Training Your Mind to Help You

 by: Stephanie Yeh

Our friend, singer and songwriter Chuck Pyle, likes to say, “The mind is like a bad neighborhood-you should never go there by yourself.” If you’re mind hasn’t been trained to help you, via methods like meditation, shamanism or NLP, it might really be a bad neighborhood. Our minds constantly absorb thoughts, behaviors, and responses from our environment. These various thought patterns and responses may or may not be in alignment with our goals. So, unless we actively train our minds to be responsive to our needs, we may be in for a wild chariot ride (and 6 out of control horses)!

>From a shamanic point of view, we say that each person is a spirit with a mind and body. In other words, we are spirit and mind and body are tools that we, spirit, can use. However, just because we have mind as a tool doesn’t mean that mind, in its current form, is a good tool for us. The untrained mind is a lot like an untrained animal-be prepared for the unexpected!

Have you ever sworn to yourself (say on New Year’s Day?) that you’re never going to fall for the wrong kind of mate again? Or you’re going to lose 10 pounds this year? Or you’re going to . the list is endless. Then what happens? We forget what we’ve promised ourselves, or we find other priorities that are more important. That forgetfulness is a sign that mind isn’t trained to help us with our aims. Mind is doing its own thing.

So what can we do to train mind? Segment intending, one of our favorite exercises from Abraham-Hicks, is a simple way to train your mind to help you while also accomplishing a lot each day. Here’s how you do it:

1) Pick the length of time for your “segment.” It can be any length of time, but no more than an hour. Thirty minutes or an hour works well. Decide exactly what time the segment will start and end.

2) Decide on your aim for that segment. It could be a list of tasks, a state of being, or both. For instance, you might decide that you will strive to remain light hearted while you return phone calls for 30 minutes.

3) When the segment start time arrives, start your segment with no second thoughts. Put your attention solely on the tasks for that segment and nothing else.

4) If you get interrupted during your segment, you need to decide whether the interruption is important enough for you to stop your segment (for instance, if your boss stops by your office for a chat). If the interruption is not important enough, keep going on your segment. If the interruption is important, make a conscious decision to stop your current segment and start a new one (one centered around the interruption).

Practice doing these segments throughout the day. Each segment is a training period for your mind, and will teach your mind to assist you in whatever you are doing. Segment intending works even better with a buddy, who can help you stay on track and stay focused. Whether you segment intend by yourself or with a friend, you’ll find your mind becoming much more responsive to your needs as a spirit. Enjoy!

About The Author

Stephanie Yeh, co-founder of the Esoteric School of Shamanism and Magic (http://www.shamanschool.com), helps clients learn magical and shamanic techniques. Her current project, a free teleconference series on a variety of magickal and shamanic topics with guest speakers, is designed to share information and promote interaction between people of varying spiritual practices.

articles@shamanschool.com

Source: High Quality Article Database – 365Articles.com

Reviewed By Philip Abelard
booksforbusiness@yahoo.com

Filling the Glass: The Skeptic’s Guide to Positive Thinking in Business by Barry Maher (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $19.95)

Rating: $$$$$

Businesses often seem more concerned with the spin than with the reality, more concerned with what people think about the product than the product itself. Employees are constantly being told to be positive. “Negative attitude” on an evaluation can kill a career. Positive thinking shaman crisscross the country, delivering keynotes and writing books. With cosmetically perfect smiles and televangelist hair, they explain that everything is, after all, wonderful. Let’s all think happy thoughts. And the glass is-as we all know–half full not half empty.
Reading the cover of Barry Maher’s new book, Filling the Glass: The Skeptic’s Guide to Positive Thinking in Business, you might expect more of the same. Maher is, after all, a prominent keynote speaker. And the cover blurbs are too good: “inspiring,” “uplifting,” “packed with useful practical advice,” “enlightening,” “entertaining,” even “laugh out loud funny.” Once you begin the book however, you’ll suspect that Maher’s teeth are less than perfect. He openly admits his hair is much too thin for televangelism. He says things like “With all the money we spend on self improvement in this country, you’d think we’d all be darn close to perfect by now.” And, “If you’re absolutely, 100 percent positive, without the slightest trace of a doubt that you can do something, get a second opinion.”
Filling the Glass is a business self-help book with an edge: Chicken Soup for the Skeptical Soul. It’s a book for the rest of us-for those who understand the benefits of a positive attitude but deep down inside don’t really believe that chanting affirmations will make our dreams come true. It’s a book for those who suspect that when the boss enthuses, “Jack has a positive attitude,” he really means, “Jack kisses all the right posteriors and doesn’t gripe about my stupidity.”
Barry Maher doesn’t seem at all concerned about who moved his cheese. He distrusts self-help books and business gurus. And when he holds them up to question, he holds himself up as well. Readers who loved Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, Maher writes, will find that Maher is “every bit as much an expert on seat-of-the-pants psychology as Attila was on rape, pillage and–I guess–twentieth century management technique.”
To Maher, whether you call the glass half empty or half full, it’s still only four ounces of water. The problem isn’t whether it’s half full or half empty, the problem is figuring out how to fill it up. Reality counts. To grow or change or improve a business, to motivate people for the long haul, you have to begin by dealing with that reality-rather than what you, the company, the CEO or the stockholders might wish were true. All the innovative–and even counter-intuitive–strategies, tactics and tips that Maher offers for improving businesses, business lives, and careers spring from that deceptively simple premise.
Consider the technique he calls, Bragging about the Negatives. Are you having a problem explaining a price increase, for example? Try this: “Are our rates expensive? Absolutely. Why do we charge so much? Because we can. Because our clients are willing to pay that much for the results we generate. Is the competition cheaper? Absolutely. But do you really think they would charge less if they could charge more? They charge less because that’s what they can get for the results they generate.” No excuses, no convoluted explanations, no mealy-mouthing. Reality.
If you ever want to promote an idea, a proposal or yourself, if you ever want to sell anything to anybody, the story of Clyde Thompson winning a job by bragging about his prison record is, by itself, worth the price of the book.
Maher’s unique perspective illuminates even the familiar in new and revealing ways. “As far as this, I’m okay, you’re okay stuff,” he writes, “maybe you’re not so okay. It’s not like everybody is. The universe has produced Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Adolf Hitler. They weren’t okay. And to be frank, I’m still not all that convinced about Attila the Hun . . . [When it comes to self esteem,] you know yourself a lot better than I do. If you don’t think much of yourself, who am I to contradict you?” Oddly enough, the book’s hardheaded skepticism ultimately makes it more inspirational–and more positive–not less. The ending is an emotional body blow.
Filling the Glass is not perfect. Some strategies could use more amplification: two or three are worthy of books of their own. A few anecdotes seem to have been included more for their entertainment value than because they add much to the message. And occasionally, Filling the Glass yields to the self help temptation of promising more than it or any book or program can deliver. The over-promising is unnecessary, and Maher should know better. But, as he himself notes, “Marketing has it’s own truths which are often hidden from the heart.”
No matter, Filling the Glass: The Skeptic’s Guide to Positive Thinking in Business is a strong $$$$$: our highest recommendation. For once, the cover blurbs are right. And when Guerrilla Marketing author Jay Levinson writes that Filling the Glass should be “required reading for any MBA program,” the proper response, even for those of us without televangelist hair, can only be “Amen.”

Books for Business Ratings

$$$$$ A Must-Read, Invaluable

$$$$ Well Worth the Investment

$$$ Some Worthwhile Content

$$ Invest Your Money Elsewhere

$ Demand a Refund

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Sometimes, it seems God asks the nearly impossible; His standards being so high that the average week kneed, belly aching, fearful person could never obtain … defeating ourselves even before we’ve begun. Perhaps we don’t listen carefully to what He said.

Jesus didn’t say we had to “give up” our lives, like victims with a gun pointing to our head. It’s rare that anyone actually faces a life or death situation to protect a friend (aside from war).

What Jesus actually did mean was to lay our life down willfully, dying to self to meet a greater need – which only counts when done in love.

When a phone call comes at 2:00 a.m. where the distraught seeking counseling, put aside your need of rest.

When you have in mind a shopping spree except you see another without shoes, consider their need first.

When you’ve planned a getaway weekend but your friend has emergency surgery, a house full of children, and no one to care for them – put off your plans.

When someone’s house burns down and they’ve no place to go, lay down your inconvenience to offer temporary shelter.

When you’re hungry after a worship service but the church bus breaks down (leaving children no way home), put your need on hold.

When someone you love needs your love, lay down your life. Love them as Jesus has loved you (vs. 12). And, even when they’re not your best friend, Jesus is.

We don’t have to meet every need in the universe, just the ones Jesus asks of us (vs. 14). We can all do those. Once we discover how wonderful it is to be messengers of love, we’re eager to serve God more, Ac. 20:35.

© by Joyce C. Lock
http://my.homewithgod.com/blessingsandlessons/
This writing may be used in its entirety, with credits in tact,
for non-profit ministering purposes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

How a Blind Date Can Increase Your Psychic Abilities

 by: Stephanie Yeh

So how can a blind date increase your psychic abilities? It’s probably not what you’re thinking. We’re not talking about having a few drinks with someone you’ve never met before. We’re talking about developing your psychic abilities by deliberating shutting down one or more of your five senses.

Because we are such physical creatures, we have a tendency to use our five senses in everything we do. That’s not a bad idea for driving, walking, or working on the computer, but if you want to increase your psychic or spirit abilities, using your five senses less will help.

That’s where the blind date comes in. A blind date is where you blindfold yourself and have a buddy walk you around on a “date.” Your buddy’s job is to make sure that you’re safe and you don’t walk into anything or fall in a ditch. Your buddy is your guide and will lead you around, keeping you safe and upright.

Your part of this date is to extend your psychic abilities outward as your buddy walks you around. Sense what is around you. Do you sense a large object ahead or just open space? Sense what is behind and above you as well, since your psychic abilities will allow you to see in 360 degrees.

You might want to have your buddy walk you around for a while, in many directions until you no longer have a sense of where you are. Then spin slowly around and extend your spirit perceptions. Tell your buddy what you sense in each direction and have him or her tell you if you’re right.

If you don’t have a buddy to do this with, you can do it by yourself outside. Start in a relatively open space and just move slowly so you don’t get hurt. Give a whole new meaning to the term “blind date,” right?

About The Author

Stephanie Yeh, co-founder of the Esoteric School of Shamanism and Magic (http://www.shamanschool.com), helps clients learn magical and shamanic techniques. Her current project, a free teleconference series on a variety of magickal and shamanic topics with guest speakers, is designed to share information and promote interaction between people of varying spiritual practices.

articles@shamanschool.com

Source: High Quality Article Database – 365Articles.com