Mi Hamba Blog

Are you like me?  I get up each day armed with my list of things I intend to accomplish that day.  I have big goals for each day and I am laser beam focused on reaching each one of them.  This is all well and good depending on how you view the results at the end of the day.

Until very recently, I would go back over my list at the end of the day and become disappointed with myself for all the things that I didn’t get done.  This would lead to feelings of inadequacy and self doubt.  The problem is that when you have big goals, many times you don’t reach them in the time allotted.  It was time for a change in focus.

Now, I still have big daily goals, yet I focus on what I do accomplishment.  At the end of the day, I go over my list and celebrate my wins.  This leaves me feeling successful and accomplished.  Anything that remains on the list, simply gets moved to the next day.

You may think that this would cause me to become laxidaisical as I have given myself an out.  The contrary is actually true.  It is very motivating for me to know that I will be celebrating my successes at the end of the day.  The more success the bigger the celebration.

By simply changing my focus, I have changed the way I feel, and therefore changed my results.

Do you really give yourself the credit you deserve?  You have probably had some major success in your life, did you give each success the celebration that it was due? 

We tend to give so much more attention and emotion to our failures than to our much deserved successes.  Think back to when you were a child.  If you were playing quietly with your siblings, your parents probably just let you be, but if a fight broke out you got in big trouble.  The A’s on your report card may have gotten you a simple pat on the back, but the D’s meant you were scared to go home.

Most of us have brought this way of being into our adult life.  Our accomplishments get very little recognition, yet our failures haunt us as we replay them again and again in our minds.  If you spend too much time beating yourself up for the mistakes that you have made, you are putting it out to the universe that you are a failure.  The law of attraction will then respond and bring you more dissapointment and failure.

 It is imperative to your self esteem that you acknowledge your wins.  You should give just as much, if not more, energy and emotion to your successes than you do to your failures.  Make a list of your wins, the big and the small, you can refer to this list whenever you need a self esteem boost.  You will soon find that you are vibrating with an energy of success and the law of attraction will bring you more of the same.

Everything you experience in your life, you have created.  Your thoughts and feelings are mirrored back to you and manifest into your current life and circumstances.   Some things you’ve created unconsciously and some consciously, but you’ve created them.  When you understand that you are the creator of your life, you can then take responsibility for it and stop blaming yourself or anyone else for your results.  This will set you free and light the path to deliberate creation - the Law of Attraction.

So how can you then turn your life into the one that you desire?  Stop thinking the negative thoughts that keep you stuck.  Here’s a simple solution:  plant good thoughts!  The more good thoughts you plant, the more negative ones get wiped out.  It gets easier and easier as you focus on what you want, rather than all the scenarios you can think of that you don’t want.

The world is your oyster.  You have the power to change your life and create it in your own vision.  Begin today!

Many of us use a journal as a diary to record the events of each day.  This is great because as they say, a life worth living is a life worth writing about. 

Have you ever thought about writing in your journal in the morning about what is going to happen that day?  I am not suggesting that you should be psychic and be able to predict the future, but I am suggesting that you should know what you want to happen that day. 

You see we are all manifesters of our lives.  We create our own destinies.  Why not name and claim what you want.  By getting up each morning and writing about your goals and plans for the day, you are starting your day with focus and clarity.  You are also telling the universe exactly what you want, and allowing the law of attraction to go to work to bring it to you.

If you find yourself getting off track or losing focus during the day, you can read your entry from the morning and get re-focused on your goals.  At the end of the day once you have accomplished what you set out to do for the day, you can give yourself a deserving pat on the back.  If you did not reach your goals for the day, you can go back and figure out why.  What went wrong, could you have done something differently?  Learn from the experience, learn from your mistakes.

When you wake up tomorrow, decide what you want to accomplish during the day.  Take five minutes aside during your morning routine to write out your goals for the day, then go about your day and reach them.

“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.”
~Harold Stephens

We all have worries - also known as fear.  It’s what we do with them that will determine the outcome.  The outcome determines the course of our life.  We determine how our lives will look.

Worries fall under 2 categories:
- That which we have no control over
- That which we can control

Since you can do nothing about the ones you can’t control, let them go and focus on what you can control.

Confront your worries head-on. What are some possible solutions?  Just putting yourself into problem-solving mode will remove or lesson your anxiety.

You’ve just brainstormed some solutions. If a decision needs to be made, make it.  It’s likely that after you make a decision, some kind of action is required.  Take that first step towards your solution. You’ll find that what you were worrying about was not worth your time after all.  Action is the antidote to fear and worry.

Taking responsibility for our thoughts, choosing to think empowering thoughts, and participating in our own personal growth is how you determine how your life will look.

Back and forth I roll each night
Tossing and Turning until morning light
My mind is racing two and froe
Trying to solve all my problems and woes
 
How do the successful keep
All their troubles from letting them sleep?
Maybe they have found a way
To keep their negative thoughts at bay
 
My mind is consumed with thoughts of a dear loved one who is ill
And wondering how I am going to pay my bills
If only I could get these worries out of my head
What I wouldn’t give for just one peaceful night of sleep in my bed
 
What do the successful do?
Surely, they have worries, woes, and troubles too
Have they found a way to program their mind
With love, happiness, and positive thoughts of like-kind?
 
If it’s true that only one thought occupies the mind at a time
To waste my thoughts on worry truly is a crime
Maybe I shall try that now
To Think of all the love and joy in life I have found
 
With these thoughts I know that everything is alright
As I awaken by the morning’s light
No more sleepness nights for me
Thoughts and feelings of gratitude have set me free
 
So if your worries are keeping you up at night
Instead be grateful for the blessings in your life
For that is what the successful do
And Yes You can do it too

Do you journal everyday?  It is an important part of your personal growth journey as well as a great tool to help you reach your goals.According to research done on the subject at Harvard University, those who journal regularly have 50% less doctors visits than those who do not. 

It has also been discovered that if one has gone through a stressful or unhappy experience, journaling about it can decrease their stress levels.  Upon first writing and recalling the event, the stress levels will go up, but then they go down to an even lower level then they were prior to writing about the experience.

So we know that journaling is a good thing, but how does one begin?  For those who have never written in a diary or journal before, it may seem like a difficult task.  What do you write about?  The good news is there are no rules or regulations with journaling.  You can write whatever comes to mind.  If nothing comes to mind, write about how nothing comes to mind, or why nothing is coming to mind.

If you simply just begin to make journaling part of your daily routine, it will soon become a habit.  Like every other habit, it will get easier and easier.  Soon the writing will just flow.  You will be amazed at how simple it is, and how much better you feel.  Your journal will soon become your best friend, you won’t want to miss a single day of writing.

It is time for our seventh and final tip on how to use stress to further your personal growth.  This tip can be summed up with one simple word — Gratitude.

If you have not already read my previous six tips on this subject, go back and read them now; doing so will help you to understand why I suggest that you should be grateful for the stress in your life. 

Stress is the way our body and/or our mind lets us know that there is a problem that needs to be dealt with.  If you did not experience a certain amount of stress in your life, it could be devastating to your physical and mental health.

Be grateful that your body and mind provide this wonderful warning signal so that you can make the necessary adjustments in your life.   If you didn’t know something was wrong, you would not be able to fix it.  Stress gives you that opportunity to find what isn’t working in your life and frees you to make the changes necessary to live a more fulfilling and joyous life.  Why be stuck in a miserable existence when you can instead be happy and free?

I hope that you have enjoyed this series of tips on stress management.  Remember, heed the warnings of stress.  Use it to motivate yourself to identify the problem and fix it.  If you simply just need a break, take it.  Live in the present, face your fears today, don’t waste time worrying about tomorrow.  Be grateful for the stress in your life, as it guides you to make the positive changes that allow you to live a happier life.

“Worry doesn’t help tomorrow’s troubles, but it does ruin today’s happiness.”
~Unknown

Do you know anyone who is a worry wart?  Has their worrying gotten out of control?  Are they driving you and others crazy with their worrying?  Could this possibly be you?  There’s still hope….

The majority of what we worry about we have no control over because it involves other people or situations.  You can’t change other people or make things happen when it involves anyone other than you.  This is wasted worry time.

Considering that time is the one commodity that you can’t buy, rent, trade or borrow more of, doesn’t it make sense to reclaim as much of this asset as you can?  How do you do that?  Take a different approach to your worries …

Release worries that you have no control over.  Have you ever worried about a loved one because they’re ill, been injured or just because you think they’re making bad choices?  This is an example of having no control over the outcome.  Does it lesson your worry knowing this?  Probably not.  However, you can choose what to think - worry (which is getting you nowhere) or a positive belief that all will be well.  A positive belief will make you feel better and will send out positive energy to the other person.  This leaves you free to focus on your own personal growth and allow others their own journey.

Another major topic of worry falls into the “needless” category.  This includes what other people think of you, being late, arguments and conflict that haven’t happened….you get the picture.  Should you really allow these minor issues to occupy space in your brain?  Let it go - you have much bigger fish to fry - like going after your dreams and creating a life for yourself that means something.

This is a worry-free zone!

Tip number six on how to use stress to further your personal growth involves using the law of attraction.  Once we get to the root cause of the stress in our lives, we can identify what is not working and therefore what we don’t want.  Now we can use contrast through clarity to figure out what we do want.

 Let’s say you are extremely stressed out because you are really unhappy in your career.  You now can use this as an opportunity to sit down and write out on one side of a sheet of paper all of the things that you don’t like about the job; maybe your boss doesn’t appreciate you, or you aren’t paid well enough, or you don’t feel fulfilled in your work.

Now you can go through each of the items listed on the one side, cross them out and write the opposite or what you do want in a career, on the other side of the sheet of paper.  Examples of the opposite of the above issues could be: my boss expresses his appreciation for my work on a regular basis, I am blessed to be receiving a rewarding and competitive compensation for my job, my work is both fulfilling and rewarding.

Now that you know what you do want you can begin to focus on it, and take action towards achieving it.  The law of attraction can begin to do it’s job in bringing it to you.

One more tip to go.  Stay tuned.