don't remember lyrics very well and it's probably the reason that I don't enjoy singing, but every time I do sing, I always feel better. When we sing, we show our feelings, and this provides an amazing stress relief.
List five things that you are grateful for right now.Being grateful helps you appreciate what you already have. Here's my list: my cats, health, a six-week trip to Asia, a new yoga class that I'll be teaching, and for my mom's biopsy coming out clean.
Read positive quotes.I like to place Post-it notes with positive quotes on my computer, fridge door, and mirror as reminders to stay positive. Also, I'd like to share with you a quote by an unknown author that was shared in a meditation class that I attended:Watch your thoughts; they become words.Watch your words; they become actions.Watch your actions; they become habits.Watch your habits; they become your character.Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
14. Work on Visualizations.
Ever fantasized that you’re a lean, mean fighting machine, with Churchillian speech-making talents, winning charisma, and superhuman willpower? If so, then you have already tapped into the tool that can help you get there in real life. Mental imagery—the kind that involves imagining success—has long been employed by professional athletes to boost their strength, confidence, and results. (Arnold Schwarzenegger imagined his biceps to be mountain peaks as he pumped iron.) But the technique is good for more than just sports. “Everyone can use imagery to prepare for all kinds of situations, including public presentations and difficult interactions,” says Daniel Kaddish, Ph.D., a psychologist in New York City who guides clients in mental imagery. Research has shown that surgeons, musicians, and business executives have used it to focus and to improve their performance.
Big or small, goals give us purpose and, like a compass, keep us headed in the right direction. — Frank Niles
In laymen’s terms, it means recreating all the images, sounds, and feelings in your mind surrounding an activity to practice in a perfect environment – just like the small dojo where Morpheus and Neo fight in the movie. It may sound hard, but let me prove to you that you can do it. Take a couple of minutes to close your eyes and imagine yourself going to the kitchen and getting a cup of coffee. Try to imagine every detail, even the smell of the coffee. Were you able to imagine the cup of coffee? Maybe you were using your favorite cup and that awesome coffee brand that you love. You may even want a cup of coffee right now. That’s how visualization works. Don’t worry if you didn’t catch all the details; just like any other skill, you need to practice. However, it is worth the time it takes to learn it.
Visualization is simple, but it requires you to practice often to get the best results out if it. Just follow the steps and enjoy the process:
Relax: Take a couple of deep breaths, let go of all the tension, and close your eyes. It works even better if you find a quiet spot where nobody will bother you. I do it right before I go to bed.
Start imagining the environment: Let’s say you want to play guitar. Start by imagining your guitar, the shape, then the strings, the thickness of each string, until you have a clear and defined picture of your guitar.
Third person view: Now imagine yourself coming closer to the guitar. Look at your hands and slowly add detail to the image. Look at how you sit and hold the guitar, always trying to add as much detail as possible.
First person view: Feel the guitar in your hands, feel each string, and focus on the sound that each string produces. Allow yourself to start playing, just as you would do in practice with the same exercises. Imagine yourself playing through the whole set without failing or stopping, just as if you were an expert.
Wrapping it up: Allow yourself to slowly come back. You completed your practice and the image slowly fades. When you feel ready, open your eyes again.
15. Think of Ways to Turn Visualization into Action.
Practice makes perfect; the honed man is the man who owns it. Powerful though your mind may be, you can’t just think your way from running a nine-minute mile to a five-minute one. “Imagery can’t make you perform beyond your capabilities, but it can help you reach your potential,” says Tom Seabourne, Ph.D., an athlete and imagery expert and the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Quick Total Body Workouts ($15, amazon.com). So, imagery can be a handy tool the next time you have set your sights on a goal. Here’s how to put it into effect.
Use all your senses. Mental imagery is often referred to as visualization, but it’s not limited to the visual. “The most effective imagery involves all five senses,” says Michael Gervais, Ph.D., a performance psychologist in Los Angeles who has worked with numerous professional athletes and teams. What are you smelling, hearing, feeling? “You should be so immersed in a mental image that it seems as if it is actually happening,” he says.
Be the star, not the audience. To engage in your practice fully, “imagine performing the activity from your own perspective,” says Seabourne. Don’t watch yourself as if you’re viewing a movie.
Practice. “Effective mental imagery is not wishful thinking, nor is it brief moments of ‘seeing’ success,” says Gervais. Just as you can’t become a better speaker simply by reading a book on the subject, “the only way we get better at mental imagery is by practicing it,” says Tammy Miller, a speech coach in State College, Pennsylvania, and a speaker for Toastmasters International, a communication- and leadership-development nonprofit. The imagery should be so detailed that it takes almost as long to execute in your mind as it would take in real life. (Of course, if you’re getting ready for a marathon, you’ll probably want to work your way through just the tough spots.)
Write it down. If you really want to hone your efforts, put the story of how your feat will unfold in writing, says Kay Porter, Ph.D., a sports-psychology consultant and the author of The Mental Athlete.
16. Practice Self-Hypnosis.
“I can’t remember the last time I forgot something.…” That’s a common humorous and paradoxical statement you might have come across. But on a serious note, at times, we all feel that our memory is deteriorating. Given that the factors contributing to poor memory are many, (everyday stress, depression, and anxiety, for example), you can “employ” specific techniques to sharpen your memory. For example, self-hypnosis can help you to let go of the mental blocks that might be preventing you from recalling things precisely, thus helping you to improve memory. It has been established in many cases that accessing blocked memory is possible and one hundred percent successful through hypnosis! Often misunderstood conceptually, both hypnosis and self-hypnosis are the same thing…hypnotizing the “self”; the difference lies in the techniques/procedure…either someone with the required expertise is helping you to reach that trance-like state, or you are employing and practicing techniques to achieve it on yourself!
The following are the steps required to perform any successful self-hypnosis as recommended by selfhypnosistalk.com.
Step #1: Relax Yourself
Sit down/ recline comfortably.
Close your eyes and breathe in deeply to relax.
Take all your concentration to your toes, hold it there for some time, and then slowly work your way upwards through your legs, hips, abdomen, chest, neck… to your head.
While you do what is mentioned above, imagine that each of the muscle groups are getting relaxed (you can silently say to yourself “my toes are relaxed now, so are my calf muscles, my arms are relaxed now…” and so on for each part of your body as you move upwards).
Start counting backwards from ten to zero slowly. As you count, visualize yourself going down a flight of stairs.
As you reach “zero,” you are likely to find yourself in a light trance.