Showing posts with label positive thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label positive thinking. Show all posts
Monday, May 11, 2009
Smile and Move
This short video is great. It speaks to my feeling of making every moment count, to live life to the fullest. To make NOW the time to get moving.
Enjoy!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Preparing and Planning
Last night I gave a talk to a group of high school baseball players on the benefits of mentally preparing for both practice and games. Mental preparation for sports is a great parallel to life. Just as in sports it's important to prepare mentally for your day.
Mental preparation includes imagery, positive self talk, relaxation or arousal techniques. In athletics, these ingredients prepare the athlete for performance in allowing them to rehearse how they want their performance to go, stay relaxed and prepare a strategy. Having the mind rehearse the performance builds inner confidence, positive thoughts and thus a better performance.
In life use this principal to prepare for your day. Take the time each morning to lay out your day. See yourself handling a busy day with calmness, stay positive and work your plan. Visualize yourself handling the unexpected things with calmness and clarity. While you can't predict what exactly will happen in a day, you do have choices about how you react.
Your thoughts are in your control. Your thoughts direct your focus, confidence and performance. Think positively, direct your focus, plan your day, then confidently perform your best.
Mental preparation includes imagery, positive self talk, relaxation or arousal techniques. In athletics, these ingredients prepare the athlete for performance in allowing them to rehearse how they want their performance to go, stay relaxed and prepare a strategy. Having the mind rehearse the performance builds inner confidence, positive thoughts and thus a better performance.
In life use this principal to prepare for your day. Take the time each morning to lay out your day. See yourself handling a busy day with calmness, stay positive and work your plan. Visualize yourself handling the unexpected things with calmness and clarity. While you can't predict what exactly will happen in a day, you do have choices about how you react.
Your thoughts are in your control. Your thoughts direct your focus, confidence and performance. Think positively, direct your focus, plan your day, then confidently perform your best.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Think
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of the word think is this:
To form or have in the mind. Think implies the entrance of an idea into one's mind.
I picked up the book, "Choices That Change Lives" by Hal Urban. I have had it sitting on my shelf for a few months now, and decided to take it with me yesterday as I sat at the local pool to watch my son swim. I happened to turn to the sixth chapter, Thinking. Being that I love to know what thoughts go on in people's heads, I thought that was the chapter for me to read. With highlighter in hand, sure I'd find some nugget of information I could use, I eagerly began reading the chapter.
Now, to back up a moment. My father in law, a math educator and school administrator, always told his students, children and grandchildren to think. In fact, his license plate for his car was, "Think 1". He insisted that we do not live our lives unconsciously without thought. He believed that the answers to anything evolved if we thought first. I could not believe my eyes as I began to read...
So, here I am reading this book and the author mentions a college professor who also professed the importance of thinking. This professor said, "the problem was that most people never learn to operate it (the brain) as effectively as they could, and that this usually results in unfulfilled lives." "Our thoughts rule of lives." Reading this, I got chills up my spine. It's what I have believe and know...and what my father law knew well before me. Somehow I could feel my father-in-law looking over smiling. (he passed away 2 years ago)
The chapter goes on to talk about the difference between an empty head and an open mind. (Big difference here!!) An open mind is really an attitude of being open to new information and to other points of view. An open mind, therefore, is open to being fed nourishing ideas, thoughts and beliefs. A empty head is just that....empty.
Just as it's important to have a healthy diet, it's important to have a healthy mental diet. While it's impossible to totally control everything that goes into our minds due to the fact we are constantly bombarded with email, phone calls, tv, radio, etc. we can choose to screen out a high percentage of the trash, and replace it with healthier material. It's important, therefore, to have a steady stream of positive, nurturing, and uplifting ideas and information. Stimulate and challenge your mind AND take the time to weed and feed your mind as well.
My father in law was a brilliant man. He chose to share his brilliance with whomever he came in contact with. He always wanted to write a book, but never did. Somehow reading "Choices That Change Lives" reiterated the powerful messages he shared with me. As Earl Nightingale, one of the great modern thinkers, has said, "schools teach us how to remember, not to think." He suggested, "there should be a required course called "Thinking" at every grade level of school and throughout college." How I wish I could make that come true for both Earl Nightingale and my father in law.
I've posted some new quotes with regard to this topic of thinking. Read and enjoy...and give them some thought. Afterall, "You are what you are because of what goes into your mind." - Zig Ziglar
To form or have in the mind. Think implies the entrance of an idea into one's mind.
I picked up the book, "Choices That Change Lives" by Hal Urban. I have had it sitting on my shelf for a few months now, and decided to take it with me yesterday as I sat at the local pool to watch my son swim. I happened to turn to the sixth chapter, Thinking. Being that I love to know what thoughts go on in people's heads, I thought that was the chapter for me to read. With highlighter in hand, sure I'd find some nugget of information I could use, I eagerly began reading the chapter.
Now, to back up a moment. My father in law, a math educator and school administrator, always told his students, children and grandchildren to think. In fact, his license plate for his car was, "Think 1". He insisted that we do not live our lives unconsciously without thought. He believed that the answers to anything evolved if we thought first. I could not believe my eyes as I began to read...
So, here I am reading this book and the author mentions a college professor who also professed the importance of thinking. This professor said, "the problem was that most people never learn to operate it (the brain) as effectively as they could, and that this usually results in unfulfilled lives." "Our thoughts rule of lives." Reading this, I got chills up my spine. It's what I have believe and know...and what my father law knew well before me. Somehow I could feel my father-in-law looking over smiling. (he passed away 2 years ago)
The chapter goes on to talk about the difference between an empty head and an open mind. (Big difference here!!) An open mind is really an attitude of being open to new information and to other points of view. An open mind, therefore, is open to being fed nourishing ideas, thoughts and beliefs. A empty head is just that....empty.
Just as it's important to have a healthy diet, it's important to have a healthy mental diet. While it's impossible to totally control everything that goes into our minds due to the fact we are constantly bombarded with email, phone calls, tv, radio, etc. we can choose to screen out a high percentage of the trash, and replace it with healthier material. It's important, therefore, to have a steady stream of positive, nurturing, and uplifting ideas and information. Stimulate and challenge your mind AND take the time to weed and feed your mind as well.
My father in law was a brilliant man. He chose to share his brilliance with whomever he came in contact with. He always wanted to write a book, but never did. Somehow reading "Choices That Change Lives" reiterated the powerful messages he shared with me. As Earl Nightingale, one of the great modern thinkers, has said, "schools teach us how to remember, not to think." He suggested, "there should be a required course called "Thinking" at every grade level of school and throughout college." How I wish I could make that come true for both Earl Nightingale and my father in law.
I've posted some new quotes with regard to this topic of thinking. Read and enjoy...and give them some thought. Afterall, "You are what you are because of what goes into your mind." - Zig Ziglar
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Move Past Your Thoughts
"Anxiety and fear strip away courage and makes great performances impossible. Doubt makes even the best decisions feel difficult and causes procrastination. Anger rips your focus away from your goals. Frustration can only serve to make you quit. Guilt makes it impossible to enjoy any successes you achieve. Jealousy and envy create dishonesty, hate and corruption."
After reading that, did you notice that the only thing that can truly stop you are your own thoughts? The reverse is also true, that the only things that can propel you into doing, being and having anything you want in life are also your thoughts and emotions.
I read the above statement in a book quite a while ago and wrote it down. I reflect on it often. When I am experiencing frustration, for example, it causes me to realize that my frustration will only cause me to want to quit. It forces me to take a look at where the frustration is coming from. Sometimes it is simply a distraction, a negative thought or something I am tolerating. By taking a look at where the frustration is coming from it helps me realize I live in choice. Choice to remove or change action to continue on my journey and not fall into my frustration.
Likewise, when I made the decision to compete in triathlons I realized I had to face my fear (phobia) of water. My fear and anxiety were the only things that stood in my way of achieving my goal of competing in a triathlon. Once I realized that, facing my fears, understanding what they were, finding new ways to handle them...enabled me to get into the water and compete in the triathlon. It also enabled me to release and experience the wonderful, empowered life that awaited me at the other side of my fear.
I have not always been a positive person. In fact, it was not long ago that I was very negative. Through my triathlon training and goal setting, I have realized the value of changing my negative thoughts to my positive thoughts. Not only to I apply positve thinking to my sports training, but also to my life. I continue to find ways to challenge what I believe I can do. It keeps me positive and on my edge.
We do experience what we believe!! If you believe it you WILL achieve it.
What do YOU believe about yourself? What do your thoughts and emotions tell you?
After reading that, did you notice that the only thing that can truly stop you are your own thoughts? The reverse is also true, that the only things that can propel you into doing, being and having anything you want in life are also your thoughts and emotions.
I read the above statement in a book quite a while ago and wrote it down. I reflect on it often. When I am experiencing frustration, for example, it causes me to realize that my frustration will only cause me to want to quit. It forces me to take a look at where the frustration is coming from. Sometimes it is simply a distraction, a negative thought or something I am tolerating. By taking a look at where the frustration is coming from it helps me realize I live in choice. Choice to remove or change action to continue on my journey and not fall into my frustration.
Likewise, when I made the decision to compete in triathlons I realized I had to face my fear (phobia) of water. My fear and anxiety were the only things that stood in my way of achieving my goal of competing in a triathlon. Once I realized that, facing my fears, understanding what they were, finding new ways to handle them...enabled me to get into the water and compete in the triathlon. It also enabled me to release and experience the wonderful, empowered life that awaited me at the other side of my fear.
I have not always been a positive person. In fact, it was not long ago that I was very negative. Through my triathlon training and goal setting, I have realized the value of changing my negative thoughts to my positive thoughts. Not only to I apply positve thinking to my sports training, but also to my life. I continue to find ways to challenge what I believe I can do. It keeps me positive and on my edge.
We do experience what we believe!! If you believe it you WILL achieve it.
What do YOU believe about yourself? What do your thoughts and emotions tell you?
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