A friend of mine has been attending a regular meditation class for a few years and occasionally I ask him how it’s going. He usually says that he finds it beneficial and helps his concentration and general well-being. I had sort of been meaning to actually ask him to take me along to a session for some time, especially a the guy who runs it is a very old musical acquaintance of mine and has just been ordained (if that’s the right word) as a Buddhist monk.

So this week I made the decision to go and find out what it was all about. Now the fact that he’s a buddhist is neither here nor there as far as the mechanics of any type of  meditation process is concerned, it’s just that this class happens to be run along those lines. There are many different types of meditation that you can do, so don’t think there has to be a certain religion/philoshophy/belief system attached to it in order to practice it.

We all sat on black mats and small cushions or actual kneeling stools to start with and got comfortable. Once in position everyone closed their eyes and the monk rang a pair of small chimes three times. I wasn’t sure what this was about  but assumed it was to signal you to “begin”. Then the monk gave us a few directions as to how to get ourselves into the correct meditative state. He told us to concentrate on our breathing. gentle rise and fall of the stomach and the entry and exit of our breath. He said that our thoughts may drift away from this concentration but to accept this and gently bring the thought back to our breathing.

Then silence for what seemed like a long time. My right foot started to go to sleep and I had to do a bit of shifting about. There were various distractions outside and inside the room but you had to divorce them from what was going on internally. The chimes were rung again and we slowly “came out” of our meditation. The monk read a short piece from a zen psychotherapy book, which was interesting, and we then resumed for another meditation session. This time I knelt on the cushion and was a bit more comfortable. When the session finished and we packed the bits and pieces away and my first real meditation experience was over.

So what did I make of it? Overall I found it a very good experience. Initially it was a little uncomfortable and you did find you thoughts wandering all over the place. Apparently this diminishes with practice and is the hardest thing to overcome for beginners. After the first session I did seem more relaxed in mind, less so in body, and after the second session felt the other way round as if my mind had “overdone it” a bit. I guess if you are new to this the periods of silence can seem very long as they are 20-30 minutes each.

But the next day I definitely felt a positive difference in mood and general calmness. I am fairly convinced it must have been to do with the meditation but it’s hard to say after only doing it once. I will be going again as I suspect that meditation is something that you need to learn to get maximum benefit from, and is a life long pursuit. I certainly felt more positive the following day so really cannot see any downside to practicing it-it can only do you good if done regularly. Give it a try!

I just got sent this compilation of clips from interviews with actor Will Smith and I have to say that the man should have “great thinker” on his passport too! It is one of the most inspirational and motivating things you will see all year.

Click on the link below to check it out…

NowThis Is Some Positive Thinking!

Here’s another inspirational story in the field of manifesting goals in one’s business life. It concerns a woman who was doing ok in her Health and Wellness network marketing business, but was not really “getting it”, so to speak. Then through utilising a couple of Mike Brescia’s programs, she managed to increase her bottom line by 800%.

She managed to alter her success level by changing her focus. This seemed to happen almost without any conscious effort on her part and basically without her actually noticing the change occurring. Things just “opened up”, and the results she was getting in her business seemed to improve almost by magic.

The reason for this she puts down to the change from obssessing over the amount she was making in commisions each month (which is enough to cause stress for anyone) to a realisation that the real focus of the business was in helping other people to succeed in reaching their goals. This in turn made her realise that she was in fact doing what she loved and it no longer became a stressful experience.

She relates that after a few months of listening to the programs, all goals and ambitions came to the surface and cemented within her a deep sense of self belief. Rather than focusing on a point in the future where she would find the perfect person/team/magic system that would then bring her success, she realised that it was in fact SHE that was all these things, and had the power to create whatever success she wanted.

Accepting the fact that you are making a conscious decision to change is not always easy at first, and this was exactly what she found when first starting the program. Most people become used to their comfort zones, and taking yourself out of your zone can be stressful. But these feelings did not last very long, and quickly she felt herself able to make daily “good for me” choices and activities, whilst finding it much easier to ignore non-productive distractions.

This resulted in a growing comfort zone and resulted in her anxiety melting away. She had to break through personal barriers to get through to the “next level” or plateau of her own development, but this was all part of the growth experience, whereby you have to accept entering new areas outside your comfort zone and work through them. This she did by repeatedly playing the tapes and consistent use of affirmation.

Her success is down to having belief in the system and the willingness to follow through with the programs that Mike Brescia offers-basically the will to hit the play button even when you may have had a bad day and you don’t really feel like it.

If you think a program like this could help you achieve your goals and ambitions (not just in the business field) head on over to Mike’s site by clicking on the link below…

www.adriangunter.com/thinkrightnow

Not long after becoming involved in the self-development/positive thinking area I came across a phrase that I had seen a number of times in the past but never taken any notice of. I’m referring, of course, to something called “The Law of Attraction”. I have to say I am usually none too struck on these kind of “new age” kind of philosophies that have no real scientific or hard anecdotal evidence, and are usually based on some kind of superstitious belief or half baked mysticism.

But the sheer weight of interest that there appears to be out there has eventually brought me round to the point where it needs some investigation and how it relates to the topics within this blog. A good place to start would be with a quote from the great Jim Rohn who says:” Success is not be pursued, it is to be attracted by the person you become”. Read that  again. It is a very profound statement, which kind of reverses the accepted notion that people need to get motivated to go after success, like it was some kind of quest.

Rather he is saying that if you concentrate on the qualities and attributes you acquire on your journey, you can’t help but arrive at your intended destination. I think! Whatever it is that you give your attention, focus and energy to will naturally be “attracted” to you because it is a like force. Of course this can either work in a positive, life-fulfilling manner or in a negative one where whatever negative thoughts you dwell on manifest themselves in unhappiness with your lot.

Unfortunately a lot of what we think to ourselves about day-to-day is not of a positive nature. I don’t know why, but our default mental self-talk setting is set negatively. Maybe its some kind of  self-protection that developed to keep us in our comfort zones from times when the world was a much more dangerous place than it is now. The problem is that this Law of Attraction (which is governed by our subconscious) doesn’t  distinguish between good thoughts or bad ones and embeds them regardless. Basically, whatever you think you will attract.

So how can we develop “success thinking”? You simply have to ask yourself-”What, exactly, is it I really want?” Define and write down exactly what it is you want to achieve in every aspect of your life. This would include your home and family life, business, personal goals and ambitions etc. Don’t hold back on this, be brutally honest about your hopes and dreams in an ideal world, even if they seem too far fetched and unrealistic to your negatively programmed subconscious.

Instead, use techniques like affirmations or visualization to literally flood your mind with positive, motivating thoughts and feelings, that over time will be accepted as fact by your subconcious. This will lead to a process whereby you begin to develop a success thinking habit that will ultimately attract the things that you told yourself you were going to achieve.

You could say that music chose me rather the other way around as far as my  vocational path was concerned. Despite my parents disapproval, I really wanted to do nothing else but be a guitar player and that was that. The life style suited me perfectly,doing what I loved doing, staying up late, getting up late, and generally living the rock ‘n’roll life style I had always dreamed about. Any kind of discipline that “other people” had to develope to do their jobs just didn’t apply to me-I just had to turn up to the gig!

This was all fine and dandy when I was young but as I got older though there were times when I found I needed to earn more money than I did with my meagre musos income. This meant actually getting up early of a morning  and doing something for someone else day after day, just like everybody else did, and came as a rude shock to my lazy carefree attitude to life.

To start with I found it very tough, especially as I simply was not fit enough to do the job the landscape gardening job a friend had offered-it was very physically demanding. I used to come home suffering from nervous exhaustion and this affected my sleep patterns. But I actually like this kind of work so was determined to stick with it. I needed the money and really that was all that was on offer.

After I had been doing the job for a month or so I noticed a change in my attitude. Initially I had doubts about whether I was cut out for this type of work and many times considered quitting. But sure enough, I gradually felt  fitter and more able to meet the physical demands of the job with each passing week, and my sleep situation settled in to routine as well, meaning I had no problems getting up early in the mornings-inconceivable a few months earlier. Hell, I even started to think this lifestyle actually suited me what with a fit and healthy lifesytle and the learning of new practical skills to boot.

Now I will say that it was my financial situation that kept me disciplined and gave me the will power to not give in to how dreadful I often felt in the early days of doing this job. I certainly would not have considered it otherwise. But it also taught me that I really did possess self discipline and will power-something which I had never to call on for much up to this point in my life. This also made me realise that whether people need to use it or not, everyone also has it.

Whats more, these attributes can be developed through practical training methods. For success in anything, they are considered essential tools. So what are they? Self-discipline is the ability to stick to actions, thought and behavior leading to improvement and success. It is the rejection of short term gains and gratification in the pursuit of a higher and better goal. Will power is the inner strength to decide on a course of actioand see it through to its conclusion regardless of any form of resistance, difficulty or discomfort (oh I remember the discomfort!) It bestows the ability to overcome laziness, temptation and negative habits, and to carry out actions that are tedious, unpleasant or require efforts that are contrary to ones nature.

You don’t have to live like a monk to achieve these attributes but you do have to make some changes to your usual lifestyle. Mine were forced on me through necessity and were somewhat of a wake-up call, but yours can be a little less drastic. By refusing to satisfy some of our less important and unecessary desires we can learn to become mentally stronger. Some intentional actions that are contrary to our usual responses such as refusal and rejection of harmful and pointless activities will begin to build our inner store of inner strength. Try giving up drinking or smoking, walking rather than driving, stop buying snacks and fizzy drinks etc.

Practicing these day today activity changes will exercise  and strengthen your mind so that you will be able to kill procrastination, overcome laziness and develop the perseverance needed to achieve success in anything you chose to take on.