by Michael Sorgiovanni | Mar 25, 2015 | Lifestyle, Natural and Alternative, Physical Wellbeing, Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing, Self Development & Success Skills
“What you think and say you co-create”.
You are probably familiar with the fact that those who are positive in their approaches are more successful than who are not.
Negative thinking can act as a prison- you can end up feeling trapped as it blocks your mind, clouding it with negative influence and chatter, all which can so easily be avoided. So why do people make excuses, is it all too hard? There is no such thing as hard, it may not be easy but is it necessary to label something as hard? The words we use are so crucial to what we intend to achieve and feel.
Words like “Hard” and “Cant” have no depth, all they do is enforce and empower the things we don’t want in life, they stand as obstacles to what we truly desire. They diminish our will and motivation… Such words should not be part of our vocabulary as they impact so much.
It is up to you to be conscious and aware of your language, the more consistent you are on catching yourself on saying or thinking something negative the more powerful your mind and energy expands positively. In effect, it will then become easier to be consistent with processing positive thoughts.
Positive thinking gives you the hope to face challenges in the life vs negative thinking where you loose hope. Having a positive psychology and optimistic nature, you can lead a successful, happy and healthy life.
Some of the sound effects of positive thinking are as follows:
Stress Free Lives
Positive thinkers have a greater advantage to counteract ‘sorrow and grief’ than negative thinkers or pessimists. The optimist can encounter stressing situation well and show braveness, they can resolve issues with their calm state and positive outlook. They ask others for feedback and advice.
Optimism improves Human Health
Not only can positive thinking impact your ability to cope with stress, it impacts your immunity and your overall well-being. The Mayo Clinic reports a number of health benefits associated with optimism, including a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular problems, less depression, and an increased lifespan. Other researchers suggest that positive people lead healthier lifestyles.
Resilience
Our ability to cope with problems is effected by positive thinking and resilient people are able to face a crisis with strength. They have the ability to carry on and overcome adversity.
It may come as no surprise to learn that positive thinking can play a major role in resilience. When dealing with a challenge, optimists typically look at what they can do to fix the problem, instead of giving up hope, they seek resources and are willing to ask others for help.
Researchers have found that in the wake of a crisis, such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster, positive thoughts and emotions encourage thriving, they provide a ‘ buffer’ against depression.
Key to Success
Positive people are more likely to be successful than the negative ones. The moment you implement positive thinking into your life, you will notice that success becomes easier and it’s not as tough and difficult as once perceived.
Boost Motivation
Positive attitude will boost your motivation and you will start to achieve your goals quickly and easily. To have strong motivation is like having “wings”!
Beauty will shine from within
Positive thinking will make you look more beautiful. Honestly, it really does! There is something really attractive about friendly and happy people. Their inner beauty shines and impacts what is visible to others on the outside.
These are just some effects and benefits that you will only get if your thinking is positive and when you avoid negative thinking.
We all need to stop and think what is this phase going to look like when it’s over. Remember you are the architect of your life, you can ‘draw’ on the outcome you want.
Positive Psychology is achieved by “discipline and being consistent in your thoughts and actions”.
“How you think out ways what you actually desire.”
Much Love
Living Your Power Now
by Michael Sorgiovanni | Mar 21, 2015 | Natural and Alternative, Physical Wellbeing, Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing, Self Development & Success Skills, Uncategorized
“Behind every decision made there needs to be a reason or some kind of value to motivate you to make that decision”.
Having a strong immune system is one of the most powerful assets you could have in your life and I will do my best to help you understand why?
If I were to ask you do you enjoy being sick? I’m sure your instant answer would be no. No one enjoys being sick, however unfortunately getting sick is something that happens to us all. What if I told you we are in control of when we get sick and what sickness you get? We fail to see that from a conscious level we manifest this, and it goes deeper than just conscious, it’s from a subconscious level too.
Why subconscious? We are programming and processing from 95% of an unconscious level at all times. Your conscious mind provides 5% less cognitive activity during the day, and 5% is for people that are more aware, there are a great number of people that operate just 1% consciousness.
Majority of ‘illnesses’ begin with emotions and it is at a subconscious level that these illnesses are developed. “Our conscious mind actually commands and your subconscious mind obeys”. How does one control our subconscious? Well first let’s explore our Immune system and where the immune system fits into this…
There is an area in the brain called the hypothalamus and it is responsible for translating emotions into physiological responses. It regulates blood sugar levels, body temperature, your appetite and bodily systems – such as the heart, lung, circulatory and digestive systems – by receiving emotions from neuropeptides.
Neuropeptides are chemical hormones that carry emotions back and forth between the body and the brain. Neuropeptides (almost completely) link the thoughts in your brain to the organs in your body, by doing so in that way affecting every bodily system, including the disease-fighting system.
When you have fear based or stress related negative thoughts, your body responds by turning off the immune system, but if your conscious and subconscious mind powers are matched up with positive thoughts your body responds with improved healing and health.
So before you find natural ways for boosting your immune system, it is important to eliminate the things that can result in immune system disorders. For examples, as previously mentioned negative thinking, stress and depression and bad habits like smoking. Limit the things that can weaken your immune system because when your immune system is not strong, it gets easy for viruses and diseases to attack the body.
Here are a few helpful ways for boosting your immune system and improving your body’s potential to fight disease, because a stronger immune system will help you to live a longer healthier life.
Positive thinking and Meditation
- Start your day of with positive thoughts, and picture how you want your day to turn out vs what you don’t want to happen.
- Meditate – Give yourself 5-10 minutes everyday to find that piece within yourself by breathing, focusing on your breath by being present. Note: Many people convince themselves that they don’t have a spare10 minutes, if you find your self doing this STOP! “Its not true”.
Eat Low-Fat and Healthy Foods
- Try to include those foods in your diet that helps to boost your immune system, such as olive, brown rice, cantaloupe, broccoli, leafy greens, apples and oranges. Analyze your food intake by listing the kinds of food that you eat regularly and consume healthier food.
- Eat leafy greens, vegetables, fruit, whole grains and beans for building your body’s resilience to fight illness. Include poultry and fish in your diet as these foods provide strength to the body.
- Avoid high-fat desserts. It is okay to have a desert sometimes on special occasions. However, avoid intake of deserts regularly as the immune system starts to weaken if there is a consistent intake of high-fat diet food which eventually results in serious illness.
- Cut down on large quantities of red meat and dairy products – these foods contain large quantity of fat that are not digested easily. It is necessary to reduce fat from your diet to strengthen your immune system.
- Educate yourself in understanding the significance of balancing your intake of minerals and vitamins. Too much of a good thing can result in an imbalance and result in mineral and vitamins not performing their dutie to help protect you.
Exercise to Improve your Defence System
- If you do not exercise now, then start now. There are so many advantages for your body by simply starting an exercise program.
- Walk daily for at least 30 minutes. Keeping the body moving and sweating helps in boosting your immune system.
Consider Cancer-Fighting Foods and Medicinal Herbs
- Drink black tea and green – they contain indoles, tannins and bioflavonoids. All antioxidants aids in fighting cancer.
- Eat garlic as it is a strong health enhancer. Its powerful properties stabilise and protect the immune system. The Iowa Women’s Health Study found that women with the highest amounts of garlic in their diets had a 50 percent lower risk of certain colon cancers than women who didn’t consume high amounts.
- Eat cruciferous veggies eg. cauliflower, cabbage, kale, all have cancer fighting components. Broccoli is also a cruciferous vegetable and is the only one with a sizable amount of sulforaphane – a potent compound that boosts the body’s protective enzymes and flushes out cancer-causing chemicals. According to Jed Fahey, Scd this helps fight breast, liver, lung, prostate, skin, stomach, and bladder cancers.
Other cancer fighting foods are:
- Berries, which help fight colon, esophageal, oral, and skin cancers
- Tomatoes, which help fight – endometrial, lung, prostate, and stomach cancers
- Walnuts, which help fight breast and prostate cancers
- Beans, which help fight breast and colon cancers
Always remember
“Your body is your temple and the immune system is your foundation”
Much Love
Living Your Power Now
by Michael Sorgiovanni | Mar 4, 2015 | Lifestyle, Natural and Alternative, Physical Wellbeing, Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing, Self Development & Success Skills, Spirituality
All the complex chemical reactions of the body take place at the cellular level. For example, the building of new blood cells, sending of nerve signals or repairing of wounds. Moreover, the new cells replace old cells when they die, to ensure the proper and healthy functioning. However, everything that happens in the human body completely relies on nutrients. Among the 6 essential nutrients, Minerals and Vitamins are the two most important ones.
Difference between Vitamins and Minerals
Minerals are inorganic compound nutrients can be metabolized to release energy in the body. Vitamins are organic nutrients that are destructible. However, minerals cannot create energy and are indestructible, whereas organic nutrients can be destroyed or altered.
What is the Link between Vitamins and Mineral?
Vitamins and Minerals are often required to work together. For instance, Vitamin C and calcium works together in the process of depositing calcium in teeth, Vitamin D helps in raising the amount of phosphorous and calcium in the blood to ensure the presence of minerals to harden bones.
Essential Vitamins and Their Functions
Here is the list of some essential vitamins and minerals and their benefits for the body.
This vitamin is good for general growth and development, such as skin, healthy teeth and healthy eyes. The natural sources include sweet potatoes and carrots.
These vitamins are good for iron absorption, energy production and immune function. Some of the natural sources include molasses, whole grains, bananas, potatoes, lentils, beans, chili peppers and yeast.
This vitamin is good for strengthening blood vessels, iron absorption, anti-oxidant function and giving skin its elasticity. The major source of Vitamin C is citrus fruits.
Vitamin D is best for healthy and strong bone. Some major sources include sunlight, fish, eggs and mushrooms.
Vitamin E is good for protection from free radicals and blood circulation. The major source of Vitamin E is dry fruits.
Vitamin K is best for Blood coagulation. This Vitamin is generally found in leafy green vegetables.
Minerals and Their Functions
This mineral is good for preventing birth defects in pregnancy and cell renewal. Some of the sources of folic acid include corn, nuts, lentils, peas and beans.
Calcium is good for strong bones and teeth. The best source of Calcium is found in dark greens and dairy products
Iron is good for maintaining healthy blood and building muscles naturally. Iron can be found in spinach, lentils and beans.
Different Functions of Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins do several jobs, as they are energy nutrients, such as acting as antioxidants and breaking down other nutrients. In contrast, minerals work mainly on the skeleton; however, they can also interact with water for regulating the pH balance in the body, transmission of nerve impulses and for the contraction of muscles. Vitamins are essential for the creation of red blood cells and Minerals are necessary to carry oxygen for oxygen through the blood.
Living Your Power Now
by Michael Sorgiovanni | Feb 23, 2015 | Business, Physical Wellbeing, Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing, Self Development & Success Skills, Spirituality
Are you someone that gets overwhelmed from the pressure and stress daily life can bring?
Do you find it difficult to focus and slow down your thoughts down?
Would you like to learn some simple strategies to add into your daily life that will help you focus, keep calm and feel at peace?
All I am going to be explaining to you in this article is how to remember to breathe…
The body can survive months with out food, days with out water but only a few minutes without breathing. Breathing is the foundation to life.
Thousands of years ago humans understood the importance of breathing in all areas of life; mentally, physically and spiritually. They utilised their breathing for so many purposes, ‘not just staying alive’. Breathing was utilised in ways like healing, manifestation, focus, relaxation and so on… There are certain ratio’s of breath they would use to generate the breath and energy to manifest what they intended to. I will explain more on this in one of my upcoming articles on ‘Ancient rituals’.
It is crucial to understand that breathing patterns affect our mental state because it is your mental state that will determine your wellbeing in your every day life.
The Psychology of Breathing
Your breathing rates are intertwined with your nervous system thus also interconnects with emotional states such as fear and caution vs calm and trust. This is internally and externally processed by the ‘fight or flight response– fast breathing vs the rest and digest response – slow breathing.’
In each individual our internal representation systems are different, meaning we all have our own favoured representation. You might be more of a Visual, Auditory, kinesthetic (feelings), or Auditory Digital (self talk).
A person with an internal favoured representation of Visual will usually breath at the top of their lungs and normally in a faster rate. An Auditory will usually breath in the middle and in a medium rate. Kinesthetic people typically breath from the bottom of their lungs so you’ll see their stomachs going in and out, and an Auditory Digital will sometimes breath from the lower abdomen.
Our favored representational system, becomes our own language for our experience and plays a significant part in our mental processes and consciousness.
Now you have an understanding of how your breathing is impacted, its impacts on your life and how it is linked to our mind, body and even on us spiritually.
Let’s look at spirituality…. Have any of you have experienced or researched the scientific effects meditating have on your wellbeing?
Let’s take a look at some simple breath techniques…
There is one thing that a lot of ‘ancient’ practices and so called ‘new age’ practices of breathing have in common, that is to receive the full richness and experience of a breath, the ratio of the breath. There are many diverse types of breathing exercises available but in this article I am going to keep it simple and focus solely on one aspect of breathing.
Your exhale should be double to what you inhale is, The ratio is 1:1:2. Meaning inhale for 4 seconds hold for 4 seconds and exhale for 8 seconds.
The ‘inhale and hold’ should always be through the nasal passage where a gas called Nitric Oxide is produced by the sinus mucous membranes in your nose and in small doses enhances your lung capacity significantly to absorb oxygen by 15-25%. Nitric Oxide also known to kill viruses, bacteria and other germs.
You then exhale through the mouth, exhaling for double the amount so it slows the exhalation. This extra time allows the lungs to extract a greater amount of oxygen and expand your lung capacity.
Note:
To get the best results every inhale breath should be a big belly breath, take that breath all the way to the bottom so your belly in sticking out.
Then you exhale slowly as though you are emptying your belly, sucking it back in.
If you are not comfortable with exhaling for 8 seconds then start off with 2 seconds in, 2 seconds hold and 4 seconds exhale slowly working your way up from there.
The more often you do this the more the benefits you will get.
Breathing can also be used as a ‘reset button’, so if you are ever in an overwhelming state just focus on your breathing ratio to get yourself in a calm state.
I recommend you make this a daily ritual. Start off by doing a minimum of 20 breaths each morning, maintain your full focus on just the breath. Be conscious of yourself and your presence in that moment.
I guarantee that this will kick start your day off by feeling calm, relaxed, centred and powerful.
Living Your Power Now
Michael Sorgiovanni
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by Michael Sorgiovanni | Feb 2, 2015 | Lifestyle, Physical Wellbeing, Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing, Self Development & Success Skills
The powers of our thoughts are crucial to the results we get in our life.
People strive their whole life to find happiness, many searching in the wrong places. A common issue is people trying to ‘buy’ happiness, when external possessions will never give the happiness one desires (not to say that having money wouldn’t make the journey easier)
As many of you searching for happiness have read over and over, happiness may only be found from within. We know this to be true, but what does that really mean?
From an NLP (neuro linguistic programming) perspective, happiness in merely a ‘conscious state’. We experience so many conscious states on a daily basis, one’s which we identify as emotions; sadness, anger, fear, guilt, grief, shame…. These emotions must become a conscious state for us to determine its existence and recognize what we are feeling. Happiness is also an emotion, a state of mind, a feeling.
Considering that happiness is driven from positive emotions, let’s think about how our experiences effect these emotional responses and these effect our state of mind. If we could control our responses, our views and maintain a positive approach, we change our state of mind and in effect our reality. Right?
Sounds easy doesn’t it?
Where do we start? Firstly let’s explore how we can achieve a desired state
As I mentioned earlier our thoughts are crucial to the results we get in our life. So how do we control our thoughts? In NLP, through a process called ‘Anchoring’.
What is anchoring? Any time a person is in an associated, intense state, if at the peak of that experience, a specific stimulus is applied, it creates a link neurologically.
For example, have you ever found yourself with an old friend, reminiscing on a fond memory, you find yourself laughing uncontrollably, the feeling of happiness overcomes you, it is as this point if you stopped in that moment as I have in the past and anchored that state, you would be able to access that ‘state’ at any point. Does this work? Yes it does, it has worked for me and many others…
As with everything, the more you practise this technique, the more successful you will become at this, creating longer lasting results.
How do you anchor? In the example given above, something as simple as catching yourself in that moment and creating a stimulus by touching your knuckle for 5-15 seconds could create an anchor for you to access later.
Anchoring can assist you in gaining access to past states and linking the past state to the present and future.
By learning how to anchor yourself with positive states, you can virtually tap into any resourceful state that you want and feel confidence, relax, motivated, love and happy immediately.
The process
1. Decide on a state you want to anchor, whether it be happy, calm or relaxed.
2. Choose an anchor (for simplicity reasons choose a knuckle to touch) that you wish to trigger the resourceful state.
3. Recall a past vivid experience and remember the more intense the experience is the better the results will be.
4. Activate the anchor when the experience is vivid, at its peak and you’re in the desired state. (apply stimulus to a knuckle, for best results hols the point for 5-15 seconds at the peak of the state)
5. Release the anchors when the experience begins to fade. Note: If you keep applying the anchor when the experience is fading, then you will anchor a drop in calmness and relaxation.
6. Break your state, think of something else… open your eyes… distract yourself.
7. Repeat the steps several times, each time making the memory more vivid. (this is not actually required if the anchor is established at the high point of the experience, however it will strengthen the anchor by doing so consistently for several experiences.
8. Evoke the state, press on the anchor and check if the required state occurs.
9. Future pace the situation where you want to experience the desired state. Fire the anchor to check that it creates a sufficiently resourced state
10. Check the anchor the next day to ensure it is a permanent anchor.
Tips
The Five Keys to Anchoring are:
• The Intensity of the experience
• The Timing of the Anchor
• The Uniqueness of the Anchor
• The Replication of the Stimulus
• The Number of Times
Note:
• It is important that the anchors are fired the same way when linking them to the resourceful experience.
• If when you are firing the anchor and experience anxiety, stop applying the anchor, you do not want to anchor the negative state.
• Look out for the moments in your everyday life where you experience an uplifting state and remember to anchor them.
Never forget, your thoughts are crucial to the results you get in your life, you can action what you desire to feel. It will only happen when you come to the realisation that you deserve better in your life than what you’re getting and set new standards on how you’re going to feel.
There is an abundance of techniques, strategies and information to change the way you think and feel in life, anchoring is just one.
Why not try anchoring?
Stay posted for more articles.
Living Your Power Now
Michael Sorgiovanni
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