Gettting Started

So, for the past few days I took a break from everything and spent 3 days vegging in a chair and watching shows on PVR, now it is time to get back into gear and I am finding it difficult to do so.  I have neglected my blog, neglected my business, neglected my housekeeping, now it is very difficult to get back into the swing of things, so I started looking at ways to get moving again and Matthew Graves came up with a great idea - 3 Wins a day for 30 Days.  I signed up. 

How about you?  Are you finding it hard to get started on what you need to do?  Are you ready to begin?  I am joining Matthew Graves in a new project - 3 wins every day to move forward for the next 30 days.....  http://ow.ly/WiN3t  They can be business or personal.  Your choice.

It is important to have a plan if you want to succeed and Matthew's plan can help you succeed.

Fran Watson
https://www.facebook.com/banabu.ca/

FOCUS - Being In The Present

How to Be Mindful

1. Do one thing at a time. Single-task, don’t multi-task. When you’re pouring water, just pour water. When you’re eating, just eat. When you’re bathing, just bathe. Don’t try to knock off a few tasks while eating or bathing or driving. Zen proverb: “When walking, walk. When eating, eat.”

2. Do it slowly and deliberately. You can do one task at a time, but also rush that task. Instead, take your time, and move slowly. Make your actions deliberate, not rushed and random. It takes practice, but it helps you focus on the task.

3. Do less. If you do less, you can do those things more slowly, more completely and with more concentration. If you fill your day with tasks, you will be rushing from one thing to the next without stopping to think about what you do. But you’re busy and you can’t possibly do less, right? You can. I’ve done it, and so have many busy people. It’s a matter of figuring out what’s important, and letting go of what’s not. Read more: The Lazy Manifesto: Do Less.

4. Put space between things. Related to the “Do less” rule, but it’s a way of managing your schedule so that you always have time to complete each task. Don’t schedule things close together — instead, leave room between things on your schedule. That gives you a more relaxed schedule, and leaves space in case one task takes longer than you planned.

5. Spend at least 5 minutes each day doing nothing. Just sit in silence. Become aware of your thoughts. Focus on your breathing. Notice the world around you. Become comfortable with the silence and stillness. It’ll do you a world of good — and just takes 5 minutes!

6. Stop worrying about the future – focus on the present. Become more aware of your thinking — are you constantly worrying about the future? Learn to recognize when you’re doing this, and then practice bringing yourself back to the present. Just focus on what you’re doing, right now. Enjoy the present moment.

7. When you’re talking to someone, be present. How many of us have spent time with someone but have been thinking about what we need to do in the future? Or thinking about what we want to say next, instead of really listening to that person? Instead, focus on being present, on really listening, on really enjoying your time with that person.

8. Eat slowly and savor your food. Food can be crammed down our throats in a rush, but where’s the joy in that? Savor each bite, slowly, and really get the most out of your food. Interestingly, you’ll eat less this way, and digest your food better as well.

9. Live slowly and savor your life. Just as you would savor your food by eating it more slowly, do everything this way — slow down and savor each and every moment. As I type this, for example, I have my 3-year-old daughter, Noelle, on my lap. She’s just sitting here quietly, as the rain pours down in a hush outside. What a lovely moment. In fact, I’m going to take a few minutes off just to be with her now. Be right back. :)

10. Make cleaning and cooking become meditation. Cooking and cleaning are often seen as drudgery, but actually they are both great ways to practice mindfulness, and can be great rituals performed each day. If cooking and cleaning seem like boring chores to you, try doing them as a form of meditation. Put your entire mind into those tasks, concentrate, and do them slowly and completely. It could change your entire day (as well as leave you with a cleaner house).

11. Keep practicing. When you get frustrated, just take a deep breath. When you ask yourself, “What should I do now, Self?”, the answer is “keep practicing”.

“When you drive around the city and come to a red light or a stop sign, you can just sit back and make use of these twenty or thirty seconds to relax — to breathe in, breathe out, and enjoy arriving in the present moment. There are many things like that we can do.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

To your success
BANABU

Fran Watson

Habits - good or bad?

Habits

UNCONSCIOUSLY we are forming habits every moment of our lives. Some are habits of a desirable nature; some are those of a most undesirable nature.

 

Some, though not so bad in themselves, are exceedingly bad in their cumulative effects, and cause us at times much loss, much pain and anguish, while their opposites would, on the contrary, bring as much peace and joy, as well as a continually increasing power.

 

Have we it within our power to determine at all times what types of habits shall take form in our lives? In other words, is habit-forming, character-building, a matter of mere chance, or have we it within our own control? We have, entirely and absolutely. "I will be what I will to be," can be said and should be said by every human soul.

There is nothing more true in connection with human life than that we grow into the likeness of those things we contemplate. Literally and scientifically and necessarily true is it that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

 

The "is" part is his character. His character is the sum total of his habits. His habits have been formed by· his conscious acts; but every conscious act is, as we have found, preceded by a thought. And so we have it - thought on the one hand, character, life, and destiny on the other.

 

And simple it becomes when we bear in mind that it is simply the thought of the present moment, and the next moment when it is upon us, and then the next, and so on through all time.

 

One can in this way attain to whatever ideals he would attain to. Two steps are necessary: first, as the days pass, to form one's ideals; and second, to follow them continually, whatever may arise, wherever they may lead him.

 

Always remember that the great and strong character is the one who is ever ready to sacrifice the present pleasure for the future good

 

You decide what habits you will allow to control you and what habits you will control.  It takes time to make or break a habit.  Allow yourself 30 days of continual repetition before the habit becomes established.  You can change any aspect of your life if you work at it.

 

Good luck....

 

BANABU

Fran

Bridging The Gap

Bridging The Gap Between Knowledge and Action

Chances are, you already know what needs to be done.  You know you need to stop procrastinating.  You know you need to watch less TV. You know that you need to set smart goals and intelligent deadlines.  And hopefully, you know you need to track your work, track your results, and put more of your effort into the aspects of your business to give you the strongest results.

But there's a very big gap between knowledge into action.  Think of all the money that's spent on knowledge: whether it's a large companies trying to improve their efficiency, or housewives and stay at home dads trying to get into better shape. They know the adjustments they need to make, but they always fail to set habits and follow though.

Let's look together at some of the gaps that keep you from turning knowledge into profitable and useful habits.

The Fear Of Change
Failure can be comfortable.  It represents a continuation of a routine that, at least on some level, has brought us a lot of pleasure. Now where this breaks down is that pleasure and happiness are two very different things.  Pleasure can be bought with a cookie, it can be found in the bottom of a bottle, you can get a short rush of it with a few minutes on Facebook.

Happiness is harder, and the road towards it is longer, winding, and littered with distractions. The constant pursuit of pleasure, ironically enough, keeps more people away from becoming happy.

You Won't Learn By Doing
There are too many people who tried to do by learning instead of learning by doing.  Talking about problems to death rarely solves them. People talk too much already.  It's natural to want to go into a scary situation with knowledge at your back. But once you've learned the basics of a skill, start acting on it.  Then look for new information once you've run into a serious roadblock, or have a smaller aspect of the skill that demands your attention.

You Rely On Motivation Instead Of Habit
It's okay to "feel unmotivated" sometimes, to hit a roadblock and need something positive to dig you out. But you're always needing to be motivated for any kind of positive action in your life, it's a sign that you haven't really put the energy you should into setting habits.

Habits aren't subjects that need motivation.  Habits are things that we just do, whether it's a good time or a bad time.  If you can devote one month to establishing a positive habit, chances are much better that you do it for a long time to come.

Accepting "Life Excuses"
Too many people take "life happens" as an excuse not to do the things that they should.  It's almost like there's no effort to leap the obstacles that life puts in front of them.  It's important to set uninterrupted times and uninterrupted places for the most important priorities cannot be violated. 

When you give yourself a choice between any two things, there's a chance you will take the less beneficial choice.

Set up at daily routine that eliminates those choices.

Going From Zero To A Hundred
When it sinks in how far behind we are on our goals, it's easy to try to do too much at once and destroy our desire to improve altogether. While there are people who can handle this sort of drastic shift, for most people it'll be best to start small, focus on repetitive action, and scale up from there!

No More Excuses
The time for learning and not doing it over. Step up and start making a serious change in the way you approach problems... right now!

BANABU

Fran Watson

Burnout

A few weeks ago I found myself involved in a war of words with a colleague.  I did not respond well and found myself shaking and in tears for much of a two week period.  I wasn't sleeping well, I wasn't eating well, and I certainly was not happy.  It was time to stop for a while and take stock of what was happening.

I have been reading Simple Abundance by Sarah Bean Breathnach for the past 9 months and today's reading hit me between the eyes. 

She began with a quote by Edna St. Vincent Millay:  My candle burns on both ends;  It will not last the night.  Exactly what I was feeling.

She went on to say that "burnout is a condition caused by unbalance:  too much work or responsibility, too little time to do it, over too long a period."  Yes, that too.  Too many clubs, too much responsibility, feeling I had to carry everything on my shoulders, that if things failed, it would be my fault, and over too long a time period -- 12 years.  Or wait, maybe it was even longer, maybe 28 years - since my husband left me with 4 kids to raise, and when I worked full time, raised the kids and took my university degree over 13 years.

Whatever it was, as Sarah said, "a smoldering flame can be just as deadly as a flash fire" and I think that things were smoldering below the surface for quite some time.  Sarah called it when she said, "first degree burnout--the soul snuffer--comes from living unbalanced for years, when what was supposed to be a temporary situation becomes a lifestyle".

Her final paragraph told me what I have to do.  "When you're suffering from burnout, you are the only person on earth who can help because you're the only one who can make the lifestyle changes that need to be made; to call a halt, to take a slower path, to make a detour."  And so I have.  I have cut back on meetings.  I am letting others take control.  I am backing away from too much responsibility.  I am taking better care of me, going to bed earlier, eating better, stopping work earlier, taking time to get out in nature.

How about you?  Are you beginning to feel the strain of burnout?  Take the time now to make the necessary changes before you crash and burn. 

See below for a short test you can take.

Fran

To a new and better you  (BANABU)

ARE YOU A STRESS PRONE PERSONALITY?

SCORE YOURSELF:                        4 Always         3 Frequently    2 Sometimes    1 Never

1.      Do you try to do as much as possible in the least amount of time?                _____

2.      Do you become impatient with delays or interruptions?                                _____

3.      Do you always have to win games to enjoy yourself?                                    _____

4.      Do you speed up the car to beat the red light?                                               _____

5.      Are you unlikely to ask for help with a problem?                                           _____

6.      Do you constantly seek admiration and respect from others?                        _____

7.      Are you overly critical of the way others do their work?                               _____

8.      Do you have the habit of looking at your watch or clock often?                   _____

9.      Do you constantly strive to better your position and achievements?             _____

10.  Do you spread yourself too thin in terms of time?                                         _____

11.  Do you do more than one thing at a time?                                                     _____

12.  Do you frequently get irritable or angry?                                                       _____

13.  Do you have little time for hobbies or time by yourself?                               _____

14.  Do you have a habit of talking quickly or hastening conversations?              _____

15.  Do you consider yourself hard-driving?                                                         _____

16.  Do your friends or relatives consider you hard-driving?                                _____

17.  Do you have a tendency to get involved in multiple projects?                       _____

18.  Do you have a lot of deadlines in your work?                                                _____

19.  Do you feel vaguely guilty if you relax and do nothing during leisure?        _____

20.  Do you take on too many responsibilities?                                                     _____

·         Between 20 – 30, your life probably lacks stimulation

·         Between 31 – 50, you have a good balance in your ability to handle stress

·         Between 51 – 60, you are bordering on excessively tense

·         Over 60 – you may be a candidate for heart disease

Making A Difference

I am currently reading a great little book called "The Fred Factor" by Mark Sanborn.  The book is thought provoking and motivational.

This morning I read about making a difference.  Mark said "To make a difference means to affect another person, group, or situation."  He points out that we make a difference by the way we treat people, be it a positive difference or a negative one.  We have the choice in how we behave and how we treat others.

I remember watching a video a few years ago.  I think it was called "If Looks Could Kill".  It was about the cumulative effects of someone having a bad day.   How the first person's bad mood influenced the people he came in contact with and how those people then became miserable and snarly with the next person, etc.  As Mark said "...neglecting, criticizing, and belittling others, whether intentionally or not, produces a negative difference."

Reading this this morning reminded me that I have a choice in how I behave towards others, regardless of how I feel, and that often by treating others with respect and politeness it can lift my mood.

So the most important question you can ask yourself at the end of the day is "What kind of a difference did I make?"

To making a positive difference in the world - BANABU!

Fran Watson

Develop Your Intuition

The Road to Intuition

Have you had that experience when all of a sudden you just had this
huge hunch that something is about to happen, and to your surprise,
that "hunch" was eventually translated to reality?

When you feel strongly about something without a logical basis to
that thought, that's called intuition. It comes in three impressions:
clairvoyance or "the third eye", sensing clearly and feeling through
listening.

Clairvoyance is when your eye goes beyond what it can see. This is
when you know what is happening somewhere else.
Sensing clearly is basically what we refer to as "hunch" or "gut
feeling." This is the time when you are overwhelmed with a feeling
and you can't explain it and all you can say is "I just know."

On the other hand, feeling through listening is being able to
"listen" between the lines. Intuition also happens at times when a
certain sound, whatever it is - be it a car's honk or a bird's
twitting - ushers in an intense feeling.

It is claimed that only a number of people are gifted with intuition.
Astrologers even insist that people born under the Scorpio or Pisces
signs are naturally intuitive it almost borders on E.S.P. But studies
have been developing left and right that proclaim that anyone can
develop intuition.

Why the need to develop intuition, you ask? Why not let your
emotional and psychological state remain as it is?

First and foremost, intuition promotes good communication. It makes
you more sensitive to the people around you; it often keeps you from
hurting those you love because you are intuitive enough to understand
them. Intuition also makes you far more creative. Intuition means
releasing more creative juices for any means of expression. Lastly,
intuition has a healing power. This healing power is not in the
physical sense, but in delving deep into your soul to eradicate some
negative energy buried in it.

With that being said, are you ready to develop your intuition? Here
are some ways to unlock this gift:

1. Hypnosis
Hypnosis is not limited to watching a pendulum move back and forth.
You can perform self-hypnosis or you can obtain hypnotic programs
that can strengthen your intuition.

2. Meditation
Meditating means finding peace in yourself. If your mind and heart
are cluttered with too much baggage and hurt, you wouldn't be able to
quiet down that part of you that could eventually initiate intuition.
There are many ways to meditate: take a yoga class, or just simply
practice some breathing that could bring you straight to Zen.

3. Think positive!
A worry-free, fear-free state can do much to improve your intuitive
ability. By staying positive, you attract good energy that would be
able to recognize imminent feelings and events.

4.  Just let go.
What does this mean? If you are on the brink of making a huge
decision, let go of all the inhibitions and head to a quiet place
where you could find out where the letting go has brought you.
Sometimes you just have to listen to the voice within you, and that
voice wouldn't come out unless you let go.

5. Never expect.
After letting go of the inhibitions and all those things that stop
you from thinking and feeling clearly, don't expect an answer right
away. Never expect that the "hunch" would fall on your lap
immediately. Give it a little time - then you just get surprised that
-- wham! -- now you have your answer.

6. Believe in your first impressions.
When you see someone for the first time and think that he is a bit
too arrogant for your taste, chances are that impression actually
holds true. Most of the time, first impressions are brought by
intuition.

7. Stay happy!
All you need to be intuitive is to stay happy! Happiness attracts
immense power and such power includes intuition. In tapping your
intuition, your motivation must be happiness and contentment. Given
that premise, intuition will fall to you more easily.

Intuition is helpful, because sometimes it leads you to something
that cannot be achieved otherwise. A lot of lives have been saved by
intuition alone. Decisions are easier when armed with this gift.

BANABU

Fran Watson

Develop intuition now and reap benefits you have never imagined.