Step 5 Subconscious Mind

Think of your mind as being divided into two parts. There is the conscious and the subconscious mind. You are aware of your conscious mind. You make up your mind that you are going to do something like get fit for example. You plan an exercise programme and get started. You have willpower and are determined to get fit ready for the summer.
Meanwhile, your subconscious mind is lurking below the surface and it runs many aspects of your body on auto-pilot. It also tries to protect you from harm which can be very useful but can also be very limiting.
It remembers everything that happens to you- positive or negative. To safeguard you it works hard to ensure you don't take risks or do anything that may hurt you or put you in danger.
Perhaps you have tried getting fit before but gave up after a few weeks and felt disappointed with yourself. Your subconscious mind will recall all your feelings of failure and disappointment and will work to prevent you risking getting hurt in that way again. It gathers evidence to remind you of how hard it is to get fit and steadily erodes your willpower so that you are likely to quite your exercise regime almost as soon as you have started.
Your subconscious mind stores everything that is said about you by yourself or others. It stores all your negative self-talk and limiting self-beliefs so you may find you soon give up trying anything that risks failure.
You can re-programme your subconscious mind using positive affirmations.
A helpful affirmation would be: 'I am getting fitter and more healthy every day.'
Set yourself small and achievable goals and ask your friends to support you.
Tell your subconscious mind calmly but firmly that you are going to get fit.
Once your subconscious mind absorbs this clear message it will start looking for evidence to support your statement. The positive affirmations will really start to take effect and you are much more likely to reach your desired goal.

Step 4 The Power Of Now.

It is very easy to spend time fretting about the past or worrying about something in the past that may never actually happen. Lots of us do this but is it helping us?
If something has happened in the past we can learn from it and move on. If something might happen in the future is there any action that you can take now to improve the situation? If so take action but if not there is no point in worrying. All this does is shut down your natural abilities to create and act when needed.
Focusing on Now is very valuable. Spend time looking around you now. What can you see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Fully use your senses and spend as long as you can in the present moment.
If you do this regularly you will find yourself appreciating what you have more.
The past is finished, the future is uncertain so Now is a gift, the only time that truly counts.
Spend as much time as possible focusing on Now and see how much happier you feel!

Animals are great at living in the present moment. We can learn a lot from them.

Step 3: Meditation

Today I am exploring meditation. I talk about this on P6. of my book '100 Free Ways To Happier Days!'
If you have never meditated before it is definitely worth giving it a try.

Deepak Chopra offers free 21 day meditation sessions along with Oprah Winfrey on a regular basis.

Visit their website to find out more:
https://chopracentermeditation.com/about-us

I started to look into meditation to help to calm the ceaseless chatter in my mind.
Listening to calming music while sitting somewhere comfortable and quiet can really help us to focus on the present moment.
This is a very relaxing and grounding experience and it needn't take hours. A few minutes a day can really hep you to feel happier.
Give meditation a try and see how it can help you.

Step 2: Affirmations

Positive affirmations are stated in the present tense. My favourite is, 'Everything is happening exactly as it should.'
This serves to remind me that everything we experience, we can learn from.
Challenges help us to become resourceful and strong and can be just as helpful to our development as the things that we perceive to be our successes.
You can write positive affirmations onto post-it notes and leave them all around your house. They will help you to remain positive.
You can add them to any vision boards that you create in order to reinforce your desires.
It is very helpful to sit back and listen to your self-talk. We say things to ourselves in our heads all the time. Some of the things we say can be helpful but much of this 'chatter' can be negative. This self-talk can be negative about ourselves or others.
Negative self-talk is not helpful and positive affirmations help to even up the score somewhat.
Try saying your positive affirmations out loud. Make sure they feel right and believable to you.
If you are trying to lose weight saying 'I have a lovely slim body' may not feel believable to you could say, 'My body gets healthier each day.'
This statement can motivate you to take exercise  and eat healthily so can become a self-fulfilling prophecy
Putting yourself or others down in public can be damaging. Listen to what others say about themselves and others. It is surprising how negative people can be, it has become a difficult habit to shake off for many people.
Say your positive affirmations out loud. This can feel awkward at first but do it anyway and you will see how effective they can be.
. From today listen to yourself and others and note how often people are negative towards themselves or others. There is no point in feeling angry with yourself or anyone else when you notice this but now you are aware of this tendency you can even things up by making positive statements about yourself and others. This gets easier the more you do it.
Focus on positive affirmations for a week and see how much happier you feel.
I would be very interested to hear how you get on!

100 Free Ways....The First step

I am writing a post for each of the 100 free ways to happier days. It will be most useful if you have a copy of the book close by when you read these posts as I will be referring to page numbers. 

I hope you find it useful!

Vision boards: p.3

It is so important that you spend time thinking about what you truly want. What are your goals and dreams?

When we were little it seemed quite easy to say what we wanted to happen in our lives and yet somehow as we get older it seems harder to allow ourselves to dream.

Having dreams and goals are vital. If you cannot imagine what you desire in life then how can you achieve it?

Once you allow yourself to dream then take time to write down all your goals and dreams.

To really help you to be clear on your goals it is very helpful to create your own vision board.

Vision boards are a powerful way of helping you to focus on what you truly desire. 

Picture your goals clearly in your mind. If you enjoy drawing and painting you can draw or paint your goals. If you enjoy taking photo's then take photo's to inspire you. Look for pictures in magazines that represent your dreams or find and print pictures on The Internet.

Find a large piece of card, cut out your pictures and arrange them onto the card. Glue the pictures into place and you have your vision board. 

Put the board somewhere where you can see it regularly. It will really help you to picture your desires and focus in on your goals. 

You can write positive statements on your board to help motivate you to act to achieve your dreams. 

My next post will be about affirmations.

My book is available on amazon and from Balboa Press:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Free-Ways-Happier-Days/dp/1504340752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444935412&sr=8-1&keywords=100+free+ways+to+happier+days

http://bookstore.balboapress.com/Products/SKU-001035753/100-Free-Ways-to-Happier-Days.aspx

Lots of happy days!

I am delighted that so many people are showing interest in my book! I am in the process of writing an on-line programme to accompany the book for anyone who wants to try some of the suggestions.
Any feedback on the book is very welcome. It would be great to hear what you think.
I am also writing 100 Free ways To Happier Days for parents with teens. I hear a lot of people struggling with this chapter of their lives. The book will appear here on this blog one section at a time.
I am thinking about other projects that will compliment these ideas too.

These are exciting times!