Develop Your Intuition

A few days ago I was with my brother and an incident occurred. He said to me, “You must start seeing and stop looking,” while pointing to the center of his forehead. My immediate response was, “whatever.” However, I could not get that thought out of my head. So I started going over my life to check whether I am going through life looking or seeing. I found out that I needed to spend more time seeing. I figure, not many people pay attention to this tiny detail that makes all the difference in the world. So I decided to write this article with the intention of expanding your awareness to this issue. You don’t have to agree with me. This is just food for thought that may help you to enrich your life.

On the surface, it seems as if both words, seeing and looking, means the same thing. Some people may argue that looking at something means that you are seeing it. In a sense they are correct. On the other hand, that may not be true. Think about it. How many times have you searched for something and not find it when you are looking right at it.

It is said, and I believe, that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I heard a lady yesterday saying that she can tell by someone’s eyes that they are a walking dead because the eyes look empty. The eyes are not showing any light. One could debate that that person is looking and not seeing. Looking is having your eyes fixed on an object. Seeing could be described as noticing every detail about that object, both surface and implied.

Seeing involves using your sixth sense or intuition; some people say your third eye. Whatever term you use, it means going beyond your immediate observation or lack thereof. It means paying more attention to everything and every situation. I am sure you have heard the saying, “read between the lines.” Well, that is the essence of what I am talking about.

How many times have we let an opportunity pass us by because we failed to see it in front of us? The answer is too many to count. We miss the trees because of the forest or vice versa. We love to say, “20-20 hindsight is great.” Guess what, we are built with the ability to see during the fact if only we take the time to do so. That means using our intuition more and being in expanded awareness as second nature.

So, take time out to develop your inner knowing and begin to see things below the surface. The more you practice doing so, the better you will be at utilizing your skill. Remember you were born with it, use it or lose it. As time goes by you will notice that it becomes as natural as breathing and your life becomes more enriching.

5 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem

Do you mean something to you? Here is how you know for sure that your answer is absolutely, positively, 100% yes:

1. Is your self-talk positive or negative?
Are you constantly talking bad to yourself about yourself? Are you calling yourself names other than your given name? Are you berating yourself for making mistakes? A simple, “I am so stupid” said in a supposedly innocent way can do major damage to your subconscious mind. Next thing you know you actually believe that you are stupid and act accordingly. Do you believe in yourself? Your self-talk must be positive whether you believe or not. Just keep talking positive until it is ingrained in you. I understand that most people grew up in family where that was the norm. However, it not the best way for you to feel good about yourself. You have children, make sure that you are talking to with positive words and teaching them self-love. It starts at an early age. This also means that you do not allow anyone and I mean anyone to talk negatively to you. You are worth so much more.

2. Do you take care of your body?
You know the mantra, good diet, exercise and a good night’s sleep. I can hear you saying, “I don’t have time for all of that.” Well, you don’t have time not to do them. Your body must be functioning at its peak in order for you to feel good. You don’t have to be a “gym rat”, just move your body. It could be walking, yoga, pilates, swimming or whatever you like to do. Just get your body moving. Then there is proper eating, I am not talking about going on a diet. I mean proper food combining and good portion size. Eat well and to the point of satisfaction not overstuffing yourself. I know we do it every now and again because the food is so good, just be mindful that it does not become a habit. We also need a good night’s rest. I know there is not enough hours in a day. However, your body needs to rest, you need to sleep in order for your body to refresh itself, for your brain to be at its best. Think about this, if you get sick, what happens to work that so all consuming to you. It is given to someone else. You come first, trust me.

3. Are you constantly learning or doing self development?
There is a saying, once you stop learning, you are dead. We should be learning something new every day. No one can ever know everything. You may be an expert in your field, however, there is always something new to learn, to discover. Not to mention learning about yourself, growing mentally. Technology is so wide spread; it is easy to be in a learning mode constantly.

4. Do you engage in quiet time with yourself?
This is my favorite part. Some people may say that is just being too unsocial. Guess what, you need to do it to keep sane. Think about it, when you are really in love with someone, you want to spend every waking moment with that person. You talk a million times during the day just to hear the other person’s voice. So, if you are love yourself, you want to spend time with yourself. Time to quiet the chatter in your head. Time to take an internal look and refocus if you need to. Time to rejuvenate, read a book, listen to music, watch a movie, or dance with yourself (you get a double bonus for this one; this could be your exercise). See, you can’t lose with quiet time with yourself.

5. Give yourself permission to play
Yes, you heard me. Give yourself permission to play. We spend our time just working and working and resenting the fact that we just work. You know what, take time to play. Play could mean many different things to each of us. It simply means give yourself a break from working constantly. Remember the saying we learnt growing up, all work and no play makes a Jack a dull boy. That goes for Jill too, okay. I know, you don’t have any money. Get creative in how you play; it does not have to involve a lot of money, or no money at all. Take a walk in the park and enjoy nature. Here comes another complain, it’s cold outside. Play with your kids, if you have any. Play a board game. Eat some ice cream at the mall. Whatever is fun for you, just do it. Buy yourself a present don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. Live in the moment, do something spontaneous. Play means you are not working and not worried about not working. If you are like me, play involves going to the spa.

These are some of the ways that we can show ourselves love. Keep adding to the list when you think of something new and drop me line tell me about it. Let us think about these things and work on improving our relationship with ourselves. One the Ten Commandments is, love thy neighbor as thyself. That means you must really love and value yourself in order for you to show love to someone else. The next time you see someone talking down to someone else, you will know that person doesn’t love themself and is projecting their self-hate unto the other person. So, in everything that you do, make sure it leads to you meaning something to you.

Does Your Self-esteem need a Boost?

A simple question which will generally have a simple answer of, “of course, I love myself.” Do you really? We all say we love ourselves, however our actions towards ourselves often betray our true feelings. It might not be a conscious thing but, something that you do habitually. We talk to ourselves negatively; we eat poorly, don’t exercise and don’t exercise our brains constantly. We don’t even keep our spiritual connection intact. Do you engage in quiet time with yourself to relax and get centered? Some people don’t know how to be with themselves. They have to be in the company of others at all times. That is why some of them have to be in a relationship constantly. They have to have someone around to make them feel loved. They are completely missing the point that they must first love themselves.

Are you constantly doing for others and neglecting yourself? You may feel that you are doing good and it is the right thing to do. However, if you really thing about it, you are frustrated and even angry on the inside. You are thinking to yourself, “When do I get the time to do things for myself.” Please recognize that you are in control of you. You are the architect of your life. You must make time for yourself. No one will do it for you. Let me tell you a secret. No one will do for you unless you do for yourself. You must love yourself first before you can love someone else, I am talking real love.

Your Goals Milestones

Are you on track to achieving your goals? At the beginning of the year you set some goals to accomplish this year and some long term goals. No doubt, you set some action steps that were needed to accomplish these goals.

Now that we are nearing the end of the first quarter of the year, it is time for a milestone check up. The following is a list of questions for you to consider in assessing if you are on track with your goals:

• Have you been doing your action steps?

• Have you done a weekly review to see where you need to tweak an action if necessary?

• Have you rewarded yourself on each milestone that you have achieved? Remember you will continue to pursue your goals if you are motivated.

• Have you set up an accountability system with a life coach or a supportive friend?

• Have you been maintaining a success journal to keep track of your accomplishments along the way?

The key is to be able to answer yes to all these questions. If you are not able to answer yes, no problem. Simple refocus and start doing you action steps, a little at a time and you will reach your goals.