Just as willpower is an essential factor in achieving success, at some point in time, discouragement and lack of motivation may hinder you from reaching your objective. And it is up to you, and you alone to devise techniques that will help you keep that drive within afire. It is helpful to have visual goals. whatsoever that is you are working towards, make it visual. It maybe something material like a car, or a vacation you have been looking forward to for the longest time.
Take or cut out a picture of it and post it at a conspicuous place at work or at home where you can see it often. So that when you feel discouraged, this will remind you of your goal and will help you keep your spotlight.
Make a contract with oneself. According to motivational researches, people who write down to-do-lists are far more triumphant in achieving their intended goals than those people who just keep mental lists instead.
Putting something in writing somehow makes it more powerful psychologically speaking. This may also be the basis why most cultures have such a high regard in honoring contracts. In the contract, you may also include a certain reward that you will give yourself once you have accomplished the task.
After all, everyone likes to be rewarded for completing a good job. Even a simple pat on the back, “good job”, or “thank you” may do the trick to give the person the additional push to carry on, but unfortunately, these may not always be readily available. Considering that these are also essential in keeping oneself motivated, you must learn to find a way to get that encouragement on your own through pleasing yourself.
Abusive people lower your self-esteem and bring you down. Get these negative people out of your life. Surround yourself with positive people. Imitate their example. Smile amply and think happy thoughts.
These will give you a brighter outlook and lets you see a clearer picture of what you really want and a fresh mind to know what steps to take to get there. Rather than wait for things to happen, try to be proactive and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. Inactivity idles the brain and stagnates your potential to reach your goals.
Read inspirational books and literature. These will help you improve your attitude and heal your mind. A book of success stories also proves to be encouraging. You will not only learn from others' experiences and derive confidence boosting insights from them but the story will be instrumental in motivating you to go for your goal and move ahead with your plans. If this still seems to falter, get training or education.
Oftentimes, not knowing how or where to start is frustrating. Knowledge is power. Having a clear understanding of how and where to start is empowering and it will provide the extra drive needed to hit the mark you are aiming at and follow it through.
Having enumerated all these tips and tricks to attain self-motivation, but still you seem to feel lacking that much needed drive, there is one last thing that you must try.
Whatever it is that you have been meaning to do, or wanting to achieve, JUST DO IT! Keep on aiming high and go for it! Actually getting your hands dirty best solves the problem of motivation. By “forcing” yourself to just do it, your momentum will pick up gradually as you go along and before you know it you have finished the task or have finally achieved your goal. Divide and conquer is the key.
Break down the apparently unattainable activity to small doable steps. Not only does it become less overwhelming, but seeing the "in the meantime" results will further your confidence that it can indeed be done.
Lack of motivation happens to us all, but if you do not encourage yourself to accept opportunities and be challenged, no one else will. It is most important to keep your eye on the goal, find ways to keep going, and in no time, you shall reap its benefits.
And if at the beginning you were just doing it for the material reward, you will also learn to realize that the fulfillment, satisfaction and self-achievement you derive from reaching your goal is a much enjoyable high that will keep the drive within constantly burning.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
How To Stop Negative Thoughts
Thoughts have power. As we think, so we become. If we allow negative thoughts to dominate our mind, we will be frustrated, unhappy and lacking in inner peace. If we can stop negative thoughts, we will will be able to see the beautiful, even in the mundane; we will be able to attain peace of mind, even in the turmoil of everyday life.
Be Committed
The very first step is simply the awareness that you want to stop your negative thoughts. Unfortunately, there is a part of us that holds on to negative thoughts; if we didn’t consciously or unconsciously invite negative thoughts we wouldn’t have them. For example, we sometimes hold onto negative thoughts out of self-pity; we have to be careful of this. If we strongly value the benefit of rejecting negative thoughts we will be able to do it.
Be Aware.
Another problem is that negative thoughts can often slip in unnoticed. We allow negative thoughts to spiral around in our mind and don’t have the discipline to reject them. Always be conscious of your thoughts, and don’t allow your mind to wander down a path of negativity. Feel that when you allow negative thoughts into your mind you are staining something very beautiful. Take time to periodically review your thoughts so that it will become more instinctive to be aware of your own mind.
Positive Visualisation.
Only by our positive thinking,
By our bringing the positive qualities
Of others to the fore,
Will this world be able
To make progress.
The most effective way for countering negativity, is to throw yourself into the opposite – which is a positive view of life. Don’t focus on a person’s minor misdemeanour’s, but focus on the real self, the part that is divine. If you are frustrated how society is at the moment, visualise how society can change into something beautiful. By thinking of the positive and by feeling divine qualities of love, we will not want to harbour negativity. Don’t feel you are fighting negativity, but just growing into a better world-view.
Negativity Hurts yourself.
Much negativity is focused on other people – colleagues who annoy us, friends who disappoint us, politicians who fail us. We wish to blame and criticise other people we come into contact with. However, as we gain more experience, we come to feel that our own negativity unmistakably returns to its source. The failings we see in others are merely some part of our own larger nature. When we realise that negativity towards others returns like a boomerang, we will naturally be more compassionate, forgiving and loving. By being kind to others, we are really being kind to our more illumined self.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
- Lord Buddha
Meditation
Sometimes, when sitting down to meditate, I just allow thoughts to pass by and I act as the observer of the thoughts. This allows myself to be aware of the thoughts that I produce; it also enables me to see thoughts as separate from my real self. By simply observing thoughts that pass by your mind, you will be able to see them as passing, transient objects – separate from yourself. With this perspective it is much easier to reject those you don’t want.
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Scarcity, Giving and Abundance
As a profession I teach Economics. The first lesson of economics is the concept of scarcity. Because we have scarcity we have to decide how to distribute these limited resources. If you gain some goods, that means less for me. This law of economics we can also feel in all aspects of life.
However, from a spiritual perspective this law is completely misleading. When we give wholeheartedly and with sincerity, we enable ourselves to have more. If we offer good will to others, if we can give others joy, then this is the best way of being joyful ourselves.
Anything we do for the world
Is bound to be returned
Infinitely more.
- Sri Chinmoy
If we think there is only a limited amount of love, we will try and possess it; we will love another, but in a limited and possessive way. With this conception of love, we will always fear losing it; we will fear that our limited love could easily escape. However, if we love unconditionally, if we love everyone we meet, we come to appreciate that it is natural to be loving all the time. To love others, we have to have love for ourselves. This is not an egotistical love; it is a recognition of our divine essence, our real Self. If we feel love and joy to be scarce commodities we will try and ration it and grasp onto it when we see. But, when we learn to give unconditionally, we gain more of what we give. As St Francis of Assisi, concisely put: “For it is in giving that we receive.”
Attitude to Money
If we see others in need and offer financial assistance, we learn the value of giving. This confidence to give to others in need, helps us to attract money into our lives. It is only in cheerfully using money that we can feel wealthy. I used to work for a boss who was a multi-millionaire. However, he was very miserly; he would turn off the heating and lights to save a few pence. He couldn’t give anything to anyone. He had stacks of money in the bank, but he felt poor. His millions gave no joy because he couldn’t spend it.
Giving with Sincerity
If we give to others with the hope that we will get in return, this is not sincere joyful giving. When we give with this attitude, there is a fear our giving may not pay dividends. With this attitude, we don’t really know if we actually have joy to give; it becomes like a bargain. This is not effective. If we give unconditionally, we do not need or expect anything in return. Giving is its own reward. Whether it is misused or not returned doesn’t matter – because we know that giving selflessly helps us to do and become the right thing.
Learn by Teaching.
Love cannot remain by itself — it has no meaning.
Love has to be put into action, and that action is service
- Mother Teresa.
I always tell my students that the best way to revise / learn is to teach others. If you just read the same notes, it is hard to make progress. However, if they take time to explain something to others, then there own understanding and comprehension increases significantly. It is the same principle in life, what we teach and give to others is the lessons we will learn ourselves.
If we judge others, we will feel judged ourselves. If we offer happiness to others, we will be happy ourself. If we are miserly towards other people, we will feel miserly ourselves.
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What Do you Want to See Today?
Quite often we feel that what we experience and see is something that happens to us. This experience depends on other people and the rest of the world. But, we have a habit of seeing what we want to see. If we want to see conflict we can see it in any aspect of life. If we want to see beauty we can also see that.
As soon as we wake up, we start creating our view of life. If you could start your day once more, what would you like to see.
Be Conscious From When you wake up.
What is the first thought you have on waking up? If you had one seed thought for the whole day what would it be? Would it be worrying about getting to work on time, what to have for dinner in the evening? Why not choose a thought which you will inspire you for the rest of the day. At least, make it positive.
Positive Image.
In my room, I try to keep flowers, I also keep a picture of my spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy. These are the things which inspire me most. When waking up, I look at these first. It is simple act, but it shows that we can choose to keep around us the positive and beautiful. From this we will get inspiration and keep in a positive frame of mind.
Give to Others What You would like to Receive yourself.
If you would like to receive joy and happiness in life, try giving it to others. What we give is what we will receive. If we offer forgiveness to others, you will be able to receive forgiveness for ourselves. If we are critical towards others, we will feel judgemental about ourselves.
If your life does not give joy
To others,
Then how can you expect
Your heart to give any joy
To you?
- Sri Chinmoy
Stop – Do you Really want to Focus on That?
Invariably, our day will be spoiled by some unwelcome negative thoughts. If left unchecked these can take us on a negative spiral. We have to stop these thoughts and be clear this is not what we want to see.
Good Qualities
No one is perfect, there will always be things that have the capacity to annoy us. But, we have to be unaffected by this. If someone is annoying us, then we have to try another way of looking at things. Let it go, choose to see the good in them.
From now on,
I shall see
Only the good
In all human beings.
- Sri Chinmoy
Feel Thoughts will come trues Immediately.
Just imagine that whatever you thought or wished became reality immediately. If you imagine inwardly arguing with someone, feel this would occur. If you feel thoughts would come true immediately, you would be very careful what you wished for.
Underlying Thoughts
To really see what we want to see, don’t forget to be scrupulously sincere and honest. Sometimes, we have an underlying thought or desire for something. Perhaps part of us gets a subtle sense of joy from conflict. Part of us has this injured pride when bad things happen. Ironically, part of us holds onto this. We may not even be aware that we are holding on to this unfortunate experience. Be careful of your underlying thoughts and impressions.
Take Time to be Grateful
Heaven on earth doesn’t have to be just a dream. If we are in the right consciousness, the simplest thing can give us so much joy. If we can be grateful for these good things, it will definitely help us to see and appreciate the good in the world.
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Sunday, March 13, 2011
Quotes on Inner Peace
January 12th, 2011 | life | Posted by tejvan -
If you have inner peace, nobody can force you to be a slave to the outer reality.
- Sri Chinmoy
Related Article: Seven Simple Steps to Inner Peace
Once we have this inner peace, world peace can be achieved in the twinkling of an eye.
- Sri Chinmoy
My inner peace
Does not select anybody,
Does not reject anybody.
My inner peace
Always self-givingly projects itself.
- Sri Chinmoy
“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.”
- Peace Pilgrim
“Possession of material riches, without inner peace, is like dying of thirst while bathing in a lake.”
- Paramahansa Yogananda
“Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on.”
- Dalai Lama
Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.
- Lao Tse
A smile is the beginning of peace.
- Mother Teresa
It isn’t enough to talk about peace, one must believe it.
And it isn’t enough to to believe in it, one must work for it.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
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Thursday, January 13, 2011
How To Be Free – Inner Freedom
What Does it Mean to Be Free?
Having just sat through an insipid world cup performance by my team England, I have realised how my mood can easily be disturbed by 11 football players failing to pass a football ball as well as I expect them to. I mean they were dreadful, but, should I be letting myself be affected by things outside my control? Well the world cup is only every four years, and I will always be a glutton for punishment (by nature I’m an optimist – I can’t help but always think this time we can win). But, football aside, we need to develop an inner freedom, a state of mind which can be free from the innumerable worries and anxieties of life. Real inner freedom is a state where we can remain unaffected by disturbing thoughts and ideas.
Socrates once went to a noted sage. The sage told Socrates and his followers that Socrates had all the human limitations of anger, pride and jealousy.
His followers were shocked and interrupted to criticise the sage, saying they saw Socrates as a saint. However, the sage, said, ‘let me finish. It is true that he has all these negative qualities, but Socrates doesn’t let them affect him.’
As we aspire for a better life, human weaknesses will continue crop up. We cannot remain totally unaffected by old thought habits and emotions. However, we don’t have to give our acceptance and full support to these negative thoughts and emotions. We can feel these negative thoughts and emotions as separate to our real self. If we see these thoughts and emotions as separate and outside our self, then we can remain free from there power. We can remain centred in our real self. This is the secret of inner freedom because we can detach from thoughts and emotions that drag us down and round in circles.
We can have all the outer freedom we want to live exactly as we want. But, if we unable to let go of jealousy and insecurity, then we are not free to be inwardly happy; we will be constantly limiting ourself.
It is the nature of desire to remain unfulfilled or be disappointed. The more desires we have, the more prone to disappointment we will be. There are still good things to aim for. There is no harm in aspiring to be a better person and to achieve worthwhile goals. But, to limit material desires, and desires from other people lifts a great pressure off our state of mind. If we have innumerable desires we always feel a sense of dissatisfaction until they fulfilled in our own way. We can become a slave of our desires, making us sacrifice worthwhile principles to get what we want. Yet, even when we get our desire, we soon realise it isn’t the secret of inner peace and contentment. Inner freedom is to be the master of our own desire.
Friends, society and government consciously or unconsciously place expectations on our behaviour, attitude and actions. There is a pressure to conform to certain pre-conceived attitudes. If you look over the past 100-200 years, you can see how concepts of morality and reasonable behaviour are constantly changing. To be free from these subtle pressures is essential to give us our inner peace and enable us to be inwardly free.
To be free from peer pressure doesn’t mean we have to be the natural born rebel, always trying to shock people; this can become it’s own ideology. Having a shocking hairstyle is not the be all and end all or symbol of inner freedom. The real secret is the inner attitude. It is to quietly question prevailing values like materialistic goals; it is to have the self-confidence and inner faith to live as we feel inwardly inspired.
“What is false freedom? False freedom is our constant and deliberate acceptance of ignorance and our conscious existence in ignorance. What is real freedom? Real freedom is our conscious awareness of our inner divinity, and our constant inseparable oneness with the Inner Pilot.”
- Sri Chinmoy (1)
To be really free, we have to be able live in our real self. The self that is spontaneous, happy, non-judgemental and cheerful. It is the childlike quality we all have within us. It is this source of human creativity and real joy. We have all felt this at some times in our life. We feel uninhibited and can access that creative aspect of ourselves. We can know this real self through living in the heart – living away from the critical mind; it is something we can access through meditation and contemplation. The irony is this inner freedom requires discipline.
Related
(1) Excerpt from The Tears Of Nation-Hearts by Sri Chinmoy
Photo Tejvan,
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How To Develop Will Power
What is will power? Will power is the ability to do what we set out to do, without being sidetracked by doubt, hesitation and temptation. Will-power is the soul force which enables us to transcend the limitations of our self.
A person without will power is easily swayed and influenced. Without will-power we can feel a helpless victim to circumstances, other people, and our own thoughts.
To develop will power is to develop greater self-control and release our own hidden potential.
Exercise the Muscle.
Will-power should be seen like a muscle. If we train our muscle it gets stronger. If we don’t it gets weaker. Will power is not a heredity condition. It is something that we can develop.
Clear Focus.
Will power involves being one pointed and achieving a certain goal. If we are not entirely clear what we want to do, it is difficult to focus our will to doing it. When we attempt to do something, we need the co-operation of all parts of ourself. Don’t be in two minds, but decide exactly what you need to do and stick to it.
Will Power For the Positive.
It is better to develop will power for a positive goal, rather than using our will power to negate something.
“The easiest way to use will-power is to take the positive approach. Use will-power to do something positive, not to keep yourself from doing something negative. If we say, “I shall not tell a lie,” that is important. But if we say, “I shall tell the truth,” that will-power is more effective. When we say, “I won’t do it,” already the negative thing has half its power just because we are thinking about it. If we repeat in our mind, “I won’t be jealous,” the word ‘jealous,’ the negative quality that it embodies, ruins our mind and then we do become jealous.”
- Sri Chinmoy (1)
Ignore Silly thoughts.
It is human nature, that when we attempt something, silly thoughts appear in our mind to try and put us off. These thoughts have to be ignored. We have to see them as foreign entities. If we listen and accept every silly thought that comes into our mind, we will have no will power because our hyperactive mind will pull us in many different directions.
Concentration
Concentration and will-power are closely linked. If we develop our concentration which is our ability to remain one-pointed, we are at the same time developing our will power. See: Concentration exercise.
Never Give Up.
Will power doesn’t mean we have to always achieve at our first attempt. If we get pulled off our target, pay no attention and don’t allow despondency to enter. We need to keep trying. Persistence and patience are essential components of will-power.
Make It Easy Not Hard
If you want to give up smoking, avoid situations which encourage the craving. If you want to have the will-power to avoid chocolate, you wouldn’t buy the most tempting chocolates and invite your friends to come and eat them in front of you. Will-power also involves common sense to help us achieve our goal.
Understand Benefits and Costs.
To achieve something we need to understand benefits and costs. If we truly value what we are aiming at then we will develop the perseverance to continue struggling for it.
Will-power is one thing, but it also has to be directed in right direction. Napoleon undoubtedly had great will-power, but that doesn’t mean we have to become another Napoleon. Often the most important use of will-power is using it to become a better person. It is to be free of our own limitations fear, doubt and jealousy. This will-power to be happy is definitely worth growing.
Related
Effective Ways to Get Out of A Negative Mindset
(1) Sri Chinmoy Speaks Part 5
Photo Pavitrata Taylor, Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries.
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