At the start of a New Year many people become obsessed with creating change, and for most of us, it comes in the form of New Year’s Resolution.

While change is wonderful, and powerful, the problem with the concept of New Year’s Resolutions is that they often don’t last past the first few weeks.

Sure we all set out of the starting gate with the best intentions, but very soon we falter; we may wake up a little later, or skip a day at the gym. I mean, after all, just skipping one day at the gym, or getting up a little later one morning, is fine right?  Sure it is. But the problems begin when one day turns into two, then a week, and then suddenly the momentum starts swinging back down and we fall back in to easier, and old, habits.

They say that it takes 21 days to form a new habit… 30 for good measure.  It seems that we are very easy to create new… bad habits as these tend to be things that are easy for us, the path well trodden.

When I was eight years old, I tried my first cigarette. A year later, I was purchasing my own packets and smoking them on my own; no longer “experimenting”, but going hard-core. Over the years I’d quit, then start again, but never having that full gumption to quit and be done with it. Once the will power over took my desire for a cigarette, I was able to put them to rest and not feel tempted to once again put one in my mouth and draw light to it.

My brother was in his 40s when he tried his hand at smoking. At first it became a ‘social’ thing; telling me that he never buys his own packets and “bums” off others around him. Very soon though, he found himself purchasing his packets so that he did not always smoke everyone else’s. And very soon, he found his own particular brand that he liked. Today, he is a smoker and has a hard time of quitting.

For me, I feel that the New Year Resolution is nothing more than a stigma that we have been trained to get caught up in over the years. We forget that each and every moment is an opportunity to create positive change in our lives. Why wait a full year until January 1st to try something new, create something new? Why not do it right now, right this moment?

It takes 21-days to form a new habit, but it takes a split instant to make the decision to form it.

What is it that you desire to change in your life this year? Maybe it has been something you struggled to create for years, but have not. Whatever it is, do yourself a favour and follow these simple steps to help you create the change you desire in your life today; change that will last the 21-days, and indeed a full life-time.

Step One: Formulate what it is that you desire. Be specific. For example, saying “I want to lose weight” is too broad-based a statement. Losing a couple of pounds is losing weight, but is that your desired end goal? Be specific on how much weight you want to lose; 10, 20, 30 pounds, etc.

Step Two: Understand that this is NOT a quick-fix “diet”. It is a complete lifestyle change. If what you desire is to stop smoking, throw away all ashtrays in your home, any lighters and matches, of course the cigarettes. Open the windows and let fresh air in. Decide to deep clean your carpets, upholstery, etc. When you spend money and effort on cleaning up, you’ll be less likely to want to throw that money out the window.

Step Three: Set reminder affirmations around you. For instance if you are looking at losing weight, write on pieces of paper: “I am slim, trim, healthy, happy, and fabulous”, then place these pieces of paper on your bathroom mirror (or write this on your mirror in grease pen), and on your fridge, on doors in your home; anywhere where you will see them constantly. And make sure you LOOK and READ them.

Step Four: Create a support team by creating accountability. Tell others, who are supportive, of what it is you are doing. This will help keep you on track.

Step Five: Begin to associate with people who are living the lifestyle you desire. If you want to bit more fit and active, join a local social group of people who do these specific activities. If you desire more money, begin associating with people who have money.

Step Six: Do at least one thing every day that will set what it is you want to attain in motion.

Step Seven: DON’T give up! If you miss a day, don’t feel you have failed. There is NO such thing as failure, only experience in learning how to do something better. Just get back on track tomorrow, and allow freedom to live.

Step Eight: BELIEVE and KNOW that you are now the person you desire to be; that you are living the lifestyle that you have dreamed of.

Remember, we are the creators of our own lives. Each choice we make will lead us in a direction that is shaping a part of our futures. We are planting seeds constantly, whether the seeds are planted directly by us, or we have allowed others words and actions to direct us to plant seeds. Seeds can be positive or negative… It is up to us to choose whether we will plant the seeds or let them catch hold of the wind and be blown elsewhere.

As creators of our lives, we can create change at every moment and in every opportunity. Embrace the moment to decide to create change right now. Once you have that decision within you, take hold and begin walking.

If you feel you don’t know anyone suitable to create a support team with, please feel free to contact me. I am here to help you.

Until next time,

Celebrating your magnificence.

For years I have been a proponent of positive visualization and overcoming situations, including those situations which may seemingly seem “incurable”.

Most of you who are reading this know that in 2002 I had a near-death experience after being mis-diagnosed and then overdosed by a medical doctor. Upon emerging out of the coma, I could not walk, talk, read, write, or do much of the activities “normal people” could do. It was akin to having suffered a stroke. My diagnosis at that time was “residual brain damage with no hope of cure”.

And as most of you reading this know, I fought back. It took me 45-days of positive visualization, positive actions to see the results; but after 45-days, I was at 90-95% functioning. I went on to meet and marry the man of my dreams, move to Arizona, and become a successful Empowerment and Inspiration Coach.

This article was in SCMP.com and I am re-posting it here in its entirety so that you can see how suggestions can lead to detriment, but by the same token, whatever “label” is placed on you, YOU have the power to create positive change. It does not matter WHAT that label is… even a medical diagnosis that can sound like a death sentence. The power of your mind is intense and it is vast. We each contain exactly what we need to cure ourselves;  by the same token, we each contain exactly what we need to cause us further detriment… even death.

Read the article and decide for yourself….

Worried sick: modern witch doctors

What witch doctors achieve with voodoo, the conventional sort manage with the power of suggestion. New research appears to show the mind plays a much larger role in sickness than previously realised
Helen Pilcher
Jun 07, 2009

Late one night in a small Alabama cemetery, Vance Vanders had a run-in with the local witch doctor, who wafted a bottle of unpleasant-smelling liquid in front of his face and told him he was about to die and that no one could save him. Read the rest of this entry

Often people ask me about my tag line “Today we create our tomorrow”. They ask me what I mean by that. I tell them that each and every day we are planting seeds that will grow into fruition at some later date. Some times the date is sooner rather than later, and the bounty that we can reap is dependent on what seeds we sow.

In other words, if we are filled with negative images, negative thoughts, and negative beliefs, the seeds we are planting are going to reap us more negative; and the same if we are filled with positive.

For example, I knew a woman who was constantly filled with negativity. Her whole life was surrounded by negatives. Things seemed to always happen to this woman. The more she complained the more things she received to complain about.

This woman complained about everything; her ex-husband, her children, her job, her bills, her friends, her minister, etc… etc… etc…

This woman’s negativity became a wonderful example to one of her children. After years of watching his mother sowing more and more seeds of negativity, many of which affected him and his siblings directly, this courageous young man reached outside of the environment that he grew up in. He began to attend seminars on positivity, he began coaching sessions with me and he began to sow seeds of positivity.

Soon, this young man began to see the fruits of his labour and he began to see the positive growth that surrounded him.

He moved away from his family, which continued to sow the seeds of negativity; got married to a wonderful woman who helped him sow more seeds of positivity. He finished College; the first person in his family to do so, and started his own company; which is highly successful today.

This woman is still living in a sea of misery and negativity. The seeds of her negativity have now grown into a dangerous crop and she has created a situation in which she is in trouble with the law. On the flip side of the coin, her son is thriving; his business and his life is an incredible success, and he continues to sow the seeds of positivity. Read the rest of this entry