Wakeup Breathing

Be Yourself to Empower Yourself0
admin posted in Uncategorized on May 15th, 2011

Do you always try to please others in order to gain acceptance from them? Sometimes this may lead you to unhappiness and depression. It is nice to care about other people’s feelings but you should understand that your needs are just as important. By giving more importance to others, you tend to ignore yourself as a special being. You could be considerate of others and at the same time you could be just yourself in order to maintain personal balance in your life.

Have you thought about ‘being yourself?’ Being yourself is empowering yourself to improve your life and career. By being yourself you build a strong foundation of your personality and attitude. You could realize or develop your full potential by being yourself. Here are some powerful tips to learn to be you:

1. Be a unique person. Each one of us is unique in this world. You are different from all others. You have a personality and character. Your personality has its positive and negative sides. You would feel comfortable with yourself if you accept yourself and feel safe to be who you are. Accepting yourself raises your self-confidence. So develop your individuality by accepting the fact that you are unique.

2. Know yourself. You would know yourself if you get familiar with yourself. You must know yourself physically, psychologically and socially and in fact you should know yourself in all aspects, in all entireties. Do you know how tall you are, how much you weigh, your color of eyes, hair, etc.? You could look in a mirror and familiarize yourself to know yourself physically. How about your disposition? Are you friendly? Are you a person who likes to be alone? What are your habits? What are your strengths and weakness? You would know yourself only by observing yourself.

3. Assess yourself. Once you get familiarized with yourself try to evaluate yourself. While evaluating yourself it is good to be open and honest. You could take the help of your close friend or relative to help you analyze and evaluate you. You would be your own critic of how you look, the way you walk, dress, speak, behave, etc. Being critical of yourself would help you improve upon areas where you feel you need to change or get better.

4. Respect Yourself. You need to respect yourself first so that you could learn to respect others. If you have some bad qualities and you are aware of it, you do not need to disrespect yourself or hate yourself. You do not need to condemn yourself of who you are. Learn to understand that no one is perfect. You could on the other hand look at the positive side of yourself and project yourself in positive ways while working on the negative aspects.

Once you understand your uniqueness, get familiar with yourself, assess and respect yourself you would be able to accept yourself. When you accept yourself you become a powerful person.

it’s your choice………0
admin posted in Uncategorized on March 14th, 2010

Everything any of us ever wanted to be in life all boils down to a choice. Kind of scary to think that everything we are or are not was probably our choice. We decided to not go to college or not try that new business idea. Sure we can all find lots of excuses to explain away our choices….I didn’t have the money for college, the business would probably fail so why try.

These are just excuses to provide cover for the reality of your choices. But how do we know if we are making the right choices? We don’t always know.

But to have a good idea if you are making the right choice is first get your mind into it. Condition your thoughts to visualize what you want to happen.

Not just a fuzzy daydream but a full fledged, honest-to-goodness, day-by-day kind of visualizing. Say you want to be a successful manager – envision yourself dressing up in power suits, going to a corner office with a view, getting pats on the back for good work, speaking at conferences, etc.

Remember, your mind is your most powerful tool. If you aim on getting that corner office or academy award or gold medal, it will show you how to get it. Whether the solution is for you to study more or practice better, your mind will direct you to it. Some people use affirmations, mantras, physical reminders, diaries and whatever works that can remind them about their goal. Getting another person or a support group to remind you will also be great! There are support groups for just about everything you just need to find one. And if you can’t find one then start one. There has to be others that might just join your group because they have the same interests.

On the other hand, you can keep on telling yourself “no, I couldn’t do it” then you really can’t but it is your choice. There will be tons of excuses that you can fall back on anyway. Notice how convenient it is to just come up with them instead of aiming for something better? That’s where the power of your brain comes up again – negative or positive thoughts will influence what you are. Look around and observe – some people walk around with an upbeat attitude and some people are known as prophets of doom. You don’t even have to ask these people how they think because you can see it on them. And generally speaking, don’t you notice that the upbeat ones are the ones who are successful and happy?

So, do you want to act on stage, write horror books, or climb Everest? Whatever you want, it is your choice to do or not to do it. Think hard.
Then take your next step – go and do it.

8 helpful tips to deal with anxiety…….0
admin posted in Uncategorized on January 21st, 2010

Anxiety is the feeling of fear or apprehension that is intense enough to disrupt one’s daily activities. It hits anyone at any point in their lives, regardless of sex and age. If you suffer from anxiety and you let anxiety overcome you, you then let stress and unhappiness overrule you, through being paralyzed by anxiety. You need to learn how to overcome it or at least reduce its effects. Here are eight tips that can help you conquer anxiety:

1. Be the master of your thoughts. Inability to control what you think strengthens your tendency for anxiety. Anxiety gains momentum when you entertain negative thoughts.

2. Practice self-discipline and control over your feelings. Anxiety is like taking a ride on a rollercoaster. Once you start entertaining negative thoughts and fears, they become a mantra that would perpetuate themselves. The best thing to do is to cut them off right then and there. Distract yourself, divert your thoughts, or go talk to someone and have him or her correct your fears. Most of the time, anxious thoughts are distortions of reality. It is best to have someone tell you the objective facts, and show you that you are grossly exaggerating your fears. If they are valid, you can seek reassurance of a happy outcome or have the other person suggest ways to work around the problem/s you face.

3. Think positive. As they say, try to think of the glass as being half-full. Thinking it is half-empty will only result in a never-ending cycle of negative thinking. Thoughts give birth to thoughts, and what you fill your mind with will spill over into reality. Our mental mantras become self-fulfilling prophecies. When we allow thoughts to perpetuate in our minds, they burst forth into reality as, as was said, self-fulfilling prophecies. The key is not to go “I won’t think negatively. I won’t think negatively.” Rather, you should force yourself to fixate on positive thoughts. Write a list of the things you want to be and the things you want to happen in your life, enough that you could say every single morning within 3 minutes, to yourself. Then every morning, when you wake up or before you leave for work or school, say your affirmations to yourself. Example: “I am beautiful, articulate, and I will make that sale today!” Then all throughout the day, when you catch yourself worrying, stop in your tracks, and force yourself to enumerate 5 things you are thankful for today. Repeat as needed.

4. Keep yourself busy and on the go. Never allow yourself to have idle moments. The moment you get up from bed, keep yourself busy right away and keep moving throughout the day. Volunteer to clean the house for the day or tell somebody that you will do the dishes for dinner. You can also read books or magazines, engage in exercise, or meditate; to keep yourself from worrying/anxiety. Being idle will not solve your problems and the moments when your mind isn’t busy doing something worthwhile will only invite more anxiety.

5. Work out a plan and try to accomplish it. Whether it’s how to improve yourself or a plan to solve the very problem that is causing your anxieties, doing this exercise would let you see that you can do something about your situation. This would also help you realize that you have control over yourself. Increasing control over your own life leads you to feel less anxious, because anxiety is an issue of control: the lack of it.

6. Consult someone that can be trusted. Sharing your worries with another person lightens the worries and puts them in the proper perspective. The premise is that you talk with the aim to lessen your anxiety.

7. Laughter is the best medicine. Laughter can ease your burdens. Be in the company of amusing friends or indulge in activities that can put laughter in your life, like watching The Three Stooges.

8. If current issues make you anxious, switch off the television. Reduce the time you spend watching news and avoid watching shows that depress and make you more anxious before you go to sleep. Though professional help is needed in extreme cases, anxiety is manageable, if you know how to get around it. Do follow these helpful tips and you will see your anxieties eased.

tools to help overcome lifes problems……0
admin posted in Uncategorized on January 17th, 2010

Problems are present in everyone’s daily life. Life is sometimes filled with never-ending problems. We all experience problems at work, home, with relationships, children, society, etc. They just creep up everywhere in any area of our life. When problems overshadow you, you can be affected by physical and mental stresses.

Problems seem to be one common factor that pervades each and every soul on planet earth. Could we look at problems in a positive way and overcome them easily? We can.
Problems are only problems if we define them so. But you can look at problems in a different light. Whenever you encounter a problem try to look at it indifferently.

If you analyze your problems they may turn out to be learning events in real life.

Here are some easy ways to overcome problems:

Own the problem – People sometimes blame others when they are faced with problems. Problems never go away with this approach. Instead, accept responsibility for the problem. Do not blame anyone else or any other circumstance for your problem. When you own a problem, you take up the issue in your hand and start to work for a solution with a personal interest. This is the first sign of progress towards a solution.

Define the problem – You have to define a problem in order to understand the exact issue. Analyze it to understand it well. Ask the right questions - what is the problem, how did it start, how bad is the effect, etc. When you look into the problem rather than at the problem, you get to the core of the problem. Getting at the root cause would eradicate the problem forever. So define and look for ways to eradicate the root cause of your problem.

Analyze the ‘ifs’ and ‘but’s - Ask more questions such as: ‘what if the problem is not solved immediately? What is the worst outcome? ‘But, if not solved, how long could you go on with this problem?’ etc. Be prepared to face risks and proceed to accept the worst. After good brainstorming, you can feel more calm since you are ready to face the issue.

List possible solutions – When you are calm look around for possible solutions. Make a list of all possible answers. Again brainstorm. You could examine and evaluate all possible solutions. You would be surprised at the possible answers you have at hand for your problem.

Select the best solution - After examining and evaluating and brainstorming, you would be able choose the best possible solution. Once you decide on a particular solution take steps to act on it immediately.

Focus only the end results – Focus only on what you desire to achieve. According to the law of universe, your thoughts, feelings, intentions and actions create your reality.

So remember, whenever you have a problem – own it, define it, analyze the ‘if’s and ‘but’s, list your solutions, brainstorm and select the best one, act on it immediately and focus on positive results. It can be that simple!

4 tips to empower yourself…..0
admin posted in Uncategorized on January 10th, 2010

We all face hardships at some point in our lives. Some of us own responsibility and get on with our lives while most of us blame others. When you own responsibility for yourself you empower yourself. You are the cause and your life experiences are the results in your life. You determine the direction of your life. You are in control of your life.
If you are not able to explain why your life is as it is, you are probably giving your power away to someone else, are you? Most of us tend to blame something else or someone else or our fate for all bad experiences in our life such as abusive childhood, loss of a loved one or broken relationships. When you are not in control of yourself or your life that means you are powerless. Blaming is a disempowering emotion.

If you think by blaming others for your life you are getting away from problems you are completely wrong. Your life problems would stay the same and recur again and again as long as you make someone else responsible for your life. You give others power to control you and your life. So your life problems would tend to stay the way they are until you take back your power and claim full responsibility for your emotions, actions and life as a whole.

True empowerment is taking responsibility for your life so that you are free to do whatever you want to do and be anything you choose to be.

Here are 4 tips to empower you:

1) Make your own choices - Life is full of choices and you have the freedom to choose. You learn only through trial and error. Be bold and accept the outcome of your decisions. If your choice is correct, be happy. If not do not blame yourself or others. Instead, analyze where you went wrong and correct yourself. The next time around, you may be able to make the right choices.

2) Practice deep breathing - If you make it a habit to practice deep breathing throughout the day, you would have clarity in your thoughts. You feel more relaxed to think clearly and make good judgments of your situations.

3) Feel grateful - Gratitude is something we never show for many things we enjoy in our life. Instead of cursing your problems look around you and realize how blessed you are to have nature bestow you good health, sunshine, food, good relationships, fresh air, etc. When you feel grateful for these things you are convinced that life is not bad at all.

4) Develop mental awareness - Observe your thoughts. Are they good or bad? Are they positive or negative? If your thoughts are positive it is good. You could act on them with positive results. What if you have negative thoughts? You could still control them if you are aware of them. Empower yourself by being aware of your good and bad thoughts.

When you deal with your own pains and pleasures you are the controller of your life. Just know that no one else could take away your power to control your life and events because you are the master of your destiny.