Currently viewing the tag: "The New You in 2022"

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor

Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the ninth month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #10: Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

Here is something to remember today: Energy always flows to where our attention goes.

You can see this in the following example: Your friend stops by to chat. Before long, a juicy morsel of gossip is mentioned. Does it stop there? Nope. Another comment is made about the person who is being gossiped about and then another and another. Pretty soon, 20 minutes of gossiping has transpired, and the conversation has all been moving in a negative direction. It’s not that you meant to be vindictive, but your attention, which was on the flow of gossip, gathered speed and intensity—and “Once you flow, on you go!”

Here’s another example: You have just received notice of an inheritance. In a few weeks, you will be wealthier than you ever imagined. You begin to see what you will do with the money: the new house, car, vacations, travel, all that you could possibly desire. You are focusing on delight, joy, and pleasure. As you do, more and more delights enter your mind. Again, you can see that energy flows where attention goes.

It’s vitally important that you watch your own mind. It can have a party without inviting you! When you begin to watch what you think, you will become excited over the fact that you can change that flow of thought at any time. You have the power and all the tools at your disposal. Use them often and miracles will occur.

Before beginning today’s work, go to your quiet space and do your “Twenty Minutes a Day” visualization exercise. What do you want your future to look like? Remember, energy flows where attention goes. Place your attention on good things, on success and joy. Settle yourself by taking several deep breaths. Relax. Get out your mind’s movie camera and picture yourself having the life you desire.

Feel the excitement you will have. Feel the power in knowing you have control over what you desire. Feel the energy flowing through you that empowers you with confidence and well-being. Allow yourself the freedom of anticipation and the knowing that you are much, much closer to the “you” you see yourself becoming.

It’s December 2022. These past 10 months, you’ve been on a journey with me, with The Catoctin Banner, and with yourself. We are grateful for your readership. We are hopeful of the future as we manifest and create even better versions of ourselves in the moments, days, months, and years to come. I provide counseling on this topic, so please feel free to get in touch with me at TerrysWildDivine@gmail.com

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor

Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the ninth month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #9: Your Own Reality TV Show

This amazingly powerful process is one in which you can involve the whole family. The more energy focused on the perfect you (and more than one family member can strive to become the best “you” they can), the better. Think about it. Your family definitely has an interest in your perfection. If you’re happy and prosperous, everyone else benefits too. No one enjoys a “grump” arriving home every evening, complaining about his or her day, wishing things were better and having no energy to enjoy the evening with the rest of the family.

Here’s how you can get everyone involved and have fun at the same time. Create your own reality TV show by getting a large piece of cardboard—your new TV screen—or even one for each person. Collect newspapers, magazines, and catalogs you get in the mail. Choose pictures (or draw) and words that exemplify what you want your life to contain when you reach perfection.

What will you do with that perfect income as a family? Go on family vacations, find the new house, build a swimming pool in the backyard, buy a boat for weekend getaways, plan a trip to someplace new, even a trip around the world!

Find those pictures or words and put them on your new TV screen.

Kids can place their own desires on their very own picture board. They may envision a new bike, computer, tent and camping equipment, soccer camp—whatever they want—they can cut out the pictures and place them on their own picture board. Include empowering words cut from newspaper headlines, magazines, and catalogs.

I guarantee that once you begin this exercise, ideas will flow and grow.

Kids are great at this! There are no individuals more faith-filled than children. We can learn much from them. Have your children find or draw pictures of what it means to them for you to find the perfect you, and you do the same for them. This might mean a picture of eating breakfast with family; coming home each evening smiling with energy to spare for playing a game of catch; or even driving a cool, new car. If each evening you all bring out your magazines, catalogs, and photos to create your picture boards, the air will begin to thicken with joy, anticipation, and faith. As a family, you will begin to create powerful experiences and habits that will change your lives. This version of a reality show is bound to bring you all closer together. Forget the nightly zoning-out in front of the tube. Get out your picture boards and create the lives you want. What a gift to give a child. What a gift to give to yourself.

Affirmation:

I have unlimited choices about what I think. The right choices for me come easily. The Universe supports every thought I choose to think and believe. I choose harmony; I choose happiness; I choose abundance and prosperity.

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor

Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the eighth month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #8: It’s A Love Song, Baby!

As a teenager, I remember my mother saying, “You’d better change your tune, young lady!” I knew what she meant; she meant I was displeasing her in some way, and I had better get a new attitude—fast! Expressions like this are often handed down through generations. I would guess that my mother had heard it as a child from her parents.

I want to propose a very pleasant, and perhaps new, thought about how to “change your tune.” This practice helps tremendously in creating a loving and compassionate version of ourselves. It boosts our self-image and brings lightheartedness to our days.

Here’s what you do. Take the words of a love song like “A Groovy Kind of Love” by the Mindbenders, and wherever the word “you” is used in the song, substitute the word “me” in its place. Or use the Beatles song, “And I Love Her,” and replace “her” with “me.” I began this love song exercise after hearing about it at a motivational seminar many years ago. Ever since then, I giggle every time I sing a love song to me. It just feels so good! I love to sing love songs to myself. It’s also become a challenging game to find new love songs to substitute the “you” with “me.”

Why should you sing love songs to yourself? Well, first of all, why not? We absolutely must love ourselves. Until we do, how the heck can we expect anyone else to? Besides, we are magnificent in all our glory and individuality. We are wonderful beyond compare. One of my most favorite love songs to me is “You Are The Sunshine of My Life.” Wherever there’s a “you,” I replace it with “I,” and I cannot tell you how high I get wailing away this song on my morning walks.

This is not about ego or puffing up our image to others. It’s about a healthy relationship with that magnificent being that is you. That one-of-a-kind, made-to-perfection, can’t-get-enough-of-you, you. I can tell you this for certain, kids love this game. What a wonderful thing to teach them. It’s infectious. So, sing, baby! You will be surprised, and pleasantly so, at how your feelings about yourself change for the better. Find that perfect love song to sing to you, and sing it every day!

And the Winner Is YOU!

Here’s an amazing reason to sing your praises loud and clear. Let’s go back to the beginning—yours. You were a winner from the get-go. Think about this, an average ejaculation contains 40 to 150 million sperm, out of which only a few hundred will even come close to the egg. While it’s technically true that sperm can last for five days, most sperm will only last about two hours if they do not have fertile-quality conditions. Conceivably (pun intended), sperm will struggle to swim up to the uterus, use all their reserves, and not make it in time.

The egg typically lives only about 12 hours, so it cannot wait for long. Can you begin to see how extraordinarily miraculous you are? Right from the beginning, you were a winner, a gift of the most precious kind, representing the strongest swimmer, the most fertile egg, the one with the most health and vitality. Tenacity was your game. Isn’t it time for you to begin treating yourself with the highest and utmost respect? You are a magnificent miracle. You were no accident.

There is a tremendous power within you, and there is going to come a time—a precious, golden “Aha!” moment—when the knowledge of this power truly hits home. When it does (and I wish I could be there), I guarantee that you will never be the same. That epiphany, that knowing beyond all you’ve ever known, is when you begin taking responsibility for the outcome of your existence—in all areas.

This, my friend, whether you know it or not, is what you have been waiting for all of your life. This is the happiness that abides within you. This is why you are here, to create the life you desire with all the abundance, prosperity, joy, and delicious delight that you deserve. There are some who simply cannot handle this power. Those who feel the need to blame others for their misfortunes probably have not even read this far, so I know I am now talking only to those of you who are ready for this knowledge. I am talking to the magnificent you—the you who plants seeds of positive thought, then waters and nurtures those seeds until they bloom in splendid glory.

There is no block to your happiness, except in your own thoughts. That goes for memories, too. Each time we recall an incident, we give it power. For some, recalling their entire lives and how many things have made them unhappy is what they are consistently thinking about. Remember, your subconscious gives back to you what you plant. Choose to plant happiness. Choose to plant health. Choose to plant wealth. Choose to move beyond where you are now!

Keep the Faith, Baby!

In The Principles of Psychology by William James, published in 1890, he devotes his longest chapter, “The Consciousness of Self,” to Faith. He felt that the greatest discovery of the 19th century was the power of the subconscious mind touched by Faith. Faith is an absolute and necessary component to the process of seeing the outcome and living as if it were already your reality. Faith is that deepest of all knowing—you know because you know. No one, no thing, no experience can move you from your rock of Faith once you have acquired it. It is the most powerful of all the tools to success in any area of your life.

The Grand Slam in tennis, the four most prestigious tournaments in a year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. Winning all four in a calendar year is called the Grand Slam. Until Faith becomes a Grand Slam, know you may have a tennis match going on in your head until you get comfortable with this new habit. At first, it’s going to seem as if you are trying to fool yourself. Those thoughts are the monkeys of doubt coming in to distract you. Tell them to move on.

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor

Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the sixth month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #6: “D” Day

This month, every day is “D” day: D for determination; D for daredevil; D for dazzle, desire, and deliriously optimistic; D for dialing; D for drumming up business!

Today, you get on the phone. This activity is called networking and should be viewed as something akin to a political campaign. Whether you’re seeking a new job, selling a business venture, or scoring new friends, you need to be revved up for success.

Ever seen a grumpy, tired politician out stomping the trail or one with a defeatist attitude? Nope. They are pumped and ready for action. Politicians are in it to win it and project that winning attitude all the time. They hit the ground running, flash those charismatic smiles, shake those hands while looking people squarely in the eye, and hug those babies as if they were their own. They have a game plan and they are working it.

This day is for making everyone on your list aware that you are making changes; that the lifestyle you held previously is no longer a challenge, and you are seeking to use skills you have not previously been able to use to your full potential or you need a referral for someone.

While you may be tempted to use email to get in touch with your contact list, I strongly urge you not to. First, you want to have your contacts hear that wonderfully strong and powerful voice and head off at the pass any notion that you may be depressed or full of complaints.

Second, regardless of the wonderful technology and ease of email communication, email communiqués run the risk of being misinterpreted or dumped into the spam folder. Yours is too important a message to take any chances of misinterpretation or getting lost on its way to your contact. You may not be selling anything in your networking. You may just be supporting your friends and, in doing so, becoming a better human for yourself.

Third, the spontaneity of a phone call has a better chance of receiving the spontaneity of a positive response, particularly with those people with whom you are not in constant communication. You really want the surprise factor on your side.

Often, what we refer to as gut feelings, hunches, or messages from the Universe are prompted by a spontaneous remark or action. During a spontaneous phone conversation, there’s little time for the mind to interfere by laying down its rules and structures—something the mind loves to do.

You’re ON!

Today, you are going to use that wonderful personality of yours to your advantage. In part, your personality is how others perceive you. Your personality is something you develop over time. That makes it somewhat harder to change spontaneously. Just like we do not have to tell our hearts to beat, we do not have to get up each day and tell ourselves to have a personality. It’s always there ready and waiting for us to use in our interaction with others.

You are definitely going to be interacting today. Since we each have our unique way of communicating our personality, I am hesitant to write your phone script for you. You do need one, however, so I have provided some guidelines to go along with your original way of delivering them. Your script should contain: (1) a cheery hello and introduction; (2) asking the person you’ve called if it’s a good time to talk; (3) the reason for calling—networking for a job, looking for a new place to live, need a referral for something, or checking in on a friend; (4) a request to keep his or her eyes and ears open for you or your promise of the same for the person you’ve called; (5) your contact information; (6) a request for the person’s contact information if you are missing something—don’t forget email address; (7) a request for permission to email if you need to do so; (8) a sincere thank you.

Now, how do you say, “I’m out of a job, can you help?” or “I have an idea for a business. Can I bounce it off you?” or “I’ve been thinking about you and wanted to reach out to see how you’re doing.”

Consider lines something like this: “I am exploring new frontiers in finding a new job.”; “I have much more to offer than my last job allowed, and it’s liberating to be free to look;” “I now have the opportunity to find a job that is more of a match for my skill set;” “I’ve been thinking about you.”

Whatever you decide to use, make sure that it empowers you and supports your positive state of mind.

This day is going to be wildly productive and you are about to be positively amazing! Think of all the networking you will be initiating today. The ball will be rolling after that first call and that life change for you will be closer than ever.

Power Affirmations to Your Perfect Life

Affirmations are great. They remind us of what we want and what we don’t want. Below are some to use or modify to your purpose.

1. The past is over. I have no control over what used to be. I am free to create a new future and a new reality—one that brings me joy, prosperity, and happiness. I am in charge. I move forward with confidence and trust in my abilities. I am a powerful, mighty oak.

2. Today, I free myself from fear. I dismiss anything that would hold me back from my birthright of happiness, abundance, and prosperity. I am a perfect and magnificent being capable of astounding things.

3. Today, I allow nothing to concern me. I am free to create. My future is positively glorious, and I relax in the knowledge that all is well in my world. I say, “Get out of here” to all negative thoughts and feelings. No person or thing has any power over me. I am fearless.

4. My future is positively glorious! All is well in my world, and joyful people and experiences surround me. My perfect future is already moving toward me. My perfect future contains all that I love to do.

5. My mind is a rich and fertile garden. I now plant incredible ideas to help me create the perfect life for myself. I am smart, savvy, and possess the skills others seek. I am open to receiving new avenues of income.

6. I am deserving of all that is good and prosperous. I am an unlimited being in an unlimited Universe with an unlimited imagination for all things good. All things good find their way to me easily. I am inspired to clearly see all my options and to choose only those that allow me to be the person I am meant to be.

7. I am creating brand new habits. These habits replace any negative or fear-filled thought patterns that I have hung onto. I am now a magnet for all things good and empowering.

8. Each moment presents another opportunity for me to change. Today, I am open to wonderful, new, and exciting opportunities. I see myself in my new job, successful and thriving. I move beyond past limitations in thought and action.

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor, Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the fourth month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #5: The “Hit” List

By the end of this Power Action, you will have set in motion a powerful wheel of potentially successful outcomes. You will have completed another stage in finding the perfect you. You will be closer than ever to the best you you’ve ever been!

Isn’t this exciting?

So, what is it that you desire? A new and much more lucrative position at work? A new home or a remodel on your existing one? Maybe you would like to lose weight or find a spa or gym that can help motivate you to better health. Whatever it is, there are those who have gone before you. People who have already found (via networking) what you are seeking.

In this exercise, you will create a database of names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of the people from all areas of your life to establish a list of those who will be tools in helping you find your desire. You probably already have lists to draw from in social media connections, friends, family, and neighbors. With this list, you’ll create “My Terrific List of Helpers” (or whatever you choose to call it).

One of my friends named her list “The Angel Network.” She felt so inspired by her visualization that her network had wings and saw each request “flying” to the perfect source. Maybe you will be equally inspired. Truth is, it doesn’t matter if your database has a name—it only matters that you create it!

Next, divide your list into friends, family, and business associates. A caution: family members and friends may not always be helpful, although I’m sure they want to be. If anyone you know has a history of being more of a naysayer than a cheerleader, do not add that person to your list.

Business associates are those people with whom you have, or have previously had, business dealings. Your dealings with these people can go back many years, even if you have not spoken to them in a while. These contacts can be recent or not so recent officemates, employees of any company you have worked for, clients, customers, fellow salespeople, your accountant, financial adviser, the kids’ track coach—anyone who is in a position to help you get the word out to a larger network.

This larger network is your database goal. The people who you will be calling all know other people. Think of everyone who could possibly serve as a positive contact. Try not to second-guess or limit yourself at this point. You really want to add anyone who could help you.

Friendly people in unrelated fields to yours often have contacts they are happy to share. People who work or volunteer their time at large organizations have wonderful “up-the-ladder” contacts and can be extremely helpful to you. You can always delete names from the list, but the idea is to get the name and contact information of everyone you can think of and put them on your list.

Oh, No! The Ego!

Just in case it’s rearing its adorable little head, let me briefly address that ego of yours. Yes, you have one, and that is a good thing. Just like fear, our ego is a safety mechanism that alerts us to physical, moral, and spiritual danger. Without a healthy ego, a person would become a doormat for the world to tread upon. Without our ego, we would have a pretty out-of-focus compass for right and wrong.

But our egos also can get in our way and keep us from accepting help. If the idea of calling people to ask for help is difficult for you, push aside your ego’s need to be in control. You do need help. Everyone does at times, and there is nothing weak about asking for and accepting help. In fact, allowing people to help you is one of the greatest gifts you can give to them. Not accepting help may be denying someone his or her good deed for the day.

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor, Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the fourth month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #4: Believing Is Seeing

Believing is seeing. No, I didn’t get it backward. If you want that perfect job, relationship, house, adventure, or anything else in your life, you must begin to plant the seeds.

The Seeds to a New You

• See the outcome in your mind.

• Believe that what you see will come to pass.

• Focus daily on what it is that you want and how you will feel once you acquire it.

At this point, you are not yet picturing what you have to do to acquire what you want, only how you will feel once you have it. Emotion matters greatly as we will soon see.

Using the three seeds above, begin to create a movie of how you will live once you have what you wish. You are the producer of this movie and have complete control over the direction in which this film will go. Be creative, and do not let those monkey-mind thoughts enter your script. Example: “I’ll never have enough money to start my own business.” Never is a very long time, so let’s get rid of that energy right now.

Take a piece of paper, and as precisely as you can, create the look, the feel, the atmosphere, the actual environment of that perfect movie outcome. That gorgeous new car with the heated leather steering wheel you have always wanted (don’t forget to imagine what color it will be.) That dream kitchen you have thought about for years. Be very specific about what the finished project will include. Write it all down, even to the type of coffee maker that you will have and the colors in window treatments.

This movie is a must-see, a visual feast starring you. Remember, you are seeing and feeling all the luxuries you want to have and that acquiring your dream will provide for you.

Next, take out that list of undesirable things you created in Power Action #2 in the March edition of The Catoctin Banner. After each item on the list, repeat out loud: “I will never see myself doing (fill in the blank) again.”

I suggest you perform this exercise every day. There is no longer any reason for you to do anything that does not allow your light to shine. Repeating this affirmation daily will reinforce to your subconscious mind that you are worthy of doing only those things that you desire to do.

Next, take out your “I Spy” list from last month, adding even more conditions that you want in your new future. After each one, say out loud (and with gusto), “I see myself happy, challenged, and thriving in my new job, relationship, house, car, or whatever your dream is. I see myself experiencing (list each “I Spy” item) _____________.”

Close your eyes and envision yourself doing and having all of the things on your “I Spy” list. See that dynamite sales team that you lead. See the colors in your new kitchen, the heated seats in your new car, the adventures on your bucket list. See that salary you want in your career. Draw a blank check on a clean sheet of paper and fill in the desired annual income that you want. Make copies of this check and place them all over the spaces in which you currently live. Put a check in the bathroom, on the fridge; put one in your wallet and one next to your computer. Put one of these checks next to your bed and look at it before you go to sleep. Imagine how you will feel when that salary is achieved, that car is in your garage, and that new updated kitchen is done. Imagine how you will feel accomplishing what you desire!

Affirmation: I am deserving of all that is good, prosperous, and healthy. I am an unlimited being in an unlimited Universe with an unlimited imagination for all things good. All things good find their way to me easily. I am inspired to clearly see all my options and to choose only those that allow me to be the person I am meant to be.

Caution, Monkey Mind Ahead!

Here’s a great idea: Don’t believe everything you think! Negative thoughts will come calling, but you can change this. Be sure that you think about what you want, not what you don’t want. Some people get turned around with this. They think thoughts like, “How am I going to live without that job or that person?” or “How am I going to get out of debt?”

These are very emotional subjects. When you focus on something with emotion (joy, fear, confusion, despair), the subconscious acts even more quickly to bring you more of what you are focusing on. Change those thoughts to, “I see myself having all I need at the moment,” or “Today is the day of my most amazing good fortune!” Add emotion to your positive thoughts and powerful things will happen.

Remember, the goal of your subconscious is not to tell you what is a right (positive) or wrong (negative) thought. Its sole goal, now and forever, is to grow the seeds (thoughts) that you plant. Remember, you are creating a brand-new habit. It may take a few days of practice, but I promise the monkeys of doubt will soon disappear. It is very important to remember that you are in control of your thoughts. No one else is in that head of yours. It’s all you!

I assure you that I understand you might be overwhelmed at times, even while reading these words. Scary thoughts may be trying to get your attention.

Each time one of those undermining thoughts pops up, replace it with, “I am in control of my destiny. I am creating a brand-new life for my family and myself. I am free to become all that I was meant to be. Thank you, (past job or individual’s name), for allowing me the opportunity to grow beyond what you thought I was capable of becoming. My destiny is nothing short of miraculous.” 

It’s a good idea to print this out (or create your own powerful affirmation) and put it on the ceiling over your bed, so you see it when you wake up. Lying there before your day begins, imagine all that you were meant to be and start each day with a positive expectant feeling.

Place a copy of this affirmation everywhere, on your forehead if necessary, anywhere to surround yourself with these positive thoughts. They are your partners in your success. Positive thinking is a habit. Imagining all things good is a habit. As humans, we sometimes tend to think the worst, especially when we are faced with fear, and losing unhealthy emotional patterns can feel scary. After all, change can be daunting. But, I promise, if you begin to replace those negative and fearful thoughts with positive input, and constantly repeat them, you will establish a new habit—one that will serve you very well as we move through this adventure together. 

Adventure? Did she say adventure? Oh yeah, baby, and the adventure continues!

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor

Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the third month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Power Action #3: I Spy

Do you know that game that children play where they spy something red or bigger than a cow or something green that you eat? Well, this power action #3 is the adult version.

This month, using that same legal pad or notebook you used last month (don’t throw away that list of things you never want to do again just yet), you are going to “spy” the things you want in your new life. You are going to spy (imagine) your dream job, your perfect relationships, the places and spaces where you feel at home.

List them as fast as they come. Do not try to think anything through at this point. What you want to create is a free flow of thoughts as they come to mind. Make them short and sweet.

Here are a few examples, but you create whatever it is that you desire.

•   I spy a better-paying position than my previous/current job (be sure to

     spy that paycheck amount).

•   I spy excellent health benefits.

•   I spy a 36-hour week…or less!

•   I spy working from home.

•   I spy an incredible loving and caring relationship.

•   I spy travel.

•   I spy fun in my work and in my life.

•   I spy contentment.

•   I spy the feeling of abundance of love, money, safety, and opportunity.

•   I spy a great connection with the world around me.

Whatever you want and can imagine having, regardless of how impossible you think it will be to achieve, write it down. Do not edit or second-guess yourself by thinking it is impossible. Do not stop to correct spelling. This is not a business report and no one but you will see it. Nothing is too big or unrealistic for you to spy.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

                                                                          —Albert Einstein

Now imagine that huge, fertile garden with rich, loamy soil. Each thing that you want in your new life is a seedling being planted. Imagine yourself as the gardener, carefully tucking in the plants of your thoughts, patting the soil around them as you go down the rows. You are in control of your seedlings—your thoughts. You are a Master Gardener, tending to your precious desires.

It’s spring…time to prepare and plant the new you!

Affirmation:

My mind is a rich and fertile garden. I now plant incredible ideas to help create the perfect life for me. I am smart and savvy and possess the skills others seek. I am open to receiving new avenues of income, social events, relationships, and adventure.

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor

Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the second month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items, and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

Today, I am encouraging you to vent—quietly, please.

Quietly venting is actually a healthy activity. It allows you to focus on all the things you are not content with. I encourage this exercise no matter what is causing you to be unhappy. Knowing what you don’t want allows you to clear the way for what you do want.

Life has a way of putting us in positions that cause us to make choices. Choices are wonderful. We love choices. But, having too many choices coming at us at one time can create an overload. At times, we look back and realize that if we had thought a bit more about a particular choice, we just might not have chosen it. Although there is no going back, you do have the option not to make that choice again.

Find a comfortable place to relax. Get out a pencil or pen and your legal pad or notebook. Begin writing down everything you dislike about your life. I mean everything! No one but you is ever going to see this, so vent, vent, and vent some more. Nothing is too big or too small. This is your wish list in reverse. Write down everything you never want to do again.

The point of this exercise is to plant in your subconscious the seeds of what you want in your new perfect life. You may not know what that perfect life is yet, but because it will be perfect, you sure know what you don’t want it to contain.

Let the things you dislike flow out of you onto your paper. They will come very quickly at first because some things will immediately come to mind—that nagging boss, the work you had to bring home at night, an awful commute, a lemon of a car, the archaic computer that crashes three times a week—whatever they are, write them down. You just might want to begin recording notes in your phone throughout these processes. It is an invaluable tool.

You, Your Partner in Success

What is the true meaning of a successful life? Some might answer a million dollars; others, the ability to travel around the world. Perhaps your answer is a prestigious job or the perfect relationship or family. I think if we all really drilled down, we would agree that having a life of sustained peace, joy, and happiness would be considered a successful one.

But remember, all tangibles are easily lost. The million bucks, the ability to travel, the job—are all external items outside our control. Peace, joy, and happiness come from within ourselves, and if we understand that we are in control of those things, we really can have it all.

Your Treasure House

There are two levels or parts to your mind: the conscious and the subconscious.

We think consciously. As long as we are awake, thoughts stream through our consciousness. Scientists say we have more than 10,000 thoughts per day, but we often don’t pay attention to what we are thinking. I’m sure you have had this happen. For example, you begin thinking about what to have for supper. All of a sudden, your thoughts have taken you down memory lane to something your grandmother cooked for you years ago.

You began with a problem to solve, “What’s for supper?” and ended with tears in your eyes, as you fondly recall your grandmother who has long passed. How did you get there and what were all the thoughts in between?

Imagine trying to remember every single thought you had today before you drift off to sleep. It would not be possible. Furthermore, many people are unaware that they have any control over their thoughts at all. Thoughts can run through our heads like naughty children who won’t listen.

Your subconscious is the creative part of your mind. It is the control tower, directing flights (conditions in your life) in and out of your life experience—every day, all day, your entire life long. It listens to you with complete and total attention, and whatever you demand it to do, it does.

Working together, the conscious and the subconscious are your most precious assets, your treasure house of infinite possibilities.

The best way for me to explain the interactive workings of these two parts of your mind is to have you visualize a garden. Your consciousness plants the seeds and your subconscious is the fertile soil, the water, the sun, and the necessary conditions for your seeds to grow.

Your thoughts are the seeds of your conscious mind; the fertile soil of the subconscious is where they take root and grow.

Whatever you consistently think about in the conscious mind seeps down into the garden of the subconscious and begins to flourish and grow. If you habitually think fearful, negative, and unhappy thoughts, your subconscious will grow more of those. If you consistently think happy, positive, and joyful thoughts, that is what your subconscious mind will grow more of for you.

Your mind is the genie of your universe, and you know what that genie says…“Your wish is my command!” This is a very important lesson. Once you understand how your thoughts create your conditions and experiences, you will have the power to literally change your life.

Once you’ve written down all of those things you dislike in your life, it’s time to pay attention to how often you think about those things, and when you do, change your focus to what you DO want in your life.

The New You in 2022

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

BY Terry Pryor, Writer, Poet, Life Coach, and Student of the Mind

Note: This is the first month of action described in a series of motivational articles. Take some time each month to complete these action items and you’ll see a “New You” emerge. Enjoy!

About Affirmations

Affirmations are tools that declare an intention. In other words, you are making a positive statement or command intended not only to change your outlook but also to elicit the assistance of your higher self, God, the angels, or whatever you perceive to be a greater power than you. Whether you believe you are the only one hearing these words or not, the magic of affirmations declared with faith is that they work.

Remember the example of the Olympic athletes we talked about last month: The mind cannot tell the difference between an actual event and a vividly imagined one.

It is with the power of your words, your thoughts, and your intentions that the magic of change begins.

Fake It ’til You Make It

I’m sure you have heard the expression “Fake it ’til you make it.” Putting something into practice results in an empowering mental benefit. The subconscious acts predominantly on your feelings. What you feel is its fuel bringing you more of the same. It doesn’t know if you really have a job or not or if you have the perfect home. It only knows what you feel.

Whatever you desire, feel what having it will mean to you—in other words, fake it ’til you make it!

Power Action #1: Vacation

(Choose a weekday rather than a weekend day)

If you’re working at an unfulfilling job, or you don’t have a job and, therefore, don’t have money coming in, taking a day off seems ludicrous. After all, taking time off might appear to unwind into the future like a huge ball of string.

I would like to suggest otherwise.

Power Action #1: Today, you start to invent the new you, and the new you is open to a truckload of new possibilities. The new you has an open and flexible mind, willing to try anything. The new you is filled with the idea of a day totally different from any other day. I give you permission to play hooky.

This month, I want you to do things that you may not have done in a long time.

On this first Day of Power, you are to get away from anything that remotely looks like a routine. Whatever your job is or was, it probably consisted of, in part, a regimented daily schedule.

When was the last time you went to a matinee movie? Go see one.

Take a long hike through town or your own neighborhood, which you may not have done in a while—or ever.

Go for a bike ride. Go to the zoo.

Have lunch at that great little restaurant you haven’t visited since before COVID that serves those gigantic Reuben sandwiches or have one of those terrific pizzas the local pub serves up. Try that new restaurant you’ve been intending to check out.

I want to suggest that you spend at least four or five hours out there in your city or town—your own backyard, so to speak.

I want you to do this alone. Don’t take anyone along, even if someone offers to go.

This is a play day for you, and only you.

If you have lost your job or have not found the perfect one yet, or if life does not look fun or positive anymore, it’s possible that you will experience moments of complete mind-numbing fear today, moments where you wonder what the heck just happened to your life and what are you doing at an afternoon movie on a Tuesday. When that happens, push those thoughts away. Know that in the very near future, you are going to begin accomplishing great things.

For now, have fun. That energy is very important.