There is nothing more exciting than being in a life that is going and blowing! I think that term, ‘going and blowing’ is an old railroad analogy, it describes a locomotive that is racing down the tracks full speed with a steady stream of smoke blowing out of the stack. We can use this to relate to living a life of constant self-discovery, personal growth and development.

Now I’m not implying that you should be pushing yourself all the time. There is a big difference between moving forward consistently and confidently, and in being in a hurry, rushing around. Rushing is when you are late for work or are trying to cram too many things into a short time frame, this is not freedom! This kind of behavior comes from a lack mentality, usually including the feeling of not enough time, among others.

When you are in a mode of consistent self-discovery and growth you get very excited with what is going on. You see new possibilities for yourself on a regular basis, which lead to more and more. You feel more and more freedom, the feeling of really being alive and unrestricted.

Even discovering what in your thinking has been responsible for an undesirable condition or behavior is exciting as this opens up your understanding and what you can do about it. You will see first hand how life works, what your role is and how you can best participate. You find out more of what you are capable of, which opens even more possibilities.

Your confidence rises substantially as you take command of your thinking, as well as responsibility for it. Your vision expands greatly as your faith in both your abilities and the possibilities available to you grows. Your ability to just accept your current situation along with taking responsibility for it becomes easier and easier. You see how change is more about choices and faith than about current conditions or past experiences.

You become more open to the new and different, and less attached to your existing beliefs and perceptions. You become comfortable with change as that is really life, always evolving. You stop trying to create a perfect, set, predictable life situation for yourself, as that is just fighting the natural flow of life.

You learn to know the difference between guided and inspired thought and the ego based protection thoughts. You take purposeful action based on the correct thoughts knowing that this is what you ought to do in order to have the experience meet with the idea, your role in the law of attraction.

Human history has shown that all this does not happen very often accidentally, although it does. But if you make it your intention to live your life in constant growth, you will. It is really an every day activity that you will have to develop into. Your days are already full, right. You will want to gradually make room for YOU time to do something related to your self-discovery and growth, and you will see that it will expand into everything that you do.

One thing that can help is to get a picture and even the feeling of what you want, because you will actually want to think, feel and act like the person doing and having what you want, in this case a lifestyle of consistent growth and development. Back to the train analogy, we can elaborate on this picture of the train going down the tracks and how it can relate to our life. It can be useful to have mental pictures that you can relate to as a way to further engage your thinking and enhance your feelings.

• It’s steadily moving forward.
• The scenery is always changing.
• It’s moving confidently, it knows where it’s going.
• It’s being guided on it’s way.
• Moving is what it was created for.
• It’s getting something done.
• It’s involved with people, things and places.
• It has purpose, taking purposeful action.

And maybe there are more aspects we can relate to, what do you think of when visualizing a fast moving train?

You will find that in choosing constant growth rather than trying to create a ‘perfect’ life, life is much more comfortable and satisfying. You will be less likely to be rushing around and more likely to be calm mentally and physically, getting more done - of what you want and enjoy.

Another article in the ‘Daily Action For Self Improvement’ series, articles focusing on the personal development and growth actions you can take daily to support a high level of happiness and satisfaction in your life.

In looking what you can do each day to support what you want in your life - check your thinking throughout the day.

Ask a simple question of yourself, “Am I a magnet for what I want?”

You see, your predominate thoughts direct your magnet. Unfortunately, spending a lot of time thinking about what we don’t want seems to be the norm.

But doing this just defines your creation magnet - so you are essentially requesting more of what you don’t want.

You do this when you re-play in your head;

What you don’t like,
What you are upset about,
What you worry about,
What you are afraid of

And, this is so easy to do, it is automatic. But it doesn’t have to be. You can stop and shift ‘thought gears’ whenever you want.

The first option is to switch your focus onto something, anything that you can feel good about. Get yourself to delve into this topic for a while to divert your attention.

It is easier to replace thought with another thought than it is to try to get yourself to just stop the current thinking. Replace your thought with something desirable.

A second option when you catch yourself stuck in ‘the negative thought spiral’ is to look for the opposite of what you are thinking. Usually at the opposite of a dislike is something you would want. Identify this and place your focus on it, allowing yourself to feel better.

Wherever your mind is - you are seeking more, even if it is what you don’t want. So, train yourself to not remain in that state of whirling around in what you don’t want - use that to look for the opposite, what you do like. Or even just switch to thinking about anything to get your mind into a happier place.

To get yourself to begin to notice more often what you are thinking about try this:

Get a 3 x 5 card to take with you for the day.

Write on it -

“What am I thinking about right now?”

“Does it make me happy?”

“What else can I be thinking?”

Keep this where you will see it often. It’s good to put it somewhere where you will accidentally notice it without thinking about it. This helps you catch yourself off guard so you can take notice of your thoughts. Using a tool like this can help you to learn to take more notice to what you are thinking all the time.

When you are aware of your thoughts, you can decide if you want to change them.

John Halderman

John Halderman teaches and writes in the areas of personal growth and development focusing on effective methods for self actualization, increased satisfaction and happiness. For more:
http://www.effectivepersonaldevelopmentblog.com
http://www.designalifesystem.com

What is your mind doing all day long when you are doing what you do?

It is very common to find yourself asking yourself questions, which is a very powerful personal growth tool that you should be using.

If that is, if you want to discover ways to improve your life and reduce your stress and anxiety.

But, many times the questions that you are asking yourself are more of the negative vein.

Like-

Why does this always happen to me?

What is wrong with me?

Why don’t they like me?

Why is it always so hard for me?

Why can’t I always screw up?

Why do they do this to me?

Now, can see that these seem innocent enough, but they are actually very damaging if you persist with this line of questioning.

It is actually a form of complaining.

When you continuously repeat those kinds of questions you are just reinforcing what you don’t want.

These are actually negative affirmations that you are hammering in to your mind.

There is a way to reverse this negative thought bombardment on your mind.

You need to become aware of your mind chatter and what you say to yourself all day long.

This way you will catch these innocent questions early before repeating them for a time.

Now these are natural questions that come up when you are in certain situations, this is natural.

But the trick is to quickly flop them around to an opposite positive statement of something you do want.

Then when you say this positive statement or question you are actually seeking a solution based response from your inner self and the universe.

Such as-

What can I do to help them to like me?

What is the best way to do this?

What can I do to do this well?

What outcome do I want with this?

How can I get the outcome I want?

What can I do right now to change the way I think about this?

Of course you can get more specific to the situation at hand.

Flipping a negative question is easy, just rewrite it based on what you want.

With any thing you don’t want, like, have, feel or do - you can then look to its opposite - what you do want.

That is what you should be keeping your mind on.

Your subconscious and the universe responds to your thoughts.

Take command of your thoughts and guide your life experience to how you want it.

John

“Whatever commands our time, energy and resources, commands

us.” — Tom Sine

“He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“The answers you receive

depend upon the questions you ask.” — Thomas Kuhn

“Great minds ask great questions.” — Michael Gelb

“If we would have new knowledge, we must get a whole world

of new questions.” — Susanne K. Langer

“Every clarification breeds new questions.” — Arthur Bloch

“The word question is derived from the Latin quarrier (to seek)

which is the same root as the word for quest. A creative life is

a continued quest, and good questions can be very useful guides.

Most useful are open-ended questions; they allow for fresh

unanticipated answers to reveal themselves.” — Source Unknown

“Asking the proper question is the central action of

transformation… Questions are the key that cause the secret

doors of the psyche to swing open.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estes