Are you still dreaming of your ideal life? A life of prosperity and abundance? Health and fitness? Achievements? Accolades? Or spiritual peace? Whatever your mind can dream of, you can attain it if you increase your mind power and consciously direct it with a bold mindset, discernment and persistence.
We all have different versions of success from material comforts, financial affluence, physical well-being and career achievements to the more inwardly directed goals of self-confidence, emotional stability and peace of mind. Regardless of how you define success, anything you can envision can be yours if you will persistently train your mind to claim that which you desire. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day is enough to start to reshape your life circumstances into the conditions of your choosing. Like tacking the course of a boat, if you change your direction by just one degree a day, you change the entire journey of your life. Making just one decision every day to develop a strong psychology, and following through with action, can and will change the course of your life and the outcomes you experience in dramatic fashion.
Any or all of the following seven exercises can be used to effectively increase mind power by harnessing the power of choice and decision. If the idea of mental discipline is new to you, select three or four applications that appeal and diligently practice each one for five minutes daily for a month. In the second month, add another or mix them up for a fresh perspective, but learn to master (at least be comfortable with) the first applications before adding more.
1. Get clear. What is the exact outcome you want to attain? Be very specific, precise and concise in what it is you want. If you don't have a clear goal in mind, your mind won't know what to focus on. Fuzzy focus equals fuzzy results. As it states in A Course In Miracles (Text Ch.18, VI, p. 366) "The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is this which will determine the outcome." and "The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen." When the brain has a goal to focus on, the RAS (reticular activating system) will block out unnecessary distractions while concentrating heightened awareness and high attention on the ways and means to achieve the goal. The process of getting clear about your goal will download the program for success into the brain - your personal super-computer.
Take the time to write out your goal, preferably with pen and paper, and be as detailed as possible. Set a deadline of when you'd like to achieve it; set up a plan with action steps to follow daily, weekly and monthly and have measurement points along the way to determine if you're on track or need to make some adjustments.
Review your goals daily; write them out on 3" x 5" cards and keep one with you to look at as often as possible throughout the day and read them first thing in the morning and last thing at night - you want to saturate your mind with the idea of the successful fruition of your goal.
2. Get motivated. Willpower and determination alone are not enough to keep you going on a long-term basis - you must know why you want to realize your goal. Use the pain and pleasure principle to determine all of what you'll gain when your goal is met and all of what it will cost you if you let your dream die. This is important, be honest with yourself and amass a mountain of reasons why you must achieve this goal, as this is the motivation that will carry you through the times of frustration or impatience when nothing seems to be changing. Again, write all of your reasons down in a success journal and review it daily as well as before you begin any work on pursuing your dream. You want to keep this fire burning to get the most of inspiration and motivation.
3. Take out the trash - where is your focus? Eliminate negative thinking, worry and anxiety and don't give them fuel to thrive in your mind. Whatever we focus on grows stronger and if the object of our worry is fed with the high-octane fuel of fear in any of its forms (worry, anxiety, doubt etc.), you can be sure to experience more of what you dread. You must first become aware of thoughts that make you uncomfortable, angry or defensive; once you begin to witness when and how your thinking gets off the rails, you can consciously change them. Your awareness is key as we won't change anything that flies below our personal radar.
Once you know you're in a negative thought routine you can change it by:
a) Immediately focus on anything that makes you feel good, that you love to do, or a great memory that will distract you and change your emotional state. Keep bringing your mind back to what feels good for as long as it takes to not work it anymore.
b) Use a short affirmation or mantra about what you want, and always stated in the most positive, resolute fashion.
c) Lighten up. Do something silly, watch ten minutes of a comedy routine, imitate animal sounds - whatever it takes to crack the heaviness. Laugh, look for the humor in the circumstance and stop taking yourself so seriously. The universe won't explode if you make a mistake.
Learn to question your beliefs and assumptions. If you're not sure where to look for subconscious beliefs that may be holding you back, just look at the results you're getting in any area of concern. Whatever abundance or scarcity you're experiencing is a witness to what beliefs you hold in your subconscious mind. If you're holding onto old beliefs that no longer serve you, challenge their truth for you today and let go. Give them, and the events that caused them, a new meaning of benevolence then move on.
4. Think from the outcome, and assume the best. This is a strategy that will increase mind power exponentially when you start to experience the results of thinking from the outcome, rather than the journey to get there. We make assumptions about our reality, what can and can't happen without ever questioning their veracity. Start to assume the best possible outcome and don't get bogged down in the emotions of wanting or hoping - if your focus is on wanting and hoping, those are the results you'll receive.
5. Visualize. Even if you can't "see" things when you visualize, go through the process and focus on the sensations that appeal to you most... it doesn't really matter if your visualizations don't play out like a movie in your mind, the important aspects are to see yourself experiencing the end results as if they're happening in present time and to be fully engaged with the wonderful feelings of being there now. Let yourself get emotionally connected and engage all of your physical senses - your subconscious doesn't understand the concept of time, it's where you're putting your focus now that prompts its' engagement in what's going on.
6. Affirmations and mantras. Make them simple and short, always phrased in the first person (I am...), in the present moment and worded positively. We actually use affirmations all the time, but usually unconsciously, and the results are usually contrary to what we want as we state them in a dis-empowering manner. i.e. "I'll never get what I want..." Pay attention to the habitual, negative thoughts in your mind and replace with something that will be to your benefit!
7. Gratitude and appreciation. Start by acknowledging and appreciating all that is well in your life now then expand in a widening circle to include all that is on its way to you. When you appreciate what's going right for you, you start the "vibes of success" which increases the flow of more success - like attracts like. Hold yourself in the state of gratitude and appreciation as often as possible.
You can achieve any goal your mind can dream of, but it doesn't come with a sprinkling of fairy dust. If you want to improve your circumstances, relationships, finances, health or self-worth you must do the work and accept responsibility for the results you harvest. To increase mind power, daily diligent practice of the seven exercises of getting clear and getting motivated, directing your focus consciously, thinking from the end, visualizing with strong emotion, empowering affirmations and gratitude and appreciation will bring the results of a strong psychology, greater success and enhanced well-being. Wouldn't that be a nice legacy to pass on?
Are you still allowing events from the past to limit your confidence and seemingly make you feel helpless? Natural Confidence is an easy and elegant program that will eliminate your beliefs and conditioning, for good, and allow you to switch your identity from that of a victim to that of a powerhouse - click here now to live your life on YOUR terms.
Lorna M. Atkinson is a writer and advocate of reclaiming personal power through the alignment of personality and soul and is dedicated to freeing the mind from limitations learned in the past.