Be Successful Now

Fat Burners Take Weight Off Quickly

2010-01-22T11:48:00.007-08:00

1. Sweeten your cereal with cinnamon instead of sugar. Not only does it cut the calories but ½ teaspoon of cinnamon a day could increase your metabolism, burn fat faster and lower your cholesterol by 15% and triglycerides by 30%.

2. Eat high fiber foods and burn 30% more fat than those who don’t eat fiber. Ground flax seeds added to cereal or salads work great.

3. After eating spicy foods like chile peppers, your body burns significantly more fat than when you eat bland foods. Switch from mayo to mustard for an extra jolt to your fat burning machine.

4. Add 8 to 10 walnuts a day to your meals and increase your fat burn and weight loss.

5. Drink 4 cups of green tea a day to speed up your metabolism. As little as 1 cup will speed up your metabolism by 10%.

6. Substitute water for soft drinks and you will keep your fat burning machine well lubricated. Six 8-oz. glasses of cold water a day automatically increases your metabolism. Scientists think that it is because the body has to burn fat for energy in the process of warming the water up to body temperature. So, the colder, the better.

7. Add protein to every meal to burn fat faster. One serving is 3 oz. of lean meat, chicken or fish, 2 tablespoons of nuts or 8 oz. of low-fat yogurt. Research shows that after a meal that contains protein, your body will burn up to 30% more calories than if there was no protein.

8. Eat breakfast to get your metabolism moving, to get your fat burning started and to help keep your energy high all day.

9. Use Dr. Yarnell's CD "Lose Weight With Hypnosis" for fast, safe and permanent weight loss.

Improve Self-Esteem With Visualizations

2009-12-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

Last year I wrote about improving self-confidence and self-esteem by making lists of every successful project you’ve ever done.

Today’s suggestion involves building your self-esteem and self-confidence by taking one or two of your goals and visualize, see yourself clearly as being successful at that goal. Visualize yourself being successful and let yourself feel the pride, happiness, self-confidence and positive self-esteem that come with reaching your goal. Do this exercise for ten minutes first thing in the morning and just before going to sleep every day until your goal is reached. Your motivation, self-esteem and self-confidence will increase each day you do it.

Even Donald Trump agrees, “If you keep in touch with your goals by visualizing them, they stand a good chance of working out beautifully.”

Trump University Wealth Building 101: Your First 90 Days on the Path to Prosperity

LIVE LONGER, HEALTHIER & HAPPIER

2009-11-30T11:50:00.000-08:00

Laughter increases your body's immune system and reduces the production of cortisol. Cortisol is the stress hormone that has a negative, destructive effect on just about every part of your body. It's especially bad for your heart.

The positive effects of a good, hearty laugh will help you live longer, healthier and happier, especially if you make it a daily habit. Make it one of your goals to find something funny to laugh at every day.

Read the funnies, watch a comedy show or old movies like the Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello or The Road Runner.

For a longer, stress free life, find something that tickles your funny bone and get a good laugh in every day.

***For a healthier and happier life, use Dr. Yarnell's CD "Detox Your Mind".

***Release all your negative thoughts and feelings and live a healthy, happy and prosperous life.

***Click here to see more about this CD or to order today.

GRATITUDE: HAPPINESS KEY #2

2009-11-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

The first key I talked about was to live in the here and now. Key #2 is to be grateful. Happy people focus on what they have and not on what they don’t have or what they would like to have. Happy people are grateful for what they have and receive and recognize that their life is already blessed.

You can’t be happy when all you do is focus on what you don’t have. When you focus on what is missing from your life you can’t help but make yourself depressed.

We are and we become what we think about and what we talk about most. Pay attention to what you don’t have and you become negative and unhappy. Pay attention to what you already have, to how blessed you already are and you will not only stay positive and happy but you will also attract more of the good “stuff” into your life. Why is that? Because, when you are happy you are more motivated to do more and to try different things which gives you a better chance for more happiness and success.

To change your focus from what you don’t have to what you do have, do this exercise every night for the next 30 days. If you do it in writing, it will work for you.

Get a notebook and every night before going to sleep write down three things you are grateful for. Try to make them relevant to that day. Don’t just write the same three things every night. Writing I am grateful for my parents, children and my nice house every night for 30 days will not change you. Put some thought and effort into it. Next, write out why you feel grateful for each item you chose. Then, close the book and go to sleep. Your positive, grateful thoughts and feelings now get to percolate all night in your subconscious mind. After 30 nights of this, you will find yourself feeling more positive about your life and you will be happier.

LOSE WEIGHT - EAT HEALTHY

2009-11-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

One of the easiest and quickest ways to lose weight involves starting to eat healthy. Healthy eating includes eight servings of vegetables and fruits every day. If these eight helpings substitute for other fattening foods you will lose weight. You will become healthier because you are adding the fiber and cancer fighting antioxidants in fruits and vegetables.

If you are one of those people who don’t like eating vegetables or fruit (as many of you don’t), start by adding just one helping a day. For most fresh or cooked vegetables and fruits, one serving is one-half of a measured cup. That’s right, eat healthy and lose weight by adding just ½ cup of healthy food to your meals. After one week, add a second helping of a different food to a different meal. Do that for a week. Each week, add ½ cup of a different vegetable or fruit to one on your meals. In eight weeks you will be there, eating healthy. As you are adding these healthy foods to your meal plan, eat less of the fattening foods and you will be losing weight in the process.

By going slowly, you allow your mind and body to get used to your new behavior. Healthy eating and weight loss will become easier and less stressful.

Weight Loss Tip Of The Day

2008-11-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

When it comes to losing weight, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It makes no difference what time of the day it is. Breakfast is that first meal after you wake up. So, if you work the night shift and wake up at three in the afternoon, your breakfast is the first meal you have after waking.

While we sleep, our metabolism slows down to a crawl. It doesn't start up again after we wake up. It doesn't start up again until the first meal that you eat. That means if you skip breakfast, your metabolism is set on "crawl" all that time. Eat breakfast to wake up your metabolism and get your stored fat burned off faster.

Research also shows that people who eat breakfast eat fewer calories during the day and lose weight faster.

For fastest weight loss, eat breakfast within one hour of waking up and you will speed up your metabolism faster, burn more calories and it will give you greater energy throughout the day.

Lose Weight Now

2008-11-13T22:10:00.001-08:00

How To Become Happy, Part 1

2008-10-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

Are you happy? I mean really happy. Or, are you just faking it? Are you trying to look happy so others won’t know you are down, depressed or sad? The first step to getting honestly happy is to acknowledge how you are really feeling.

When you are alone with just your own thoughts, do you recognize what you are feeling? Is it happiness or is it sadness, loneliness, anxiety, resentment, anger or some other negative emotion? These negative emotions eat away at your being able to be truly happy.

If you don’t know where you are or what you are feeling, give yourself permission to get in touch with your real self. It may be scary but it is the first step toward becoming a happy, healthy individual.

Work on getting to know how you are really feeling about the different things that are happening in your life. That will start you moving toward being happy.

There are at least six qualities that are common to most people who are happy. I’m going to discuss them as separate characteristics but, in reality, they are interrelated with each other.

The first characteristic of a happy person is that they live in the here and now – in the present. If you get up in the morning and focus your attention on what you have to do to make today a wonderful day you will be happier than if you focus your attention and energy on the bad things that happened in the past or all the possible things that could go wrong in the future. Strive to make each moment good, as happy as possible and your life will turn out happier than anything you could ever imagine. I’m not saying not to make plans for the future or not to work on future projects. As you work on them, keep the current moment happy by focusing on the good that is coming out of whatever it is that you are doing.

Yes, I know, it does seem that bad things do happen to us. The key is to deal with them in the here and now and then let them go. We can then go back to making our present moment as happy as we can. When we hold on to the negative thoughts and feelings, we are guaranteeing that we will be making ourselves unhappy. We do control how we think and feel so we are in control over how we deal with negative situations.

Hold on to the negative and make yourself unhappy or deal with it, let it go and move on to making yourself happy. It’s your choice. You are in control.

Come back often and watch for Part 2 coming soon.

Teenage Depression

2008-10-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

I’ve had many emails asking about how a parent or teacher can tell if their teen or student is depressed.

Here are some signs you can look for. If they last more than two weeks you should take them seriously and consider seeking professional help.

1. Loss of appetite or sudden increase in the amount the child eats. This is only a symptom if the teen was a regular eater before.

2. Change in sleep behavior. Insomnia or wanting to sleep all the time may indicate depression. Nightmares and restless sleep can also be symptoms.

3. Sudden bad grades when the teen had been doing better.

4. Withdrawal. The teen withdraws from friends and family for no apparent reason.

5. Talk of death or dying. This is serious even if it’s done in a joking manner.

6. Change for the worse in personal habits. Wearing dirty clothes when used to be concerned with appearance. Quits brushing teeth or combing hair.

7. Teen suddenly starts giving away possessions that they consider important. This sign is very high on the suicidal indicator list and must be taken seriously.

Signs of depression are only signs if they cannot be explained by other reasonable events. For example, a sudden loss of appetite is not a sign of depression when the person is trying to lose five pounds so she can fit into her prom dress. Suddenly giving away possessions may not be a sign of depression or suicidal thoughts if the reason is to send them to others who have lost everything to a flood, hurricane or other type of disaster. Evaluate what else may be causing the behavior. If there are realistic explanations then you may not be dealing with depression.

If you are concerned about your teen, talk it over with the school counselor or seek private professional help for your teen.

Two sources for immediate help are:

National Depression and Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-2433
Teen & Parent Crisis Hotline: 1-800-448-3000

Build Self-Confidence Tip For Today

2008-08-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Today’s tip will help build your self-confidence and self-esteem. Do this exercise and you will get great results. Get a piece of paper and write down every single thing you have been a success at. Don’t just think about your successes. You have to write them down so as you remember more of them you can add to the list. Your self-confidence and self-esteem will grow as your list grows longer.

You may be thinking to yourself that you have never been successful or at least not really successful at anything important. If that’s what you are thinking, you are wrong. You have already mastered many, many very difficult tasks. During the first few years after you were born, you learned to speak, you learned a language, and you learned to walk. After that you may have learned to ride a bike or to roller skate. You went to school and learned to add, subtract and a whole lot more. You learned to name the capitals of all the states – well maybe not all of them. You may have learned to play a musical instrument. What about sports? Did you learn to cook? All those things you did since you were born are successes that you had. Maybe it’s been awhile but all those things you had to learn were not easy at the time you learned them. You have probably forgotten about them – but you must not let yourself forget. You HAVE been a success at many, many things in your life.

I recently thought that it would be fun to play the piano or a guitar but realized that I had no musical talent at all. When I started to write this piece, I did this exercise (It’s been a long time since I did it last) and discovered that I wasn’t as bad as I thought. In 7th grade I had to take up a musical instrument in music class so I chose the trumpet. It took a lot of practice but I finally learned to play one song. That was a success for me. I quit after the class was over because I was an impatient teenager. I didn’t sound like Louie Armstrong in 4 months so I quit. Next success, my children taught me to play chopsticks on the piano. So I guess I’m not totally musically illiterate. The real question becomes “Are you willing to put the time and effort into succeeding at whatever it is that you want to do?” Put another way, do you really want what ever the goal is? If yes, go ahead. If no, drop it and move on to something else.

Read over your list every day and remember how it was back then, back before you had command of what you were learning. Was it scary? How did you feel the very first time you got behind the steering wheel? Hopefully you drive better now then you did at 15, 16 or 17. Take pride in what you have accomplished. Focus on all that you’ve done, not on what you haven’t done. Add to your list every time you remember something new. Use your new found self-confidence, decide if your goal is what you really want and then start doing what you have been putting off.

Considering all you have accomplished growing up, you can allow yourself to feel proud, strong and confident. Self-esteem means feeling good about yourself. Accept your successes and you will have self-esteem and self-confidence. Now all you have to do is take action on the new things in your life.

Diet Tip For Today

2008-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

To lose weight quickly, eat slowly. It takes at least 20 minutes of chewing before your brain registers that you have eaten.

This is why when you rush through a meal you can eat a lot of food but still feel hungry when finished. Your brain never received the signal that you ate.

Slow down eating to speed up weight loss.

Weight Loss Tip Of The Day

2008-06-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Become aware of everything you are eating while you are eating it. This means you do not work, read or watch TV while eating. When we eat and do other things at the same time, we generally continue to eat long after we become full. We also feel less satisfied because we didn’t enjoy what we ate.

Enjoy each piece of food that goes into your mouth. You will become satisfied faster, eat less and lose weight quicker.

Risk Taking

2006-06-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

On TV recently, I heard someone talking about risk taking and he said “Don’t be afraid of going out on a limb, that’s where the fruit is.”

What struck me was how so many people hold back from following their dreams because of the inability to take risks. There are some things you can do to reduce the risk of any idea or dream you have.

First, get more information. Find out as much as you can about what you want to do. As you gather more information, the level of risk should diminish.

The second technique is to practice taking small risks in areas that are not as important. As you take baby steps, you will begin to feel more comfortable taking bigger risks.

The third technique is to get support from your friends and family. Surround yourself with positive people who want you to succeed. Put some distance between you and those people who are negative and non-supportive.

Finally, don’t burn your bridges behind you. Having a safety net will help you take the risks you need to take in order to be the success you want to be.

Dr. Yarnell’s “Develop Self-Confidence With Hypnosis” will also help you become a successful risk taker. Click here to go to his store.

Why Stress Makes You Fat

2006-05-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

First, some of us eat to keep our hands and mouth busy. It makes us think we are doing something. We are not even aware of everything we put in our mouth. A taste here, a taste there, a couple cookies, a piece of pie, and one thing after another increases our total calorie count which packs the pounds on.

The second reason is even sneakier because we don’t even know it’s going on. The second reason we get fat while under stress has to do with hormones and chemical reactions in our brain.

When we are under any kind of stress, our body produces a hormone called cortisol. This is the stress hormone. One of its main jobs is to alert our body to get ready to fight or flee. In order to have the energy to do this, the cortisol causes our fat cells to absorb more fat than usual and to store it around our stomach where it can be reached quickly if needed for energy. This is done by having the cortisol trigger two other chemicals in our brain. One produces a craving for carbohydrates so we will have more immediate energy and one causes a craving for fatty foods so the fat can be stored for use later.

Unfortunately, dealing with modern stress is generally an emotional or intellectual job rather than a physical job and requires less energy than stresses of years gone by. We no longer have to fight or run away from dinosaurs. Solving our stress producing problems may only require figuring out how not to be lonely, how to pay the bills, who is going to baby sit the children or what to do about a bad relationship. These things just don’t burn off the same amount of fat as was stored when we were first stressed so we gain weight.

The key, then, is to practice some form of stress management to keep your body from producing the cortisol in the first place. In addition to yoga and meditation, my two stress management programs work well to keep you unstressed in this busy and hectic world.

The “STRESS MANAGEMENT” program is a 30 minute relaxation and balancing visualization that will help you function better in your real life. In addition to keeping you from gaining weight, it will also have a beneficial effect on your blood pressure and heart health in general.

The “10 MINUTE STRESS RELEASE” is just that - a quick but deep relaxation session that can fit into any busy schedule.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED WITH EITHER OF THESE PROGRAMS ON CD OR CASSETTE TAPE.

Resolving Conflicts In Relationships

2006-04-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

There will always be differences of opinions between people in relationships. Many people wind up breaking up because of this. The key to resolving conflicts in marriage as well as other personal relationships boils down to both parties honestly wanting to resolve the conflict and not just “get their own way”.

Here is a process that has worked for many couples to resolve conflicts and grow closer because of it.

Step 1. Recognize that there is a conflict and that resolving it together will make your relationship better.
Step 2. Listen carefully as each of you explains what the problem is from their point of view. You are not trying to solve the problem at this step, just define it clearly so you each understand what you are dealing with.
Step 3. Select a time when you will get back together to try to resolve the problem. Since you both have a clear picture of what the problem is, give yourself a few hours or days to just think about it. Choose a time that will work for both of you. At the specified time, get back together to work on the problem. The purpose of putting it off was so both of you could think about it, not just “put it off” so you don’t have to deal with it.
Step 4. Examine your role in the problem. Define it so you understand what you think the problem is. Which of your behaviors adds to the problem? Which of your partner’s behaviors adds to the problem?
Step 5. When you get back together, share what you figured out in Step 4. Accept responsibility for your role in producing or keeping the problem going.
Step 6. Identify behaviors that each of you can change. Think of as many different solutions as you can. The more possible solutions and behavior changes you can think of, the greater the chance of finding those that will solve the problem.
Step 7. You may have to negotiate a possible solution if one of you likes choice 5 while the other likes choice 3. Keep the discussion open and going until you both agree on which solution to try. This solution should include behavior changes that each of you should make and a potential timetable for making them. Set a date to discuss how well this solution is working.
Step 8. Implement your new behaviors.
Step 9. Meet again to discuss what has worked and what hasn’t. For those things that haven’t worked, go back to your list of possible solutions (Step 6) and pick new behaviors to try.
Step 10. Resolve to keep meeting and trying new behaviors until the problem is solved.

Use this technique for resolving any relationship problem you have. It will work as long as each party is willing to accept responsibility for their own part and are willing to try new behaviors until the successful changes are found.

Become More Creative

2006-03-29T07:01:00.000-08:00

1. Creativity is a right brain activity. Practice daydreaming. Daydreaming is a right brain activity too. For 10 minutes every day, make yourself comfortable, close your eyes and let your imagination run wild. The more outlandish, the better.

2. Learn to visualize. Being able to see visual images in your mind stimulates right brain functions. For 10 minutes every day, try to actually see, in your mind, different objects or people you know. For example, get comfortable, closer your eyes and visualize a red apple. How about a green cucumber, your bathroom at home or your best friend.

3. Learn to free associate. This is the basis of brain-storming which is an important technique in producing creative ideas,

4. Steps 2 and 3 can be combined to make a more powerful creativity exercise. Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Select any two digit number and visualize it in your mind’s eye. Concentrate on it until a new image appears. Don’t try to see anything specific. Practice letting your mind do what it wants to do. This is the basis for free association. After a new image appears, concentrate on that one until another one appears. Continue for about 10 minutes every day. When you are concentrating on the images, try to see them as clearly as you can. Note the shapes, colors and other details of the images. This exercise will improve your ability to visualize and greatly enhance your creative abilities.

5. Fear is a major block to creative thinking. None of us likes to be criticized or thought of as strange. Creative ideas are often unusual enough that we may fear discussing them because of what others will think of us. Learn a relaxation technique and de-condition yourself to what others may say. This will allow you to move on to new, higher levels of creative thinking.

Number 5 reminded me of a joke. There is a new specialty in Psychology and it’s called “Psycho-ceramics”. It’s the study of crackpots.

6. Creativity involves the production of new ideas. To be really good at this, your mind needs a lot of good information to work with. Reading in many different areas will allow your mind to store different types of ideas and facts that can be mentally manipulated when you need new ideas. Besides books and magazines, don’t overlook the tapes and CDs that are available that you can listen to while driving. Learn as many new things as you can and your mind will use them to produce new ideas that you can use when you need them.

Change Happens

2006-02-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

There is one constant in life and that is that life is always changing. Things happen to us and our life is suddenly different. In a split second (a car accident), a few minutes (a tornado) or 6 hours (hurricane Katrina) your life can be turned inside out. Your business downsizes and you’re out, you discover your spouse cheated on you or you flunk out of school, all of which can produce serious changes in your life.

Some people deal with change easily but most do not. Many people have serious reservations about dealing with change because they feel comfortable in their groove and change is threatening, change is scary. What will become of me? What will I do now? How will I survive? This fear and anxiety can shut us down and keep us from moving on in our life.

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” This question is the one we all have to ask ourselves. It comes from Who Moved my Cheese? For Teens by Spencer Johnson, M.D. I highly recommend this book to all adults and teens who have problems with change. There is also an adult version but the teen version is a quick read that will help you deal with the changes in your life. It will help you pick yourself up and move on.

Since our lives are always changing, the more prepared we are, the more successful we will be. In addition, what is something you could do tomorrow if you weren’t afraid? When tomorrow comes, do it and see how good you will feel. Let that be the start of the new, happier, and more successful you.

Spiritual Habits

2006-01-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

Aristotle once wrote that the common denominator of humankind is the desire for happiness. We all want to be happy. One key to happiness is our spiritual development. It sets the framework for our inner peace, happiness and personal fulfillment.

I can personally relate that my spiritual beliefs have helped me in times of stress and helped me maintain feelings of inner peace during stressful times. Of course I get off track like everyone else but my spiritual habits (prayer and meditation) bring me back in touch with my belief that God is in me, on my side and is blessing me with his love.

Having spiritual beliefs can be a great stress management technique. It doesn’t matter what your religion is as long as you really trust that there is a supreme being (God, Christ, Buddha, etc.) living in your heart and guiding you through life. I believe God is within each of us. The mistake is that not everyone listens to that soft inner voice within them.

Sometime every day relax and get yourself quiet and listen to the chatter in your head. Try to clear your mind so you can ask a question about a problem that you may be working on. Listen for the quiet inner voice that gives you advice. Some call it their intuition. Some know it comes from God. Regardless of what you call it, it will be what is right for you at that time.

Develop this habit of listening and you will realize that God is with you all the time. You are always safe. All you have to do is listen.

My daily reminder is a sign I have on the side of my refrigerator. It says: Good Morning, This is God! I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help. So, have a great day.

Resolving Conflicts

2006-01-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

This conflict resolution model can be used successfully to solve problems between spouses, parents and children or between friends. The basic requirement is that everyone involved wants to resolve the conflict.

These ten basic steps will work if you sincerely use them to solve your interpersonal problems.

Step 1. Recognize that there is a conflict. Don’t try to hide or swallow your disappointment from yourself. Do not ignore the problem by making excuses for the other person.

Step 2. Listen carefully to how the other person perceives the problem. Repeat the problem as stated by the other person until he or she agrees that you’ve interpreted it correctly.

Step 3. Set a time when both of you will feel comfortable discussing the problem. Once you understand the problem (Step 2), you should give yourself and the other party some time to think about it. Then, come back to work on it.

Step 4. Get very specific. Break down the problem as stated in Step 2 into smaller steps. Examine how each person’s behavior adds to the problem.

Step 5. Each person has to take responsibility for their own behavior and the role they play in causing the conflict.

Step 6. Brainstorm possible solutions. Sit down and start listing everything each of you could do to help solve or remove the problem. Don’t judge. All parties get to list everything that either one can do that might help.

Step 7. Evaluate all the suggested solutions for each person involved. Select solutions or behaviors that each person will do to try to solve the problem. Both parties must agree on the chosen behaviors.

Step 8. Focus on your own behavior. Each person implements the new behaviors that were agreed on.

Step 9. Evaluate how well the behavior changes are working. If the changes are not working, go back to Step 6 and pick new behaviors or solutions to try. If the changes are working, continue what you are doing until the problem is totally solved.

Step10. If after a few tries the problem still exists, you may need to go back to Step 1 and reevaluate what the real problem is. It’s possible you didn’t really get to the core problem the first time.

Do not beat yourself up if you don’t solve the problem the first time. Some problems are complex and require work to find out what is really happening and why. Once you reach that point, conflicts can be resolved as long as all parties want them resolved. I believe that most conflicts can be resolved when all parties decide or choose to release their personal agenda and work to overcome their personal differences.

Five Steps To A Golden Future

2006-01-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

1. Know what you really want.

If you don’t know what you really want out of life, how will you ever get there? How will you ever be satisfied or happy?

To find out what you really want, you should start by examining your values. What is important to you? Do you want money, fame, power, status, family, etc? How much are you willing to give to get what you want? There is almost always a price. To get both money and power, you might need to work 80 hours, seven days a week. Are you really willing to do that or whatever else it takes to meet your goals?

Regardless of what it is that you value and want, make sure it is your dream and not your parents, spouse, family, or friend’s dream. If it’s not your dream, it will be painful trying to get there.

2. Make a commitment to your goal.

Once you settle on a goal, commit yourself to giving it your “all” to reach it.

3. Do something every day toward meeting your goal.

Some days you will take giant steps and some days will involve baby steps. That is just fine as long as you are moving forward. I printed out No. 3 in a large elaborate font and keep one by my computer and one on the fridge door to keep me going on writing my new book. Some days I write only a sentence but on others I might get a few pages before I stop.

4. Stay positive and motivated.

Reinforce yourself often for making progress. You may want to read my article on Self-Motivation in my newsletter “Psychology & You”.

5. Reassess your position often.

If the going gets rough, stop and see if your plans are correct. Maybe you have to add some more steps to your plan. Maybe you have to change something to make your plan work better.

One final consideration is: Do you still want that particular goal that you’ve been working toward? Goals, plans, and desires are not written in concrete for all eternity. We change. Our situation changes. We can change our mind. Don’t continue on a path once you’ve changed your mind or lost interest in the project or goal.

Go back to Step 1 and figure out what you really want now. It’s OK to shift gears and go in a new direction as long as that is what you really want. Just keep in mind that you may get static from those around you who don’t want you to change. Be assertive and be true to your values and goals and you will be successful and happy.

Happiness Is A Choice

2006-01-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

How we feel is a choice we make every time we make a decision to think, feel or behave in a certain way. What I mean by this is that every decision we make has a positive or negative consequence. Those consequences don’t come about by accident or by chance. We are creating them for ourselves.

I’ve recently gained some weight and am feeling bad about how I look and feel. I created these negative feelings every time I put something in my mouth that I knew would make me gain weight. The negative feelings didn’t happen by accident and they were not caused by someone else. They were caused by me each time I chose to eat something fattening.

I’ve chosen to go back to being happy and each time I choose to eat healthy or exercise, I create new positive feelings as a consequence of my choices.

Take negative actions and the consequences will be negative feelings. Take positive actions, behavior you know will make you feel better about yourself, and you will start a series of consequences that will lead to your happiness. It’s your choice.

I believe in the boomerang theory of life. What we send out is what we get back. It’s that old saying that “What goes around, comes around.” It really is true that the thoughts, feelings and behaviors we send out will come back to us, multiplied.

Action Steps

1. Every day, say at least one nice, good thing to someone you come in contact with.

2. Every day, do something nice for someone you come in contact with.

3. Show and express your appreciation for the things others do for you. Don’t assume others know you appreciate them. Tell them or show them in some other positive way.

4. Show and express your appreciation for what you do for others. Stop and pat yourself on the back for your contributions to others' happiness. If you can’t think of anything you should acknowledge yourself for, you need to get started on Steps 1. and 2.

Happiness is a choice. Every day we have many opportunities to make good choices that will lead to positive consequences for ourselves and others. It’s up to you. Don’t procrastinate. Happiness is just a choice away.

Hurricane Katrina

2005-12-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,
It has now been three and a half months since hurricane Katrina hit. Things are finally getting back to normal for me. My office was destroyed and my home was partially damaged. We are now in a new office, my home has a new roof and I’m working with contractors to begin rebuilding the inside of my house. I will now try to get back on schedule with my blog. Each week I will try to have a new article that relates to personal growth, self-help or self-actualization. I will try to coach you to become the best you can be.
Thank you for all your support during these trying times.

How To Stop Smoking

2005-08-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

For most people, quitting smoking will not be easy. Some people do not seem to get as physically addicted as others so quitting, for them, is relatively easy. For the rest of us, a good “exit strategy” will be essential.

The first and most important step in developing an exit strategy from the habit of smoking is to find a serious reason to quit. Your “motivation to quit” will be the foundation of your exit strategy.

The more serious, more personal and more emotional your motivation, the more likely you will be to succeed. Quitting because your spouse, friends, relatives, doctor want you to is often not motivating enough to keep you going. The motivating reason must be yours and not from someone else.

Once motivated to quit, you will need a plan of attack. How are you going to do it. Will you ease off, go cold turkey, use a nicotine patch or gum, or use hypnosis, acupuncture or Zyban? Each one of these has proven successful for some people and unsuccessful for others. I personally quit using my hypnosis CD that I sell at my online store and I also used Zyban to help break the physical dependence. Using both, I quit easily and with no side effects. Make a solid plan and put it in writing so you can review it when needed.

Step three is to “take action”. Put your plan into effect. Do not procrastinate. Your life depends on it.

Keep in mind that no matter how much or for how long you’ve smoked, your lungs begin healing within 24 hours of your quitting. Within a couple years of your quitting, your chances of getting lung cancer are reduced. After 15 years of not smoking, your chances of getting lung cancer are reduced by 95 %. This is great news because it means that your chances of getting lung cancer are only 5 % more than someone who never smoked. Personally, these are odds I can live with.

Do yourself a favor. Get started now.

Overcome Depression

2005-08-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

One new, tested technique for relieving depression was made public recently. I’ve tried it myself, I’ve used it with depressed patients, and I’ve used it with my life coaching clients.

The technique was developed by Dr. Martin Seligman, a pioneer in the area of Positive Psychology. His research indicated that using this technique every night for one week reduced the feeling of depression in his subjects.

My depressed patients and life coaching clients have all had success with it. It works better and faster for some but every one who uses it on a daily basis reports a reduction in their feelings of depression and an increase in their feelings of well-being. They had more energy and were able to accomplish more during the day.

I found the technique to be easy and fast. Every night before going to sleep, write down three good things that happened to you that day. Yes, everyone has at least three. No, they don’t have to be big or monumental, just good. You got a good parking place, someone let you into the lane easily, someone smiled at you, someone said thank you, someone opened the door for you, you found a great seat in the lunch room, etc. Every day, these little “positive, good occurrences” happen to us and usually go unnoticed. Of course, there are also big things like getting a raise or having your spouse surprise you with a great present but these are usually less often for most of us.

Next, after each one, write down why you think it happened. Try to find some reason for it. It can be simple like I was in the right place at the right time, it was pay-back for when I let that car into my lane earlier, my affirmations are starting to work, or more complicated like I really worked hard this past year for my raise.

Find a reason and write it down. Don’t just think about it. When someone tells me it isn’t working. The first thing I ask is if they have a journal and if they are writing out this exercise. Almost always they say they are only thinking about it and not writing it.
Write it down! The process of writing makes a much greater mental impression than just thinking about it.

This exercise helps us refocus our emotional being on the positive aspects of our life. As we do, our feelings of depression lift and our positive, healthy energy starts to take over. Make this exercise a regular ritual before going to sleep (along with whatever other rituals you use such as prayer, affirmations, meditation, yoga, etc.) and it will make a profound difference in your life. Do it for thirty days and let me know how it is working.

Invitation

2005-08-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

You are invited to email me questions and comments about what I've written or about what you would like me to write about. I will try to cover as much as I can in the blog as I will probably not be able to respond to you personally by private email. To email me, click on View My Complete Profile and under Contact, click Email.

Welcome

2005-08-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. I want to thank everyone who has supported my Newsletter, Psychology & You. Not to fear, the newsletter will continue. I started this blog because writing the full articles was more time consuming than I realized and I have many topics I want to discuss. Now, on a more regular basis, I can produce short articles, thoughts about the nature of personal growth, answer reader questions and present ideas you can use to help yourself. In some cases I may continue or expand a topic at another time so it may grow into a full article.

Come back often as I am going to have something new weekly.