Carnival of Healing #201: 5 No-Nonsense Steps to Mastering Your Mind

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Like the last Carnival of Healing I’ve hosted, I’ve linked up all the selected stories in this edition into a single theme. This time it is on Mastering Your Mind.

In life, our greatest enemy isn’t our competitors, but ourselves. How often have you held yourself back from going after your dreams, trying new things or giving that last failed attempt another chance?

Mastering your mind isn’t about achieving success or wealth, though these are nice bonuses to have. It is really about knowing who you really are and taking charge of your destiny, rather than drifting through life helplessly and mindlessly. Now, let us hear from some great minds on what they have to say about this intriguing topic:

1. Deal with Your Inner Critic

There’s at least one voice in every head. You know what I mean. The voice that says you are too short, too fat, too ugly, too stupid or too poor.

Every move we make, every word we say and every thought we have are under the criticism of this voice. So to a large extent, the quality of our lives depends on how we live in harmony with this inner voice. Let it run your life and you get a miserable life. Want a happy life? Then learn to deal with it.

The good news is, there are no lack of free good advices. This week, we have three insightful bloggers giving three very different perspectives on how to deal with your constantly demanding and nagging inner critic.

• Karl Raats offers 5 Ways of Dealing with Your Inner Critic.

  

• Christopher X. Gerber shows you how to Stop Creating (Your Own) Monsters.

  

• Kaushik Chokshi gives a four-step solution in How to Stop Compulsive Thoughts: Letting Go in Four Steps.

  

2. Get a Grip on Your Emotion

Emotion is our reaction to external as well as internal experiences. Recall an angry episode with your spouse and see your pulse and blood pressure rise in no time.

Anger is one of the most explosive feelings we can have, and left on its own, you will risk hurting not just yourself, but also people within a five-metre radius.

If you have an anger problem (you know you do), then seek help from O. Erel’s simple guide on Dealing with Anger.

For other emotional problems, you may want to refer to this universal guide to managing emotions: Living at Peace with Your Emotions on this website.

3. Keep Your Mind in Tip-Top Form

A sluggish mind is often due to wrong food choices, a sedentary lifestyle or downright lousy morning habits.

Banish these root causes with tips from these motivated bloggers:

• Junk foods make you dull by clogging up essential blood supply to your brain. Learn from Christina Crowe on how to Stop Your Junk Food Addiction today!

  

• Greens are not just good for your bowels. Their antioxidants also make them excellent brain foods as they help to slow deterioration of your grey matter and keep your mind fresh and lucid. Any vegetables are great, as long as they are in season and pesticide-free. But Gina Loree’ Marks swears by kale. Find out why.

  

• Problem re-starting the fitness program which you gave up months ago? Jenn Givler offers a Break Your Fitness Hiatus class to help you get back on your feet, literally.

  

• If gym is not your thing, try yoga. But there are so many variations and poses in yoga that beginners may feel intimidated. Check out the Top 10 Yoga Poses by Anmol Mehta to cut the chase and start stretching.

  

• Our mind is the freshest in the morning. But start the day on the wrong foot and you risk sabotaging your peak state. Hear it from Ali Hale on How to Get Your Morning Off to a Great Start and make every day the best it can be.

  

4. Get in Touch with Your Spiritual Self

A mind that is disconnected from its spiritual self is like a misguided missile. It can still function all right, but it’s going nowhere. There will always be a lingering sense of emptiness and unfulfilled destiny. If you want a clear purpose in life, then getting in touch with your spiritual side is essential.

How, you ask? Start by spending regular quiet times with yourself without any interruption. Learn to enjoy solitude moments in meditation. It is also good to learn from the spiritual experience of others through blogs, and social media sites such as this long list of Twitter feeds on spirituality, meditation, enlightenment and religion put together by Margaret Garcia.

Taking about Twitter, if I may add a shameless self-promotional message here: You can also subscribe to The Conscious Life‘s Twitter feed on holistic health and conscious living by clicking here.

5. If All Else Fails, Seek Professional Help

If your mind and emotions seem to have a life of their own and gaining control of them is a losing battle, then try seeking professional help. Personal development coaches, conventional doctors, energy healers and alternative medicine practitioners are just some possible avenues. Or, you can consider these two bloggers:

• Jennifer Mannion, who just came back from The Reconnection Seminar with Eric Pearl and had some powerful transformation, can help you to return to a state of balance.

  

• Can chiropractic help one to master the mind? No, of course not. But if your symptoms resemble that of fibromyalgi — morning stiffness, chronic headaches, fatigue, menstrual irregularities, sleep disorders, muscle weakness, depression as well as anxiety — then you might have a medical condition which chiropractic can help to relieve, said Dr. Wilson.

  

This concludes this week’s Carnival of Healing. Last week, Carolyn Townes of Becoming a Woman of Purpose was our host. Next week, 15 August, the Carnival of Healing will be hosted by Cari Campbell at Daily Inspirations / Your Joyous Life.

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