how to achieve your life goals Archives

Make a Vision Board Work – Be Confident

Make a Vision Board Work – Be Confident

Hi my friends… Sometimes people tell me that they made a vision board, but nothing manifested….Frustrating, I get it…. sometimes it happens to people who do not have a lot of confidence. But the good news is that you can practice to believe in yourself.

Life can be great, life can be miserable and it’s up to you what you how you want to experience it. Now this is a tough statement, especially if you went through a lot of suffering in your life. But on the other hand it’s extremely powerful and a great way to transform and create a great life. It’s worth considering the concept!

Do you have doubts that you can be successful, that you can achieve your dreams and goals? Do you know that you can do certain exercises, to be more comfortable with the idea of being successful, confident and wonderful 🙂

Affirmations and power patterns are used in coaching and they are great, simple tools. You just repeat the same short sentence over and over again, like a mantra. You do this every day for at least 5 minutes, and also as a remedy when your limited thinking comes up.

Like… you know what: The little voice in your head that tells you all the bad things that can happen, that you can fail if you try, that you can’t do it any way, good things happen to other people and so on…That’s when you use the affirmation or the power pattern. I have many and I use them all, they work!

Use the opposite of your limiting belief, something that totally resonates with you. The key is to feel great when you hear yourself say the words. If your mind is telling you “you can’t do it”, you say: I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. If it is: “It’s too hard”, you say: I can do this with ease, I can do this with ease, I can do this with ease. Below are some more examples:

I am brilliant and confident
I am fit and in great health
I attract wonderful things
Money is flowing into my life from expected and unexpected sources
I attract all the right people into my life
I am getting better and and better every da
I am loved
Everything is working out perfectly
I trust the flow of life
Everything I need is coming to me
I am here to express my gift

This might sound too good to be true, but it is a simple exercise, that will help you to transform your inner critic to your best cheerleader. Just try it! It’s like a brainwash.

One other simple exercise is to not engage in negative thinking. This technique requires some mindfulness and presence, but if you are aware of the thoughts coming up, you can chose to not engage in them. Just let them go.

To manifest your vision, you have to belief that you are worth it to achieve your life aspirations. You want to look at the vision board as much as possible and feel the images on the board as your truth. You see it, you experience it, you vibrate it, you will draw it into your life. Indeed you will!

Feeling happy, successful, with a wonderful partner, a great career, a great team, wonderful friends and family relations. Driving the new car, on route to your dream destination. Dream big, go for the stars!

If you think you need more help: I use a powerful coaching method called “Inner Freedom,” to help people move through resistance and fear. Also, John Kehoe has a wonderful program called mindpower, it is very simple with easy step by step exercises. It is a truly life changing program.

But first just try the exercises…..Let me know if they work for you and if you have other tips, please share them in a comment.

The Law Of Attraction And Vision Boards

The Law Of Attraction And Vision Boards

As a life coach it is important for me to offer tools that work. Vision boards are one of them; they are fun, creative and highly effective. The key is: YOU have to believe that the process works, if YOU doubt it, the process will not work.

I quickly want to tell YOU about my last magical experiences with vision boards: last year I created one with lots of photographs of houses I took in my hometown in Germany. Guess where I live now, in exactly this town, in the center of the city close to everything. It started with a tiny idea to make this move, nothing more…………….. Please trust the magic and make one, do it for YOU.

The law of attraction states that we attract into our lives anything that we give attention to, regardless of whether it's positive or negative. Now this is important: If you constantly think about negative things, guess what! YOU will attract the same energy into your life, YOU will be a crap magnet! It’s a quantum physics law, it states that we attract anything into our lives that we give attention to.
If YOU focus on negative thoughts YOU attract things that are negative, if YOU focus on positive YOU will attract positive events, people and things.

A vision board is a tool, to use to focus on positeve and inspiring images and words. YOU do not have to paint the pictures in YOUR mind, YOU just look at them, it’s the easy way to visualize YOUR life dreams. So start now and create YOUR life YOUR way and achieve YOUR life dreams.

How to make and use a vision board
YOUR personal vision board is limited only to YOUR own creativity and imagination. Some people have produced simple vision boards and others have made vision boards that could sell at art show for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. But let me tell YOU: artistic ability is not a prerequisite for creating a functional vision board. Anybody can do it and anybody will have a blast creating it, it’s so simple and creative, make it playtime

YOUR subconscious mind works in pictures and images, so make YOUR vision board as visual as possible with as many images as you can. Add inspirational and motivational words towards the end, they can be written onto the images, or YOU can type and print the words, cut them out and glue them onto the board.

Each picture on YOUR vision board should evoke a positive emotional response from YOU. The sight of YOUR vision board should make YOU smile and fuel YOUR passion to achieve your dreams every time YOU look at it. Be inspired by the images and feel them!

Place YOUR vision board in a prominent location where YOU have a chance to see it as much as possible. YOU need to constantly expose YOUR subconscious mind to this feel good energy. The more YOU look at your vision board, the more YOU feel it, the faster YOUR dreams will manifest. YOU do not have to know all the steps to get there. YOUR subconscious mind will do it for YOU.

Negative feelings like self-doubt and criticism can damage the delicate energy that YOU generate with YOUR vision board. If YOU notice these feelings YOU must do something to neutralize them.
Practice affirmations, they are very helpful to override negative thoughts and neutralize negative emotions. But it does not mean that YOU do nothing. YOU must listen to your intuition and YOU must go out and meet people.

Now let's get started and create YOUR life YOUR way. The more YOU manifest, the happier YOUR lives are, the better this planet will be. There is no prerequisite for creating a functional vision board and the procedures I’ve outlined below can be used by anyone. Let me know what happens and leave a comment, I love YOU all 🙂

Change Your Mind Change Your Life

Change Your Mind Change Your Life

How are YOU doing with change? Is it hard for YOU or easy? Life is so full of changes and most of us resist it, don't YOU think so too?

Speaking for myself I can say that I used to fight changes fiercely, until I was over 50 when everything in my life was changing, if I wanted it or not. Resisting it was extremely painful, but I did not know what else to do until………….

Somehow I had the idea to just go with the flow, accept the changes and make the best of it. You know what? That was the best thing I ever did in my life, besides having my beautiful kids 🙂

What helped me in my search of a happy life was a book by the psychiatrist Jerold Jampolsky: "Change your mind changes your life"…………He was miserable too; actually he said he was an alcoholic and eventually got so miserable that he wanted to end his life. Thank god he found the course in miracles and it started to change his life.

He started to write books, present courses and started the center for attitudinal healing in Sausalito. The concept how changing our attitudes makes us happy is inspiring thousands of people.

Wow, what a concept, YOU don't have to stay the victim, YOU could change YOUR mind, be happy, forgive, let go and do whatever YOU want. This idea can be the beginning of a new life. What is there to lose? What is the risk? It might be time to risk doing something new and be happy.

When we grow up we do not learn these concepts, we mostly learn to fit in, to not risk, to play it safe. But today we have all these wonderful programs, books, movies, meditation centers and coaches available, who can help us go through the changes. It's much easier to accomplish with a good support system.

Below are a few methods to help change our way of thinking.

Mindfulness Meditation

Do YOU have a meditations practice? If not I would highly recommend it. You can find a group anywhere, or you may want to set up a group with friends. If that is not possible or practical for you, just get some guided meditation audios and follow that.

The process of meditation is very soothing, extremely easy and helps to be more aware in life. It reduces stress and is good for YOUR health and emotional wellbeing. A lot of my friends love Yoga Nidra, which is a very relaxing guided meditation, where YOU scan your whole body.

There are lots of scientific studies about the benefits of meditation and if YOU think it's a religious thing and YOU don't like it, I would suggest reconsidering. There are also lots of meditation centers that offer retreats.

Retreats are my favorite kind of vacation. Spirit Rock in the San Francisco area is a magical place; they have great teachers, a beautiful setting and great food. But there are many others in most parts of the world.

Meditation and mindfulness has helped me through the hardest time of my life and now I know that anything can happen and I will be able to deal with it in a healthy, no drama way.

Supportive Environment

Do YOU have people around YOU who support YOU in YOUR efforts to change? Sometimes when we feel that change is necessary, we are surrounded by people who don't like change and they try to keep us exactly where we are. I had to let go of a lot of old friends, because they were hindering my process. Find groups of people who want to go a different route in life.

There are many of them; you can find a meet up group in a topic that you are interested in. Surround yourself with like-minded people; create an environment that supports YOU.

Work With A Coach

A coach is the best support YOU can get, it's priceless to work with someone who is there to support YOU, YOUR well-being and help YOU uncover what makes YOU happy. Someone who reminds YOU of YOUR dreams and keeps YOU focused on YOUR vision. It's the best supportive environment YOU can get. Have YOU ever tried it? Book an exploratory session with me, it's my gift to YOU, click the contact tab and leave YOUR information if YOU are interested.

What's helping YOU to create change in YOUR life? Please leave a comment; it's always helpful for others 🙂

Perfectionism Kills Creativity

Perfectionism Kills Creativity

Do you have a problem with perfectionism?

How does it show up?
How does it make you feel?
Does it prevent you from doing what needs to get done?

After participating in lots of human potential groups, reading hundreds of book and taking many classes, I allow myself to say that perfectionism is a huge problem, effecting millions of people. What's your opinion?

A long time ago YOU might have started to try and be perfect, because YOU wanted to please your parents when you were a kid. Maybe YOU thought YOU will only be loved if YOU do everything right. YOU might have been ridiculed and then continued the thread of perfectionism through our life.

Now why is perfectionism a problem?

Keeps YOU from taking action, because everything has to be perfect
Cannot love and accept yourself the way YOU are
Creates seperation between YOU and others
Prevents YOU from being in the flow
Never happy with what YOU do or say
Tendency to be uptight and judgemental
Prevents you from enjoying YOUR life
Zapps YOUR energy
Kills YOUR creativity

Do any of those items apply to you?

If so, do not despair, the good news is: YOU are not alone and YOU can let go of it. The desire to do everything right can be positive to some degree, if it helps YOU to do something well. But if it freezes you to take action, or if YOU can't enjoy YOUR life, it's a hindrance.

How can perfectionism be dropped?

One of my mentors says: It's better to perform mediocre actions and DO things, than to be perfect and NOT DO things. The other great quote is: "progress is better than perfection."

If you have a dream for your life and you need to perform certain actions, but don't do anything because of the fear to not do it right…. you have a problem. YOUR dream will have to wait and maybe wait forever. If you are ok with that fine, if not something needs to be done. Do YOU agree?

For example…. a lot of people want to use videos to market their businesses and get their message out there, but they don't do it, because they don't like the way they look, how they talk, or they have the excuse that they don't have the technical knowledge. Not none of them is a good excuse and I used all of them until………………..

I had this struggle myself, let me tell YOU about it 🙂

Part of my business plan was, to create videos in order to be visible online, to have a chance for people to get to know me and to be known for what I do. The problem was: I had no clue how to do it, felt very insecure about the way I looked, the sound of my voice and in addition to that, I did not have the techical know how…….big problem!

After a while I was getting tired of telling my coach that I had not done it. So the desire to do it and to be accountable to my coach made me get over the resistance and fear.

I had a cheap little MINO HD camera and a tutor at the local college helped me with the techical aspects of how to record and how to do "idiot proof" editing with "life movie maker", an editing program that comes with windows. I still had fear but now the desire and the personal support made me actually do it….Wow what a relief.

I got a simple $30 tripod at Best Buys and started recording when I I created my vision boards and guess what… I actually had major fun doing it. I made sure I had kind of a nice background, I put some makeup on to have color in my face and then I just did it.

The editing was fairly easy to do. I learned how to cut pieces together, to add text and how to blend the different cuts together. It was super simple. The last step would be to save it and upload to YouTube and that was it. I was proud of myself, because I acted in spite of fear.

Every time you get over a fear or resistance, YOU empower yourself and you can overcome YOUR perfectionism one step at a time.

Here some more tips:

Detach from the result

Some things need to be done and there is no way around them, but YOU can make it about the action and not the result, YOU can just enjoy what you're doing, make it creative. Be curious about turning it into a playful activity that you love to perform. This might not change the task but it will make it possible to have fun with it and actually enjoy what YOU do.

Prioritize

When you have a project ahead of you, make a list of all the items that need to be done, then determine the order of how important they are and make a list of people who YOU could ask for help. If it all gets to be too much, drop the items at the end of the list. For example if you have to organize a party, it's better to have fun with your guest than to have the perfect decor or food. Always ask yourself what are the most important essentials in order to enjoy this.

Don't take yourself so seriously

Have you noticed that when YOU struggle and try to be perfect YOU can't have fun. When others are light, playful and creative, YOU might judge them for being so, but in the back of your mind YOU would like to be light and quirky yourself. Try to notice when you get annoyed with others who have fun and look into it……… Normally whatever annoys us in others is something we do not allow ourselves.

So now I would like to invite YOU to be willing to add more fun to YOUR life, make it playful, enjoy it! When YOU are at the end of your days, it might not be important how perfect everything was, but how much you enjoyed your days, other people and yourself 🙂

My dear friends, do you have any tips about how to drop perfectionism? Please leave a comment, it helps to get some more ideas and practical tips.

Do You Suffer From Confusion?

Do You Suffer From Confusion?

Confusion is a success killer. Have you heard the quote: confused minds don't buy? Even worse; confused minds don't do anything. In order to be successful and move forward with YOUR dreams and desires, YOU first must have clarity about what it is that YOU want.

Some definitions of confusion:

Uncertainty about what is happening, intended, or required.
The state of being bewildered or unclear in one's mind about something.
A symptom that makes you feel as if you cannot think clearly. You might feel disoriented and have a hard time focusing.

Confusion does not feel good, it makes you feel stuck and not able to move forward. Just to clarify we are NOT talking about confusion, connected with alzheimers and age related dementia, we are talking about temporary confusion.

Where does confusion come from?

For a normal human being, confusion is a temporary intellectual and or, emotional CONDITION. Where one is torn between different choices, or facts
and a resolution cannot be found at the moment.

This creates an inner conflict which arises because one cannot understand what's going on and does not know what's the next best thing to do.

This condition can arise on many levels. It can occur regarding everything from a harmless not being able to decide which menu item to order, which item to buy or, to the most important life-issues.

Do you want to leave a relationship or not, quit a job or not, commit to something or not. All this is normally preceeded by confusion.

The most important action one can take, will be to just accept the fact that you feel this way. This might sound too simple to be true and I hate to say it, yes it is. By accepting the fact that you are confused and stuck you release the conflict, or resistance which is stuck in your energy field.

This makes it possible for new creative energy to come to you, in form of intuitive ideas or subtle hints, about what would be a good choice to make. Now this is not an intellectual process, it's very intuitive.

One activity that will help is to meditate and get centered. Walks in nature and exercise are also great. Have you noticed that sometimes solutions come to you when you are relaxed and not looking for them?

It's normally hard to remember something, when you force yourself to come up with it. But when you let it go and say, ok, it will come later, it normally floats into your conscious mind. This is a great example for the process.

So practice with easy items and see if they come to you after you let go of trying to remember them. Then go to more important items and try and write them down. Journaling is always good, it helps to create more awareness and whenever you go through something similar you can look up your notes about it.

Also, when you have difficulties to decide on what to order in a restaurant, try and practice to make a choice right away without agonizing over it. Remember it really does not matter to make the perfect choice, you just want to make a choice.

With all these little actionsteps, you are practicing new behaviors. The NEW is always kind of uncomfortable, even scary, but it's the only way to get out of these patterns.

Fear always plays a role when we are confused, we are afraid to change something in life, because we do not know how it will work out and uncertainty produces fear.

But nothing in life is certain, we might have everything worked out and the next day we find out we have a desease, our partner leaves us, we have an accident and so on. So it's a good practice to trust the universe that everything will work out for the best of all concerned.

Here a simple relaxation meditation, I just learned from a brain expert.

Take a deep breath in, when you breathe out say your name, repeat this several times.

Did this help? Please let me know and leave a comment

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Melody Beattie

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/confusion.html#Ohpz2GBgisYQTIcC.99Can you do this, or are you willing to try? Let me know your thoughts 🙂

Visualisation Exercises

Visualization Exercises

Do you have a problem with visualization?

Don't know how to visualize?

No problem, I found some easy to do visualization exercises for YOU.

It's interesting how many people have a hard time with visualization. "Our intellect tends to complicate everything." It can be the most simple thing and our mind makes it complicated, can you relate? 🙂

Visualization is an intuitive process and not very logical. You just do it and by practicing the principles you will get more comfortable with the process. The most important step is: leave logic out of it and just do it! Some people see very clearly and some do not, I sure don't, but I have strong feelings. I imagine I see things and that works too.

Visualization is important if you want to achieve your life dreams and life goals. It will help you to create the life of YOUR dreams.

I found this article by Brian Tracy, "The Master of Efficiency" very helpful, especially for people who need more instructions and answers.

Visualization Exercises in 4 Easy Steps

How Often?

The first aspect of visualization is frequency. This is the number of times that you visualize yourself performing in an excellent way, in a particular event or circumstance, to achieve a particular goal. The more frequently you repeat a clear mental picture of your very best performance or result, the more rapidly it will appear as part of your reality.

How Long?

The second element of visualization is the duration of the mental image, the length of time that you can hold the picture in your mind each time you replay it. When you deeply relax, you can often hold a mental picture of yourself performing at your best for several seconds, and even several minutes. The longer you can hold your mental picture, the more deeply it will be impressed into your subconscious mind and the more rapidly it will express itself in your subsequent performance.

How Clearly?

The third element of visualization is vividness. There is a direct relationship between how clearly you can see your desired goal or result in your mind and how quickly it comes into your reality. This element of visualization is what explains the powers of the Law of Attraction and the Law of Correspondence. The vividness of your desire directly determines how quickly it materializes in the world around you.
Here is an interesting point: When you set a new goal for yourself, your image or picture of this goal will usually be vague and fuzzy. But the more often you write it, review it, and repeat it mentally, the clearer it becomes for you. Eventually, it will become crystal clear. At that point, the goal will suddenly appear in your world exactly as you imagined it.

How Intensely?

The fourth element of visualization is intensity, the amount of emotion that you attach to your visual image. In reality, this is the most important and powerful part of the visualization process. Sometimes, if your emotion is intense enough and your visual image is clear enough, you will immediately achieve it.

Of course, the elements of frequency, duration, vividness, and intensity can help you or hurt you. Like nature, the power of visualization is neutral. Like a two-edged sword, it can cut in either direction. It can either make you a success or make you a failure. Visualization brings you whatever you vividly and intensely imagine, whether good or bad.

Action Exercise

Continually feed your mind with clear, exciting, emotional pictures. Remember, your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions. Learn how to accomplish all of your goals here.

Great advice and great tips, thank you Brian.

Visualization and goal settings are 2 of the most important ingredients in order to create success. It's also very helpful to create a vision board, it will help you with the visualization process. Keep in mind that the more you practice, the easier and more effective it gets. The only way to mess it up is by not doing it, so get started NOW.

Do you have any other visualization techiques? Please share them with us and leave a comment 🙂

Start The New Year With A Vision Board

Start The New Year With A Vision Board

I just remembered what my grandmother used to say: "Beware of your dreams they might come true." Unfortunately it was not meant in a positive way. My family is afraid of asking for good things and "manifesting dreams" is not a possibility. I am happy to say that I'm the only positive thinker in my German family and considered a "rebel" with pink glasses, who spent too much time in California:-)

Continue reading “Start The New Year With A Vision Board”

How Vision Boards Can Empower Your Life

How Vision Boards Can Empower Your Life

Most of us want change at some point in our life, but on the other hand we don’t. Change can be scary and it's definitely kind of uncomfortable, but also essential in order to grow.

A few years ago, I started to Feng Shui my home and all of a sudden my life was upside down. It wasn’t really what I wanted right at that moment, but now I know it was all good and in my best interest.

A vision board is a great tool to empower your life and if you create it, your life will change. How it will change is up to you, the more intentions you set, the more you visualize, the more you will attract those things to you.

Continue reading “How Vision Boards Can Empower Your Life”

How Coaching Can Help In Your Life

How Coaching Can Help In Your Life

"We cannot teach people anything. We can only help them discover it within themselves. " Galileo Galileo

Do you sometimes feel totally overwhelmed by too many things to do, or one thing that's too big to tackle?
Is it so bad that you rather look the other way and not do it?
Are there some things you would like to do in your life, but you have no clue where to start?

Set up a business, online or offline,
Change careers,
Improve relationships,
Find fun ways to fulfill your life
Balance you life
Live a healthier lifestyle
Become more organized
Be more playful

Would you like to make certain changes in your life, but you feel it's too daunting without support?

If you answered yes you might want to look into the possibility of working with a coach. Just in case you have never worked with a coach, let's explore what it means and how it can help.

There are many different models and methodologies of coaching. Some may be designed to facilitate thinking or learning new behavior for personal growth or professional advancement. There are also forms of coaching that help the client improve a physical skill, like in a sport or performing art form. Some coaches use a style in which they ask "open ended questions" and offer opportunities that will challenge the client to find answers from within him/herself. This process facilitates the learner to discover answers and new ways of being based on their values, preferences and unique perspective.

Coaching is very effective and empowering to individuals who are absolutely ready to achieve results and goals in life and to pursue their dreams .

What coaching is not:

Coaching is not therapy. It does not focus on your past, or healing symptoms, such as of anxiety or depression. A coach assumes that the client is mentally healthy and able to work with the coach to develop strategies based on the client’s values and goals.

Coaching is not consulting. Unlike a consultant, who is hired to provide the answers, the coaches role is not to know all the answers and solve all of the client’s problems. The coach will frequently challenge the client to take action toward their goals, but does not” tell the client what to do”.

Coaching is not friendship. While relationship is vital to all of us, coaching differs in that the focus is focused on the client and what will give them maximum benefit.

I hope I answered some of your questions in regard to coaching, if you would like to try it, contact me and I will set up an exploratory coaching session, at not cost.

Change Your Creative Habits in 3 tiny Steps

Marita here, as you all know I like to research and present you with interesting practical tips, that might just change your life. I found this program by BJ Fogg,
PhD Director, Persuasive Tech Lab Stanford University. The best is: his program “3 Tiny Habits” is free. I will sign up myself, it’s never too late to learn new habits to achieve your life goals and empower your life.

This is is what he says: to create tiny habits you can change your life forever.

My new program “3 Tiny Habits” can create new behaviors in your life.

Let me explain . . . I’ve studied human behavior for 18 years, mostly at Stanford University. Here’s what I’ve learned: Only three things will change behavior in the long term.

Option A. Have an epiphany
Option B. Change your context (what surrounds you)
Option C. Take baby steps

Creating an epiphany is difficult. You should rule out Option A unless you have mystical powers (I don’t).

But here’s the good news: The other two options are practical. And they can lead to lasting change if you follow the right program. However, few winning programs exist.

In December of 2011, I created a new way to tap the power of context and baby steps. Over 3200 people have since joined in. The results are the best I’ve ever seen in any program.
My method is surprisingly simple, but the impact is big. See what people say.

I invite you to join a future session of 3 Tiny Habits. Go here –> http://tinyhabits.com/join

–BJ

twitter @bjfogg
www.bjfogg.com
captology.stanford.edu

sounds good, doesn’t it! I will let you know what I think about his program, if you have tried it leave a comment below.

Find out more about how to get into the creative zone and create our lives now.

My new creative adventure: A membership site for Women: Creative Life Now

“Nourish your spirit” is the motto. How to find joy and fulfillment in life, get in touch and express your inner creativity in a community of like minded women. Click the blue link, or the image to join our community of women at Creative Life Now. Are you looking for support, friends, ideas, tips, motivation and inspiration? The subjects are: Creativity as meditation, Vision Boards, Collages and Creative Writing. Let’s support each other and share ideas. A melting pot of experts in the fields of Creativity and Healing, Vision boards, Collages and Creative Writing and women seeking expert advice and inspiration.

This E book: “The secret behind Creativity”, is free for you!