We all know that it is in one’s highest good to grieve the loss of a relationship. Healthy grief releases feelings rather than allowing them to get stuck in the body. Healthy grief allows the griever to heal the loss and move on with life.
Yet grief is not always healing. Many of us have known people who were stuck in their grief, seemingly locked into the past and unable to move forward in their lives.
What is the difference between those who feel their grief and move on and those who get stuck in it? The difference lies in what they believe they have lost. When people believe they have lost their source of love, their grief will feel unending.
Gary had been in a three-year relationship with Samantha when Samantha decided to end the relationship. Gary was devastated. In this relationship, like in his past relationships, Gary was a taker – always trying to get love but unable to give love or share love. Samantha gave him a lot of love, but she often felt very lonely with him. Gary was devastated when she left because his source of love was gone. He was not grieving the loss of Samantha as a person he loved. He was grieving the loss of her love for him. He was grieving as a lost wounded child rather than as a loving adult.
As a result, Gary became stuck in his grief. He was stuck in feeling like a victim – stuck in “poor me.” Gary had never done the inner work to develop an adult part of himself that could bring love to himself and share it with others. He felt lost, abandoned, and hurt. No matter how much he cried, no healing occurred. Because he was abandoning himself, he just continued to feel alone and despairing. Sometimes he was angry at Samantha for abandoning him and other times he was angry at himself for not being a better partner. He had many regrets that plagued him, and a constant inner refrain was, “If only I had……” “If only I had listened to her more, maybe she wouldn’t have left.” If only I had told her how beautiful she is, maybe she wouldn’t have left.”
Frank, on the other hand, was in deep grief over the death of his beloved wife, Beth. He had loved Beth with his whole heart and he missed her terribly. Yet Frank’s grief was totally different than Gary’s grief. Frank missed Beth’s laugh. He missed her joy, her caring for people, her sense of wonder. He missed her as a person, and he missed being able to share his love with her. Frank had no regrets because he had not been a taker. He had loved Beth totally and was deeply grateful for the time he had with her. But Frank was actually fine. His grief came in waves, and he cried when it came. Then it washed through and he was fine again.
Frank was fine because Beth had not been the source of his sense of self. Frank had a strong loving inner adult who was connected with a spiritual source of love and wisdom. This was his Source, not Beth. Frank was a person who took full responsibility for his own pain and joy. He had never made Beth responsible for his feelings or his wellbeing.
Because he had never abandoned himself, he could miss Beth and grieve for her without feeling abandoned, lost, victimized and alone.
Gary, on the other hand, was not fine, no matter how much sadness he released, because Samantha had been his Source of love, his Higher Power. He had handed to her the job of defining his sense of self, so when she left, all he could feel was abandoned. Gary had handed his Inner Child – his feeling self – to Samantha. He had made Samantha responsible for his feelings, so when she left, he felt like an abandoned child. His Source of love had gone away.
Because Frank knew how to love himself, he knew how to love others. Within a couple of years, Frank was in another loving relationship.
Gary found another relationship within six months of losing Samantha, and six months after that was again alone. Until Gary decides to learn to take responsibility for his own feelings and needs, he will likely continue to lose relationship after relationship, and continue to be stuck in feeling like a victim of the women in his life.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Acknowledge Your Depression
Depression is an illness and needs to be acknowledged as such. It is not a reason to be ashamed. The reason so many people fail to seek help for their depression is that they are ashamed. Unfortunately, this is one of the feelings associated with depression anyway and makes the illness difficult to acknowledge.
If you are constantly feeling particularly low, well-meaning friends might tell you to “snap out of it” or even start to get irritated by your mood. Your depression will feed off this negativity and you start to wonder why you can’t just “snap out of it”. You then start to feel that there’s something wrong with you because it should be so easy and it’s just “not right” that you feel so bad all the time. Well, it’s not right and there is something wrong with you. You have a medical condition and you deserve treatment in the same way as any other patient. If you had a cold for six months would you ignore it and hope it would pass? No, you would dose yourself up with anything you could find and maybe see a doctor to find out if there’s an underlying reason for it to last so long.
Depression is sadness that lasts too long. Everyone is sad at some point in their lives but depression is more than that. It is a feeling that you can’t bring yourself up from the bottom. In the end you give up trying. People start to avoid you. You feel worse. You need to find external help to treat the problem in the same way as you would if you had a long-lasting cold. You could try herbal remedies – there are some in your pharmacy – or you could see your doctor. There may be an underlying physical cause for your depression.
If your doctor cannot help you they may refer you for counselling. Don’t be embarrassed to go for counselling but do make sure you are comfortable with your counsellor. If not, try another one. Counselling should not be discounted because you don’t feel comfortable with your first choice of practitioner. In everyday life you will naturally find that you get on with some people and clash with others. You cannot afford to have a personality clash with your counsellor. On the other hand you must be sure that it is a personality clash and not just that you don’t agree with what they are saying. A general rule is to go with your instincts. If you like the person and seemed to get on well in the first couple of sessions then stick with it because they might just have touched on the root cause of your problem.
In some cases, acknowledging depression may be difficult because you have lived with it so long that you don’t know whether it is depression or not. If you have grown up with depression it is possible not to realise that you are actually depressed because you have no concept of how normal people should feel. You may feel angry all the time or you may feel like going to the middle of an empty field and simply screaming. You may feel anxious, have trouble sleeping or even sleep too much. You may think that your family would be better off without you (and actually believe that to be true) and may have considered running away or suicide. You may worry about death all the time (yours or someone else’s) and not let yourself be happy just in case…… (or even “I must enjoy this now in case………..”). If you are feeling any or all of the above then you need to consider talking to someone. Even if it is just a friend or family member to start with, they may be able to advise you and encourage you to seek professional help.
Once you have acknowledged that you have depression please remember that it is a medical condition and can be cured. You don’t have to feel this way for ever. Nobody actually thinks of you the way you think they do. Talk to someone. Seek and accept help and you will find that there is a different way of seeing life.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
10 Proven Tips To Get What You Want!
Are you stuck?!
Are you trying hard to achieve your simplest dreams but you seem to be standing on the same square without moving a step forward?
Now, I will give you the super-smart proven success recipe that will help you get what you want faster and easier than before. This success recipe is your way to live a purposeful life and achieve your goals.
Get ready to unleash the power of your dreams.
1. Make Meaning!!
Make a meaning for your life and work. Do what you love and love what you do. Search for ways to live with passion. You are unique and you are here for a purpose. Find the reason of your existence. Describe your role in life in 3 or 4 words. Forget about these long, general and not memorable mission statements. Be very specific about what you are here to do in this life.
2. Have a Hot Vision!!
Have a HOT vision; a vision that really inspires you and triggers your greatness. Your vision must be clear and motivates you to transform it into reality. Make it hot. A hot vision gives you a tremendous amount of enthusiasm that makes you can’t stand still. Have a hot vision that keeps you alive and spices up your life. Have a hot vision that makes you an unstoppable achievement machine.
3. Design Milestones
Milestones are big goals and turning points in your journey. They are like indicators along the road to tell you that you are on the right track. Each milestone is a big achievement on your way to your ideal life.
4. Set Goals
Goals are small and specific tasks that define your action plan. Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Each goal is a step towards achieving one of your big milestones.
5. Get Going
Take action. The only difference between an average individual and a super successful one is taking action. Get going. Take the first step and keep the momentum. Just start. Be flexible to changes and improvements.
6. Project Positive Energy
Be optimistic. Broadcast powerful positive energy and confidence over your own media network. Positive energy will attract positive results and opportunities. Become a magnet that attracts success 24/7. You will always receive the energy you project. If you project positive energy you will receive multiples of it and vice versa.
7. Act As If It Is Happening
Act as if your vision is happening. Act as if you will never fail. Act with confidence and power. Keep your vision in front of your mind’s eye day and night. Act as if you are living your vision. When you do that you will attract more opportunities and more success to your life.
8. Ignore the Doubters
Avoid negative people. They don’t have dreams and want everyone to be like them. They are dream robbers and energy vampires. Don’t care about what they say. Ignore anyone’s negativity and focus on what you want.
9. Face Fear and Uncertainty
Develop confidence and trust in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself and your dreams no one will do. Face your fears. Fear will do nothing except stopping you from getting what you want. Let your dreams give you the power to face fear and uncertainty.
10. Create a Master Mind!!
Find a team with the same interests and dreams then work and think together. Have a soul mate who cares about achieving the same level of success as you do. Gather around yourself people more brilliant than you. Develop a strong network of influencers who can help you get what you want easily and quickly.
My friend, these 10 proven tips form the best success recipe I have ever known. I used this recipe to achieve levels of success that I always dreamt of. These are the common tips which are used by the top successful people in the world.
Follow this success recipe and you will become a huge success magnet that attracts success beyond your imagination.
It is all about your action. Do it now!!
Are you trying hard to achieve your simplest dreams but you seem to be standing on the same square without moving a step forward?
Now, I will give you the super-smart proven success recipe that will help you get what you want faster and easier than before. This success recipe is your way to live a purposeful life and achieve your goals.
Get ready to unleash the power of your dreams.
1. Make Meaning!!
Make a meaning for your life and work. Do what you love and love what you do. Search for ways to live with passion. You are unique and you are here for a purpose. Find the reason of your existence. Describe your role in life in 3 or 4 words. Forget about these long, general and not memorable mission statements. Be very specific about what you are here to do in this life.
2. Have a Hot Vision!!
Have a HOT vision; a vision that really inspires you and triggers your greatness. Your vision must be clear and motivates you to transform it into reality. Make it hot. A hot vision gives you a tremendous amount of enthusiasm that makes you can’t stand still. Have a hot vision that keeps you alive and spices up your life. Have a hot vision that makes you an unstoppable achievement machine.
3. Design Milestones
Milestones are big goals and turning points in your journey. They are like indicators along the road to tell you that you are on the right track. Each milestone is a big achievement on your way to your ideal life.
4. Set Goals
Goals are small and specific tasks that define your action plan. Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Each goal is a step towards achieving one of your big milestones.
5. Get Going
Take action. The only difference between an average individual and a super successful one is taking action. Get going. Take the first step and keep the momentum. Just start. Be flexible to changes and improvements.
6. Project Positive Energy
Be optimistic. Broadcast powerful positive energy and confidence over your own media network. Positive energy will attract positive results and opportunities. Become a magnet that attracts success 24/7. You will always receive the energy you project. If you project positive energy you will receive multiples of it and vice versa.
7. Act As If It Is Happening
Act as if your vision is happening. Act as if you will never fail. Act with confidence and power. Keep your vision in front of your mind’s eye day and night. Act as if you are living your vision. When you do that you will attract more opportunities and more success to your life.
8. Ignore the Doubters
Avoid negative people. They don’t have dreams and want everyone to be like them. They are dream robbers and energy vampires. Don’t care about what they say. Ignore anyone’s negativity and focus on what you want.
9. Face Fear and Uncertainty
Develop confidence and trust in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself and your dreams no one will do. Face your fears. Fear will do nothing except stopping you from getting what you want. Let your dreams give you the power to face fear and uncertainty.
10. Create a Master Mind!!
Find a team with the same interests and dreams then work and think together. Have a soul mate who cares about achieving the same level of success as you do. Gather around yourself people more brilliant than you. Develop a strong network of influencers who can help you get what you want easily and quickly.
My friend, these 10 proven tips form the best success recipe I have ever known. I used this recipe to achieve levels of success that I always dreamt of. These are the common tips which are used by the top successful people in the world.
Follow this success recipe and you will become a huge success magnet that attracts success beyond your imagination.
It is all about your action. Do it now!!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
A New Years Resolution To Stop Smoking – How To Keep To It Beyond Jan 2nd?
So, here you are again. Seeing out the old year, along with its broken promises and failed, good intentions.
You arrive, fresh with newly found conviction, after the excesses of the Christmas period, at the New Year’s resolution, an annual triumph of hope over reality!
Hope, that this time you will have the single mindedness to succeed, where last time you failed. I’m not suggesting for a moment that you do not want to succeed, I’m sure that your desire to stop smoking is genuine, but here’s the reality, it’s a hope, a dream and what’s the point in having dreams if you’re not going to make them happen?
You may dream of winning the lottery and yes, you could win! But it’s down to chance and you have a better chance of flying to the moon, than of winning the lottery.
Making a real change to your life? Well that’s a dream you can, make happen! And you can start right here, right now.
The problem with New Year resolutions lies in the forward planning. Moving towards a significant target date in your life, to contemplate doing something that you know is going to be a struggle, makes it even harder to live up to your own expectations.
Of course you’re not looking forward to it! What do you expect? As you begin to experience a steady build-up of tension, leading up to the big day when you’re finally going to start putting right everything that’s wrong with your life!
No pressure there then! I’m sure you’ll feel ready to start on that day!
In the meantime of course, you now have the perfect excuse to behave badly, because it doesn’t really matter if you let yourself go over Christmas does it? You can do everything to excess. It won’t really matter! After all, you deserve to have one last binge before the deprivations of the coming year ahead!
If you believe that, then you’re delusionary. You’re just fooling yourself because it makes you feel better at the moment. It’s the high, before the deep low that will inevitably follow and damage your self-esteem, sabotaging your chance of success even before you start.
Wake up and smell the coffee!!
Do you really want to stop smoking? Then do something about it, NOW!
Clear the house of all the things that you know will prevent you, NOW!
Do not put aside an emergency packet “just in case”, that’s just planning for failure!
No “last one for old times sake”
Do it NOW – as you read this article.
Don’t put it off until tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes!
How we think and feel about ourselves is often the difference between happiness and success, or frustration and failure, therefore success and real lasting changes, only comes from changing the way we think. We are all products of our own thinking.
So, every thought we think has an impact on us. We respond to our negative thoughts and to our positive thoughts. If you have a history of failing to live up to your own expectations, your memories are loaded with negative programming.
No matter how much conscious effort you put into changing your habits, your subconscious mind is flooding your body with negative messages that have been ingrained for years.
You can however, change the way you think about stopping smoking using the help of hypnotherapy DVD’s.
Many people trying to give up smoking, struggle to maintain willpower. They feel that they need help and are often too embarrassed to admit to anyone that they have a problem. Now, many sufferers of low motivation and low confidence and self-esteem, are benefiting from hypnotherapy treatment, which can literally change peoples lives for the better.
Your life will improve if you begin to believe in yourself and your abilities, you will feel respected, giving you that extra boost to increase motivation, and your enthusiasm will increase noticeably. Some people say it feels like magic because it is so easy to make powerful changes. Hypnotherapy simply allows you to access the resources you already have in your subconscious mind.
Desire to make changes is good. Taking action to start something is even better. Let’s assume that you’ve decided right now, to start making the changes that you want. If you have tried before and failed, you need a support structure put into place as quickly as possible, to help you to maintain your resolve and to keep your thought processes focused on your goals. A hypnotherapy DVD program for home use can help. You certainly don’t want to be obsessing about smoking all the time.
You can succeed and you can quit smoking for good. You will have success this time if you make sure that you put an effective support system into place as soon as possible.
What’s stopping you from stopping?
So, don’t wait to make any New Year resolutions at midnight on the 31st of December, decide to start making the changes that you want to make in your life, RIGHT NOW!
Do something different this time.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A Change will do you Good
As the last rays of summer’s warmth ebb away and the gentle breezes of autumn waft themselves upon us, we recognize once again, that change is inevitable. Nature is constantly changing and yet, so many people have the notion that change is frightening.
People are creatures of habit and some find it difficult to adjust to changes that are certain to come our way. Life is like an old, comfortable pair of shoes. We may realize that we need new ones and we may even find new ones we really like, but, we know that changing will cause us discomfort for a little while until we break them in.
Sometimes we need to realize that life isn’t always easy. What may be better for us is not what we are used to, but it is certainly worth the trouble of breaking in new habits and lifestyle changes.
Change does not have to be painful. Just look to nature and it will give you clues to how change can be effortless. The beautifully colored autumn leaves do not hang on to the old tree for dear life. No, they yield to the changes with ease and float gently off the tree.
With the coming of autumn we have been busy in our gardens pulling up the old stuff and getting ready for a time of rest. We know that the ground must rest and next year there will be more wonderful things in our garden to delight us.
Are there things in your life that need to be gently eased out of your life? Maybe there are bad relationships or habits or thoughts that need to be weeded out of your life. Don’t be afraid to do a little gardening in your own life.
Every gardener knows that unless we get to the roots, we really are not getting rid of the problem. It may go away for awhile but unless we get to the root, it will sneak back into the garden very quickly.
Although the harvest time is here there is no time to stop weeding the garden of our minds. This garden needs constant attention in order for us to flourish and be all that we can be. The only way to keep this garden in top shape is to make sure that no weeds are there trying to strangle any good we are trying to do. The weeds of our mind, of course are negative thoughts that like to creep in and keep us from achieving that which we are striving for.
William James said, “Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
How do we change the inner attitudes of our minds? By changing the way we think. We must put fear and negativity behind us. How, you ask? Just as the leaves of autumn gently blow from the tree, don’t try and make a change in your thinking over night and expect to get instant results. We cannot rip these thoughts out of our minds, as much as we would like to sometimes. No, we need to be gentle on ourselves and let positive thoughts replace the negative.
Yes it will take some work on your part. You must constantly fill your mind with positive thoughts. Proverbs 27: 3 says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We are what we think. When the negative thoughts come into your mind, you must be ready and willing to replace those thoughts with positive ones. Just say to yourself, no, I won’t let that thought take over my mind, I will think positively. Affirmations are good to have readily available so you can replace the negative thought with the positive one. It won’t be easy, it won’t be hard either, it will just be different, like that new pair of shoes we were talking about earlier.
The autumn leaves fall to make way for new life. We too must go through changes that will bring new growth to our bodies, souls and spirits.
Change is inevitable, so why fight it? Why be afraid of it? Yes, change will require us to do a bit of readjusting but it is always worth it. Don’t be afraid of change, a change will do you good.
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Saturday, December 5, 2009
Having A Creative Imagination
Creative imagination is more than just active imagination. To be able to actively imagine things, to see and hear things in one's mind, is an important ability. It doesn't have to involve much creativity, though, does it? Daydreaming, for example, is a process of imagination. It can consist of an elaborate fantasy world, but one full of all the things that many people think about.
Creative imagination, then, has to include the ability not just to imagine things, but to imagine original things. It is seeing things that others don't see, and coming up with new ideas. So how do you cultivate this?
Creative Imagination 101
First, exercise your basic imagination. It can be as simple as thinking in pictures more, or listening to music in your mind. Play little "movies" in your mind, until you can watch them on command. This is a simple process, but for those of us that can't easily do it naturally, it can take a lot of practice. Fortunately, it is not an unpleasant activity.
The second part of developing your creative imagination is to get more creative in your thinking and imagining. Start by paying attention to your creativity. Our subconscious minds give us more of what we pay attention to. Ignore creative aspects of your life, and you're telling your subconscious they are unimportant. On the other hand, if you note when you're creative, your subconscious mind will start feeding you more creative ideas.
Different surroundings can also encourage your creativity. Want more creativity in your love life? Hike up a mountain with your partner. Do you write? Try sitting on a roof to write. Want new ideas for your business? Take a notebook to the park and sit by the duck pond. A change of environment can get your thinking out of it's ruts.
You can play games that exercise your creative imagination. One such game uses a technique called "concept combination." Alone or with other players, you combine random concepts or things in new ways, to see who has the best idea. A thermometer and a billboard, for example, could generate an idea for a sign that checks the weather and adjusts the message accordingly ("Come in out of the heat for a cold beverage," or "Come in out of the rain and warm up with our gourmet coffee.").
Don't Wait For Creative Imagination
Creative inspiration certainly can strike at any time, but it strikes more often when there is work instead of waiting. So if you want to come up with creative inventions, start mentally redesigning everything you see. Imagine a better bicycle, a faster mail service, or a better chair. Continue this for three weeks, and it will become a habit.
Of course, creative imagination goes beyond solving specific problems or inventing things. Truly creative minds are always coming up with the questions too, not just the solutions. If you want to be more creative all the time, focus on three things:
1. Changing your perspective. A child might think that working just to not work (to retire) is silly. Thinking from that perspective might give you ideas for how to make money doing things you enjoy. Seeing the world as a bear sees it might give a painter imaginative new ideas. Looking at things from a customer's perspective is a sure way to find creative improvements for a business. See everything from several perspectives.
2. Challenging your assumptions. What if restaurants didn't have employees? Visitors pay a machine as they enter, feed themselves at a buffet, and everything is as automated as possible, so one owner-operator could run a large restaurant alone. Challenge all your assumptions for practice. Do you really have to pay rent? Do swimming pools need water? Can exercise be a bad thing?
3. Let your ideas run wild. Does a flying bed seem silly? It could lead to the concept of a helium mattress. When you get off it in the morning, it floats out of the way, up to the ceiling. Perfect for small apartments. Don't stifle your creativity. Relax, and let ideas come. You can always discard them later.
For these techniques to be a habitual part of your thinking, use them regularly. Since it takes several weeks to develop a habit, remind yourself to use them each day. Jot a few of your favorite techniques on a card and carry it with you. Look it over throughout the day and apply the techniques to anything. Soon, you'll have a more creative imagination.
9 Steps To Living Abundantly
Many of us are bowed down by life – stressed, short of time, tired, on a treadmill, knowing that this isn’t the way to live, but not knowing how to free ourselves up to live more fully, more abundantly. There are simple things we can do – they don’t take time or money – they take a change of attitude. Here are 9 of them:
1. Being totally financially honest – if you are not, this implies that there is not enough for you to have everything you need without dishonesty.
2. Creating a vacuum so that more good things can flow into it – don’t fill your life up with things you don’t really want. Ask yourself if you want each thing before you buy it. Don’t have abundant rubbish, live abundantly by seeking out the things and experiences that work for you in your core being.
3. Tithing is often associated with religion, but it is also possible to tithe in a non-religious context. This seems a really important aspect of living abundantly – every time you freely give money away, you are implying that you are confident that more will come – this is a BIG positive affirmation with a lot of power behind it. The traditional amount is 10% of your income. I’ve recommended this to lots of people, and they’ve told me that when they do this – magically - they seem to have more. I started with 10% but now I’ve increased it, because I’ve seen that the more I give away the more I get back, and the happier and more abundantly I live.
4. Being grateful for what you already have – focusing on the good that is already in your life. It’s easy to think about what you don’t have, but spend some time each day thinking about what you do have. Start each day by thinking of 5 things that you are grateful for – and express this out loud.
5. Resentment, jealousy, envy and self-pity interfere with the free-flow of abundance. If you are jealous or envious of someone, it implies that what they have is not available for you to have also. If you find it difficult to let go of these feelings, Bach flower remedies may help. Try the emedy ‘willow’ to counteract resentment and self-pity, or try ‘holly’ for envy, jealousy and greed.
6. Forgiving those that have wronged you is part of living abundantly. Holding on to your anger, however justifiable it may seem, keeps you stuck in the past, rather than going forward into a better future. If it’s difficult to let go of your negative feelings, try writing a letter expressing all your anger, hurt or envy. Write until you can write no more, and then burn it.
7. Being able to receive from other people. Being able to receive is healthy, but many people find it difficult. You may need to practice receiving. Think of the pleasure you get in giving. By not receiving generously you are denying other people the pleasure of giving.
8. Realize that in general ‘good luck’ plays a very small part in people’s life. (If you put your faith in good luck, then you have to accept the possibility of bad luck too.) People who put their faith in ‘good luck’ often spend their lives waiting for things to happen. People who don’t believe in luck go out and make things happen.
9. Believing that there is enough money, food, love, etc. in the world to meet everyone’s needs to live abundantly. I left this one till the last, because it can be very hard to believe when faced with war and starvation in the newspapers and on the TV, but a lot of this anger and need is caused because people who have do not believe they have enough, because they substitute money and food for all the other abundance of life. Do your bit to correct that imbalance and start living a life that recognizes there are inequalities and shortages, but recognizes that we can correct that so we all have what we need.
There you have it, now what are you going to do about living your life abundantly?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Alone But Not Lonely
In today’s fast paced society, we’ve become accustomed to filling the eeriness of silence with fluff. We turn to many distractions as a means of escaping feelings of idleness or boredom. But the main thing we wish to elude is loneliness. Solitude does not have to alienating or lonesome. In fact, solitude and loneliness are distinctly separate.
The death of a loved one or the inability to find people who understand you can leave you feeling isolated. Webster’s dictionary plainly describes loneliness as “being without companions.” It’s natural to experience an emptiness while longing for love or acceptance. Loneliness is therefore an emotive state that can be experienced whether or not one is physically alone.
It was Geoffrey F. Fisher who said, “In the city no one is quiet but many are lonely; in the country, people are quiet but few are lonely.”
We tend to fill loneliness with all types of distractions. For example, some single women would rather spend a Friday night with a man they have no genuine interest in, than spend the night alone. They long for a way of killing time while they await the man they are actually seeking. Then there are young adults who are involved in cliques where they can’t really relate to their companions. However, they would rather feel accepted on a superficial level than risk feeling outcast. So what is it about being alone that scares us?
Do not be spooked by the unfamiliarity of silence. Silence can be an amazing thing. It teaches you how to truly listen. It teaches you to pay attention to what’s going on inside of you. Only when we are alone, can we have the space and peace we need to think without being outwardly influenced. It therefore becomes easier to make important decisions as well as identify whatever feelings are culminating within.
Get in touch with yourself so that you can make conscious decisions rather than simply react to emotions. Appreciate the time you have to yourself. Let the peace and understanding you find better equip you for the commotion of today’s world.
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7 Surprisingly Quick And Easy Ways To Feel Happier
All of us have days when we're out of sorts. You just wish you were in a better mood. You've had days like that, haven't you? Perhaps you tried to get yourself into a better state of mind but struggled to achieve it.
Sometimes we get stuck in our own emotional dumps and forget how easy it is to feel happier, so here are seven simple ways to lift your mood. Many people have found them useful. Some of them may surprise you!
1. Go for a walk.
Most people know that going for a short daily walk is one of the best forms of exercise. When you are feeling down it is even more beneficial. If you can, go into a natural environment with plants and birds. Can you think of such a setting not? What do you notice first? The different shades of greenery, the fresh smell of country air, the sounds of birds, or the sunlight shining through the trees? Make it real by taking a short stroll.
2. Listen to quality music.
Music can shift a listener's state within moments. It's effect can be nearly magical. Dig out that CD you haven't listened to in ages or tune in your radio to something you've never listened to before.
3. Open yourself to discovering something new.
Read something (printed, not on line) different than what you would normally watch. There are a ton of different types of magazines can you get these days. Visit your local library or browse through a magazine rack. Pick up or buy a magazine you wouldn't normally buy. You may discover something wonderful.
4. Find something to laugh at.
Laughter is one of the best ways to lift your spirits. Find a humorous book, or watch a comedy. Even better, try to learn a few new jokes and tell them to others.
5. Simple breathing meditation.
Breathing meditation is a great exercise that you can do anywhere. Simply allow yourself to sit comfortably with your back straight. Now close your eyes and become aware of the flow of air into and out of your nostrils. That's all there is to it. Do this for 10-15 minutes. Notice how pleasantly surprised you can be at how you feel afterward.
6. Doodling for the fun of it.
Most people can remember when they were young and used to doodle for hours. Kids love drawing silly little pictures. Drawing is not just for kids or artists. Whoever you are get some pens, pencils, crayons or whatever you have and just draw for the fun of it. Notice how your state of mind shifts.
7. Think of others less fortunate.
The fact that you are reading this article suggests that you are probably much better off than most people on this planet. At times this may be hard to believe, but if you can read and have access to the internet, just those two things alone means you are better off than most people in the world. There are many human beings that barely have access to the basics of survival. There are people in lots of pain. Allow your compassion for them to grow.
These are all pretty simple. There's nothing profound or life changing, but when all you need is a quick pick me up these may be just the thing you need. Putting simple ideas, methods, tools and techniques into action will help you achieve change more quick and easily--surprisingly so at time-- than you imagine.
Labels:
depression,
easy,
happiness,
happy thoughts,
mood,
self esteem,
self help
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