Distractions Created by The Ego

The negative ego is something that keeps your mind distracted so you cannot focus on the skills you need to learn to catapult you to greatness. The negative ego will trick you into thinking, “I’m so busy.” It will also make you feel obligated to do things with your family and friends that are just distractions that keep you from really breaking through to greatness. These external excuses satisfy the negative ego so we can stay safe in our illusion of smallness. The truth is that we are co-creating our reality and if we surround ourselves with people who live in mediocre mindsets, pre-determined by the powers that be, we will never see beyond those patterns of behavior and see how we must really focus how we use our time. Video games, movies, television, birthday parties, happy hour, holidays and spectator sports will all just keep us in the illusion that we cannot possibly have enough time to be great.

Become single pointed with your focus. Make it a laser and make that focus your priority so you can use your determination to transmute your intention into energy which will fuel your greatness and that energy will turn into something valuable the more you focus on it. Do not let others or society dictate how you should spend your time. If your family thinks you should have a draining 8-6 job that you really hate just to keep up with appearances, think about if that is helping or hindering your dreams to change the world.

Becoming independent in how we use our time and who we allow to influence us is key to removing distractions. If you didn’t think your job is a distraction, evaluate if it is in line with your passions and if it exhausts you so you can’t focus on changing your life. Relationships can be a mental distraction we create too. If your partner isn’t completely on board with supporting you, they may be holding you back.

Self-Doubt Which Perpetuates Routine

Our self-doubt is a creation of the negative ego. We will often think that the opinions of others that tell us we are only dreaming is good sound advice but it is actually something our mind has allowed us to accept as true to keep us from greatness. When we ask leading questions to skeptical people, of course they will tell us not to change. If you know the ego will try to convince you to stay the same, don’t tell negative people about your plans or they will convince you exactly of what your ego wants. They will say, “no that’s scary, do the sensible thing, stay where you are.” The ego likes routine, it likes things to stay the same because that’s where it feels safe.

In order for things to stay the same, we also need to think that we are not capable of greatness. The ego will tell us that we aren’t good enough and that we should give up on our dreams because we aren’t smart enough, don’t have enough money, we are too old or it’s just too hard.

The best way to overcome self-doubt is to study and know your stuff. When you dive head first into your goals and become an expert, people will notice you do know what you’re talking about and your negative ego will start feeling safe again. The negative ego is not very smart, it doesn’t have the ability to decipher things clearly. The negative ego is like an overprotective parent that holds onto you too close and keeps you from taking risks.

In meditation, ask your higher self whether you are hearing your heart or your ego and you will begin to hear your heart more clearly. Believe it or not the ego may disguise itself as humility and say I’m not that great when that is an illusion. Humility is just about not bragging when you do become great. So just remember, sometimes the ego will masquerade as humility to keep the status quo.

Scattered Thinking Created By The Ego

Many people that dream of success have the problem of scattered thinking. This is a form of distraction created by the ego. If you find yourself working on many different projects with good intentions but finishing none of them, this is that tricky ego at work. Confusion is something that many good-hearted and intelligent people deal with but they don’t recognize it, nor do they know how to overcome it.

To overcome the confusion that the ego creates, write down exactly what it is you want to accomplish and by when. Then make a list of what you will do on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis to get there. Having clear intentions will overpower the negative ego and keep that confusion about what to work on first at bay.

So remember, surround yourself with people that help you maintain your focus, ask you to be your best self and bring your gifts and talents to the world to make it a better place. Distinguish self-doubt from rational thinking by asking your heart what is true. Finally, write down your goal and take steps on a daily basis to get there. When we stay humble and work hard we can overcome these mental obstacles.

But by incorporating mindfulness practices into the classroom, your students can learn to listen on a deeper level, and in many instances improve the learning environment.

So what is “mindfulness”?
Mindfulness, according to this infographic, is an effective approach at reeling in those wandering attention spans through “being present in the moment” and providing “a skillful response to what is happening now”. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence has explored mindfulness practices as a way of combating depression in adults, but a recent study conducted by the University of Southampton has seen how it can help prevent future health problems in children.

Sample Lesson Plan

This mindfulness plan requires either a singing bowl or vibratone, but the basic premise goes like this:

• Teach the concept of “mindful bodies”, adjusting your delivery to cater to your students’ age group.
• Ask them to move their chairs away from their desks and stand as still as they can.
• After the room falls silent, ask the students to sit down and remain quiet for 1 minute.
• Remind the students that these actions will be expected when they’re asked to put on their “mindful bodies”.

The second day introduces the concept of “mindful listening”, where students will report the sounds that they hear while remaining quiet. This part of the lesson plan employs the singing bowl mentioned earlier.

• Ring the bell.
• Ask the students to put on their “mindful bodies”. Wait until the classroom falls as silent as you think is possible.
• Ring the bell.
• Repeat 2 more times, encouraging students to remain still until the end of the bell’s tone.
• On the 3rd iteration, ask the students if they’d like to share other sounds they may have heard.

Journals are an optional addition to this plan, and may not be a bad idea so that students can chronicle their experiences with mindfulness, and keep the teacher informed of their progress.

If expectations regarding mindfulness practices are made clear and adhered to, schools can experience higher rates of success and decreased dropout rates. Mindfulness is a great way to motivate students to listen more effectively and stave off nervous energy. Also, mindful students that are “taught peace” are less likely to engage in bullying or other debilitating or distracting behavior.

Your students and yourself can benefit from mindfulness practices, and help setup everyone involved for success.

You just woke up and are ready to get out of your bed and start your day. But wait! Let’s bring some mindfulness into life from the moment we get lucid. I recently saw a list floating around of five things you should do before getting out of bed, and a chain of events led me to putting them into words to share with others.

These five things can be looked at as life hacks because they’re so simple and easy to add to our daily routine yet so effective that it begs the question why we weren’t doing them before. You’ll soon discover that they will elevate your state of mind and make you feel like you’re going to be successful at whatever you set out to do. The first step towards accomplishing something is having the intent to accomplish something. These five things will help you do just that.

By Carolanne Wright, Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

It’s not difficult to get into a rut with food. As we rush about in our busy lives, many times nutrition takes a backseat to more pressing concerns. The regrettable cost of this shortcut? Expanding waistlines, dulled thinking and floundering immune systems. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. By including a few probiotic-rich foods in our daily routine, we can greatly improve mental and physical well-being — all without unpleasant fad diets.

Traditionally used around the globe, and cheered by modern health advocates, the art of fermentation and culturing is an easy, cost-effective method to maximize nutrition while increasing digestion and health. These foods, with their spectrum of beneficial bacteria, can be an absolute revelation for those with less than perfect physical and mental health.

Painless weight loss

If you feel your current weight is far from ideal — and would like to shed a few pounds — probiotics can help. Researchers discovered in a recent study that women who consumed a strain of lactic acid bacteria called Lactobacillus rhamnosus lost twice as much weight as their non-probiotic counterparts. Over the course of 12 weeks, half the women were given two probiotic pills per day, while the other received a placebo. At the end of the study, the researchers observed that the weight of the women in the placebo group remained stable, whereas the probiotic group continued to lose weight, totaling 5.2 kg per person. As reported by in the study’s press release:

“[P]robiotics may act by altering the permeability of the intestinal wall. By keeping certain proinflammatory molecules from entering the bloodstream, they might help preventing the chain reaction that leads to glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.”

Although Lactobacillus rhamnosus was administered in pill form, the bacterium is also present in products like yogurt with active cultures. Professor Tremblay, lead researcher of the study, believes that the probiotics found in cultured dairy could have a similar effect as the supplement.

A clear mind and sound health

Weight loss isn’t the only advantage of increasing your intake of probiotics; they might actually make you smarter too. If you find yourself struggling with brain fog, depression or anxiety, the problem may lie in the gut. Through the use of antibiotics, consuming a diet high in sugary, processed food or living in a constant state of stress, the beneficial microbiome in our gut becomes imbalanced — which contributes to unclear thinking, sadness and excessive worry. But we can easily correct this issue by enjoying more foods like:

• unpasteurized sauerkraut and kimchi,
• kefir,
• beet kvass,
• traditional sourdough bread,
• Ethiopian injera,
• tempeh,
• miso,
• traditional buttermilk and
• kombucha.

As an added perk, probiotic-rich foods also give the immune system a nice leg-up. As noted in the journal Nutrition in Clinical Practice:

“Randomized, double-blind studies have provided evidence of the effectiveness of probiotics for preventing various diarrheal illnesses as well as allergic disorders. Evidence for their efficacy for use in the prevention and treatment of bacterial vaginosis and urinary tract infections is also mounting. In addition, probiotics may be useful for preventing respiratory infections, dental caries, necrotizing enterocolitis, and certain aspects of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”

If you would like to try your hand at fermenting and culturing, Nourished Kitchen offers a range of tutorials.

Article Sources:

http://science.naturalnews.com

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://www.powerofprobiotics.com

http://www.eurekalert.org

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://nourishedkitchen.com

Please note: this article by Carolanne Wright first appeared on Natural News.

Michael Neill is an internationally renowned transformative coach and the best-selling author of The Inside-Out Revolution, You Can Have What You Want, Feel Happy Now!, Supercoach, and both the Effortless Success and Coaching from the Inside-Out audio programs.

He has spent the past 25 years as a coach, adviser, friend, mentor, and creative spark plug to celebrities, CEOs, royalty, and people who want to get more out of themselves and their lives. He is the also the founder of Supercoach Academy, an international school that teaches people how to coach from the inside out. Michael’s books have been translated into 15 languages, and his public talks, retreats, and seminars have touched and transformed lives at the United Nations and on five continents around the world. Michael hosts a weekly show on Hayhouse Radio, and you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

On January 5, NASA released an image of the Andromeda galaxy, our closest galactic neighbour, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The full image is made up of 411 Hubble images, takes you through a 100 million stars and travels over more than 40,000 light years. Well, a section of it anyway.

Prepare to feel extremely tiny and insignificant as you marvel at this fly-through video created by YouTuber  daveachuk and make sure you stick around till the end. Seriously.

Well done, NASA. Our mind has been blown.

Source: Scoopwoop

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

When I got back from the World Domination Summit this summer, I wrote a post about what motivates visionaries to try to change the world. The conference was full of well-intentioned do-gooders trying to make the world a better place. Amazing things were being birthed as a result of this impulse to do good. But I couldn’t help wondering whether this impulse to be of service came from a pure, noble intention or whether it came from some sort of underlying sense of unworthiness or ego-driven motivation. Or both.

In other words, why do we do what we do?

A few people argued, “Who cares why? As long as the world is benefiting from these impulses, why question it?”

Yet, as one of those self-help author do-gooder types who is committed to getting my own ego out of the driver’s seat and letting the Divine take the wheel, it matters to me.

Is Your Self-Worth Tied To How Helpful You Are?

I have a theory about all of this. I think those of us who commit to acts of altruism on behalf of making the world a better place do so because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Something within us doesn’t feel good enough/ valuable enough/ worthy enough unless we’ re devoted to helping others. We don’t believe that we’re good and valuable and worthy not because of any external action but because we all have within us a spark of the Divine which makes us inherently worthy. So we go out and help people, and people tell us how we’ve saved their lives, and then we feel more worthy. We matter because we matter to someone else. Then our worried, scared, “never good enough” egos feel better.

So what would happen if someone waved a magic wand and all the do-gooders suddenly woke up and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were worthy – without all the accolades and applause and love letters from those we’ve helped. Would we lose all ambition to help others? Would we just sit on a park bench and bask in our awakened worthiness?

I don’t think so.

The Pure Impulse To Serve

I think it’s part of human nature to feel the impulse to ease the suffering of other living beings. When Eckhart Tolle woke up and realized that everything he had ever desired existed right here in the present moment, he spent months sitting on a park bench, basking in the bliss of his awakened state. He suddenly knew he was a valuable, worthy child of God who didn’t have to do anything to earn that grace. But Eckhart didn’t stay on that park bench forever. At some point, a pure impulse to share with others the bliss of what he was experiencing in the present moment motivated him to write The Power of Now and A New Earth. I don’t think the sharing of this message was motivated by ego. I think it was motivated by this pure impulse to ease the suffering of others who were missing the bliss of the present moment by living in the past or the future.

This is all just my theory, but I now think we’re often motivated to do good things because we’re trying to feel more worthy. But it’s possible to know we are worthy and still serve others from a pure, clean impulse to ease the suffering of others. (Read how Martha Beck helped me learn to tell the difference here.)

I Can’t Do It

So as I get ready to speak to an audience of people I hope to help with my words, I am doing a worthiness meditation so I can get my ego in the backseat and let the Divine use me in service to those who might be suffering. I remind my ego (I call her Victoria Rochester) that she is already good enough / valuable enough / worthy enough without gushing fans or long lines at my book signing or getting to sit next to Louise Hay at dinner.  I am asking for Divine guidance. I am realizing, ironically, that I am speaking at an I Can Do It conference, and yet, perhaps, as Tosha Silver suggested, “I Can’t Do It.” Or rather, I Choose Not To Do It- because I want to let the Universe do it instead.

That’s what I hope to relay to those I serve at this conference. I don’t want to just feed their scared, worried, “not good enough” egos. I want to help them remember that they don’t have to do it – that if they get their egos out of the way and let the Divine take the lead, all will be well and they will finally find the peace they’re seeking.

Do You Yearn To Serve?

Generosity, altruism, charitable acts, and self-help teaching are all great. Don’t get me wrong. But if you find yourself compelled to be of service, I invite you to examine your motivations. Are you trying to feed the hungry ghost of the ego, which never gets filled no matter how many people you help? Or are you motivated by that clean impulse to ease the suffering of others? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Knowing I can’t do it alone,

About the author:

Dr. Lissa Rankin, MD is a mind-body medicine physician, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute training program for physicians and healthcare providers, and the New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself. She is on a grass roots mission to heal health care, while empowering you to heal yourself.

Lissa blogs at LissaRankin.com and also created two online communities – HealHealthCareNow.com and OwningPink.com. She is also the author of two other books, a speaker, a professional artist, an amateur ski bum, and an avid hiker. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and daughter.

Connect with Lissa on Facebook and Twitter, or visit LissaRankin.com

1. Eat your vegetables: With all of the confusing diets and fads out there, one message is consistent — vegetables are one of the best foods to put in your body. So scoop some extra veggies onto your plate at your next meal and don’t leave the table until you’ve finished them.
2. Develop a sleep routine: Most parents live or die by their child’s sleep routine in order to keep their sanity. So, why does the importance of sleep fly out the window when we get older? Stick to a sleep routine as an adult and you’ll feel better in your waking hours.
3. Play outside: In other words, exercise. You may notice that healthy kids never seem to stop moving. Follow suite as an adult and get up from your computer. Make sure to get outside too, since Vitamin D is just as important for adults as it is for kids.
4. Keep caffeine and sugar intake low: Remember the effects that caffeine and sugar had on you when you were a kid and how your parents avoided giving it to you often because it made you hyper? Well, turns out, things that weren’t good for you as a kid often aren’t good for you as an adult, either. As we’re learning, sugar is pretty addictive and even considered poisonous in large amounts, so cut back on the intake and detox your body.
5. Laugh: Kids laugh all the time, so why are we so serious as adults? Crack a smile once in awhile it’ll do your face and your health some

By Lorraine Ereira

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

We all do it, all day, every day. Even while we sleep. In fact we never ever stop doing it. If we did we would die. But do we ever think about it? Do we realize just how much of an impact it has on our bodies, our minds and our overall health?

It is the simple act of respiration. That’s right – breathing! Believe it or not, there are different ways to breathe, which have different effects on the body and our health. But let’s just take a look at two. Nose breathing which induces relaxation, calm, and improves health, and the other mouth breathing, which most of us do by default, because of the lives we lead, which contributes to many health concerns like elevated blood pressure and an increase in resting heart rate.

I would like to share with you an extract from my latest book Sports Pattern Release. In this extract I explain how breathing effects the human body. I will then offer you a simple breathing technique to support better health.

“Breathing is something that is all too often overlooked but is of the utmost importance in correct biomechanical function. The human body will sacrifice everything to maintain respiratory function and this includes posture. Nasal breathing is the way we are pre-programmed to breathe and mouth breathing is triggered by stress. Interestingly, when posture is poor, it is easier to breathe through the mouth and harder to breathe nasally. The reverse is also true, illustrating the close relationship between breathing and posture. Additionally, mouth breathers often breathe much less deeply, only using the upper chest, whereas nose breathers tend to use the diaphragm making full use of the lungs, oxygenating the blood and brain. If the diaphragm becomes inhibited through poor posture, stress or bad habits, the accessory inhibitory muscles will overwork, becoming overactive, leading to trigger points and chronic tension.

“There are many different yoga breathing exercises. Pranayama breathing, which is the practice of voluntary breath control, when practised slowly has been shown to have positive effects on immune function, hypertension, asthma, autonomic nervous system imbalances and psychological or stress-related disorders. It has been hypothesised that voluntary slow deep breathing functionally resets the autonomic nervous system. Investigations have demonstrated that slow pranayama breathing techniques activate the parasympathetic (inhibitory) nervous system. This type of breathing employed with deep stretching will have a combined effect on stimulating parasympathetic activity while concurrently decreasing sympathetic activity. This will lower the heart rate, blood pressure and induce relaxation”.

So by simply working on our breathing technique we can induce better health both physiologically and mentally.

Try this exercise for a few minutes each day

Either lie down or sit with a lengthened spine, to open the airways fully. Close your eyes and your mouth and place your hands on your belly and inhale slowly and deeply through your nose feeling your belly rise as you do. Now move your hands to the base of your ribs and continue the inhalation into the mid-section of your lungs and feel your ribcage expand laterally. Lastly move your hands to your upper chest breathe into the top of the lung and feel the chest rise. Hold that breath for a moment, before very slowly exhaling from the top, then the middle and lastly form the base of your lungs. Do this for at least five minutes. Try to focus on this and think of nothing else; give it your full attention. Take note of how you feel after this exercise.

The more you practice the deeper your breathing will become and the more benefits you will achieve. And the best thing? It’s totally free!!

About the author:

Lorraine Ereira is a writer and a Sports Therapist with a keen interest in nutrition and healthy living. Lorraine cared for her husband who was diagnosed with cancer last year, but with good nutrition and healthy living has made a full recovery. It is now Lorraine’s mission to share the positive aspects of her experience with others who wish to life a healthy and low toxic lifestyle.

Her first novel Journey From the Summit, a true story, was published earlier this year, followed by her recent publication Sports Pattern Release, a guide for manual therapists working in sport. Lorraine is currently writing her second novel about how she coped with her husband’s illness, and how making well researched and informed choices helped him on the path to his recovery.

Connect with Lorraine at CoreFit-UK.co.uk and Facebook.com/OPFsportstherapy.