(by Tania Kotsos)

Creative visualization is the fundamental technique underlying reality creation. It is the process of using your thought power to consciously imagine, create and attract to yourself that which you choose to experience in your life. Mastering creative visualization grants you direct control over your thoughts at the subconscious level. While there are several ways to programme the subconscious mind, visualization is the most effective and its results the most rapid.

The visualization techniques outlined here will enable you to harness the creative power of your thoughts to change your circumstances and consciously choose the life you create. There are five basic steps to visualizing your choices for reality creation: Relax – Imagine – Feel – Believe – Detach. Click on each step to learn more.

Step 1 – Relax: The first step is to relax your body and empty your mind. Find a comfortable seat, sit upright, breathe deeply and steadily, count down slowly from 25 to 1 while relaxing all your muscle groups from head to toe. Empty your mind by focusing on your breathing.

Step 2 – Imagine: The second step in the creative visualization process is learning to imagine your chosen outcome. Your imagination is the engine of your thoughts. It converts your thought power into mental images. Imagine your ideal reality in the present moment, bring your pictures to life as if watching a movie, concentrate your thoughts with laser like precision and indulge all your senses.

Step 3 – Feel: The third step is to really feel what it would feel like if you already had that which you have mentally chosen in the present physical moment. Where imagination is the engine of your thoughts, your feelings are the fuel. Your e-motions are energy in motion – they bring your images to life.

Step 4 – Believe: The fourth step is to believe that you already have your mental choices in the now. The words of Jesus Christ were clear on this in Mark 11:24, “What things soever you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them”. This is not about wishful thinking or lying to yourself. It is about knowing the scientific Truth behind reality creation and having the kind of faith that is the “evidence of things not seen”.

Step 5 – Detach: The fifth and final step in the creative visualization process cannot be emphasized enough – detachment. Detach yourself from the outcome you have chosen to see manifest in your life. Whenever you are attached to someone or something you effectively strip yourself of your authentic power to consciously create the life you choose. You cannot be grateful or feel unconditional love or enjoy peace of mind when you are attached to the unfolding of a specific outcome, so detach, detach, detach.

Practice is Key: You must practice, practice, practice. Set aside a time each day for your creative visualizations, preferably once in the morning upon waking and once in the evening before you go to sleep. Both these times are ideal as your mind is already in a semi-relaxed state. Once you have mastered this simple five step process you will see your life transforming in miraculous ways.

Getting On With It: Once you have completed the process, get on with the rest of your day. To bring yourself back to a normal waking state, simply continue to breathe deeply and rhythmically and count up from 1 to 5 consciously waking yourself from the relaxed state and slowly opening your eyes. Alternatively of course, if you are visualizing while in bed you can allow yourself to drift off to sleep.

Leave the How up to the Universe: The focus of your visualizations must be on the outcome, not the process. Once you accept the Truth about your thought power and that you are one with the One Universal Mind you will be able to release any need to control the process. Instructing the all-knowing Universe “how” you want things to come about is telling Omniscience that you know better.

Take Inspired Action: Although the creative visualization process is one based on relaxation, physical action is required to successfully manifest your mental choices. The key to taking action is to take only inspired action. This is not to sit and wait for the proverbial penny to drop and nor is it to run around in a frenzied state doing everything you can possibly think of doing in the hope that something works. It is about being calm and deliberate in the action you take, knowing that it is taking you toward your chosen outcome. It is about listening to your intuition and following your natural instinct.

The Mind Works With Feedback: The more feedback you give your mind the easier it is to accept and internalise a new concept. If you are new to the idea that you create your reality with your thoughts, then it is natural that your mind may demand some proof. It is a great leap of faith to go from the belief that “things just happen to me” to “I make things happen”. This is why it is best to start with something simple.

A favourite creative visualization exercise for beginners is to manifest a blue feather as in Richard Bach’s book Illusions. Using the basic visualization steps, imagine a blue feather. Then think about it as often as you can for a day or two without obsessing over manifesting it. You will find that you will experience a blue feather in some way in your physical world within a very short period of time. Have fun with the process. Persevere but if you do not see your feather, let it go and come back to it later rather than become frustrated.

The more you experiment like this and succeed in manifesting simple things, the more the synapses will fire in your brain, creating a solid belief around the truth that you create your reality. Once you believe it in practice and not just in theory, then you are pretty much home free to create anything you choose.

In a nutshell, creative visualization is the fundamental process underlying your innate ability to consciously create your ideal reality. The five steps you must master in visualizing is to relax, imagine, feel and believe you already have that which you have mentally chosen and then detach from it. After you have completed the visualization process, preferably twice a day, get on with the rest of your day. Leave the how up to the all-knowing Universal Mind and commit yourself to taking inspired action towards your chosen outcome.

(for more info on Creating Reality check www.mind-your-reality.com)

There is little doubt that the quality of our thoughts and intentions affect the quality of our lives. Even scientists, over the last few years, have proven unequivocally that our thoughts affect our bodies—our brain, heart, immune system and even our genes. But our intentions also affect everything around us; the quality of our intentions affects the quality of our life circumstances.

It is the place within us that these intentions come from that is important. Intentions rooted in love and appreciation bring about positive changes—both to a person’s health and their life circumstances. In fact, scientific studies have shown that if you feel genuine care and compassion for a person, you boost your own immune system, protecting you from harmful microforms.

They found this during studies carried out to test salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), which is part of the immune system found in the saliva. Large amounts of s-IgA indicate a strong immune system whereas small amounts indicate a weakened system. During studies it was found that just five minutes of ‘caring and compassionate’ thoughts elevated a persons immune system for five hours, whereas five minutes of ‘angry and frustration’ thoughts lowers their immune system for the same amount of time. These finding have massive implications because they show that our thoughts have a direct impact upon our health. In a real sense, too, it could be suggested that appreciation of your gift of life boosts your immunity to life’s microforms, i.e. ‘negative’ life circumstances.

Although, there are no negative circumstances, only circumstances that we label as negative. It is only our way of looking at things that labels them as either positive or negative and once we label them our thoughts about them affect how we feel. So the power to feel good is within us, right now. It’s down to how we choose to look at things.

Scientific studies show this quite clearly too. Say a person is running late for an appointment. The mental and emotional stress of their lateness causes biochemical changes in their body—elevates stress hormone levels, speeds up the aging process and even changes their genes. But it’s not being late, but instead, the meaning attached to being late that causes these biochemical changes. Simply being late does nothing to the body or to life. But the meaning attached to it does.

So, for our own sake, we need to learn to accept life circumstances. This way we don’t label things as negative and so don’t introduce ourselves to stress, and instead, introduce ourselves to happiness. One of the best ways to do this is to stop dwelling on the past, stop worrying about the future, stop waiting until things are different, better, or improved, and instead, appreciate all that happens during each moment of our gift of life.

Taken from the book New Beginnings by Sandy Newbigging.

Sandy Newbigging is a life coach, author and trainer. Questions or comments email to info@sandynewbigging.com. Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,

Click here to view the embedded video.

Please share this beautiful “WE ARE ALL ONE” message given by native American Indian Elders.

Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,

Solar Cooking Anybody?

Camping this summer? Then get rid of that old kerosene cooker and replace it with a solar-powered oven that is perfect for baking goodies or slow-cooking stews. After just an hour in full sun, The Hot Pot Solar Cooker can be used for six hours and can reach temperatures of up to 400 degrees. Now this is what we call, roughing it!

What is Solar Cooking?

Solar cooking is a method of cooking food and boiling water using only the power of the sun and a solar oven or solar cooker. Solar cookers use no other fuel source except for the energy emitted from the sun.

Solar cookers concentrate the sun’s energy using various techniques such as the box, parabolic or trough design. All these designs in essence do the same job in that they heat food or boil water by concentrating the Sun’s energy onto a pot filled with food or water.

Solar cooking can be used to cook almost any kind of food, pasteurize water (water heated to 65C – safe to drink). The process of solar pasteurization kills 99% of the germs present in contaminated water.

The popularity of solar cooking is increasing in many market sectors, in particular the 3rd World where daily cooking for many requires fire, fuel gathering and frequent attention to food being cooked and the added cost of buying in conventional fuels such as coal, firewood or fossil fuels is forcing people to recognize the advantages and benefits of Solar Cooking.

Over 2 billion people, a third of the world’s population, rely on wood-fuelled fires to cook food. Of these people, around 500 million frequently encounter fuel shortages yet live in ideal climates for solar cooking”, says Kevin Porter of Solar Cookers International (SCI).

First World countries are now starting to embrace solar cooking. The camping sector is also recognizing that solar cooking offers a viable, alternative and fun way of cooking food in the wilderness without having any impact on the Environment.

With the rise in oil prices, supposed depletion of fossil fuels and the ‘peak oil crisis’ affecting us all, it is only a matter of time before solar cooking hits the mainstream and people start embracing this technology as a means of alternative energy and sustainable living.

Oil prices are starting to spiral out of control and ‘peak oil’ is now impacting on all of us.

Now is the time for us to start embracing abundant energy sources such as the power of the Sun and encourage the use of devices like the Solar Cooker, which capture such abundant sources of energy. Thus offering the opportunity for us all to have a free and sustainable means of living.

(by Rob from SolReka.com, March 2008)

Will this be your next barbecue with friends?

“Habit is a cable. We weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.” –Horace Mann

While intelligent human beings are capable of thinking skillfully, it is their habits of mind that provides the fuel to activate strategic thinking. In order to engage skillfully in problem solving, decision making, or knowledge generation, they must possess be disposed and inclined to manage their impulsivity, display empathy, be inquisitive and persistent. Habits of mind provide the dispositions necessary to do the skillful thinking.

Research in effective thinking and intelligent behavior by many authors  indicates that there are identifiable characteristics of effective thinkers. These are not necessarily scientists, artists, mathematicians or the wealthy that demonstrate these behaviors. These characteristics have been identified in successful mechanics, teachers, entrepreneurs, salespeople, and parents-people in all walks of life.

Habits of mind transcend all subject matter commonly taught in school. They are developmental qualities that are never completely mastered and therefore are applicable to adults as well as students. Thus they can become infused in the culture, values and norms of the entire community. While there is not a finite number, the following list provides sixteen examples to illustrate what is meant by habits of mind.

* Persisting

* Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision

* Managing impulsivity

* Gathering data through all senses

* Listening with understanding and empathy

* Creating, imagining, innovating

* Thinking flexibly

* Responding with wonderment and awe

* Thinking about thinking (metacognition)

* Taking responsible risks

* Striving for accuracy

* Finding humour

* Questioning and posing problems

* Thinking interdependently

* Applying past knowledge to new situations

* Remaining open to continuous learning

Towards A New Vision: Learning to Behave Intelligently

These habits of mind may serve as mental disciplines. When confronted with problematic situations, intelligent people habitually employ one or more of these habits of mind by asking themselves, “What is the most intelligent thing I can do right now?”

*”How can I learn from this, what are my resources, how can I draw on my past successes with problems like this, what do I already know about the problem, what resources do I have available or need to generate?”

*”How can I approach this problem flexibly? How might I look at the situation in another way, how can I draw upon my repertoire of problem solving strategies; how can I look at this problem from a fresh perspective?”

*”How can I illuminate this problem to make it clearer and more precise? Do I need to check out my data sources? How might I break this problem down into its component parts and develop a strategy for understanding and accomplishing each step?”

*”What do I know or not know; what questions do I need to ask, what strategies are in my mind now, what am I aware of in terms of my own beliefs, values and goals with this problem? What feelings or emotions am I aware of which might be blocking or enhancing my progress?”

*”How does this problem affect others? Who else might I turn to for assistance? How can we solve it together and what can I learn from others that would help me become a better problem solver?”

SUMMARY

The archaic concept of intelligence connotes a state of being. Either you have “it” or you don’t. It assumes that if you don’t have “it”, no amount of effort will ever help you acquire “it”. This article suggests that instead we examine those learnable, teachable patterns of behaviors that describe intelligent action which, when practiced over time, can become habituated.

Children develop cognitive strategies and effort-based beliefs about their intelligence when they are continually pressed to raise questions and to accept challenges, to find solutions that are not immediately apparent, to explain concepts, justify their reasoning, and seek information. The goal of education, therefore, should be to liberate and develop more fully these habits of mind and the skills associated with them. When we hold children accountable for this kind of intelligent behavior, they take it as a signal that we think they are smart, and they come to accept this judgment. The paradox is that children become smart by being treated as if they already are intelligent.

Drawn from research on human effectiveness, descriptions of remarkable performers, and analysis of the characteristics of efficacious people, twelve examples habits of mind were elaborated. They are characteristic of peak performers whether they be in homes, schools, athletic fields, the military, governments, churches or corporations. They are what make marriages successful, learning continual, workplaces productive and democracies enduring.

Some students identified as “gifted” are reluctant to take risks; they lack flexibility, are poor listeners, prefer to work in solitude and are quick to jump to conclusions. Some students deemed “slow” however, are often insightful, venturesome, humorous, wondrous and exploratory. Neither labels, genetics, test scores nor numbers of right answers can adequately define intelligence. Rather, it is being in the habit of applying skillful thinking to perplexing problem situations.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” –Aristotle

Admin’s Note: As Habits of Mind are becoming increasingly implemented into education we can expect in a decade or more new generation that will be more capable in dealing with their life challenges. However, it is something that every person can apply in creating better and more meaningful life.

If trees could talk, this would likely be the first thing they’d say. Why?

We marketers now have unlimited resources to convey our messages and actively promote our products & services…for FREE and WITHOUT DEPENDENCE ON PAPER!

But do we? No. We print Sunday newspapers that house droves of paper coupons…99.2% of which get tossed. Junk mail piles into our mailboxes before its inevitable transfer to the trash bin. The paper waste examples seem limitless.

I’m not a ‘tree hugger’, but I have heard a lot about rain forests getting wiped out…the same forests that deliver my daily oxygen (something I like having around). But back to business…

For a time, we had a good excuse for not shifting away from paper for marketing purposes. The internet was new. Websites were static. Social media had not yet evolved. Today however, the game has changed. we now know that Social Media is (and will continue to) rapidly replace traditional paper-dependent mass media. The genie has left the bottle and it won’t be going back. Websites are highly interactive now in version 2.0 and high tech advancements will continue to advance marketing opportunities along rapidly. Social Media and Networking creates self-aggregated groups (loyal to a common affinity) and new opportunities marketers have only dreamed about.

Traditional ‘Targeted Marketing’ & ‘Loyalty Marketing‘ strategists are just beginning to realize the power of Social Media (what we termed ‘Conversational Currency’). They will eventually realize far greater consumer traction through peer-to-peer conversational engagement. And yes, the inevitable deployment of loyalty incentives that don’t rely on anything paper.

When this happens…and it will…the trees will rejoice (albeit quietly). Tell me what you think…let’s engage in conversational currency.

Join the world’s largest mind-over-matter experiments!

“The Intention Experiment is an extraordinary advance in our understanding of consciousness as a field of all possibilities where intention orchestrates it own fulfilment. If you want to empower yourself and use the laws of intention to manifest your material reality, read this book.” – Deepak Chopra, author of Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment

The Intention Experiment is the first book not only to synthesize the scientific evidence about human intention, but also the first to explain how to use this power in one’s life, individually and collectively. The Intention Experiment is a groundbreaking exploration of the science of intention. It is also the first book to invite you, the reader, to take an active part in its original research with the aid of a team of highly experienced scientists who number among the world’s most prestigious investigators into consciousness research.

Become a part of scientific history!

Using The Intention Experiment website to coordinate your involvement and track results, you and other participants around the world will focus your power of intention on specific targets, giving you the opportunity to become a part of scientific history. The Intention Experiment forces you to rethink what it is to be human. That discovery demands that we pay better attention to our thoughts, intentions, and actions. McTaggart’s book shows you how you can.

Visit for more info: http://www.theintentionexperiment.com/

My Garden, said the bird. “I sing and splash in the birdbath and drink the cool water. I eat the seeds that appear like magic.”

And the caterpillar says, “My garden. I have all that I want to eat and there are plenty of places to lay my eggs after I become a butterfly.”

Our dog, Angel, says, “My garden. I chase the cat that walks along the top of the fence, and I lay on the cool grass as I rub my nose in the dirt.”

My Garden, says the Birch tree, as she lowers her branches toward the flowers below, standing proudly silent, welcoming the sparrows and the yellow finches to rest on her branches.

And the proud owners say, “My garden,” as they sit quietly, admiring the beauty that emanates through and around them, ever the same, yet ever changing.

They Listen, as the chattering of the birds harmonize with the fountain that gently bubbles and reflects the wispy clouds above.

What food for the soul. What lasting peace that lingers and gives strength to each day in … My Garden.

Poem by Stuart R. Wisong

Research From Dr. Masaru Emoto, says that human thoughts are directed at water before it is frozen, images of the resulting water crystals will be beautiful or ugly depending upon whether the thoughts were positive or negative. Emoto claims this can be achieved through prayer, music or by attaching written words to a container of water. Since 1999 Emoto has published several volumes of a work titled Messages from Water, which contains photographs of water crystals next to essays and “words of intent”.

Let’s choose our  thoughts wisely for better world!