10 Steps to a New You in the New Year

Welcome to 2013… Can we all let out a sigh of relief? Relief because the belief that the world was going to end in December 2012 has finally been released, and we can start looking at this new age for what it is. It is a new chapter and a new beginning. However, this beginning is not really new, it’s just gaining more traction. Conscious minds have been coming together for years now, and as the momentum grows we continue to impact the whole as well as other individuals looking for their inner truth.

The new age and the New Year are opportunities to redefine your relationship with you.

These are opportunities to redefine our path and our journey. As a result, we will find that outside of all the shrouds lies an inner voice that is calling us to be both student and teacher. When I speak of the inner teacher, I speak of your ability to take what you learn along your journey, from the simplest things to the most complex, and pass that knowledge forward. Remember, we all have a niche—something that calls us and that we have dedicated substantial time to understanding. We often make the mistake of thinking that what comes naturally to us will be the same things that others want to do or are able to do easily. However, it is your knowledge, no matter how tiny or insignificant you may see it, that others seek. Now I want to take a moment to speak to your higher self, so I will write in “I statements” so that you can hear yourself and affirm this. Repeat this as many times as it takes to make these commands resonate from within.

In this new age, I embrace the powerful manifestor and creator that I am. I say “yes” to living. I say “yes” to being in a state of gratitude and a state where I am open to following my divine path. I understand that every experience is an adventure, a reflection of me, and that at any point I can choose a different path with my thoughts and actions. I am in control and understand that as a student there are lessons to learn, and those lessons come in many different forms. They may at first seem to come hidden in negativity, but it is my perception of the experience that ultimately will define its value as negative or positive.

I have come to realize at the essence of my being that every experience will help me to become more connected with my higher self. I also realize that I do not need to create negative experiences to experience rapid growth and transformation. I can equally learn and grow from positive experiences. I can also feel abundant when there is lack. I can feel love, compassion and acceptance for those who choose to live experiences that do not serve their highest good and still set healthy boundaries. I choose relationships that motive and inspire me to remember who I truly am. I can pamper and nurture my being without a sense of guilt. I choose to share this journey and be an example to others that I can live in joy, experience inner peace, and follow my passion. I am destined for greatness and see the greatness in all those around me. I release any feelings of fear of failure or success. I embrace this new ME and the fact that I am worthy of an amazing life. I will no longer fight the current; I will live in flow and embrace the Now. I deserve it, so I am completely open to receiving. I am perfect representation of love and inspiration.

So where do you start on this new journey? It all depends on you, but there are some things that will help to jumpstart your efforts. Below are a few ideas. None of them are ground breaking or new thoughts but, at the same time, truth is truth. It’s just of matter of making a commitment to living it.

1. Create a bucket list:

This list will help you determine what kind of things you want to experience in your life. It is easy to let life pass you buy and miss out on those experiences because you never set a specific intention for them. Therefore, write as many things on that list that you can imagine, from big to small. Choose several of them that you are committing to experiencing this year.

2. Develop a vision of what you see in your life by the end of the year:

Write this down as if you’re composing a letter to yourself a year from now and you are reflecting on all the amazing aspects of your year. This will help set an intention that your mind will seek. Seal the envelop, and place it somewhere safe so you can read it in a year.

3. Create structure to your intention:

Commit to weekly goals and write them on a dry board in your house or a notebook that you carry around. As a result, you will have concrete steps to follow.

4. Share:

Tell others about your intention with confidence, and find an intention buddy. Having an intention buddy is like having a workout buddy; when you have each other to bounce ideas around, you will generate motivation. Recognize that anything in life takes collaboration.

5. Emerge yourself:

Surround yourself with like-minded people by finding groups or going to workshops that share your vision. Listen to audio and read books that will, with time, help this new intention become part of your core.

6. Create joy and connect to nature:

The best way to create is to be in the right state of mind, when your vibration is in joy. In fact, when you are in a state of joy your ability to process information, think critically, and become creative doubles. Watch funny videos or whatever you have to do to create a space of joy.

7. Give back:

Life and intentions are about the flow of energy. When you give back, whether through sharing information, volunteering, or making a financial contribution, you add and create flow.

8. Support and invest:

Give back to those spiritual teachers or any other teachers who help you grow and develop. When you do this, you allow them to continue to help others and allow yourself to continue to grow and transform.

9. Focus on at least one area:

Choose an area of life to focus on and dedicate time to nurturing it. This can be social, spiritual, physical, emotional, financial or intellectual. Know that once you focus on one area of your life all the other aspects of your being will be affected as well.

10. Everything starts with gratitude:

Create a gratitude journal and write down 10 things everyday that you are grateful for. You can’t build more in your life if you are not grateful for what you currently have.

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By Joeel A. Rivera, M.Ed.

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Customer Service Lessons From An Airport Employee

Sometimes amazing things happen during our travels, but if you don’t take the time to notice and get excited about it, you might miss it. 

On a recent trip, something amazing happened. It was a long day. Up at 4:00am to leave for a long day of flying and connecting flights, no problems, until baggage, where there was a bunch of people still standing around when everybody else seemed to have picked up their bags and left.

It was a curious situation, but the man behind the counter was very much on top of it. He came out and made a couple of announcements and apologized profusely for the bags not being there which had us all curious.

Apparently there was some sort of technical problem in the back, the conveyer belt had stopped and jammed on something. The amazing thing was after two announcements and then apologizing multiple times, all of a sudden, from underneath where all the bags were coming out on the belt, an airport employee pops out. 

He had literally pushed every single one of the bags out, there were probably 25 or 30 of us standing there that didn’t have bags yet. He had pushed all those bags manually, by hand, and was literally handing them to the people as they came up to get them, and the gentleman who had made all the overhead announcements was also helping.

This was a great example of customer service. They could have made all of us wait until the belt was fixed, or unjammed, or whatever had happened, or until the entire system was fixed. But that airport employee took it upon himself to actually do something about it, to go above and beyond, and fix the problem in the best way possible at that time, so as not to inconvenience people any more than necessary. 

It was one of the highest levels of customer service I’ve seen in a long time. 

The marketing message and business lesson, is that we have to think about what our employees and team members are doing that are wowing customers. What are we instilling in our internal clients, in our employees, in our VA’s, and in all of those people on our team doing customer related functions? 

What are we instilling in them to give them the confidence and the ability to go out and do those kinds of things on their own that make a huge difference for our customers and for clients?

There were a lot of people on that plane that were tired, who had been traveling all day, and who just really wanted to get their belongings and leave. Nobody was complaining loudly, or even really had a chance to become irate, because of the level of customer service from the airport employees.

We should all think a little bit more about what we empower our employees to do in this regard and if we are not doing enough, how can we empower them to do more of the things that make great impressions on our clients and all those who do business with us? 

As tired weary travelers who had been on the road for a few days and had a few more to go, it was really, really refreshing and made a huge difference in everyone’s day.

Hopefully, you are doing things like this in your business and your employees are also doing things for you, and on your behalf. 

You should test, check, and measure, and find out what needs to be done, so you can empower people, give them a chance to stretch and grow, and see what kind of miracles your team is produinge for your customers and clients.

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Brain Power - A Key to Success in Life

We are all working in different industries. Some of us are entrepreneur; some of us are serving companies or some of us are having different means for our survival. In whatever field you are, the love for the work is imperative to survive and grow in your career. In this fast moving world, everyone expects that you will be hard-working unless your intelligence is far beyond the average men. But what really makes the difference, is thinking in a creative manner.

Some people call it smart work. Whatever be the name, no one can deny the immense power of ideas or more specifically creative ideas. We have read many books on creative ideas. There are number of strategies that have been evolved to boost your creative ideas. I feel and strongly believe that creative ideas come from your true love of your work. You have to have indigenous love towards your work. Make shift profession based on demand of money cannot make you immensely successful in your career. Of course, there are other factors associated in your success. One among them is your family support. Without a support from your family, you will never be able to concentrate and give 100% to your work. I would like to elaborate on this particular point in detail.

Family support and peace of life are imperative in your career growth and as well as to your health. These two factors must walk hand in hand and one cannot exist without the other one. All creative ideas come from a relaxed mind, which is not possible without a peaceful life. And here we can correlate the science. The brain cells or neurons are always producing electricity. A specific device called Electroencephalograph can measure these electric waves. It has been observed that this electricity produced by neurons follow a particular cycle. Based on the cycle’s rate, the scientists have segregated the brain into four different states i.e. Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta.

Beta State – The cycle rate here is 12-30 Hz. This is the state, when we are wake and conscious. As you can understand, we generally remain in beta state during our daily routine work. Where beta is required to work meticulously, too much of beta makes us tired, restless and anxious. This is the reason that why people are so much stressed now a days. A very good example of this is driving in a very crowded road in a city for long time. This makes the cycle frequency high making the state as Beta. And this is why we feel very tired after a prolonged drive in a crowded city.

Alpha State –The cycle rate in this state is lower than Beta i.e. 7.5 to 12 Hz. This state is achieved in relaxation, light meditation and day dreaming. During this state, we achieve high imagination and concentration. In this phase, our memory power gets increased. In this phase, the outlook for life gets changed and it brings higher possibility of getting success in life. This state is also the source of creative visualization.

Theta State – In theta state, the cycle rate is 4 Hz to 7.5 Hz. Theta is called to be the doorway towards our unconscious state or Delta state. This is a subconscious state. Before sleeping or just after we wake up from sleep, we get into the state of theta. This is the state, where we all come out of profound creative ideas. This state is also achieved in our dream. This is the reason that we can remember a dream just after we wake up and thereafter we forget the same.

Delta State – The cycle rate in this state is 0.5 Hz to 4 Hz. This state is arrived in our deep and dreamless sleep. This is the state of unconsciousness.

Keeping the above four states in mind, Alpha and Theta States are the most important ones. If one can achieve alpha state, he can get rid of much of his\her stress in life. This also allows him to concentrate and succeed in all works. There are number of ways we can get into the state of Alpha. The most famous of all is meditation. At least 15 minutes of mediation daily can keep away your stress, increase your perseverance power, concentration, imaginary power and in turn possibility of getting success in life. The well-known Silva Method is also based on the power of Alpha state.

Theta is another state where the seed of success is hidden. If you can sow it properly, no one can stop you from getting success in life. Accessing extra-sensory information is possible in the state of theta. For example, if you are lost in parking space to find out a vacant slot, you can get into the state of theta to get this information. There are numerous ways suggested by different people to get into the state of theta. Deep mediation also can achieve theta state. Remember that theta is a state of deep relaxation and only can be arrived with a proper mediation technique.

Overall, the alpha state is much easier to arrive than that of a theta state. Theta state needs some guidance and practice. Thus all of us should strive to get into this state as frequently as possible to make ourselves successful in life and live a healthy life without much stress. Hereafter if you are trying to take a nap in your office and get caught, explain the benefit of it to your boss!

By Suvendu Manna

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Boost Morale With Team Building Activities

Is your team struggling with communication or trust issues? Very often those issues boil down to personalities - a misunderstanding of different personalities. Team building activities that focus on personality styles can be a great way to boost morale and reduce conflict. By understanding the personality temperaments of coworkers, you can identify team characteristics and open lines of communication.

Many people learn by doing, not by hearing. You can build teamwork and improve communication while having fun with team building activities. Interactive team building sessions boost learning and can stretch your training dollars even further. Each of us has characteristics that make us different from others, and each of us has strengths that help us succeed. People often ask us to "build trust" within their team. That's like asking your personal trainer to build muscle for you. A team building company can provide you with tools and resources necessary to create the right environment. Fortunately or unfortunately, you have to do the sit-ups yourself. Interactive team activities can help team members identify their dominate personality traits and strengths in a memorable way so that communication with and the ability to gain cooperation from others is easier.

Psychologists tell us there are four main personality temperaments. Whether you favor Myers-Briggs, DiSC or Personality Traits, they all group personalities in common ways. If you want to gain buy-in with your co-workers, you may need to pull from the attributes that are a stretch for you. Stretch your comfort zone to build trust. For example, have you ever observed these two distinct personality styles on a Monday morning: one comes in very energetic, bubbling over with details about their weekend and questions about yours. The other is ready for the day's agenda, very task focused and wants to get down to business. A simple explanation and understanding of these two different types will reduce conflict and build trust.

Team activities are designed to build more of a team atmosphere, help individuals learn how and why people act "that way" and how to deal more effectively with each other. The end result includes improved trust and respect among co-workers and managers, which ultimately results in increased effectiveness. And when you combine that with philanthropic team activities, your team is sure to feel more connected. Build a team atmosphere by giving back. The Rescue Bear is a great example of how you can tie all these things together. Team members learn about personality styles through a series of fun team activities; and in the end, they've built teddy bears that are donated to local fire departments or emergency personnel.

So if you want to boost morale and reduce conflict, stretch your comfort zone to build trust and use interactive sessions to build a team atmosphere by giving back. By developing an understanding of personality styles, your team will feel valued. When people feel valued in an organization, they are more likely to contribute ideas and energy and be an even more productive member of the team.

By Colette Johnston

 

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11 Success Quotes

These success quotes have all challenged my thinking, opened up a new perspective or inspired and motivated me to keep going at one time or another. I hope they can do the same for you!

1.The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances. - Viktor Frankl

2.Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.  - Arnold Bennet

3.Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. - Helen Keller

4.Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. - Leonardo da Vinci

5.You don't become enormously successful without encountering some really interesting problems. - Mark Victor Hansen 

6.What we see depends mainly on what we look for. - Sir John Lubbock 

7. Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson

8. Dear God of second chances and new beginnings, here I am again… - Nancy Spielberg

9. If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be. -James Russell Miller

10.There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. -Richard Bach 

 

11. I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. -Edward Everett Hale

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Harnessing Positive Thinking

"I'm never going to be able to do this job; I'm just not smart enough."

"Why does my boss want me to present at the trade show? I'm a terrible public speaker, and I'll just embarrass the company."

"I wish I could stick up for myself at work; in every meeting, I let the others walk over my ideas. I'm never going to get ahead."

Many of us have negative thoughts like these, sometimes on a regular basis. When we have these thoughts, our confidence, mood and outlook become negative too.

The problem with these negative thoughts is that they can be self-fulfilling. Inside our heads, we talk ourselves into believing that we're not good enough. And, because of this, these thoughts drag down our personal lives, our relationships, and our careers.

This is why consciously doing the opposite - using positive affirmations - can be helpful. In this article, we'll explore how you can use affirmations to drive positive change, both in your career, and in your life in general.

Why Use Affirmations?

Affirmations are positive, specific statements that help you to overcome self-sabotaging, negative thoughts. They help you visualize, and believe in, what you're affirming to yourself, helping you to make positive changes to your life and career.

While there's limited research into the effectiveness of using affirmations in a general setting, there is evidence that the use of positive affirmations can successfully treat people with low self-esteem, depression, and other mental health conditions.

For instance, in a study by researchers at Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, people who used positive affirmations for two weeks experienced higher self-esteem than at the beginning of the study.

So try looking at positive affirmations this way - many of us do repetitive exercises to improve our body's physical health and condition. Affirmations are like exercises for our mind and outlook; these positive mental repetitions can reprogram our thinking patterns so that, over time, we begin to think, and act, in a new way.

Key Points

-Affirmations are positive statements that can help you overcome self-sabotaging, negative thoughts.

-To use affirmations, first analyze the thoughts or behaviors you'd like to change in your own life and career.

-Next, come up with positive, credible, present tense statements that are the opposite of these thoughts. Repeat your affirmations several times a day, especially when you find yourself slipping into a negative thinking pattern, or engaging in a negative behavior.

-Remember that affirmations are most effective when used alongside other strategies, such as visualization and goal setting.

Before you know it the positive thoughts will become a habit.  Then when you have a negative thought, you will notice it and catch yourself much easier.  At this point an awareness has been established and you can then make a choice to encourage the positive thoughts and to the negative thoughts say, "Thank you for sharing" and carry on!

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Is Your Temper Killing Your Success?

One of the first tests in determining a level of your own personal emotional security is your proficiency in handling stressful and pressure packed situations. To create a successful communicative working atmosphere and a harmonious home environment, you need to maintain a level of emotional self-control when challenged with difficult decisions, tasks, and personnel interactions. 

What is the danger of “losing it” in the workplace and at home? The primary consequence is a serious deterioration in communication between all individuals involved in an emotional meltdown taking place. If you are part of an organization where leaders and colleagues become emotional volcanoes when faced with stress and difficult decisions, constructive communication immediately declines. 

The behavioral culprit that spurs this decline is typically verbal abuse and is a key indicator in evaluating your ability or inability to handle situations in a mature and professional manner. Think about it…how can a person think clearly and respond rationally when he or she is being verbally attacked? The person can’t, and as a result, any chance of proactive communication is gone. In addition, the desire to avoid further communication with the attacking individual is initiated because no one wants to be on the receiving end of verbal abuse. 

Whether this occurs at work or at home, a consistent series of events takes place: Subsequent to the verbal abuse being initiated, communication deteriorates and the flow of information breaks down. If the flow of information breaks down, how could any organization be efficient, productive, and profitable? They can’t. On the home front, why would a child want to listen to a parent if that parent has the tendency of belittling and verbally humiliating the child? They will not. As a result, the child avoids and turns off any desire to listen, and typically responds with the same tone and degrading verbiage as the parent. Thus, the child learns to handle stress and conflict in the same manner as the parent, resulting in a new future verbally abusive parent. 

Show Your Inner Strength

Former Saturday Night Live star Cheri Oteri would humorously say in one of her skits, “Simmer Down.” Performance under pressure is the key to determining your inner strength, confidence, and emotional stability. I define “performance under pressure” as “an indication of one’s professionalism,” and I define professionalism as “emotional patience.” It is paramount that your behavior reflects a high degree of professionalism when dealing with conflict, stress, and pressure. The key is being patient with your emotions and how you react to them. This emotional patience stems from your security with your personal core values, which provide the inner strength to be proficient at handling difficult situations. 

For example, if you squeeze a tomato, what comes out? Grapefruit juice? Apple juice? Orange juice? Of course not! Tomato juice comes out. The same is true with human beings. When a person is squeezed (i.e. put under stress and pressure), what’s inside comes out. So if an individual is internally frustrated, resentful, discontent, and jealous, to name a few destructive characteristics, I doubt seriously that the individual would display a kind, loving, and compassionate demeanor when put under emotional pressure.

Patience is still a virtue, and emotional reactivity to any situation is the barometer in evaluating your success with that virtue. Personal core values provide the building blocks to solidify a foundation of strength against life’s pressures and stresses, and to maintain a high level of professionalism that demonstrates superior leadership. Have fun, be that positive example, and enjoy the stress relieving benefits of simmering down.

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Author : Jay Rifenbary

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