Develop Your Intuition

Intuition is a precious gift that is used all too infrequently in a world where many people favour left brain activity which is highly logical, rational and reasoned. Yet our predominant activity is in relating to and dealing with people, emotions and creation, all of which is not logical, rational and reasoned.

Many people have allowed their intuition to recede into the background and even when it does pop up like a bright little light saying “see me, look at me, I have an idea”, they pass it over in favour of what seems to be sensible at the time. And yet intuition will offer up wonderfully creative ideas that will provide the very best solutions if only we will listen.

So how do we regenerate our intuition? Try the following tips:-

1. Type “develop intuition” into any search engine and do a bit of selective reading.  You will find a wealth of material and any number of creative ideas.  And this process will help you to know more for yourself, to be well informed.
2. Next, but only marginally behind knowing for yourself, is to create a new belief around intuition.  One that says it is highly valuable and worth looking out for in every decision that you make.
3. To help create that new belief, ask your intuition for help on every matter and then look for the response.  Be gentle, because it might take you a while to recognise the response.  And more than that, the intuitive response might be so creative that you will not give it any credit.  You might just ignore it!
4. Finding quiet space will increase the likelihood that you will get your intuitive messages.  Your intuition is not at all like your mind chatter, which starts the minute you open your eyes and will happily bombard you until you slip into a deep sleep.  Your mind chatter will overpower intuitive ideas at any time unless you still it and find space to let your intuition come through.
5. Meditation will help with that, as will any activity in which you still the mind and open yourself.  I call it dead brain activity and it includes ironing, cleaning, washing up and other repetitive things.  Repetition can be very soothing.  So when you are doing any of these things and you get a bright idea, chances are it has come through from your intuition.
6. Start to recognise your emotions.  Look for them and work out what they are; happiness, sadness, anxiety, contentment, fear, anger.  The reason that I say this is that some people mix up a feeling in their gut with their “gut feeling”, another term for intuition.  You need to know what your feelings feel like in a physical sense and then when you get a gut feeling, you can check it to see if you recognise a feeling that you are aware shows up in your gut.  Many people feel fear in their gut and this then confuses them that it may be a gut feeling.  Get in touch with your feelings.
7. Intuition feels good!!  It may make you go “whoa, what is that?  I am not doing that!!”  But I can assure you that if you know your feelings and how they effect you, you will find that intuition is entirely different.
8. You may experience your intuition as a bright light idea, or a whole of body experience that you just know is right.  Or it might be an idea that will not go away or one that comes to you out of the blue while your brain is quiet.  For some people, they get tingling or other physical sensations with their intuitive ideas.  Some people have no experience at all, they just use their intuition and enjoy great decision-making.
9. But the very best way to get your intuition back in the driving seat is to ask your higher self for answers.  In your quiet time or before you sleep, just pose the question that you have and ask for the answer.  The next morning, or after your meditation or any time over the next day or so, be alert to a response coming through.
10. For this reason, start to work with your dreams.  Dreams can be your intuition in action.  Again, there is plenty of material available on dreams.  Just pick a reputable source.

Your intuition is a lovely thing so go forth and play, have fun and enjoy giving it more life. You and our whole community can only benefit.

You Can Have Wildlife in Your Backyard

As I said in the previous post about backyard birdwatching, anyone with an average backyard can attract creatures of all sorts to provide endless watching (and meditative) pleasure.  However you will need to be committed to certain activities if you wish to have a backyard that is a safe haven for animals, birds and other creatures like frogs and lizards.  The first is to protect all species from marauding domesticated pets like dogs and cats.

Every now and then, I take pity on the dog next door which is lonely and bring it over to spend the day with me and my elderly terrier.  The dog next door has had to learn to leave the lizards, frogs, birds and so on alone when she is here at my place, because they have right of way.  Our terrier just wanders around among them and every now and then there is a bit of a kerfuffle when she comes upon an unsuspecting bird, but they all know that she knows the rules.  No animal chasing in this backyard!  That is essential if you want to have a natural backyard.

Next thing to think about is a protective place to sleep and breed.  I have planted both natives and introduced plants so that there will be variety and plenty of food.  For birds it is essential to have dense, small and large plants, open plants that are taller for perching and watching and some grasses as well.  For lizards it is important to have a place for them to hide as well as safe sunny spots for warming up.  Any sort of bark, hay, mulch will work as will small pipes or logs, whichever is easy to come by.  Now frogs are a specialist matter and well beyond my capacity to advise however I will say that removing all poisons from use in your area will definitely see frogs returning.

Remember a natural habitat is a delicate balance between food for the wildlife and an excess of pests.  If you want to have wildlife to watch, you have to be prepared to let them have food to eat!  And this includes bugs.  If there are no bugs to eat, the wildlife do not come.  So be prepared to tolerate some bugs and just let the wildlife clean them all up.  In the midst of all of this, we grow vegetables and have very little concern about bugs.  Along with bugs, be prepared to tolerate some seeding weeds and overgrowth.  Wildlife love to have cover and they must have the full range of food, including seeds and all sorts of weeds produce seed which our native birds find very tasty.

Now this tip is a bit controversial, but I do put out some seed most days and we have a continuous parade of visitors coming to see what is on offer today.  Some people say that you should not do this because the birds become dependent, others say it is ok if you do not do it every day.  I have found that putting out a small amount seems to work as we have varying numbers of birds coming to the feed and also varying varieties.  And we do not feed every day.

Finally, provide water in shallow, open containers and be prepared to wait until the birds get used to them.  We have had one pot drainage tray sitting on a post for a long time and the birds used it all of the time.  We then introduced a large, deepish bird bath and I had to make it shallower, by adding stones, and wait for ages before the birds finally adopted it and now use it equally.  Water and birds are a delightful mix and as they are very relaxed in our yard, they bath for ages and some even just sit in it on a hot day.  I also spray the leaves of a few bushes in the afternoons for those birds that love to bath that way.  It is great fun to hold the hose while they come in close, however it is also important to be aware of water restrictions.  I hold onto this activity for really hot weather.

So just go for it, attracting the wildlife back into suburbia is both lots of fun and good for the planet.  Not to mention a great meditative experience watching to see who is coming to visit and what they do while there.  Meditation made easy!  Start out with what you can do and then add to it as you see what works in your area.  Experiment and have fun.

Boost Your Happiness Level With These 7 Tips

What if you woke up one morning and saw a sign above you that said “happiness bus – jump on here for the ride of your life”? Would you excitedly jump on or would you pass, get up and just face your day?  Happiness is within the reach of any person who desires it.  It truly is there for you to just reach out and grab hold of and here are seven tips to boost your happiness level, whatever that may be.

But why would you bother?  Surely it is enough to just cruise along with life, taking it as it comes and if you are unhappy, that is just your fate in life. You may be surprised to know that there are happiness experts who study and teach happiness, sometimes known as positive psychology. These experts hold the view that happiness is a choice; you can choose positive emotions, you can choose to let go of fear, anxiety and sadness and you can choose to pursue happiness.  According to the studies, most people believe that happiness is important and is worth having not just for the individual but for society as a whole.

Happy people earn higher incomes and are more productive, they have longer and more satisfying relationships and more friends, more energy, better health and even longer life. There is evidence that individual happiness is a key factor in organisational performance so any employers reading this might want to explore happiness further.  The best possible news is that you can train your brain for greater happiness.  Read on to find out how.

1.  Create the habit of keeping a daily journal. This might take a while and some discipline and every day that you do it will make it easier to continue.   When you get to 90 days it is very likely that it will have become a habit.  Your daily journal should be primarily about the positive things that occur in your life and that you appreciate about yourself.

2.  Develop gratitude by adding to your daily journal a minimum of three notes about things for which you are grateful that day. Write down the things that people did that you appreciated, anything that made you smile or that you felt thankful for.  Talk to others about what happened and reinforce gratitude in your life.

3.  Use your daily journal to identify the things that you can see are your strengths. You might find that your writings about what you appreciate in yourself show some of your strengths and you can also ask trusted friends and family what they see as your strengths.  Use your strengths to make your life more enjoyable, for example, when you must do something that you do not like, approach it from the angle of your strengths.  Build on your strengths at every opportunity.

4.  Give generously of acts of kindness. Decide every morning how you will give at least five acts of kindness that day and be on the lookout for opportunities.  Doing this just feels so good and other’s are very appreciative.  It is like giving and receiving gifts all day long!

5.  Have fun! I know that sounds a little crazy and looks obvious – happy people have fun right?  You know what though?  Sometimes we just stop being playful and exercising our sense of humor and again, it is just about practice.  So be on the lookout for happy people with whom you can have fun and practice being funny.

6.  Be still with yourself – meditation, yoga and such pursuits calm the mind and give you time to see life from a different perspective. Meditation can also help you to release fear, anxiety and sadness giving you room to allow happiness in.  Meditation, by the way, can be a lot more simple than you may think.  It can be as easy as watching the waves role in and letting all thoughts drift away in the process.

7.  And finally, create yourself some habits like meditation, yoga or exercise. The creation of habits reinforces your belief in yourself to be, do or have anything that you want, including happiness.

So now you have the secret formula to happiness, you know why you would bother and you know that it is possible to be happy even if you are usually unhappy. The choice is yours – reach out and grab hold with both hands or let another day pass.  Have fun with these seven tips and be happy.

Meditation Made Easy

People frequently tell me that they can not meditate, they have tried, can not do it and have given up. So they miss out on all of the benefits that meditation can bring.  Learning to meditate is like learning to do anything else; you begin knowing little or nothing and practice until you can do it without thinking.  Start right now, find out why meditation is worth doing and follow these five steps that will make meditation easy.

Recently I was working with a young woman who told me that she was extremely stressed and unhappy with her work. She said that she had no time to herself, no time to think and her mind raced constantly.  In an average day she had information overload from the time that she woke until she went to sleep.  She would rise in the morning to the television, took her iPod when she went for a walk, listened to the radio to and from work – you get the picture.  Sound familiar?

To start, we found some time during the day when she had zero information flow. The TV was turned off in the morning and no radio in the car to and from work.  Just quiet time to contemplate.  We then moved to meditation.  “Well”, she said, “I have tried that.  I can’t meditate and I hate it.”  Turned out she had launched into an hour long session, could only last a short while and decided it was not for her.  An all too common a story.

What is meditation and why bother?  Meditation is a process or technique that you use to clear and calm your mind. You can use meditation just for that purpose or you can focus your meditation on something that you desire such as prosperity or well being. Meditation has been scientifically shown to be a powerful healing tool  and a self help tool for achieving stress reduction and better sleep.  Many people enjoy the personal development, self awareness, inner peace and freedom that results from meditation.  Successful entrepreneurs often claim that meditation creates clarity of mind which in turn effects their success.

So how do you meditate?  The following five steps will help you to get started:-

1. Learn something about meditation, just as you would with any new pursuit.  There is an unlimited supply of books, web sites, free classes and resources available.  Start at the beginning and get to know a little.

2. Be very patient with yourself and release any expectations that put you under pressure to perform.  In meditation you are quieting and clearing the mind but  the mind may want to keep right on thinking.  Be patient and just keep drawing your mind back to focus upon the meditation.

3. Start with a short time, try five minutes, and increase the length of time over a few weeks.  Even a few minutes will make a difference so see step one and just be patient.

4. Before you begin to focus on meditation, I highly recommend the use of a relaxation audio program.  You can download podcasts and other resources free, from meditation sites on the internet.  Start with some of these and learn to relax and then lead into meditation.  When you become adept with your meditations you will continue to commence every meditation with a short relaxation.

5. Try this simple meditation, starting with a short time.  Get into a comfortable position; sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground, try sitting cross legged on the floor or lie on your back well supported wherever you need it.  Close your eyes and feel your body relax.  Take several deep breaths and release your breath with a deep sigh.  Relax more and feel the tension float away with every sigh.  Now imagine that your body is a vessel full of water and feel the water draining from the top of your head down through your body to the soles of your feet.  Just slowly, let it drain downwards and then feel it moving slowly from the soles of your feet to fill up your body, up to the top of your head.  Feel this happening, imagine it happening and let it happen naturally.  Should your mind wander off, just bring it back to the water and gently move back into the meditation.  Do this for as long as it takes for your mind to give up and just be empty or for as long as you like.  Each time, see if you can do it for longer until eventually you find your mind calms and stops thinking.  At that time you will find that you can feel every part of your body at the one time.  You should just feel that feeling for as long as it lasts or as long as you like.

Keep it simple!  This is a great principle when learning relaxation and meditation. Be patient with your self and move to higher forms of meditation when you are comfortable to do so.  You are your best teacher when it comes to meditation which is a great way to learn about yourself.  Have fun, create yourself a little head space achieve success with meditation.

Birdwatching Makes Meditation Easy

As I sit in the home office of my personal development home business, I have a magnificent view of a pair of sun birds which are nesting on a rope on our veranda here in Cairns. This pair of sun birds have previously nested in this location and raised several families before their nest fell one night just before Christmas.  What a calamity that was!  We were having a little pre-Christmas celebration when all of a sudden the mother bird began to fly into the ceiling and was in great distress.  It took us a while to realise that something had happened to our birds and we then found that their nest had come away at the top and was hanging upside down.

By a miracle, the baby sun birds had not fallen out so we tied the nest back into place and the next morning found the parents furiously feeding their young and in no time they were fledged and away. With some sadness, we removed their old nest and put in place a good strong piece of twine, hoping that they would return and nest again.  The parent birds stayed in our garden and we lived in hope.

Now they have their new nest, on their own special piece of twine and I am able to watch them as I work.

Great meditation – You bet!! Meditation can be done anywhere that you can lose yourself and open your mind and I sure am enjoying this particular meditation.  I have no doubt that my home business in personal development will benefit as well as well as my mind and health.  And having these little sun birds in our garden and around our home just brings me a whole lot of joy and happiness.