HEALTH, DIET AND NUTRITION FAQ’s

Stress – we all feel it on a daily basis, in varying degrees. Some days are much worse than others, while other days, you might even go so far as to say you’re relaxed. But in truth, stress is the norm more than we’d like it to be. And while we might never be completely stress free, we certainly don’t need to be stressed out every day. With Feng Shui, you can begin to lighten the load of stress in your life – all by changing the flow of energy in your life. This way, you can be cool and calm, no matter how much pressure you might have in your life.

You Can Stop the Stress Now

What’s great about Feng Shui is that you don’t have to simply change a few things in your environment and then wait for weeks to see the results. You can make simple changes right now and see results right now.

First of all, you want to assess just how stressed you are in your life. Take a moment to look around the space where you’re feeling the most stressed. If it’s your office, look at your desk and around the room. Where are the areas that are cluttered and messy? Make a note of these spaces and use a Feng Shui bagua to see just where these messes correlate to energy centers. For example, if you notice that the back left hand corner of your office (from the door) is messy, you will find out that you are feeling the most stress about money matters in relation to your job. And thus, you might want to focus on changing that area as well as your outlook in that part of your life.

In addition, you don’t just want to diagnose the clutter, you should be getting rid of it. When you simply leave your physical areas in disorder, you are leaving your mental state in disorder as well. Cleaning up the clutter – and keeping it away – is the best way, hands down, to help you maintain a cool demeanor, no matter the situation.

You will also want to remove any bright colors from your space that might be interfering with your stress levels. Bright reds and oranges are great for energy, but when they’re used in excess, they can also make you feel frazzled. Try to stick with neutral colors and blues to help soothe your anxiety levels. You will also want to add some sort of water element to the space that stresses you out as this will help to calm you even more – a fountain, a picture of water, etc.

Fending Off Stress Attacks

Many of us are constantly under stress because of the type of job we hold. So, in order to use Feng Shui in our lives, we need to make permanent changes to allow for positive energy to flow into our lives at every moment of the day.

Start by making sure your doorways are always free of obstacles and clutter. When you have messes in your doorway areas, you are hindering the flow of healthy energy into your space. In addition, make sure your door can move easily.

Take the time to surround yourself with things and images you love. This will help to bring a smile to your face, no matter what is happening in your world. Think about adding pictures of your family and friends as well as decorative elements that make you feel happy. For some, this might mean adding spiritual sculptures, while others might want to add flowers. Decide what makes you feel calm and happy – and then add it to your life.

Plants are also a great way to reduce the flow of stress in your life. Not only do they provide you with cleaner air naturally, but they also help to transmute the negative energy of your life into something that’s more positive. Play soothing music during the day or CDs with nature sounds so as to help to energize your space with calming tones, but also not so soothing that they lull you to sleep.

While you may never be able to stop stress from being in your life, Feng Shui is always there to soften the blow of another deadline or another crisis you need to handle. Take a breath, make changes, and you’ll be a happier person as a result.

Candace Czarny, ASID, CFM, LEED AP, “Award Winning” Interior Designer, Feng Shui Expert & Author of 20 Minute Feng Shui is continually ranked “Top 10″ in Google and Yahoo. Clients testify of dramatic results!

The way you feel about yourself can affect your entire day – and your whole life. If you don’t feel good about yourself, you might not be as willing to take risks, to achieve more, and to get what you really want. Instead of feeling badly about yourself, you can begin to change the energy of your life and of your attitude by using Feng Shui. Things can change – and you deserve better!

If It Holds You Back, Get Rid of It!

If you stop for a moment to look around at your living or working space, you might notice that there are things you don’t particular like. So why are they in your environment? One of the best ways to start bolstering your self esteem is to remove those things in your life that just don’t make you feel great. These might be pictures, negative notes or letters, or anything else that just makes you feel horrible. You want to increase the positive energy of your life and of yourself, so why drag that energy back down with things that only upset you? Unless you have to keep these items, get rid of them completely. You’ll notice an immediate weight lift from your shoulders.

While you’re getting rid of things, you should also be getting rid of any clothing that doesn’t make you feel good about yourself. You want to always feel good when you open your closet, not open up your closet and sigh when you go to put something on. Positive energy comes from having things you love in your life – so only hang onto those outfits you really, really love.

If your home is near anything that might produce EM, electromagnetic, energy, you should try to put up some sort of barrier between yourself and that source. Even a plant or some other decorative feature can help. Too much energy has just as negative an effect as too little energy – especially in relation to your self esteem.

Bring in the Happy Times

Now that you’ve cleaned out the bad, it’s time to bring in the good. Try painting or decorating your space with bold and bright colors (although try to avoid these in the bedroom). The kitchen is the heart of a home, and often linked with the heart of you too. So, dress it up in bright reds and oranges to lift your mood every day.

Make sure to open up the shades and to add as much light as possible to each room of your home. This will help you begin to feel more positive about your life as light attracts positive energy. You might also want to wear brighter clothes as this too will attract happy and positive feelings to your everyday encounters. And you’ll notice that others respond favorably to people who dress to impress.

It can also help for you to find a space in your home that you can use for you and only you. Decorate this space in any way you like, and visit it often. It might just be a chair that you sit in at the end of a long day or it could be a whole room that you devote to your favorite hobby. In any case, this space should be all about your energy and what makes you special – thus attracting even more positive energy to your life. In this space, why not add a list of the things you have achieved in your life or pictures of things that make you feel good about yourself? That’s going to spark a firestorm of positive energy.

Feng Shui is just one of the many ways you can help boost your self esteem and show the world just how special you are. Just think of how great it’s going to feel being surrounded by all that positive energy – you’re smiling right now, aren’t you?

Candace Czarny, ASID, CFM, LEED AP, “Award Winning” Interior Designer, Feng Shui Expert & Author of 20 Minute Feng Shui is continually ranked “Top 10″ in Google and Yahoo. Clients testify of dramatic results!

All over the universe, or so it seems, human beings are famous for routinely experiencing what they most don’t want to have, and for not being able to experience that which they most really do want. As human beings, all of our most stuck patterns of experience, from the slightly embarrassing ones (I always end up watching more TV than I want), to the ones that are actively life-destroying (I just can’t help disrespecting all the people I’ve tried to be partners with) have their source in our brains’ ongoing efforts to keep us well and safe. For us at NLP Marin, this is the most remarkable and amazing thing about humans: that everything we do that doesn’t work is actually the consequence of our brains’ patterning to make sure that we are all OK—both ourselves and the people we care about. But then, how can it be that something so positively and beautifully intended—our natural patterning to be well and happy—can go so terribly, terribly wrong so much of the time?

One of the really important reasons this is still happening for us humans is that, courtesy of creative evolution, we all have more than one brain, and each of them has a different set of instructions and descriptions about what well-being really is. A simplistic but still decent analogy is the issue of “legacy” hardware and software that plagues the computer world. Computer designers and engineers are forever faced with the job of providing their end-users with better tools (more elegance, reliability and functionality, for example) while still making sure that all of the old software can still work with and through the newer hardware designs.

Mother Nature has had a similar task with us humans: how to add functionality, adaptability, and ease-of-use without disinheriting everything that came before, in terms of our neurobiology. The result is that nature always builds new brain components and functions on top of (literally, on top of) whatever the processes of interactive evolution have already perfected across eons of time. As a result of this rather conservative approach to designing our hardware and inner software, all of us have a least four brains, and each of the four seems to have its own orientation, goals, and success indicators.

Courtesy of the neurophysiologists and their new and amazing brain investigation technologies (scanners of various kinds), we can observe our four different brains at work.

The First Brain

First and oldest is the brain with the most seniority—our Reptile Brain. It is not much changed in function from that of the average garden lizard. It is responsible for the basics of physical survival—heart beat, blood pressure, respiration, etc. (An old neuroscientist joke says that the Reptile Brain is responsible for the “4 F’s”—Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing…..and reproduction.)

The Second Brain

The Old Mammal Brain. A later development that is on top of around the Reptile, our Old Mammal Brain adds in a wonderful capacity to generate strong emotions, and to use these emotions to promote creature-level safety and well being. The additions of greater emotional range give the creature that has them even stronger drivers to move toward or away from conditions and experiences that will affect overall survival.

Note: At NLP Marin, we refer to the First and Second Brains, collectively, as our Critter Brain. It is not human, and it does not operate with truly human criteria. It has no attention to things like happiness, fulfillment, justice, truth or beauty. It works to fulfill the Four F’s, and that’s about it.

The Third Brain

Our third brain is our Primate neurology. It occupies a large part of the top and back of the inside of our heads. The Primate brain is very sophisticated, with a wonderful capacity to understand the realities and rules of community—the so-called primate dominance dynamics. Compared with us humans, however, the Primate brain lacks much inertest in or capacity to make meaning about abstractions, values, and long periods of time. It is the brain of a remarkable ape, but an ape that is not concerned with 20 year plans about anything.

The Fourth Brain—the Human Brain

This is the newest and most human part of us, neurologically speaking—our frontal and pre-frontal lobes. These are the reasons we have foreheads that are vertical instead of slanted. This Fourth Brain, especially their pre-frontal aspects (located immediately on the other side of our foreheads) are where the “I-ness” of us resides. If life damages part of our motor cortex or a speech center, farther back in our heads, then we may have impaired movement or speech, but we are still “us.” Damage to the pre-frontals, however, changes who we are and how we create meaning in the world. Moreover, there are some who say that our pre-frontal lobes are one of our main connections into whatever it is that we are part of in terms of non-physical reality.

All of four brains are operating constantly. They rely on each other and usually coordinate themselves magnificently. There are a few bugs in the interfaces, however, and these bits of bad programming can cause us huge difficulties as humans.

Some of the biggest bugs in our multiple brains

Bug #1

The main driver for the Critter Brain is fear, with the goal of survival, and with no attention to changing anything that has already become associated with this experience of survival. In complete contrast, the main driver for the Human Brain is love, with goals of learning and, basically, nothing but change. Consequence: our Human is always imagining things being different and better, while our Critter simultaneously values it all staying the same, especially if we are not dead yet (see Bug #3, below).

Bug #2

The Critter Brain does not deal in time, at least not in Human time. The Critter does a truly good job of being here now. For the Critter, there is meal time and nap time, but not a life-time. Consequence: the Critter will happily run hugely unproductive or damaging patterning forever. For the Critter, forever is just for-now.

Bug #3

The Critter has only one success indicator it uses to know if it is doing a good job for us. The Critter cannot actually speak, but this one success indicator comes down to a simple question, “Are we dead yet?” If the answer is no, then the Critter gives itself full marks, gold stars, and many thumbs up for doing a great job. The Human who is sort of riding along on top might be in life agony—doing their third failed business or fourth alcoholic marriage, for example, and the Critter will regard this as continuing a high-quality outcome. After all, these difficult or tragic experiences are no trouble for the Critter. It values a heart that beats; it has no attention to whether or not that heart is open or closed in more non-physical terms.

Whether our heart is open or closed, for example, is well above the Critter Brain’s pay grade. It does not know how to make meaning at this level. It can only create associations, and if a “broken heart” becomes associated with not-having-died, then the Critter will value “broken-heartedness” highly, and it will promote and foment the experience throughout the Human’s life. The more the Human tries to change things, the more the Critter operates to set them back to original conditions, to the ones with the most “survival value”—the experiences that we learned to survive and that, unfortunately for us humans, our Critter Brains then associated with continued survival. And because the Critter Brain is the one that generates most emotions, it knows how to create the feelings within us that will allow it get its way. Bug #3 is a serious bug indeed.

About thirty years ago, the founders of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) invented a description for their then newly synthesizing discipline, a new way of understanding and changing human experience. They described NLP as “the study of the structure of human experience and human excellence.” The important word here is “structure.” NLP is a terrifically good toolbox for helping us to understand how we create and maintain our experience as humans. The question that usually gets a session of NLP-based change work rolling is, “What would you like?” NLP change work is designed to locate and revise just exactly those kinds of Critter/Human communication problems that generate almost all of our unwanted experiences, the ones that go in the unwanted-yet-impossible-to-stop-or change category.

And working with the NLP toolbox promotes Critter/Human coordination and harmony. Our goal is to have what we want, based on our most truly human desires and standards, and to do so in actual present time. Neuro-Linguistic Programming can do this superbly well because it speaks English (or another language) to the Human Brain, but it speaks to the Critter Brain in the programming language of creature neurology, which is a language not of words, but of pictures, sounds, feelings, smells, and tastes. It’s like plugging a keyboard into the Critter wiring. When we reprogram or re-pattern the Critter in its own programming language, it accepts updates easily and, if desired, permanently.

In fact, at NLP Marin, we describe NLP as “a toolbox to help our creature neurology to better support our most human and spiritual goals.”

Carl Buchheit, MA, has been the Training Director at NLP Marin (http://www.NLPMarin.com) since 1993, and has deeply been involved with NLP for over thirty years. Informal calculations suggest that Carl has probably taught more NLP classes, and worked with more clients, than any other teacher/practitioner.

In the twenty years or so since its inception, NLP has acquired a variety of reputations. Few who have encountered the power of Neuro-Linguistic Programming have remained neutral. At the extremes, NLP has been hailed as the ultimate fast fix and a panacea for personal growth. Alternately, it has been derided for being “techniquey,” gimmicky, manipulative, and mechanical. The truth is, NLP is neither the cure-all nor the cold, cerebral event that some of its most ardent—and often less informed—promoters and detractors claim.

A Brief History

Neuro-Linguistic Programming was developed in the early-to-middle 1970s by John Grinder, a linguist, and Richard Bandler, an information scientist. Like many others, they had observed that people with similar education, training, background, and years of experience were achieving widely varying results ranging from wonderful to mediocre.

Bandler and Grinder were intrigued by these differences. They wanted to know how effective people perform and accomplish things. They were especially interested in the possibility of being able to duplicate the behavior, and therefore the competence, of these highly effective individuals. In short, they set out to “model” human excellence in such fields as education, business and therapy. What emerged from their work came to be called Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

While the name is awkward—and some object to the word “programming”—it is nonetheless descriptive. Neuro refers to the brain and neural pathways of the human organism. Linguistic is about the content (verbal and nonverbal) that moves across and through these pathways. Programming is the way the content is directed, sequenced, and connected by each of us to produce the thinking patterns and behaviors that are our experience of life. As educator and writer Sid Jacobson puts it, “There is a relationship between perceptions, thinking, and behavior that is neurolinguistic in nature. The relationship is operating all the time, no matter what we are doing, and it can be studied by exploring our internal or subjective experience.”

Maps of Reality

It has long been recognized that human experience is based on internal reality maps. The structure and content of the latter determines the former. Our inner maps of reality comprise most of what we deal with as human beings. These inner maps determine what is real and unreal, achievable and not achievable, believable and not believable, for each of us. Understand another’s map, and you can understand (and share) their experience of themselves and the world. Change the map, and you change them and their world.

Study of the structure of experience led Bandler and Grinder to notice external signals and cues that were the keys to understanding the “how” of certain kinds of thought processes and behavior. They were able to assemble their understanding of these cues and signals into a system that allowed its user to know how another human being creates his or her experience—how they organize and maintain their unique internal map of reality that corresponds to and organizes their experience of the external world.

A variety of creative and brilliant people were quickly attracted to Bandler and Grinder’s unique work and discoveries. They helped to expand the NLP models and organize them into a vast and rich set of tools, skills, and information—a process which continues today.

Information Processing, Communication, and Sensory Experience

In NLP, we first distinguish between inner and outer sensory experience. We are all familiar with external sensory experience—the continual flow of sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes that make up our experience of the outer world. Our inner experience, our thoughts, emotions, responses, ideas, etc., are also comprised of information in these same five sensory systems.

Even words are multisensory events, although most of this sensory experience is deleted from conscious awareness. For example, if I write the word “walnut” on this page, you must internally access some combination of inner pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes and smells if you are to understand it. Your experience of “walnut” is unique and is comprised of your own internal sequencing and combining of distinct inner sensory events. In other words, thinking is a sensory event. Thoughts are composed of inner pictures, sounds (including words), body sensations, tastes and smells.

Most of our communication with each other, and almost all of our inner sensory representations, operate (for good or ill) outside our conscious awareness. These inner representations—what they are and the order in which they occur—combine to make up our individual reality map. And this map determines what is and is not possible in our world and our lives. Again, understand the structure and process of someone’s map, and you can better understand that person’s experience of life. Change the organization of the map, and you change the life experience.

Above all else, NLP is about understanding and gaining access to human experience at the structural or process level—in addition to the level of content. Put another way, NLP is a set of models and methods—highly learnable, reliable, and effective—for understanding how human beings create and maintain their experience of themselves and the world around them. NLP enables us to know how we, and others, create our unique maps of reality. It enables us to understand our own and others’ processes of decision-making, communication, motivation, and learning.

Understanding our own map of reality enables us to make changes that lead to the life experiences we want. Understanding and having access to another’s map of reality makes it much easier to step off our own map and respectfully step onto the other’s. When this happens, the result is an experience of deep connection that is often experienced as a precious gift.

An “Operator’s Manual” for Human Relationship

NLP’s contribution, then, is to increasing the depth and effectiveness of our relationships—beginning with self and extending through personal and intimate relationships to our professional and work lives and, finally, to the therapeutic arena of working with others to bring about healing, change, and growth. NLP provides the tools that enable this rich connection with self and others to happen.

Chances are you have already encountered NLP, in one form or another, without its being identified and without your realizing it. NLP is so useful for the whole experience of being human that many of its original tools and distinctions have already integrated into education, training, business, and therapy—becoming part of the “common sense” wisdom of our society.

Experiencing the Structure of Experience

The whole issue of the “structure of experience” or the “process of experience” as used in Neuro-Linguistic Programming can be difficult and deadly dull to communicate with words, but easy to demonstrate with experience. To explore further, please go to the “NLP Exercises” section of our website (www.nlpmarin.com)click on “NLP execises” to explore in the privacy of your own brain!

Carl Buchheit, MA, has been the Training Director at NLP Marin (http://www.NLPMarin.com) since 1993, and has deeply been involved with NLP for over thirty years. Informal calculations suggest that Carl has probably taught more NLP classes, and worked with more clients, than any other teacher/practitioner.

Quit caffeine more easily by changing your addictive routine. This article will show you how.

We get really used to having our coffee at a certain time, even in a certain place, every morning. Or we develop a steady habit of always having our tea or energy drink right after lunch.

Whatever your specific habit is, you’re no doubt very comfortable with it. You’re not just hooked on the chemical caffeine; you’re totally dialed into everything about your current routine.

Addiction counselors and people who have successfully broken long-term chemical habits will tell you that mixing things up is one of the best tactics you can employ when you decide to quit caffeine. In fact people in 12 step programs say if you’re used to putting your left shoe on first each morning, switch to stepping into your right shoe first from now on.

Have you sat at your kitchen table morning after morning for the last ten years with a cup of coffee? From here on in eat breakfast on your couch, or standing at the sink.

Does your routine involve stopping by a drive-in coffee shop on the way to work every day? Find a juice bar on the other side of the street and start picking up a smoothie instead, or better yet buy a blender and start making your own fruit treats at home.

Do you and your co-workers ordinarily sit in the break room and drink a pot of coffee every day at 11 a.m. sharp? From now on you should take your break outside or in the building’s lobby at 10:45.

The above scenarios are examples of how to shake things up when it comes to your usual caffeine consumption times. But don’t stop there. To quit caffeine with minimal effort you should find ways to completely rearrange your daily program.

Change the order of your morning ritual. If you normally brush your teeth first and shower second, reverse this. If you’ve been laying your clothes out on a chair in your bedroom each night before bed, start hanging them in your bathroom instead. Anything you can do to take yourself off autopilot will help.

Our bodies become programmed with a routine after a while. Most likely you could walk through your morning schedule with your eyes closed. This type of conditioning is useful and has its place, but when you’re ready to quit caffeine your prior programming will work against you.

You might even toss something completely new into your usual procession. If you don’t ordinarily exercise in the morning now is a great time to start.

A few minutes of light stretching or a walk around the block is sufficient. Exercise will improve your bodies’ ability to cope with the stress of change and it will give you a natural lift to help replace the synthetic rush you get from caffeine.

Don’t just change your mornings. Take your whole day into a new direction.

You probably have routines and rituals built up throughout the day and right up until you go to bed. Mix things up as much as possible in all areas of your life to avoid falling into a rut and to decrease the likelihood of being able to just reach out and grab a caffeine fix because it was convenient.

You’ll be surprised by just how effective this strategy can be. When you change your routine, you alter the flow of your whole life, and this makes it much easier to initiate and sustain change.

Caffeine addiction is serious business but with our help you can beat it! For more solid tips on how to quit caffeine easily and for good please download our online system right now!

Let me start by saying that I am a firm believer in the laws of universal attraction – a.k.a “The Secret”. At the same time however, I must add that there is so much about this law that I do not understand. I’ve seen the law in action in both my own life as well as in the lives of many others that I know personally. At the same time, on a daily basis, I read about or hear about things that happen which leave me scratching my head in disbelief.

For example, I remember watching a show on lottery winners and how their windfall dollars had changed their lives. There was an older man highlighted on this show who, throughout his life, bounced around from one menial job to next. He was never able to hold on to any type of meaningful employment. One day, he had won the lottery. The exact amount of winnings escapes me but it was a multi-multi-million dollar jackpot. At the time of his winning he was working as a ride operator for a traveling carnival. The ride he’d been working was one that would spin riders upside down. I remember him saying he’d considered this very good fortune because it meant that after the carnival had shut down for the evening he could walk around under the ride picking up the lose change that had fallen from people’s pockets.

Next thing you know, he was on the receiving end of a lottery jackpot that made him an instant multi-millionaire. The law of attraction states that we attract everything we receive in life through our internal energy vibrations. The law also states that there is no such thing as luck – either good or bad. So the obvious question I was left with is how can someone who considered picking up loose change to be good fortune hit a multi-million dollar lottery jackpot? What kind of internal energy could this man have been vibrating to attract such a huge, financial windfall? This can not be reconciled as just good luck – the law of attraction says there is no such thing.

The law also says to fully expect to receive that which you deeply desire. I recall an interview I heard with Carrie Underwood shortly after she’d won the American Idol contest. In this interview, she said how she didn’t even expect to make it through the first round let alone going all the way to win the full magilla. Now I’m not taking anything away from Carrie Underwood – she’s an amazing talent who deserves all the good fortune she now enjoys in life. But if she didn’t expect to even make it through the first round, how did the law of attraction play out so that she wound up the grand prize winner?

On the flip side, I recall a time a few years ago when I accompanied my niece Olivia – then 6 years old – to a daddy / daughter dance. (My brother in law was out of town and my sister asked me if I’d like to step in and go in his place.) Upon entering the dance, every little kid was given a ticket for a raffle that was to be held at the conclusion of the dance. A table was set up displaying all the prizes that were to be raffled off. Olivia was fixated on this radio cassette player that was among the prizes. I swear she spent a good part of the night just standing there staring at this little boom box. She even went so far as to tell my sister and I repeatedly how badly she wanted it.

My sister and I, being the knowledgeable adults, proceeded to explain to Olivia that there were several hundred kids at the dance and only 20 or so prizes that were to be given out. We explained to her that she had a really long shot at winning and not to get her hopes up. This, we felt, was logical but what does logic mean to a six year old? When raffle time arrived, one item at a time was pulled from the table and the winning ticket received that particular item – the winning ticket was not permitted to choose the item they wanted. Wouldn’t you know, as God (and my sister) is my witness, Olivia’s number was called and she won that very prize that she was fixated on. When the dance was over, Olivia insisted on carrying out her new prize on her own even though the box was almost as big as she was. She wanted to make sure that everyone saw that she had won that prize. It still makes me smile to this day thinking about that special evening.

Yes, I’ve seen the law in action and I’ve seen events unfold that leave me incredulous. I am a firm believer in the law of attraction and I hope, before I die, I’ll have it fully figured out.

dan@danielherzner.com 914-525-2487 http://www.letsgetbacktobusiness.com Daniel Herzner is Founder and President of Lets Get Back To Business dot com, located in White Plains, NY. Dan has been a serial entrepreneur for the better part of his adult life and has worked tirelessly at biz building.

In order to be more disciplined, you need a little self-discipline. Now that makes a lot of sense. How are you supposed to be more disciplined if you don’t have any discipline? That’s circular logic. Actually, it’s not as hard as it sounds. Sometimes it can certainly be a struggle, but here are three ways to jump start your new practice of self-discipline.

>) Use willpower to make a new habit.

Anything you do on a day to day basis becomes a habit and a part of your life. It’s the same with self-discipline. It can be challenge to form new habits when you have old habits that refuse to go away. You must make a conscious choice to be more disciplined and do so on a consistent basis. When you feel yourself slipping back into your old habits remind yourself that what you are doing is by choice and you have the power to change it. Do not let others make decisions for you. You own your actions so take responsibility for your decisions and call on your willpower to make the changes you need.

>) Remind yourself of your goals.

It is easy to give in to temptation and get off track when it comes to being disciplined. You want what you want when you want it, never mind what you might get later. Instant gratification is the theme of modern society. The pleasure you have at this moment makes thoughts of future benefits you may achieve from setting goals just go up in smoke. To keep from sabotaging your efforts to be more self-disciplined, keep one question in the forefront of your mind when temptation strikes. Is it worth it? Look at the picture you have of a slimmer you when you were younger. You can be that again. Is that candy bar worth the momentary pleasure? If it is really important to you to regain your figure, then choosing the right course becomes easier. That’s not to say it will always be easy, but nothing worthwhile is.

>) Rinse and Repeat.

Self-discipline is not something you are born with, it is an ongoing process. Every time you make a decision to do the best thing for yourself, you are strengthening your self-discipline. As you repeat this process, you become conscious of how you are developing discipline and you will not fail if you make this part of your future planning. Find what works and keep repeating the process. One day you will realize that self-discipline has become a habit.

There will be times that things do not work out as planned. That’s fine. There is no need to berate yourself. If you made a bad choice, just know to make a better one in the future. When you do make the right choices, brag about it a little, at least to yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back on being able to stick to your plans. The more you can do this, the less painful developing self-discipline will be.

Robin Skeen is a published author and expert in personal growth. For more tips on self improvement, please visit the Self Improvement Tips blog at http://www.selfimprovementtips.a1blogging.com and visit Robin Skeen’s main blog at http://www.robinskeen.com

Lurking in the closets are things to try on to see if they still fit. I hate trying on my old favorites because I’m afraid. My body has shifted, shape-shifted. How dare it. Gratefully, some things still work. Pants I wore this weekend I’ve had for 25 years. I love these white pants. I loved them from the first day I bought two of the same. Hallelujah, something old is to be kept and continues to be appreciated and fitting.

But there’s more lurking at the back of the closet waiting to be discovered. The “comfort habits” of old ways of thinking; the assumptions about life and what works and what doesn’t. Old ways of being are asked to be tried on. Some things (ideas) pinch, some are discolored, some are simply out of style. Goodbye! Well, maybe not so easily.

How hard it is to give up the favorites; the behaviors and beliefs that have carried, covered, warmed me for years. I believe that the reason we have so much trouble with this issue is because much of what we have we don’t actually want but we’re hard pressed (or lazy) to make the decision to get rid of it. Having only that which is truly needed and appreciated is liberating both physically and emotionally! Trust me.

I dislike clothes shopping. Dislike it in a big way. So trying on the new is another kind of shopping that’s equally not easy.

When the more than enough is cleared what’s left is the challenge of storing, arranging, organizing and making it easy to find, that’s the challenge.

Here are two basic ideas around storage: adjacencies – what needs to be where to have it at hand as needed. And hierarchy – what’s get used often and is of greater importance? So, where should it “live? Example: everyday glasses are stored in the kitchen close to the frig and the sink while wine glasses are kept close to the dining room table where they are most often used. The lobster pot is seldom used, not high on the hierarchy scale, so it’s goes in the pantry on the way to the basement so it doesn’t take up valuable space in the kitchen where sauce pans and frying pans are everyday necessities.

Storage can be a game to be played. When there’s an oversized basket, ask it what it wants to store? For me, it’s the tablecloths. The mantle both stores and displays as it shows-off favorite pieces of art. The stairwell to the “guest nest” had a cavity of space waiting to be punched out and generous shelves created to house the bed linens and cumbersome comforters and blankets.

Enjoying More Of What I Already Own

Curiously the bedroom closet wanted no doors and to be left open; in spite of the newness of it and the fear of having to actually see what’s there. It surprises me to live with this new idea. It makes me and my stuff visible to the world. It’s a metaphor of what I’m ready to see in the emotional closet as well. Some part of me is smarter than I know it is: next step, next step, one step at a time.

Now that I can see what I actually own, I don’t need to buy more but rather to enjoy more of what I do have. It’s comforting to just be open to trying on what works, what doesn’t, make some adjustments and enjoy the dance…Everything is exposed. It’s upfront and visible. It’s my way of practicing of seeing what is.

The closet doors are wide open. There’s no-thing to hide unless there is and then we have a choice; close the door to protect ourselves from the darkness, stay with the old or…keep it open and see what wants to Be.

Jill Butler is an author, illustrator, designer and creativity coach. Her product designs are specific to France as are her first three books. Jill now writes for women in transition and how the home and the personal transformation work hand in hand in her latest book, Create the Space You Deserve. For more, visit: Jill Butler.

This articles lays out the benefits of self-hypnosis and the techniques for going into a trance. Self-hypnosis is taught to all of our clients and nlp training students in New York who enjoy the benefits of being able to go into trance whenever they want or need

Why learn self-hypnosis?

Things can make us feel overwhelmed. During the past week I was working on my personal tax return as well as several client projects. The financial markets were in melt-down and my wife was fretting over the beating our investments were taking. One of my colleagues called me with some outrageous demand on my time I felt like screaming at him. However I was able to use self hypnosis to relax, refocus and respond in a calmer and more resourceful way!

In these troubling times it is easy to feel overwhelmed when we need all the calm and concentration we can muster. Of course we learn meditation or other techniques to find a calm space inside, however for a more rapid solution, self hypnosis may be the answer.

This makes self hypnosis a wonderful skill to have. We can become instantly calm and relaxed. This allows us to make better decisions, let go of uncomfortable memories and perform better in any area of our life we wish.

What Hypnosis Isn’t

There is a myth that we lose control when in a hypnotic trance. This is not true. Hypnosis allows us to become stronger and more resourceful.

As for the belief that you may lose control, I am reminded of the story of the lady who went to a hypnosis stage show. She volunteered to be one of the audience members hypnotized on stage and proved her-self very adept. She carried out every outrageous suggestion that the hypnotist gave; she quacked like a duck, and walked like a chicken. However, when the hypnotist suggested that the stage was a disco and everyone should dance she stood perfectly calmly and perfectly still, not joining in. After the show, the hypnotist approached her privately and asked her why she had joined in with every activity except the dancing. She replied, “Well, you see, in my religion, we don’t dance”. The fact Is that you are fully in control during hypnosis, it is just that critical voice that often stops you from enjoying yourself that is silenced.

How to start self hypnosis

What is the first step in self hypnosis? It’s experiencing a hypnotic trance. A hypnotic trance is really little more than a very deep and profound level of relaxation. It goes without saying that you should not experience trance while driving a car, operating machinery or being otherwise involved in something that requires you attention.

Find a suitable chair to sit in. We suggest it is not too comfortable so you don’t get so relaxed you go to sleep! Choose a time to practice when your can be undisturbed for 20 minutes.

The following represents one way to begin to experience trance. Become familiar with the instructions so you can easily give them to yourself without having to read them!

1. Once you have selected a chair, select a point on the wall in front of you and above eye level and stare at it.

2. Notice your breathing, breathe in, and relax out. With each breath out, feel a wave of relaxation wash over your body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.

3. Feel yourself sinking into a wonderfully relaxed state and say the following to yourself three times:

a. I am going deeper into trance

b. Any noises I hear will taker me deeper into relaxation

c. If anything around me requires my attention, I will instantly awake, refreshed and alert

4. Go even deeper into a state of deep relaxation. Feel your eyes getting more relaxed and feeling heavy. Still looking at the point on the wall, allow your eyes to open and close, opening as you breathe in and closing and you breathe out. When your eyes are totally relaxed allow them to remain closed, relaxing even more with each breath.

5. When your eyes feel so relaxed that you feel you could not open them if you tried, only then test them. Try to open them or notice if they just remain closed.

6. Feel your eyes stay closed and know that you are now in trance. As you relax even further, feel how good that feels.

7. Congratulate yourself on having a great hypnotic skill.

8. Now you can tell yourself: “I can easily and rapidly return to this relaxed state whenever I wish by squeezing my left forefinger and thumb together and breathing out to a count of 3-2-1.” Repeat this instruction 3 times.

9. Tell yourself that you will become happier, healthier, more confident and more successful with each day that passes. Repeat this three times.

10. Now say “As I count from one to three I will come fully awake feeling alert and refreshed. 1 I am beginning to awaken. 2 eyes opening, feeling good. 3 feeling fully awake, alert and great!

Congratulations on taking your first steps into learning self-hypnosis. We teach self hypnosis on our NLP training in New York, and hypnosis courses in New York.

Shawn Carson is a Hypnotist and Neuro Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner and Trainer offering NLP training in New York. He is also a certified coach and offers NLP Practitioner Training for Coaches in New York. www.nlptrainingnewyork.com Tel:212-714-3574 email:iphnewyork@aol.com

Shawn Carson is a Hypnotist and Neuro Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner and Trainer offering NLP training in New York. He is also a certified coach and offers NLP Practitioner Training for Coaches in New York. www.nlptrainingnewyork.com Tel:212-714-3574 email:iphnewyork@aol.com

So you want to stop smoking

Maybe you’re stressed, or bored, or lonely. But it’s OK, your friend is there. He’s always been there for you. He distracts you if you get bored. He fixes you a nice relaxing cocktail if you feel stressed or tense.

But now you suspect he’s slipping poison into your cocktail, and he’s slipping money out of your wallet. The fact is he’s been feeding you a pack of lies.

Saying goodbye to friends can be difficult, even friends who are trying to kill you and rob you. But it is possible. Millions of people just like you have done it, have stopped smoking, and you can too.

Following these 10 easy tips to assist you in becoming a healthy non-smoker for life!

• Tip 1: Take a moment, breath deeply in, and out, and ask yourself why you want to stop smoking

For some people it is health risks of smoking. After all smoking is not only a proven killer, it is also able to kill in many varied ways: lung cancer, stomach cancer, mouth or throat cancer, emphysema. You name it and there’s a good chance cigarettes can give it to you.

For some people it is the risk to your children or other loved ones. By smoking, you are not just poisoning yourself, you are sharing your second hand poison with them also. Second hand smoke can be as deadly as first hand smoke.

For some it is the effect on your breath of stale cigarette smoke, for others the aging effect on your skin.

For some it is the stench of smoke on their clothes. Perhaps they see people wrinkle their nose as they walk past.

It may be the effect on your breathing.

Everyone has different reasons to stop smoking. What are yours? Think about it and write them down.

• Tip 2: Ask yourself why you want to stop smoking NOW

So you want to stop smoking. Why do you want to stop smoking now? Has there been some event in your life? Maybe a health scare?

• Tip 3: Make a decision to quit.

You know why you are becoming a non-smoker, and you know the time is right to become a non-smoker now.

Make a decision: from now on you are a healthy non-smoker for life!

• Tip 4: Share the good news

Congratulations! You have made a decision to quit and become a healthy non-smoker for life. Don’t keep it to yourself, tell your friends, tell your relatives.

The more people you tell, the more likely you are to stick to being a healthy non-smoker for life!

• Tip 5: Get to know your enemy

Knowledge is power. There are excellent resources on-line that discuss in detail the contents of cigarettes and the effects of smoking.

Of course cigarettes contain carcinogens, cancer causing chemicals, but there are more common day-to-day poisons as well. Cyanide and arsenic are two of the better-known poisons that are in cigarettes. But did you know they put formaldehyde in there as well. That’s the stuff they keep dead bodies in at the morgue; remember dissecting frogs in biology class? And urea, that’s urine to you and me, yes your once-upon-a-time friend pisses in those cigarettes before he hands them out.

Honestly, the more you read about cigarettes and the effects of smoking the worse it gets and you will wonder why you ever let a cigarette near you, and you will probably feel a little nauseous if you smell tobacco smoke again.

Tip 6: Acknowledge what smoking did for you and realize how many ways you can still get those same benefits

Let’s face it, smoking did something for you. That’s why you once considered cigarettes your friend. But you don’t need to sacrifice your health; all the benefits that smoking gave you, you can get being a healthy non-smoker.

Ask yourself honestly what smoking used to do for you. Did it make you feel relaxed? Or feel like Joe Cool? Or make you feel like one of the gang? Now use your creative imagination to come up with some other ways of getting those benefits, for example if smoking used to help you relax, you could learn self-hypnosis to easily get the same effect. Use those new healthy behaviors and you will keep the benefits.

• Tip 7: Ask for help if you need it

If you feel it would be beneficial to see a doctor do so. If you think a hypnotist will help you, go see one. You are not alone!

• Tip 8: Ask yourself: how will my life be different now that I am a healthy non-smoker for life?

Yes you’re healthier now as a non-smoker for life. Your body is already beginning to repair itself. Your risk of serious disease is already diminishing. Your lungs are healthier; you’re able to take more exercise, run for the bus without losing your breath.

And you life is different in so many other ways. Imagine you are walking past the news-stand. You reach the next block and realize you have no cravings at all. They are gone and you are free. How does this feel?

Imagine helping a friend of yours to become a non-smoker. What are you saying to them to help and encourage them? How good does it feel to know you have helped them to become a healthy non-smoker for life?

• Tip 9: Arm yourself to more easily handle cravings

Smoking is addictive. Your once-upon-a-time friends at the tobacco companies have seen to that. They have carefully laced your cocktail with chemically addictive additives to better keep a hold of your mind and wallet, but the cravings can be handled once you are prepared.

There are a number of ways you can prepare yourself to more easily handle any cravings. Mind-energy techniques such as self-hypnosis or EFT can reduce cravings to zero and are well worth learning. Some people swear by gum or the patch.

The nicotine will be gone from your system in around 72 hours, and from that point on your brain chemistry begins to return to normal. During that time, try not to drink coffee or fruit juice (the acidity tends to increase the nicotine craving). If you drink, drink in moderation.

• Tip 10: Acknowledge and reward yourself for becoming a healthy non-smoker for life

You have taken a major step into a brighter, healthier future. Acknowledge that and thank yourself for what you have done.

Reward yourself by treating yourself to something you really want. Get your once-upon-a-time friends at the tobacco company to pay for it; how much money were you wasting on each pack of lies that you bought? How many did you buy? How much money were you wasting on poison? Now it is truly yours to spend as you want.

Bonus Tip: What to do if your once-upon-a-time friend comes whispering in your ear.

OK so you’ve kicked your once-upon-a-time friend out. You’ve done your research and you know exactly what he was doing to you all that time, poisoning you and robbing you. You’ve got over those three days of cravings. You’re free.

Don’t be surprised if your once-upon-a-time friend comes whispering inside your head.

He may use a superior tone:

“Who do you think you’re kidding? You’re not strong enough, you’ll come crawling back to me”

Or maybe he’ll try the whiney approach:

“Just one. What harm is there in just one?”

And you know it’s a pack of lies, but…

Wait a minute! This is your head! You get to say who speaks and what they say! Take a moment, invite your whiney once-upon-a-time friend to speak. Listen to that voice, and notice where it is coming from. Now move it, some people find moving it down to the ground by your left foot works. As you move it down you will find it becomes even more whiney “neh-neh-neh just one more neh-neh-neh” almost like the buzzing of an insect crawling round the floor.

And taking a moment to listen to that whiney buzz, wondering how your once-upon-a-time friend ever thought he could fool you again with his pack of lies, lift up your left foot and squish that whiney insect.

We’re not done yet. Think back to someone in your life who you know or knew. Someone you admired and respected. Perhaps a teacher, a friend, a mentor. As you remember them, imagine what they would be saying to you now, how proud they would be of you as a healthy non-smoker for life. Hear their voice, hear their words, and realize you have won and you are a healthy non-smoker for life!

Shawn Carson is a Neuro Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner and Trainer offering NLP training in New York. He is also a certified coach and offers coaching in New York. www.nlptrainingnewyork.com Tel:212-714-3574 email:iphnewyork@aol.com