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Simplify life in 15 minutes.

Simplify life in 15 minutes.
“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” ~Henry Wadsworth We spend too much, own too much, and want too much — it’s the human condition — and as long as we aren’t aware of it we’ll be a slave to the cycle. Being the ingenious little critters that we are, we’re able to learn, and adapt pretty well. The truth is that many of us are overworked, sleep deprived, and generally not content with our lives. There is a way out of this cycle, which involves decluttering, simplifying, and concentrating on what’s important. “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” Do nothing. “Simply the thing that I am shall make me live.” Pick most important things. “Nature is what we know – Yet have not art to say – So impotent our wisdom is To her simplicity” ~Emily Dickinson Visit nature. Photo by Okko Pyykkö

10 instan EmoFit tools When things get out of control and you momentarily lose your emotional balance, there are any number of little things you can do to regain it. Here are ten tools to help get you started. 1. Wash your hands and face and brush your teeth. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. None of these tasks has to be uncomfortable or take you much time. Dr. 42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself Are you someone who likes to grow? Do you constantly seek to improve yourself and become better? If you do, then we have something in common. I’m very passionate about personal growth. SEE ALSO: How to Better Yourself One Day at a Time After 1.5 years of actively pursuing growth and helping others to grow through my personal development blog, I realize there is never an end to the journey of self improvement. As a passionate advocate of growth, I’m continuously looking for ways to self-improve. Read a book every day. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article or anything about personal growth. Image © kevindooley

The 21 Day Challenge Everyone Should Take I'm on day 14 of a 21-day challenge that I semi-invented and so far I have to admit the results have been nothing short of amazing. Now, when I say that I semi-invented it, that is purely because I took the idea from the excellent book 'Psycho Cybernetics' and put it in a format that everyone can follow, myself included. I'm not exaggerating when I say this challenge can literally help with any aspect of your life that you would like to improve. Before I go into more detail on how you can follow along, I need to talk a little about our 'self image' and why it is very important. Understanding the Self Image In the mid 20th Century, Maxwell Maltz who was a plastic surgeon, wrote a book called Psycho Cybernetics that has now sold millions of copies and been updated for modern times. In looking into this further, he states that we all have a self-image that is purely a mental image of how we see ourselves. The 21 Day Challenge Let's look at the 4 parts of this challenge… The 4 Parts 1. 2. 3. 4.

20 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Every Sunday post written by: Marc Chernoff Email At the cusp of new beginnings many of us take time to reflect on our lives by looking back over the past and ahead into the future. We ponder the successes, failures and standout events that are slowly scripting our life’s story. This process of self reflection helps maintain a conscious awareness of where we’ve been and where we intend to go. It is pertinent to the organization and preservation of our dreams, goals and desires. If you would like to maximize the benefits of self reflection , I have 20 questions for you. What did I learn last week? Take 30 minutes every Sunday and give yourself the gift of self reflection. And check out these books for more thought-provoking questions: Photo by: Cesar R. If you enjoyed this article, check out our new best-selling book. And get inspiring life tips and quotes in your inbox (it's free)...

The Art of Meditation / Stop Being a Zombie! A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion – Alan Watts Tweet This Have you ever driven your car or bicycle and suddenly you wake up somewhere down the road and can’t remember how you got there? What happened in those few minutes? And so did I when I first started meditating. So before I continue I’d like everyone to experience this to understand what I’m talking about. Did you do the two minutes? There’s a lot been written on meditation, and to be honest, I ain’t got anything new or groundbreaking stuff to tell. What is Meditation? Meditation is the act of training the mind. Why Meditate? The Buddha said: don’t blindly believe what others say, see for yourself what brings serenity, clarity of thought and inner peace. I myself find it really hard to explain what meditation has done to me. How to Meditate? Shamatha is the meditation of one pointed concentration. Picture by eldave

8 Ways to be UBER Charismatic What did JFK, Marilyn Monroe and Hitler all have in common? They were all renowned charismatics that lit up every room they entered. You’ve most likely met one of these kinds before. The guy/girl at the party. They possess some strange quality that causes them to be liked by everyone and constantly at the center of attention. Robert Greene studied these people and detailed the methods one can use to become a charismatic in his book “The Art of Seduction.” Purpose Pick a cause, a goal, a vision and live it. Mystery Become mysterious (like Bruce Wayne) by being unpredictable. Saintliness Think Gandhi. Eloquence Speak slowly and hypnotically, with random pauses if needed. Theatricality Be larger than life. Danger/Spontaneity Radiate dangerous, rebellious sexuality. Vulnerability Have a soft side and love your followers. Magnetism Develop a piercing gaze. DO NOT COMMENT.

50 Life Secrets and Tips Memorize something everyday.Not only will this leave your brain sharp and your memory functioning, you will also have a huge library of quotes to bust out at any moment. Poetry, sayings and philosophies are your best options.Constantly try to reduce your attachment to possessions.Those who are heavy-set with material desires will have a lot of trouble when their things are taken away from them or lost. Possessions do end up owning you, not the other way around. Become a person of minimal needs and you will be much more content.Develop an endless curiosity about this world.Become an explorer and view the world as your jungle. Stop and observe all of the little things as completely unique events. Read “Zen and the Art of Happiness” by Chris Prentiss.This book will give you the knowledge and instruction to be happy at all times regardless of the circumstances.

Train yourself. Dec 27, 2010 When you have major changes going on in your life, or you’re just frustrated about where you are, it’s easy to get trapped in a cycle of depression, bad moods and frustration. I know, I’ve been there … and when I’m not careful, I still get there more than I want to. But when I’ve had a particularly hard time, I hit these moments where I’m in a foul mood, or I’m just feeling paralyzed, and I’m just stuck. I’m going to outline the framework that I’ve been using successfully to really get myself resourceful and motivated (and in a better mood) when I’m feeling stuck. First Up: Using A Framework to Escape From Paralyzing Emotions When we feel bad, it’s hard to “feel good” again. The reason for this is that steps take the emotion out of our situation and give us direction to simply act. You can call these verbal step-by-step tools anchors if you want, because they’re ways to anchor your emotional state to a time where you knew what to do and you felt prepared. Think about it. Dave

10 Simple Truths Smart People Forget Email Some of the smartest people I know continuously struggle to get ahead because they forget to address a few simple truths that collectively govern our potential to make progress. So here’s a quick reminder: #1 – Education and intelligence accomplish nothing without action. It doesn’t matter if you have a genius IQ and a PhD in Quantum Physics, you can’t change anything or make any sort of real-world progress without taking action. There’s a huge difference between knowing how to do something and actually doing it. #2 – Happiness and success are two different things. I know an extremely savvy businesswoman who made almost a million dollars online last year. I also know a surfer who surfs almost all day, every day on the beach in front of our condo complex in San Diego. “What will make me happy?” #3 – Everyone runs their own business. No matter how you make a living or who you think you work for, you only work for one person, yourself. is a good read on this topic. And that’s okay.

30 Habits that Will Change your Life Developing good habits is the basic of personal development and growth. Everything we do is the result of a habit that was previously taught to us. Unfortunately, not all the habits that we have are good, that’s why we are constantly trying to improve. The following is a list of 30 practical habits that can make a huge difference in your life. You should treat this list as a reference, and implement just one habit per month. Health habits Exercise 30 minutes every day. Productivity habits Use an inbox system. Personal Development habits Read 1 book per week. Career habits Start a blog. What do you think? Update: A reader put together a downloadable copy of all these habits.

Polyphasic Sleep A couple days ago, I saw a post about polyphasic sleep on LifeHack.org. Since then I’ve been emailed about this topic as well, probably because I’ve written previously about becoming an early riser. Polyphasic sleep involves taking multiple short sleep periods throughout the day instead of getting all your sleep in one long chunk. A popular form of polyphasic sleep, the Uberman sleep schedule, suggests that you sleep 20-30 minutes six times per day, with equally spaced naps every 4 hours around the clock. Under this sleep schedule, your sleep times might be at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, and 10pm. How can this sleep schedule work? It requires some discipline to successfully transition to this cycle, as well as a flexible schedule that allows it. It was interesting to read some of the posts from people who’ve tried this sleep cycle. The downside to this sleep schedule is that it can be inflexible. Plus it’s just plain weird. Read more about polyphasic sleep at Wikipedia. Sleep well!

Detect a Lie Interesting Info -> Lying Index -> How to Detect Lies Become a Human Lie Detector (Part 1) Warning: sometimes ignorance is bliss. Introduction to Detecting Lies: This knowledge is also useful for managers, employers, and for anyone to use in everyday situations where telling the truth from a lie can help prevent you from being a victim of fraud/scams and other deceptions. This is just a basic run down of physical (body language) gestures and verbal cues that may indicate someone is being untruthful. If you got here from somewhere else, be sure to check out our Lie Detection index page for more info including new research in the field of forensic psychology. Signs of Deception: Body Language of Lies: • Physical expression will be limited and stiff, with few arm and hand movements. • A person who is lying to you will avoid making eye contact. • Hands touching their face, throat & mouth. Emotional Gestures & Contradiction • Timing is off between emotions gestures/expressions and words. Bored?

7 stupid thinking errors you probably make The brain isn’t a flawless piece of machinery. Although it is powerful and comes in an easy to carry container, it has it’s weaknesses. A field in psychology which studies these errors, known as biases. Although you can’t upgrade your mental hardware, noticing these biases can clue you into possible mistakes.How Bias Hurts You If you were in a canoe, you’d probably want to know about any holes in the boat before you start paddling. Biases can be holes in your reasoning abilities and they can impair your decision making. Simply noticing these holes isn’t enough; a canoe will fill with water whether you are aware of a hole or not. Biases hurt you in a number of areas: Decision making. Here are some common thinking errors:1) Confirmation Bias The confirmation bias is a tendency to seek information to prove, rather than disprove our theories. Consider a study conducted by Peter Cathcart Wason. This is the tendency to see patterns where none actually exist.

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