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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.

My new book "Positive Thoughts Will Change Your Life" is now available.  Below are images of the front and back cover.  I'd like to thank Gary Quinn for writing the foreward to the book.  Thank you Lisa Kitter and Nancy Rarick for reviewing the book.  You will be able to buy the new book in my store and on Amazon.

You can now order my book from Amazon.

​            When you say an affirmation like, “Yes, I am happy” or “Yes, I have a great new job,” this goes out into the universe and will come back to you.  This is why, when you say an affirmation long enough, you can manifest it.  It’s the law of attraction working in your life.
            The law of attraction says, whatever you think about, you will attract it into your life.  So, if you think of yourself as having a great, happy, and successful day, you will manifest it.  If you think a positive thought over and over again, you will attract positive results.  The same is true; if you think in a negative way, you will attract negative results.  So, I tell all my clients to learn to think in a positive way to create the positive results you really want in your life.
            This is why our thoughts are so important.  When you use your time and energy to think in a positive way, instead of a negative way, we can change your life.  Think of it this way; would you rather be around someone who is always positive or always negative?  Negative people bring themselves and the people around them down.  I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be around someone who is positive and happy in life.  When I’m around someone like this, it almost rubs off on the people around them.  We all feel happy and more positive.
            If you are feeling like you are not the most positive person, the first thing to do is change your thinking.  When you wake up, say, “Yes, I am happy and I am more positive.” This is a great affirmation to start changing your thinking and changing your attitude to be more positive. 
            Changing your attitude and thinking does not happen overnight.  If you have been a negative person for a long time and say the affirmation, “Yes, I am happy and I am more positive,” you won’t wake up tomorrow and be a positive person.  The change takes time, and it takes energy.  A negative attitude will pop up occasionally, and the best thing to do is just say, “I no longer need that kind of negative thinking.” Accept it and move on.  After you realize you are thinking in a negative way, say the positive affirmation again and again.  It will take you around 30 days to change your attitude from negative to positive.  It takes around 30 days to change anything for long-term success.  Don’t beat yourself up if you start thinking in a more positive way and tomorrow you start thinking in a negative way, because it takes time to retrain your mind to think in a more positive way.
            The one thing I tell every client I have is don’t give up.  You will go back to thinking in a negative way because you are used to doing this.  A negative attitude about life can’t be changed overnight.  It can be changed, but it might take a few weeks. 
            This goes for anything in your life; if you want to go to bed an hour or two earlier every night, it will take a while before your body gets used to the new bedtime.  The same is true for our thoughts. You start thinking in a positive way, but the negative thoughts or the negative attitude comes back.  Brush it aside and keep saying your positive affirmations, and in time, you will become a more positive person.  It won’t be easy, but good things are not always easy in life.  Remember, more people will want to be around a positive person than a negative person. 
            Thoughts can change your life if you are willing to make the change.  Change is not always easy or fun, but it will change your life for the better.  Never give up and keep moving forward.  You can do anything in this world if you just think you can. 
            

 
            Everything you think and say creates the life you have right now.  If you think in a negative way long-term, you will create negative results.  If you change your thoughts and think in a positive way, you can create positive results.  It is true; your thoughts create your life.  It does not matter if you think in a negative way or a positive way, you will get it.  Think of it this way; when you think or say a thought, it goes out to the universe and comes back to you.  The universe does not care if you think in a positive way or a negative way. It just comes back to you.  This is why I tell everyone to think in a positive way.
            The great thing about thoughts is we can change our thoughts. We can change the way we think.  In these examples below, I will show you how to change your negative thoughts to positive thoughts.  Remember you can do anything if you just think you can. Your thoughts are so much more powerful than anyone has ever told you.
            Thinking in a negative way for a long time can make a person attract what they are thinking about.  For example, let’s use a person who says, “I hate my life.” When a person says this over and over again, they will believe it to be true.  Or a person might say, “I feel sad or depressed.” This will create feeling low or depressed in the person’s life.  I try to get clients to understand that, even if you have been thinking in a negative way for a long time, you can change your thoughts to help create a new reality in your life. 
            With this being said, this is not something you can change overnight.  Changing our thinking and our thoughts is easy to do, but it takes time to change your reality.  The reality is, if you have been doing anything for a long time, it will take time for you to change the behavior.  Thoughts can be changed quickly, but you will still think in a negative way.  This is because you have been thinking in a negative way for so long that it’s very natural.   I want you to give yourself enough time to change your thoughts.
            It will be different for everyone on how much time it will take to change your thoughts.  For me, it took a little over a month to notice a difference in my thinking.  When I was feeling low, I would automatically think in a negative way.  When I would wake up, I would think to myself what a crappy day, and I feel depressed.  When I changed my thinking to be more positive, it was not overnight. I had this shift.  It took a month to see small changes. 
            I am telling you this so, after a few weeks of you not noticing any difference in your life and your thinking, you won’t give up.  Giving up is not an option.  It takes time to change your life, and in the end, you will be a great, happy person because you did not give up.
            Remember the affirmations above, “I hate my life” and “I feel sad or depressed” are examples of negative affirmations.  These are just examples, but you have to change these negative affirmations to be more positive.  I would say, “Yes, I feel happy and healthy” and “Yes, I love my life.”  Can you see the difference?  One is very negative, while the other affirmations are very positive.  Saying these positive affirmations won’t change your life overnight.  It might take a month or two to see little changes in your life.  But you will see the changes and don’t give up.  What I realized is people normally give up too quickly before they see any change.  Or they give up when they see little changes because they want a big change.  Don’t give up. Change happens, but it might be slow to start.  Once you give up, you will basically have to start over.  If you have been doing positive affirmations for a month and give up, it’s like you wasted a whole month of your life.  You will then have to start over at day one.  It’s very frustrating, I know, when you work at being positive and you see no results.  You must keep going; you must not give up.  Giving up is not an option. You can do anything in this world if you just think you can. 
         Once you make the choice to be positive, keep being positive for the rest of your life.  Once you make that commitment, you will be happy with your life; just never give up.
            I always tell people, if you are depressed, please ask for help.  Go see your doctor and get checked.  Sometimes, our thoughts can make us depressed; other times, it’s something else.  I know, if serotonin levels are low in a person’s brain, it can make a person depressed.  It’s always a good idea to get checked.  There is nothing in the world wrong with asking for help.
            

     Breakups can be very challenging and very hard on people.  We all wonder, what did I do or what could I have done better.  Breakups can bring people down and make us sad or depressed.  We wonder what we could have done to make the relationship work, how we could have done this or that differently.  In this article, I will show you a few techniques you can use to get over a breakup. 
     First, don’t blame yourself.  Blaming yourself will not help you.  It will just make you feel worse, and I want you to feel wonderful.  You are perfect, and someone is out there waiting to date and love you.  You are just what the person is looking for. 
     Second, never put yourself down.  Putting yourself down just destroys your self-esteem, and this will make it harder to get over your ex.  Let me explain.  When you have no self-esteem and you keep putting yourself down or asking, “why me”, you send that out to other people.  People will know you don’t like or think highly of yourself, and no one will want to date you.  Here is an affirmation for great self-esteem.  “YES, I know I am wonderful, and I have a lot to offer the next person I date.”  Now, if you keep saying this affirmation, you will have great respect for yourself, and this is what you will show the world.   
     Third, loving yourself, first, before you date anyone new is key to a successful relationship.  I say this because, if you don’t love and respect yourself, how can you expect your boyfriend or girlfriend to respect and love you?  It goes hand in hand.  Loving yourself is the best gift you can give yourself and your partner.  Here is an affirmation for loving yourself, “YES, I love and approve of myself every day.”
     The healing process after a breakup is different for each person.  Each breakup is a different set of circumstances, but the one thing that is the same is it causes us pain and suffering.  Believe in yourself that you have a lot to offer someone new.  Believe you are a great partner and you love yourself.  Loving yourself is hard, at times, especially after a breakup.  I don’t care what anyone else has told you; you must love yourself.  Every day, I tell myself, “YES, I love and approve of myself.”  Even if you don’t believe it, in time, you will. 
     Envision what you want your next boyfriend/girlfriend to look like and be like.  What personality does he or she have, what color hair, what things does he or she like to do in free time?  You are trying to get an image in your mind of your perfect match.  I think, at this point, you should try a vision board.  I will talk about vision boards next.
     A vision board can be a white board or a board you pin things on.  You want to put things on your vision board that you want to attract into your life.  So, for example, I would print out things like, “A great girlfriend”, “A great boyfriend”, “We get along wonderfully.”  You print out these sayings, and you put them on your vision board.  This way, when you walk by your vision board, you will see them, and you will envision what it would be like to be with a great boyfriend/girlfriend.  Basically, put anything you want to attract on your vision board.  This way, you will attract it faster because you will see it daily.
     Another great thing to do is put sticky notes on your mirror in your bathroom.  I would put little sayings like, “YES, I love and approve of myself.”  This way, every morning and evening, when I am washing my face, I will see this message, and I will repeat it.  It might seem silly, but the vision board and sticky notes work.  Try it for a month and see how you feel.  I bet you will feel great.
     Again, I just want to make sure you understand that you are perfect just how you are.  You had a bad breakup, yes, but you can get over it, and you can move on.  Just start loving yourself and affirming, “YES, I love and approve of myself,” and saying, “YES, I have a great new boyfriend or girlfriend, and we get along wonderfully.”
     My point is you can do it. I know you can.  You can have a great new relationship, and you can start loving yourself today.  Take that first step, and you will have a great happy life.

    Thoughts create your world.  If you think a thought over and over again, you will get it.  Here is an example: if someone says, “I am depressed”, and they say this over and over again, they will most likely become depressed.  Even if a person just says, “I am sad” over and over again, the person will become sadder and more depressed.  It’s like old saying, “The better it gets, the better it gets.  The worse it gets, the worse it gets.”  Life is like this. If you think a negative thought long enough, you will manifest it in your life.  If you think a positive thought long enough, you will get positive results. 
            You must turn your negative thought into positive thoughts.  Let’s look at the same saying, “I am depressed.” I would tell this client to say, “YES, I am happy and content in my life.”  This way, you turn your negative thought into a positive thought.  Every time you want to say the negative affirmation, “I am depressed”, replace it with your new positive affirmation, “YES, I am happy and content in my life.”  It will take time, but in a few weeks, instead of automatically thinking of depression, you will think of being happy. 
            Sometimes, clients will come to me, and we discuss changing our thoughts from negative to positive and they want instant results.  This process takes time and hard mental work.  You will revert to thinking in a negative way.  This is because you’re so used to thinking in a negative way, it’s very natural for you.  When you start thinking in a negative way, just think to yourself or say out loud, “I don’t need these thoughts anymore.”  Repeat this process every time you think of a negative thought.  In a few weeks, you will reprogram your brain to stop thinking in a negative way.  In time, you will think in a positive way automatically, just like you think in a negative way, right now.
            I know, for me, this process works.  For people who have read my articles, you know I have suffered from depression in some form or another most of my adult life.  I changed my negative thinking into positive thinking.  It took months of thinking in a more positive way to get small results, but I did.  I never gave up, and it really helped me eventually.
            Another great exercise to do is, as you’re saying your positive affirmation, “YES, I am happy and content in my life”, I want you to envision what that looks like in your mind.  So, I would envision myself having fun, going out with friends, and laughing.  I would think of myself hiking up a mountain and looking at the great view when I got to the top.  Each person will be different, so you just have to think of things that make you smile and happy.
            Another great exercise I have learned and read about is to look at yourself in the mirror for two minutes and smile.  I know what you’re thinking; I’m nuts.  But if you smile and look at yourself in the mirror, you can’t help but feel a little better.  Now, you should know that smiling is good for you.  Even if you don’t feel like smiling, smile. It will make you happy on the inside, and you will show it on the outside. 
            Now, depression and mental disorders are very serious, and if you are depressed, you should ask your doctor for help.  There is nothing in the world wrong with asking for help.  If you need to be on medication, there is nothing wrong with that.  My personal belief is there is a form of medicine for everyone. 
My point is, what works for me or anyone else might not work for you.  The same is true for you. You might have found a great system that works for you, but it might not work for someone else you know.  This is why I love being alive right now.  With this article, I can share with you what has worked for me, and it might help people, and I hope you, as the reader, would do the same.  If you find something that helps your depression, tell people.   It can’t hurt, and it might help someone.  Never be ashamed of asking for help.        
            If I can be of any help, please let me know.  I know, having and dealing with depression can be hard and frustrating, but trust me; a brighter day is right around the corner.  Just don’t give up.  You are a very special person.