Cleansing the mind for motivation

I am extremely lucky to be a member of a gym.  I've only just returned after a 2 year break but I'm back never the less and it feels great (after the initial aches!).  

Being on the treadmill this morning gave me the opportunity to let my mind go where it needed to.  It would think about what I need to do at work and how to achieve what I want over the next few months.  It would think of my family and friendships and how I'm lucky to have them.  Sometimes it would just go blank as I stare out of the window into the sunshine looking at the birds playing in the trees.  As I keep running it jumps to consider my body's performance and how it's amazing getting to the goal I set at the beginning of the workout.  It makes me incredibly mindful and of course, gets me fit.

For me, this time is utterly essential.  It's like spring cleaning your head.  I wouldn't start the workout with any agenda, nothing specific that I had to work out or think about, I'd just let it wonder.  It knows what's needed, the things that need thinking about as it does when it goes blank.  

So trusting my mind is important, knowing that it'll be so much better for it.  It gives me that positive motivation to face the day or week ahead full on, knowing I now stand a significantly better chance of achieving what I wish to achieve.

You might find other activities do the same for you. Yoga or Pilate's, swimming, walking.  All I would say is make sure you make time in your life to do these activities you enjoy as it will benefit you in so many ways.

Proof, if proof is needed

Quick experience I wanted to share:

Recently, I've been so lucky to have found a long lost Cousin. She lives over 100 miles away in - as good as - a different country but we keep in touch with Facebook.  Although much younger than me, she shares similar interests, hobbies and career aspirations as I do.

Earlier this week I couldn't ignore that she was struggling with a particularly bad day.  As any family member or friend I offered a shoulder and some suggestions on how she can work through that negative stuff.  I encouraged her to accept she might feel bad immediately after the event because we tend to be our own worst critic.   So step back from the situation and look at it for what it is - was it really THAT bad?  It wouldn't be hard to find and celebrate the positive parts and recognise you really are worthy in what you do.  The parts where you genuinely feel could have been improved are a golden opportunity to take action to get better and be the best at what you do.  So I encouraged her to use her own positive thinking and believe she can be as good as she wants to be.

The next day she was over the moon and left me a message "You was right... I kept positive and both performances today went AMAZING, so happy with the way I performed, wish you had the chance to see it".

I'm very proud of her as she created that positive energy herself and totally used it to her advantage.  Maybe it wouldn't have happened without the initial negative thoughts?  It certainly wouldn't have happened without her making the conscious effort to take control of it and turn it around.

This positive thinking can be pretty powerful stuff.

It's what it's all about

Positive Upload Day 2 has again been successful!

Challenges come what ever day it is.  So how did you get on?  It was a tough one for a few of us including me but have you noticed... we're still here and still smiling!

On 'PUD2' I was really interested to read a Facebook update of a friend - "If it wasn't positive upload day I may have vented on here just a wee bit!! I will resist!".  

This was great to see people are taking part and really letting the idea penetrate their life. But looking at the statement, there's an opportunity to take this to the next level if you want to feel the full benefit of the powerful Positive Thinking.

It's perfectly normal to feel your cage getting rattled and then wish to vent your anger.  What is important is that we control that energy and keep control of it.  Whatever situation has caused you to feel that way can not change.  I'm yet to find anyone who is actually successful in changing the past so you've got to accept it has happened.  There may be opportunities to change the future of the situation but you will need to understand your options and really want to do what you choose.  But in the here and now, when you feel like screaming at the top of your lungs, it's not going to make you feel any better.

For me, it's a case of putting that specific situation into perspective.  I too had a challenging day but my challenge was a minute part of my 'big picture'.  Putting it into perspective I have other huge benefits to my life such as a lovely warm safe house where my beautiful family live and were at home later that day to offer me comfort.  I have some amazing friends, take part in great hobbies, am fortunate enough to have holidays to experience the world, have healthy and extremely caring parents... the list goes on.  So, in my day, a couple of people who were being pretty fowl to me earlier melts away into insignificance when I know how life is pretty damn good for me really.

My situation is unique.  As everyone's is.  The combination of my family, friends, job, home, pets etc etc is totally unique to me as it is to you.  So the way you react and your list of positive things will be personal to you.  But that's another great positive thing about being human.  You are YOU and you're brilliant in your own unique way.  

That should put a smile on your face when things seem tough?

Positive Upload Day 2!

It's the second Positive Upload Day.  A day to be intent on feeling & being positive and sharing that positivity on line and with everyone you meet.  Being mindful of your positive attitude can have such a profound effect on your day if you set that expectation from the start.

Today at work I have an intense meeting about an incident that happened last Sunday.  I've been dreading it all week so I'm seeing it that having Positive Upload Day today is going to be a huge advantage to me.  

I'm going to keep my thoughts positive.  I'm wearing my favourite shirt, wearing my favourite fragrance, got the best tunes to listen to on the way in to work, when I get in the meeting I'll sit next to those I know and who will be mutually supportive.  I know with these and other simple proactive strategies I'll be fine and can even use the meeting very much for my advantage.  Some of it may well be challenging but I know it’s only for the morning and I know I have the strongest chance of being positive.  There is a great opportunity to learn and grow professionally from it which is a huge positive thing.

You’ll find you can use your own strategies for situations you may not have been looking forward to and turn them into positive experiences.

Enjoy your day today; you’ll have a positively great one!  Keep smiling and share your experiences with the friends you meet, on your Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Bebo social networks etc and of course at www.facebook.com/positiveupload

Affirmations predict the future

Affirmations - are they really worth it?  Simply yes, here's why...

Have you ever caught yourself saying things like 'see, I told you I'd break it' or 'I'll never do it, I'm just not clever enough' and then don't achieve what you were working so hard towards?  I do far too often.  It is so easy to talk yourself out of success, achievements, happiness, positivity when you might actually have been destined to get it.  But when we keep telling ourselves we won't get it eventually it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and we almost make ourselves miss out.  Negative thoughts tend to lead you to a lack of success, bad moods and dissatisfaction.

So, if you accept that theory then you will accept this too: telling yourself you're going to succeed, you'll achieve your goal, stay happy and positive eventually you believe it.  And as soon as you believe it... it becomes true.  Positive thoughts lead to positive actions.

Sounds simple but if you are not of a naturally positive disposition all the time or there are certain things you are not confident with, afraid of or don't understand, believing that positive outcome can be very challenging.

What can you do about it?

Affirmations are your own personal statements to remind you of your happy, positive achieving self.  To help you formulate yours think of this:  Firstly accept that some times things will seem harder for you than others.  You are - after all - only human and we're all different.  Then, focus on your strengths.  You have so many of them and you will have a list of achievements as long as your arm.  You can always get a close friend or family member to help you.  Thirdly, never accept defeat as the 'norm'.  Just because you failed something once or twice doesn't mean thats how it should always be?  Just because someone won £41m on the Euromillions doesn't mean they'll win it every week!  Learn from it and know that you can move on - your turn will come... it WILL!

Therefore, your affirmations can look anything like this-

• I have a great network of family and friends who really love and care for me
• I am an intelligent hard working person worthy of promotion
• The more love I give the more I receive
• I'm really good at writing excellent informative reports
• When I believe in myself so do others
• My life is fulfilling with different challenges every day
• My body is really well equipped to combat illness
• I am the perfect weight for the perfect me
• I am successful in what I do

Image by sema

The list should be personal to you and meaningful.  You could use an affirmation like "I have money in abundance" yet be horridly overdrawn with bailiffs at the door.  It's up to you how you frame it, it could be you are rich because of all the things you have that money can't buy or that you have the opportunities in front of you to achieve money in abundance so you might say instead 'I am on my way to achieving money in abundance'.  As long as it keeps you motivated and more importantly you believe it.

I keep mine on little cards - the size of credit cards and it a wallet.  No-one knows about them (apart from you) but I believe in what I've written and they help me to be positive, especially at times when I find it more challenging.

If you like, you can share some here or on the Facebook page.

Keep smiling, Thursday Feb 2nd the 2nd Positive Upload Day is only round the corner!

Emergency Charge point

I don't know about you but I find my life is an emotional roller coaster.  Most times I can be happy and positive looking forward to each day, the people I'll meet in it and the challenges it might present.  But some times my negative thoughts take over, you know the feeling - your head gets heavier, shoulders drop and you almost see that cloud drift over you.  At that point it's literally like you have to declare war on these feelings.

The reason you feel down should be acknowledged, sometimes you know you're being silly but other times it's quite right to feel down.  Now then... it's not a bad thing to feel down when something bad has happened, it's quite natural!  But it's what you do with those feelings when it's time to pick yourself up that matters.  What do you do if you really want to pull yourself out of feeling like that it's more of a challenge than you want it to be?

Friends and family are utterly essential in your emergency tool kit in getting back to positivity.  Many friends could be fair weather friends just happy to see you when you're bright and chipper and happy to see your smile, but only when you're smiling... you can come back when you're on your feet again.  That's fine too, these friends are just as important, but when you really want to get yourself charged from empty to positive again you need someone you know you can rely on.  Who it is doesn't matter and by that I mean it doesn't have to be your partner or your parent.  It can be a friend, someone you only speak to every now and again, maybe a work colleague, maybe a counsellor at the end of a phone (speaking to a stranger can often be more effective as you tend to be more open and honest).  You need someone constructive, someone who'll not only listen well but can understand why you feel that way and help show you the way back to your smiles.

There's always someone willing to listen but you also need that feedback too otherwise you may find you're not always much further forward.

As long as you know who they are and you have them on speed dial.

If your 'charge point' is someone you know, talk to them about it, tell them how important they are and how much you value that relationship, and treasure it.  It might just save your life.  

Beating 'Blue Monday'

Monday 16th January 2012. An ordinary day.  An ordinary day? Is it?

Maybe it's a special day for you.  A birthday. The day you start a new job, you're excited about a first date you've arranged, seeing a loved one who comes back home after being away, you're indulging in your favourite hobby.  There are many reasons to be cheerful which is great - it's what we're all about here!

But for others, feeling good about themselves, holding their head high, thinking positive is hard, especially on Monday 16th January.

Some bright spark called Cliff Arnall, formally a researcher, lecturer and post graduate tutor at the Medical & Dental School of Cardiff University is now a 'Happiness and Motivation Expert'.  He used various formulae to crunch numbers, whizzed a few calculators around and spun a couple of abacus to come up with the most depressing day of the year.  And that day turns out to be Monday 16th of January 2012 - 'Blue Monday'.

Statistics show that one in five people in the UK experience depression and find it more challenging to shrug off their down moods than others.  So what?  Well this is where the POSITIVE ones need to step up and those of us still in training.  We all need to help overcome this being 'the most depressing day of the year'!

Firstly, using the tips we've already discussed here, Facebook and on Twitter prepare yourself and be pos'd up ready to face the day.

But on Blue Monday you need to spread the love too!  It could be a smile to a passing stranger, have a list of jokes to tell to your colleagues throughout the day, donate some money or time to a charity, learn something new and interesting, contact an old friend you've not spoken to for a long time, perform random acts of kindness, eat and drink really healthily.

There's lots of activities to take part in and share with those around you.  Let have a fun positive experience together that day.

There's more information and support from the Mental Health Foundation.


Don't forget - we do it all over again on the second Positive Upload Day - February 2nd!

Positive Action

I've already thought about music that can motivate and make you positive, the list of tunes are of course very personal to you.  You can share ideas but the actual ideal list to maximise your positive potential would be selected just by you for you.

How about things to do?  Are there any particular activities that put you in a positive frame of mind?

Speaking to a friend last week recently made me think about this.  We all have such very busy lives, some busier than others with hugely varying pressures and responsibilities.  Self employed people can have the added accountability that they earn when they work so taking time off can actually be quite stressful knowing there is perhaps little chance of earning a single penny whilst sitting at home.  This was a problem for a good friend of mine over Christmas/New Year.  Christmas was magical for him - rushing about delivering, receiving presents and spending quality time with family.  But as the 'festive tinsel settled' and he sat at home when others were carrying on with their lives he felt in a way somewhat redundant.  This was a huge challenge for him - as I know it is for many others at that time of year.  He knew the rest away from work was important but the fact he was doing something was sending him crazy.

What's the solution?  Well, it's quite simple... get a hobby.  Again, it would be what ever suits you but find something self indulgent that benefits you.

Now, there's nothing selfish or wrong about that.  After all, you work hard and you deserve to be looked after just as much as you would look after a good friend or family member if they needed it.  You can afford to give yourself the same attention.  It could be spending an hour down the gym.  Model plane making, puppet making, sewing, painting, 1 to 1 time with your child, knitting, mucking out the nearest horse stables, volunteering - the list is obviously endless.  But choose something that you'll enjoy, look forward to and in turn will keep you motivated.  For my friend, a simple walk out in the countryside taking in the beauty of nature and breathing in the fresh air was all it needed.  Mine is a combination of things - walking, going to the gym, having a night with like minded friends, listening to music and singing!

Take time to find out your positive activity.  Something to put a smile on your face, a spring in your step and positive thoughts in your mind.  You are likely to find the positive energy you give off when you do it is contagious and you'll motive others to pursue an interest too.

Have fun!



Thank you to Paul who inspired this blog.

More 'I will' than 'I wish'

Hopefully your New Year has got off to a great start and your New Years resolutions are going well!

I had a thought; How many times do we say 'I wish I could....' or 'Ohhh I'd love to ....'?

It could be anything - 'I wish I could speak French' or 'I'd love to visit India', 'I'd love to lose a few pounds' even 'I wish this shed wasn't such a mess'.  You will undoubtedly have your own list and as you become more conscious of slipping those works into your sentences you may discover more.

So another little tip to make you even more powerful is to start converting your wishes and making them come true.  It is in your gift to achieve anything your heart desires with a positive attitude, really anything is possible.

Convert the start of those sentences from 'I wish I could...' into 'I will...'.  The caveat is of course you will have to do something about it but the first step is to believe it;
I will speak French by next year
I will visit India for my 40th birthday
I will lose a few pounds by walking 30 minutes after dinner each day
I will get that shed tidied out... I might get the children to do it(!)

In doing this you are sending a positive message to your brain that it is achievable and you know when it's going to happen too.  If you miss the date you set for yourself.... so what?  Just set another one but still believe you'll do it and you will get there.

Give it a go and I know it really will work for you - after all, who doesn't want their wishes to come true?

Positive Difference? My experience of a positively challenging day

So, it's the day after the day before.  How was the first Positive Upload Day for you?  Did you notice any difference?  Did you do anything differently?  Did it feel like you were making more of an effort, were you making small changes in your perspective or thought processes?  Was it more of a challenge than you thought or did you wonder what all the fuss was about?

My personal experience was this:
New Years Eve, the wife and I went out as many did to see out the old and welcome in the new year.  Working for a water company I was 'on call' so if any incidents happened relating to the clean water distribution network I would be called in to help.  So I was not drinking alcohol but still took part in the celebrations.  
It was a superb night and in terms of work was incident free - a great result!  Managed to get into bed and off to sleep at about 03:30am.  
Just after 4am my work phone rang - there was a very large 'potential' incident that needed immediate attention.  The problem was big so I was quickly up making/receiving phone calls.  If ever a positive attitude was going to be tested this was the time.  But conversely never was there such a need for positive thinking!  There was a possibility that almost 10,500 households plus businesses were at risk of loosing water supply or at best have their pressure severely reduced.  But I consciously made the effort to remain positive in attitude and focused in my efforts.
Well - you'll be glad to hear that a number of different experts came together as a team and worked hard in resolving the issue without a single customer even noticing there was so much hard work and effort going on behind the scenes.  By 3pm we could all relax... and I could catch up on a little sleep!  

It could easily have gone very wrong but it didn't.  Was that great result through the power of positive thinking?  Who knows.  There was recognition that we were 'lucky' because of certain conditions in our favour because of the day it happened.  Luck or was it positive thinking?  There are some who would argue that in thinking positively we can actually influence these types of events.  In my own experience, thinking positively really helped my to remain calm, stay focused, make confident result based decisions and get the job done.

Most importantly... I felt great about it.

Hope you can feel a positive difference in what you do too by changing a few thoughts.

The First Positive Upload Day!

Welcome to the very first of many Positive Upload Day's!

Yes, today is the day when we all share the common positive thoughts, feelings and actions on our blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Bebo updates or what ever your chosen media is all at the same time together!  Don't forget, this isn't just for online it's everywhere you go, for everyone you meet and in everything you do.

You are now part of such a fabulous community taking part in today which will continue to grow over the next few months.  Sharing happiness and positivity is such a brilliant thing to do because we are all winners.

Some have found it a little difficult to understand because they are already positive people.  That's brilliant!  You are indeed the fortunate ones — so today is the day you shine, sharing your tips and secrets, thoughts and feelings as to how you remain so chipper.  You are the ambassadors of Positive Upload Day, embrace it and spread the good news story, you can show everyone what they've been missing out on.

2012 is going to be such a good year for everyone who believes it will be.  It will bring you all you want if you work for it.  It will deliver all your goals and ambitions if you plan it, focus on it, visualise it and surround yourself with like minded people who also what you to get there.

Exciting isn't it.

Please keep in touch and don't forget to join us on Facebook.

Enjoy.