Archive for the ‘Brain’ Category
Monday, May 24th, 2010
 Self-image and confidence is not to be taken lightly. You cannot really rise above, or at least stay above your self-image. In fact, your brain acts as a cybernetic mechanism, which is a fancy way of saying “thermostat”. Whatever is your set point tends to be your self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you have a low self-image, you tend to struggle more with confidence and fear of rejection. You are less likely to take risks, and I certainly can say that dealing with change will be frightening if you are afraid of going into the unknown.
Now I hear people say often, “a part of me feels like…” I say it myself at times. What most people do not realize is that these “parts” of us can run your life. If you believe the real you is this “part” or that you are your thoughts and memories, you will be a set up for the stories and dramas that you tell yourself are “just the way life is”.
Actually, our life experiences are a reflection of the way that we see ourselves.
“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are” ~Anais Nin
There’s science for this. You see there is no “out there”. What we see and how we see it has more to do with our perception. We are conditioned to believe that what we do is WHO we are. Actually your “part” that is feeling a certain way has more to do with the way that you wired your brain to think of yourself.
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Tags: Brain Research, Confidence, Empowerment, Self-Esteem, Self-Image
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Friday, May 21st, 2010
 Healthcare is on many people’s minds these days. Unfortunately it is a heavy weight on most people’s minds as they are focused on worry, or actually “dis-ease” care when it comes to their health.
This is a part of the very problem we are faced with – worry and focus on disease. Your brain does not like stress; in fact it is toxic to brain cells and a health hazard in general. I believe that the financial pressure from our existing system will likely be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.
I don’t care how much money is pumped into the system, until the waste stops and people change their paradigm, their belief system about HOW they think – about themselves, their bodies and life in general – the system is going to fail ultimately.
What do I mean by “how we think”? We focus on fear and what we don’t want without realizing that this is not only damaging our brains, it’s creating the very havoc we see in our lives. The hormones and processes that are released in your body when your worry and stress (both based in fear) can not only kill off brain cells, it can damage your heart, your immune system, your digestive tract and your musculoskeletal system…among other things.
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Tags: Confidence, Empowerment, Meditation, Neuroscience, Self-Esteem, Stay Healthy
Posted in Brain, Staying Healthy | 5 Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
 Empowering behaviors and beliefs can seem paradoxical to us because for the most part, what we have been taught is actually contrary to leading a truly confident and empowered life.
What we learn is not only contrary; it’s often outright backwards. We think that how we think about ourselves is independent of how others think of us. In fact, we think that what others think about us is more significant than what we think about ourselves.
For example, from the time we are two, we are unconsciously taught to seek for love, security and self-esteem outside ourselves. This is where we first start “looking for love in all the wrong places”. We are taught that the opinions of others are more important than our own, and that our significance comes from our associations, titles and material possessions.
Considering that these are all external to our very Being, it is no wonder that we give our power away regularly. We even make the mistake of trying to “get” love from others when we don’t even give it to ourselves.
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Tags: Brain, Breakthrough Fear, Confidence, Ego, Empowerment, Self-Esteem
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Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
 Empowerment is a frequent topic these days and I think it is reflective of where
we are in our evolutionary growth as humankind. It seems pretty obvious to me that people are looking for answers other than business as usual.
One thing for sure is that we cannot solve some of our current challenges by looking in our current memory toolbox of how to solve problems. The consciousness or “mindset” that that got us here will not be the same ways of thinking that help us to change the world.
I don’t equate change with “bad”. Why not just see things as evolving to the next level, especially when it comes to individual growth? Now here’s the dilemma – the Universe is still expanding and unfolding, yet, because of the way that we have as a whole conditioned our brain we tend to fear change.
We are still “unfolding” just as the Universe is. While there is more to us than meets the eye, meaning at our core we have a spiritual essence, a “True Self”, we still live and experience life as human beings living in a physical body.
Without this body, you cannot effect change or be alive as we generally think of it relating to being on the earth. So, while I’ve heard the saying “we are spiritual beings having a human experiences”, we need to learn how to skillfully live into both aspects of our natures.
We need to become aware of how to manage our human body’s sensory/perception system – the brain and mind. Otherwise you can be so “heavenly bound that you are no earthly good”. Enter Neuroscience.
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Tags: Brain Research, Breakthrough Fear, Changing Times, Confidence, Empowerment, Self-Esteem
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Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
 The time for empowerment for women – the world actually – is now. Can you sense that the energy in our world is changing? Things are not the same.
I think this is a good thing as I see room for growth and improvement in our society and in the way we treat others, the planet and ourselves in general. It is also time to integrate our power and stop breaking ourselves into different “parts” some which are less important than others and creating a sense of insufficiency and lack regarding our own worth or belittling the value that we place on our own gifts and talents.
Now, instead of focusing on what is “wrong” it is time to take your power back and learn how to get to where you want to go. As long as you stay focused on fear and what is wrong, your brain will help you to stay there. You see, what you focus on expands and what you resist persists.
This is just the way your mind and body work. Your brain does not judge your choices per se, it only brings to you, like a missile seeking machine, that which you truly expect and believe.
Also, we have been conditioned to only use our intellect that is operating only 10% of what runs our daily lives. You see, most of what runs our day-to-day operations is unconscious. We just don’t know what we don’t know and what we think is true, in general is based in lack thinking, competition and “survival of the fittest”.
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Tags: Brain, Confidence, Confident Woman, Empowerment, Intuition, Overcome Fear, Self-Esteem
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Friday, February 19th, 2010
 Confidence and self-esteem boils down to this: you are making it all up. Think about it. Where do you get the ideas to judge yourself by? Why do you think you are born unworthy?
Is that the absolute “Truth”? How do you know? Who told you this? Why do you accept it as true? These are some of the questions I eventually asked myself, as I broke free from the fear of “thinking outside of the box”.
Granted, at one time in our social history we were highly likely to die if the “tribe” kicked us out of the group, but nowadays, with so many options available, you can always find a new “tribe”.
I know that there are feelings involved, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that if someone does not care enough about my well-being to support what is dear and near to my heart (they don’t have to agree, but they don’t have to reject me over it), then it’s just time for me to get over it and move on.
The more comfortable I am in my own skin, the easier it is to move on. After all, I have to live with me; I have no choice (I don’t a have desire to check out of my body). I just say, “there’s only you and me so let’s just disagree” and move on if we cannot work it out – no harm done. Anyway, as far as forming our self-esteem, what we believe about our selves come from a variety of sources when we are not aware of what belief is and how it rules our world.
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Tags: Confidence, Empowerment, Neuroscience, Self-Esteem
Posted in Brain, Confidence and Self-Esteem | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
 Fear and its various forms are such a ubiquitous emotions in the human drama. I come from a place of living the fear driven life. I can therefore speak with authority based on my life experience.
Now of course, this is my perspective and this is not a matter of “right or wrong”, it’s just a perspective. However, since the “proof is in the pudding”, for me, as long as I get results, it does not matter if the experience is shared by others or not, but what I do know is, if the actions are based in principles, the results are reproducible.
What’s cool about brain science is that it also helps to substantiate these principles. For example, other than the fear that is used to protect us from physical harm, experiencing chronic psychological fear is not only a threat to your health, relationships and finances, it can keep you playing small and limited your whole life.
I refer to this kind of fear as Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality. In other words, we are the authors of our own fear-based stories and when we learn how to separate our True Self from the Mental Me, the story of who we think we are, we can once again begin to see life as an exciting adventure instead of another day of struggle, stress and “survival of the fittest”.
It’s all about perception. It was Albert Einstein who said:
“Reality is an illusion; albeit a very persistent one”
Reality is relative. Science shows that your outer world and experience is truly a reflection of how you think and feel.
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Tags: Career Transition, Confidence Happiness, Empowerment, Self-Esteem
Posted in Brain, Empowerment | 4 Comments »
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
 It’s empowering to know that I can change my reality based on my perception. Perception is subjective of course, so therefore reality is also subjective. I have truly found that my reality may often not be my friend’s reality. Interesting.
“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds” ~William James
This is a beautiful verse that is full of wisdom for everyday living. I used to also believe that the way I saw life was the “way it was”. Well, it is the way it is – for me. I have learned to change my perception, but I must say that your conscious awareness, your ability to stay present in this moment makes all the difference between being empowered to change versus feeling like a hapless victim of circumstance.
Here are some pointers:
1. Open your mind to a new way of seeing the world – Beliefs are fluid. We now can say, even from science, that belief is wired into your biology; your body is very subject to change. Just look at how much you’ve change on all levels since you were a baby!
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Tags: Confidence, Empowerment, Self-Esteem, Self-Mastery
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
 Neuroscience has fantastic practical life application for personal growth. The metaphor of the butterfly is a personal, and loved demonstration of change for me.
Neuroscience is connected to the metamorphosis metaphor from my viewpoint. Neuroscience is the area of science that deals with the brain and nervous system in some way. It could be related to mind and psychology, the visual system itself, or biology and physics.
Because of my educational background in this area, I find it fascinating and I am grateful for the science now to backup what was called ‘soft skills’ in the past. Neuroscience is giving objective findings to support how our brains and minds work, how beliefs and behavior is formed and how it can be changed.
This is very exciting in that the quality of your life is certainly proportional to the quality of your beliefs. I think we are in the era of personal responsibility. It is time to stop barely making it through the week, the old ‘thank God it’s Friday’ mindset, and move into the lifestyle of gratitude and fulfillment.
As the author and poet Maya Angelou said, “Surviving is important, thriving is elegant”.
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Tags: Confidence, Empowerment, Law of Attraction, Self-Esteem, Self-Mastery
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Saturday, October 31st, 2009
 Inner peace is just that – peace inside. So why do we all to often go searching for it in external “things” and relationships? I fell into this trap for many years and I have finally come to experience and see that this is not the path to peace.
It took a while, and now I realize that the only thing that I can absolutely count on is – change. Even as you live life with awareness of Spirit, flexibility is central to a life of faith. Things don’t always go as planned and some experiences take time to understand the good on the other side of the seeming abyss.
Today another Halloween is passing. I used to feel sad, even while I was in the moment of experiencing fun with my children when they were much younger on this day. I dreaded that my children would “one day” be too old to go trick or treating with me – that they would rather be with their friends instead of me. It was a habit I had of focusing on lack instead of fully enjoying the present moment. This of course, blocked my full enjoyment in those now moments.
Fortunately, I eventually figured this out. The energy that we feel in the now moment is creating our future. This used to keep me in a perpetual state of dis-satisfaction as I could not really feel happiness to the extent that I could have. I could not really enjoy the pleasure of funny faces, costumes and laughter as I felt the melancholy feelings that “one day” they would leave.
Well, one day has arrived. My daughter drove off to go out with her friends, no déjà vu for her. My son even choose to skip going to the Northwestern Football game that he and my husband have season tickets for to be with his friends for Halloween. And me? – I’m here writing this blog post!
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Tags: Empowerment, Happiness, Inner Peace, Law of Attraction, Personal Growth
Posted in Brain | 4 Comments »
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Self-image and confidence is not to be taken lightly. You cannot really rise above, or at least stay above your self-image. In fact, your brain acts as a cybernetic mechanism, which is a fancy way of saying “thermostat”. Whatever is your set point tends to be your self-fulfilling prophecy.
