How to Release Your Fears

 Image:http://www.emotionallyresilientliving.com

Things have been busy this past week.

Very busy.

On Friday afternoon, I marked a set of test papers and then found myself sitting at my computer unable to concentrate on work that needed to be done.

I went to the supermarket to buy some food for the weekend and found myself pushing the trolley around, barely able to focus on what I needed to buy.

I had so many thoughts going round in my head.

How can I become a better teacher for my struggling students?

How can I really help them to understand what I am trying to teach them?

How can stop worrying about what I am doing, about whether I am getting it right or not?

How can I stop worrying about whether I have enough money to buy the groceries in my trolley?

How can I make sure that I provide for my family?

How can ensure that I have more time and enery to give to those I llove?

These are all fears and today's #HappinessChallenge says:

REMINDER: Today’s happiness theme is
about “releasing your fears.” When was the
last time you looked beyond your fears and
did something you thought you couldn’t do?
It can be anything, big or small, it doesn’t
matter.

So I have been working on some of my fears around money and lack of time.

I have been listening to John Assaraf's meditations in Winning the Game of Money.

I have been working through the 21 Steps of MOBE's My Top Tier Business.

I have been online for about 8 years, listening, learning, attempting to get my own business working with little success.  I always seem to get to 95% and then stall.

Perhaps I have been afraid of succeeding.

Not this time.

I am determined to make this opportunity work.  And the biggest helping hand this time?

The MOBE team will do all the selling for me once I send traffic to them.

I am still working through these steps, but already I can see the huge advantages in this and cannot wait for the Easter holiday to really move forward.

I am releasing my fears over succeeding online, making a business work for me.

“With each day comes a new chance for you
to unlearn all the fearful things that you have
learned; to replace your fears with love, and
your sorrows with laughter; to let go of
everything that no longer serves you and to
put your faith in love once more.”
~ Luminita D. Saviuc,
15 Things You Should Give Up to Be Happy

If you would like to join me and release your own fears by having experienced coaches and a supportive team around you, take a look here and let me know what you think!

To a fantastic new week with fears released.

FOCUS - Part 2

Following on from yesterday's video with Tony Robbins, I am trying to put into practice the art of focus in my own life.

 Image - etienoetuk.com

We all have so many things going on in our lives that often it is easy to get completely sidetracked or bogged down by the sheer amount of things we have to do.

At the moment I am looking at ways in which I can move forward from my current teaching position.

How can I be properly remunerated for my skills and experience? 

How can I use those skills and experiences to help others, but at the same time bring a better balance to my own life and that of my family?

It is not easy.

There are so many possible options.

I can continue to jump around from one idea or opportunity to another.  I have been guilty of that for some time.  I know that there is something else there for me, but had not really found it until now.

However after a great deal of thought and reflection, of study and undertaking courses, I feel that I am much closer now to where I want to be going.

I still have a lot to learn and do.  So the most important thing to do is to focus on what is in front of me and to follow the instructions of those who have been along the road before me.

Focus is not easy.  There are so many distractions.  Yet it is the best way to move forward into the future we want to have.

As I move along this journey, I look forward to sharing my resources and aha moments, my successes and my failures with you.

The Best Motivational Videos 2016 ► FOCUS ◄ This Will Change Your Life

Tony Robbins has had an effect upon a huge number of people - from huge life-changing to small 'aha' moments.

In this 7-minute video Tony talks about focus and the six human needs - in his own inimitable style!

 "How do you make sure what you do really works?

Model someone who is already successful."

There are so many examples out there that we have to decide which one suits us individually.

Yet there are also universal truths:

" Why reinvent the wheel?  Success leaves clues."

So if we are going to focus on things in our lives we need to make sure that they lead to positive decisions because "decisions shape destiny."

How would your life have changed if you had made different decisions?  What changes can we make now by having a different focus?

Over the past 2 or 3 years my focus has been changing.  That change has begun speeding up more recently and I know that more major changes are happening in my own life.

That is why I shall be modelling someone who is already successful.

What about you?

Self-love and self-acceptance

Time for Day 3 of Luminita's Happiness Challenge and an issue which can happen for any of us - self-love and self-acceptance.

Image: self-central.com

REMINDER: Today’s happiness theme is “self-love and self-acceptance.”

 It is so easy to forget to love and accept ourselves.

So many young people today struggle with issues.  I believe this is even more the case than it was when I was a teenager. 

Social media and constant celebrity gossip doesn't help our young people to develop into the people they need to become.

It is also so easy as an adult to say something which can easily affect a young person's self-esteem.

Perhaps I unwittingly did that today.  I need to practice self-acceptance with Luminita's exercise.

I am already finding that these short focus sessions are making me think more about my own life and what I am doing each day.

It's not too late to join in!  Let me know if you do.

Release and let go

Day 2 of Luminita's Happiness Challenge is about release and let go.

We frequently hold on to things; ideas, situations and relationships which are doing us no good and we should let go of them.

REMINDER: Today’s happiness theme is “release and let go.”Are you holding onto something you need to let go of? Are you ready to let go?

Following on from my post yesterday about difficult students and being able to forgive myself, I know I also need to take the next step to release my feelings about that behaviour.

Are those students deliberately trying to provoke me to see how far they can push it?

Are they trying to do anything they can to stop them having to do work during the lesson?

Do they want to be seen as the student who has the most power in the classroom?

Are they trying to gain attention at any cost?

(The answer, in some cases, is probably 'yes'.)

And probably the biggest reason?

I teach the bottom sets and students who struggle with maths.

By the time that they are teenagers, many of them will have spent several years believing that they are useless, thick, unable to do maths and so they have learned strategies to cope with with a subject they believe is hard and even beyond them.

I love supporting students who have had difficulties learning a subject.  Most of my work has been in small groups and one to one.

I know that is where my strengths lie.  So teaching in the classroom has not always been easy for me.

Sometimes I berate myself for my inability to help the students in the lesson, or control their behaviour.

But I know I have to release those feelings and let them go. I and they need to be able to move forward, not get stuck in what has happened.

What do you need to let go from your life?

Forgiveness

Today is Day 1 of the Happiness Challenge.  See my blog post about it here - it's not too late to join!

It starts with forgiveness and is something we all have to face in different ways.

The email from Luminita tells us:

REMINDER: For today, the focus is on forgiveness. When was the
last time you truly, deeply forgave someone? It can be someone in
your past or present, or it can even be yourself.

Ouch!  That last phrase hurt!

How often do we forget to forgive ourselves?

As a teacher I struggle sometimes with forgiving some of the students who seem to delight in making a lesson difficult for you and the other students in the room.

Today, in one of my lessons, I had a student who lies regularly to my direct questions.  I asked him to get out his planner and he told me that he didn't have it.  I asked another adult in the room to check with the student that he didn't have it in his bag.  It appeared that he didn't. 

Yet when I checked later on in the lesson when he told me that he hadn't sprayed his body spray (which was chokingly obvious and he was the only student near his bag!) I found him only half opening his bag and holding his planner out of the way so that it couldn't be seen!

The fact that students lie to me is not new.

Neither is the fact that they are often rather bad at lying.

As a mum and a teacher, I have heard enough lies to know when someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes!

What really upsets me though is the fact that this student can cause regular disruption to the lesson through his lies.  Sometimes I get drawn into a backwards and forwards conversation with him - usually when I am tired or frustrated by his behaviour.

Afterwards I am cross with myself for allowing him to cause disruption yet again.

I find it difficult to forgive myself for that.

Yet I am human too.  I want to do the very best I can for these students.  They have often struggled for a long time, both in school and in the subject.

I become frustrated sometimes that they don't see or accept the help which is offered to them.

Yet I know that if I am consistent, they may realise that they did receive some help and support and one day in the future, they may thank me for it.

I love teaching, though it can be very hard work and frustrating.

Most of all I need to love myself and forgiving myself for my humanity is part of that.

Who should you forgive on this first day of the Happiness Challenge?  Let me know what you think.

5 Ways to Stay on Track With Your Creative Goals

 "Do not underestimate the thrill of trying." ~ Julia Cameron

A few days ago, I got an idea for a book. I sat down at the computer and an outline flew out of me. It felt like this was the book I was born to write. In the process of writing the outline I entered that "flow state" where I felt totally in the creative zone. It was great.

However later that evening, the voices of doubt started to creep in: "Who's going to read this book?" "Who are YOU to write a book?" "How could you ever get this thing published?" "You're not even a good writer... " etc. So I stopped writing. A week went by and I did no work on my book. I abandoned this project that had given me a few hours of total joy and excitement. I believed the voices that said I wasn't good enough.

And then I had a realization: "Just write the damn book and worry about who's going to read it later. Write the book because right now your soul wants to create this book. Write it for YOU right now and trust that when the time is right this book will find it's audience... and if its audience is just you, that's okay."

Have you ever found yourself giving up on a goal that earlier had given you lots of joy?

Here are some tools for getting back on track:

• Don't believe everything you think. Most negative thoughts are fear-based and invented by our subconscious mind to protect ourselves from perceived danger. Your brain isn't trying to sabotage you; it's trying to protect you. However, in most creative endeavors, you don't need you brain's protection. Shine a light on the negative voice inside of you that is trying to stop you from creating. Thank this voice and show gratitude for its efforts in trying to protect you. Also let it know that it's not going to stop you from pursuing your goal and then carry on creating!

• Resolve to work on your goal every day. I've committed to working on my book for 20 minutes every day. Now this might not seem like a lot of time, but 20 minutes a day adds up to 10 hours a month. Committing to work on something every day actually increases your odds of working on it for longer. Often I'll do my 20 minutes in the morning and then later find myself inspired to go back to work on a section of the book. I'm getting new ideas because the book is constantly on my mind and so my brain is working on it even when I'm not actively "working on it."

• Have an accountability partner. Oftentimes setting goals on our own isn't enough to keep us on track. It can be helpful to buddy up with a friend who is working on a similar goal. You can connect weekly in person or via Skype and make sure that you're both staying on track with your goals. Break your goals down into manageable weekly "chunks" and then check in with your partner to see if you've both reached the week's goal.

• Reward yourself. This one works really well for me and I've used it throughout my life. (It's how I used to get myself to go to auditions.) Your reward for making progress towards your goal can be anything you want it to be (although I do encourage green juice over ice cream). I urge you to give yourself small rewards as you make positive steps toward your goal, rather than one large reward when you've succeeded - this way you're most likely to stay motivated.

• Let go of perfection. I'm aware that my book is not ready to be published in its current state. I'm writing from the heart first and then will go back and edit and polish, etc. Writing a book takes a lot of time, a lot of work and a lot of endurance. I'm giving myself permission at this stage for the book to be rough, for it to be "bad." I'm in this for the long haul. I'm allowing myself to be in the process of writing a book, without needing my book to be a product.

I hope you found these suggestions helpful. They are certainly helping me stay on track with my goals. If you find yourself falling off the wagon with your creative goals, getting back on track is just a few actionable steps away. I'd love to hear how you stay on track with your creative endeavors.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sarah_Koestner/2197268