7 Instances Why Your Positive Affirmations Fail To Work

Are you about to give up and proclaim that positive affirmations do not work?

You already are aware of the benefits of thinking positively. And so, you have been trying to use positive affirmations daily. Yet, despite repeating them like a mantra for several times a day, you’ve not met with any success.

In my post today, I would like to share with you a couple of key learnings that I have made. I would like to share some examples of my own. Be on your way to making positive affirmations work for you!

What Are Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations are thoughts or statements on a desired state or outcome. The desired state or outcome can cover any aspect of your life such as in abundance, success, relationships or health. One common example of an affirmation is “I consistently and easily make $X a month”. Using positive affirmations is powerful because consistent thoughts can become realities. Hence, the more often you reinforce the positive, the more it is likely to happen.

While you would prefer to believe that you are a positive person, in reality, it could be  the opposite. On a subconscious level, you may have several negative self sabotaging thoughts and beliefs. These thoughts are usually formed from the various experiences that you have had, the conditioning that you went through as a child, your sense of fair play, your successes and failures and the values that you have been taught and come to adopt.

Consistent thoughts make up your belief system, when you give them power and more focus. Gary Craig, the founder of the Emotional Freedom Technique, calls them “writings on your wall”. They form the “writings on your wall” from which you frequently consult in your everyday life.

If the “writings on your wall” tend to be negative and limiting, they can hinder you from taking risks, achieving your dreams or simply being the best that you can be. Here are some common examples of “writings on the wall” that are not very useful:

– “Don’t rock the boat.”
– “Don’t risk getting yourself hurt.”
– “Know where you come from.”
– “You are not all that capable.”
– “Don’t draw too much attention to yourself. No one likes a showoff.”

Positive affirmations are statements that can help replace these “writings on your wall”. They are great to use after clearing negative emotions and thoughts. Positive affirmations are great for financial abundance, enriching relationships and pursuing possibilities.

Hence, if repeating positive affirmations have not worked for you, find out why.

Why Aren’t Your Positive Affirmations Working?

1. Presence of Tail Enders

Perhaps one of the main reasons why positive affirmations do not work is because of the presence of tail enders. Tail enders are beliefs and thoughts that appear at the end of the affirmation.

Let me give you an easy example to illustrate what a tail ender is. Say your positive daily affirmation is “I easily and consistently make $50,000 a month”. Your tail enders may go like this….

– “But if I make $50,000 a month, I will have friends and relatives come borrow money from me.”

– “But if I make $50,000 a month, I will be known as rich by my friends and rich people are not nice.”

– “But if I make $50,000 a month, I will have to work very hard in my job to earn that and I will have no life left.”

– “But if I make $50,000 a month, my friends will not like me.”

– “But if I make $50,000 a month, women (or men) will want to be with me more for how much I make and not for whom I am.”

The list of tail enders can go on and on. You can have tail enders for just about any affirmation that you use for health, relationships, love, etc. So if you have been diligently saying your positive affirmations but find that they are not working, you may want to ask yourself if you’ve got some tail enders that are sabotaging your initial intent. Tail enders can easily reduce the effectiveness of your affirmations. It takes a while to unearth all the limiting tail enders but once you uncover them, you open up the opportunity to erase them. And you can do this with EFT.

2. Your Affirmation Is A Should.

You may make an affirmation which you do not really want. Often enough, people make affirmations because their parents say so, all their friends are doing so or it sounds like a good affirmation to affirm.

You may even have a tail ender that says this “I easily and consistently make $50,000 a month but I do not really want it.” In this example, it may be that you have other dreams, rather than just a money goal.

It is important that you make affirmations according to what you really want, rather than make them based on your shoulds. Your wants are aligned desires that come from within your soul and not from someone else’s dream.

3. Your Affirmation Is Not Realistic Enough.

If your affirmation appears to be a lofty goal to you, you may inadvertently set up tail enders that says it is too difficult to attain. Let’s use the first example again for illustration. For instance, if you currently make $1000 a month, then making an affirmation on “I easily and consistently make $50,000 a month” may be too much of a stretch to you.

Of course, you can use meridian tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique to erase the tail enders. But you may find yourself having to deal with a long list of negative sabotaging thoughts. It may be far easier to set an interim but more realistic affirmation; such as “I easily and consistently make $5,000 a month” and work your way up. You will find that you will have less obstacles to clear subconsciously, as you move up the ladder.

4. Your Affirmation Is Not Exciting Enough.

If your affirmation is not exciting enough, you may lose motivation. Affirmations must have enough “pull” for you to focus your intent on. For instance, from currently making $1,000 monthly, would $5,000 a month be a good enough affirmation for you to work on? I would think so.

Your affirmation also works best if you say it with some emotion. When you can actually “feel” your affirmation, its impact increases dramatically.

One important tip is that it is best that you do not let others know too much about your dreams and affirmations. Announcing them to people who are not very supportive and who have little understanding about what you are doing, can invite criticisms. They may just douse your enthusiasm, causing you to give up on your affirmation. Hence, it is best to keep things to yourself, focus your thoughts and get some results, before sharing your findings with others.

5. Your Positive Affirmation Is Not Made In The Present Tense.

Your affirmation is less effective if you use words like “I will be _________” instead of “I am ________ “. Of course, you may feel that it is inappropriate to affirm something that has not happened yet. But saying things in the present tense will program your subconscious mind to believe that what you affirm is already a fact. Once your subconscious mind believes that it is true, you will find yourself taking actions to make your goal a reality.

6. Your Affirmation Focuses On The Negative Rather Than Accentuating The Positive.

Think back about all your affirmations. Are you formulating them in the positive or in the negative sense? Affirmations made from a negative perspective will only draw your subconscious mind to your old habitual and limiting thoughts. They will not be as effective in bringing about desired positive outcomes.

“Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” Elbert Hubbard quotes (American editor, publisher and writer, 1856-1915)

7. Your Affirmation Is Not Supported By Your Dreams. 

You may associate dreams as something that is so big but which are unattainable. And so, you pooh pooh the idea of dreaming: why waste time imagining the impossible when dreams seldom come true?

Well, there is much value in daydreaming. And in case you believe so, daydreaming is not just for kids. When you daydream, you connect yourself with all possibilities. The act of daydreaming itself creates a nice feeling when you think “how nice if I would be if I can/am _________”. When you feel good, you start to exude a positive energy vibration. According to the Law of Attraction, you may well start to attract the opportunities that matches the same vibration.

“Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing, is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality.”
— Unknown

Summary: Guidelines To Help Make Positive Affirmations A Success

1. Make affirmations short and succinct, with no tail enders.

2. Base your affirmations on wants and not shoulds.

3. Make them realistic.

4. Make your affirmations exciting enough.

5. State affirmations in the present tense.

6. State affirmations in the positive.

7. Augment your affirmations with dreams.

In short, before you conclude that positive affirmations do not work, go through this checklist first and see if you have made them correctly.

It is important to have fun while making affirmations. Adjust them from time to time to eliminate boredom. Cover your intent adequately with affirmations by focusing on different aspects of your goal and watch your desires unfold before you.

A Random Act of Kindness: 15 Ideas To Kickstart Your Intention

Have you come across this phrase “random act of kindness”? What is it? What does it mean to do one?

Here is how Wikipedia definites a random act of kindness….

“A random act of kindness is a purportedly selfless act performed by a person or persons wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual or in some cases even an animal. There will generally be no reason other than to make people smile, or be happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, random acts of kindness are encouraged by various communities.”

In 1982, California peace activist Ann Herbert scribbled on a placemat in a restuarant “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The words left an impression on a fellow diner, who later told the phrase to others. The words inspired much thought and conversation, including the movie “Pay it Forward” in 2000. An international bestseller also helped to catapult this concept .

There is now a World Kindness Movement. I also found out to my surprise, while doing a google search, that many of the meetings by this movement is being held here from Singapore (my country).

Why Bother To Make A Random Act of Kindness

Perhaps, you may be wondering why bother to make your act of kindness Random? Isn’t it enough to be kind to your family members, friends and colleagues or at least, to the people that you come into contact with?

Well, commiting a random act of kindness is a demonstration of the generosity of your spirit. Kindness is an expression of love. It is an abundance concept. It is the thinking that you are full of love for your fellow human kind that you’ve got more to give, even to strangers or people that you don’t really know.

A random act of kindness is a manifestation of an abundance mindset!

Sure, you do have to start with being kind to those nearest to you. However, when you commit an act randomly, maybe anonymously as well, you are extending an energy of love, hope, trust and support to the Universe.

Making a random act of kindness is fulfilling in itself. It provides you the opportunity for expansive awareness, a chance to explore your potential for human divinity. While you may have commited your act to benefit the recipient and not to ask for anything in return, you get untold benefits in terms of joy and purpose that you have served others. Do it often enough, it’s no longer called random; it’s kindness that permeats all levels of your Being.

“Some measure their lives by days and years,
Others by heart throbs, passion and tears;
But the surest measure under the sun,
Is what in your lifetime for others you have done.”
— Ruth Smeltzer

Random Act of Kindness To Dissolve Random Act of Violence

As it is often discussed, random acts of kindness is today’s antitode to random acts of terrorism and violence.

You continue to read in the papers about intricate plots by terrorist groups, bent on crashing or bombing planes killing randomly all on board. These are usually sensational news, perhaps meant to highlight to you the importance about being vigiliant and to treasure peace and security. At the same time, how often do you read of reported cases of random acts of kindness?

If random acts of kindess can be encouraged, they can overshadow acts of senseless killing, bringing about a More Loving World. The threat of terrorism is a dense negative energy that you probably instinctively experience, whenever you come across such news. You feel it in the chill of your spine, thinking about how potentially destructive terrorism can be.

It’s good to be aware that random acts of kindness can dissolve this negative energy, bringing the Universe to much light. Then, maybe, these so-called random acts of kindness will not be occuring at an infrequent time space reality but much as a way of life.

 

How To Make A Random Act of Kindness

It’s more than likely that you’ve ever committed a random act of kindness. To make this a conscious process, simply form an intention to be kind and start with an act today. You may be tempted to think that an act of kindness often involves the giving of money or the buying of gifts. However, it need not necessarily be so.

It can be as simple as sending a card, doing a unsolicated task for those in need or letting others in a hurry to get ahead of you in line.As with everything, the more often you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Your next act can seem small to you but may mean a lot to the recipient!Aesop once said…

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

 

My Random Act of Kindness

Here’s my random act of kindness that I would like to share. I’ve often noticed irate drivers while parking my car in shopping centers during peak hours. Cars will be circling round waiting for a slot.I may have entered the carpark later but more often than not, I would get a slot pretty fast. It helps that I use the three-fingers technique from the Silva Method to “intend” for an empty lot quickly.

If I’m not in a hurry, I may just graciously give it up to a driver of another car, waiting some distance away. I do not focus on the fact that it may take ages for me to find another empty space. Instead, I’ll just wait around and use the Silva Method to “manifest” another free opening for my car!!

The three-fingers technique is a simple technique to learn. Simply put your first three fingers together and program yourself by going into the alpha level and state that it will always be easy for you to find the shortest queue, a free parking space or not having to wait to get tickets.

Each finger apparently represents a subjective energy, desire, belief and expectancy. Together, the three implies faith. Visualisation is key to success for this method. When you next encounter the situation, simply put your three fingers together and visualise the picture of your desired intent. Viola!! You will be surprised by the results.

Well, yesterday was no exception. I was parking my car on a Sunday in a busy mall. A perfect opportunity presented itself for me to commit a random act of kindness.

14 Other Examples For A Random Act of Kindness To Pick From

If you are busted for ideas, here are 14 more examples to kickstart your intention for a random act of kindness:

1. Pay the toll for the person behind you.

This is perhaps the most common example cited. If you’re at a motorway toll booth, pay for the car behind.

2. Donate to a charitable cause.
Turn your papers today to look for a charitable cause to donate to. Forget about the tax break for larger donation sums, even if it is a small amount that you can afford.

3. Send an anonymous card.
Think about someone who deserves to know that he or she is worthy of love or as an acknowledgement of what he or she has done. How often have we been rendered good customer service and a “thank you” is all we give? How about taking it one step further? Send a card. You may not even want to sign off with your name.

4. Deliver a goodie basket made with love.
Bake muffins or cookies and send them to the old folk’s or children’s home.

5. Be kind to your environment.
Avoid littering your environment. Treat your environment with loving care and kindness. While at the beach, pick up the rubbish.

6. Cheer the disspirited.
Grab a bunch of flowers and give it to the cleaner of the toilets in your office building. He or she may be looking somewhat disspirited while slogging away at a less-than glamourous job.

7. Let the person in a hurry behind, go before you.
If you are not in a hurry but notice that the person behind you is, let him or her go first. Here you are showing kindness by giving up your time.

8. Lend a helping hand to a distraught parent.
Kids missing in shopping centers or in public areas occur very often. Parents are often distraught. Offer to help look for these kids.

9. Give up your seat in the public bus to the weary soul.
While it may not take all that much for you to give up your seat in a crowded public bus to the pregnant or the elderly, how about giving up your seat to just any passenger who looks weary or who is carrying a heavy bag?

10. Offer your hand in carrying groceries at the supermarket.
If you notice someone who is struggling with carrying bags of groceries, offer to help lighten their load.

11. Be kind to stray cats or dogs.
The practice of loving kindness should not just extend to your fellow human race. You should also show kindness to animals. If you notice a stray cat or dog, do the right thing and not kick it away!

12. Do a secret act of service.
If you notice a neighbour or a colleague in need of some assistance, how about rendering the help secretly? It can be mowing your neighbour’s untidy lawn or it can be sorting out some files for your colleague. Leave an anonymous card that says “please pay it forward”.

13. Give up your lunch to the needy.
How about skipping your expensive lunch today and donating the money away? Or you can buy lunch and give it to the begger on the street round the corner. Consider having just a salad for yourself instead.

14. Volunteer your help randomly.
Pick randomly a family or someone in crisis. Don’t know where to look? Search your local newspaper for leads. Determine if you can offer in kind or in service.

15. Return Lost Items.
If you’ve picked up a lost item, write a short note with your contact details and place it at the location where you’ve found it.

This list is by no means exhaustive. The idea is to be creative and spontaneous. Be on the prowl over the next few days for an unsuspecting recipient.

“The only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”— Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Prize Winner

Love and abundance always,

7 Tips To Surviving Tough Times

Going through tough times? It takes a lot of faith to believe what seems impossible, when life is going rough. From your perspective, you may believe that things are already so bad that they cannot get worse. What unbelievable bad luck, you seem to be tapping into. You may well feel like banging your head against the wall, in frustration and despair. Perhaps, it may be due to a sequence of bad experiences that you have or if you are born with some physical challenges. Somehow, your life just seems a lot more difficult than others.

Well, I’d like to dedicate this post to those of you, who are going through tough times right now and who need a little support. I’ve often been through these episodes myself and what better way, from having pulled myself through countless times, than to share what I’ve learnt on my blog? Hopefully they can help you too. Continue reading

How To Deal With Negative Emotions By Ajahn Brahm

In today’s video posting, I’m featuring a talk by Ajahn Brahmavamso (or known as Ajahn Brahm) on how to deal with negative emotions. Ajahn Brahm is the current Abbort of Bodhinyana Monastery in Perth and who is trained in the forest meditation tradition of the revered Venerable Ajahn Chah. Although his teachings are based on Buddhist principles, the tips he shares can be easily applied by anyone who is keen to lead a happier life.

It’s quite a long video clip but well worth the time spent. If you don’t already know this, Ajahn Brahm has always delivered his talks filled with jokes and entertaining stories, while embedding some wisdom that invokes you to think more deeply. I’ve been a follower of Ajahn Brahm’s teachings for some years now and would always try to make time to listen to him whenever he comes to town. It’s great that recordings of the talks he give is now available more publicly.

In this video, Ajahn Brahm provided several examples to illustrate how unskilful thoughts and attitudes are often the cause of our negative emotions and how when emotions are negative, wisdom cannot arise. Ajahn Brahm proposed that our negative emotions can also arise due to social conditioning such as in a funeral. He asked poignantly: do we grieve or do we celebrate the life of the person who has just passed away?

He recommended that we give up exercising control over our anger, frustration or worry and that we do not suppress our negative emotions either. Instead, it is best to accept, make peace with them and let them go.

What I liked best is his conclusion: that the goal for us is not about becoming emotionally dead. Instead, it is better to transcend our negative emotions and to fill ourselves with happiness, peace, kindness, compassion and respect for every moment. These can usually be cultivated by practising deep meditation and training our minds. It is to his observation that some of the most learned monks are the ones who are happiest. As positive emotions become stronger to replace negative ones, we can then become beacons to our world.

Cinderella And The Story About Attracting Abundance

Once upon a time, in a magical land far far away, there lived a young maiden, who lived with her stepmother and two ugly stepsisters. They were horrible to her, piling her with loads of housework, making her work near the cinders and eventually calling her “Cinderella”.

Cinderella dreamed of a life of abundance. She dreamed of riches, beautiful gowns and the man who would save her from her wretched life. Nevertheless, every once in a while, she could not help but focused on her rags, her miserable room in the attic and her lack to abundance. She could not help feeling envious about the pretty dresses and the magnificent finery that her stepsisters wore.

Continue reading

What is Holding You Back From Living Your Passion

The few days of public holidays of Chinese New Year are finally over. After days of waking up late, I initially found it a drag to have to get up early this morning to send Min, my younger daughter to preschool. However, any feeling of exhaustion soon dissipated as my car picked up speed from the dark underground car park and into the open. Outside, the day was promising to look glorious, with the sun already up.

I thought how lucky I was. After dropping her off, I could get back to bed. Afterall, my husband was finally sleeping, from battling migraine the entire night. But as it is, I did not choose sleep. Instead I am here now at my PC checking my emails and typing my thoughts.

I realize that often times, no matter how tired I feel, I will be at my desk, publishing content for my readers or looking for ways to generate more awareness about my sites. My work attitude has not always been this way. I was seldom that motivated when I was working in the bank. While I liked my previous job, I was not burning with passion over it.

Most people by now will have gone to work right now, spending the next 8 to 10 hours in the office. But I truly wonder how many are going to a job that they are passionate about. I know for a fact that many of my friends, in their various professions, are not happy in their jobs. A couple of them could not stop complaining about their bosses, their high sales target that they are supposed to achieve or the constant business trips they have to make. Despite their complaints, they continue to put in a good many hours working late and not having enough time with their kids. What perhaps is deterring them from resigning is the huge paycheck that they are receiving. Their designer handbags, shiny cars and big homes say it all!

I guess the absolute best thing that I can wish for them is that they say “I love my job”. Then, work is no longer merely just a job but something that is fun, engaging and challenging.

Admittedly, many people prefer to delay their dreams. They choose to pursue them only in the later part of their life. However, having made such a choice, they wonder in their old age where have all the good years gone to.

What’s Holding You Back?

Are you in the same boat “in a job that you absolutely have no love for” and are not daring to make a change? If you don’t love what you do, what’s holding you back? What is stopping you from moving to something that you will love doing?

Your reason is probably not uncommon: too old to make a change, need to make more money before feeling ready to make a change, find it hard to give up current lifestyle to start a new business, prefer to get promoted in this lousy career than to start from scratch, etc.

If you find that you continually have pangs of indecision, even though you have thought it through for the umpteenth time and decided to stay in a job that you do not love, this can only mean that you have not fully “accepted” your decision. You continue to feel miserable. There is no passion. Your customers irk you. And you swear that your boss has a hidden agenda by making things difficult for you.

Then, it is time to ask yourself if you want to remain in a job that provides no meaning to you.

Or make it Right from now.

Start living.

Here is a quote by Alan Cohen I would like to leave you with, for your consideration.

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

Healing Cancer With The Silva Method

It was meant to be a time of connecting with old friends during Chinese New Year but nothing quite prepare me yesterday for the sight of a friend whom I have not seen in about two years. Kay was actually an ex-colleague of my husband. Previously in remission, his cancer is now in full force again.

He looked gaunt and did not bother to get up from the bed in his bedroom. Definitely not the person I remembered him to be – a pretty big guy with a slight tummy. He spotted a bald top yesterday; his hair must have fallen with all the chemotherapy that he was going through.

I have not known him well and was admittedly at a loss of words, because I had not expected to see him in this state. We were visiting a relative who stays in his neighbourhood and although it was not planned, we had decided to drop by Kay’s home.

Kay was finding the pain on his nerves unbearable and had to take morphine every 4 hours. I could see that he was in mental torture as the pain was intense moment to moment while we were there.

My husband tried to distract him from his pain with stories from work. (We have learnt previously that when we visit someone who is sick, it is far better to tell jokes or entertaining stories. The last you want is for your sick friend or relative to be focusing on his suffering when you ask him one too many question about how he is feeling. In answering you, it is likely he will be talking about his depression or how sick he is. But what you want for him is not to be thinking negative thoughts or to exude negative vibrations. )

Although I have hardly spoken to Kay previously, as he was more like an acquaintance, I decided to help him from afar. There was no opportunity to tell him yesterday about self healing as he was in too much pain to be interested in anything new.

So before I went to bed last night, I recalled what I knew about healing using the Silva Method. One of the techniques taught was how to perform healing for anyone in pain, whether physically or mentally. The technique involved a mental screen procedure.

In the alpha meditative state, I brought an image of Kay into my mind. I acknowledged that he was in great pain and proceeded to send him an energy of love throughout his body. For his pain, I “massaged” his lower back and spine. I did this for a long time. In the final screen, I visualized Kay as his old self, with his tummy back, smiling and free from pain. The organs in his body are whole and perfect.

Whether healing can happen or not will also depend on Kay’s desire and determination to fight his cancer. Nevertheless , I will do what I can by continuing to send him positive energy everyday. Hopefully, he can be free of his pain and suffering soon.

My guess is that all his previously well thought-out plans for his career are no longer as important to him as the battle that he has now. I’ve been thoughtful ever since visiting him yesterday. To be in good health is also to be in abundance. Let’s not forget that by taking it for granted!

Change The Words You Use To Reset A Negative Energy Vibration

Michael Losier, the Canadian National best selling author of “Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don’t”, offers good advice on how to change a negative negative vibration in the video below. He suggests that if you are not getting the things you want, you are probably vibrating it. Hence, you need to reset your vibrations by resetting your thoughts. You reset your thoughts by changing the words that you use.

Words that tend to be negative include Don’t, Not and No. When you use these words, you bring more energectic force into them.

Words that I would like to add to this list are Can’t and Cannot. These words have been ingrained in my mental dictionary since young. “I can’t do this”, “It is too difficult for me”, “I can never be rich or successful” — sounds familiar? For the longest time, these words had immense power over me. I was almost always crippled by them.

Let’s put the past behind. It’s time to focus on what we want – peace, success, happiness, love, abundance, wealth, spritual well being – for the right words to change the stories in our heads. Notice how your world starts getting better, when you become more positive. Mine has already begun to change 🙂

EFT: Feelings Of Inadequacy

Ever felt inadequate as a parent? I know I have. Even after some 7 years of parenting, I still get pangs of insecurity or not knowing how best to deal with a trying situation with my kids.

In fact, I decided to address these negative emotions during my therapy sesson with my EFT practitioner, today. Things have been pretty stressful for a few days in a row when my kids took turns to make unreasonable demands. The negative emotions were easily neutralized using EFT tappingin seconds. (Emotional healing work has been less of a strain and more of a breeze these days, now that I have cleared many of my negative blocks.)

My stress had also brought back a flood of memories. I have always wanted to have kids but nothing quite prepared me for the vast responsibility that comes with being a parent.

When I became a mother for the first time, I was extremely stressed. I did not know what to do or how to take care of a newborn. My husband was constantly away on business trips and I was left pretty much on my own. My mother dropped by often, when she noted that I needed help with Hui. But her babysitting skills were limited. When I was a child, I was taken care of by a helper. She had little prior experience with Hui being her first grandchild.

At that point in time, I had also decided to leave a full time career. On reflection, I must have suffered from post natal blues. I was depressed for a good many months after the birth of my daugther.

I got smarter as the years went by. I drew up schedules for my kids, so that they knew when is reading time and when is playtime. We set up certain guidelines so that my kids knew what is expected of them. Still, there will be situations that will come up unexpectedly with my kids and that require some ingenuity in dealing with them.

I recognise that I may get this wave of inadequacy every now and then. But the technique I can apply, when faced with two unyielding kids, is EFT tapping. I also make it a point to set aside time daily in quiet meditation and reflection. If things do get overwhelming and I cannot deal with the stress on my own, I make a note to deal with the specific negative emotions for my next therapy session. Parenting may still be one of the toughest job on earth, but it has gotten a whole lot easier!

Gain Ideas And Inspiration From Your Creative Mind

Do you find that your best ideas always come from “out of nowhere”?

Well, the good news is that it need not be a case of mere coincidence that you get struck by a bright idea.

Napoleon Hill, the best-selling author of “Think and Grow Rich” believed that the human mind was capable of tapping into universal fields of intelligence to access ideas and inspiration.

Napoleon Hill observed that….

The great artists, writers, musicians and poets became great because they acquire the habit of relying upon the still, small voice that speaks from within, through the faculty of creative imagination. It is a fact well known to people who have keen imaginations that their best ideas come through so-called “hunches”.

Napolean Hill shared about how one inventor from Maryland, the late Dr. Elmer R. Gates, came up with over 200 patents. Gates would sit in his soundproof laboratory holding a pad of writing paper and shut off the lights. In the dark, he would ponder on the known factors of the invention on which he was working for hours. He remained in the same position until ideas began to “flash” into his mind.

On one occasion, ideas came so fast to Gates that he was forced to write for almost three hours. When the thoughts stopped flowing, he proceeded to examine what he has written. He realised that they contained a minute description of principles, with no parallel among the known data of the scientific world. What was amazing was that the answer to his problem was intelligently presented in those notes.

Naaaaahhh? Don’t believe? Think that he is an exception?

Let me quote you another two examples.

The greatest inventor of our time, Thomas Alva Edison, used a similar technique and he apparantly did it through sleeping. Edison was awarded 1368 distinct patents and invented, the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the film projector, and the first motion picture. Edison had a secret – he would always take frequent naps in the middle of the day. Edison was known to have said, “Ideas come from space. Well, it is likely that he came up with several ideas while at the alpha state.

Then, there is Richard Bach, the author to the best selling book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. He revealed in an interview in 1972, that he wrote two-thirds of the book in a dream-like state.

And there are plenty more testimonials provided by graduates from The Silva Method. In the Silva Method program, you are also taught how to use dreams to get answers to the problem that you are seeking for. At the alpha and theta level, you are tapping into sources of knowledge not available at the waking level. Ideas won’t just be coming to you by mere coincidences but because you programmed for them.

Knowing that the answers can possibly come from within has been a helpful insight to me. Previously, I have always tried to analyse problems logically. However, there have been times when I got frustrated because I could not come up with something viable. I would then try my best to force out a solution and hope for the best.

I am no genius yet – unlike Thomas Edison, Dr Gates or Richard Bach. However, through their examples, I have learnt that there is another way of getting ideas and inspiration and definitely a far better one. I learnt now that it is best not to hold on too tightly to a problem. The best ideas come from the creative or subconscious mind, which I am learning to tap more from.

I’m also hoping to teach these concepts to my kids. Min, in particular, has been producing beautiful art work. It is highly apparent that she is creative. I hope to be able to teach her to access her creative mind not just for doing art but for a whole range of practical life issues.