with people wanting appointments. These new patients are not necessarily the result of new advertising initiatives; they often called as a result of word of mouth and random synchronous events that did not arise out of anything I personally did. However, I suspect they did arise out of my shift in focus and the changed mental climate encouraged by the Personal Power program. I can't remember what I paid for the program but it was nowhere near what it was worth. I listen to it a number of times every year and it is like having a personal coach for peanuts.

This blog is focused on helping people live their best lives now so I would be doing my readers a disservice if I didn't tell them about Anthony Robbins' personal development training courses. I have read that he has a new program out now that helps people make changes even quicker. Whereas Personal Power II is a thirty day program, his new one only takes 7 days. Apparently, a lot of people found thirty days too long. As for me, I am glad that I can listen every day for thirty days and get the help I need to improve my life.

If you need help to live your best life now, consider purchasing Anthony Robbins Personal Power II program. It has benefited me enormously. I should mentioned that I am not an affiliate for Anthony Robbins and will not profit in any way if you choose to purchase the program. You can locate his site through Google.

Three Simple Things

2007-08-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

My 'three simple things' rule is a great way of making things happen when you feel stuck. Depression, stress, lack of confidence and a host of other circumstances can get in the way of you moving forward in life, let a lone coping with it. When this happens you have to create new momentum in the direction you want. Action breeds action.

To get moving when you feel stuck in any or all areas of life, follow the following rules:

Ask yourself what three simple things you can do today to:

to improve your physical health,
to improve your emotional health and happiness,
to improve your family relationships,
to increase your income or build my business,
to create order in any area of your life that is disordered,
to improve your spiritual life,
to solve a particular problem.

When you ask yourself these simple questions you will obtain answers that you can act upon. Taking action in the right direction across a range of areas in your life will increase your productivity, happiness, confidence, health and well being. Of course, not every focus area will be relevant to everyone. Simply take action in the areas that are important to you and make those actions as quick and simple as possible. If you decide to do three things that take hours each every day, for example, you won't be able to keep it up. It is also important to be effective rather than simply busy.

The aim of my 'three simple things' rule is to get things moving in the right direction. If you take positive action every day to improve your life, your physical, mental and emotional health will improve and you will be able to live your best life now.

Fertility Factors

2007-07-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

As well as being a naturopath, I am also a father and a grandfather. As such I enjoy stirring the younger members of my family and actually have ample opportunity to do so since a significant part of my practice is treating infertility. I have achieved a great deal of success helping women with fertility problems fall pregnant and when they get the good news they can't wait to thank me for "getting them pregnant."

Being rather chuffed with myself in these circumstances I am wont to gloat to my children and grandchildren that "I got another one pregnant." I just don't understand the responses - you know, the rolled eyes and groans. How about "congratulations, we knew you could do it, you old bugger!" Well, okay, forget the old bugger part, but you get my drift.

If you know anyone who has strongly desired to have a child and has been unable to do so, you will understand the pain they go through and the euphoria a pregnancy can cause. If you personally are coping with this problem, you will certainly understand the depths of despair infertility can cause.

The answer to most forms of infertility lies in the modern western lifestyle. Most people are very deficient in essential nutrients and have been for prolonged periods of time. Furthermore, people are living much more stressful lifestyles than ever before in history except for periods of famine, war and the oppression of dictatorships. That we can be living in modern democracies and yet in circumstances of chronic stress is often ignored. Therefore, the starting place to curing infertility provided the body has the equipment (ovaries, uterus etc) is to overhaul your diet, take appropriate supplements and dramatically reduce stress. This means that you may need to totally change your lifestyle including jobs in order to make your life more manageable.

You should not eat any processed, sugary or fatty foods. Eat plenty of vegetables and do not overcook them. Cooking on a high heat kills enzymes. Add fruits, some lean meat or complete protein equivalent and a small amount of whole grains. Absolutely do not drink soft drinks including diet sodas. There are no ifs ands or buts about this. If you want to get pregnant and have a healthy baby you must do this. As well as this, your natural therapist or herbalist can help your body recover by providing you with herbal mixtures that provide the nutrition and healing specifically to the ovaries, uterus and hormones to make it easier to fall pregnant.

This approach to falling pregnant is sensible, safe and gets good results. Be willing to be patient and persist in a healthy lifestyle, after all it took you a while to get to where you are now.

Three Year Old Girl Killed As a Result of Exorcism

2007-07-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

I just saw a news report about a three year old girl who was killed during an exorcism on her being conducted by her own grandfather. The news report showed Catholic icons in the home suggesting people who were very faithful to their religion. Most of us view stories like this with a sense of disbelief and it is difficult to fathom how a sane adult could think they could beat and strangle a demon out of a child even if she were possessed by one. However, if she did have behavioral issues that triggered the perceived need for exorcism (and there is nothing reported to indicate this), one would have to wonder at the influence of living in such an environment and with people who would condone this treatment of her. I think it behooves us all to be aware that religious mania or religiosity are symptoms of various mental illnesses and they can masquerade as faithfulness, piety or righteousness in the right religious environments.

Having said this, the bible does refer to the casting out of demons. So, if someone has a genuine belief in the bible it makes perfect sense that they would also belief in demons and in the power to cast them out. Jesus said that a Christian has the power to command demons to come out in His name. He also said that some demons were so powerful that those that would cast them out need to spend time praying and fasting in order to be successful. There is absolutely nowhere in the bible that says demons can be cast out by using violence.

That little girl was the victim of religious abuse at the hands of someone she should have been able to trust. Instead of being loved, she was murdered. It would be a mistake to think this is just an isolated case. There are a lot of people who have a skewed view of God and the bible and who consequently damage other people's lives. Children in particular are very vulnerable.

While most people would not consider exorcism, many get angry and even violent when faced with out of control children. If you are frustrated with one of your little bundles of joy and think "they've got the Devil in 'em," feed them healthy food and take all processed, sugary and fatty foods out of their diet and see if the 'Devil' doesn't just leave quietly. Make sure their family life is peaceful and supportive and that your children clearly understand what is expected of them. If you take care of diet and environment, you are dealing with most of the causes of health and related behavioral issues faced by children. Love, kindness and good parenting are the best medicine for most problems children face.