After a long and very hot summer, autumn is finally here. We are barely a quarter of the way through the year, though many of my clients have been telling me how mentally tired they are feeling. With the change of season and the crisp, cooler mornings to look forward to there is no better time to build up your energy balance.
I’m sharing five simple strategies to give you a boost, so you feel a zest and vitality for living in the now.
1. Make time to do something you enjoy. It’s about giving back to yourself. Whether it be cooking up a storm, taking up a dance class, photography or art. Hobbies not only provide a creative outlet but can lower stress levels and blood pressure, as well as increasing your focus and concentration. If you do something you enjoy it will give you satisfaction and true joy.
2. Get social. Catch up with friends – it’s good for your health. You’ve never needed a better reason to hang out with a mate, an active social life is an important part of a healthy life. Find the time and energy to stay connected. Friends help you reach your goals, feel supported and enhance your sense of wellbeing.
3. Meditate. Meditation can take many forms, find one that suits you. Meditation will quieten your mind and help you stay calm, focussed and in the now. It can be as easy as taking ten minutes to yourself before the kids are out of bed in the morning, or sitting in a peaceful spot by the ocean or garden. Take a walk through the forest and enjoy the beautiful autumn leaves. You could even download a meditation track to help you concentrate. When our mind relaxes, our bodies do too, helping reduce stress and feel at peace.
4. Focus on healthy living. We know we should be healthy, but it’s hard to be good all the time. The 80/20 rule works for me and many of my clients. Be good for about 80% of the time, and don’t feel guilty for the other 20%. Eat healthy food, reduce alcohol intake, exercise daily (it’s easy as taking the dog for a walk) and try to maintain a sensible work/life balance. Bad lifestyle choices can leave you feeling exhausted, stressed and fatigued. Have something positive to focus on, and plan for, as it helps us to feel a zest for life. Whether it’s a holiday, your wedding, or a milestone birthday – having something to look forward to helps channel our energy and keeps us positive, which makes us feel empowered.
5. Smile. Smile yourself out of a bad mood. If you’re having a bad day, while you might not feel like you’re in a smiling, happy mood, you should smile anyway. Your brain cannot tell the difference between a posed smile and a genuine one – they have the same result. Your facial muscles send messages to your brain telling you to experience that positive emotion. So, next time you are feeling down and negative, try smiling and you’ll soon be feeling happier.
About the author Luke Sheedy is a gifted life advisor, motivator and free thinker. He combines his metaphysical talents to advise clients on their natural strengths, talents and abilities. Luke helps release what is holding you back, so growth can occur and your life’s plan can unfold naturally.
Heading off on your next holiday? While we’d all love to look like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (or pretty much any holidaying movie star ever), we don’t want to take up valuable suitcase space lugging around every beauty product imaginable.
Not sure what to take with you on your next trip? Here are five great tips to help you condense your beauty kit into your cabin luggage…
Do your own downsizing
Lots of brands now offer travel-sized versions of your favourite products, with many making special travel sets containing all your essentials in one handy pack. However, if you can’t find a pre-made travel pack of your preferred products, for a few dollars you can pick up small travel bottles at beauty and travel stores and simply decant your products into them, leaving the larger bottles at home.
Make use of multi-taskers
Primer, foundation and powder? Ain’t nobody got time for that on holiday! Instead, invest in a multi-tasking product like a BB Cream. This miracle multi-tasker moisturises, helps to even out your complexion and provides sheer, tinted coverage. Even better, most BB Creams also feature SPF to help keep you protected from the sun, too.
Likewise, lipsticks can be used as blush; clear mascara will give your eyelashes definition and tame your brows; and a gradual tanner will keep your skin moisturised and your body beautifully bronzed.
Ditch the dryer
Hair tools are a heavy addition to any suitcase. Forget a hairdryer on your next trip (most hotels provide them anyway) and pack a travel-sized straightener instead, which can also serve as a hair curler. Just be sure to check that the voltage of your hair tool is compatible with that of your destination!
Packing a dry shampoo is also a great way to extend the lifespan of your wash and achieve added texture and volume, allowing you to get away with packing smaller bottles of hair product.
Avoid hairy situations
For those heading for warmer climates, plan ahead and schedule any hair removal for a couple of days before you set off. This will allow your skin to settle down before you reach your destination, yet still keep you hair-free for your holiday. If you’re travelling for a longer period of time, pack a razor or some cold wax strips for quick fixes.
Plan for purchases
Lastly, take advantage of duty-free prices and stock up on your beauty favourites before you board. But keep in mind that if you’re planning picking up some product at the airport, you won’t need to pack the same thing in your beauty kit!
What are your favourite beauty products, and what are your must-haves when travelling?
Visualization simply stated, is using the power of our mind to paint pictures of our goals as complete. Visualizing our goals as accomplished gives our subconscious mind a picture of what we want and expect. Then it works towards making that goal a reality. When we visualize we are actually training our brain to seek what we want.
What happened to our imagination? Why were we forced to “grow up” and stop dreaming? Most people ask me how to visualize and usually follow up the question with the statement, “I’m not very good at it”, before I can even explain. The truth is everyone CAN visualize! It is simple and easy.
Why is Visualization Important?
Visualization is one of the most important tools in goal setting. We use it to program our subconscious mind to get what we want. The fact is that only three percent of the U.S. population have written goals. Once written down approximately ninety percent of those goals come to fruition.
The mind functions on different levels for goal attainment. The conscious mind selects the goals. The subconscious determines the actions needed to reach those goals. Both parts of the mind need to be in alignment and working together to attain our goals.
The subconscious mind moves away from pain towards pleasure. It uses the filters of past experiences, emotions and beliefs to judge if a new situation will bring you pleasure. Through picturing our dreams as complete, we have now activated our pleasure program and have given our subconscious the destination.
Why Does it Work?
Our subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a real event and a highly imagined one. Athletes have been using the power of visualization for years to give them the winning edge. A golfer will “play out” the next putt going in the hole prior to even hitting the ball. Before shooting a free-throw, a basketball player will picture the ball going in the basket.
Getting started in three easy steps:
1. Write A Five Year Plan.
This can be done in many ways. The most fun and easy way I have found is to create and imagine your perfect world. Then pick a specific time in the future, I like five years, and write down how it looks to you.
How does your perfect world look to you?
Where do you live?
How are your relationships with your friends and family?
Do you have a partner?
Where do you work or do you even work at all?
What kind of car do you drive?
What is your lifestyle like?
2. Visualize Your Perfect World.
I have developed two different ways to visualize as I explain in my book Fun With Visualization: A Simple and Quick Way to Skyrocket Your Success. The first way is closed eye visualization. You simply close your eyes and picture your goal as complete, painting in more of the picture every day.
The second way is open eyed visualization. This is where you can get playful and imaginative. Simply stated, it is role playing with a partner. The five year plan is complete.
Here’s How:
Talk with a friend for 10-30 minutes each night as if you were living in your dream world, as if everything you wanted has come to fruition.
Make it real!
Make it fun!
This is your dream life, Live it up!
3. Commit to 30 days.
A new habit takes some time to develop! Give this the time it deserves.
Daily visualizations, along with happy emotions, are powerful tools that get results. Goals can be easily thought of as happiness we wish to create in our lives. Visualizing is simple, easy and fun! Take action and watch your perfect world move towards you.
About the author
Starr Pilmore is an author, speaker and coach, and founder of the innovative Fun With Visualizationprogram. Have a question? Email her.
We’d love your thoughts. Please do drop us a line in the comments below :-)
Many people are confused about the parts that they need to have in their book. There’s also some uncertainty about what the different parts actually are. I was a bit perplexed when I wrote my first book as well, so I decided to break it done and make it simple for all your authors out there.
Book Title – Great titles sell books! Give it the time, energy and care that it needs to create a show stopper.
Primary Selling Point – The subtitle and the reason why someone would want to buy your book. It’s “the what’s in it for them”.
Book Category or Categories – Choose specific categories that accurately describe the subject matter of your book.
Manuscript submitted, double-spaced and paginated – Remember the spacing and the page numbers.
All illustrations, table, charts and/or graphs – It’s important to include them.
A reference list of all materials referred to in the text – For books that are resources, guides and manuals.
All written permissions to reprint or adapt copyrighted material – Protect yourself and get all approval in written. Maybe check with a lawyer to see if some financial transfer is necessary.
Foreword – Written by someone other than the author.
Preface – A preliminary statement written by the author.
Introduction – This is a half to one-page about the content of the book. Include a hook, the benefit to them, info on why you wrote the book, a sample of your chapter format and a motivation to keep reading.
Tale of Contents – Organize, submit and make sure it is accurate, when you get the proof.
Dedication – Who are those people who sacrificed time with you, picked up the slack at home or work and generally made your book possible. This is your opportunity to tell them that you appreciate they’re support.
Acknowledgement – Your editor, your publisher, your friends who said you had it in you write a book. Those people that wouldn’t give up on you, refused to believe that you didn’t have it in you and the ones who pushed you to the finish line. Thank them in this section.
Appendix – Supplemental information that will help the reader.
Index – A list of words, phrases, concepts, names of people, places or events that are included and where they can be found in the book.
Copy for back cover– A description of the book.
Author’s photo – Depending on the subject matter, the photo should represent the author’s relationship to the book subject or theme itself. This could range from a casual headshot to a shot dressed with professional gear, like a cookbook with a chef in a cook’s jacket.
About the author section – A bit about you as it relates to you being the author, written in third person.
Selling price – Compare others and make your decision.
Stay tuned for Step Five – What You Need to Know About Traditional or Self Publishing.
About the author Speaker, author, TV host of Focus Forward, Lauri Flaquer has extensive entrepreneurial and media experience. As founder of Saltar Solutions, she guides her clientele of international business owners to excel as entrepreneurs. Formally in TV production at NBC, CNBC and Bloomberg LP, Lauri produces/ hosts Focus Forward, a show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs soar! Lauri has been the publicist and marketing director for several best-selling book campaigns. To learn more about marketing contact Lauri or Tweet her, @SaltarSolutions.
Are you in the process of writing a book, or have you just finished one? We’d love it if you left a comment below, or found us on Facebook or Twitter. And if you think others would find this series useful, go ahead and share :-)
Milk is a skincare range founded by former Australian Olympian Michael Klim (you know, the guy with the shaved head who won a heap of medals) and his wife back in 2008. What’s obvious about this product is the packaging, how cool is it? In the fashion world I believe it’s described it as minimalistic chic.
Milk face wash and scrub is basically a creamy based scrub which helps exfoliate and cleanse the skin. In the past I’ve tried moisturising face washes that felt like sandpaper and left my face feeling dry. Not the case with this cleanser as it contains fine exfoliating beads which I didn’t find rough on my face. Face washes are suppose draws out the impurities in your pores and cleanse your skin, which it did. It contains over 50 different nutrients, which they say help protect and moisturise your skin. All I was hoping for was that it left my skin feeling smooth, clean and soft and it achieved that.
Sometimes I get pimples from using creamy based scrubs but I had no blemishes after using it for a week. You only need to use a small amount (about the size of a pea) to cover the whole face.
Milk Ultra-light moisturiser
Milk’s Ultra-light moisturiser is creamy without feeling gluggy, it’s non-greasy and it’s easy to apply. I like how it doesn’t have a fragrance, I’m not a fan of moisturisers which have a sweet or chemical smell. Surprisingly a small amount is enough to cover your whole face and neck.
Milk’s Ultra-Light Moisturizer contains also contains over 50 different ingredients but the two that stand out for me are jojoba oil which protects against skin dehydration and Aloe Vera which acts as an anti-inflammatory, protecting your skin against breakouts and dry, red itchy patches but most importantly, it moisturises your skin and for under $15.
You can use it day and night and it also says that it contains anti-ageing properties so make sure you pay attention around the eyes and neck. I’ll have to use it for a while to see if that’s case.
It’s Australian owned and uses 100% recycled packaging.
Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the product and its packaging.
“The Universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” -Marcus Aurelius
Your thoughts create your reality. Positive thoughts can create powerful forces in the way you create your reality.
When you realise this and start to believe in yourself, the impossible becomes possible.
Thoughts will change your life
1. Your thoughts are energy
Your subconscious mind sends out signals. Just like Wi-Fi – you can’t see it, but it’s there because your internet connection works. Your subconscious mind works the same way.
How many times have you thought of an old friend only to bump into them the next day, or they call out of the blue? It happens all the time, because your thoughts are energy.
It always appears to be coincidental, however, you used your thoughts and the vibration was sent into the universe. Your thoughts have a powerful influence, they affect what happens to you. To know this is something fantastic.
2. Affirmations
Positive thinking starts with your personal self-talk. These are the endless words and thoughts that you say to yourself each day.
By using affirmations and practicing positive self-talk you will soon be focusing on the positive.
If you have an important presentation at work, you could repeat to yourself, “I am going to give a successful presentation tomorrow”. Believing it makes it so. If you are ill and want to get better say, “Every day and in every way I’m getting better and better”. This statement will resonate with you to boost your immune system and give it the energy it needs to recover.
3. Positive visualisations
A new life is a changed mindset. Focus on success and you attract success. Focus on fear and doubt and you attract failure. Become a creator and visualise your life unfolding exactly the way you want it to.
Elite athletes use this basic technique to enhance their performance. It can help you get what you want.
It’s as easy as using your mind to see yourself achieving what you want. It could be the husband of your dreams, giving a successful presentation at work, holding a baby in your arms, travelling the world. Whatever it is, visualise it, see it, believe it, work towards it and it will be yours.
4. There is a bright side to every situation
When you encounter difficult or unpleasant situations, you approach them differently and deal with them in a more productive way when you are in a positive frame of mind.
Make your own sunshine, even when it’s raining. Every situation has a bright side, you just need to be in the right frame of mind to see it.
Count your blessings and showing gratitude is a great place to start. Even on difficult days, there are things to be thankful for. You have your health? A great husband? A four-legged friend that wags their tail when you arrive home? Don’t get caught up in what you don’t have, focus on what you do and you’ll be amazed at how much happier you become.
About the author Luke Sheedy is a gifted life advisor, motivator and free thinker. He combines his metaphysical talents to advise clients on their natural strengths, talents and abilities. Luke helps release what is holding you back, so growth can occur and your life’s plan can unfold naturally.
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I’m sharing five simple strategies to give you a boost, so you feel a zest and vitality for living in the now.
