‘You Can Sculpt Your Brain’

This is an excerpt of Prayer May Reshape Your Brain … And Your Reality

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, has been scanning the brains of religious people for more than a decade. So far, scientists have focused on people who pray or meditate for one, two or more hours a day. They think that studying spiritual virtuosos will offer clues to the brain workings of more typical believers. But now Newberg and others are turning their attention to people who want to enrich their spiritual lives, but don’t have that kind of time.

So there’s hope for people with jobs and kids.

Neuroscientist Richard Davidson says you can change your brain with experience and training.

“You can sculpt your brain just as you’d sculpt your muscles if you went to the gym,” he says. “Our brains are continuously being sculpted, whether you like it or not, wittingly or unwittingly.”

It’s called neuroplasticity. For years Davidson, who is at the University of Wisconsin, has scanned the brains of Buddhist monks who have logged years of meditation. When it comes to things like attention and compassion, their brains are as finely tuned as a late-model Porsche. Davidson wondered: Could ordinary people achieve the same kind of connection with the spiritual that the monks do — without so much effort?

I wondered that, too. And when I heard his lab was launching a study lasting two weeks, I said, “Sign me up.”

It turned out I was too old for the study. But they let me see what it was about. For 30 minutes every morning, I settled into my chair to the soothing tones of a meditation CD. The voice of a University of Wisconsin graduate student urged me to shower compassion on a loved one, a stranger, myself.

The trouble came when I was asked to visualize someone I had difficulty with in life. I became surly, as I reflected on the minor tragedies in my life and the people who caused them. When I saw Richard Davidson, I didn’t mention how ill-tempered I had grown.

“Is there a capacity to change my brain if I continue with this?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” he responded enthusiastically. “I would say the likelihood is that you are already changing your brain.”

I hope not. Others, however, were far more successful in cultivating a spiritual mind-set. Davidson couldn’t tell me about the results of my study, which have yet to be published. But he could say there were detectable changes in the subjects’ brains within two weeks. Another similar study, where employees at a high-tech firm meditated a few minutes a day over a few weeks, produced more dramatic results.

“Just two months’ practice among rank amateurs led to a systematic change in both the brain as well as the immune system in more positive directions,” he said.

For example, they developed more antibodies to a flu virus than did their colleagues who did not meditate.

This is an excerpt of Prayer May Reshape Your Brain … And Your Reality

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

This is from Robin Sharma, the author of the bestseller, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The Greatness Guide. I haven’t corrected his grammar or changed anything.

His article below sums up his latest book, THE LEADER WHO HAD NO TITLE: The New Way to Win in Business — and in Life.

The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma
The old way of leading is dead.
Many of our best-known organizations have fallen and some of our most revered leaders have lost face. The global economy has now transformed and with all the new media ranging from Twitter to YouTube, everyone now can build a following. And lead their field.

We have just entered what I call The Decade of Leadership. Leadership has become democratized. I’m not at all suggesting that we don’t need titles and people at the top of organizations to set the vision, manage the team and take overall responsibility for the ship. What I am offering is that we now work and live in a world where leadership isn’t just something executives do. It’s something everyone needs to do – for their organizations to survive, in this period of dramatic change.

I’ve distilled everything I’ve learned into a step-by-step formula that I’ve shared in my new book “The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life” (Simon & Schuster).
Here are 9 smart moves you can make today to start changing the game and creating exceptional results:

1. Remember that you need no title to be a leader. Leadership has less to do with the size of your title than the depth of your commitment. I’ve seen front-line employees, taxi drivers and carpet installers doing their work like Picasso painted. Leadership isn’t really about authority. It’s about a choice you can make to do your best work each and every day, regardless of where you are planted.

2. Shift from Victimhood to Leadership. No great career, business or life was ever created on a platform of excuses. Too many people play victim at work. They blame the boss or the economy or the competition or the weather for their less than mediocre results. Leaders Without A Title are different. They get that they have power. It may not
be the power granted through a title like CEO or SVP. But they have power. And that’s the power to see opportunity amid crises. That’s the power to drive positive change.

That’s the power to encourage everyone on your team. And it’s the power to step into the person you’ve always longed to be. For the past 15 years, I’ve had a simple mission that has become my obsession: to help people in
organizations lead without a title-and play at their best in all that they do. This mission has taken me into client companies like Nike, FedEx, GE, Panasonic and Unilever where I’ve not only helped their best people grow even better but learned what world-class teams and enterprises do to create wow. This mission has allowed me to serve as the private leadership advisor to many billionaires and celebrity entrepreneurs. And this calling has caused me to
meet people from every walk of life in every industry and learn what keeps them from stepping up to their leadership best when that’s exactly who they are built to be.

3. Innovate or Stagnate. To Lead Without A Title is to leave everything you touch better than you found it. Mediocrity happens when people refuse to change and improve all that they do. Look what happened to some of the big car companies because the slowed down their devotion to innovation. The competition ate them for breakfast. And put some out of business. The best leaders and the best enterprises have a hunger to improve. It’s such a deep part of their culture they know of no other way to be. And that’s the edge that makes them great.

4. Become a Value Creator versus a Clock Watcher. Success comes from the value you add rather than from the busyness you show. What’s the point of being really busy around the wrong things? Leadership is a game of focus. Focusing on fewer but smarter activities, the ones that create real value for your teammates, customers and the world at large.

5. Put People First. “The business of business is people” said Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher. We have a ton of technology yet less and less humanity. Yet let’s remember that people do business with people they like, trust and respect. One of the clients we’ve done leadership development work with is RIM. Yes, they are a fast and
innovative technology company. But they also get that excellent results come from people playing at excellence. So build your team. Meet your customers. Deepen human connections. Treat others with respect. And put people first.

6. Remember that Tough Times Build Strong Leaders. Look at any exceptional leader and you’ll find that they stepped into their leadership best during a period of crises versus calmness. To Lead Without A Title is to hunt for opportunity amid every adversity. Every setback has the seeds of an opportunity. Companies like Apple, Google and
Amazon were built because their people leveraged disruptive times into brilliant wins. And because their people refused to give up when faced with difficulty.

7. Go to Your Limits. The more you play out on the edges of your limits and take intelligent risks, the wider your limits will expand. The more you leave your comfort zone, the bigger your comfort zone will grow. Each day at work, do the things you know you must do but are scared to do. That’s how you grow, build your leadership capability and access more of the leader within you. There’s zero safety in staying within what I call “The Safe Harbor of The Known”. That’s just an illusion that bankrupts too many businesses and breaks too many human beings.

8. Lead Yourself First. “The Leader Who Had No Title” isn’t just a book showing you how to create exceptional business success and win at work; it’s also a handbook for personal leadership. Because how can you lead other people if you haven’t first done what it takes to lead yourself? Get to know your values. Think through what you want your life to stand for. Become physically, mentally and emotionally strong. And have a remarkably good relationship with your family. What’s the point of becoming super-successful yet being alone?

9. Give Back a Legacy. Success is good. Significance is even better. Sure profit and peer recognition and doing great work is mission-critical. But even more important than that is what you give – and all you leave behind. As I write in the book, “even the longest life is pretty short. And all that matters when you get to your last day is the difference
you’ve made and the people you’ve helped.” So as you Lead Without A Title and step into your leadership best, stay focused on adding value. And making an extraordinary contribution.

Robin Sharma is one of the world’s most highly respected leadership experts, with a client list that includes Microsoft, GE, NIKE, FedEx, Yale University and IBM. In a survey of 22,000 business people ranking top leadership gurus, Sharma was in the top 5, along with Jack Welch. His new book is The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life.

On my facebook feed today was this post that I felt clearly discerns some of the difference between healthy love and unhealthy love. I’m sharing this with my readers; thank you to Nico Iris who wrote this. The bolding is mine.

♥ Discernment between Addictive Love and Healthy Love ♥
Share

1. Healthy Love develops after we feel secure.
Addictive Love tries to create Love even though we
feel frightened and insecure.

2. Healthy Love comes from feeling full. We overflow
with Love.
Addictive Love is always trying to fill an inner void.

3. Healthy Love begins with Loving ourselves,
being the Lover we think we need.
Addictive Love tries to avoid looking at ourselves
and always seeks to get Love from that
*special someone*.

4. Healthy Love is based on our ability to Love and
Trust ourselves and hence
others.
Addictive Love seeks sex and romance outside,
precisely because we feel empty inside, and don’t
Trust ourselves or others.

5. Healthy Love allows us to be vulnerable because
we feel secure inside.
Addictive Love is based on a shaky foundation. We
feel we must protect ourselves.

6. Healthy Love grows, like a tree.
Addictive Love grows fast, as if by magic, like those
children’s animals that expand instantly when we
add water.

7. Healthy Love thrives on time alone as well as time
with our partner.
Addictive Love is frightened of being alone.

8. Healthy Love teaches me to value my own
company.
Addictive Love makes me feel uncomfortable with
myself and in need of someone else.

9. Healthy Love is gentle and comfortable.
Addictive Love is tense and combative.

10. Healthy Love flows out.
Addictive Love caves in.

11. Healthy Love creates a deeper sense of ourselves
the longer we are in Love.
Addictive Love creates a loss of self the longer
we are together.

12. Healthy Love gets easier as time goes on.
Addictive Love requires more effort as time
goes on.

13. Healthy Love is like rowing across a gentle
lake.
Addictive Love is like being swept away
down a raging river.

14. Healthy Love is satisfied with the
partner we have.
Addictive love is always looking for
more or better.

15. Healthy Love teaches that we can only
make ourselves happy.
Addictive Love expects the other person
to make us happy and demands that we
try and make them happy.

16. Healthy Love creates life.
Addictive Love creates melodramas

By Nico Iris <3

Blessed Mother Teresa’s Prayer:
“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.”
“If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.”
“The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

Here in the West, we have certain ideas of what the purpose of our life is, should be, etc.
I thought I’d share the Hindu perspective. This is from one of my Facebook friends’ blog: godbless-u.ning.com

PURPOSE OF LIFE
by Ramesh Kamath

PURPOSE OF LIFE

In Hinduism, there is not just one purpose of human life, but four:

1. Dharma – fulfilling one’s purpose
2. Artha – prosperity
3. Kama – desire, sexuality, enjoyment
4. Moksha – enlightenment

Dharma

The Sanskrit word dharma means many things, including “law,” “teaching” and “religion.” In this context, it means one’s destiny or purpose. In general, it refers to one’s vocation or career, which is often defined by class and family. If a Hindu man’s father is a tire maker, his dharma is probably to make tires, too. Traditionally, the dharma of most women has been to be a housewife and a mother.

Another aspect of dharma is paying the five debts. Hindus believe that they are born in debt to the gods and various humans, and they must repay those karmic debts during their lifetime. The debts are:

1. Debt to the gods for their blessings; paid by rituals and offerings.
2. Debt to parents and teachers; paid by supporting them, having children of one’s own and passing along knowledge.
3. Debt to guests; repaid by treating them as if they were gods visiting one’s home.
4. Debt to other human beings; repaid by treating them with respect.
5. Debt to all other living beings; repaid by offering good will, food or any other help that is appropriate.

Dharma also means righteousness, or living morally and ethically at all times.

Artha: Prosperity

Artha is prosperity or success in worldly pursuits. Although the ultimate goal of Hinduism is enlightenment, the pursuit of wealth and prosperity is regarded as an appropriate pursuit for the householder (the second of four life stages). It also ensures social order, for there would be no society if everyone renounced worldly life to meditate. However, while Hindus are encouraged to make money, it must be within the bounds of dharma.

Kama: Pleasure

Kama (Sanskrit, “desire”) primarily refers to romantic love and sexual pleasure, though it can refer to desire in general. Like artha, kama is seen as an appropriate pursuit of the householder. The Kama Sutra, a manual for erotic and other human pleasures (like flower-arranging), is attributed to the sage Vatsyayana.

Moksha: Enlightenment

The ultimate end of every Hindu’s life is moksha, which can be understood in a variety of ways: liberation from rebirth, enlightenment, Self-realization, or union with God. This is considered to the be the highest purpose of life, although very few can achieve it in a single lifetime and there are a variety of paths to attain it.

The real enemy of happiness is the mind’s fixations & delusions.
Look at a situation differently, see the truth, & suffering is lessened.
You can overcome anything.
You can be happy no matter what.

State Oracle of Tibet, Advisor to HH the Dalai Lama

Let’s look at quantum physics for a moment. In the book, Taking the Quantum Leap, physicist Fred Alan Wolf discusses how atomic particles make explosive jumps when they move from one place to another. They don’t move incrementally. They make those jumps without apparent effort.

Atomic particles are the basis of all matter in the universe. Thus, they are the basis of our bodies and everything around us. If atomic particles make explosive jumps when they move, that means that each of us can make such leaps. Quantum leaps ARE possible; they happen in an instant.

Either you’re doubting that this would work for you or you’re asking HOW to arrange your own quantum leap. HOW begins with opening to the possibility that it CAN happen. Certain beliefs in your conscious or subconscious mind may need to shift for this opening to occur. More beliefs may need to shift for the quantum leap to occur. Additionally, there needs to be an alignment between yourself and the Universe. Creating this alignment is simple if you have experience with it; fairly elusive if you don’t yet have experience achieving alignment.

Notice that I said “yet”! This is because you can learn to create this alignment. It takes practice, sincerity, and humility, but you have the same opportunity as anyone else. In my work on myself and with clients, I find that Theta Healing combined with tremendous holding for the truth and for one’s experience can provide the necessary alignment and belief shifting; and FAST. Using Inquiry and Theta Healing we can discover deeply held subconscious beliefs that often completely surprise the conscious mind because we had no idea we held these beliefs. Once we’ve discovered them, we can change them so that we no longer suffer from their limiting effects and the interference they pose to acting upon our conscious beliefs, intentions and goals. We then have the opportunity to make decisions differently, experience ourselves and life differently, and achieve different outcomes; i.e.: you can create the life you want for yourself!

This is how you can use quantum mechanics to change yourself and change your life. From the theta brain wave state, (which governs the part of the mind between the conscious and unconscious, governs attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors) we access the Unified Field, the energy of creation, god consciousness and can catalyze and witness change. Want to create the life you want? Ready for your own Quantum Leap? Schedule a complimentary consultation at http://moneymasteryfinancialcoaching.com/appointments/

Today, I’d like to introduce you to someone and something very special. Health IS at YOUR Fingertips and Deborah Myers shows people how easily and effortlessly they can let go of stress, increase vitality and productivity, relieve pain, promote healing, achieve balance, and attract prosperity.

Getting What You Want

by Deborah S. Myers

Are you getting what you want? Are your desires and goals being met? Are you displaying what you want to receive?

We literally draw to us what we are showing, whether that be frustration and anxiety OR whether it be “living in a trance” OR whether it be exuding a sense of security and joy and abundance. “Showing” can be what our body posture says, what our facial expression reveals, and what our energy system manifests. Our energy needs to be in movement and we need to consistently remind our bodies to be in flow rather than to be stuck. Being stuck creates a body that is in reaction instead of creating what we want.

A really great thing to do is to consistently remind your body to be in alignment with what you want to receive – hold upper arms by folding arms across your chest and then shift your fingers so you’re holding the outside edges of your shoulder blades.

You can manifest what you want to receive by changing your perspective, by balancing your energy, by BEING what you want to have in your life, and by being in joy. You can become a magnet for all that you desire and whatever makes your life meaningful. Enjoy the experience!!

_____________________________________________

Health IS at YOUR Fingertips and Deborah Myers shows people how easily and effortlessly they can let go of stress, increase vitality and productivity, relieve pain, promote healing, achieve balance, and attract prosperity. Discover how you can put a wellness kit in your own hands. Check out Deborah’s workshops, manuals and DVDs at http://www.healthatyourfingertips.com.

I’d like to share the qualities of being Happy for No Reason from the book Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff:

*having a sense of lightness or buoyancy
*feeling alive, vital, energetic
*having a sense of flow or oneness
*feeling love & compassion for yourself and others
*having passion about your life and your purpose
*feeling gratitude or forgiveness
*being at peace with life
*being fully present in the moment

Wall Street, Mortgage-Backed Securities, Crippling National Debt, Loan Modifications, Obama, Outrageous Corporate Profits, and the worst recession in 70 years!

While I don’t usually discuss economics or politics on my blog, I feel it’s important to share information and understanding about this rather complex situation we’re in as a nation. As a mortgage consultant with the utmost integrity, I’ve bristled upon hearing the entire mess blamed on greedy mortgage brokers who over-populate the profession.

While it’s true that many selfish amoral brokers originated loans for clients they neither counseled nor informed properly about the terms of their loans, they were allowed to do so by lenders who were profiting enormously on these loans.

Lenders were able to make sooooo much money selling the securities (loans) on the secondary market that they were willing to take enormous risk by lowering their loan qualification criteria farther than ever before in history.

What really makes my blood boil (and makes others in my industry furious and frustrated- as you’ll hear in the video below) is that they are getting away with it! The gov’t (i.e.: taxpayers) are sucking up all the downside fallout as the government uses taxpayer monies to bail out these financial institutions. The lenders are actually making enormous profits and giving their CEOs huge salaries and bonuses. Whereas the taxpayers will have this crippling debt for decades- maybe longer depending on how many republican administrations we have.

Two years ago, I predicted that the government would buy the securities from the lenders and later would sell off the securities at a deep discount often to the very same lenders. The tax payers would get stuck with a huge debt and the lenders would be fatter than ever.
The way the government has now structured it totally protects the lenders- the lenders have NO risk and obscene upside potential (profit!). In the meantime, because the lenders are profiting so outrageously from every short sale, they have little incentive (or decency) to cooperate with loan modifications and they make the modification process a living nightmare for the consumer.
Watch this short and informative video for the details that the FDIC doesn’t want you to know: http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/23622/1594081