How To Strengthen Your Willpower

Happy New Year! I hope you had lovely time over Christmas and the New Year celebrations. I know it's often not the best of times; we are reminded of who is not with us any more, what has not worked out so well over the past year and any kind of other lack can feel like it's put in the spotlight.

The past couple of years have created lots of upheaval and unplanned change for many of us. Through these times though we have grown and have had the opportunity to connect with who we really are and to discover what is important to us. 2013 is a year for love and abundance. Many of us have read about the law of attraction and manifestation over the years, now is the time to use it fully and have the power to create what we want in our lives. Love and abundance are part of the energetic shift that was going on in December, which many people spoke about being the end of the world because the Mayan calender ended. This of course wasn't the case but just an opening for new energy to come down to our planet. It's up to us what we do with it, we can ignore it and carry on as usual or we can choose to utilise it.

Use this brilliant time to be loving to yourself and every being you come in contact with. Use it to set your intentions for the year and to spend time thinking about what you'd like to create in your life. Be aware of not being attached to your dreams, set your desires free and trust what ever happens will be for your highest good.

Around this time of year people think about things they want to give up or begin, i.e. New Year Resolutions! I read in The Metro this week that a study shows that 4 out of 10 people will break any resolutions they set with in 2 weeks! Half of them blame lack of willpower for this.

I regard willpower as one of the most important muscles we have. If you work on strengthening it you will be able to achieve anything you put your mind to. Following are my top 5 tips to strengthen your willpower!

1. What ever habit you want to start doing do it for 21 days and it will then become easier. It takes 21 days to create new neural pathways and thus create a habit.
2. Give yourself choice. Spend time to think about what is most important to you in your life, what you are committed to and then when ever you are being tempted ask yourself does it fit in with that? It is in alignment with what you want for your life? If not then you have a choice, you can either do it anyway and accept that you have or you can stick to what is important for you. For example I am committed to being an inspiring yoga teacher for my students, there are some days when I may not be in the mood to practice or perhaps just want to pig out on  unhealthy food. So when faced with temptation I have a choice. More often than not I will choose yoga and a healthy diet but every now and then I choose the latter, and just enjoy it for what it is.
3. Take any negatives out of your language. If you tell yourself "I will not eat chocolate today" your mind does not hear the not! Have you found the nights you go out saying "I'm not going to drink tonight" are the nights you end up with a bad hangover the next morning? Instead tell yourself how you would like to be instead, eg "I fill my body with healthy energising foods" or "I am clear headed, refreshed and revitalised".
4. Freedom is one of my highest values so any kind of discipline used to send me running for the hills. However I have since learnt that discipline is actually the path to true freedom. For example, one aspect of freedom to me is to be able to travel how ever if I am not disciplined with my money and health I won't be able to do that. Following a discipline such as yoga, martial arts, tai chi, meditation will help you to strengthen your willpower, which then gives you the freedom to do what you want in your life.
5. What ever it is you want to do, just start it. Often the biggest set back is getting started but once you have and you build momentum it will become easier.

Something else I find helpful to keep my intentions in mind is to stick post it notes every where! "I am healthy and full of energy", "I look after myself", "I live every day abundantly", "I am love and courage", "I eat and drink only what is good for me" .....and so on.

Just to let you know I am running some special offers this month to help you kick start your New Year, click here to see them all.

Love and abundance to you all xx

How to Live Every Day Abundantly

I have recently completed a 21 day meditation course with Deepak Chopra on Abundance, which explored what it actually is and how live every day abundantly. Since starting it new work opportunities have flowed to me, my sense of connection to the universe has strengthened and any thoughts around lack have faded away. I can't recommend this course enough!  If you'd like to take part it in yourself you can download it here.

Today I would like to share with you a few things I learnt from the course exploring how to live every day abundantly.

To notice abundance pay attention to nature

The universe is abundant; take time to notice the sunlight sparkling on the water, the birds building their nests, the trees gracefully swaying in the wind, the rain falling to nourish hydrate the land, flowers opening to the sunlight. Nature doesn't feel a sense of lack, it simply evolves moment by moment. Take time daily to be present and notice all the beauty and magic that surround us.

Only you have the power to stop abundance in your life

Your thoughts are the only obstacles to living abundantly day by day. Scarcity, lack and fear will hold you back from appreciating all you have in your life right now.  Take time to pay attention to what you have in your life, what you are grateful for. Ask yourself if you were living abundantly what would you be doing differently? If you have faith all your needs would be provided for how would you be acting? Then do that!

Affirmations, prayer, meditation, intention, taking action towards your dream will all help you keep in a positive abundant mindset.

Change your expectations

What you expect is likely to become your reality. If you expect life to be hard it will be! What abundant expectations could you create? "Money flows to me", "All I need is provided for", "There is an infinite source of abundance", "Everything I want in my life already exists I just have to access it".

What you want it already out there; love, money, happiness, freedom. Take time to go within, meditate and connect with the infinite source.

Give away what you want the most

You want love? Give love. You want more money? Give away some money. Giving away what you want the most will trick your mind into feeling like you have it to be giving it away so you will start to experience what it feels like to have it and this will help you to attract it.

We are all connected

So often if someone in your life gets something you would like for yourself you can be left with a sense of there won't be enough of it left for you. "They have it so that means I won't be able to". The universe is abundant, there is enough for everyone. We are all part of one pure consciousness, others wins are ours too.

The power of meditation

Taking time to go with in and dream of all you want to create in your life will help to send your intention out to the universe, it will help you to notice ways of making it happen through out your day to day life. When you connect to your centre, you feel a sense of peace, that all is well. Which it is, it's just our busy mind that makes us think otherwise!

Pay attention to gifts

What do you perceive as a gift? Pay attention to all the gifts that are bestowed to you each day. The gift of sight, hearing, intelligence, the food you have to eat, the opportunities you are given, the time someone makes for you. What gifts do you have to share with others? When you really think about it everything is a gift, even what you make perceive as negative can be a gift to learn and grow.

Value yourself enough to experience luxury

Do you value yourself enough to take a long soak in a bath, go out for tea (and eat a huge piece of cake!) with a friend, to spend the afternoon walking along the beach, in the cinema. Luxury does not have to be expensive, it's those little things that make yourself and others feel valued.

Pay attention to the choices you make

Are the choices and decisions you make always for your highest good? Take time to think about how you make them and how to ensure they are supporting you in what you want for your life.

These are just a few things I enjoyed from the course, like I said above I really recommend it! If you have any thing to share about how you live your life abundantly I would love to hear it, please comment below.

Namaste x