Brain Function Creativity Depression Do's & Don't's Energy Folklore Genius Life Hacks Managing Self Limiting Thoughts Personal Health Positive Mental Attitude Positive Outlook Positive Thoughts Psychology Science Self Improvement Skills Worth Learning Superior State of Mind Well Being Your Memory
Frankincense oil is known as the King of Oils – and it truly deserves this title. I use it daily to promote my health and if I ever had to choose just one oil to have, it would be frankincense. Frankincense has a long history of being used as a prized and precious essential oil. Historically it was used by the Babylonians, Assyrians and Egyptians in religious ceremonies, and as a resin for balms and salves. And of course, the three wise men brought frankincense to the baby Jesus as an offering.
Today, the essential oil, acquired by steam distillation of the resin, is widely used and holds great therapeutic value.
1. Help with wounds from cuts, scrapes, and burns. For even greater benefit, apply Lavender essential oil first then layer Frankincense on top. The combination of these two oils together is amazing when it comes to helping with wounds. (where to find)
2. Neurological support.
Frankincense is probably the best oil I know of for neurological support. It helps with the function of the central nervous system in particular. Whether it’s helping with clarity of thinking, or balancing the emotions, frankincense has a lot of benefits to offer.
3. Reduce and fade scars. Just combine 2-3 drops of frankincense oil with coconut oil, and directly apply it on your skin.
4. Foster strong immune system. Massage a few drops into the balls of your feet daily to boost your immune system. You can also diffuse it throughout your home or in your bedroom at night.
5. Reduce stress and anxious feelings.
Frankincense oil promotes relaxation and feeling of calm. You can simply rub a few drops mixed in a carrier oil on the back of the neck when you feel stressed.
6. Hormones and Memory
Frankincense can help balance hormones and improve memory.
7. Aging skin. Mix a few drops of the Frankincense with unscented oil (like coconut) and apply to your skin. You can also add a drop of Frank to your daily moisturizer.
8. Head tension. Frankincense can be used to relieve conditions where pain and tension are present.
9. Congestion. Put up to six drops in a sink or bowl filled with very hot water then bend over the sink with a towel draped over your head to contain the steam. Breathe in the vapors for at least five minutes, adding more hot water as needed. Be careful not to scald yourself; the water should be hot, not boiling.
10. Relieve itching. A single drop applied to the affected area will bring immediate relief.
11. Relieve joint pain and swelling. Mix with a carrier and rub into aching joints at night before bed and throughout the day,
12. Clear up problem skin. Dab one drop on stubborn spots morning and night.
13. Relaxation. Add 5 or 6 drops to a diffuser and breath in the oil to open the senses and create a calming atmosphere. To elevate your mood a few drops – as a perfume – works well.
14. Remove moles, skin tags, and warts. Apply a single drop 3 or 4 times a day until gone.
15. Enhance vision. Put 1-2 drops of Frankincense in your hand and then rub your index finger in the oil and rub it onto each of your temple. It can provide greater clarity to your vision and bring everything into greater focus.
16. Remove musty odors. Place a couple of drops in a small dish of water and the room will take on a much fresher smell.
17. Oral Health: Useful as preventative measure against oral health problems such as bad breath, toothaches, cavities, canker sores, and other infections. Try mixing with baking soda and coconut oil to make your own toothpaste.
18. Promote sleep Diffuse frankincense at bedtime to help you slow down your breathing and relieve nervous tension and anxiety. You will sleep like a baby!
19. Enhance the efficacy of other essential oils. Layer Frankincense over other essential oil to enhance that oil’s properties and drive the oils deeper into the cells.
July 14, 2016 by
Brain Function Brain Function Cancer Cancer Cures Cleansing Creativity Creativity Depression Energy Essential oils Eye Health Folklore Frankincense General Health Immune System Insomnia Life Hacks Managing Self Limiting Thoughts Migrames Myths Natural Cures Pain Relief Personal Health Skin Health Teeth Well Being
Demagogues or rabble rousers have always had a leg up in the political arena. If you can whip up a frenzy of prejudice and ignorance and raise the specter of looming threats or conspiratorial “elites”, while not being particularly beholden to facts, you’ll get a big chunk of the population on your side. And in an age where our daily lives are overwhelmed by an incessant glut of information, demagogues have more power than ever. Amazing accessibility of most information has devalued facts, blurring lines between experts and demagogues. Getting away with untruths may be easier than ever.
Is there an actual information overload now? It’s not just the incessant texting, emailing, Facebook-checking and the hundreds of channels on TV with nothing on. As psychology professor Daniel Levitin points out:
“In 1976, there were 9,000 products in the average grocery store, and now it’s ballooned to 40,000 products. And yet most of us can get almost all our shopping done in just 150 items, so you’re having to ignore tens of thousands of times every time you go shopping.”
Even the store is overloading us. Levitin proposes that in the last 10 years we’ve created more information than in all the human history that preceded it.
“I’ve read estimates there were 30 Exabyte’s of information 10 years ago and today, there’s 300 Exabyte’s of information,” says Levitin.
On top of all this information and choices, Earl Miller, an MIT neuroscientist, notes that our brains were actually not even “wired” to multitask.
“When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost in doing so,” explains Miller.
In fact, multitasking was found to increase the production of cortisol, a stress hormone, as well as adrenaline, which can overstimulate the brain and cause “mental fog”.
As we go around in our mental fog, why would we even listen to experts like Levitin and Miller? In the information overload age, a layman is empowered as much as a so-called “expert”. Let’s say you come across a Neil DeGrasse Tyson article. If you don’t like something about it, and especially if you don’t understand it, you are free to leave a comment under his Facebook article about just how wrong you think he is. You have the power to immediately set this “expert” straight. Doesn’t matter that you don’t have a degree in astrophysics. Your emotional reaction to his “facts” is all that matters here.
What may be happening is what social and political analyst (and another “expert”) Professor Tom Nichols termed “the death of expertise”.
“I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. By this, I do not mean the death of actual expertise, the knowledge of specific things that sets some people apart from others in various areas. There will always be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists in various fields. Rather, what I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live,” writes Nichols.
Even doctors are no longer as much of an authority as people go online to diagnose themselves, resulting in the rise of cyberchondria. Just because you can find some symptoms in a search engine doesn’t mean you have that disease or that you know better how to treat it than a doctor. Still many of us do this every time we get a weird sensation.
Sticking to what we already think we know is also much easier. It doesn’t take a scientist to tell us we like to be right. Once we get an idea in our head, facts to the contrary aren’t necessarily going to make much difference.
Recent research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, describes studies where when participants were confronted with facts that went against their views, they were likely to reframe their views as matter of opinion and personal morality (to which they had every right). On the other hand, once the presented facts were in line with their own thinking, they stated that their opinions were fact-based and didn’t invoke morality quite as much.
The researchers concluded that people’s belief systems include an aspect of “unfalsifiability” which they employ for defensive and offensive purposes. The defensive function serves to support their worldviews and a sense of identity, while anyone who ventured into the comments section of most Facebook posts could figure out what the offensive purpose is all about.
Further research by Dartmouth scientists revealed the implications of the “backfire effect”. The effect described a phenomenon whereby “corrections actually increase misperceptions.” Basically, when hearing two sides of an argument, people tend to side with the one they already agree with, corrective evidence notwithstanding. The researchers saw this related to the process by which people “bolster their preexisting views”. Especially if they have to argue their opinion vigorously (let’s say, in an internet flame war), their original opinion might become even more entrenched and extreme, facts be damned.
Of course, there’s also the Dunning-Kruger effect, whereby “low-ability” (aka not very smart people) don’t have the ability to know they are not smart and actually double down on their sense of superiority. On the flip side of that, smart people may actually underestimate their abilities. So the less intelligent get louder and the more intelligent keep to themselves.
Still, no matter how many psychology studies say this or that, none of it matters if you are disinclined to believe them. With too many facts and studies, it’s easier to stay in the mental fog. And that’s the space where demagogues operate. From the Ancient Greek warmongering leader Cleon to Hitler to Joseph McCarthy, a rabble rouser prays on the people who value beliefs more than facts. To produce desired actions from the crowd, they invoke the age-old tactic of invoking fear. Scare enough people that everything is wrong and you are the only one who can protect them, and you might find yourself in a leadership position.
“What is really fascinating when we look at the brain research around fear is that our brains proxy anything that feels unfamiliar, incoherent or inaccessible as being unsafe,” says Harvard psychologist Susan David.
Immigrants, foreign countries, people with different skin color or sexual orientation have certainly become the fearsome “unfamiliar” in the mouths of many a demagogue, some of them still in the running for the job of the leader of the free world.
Fear of the unfamiliar works especially well when confronted with an incessant barrage of information. The devil you know is your devil. You know how to live with him.
Fear is also more interesting to the news. How many of us would really tune in to watch how everything around the world is actually working out? But give us a story about a new threat and most of us would not change the channel.
Is there a solution to where we find ourselves? Can we get a grip on the information deluge? How do we make sure that someone will not come to lead us right into another world war or some totalitarian regime as demagogues often do? There may be little we can do. As history shows, the rise of demagogues is often predicated on a certain number of factors which are all in play in the modern world. This may be a something we’d just have to ride out. And vote out.
by September 11, 2016
Brain Function Brain Function Business Creativity Creativity Depression Healthy Techniques Information Insomnia Inspirational Life Lessons Positive Mental Attitude Positive Thoughts Psychology Science Self Improvement Self Limiting Practices Superior State of Mind Well Being
“Why is it that the normal diet is three meals a day plus snacks? It isn’t that it’s the healthiest eating pattern, now that’s my opinion but I think there is a lot of evidence to support that. There are a lot of pressures to have that eating pattern, there’s a lot of money involved. The food industry — are they going to make money from skipping breakfast like I did today? No, they’re going to lose money. If people fast, the food industry loses money. What about the pharmaceutical industries? What if people do some intermittent fasting, exercise periodically and are very healthy, is the pharmaceutical industry going to make any money on healthy people?”
Main Points Of The Lecture Above & The Science To Go With It
Mark and his team have published several papers that discuss how fasting twice a week could significantly lower the risk of developing both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Dietary changes have long been known to have an effect on the brain. Children who suffer from epileptic seizures have fewer of them when placed on caloric restriction or fasts. It is believed that fasting helps kick-start protective measures that help counteract the overexcited signals that epileptic brains often exhibit. (Some children with epilepsy have also benefited from a specific high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet.) Normal brains, when overfed, can experience another kind of uncontrolled excitation, impairing the brain’s function, Mattson and another researcher reported in January in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.”(source)
Basically, when you take a look at caloric restriction studies, many of them show a prolonged lifespan as well as an increased ability to fight chronic disease.
“Calorie restriction (CR) extends life span and retards age-related chronic diseases in a variety of species, including rats, mice, fish, flies, worms, and yeast. The mechanism or mechanisms through which this occurs are unclear.”
The quote above is from a review of the literature that is more than 10 years old. The work presented here is now showing some of these mechanisms that were previously unclear.
Fasting does good things for the brain, and this is evident by all of the beneficial neurochemical changes that happen in the brain when we fast. It also improves cognitive function, increases neurotrophic factors, increases stress resistance, and reduces inflammation.
Fasting is a challenge to your brain, and your brain responds to that challenge by adapting stress response pathways which help your brain cope with stress and risk for disease. The same changes that occur in the brain during fasting mimic the changes that occur with regular exercise. They both increase the production of protein in the brain (neurotrophic factors), which in turn promotes the growth of neurons, the connection between neurons, and the strength of synapses.
“Challenges to your brain, whether it’s intermittent fasting [or] vigorous exercise . . . is cognitive challenges. When this happens neuro-circuits are activated, levels of neurotrophic factors increase, that promotes the growth of neurons [and] the formation and strengthening of synapses. . . .”
Fasting can also stimulate the production of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus. He also mentions ketones (an energy source for neurons), and how fasting stimulates the production of ketones and that it may also increase the number of mitochondria in neurons. Fasting also increases the number of mitochondria in nerve cells; this comes as a result of the neurons adapting to the stress of fasting (by producing more mitochondria).
By increasing the number of mitochondria in the neurons, the ability for nerons to form and maintain the connections between each other also increases, thereby improving learning and memory ability.
“Intermittent fasting enhances the ability of nerve cells to repair DNA.”
He also goes into the evolutionary aspect of this theory – how our ancestors adapted and were built for going long periods of time without food.
A study published in the June 5 issue of Cell Stem Cell by researchers from the University of Southern California showed that cycles of prolonged fasting protect against immune system damage and, moreover, induce immune system regeneration. They concluded that fasting shifts stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal. It triggers stem cell based regeneration of an organ or system. (source)
Human clinical trials were conducted using patients who were receiving chemotherapy. For long periods of time, patients did not eat, which significantly lowered their white blood cell counts. In mice, fasting cycles “flipped a regenerative switch, changing the signaling pathways for hematopoietic stem cells, which are responsible for the generation of blood and immune systems.”
This means that fasting kills off old and damaged immune cells, and when the body rebounds it uses stem cells to create brand new, completely healthy cells.
“We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system. . . . When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged. What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. ” – Valter Longo, corresponding author (source)
A scientific review of multiple scientific studies regarding fasting was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2007. It examined a multitude of both human and animal studies and determined that fasting is an effective way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. It also showed significant potential in treating diabetes. (source)
Before you fast, make sure you do your research. Personally, I’ve been fasting for years, so it is something that comes easy for me.
One recommended way of doing it — which was tested by the BBC’s Michael Mosley in order to reverse his diabetes, high cholesterol, and other problems that were associated with his obesity — is what is known as the “5:2 Diet.” On the 5:2 plan, you cut your food down to one-fourth of your normal daily calories on fasting days (about 600 calories for men and about 500 for women), while consuming plenty of water and tea. On the other five days of the week, you can eat normally.
Another way to do it, as mentioned above, is to restrict your food intake between the hours of 11am and 7pm daily, while not eating during the hours outside of that time.
Bottom line, how you think about you’re diet is, in my opinion, one of the most, if not the most important part of staying healthy. How you think about what you are putting in your body is important, and I believe this will eventually be firmly established in the untainted, unbiased, uninfluenced medical literature of the future.
Below is a video of Dr. Joseph Mercola explaining the benefits of intermittent fasting. Here is a great article by him that explains how he believes intermittent fasting can help you live a healthier life.
Related : The Benefits of Fasting for 16 Hours
Blood Sugar Brain Function Brain Function Cancer Cures Cleansing Creativity Depression Depression Diabetes Diet Digestion Disease & Prevention Energy Fasting Folklore General Health Healthy Choices Healthy Techniques Immune System Information Insomnia Insomnia Inspirational Life Lessons Managing Diabetes Natural Cures Personal Health Self Improvement Sugars Well Being Your Memory
In 1666, one of the most influential scientists in history was strolling through a garden when he was struck with a flash of creative brilliance that would change the world.
While standing under the shade of an apple tree, Sir Isaac Newton saw an apple fall to the ground. “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground,” Newton wondered. “Why should it not go sideways, or upwards, but constantly to the earth’s center? Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter.”
And thus, the concept of gravity was born.
The story of the falling apple has become one of the lasting and iconic examples of the creative moment. It is a symbol of the inspired genius that fills your brain during those “light bulb moments” when creative conditions are just right.
What most people forget, however, is that Newton worked on his ideas about gravity for nearly twenty years until, in 1687, he published his groundbreaking book, The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. The falling apple was merely the beginning of a train of thought that continued for decades.
Newton isn’t the only one to wrestle with a great idea for years. Creative thinking is a process for all of us. In this article, I’ll share the science of creative thinking, discuss which conditions drive creativity and which ones hinder it, and offer practical tips for becoming more creative.
Creative thinking requires our brains to make connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. Is this a skill that we are born with or one that we develop through practice? Let’s look at the research to uncover an answer.
In the 1960s, a creative performance researcher named George Land conducted a study of 1,600 five-year-olds and 98 percent of the children scored in the “highly creative” range. Dr. Land re-tested each subject during five year increments. When the same children were 10-years-old, only 30 percent scored in the highly creative range. This number dropped to 12 percent by age 15 and just 2 percent by age 25. As the children grew into adults they effectively had the creativity trained out of them. In the words of Dr. Land, “non-creative behavior is learned.”
Similar trends have been discovered by other researchers. For example, one study of 272,599 students found that although IQ scores have risen since 1990, creative thinking scores have decreased.
This is not to say that creativity is 100 percent learned. Genetics do play a role. According to psychology professor Barbara Kerr, “approximately 22 percent of the variance [in creativity] is due to the influence of genes.” This discovery was made by studying the differences in creative thinking between sets of twins.
All of this to say, claiming that “I’m just not the creative type” is a pretty weak excuse for avoiding creative thinking. Certainly, some people are primed to be more creative than others. However, nearly every person is born with some level of creative skill and the majority of our creative thinking abilities are trainable.
Now that we know creativity is a skill that can be improved, let’s talk about why—and how—practice and learning impacts your creative output.
What does it take to unleash your creative potential?
As I mentioned in my article on Threshold Theory, being in the top 1 percent of intelligence has no correlation with being fantastically creative. Instead, you simply have to be smart (not a genius) and then work hard, practice deliberately and put in your reps.
As long as you meet a threshold of intelligence, then brilliant creative work is well within your reach. In the words of researchers from a 2013 study, “we obtained evidence that once the intelligence threshold is met, personality factors become more predictive for creativity.”
What exactly are these “personality factors” that researchers are referring to when it comes to boosting your creative thinking?
One of the most critical components is how you view your talents internally. More specifically, your creative skills are largely determined by whether you approach the creative process with a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
The differences between these two mindsets are described in detail in Carol Dweck’s fantastic book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (audiobook).
The basic idea is that when we use a fixed mindset we approach tasks as if our talents and abilities are fixed and unchanging. In a growth mindset, however, we believe that our abilities can be improved with effort and practice. Interestingly, we can easily nudge ourselves in one direction or another based on how we talk about and praise our efforts.
Here’s a brief summary in Dweck’s words:
“The whole self-esteem movement taught us erroneously that praising intelligence, talent, abilities would foster self-confidence, self-esteem, and everything great would follow. But we’ve found it backfires. People who are praised for talent now worry about doing the next thing, about taking on the hard task, and not looking talented, tarnishing that reputation for brilliance. So instead, they’ll stick to their comfort zone and get really defensive when they hit setbacks.
So what should we praise? The effort, the strategies, the doggedness and persistence, the grit people show, the resilience that they show in the face of obstacles, that bouncing back when things go wrong and knowing what to try next. So I think a huge part of promoting a growth mindset in the workplace is to convey those values of process, to give feedback, to reward people engaging in the process, and not just a successful outcome.”
—Carol Dweck
How can we apply the growth mindset to creativity in practical terms? In my experience it comes down to one thing: the willingness to look bad when pursuing an activity.
As Dweck says, the growth mindset is focused more on the process than the outcome. This is easy to accept in theory, but very hard to stick to in practice. Most people don’t want to deal with the accompanying embarrassment or shame that is often required to learn a new skill.
The list of mistakes that you can never recover from is very short. I think most of us realize this on some level. We know that our lives will not be destroyed if that book we write doesn’t sell or if we get turned down by a potential date or if we forget someone’s name when we introduce them. It’s not necessarily what comes after the event that worries us. It’s the possibility of looking stupid, feeling humiliated, or dealing with embarrassment along the way that prevents us from getting started at all.
In order to fully embrace the growth mindset and enhance your creativity, you need to be willing to take action in the face of these feelings which so often deter us.
Assuming that you are willing to do the hard work of facing your inner fears and working through failure, here are a few practical strategies for becoming more creative.
Constrain yourself. Carefully designed constraints are one of your best tools for sparking creative thinking. Dr. Seuss wrote his most famous book when he limited himself to 50 words. Soccer players develop more elaborate skill sets when they play on a smaller field. Designers can use a 3-inch by 5-inch canvas to create better large scale designs. The more we limit ourselves, the more resourceful we become.
Write more. For nearly three years, I published a new article every Monday and every Thursday at JamesClear.com. The longer I stuck with this schedule, the more I realized that I had to write about a dozen average ideas before I uncovered a brilliant one. By producing a volume of work, I created a larger surface area for a creative spark to hit me.
Not interested in sharing your writing publicly? Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages routine is a fantastic way to use writing to increase your creativity even if you have no intention of writing for others.
Broaden your knowledge. One of my most successful creative strategies is to force myself to write about seemingly disparate topics and ideas. For example, I have to be creative when I use 1980s basketball strategies or ancient word processing software orzen buddhism to describe our daily behaviors. In the words of psychologist Robert Epstein, “You’ll do better in psychology and life if you broaden your knowledge.”
Sleep longer. In my article on how to get better sleep, I shared a study from the University of Pennsylvania, which revealed the incredible impact of sleep on mental performance. The main finding was this: Sleep debt is cumulative and if you get 6 hours of sleep per night for two weeks straight, your mental and physical performance declines to the same level as if you had stayed awake for 48 hours straight. Like all cognitive functions, creative thinking is significantly impaired by sleep deprivation.
Enjoy sunshine and nature. One study tested 56 backpackers with a variety of creative thinking questions before and after a 4-day backpacking trip. The researchers found that by the end of the trip the backpackers had increased their creativity by 50 percent. This research supports the findings of other studies, which show that spending time in nature and increasing your exposure to sunlight can lead to higher levels of creativity.
Embrace positive thinking. It sounds a bit fluffy for my taste, but positive thinkingcan lead to significant improvements in creative thinking. Why? Positive psychology research has revealed that we tend to think more broadly when we are happy. This concept, which is known as the Broaden and Build Theory, makes it easier for us to make creative connections between ideas. Conversely, sadness and depression seems to lead to more restrictive and limited thinking.
Ship it. The honest truth is that creativity is just hard work. The single best thing you can do is choose a pace you can sustain and ship content on a consistent basis. Commit to the process and create on a schedule. The only way creativity becomes a reality is by shipping.
Creativity is a process, not an event. You have to work through mental barriers and internal blocks. You have to commit to practicing your craft deliberately. And you have to stick with the process for years, perhaps even decades like Newton did, in order to see your creative genius blossom.
The ideas in this article offer a variety approaches on how to be more creative. If you’re looking for additional practical strategies on how to improve your creativity habits, then read my free guide called Mastering Creativity.
James Clear – October 2015
Creativity Creativity Energetic Healing Positive Outlook Positive Thoughts Relationships Self Doubt Self Esteem Self Improvement Skills Worth Learning Well Being
It’s very easy if you know what you’re doing. The fact is that great influencers never stop branding and promoting. They are always marketing themselves, using every detail in their business to add value to those who want them most. If you want to reach millions of people, you need to create unstoppable content and promote yourself endlessly.
To reach the masses, you must have a strong desire to do so. You must also think of how you can expand your reputation. Ask yourself right now, “What do people think of when they think of me?” Usually, most people would come up with simple answers: smart, funny, articulate, good-looking, organized, and more. However, what can those attributes do to that help you reach millions of people?
The fact is that it doesn’t expand your influence until you put it all together. Those qualities must be concocted into your brand and show people who you really are. Your personality must ooze out of your work, allowing people to say, “I can relate with a guy or gal like that.” This is the key to reaching millions of people.
Your story won’t always connect with everyone automatically, but if you develop it in a way that has a mass appeal, you can ultimately reach millions of people. Here are 5 Ways to Reach Millions of People:
When people think of you, what’s the first thing that comes to their minds? What do you want to be known for? Donald Trump is a master at this. Regardless of your political position, you must understand that Mr. Trump has made many associations in the minds of millions of people, allowing him to become the most famous billionaire on the planet.
Some people know him from his show, The Apprentice. Others buy his shirts and ties. Many see him as the future ‘President’. Others remember him as the owner of casinos, Trump Towers, or even golf courses. People know him as the ‘Billionaire’ or even the ‘New Yorker’. Many people enjoy the drama and controversy he brings. Some might even call him grandpa. You get the point.
Making associations in the minds of others will increase your influence substantially. Ask yourself, “What do I want to be known for?” As soon as you come up with the answers, build your brand and produce that kind of image in everything you do. Soon enough, people will automatically make those associations with you, which will maximize your influence.
Everyone is looking for truth. They want answers in their personal and professional lives. When they find the expert they’re looking for, they become loyal to them. Once you build a small following, take that feedback from others to enhance your brand by making the correct adjustments. Walk, talk, and act like the expert you’ve become.
Release content that no one has ever seen. Write articles that display new ideas in your industry. Shoot videos that catch your audiences’ attention. Go out there and give speeches to groups of people. Use your testimonials on your website and social media. Take photos and post them. Write a book. People are waiting to see what you’ve got, so share it with them. My company helps you do this. Be omnipresent. Go viral.
Becoming an expert doesn’t take as long as it used to be. Nowadays, a person can read the top ten books in their field, talk with dozens of people, and use an appropriate title and bio to demonstrate their brand. Even though you can become an expert overnight, you must consistently produce top-notch content for many years if you want to reach millions of people. In short, experts answer questions that you haven’t even thought about yet.
Surprisingly, most people don’t know how valuable their networks are, otherwise they would ALL have fortune and fame! The truth is that every moment that you invest with others, either virtually or face-to-face, must be profitable. If it isn’t, be sure to sever all relationships that aren’t producing wealth.
Of course, wealth can come in all forms. It’s not only the money you receive, but the ideas you gather, connections you make, and people you impact. You must use this wealth to market yourself. Make a list of the most profitable people in your life. By doing this, your unprofitable (or least profitable) relationships will fade away. It works every time. Winners and losers never get along.
To reach millions of people, you need to send out a minimum of 100 phone calls and emails per week. You should be having a minimum of three solid conversations per day if you want to extend your reach. Every email you send will build your brand. It is also good to know that there are millions of people waiting on the phone, if you would only use it wisely.
How do you build trust online? First, you must get real with yourself, and then with your audience. I’ve seen people make the futile mistake of acting like someone they’ll never be. Then they wonder why no one has approached them for help. To build trust, you must share your message in the simplest way possible. Everyone must understand your message.
Just think, how many times have you visited someone’s website and have gotten confused with their message? Maybe you’ve seen a website and have associated them with being “too expensive.” Since we all think in pictures, you must leave a message that arouses their attention. Always remember that a confused mind always says ‘No’. If people don’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave.
People want to do business with you, but they need validation. They’ll look at your reviews. They’ll try to dig up testimonials and other kinds of information. They’ll even Google you 15 pages deep! Either way, this is the way human nature will always be. If you give people a reason to trust you, they’ll be telling their friends about you. People do business with those they know, like, and trust.
A compelling story is what creates the most interesting brands. Look at the movie ‘Titanic’. It’s a motivational love story that has reached millions of people because of it’s ability to relate to human experiences. If you’ve seen the movie, you can easily remember distinctive points if I brought it up. Do you recall when the Rose almost jumped off the ship? We all do.
Your story must be highly-developed and contain many human elements. If you’ve read a good story, you’ll usually ask, “I wonder how he or she did it? Let’s find out more.” Because of this ‘mysterious’ factor, you’ve built excitement and interest which will build curiosity. Plus, we all know people love a juicy story. In fact, people go out of their way to obsessively learn about you.
Stories are remembered from generation to generation. Once you create a story that attracts people, you must ensure that it displays humility and transparency. Sure, you can have a great story, but if you come off as a ‘god’ or seem untouchable, no one will feel that they can meet you. Thus, the best story allows your audience to connect spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. What’s your story?
Reaching millions of people takes much work and not everyone is born to do it. However, if you feel like you have the talents, skills, gifts, and abilities to make it happen, be sure to study people who are reaching millions. Whether you like them personally or not, try to connect with them and ask for help. After all, we live in a virtual world that’s becoming more touchable than ever before!
Business Do's & Don't's Entrepreneur Folklore Inspirational Life Hacks Management Psychology Quotes Relationships Self Doubt Self Improvement Success Wealth
Western medicine has not yet satisfactorily addressed chronic pain or discomfort in varying parts of our body. Alternative medicine can often be light-years ahead when it comes to relieving pain.
Although a combination of both western and alternative medicine, is probably the most sensible route overall, it is worth looking at the benefits of an alternative form of pain resolution, such as reflexology.
In the video you are about to watch, Dr. Oz’s guest is a reflexologist who explains that both the hands and feet can be seen as a microcosm of our entire body. Five audience members come to the stage to explain what part of their body is causing them chronic discomfort or pain. For each malady, the reflexologist explains which part of the palm is connected to the body part involved. She then demonstrates how using one hand, different forms of pressing or massaging of a particular part of the palm of the other hand will, over time, alleviate the pain experienced.
The audience members in this video suffered from: (1) Constipation and bloating (2) Insomnia and exhaustion (3) Sinus congestion (4) Upper back pain (5) Low libido. The reflexologist showed them how to work on their own palms to alleviate their pain or problem. She explained what sensations they would experience as they applied pressure and massage, that would signal that they were working in the correct area. Her explanations were fascinating and easy to follow.
September 10, 2015
Addiction Adrenal Fatigue Arthritis Asthma Bloating Bronchitis Cancer Colon Depression Diabetes General Health Healthy Techniques Holistic Healing Immune System Insomnia Kidney Health Liver Disease Natural Cures Pain Relief Reflexology Self Improvement Well Being Your Body
Just like training any other body part can improve its performance, so too can training one’s eyes, improve their overall performance.
These eye exercises are specially designed to strengthen and improve your eye muscles, improve their focusing and movements, as well as stimulate the vision center of the brain.
Before trying these exercises check with your doctor to see if they will benefit you.
1. Up and Down – Look up and focus on what you see then look down and focus on what you see. Do this 5 times and then pause for a minute and then repeat this 3 more times in total.
2. Left and right – Look to the left and focus on what you see then look to the right and focus on what you see. Do this 5 times and then pause for a minute and then repeat this 3 more times in total.
3. Diagonal vision exercise – Look straight ahead and focus. Look down and focus, to the left and focus. Then move your eyes diagonally and look up and to the right and focus. Do this 5 times and then pause for a minute and then repeat this 3 more times in total.
Up and Down Zig Zag – Look straight ahead and move your eyes up and down in a zig zag motion as illustrated above.
This is an excellent exercise to improve controlling the movement of the eyes.
Imagine a giant figure 8 on the floor, about 3 meters in front of you.
Follow the figure 8 lining with your eyes, slowly.
Trace it one way for a few minutes slowly and then trace it the other way for a few minutes.
Use both figures, horizontal and vertical.
1. Roll your eyes in a circle – Look to the left and slowly roll your eyes in a circle clockwise. Do this 5 times and then pause for a minute and then repeat this 3 more times in total.
2. Roll your Eyes in expanding circles –Follow this image slowly with focus with your eyes. Do this 5 times and then pause for a minute and then repeat this 3 more times in total.
To finish your eye workout, close your eyes or lay/sit in a peaceful pitch black room. This works like a cool down.
1. Massage your pressure points (as above… number 4 and 5 reflect the side temple areas) – Get into the habit of pressure point massages about twice a day, once during the day and once at night.
Again, first check with your eye doctor to see if these exercises will benefit you.
Cymantra Admin – August 25, 2015
Image Credit – Lifehack.org
Entrepreneurs have frequent opportunities to doubt themselves, their plans, ideas and abilities. Perhaps you’ve occasionally asked yourself, “Am I really cut out for this job?” or “Am I on the right track?”
In 1998, I was laid off from a prominent public relations position at a well-known hotel in Palm Beach, Fla. Instead of looking for another job, I decided to start my own company, the Protocol School of Palm Beach.
In the beginning, I had my share of doubts. I often wondered if I had made the right decision and whether I should get a second job to supplement my income. I was short on money and patience. It took me nearly five years to make a profit. Now I’m grateful that I persevered. I’ve had my company for 17 years and now my business is stronger than ever.
It’s important to learn how to manage stress in moments of extreme doubt so that you can continue to pursue your goals. Here are four helpful tips that will enable you to overcome self-doubt whenever it strikes:
The temptation to compare your business to others in your industry is difficult to ignore. Try not to make unrealistic or unfair comparisons that cause you to doubt your own abilities. Worrying about what competitors are doing wastes time and can leave you anxious and exhausted.
Instead, try to network and learn from the success of others. What did they do well? What challenges did they overcome? A great way to exchange ideas and encourage others is to join a mastermind group. Or hire a business coach or a set up weekly calls with a mentor, someone whom you trust and admire.
Any entrepreneur will tell you that starting a business is one of the most difficult paths a person can choose. It takes an extreme amount of work and dedication to take any idea from inception to market.
There will be good days and bad days. Plus, at some point, you’ll realize you can’t please everyone 100 percent of the time, no matter how hard you try.
If you feel like giving up, step back from the situation. Acknowledge what you’ve already accomplished. Show gratitude for having encountered exciting opportunities and positive experiences. Keep an abundance journal to record victories — no matter how small. When you hit a bump in the road, you’ll be able to look back and remember why you chose your career in the first place.
Running a business entails making hundreds of decisions. Every choice you make will have consequences — some positive and others negative.
When faced with a fork in the road, many entrepreneurs suffer from analysis paralysis. The very feedback that they solicited from clients, colleagues and mentors now hinders their ability to make a final decision and move forward. They may become overwhelmed by the various opinions and frozen with self-doubt.
The success of a business is determined by the culmination of many small choices over the long term. Running a successful business is more like a marathon, not a sprint. If at some point you make a wrong decision, you can always try to fix it.
So commit to a course of action and make corrections as you go along. The more proactive you are, the more confident you’ll feel in your ability to lead the company.
Anxiety is often rooted in fear. Mistakes are inevitable. No matter how talented you are or how hard you work, you will occasionally make errors. Some mistakes are easy to correct whereas others take a considerable amount of time and money to fix.
Either way, mistakes will make you a wiser, more cautious businessperson. Successful people embrace failure as part of the journey toward success. Rather than obsess over problems, focus on solutions.
If you make a mistake, don’t cover up or misrepresent what happened. Instead, admit it as soon as possible. When you own up to your failures, you develop a professional reputation of reliability and trustworthiness. Rather than fixate on every misstep, simply take responsibility, learn from it and find a way to correct the issue. Then move on and let it go.
Contributor – Jacqueline Whitmore – January 20, 2015
Business Entrepreneur Extraordinary People Inspirational Life Lessons Positive Mental Attitude Positive Thoughts Quotes Self Doubt Self Esteem Self Improvement Skills Worth Learning Success Superior State of Mind Wealth
“Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.” — Buckminster Fuller
Genius is a potential that lives within you and every other human being. You have many moments of genius in your lifetime. These are the times when you have a uniquely brilliant idea and implement it even if only you are aware of how fantastic it is. Perhaps you created something absolutely astonishing and you even amazed yourself. Then there are the moments when you make exactly the right shot in a round of golf or a tennis match and you realize with immense pleasure what you’ve just accomplished. You are a genius.
There is no such thing as luck or accidents in this purposeful universe. Not only is everything connected to everything else, but no one is excluded from the universal Source called intention. And genius, since it’s a characteristic of the universal Source, must be universal, which means that it’s in no way restricted. It’s available to every single human being. It certainly can and does show up differently in every single one of us.
There are 9 habits of creative genius you can cultivate in your daily life that will help you to develop a deeper awareness of your connection to this ever-present Source of all that is. The qualities of creativity and genius are within you, awaiting your decision to match up with the power of intention.
This shouldn’t be a public pronouncement, but a statement of intention between you and your Creator. Remind yourself that you’re one of the masterpieces that emanated from the universal field of intention. You don’t have to prove that you’re a genius, nor do you need to compare any of your accomplishments to those of others. You have a unique gift to offer this world, and you are unique in the entire history of creation.
Make a decision to listen more carefully to your inner insights, no matter how small or insignificant you may have previously judged them to be. These thoughts, which you may have viewed as silly or unworthy of attention, are your private connection to the field of intention. Thoughts that seem to persist, particularly if they relate to new activities and adventures, aren’t in your mind accidentally. Those tenacious thoughts that don’t go away should be viewed by you as intention talking to you, saying, You signed up to express your unique brilliance, so why do you keep ignoring the genius in favor of settling for less?
Take constructive action toward implementing your inner intuitive inclinations. Any step in the direction of expressing your creative impulses is a step in the direction of actualizing the genius that resides within you—for example, writing a book, regardless of how you may have doubted yourself up until now; recording a CD of yourself reading poetry or singing the songs you’ve written; purchasing an easel and art supplies and spending an afternoon painting; or visiting an expert in the field that interests you.
Know that any and all thoughts that you have regarding your own skills, interests, and inclinations are valid. To reinforce the validity of your thoughts, keep them private. Tell yourself that they’re between you and God. If you keep them in the spiritual domain, you don’t have to introduce them to your ego or expose them to the egos of those around you. This means that you’ll never have to compromise them by explaining and defending them to others.
Remind yourself that aligning with spiritual energy is how you will find and convey the genius within you. Shift your energy to harmonize vibrationally with the energy of Source. Be an appreciator of life, and refuse to have thoughts of hatred, anxiety, anger and judgment. Trust yourself as a piece of God and your genius will flourish.
Any step in the direction of expressing your creative impulses is a step in the direction of actualizing the genius that resides within you. — Dr. Wayne Dyer
Practice radical humility. Take no credit for your talents, intellectual abilities, aptitudes, or proficiencies. Be in a state of awe and bewilderment. Even as I sit here with my pen in my hand, observing how words appear before me, I’m in a state of bewilderment. Where do these words come from? How does my hand know how to translate my invisible thoughts into decipherable words, sentences, and paragraphs? I’m humble in my inability to know where any of my accomplishments come from. Practice radical humility, and give credit everywhere except to your ego.
Remove resistance to actualizing your genius. Resistance always shows up in the form of your thoughts. Watch for thoughts that convey your inability to think of yourself in genius terms . . . thoughts of doubt about your abilities . . . or thoughts that reinforce what you’ve been taught about a lack of talent or lack of aptitude. Your Source knows that you’re a genius. Any thought you have that challenges this notion is resistance, which will inhibit you from realizing your intention.
Pay attention to the greatness you observe in as many people as possible, and if you don’t see it at first, then spend some mental energy looking for it. The more you’re inclined to think in genius terms, the more natural it becomes for you to apply the same standards to yourself. Tell others about their genius. Be as complimentary and authentic as you can. In doing so, you’ll radiate loving, kind, abundant, creative energy. In a universe that operates on energy and attraction, you’ll find these same qualities returning to you.
Take the complications, rules, shoulds, musts, have tos, and so on out of your life. By uncomplicating your life and removing the trivial pursuits that occupy so much of it, you open a channel for the genius within you to emerge. One of the most effective techniques for simplifying life is to take time each day to spend 20 or so minutes in silence and meditation. The more conscious contact you make with your Source, the more you come to appreciate your own highest self. And it’s from this highest self that your own genius will be manifested.
As you begin to recognize evidence of inspiration and Source all around you, remain humble while staying in a state of gratitude. This genius that you are has nothing at all to do with your ego-mind. Be ever so grateful to the Source of intention for providing you with the life force to express the genius that resides within you. Those who attribute their inspiration and success to their ego soon lose this capacity, or they allow the approval and attention of others to destroy them. Remain humble and grateful. Gratitude is a sacred space where you allow and know that a force greater than your ego is always at work and always available.
Read the entire article and comments at:
http://www.drwaynedyer.com/blog/9-habits-creative-genius/
Dr. Wayne Dyer has written over 20 bestsellers on many spiritual topics, including making the shift to connect to Source, keeping the balance in your life, and bringing about your desires with the power of intention.
Creativity Entrepreneur Extraordinary People Genius Inspirational Life Lessons Managing Self Limiting Thoughts Positive Outlook Positive Thoughts Self Esteem Self Improvement Skills Worth Learning Success
