No matter how busy our schedules might be these days, putting aside time to focus on our health is not just important, it’s a necessity. One can survive without eating well, exercising, and relaxing, but one cannot truly thrive. If you are looking for ways to recommit to your health, both physically and mentally, here is what you need to know.

Mindful Eating

Often, we eat what is convenient, what tastes good, and what is fast. Without time to invest in cooking healthy meals, what else can we do? However, this can lead to issues such as obesity and depression. Mindful eating is one way to fight this behavior. Eating with intention can transform our relationship with food. Eat because you are hungry, not because you’re looking for a distraction or trying to fill an emotional void. You should choose food you like to eat, but also food that is good for your health. Part of this is learning how to stop eating when your body is satisfied, not when your plate is clean. Remind yourself that no matter how tasty your dish is, this is not your last time to enjoy it. You will eat it again, and there is no pressure to finish every crumb. By all means, eat the food you truly love -- just make sure you don’t overeat it.

“Me” Time

No matter what, you should try to set aside time for yourself each day to unwind. Relaxing entails anything you find particularly soothing. It might mean sipping a cup of herbal tea while listening to calming music. Relaxation might mean treating yourself to an at-home spa day. You can get a face mask, or make one yourself since most require what many of us keep in our fridges. Turn off all of your technology; no phones, no tablets, no computers -- just time for yourself. Also, you might even try a hot rock massage. Anything healthy that you enjoy can be indulged as a way to let go of worries and stress.

Daily Exercise

Unfortunately, most American adults do not get the amount of physical activity we need to support good health. Inactivity can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even issues with mental health. Every week, we should engage in moderate exercise for about 2.5 hours. That’s anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes a day. If you are pressed for time, there are still ways to get your daily allotment in. One fantastic way to get your exercise done quickly is called interval training. It consists of short bursts of activity and giving that exercise 100 percent of yourself. It combines weight work and aerobics, which is great for your heart and health. You can also do more little things throughout your day. Park farther away from your work and do a little extra walking. Find time to do brief stints of exercise, such as squats while your shower heats up, or lunges while your dinner cooks. Every little bit adds up.
 
Commit to Sleep
 
Sleep is vital to our well-being, and you need more than you probably get. The average adult needs roughly seven to eight hours a night to stay on top of their health. When you don’t sleep well, you may find yourself feeling hungrier, tired, sick, and may have a difficult time focusing on any given task. Not only does this make it harder to work, but it also makes driving downright dangerous. If you curtail your sleep for extra time to work, socialize, or even exercise, you may be doing your mind and body a disservice. Instead, stick to a sleep schedule, not only to ensure you get eight hours but to help your body fall and stay asleep.
 
The importance of these things cannot be overstated. Eating well, sleeping enough, working out, and taking time to relax are all essentials to feeling great each day. Now is the best time to dedicate your days to yourself, and living your best life.

Are you feeling low or just thinking negatively?  If you are, I think this article will help you to feel better and start living a happy life.
 
A lot of times, we start feeling low or thinking in a negative way out of habit.    What I mean by this is, if we start to have a few bad days, we might say, “I’m having a bad day, or I wish I would not have a bad day.”  This is a negative affirmation and just a negative way of thinking.  It might be true; you might be having a bad day, but when you say this, you are actually creating your world.  What do I mean by that?  I mean, when you say the negative affirmation, “I’m having a bad day,” you might actually be creating more bad days in your future.  You must learn to turn these negative affirmations or negative ways of thinking into positive affirmations.

A great way to look at this is, a negative affirmation will create negative results, but a positive affirmation will get you positive results.  So, it only makes sense to start thinking in a more positive way, so you can always be manifesting positive results.
 
First, let’s change “I’m having a bad day” into a positive affirmation.  You might say, “Yes, I’m having a wonderful day. I love and approve of myself.”  Can you see the difference? One affirmation is negative, and the other is positive.  It’s not a hard process, but sometimes, it’s very hard to change your thinking.  If you have been thinking negatively for a long period of time, your mind will automatically want to go back to thinking in a negative way.  This is normal, but you must be willing to change your thinking.

If you are having a hard time and you notice yourself thinking in a negative way, just say, “I no longer need those thoughts. I am now thinking in a more positive way.”  You might have to say this over and over again, but over time, you will start being a more positive person.  What’s happening now is, your mind is so used to thinking negatively, it will be hard to change your thinking.  But it is possible; it just might take longer than someone who has only been thinking in a negative way for a shorter amount of time.
 
Be looking for little changes.  If you have been thinking negatively for months or years, you will start to think in a negative way again.  This is normal because you have been thinking this way for so long.  But be looking for little signs that thinking in a positive way is working.  When you have a good day and you think this might be working, you are on the right track, and you should be totally happy.  It’s ok if you go back to thinking negatively. No one changes his or her thinking overnight.  It will take time but don’t give up.   When you notice you are thinking in a negative way, just change your thoughts to be more positive.

This process might take 90 days, especially if you have been a negative-thinking person for a while now.  Just don’t give up, and in return, you will change your whole life.  Your thoughts are creating your whole life right now.
 
People sometimes think, with this process, they will feel good every day.  That’s not the goal; the goal is for you to feel positive and happy most of the time.  In life, we sometimes feel bad or low. This is very normal. Don’t try to be happy all the time, especially if you are going through a rough time.  What’s not normal is thinking in a negative way for long periods of time or being depressed.  With this being said, I believe you can change your whole life with affirmations and positive thinking.  But if you are feeling depressed, the first step is to talk to your doctor and ask for help.  Sometimes, people don’t want to talk with the doctor about feeling depressed, but you must remember there is nothing wrong with asking for help. 

Remember, you can do anything if you just think you can.  Thinking positively will result in you getting positive results.
 

Manifesting things you want in your life is very easy once you realize the process.  The problem is that people make the process more complicated than it needs to be.  To manifest, it takes three steps.  In this article, I will walk you through the three steps, so you can learn how to manifest anything you desire in life.

The first step is getting very clear on what you want to manifest.  Maybe you want to manifest a new job, a new boyfriend/girlfriend, or anything else you can imagine.  You must select a positive affirmation to manifest anything.  Affirmations and manifestation go hand in hand.  You must say an affirmation in order to manifest.  The manifestation won’t happen without the affirmation. 
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For this example, let’s say we are manifesting a new job.  Here is a great affirmation to manifest a new career: “Yes, I have a great new job that I love.  I get along well with all my co-workers, and I make a great wage.”  This is a good positive affirmation that will manifest your great new career.  One thing I will tell you here is never say the word “Want.”   For example if you said, “Yes, I want a new career,” you would actually manifest wanting a new job.  You would manifest just the feeling of wanting a new job.  So, I tell all my clients never say “Want.” Want won’t help you manifest anything. It will just manifest the wanting of the thing you are trying to manifest in your life.  You have to think in terms of you already having the new job.  That’s why the affirmation: “Yes, I have a great new job that I love.  I get along well with my co-workers, and I make a great wage,”  is thinking in terms of you already having the new job.  

The second step is you must say this affirmation all the time.  When most people are looking for a new job, they are thinking how much they hate the job they have.  So, in turn, they are actually saying a negative affirmation like, “I really hate this job” or “I wish I had a new job because I no longer like my current job.”  You will actually hate your job more because you keep saying it over and over again.  Say your positive affirmation, “Yes, I have a great new job that I love.  I get along well with all my co-workers, and I made a great wage.” Once you say this affirmation long enough, you will actually start to believe it and manifest it.

Here is an example from my own life.  I had suffered from feeling low for a long period of time in my life.  When I was first told about affirmation, I wanted to try it and see if it would help me.  So I said all the time, “Yes, my body is perfect, and I love and approve of myself.”  I said this for three or four months.  During that time, I felt a little better, but I would still feel low at times.  My point is I did not give up. I kept moving forward, and I kept saying the affirmation, and in turn, I changed my whole life.  You won’t manifest anything overnight.  Manifestation takes time.  This is why it’s so important not to give up.  I started to feel a little better in my own life, so I knew it was working.  The next day or two, I might feel low again, but I kept moving forward.  I kept saying my positive affirmation.  In return, I felt a lot better most of the time.  Do I still have bad days; of course, everyone sometimes feels low or has a bad day.  But when I feel low, I don’t dwell on it and keep saying how bad I feel. I now change my thinking to be more positive, and in return, I feel more uplifted in a day or two.

Keep a lookout for small changes in your life.  When you see these small changes happen, you know the affirmation is working.  It might take you 90 days of thinking in this positive way to make the change.  It takes time, and this is why sometimes people give up before anything has a chance to manifest.  Manifestation can take time, and you must not give up.  Giving up is not an option.  From my own experience, I was thinking in a negative way for so long that it took me a lot longer than someone else who has only had a negative attitude for say a month or two.  We all go through bad times in life, but we can’t dwell on them or we actually create more bad days.  I wish someone had told me this years ago, and I could have saved myself low times of feeling negative about my life.

The third and final step is having no doubts that you will manifest what you are asking for.  If you do have doubts, your new career won’t manifest.  You must believe in yourself, and you must believe in the process.  If you do have doubts, just say, “Yes, I no longer need to have these doubts.  I know the process works, and I am manifesting a great new career right now.”  You can manifest anything in this universe if you just think you can.  Your thoughts are so powerful.  Never give up and keep moving forward. 

                 Sometimes, when people think in a negative way long enough, they become not as happy as they could be.  In this article, I will discuss simple things we can do to become happier in our lives.
            First, evaluate your life and ask yourself if you are a negative person.  When I say negative person, I’m referring to talking badly about yourself or putting yourself down or using negative self-talk.  For example, if I were to say, “I hate my job” or “I hate my life” that’s very negative, and it will bring down most people over time because it’s negative self-talk.  Even saying, “I can’t find a partner” or “no one will date me” is very negative, and it’s a form of putting yourself down.
            Sometimes, this first step is the hardest for people. We don’t think of ourselves as being negative, but in reality, we are.  We all must take a hard look and think about this and be honest with ourselves.  I fully admit that, sometimes, I catch myself being negative. When I catch myself doing this, I change my thinking because I know being positive will make me feel better about myself and just better in general.
            For example, when I used to put myself down a lot of the time, I would feel very bad about myself.  For example, I could not do anything right because I could not finish school or I could not find a partner in life.  This was negative thinking or negative self-talk, and I started to believe what I was saying to myself.  The fastest way to change one’s thinking is to say, “I no longer need those thoughts.” 
            Changing our negative thinking to positive thinking is a quick way to change our thinking and get ourselves to feel better about ourselves.  If I say, “I can’t find someone to date,” which is negative, I would change this to, “Yes, I have a great new relationship and we love each other very much.”  Or “I can’t find a job I really love” into “Yes, I have a great job that I love, and I get paid a great wage.”
            Can you see how changing our negative sayings into positive sayings can help change our lives?  If you change your negative thinking into positive thinking, your whole life will change.  It will not change overnight.  Sometimes, we want instant results, but I tell people, if you have been thinking in a negative way for months or years, it might take a few months to start thinking and feeling good about yourself.  Look for small changes, and behind small changes will come big changes.  Just don’t give up before you start to see a change.
            From my experience, when I was thinking negatively, it took me about 90 days or a bit longer to start feeling a difference when I started thinking positively.  But now, when I find myself thinking in a negative way, I can change my feelings very quickly into positive feelings because I’ve been thinking and being positive for so long.  With anything, it takes time to change the way we are thinking and our self-talk.  The important thing is we don’t give up, and we keep moving forward.
            It’s normal to feel like nothing is changing when you start.  This is the first test for you; if you keep thinking in a more positive way, you will get positive results.  If you just give up, you will go back to thinking in a negative way, and you won’t change your life.  You must be willing to let go of all your fears and just say, “I’m doing this, and I know it won’t be easy, but I’m doing this.”  Even if you don’t see any results for a few months, it’s no reason to give up. It just means that you have been thinking in a negative way for so long that it will take you longer to change your thinking to become more positive.
            Remember, you can do anything in this world if you think you can.  Changing your negative thinking to positive thinking will get you positive results.  Your whole life will begin to change by just changing your thoughts. 

Our minds are the most powerful thing in this universe. If we think in a certain way, we will manifest what we are thinking about. Our thoughts can change our lives. We can manifest anything in this universe we desire. The main reason people don’t think this will work is they give up on manifestation before they actually manifest anything. The one thing about manifesting that I’ve learned over the years is it takes time to manifest. Things don’t just come into our lives the next day; sometimes, it takes months to manifest into our lives.
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How to use our minds to manifest, that’s the question I’m sure everyone is thinking. Here are five steps to manifest.

1. Get clear on what you want to manifest into your life.
2. Say and write your affirmation every day to help bring what you want to manifest into your life.
3. Believe what you want will come into your life. Use your imagination to believe it will happen.
4. Be thankful for what you have right now.
5. Never give up.

Now, let’s look at each step to manifest your heart’s desire. Step one, get clear on what you want to manifest into your life. This step is easy. Whatever you want to manifest into your life, just think about it and pick something. For this example, let’s say we want to manifest a new career. So many people are in jobs they hate that this will make a great example.

Step two, say and write the affirmation that will lead you to manifest what you want. So, think about what you want; in this example, we want a new career, so a great affirmation would be, “Yes, I have a great new career that I love. I work with great new co-workers, and I make a great living.” This is an easy and basic affirmation, but it will manifest a great new career into our lives.

Now that we have the affirmation, you can say this affirmation all the time. Write it out and say it. Doing both things will give the affirmation more energy. When I was starting as a life coach, I would say all the time, “Yes, I am a successful life coach. I am a successful life coach.” It’s the same principle for a new career; if you say this affirmation all the time, you will manifest it. You must not give up. Giving up is not an option. Write out the affirmation and put it on your mirror in your bathroom, so when brushing your teeth, you will see it and say it. Say it all the time out loud or just in your mind.

Step three, while you are saying your affirmation, believe you will manifest the new career into your life. Believe it to be true. Use your imagination to believe it has happened. For this, envision yourself with your new career. You walk into a new building, and you sit down at your new desk. You see yourself in this new office, working alongside new co-workers. You feel wonderful, and you feel happy that you have this new career.
You are using your imagination to envision your new career at the same time as saying your affirmation. This will bring more energy to your affirmation when you use your imagination. You must believe your affirmation can manifest it into your life.

Next is being thankful for what you have in your life right now. You might not like the job you have right now but be thankful for it. Try to remember that someone else might be happy with the job you have. I know it’s hard to be happy when you don’t like the job you’re in but try to remember being happy and thankful will bring more great things into your life.

The last step is never give up on your affirmation. People will often give up way too soon before they have even given the affirmation a chance. Please remember it might take months to manifest what you desire. I remember my own experience with my health. I was feeling sad and depressed; it took around two to three months for me to feel better in my own life. Ten years before this, I had tried affirmations but gave it only like a week or two to manifest perfect health in my life. I got no results because I gave up too soon. After I worked with my life coach, he told me, Tony, you must say your affirmations repeatedly until you are sick and tired of saying them.
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That’s what I did; I said them until I was tired of saying them. I keep saying them repeatedly. After two to three months, I felt better, and I knew right then that affirmations work if I give it enough time to work. I relate it to a cruise ship; a cruise ship can’t turn sharp if they want to go in a different direction. That cruise ship might take a long time to change directions. It’s the same when doing affirmations. It takes a while before that affirmation comes true for you, but just like the cruise ship, it will happen if you don’t give up. Never give up. It will happen. It just might take longer than you thought it would.

Photo credit Pixabay

Guest post by Dana Brown

​The New Year is Here!    

And we couldn’t be more excited. There’s something about a new year that makes people want to give their life a little shot in the arm to make things better. We’re not just talking about resolutions-- once the craziness of the holidays has passed, people want to clean house, recharge, and make small changes in their lives to ensure a healthier and happier start to the new year.   
Creating small, achievable milestones you can do every day helps build confidence and self-satisfaction. These little things you can do are enjoyable, so you don’t want to skip them. On the other hand, if you miss one or two days, it’s not the end of the world, either. While they may be little, they add up in a big way, improving your home and health. Eventually you stop thinking about them at all and they become second nature.  

Create a Healthy Home
  
Your home should be a place where you can escape the stresses of the outside world so you can recharge-- and we don’t just mean your electronic devices. In fact, you should make it a goal to use your phone, tablet, and laptop less when you are there. Set aside a room in your home without electronic distractions for your creative pursuits. Buy a comfortable chair, some paintings of nature, and other relaxing decor to inspire less stress.  
In addition to setting up space for your creative side, you should also have some options around the house to help improve your physical health. You don’t have to turn a spare bedroom into an entire home gym, but keeping some fitness equipment nearby gives you the opportunity to do a little physical activity in case you are feeling stressed or anxious. At the very least, having a yoga mat gives you a portable space where you can stretch and listen to your body.   

Improve Your Diet  

Instead of vowing to give up soft drinks or chips, incorporate more healthy options into your diet this year. It’s easier to say you are going to work on giving yourself more of something than cutting something out altogether.
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To make 2018 your healthiest year yet, start small. Create a healthier and happier home where you can escape from stress by setting up an area where you can ignore electronic devices and instead pursue your creative side. It’s also a great idea to have some easy-to-use gym equipment you can use at home so you can always fit in a little extra activity to relieve stress. Instead of giving up things you love this year, make it a goal to incorporate more of the good stuff. Drink more water to improve your health and rev up your metabolism. Eat more superfoods to feel more satiated and nourished when you eat. Even little things like cooking your meals in a cast iron skillet can have a big impact on your mood and health. The little things are easier to stick with, but they add up for a huge impact on your overall wellness.  ​

    The law of attraction basically means, whatever you think about or talk about, you will get.  If you think positively, you will get positive results.  If you think negatively, you will get negative results.  This is why I tell my clients always to think positively way, because thinking in a positive way will change your life for the better.   
    I’ve been asked a lot of questions about how to use the law of attraction to manifest and get what we really want.  I will give you a few examples of how to use the law of attraction and manifest what you want in your life.
    In this first example, let’s say you want to manifest a new relationship.  You start by getting very clear about what you want.  Let’s say I am a woman, 25 years old, who wants to manifest a great loving boyfriend.  The first thing you must do is understand that you have to get ready for your perfect boyfriend.  What do I mean by this? I mean, you must declutter your house.  You must declutter your life.
    First, clean out part of the closet for your boyfriend.  This way, you are affirming to the universe you are ready for a relationship because you are making room for one.  Continue with the rest of your house and make room for your relationship.  Make room in your bathroom; sleep on one side of the bed, instead of the middle.  If you have a two-car garage, clean out the garage and park on one side, instead of in the middle.  These steps are confirming that you are ready for a relationship.  You are affirming to the universe you are ready to accept a great relationship.  You are getting your life in order for another person.
    The next step is to say this affirmation, “Yes, I accept a great new relationship into my life.  We get along great, and we love each other very much.”  Keep saying this affirmation, and you will attract a great boyfriend into your life.  Remember, when you keep saying an affirmation repeatedly, you will attract that affirmation into your life. 
    It might take 90 days for you to attract what you are looking for, so I always tell clients never give up.  After the 90 days, you might not get the perfect man, but you might attract more dates, leading to the perfect man of your dreams.  My point is never give up.  People often give up before they attract what they want because they give up too soon.  Affirmations work, but they take time.
    Another step I have learned that will help you attract your affirmation to you faster is to put the word “Yes” in front of all your affirmations.  For example, if I said, “I have a great new boyfriend,” instead I would say, “Yes, I have a great new boyfriend.” See the difference?  It adds more energy to the affirmation.  This will help bring the thing you request to you faster.
    Next, let’s look at an affirmation for a new job.  A great affirmation for a new job would be, “Yes, I have a great new career that I love, and I get paid a great wage for doing it.”  This would attract a great new career into your life.  Say this affirmation all the time to attract a new career into your life. 
    No matter what you are trying to attract into your life, you can use your imagination to help manifest your desires faster.  To use your imagination, envision what you are saying in your affirmations as if you already have it.  So, if you are trying to affirm a new career, envision yourself going into a new building and working with new co-workers.  If you are trying to affirm a new boyfriend, envision yourself going out on dates, going to the movies, doing things together, and coming home together.  This way, you are saying the affirmations out loud, and you envision your affirmations in your mind.  This will attract your affirmations to you faster.
    One last tip, like I said above, no matter what, don’t give up.  You can manifest anything you desire in your life, but you must not give up.  You have to keep positive, and you must keep saying your affirmations.  The best advice I ever got was to say affirmations until I am sick and tired of saying them.  That’s what I am telling you; say your affirmations until you are sick and tired of saying them and then say them again.  You can do anything if you just think you can.

      My new book, Positive Thoughts Will Change Your Life, is now available.  I feel so blessed to have been able to share my experiences with everyone in this book.  This article will explain why I wrote this book and how being more positive has helped me.
       Sometimes, we all experience things that have a direct impact on how we feel.  When I was around 20, I had a big breakup, and this made me feel low and depressed, which is very normal after a breakup, but for me, it lasted a long time.  I could not figure out a way to move past it and move on.  I almost felt stuck in one place, no matter what I did.
      Moving along, years went by and my mood was like an up and down roller coaster. One day, I would be OK; the next I would have great sadness.  I tried everything that people told me to try. I did talk therapy, and I talked my head off until I realized it was not helping all that much.  I tried hypnosis, hypnotherapy, and medication.  The medication and talk therapy helped a little bit but nothing got me to 100 percent.  I just felt very sad some days, and I did not know why.
       I met my life coach, and he taught me about affirmations and thinking positively.  This was the key for me because I now realize I was feeling low because I was thinking negatively. I would wake up and just think I feel sad today, and I would create this in my life with my thoughts.  Even if I wanted to be happy, I would just think of myself as being and feeling sad, so I did not have a chance to become happy because of my negative thinking.   My life coach taught me to change my negative thinking to more positive thinking.  This helped me so much in my life.
        After I started thinking in a positive way and saying affirmations, I slowly started to feel better.  I felt happy for more than a day or two at a time, which had not happened in years.  I finally felt a sense of normalcy.  Let me just say this did not happen overnight.  So many people want an instant fix, and for me, it took months of thinking positively to change the way I was feeling.  This was due to my thinking in such a negative way for so long that it took months to change the way I was thinking and feeling.  The way I think of it is this; when a cruise ship wants to change direction, it can’t just change quickly. It takes a while for it to change directions.  This is how it was for me.  It took a long time for me to change the way I was thinking, but sometimes, good things in life take a while.
       I’m telling you this because many people want an instant fix.  This is not always possible because it takes time to change the way we think.  When you start to think more positively, don’t worry when you go back to thinking negatively; just brush the negative thinking aside and say, “I no longer need those thoughts.”  We all go back to the way we were thinking because we are so used to thinking that way.  It might take a few months of thinking in a positive way to impact your life.  The one thing I can tell you is never give up because, in time, you will change your thinking, and you will feel better.
         In my book, Positive Thoughts Will Change Your Life, I go into more detail about my situation and what I did to help myself.  But for this article, I just want you to know that you can feel better, and you can change your life by changing your thoughts.  You just can’t give up and say this is how it is and there is nothing more I can do.  You can do something. You can change your thoughts, and you can change your life.
        One thing I will say is, if you are feeling down or sad, ask for help.  Talk with your doctor or a close friend and see if you can get help.  I’m a firm believer that every type of medicine has a place in this world.  Medication might help some people, while it might not help others, just as hypnosis or hypnotherapy or even thinking in a more positive way might not help everyone.  But that’s why we have so many good choices in life.  You can do anything if you think you can.
        The best thing about doing affirmations and thinking more positively in your life is you can do it, even if you are doing other forms of therapy.  Remember, a positive thought in your life will get you positive results if you don’t give up.