Have you noticed that you have an ongoing dialogue in your mind? This is self talk. What you say to yourself determines who you are. What are you telling yourself?

In the Ultimate Healthy Lifestyle we recognize that this dialogue is manifesting our future. For many this dialogue is negative. They tell themselves that they want a new car, but cannot afford one. People may go to a job interview and their mind is telling them that they are not qualified or other reasons why they will not get the job.

What you tell yourself will come true. So, if you tell yourself you cannot afford a new house. It will be so. If you tell yourself that you are going to have a new house, with belief, your universe will help you get it.

The best example of the power of self talk is Mohamed Ali. When he was 11 or 12 years old he used to stand in front of the mirror and tell himself how great he was and how his life was going to be when he grew up. He didn’t know anything about self talk but everything he told himself came true.

That is the power of self talk and it works without fail whether we realize it or not. With the awareness of its power we can use it for our good. We can make positive self talk a habit. We can make a habit of telling ourselves how great we are and placing emphasis on our strengths. We can also use self talk to work on strengthening our weaknesses.

Start when you first get out of bed. Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself good things about you. Continue this all day and go to bed telling yourself how successful and happy you are.

Remember that the mind can not tell what is real and what is not. It will believe anything you tell it. You only have to keep telling yourself and in time you will believe it. In this way we can persuade ourselves to believe that which we want to believe.

Set your intention to engage only in positive self talk. Once that intention is firmly in place you can then start to cultivate the habit of positive self talk.

At first you will have to think about it and every time you do think of it tell yourself something good. Tell yourself how successful you are and how good you feel. If you consciously do this for a while it will become habit and you no longer have to think about it. Repetition becomes habit.

Use the big four daily and your life cannot help but improve. The big four are meditation, visualization, affirmations, and positive self talk.

TODAY’S TIP: Seek ways to improve your life daily. The more you seek the more you will find.

Are you ready for a new life?

We have talked about meditation and visualization. There is one more technique that ranks along side these two. It is affirmations. These three; meditation, visualization, and affirmations, make an unstoppable team in manifesting one’s reality.

This is so important that I am going to use two quotes today.

“As long as you know what it is you desire, then by simply affirming that it is yours — firmly and positively, with no ifs, buts, or maybes — over and over again, from the minute you arise in the morning until the time you go to sleep at night, and as many times during the day as your work or activities permit, you will be drawn to those people, places, and events that will bring your desires to you.” ~Scott Reed ~

I have included the second quote because I think it sums it up. It is the complete explanation of how affirmations work. You can program your mind to believe just about anything. This is why there are cults whose beliefs are so far away from the normal concepts.

To use affirmations successfully you must be sure you are programing something that you really want. Affirmations must be concise and simply worded. Use as few words as possible but be sure that your phrase is inclusive of your idea.

Word your affirmations as if they have already happened. Example; I am, not I will be. The two most powerful words in affirmations are, I am. As I run I repeat; I am healthy, I am wealthy, I am wise.

While you are exercising is a good time to repeat your affirmations. Synchronize the words to your steps or movements. I use one word for one step. Find your rhythm. Speak your sentence on the exhale. It can be out loud or spoken in your mind. You want to make sure the sentence you are using can be spoken in one exhale.

Start your day by looking into your eyes in the mirror and repeating your affirmations. End your day the same way. Then repeat your affirmations through out the day as often as you can.

There is a train of thought that believes that you must repeat your affirmation at least 36,000 times for it to become effective. So you can see that the more often you repeat it during the day the sooner you will start seeing results.

Here is a technique to help you get the benefit of your affirmations sooner. Record your affirmations on an endless loop tape, like the ones in some answering machines. Purchase a Pillow speaker and play your affirmations while you sleep. Your mind is most receptive during sleep.

Here is an affirmation to start with, until you have decided on your personal ones:

“Today, I recognize my own strength and power and have the courage to do things I have never done before. I am full of belief, both in myself and my abilities and in the help which surrounds me at every turn. I am courageous, strong and capable and I can do whatever it is I wish to do.”

This affirmation is too long to repeat while exercising but could be recorded and played at night.

TODAY’S TIP: Write out your affirmations on 3 x 5 cards and keep them with you during your day. This will make it easy to read until you have memorized them.

What will you affirm?

It has been said that people will believe anything. That is true, but you want to be careful what you choose to believe. Much of what we believe is our choice. Can you believe what you want?

In many cases you can. Many times repetition determines what we believe. That is how public opinion is manipulated. If you tell someone something often enough many will begin to believe it. Have you heard of people who believe their own lies?

The mind cannot tell the difference between that which is imagined and that which is real. So if we keep repeating something over and over we will begin to believe it is true.

This technique can be used to create your dream life. This is the purpose of affirmations and visualizations. Used wisely this can manifest miracles in your life.

But, be aware of this technique because it can be used against you, to make you believe something that someone else wants you to believe. This is how cults are formed. This is how people become trapped in cycles of victimization and others are able to control them.

As Buddha said so long ago, believe nothing unless you have determined that it is true by your own investigation and heart felt truth. Do not believe what I tell you unless it resonates with your internal knowing and take the time to research and verify all new information that comes to you.

I speak from my own experience and the lessons I learned are not meant for everyone. We all have our own paths through life. Some of the things that work for me may work for you. Many will not. Use what I tell you if you can, but find your own path through life.

No one knows what is best for you better than you. You were born with a guidance system that is infallible. The trouble is that we get disconnected from that system by the conditioning we are subjected to as we grow up. Our society does not want you to listen to that guidance because it wants to control you and your life.

Society does not realize that everyone would be better off if everyone were in touch with that guidance because that guidance comes from the source or God and is pure love. What a wonderful world this would be if everyone just lived with respect, love, and compassion for every other being in this world.

So I hope you will read my posts and find them helpful. However in the end you are your own guru and within you is everything that you need to live a life of love, abundance and joy.

TODAY’S TIP: When thinking of incorporating a new idea into your life, take time to research and verify that idea through several other sources.

Are you an independent thinker?

The best advice one can take is to work on manifesting one’s dreams one step at a time. Just as one goes on a journey, one step at a time.

What is the starting point? The starting point is where ever you are. Remember that you are exactly where you should be and need to be. Just move forward one step at a time. It does not matter how big the steps only that they are forward.

We know that you may occasionally have to take a step back. By doing so you will get a boarder view of the situation, then move forward. We may also have to take a sidestep, just keep your eye on the prize.

The first step or stage on the road to success is contemplation. This is the planning stage. This is the time to sit and decide what it is you want and to gain clarity of goal and purpose. There is no set time frame for this step. It will take as long as it takes.

It is important not to rush this step. This is a time for soul searching. The clarity will only come from self honesty and clear thought. Only when you are crystal clear and feel it in your heart are you ready, go on to the next step.

The next step is preparation. This is another step that should not be hurried. You will be preparing on several different levels, mental, emotional, and physical. Work on your vision so you can see your dream as it would be realized. Work on feeling what it would be like once you have achieved your goal. Also start to gather those things that will aid you on your quest.

Remember, your thought process is like a hourglass. It starts the process then narrows until you have your solution. This is the time to stop the process and go on to the next step. If you do not and continue to think about it, the process begins to broaden again and you become bogged down with indecision.

Once your heart tells you that you are ready then it is time to take action. This is usually the hardest step because with it comes fear. The natural fear of unknowing what will come. Confront the fear and take action. Start your plan and do not worry about whether it is the right thing to do.

If you take a wrong step you can step back, re-evaluate and move forward again. If you do not take action nothing will get done. The more you take action the smoother and easier the flow will become.

Once you have established your flow you only have to maintain it. This is done with continued planning and action. Remember that anything you can see in your mind you have what it takes to make it a reality.

TODAY:S TIP: Reinforce your determination daily with affirmations and visualizations.

What step are you on?

We have talked about the big four and now lets talk about some other tools that you may find helpful in manifesting your dreams. The more tools you have, as long as they are useful for the purpose you seek, the better you are.

The first tool I want to talk about is very helpful in strengthening your visualizations. That tool is a vision board. Find pictures to represent the things you want to accomplish. Place them on a cork board or other type of board and place the board somewhere that will be visible, like in an office or other room where you spend time.

If you do not have a space where you can put a vision board, or even if you do, place copies of those pictures around the house, like on the bathroom mirror and in your car. The more often you look at your pictures the better. When you look at them imagine how you will feel and act when you have them. This strengthens the desire which speeds up the process.

Another tool is to make a PowerPoint presentation of your pictures and create a shortcut to the file on your desktop. Every time you turn on your computer, run you presentation. Run your presentation several times during the day. Again the more the better.

Find yourself an accountability partner. It can be a spouse or friend. Keep them informed as to your plans and dreams. Meet with them at least once a week and go over your plans. Tell them what you will be accomplishing that week and at the next meeting let them know if you did or did not fulfill your plans.It would be helpful if that partner was on a similar quest. That way you could act as each others accountability partner.

Knowing that if you do not attain your weekly goals you will have to admit it to someone else gives you more incentive to keep on track. The closer this person is to you the better this works.

The last tool I want to talk about is Mastermind groups. Join a Mastermind Group that is dedicated to similar things as you are. If you cannot find such a group then start one. The value of Mastermind Groups cannot be overstated.

Not only will such groups help to keep you motivated and on track, but can offer suggestions as to how to enhance your progress. They can even help to give you more clarity and offer ways of achieving that you may not have thought of. The power of any group increases the power of each individual involved.

Your Mastermind group should meet regularly. Try to meet on the same day each week or every other week. You may not want to meet more often than weekly. Your group may become unproductive and dissolve.

TODAY’S TIP: Organize your activities and days to take advantage of as many of the tools presented as possible.

Do you keep your eye on the prize?

Have you heard the saying that you are your thoughts? Everyone hold a running conversation with themselves. It is only when you start talking out loud that you run into problems. What do you talk about?

Unfortunately most people’s conversations with themselves are, for the most part, negative. I suggest to my clients that they do a little experiment. I tell them to get a 3 x 5 notebook and take it with them at all times for two weeks. Then when ever they think about it to write down what they are thinking about at that time.

At the end of the two weeks they are to review their book. Most find that the great majority of their thoughts were non productive and negative. I then tell them to begin to make a conscious effort to direct their thoughts in a positive direction.

I recommend that you do the same thing. Keep a log of thoughts for two weeks and then begin to direct your thoughts in the direction you want them to go. One of the tools to do this is self talk.

We talked about Mohamed Ali talking to himself in front of the mirror as a young teen. He was engaged in using three of the tools we have talked about. He was using visualization because he saw himself in his mind. He was using affirmations because he repeated his phrases over and over. He was also using self talk because he talked to himself in front of the mirror and when he wasn’t in front of a mirror.

Affirmations are a form of self talk, but it is not all there is. You can go beyond affirmations by holding conversations with yourself to enforce and strengthen your future visions of where you want to go and be.

Tell yourself how much you love yourself. We are taught that self love is somehow wrong. It is not self love that is wrong, it is self conceit that is a problem. You must love yourself or you cannot love another.

Keep telling yourself how your life will be when you have achieved your dreams. The more you tell yourself, the more vivid your visualizations will become and the sooner your dreams will be achieved.

Spent as much time as possible holding these conversations with yourself. Just don’t start talking out loud in public. However speaking out loud when you are alone increases the effectiveness.

TODAY’S TIP: Don’t pass a mirror without looking into it and into your eyes and saying something nice about you.

What are you going to tell yourself?

The third major tool in your quest for realizing the the Ultimate Healthy Lifestyle is affirmations. This is another very powerful tool when used correctly.

Muhammad Ali is a perfect example of the power of affirmations. In his autobiography he tells of standing in front of the mirror when he was about 11 or 12 years old. He would tell himself how great he was and what he was going to accomplish in life. He did not know what he was doing but you can see the results. He did indeed become the greatest.

It is said that if you repeat something long enough you will believe it. This is one of the techniques of our society. We are told something so often that we will begin to believe it whether it is actually real or not. This is often the way public opinion is formed.

With faith and perseverance affirmations can be used to instill beliefs that we want to believe in our minds. With the discipline of affirmations we can gain control over our thoughts and destiny.When practiced with the other three disciplines of meditation, visualization, and positive self talk; there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

The wording of your affirmations is all important. Your affirmations must be in present tense. When you use phrases such as; I will or I want, you leave room for doubt. Your Universe will interpret your affirmations as something you will want sometime in the future and not act on them.

You want to use positive words as I am or I have. The universe then knows that you want it now and will begin to assist you in obtaining your desires.

Repetition is another very important factor. The more you repeat your affirmations the sooner they start to become a part of your reality. Some say that you must repeat your affirmations 36,000 times before they start to become effective.

This means that if you repeat them 1,000 times a day it will take you 36 days before you start to see changes. For this reason you want to repeat your affirmations as often as you can through out the day.

The most powerful times to go over your affirmations is first thing in the morning, preferably before you get out of bed, and the last thing at night. At night it is again preferable that you be in bed and ready for sleep.

The reason for this is that the mind is most receptive and clear when you first wake up in the morning. At night your mind is also open as you relax for sleep and you carry those thoughts into your dream state, where they can be worked on at a higher level.

TODAY’S TIP: Repeat your affirmations while you are walking or doing other tasks that will allow you to set up a rhythm. For instance, I repeat, I am healthy, I am wealthy, I am wise in time with my steps while I am running.

I AM, are you?

To truly enjoy the Ultimate Healthy Lifestyle you will have to come out of your comfort zone. You must risk and set your intention to enjoy life. As the saying goes, “if you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.” This means you must change.

The Ultimate Healthy Lifestyle is a disciplined lifestyle. You must become a disciple of life and put forth the energy and discipline to make your life work for you. Discipline can be difficult at first but becomes easier as you maintain it.

Today we will discuss some of the tools you can use to make it easier. The most important ones are what I call the big four. They are meditation, visualization, affirmations, and positive self talk. With these four you not only establish a pattern of daily discipline, but you also establish a rhythm of progress towards the life of your dreams.

With meditation you gain control over your thoughts and body. Set aside time for meditation at least once, preferably twice, a day. Try to do it at the same time and same place each day. It does not matter what discipline of meditation you practice, only that you be consistent. Commit to six months practice because it will take several months before you feel that you are accomplishing anything. In six months you will begin to experience miracles in your life.

You can incorporate visualization into your meditation settings. However you do not want to spend all the time you have set aside for meditation for visualization. If you have set aside 30 minutes you may want to meditation for 20 minutes then visualize the last 10 minutes.

Use affirmations through out your day. Your affirmations should be in present tense as if they were already true. The most powerful beginning of any affirmation is, “I Am.” The most important times to repeat your affirmations is when you first get up in the morning and just before you go to bed. Repeat them as often as you can during the day.

Positive self talk is a very powerful way to change your reality by conditioning your mind to except the things you want for yourself. Talk to yourself about how you want to be as though you already were that way. Tell yourself you love you and appreciate you. You always talk to yourself so why not make it productive?

TODAY’S TIP: Meditate outdoors when possible, in as natural a setting as you can. Pine trees give off the most positive energy of all trees.

Does this help?

Ask yourself this question; Do you have some beliefs that do not serve you? The answer is probably yes. Most of us do have some beliefs that take away from our lives. Some people have beliefs that they are not worthy enough to enjoy the finer things of life. Others let guilt stop them from reaching their full potential because of something they did in the past that they believe was wrong.

To practice the ultimate healthy lifestyle it is necessary to get rid of those beliefs in order to move forward towards a more satisfying life. Can you change your beliefs? The answer is NO! You cannot change a belief. You must replace the belief.

You must replace the old non-serving belief with one that does serve. To do that you must first of all want to replace it. As hard as it is to believe, some people do not want to let go of the old belief because it serves a purpose.

I once had a client whose guilt manifested itself in sickness. In her mind she wanted to be healthy. In her heart she was punishing herself for things she had done in the past. The things she had done were not wrong or bad, they were simply the best that she could do at the time. She did not see it that way. She also had another advantage to being sick. Whenever she was faced with something she didn’t want to do; she would say, “I can’t do that, I’m sick.” One day, when she was miserable enough, she decided she had enough and started to make the changes in her mind that allowed her to improve her life.

Don’t wait until you just can’t take it any more. Start today to clean out the mental and emotional garbage and start building a future that you can be proud of. A future that will bring you joy and a realization of those dreams that have been floating around in the back of your mind.

How do you do that? You do it with affirmations and visualizations. Each day take at least 10 t0 20 minutes to sit quietly and see your life as you would like it to be. Write out a script of how you would act and talk when your dreams come true. Read your script as often as possible. As you read it, read it with feeling. Feel as you would feel and experience every aspect of the experience; the smells, tastes, thoughts and sights.

Also put together a statement that says what you want to be. For instance, if you want to believe that you are worthy of more out of life; you might say something like, “I am worthy of love and the finer things of life.” This is just an example, be creative. If you can, start with “I am” because that is the most powerful form of an affirmation. Write your statement on a 3×5 card and carry it with you. Read it when ever you think of it.

I will cover the subjects of affirmations and visualizations in future post but I encourage you not to wait. One of the things I hope to accomplish with this blog is to encourage people to become proactive and seek out the information and help that they need to improve the quality of their lives. Life is precious, you do not have time to lose. Once it passes you can’t get it back. The sooner you start making your life what you want it to be, the more joy and satisfaction you will experience.

TODAY’S TIP: If you drink bottled water, think about a good water filter for the home. Not only will it save you money but it is healthier water. By law bottled water is processed with a method called reverse osmosis which takes everything out of the water, even the good things like minerals. A quality filter will remove the harmful substances but leave in some of the minerals. There are several quality filters on the market that are reasonably priced.

Are you ready for change?

Today I present the thoughts of another on the subject of giving.

How You Can Feel Good Simply by Helping Others By Ronnie Nijmeh

It’s very easy to get caught up in our own to-do lists and never-ending activities, but one of the best things you can do is to help other people. This forces you to step outside yourself and see the world through another person’s eyes. Why is this important? When you help others you have the opportunity to learn new things, and you also have a chance to see just how see how blessed you are for everything in your life, even the not so good things.

By using positive affirmations, you can find the motivation to help others on a regular basis and experience that special feeling of fulfillment. When you are able to genuinely give a helping hand, it will be a very fulfilling experience. If you feel like you are too busy or that no one in your life needs your help, sorry to say it, but you’re clearly mistaken!

Give a Helping Hand and Feel Good About Yourself

We all have busy lives, but if we stopped and helped others a little more often, we would live a much more fulfilling life and build that sense of community that we have long lost.

Think about how many times you have driven by your neighbors house where the trashcans are still laying out after trash day, why not give your neighbor a helping hand? Wouldn’t you like that in return?

Or, consider things closer to home such as helping your spouse iron their clothes for work or helping out with other chores around the house. You have opportunities in your every day life to help people and feel good about yourself and positive affirmations can remind you of this.

Relationship affirmations are simply statements that summarize the type of behavior that you would like to exhibit. A simple affirmation in this circumstance may be, “A helpful friend is an indispensable and fulfilled friend. I am that person!” Sounds simple, right? It is! If you repeat the affirmations several times a day you will make it a reality in your thoughts and actions. Who doesn’t want to be considered indispensable and fulfilled?

Positive affirmations are easy to start using and they will cost you absolutely nothing. Free positive affirmations are widely available, including in the resource box at the end of this article. You can also make your own affirmations, so long as they are positive and in the present tense.

When you believe in affirmations you are giving yourself permission and the power to change your life. Instead of simply standing by and watching those in your life struggle with something, you can cut their burden in half and chip in and help get things done. After all, what good are your skills and talents if you hoard them all to yourself!

Helping doesn’t even mean that you have to go out of your way; it just means that when you have those opportunities that you seize them and make someone’s life easier.

We all pass up opportunities to help other people each day. How many times have you seen someone drop something and you just keep going? Or what about the person who is lost and unsure of directions? These are simple situations where you could help out and if you are missing that fulfillment in your life, you can begin by creating a positive state of mind through affirmations.

Through positive affirmations you can develop better relationships with the people around you and you’ll also feel fulfilled in a way that you may have never been before. Free positive affirmations give you the opportunity to enrich your life in new ways every day.

Ronnie Nijmeh is the president and founder of ACQYR.com, a motivational website with free wallpaper downloads, positive affirmations, motivational articles and much more. Visit now to read positive affirmations and personal reflections.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ronnie_Nijmeh

TODAY’S TIP: Get into the habit of helping those you come in contact with each day. Remember small things can mean a lot.

Have you helped someone today?