Category: self improvement

Originally Sourced From https://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-fitness-supercharges-your-productivity/

You may be tempted to see this article as just another productivity tip; it’s actually more than that. When I applied the knowledge I’ll be sharing in this article; I found myself working more productively and more focused. However, I also noticed that if the knowledge we’ll share here is not well balanced, you will find out that you’re enjoying increased productivity in a sector of your life, and a shortfall in another area of your life. Figure out the category of productivity you need assistance with so that you can enjoy a well-rounded life.

Physically Fit

I never loved running while growing up, but I was a lover of sports and some exercises that don’t involve running—having a mindset of always finding ways to engage in one type of exercise or the other, which you should also do, as it helps you to get busy with the type of exercise you enjoy from running to yoga.

There are multiple benefits to being physically fit, but one benefit that stands out is that it helps you to improve your mental productivity. Anytime you stretch your body and exercise, your mind will be redirected from your source of stress to the exercise. There are days where my mind will be engrossed in the activity that happened earlier in the day, but once I start exercising, my focus will shift from that to the exercise. You will flourish in what you do if you appropriately exercise.

Emotionally Fit

Emotional fitness is not a well-appreciated type of fitness, but it should. Although physical fitness can help you to be emotionally fit, emotional fitness in itself is very beneficial to an individual if there is a will to intentionally engage in it.

Physical fitness rubs on emotional fitness and vice versa.  You will find yourself highly unhappy if you’re not getting the exercise your body needs, and when you’re in the right state of mind, you’ll exercise better.

What Are The Benefits to Emotional Fitness?

Emotional fitness helps you get away from emotional problems like anxieties, stress, emotional disorders, etc. When you’re fit emotionally, you will have access to lots of opportunities that will assist you in reaching your goals.

When you’re highly fit emotionally, you will have a great relationship with your family, friends, and colleagues at work.

Financially Fit

If you want to enjoy your life and have access to some of the good things in life, then you need to be financially fit. If you constantly experience stress about how to pay your child’s tuition or pay the house payment, then you won’t be able to make yourself fit physically and emotionally. A highly effective way to be financially fit is by having a budget and abiding by its content.

When you make a budget, you can create goals and guidelines for your expenses—this will help you channel your finances to directly correlate with your daily tasks and your productivity for work.

I used to be neck-deep in-depth, which caused me lots of emotional stress—this affected my productivity level immensely. To get out of financial stress requires that you focus on each of your expenses, and monitor them to ensure that you’re getting a good value for your money.

If you find out that you’re not emotional or physically fit because of your financial life, then you have to pay attention to your finances and invest in knowledge about personal finance to help you achieve your financial goals. While you’re trying to get out of your financial woes, you should focus on building the right mindset to prevent a reoccurrence of your financial woes.

Conclusion

You need to pay attention to three main factors if you want to increase your productivity, those factors are; financial, emotional, and physical fitness. If you pay adequate attention to each of those three factors of productivity, you will succeed in whatever endeavor you desire. If you find yourself lacking behind in one of those methods, then you should seek help from a professional coach. Productivity requires an inner motivation; as such, you should carefully get rid of whatever is preventing you from being motivated internally.

Ben Tejes is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ascend Finance, a platform to help people achieve self-improvement in the area of personal finance.  He helped create Ascend’s chapter 7 means test calculator and loves a good mortgage payoff calculator. He writes on topics such as chapter 13 bankruptcy Missouri, chapter 13 bankruptcy California, and filing bankruptcy in Ohio to help people get out of debt and experience financial freedom.

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Originally Sourced From https://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/rise-of-the-introvert-and-fall-of-the-extrovert-in-the-current-covid19-crisis/

How many times have you felt the need, the urge, and the desire to just sleep on your bed and keep looking at the ceiling? Then stare at the fan while working through your nails.

Just stay indoors for hours with the TV remote in your hand and keep glancing at the TV screen as you flip through channels without a rational reason as if something will magically emerge from it.

Have only one or two people to confide to and discuss your problems as that is how you see life as a problem and others should solve that problem for you….

When have you last had a conversation with a stranger without putting your head down and a fake/ awkward smile to take away that so-called awkward encounter that you experience whenever you see into the eye of a new person? 

How you feel so socially awkward if in a room full of strangers and want to just go back to your room and lock yourself and read a book.

Basically felt the need to reason your mind in order to attain strength to action/ face people.

When you have either put up a smile to or even a frown to cover your actual feelings of insecurity, jealously, low confidence and primarily low self-esteem/self-worth

The above qualities highlight the life of an introvert in terms of day to day affairs.

Now let’s please understand there is a big difference between a highly intelligent person, an introvert and an extrovert.

A highly intelligent person can be social when need be and be a recluse when need be.

 The company should be stimulating either intellectually or spiritually else the person will not engage in mundane conversations.

They, by default, are refined and deep to engage in the routine. So they can escape into their world of perpetual innovation and return to normalcy when they feel the need to reengage with peers, family, colleagues, friends, etc. In this regard, they confide in a few people too but that is out of choice, not fear or antisocial skills like an introvert.

Now the extroverts are all about people, for people, and by people – they embody the democratic dogma, in fact, they subscribe to it wholeheartedly to some extent unabashedly. They need enough action in order to reason the mind. It doesn’t matter whether its reasonable action or just noise, they need to be engaged. To be sure, their engagement quotient, let’s call it (EGQ), is at the highest.

And, when you compare this to an introvert, well, the difference is glaring. They need chaos, the arguments, the laughs, the tears etc. in order to survive.  They are very social by default.

 The word ‘social distancing’ is like a disease for extroverts. So when the current COVID’19 crisis has emerged the fall of the extrovert is inevitable.  In order to help cope up with this fall and to stay ‘sane’, one and all should follow the life of the introverts.

The mind is the most fragile, beautiful tool and your best friend. It can also turn out to be your worst enemy if you allow it to do so. So training the mind to take it one day at a time and doing the repetitive tasks every day is the most critical thing to live within this crisis. Our biology or better still our evolutionary biology that allows us to think in larger quantities to save us the panic and the anxiety of passing time!

When it comes to training or even conditioning the mind in such a situation the highly intelligent people are in a safe zone as they never dwell in extremes even in normal situations. They can adapt to what comes around their way.  They can camouflage or ‘emotionally adapt’ and just be.

Let’s flip and talk about the other extreme which is extroverts.

It’s time for them to introspect, reflect, and then finally action, so basically learn from the introverts.

It is okay to just sit in one place and think and think and think and not action

It is absolutely fine not to stare at the news and discuss news reports with 10 different people and make a scene about a scene that is already quite a scene.

It is fine to not go overboard with emotions for a change and give extreme reactions to everything. It is fine for a change to cover up those emotions and have them bottled and just sleep over them rather than spit it out always.

It is fine to be confined to one room and under one roof as long as you are with people who support you or even breathe with you or even if you are alone and breathing in sync.

Its fine to just breathe in and breathe out at a normal pace instead of pacing in and out of one room to the other screeching and whining.

It’s fine to eat the same thing at the same spot at the same time every day with a smile on your face even if it pains you a bit.

Since extroverts form a major of us, it’s time to look at introverts which make a lesser of us as highly intelligent people are anyway like close to negligible.

So let’s not look at an introvert like a boring and self immersed person doing the same thing, again and again, every day but as an individual who has indeed shown us a way to live a steady life in this moment of crisis.  Let’s embrace their qualities just like they embrace the extroverts’ qualities during the so-called normal times. Let’s celebrate the ‘new normal’ with the introverts.

We can learn from even a virus if we want to so why not learn and then implement the learning of patience, endurance, and well, to just be from every 10^th person who could supposedly be an introvert!

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Trishna Patnaik, a Bsc (in Life Sciences) and MBA (in Marketing) by qualification but an artist by choice. A self-taught artist based in Mumbai, Trishna has been practising art for over 14 years now. After she had a professional stint in various reputed corporates, she realised that she wanted to do something more meaningful. She found her true calling in her passion, that is painting. Trishna is now a full-time professional painter pursuing her passion to create and explore to the fullest. She says, “It’s a road less travelled but a journey that I look forward to everyday.”

Trishna also conducts painting workshops across Mumbai and other metropolitan cities of India. Trishna is an art therapist and healer too. She works with clients on a one on one basis in Mumbai.

Trishna does fancy the art of expressive writing and creative writing and is dappling her hands in that too  to soak in the experience and have an engagement with readers, wanderers and thinkers. 

The post Rise of the Introvert and Fall of the Extrovert in the current COVID’ 19 crisis appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.

Help us help others. Please like this article. Share this article on your social media and with your tribe. And leave your comments below! ps: Download our free guided meditation self hypnosis MindPower Programs and Live Better On Purpose!

Originally Sourced From https://www.thelawofattraction.com/mindfulness/

Mindfulness is a popular pursuit, and you probably know some people who swear by it. According to its advocates, mindfulness can not only help you deal with difficult emotions but can also improve your overall health.

But is this true – is mindfulness really that good for you? And, if so, is it suitable for people of all ages, or only adults?

If you want to learn more about mindfulness and explore its impact on your mental and physical health, now is a perfect time.

As it turns out, mindfulness isn’t just about practicing meditation and breathing exercises – it’s also about living in a certain way. In this article, we’ll introduce you to all the basics of mindful living.

We’ll explore significant benefits provided by mindfulness, explain the many different ways in which you can begin to practice mindfulness in your own life, and give you some tips for teaching mindfulness to the kids in your life.

What Is Mindfulness And Why Is Mindfulness Important?

Let’s start with the fundamental facts. What is mindfulness?

While many people immediately associate mindfulness with meditation, being mindful really just means being present.

When you’re mindful, you’re fully engaged with the current moment, ignoring distractions.

Crucially, it involves being aware of yourself – your body, your mind, your feelings – without judging any of these things.

While meditation is a practice, mindfulness is better described as a way of living, and it’s something we can all learn to do in time.

If you think about it, you probably have mindful moments every day. Each time you’re fully absorbed in a song, beautiful surroundings or in a moment of connection with another person, you’re immersed in the present moment.

Living a mindful life simply involves cultivating this sort of attitude as your default, so that you spend most of your day in a mindful state instead of only entering it occasionally.

Now, why is it so important? We’ll get into some of the detailed health benefits in a moment. However, at the general level, mindfulness stops you from being stuck in two particularly unproductive mindsets.

One involves ruminating over the past at the expense of the present. The other involves worrying about the future, also at the expense of the present. With mindful living, you live more fully – you turn your full attention to now, you get to know yourself better, and you take things for granted less often. Let’s turn now to look at some of the specific benefits you can enjoy.

Benefits Of Mindfulness

When you’re consistently mindful, benefits range from improved mental health to higher levels of energy.

However, the benefits of mindfulness aren’t merely anecdotal.

An increasingly persuasive group of studies shows us that mindful living actually impacts on the structure and function of the brain.

Certain parts of the brain – such as those that regulate emotion – become bigger and more active. Here are five of the most exciting changes you can expect to see in your life as a result.

Mindfulness Lowers Your Stress Levels

We’ve learned from mindfulness studies that the body’s physiological markers of stress decrease after several weeks of mindful living.

Mindfulness makes our brains better able to cope with daily stresses.

Experts speculate that this is because of increased connectivity in the brain system associated with focus and executive control.

Mindfulness Strengthens The Mind

Mental strength is also correlated with mindfulness.

In particular, those who practice mindfulness self-report lower levels of mental health issues, especially low mood, and depression.

The evidence shows a particularly significant impact on children and adolescents, whose minds are still developing. We’ll take a closer look at mindfulness activities for kids below.

Mindfulness Improves Your Sleep Quality and Reduces Fatigue

Mindful sleep practices focus on slowing and simplifying thoughts before bed. For example, you might journal before sleep, meditate, or tune into a relaxing piece of music. The resulting improvements on overall sleep quality leave you feeling more rested.

Meanwhile, feeling better rested is linked to happy moods and improved cognitive function.

Mindfulness Improves Focus

Relatedly, mindfulness improves focus more generally. The latest research on this benefit shows improvements in the length of time you’re able to concentrate. You may also be better able to tune out distractions.

This is particularly good news for sufferers of ADHD, especially children struggling to adjust to the concentration required at school.

Mindfulness Helps Reduce Anxiety

Finally, as suggested above, mindfulness strengthens your ability to regulate your own emotions. This means when you encounter anxiety triggers, you’re more capable of de-escalating your feelings of fear.

Specific mindfulness exercises like deep breathing and visualization can be particularly effective at targeting anxiety, but studies suggest that any mindful living reduces anxiety.

Different Ways To Practice Mindfulness

Now that you know more about the powerful benefits of mindfulness techniques, let’s turn our attention to how to practice mindfulness.

As covered above, mindfulness practice doesn’t have to be all about meditation.

Mindfulness meditations (such as body scanning) are wonderful for relaxation and concentration, but they’re far from the only way to integrate mindfulness practice into your life.

These six mindfulness exercises will inspire you to make simple daily changes that help you to tune into the present moment, shut out unhelpful distractions, and enjoy life’s beautiful little details.

Mindfulness experts estimate that choosing to practice mindfulness for just 10-20 minutes each day can instigate the neurological changes we discussed. So, here are some fun, straightforward ways to start.

Mindful Eating

We’ve all had times when we’ve swallowed a quick lunch in just a few bites before going back to work, or where we’ve binged on candy when feeling a bit low.

In contrast, mindful eating is all about creating an enjoyable, slow-paced ritual around the process of eating good food. To do this exercise, begin by choosing one mealtime when you know you don’t need to rush.

Concentrate on the sounds, smells, flavors, and textures as you prepare the food. Notice the feelings rising up inside you at the thought of eating.

When you’re ready to eat, serve your food on a favorite plate, and use utensils that you enjoy holding. Eat-in small bites, chewing slowly and carefully as you work your way through the meal.

Challenge yourself to pick out all the different flavors in the food, and monitor how they impact on your body. What makes your mouth water?

What bursts on your tongue, and how does the food feel as you swallow? This is mindful eating, and once you get used to doing it for one meal it can quickly become the norm. You can even do this when having a snack, especially if it’s juicy fresh fruit.

Mindful Movement

Mindful movement is a broad category that includes fully immersing yourself in the present moment while doing any form of exercise.

Yoga is a special example that we’ll look at in more depth shortly, but let’s consider some other types of mindful movement.

Dance is a good example, as it involves careful, precise movements, often in time to the music.

Swimming and jogging also have a rhythmic quality that you can tune into, letting other thoughts drift away.

However, you can challenge yourself to mindfully engage in just about any form of exercise. As with mindful eating, it’s useful to start by thinking about some relevant questions as you move.

Which muscles are stretching, and which are contracting? Where do you feel tension or discomfort, and where do you feel your body loosening up and becoming more comfortable?

How does your breathing change to complement the movements you’re making, and how does your heartbeat feel in your chest? How are your movements changing your mood?

In short, really tune in to absolutely every sensation associated with the way your body is moving.

Mindful Music

Mindful music exercises can take a couple of different forms and mindful listening is suitable for anyone, and you can practice it by using a wide range of styles of music. Choose a song, or a series of songs, and sit comfortably.

Listen to the song, and keep your body still as you do so – don’t try to do any chores, write any emails, or think about your plan for the day.

As ever, notice the way the music changes your feelings – both emotionally and physically. What sensations are resulting from the music? Do you feel goosebumps?

Do you feel at peace, or is your heart rate rising? What different instruments can you hear in the music?

If you play an instrument yourself (or indeed sing), mindful music techniques can also use your instrument. This is like a combination of the above exercise and mindful movement.

So, notice every note, and also how your body moves to create those notes. What feelings are coming up for you? Is your body tense or relaxed? Thoughts about other things may try to intrude, but just let them go without judgment or attention.

Mindful Breathing

Mindful breathing is one of the most common practice types of mindfulness exercises, so you’ve probably heard of it or tried it already.

In its most basic and powerful form, the technique starts with you finding a comfortable place to sit.

Make sure you are free from distractions, and you feel safe.

Next, close your eyes when you’re ready, and begin to focus on your breathing. At first, don’t try to change it. Just observe its rhythm and the rise and fall of your chest.

After a few minutes, start to take control of your breathing. Inhale to a count of five, hold your breath for a count of three, and exhale to a count of seven.

You can adjust these numbers if it suits you, but the key thing to remember is inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Try to breathe deeply, from your diaphragm – the muscles under your ribs.

Perhaps more so than with the other exercises above, it’s common to get distracted during mindful breathing. This will get easier in time, so don’t give up.

When a thought interrupts, let it drift by and return your attention to your breathing. End when you feel ready.

Mindful Yoga

Being mindful is already a key part of most yoga practice, so if you’re used to yoga then you’ve likely already learned some mindfulness skills.

Hatha yoga is a particularly good form of mindful yoga, as the practice has elements of meditation threaded into it.

Find a class (or some videos) that emphasize the mental and emotional aspects of yoga, and try them several times a week.

These classes will explicitly acknowledge that yoga influences thoughts and feelings, not just the body, and will teach you particular poses to help deal with particular feelings.

As with mindful movement techniques, notice every little thing that is happening in your body. What is comfortable, and less comfortable, what is it like to really lean into a new stretch?

What can you hear in the room, and what does your yoga mat feel like beneath you. Breathe in and appreciate all of these small details, fully anchoring yourself in the present moment.

Mindful Self-Compassion

Finally, mindful self-compassion emphasizes the importance of treating yourself with respect and kindness.

All too often, we criticize ourselves and focus on everything we’ve done wrong.

Many of us have internalized critical inner voices that tell us we can’t succeed, or that we’re not strong.

In contrast, the tenets of self-compassion tell us to treat ourselves as friends who have value and are deserving of love.

Now, how exactly do we thread self-compassion into a mindfulness practice?

For one thing, mindful self-compassion can just be about monitoring your inner voice and consciously replying when you begin to criticize yourself. Another effective and more specific technique is based on loving-kindness meditations.

When you’re stressed, close your eyes and breathe deeply. Let yourself feel and acknowledge the stress in your mind and body. Don’t try to fight it, and don’t blame yourself for feeling it.

Then, say something affirming that offers yourself compassion. For example, you might recite “I let myself feel stress and fear, then I let it go. May I be happy, may I be free, and may I be at peace.” Design your own affirming statement, and say it as often as you like.

Mindfulness For Kids

Mindful living certainly isn’t just for adults. Increasing evidence from education specialists and developmental psychology shows that mindfulness can be wonderful for kids. In particular, it can help children struggling with ADHD or anxiety.

However, it is good for just about any developing child, as it promotes self-reflection and emotional regulation. You can encourage your child to practice mindful living exercises from a very young age, but it’s worth noting that adolescence may be a particularly important time for mindfulness.

When new experiences and brain changes lead to emotional turmoil and a deeper exploration of one’s identity, mindfulness can offer a sense of safety and consistency.

All of the exercises detailed above are appropriate for kids of most ages. However, there are also specific exercises that can help get younger kids engaged.

We’ll consider a few of the most effective simple techniques, and then look at how learning mindfulness meditations can help kids develop.

Mindfulness Activities For Kids

The best mindfulness activities for your kids will depend on their age, their ability to focus on a given task, and their developmental stage.

However, here are a few ideas to get you started:

Go outside on a reasonably nice day, lie on a blanket together, and look up at the clouds. Encourage your children to identify and silently name particular shapes they see.

Later, discuss how it felt, and what they noticed. Were there any themes to the images?

They may want to draw or paint what they saw. Ask your child to give you a daily report on their emotions.

Ask them to look inwards, choose the “main” feeling they’re experiencing, and describe it in depth.

Where do they feel it in their body? Does it feel good, or not so good? If it was a color, what would it be? What about shape, or an animal?

Go for a mindful walk together in nature. Be quiet and calm throughout, and challenge your children to find 5-10 beautiful things. If you like, ask them to photograph these things, then later discuss what these sights made them think and feel.

Mindful Parenting Techniques

Parenting can be one of the most rewarding things in life, but it’s also undeniably challenging. Sometimes, even the most level-headed parent struggles to stay empathetic, calm, or focused.

And in these moments, it’s hard for parents not to feel bad about themselves, and to feel negatively towards their children as well. This is where mindful parenting comes in, helping you calm down and take a non-judgmental stance.

You can practice it any time your child pushes your buttons, making you want to react impulsively or in anger.

One mindful parenting method encourages you to pause before reacting. Simply stop, and breathe for a few moments, inhaling through your nose and exhaling out through your mouth.

Deliberately relax your body, letting go of tension in the muscles. Then, notice how you’re feeling, in both mind and body. Allow yourself to be curious about what you’re feeling, and why.

Don’t blame yourself, or your child, or tell yourself you “should” feel differently. Simply observe, and learn from what you observe. Finally, reengage with your child, more aware of yourself, and how you want to act.

Mindfulness Meditation For Kids

While we’ve already considered how kids can learn to be mindful in daily life, it’s also worth giving consideration to deepening their mindfulness skills.

This is especially useful for older children who have more patience, and who also have to deal with bigger challenges.

They can start by adapting the mindful breathing exercise for adults, and practicing this in 5-10 minute chunks.

All this requires is for them to find a comfortable place to sit, and to get used to focusing on their breathing.

As with adults, they can set a pattern of breathing that feels comfortable, but the aim should be slow, deep breaths that come from under the ribs.

It’s important to explain to children that they haven’t “failed” if they get distracted during this beginner’s mindfulness meditation. Rather, encourage them to accept that fleeting thoughts will intrude.

Tell them to make an effort to notice when those thoughts come and redirect attention to the rising and falling of their chest.

This gets easier with practice, and some children actually adapt to it more quickly than adults (who are often conditioned into constant multi-tasking at work and at home).

Practice Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation for adults moves beyond the simple breathing exercise above. However, it can take many forms. One of the best techniques, when you’re first learning mindfulness, involves tuning into every sense.

As ever, start by sitting comfortably and by closing your eyes, breathing deeply. Start to tune into how the air feels coming in through your nose. Notice the coldness in your throat and the rush of air into your lungs.

Then, gradually expand out to tune into your hearing. Are there noises in the room, or outside of it? Can you pick up voices or the hum of cars or machinery?

The next step is to focus on sensations. This includes bodily sensations and emotions. What do you feel? Where do you feel it?

This mindfulness meditation can involve one cycle of our senses, or you can repeat it several times to train your focus to last for longer.

Mindfulness Meditation Benefits

The benefits of mindfulness meditation largely overlap with the benefits of living mindfully more generally. However, since mindfulness meditation arguably requires more concentration and energy, it may amplify some of these benefits.

For example, you may find that not only are you able to focus longer, but you’re also thinking at a faster pace. And as well as being able to better handle stress, you might start getting less stressed in the first place.

Your positive emotions towards others can also be enhanced by practicing mindfulness meditation. Compassion and empathy only grow as you meditate.

You become more adept at taking the perspectives of others and imagining why they feel as they do. Some of the most exciting new mindfulness research is on this topic.

In one project conducted at Northeastern University, scientists showed that those who regularly do mindfulness meditation are more likely to help people in distress.

Further benefits of mindfulness meditation include improved self-esteem better academic performance, lower blood pressure (and thereby lower heart disease risk), and an enhanced ability to put life’s daily struggles in perspective. All from just 15-20 minutes of mindfulness per day!

Exercise Your Mindfulness Muscle With These Mindset Hypnosis Downloads

Now that you know more about mindfulness, why not take it to the next level? Hypnosis is similar to mindfulness, taking you into a deep state of relaxation in which your mind tunes into particular thoughts and desires.

While some people think hypnosis is sinister mind-control, it’s really just a way of challenging old beliefs and feelings that are holding you back. And it can only change you in the ways that you want to change.

Is there something you want to achieve, and do you feel like you’re being held back from becoming the best version of yourself? We have a wide range of hypnosis recordings that can assist in cultivating the mindset you desire.

Whether you want to stay calm, boost your energy, improve your mood, get motivated or move past a phobia, we have a custom-designed session that will help you meet your goals all on ehypnosis.com.

The post How To Practice Mindfulness Exercises For Mindful Living appeared first on The Law Of Attraction.

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Originally Sourced From https://www.thelawofattraction.com/victim-mentality/

An example of having a victim mentality is when someone in your life has accused you of “playing the victim”. It’s likely that you felt offended by this, and that you believed it missed the mark.

You may have thought about how your distress was entirely genuine and felt hurt that this other person believed you were being insincere.

However, playing the victim is hardly ever on purpose, and you can be drawn to occupy the victim role without ever trying to trick or mislead people.

Whether you’ve been accused of having a victim mentality or know someone who has, it’s helpful to develop a deeper understanding of this state of mind.

In this article, we’ll explore why and how someone might end up playing the victim, and look at how it gradually drains the resources of the victim as well as those around them.

Most importantly, we’ll look at how you can take control – how you can empower yourself to leave the victim mentality behind.

What is Victim Mentality And How Do I Recognize It?

A victim complex is characterized by a kind of consistent self-pity and powerlessness. If you have this kind of mindset, you exclusively look outside yourself when trying to explain painful or difficult situations.

in other words, it’s never your fault. So, for example, if you adopt a victim mentality in relationships, arguments will revolve around you blaming your partner for whatever has gone wrong.

Whether it’s something they’ve done or a reaction to something you’ve done, your gut feeling will always be that they have caused the discord in your relationship.

Meanwhile, if you don’t get promoted at work, you’ll immediately assume you were passed over for unfair reasons, rather than asking yourself what you might be able to work on in order to get promoted in the next round.

The victim mentality allows you to avoid engaging with your own flaws and vulnerabilities. That’s its key benefit, along with keeping you in your comfort zone and helping you avoid responsibility.

If you’re powerless, after all, you don’t need to move forward – others won’t let you. However, occupying the victim position also holds you back from personal development, and from healthy self-confidence. If you don’t believe in your own power, you never fulfill your full potential.

What Causes Self-Victimization?

Of course, a victim complex doesn’t develop in a vacuum. It’s also typically involuntary.

Blame-shifting in the manner described above is almost always a response to something that has happened to you, often early in life. Let’s look at a few of the most significant causes.

Firstly, it’s true that some people who adopt the victim role are deliberately playing others or intending to inflict punishment. Such individuals may also have narcissistic or histrionic traits, consistently placing themselves at the center of dramatic narratives.

However, this is by far the least common scenario. It’s much more likely that a victim complex results from adverse life circumstances and substantial emotional wounds.

In particular, past trauma is probably the most common reason for playing the victim. Not everyone responds to trauma in this way as adversity impacts us all in different ways, but it’s easy to see how self-victimization can result.

Specifically, at some point, you truly were victimized, and this has left you with the understandable assumption that this is your role in life. You play the victim card not to manipulate or to consciously shirk responsibility, but because you have deep feelings of powerlessness.

Betrayal can have a similar impact. For example, if you’ve been betrayed by someone you trust in childhood and then experienced infidelity in relationships as an adult, you can default to a victim role. You may believe you can’t trust anyone and read every one as a potential persecutor.

When thinking about whether betrayal or trauma in your own life might lead you to play the victim, remember not to focus on whether the wound is “big” enough. What matters is not whether someone else would class your experience as a serious trauma. Rather, what defines it as trauma is its impact on you.

Why Does A Victim Mentality Become So Emotionally Draining?

As well as holding back your development, occupying the victim role can leave you incredibly emotionally drained.

Why is this? In brief, it’s because playing the victim completely undermines your agency. It leaves you unable to do anything about the difficulty you face. Whatever you’re struggling with – whether it’s relationships, your career, money, or your health.

You feel powerless to come up with a plan or change. If you see yourself as a powerless victim, you think that there’s nothing at all that you can do to improve your situation.

Meanwhile, someone who recognizes their own power can come up with different strategies, learn from their experiences, and keep trying new ones until something works.

Your dynamics with other people can also quickly become exhausting. In a sense, you’re using others to prop up your view of yourself as a victim, and this can prevent real closeness.

You are unlikely to receive genuine empathy from someone if they view you as playing the victim card, and the resulting life is a lonely one indeed. Plus, if others are the enemy and you can’t trust them, you can’t truly lean on anyone for support. In time, carrying all of your difficulties will wear you down.

Finally, being a constant victim also requires lying to yourself. It takes a lot of energy to keep coming up with reasons for your own powerlessness. Hiding from yourself is emotionally draining – in addition to being unable to let your guard down around others, you can’t let it down around yourself either.

All of this adds up to exhaustion. If this picture sounds familiar, keep reading to discover some strategies you can employ in order to move out of the victim position.

Warning Signs Of Victim Mentality

Before we move on to concrete strategies and techniques, let’s first consider a quick inventory of the key traits of a victim.

Look out for the following characteristics in yourself and others:

Refusing to seek solutions. All negative situations are out of the victim’s hands, so there’s no point in thinking about how to make things better.

Feeling powerless, as though it’s impossible for you to succeed or feel good.

A strong inner critic. Victims often have a voice inside their head that tells them they lack power as well as value. The voice of this inner critic is usually based on things said by people who have betrayed or hurt the victim in the past.

A lack of dependability. Other people can’t rely on the victim because it takes very little evidence for the victim to turn on them and view them as a persecutor.

Low self-esteem. If you’re in the victim position, you don’t stand up for yourself or for your rights. You’ll often believe you’re less smart, capable, and attractive than the average person.

Anger and resentment. Often, this will be pushed down and hidden underneath sadness. However, occasionally this built up anger will emerge, often through resentment of those the victim perceives as powerful and successful.

If you’re in a victim position, it’s important to note that you may be more or less vocal about this. Some victims are loud about their victimhood, outwardly blaming others, and constantly complaining about their hard lives. However, others present in a more stoic way. These self-victimizers will display obvious distress but always say “It’s okay” or “I’m fine” when anyone attempts to offer support.

How to Stop Playing The Victim

Now, if you recognize yourself in the above descriptions, don’t despair!

The victim mentality grows out of genuine difficulties, and overcoming victim mentality is definitely possible.

We’ll offer six tips aimed at helping you to stop playing the victim, all of which you can start practicing immediately.

Live In The Present And Take Control Of Your Life

When you live in the moment, you keep your mind focused on what you’re experiencing and turn your attention away from both the past and the future.

This means you’re no longer ruminating on past behaviors, or worrying about future victimization.

One effective way to take control of your life in this way is to practice mindfulness.

Whether you do daily breathing exercises, guided meditations, or visualization exercises, you teach your brain to tune into the present.

If you’re not familiar with mindfulness, start with just 5-10 minutes of focusing on your breath.

Allow thoughts you drift by, and repeatedly return your attention to the movements of your chest.

Explore Your Limiting Beliefs

When exploring your limiting beliefs, there’s an intimate connection between victimhood and negative beliefs acquired earlier in life.

So, challenging those old beliefs can help you shed your victim stance.

Try writing down the negative beliefs you have about yourself, and then write out a counter-reply.

For example, if someone told you that you’d never amount to anything, write down five of your greatest accomplishments.

Return to this list whenever you need to be reminded that you are powerful.

Start Practicing Gratitude

Practicing gratitude is a technique you can use to make your view of the world (and other people) more positive.

It’s a way of giving yourself evidence that there is goodness around you, and that there are good things in your life.

Simply take a little time at the end of each day to write down 5-10 things that make you feel grateful, no matter how small.

Pay particular attention to your own accomplishments and moments of empowerment.

Start Taking Self-Responsibility

To move beyond being a victim, it’s crucial that you see yourself as someone with agency.

This means taking responsibility for what you do, and for the things that happen because of you.

It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge when you’ve done something that isn’t ideal but try to view these moments of culpability as a lesson.

What could you do differently next time?

What have you discovered about yourself through this experience?

Perform Acts Of Kindness Daily

Self-focus is a natural part of playing the victim.

You become so attentive to your own pain and your own struggles that you stop connecting with others.

To widen your view and engage more with the world, make a habit out of daily acts of kindness.

Do a favor for a friend, volunteer some of your time, or find old items you can donate to charity.

Notice how good it feels to be helping others rather than needing their help.

Self-Reflect By Asking Yourself “Am I Really The Victim?”

The more often you examine your image of yourself as the victim, the more you’ll begin to see that this isn’t who you really are.

When you have the urge to blame others, ask yourself: am I really a victim here?

Yes, things may not have gone your way, but what was your role in the situation?

This self-reflection isn’t intended to make you blame yourself, but it will help you take responsibility and see your own power.

Discover What Else Is Holding You Back, And Start Manifesting Today

So, now you understand what playing the victim involves, and you have a toolkit that can help you to move away from victimhood to a place of appropriate accountability.

This means you’re ready to move past at least one thing that may have been holding you back. But what else is holding you back?

In what other ways are you self-sabotaging and keeping yourself small? Take our LOA quiz to help you identify more of your major blocks to success.

This is the next step in becoming the very best version of yourself, and the next step in manifesting the future you desire and deserve. Whatever is holding you back, you can beat it.

The post Stop Playing The Victim & Finally Overcome Victim Mentality appeared first on The Law Of Attraction.

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Originally Sourced From https://themindunleashed.com/2019/04/north-of-happiness-5-states-of-being-that-will-launch-you-past-happiness.html

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” –Edward Abbey

On the compass of life most of us have been conditioned to think that happiness is True North. Many of us go through life thinking happiness is the be-all, end-all; the ultimate prize. If I only had this, I’d be happy. If I only did that I’d be happy. “Happy” is the constant carrot forever dangling in front of us, just out of reach.

But what happens when we aim beyond happiness? When we think outside the box of happiness? When we dare to go north of happiness? If we merely shoot for the moon, do we not forsake the stars? It’s like the “foot in the door technique” applied to happiness. The interesting thing is that you are more likely to achieve a state of happiness by aiming north of happiness than by merely shooting for happiness alone.

Flow states:

“Creativity-like life itself-begins in darkness.” – Julia Cameron

There is perhaps no other state better at launching you past happiness than achieving a flow state. When you are in the creative throes of a flow state, you are beyond place and time, beyond sadness or happiness, beyond good and evil. Time stops. Interconnectedness consumes you. It is the only state that subsumes all the other states on this list.

Being in a flow state is similar to being “in the zone.” Everything flows. Everything lines up. Infinity abounds in the here and now. There’s no wavering. There’s no hesitation. Anything keeping you away from being fully present in the moment falls away. Creativity emanates. Imagination gushes, full-frontal, tidal. All you can do is surf it into timelessness. In this state, you’re not just a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop.

And when you come up for air, not only are you happy, you are triumphant. You are overwhelmed with the joy of creation, tantamount to jouissance. You have surfed the wave of your flow state straight over happiness and landed into providence. Happiness becomes merely a side effect of doing something you love. Happiness is the residue of falling in love with the moment so completely that you lose your attachment to happiness. You have surrendered your egos attachment to happiness, and love stands triumphant.

Non-Attachment

“Be melting snow. Wash yourself of yourself.” –Rumi

Speaking of surrendering your ego’s attachment to happiness, non-attachment launches you past happiness by burying your ego, before it can sink in its claws, or at least by transforming your egocentric view into a soul-centric one. Non-attachment puts the cart of the ego behind the horse of being fully present. Selflessness is key. When you’re not married to a particular outcome, you are more open to whatever the outcome might be. When you’re not attached to a particular expectation, you are more likely to be able to adapt and overcome the vicissitudes of life. In a selfless state, in a non-attached state, emotions come and go, washing over the state of human experience like tidal forces on a beach.

In a non-attached state, you are always north of happiness. You’re north of any emotion, really. Emotions are neither here nor there. They are merely passing storms or momentary sunshine. Nothing lasts forever. There is no permanence. The only thing that never changes is the fact that everything changes. Your defeats won’t last, but neither will your triumphs.

No-mind:

“Truth is a staff rejected.” –unknown

No-mind is that rare state, usually achieved through deep meditation, where thoughts melt away and you are completely present in the moment. All previous conditioning, indoctrination and brainwashing falls away, and sheds like too-heavy, outdated skin. All that remains is the infinite void, Indra’s net, the interconnectedness of all things. You are able to see with “over-eyes”, perceiving the big picture despite the usual small picture perspective held up by your ego. Indeed, no-mind is the place where the ego goes to die- at least temporarily.

In this state you are a fountainhead to the cosmos. Your crown chakra is in full flutter. You are in a state of absolute non-bias and non-judgment, completely open to the vital information being downloaded by the universe. All thought is put on hold. Your mind is a sponge soaking in truth. It’s only after the meditation, when no-mind is replaced with mindfulness, where the potential for happiness manifests itself. And the potential is great, heightened by the experience in no-mind.

For no-mind has already launched you past happiness, into a state of absolute vulnerability, where the judgment, bias, and close mindedness of your thoughts were torn down to allow for beauty, truth, and wisdom to sneak in. All three of which can lead to eudemonia, happiness beyond happiness, a flourishing of the human condition, a mind-body-soul creative expression and a deep sense of purpose.

Interdependence:

Beyond codependence, beyond even independence, here is the holistic state of interdependence. When you are codependent you expect happiness to come to you. When you’re independent you expect to find happiness. When you’re interdependent however, you have already subsumed happiness because happiness, like sadness, grief, joy, guilt, anger, love, and other emotions, are simply a small aspect of the interconnected whole. Happiness is merely a small side effect of living a full life, just as all other emotions are.

Achieving a state of interdependence is no small feat, but the little bursts of happiness discovered along the way make the pain of growth well worth it. The pain of passing through the many thresholds of cognitive dissonance, dark nights of the soul, ego death, comfort zone stretching, and the trials and tribulations of taking an independent leap of courage out of codependent cowardice, will lead to the absolute joy of self-improvement, self-overcoming, and the personal transformation into your own version of heroism.

Working toward a state of interdependence, day in and day out, makes happiness itself a process, an inherent aspect of the overall method. Because you are always aiming for personal growth, self-improvement and self-overcoming, you are always north of happiness. The process itself trumps the happiness gained, but it is also within the process where the most happiness is obtained.

Meaning creation:

“Happy is the man who discovers wisdom. For the merchandise of it is better than silver, and the gain better than gold. Length of days in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honor. She is a tree of life to them that hold her; and happy is everyone that retains her.” –Proverbs 13-18

Meaning trumps happiness, yet most happiness comes from meaning. As such, the creation of meaning is the ultimate trump card, and perhaps even the ultimate True North. When you’re creating meaning, you are the perennial artist, a self-inflicted mythologist transforming the mundane infinity that surrounds you into the meaningful art that defines you. As a creator of meaning, you hold courage in one hand and audacity in the other, defying the inherently meaningless universe by creating your own meaning despite.

The meaning you create becomes a trophy, a symbol of your imagination and creativity, a magic elixir that can be shared with the tribe, and a legacy that can be passed down to your progeny. It becomes your life’s purpose, an immortality project that transcends happiness. At the end of the day, searching for happiness is old hat. Better to go north of happiness. Better to experience flow states. Better to practice non-attachment and no-mind. Better to strive for Interdependence through self-improvement and self-overcoming. Better to create your own meaning despite meaninglessness and happiness. Better to simply revel in the little moments of happiness that come and go from living a life well lived.

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Originally Sourced From https://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/fika-a-coffee-break-for-productivity/

Coronavirus has shone a spotlight on workplace productivity. Many of you are still working from home and juggling additional responsibilities of child care or schooling and household tasks.  Demands on you escalate to the point where you know you need a break, but don’t dare take one. A paradox is at work. In order to survive the crush in this unusual environment, you need some downtime more than ever. The Swedish tradition of fika might offer an answer.

Fika is the Swedish practice of stopping work for a coffee break with friends and often a little something to eat. This is not the American coffee break of grabbing some caffeine to power through several more hours of work. Rather fika is a pause in the rush of the day, a few minutes to disengage from workday tasks and to savor some slowed down moments with people whose company you enjoy. 

Fika is ingrained in Swedish culture. From factories to hospitals to schools, employees do fika. A friend in Sweden reports that the school where she teaches takes two thirty-minute fika breaks each day. At 10:00 and at 2:00, teachers and staff gather to chat, usually not about work. Even in a workplace, the point is rest from work and communication with co-workers. 

Fika can be done in a grand way, with the traditional seven kinds of cookies and the host’s good china. Or it can be as simple as just taking a moment away from tasks. Imagine the rich aroma of fresh coffee or tea, the comfort of wrapping your hands around a mug warmed by the drink’s heat, the melt-in-your-mouth taste of a butter cookie. In warmer weather, you might prefer iced tea or a smoothie in your favorite tall glass. Maybe you share your fika with a friend via a Facetime call. Maybe several of you Zoom in to fika. The world can go on without you for a few minutes before you re-engage. In fact, you will probably be more productive after a fika break.

Psychologist Ron Friedman states that human evolution has built our brains for short bursts of concentrated activity, not for “daylong marathons.” He recommends two fifteen-minute daily breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, for effective brain function. Yet, even under normal circumstances, overwork is so ingrained in American culture, we often don’t recognize when we’re tiring, and we plow on. The result, according to Sarah Green Carmichael, former executive director at Harvard Business Review, is this: “The story of overwork is literally the story of diminishing returns… you’ll progressively work more stupidly on tasks that are increasingly meaningless.”

Overworking also has other drawbacks. Psychologist/author Shawn Achor and news anchor Michelle Gielan write about resilience and recharging. Clear thinking depends on a rested brain. Like other experts, they recommend short breaks during the day to allow the brain recovery time. After work, they recommend not doing things that send the brain into high activity: stop work-related tasks, shut down electronics, turn off the politically charged TV show. 

In addition, Leslie Perlow of the Harvard Business School calls for predictable time off, that is, routinely setting aside a block of obligation-free minutes. The down time aids brain recovery; negotiating the time increases one’s happiness and effectiveness. For example, you might teleconference with others at work to negotiate downtime from 2:00-2:30 each day. Perhaps your family designates this time as daily predictable time off. Or, needing some separation from family, you designate it as your personal predictable time off while your spouse handles child care. In that thirty minutes, enjoy the refreshment of traditional coffee, as the Swedes would. Or invent your own fika variation–sip from your water bottle as you walk the dog or stretch out in some yoga poses. If a friend establishes that same boundary, the two of you can fika together. 

Mental health experts also offer productivity-compatible advice. Therapist Leah Corder explains that our quarantine has been equivalent to chronic traumatic stress. No one can “function optimally during this time.” The remedy, she says, is to show yourself some compassion. The very essence of fika is self-care, being present to enjoy the aromas, the tastes, the conversation with a friend. 

            If you live and work alone, you may also be experiencing what journalist Connie Schultz identifies as lack of community. “We are yearning for the connection, even if six feet away.” We are, after all, social animals. Fika offers the possibility of connection with friends, even if it must be electronic. What if 2:00 p.m. (or whatever time you designate) became coffee (or tea) and conversation—fika—every day? 

Could anything matter more right now than a few uninterrupted minutes each day, away from the usual tasks and chores, with people we care about? You and your work productivity will be the better for it.

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Helen Collins Sitler is a retired English professor who still enjoys research and writing. Her academic work has appeared in English Journal, Language Arts, and other teacher education journals. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in Hippocampus and Harmony and is forthcoming in Post Road.

The post Fika: A Coffee Break For Productivity appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.

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Originally Sourced From https://www.thelawofattraction.com/positive-energy/

While it’s impossible to measure positive energy, you know when you have it in abundance. You feel optimistic, ambitious, confident, and happy to engage with life.

Positive energy attracts more positivity, in the form of new opportunities and good relationships. In contrast, when you lack positive energy, you tend to feel wiped out, anxious and inhibited.

If you’ve been feeling like this lately, you might be wondering whether there’s anything you can do to restore your positive energy.

Perhaps you worry that it’s entirely beyond your control.

The good news is that it is entirely possible to restore positive energy – for your mind, soul, and body.

You simply have to learn how to differentiate between positive and negative energy and work on consciously influencing your energy.

We’ll walk you through deepening your understanding of how positive energy works, and we’ll give you concrete tips to help you create positive energy in your life today.

What Is A Positive Energy Field?

Let’s begin by clarifying what a positive energy field is.

You’re probably already familiar with the concept of an aura, which is related to your energy field.

When you detect someone’s aura, their energy field is part of what makes the aura a particular color or shade.

Your positive energy field is largely thought to relate to the low-level electromagnetic energy that we all emit. We all emit this energy at different frequencies at different points.

When that energy is at a high frequency, it’s a positive energy field.

This field is seen when you’re in a good mood, and it pulls things vibrating at a similar frequency towards you – other people with a high vibration, as well as abundance more generally.

So, whether you want career success, wealth, love, or something entirely, a positive energy field maximizes your chances.

What Are The Signs Of Positive Energy?

The concept of positive energy fields is highly abstract, so it’s helpful to think more concretely about specific signs of positive energy.

How do you know if you’re aligned with high vibrations?

Look out for the following indicators to see whether you typically embrace positive energy.

• Good health
• Positive things happen to you
• People interact easily with you
• You experience moments of intense gratitude
• You have high energy levels
• Experiencing negative energy is normal you but release it easily
• You are creative, easily inspired and motivated
• There is no need for materialistic things to be happy inside
• Laughing and smiling comes easily

What Are The Symptoms Of Low Positive Energy?

It’s also useful to have a sense of how low positive energy (or low vibrational frequency) typically presents.

If you regularly notice any of the following signs, it’s likely that you need to work on increasing your vibrational frequency.

Increasing your frequency will allow you to if you want to draw more positivity into your life.

• Negative Relationships
• Constant stress
• Constant complaining
• Things seem to go wrong all the time
• Poor health
• Tension in your body
• Symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Paranoia
• Sudden mood swings

What Restores Your Positive Energy?

So, now you know how to tell whether you have high levels of positive energy.

Let’s turn now to how you can replenish your stock of positive energy when you’ve noticed you’re storing a lot of negative energy. It’s vital to learn how to cleanse negativity, creating room for positivity.

Only then when you constantly vibrate on a high enough frequency to attract all the things you want. Here’s how to restore positive energy in your body, mind, and soul.

Restore Positive Energy For Your Body

Even if you’re in a good place emotionally, a lack of positive energy in your body can drag you down. A sedentary lifestyle, poor quality sleep, or a bad diet all sap your energy, lowering your vibration.

But there are at least two things you can do right now in order to replenish your body’s positive energy.

Move Your Stagnant Energy

First, focus on shifting that stagnant energy in your body – that feeling of sluggishness, of heaviness.

Any type of movement will help here.

Cardiovascular exercises like running, cycling, or dancing will all get endorphins flowing, giving you the famous “runner’s high”.

Movement and exercise serve a dual purpose here. First, it releases negative energy stored in your body – you literally sweat out toxins (e.g., leftover stress hormones, like cortisol).

Secondly, exercise also allows new, positive energy to flow into you as your blood oxygen levels rise to compensate for the exertion.

Find a form of exercise that doesn’t feel like a chore, and keep it up!

Eat High Vibrational Foods

As noted above, an unhealthy diet saps your positive energy and drags down your vibration.

However, there are high vibrational foods that do precisely the opposite.

Try to add the following to as many meals and snacks as you can:

• Organic fruits and vegetables (with an emphasis on the brightly colored – especially greens)
• Spirulina
• Any herbal teas (e.g., camomile, rosehip, and hibiscus)
• Pure water
• Honey
• Raw or lightly steamed food
• Seeds
• Legumes
• Whole grains (e.g., brown rice and spelt)
• Nuts
• Fermented foods
• Dark chocolate

In contrast, do your best to avoid low vibrational foods like white flour, sugar, red meat, soda, pasteurized dairy foods and deep fried foods.

Restore Positive Energy For Your Mind

While it’s great to fill the body with positive energy, it’s hard to enjoy this without a positive mental state. When your mind lacks positive energy, your thinking is typically anxious, slow, repetitive, and self-undermining.

The power of positive thinking is real and can change your life in many wonderful ways.

To get into a place of focus, improve your problem-solving skills, and boost your mood, try these two approaches.

Talk To Someone To Restore Positive Energy

First, to get rid of built-up negative mental energy, find someone to talk to who will listen to your feelings – who will be patient, even if you have to rant.

Say your worries out loud, and let them go.

The power of vulnerability should not be underestimated and this creates a new space for positivity.

When you don’t have someone suitable to talk to, you can learn how to journal and share your thoughts that way.

Don’t filter your thoughts or feelings, no matter how chaotic.

Meanwhile, talking to someone positive generates more positive energy in you too.

Know which friends to go to for laughter, for lightness, and for confidence-boosting conversation. Even five minutes with someone like this can raise your vibration.

Embrace Positive energy by being optimistic

Having a positive energy field is also a matter of choice, to some extent.

Even if you’re feeling angry, scared, or worried, you can choose not to let it consume your mind.

Deliberately make an effort to find something good in that apparent badness.

What can you learn? What can you be grateful for?

Sometimes, the good thing is just that this difficulty could be even worse than it is!

With time and effort, your default response will become one of shifting your mindset and concentrating on the good.

This keeps you full of positive energy, raising your vibration and attracting abundance.

Restore Positive Energy For Your Soul

Now, how about your soul? Your emotional center and your sense of self play a massive role in whether you radiate positive energy.

As such, it’s important to monitor whether your soul feels balanced, peaceful, and happy.

When life is hard and you’re battling negativity, try the following four techniques to immediately lift your soul and thereby your vibration.

Breathwork To Heal Your Positive Energy

There are many wonderful benefits to applying breathwork into your everyday life.

It can boost your immunity, reduce stress and energy levels and aid positive development.

There are many different breathwork exercises you can try, but the simplest is often the most effective.

To calm and center yourself, make sure you exhale for longer than you inhale.

So, for example, you might try inhaling for a count of five, holding your breath for a count of five, and exhaling to a count of seven.

Adjust the pattern so that you feel comfortable, and try to breathe from your diaphragm (the muscles just beneath your ribs).

Any time you feel negative, this type of breathwork can help to heal your positive energy.

Meditate To Increase Positive Energy

Meditation essential builds on what you do in your breathwork exercises, tuning your focus into the present moment and balancing your soul.

It might seem daunting when you don’t actually know how to meditate.

Focus on meditation exercises that actively generate positivity.

For example, you might visualize yourself exhaling negativity and inhaling positivity.

Choose colors that you associate with positivity and negativity, and see yourself becoming filled with the “positive” color.

Alternatively, you might want to visualize yourself becoming surrounded by golden light.

One exercise combines these two techniques, asking you to first visualize emptying yourself of negativity and then imagining liquid sunshine pouring into your body, starting at your toes and working up to your head.

Understanding How To Create Positive Energy In Your Life Today

The above tips and techniques can immediately help you combat negative energy and boost your physical, mental, and spiritual energy.

However, there’s always more you can do in order to create positive energy in your life. To finish off our exploration of positive energy fields, let’s consider how self-love, positive action, and practicing gratitude can all give your vibration a significant boost.

Self-Love Creates Positive Energy

It’s vital to remember that you are your own biggest source of positive energy.

If you take good care of yourself, your positive energy builds, your vibration heightens, and you begin projecting that positivity outward.

As the saying goes, the more you love yourself the more you’re able to love others.

So, how do you build up that self-love? Here are some self-care ideas to help you focuses on meeting your needs. Schedule daily time to relax and to explore your passions.

There are many self-care ideas you can start exploring to live a happier life, especially when life gets hard.

In addition, consider the role that your relationships are playing.

Do they feel warm and reciprocal? Or do you need to say “no” more often, or even pull back from some of the people in your life?

Make sure that you only interact with people who treat you as you deserve to be treated. If someone makes you feel respected, valued, and cared for, they will help you build self-love.

Recharging Create Positive Energy

Your energy field is intimately linked to your general energy levels.

In other words, if you’re up all night and you’re exhausted, you won’t likely be radiating positive energy.

Your mood will lower, your negative energy will inhibit your ability to succeed, and you’re likely to feel physically unwell too.

Of course, the number one thing to do to boost your vibration here is to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep.

The average adult needs 7-9 hours, depending on how your individual body works. Keep your bedroom solely for rest, and wind down for at least an hour before sleep.

However, we can’t always get the right number of hours – and even when we do, that isn’t always all we need in order to actually feel rested.

This means it’s important to add in other restful activities. Think long walks in nature, setting aside time for calming activities (such as drawing, reading, or coloring).

Positive Action Creates Positive Energy

Taking positive action is a broad category that encompasses a wide range of things you can do alone and with others.

On your own, try to listen to positive energy music, or repeat a positive energy affirmation of your choice.

Affirmations are simply positive statements that you recite as you look into the mirror.

They help you to get rid of old, negative beliefs and boost your vibration as you adopt new, positive beliefs.

Try to target the things that lower your energy.

For example, you might say “I am loved, I am happy and I am successful.” There are no strict rules – choose affirmations that feel natural.

Meanwhile, in terms of your interactions with others, surround yourself with positive people.

Your energy will rise to align with them, creating a feedback loop in which you all build each other up.

Meanwhile, avoid the ones who reliably drag your energy down.

Gratitude Creates Positive Energy

Finally, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of gratitude.

While you might feel grateful for the big things in life – promotions, weddings, graduations – there’s a difference between this and living a life of gratitude.

Practicing gratitude is all about tuning into the little things that matter.

Think of the things that make your day better – from people to events, to beautiful things you see.

Every time you focus on one or more of these things, you build your stocks of positive energy.

And as your stock build, you radiate more positivity, attracting other positive people toward you.

That’s why gratitude is so closely connected with the Law of Attraction, according to which like attracts like.

Being mindful of gratitude is a perfect way to become what you want to attract.

To get into the habit of being grateful, keep a gratitude journal, and make time each evening to note down 5-10 things that made you feel grateful.

Develop A Positive Attitude To Increase Your Positive Energy With Self Hypnosis

It is important to maintain a positive attitude so your energy levels can remain high.

If you find obtaining a positive attitude to be hard, especially when negative situations come your way, trying self-hypnosis might be a solution for you!

Using a positive attitude self-hypnosis in the comfort of your own home can start shifting your mindset and therefore shift your energy levels.

It can help you build a solid foundation of positivity in your mind so that when hard times hit, you are still able to radiate positivity.

The higher your positive attitude the more positive situation you are able to attract into your life with the law of attraction.

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