Focus on what you love more than what you don't. Aim for 1% improvement

Hello All,

We talked about these 2 points via email last week (Apr 19th 2010 week). I thought I would put it on the blog so we can all comment on it.

• Focus on what you love about your life a lot more than what you don't like
• Aim for a 1% improvement every single day

Making a 1% improvement is definitely something we can do don't you agree? Also learning to focus on what is going right in your life and all that you are grateful for is something that can lead to the 1% improvement. It sounds easy to do, but is it really? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Let's discuss the steps we need to follow to improve ourselves.

Step 1: Read or hear about something that will help you improve. Like reading my blog :)

Step 2: Reflect on what you read or hear and what it really means to you. Not what the other person said but what does it mean  to you. An apple is sweet. This statement means different things to different people. Why? because the definition of sweet varies. Is it as sweet as chocolate? or juice? or sweets? or Mary? or ? So we have all stored the sweet definition is our sub conscious mind. Hence reflecting on what a word means to us is important step. You can share your insights and meanings with others by leaving a comment on the blog. Remember, when we have to write, we pay more attention and relect more. So WRITE A COMMENT ON THE BLOG.

Step 3: TAKE ACTION. Put the learning into your life experience. That's the final step in self improvement and the most important. Otherwise it is only knowledge, good for discussion, for arguing. Only when we take action on what we learn, we improve. The power of compounding is phenomenal. We can all take action by pinning down our experiences as comments on the blog. The more we share, the more we learn. Also knowing what others did to improve can give us ideas on things we can do. Small steps. Kaizen. Remember?

I would love to learn from you. I still need to figure out how to make the writing comments more intutitive on the blog.

Keep having fun. Let's together make our planet a better place to be.

Self Development-Emotional, Spiritual Health

Self Development-Emotional, Spiritual Health

Magnificent Mind at any age by Dr Amen

Magnificent Mind at any age




Back in Jan 2009 (more than a year ago), I say a program on TV, Magnificent Mind at any Age. Another program I saw of Dr Amen in Dec '08 was called 'Change your Brain, Change your Life'. The programs are books and CD collections by Dr Daniel Amen, M.D. I wonder if any of you got an opportunity to see these programs on KQED channel. Tons of good information about being Brain Healthy in the program. Basic advice to be brain healthy is of what we all know, eating right and exercising.  He has given lots of good advice in the 2 programs. Some of my takeaways from his talk show are as below. My comments are as usual in braces (....). Enjoy.

• 'Focus on what you love about your life a lot more than what you don't like'. (I read something similar on how a heart full of gratitude expands the mind much faster, making it healthier, stronger and happier. After all gratitude releases serotonin in your brains, the substance that is present in anti-depressant pills. So why not produce it naturally in your body without side effects)

• The best way to help yourself is to help others. (Have you done something for someone without expecting anything in return? Did you notice how good you felt inside and the wonderful sense of well being?. If you have not done that yet, don't miss out on this chance to feel REAL good inside. Help others without expecting anything back. REAL JOY!)

• There is no time like the present to start. The longer you allow a problem to fester, the harder it is to treat. So stop it. Now is the time to get started. (Like I mentioned in one of the other blog article, today will only bring more of what you got yesterday. So to change yourself, start now, there is no better time than NOW!)

  
Dr Daniel was talking about  CD set  'Magnificent Mind with Medical Hypnosis'.  Some of his comments on Hypnosis are as follows.

• Hypnosis is very powerful. People think it's not science. Absolutely Science. There is imaging studies done which show that when you are in trance, it activates the happy side of your brain. So you are happier and more focused. (Makes sense to me, after all I am a certified Hypnotherapist :)

• What hypnosis does is decrease your focus on everything else and gets the focus internal, so you bring the focus to where you are more teachable, more open. A lot of people are afraid of hypnosis. They say 'I am not going to do that". But when hypnosis does it teach people to be in control of themselves. Hypnosis is such a powerful tool and I have used it in my practice for 27 years. Hypnosis is such a wonderful thing that all of us should benefit from it and use it. It's simple.

• Meditation, Guided Imagery (part of Hypnotherapy) helps improve focus, concentration, memory. Both Meditation and Hypnosis produce similar Alpha, Beta wavelengths in the brain, activating more parts of your brain thereby improving many aspects of your life 
• (you can lose upto 80,000 brain cells a day as per Dr Daniel Amen. But with Meditation/ Hypnosis you can regrow your brain cells and balance the various lobes in the brain. COOOOL!. Meditation takes years and years of practice to master. However Self Hypnosis can be learnt in days and mastered within weeks. Now why would you not put in some self effort to improve your life).

So take the first step to improve your life. Incorporate natural methods to improve your brain which will automatically improve your life. I started my practice with the logo 'Expand your Brain, Expand your Life' and it's such a coincidence that Dr Daniel Amen's program  (Change  your Brain, Change your Life), I saw in Dec '08 is so closely linked to my logo. I remember in the movie Kungfu Panda, the master saying 'There are no accidents' :)

If you get a chance, go get the books from the library and read them. Some really great tips and information in the books. Dr Amen's work with brain imaging is fascinating.

Other books I am reading simultaneously are 'Health Intuition' by Karen Grace Kassy and 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' bestseller.  Will try and make some notes on these books and post them later.

Keep having fun and do share your comments on this article. Click on the link after the article on 'Create a link' and that allows  you to post a comment. Not very intuitive but I still have not figured out how to rename the link message. In case you gurus know how to, let me know via comments or send me an email at ExpandMind@yahoo.com.

Remember, social transformation begins by individual transformation. If we improve ourselves even 1% every month, we can be so much better in the years to come, right? Better us, better planet.

Happy blogging.

Integrative Nutrition (Feed Your Hunger for Health & Happiness) by Joshua Rosenthal

Hello All,

I really want to write more often as I read nearly every day but it is still a new habit to make notes. So sorry for not sharing titbits daily. Maybe this is in its own way, a good thing. It does take time to assimilate and include in  our experience the wisdom from these books. So you could read the same blog daily and maybe every time you read, you may discover you understand things a wee bit differently.

I really enjoyed this book. More so since I believe in Joshua's wisdom here. It's not just enough to eat healthy food, we need an integrated look at all aspects of our life. Are we having healthy thoughts, healthy mental and emotional health or are we just focusing on the physical  health. So much research has shown that many of our physical health issues are a result of our emotions. So should we not be smarter and pay attention to our emotional  health as well? I believe that if we take care of our emotional and mental health, we will enjoy good healthy physical health automatically. 

Now from the book, here are some notes. My viewpoints are enclosed in braces (MY COMMENTS).

Did you know that:

* In 2004, 66% of Americans were overweight or obese.

* We spend an exorbitant amount of money on medications and operations while virtually nothing is spend on prevention, education and holistic health.

* Overweight people now outnumber undernourished people in the world.

* The average American now consumes more than 100 lbs of sugar and sweeteners per year. In contrast, Americans consume an average of 8 lbs of broccoli.

(Startling facts right? Well we need to ask ourselves, what are we doing to take care of our emotions and feelings especially the negative energy draining emotions and feelings we store. Do we have any plan to handle these? Or are we waiting for health issues to start and the doctor recommendations to take action.  And would our medical system prescribe ways to naturally heal our mental and emotional self? Or would the system provide more and more medications for each health issue you face? Unfortunately in my practice as certified hypnotherapist, I see many clients who are on so many different medications and pills. I shudder to think of all the side effects from these pills and their impact on your long term health. There are so many alternative, all natural, no medications ways of learning to manage our overall health. Find the one that works for you and put in some self effort. The best asset you can store for your old age is GOOD HEALTH, GOOD, HAPPY MEMORIES, GOOD FRIENDS. What do you think? Would love to hear your experience and comments)

The Integrative Nutrition Plan: 12 Steps

1. Drink more water (Yeah, you take a bath everyday to clean your external body, what about cleaning your internal body? Drink water on an empty stomach, as per Yoga, every morning to take a natural internal, cleansing bath).

2. Practice cooking (Take charge of the ingredients that go into your food)

3. Increase whole grains

4. Increase sweet vegetables (remember the rainbow, eat vegetables of every color sometime during the week to get all different nutrients and vitamins naturally).

5. Increase leafy green vegetables (organic vegetables have a much greater percentage of nutrients. I read that an organic tomato has 55% more beta carotene than regular non organic tomato, WOW!)

6. Experiment with protein

7. Eat less meat, dairy, sugar and chemicalized, artificial junk foods; consume less coffee, alcohol and tabacco.

8. Develop easy and reliable habits to nurture your body (enhance your emotional health. Yeah you are reading this blog so you are on your way :)

9. Have healthy relationships that support you

10. Find physical activity that supports you (start with baby steps and gradually increase. Park your car further away so you can walk more, climb stairs instead of elevators/escalators, keep things away so you need to walk to get them. I am sure you can be imaginative :) Find a buddy to exercise with, it really helps a lot. Do exercise that is fun so if you enjoy playing a sport, do that, you enjoy dancing, do that. Whatever works for you :)

11. Find work you love or a way to love the work you have (Hypnotherapy can really help)

12. Develop a spiritual practice (this really rhymes with me. You have  to nurture your spiritual self to lead a balanced, happy, healthy life)

(Don't wait for tomorrow to start. Tomorrow will only bring more of what you have today. To change your tomorrow you have to start today. You reap what you sow :) Start with simpler things, the low hanging fruits. Things that you can incorporate easily. It's called Kaizen approach. Research Kaizen and you can learn more. Basically it means take baby steps. Each positive change will fuel your positive energy levels and give you the momemtum you need to incorporate more positive changes. It's not really that difficult to make one small positive change and then keep building on it. And if change is very difficult, then find a good hypnotherapist and have him/her help you).

THE BASICS ARE SIMPLE

In spite of the enormous amount of confusing and contradictory information that regularly floods the world of nutrition, the basics are simple. Most people would be much better off consuming less meat, milk, sugar, chemicalized, artificial junk food, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco and increasing consumption of water, whole grains and vegetables, especiallly dark leafy greens.

There is also a chapter on "Foods to Avoid or Minimize".

One of the Big Ideas as we optimize our diet is to "crowd out" the less healthy stuff by focusing on the positive. Rather than try to get rid of some pesky item, focus on ADDING something we "know" is great for us. As we do that, we tend to naturally (and surprisingly quickly) "crowd out the bad stuff". 

(So instead of trying to give up things you love, just ADD new healthy choices to your regular menu. You will automatically eat less of the the unhealthy things on your plate. Yeah, baby steps works!)

Joshua presents his "90-10 Diet" in the beginning of the book after  he's gone thorugh the pros and cons of all the leading diets out there. The rule is simple: 90% of the time eat what is good and healthy for you, and 10% of the time eat whatever you feel like eating.

(COOOL :)

TIME TO CLEAN OUT YOUR FRIENDSHIP CLOSET?

I invite you to look at your friendships the same way people look at their wardrobes. You've probably kept many clothes hanging in your closet that you haven't worn for years. Maybe you are hoping they'll come back into style, or maybe they don't quite fit, but you keep them in the back for sentimental reasons.

It's the same with friends. If you think of everyone you know, chances are you will find at least a few people from your past who don't really belong in your present. In fact, if you're honest with yourself, you'll admit you find their company draining, but you keep them in your wardrobe of friends even if they have little to offer in return. Perhaps they are smokers, drinkers or drug users and you've moved on from that scene. They could be past lovers who keep hanging around, or people whose lives are always in crisis, requiring large amounts of time or energy from you, never to return the favor. Remember, you're their friend, not their therapist.

(Try both, cleaning out your clothes wardrobe and friends wardrobe and maybe go shopping for new friends!)

DO YOU LOVE YOUR WORK?

In today's society, most of us spend 8 to 10 hours a day at work and very little time with our loved ones. While we are choosy about who we relate with intimately, we spend years doing work we can't stand and that may be completely opposed to our personal values. Think about it for a moment. We have 24 hours each day. We sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 to 10 hours and have 6 to 8 hours left for other activities. More than 1/2 our waking hours is spend working - even more if we include commuting. Work is a huge part of our daily routine,  yet how many of us really enjoy it? How many of us complain constantly about what we do, but feel powerless to change it? This feeling of helplessness is not a nourishing lifestyle.

Joshua  has some great ideas/exercises in the book to help you with this.

(I highly recommend taking the Relationship Personality class that I do. You will learn a lot about how you behave in any relationships, your subconscious behavior that you may not even be aware of. Also you will learn other relationship personalities and how you can work best with these personalities. For many of us, having great working relationships can offset some of the other issues in a job. Go to my website http://www.kjhypnotherapycenter.com/ to check out the classes or send me an email to let me know you are interested so I can keep you informed about future classes. The next one is on Apr 24th, 2010. It is a workshop lasting an hour and half).

FITTING IN VS. FITTING OUT

Escaping the matrix is a key step to creating true health and happiness. Start by noticing the places in your life where you feel inauthentic. Are there certain people who you have difficulty expressing your true self around? In what circumstances do you try to fit into other people's expectations? Without self-judgement, begin to notice when and where this occurs, and start building the confidence to express your true self at all times, to embrace what makes you different from the norm. By loving yourself completely, you will reach a new height of health that no food could ever give you. And by expressing your authentic self, your life force will soar, your heart will open, and the world will never look the same.

One of the quotes I like in the book is as follows:

"I am a great believer in encouraging people to slow down. Courage is also required to stand up and say, "Okay, everyone. You can pass me on the fast track to success. I've tasted it, understood it, and I am no longer interested in keeping up because I know now that the prices is too high. I want to stay true to myself, and I want to enjoy myself. These are my priorities." - Joshua Rosenthal.

I do want to thank Brain Johnson of PhilosopherNotes for making me aware of this book and so many other great books. Thank you Brain. Every cent I paid by subscribing to Philosopher Notes is worth it in GOLD.

That's all for now. Keep having fun.

Warm regards,

Karuna.