Celestial Forum's Blog

The Holy Spirit has warned me of a few things over the years as I have grown closer in my walk with God.

One of them has been that Satan will be happy to offer you something really good to keep you from getting God’s Best. There are many people who are Christians, but don’t really seek God or read the Bible enough to know much about Biblical truth. They depend on their preacher at church, TV preachers and programs, or other Christians to tell them the truth. The problem is that sometimes the people we think have a lot of knowledge might be misled about some things or just be speaking their own opinion about the matter.

The fact is, it takes some time and effort to study the Bible and be committed enough to have a quiet time with God each day. He desires fellowship with His Children just as a couple in love desire to be with each other as much as possible. They miss each other terribly when they must be apart for any length of time. God also misses having a close relationship with each of His Children when they are too busy to spend time with Him.

There is a huge difference between getting very good and having God’s Absolute Best for your life (for each person His Absolute Best will be something different.) God never wants to have to settle for only giving you “good” in any form, but Satan will be happy for you to settle for something that looks really awesome to make you think you have chosen the best thing.

Absolute Best is where the real power lies in your walk with God and you won’t be able to have that power if you settle for anything less. Believe me, Satan is well aware of this fact and will work overtime to keep you from seeing this truth.

• Satan will try to tempt you with something you are already good at and will be able to do in your own power.

• God calls you to do things that you are not capable of doing in your own power because He wants to work through you and get all the glory for what happens. If you can’t do it in your own power, you won’t be tempted to try to take any of the glory for what God has done through you.

God works in ways that we haven’t usually thought of and His ways are always fresh and invigorating. Make the choice right now that you will wait on God to bring about His Plan for your life, no matter how long it takes.
It will definitely be worth it!

Courtesy: Cathy Deaton

Motiv-Hate or Motivate

5 secrets for unlimited Motivation

In life we need energy to live, to exist and to do things with our life and with others. Yet sometimes we can miss life through talking ourselves out of it. Just like this:

• I just can’t be bothered
• It’s just too much effort, I’m tired
• It’s not worth it, who cares
• Sure, one of these days…
• Yes, I know that I should, but…

Sound familiar? If this is you, and you are saying this to yourself and or to others, you are lacking one of the key ingredients in the recipe of life, MOTIVATION:
MOTIVATION; the psychological feature that arouses an individual to action toward a wanted goal; the reason for the action

So, we can define motivation but does that help? Usually not enough! What is this thing called ‘motivation’? Where do you find it? How can we get motivated?

The first secret to share here is Secret No.1 ‘motivation is not a thing’ it is not a noun. You will never trip over motivation that someone has left in the bathroom, nor will you find a chunk of it in the fridge! Has anyone ever bought a kilo of motivation from the shop? I think not!

If that is the case, then what is motivation, how can we be motivated and more importantly how can we motivate ourselves? Would you like unlimited motivation, does this interest you? If so, read on because that is the design of this article.

Motivation is a set of thinking strategies or processes that we run for ourselves… Did you notice what you just read? ‘…That we run ourselves! What does this mean? It means that we are responsible for how motivated or not we are! It means there is no point looking to another to provide motivation for us; in fact it is impossible for another person to motivate us, only we can decide what is or is not motivational to us. So Secret No.2 to motivation is ‘we are responsible for the amount of motivation we have’. Can you start to sense the power you have over yourself when you take responsibility for you?

What is it that drives us to feel motivated? What drives motivation? Further, how does motivation drive us toward what we want, need or believe? What is this fuel? The answer brings us to secret No. 3, ‘emotions are the fuel of motivation’ and ultimately are what drive us! Let us take a look at how emotions ‘drive or move us to action, the best place to start may be with the word ‘emotion’.

E-motion, as we look more closely at this word we can see its structure.

‘E-nergy in motion’;(e motion). Our emotions are our energy. Typically we can put emotions’ into three distinctive categories:
• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative

As we can define our emotions into these three simple types, then what does that also say about our energy? Well, we can make the same distinctions for our types of energy; positive, neutral and negative energy. This leads us to Secret No.4 ‘People are motivated and can motivate themselves using these 3 different types of energy’ so can you!

The affect of positive emotion often gives us the energy to move toward what we want or need, we somehow feel pulled or drawn (motivated). As we experience neutral emotions we can ‘take it or leave it’ and with negative emotions we experience discomfort, a form of pain and we (are motivated) try to get or move away from the cause of such. We can represent this with a diagram:

The Axis of Motivation

Whether we move away from the pain and consequences or toward the good feelings or outcomes in our life, both create energy that we put into motion to do something. This is motivation. Now what this gives us is a strategy for developing unlimited motivation for anything we want to do or have in life.

Typically, human beings have a preference to which end of the motivational axis they motivate or get motivated by. We can ask ourselves some questions to identify our own preference for getting motivated. Ask yourself the following questions and notice if you are motivated toward what you want or away from what you don’t want:

I get out of bed in the morning;
1. Because I have to (away from)
2. Because I want to start the day (toward)

I take my medicine regularly;
1. Because I want to be well and live life as fully as I can (toward)
2. Because if I don’t I will become ill or possibly die (away from)

When asked I will go out and socialise with others;
1. Because I like to meet and be with other people (toward)
2. Because it is rude not too and I don’t want to upset anyone (away from)

I keep my home tidy;
1. Because I like it like that (toward)
2. Because I get moaned at if I don’t, or someone unexpected may come round (away from)

I understand that regular exercise is healthy for you;
1. And I exercise because I want to get the health benefits from it (toward)
2. And I exercise because if I don’t my health may get worse (away from)

I do things;
1. Because I can
2. Because I have to

How many ‘towards’ or ‘away from’ did you identify with? Most people will find themselves using motivation at just one end of the axis, either mainly toward or mainly away from.

Now that you have this understanding on how YOU are typically motivated, we can move to Secret No.5.

This secret is the one that brings all the other secrets together and will show you how to get unlimited amounts of motivation for the rest of your life! Secret No.5 says ‘Combine both away from and toward energies at the same time and you will create a personal motivation that propels you into action’! By becoming aware of the other energy available to you, at the other end of the motivation axis you can ramp up the emotional motivation to get you to take action, to feel motivated and finally in control of you!

Either now or later, take 5 minutes to take yourself through the unlimited motivation pattern below. These x simple questions can be applied to anything that you need more motivation for, any time, anywhere. After you have used this pattern a couple of times you will be motivating yourself and possibly other like an expert!

The Unlimited Amounts of Motivation Pattern

1. Identify something in your life you want to have or be more motivated about (This can be anything, getting out more, going to the gym, or doing the housework, anything…)
2. Once you have identified something, write it down so you don’t forget what you are working on
3. Notice your current motivation style associated with this activity, are you motivated away from or toward? If you are away from read and ask yourself part A, if you are toward, read and ask yourself part B

Part A, You are moving away from the pain or consequences, but you can put up with it for awhile. First notice how real the discomfort is, what else could be a problem or even more painful if you don’t take action on this.

To add even more energy to your motivation notice what you will get that is good or pleasurable once you have taken the action or started the activity. Notice how good it feels and how good it will feel when you have completed this activity… So as you experience all of this about that activity, notice just how much energy you have for taking the step to be doing it… Go do it then!

Part B, You are moving toward the activity, but it doesn’t pull on you enough to take any action. First notice just what attracts or pulls you toward it in the first place, that’s right, now as you think about that, ask yourself, what is important to me about this…

What does the importance of this mean to you, how do you feel about it now, knowing this? Just imagine what it would mean if you never did this, you would never realise this meaning and its importance. It could be the start of procrastinating on other important and meaningful things in life, you wouldn’t want that to be true would you? Be with this awareness, notice the heightened pleasure and possible pain if you don’t act on this as soon as you can… Just now, notice HOW much energy and motivation you know have for this… Get on with it then!

Congratulate yourself on doing or starting the activity, notice how well you can motivate you to take the actions that are important to you. Notice the sense of independence and pride you have for yourself as you read this and start to take the first steps to becoming expert at developing your own motivation, imagine the possibilities you now have for your life…now.

Courtesy: Joseph W. Scott Managing partner @ TheCoachingRoom Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia

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Circumstances don’t matter, only your ability to dream BIG and feel good about it does.

A few days ago I realized why I’ve had an easy and happy life. Sorry, no complaints here. I understand that most people like to talk about how difficult or hard their life has been and how they overcame those situations. Maybe this is a good way for people to learn, listening to these kinds of stories. I think it is a very good way to sell too, because 99% of people are suffering from something (debt, disease, loneliness, stress, depression and more), so their beliefs and energy match perfectly with these kinds of stories.

My story is different. Yes, I’ve had tough situations in my life, but they are part of living. They are lessons that teach us and we grow. Those moments add the salt and pepper to life. That is why life is exciting every day, because we don’t know what exactly is going to happen, but if we have faith and know that we deserve only good things, we can be sure that anything that happens to us is just for the best. Our responsibility is to learn how to see everything with an open heart and a positive mind.

Why has my life been so happy and easy? My answer to this question is because I’m a big dreamer and my mind is always busy creating projects to help people. It doesn’t matter if I make money with them, I really enjoy the time when I’m creating them. I’m living my own life through my dreams and my creations. I’m creating my own life and my own reality in my mind, and I’m living it! Yes, I live in this world – I eat, I get dressed, I have a place to live, I have a beautiful family, I need the same things as every human being. And thanks to my ability to dream and believe, money has never been a problem for me. My relationship with money is wonderful because I believe I deserve only good things and I’m sure I get everything I want.

Sometimes when I say I’m a BIG dreamer, people laugh at me. When I ask for help to do activities to help people, some people don’t listen to me, and that is OK with me. I respect everyone else’s opinions and decisions. I’m sure I will meet the right people to help me. I use my imagination to attract them. I love to play with my imagination. If I can “live” my projects in my mind, I’m sure I can make them available for everyone and bring them into reality.

Imagination is the ability of forming images, sensations and concepts in your mind. Imagination is a process that helps you to create your own reality and it can be expressed through stories and fantasies. Imagination involves all the five senses and feelings, not just the mind. When you play with your imagination, you are able to see you (and other people) living the life you want, hear your own laughter, smell the scents of your success, savor the flavors of your happiness and touch every person’s heart around you. Imagination has no limits and everything you can create in your mind (with your imagination) you can create it in your reality, in your own life.

How can you bring things you create in your mind to reality?There is a very important thing to take care of, and it is that your imagination needs to match your beliefs. You can create beautiful dreams/stories with your imagination, but if your beliefs contradict your dreams, 99.9% of the time, you won’t bring them to reality. It is a good idea to rate your belief about your dream from 1-10. How much do you believe that you can achieve that dream? If you rate your belief between 8-10, you can be sure that you will achieve it. If your rate is anything less than 7, you can play the same story in your mind over and over again until you believe you can achieve it. Play with your imagination and add more and more details to your story, add more and more feelings and emotions, feel better every time. If you feel bad thinking about your dream, your level of belief is low. Daydreaming is a very good tool to create whatever you want and overcome negative emotions.

I have a four-year-old nephew and I’ve learned a lot from him. He is always creating his own stories, expressing his emotions and laughing at every little thing. He is teaching me how to fly – that is what he says – and I’m learning! Children are extraordinary teachers, learn from them – especially kids less than seven years old. Imitate them. I’m sure you will learn to play with your imagination once more!

Creating a Dream book is very useful. Get a special notebook and write down all your dreams, desires, goals and projects. I use a little one because I like to carry it with me all the time. Write all the ideas that come to your mind, even though you may think that they are only fantasies or unreal. Describe your IDEAL life. Write about all that you want in your life, for yourself, for your job/business, for your relationship, for your family, for your community, for your world. Evaluate all your dreams depending on how much you believe and pick the ones that you believe more (8-10) to focus on and play with them in your imagination over and over again. If you want something that you don’t believe enough, find “reasons” to support that dream and imagine it over and over again, feel good about it and be happy.

We are forgetting how to dream and that is why we are living in a very stressful and depressing world. It looks like the “directors” of the world are interested in ending our ability to dream and we are collaborating with them. They can control the world but they cannot steal your imagination. Use your ability to dream BIG and create your OWN reality. Circumstances don’t matter, only your ability to dream BIG and feel good about it does. If you can create it in your mind, you can have it in your life!

Are you interested in knowing more about the Law of Attraction, limited beliefs, how to achieve your goals and how to have the life of your dreams? Visit http://www.brainywoman.com and find useful information to put into practice every day.

A simple way to take charge of your life is by eliminating excuses. Did you know that excuses keep us from taking responsibility for ourselves?

Excuses show up in many different ways. We can blame others for our unhappiness, for being stuck, for limiting our choices, and keeping us from moving forward. Regrets are a big part of excuses. For example “I would have succeeded if only……..”. In every one of these examples someone or something else is responsible. In relationships inaction is often explained by “I was waiting for him/her to do something”. And next thing you know years have gone by and the situation has not changed.

Here are three tips for eliminating excuses so that you can take charge of your life.

1. Raise your self-awareness

Start catching yourself at the many direct or subtle ways that you might be making excuses. Generally most of us are not even aware how often we may resort to limiting our choices in life with excuses. Just say to yourself: “Oops I did it again.” Habits are so automatic that it takes deliberate focusing to bring them to the forefront.

2. Look for Solutions

Once you are aware of your excuse making pick one area where you want to introduce change. Begin by brainstorming about a possible solution. Here is an example: Kathleen was constantly complaining about her work load to co-workers and family but not to the person who could do something about this. She decided that when the next assignment came her way she would tell her boss that she would be glad to do it however, she wanted her boss to understand that a previous task would have to be delayed.

3. Take Action

Introduce the solution. Without action there is no deliberate change. It took a lot of courage on Kathleen’s part to confront her boss. Her boss decided that she should finish the previous task and that the new assignment could wait. Kathleen realized that she was in the habit of saying yes without clarifying what she realistically could accomplish. This self-awareness helped Kathleen see how she had routinely abdicated responsibility to define her boundaries.

By eliminating excuses we are introducing change in the way we view ourselves. It frees us up to look for solutions that when implemented put us in control of our own life.

To learn more about introducing positive change into your life I invite you to visit www.kristinavonrosenvinge.com. In order to feel in charge of our lives we have to be responsible to determine the direction it takes.

Courtesy: Kristina von Rosenvinge

So why is it important to think positive? Firstly a positive person has a lot more energy to accomplish the things they desire to achieve. This helps them to change their life for the positive.

The true power of positive thinking is that it makes you a better person all round. More people like you, you achieve promotions faster, and you can handle stressful situations more appropriately. People who are positive also enjoy extra health benefits, like increased energy, increased stamina as well as the ability to ward off colds, and flues as well as other viruses.

Did you know that negativity thinking actually lower’s your immune system? When I use to suffer from negative thinking, I was constantly sick, and was more susceptible to colds and flues. I was always tired; I never had energy to do anything, and I was always coming down with some kind virus.

People who are negative often think the rest of the world should be a realist like they are, and they think that everyone should be negative too. I often tried to bring people along with me, by being miserable, and angry most of the time. I guess the old saying is true ‘misery loves company’. This just made me depressed, as well as unpopular. It held me back from achieving anything worthwhile.

Then I discovered the true power of positive thinking. Since then I have not looked back, and my health has continued to improve. I have more friends and I am so much more content and successful.

According to Dr Caroline Leaf the author of ‘Who switched Off My Brain’ 87-95% of all known illnesses, have been linked to negative thinking. I believe that is reason enough to begin to start to think positively, don’t you?

Below are 4 tips for breaking the cycle of negative thinking, and start thinking positively.

1. You need to want to change.

If you do not want to change you will probably try some of these techniques a couple of times, and if you stumble you will probably say ‘this does not work. It is useless I can’t change’. The truth is, you can change, but only if you want to. It only takes a decision, and a will to do it. You might even say ‘but you do not know what I have been through’. That is right I don’t know, but then again I do not have to know. But what I do know is that, it requires you to have a desire to be a different person from who you are now.

Changing your thinking is not as hard as you might suppose. In your brain you grow neural pathways whenever you think of something. The stronger you think of something the stronger the neural pathway grows. it takes 21 days for a fully formed neural pathway to grow.

Now you are probably thinking ‘great that just proves I can’t change’. if that is where it stopped you would be right, but there is good news; You can actually regrow new neural pathways over the top of the old ones, hence changing your thinking completely. You literally reprogram your brain. This reprogramming only takes 21 days to finish. So by day 22 you have a completely new way of thinking about a particular situation or person.

Research has shown that it only takes 4 days to begin the process, and 22 days to change that thought forever for the positive.

2. You need to understand that every emotion starts with a thought.

That is right; every emotion, whether positive or negative starts with a thought. To prove this I am going to get you do something.

I want you to think of a situation you would hate to do, either something that you have done that you do not like, or something that you think you would not like to do. Now see yourself there, imagine yourself doing it, and imagine you really are there. Feel the sensation, and smell the smells and examine how you feel. You feel terrible don’t you?

Now think of something that you really Love to do. Really imagine yourself being there actually doing it. Visualise it and feel the sensation, smell the smells. How does that make you feel? You feel great right?

In the negative situation, I imagined something that I would never want to do.That is to jump out of an aeroplane. I imagined myself with the parachute on, and standing at the edge of the door ready to jump looking out at the ground below. I experienced fear and trepidation.

The positive thing that I imagined was having a romantic dinner with my wife, in front of a fireplace, then going for a walk and just talking.

Now to some people, Jumping out of an aeroplane is exciting and something they would love to do, and having dinner front of a fireplace and then going for a walk is boring. The difference in this case is perspective.

If I was to begin to imagine that jumping out of an aeroplane was exciting and something I would love to do. and consistently thought about it in this light i would probably learn to love the idea of jumping from a plane and maybe even attempt to do it.

The same goes with the dinner. If I was to consistently think that a dinner in front of a fireplace and then going on a slow walk to have a talk with someone was boring, then my perspective would change and it would become boring.

So to change the way we think of a situation allows us to change our perspective, and this in turn helps us to change the way we think.

3. How to change from negative thoughts to positive thoughts

This is where the rubber meet’s the road. You are going to need to change your perspective on the person or situation that has annoyed you, made you angry, sad, anxious, scared, frustrated or depressed.

To do this you are going to have to think about what you think about. In other words, you are going to have to catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, and turn that negative thought into a positive perspective.

A good example is road rage. Imagine you are on the road, and someone cuts you off, and you have to swerve to miss them. really imagine your self in that situation. those of us who drive can imagine this quite easily. you probably began to curse and swear, and rant and rave at them. Because you are thinking; ‘you idiot, you could have killed me. You should lose your licence you can’t drive’.

Now to change the perspectives on this situation try to imagine yourself thinking in that situation something like:

‘Well praise God no one was hurt. I am sure that person did not mean to cut me off. We all make mistakes. They are probably not even aware that they did it. How many times have I cut people off, and not even realized it?’

Now see how this positive thought puts things into perspective, and makes you calmer. If you practice thinking like this on a regular basis it will begin to get easier to do.

4. Practice putting things into a positive perspective, while things are not stressful

If a situation constantly comes up that upsets you, like the kids not eating fast enough, or being stuck in traffic.

Now with the situation of the kids taking too long, in the morning; instead of getting upset because you are running late imagine yourself staying calm, and imagine yourself getting their breakfast ready a little earlier, and tell them that they are great kids, and that you love them, This takes the focus off the stressful situation, and helps you and the kids to feel great. Imagine yourself quietly explaining to the child or children that if they struggle to get ready in time in the morning that you are going to do them a favour. Explain to them that you will get them up a little earlier so that they have more time to finish what needs to be done. then praise them for the great effort they are making to help create a calm family atmosphere. All of this will help you, and the kids stay calm as well as help you to be a little more organised in the morning. Organization helps to relieve stress.

If you get hot under the collar when stuck in traffic; imagine yourself leaving ten minutes earlier and listening to music in the car. Use this time to think positive thoughts about the people at work. Imagine getting along with everyone, and imagine doing something nice for at least one person today. This will help your time in the car to be less stressful, and allow you to be in a good frame of mind when you get there. also people will begin to like you even more for the efforts that you are making.

Imagine this about ten times

Try to think of a positive perspective then think deeply about it before it occurs again. Then practice it at least five to ten times a day. You will find that when the negative situation comes up again, you will remember it faster, and you will be able maintain control much easier. You will begin to go from feeling angry or anxious to feelings calm, and you will begin to be able to do it very quickly.

So why is it important to think positive? It will improve your health and mental well-being, Can negative thinking really make you sick? According to Dr Caroline Leaf 87-95% of all known illnesses are brought on by our negative thought life. Discover the true power of positive thinking, it increases your energy help you to feel contented as well as happy. It also will help you to cope with negative situations. You will need to think about what you are thinking about. Catch yourself thinking negative and practice putting a positive perspective to it. Remember as time goes on it will become easier.

Courtesy: Henry Webster

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If you want great success in your life, you need to start following the Law of Applied Effort. Basically, this law states that all major achievements are the result of hard work and dedication. If you want great success, start applying great effort!

“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” -Napoleon Hill

Almost all self-made millionaires and entrepreneurs credit hard work for their success. It’s not where you were born, where you went to school, or who your parents are. Success comes from following the laws of success. This week, focus on the effort you put forth in everything you do. The more effort you invest in a project, career, or family the more you will get out of it!

If you work 40 hours a week, you might be a moderate success. You may slowly climb the company ladder and in time you might be financially independent. Every hour above 40 hours a week you work you will move your career forward. You will stop being average and start being a leader in your field when you put out more effort. Successful people work more hours and smarter hours. Most executives and small business owners work 60 hours a week. They apply more effort and get more results.

“In all human affairs there are efforts and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result” -James Allen

If working more hours, scares you then you are probably not in the right career! Successful people who work more hours are doing it not only because they love the results of their work but because they love what they do!

Five Rules to Follow When Using Huge Effort:

1. Great success is the result of great effort. Focus on your most valuable tasks to get the biggest results.

2. Arrive earlier and stay later. Start your day prepared. Plan your day before it begins. Get to work earlier then everyone else and stay a little longer then everyone else. This will allow you to get more done during quiet times, and by planning your day you, can finalize loose ends before you leave.

3. More effort equals more opportunities and luck. The more effort you put out the more opportunities will come your way and the luckier you will be. People that are doing more and working harder become “luckier” because other people see their value.

4. When you are at work, WORK! The average person working 40 hours a week is really only working 30 hours a week! Forget the long coffee breaks, the extended lunches, the personal Facebook account, emails and calls. You will rise to the top if you actually work on high value items all week long!

5. Remember the Law of Cause and Effect. If you want to be better than the average person, you need to become excellent at what you do. Invest more time, gain more expertise, work smarter, and you will make more money and achieve more success than the average person!

Courtesy: Dave Magrogan

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