How To Get Stress Relief Instantly

Exercise and weight loss programs each have different attributes that may or may not help you be successful. My 10 commandments have stripped them down to the stuff that really works for weight loss.

Read on…

1. Thou Shalt Move… Anytime!
Having a 20 minute exercise routine is better than having none. Having a 10 minute routine is better than none. The key is being prepared. Many people find themselves with 20-30 minute pockets of time during their days where they have nothing to do. This is the best time to squeeze in a walk or a quick office or one of your home workout routines.

2. Thou Shalt Not Skip Breakfast
You would think that the clients I have who are over 300 pounds would eat a kings breakfast. They don’t. In fact most of them don’t eat breakfast at all. Not even the stuff that is nutrient poor like pancakes, bagels and waffles! When you skip breakfast, your metabolism never “wakes up” from your sleep and your body thinks there’s going to be a famine. This means it holds on to food in the form of fat, making your waistline expand, and your energy levels drop.

3. Thou Shalt Eat Healthy Meals
Successful exercise and weight loss programs hinge on the time you make for yourself to eat healthy meals. Everyone is “on the run,” whether they travel, have kids, work 18 hours a day. Planning is the only way to integrate healthy eating habits and exercise into their daily routine. Just like anything, you have to think about it and make a conscious effort to change your habits in order for them to stick.

4. Thou Shalt Be Prepared
Carry a bag in your car with these items. Running shoes, bottled water, a change of clothes and a towel. Being prepared with this emergency exercise kit will help you use those precious moments to get in some of the exercise that your body so desperately needs.

5. Thou Shalt Find a Support Group
A great way to succeed is to be around a group of peers who support and care about you. There are many different ways to find a support group. You can join a local one or an online group. If you’re not comfortable with that, you can always enlist the help of a friend.

6. Thou Shalt Drink Water
To keep your body functioning at maximum efficiency, you need fluid. Many people compromise their exercise and weight loss programs by never drinking enough water to flush out their systems and keep their metabolism fired up.

7. Thou Shalt Not Listen to the Fat Guy
Don’t go to the fat guy for health and fitness advice. I can’t tell you how many fat people want to give me advice on how to train and teach people how to lose weight. Listen to those who are living it and are visually in the place you’d like to be.

8. Thou Shalt Learn New Things
Keep learning new things from new people. Many different exercise and weight loss programs focus on different ideas and techniques. The best weight loss program might be a combination of two or three.

9. Thou Shalt Set Goals
If you don’t know where you’re going you’ll never get there. Exercise and weight loss programs go absolutely nowhere if you don’t plan for your success. Write your goals down, be extrordinary, and make sure you put together a collage and put it somewhere you will see it all the time to be reminded of your quest.

10. Thou Shalt Smile!
Smiling will help you succeed mentally. Exercise and weight loss programs are tough and when you can take them with a lighter heart and mind, your success is inevitable.

About the Author: Kevin Gianni is an optimal health expert who develops weight loss programs, exercise and health plans that help people lose weight and keep it off. To learn more, visit http://www.liveawesome.com/
SelfGrowth

Hypno-Freedom

“We never ask the meaning of life
When we are in love.” – Bhagwan Osho

We are meant to live a life of love. When we’re not in love, something’s the matter.

However, no matter how successful some are in other aspects of their lives, they don’t feel it’s possible to have the same success in love. They tell themselves to “be realistic.” Being realistic about relationships” is considered natural as we “grow up” and give up the fantasies, foolishness and dreams of childhood.

But nothing could be further from natural. Being in love is the most mature and realistic thing you can do. It energizes your life, fills you with positivity, creates generosity and makes every moment beautiful. The body heals the heart is happy. The real question is: why aren’t we in love all the time? How can we learn to fall in love with all of life? The world of Zen is filled with guidance and practice that permits us to open our hearts, clear our minds, become present, be who we are and be able to discover the wonderful secret of falling in love with all of life.

As a great Zen Master says: “When there are no unnecessary thoughts in your mind Everyday is a good day.” – Ummon

Here are some directions from the world of Zen. The following exercises will show us how to turn our lives upside down, clear away weeds in our gardens and be ready to feel love wherever we are. As Zen practice reminds us, “the entry point is right where you are.”

1) THE ONE RIGHT BESIDE YOU
Most of the time we are searching and searching for the right person. Zen suggests that we stop running around seeking and see what is right in front of our eyes. Look at a person who is close to you right now, anyone it happens to be. Notice the ways in which you push him away.

Stop doing that. Allow the two of you to be together in whatever way you are. Let all of it be fine just as it is.

Do the same thing tomorrow with someone else. We dismiss so many people who are in our worlds, while waiting for the “right one” to appear. The more we can be “right” with everyone, the more we can open up to what is being offered now, the fuller and more joyous our lives will be.

2) PLAYING AT LOVE
So many complain that they are not loved. The reason for this can be quite simple. They are so busy playing roles and games that the partner never gets to know who they really are. Notice what roles (or games) you play in relationships, and what roles you demand of others as well. See if you are in love with the person, or with the role he is playing right now. Turn this around for a little while. Try playing different roles. Try being with someone who plays roles you are not accustomed to.

Now, become aware of the difference between who you are and the roles you play. Let the roles go and simply be who you are. Who we are is always loveable and beautiful. It’s the roles that get in the way.

3) LETTING HIM COME AND LETTING HIM GO
One great obstacle in living a life of love is the tendency to hold on. We grasp and cling to each, preventing the freedom of love from arising on its own. When someone comes into your life (or day), practice letting him come. Welcome the person, whoever he is. Enjoy what it is he brings. When it is time for a person to go away, practice letting him go. Do not turn the person’s leaving into an experience of rejection, loss or abandonment. Realize that his leaving has nothing to do with you. It is simply time for him to go. Do this with yourself as well. Let yourself come and go freely in life, not tying yourself in unnecessary chains. The more we free others and ourselves, the more easily we fall in love.

4) PUTTING YOUR BAGGAGE DOWN
Many feel that love is not possible unless all their demands are met. They can be quite amazed to discover that these demands don’t lead to happiness. They just may be obstacles to falling in love. Take a look at what you feel is absolutely necessary in relationships. Now look at it again. Realize this is baggage you are carrying that may be keeping all kinds of people and possibilities away. Not only that, this baggage can be making you fearful and rigid, not open to what is available for you.

Let one of these demands subside. At first let it go for just one day and see how it feels to be without it. (Remember you can always take it back again). Now try another day. As we do this many times, we may find that that which we thought was crucial for our lives was really getting in the way. The more we do this the more light and happy we will feel. Not only that, but all kinds of new people, possibilities and situations we never noticed will start coming onto our path. We have made room for them by putting our baggage down.

5) GIVING GIFTS
Giving and receiving are the essence of relationships. When we are in love this is never a problem. We naturally give and are happy with whatever is offered in return. To open up to falling in love, it is important to adopt this state of mind—start giving naturally.

What gifts do you give others in relationships? Take a few moments and also see what you hope to receive in return. Now find something new you can give to somebody. Give it. Do this everyday. Each day give something else. It does not have to be fancy or expensive, just something that will add to his or her day. Then do this with all kinds of different people. Do it quietly without great fanfare and without expecting something in return.

Then do this with yourself as well. Each day take a moment to find out what kind of gift you would like today. (Can be simple—a walk in the park, new lipstick, time with someone you care for.) Now give this to yourself each day. Although this exercise is simple, it is extremely powerful. Doing this daily in your relationship can turn everything around. When you give, remember not to look for anything in return (not even a smile or thank you). Just give to give, no expectations, no demands. By living with this open, generous mind, all kinds of other gifts come to you naturally.

6) MAKING FRIENDS WITH YOURSELF
Many say they are lonely, even with a partner at their side. This is simply because they have not yet made friends with themselves. Once they make friends with themselves and are able to be who they are, it is impossible to be lonely anymore. Make friends with yourself. Spend time noticing who you are. Accept all parts of yourself. Stop judging and rejecting what is going on inside. Be still and look within.

Pay attention to your breath and just notice what is going on. Let it be. Accept it, and return to the breathing. Understand that breath by breath, underneath the clamor, you are perfect just as you are. Can you choose to be this natural self in relationships? Can you choose to have relationships with those who want and appreciate just what you are?

“When you become you Zen becomes Zen When you become you, The whole world falls in love.” – Eshin

About the Author:
Dr. Brenda Shoshanna, psychologist, speaker and long time Zen practitioner is the author of ZEN AND THE ART OF FALLING IN LOVE, (Simon and Schuster), ZEN MIRACLES, (FINDING PEACE IN AN INSANE WORLD), and other books. The relationship expert on i.village. com, she has a therapy office in Manhattan, offers workshops on Zen and Relationships, and runs The Gateless Zendo, for those of all religious persuasions and those of no persuasions.

From SelfGrowth

Hypno-Freedom

Fear is an emotion that restricts your life.

It restricts your actions and keeps you from being happy. It can negatively affect your immune system. Fear is not an emotion most people willingly confront or desire, but you may be experiencing more fear than you realize. Stress, which is such a common part of our lives, is really a mild form of fear. This may surprise many of you, but stress in your body is a physiological result of fear.

Mechanics of Fear
Fear is basic to being human, and it helps you survive. Instinctively, you respond to threats through the “fight or flight” syndrome. It is instinctual, and it was passed down to you from your primitive ancestors who continually experienced and responded to life-and-death situations.

At times of perceived danger, the body releases more adrenaline into your bloodstream. The added adrenaline helps your body respond quickly and more effectively confront or avoid danger.

Unlike those of our primitive ancestors, the threats are not always physical or the circumstances such, that a person should fight back physically. This results in excess adrenalin because you are not physically using your body to ward off the attacks, and excess adrenalin can make you feel stressed out.

The “life-threatening” occurrences of your daily life are now things like coming up short on monthly bills, confronting rush hour traffic, or trying to escape the old thought patterns or negative ways of living. These seemingly non-threatening things cause much stress and unconscious fear.

Perceived Danger
It is not what happens to you that creates fear, but how you perceive and interpret situations with your thoughts and emotions. In modern life, most experiences with fear or stress come from perceived danger. Change or perceived danger creates stress, and stress keeps you from experiencing greater love, peace, and growth. You can eliminate a great deal of stress by effectively handling your beliefs, your thinking, and your emotional processes.

Karen, a former client in her mid-forties, is a graphic example of how changing perceptions can create a new life. When Karen first came to me, she said she felt unmotivated, uncaring about life, and tired of everything. She wanted to sleep all the time. She felt like she was putting on a mask for society, hiding her true feelings and herself. Karen said she saw everything as a threat, but she was open to new teaching and ready to change.

Well, right away, I started to reeducate her subconscious thinking process about guilt and anger from her childhood, giving her permission to feel long-repressed feelings safely and appropriately. At the same time, I taught her about higher Spiritual concepts and self-love. Fear of rejection and not being loved was at the core of her problem, so we did inner work on unconditional love and self-acceptance. Within two months, she felt like a different person.

At her last session Karen related how her life had been recently. She said she felt “cozy in her skin, warm and good, and no different than other people.” She also said that she felt at peace with herself and that her fear of people was gone. Her husband noticed a change in her and loved her emerging new self. She commented, “Without fear you can love someone better and accept the love they have to share.” Karen also said, “I feel the change that took six or seven weeks with you would have taken six or seven years someplace else.”

Karen’s comments are typical of the feedback I get all the time. The ones who are honest with themselves and ready to grow, like Karen, accept new teachings more deeply and more readily. The basic point here is that changing your perspective about life and what is real, does affect every part of your life for the better.

Taking Action
Please feel free to try the exercises that follow. If you find that nothing here helps you, experiment with other tools and ways to grow. The stronger your desire is to change, the faster you will find tools to accomplish your change. As your consciousness and your spiritual vision expand, tools you used before may take on new meaning. Be assured you can release old thought patterns that no longer serve you. It takes your actions combined with sincerity to do this.

All these exercises can be used to release fear. Use them when you want to either change or release emotions. As with any of the exercises, keep in mind you may have to do them for a while. They can be even more powerful in combination with other techniques, courses, or therapy. No one tool is effective for all cases. Without consistent actions, no change will occur. Be open to all vehicles that will help you grow.

EXERCISE:
Releasing Fear

1. The opposite of fear is feeling safe. Ask yourself if “feeling safe” were a color of light, what color would it be? Let yourself know. This is an intuitive process. When you sense a color, check its energy by visualizing the color going through your body. If you feel calmer in any sense or more peaceful, you picked the right color. Color is a vibration that feeds you on an unconscious, spiritual level. Most of my clients pick blue, but you can use any color, except black. Take at least five minutes and close your eyes and breathe in the color of your choice. Breathe out the fear as black. Do this very slowly, breathing from your abdomen, and not your chest.
2. Use affirmations regarding your fear or guilt. Start each affirmation with, “I am safe.” Some of these can look like this.

I am safe to feel comfortable while _________.
I am safe to release my fear about __________.
I am feeling safer and safer everyday.
Make up your own affirmations and put them in the present tense. Write them each day.

Keep working at releasing fear when it comes up in your life. The more positive actions you take to change your old limiting patterns, the faster you become the master of your life. Create new empowering patterns of thinking and acting. Don’t let your old ways of thinking and living master you! Feel free to pass this on to others!

Change your beliefs and change your life!

Marian Massie
marian@marianmassie.com
Hypnotherapist/Success Coach

Hypno-Freedom

The world you experience around you is the world YOU experience around you. It’s not my world, and neither is it your mother’s or father’s world (although to a certain degree it is, but more about that a little later).

You have your very own way of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling this earthly experience, which makes your viewpoint unique. Have you ever wondered why that is so? Well, keep on reading.

There is this theory that our senses are bombarded with about 2 million bits of information every second. If you would be aware of all 2 million bits, you’d go bonkers completely. No doubt whatsoever. That’s why our nervous system has this incredible ability to “block out” huge amounts of info, and to only let in about 134 bits (that is 0.000067%) per second to process.

What underpins this ability to discard most of the sensory information and only be aware of a tiny bit of it are our internal filters, which distort, delete and generalize the sensory input to bite-sized pieces? A couple of very important ones of these filters are the values, beliefs and memories you hold. For the purpose of this article I’d like to talk a bit more about “beliefs” as a filtration tool.

We all hold beliefs, and that’s a good thing, considering we don’t want to go mad because of this massive assault of sensory input. But what are “beliefs”, really? Well, they are the spectacles through which you view the world and give it a certain “color.” Your beliefs make your world your own, unique world.

We hold beliefs about nearly everything: ourselves, other people, work, play, hobbies, the world, concepts health, emotions, etc. Here are a few examples of beliefs, to make things more clear:

• I am a brilliant/awful person
• My wife/husband loves me (not)
• The world is a terrible/gorgeous place to live in
• Nature is beautiful/horrible and scary
• The earth is round (yes, that is a belief, not as much a fact. As little as 600 years ago, people believed the earth was flat! Who knows, in another 600 years from now, people might believe the earth is just a disc with pictures moving from left to right on it, and life on earth is merely a “circular illusion”…)
• Black cars are more beautiful than red cars (that’s a truth for me, but hey, even THAT is a belief!)
• When people look angry at me, I get scared/even angrier
• Driving a car is very dangerous
• The more I meditate, the closer I get to enlightenment
• I do not like being shouted at!
• I am (not) good (enough)
• Working is what people are born to do
• Money only comes to me through hard work
• Etc., etc.

Our beliefs are the mental maps we use to navigate the territory we call “our life.” We develop(ed) our beliefs over time, starting from the day we were born, out of our experiences in life. At birth, we don’t really believe anything. But soon after that we start to develop our first beliefs about life.

It all starts with a vague representation of something we experience. We haven’t got a clue where to fit that experience yet, but with time more and more clarity comes, and “knowledge” arises. That knowledge gets backed up by even more experience, and solidifies. Now the knowledge becomes a “knowing,” something that you consider “true” in your life’s experience. You have started to believe in what once was merely a thought, a possibility in the realm of options. If more validating and affirming experiences are stacked on each other, the belief develops even further, into a conviction. From that point on, you have built a fortress around your belief, and it might seem that no-one is able to prove your belief wrong anymore.

Are you still with me?

I’ll give you a real-life example out of my mother’s life. She got quite disappointed in people in her early life already. She experienced the German suppression in World War II, had a not-so-nice stepmother and quite a tough upbringing. All these (and more) experiences developed the belief in her that “people are not innately friendly, cannot be trusted straight away, and need to be regarded with caution at all times, otherwise they’ll disappoint you.”

Now that is/was quite a destructive belief, but nevertheless a true one in my mum’s life. When my parents divorced (another disappointment) and most of the family on my father’s side—sort of—dumped her like a hot brick, that belief got reinforced heavily. It was true for her, wasn’t it? Later on, a few more not-so-nice encounters with the human race turned her belief into a conviction, and she died (too young, in my opinion) convinced that “we” (yes, us humans) are not-so-nice beings to begin with, apart from a few special gems.

And mind you, my mother was quite spiritually evolved in many ways, and taught me great wisdoms. This “parasite” belief, however, had fully invaded her thoughts and made her life experience… well, not-so-nice, to say the least. I am quite convinced I did not take that specific belief on board, luckily enough. My experiences with the human race are very positive!

The above example goes to show that you can believe anything (how idiotic the idea might seem to other people), as long as you hold an initial representation, and find evidence in your experiences that validate and confirm that representation. Slowly this “idea” turns into a truth, something that is true for you in your world. The belief my mother held (or at least my translation of it) was quite a negative one, but of course we hold very positive beliefs as well! They make your life interesting and enjoyable, and allow you to soar high above mediocrity!

You’ll probably agree with me (I assume you got the picture) that the sum total of your beliefs makes up your global representation of “the world.” Some beliefs you share with others, other beliefs are purely yours. The fact is that many of the beliefs you hold in your life right now are derivatives of beliefs your mother and father held in their lives. Our parents leave an enormous mark on us, because they have been with us from the day dot, and are our prime teachers for the first bunch of years of our lives. And so there is a lot of truth in the biblical wisdom the “the sins of the father are visited upon the son,” where “sins,” in my spiritual perspective, are the limiting beliefs our parents held.

In my coaching practice, I work a lot with beliefs. I teach my clients how to find out what their beliefs are in the first place, how to grow and reinforce the beliefs that are supporting them in their lives, and how to undo and break down the limiting, non-effective beliefs. The simple truth (no, not a belief) is that if we are able to create beliefs (and we are), then we are also able to un-create and re-create beliefs. It is just a matter of finding a new (desirable) representation in reality, and searching for evidence that confirms and validates that new representation. Moreover, there are simple but very powerful tools that I use to break down an old, limiting, not honoring belief, so the client and I are able to work at both ends of the issue. A tad of effort and persistence on the client’s side to establish the new, honoring and effective belief means his/her world will change. It cannot do anything else but that. Change your beliefs, change your world, and enjoy it more. Simple, and very powerful!

About the Author: Marc de Bruin is a Certified Life & Business Coach, Master NLP Practitioner and Body Stress Release Practitioner on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Email Marc at marc@landmarc.info to arrange a complimentary face-to-face or phone mentoring session!
This article is brought to you by SelfGrowth and
hypno-freedom

Spiritual Power is an expanded level of being in which you can experience more love, wisdom, energy and deep peace and are in touch with the transcendent and radiant power of the universe. It’s the ultimate state of healing and transformation.

“There is one energy in the Universe — love. We are this energy, also known as the Power and Presence of God. This energy is joyful, harmonious, creative and abundant. To create our human experience, we transform love into beliefs in limitation, fear, pain and shame. These beliefs act as a disguise to hide the power and natural qualities of our true being.”
(From Arnold Patent)

Applying This to Your Life
When you apply your experiences of deepened spirituality to all the challenges of life, your life, health, finances and relationships move in forward directions. It’s about experiencing a force field of power that can lift up emotional issues, physical ailments and mental illusions. Spirit is your life force, and through it, you uncover your inborn power. It is also described as energy, chi, prana, kundalini, God, or The Force. This energy is the source of life itself.

Making Contact with the Energy
When you make contact with this life energy, you may often experience shifts in your physical body or in your emotions, or you find yourself more easily able to handle whatever is going on in your life. When you can stand back and view whatever you�re experiencing from a greater perspective, you get a sense of the larger more cosmic picture. You understand from the inside out that you are a magnificent being of the universe. This expanded love power allows you to be at one with Divine Abundance, Unconditional Love, and Infinite Wisdom. You can work with others in this great energy as well.

Marilyn Gordon, BCH, CI • Center for Hypnotherapy • Oakland, CA

Hypno-Freedom

Get Energized!
Overcome Your Energy Slump with this Proven Energy Boosting TIP!
By Shawn Driscoll

If you find yourself dragging at the end of the day, or have difficulty getting motivated to tackle what you once did with ease, you may be running low on energy. We often complain of not having enough time to fit everything in. But, when we look to the truth in the situation, 9 times out of 10 it’s not a time problem so much as an energy problem. Time is fixed. Energy is not. And many people run out of energy long before they run out of time.

Think of your energy as a cup full of water. You want your energy cup to be full so that when you need a big gulp of energy it’s there for you. If you’re low on energy, you probably have some energy leaks that are steadily depleting your energy levels.

The most effective strategy I know of to beat low (or lower than you would like) energy is to look for those drains and plug them. You’ll get an instant motivation and energy boost. In working with clients, I have them start by making a TIPs list—a list that shows the events, situations, people that are draining you of energy and motivation. A TIPs list is simply a list of:

* TOLERATIONS: what are you tolerating in your life? Tolerations are very “energy hungry” situations, experiences and people. We put up with them because we think we should, because we don’t know what else to do, or because we’ve simply gotten used to tolerating a lot

* INCOMPLETIONS: what are those things you’ve started, but not finished? Are there things around you that you continue to expend energy and time thinking about but not finishing? Are there commitments you’ve made, but not followed through on? If so, you have incompletions that are draining your energy daily.

* PROCRASTINATIONS: There are things you are just ignoring, hoping they’ll go away and they don’t. You keep procrastinating, but spend considerable energy resources beating yourself up about it or thinking about it. Do your shoulders sag every time you see that pile of unread mail or unfilled paperwork? Do you slump in your chair whenever you are reminded of all the phone calls you need to make or return? Your procrastinations are sinking their teeth into your energy cup, sucking it dry on a daily basis.

If you imagine that each item on the list is a tiny pinhole (or maybe a giant crater!) in your cup, you can begin to see how together they add up to zero energy at the end of the day.

Many people find that simply by having the list, they automatically start resolving their energy leaks. Each item off the list is an instant energy booster. It is a process that does take time, so don’t create another energy drain by expecting yourself to have a zero-balance on your TIPs list anytime soon! But, try tackling a few and see how much better you feel.

Here are a couple of ways you can start:

1. Tackle the easy to fix drains first. This builds momentum and readies you for tackling the big drains.

2. Block out some time and tackle the big one. This is called eating the elephant in one sitting. Just belly up and get it done.

3. Review each item on the list and decide whether you can Delegate it to someone else, Defer it until a better time, Dump it from your to do list forever, or just Do It!.

This article may be reproduced, in its entirety, along with the following information:
© 2006, Shawn Driscoll, Succeed Coaching & Development. This article is provided courtesy of Shawn Driscoll, Career Success Coach and owner of www.succeedcoaching.com. Professionals: upgrade your work life today! We provide products and services to help you succeed at work, in business and in life. Sign up to receive your free Success Wise ezine-and get success tips, inspiration, and resources to skyrocket your success-at www.succeedcoaching.com.

Author’s Bio
Shawn Driscoll, owner of Succeed Coaching & Development, partners with motivated professionals to dramatically improve the quality of their career and lives. She challenges clients to stop struggling and sacrificing in the name of making a living and inspires them to re-define success on their own terms.

Hypno-Freedom