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?

Have you ever tried to do something that you had to do over and over before you accomplished the task? At what point do you decide to give up? It probably depends on how important it is to you.

This is how life is . The importance you place on a particular task will determine how much effort you put into it. There is the saying, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” How important are your goals?

With some soul searching we might come up with other reasons why people quit. Perhaps they don’t feel that they deserve it or it is something that they “should” do. Maybe someone else wants it for them and they are trying to please that person.

As you can see there are many reason people give up before they succeed. This is the reason you should seek absolute clarity before you start the process of realizing your dreams. You want to be sure that those goals are core desires. You should be sure that you will do whatever is necessary to make those dreams come true.

There have not been many, if any, successful people who have not had to try something numerous times before they succeeded. Perhaps what they were trying to do would or could not work. Then they had the strength to realize and accept that and make adjustments so that it would work.

Remember to keep the end result in mind and not get hung up on the process. Success is not whether a step in the plan works or not, but whether you get to the destination. Persistence is the key.

Edison tried 10,000 times before he achieved success with the electric light bulb. Many people have given up when it would only have taken one more try to achieve success. How would you know that the very next attempt would be the one that worked?

In the endeavors that matter you must cultivate a burning desire to achieve. You must also strengthen and renew that burning desire along the way. Each and everyday you must remind yourself of your goals and why they are important to you.

Anytime you encounter discouragement or have someone put down your ideas remind yourself of the end result and tell yourself why it is important. If you know that people are not going to embrace your idea do not discuss it with them.

Persistence is a must have characteristic for creation of your dream reality. Do not allow anyone or anything to divert your focus and instill doubt or hopelessness in you.

When training people in the gym I would tell them, “do as many repetitions as you can and one more.” It’s that one more that does the most good.

TODAY’S TIP: When you feel like quitting tell yourself, “just one more time.” This may be the time it works.

Will you keep going?

The reason some people never achieve their goals is because they are not willing to put forth the energy and do what is necessary to complete them. Are you ready to put forth the energy?

Once you have written down your goals it is time for some soul searching. Write down the steps that you will have to take to reach your goals. Then write down the actions you must take at each step.

It is now time for honest evaluation. Ask yourself, are you willing to put the energy into the action necessary at each step. If not it is alright. This just tells you that your goals are unrealistic. You would then simply go back over your goals.

Look at the scope of your goals. Is it that they are just too grand? If you cut back on them are you then willing to put the energy into them. Are the goals you have set for yourself completely beyond what you are willing to do?

You will also want to look at your motives. Why do you want to accomplish these goals? Is it because you are trying to match someone else? Is it because someone else, like a spouse or sibling, wants it or thinks that you should have it?

It is very important that your motives be clear and selfish. The only way you will accomplish your goals is if they are what you want for you. You cannot want them for someone else or someone else want them for you.

We hear a lot about  how the best way of having abundance is by giving and helping others. In Internet marketing they say that the way to success is by helping others achieve success. While this is true it is not the whole story.

The desire to be of service and help others must come from deep inside as an urge to do so unselfishly. It must be done without expectation of return or getting something out of it. If you are going to help others simply because you believe it will bring you wealth you will fail. Life does not work that way.

Your Universe, your soul or higher self, knows your motivation. If it is not pure it will backfire. We have heard of the rich giving to the church or charities, yet they are still not happy with their lives. Some give as a way to pay for their sins, the greed and ruthlessness that it took for them to get where they are.

So, look into your heart and find goals that are pure in motive. Use the tools you have and you will find success just around the corner.

TODAY’S TIP: Once you have decided on a course of action go forth with conviction and determination. Enjoy the journey.

Have you decided what to do?

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?

In the beginning there was the word. Since there were no words in the beginning could it be a symbol for an image in the mind of God? In other words did God visualize the Universe before he created it?

Everything begins in the mind. You must think of something before you do it. Before the automobile someone had to see an automobile in their mind. This is visualization.

You can create anything you wish if you can see it in your mind and believe it. You create your personal universe, so why not create one that you can enjoy. The problem is that most of us simply let our universes be created for us by outside influences.

Using the art of visualization along with meditation will enhance the manifestation of the life you dream of. Visualization can be used to improve any and all areas of life. You want more money, see yourself with more money. Have health problems, see yourself healthy.

With discipline and persistence the pictures in your mind can become a part of your reality. That is, if you believe it. How does one practice visualization?

Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted. Begin as you would meditation. Relax the muscles of your body and quiet your mind. Then see a movie screen inside your mind. You have the power to project anything you wish onto that screen.

If you want to improve your health, see yourself on that screen healthy and whole. If you want more money, see yourself on that screen acting as you would when you have the money you want.

It is good to write out a script of how you will act when you have achieved the goal you seek. Use that script to formulate the movie in your head. Play it over and over for 5 or 10 minutes.

You can combine your sittings to include both meditation and visualization. However, remember that you can not do both at the same time. So schedule time for each. You may want to meditate for 20 minutes and visualize for 10 minutes for a 30 minute session.

Also use visualization as often during the day as you can. It is like daydreaming only you are doing it with purpose. These sessions could be short, perhaps only a couple of minutes at a time.

The more you practice visualization the stronger the images become. The stronger they become the closer they are to becoming a part of your reality. Be sure to use the same scenario in your visualizations until they are realized. If you change your script often will not be successful.

TODAY’S TIP: You can use visuals to enhance your visualizations. We will talk about how to do that in a few days.

What can you see?

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?

The purpose of a healthy lifestyle is to structure life so as to utilize every moment to raise awareness and improve the quality of one’s life. This is done by directing the flow of one’s life towards a more positive tomorrow.

As the quote says, Life is change, It is up to each and every one of us to direct that change. We can consciously direct it to make each day better that the one before or we can allow the winds of chance to do it for us. When chance controls our change we will never know what the next day will bring and more often than not we remain stuck in the ruts of life.

If however we start each day with a grateful heart and expectation of a wonderful and productive day, we will be surprised at how often it will be so. Think back and you will see that on the days you have gotten up dreading the day it usually turned out to be an awful day. The days you got up happy and anticipating the day it turned out good.

I will say this over and over in my posts; you create your own reality. Make the choice to create it as you would like it to be. Before you get out of bed lay there and think of all the things you have to be grateful for. Then get up and do some deep breathing. This will feed oxygen to your body and you will feel energized and alive.

Set your intent to have a good day, see it happening. If you have tasks for that day see yourself performing those tasks with confidence and skill. See the positive ending and feel as you will when they are successfully completed.

Visualizing is one way to practice the game of life. What you can see in your minds eye can become reality, if you believe it.

TODAY’S TIP: Meditation and visualization are two of the most important practices that will lead to a more satisfying and joyful life. We will talk more about each later but if you do not already practice them, start now!

Can you see your future?

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?