Best of the Tips

Because of my participation in the LiteMind writing project, I found a few really great new blogs. Here are the entries that I have deemed most worthy of your attention:

Articles:
7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure
7 Tricks to You Need to Fight Procrastination (Boy do I need this one!)
26 ways to Change the world (Easy ideas that make you happy in the process.)
10 Ways to Improve Personality (Apparently it can be done. Not that any of us need to...)

Resources:
100 Resources to Improve your Career, Relationships, and Money (This is a long list of articles that look excellent.)

No Cost Business Tools: 37 Free Applications that Make Your Life Easier (Tons of free resources for getting stuff done online.)

And that's that. Stay tuned for a longer post from me soon. I plan on writing some idea and tips for the holiday season.

Being grateful for the daily small miracles

In my last post I talked about switching from a negative outlook to a positive one. Megan commented on one of her techniques for doing that - a gratitude list. I find that listing out the things I'm grateful for really does help me feel more positive, happy, and yes - grateful.

I wrote about increasing gratitude before if you'd like some tips on making room for gratitude in your life. I also want to share something I've tried to do lately that has increased my gratitude and helped me focus on the positive things in my life.

Every evening I like to reflect back on the day. I try to remember the positive things that have happened, and think about the things I am grateful for that day. I also look for the little 'miracles' that occur daily.

For example, yesterday I was backing out of a friend's driveway. Her driveway is narrow and has ditches on each side. See where this is going? Yes, I backed up right into a ditch and got stuck. :( But it was a miracle to me that we got the car out quickly and safely. I'm grateful that (so far!) I didn't seem to cause any damage to the car. (We haven't noticed anything, anyway.) But even if there is damage, I'll still be grateful that it was a small accident and that no one was hurt.

There's always something to be thankful for; there will always be tiny miracles happening in our lives every day. If we aren't paying attention, we may not even notice them. Take some time to reflect today on the miracles in your life. Even better, write them down so you can get a positive boost every time you read it.

What you think is what you see: 4 Ways to stop negativity

When my husband and I moved this summer from Arizona to Georgia, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. I already knew that the things you think about are the things you see, but the principle became real to me at that time.

During the time that we were shopping for deals on moving trucks, we saw moving trucks on the road all the time. Then when we decided to go with Penske, we suddenly saw Penske trucks everywhere on the road. Was there an influx of moving trucks on the road because summer is the time of year when people move? Maybe. But more likely we noticed the trucks because we had moving trucks on our minds. After we moved, I no longer noticed or cared about moving trucks on the road.

This illustrated to me perfectly just how powerful the mind is. My thoughts dictated what I saw and payed attention to. The world is what it is, but how we see it depends upon what we're looking for. I guess you could say that it's like the law of attraction (though I'm not talking about it the way some people do. I don't believe that if I sit around thinking about money that a money bag will suddenly appear on my doorstep.)

What I mean is that you will notice and pay attention to the things you are thinking about, and that will become reality for you. If you think about the kindness and goodness the world has to offer, you will find it. If your mindset is one of abundance and gratitude, you'll find the world to be a plentiful place.

I'm going to admit to you right now that I struggle with this principle. There are times when my attitude is negative and I can only picture negative outcomes in certain areas of my life. Not surprisingly, a negative outcome is exactly what I get. And the negative outcome makes it easier for me to picture negative outcomes, so the negativity becomes circular and powerful and difficult to escape.

But it is possible to short-circuit negativity and to focus on the positive instead. There are several things we can do in order to break the negativity cycle:

Focus on the positive things in your life. There are so many good things to be thankful for but it's easy to take them for granted. It's often easier to notice the negatives, so work at it and notice the positives!

Change your behavior. We often behave in certain ways that reinforce and help cause the negative outcome. Change the behavior that leads to negative. Choose to act differently. One example from my life is my tendency to nag. Nagging is a negative behavior that does not inspire positive change in others. In order to increase the positive outcomes in my life, I can choose to not nag.

Find faith and hope. Do you have faith in yourself, faith in others, faith in a higher power? It is important to be able to trust that good things will happen to you and that even difficult or painful situations can benefit you and lead to a positive outcome. How do you develop that faith? It's difficult. Meditation or prayer can help. It also helps to look back to past events. Haven't you learned important things, even from your most difficult trials? I know I have, and this helps me to have faith that the right things will happen in the present moment.

Seek and you will find. How do you want your life to be? If you desire goodness, abundance and happiness, you have to be those things; you have to send those things out into the world and seek for them in others. I think it's a life-long process. Sometimes I'm better at positivity than at other times, but I believe it's important to keep at it. There are good and wonderful things in this world, and it's up to us whether we see them or not.

Tips for Surviving Unemployment

When you're between jobs and searching for employment, it's easy to get discouraged. It's hard to maintain your sense of self-worth when you don't hear back from potential employers and get rejected by others. How do I know this? Because I am currently in the category of unemployed.

Last month my husband and I moved to Georgia from Arizona, where I had a full-time job. I've been looking for a job here since June, and I've had my fair share of discouragement. So this post is meant partly to inspire me, and partly for anybody in the same boat as I am.

Here are some ideas for making it through the rough times.

Seek support from friends. Your true friends will encourage you and support you, which is something you need during this time. Having the support of family and friends is invaluable. Not to mention that friends and family may have job leads. Which brings me to the next point...

Network. Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job. Join an organization in your field. Use Internet tools like LinkedIn to network. You never know where a job lead will come from, so always network.

Brainstorm. I've found my unemployment to be a perfect time to brainstorm. I brainstorm what my perfect job would be (if you don't know what you want, how will you get it?). I also brainstorm temporary solutions - are there temp jobs I'd be willing to do? Are there side jobs I could do? Are there other solutions to your situation that you haven't thought of yet? Brainstorm away!

Cut yourself some slack. Looking for a job can be harder than working a full-time job. It drains your energy, you face rejection, AND you don't get paid for it. So pat yourself on the back for how hard you've worked. You haven't landed the perfect job yet, but you're doing what you can.

Don't take rejection personally. On a bad day it's hard not to take it personally, but the truth is that you will fit well in some jobs and not in others. There are many reasons you weren't chosen for the job and someone else was, and not all of them have to do with you. Don't take a rejection personally. Just don't.

Remember your hobbies. It's easy to get stuck a rut when you're unemployed. It gets depressing to watch TV all day in your pajamas. To combat this, do something. What are the things you like to do? This is a perfect time to do them. Get out in your garden, sew a quilt, lift weights, bake some bread. You get the idea.

Learn a new skill. The great thing about not having a job (and the worst thing about it!) is all the free time. You can't look for a job 24/7 or you'd go crazy. So how about learning something new? You could even learn something to make you more marketable. Head to your local library and find a book on something you've been wanting to learn to do.

Be positive. I know, that's easy for me to say. Believe me, I know how hard it is to be positive when you're unemployed. I struggle every day with this. But on days when I focus on the positive I have more energy, am more willing to put myself out there, and have a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities. These are all things that can help with the job search. And staying positive is essential for your mental and emotional health!

*Almost everyone goes through a period of unemployment at some point in their lives, so remember that you're not alone. What kinds of things helped YOU during that time? I'd love to hear your comments and ideas.

Happy Positive Thinking Day!

Today is Positive Thinking Day!

If you want to join in on the positive thinking, you can focus on this affirmation: I choose to create a great day! The website Positive Thinking Day says that by doing this, you can help change the world.

What do you think about that? Can your thoughts influence the world? I think so. I believe that every action we take, no matter how small, affects someone in some way. And our thoughts influence our actions. So by thinking positively, we influence the world in a positive way!

Not to mention that I believe positive thinking leads to positive outcomes in our lives. Don't get me wrong - I'm not the kind of person who believes that if you think positively, nothing bad will happen to you and you'll become wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. Bad things happen to everyone, no matter how positive you are. But out of those negative experiences will come positive results if our hearts and minds are in a place to receive the gifts those experiences are there to give us.

I'm not perfect at it. Sometimes I wish my trials would go away and leave me alone. Just yesterday I felt bad that I still don't have full-time employment here after a month of searching. But my wonderful husband helped me see all the positive things that have come about because of it. And now I realize that though it's been hard to be without a job, it has been a blessing to me in some ways.

The joyful and the sorrowful experiences are there to teach us something if we allow ourselves to be positive and look for it. Challenge yourself to be more positive. I know I'm going to. Today, I choose to create a great day!

Positive Thinking Day

Did you know that September 13th is Positive Thinking Day? Neither did I. I think that's because Kirsten Harrell at Positive Thinking Day blog recently created it.

She created the day to celebrate the benefits of positive thinking and to make a positive difference in the world. They are also raising money for the Christopher and Dana Reaves Foundation.

Go here to read more about it, and get ready to celebrate a day of positive thinking on Septemeber 13th!