QUIETING YOUR MIND

Hello!

I think it is very, very, very important to quiet the mind when you want to destress yourself.

I quiet my mind several times a day, but formally about three times a day.  Crazy?  Maybe!  I just know that my mind can run on autopilot and create all kinds of unnecessary thoughts that cause unnecessary emotions. When I say 'unnecessary,' I mean thoughts and emotions that are fleeting, negative, and drain me, and that are neither useful nor desirable. 

If you know me, really know me, you know that my mood is elevated most of the time, and I know this is because of my ability to take responsibility for my thought, feelings, and actions, which is my attitude.

This is my confidence, which took years to build, and I continue to nurture it by practicing stillness. 

Every day, first thing in the morning, some time at lunch, and before I go to bed at night, I do some sort of meditation.  I usually take a few deep breaths, relax my body, and then I just focus on my breathing and my heartbeat.

My favorite meditations are deliberately releasing my worry and practicing patience. Meditation is consideration with contemplation.

Deliberately releasing my worry means letting go of it through breathing exercises, and this relaxes my mind.

Patient Mind is a meditation that creates ummm... a patient mind, he he he.  I use to do this one all the time, and it gave me the ability to see that I can be patient at any time and anywhere, even in the most irritating circumstances.  It is a habit I created to replace the negative (unnecessary) emotions that were my stressful habits in the past.

Do you know anyone who meditates?  I do, and the majority of them are happy and consider themselves successful.  Successful in that they really enjoy their life.  The definition of success is happiness and enjoying life.  Many people equate money with success, but if you explore it deeper, we want that money because we think it will bring more happiness; we all just want to be happy, really.

Try meditating to this video, make it a habit, and just watch yourself create happiness, energy, and vitality.  But please, please, please don't believe me, try it for yourself.

Have a super duper week and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Speak soon...

Elizabeth Stanfill

If you feel like you really need to destress yourself, take a look at my How to Destress Book.

I'M IN LOVE! I'M IN LOVE! I'M IN LOVE!!!

Did the title get your attention ;)

I feel so in love with life right now! RIGHT NOW!!! Things are happening, and I just love it! ALL OF IT!

When I feel this happy, I feel successful.

It is my humble opinion that success means happiness. Wouldn't you agree?

The ability to enjoy life no matter what is happening in your life is true success.

BEAUTY IS ALL AROUND US!

HEAVEN IS ON EARTH!

Something unfortunate is happening to me. My son is leaving, moving away :((((( boo hoo hoo

I am really sad about it, and I cry every day, like three or four times a day. But that is totally okay because it is absolutely normal for me to cry and be sad. It is absolutely normal for my son to move away. They all do, well, most of them ;)

Even though I am sad about it, I have many things to be grateful for. I am thankful for my family, friends, doggies, and the blessing to help people EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE, and I am thankful for my close relationship with God. I am incredibly grateful that my son will sooner or later (hopefully sooner than later) get married and give me grand kiddies ;)

If I focus on my son leaving and how sad it is making me, I will miss all of the great things in my life. 

Whatever we focus on is just a habitual way of thinking. If we have a habit of focusing on what is wrong and what we don't have, we will feel depressed. If we have a habit of focusing on what is excellent, we can feel delighted. 

So many people have the habit of looking at what is wrong in their life, and it causes misery. This is precisely why quieting the mind is so important.

If we quiet our minds, we can notice the mood of our minds. The attitude of our thoughts is what causes our happiness or unhappiness.

The mood of our ideas is our habitual way of thinking. For example, anger. Some outraged people are out there, and it's just a habitual way of reacting. Anger is nothing but a habit. I know this for a fact.

Many, many moons ago, I used to get angry all the time. My excuse was that I had reasons. This person did this to me, or that person didn't do what they said they would. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

We can have all the reasons in the book, but the fact is that anger is nothing but a habit that anyone can get rid of. I did, and people do it all the time. When I get angry now, I start to laugh at myself. I say, "Elizabeth, why are you getting so angry?"  and then laugh. Yes, I talk to myself all the time ;)  So now I have the habit of laughing at myself when I even think about getting mad, which is a new habit replacing the angry one.

I am saying that if you quiet your mind, you will notice the mood of your mind, and once you know the attitude of your mind, it will help you understand your unhappiness.

My son always reminds me, "Mom, you are the thinker of your own thoughts."  This means you can be in charge of how you think instead of allowing your mind to run on autopilot like it maybe has for years.

Your mind, body, and soul are your most powerful assets. We all come to this world with a body, mind, and soul. The only thing we leave this earth with is our mind and soul. ;) So let them be happy ;)

Quiet your mind...

Notice the mood of your mind...

Then change that mood if it is causing you unhappiness. Take charge of that mood. That, my friend, is what destressing yourself is all about.

Be in love with life ;)  YOU GOT THE POWER!

Have a great day and don't forget...

Have fun and be playful.

Love you...

Elizabeth Stanfill 

If you love what you read here, you may find my books by clicking, books by Elizabeth Stanfill.

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO QUIET YOUR MIND?

Got a good email yesterday asking me...

Why would you want to quiet your mind?

What a great question!

It has been about 12 years since I first started to meditate.  I have no idea what made me start to meditate, it was probably some book I was reading but I do remember hearing people say they meditated and I was super duper curious about it.

I remember the beginning so well.  When I first started to quiet my mind, it was very difficult.  It took a good month for me to be able to just sit and be still in my mind.  When I first started, it took like 10 to 15 minutes to get my thoughts to stop and when you are meditating for 20 or 30 minutes, that is a long time.

To answer the question, this is what I got...

When you learn to quiet your mind, you really notice your thoughts in your head.  What I mean is, you practice meditating and then when you are not meditating you become so aware of your mind you hear your thoughts.  You hear the thoughts that are going on and on without you even knowing it because you are busy with other activities.

When you hear your thoughts more clearly, you start to become astonished at the mood of your mind.  Maybe your mood is to constantly defend yourself, which can mean low self-esteem.  Maybe your mood is to criticize others, which could mean you are critical of yourself.  Maybe your mood is to worry about the future, which is a culprit of anxiety.  Maybe your mood is to focus on what you don't have or how lousy your life is, which is depression.

When you hear these thoughts more clearly, you can, and will discover your stressful thought patterns.

WAIT!  There is something else too.  When you begin to quiet your mind, you become more focused, more patient, and able to enjoy life more.

When your mind is still, it becomes a habit and when you are thinking about the things you need to do, you become more focused on your to do tasks.  Not the to do tasks you have written down but the tasks in your head.

When your mind is still, it becomes a habit and when you are standing in line, or waiting for something, because your mind is quiet, you are more patient.

When your mind is still, it becomes a habit and when you are just sitting there you can notice, JUST NOTICE, the beauty around you, the beauty in your surroundings, the beauty in your life, and the beauty in the person you are with.  Kind of like smelling the roses.

WAIT THERE'S MORE!

Ever since I started to meditate, things I wished for, or dreamed about began to show up.  Be careful for what you wish for comes to mind.  I don't know what makes this happen but it does.  It's like magic, I swear. 

Money for a trip I wanted to take showed up when I didn't have the money.  The car of my dreams showed up at an affordable price when it was usually much more expensive.  I wanted to live in a small town and within a year I ended up where I am now.  I no longer wanted to work for a corporation because I wanted to focus on my business and then I was laid-off with a 7 month severance package. 

And, finally, I have always wanted to be close to Heavenly Father and I have been getting closer and closer every year and I know that my soul is truly expanding, and evolving, and developing, and progressing.  I know that this is so because I am reacting totally different than I use to in a much kinder, more patient, and loving way. 

Much more has happened and continues to happen and I think, no I know, it is because I quiet my mind, and it really really creates happiness, energy, focus, organization, productivity, and vitality.

Now, those are just some reasons, my friend, why you want to quiet your mind.

But please, please, please, do not believe me, try it for yourself.

That's all I got.

Have a great day and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Elizabeth

DO YOU QUIET YOUR MIND?

Hello there, Happy Monday!!!

CLICK HERE ;) 

How are you doing today, this lovely Monday?

I hope you are doing GRRREAT!  Life is GRRREAT!  Isn't it?

Got a question for you!  Do you quiet your mind?

What I am asking is do you meditate or do you practice deep relaxation?

What does it mean to quiet your mind?  It means to stop obsessive thinking of thoughts of worry about the future or regrets about the past.  It means to stop thinking and take your focused mind out of your thoughts and into this moment.

Why would you quiet your mind?  The reason I quiet my mind is so that I can be still and know God.  I have always known that God is in the stillness of my thoughts.  That is a Big statement and it is really hard to explain.  It is something that you would know and understand if you quieted your mind regularly.

Let me try to explain, just a little better.  When you worry about your bills, your weight, your relationships, or your future, that is not God speaking to you.  God is not in worry, God is in your faith.  "Be still and know that I am God."  "Have faith."  These are the things that I am trying to explain.

When you are obsessing about your relationship with your significant other, or your crazy boss, or the person at work that is meaningful to you, or the person at school who had the nerve to say certain things to you, or about your kids and their behavior, that is not God speaking to you. 

When you are quiet, in the stillness, you can and will hear that still small voice that God speaks from.

When I meditate, better known as quieting my mind, I know that is where God is, in my mind, I mean.  I am not saying that is the only place God is because He is everywhere.  What I am saying is you can see, hear, smell, and just notice the beauty in things, and in yourself, when you quiet your mind often. 

That beauty is where you can see God.  The beauty of His creations.

If you have doubt, fear, or worry, or you have obsessive thoughts that you think over and over again, hour after hour, day, after day, you will benefit from quieting your mind.  

These obsessive thoughts that you are having stem from a stressful habit of a racing mind or an obsessive thought pattern. 

If you quiet your mind you can replace that stressful habit of obsessive thinking with a successful practice.

It's all about destressing yourself!  Quiet your mind, make it a practice, and then wallah!  You will replace your stressful habit.

Easy?  Maybe, maybe not.  It's all in your beliefs.  I have seen people change slowly, over time, and I have seen people change in an hour. 

Try listening to this video I made for meditation purposes.  Listen to it every evening, before you go to bed, and then just notice your ability to relax.  Notice your ability to relax at any time and anywhere.  Make it a conscious change and you will see the beauty at the moment without your overactive mind.

Practice it into perfect permanence.

But please, don't believe me.  Try it and see for yourself.

That's all I got friend!

Have a great week and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

BIG HUGS...

Elizabeth