Thursday, February 17, 2011

My Vision 4 My Life

I was going back through a stack of my notes the other day when I
came upon the following:

My vision 4 my life.

Right under that I had a box with the words "paradigm shift"
inside, and under that the following:

I am the Creator of the Game of My Life. I can Redefine Myself. I
Can Change. Change Happens.

I got to thinking about how these few comments shifted the way I
looked at my life. Let me share my thinking…

I am the Creator of the Game of My Life. Wow! What a shift in
awareness this brought.

I have always been very serious about life and life experiences. I
saw life as an all or nothing process. You either had it or you
didn't, and for some reason I didn't.

* I had little abundance, or passion.

* I contributed little to others and had denied my feelings of joy
in the adventure of life.

* I was compassionate, but I was afraid to share this for fear of
being hurt in some way.

* My generosity to others was limited by a fear of being used.

* Since I had been told as a child that I couldn't win, I accepted
failure.

* My commitment to myself was simply to survive and live with as
much integrity as I could given the above.

How serious can you get! I mean, there was little joy or
celebration in this life. Just getting through it every day was
hard work, especially without much humor.

So visioning my life as a Game began to change everything. I had
forgotten about this until I came upon this paper. How brilliant
was that shift?

As a game, life becomes less difficult and more childlike almost
immediately, and much more manageable.

Just bringing a smile to your face can begin to change your day
even when you don't feel like smiling. Smiling at a stranger as
you walk through the mall or saying a kind hello to a stranger
passing by will not only change your day, but it can help create a
better day for those around you. And it's absolutely free! How
awesome is that?

Try it. Set your intention to smile sincerely to everyone you come
into contact with and to say hi to everyone with whom you have eye
contact for 1 day. You'll see… And what a difference you'll make…
to yourself and to those around you.

It's your game, it's your life.

Have fun!

Enjoy yourself.

Play happy with those around you.

Life IS a Game and Everyone is a Winner.

So recognize that what you focus on today will be your future
tomorrow.

Open your life up to new exciting opportunities.

And if you don't think you can do it, or you don't deserve to be
happy, or you're too deep into the pain, or you just need a checkup,
give yourself a chance to make those changes in your life that you've
been dreaming of.

You can contact me directly for assistance . Send me an email and
I will respond as quickly as I can.

Blessings and Peace,

Sharon

www.EastHillHypnosis.com
www.ChangeYourLifeNowCoaching.com
sharon@EastHillHypnosis.com
850-725-6400.

Your Comfort Zone

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Neal Donald Walsch

Let me tell you about a friend who is going through a tough time. He had an accident while on the job and he has been going through rehab and trying to get himself back on his feet. His doctor just gave him a partial release creating a financial problem for him as the firm has reduced his benefits by a like amount but are not putting him back on his job in a reduced status. His reaction to this is to sequester himself at home, start looking to see what he can sell, and close himself off from others.

Now most of us wouldn't take such an extreme step, we would just kick our butts out the door and find a part time job, even if it was delivering pizza. So I got to thinking about what is going on with him and why this extreme reaction. The answer I came up with is FEAR! Now if I were to ask him why he is so afraid, he would tell me he's not afraid, he's just taking care of business.

Which led me to another question: what do we do when we are fearful, but we aren't aware of the fear because we've masked it in our notions of what is appropriate behaviors for ourselves. When I was younger, I thought that I was fearless too. But today I look back and realize that I had just hidden my fears from myself. I was afraid others wouldn't like me anyway, so I tended to avoid situations that called for closeness and trust. By not putting myself in these situations, I was able to keep myself from becoming aware of my issues, or to learn from them and heal them.

So I'd like to ask you a question. What do you do to keep yourself from becoming aware of your fears (the ANTS - Automatic Negative ThoughtS - in your head)? How do you mask your issues and keep yourself from healing? And is this truly what you desire for yourself?

A few days ago I made a commitment to attend a meeting and meet new people. When the time came to attend the meeting, I was full of excuses not to go. I told myself that I really didn't feel good, I was tired and grumpy, and - oh, there it is, they really won't like me anyway! Well, I went and had a wonderful time, got to know 3 delightful women, and came home feeling refreshed and affirmed.

When you locate your fear and understand where it comes from, you can choose to respond to the fear or to your personal life choices. You can start getting on with your own life on your own terms. And this is really what it's about, isn't it?

So it's your life, it's your game. If you are brave enough to venture out of your comfort zone and explore new ways of living, you are indeed a brave and intrepid soul. Just remember, that what you focus on today will be your future tomorrow, so choose your focus carefully and allow yourself to open to the new exciting opportunities that are always available to you.

What you focus on today will be your future tomorrow. Choose your focus carefully!

Open your life up to new exciting opportunities. Begin your life again NOW!

And if you don't think you can do it, or you don't deserve to be happy, or you're too deep into the pain, or you just need a checkup, give yourself a chance to make those changes in your life that you've been dreaming of.

You can contact me directly for assistance. Send me an email at sharon@ChangeYourLifeNowCoaching.com and I will respond as quickly as I can.

Blessings and Peace, Sharon

PS: Get your copy of the ebook, Introduction to Energy Work, at http://www.ChangeYourLifeNowCoaching.com. You can also visit me at http://www.EastHillHypnosis.com, or call 850-725-6400. I look forward to getting to know you.

copyright 2010 by Sharon Routledge, MA CH

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_Routledge

The 5Ds to Quit Smoking

Have you been trying to quit smoking? Finding it difficult to let go of the habit? Have you been thinking you can't quit because you are deeply addicted to Nicotine? Have you considered using dangerous drugs such as Chantix to help you quit?

Quitting or changing any habit is actually a very simple process. And no matter what anyone has told you, smoking is a habit. The difficulty you are having is because of rituals and habituated behaviors.

Briefly, your subconscious has learned that when x happens, then y (smoking) occurs. And now you are running a program in your subconscious that says when x (and x can be anything from a cup of coffee or a beer, to a major life changing event) happens, then the smoking behavior follows. It's as simple as that. You have hypnotized your subconscious into believing something is true and necessary.

But is it really so? Is it necessary to have a cigarette every time you have a cup of coffee or a beer? Is it really?

Is smoking the only way to think through life changing events in your life? Is it really?

If you have decided that cigarettes are not necessary for you, you are already almost there. If you have quit smoking for even a short time, you've already proven that you can. So how can you get from this point of being almost there to the final "I Quit". The following is an easy to follow process that just may work for you. It worked for me and for many others I've helped over the years.

To prepare yourself for the process, be sure to make smoking conscious, by that I mean become aware by changing your rituals. Make sure that you're not just reaching for a cigarette. Keep your cigarettes out of reach and don't smoke in the house or car. This will force you to become aware of every time you want to smoke.



The First D: Delay

Anytime you think you want to smoke, check the time. Then give yourself 10 - 30 minutes to be smoke free. I told myself that I could have a cigarette in 10 minutes if I still wanted it. Then I went on about my day. Often, I would check my watch to discover that 30 minutes or more had passed. At this point I would choose to either smoke the cigarette if I really wanted to, or put it off for another 10 minutes. After a while, I wouldn't smoke if I was watching a movie. I'd delay until after the movie was over. The same if I was watching a good show on TV. And so on. It's really easy, and you do it every day anyway, whenever you find yourself in no smoking zones.

The Second D: Distract

The fits right in with the First D. When you delay your cigarette, you then distract yourself from smoking by doing something you desire, such as watching tv, or the rest of the movie, or reading a good book, or even exercising. You could even set a goal for yourself to walk around the block whenever you want to smoke instead of smoking. Distraction is the process when you teach your subconscious that there are other ways of handling stress, or socializing, and so on. Try to find something that you enjoy and will enhance your life.

The Third D: Deep Breathing

Instead of smoking, you may decide to take a deep breath and allow the oxygen to fill your lungs and go to your brain rather than the nicotine. Just breathe deeply and comfortably, and imagine that you can feel the oxygen as it moves through your lungs, into your blood stream, into the cells of your body and up into your brain. You can imagine the cells feeling rejuvenated and alive with all this oxygen. Take about 30 seconds and do this every time you desire to smoke.

The Fourth D: Drink Filtered Water

When you begin to put off smoking, your body immediately begins to detox itself. It is very important to help your body all you can with this detoxing process. Drinking lots of filtered water will help your body flush away the toxins and will make releasing cigarettes from your life much easier. Flushing your system and getting rid of those toxins will make your final goal much easier. And remember to filter the water. You want to detox your body, not put more chemicals into your system.

The Fifth D: De-hypnotize

This is where the tire meets the road. You have hypnotized yourself for years that smoking was what you needed to do, and that you couldn't quit because you were "hooked" and "addicted". Now, if you are serious about quitting, you need to De-hypnotize yourself.

And the place to begin is to become aware of your language. Your subconscious is very literal and words will often mean things you're not aware of. For example, become aware of the word "try" and when you use it. "Try" is one of those failure words that will keep you "hooked". You might think about it like this: when you try to do something, you will most likely fail because you haven't done it. Just "try" to breath. Breathing is an either you do or you don't kind of thing. Same with tying your shoe laces. Do you say to yourself, I think I'll try to tie my shoelaces? or do you say, I'm going to tie my shoelaces. See the difference? So don't "try" to quit smoking, just "quit smoking".

Another word that gets us in trouble is "should". When we use this word, we are going into parental mode and telling ourselves what we should do. This implies that we don't have a choice, not if we're good people, and it can make us uncomfortable at best.

So, becoming aware of the language you use around cigarettes and changing that language to give yourself the choice will be a winning tactic every time.

You might want to say to yourself, "I can choose to have a cigarette now, or I can choose to have a cigarette in 30 minutes".

This type of language will begin to change or de-hypnotize the way you think about yourself as a non-smoker. A smoker doesn't have any choice about smoking. They smoke because they are addicted. A non-smoker has the choice to have a cigarette or not. So make it easy on yourself and give yourself the choice.

Through a lot of supportive self-talk such as "I can and will do this", "I have a choice in this matter", "I am a non-smoker", you can change your mind and change your life. Remember, this process can take as long or as short a time as you want. It is your life and your health. Choose to create the life of your dreams.

Recognize that what you focus on today will be your future tomorrow.

Open your life up to new exciting opportunities. Begin your life again NOW!

And if you don't think you can do it, or you don't deserve to be happy, or you're too deep into the pain, or you just need a checkup, give yourself a chance to make those changes in your life that you've been dreaming of.

You can contact me directly for assistance. Send me an email and I will respond as quickly as I can.

Blessings and Peace,
Sharon

PS: Get your copy of the ebook, Introduction to Energy Work, at http://www.ChangeYourLifeNowCoaching.com. You can also visit me at http://www.EastHillHypnosis.com, email me at sharon@ChangeYourLifeNowCoaching.com or call 850-725-6400. I look forward to getting to know you.

copyright 2010 by Sharon Routledge, MA CH