The Mirror Method for Building Self-Confidence and Self-Love
In a previous post long ago, I discussed mirror gazing meditation (Mirror Trataka), and in this article, I will introduce a simple ritual that I have personally developed to enhance self-confidence. Although it is not a traditional meditation method, it merges spiritual insights with techniques that I have previously utilized. Practiced with wholehearted commitment, this approach has the potential to significantly transform your self-perception and outlook on life.
So, this isn’t your typical mirror-gazing meditation. No need to stress about trying to stay super focused on your reflection or avoiding distractions. Instead, it’s a straightforward ritual inspired by popular personal development techniques like mirror work and positive self-talk. Plus, it takes a page from an ancient Hawaiian ritual, which I will dive into in this post later on. I am not here to guarantee it’ll work for everyone. I am just sharing an exercise I personally have used and have seen benefits from, hoping it might do the same for you.
How I Began to Use This Powerful Ritual
In one of his iconic speeches, the legendary figure in the field of self-improvement, Bob Proctor (may his soul rest in peace), whose work initially inspired me on my personal development journey, discussed a powerful ritual related to altering one’s self-image.
According to Bob Proctor, this ritual was something taught to Napoleon Hill (the author of the book “Think and Grow Rich“) by Dale Carnegie. The process involves mentally or verbally repeating a statement involving a person who inspires you, twice a day for at least 30 days. For instance, if your goal is to become a successful stock trader and your idol is Warren Buffett, you’d look into the mirror and say something like, “Warren Buffett, I’m not only going to match your achievements in life, but I’m going to challenge you at the post and surpass you at the grandstand.” This exercise is impactful, and while I won’t disclose the name I used, rest assured that the day I surpass that figure, you will know for sure, lol! Continue reading
3 Ways Mindfulness Can Help You Stop Boredom Eating
If you’ve been struggling to deal with boredom eating, and traditional methods haven’t yielded results, the most effective solution may well be mindfulness. There isn’t a method more potent than mindfulness to curtail emotional eating. The key lies in its ability to grant you profound control over involuntary actions. That’s why, in this post, I will illustrate how mindfulness can help you stop boredom eating.
Boredom eating is a type of emotional eating disorder stemming from various psychological factors that lead us to believe food can resolve our emotional challenges. We are conditioned to seek solace in food when feeling low or bored. However, terms like “emotional eating” should not overly preoccupy us, as people worldwide associate various emotions with food. This attachment often revolves around dishes triggering cherished childhood memories, while aversions might result from past negative experiences. Personally, I remember refraining from eating popcorn for an extended period after falling seriously ill once, even though popcorn wasn’t the cause. This exemplifies how our minds connect specific emotions to various foods based on individual experiences and memories.
I am sharing all this information to help you comprehend how our psychology operates and why we turn to snacking or overeating when we’re not feeling well. Even though boredom doesn’t necessarily equate to unhappiness, our minds struggle with it because, much like a child, it constantly seeks something engaging. The anticipation of taste and pleasure leads our minds to view eating as a perfect solution to alleviate boredom. Consequently, our minds persistently dwell on thoughts of food when we experience boredom. Continue reading
Jose Silva’s Mental Screen Visualisation Method for Manifestation
As a personal development enthusiast, I find it truly remarkable how Jose Silva possessed such profound knowledge of the human mind. His works remain not only relevant in today’s world but also widely used by people for various purposes. Many therapists have incorporated methods inspired by his teachings into their practice. In a decade when people showed little interest in exploring the power of the mind, albeit controversial, this man was pioneering and creating methods like the mental screen visualization method and how to manifest using such methods by exploring hypnotherapy and metaphysics to develop mind tools that were far ahead of his time.
If you explore the Silva Method and the techniques he employed in his courses, you will undoubtedly discover that he was indeed a pioneer in the field of personal development.
You may be familiar with various visualization methods. In this post, I will provide instructions on how to perform a specially crafted visualization technique developed by Jose Silva, known as the ‘mental screen technique.’ This technique is still widely used in training programs based on the Silva Method. Followers of this method claim it to be extremely helpful for manifestation, problem-solving, healing, self-improvement, and more because it is not only simple to use but also provides proper guidance on how to harness one’s imagination. We will explore how to perform this technique in later sections of this article, but first, let me introduce you to a few key concepts you should understand before we delve into the process. Continue reading
Why You Should Choose Brahma Muhurta for Meditation?
Do you know that there is a specific time period of the day known as the Brahma Muhurta, which is considered the best time for meditation? Whether you practice the law of attraction techniques like visualization or if you are a yoga enthusiast, knowing about this pre-sunrise time period can be highly beneficial. According to ancient yogic teachings, this particular time of the day is when our spiritual practices can be most effective. This is because our mind is in the ideal state during this time for activities such as meditation, yoga, creative visualization, energy clearing, and more.
The first thing we do in the morning sets the tone for our entire day. That’s why our morning activities should be something that fills our minds with joyful thoughts, and we should always aim to begin the day in a positive emotional state. However, waking up at the Brahma Muhurta for meditation or other personal development and spiritual activities takes it to a whole new level. This is the time when ancient yogis preferred to wake up to reach deeper levels of meditation.
Continue reading
Now You Can Gauge Your Meditation – Brainwave Monitoring Devices
I received an email recently from one of my readers inquiring about methods to monitor mental activity. This prompted me to create a post on brainwave monitoring devices. Having personally tried a few of these gadgets, I can attest to the fact that current technology allows us to closely track our brain states, particularly during meditation sessions. This enables us to gauge the effectiveness of our meditation practices.
I recall a time when I used to read about costly devices capable of measuring the level of mental activity, whether one’s mind was busy or relaxed. Being deeply interested in spiritual pursuits, I often wished for a tool like this to assess the efficacy of my meditation and relaxation techniques.
This is a common concern among individuals engaged in meditation or mindfulness practices: the need to ascertain if they are following the correct approach. Traditionally, there has been a singular method to gauge the effectiveness of one’s meditation: ensuring that the number of thoughts during the practice is fewer than what one typically experiences in everyday life. It’s a straightforward criterion for evaluation.
Nevertheless, a challenge arises from the heightened state of awareness during meditation. In this heightened state, individuals become conscious enough to observe the frequency at which thoughts arise. Paradoxically, it may seem as though the “monkey mind” is even more active during meditation, primarily because one is not typically aware of how restless the mind can be in everyday circumstances. Due to this reason, people start to get discouraged that they are not meditating properly or they begin to think that meditation is working counterproductively for them. Continue reading
Understanding the Alpha State of Mind for Better Meditation
Knowing the alpha state of mind and being able to detect what this specific brainwave state feels like can help you in a myriad of ways if you are interested in meditation. The knowledge about your brainwave patterns allows you to harness the true potential of your mind because the changes in your brain activity result in a corresponding impact on various different qualities of your mind.
To achieve an optimal meditation experience, you need to have both relaxation as well as heightened focus. This is where aiming for the alpha level of brainwave patterns becomes pivotal, as it enhances the key qualities of your mind that are necessary for a successful meditation session.
We enter this state unknowingly at various times during the day, it is not something that we can achieve only by using a special technique or audio tools, a lot of brainwave entrainment audios are now being promoted by using the promise of helping people reach the alpha level of minds. I am not saying those audio tracks don’t work(I am not in much favor of the binaural beats though) but what I want you to understand is that this state is not new to us, even when we are immersed in a pleasant peaceful music or thoughts of a beautiful vacation our brain generates alpha brainwaves. That’s why I am now going to talk about this mental state in detail so that you will be able to have a better idea about what I am trying to tell you here. Continue reading
6 Physical Health Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation Practice
People are well aware of the psychological benefits of present moment awareness but do you know there are numerous scientifically proven physical health benefits of mindfulness meditation as well?
Thousands of research works have shown how being mindful can be helpful for your mental and physical well-being. A lot of people are now making this meditation a part of their lives due to the positive results they have seen by practicing this method regularly.
I have written numerous posts on mindfulness practices, I have been encouraging people for a long time to do this meditation because it is simple, and practicing present-moment awareness has improved my life in various ways.
One crucial thing that we all need to understand is that our mind and body are connected, all our bodily functions are controlled by our subconscious mind, so when you start to do something that gives you inner peace it gets reflected in your body.
Ancient spiritual knowledge has always focused on how a person’s energy is responsible for various physical symptoms in their body, our body even stores various memories and emotional traumas, this is why hypnotherapy is now widely used to treat various past emotional issues of a person, doing this may also solve many other health problems that a person might be having.
These talks can be difficult to understand for people who have a strong logical mind but when we talk about the things that have been proven by science it becomes acceptable to everyone, that’s why in this post I am going to enlist some health benefits of mindfulness meditation that are based on various studies. But before that, let me give you a brief overview of this method. Continue reading
Is the Pineal Gland Really the “Seat of the Soul”?
Some spiritual teachers and philosophers have focused on the importance of the pineal gland, and many people have written a lot of things about the spiritual relevance of the pineal gland and it is also believed to be the third eye by a lot of people.
Renee Descartes has known to have called this particular gland the seat of the soul whereas many people believe that the activation of the pineal gland using some techniques can help a person to achieve certain qualities. In this post, I will be talking about this subject from my perspective which has formed from the knowledge I have gained from various sources.
It will not be fair to discard the significance of the pineal gland in one’s mental health because this gland produces melatonin which is a hormone that plays a vital role in regulating the sleep cycles of an individual. Apart from the production of melatonin and the importance of this gland in regulating sleep cycles, all other claims are based on speculations. Continue reading
How to Quiet Your Mind During a Meditation Session?
If you are trying to find some effective tips or ways to quiet your mind during a meditation session then you have landed at the right place. It does not matter if you are new to meditation or have been meditating for a long time, this can happen to anyone. Although beginners are most commonly troubled by this problem that their mind keeps jumping from one thought to another frequently, even those who have been meditating for years can face this problem depending on their life situation and emotional health.
No matter what meditation you prefer, if you find yourself getting lost in random thoughts frequently then any form of meditation will not be providing you with good results which can be very frustrating because the very reason we sit to meditate is to achieve serenity.
What you need to understand if this is happening to you is that not being able to focus properly while meditating is not a big problem and this does not mean that you cannot meditate, the mind chatter that takes up all your attention when you are trying to concentrate is a part and parcel of our spiritual journey.
Here I will be sharing with you a few tips that will greatly help you to stop your mind from wandering when you sit to meditate, the points that I am going to enlist below will help you make gradual progress with your meditation practice, and these meditation tips will also motivate to stay consistent with your efforts, that’s why I request you to come back to reading this post whenever you feel you are going off track. Continue reading
5 Tips to Stop Falling Asleep During Meditation(Why It Happens?)
Why do I often fall asleep during meditation? Is my practice flawed, or is it simply ineffective for me? These questions frequently arise, especially among beginners. Surprisingly, even experienced meditators can grapple with the challenge of nodding off during their sessions. In this post, we’ll explore the reasons behind falling asleep while meditating and offer practical tips to help you overcome this common issue.
For some, meditation can lead to drifting into slumber, while others experience post-meditation drowsiness. Conversely, many individuals turn to meditation as a means to enhance their sleep patterns. Our unique psychological makeup means that we all confront distinct challenges in various aspects of life, and meditation is no exception.
Becoming drowsy during meditation is so common that I’ve witnessed an entire hall full of people snoring after a meditation session I attended. Most of them were meditating for the first time, but I know that this can happen to anyone, so there’s really nothing to worry about.
I have also observed people discontinuing their meditation practice, citing drowsiness as a reason to avoid it entirely. They often say, “Meditation isn’t for me; I can’t concentrate because I become sleepy when I try to sit in silence.”
But, you know what? That’s not quite right. Meditation is for everyone, and feeling a bit drowsy during a meditation session is completely normal. Actually, there are several reasons why it can happen to you. So, let’s dig into different factors that might be affecting your ability to make it through a meditation session, whether you tend to get a little sleepy halfway through or struggle to stay fully awake during the practice.