With the variety of styles and disciplines you may want to find one that suits your particular lifestyle, or interest. Some meditators’ shut out all sensory input: they have no light, no sounds, some even use floating tanks where they float in salt water so there is nothing touching them, (this is perhaps where the cave comes in). But as you will see all this is not as necessary as having the right frame of mind and being willing to practice.

Having said that here is what I would suggest that you do:

• Find a comfortable, quiet spot – somewhere you will not be disturbed.
• Turn off all phones – especially the cell phone, and get away from the door bell.
• Have the temperature set to a comfortable level.
• Your clothing should be loose and light.
• You may want to have the room dark, maybe with a candle burning.
• Incense would be appropriate, but is not required.
• Sitting in the lotus position is perfect, but if not possible a straight back chair will work nicely.
• You do not want any tension in any part of your body.
• You will want your back straight and both feet flat on the floor, no slouching.
• Be as comfortable as possible, you could even do it lying down, but there is a tendency to fall asleep if you do.
• You could play a CD with music or sounds conducive to meditating.

So as you can see the process is pretty flexible. While there are a few do’s and don’ts, the end result is to learn how to do deep breathing, calm your mind, and enjoy the experience.

The easiest way to start once you have everything set up is to get into the position you will meditate in, close your eyes and start a slow rhythmic breathing. Then observe your breathe going in, and out. Just focus on your breathe and gently work to slow it down, When you find your mind drifting bring it back gently and start again, observing the breath in and out. These are the basics, and as you progress you will be guided to other techniques and teachers.

5. Remember That You Are Not Alone: It is easy to feel overwhelmed with life. Seek support – there are 12 step groups out there for virtually everything. Read more self improvement articles. They might help you figure about some things that are puzzling you.

6. Remember Gratitude: Count your blessings. What is working right in your life? Make a list. Set aside a bit of time everyday to acknowledge what or who you are grateful for. The more you practice gratitude, the more you attract into your life things to be grateful for.

7. Court Your Passion: You still have your passions though it has been a while since you may have felt it flow. When are you the most alive and joyful in your life? Who do you most admire and what do they inspire in you?

8. Get Inspired, Take Action & Take A Risk: All the inspiration in the world is not enough to make you move your life to the next level. It takes inspired action to do that. Be aware of your inspirations, and then move on them.

9. Keep Breathing: You probably forget to take deep full breaths. We have all learned to constrict our breathing in response to stress. According to many self improvement articles, we not only need oxygen to stay alive, we need oxygen to give us energy and keep us healthy. Right now take 5 deep, full breaths – inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth.

10. Have Fun! Call a friend, take a bubble bath, take a bubble bath with a friend, take yourself to an art museum, spend an entire day out in nature. Put on some great music and dance till you drop. Try drawing, painting or some craft you’ve always wanted to try.

And you thought this was just one of those self improvement articles.

Eventually everyone comes to a stage where you question your life. You may ask things like: How will it be when I get to the end of my life? How do I feel about the life I lived? Did I live my dreams or give up on them? You may experience anxiety, upset or confusion because you’re not sure what your problem is. You thought your life was pretty good. What is going on?

It’s your psychological glass ceiling. The “practical” and fear-based side of you had you convinced that your passion and dreams had died. Then the support of the universe comes along in the form of someone who gives you a self improvement article while telling you that it’s not too late. Don’t you think that would have a huge impact on you? You bet it will. That’s what this is.

Here are top ten shifts in perspective that can help you move your life to the next level. This self improvement article will assist you in breaking through your own glass ceiling to create the life you really want:

1. Try Dreaming: give yourself permission to dream. You probably had no problem dreaming as a kid. What happened to your ability to imagine and dream about what you want and who you want to be? When was the last time you were aware of your daydreaming and appreciated it?

2. Stop Looking Outside Yourself For Happiness: Look inside. Increase your self-awareness. Get curious about who you are at the core. Cultivate and nurture a relationship with yourself. Excavate your inner world.

3. Cover The Basics: Take the time to address your personal needs. How can you focus on thriving in your life if you are in survival mode? Set up that meeting with a financial advisor; get your personal and business spaces organized; clean up the details that are wasting your energy.

4. Embrace Your Past & Move On: Shift from “Why did it happen to me?” to “What I want to do about it now?” Asking why is not a very empowering question. Asking what or how I want to proceed can be much more powerful and produce forward movement.

Next week we will share the balance of the list.

But even if they gave it to you with the best intentions, if anything went wrong, you would always blame those people. That’s why it’s advised that whenever you are at a crossroads, do research and get input, but make the final decision yourself. The question arises: How can we know which the best solution is?

The answer is never simple. However, there is one self improvement technique that can be of great help, and when employed regularly will have great results.

It is called meditation and it has been used for centuries. Even in old and famous books, like the Bible, people are invited to meditate, to uncover our inner world and using that knowledge to make conscious decisions and gain control of our lives.

How do we start meditating?

First of all, you need to be away from any source of distraction. You cannot analyze your deepest feelings and thoughts and watch a movie at the same time.

• Find a comfortable place to sit. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Relax.
• Meditate for as little as five minutes, or as long as you wish.
• When you finish meditating, you will be in a better position to learn about your subconscious desires, motivations and actions.

Secondly, you need to ask yourself a series of questions that will help you to better determine who you really are. The questions can relate to everyday aspects of your life, or focus on a particular challenge you may be having. If you are worried about a certain decision, let all the questions be related to that issue.  Here are some examples of general questions:

• What do you like doing?
• What have you done in your life that you have been most proud of?
• What is it that you always wanted to do and haven’t?
• What role does money play in your life?
• What is more important for you: you family life or your career?
• How much do you depend on others?

Do not forget to write down the answers. Relax, be sincere and let the answers bubble to the surface of your consciousness.  After all, nobody will judge you. All these questions will help you determine exactly where you stand and what is it that you want from life.

All you have to do is to get the right understanding of your own replies. In order to do that, help yourself to a cup of tea or your favorite coffee, and take the time to analyze them thoroughly. Mark with a red pen whatever you resonate with or find that it makes sense to you. Mark the answers that you need more insight on or more in depth answers for with another color.

Post the list somewhere where you can see it more than once a day, or post it in more than one place. You will notice that, step by step, the answers that you don’t understand will be able to be marked in red. Keep meditating for more insights.

It is the best way to always be aware what your expectations from life are, and to be able to change your unconscious programming.

Take this simple self improvement advice and see the positive results for yourself.

Smile A Lot.

When you go places, smile more at other people, even if you find it a bit difficult at first. Just curve your lips up a bit as you make eye contact with another human being.

It’s been proven that smiling improves your mood. It’s also healing.  J

An Effective Goal Is Written.

This is essential and extremely helpful because there will be times when your self improvement goals will make you uncomfortable, or you may lose sight of them.

When this happens, you need to have them written down to keep yourself on track and accountable. Posting your goals on the refrigerator, bulletin board, or in your planner ensures that you will be reminded of them on a daily basis. Include a date for their achievement.

After you’ve written them down, break them down into smaller action steps. Decide what comes first, and then start on that. When that one is done, move on to the next action step, and continue until you are celebrating your accomplishment.

Review Them Regularly.

You must review your self improvement goals weekly in order to stay on track. Check out your worksheet on the schedule you set. Reviewing them causes you to recommit to their accomplishment.

According to studies, only 1% of the population actually understands how to effectively set goals. This is the reason why so many New Year’s resolutions are not followed.

This is also why people keep failing at the very same goal. The desire to improve yourself is genuine, but the process you use while seeking this desire is faulty. How can you achieve the self improvement results you want?

The positive results of achieving any goal are unforgettable. The failure to achieve is not because you are incompetent, but because you simply do not know the process of success.

Have an effective self improvement worksheet. Follow what is written, be patient and celebrate your success to come.

Here are some suggestions to map out on your worksheet to help you achieve the fulfillment you desire:

Get Up Early.

To be able to accomplish this and avoid losing any precious sleep, you can go to bed just a half hour earlier to get up a half hour earlier than you usually do.

What this got to do with self improvement?

To start on your new life path, you need to be fully awake and get rid of that early morning sluggishness, preferably without coffee.

When you are completely alert, step outside of your house and watch the sun rise. There is nothing like a beautiful view on a brand new morning to inspire you on your new self improvement goals. This simple but deeply satisfying act will lift your spirits and start your day on the right foot.

If you can’t watch the sun rise because you work nights or go to bed late, then make sure you exercise. Take a brisk walk, run or do some yoga, depending upon what you prefer and what you are physically capable of.

Eat Breakfast.

To start your day out right, kick start your metabolism, refuel your body and to keep with your new self improvement plan, this is a necessity. You need the energy it will provide you with to accomplish your daily tasks.

A nutritious breakfast is NOT a donut, bagel, coffee, most cold cereals or a fast food meal. It consists of whole grain cereal, like oatmeal; a protein, like a hard-boiled egg; and some fruits or vegetables.

If you are overly pressed for time you might try a whole grain cereal and nonfat milk or even a few pieces of fresh fruit would do. These are better alternatives than skipping breakfast.

We will finish these suggestions next week.

The reality is that life is what we make of it. Some years ago I was in Hawaii at Christmas time. Sounds good, so far, right? ‘We’ decided to go to a New Years Eve party where some local celebrities were performing. By the way, the ‘we’ was the woman I was with – and I got to pay the bill.

It was a great night, till I found out that the $100 per person ticket price didn’t cover the $5 per drink charge. I got really bummed and ticked. Everyone around me was having a great time, and I wanted to leave, but couldn’t. I turned what could have been a fun night into a bummer.

Other people were in the same room I was, yet I was bummed, and they were having a great time. Can you relate? Fortunately for me this was a rather isolated incident, but had it gone on for weeks or months I would have fallen into a depression big time. In case you are someone who is experiencing anxiety and depression on a more regular basis, I have 5 tips for you to help eliminate it.

#1.  Do You Need More Sunshine?

When we get outdoors and into the light our bodies are refreshed. If we are cooped up indoors too much we start over producing Melatonin, which tends to make us sluggish and lethargic. This is one of the reasons people suffer from depression more in the winter than during other seasons.

#2. Get Passionate

If you are not busy, and doing something you love then your mind will wander. When your mind wanders its more likely that it will find problems and the self talk will not be motivating. On the other hand, if you are active and doing the things you love you will be too busy to be depressed.

#3. Learn To Relax.

Life is too short. It is important to take time out and just relax. Learn to chill out. Take time to smell the roses. If you don’t you’ll burn out and wonder why.

#4. Keep Healthy & Stay Fit

Your body is the only one you have. I don’t know of anywhere to go and trade it in for a new or improved model. Since it is the only one we have, it’s in our best interest to take good care of it. You know the foods to avoid. Keep in mind if it tastes good, it may not be good for you. That is just because we have gotten used to eating junk food. Raw, healthy fruits and vegetables also taste good when we get used to them. Also consider daily exercise as a means to break through depression. The happy chemicals, or endorphins, released into our bodies when we exercise help us get and stay healthy.

#5. Get a life outside of work.

The saying all work and no play is very true when it comes to our mental and emotional health. We need to balance our mental, physical as well as social life. We need to get out and interact with family and friends. Here we need a positive supportive group to help give us moral support every so often, as well as allow us to support others.

You now have 5 tips on action steps you can start right now to kick any anxiety and depression you may be experiencing right out the door. Go ahead and give one or more a try. I am sure you will be glad you did.

So let’s finish the process of how you can develop a powerful vision so you can go and make yours a reality.

Third – use affirmations:

Affirmations play a key role in achieving our dreams. You may be tired of hearing about positive thinking and affirmations, but the bottom line is they work. They may not happen instantaneously, but with perseverance and tenacity any dream may come to be.

• You need to have unwavering faith in your vision.
• You need to be consistent.
• You need to be motivated.
• You need to believe in yourself and your abilities.
• And you need to focus on what is in front of you at the moment and trust that somehow things will fall in place

The power of affirmations will help you get motivated and to realize your vision.

Fourth – remember to set goals:

To achieve anything you need goals to get there. You need short term and long term goals. Setting goals is a key ingredient in the process. It’s like baking a cake and not putting any flour in it, it won’t be complete. And it is also important to check in on your goals regularly. After achieving any goal celebrate. You have accomplished something you set out to do. Celebrating it will help fuel your energy to continue. Don’t skip this step it is another important ingredient.

If you missed a goal don’t beat yourself up. Learn from the experience and continue on. Edison tried 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb. He never said he failed 10,000 times, rather he said he learned 9,999 ways not to make a light bulb. Same result, but how powerfully and positively different the attitude.

So take heart if you follow these simple steps you will reach your vision. You may need to make course corrections along the way. Remember an airplane never flies in a straight line. The pilot makes course corrections along the way, sometimes big ones – to fly around a storm, or minor ones to account for wind, turbulence, or something else.

Again if you believe in yourself, if you believe in your vision, if you do it to help others with the right mental attitude – you will realize your dream.

I heard a statement many years ago that went something like this: ‘If the mind of man can think it then he most surely will achieve it’. By having a vision you set forces in motion to help you achieve it. To the degree you can believe it and put energy to it is the degree it will be realized in your life.

Having a powerful vision and being passionate about it draws others to you and inspires them to help you achieve your vision or dream. The stronger your passion about your vision the quicker and more complete its realization will be.

How do you go about creating a powerful vision? And then when you have such a vision how do you inspire others to come under its influence?

The first step in the process is to plan and think ahead:

Think of the great dreamers of our time, like Walt Disney for example. He saw Disney world complete and operational in every detail many years before it opened its doors. He saw it in his mind and he worked to make it a reality. He did this by thinking, planning and breaking it down to bite size chunks of tasks and goals.

If you can dream, you can realize your goals. By thinking ahead and planning in your mind you are creating a vision. To achieve your dreams you must be specific and get into the details. You must not only see it, you must engage all 5 senses as specific as possible.

• You must see it in every detail
• You must feel how it will be when it comes into existence
• You must hear the sounds going on around it
• You must smell the smells in the air
• You must speak it and believe it

The second step is that you must think positively:

A positive mind set is absolutely essential. I can tell you many reasons why something cannot happen. However, it only takes one person to believe and know something could be possible and it will be created. If there is no positive thinking then there is no vision. And without a vision nothing will be achieved.

Make a decision, put emotion and heart into the decision. Decide that it can be realized and then go about creating that which you have dreamed.

The final two steps will be posted next week.

What would you do if you were trapped in an environment that you didn’t want to be in?  What if you were sick and tired of your job? What can we do to solve this dilemma?

It is possible to take inspired and motivated action to survive your present situation and live the life you always dreamed of.

It is not that easy though.  You will have to come out of your comfort zones to discover potentials and opportunities waiting for you.  You have to conquer your fear and take calculated risks. You have to stay focused and persevere despite the difficulties you will encounter.

Success does not come easy.  It takes heart, passion and time. Experience is also a factor. The learning you get every day becomes your foundation. These are the things we do not need to pay for.

You have to work harder, dig deeper, and sacrifice more to attain your ambitions. But no, you do not have to hate the world and feel bad when you encounter difficult situation.  Just remember the Law of Attraction. If you hate the world, the world will hate you back.

What can you do? Below are some free tips to help you when facing difficult situations in life. They will also serve as your guide to improve yourself.

1. Learn to love your current situation.  See all the positive sides of life.  Be enthusiastic.  Love your boss, your coworkers, your family, your friends, and even strangers that you meet on the streets. It may not be easy, but nothing is impossible.

2. Balance is the key.  Dream and take some positive action to move you toward your goals. Take it one step at a time.  While you are slowly starting on the long journey to success, be patient and be as enthusiastic as possible.  Do not hurry so much that you totally forget how to enjoy life. Appreciate the beautiful things you will encounter on the journey.

3. Stay humble. Be grateful when you see that your hard work is paying off. Help others to achieve success by sharing the wisdom you’ve learned on your journey. When you give freely, it comes back to you in greater blessings.

4. Are you ready to begin your journey? Decide what you want, and start it with the courage and desire to improve your life. Use the tools of persistence, enthusiasm and positive thinking. Finish it with a celebration of accomplishment. Treat yourself to dinner at a 5-star restaurant, a massage or even a dream vacation.

There is an abundance of self improvement advice out there. Look around this site. Do an internet search on your topic. Check a book out of the library. Then move forward. Your life will never be the same!