Tips for Quieting the Mind : Meditation for Beginners

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom - By Budhha

Although a great number of people try meditation at some point in their lives, a small percentage actually stick with it for the long-term. This is unfortunate, and a possible reason is that many beginners do not begin with a mindset needed to make the practice sustainable.

1) Make it a formal practice. You will only get to the next level in meditation by setting aside specific time (preferably two times a day) to be still.

2) Start with the breath. Breathing deep slows the heart rate, relaxes the muscles, focuses the mind and is an ideal way to begin practice.

3) Stretch first. Stretching loosens the muscles and tendons allowing you to sit (or lie) more comfortably. Additionally, stretching starts the process of “going inward” and brings added attention to the body.

4) Meditate with Purpose. Beginners must understand that meditation is an ACTIVE process. The art of focusing your attention to a single point is hard work, and you have to be purposefully engaged!

5) Notice frustration creep up on you. This is very common for beginners as we think “hey, what am I doing here” or “why can’t I just quiet my damn mind already”. When this happens, really focus in on your breath and let the frustrated feelings go.

6) Experiment. Although many of us think of effective meditation as a Yogi sitting cross-legged beneath a Bonzi tree, beginners should be more experimental and try different types of meditation. Try sitting, lying, eyes open, eyes closed, etc.

7) Feel your body parts. A great practice for beginning meditators is to take notice of the body when a meditative state starts to take hold. Once the mind quiets, put all your attention to the feet and then slowly move your way up the body (include your internal organs). This is very healthy and an indicator that you are on the right path.

8) Pick a specific room in your home to meditate. Make sure it is not the same room where you do work, exercise, or sleep. Place candles and other spiritual paraphernalia in the room to help you feel at ease.

9) Read a book on meditation. Preferably an instructional guide AND one that describes the benefits of deep meditative states. This will get you motivated. John Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are is terrific for beginners.

10) Commit for the long haul. Meditation is a life-long practice, and you will benefit most by NOT examining the results of your daily practice. Just do the best you can every day, and then let it go!

11) Listen to instructional tapes and CDs.

12) Generate moments of awareness during the day. Finding your breath and “being present” while not in formal practice is a wonderful way to evolve your meditation habits.

13) Make sure you will not be disturbed. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is not insuring peaceful practice conditions. If you have it in the back of your mind that the phone might ring, your kids might wake, or your coffee pot might whistle than you will not be able to attain a state of deep relaxation.

14) Notice small adjustments. For beginning meditators, the slightest physical movements can transform a meditative practice from one of frustration to one of renewal. These adjustments may be barely noticeable to an observer, but they can mean everything for your practice.

15) Use a candle. Meditating with eyes closed can be challenging for a beginner. Lighting a candle and using it as your point of focus allows you to strengthen your attention with a visual cue. This can be very powerful.

16) Do not Stress. This may be the most important tip for beginners, and the hardest to implement. No matter what happens during your meditation practice, do not stress about it. This includes being nervous before meditating and angry afterwards. Meditation is what it is, and just do the best you can at the time.

17) Do it together. Meditating with a partner or loved one can have many wonderful benefits, and can improve your practice. However, it is necessary to make sure that you set agreed-upon ground rules before you begin!

18) Meditate early in the morning. Without a doubt, early morning is an ideal
time to practice: it is quieter, your mind is not filled with the usual clutter, and there is less chance you will be disturbed. Make it a habit to get up half an hour earlier to meditate.

19) Be Grateful at the end. Once your practice is through, spend 2-3 minutes feeling appreciative of the opportunity to practice and your mind’s ability to focus.

20) Notice when your interest in meditation begins to wane. Meditation is
hard work, and you will inevitably come to a point where it seemingly does not fit into the picture anymore. THIS is when you need your practice the most and I recommend you go back to the book(s) or the CD’s you listened to and become re-invigorated with the practice. Chances are that losing the ability to focus on meditation is parallel with your inability to focus in other areas of your life!

Meditation is an absolutely wonderful practice, but can be very difficult in the beginning. Use the tips described in this article to get your practice to the next level.

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Be Positive: Lesson 05 Use and build The Power of Positive Thinking

My Dear Friends, Norman Vincent Peal may be the first person who comes to your mind when somebody talks about ‘the power of positive thinking’. He is one author who wrote many books about the power of positive thinking. Thoughts are tiny packets of energy. Each of your thoughts have immense energy that can empower you to achieve whatever you want to, if you concentrate to control your thought process. You may have heard that there are two kinds of thoughts. Good thoughts are called as positive thoughts and bad ones as negative thoughts. If you feed your mind with good thoughts, they will give you peace of mind, high confidence, self esteem and sound health while your bad thoughts can ruin you gradually. Positive thinking has worked miracles in the life of terminally ill people. You can achieve the whole world if your mind is in your control and if you feed it with good and beautiful thoughts. Read on the article to know more about how to utilize the positive power of thinking.

Tips To Build & Use Power Of Positive Thinking

• You should feed your mind with positive thoughts and good things will happen in your life. According to ancient sages, mind is almost like a garden. If you put seeds of virtue and peace, they would grow in your mind’s soil. On other hand, if you put the seeds of negative thoughts in your mind, they can affect you adversely. It is the lack of control on your mind which makes the weed of negative thought grown in your mind.

• One effective exercise that can help one to develop a good attitude is giving more compliments to people. When you shower people with compliments, you will also feel good about yourself. Think of the good things your neighbor or your friend did in life, compliment them for it from heart. They will feel better and they will treat you better. Basically a compliment is a chicken soup for a human soul. This will make you feel better about yourself and that will reflect in every activity you do in life.

• Compliment yourself as much as possible. It takes high stress to convince yourself that you are doing well but you should take burden for being a person with positive thinking. Never think of the negative things which you happened to commit in your life. If you think of those things, it would lead you to high guilty conscious which can burn your inner peace forever. Think of the good things you commit in your life. There is a mentality in majority of the human beings that they think themselves as very bad people which in fact they are not. Never keep a bad image about yourself in your mind. It can be a reason for failure in life.

• You should think of yourself as the best person ever born on the face of earth. This image will help you to gain more confidence and it will reflect when you talk things. Never wear a posture of a tired and inferior person in your life. You should walk like a king. This will give you more confidence and will reflect in your body language. You should think borderless and limitless. This limitless thinking will provide you more richness in material and spiritual sense, which you never dreamt of.

• Your new confident personality can achieve you more friends in your work place or in college. People will start listening to you when you talk things with an air of confidence and authenticity. You will gradually become darling of the masses.

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Be Positive: Lesson 04 Positive Communication Tips

Awesome People, Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference - Joel Barker

Did you know that communication is the key to opening the doors of success and victory? However, most of the times, people do not engage in healthy communications. As such, the results are far from being positive. Effective communications are those that bring in positive results. This can be done if you follow two simple tips - first, try to introduce positive words in your communication and second, communicate in a way that it leads to positive outcomes. For those of you who want to arm themselves with all the information about positive communication techniques, reading this article is a great idea.

Positive Communication Skills

Proper Attention

Being attentive is one of most vital components to engage in positive communication. Listening sets the base for any communication and it is when your listen attentively that perfect communication takes place. This would not only help you understand the other person’s point of view, but also formulate the right opinion. Do not interrupt a person while talking. It makes the communicator lose the trail of thoughts, thereby disrupting the whole process of communication.

Correct Translation

In case you are talking to a person who comes from a different country or follows a different language, communication should be carefully conducted. Words that mean good in our language need not necessarily mean the same in other language. In such circumstances, it is best to translate the information in a language that the receiver can interpret correctly. Talking in a common language is best advised.

Starting On Positive Note

Starting your communication on a positive note sets the pace for effective messages later on. This way, you not only build a healthy relationship, but also make way for better communication. Sometimes, negative or corrective messages are necessary to communicate. However, when topped with healthy doses of positive comments, such messages make way for easier learning.

Respect & Kindness

Every individual is an entity and has opinions and view of his own. As such, when two individuals communicate, it is normal to face a situation wherein there is a difference of opinion. In such circumstances, it is best advised to respect each other's viewpoints and opinions. Do not compel the other person to agree to your school of thought. Use tact and good judgment to come to a common solution. 

Right Body Language

Did you know that almost 90% of the communication is done by your body? Sounds unbelievable, but it is true!! Your eyes, hands and body posture communicate more than you ever thought. For instance, imagine you are in an important board meeting and someone suddenly yawns – it’s a perfect give away that he/she is bored to death. Pose forward a right body language and you would surely have the most positive communication.    

No Blame Game

It is very important not to play the blame game, while you are in a conversation. It negates chances of positive things in the communication, making it extremely unconstructive and pessimistic. Remember, you can only indulge in positive communication when both the speaker and the listener are in a calm mood. Playing the blame game would take you nowhere.

Well Timed Communication

By this, we mean that the time and the place of communication should be proper. It is not feasible to have important discussion in the middle of a hallway or office corridor or around nosy co-workers. Such communications do not result in a positive outcome, which is why it becomes crucial to time the communication well. Arrange for the time that is favorable for both of you and a place that allows positive communication between the two of you.

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Be Positive: Lesson 03 Affirmations for Positive Thinking

Wonderful People, It is said that words have the power to make or break. It is as true in case of what you say to others as what you say to yourself. The thoughts with which you feed your mind and heart eventually end up contributing to the outcomes you’re faced with. If you can’t seem to get over all the negativity inside you, it’s bound to affect your routine and the situations will end up dictating terms to you instead of you being in control. However, if you manage to convert this negative energy into positive, you’ll see that it’s not as difficult as you’ve made it to be; moreover you’ll see the clouds clearing up on the road giving way to sunshine, improving the visibility and conferring you with the ability to see far ahead. But, how does one convert this negative energy into positive? Your answer lies in the very first line of the article itself. Your own words will do it for you, through positive affirmations. Affirmations are the manifestations of every thought you think and every word you say, so much so that subconsciously you start to sew together a life based around these threads of affirmations, positive or negative. Positive affirmations are short statements directed at your subconscious level, meant to fight against the negative affirmations in the same way the white blood cells in your bloodstream fight against the viruses and make you immune to them.

 Think of positive affirmation as hypnotism performed on your own self to get rid of the negative thoughts and replacing them with durable and sturdy positive ones. But merely repeating these affirmations won’t work; you’ll have to say them with passion like you believe in them and are ready to submit to where they’ll lead you. One important thing to remember is that these positive affirmations will work as hypnotism only on your own self and not on anyone else. You can’t go around freaking everybody else while chanting them at their face. You can create your affirmations by thinking honestly and focusing entirely on what change you want to see in yourself and what outcome you’re expecting from the change. You have to keep saying these affirmations to yourself, most importantly when you feel the initial excitement of repeating these lines isn’t as strong as it used to be. This is the time when your subconscious is ready to replace the negative thoughts with the positives. Below given are some positive thinking affirmations for you to read and understand how to create new ones meant exclusively for you.

Affirmations For Positive Thinking

• I am ready and willing to release the past, now.
• I have faith in my abilities.
• I enjoy what I am and what I have at present.
• I'm going to have a good day today.
• I'm going to make the best out today.
• I love myself and that heals my life.
• I give out of love and it is returned to me more than I give.
• I am at peace.
• All my relationships are loving and caring.
• I'm a valuable contributor to all my relationships.
• I'm an abundant person.
• I am very fortunate to work at what I love to do.
• I am happy with me and my circumstances.
• I release the need to be in control.
• I'm confident to deal with any problem.
• I am successful.
• I will try to accept changes without fear.
• I deserve to be in perfect health.
• I am my own unique self - special, creative and wonderful. 

Light up the darkness from the deepest corners of your hearts with these affirmations for positive thinking.

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Be Positive : Lesson 02 Tips and Tricks for Positive Thinking

Lovely Peeps, “Be Positive”, we are often told by our friends and loved ones, many of whom do not know what it really means. What are the character traits of those who think positive or maintain a positive outlook? What makes them so chirpy all the time? Why does negativity not affect them like it does to others? How would they handle a news or situation that normally invokes feelings of negativity from others? These are some of the questions that people ask themselves when they think about those who always seem to find something positive about everything. Now that we all accept that tragedy can affect the most happy-go-lucky people and it is only in the perspective wherein the difference lies, we must explore some of the traits and tricks that such people possess to get over all negativity. Here are some tricks that could lead us straight to positive outlook.  

Tips To Maintain A Positive Outlook 

Here are some things that will help you develop and maintain a positive outlook: 

Humour
It isn’t necessary to take life too seriously all the time – you can let go and laugh away life’s little miseries like missing a bus or train or spilling coffee on your dress. If you start by taking these little things less seriously, you may also take the bigger challenges that life throws at you with minimum negativity or anger.

Getting Rid Of Self Pity
Wallowing too much in self pity and feelings that hold you back from progressing in the right direction are detrimental to your development as a person, not to mention to your natural state of happiness. It makes you feel like you are perpetually the victim and never lets you think about what you could do to  improve the situation. It may give you temporary relief to think of yourself as a victim; the relief is, however, temporary and self destructive.

Gratitude
It is important to be thankful to God for everything that you have. This way, instead of fretting about what you do not have, you will appreciate what you do have and will value it better. No matter how big the tragedy is, try to be thankful for what you did not lose. If a chain snatcher snatched your gold chain, be thankful he did not hurt you. In any circumstance that may elicit a negative response from you, try to think about and concentrate on what you could have lost and did not.

Reaching Out
Many people who were often plagued by negative thoughts and self destructive behaviour and thoughts, find all their negativity melting away when they reach out and help someone and make that person feel better about themselves. You follow it too; try and reach out to someone who may need you and try to help them see the better side of their situation. Make sure to leave all your own negativity behind when you reach out to the other person or else your negativity might transfer to them too.

Belief

No matter what the situation is, belief in yourself, belief in your abilities and in the fact that everything will be alright in the end will heal you of all the negativity and self destructive behaviour. Belief is, by far the most powerful positive feeling that has the capacity to heal any emotional wound. Never lose the faith with which you began your life with – a child does not know mistrust, malice, negativity, disbelief or cynicism. Be childlike in your belief in yourself but at the same time be realistic about your goals and achievements. 

- Scopri Power Worldwide

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Be Positive : Lesson 01 Self Talk

Lovely folks, Self talk is nothing but the constant process of thoughts that goes on inside us. Every moment of our lives, we affirm a string of thoughts and these very thoughts create and frame our life experience. They grow with us and end up being our beliefs, our prime source of existence, and our definition of life. Few beliefs that have stayed with us since childhood may work well for us, while others may be working against us and depriving us from achieving what we want. So, we should keep in mind that our thought pattern is not formed from a skewed perspective, but has a solid foundation base. It is thus essential to stress on positive self talk. It is the fuel for your success and good health and can take you to new level of ecstasy altogether.

Positive self talk involves positive statements, which when repeated several times trigger your subconscious to indulge in a positive action. If you repeat these statements with a lot of conviction and desire, you are sure to succeed. It is all about challenging and undermining the burgeoning negative thoughts within you and getting them transformed into a positive flow of energy. It helps you to focus on your inner self; constantly reminding you to have control on your thoughts and words, thereby modifying your inner selves all through. So, whether you want to transform your life on a personal level or want to gain a competitive edge by applying this technique professionally, a positive mindset can do the trick. In the following lines, we have discussed why do positive affirmations work.

Why Positive Self Talk Works

Positive self talk or affirmations do work, but the question is why do they work? Here is an explanation. When you think of a positive affirmation, your subconscious responds to it in two ways—either by avoiding the entire concept or going for a reappraisal. The bigger the issue, the bigger is the gap between the positive affirmation and your own perceived inner truth. In most cases, instead of challenging your inner truth, the subconscious sticks to it. However, there are times when your mind instantly responds to the affirmation and you feel a sense of well-being within. When this happens, know that the positive self affirmation has finally started working.

Believe it or not, more than often, we keep repeating negative statements and eventually fall into undesirable situations. Negative thoughts like, “I am too lazy for this task”, “I am surely going to fail in this paper” or “I don’t have enough inner strength to overcome this pain” make our subconscious mind accept them as truth. Consequently, the corresponding events in our life happen just the way we thought they would, i.e. negatively. We should always remember that words and statements work both ways and help in building as well as ruining our life. So, it is the way we use them that matters. Remember, it’s all a mind game. Your mind is what you are.

So, why don’t you choose positive affirmations for yourself instead? These thoughts have the power to wisp away even the strongest resistance. Your subconscious would re-examine the core thought pattern and very soon the troubling dysfunctional thoughts would get replaced by your own reformed inner truth. Positive affirmations reform your thought pattern in totality and completely change the way you think and feel. Now that the stringent dysfunctional beliefs would be replaced by positive ones, there would be a positive vibe all around you. Getting reflected on the exterior, your life would be experiencing seismic changes in all aspects. Here are a few examples of positive affirmations, which you can repeat to yourself to lead a gratifying life.

Positive Self Affirmations

• I am healthy and happy.
• Wealth is pouring into my life.
• I am sailing on the river of wealth.
• I am getting wealthier each day.
• My body is healthy and functioning in a very good way.
• I have a lot of energy.
• I study and comprehend fast.
• My mind is calm.
• I am calm and relaxed in every situation.
• My thoughts are under my control.
• I radiate love and happiness.
• I am surrounded by love.
• I have the perfect job for me.
• I am living in the house of my dreams.
• I have good and loving relations with my wife/husband.
• I have a wonderful and satisfying job.
• I have the means to travel abroad, whenever I want to.
• I am successful in whatever I do.
• Everything is getting better every day.

By Scopri Power Worldwide

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Hey you..Control your anger !!

Folks, Life is full of meeting unwelcome people and facing unwanted and annoying circumstances. As such, even the calmest of person would agree having faced a situation, when he/she lost temper and experienced an anger outburst. While some psychologists may claim that anger outburst is a good way to give an outlet to the negative energies, most of you would agree that more than often, it makes us land up in embarrassing position. Controlling temper is the first step to ensure reduced stress levels and improved relationships. Just when you feel that you would be gripped in temper tantrum, resort to any of the following ways listed below and relieve yourself from the anger outbursts. The techniques, explained in the following lines, would help you know how to control anger outbursts.

Ways For Controlling Anger Outbursts 


Deep Breathing
Though you might have heard it a number a times, deep breathing, undoubtedly, is one of the most beneficial ways to avoid anger outburst. It helps soothe your negative energies and provides a relaxing and calming feeling. Many people have claimed that anger outbursts are best dealt with this technique. No matter what is the intensity of your anger, all you need to do is just close your eyes, relax your mind and take a deep breath. A sixty second indulgence in this technique and swoosh - your anger would be heavily subsided.


Tune To Music

Did you know that music has healing properties? If no, then you are definitely in for a revelation. Music goes a long way in dipping the rising anger levels, thereby cooling both the mind and the body. Just when you think that you might get trapped into a pool of bad mood and anger; switch on the music system and listen to some of your favorite songs. This way you would instantly dip your anger or rage and get back to the normal state of mind. 

Meditation & Yoga

Experts have claimed the benefits of meditation and yoga for the mind, soul and the body. However, did you know that by indulging in regular meditation or yoga, you might be able to control your anger outbursts as well? Meditation and yoga have positive effect on the mental and physical being of a person. Also, regular indulgence in the two ensures better mind control, thereby helping in anger management.

Energy Conversion

Does this sound physics or mathematics to you? Well, do not get scared as herein, energy conversion is the phrase given to convert the negative energies produced by anger into positive driving force. There are two ways to use the energy created by anger - you can either use it negatively or make it as a stepping stone to overcome the stimulus that caused anger in the first place. This way you can curb the anger outburst  and at the same time conquer your flaws.

Believe in FLOW

This might seem French to you, but using the FLOW technique is the best way to deal with anger outbursts. For this, you need to first ‘Focus’ at your mental state. Tell yourself that you would not explode your anger. Repeat this for several times until the message has sunk deep into your mind. Once this is done, go onto the next level, i.e. ‘Listen’. Anger mostly arises due to conflict or disagreement. So, the next step would be to listen to the other’s point of view and try to rationalize it.

 

Next step would be to act ‘Objectively’. When we are angry, we mostly take things or arguments personally. Instead, think objectively as this will help you understand the situation in a mature way. The last step would be to ‘Wait’ for the right time. Most people would agree that instant reaction is the main problem for anger management. You should wait and reflect for sometime about the consequences of angry outburst. Waiting is the best indicator for anger management.

- Scopri Power Exclusive