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    Wednesday, September 29, 2010

    Self-awareness results in meaningful self-change

    Although self-change is challenging, it is not impossible. You may know many people that have changed certain areas in their lives. Some of these people may have been successful in keeping the change and some less successful. Some appeared to be truly happy with the change and others appeared to be still searching for more. So, what is the difference between the two groups: the group of people who sustain changes in their life and the group of people who return back to their old lifestyle?

    The major difference is the group who kept their change made a meaningful change in their life, whereas the other group made just a change in their life. To make change meaningful, it is important that you know what you want to change, why you want to change, and that YOU chose what it is you will change. It is also important you want to change for yourself and not for your loved ones or for external approval.

    Many people change themselves based on how others want them to be or to achieve a certain status in society. This type of change in not meaningful change; it has no personal meaning and will not give you the results you were hoping to achieve.

    So how can you make a meaningful change? The answer of course lies is self-awareness. You need to be aware of your core values and your core beliefs. Your values form the foundation for your behaviour and everything that you bring into your life. Your core beliefs determine your thoughts, decisions, and the emotions you experience.

    Have you tried to change something in your life only to make no progress or to sabotage the headway you have made? The answer to your failure likely lies in whether you know what drives your behaviour and if you know how your core beliefs affect the way you think and what you chose to change.

    Achieving permanent change will be difficult unless you become attentive to yourself and learn what is important to you, how you think, and what motivates you. To achieve permanent change you need to make personally meaningful change. Letting others decide or tell you what you need to change will not work and it will not make you happy. It is your job to decide what you want to improve in your life.

    Take the time to learn who you are. It is a good idea to participate in programs that concentrate on self-awareness. The professionals heading these programs will teach you what techniques to use and what emotions you need to pay attention to. The time you invest in yourself will help you create meaningful change in your life. It will help you make changes that stick and changes that bring positive outcomes in your life.

    Bruno LoGreco, Toronto Life Coach, Author & Television Personality
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    Friday, September 10, 2010

    Follow your path

    What do you suppose you would be today if you did not have anybody telling you what you could and could not do while you were growing up? Where would you be today if you had your very own personal cheerleaders, as opposed to critics, during your teen years?

    While growing up, family and other authoritative figures, like coaches and teachers, play a big role in how we think about ourselves and who we become. The adults around us usually shape us into the people we become. Often times their insecurities and beliefs get transferred to us and we end up living a life with similar philosophies, similar achievements, and similar habits to the people we grew up around.

    As teens, many of us just accepted what we were told as the truth and we believed others knew what was best for us (not surprising since we often heard the words “I know best” from our elders). Being young, inexperienced, and confused about where we should go, others’ advice may even have been quite welcoming. More importantly, taking others' advice helped avoid confrontation.

    It didn’t take long however, to start wondering if there is more to life than the unfulfilling routine we fell into. To many of us, waking up, going to work that doesn’t make us happy, coming home, taking care of home responsibilities, and going to bed, only to wake up the next day and go through it all over again is extremely unsatisfactory. Most likely, this is the same path we saw our mothers and other adult role models travel. We now grew up and adapted their life philosophy.

    The good news is that there really is more to life than the routine we fell into. Life can be very fulfilling when we start paying attention to what makes us happy and what activities interest us. We were all born with a purpose in life that is meant to be fulfilled. To fulfill this purpose, however, we often have to leave the path we are currently on and step onto the path that was meant for us.

    Stepping onto our own path typically causes resistance from others. While they may be looking out for our best interest, they may not necessarily understand the inspiration guiding us. This inspiration, however, is the force leading us to a place where life is all that it can be. It is up to you to decide what path you want to travel and where you want to go.

    Bruno LoGreco Life Coach Toronto, Author & Television Personality
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    Take that first step now

    Are you willing to take the first step today to get you closer to your ideal life?
    Many times we say that tomorrow is the perfect time to start working towards our goal, right after we get today’s chores and responsibilities out of the way.

    Unfortunately, tomorrow brings a new set of responsibilities and duties causing us to wait for the arrival of another tomorrow before we may start working towards our goal. Before we know it, 50 years pass by and we are still waiting for tomorrow to arrive so that we may start working towards our dreams and hopes.

    Does this sound familiar? Have you ever waited for the freshness of a new day to come so you may start working towards success only to find the new day is never quite “fresh” enough to start working towards fulfilling your dreams?

    One of the most common issues people face is taking action. Reading self-development literature, watching videos, and talking to others interested in self-help will only take you so far. Knowing how to fulfill your goals will not fulfill your goals. Taking action today (not waiting for a ‘right’ kind of tomorrow), will bring you closer to your dreams and will eventually guide you to your ideal life.

    The best way to take action is to first plan out what you want to achieve and the steps you want to take each day to move yourself closer to success. Having a clear outline set out before you will let you know exactly what you need to do each day and it will allow you to measure your progress. Having day to day plans also simplifies your goal. Vague plans tend to appear intimidating and are more likely to be put off. Daily plans will also make it easier for you to be accountable to yourself for not completing today’s step.

    Although today may not feel right to begin working towards your new goal you will find that no day will be ‘right enough’ to take the steps to bring you closer to your ideal life. Don’t worry about today not being the perfect day. Instead, focus on the perfection of how it will feel when you achieve your dreams. This will encourage you to take the first step today.

    Bruno LoGreco, Toronto Life Coach, Author & Television Personality
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    Limiting thoughts lead to a limiting reality

    What do you think about from day to day? Researchers say that we have about 60 000 thoughts per day. 90% of these thoughts are repeat thoughts from the day before! This fascinating result suggests that many of our thoughts are habitual. Most likely, we are not even aware of what we are thinking and as a result we are unable to detect patterns in our thoughts. For example, if you do not think you are smart enough to present a new solution to your boss at work today, chances are you will not think you are smart enough to solve a complicated problem tomorrow, or smart enough to create a new business, and so on. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of their day to day thoughts and eventually start to believe their thoughts are facts.

    If you are to make any sort of change in our life, you first must clean up any thoughts that decrease your chances of success. Without changing your thoughts you cannot become who you want to be. You are literally able to do and become anything you want, if you are willing to open your mind and accept new positive facts about yourselves and your abilities. Your potential is enormous, if only you are willing to let go of old beliefs and thoughts and start believing you are capable of anything you want. Decide who you want to be and let go of any thoughts that say otherwise. These thoughts are false beliefs and their only purpose is to hold you back from being who you want to be.

    Bruno LoGreco Life Coach Toronto, Author & Television Personality
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    Thursday, September 9, 2010

    The emergence of talent: genius and precocity: newyorker.com

    “I felt like I’d stepped off a cliff and I didn’t know if the parachute was going to open. Nobody wants to waste their life, and I was doing well at the practice of law. I could have had a good career. And my parents were very proud of me—my dad was so proud of me. . . . It was crazy.”
    The emergence of talent: genius and precocity: newyorker.com
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    Tuesday, September 7, 2010

    The inferiority complex: Measuring up to societal standards can be expensive

    Despite the fact that many of us are quick to compare ourselves to societal standards many of us don’t realize how often we think poorly of ourselves or of what this can cost us.

    Many of us suffer from feelings of inferiority in many areas of our lives. Whether we compare ourselves on our ability to speak multiple languages, our fitness level, our level of attractiveness, our ability to sing, our ability as a parent, or our ability to do our job, it appears that we can never quite measure up to others.


    Although it is true that there are individuals (and sometimes a long list of individuals) who are better than us, feelings of inferiority do not originate from facts or objective information. Feelings of inferiority originate from our personal conclusions regarding facts. Our feelings of inferiority come from self-evaluation based, not on our own standards, but on society’s ever-changing norms. Many of us believe that we need to and should measure up to society’s norm, though hardly any of us actually do.

    The bigger issue is that we have a hard time separating society’s norms from our personal norms or ideals. In fact, the majority of us no longer bother forming our own norms and ideals but accept societal norms as our own measure of what a person should be. As a result, we are destined to feel a lifetime of negative feelings because of our perceived inadequacy.

    More importantly, feelings of inadequacy can be expensive as they serve as a barrier to our success and happiness. When we feel like we do not measure up to the person we believe we should be, often times we’ll believe we do not deserve or can’t achieve happiness or success.

    To improve our level of happiness we must understand that we, just like everyone else, are unique with unique skills and talents. The ideal person defined by society is non-existent, fake, and often times shallow. When we fully apply our true selves we rise above this petty standard and we demonstrate the enormous amount of good we have to offer to our community and the world. When we, however, belittle ourselves because of societal norms we hold ourselves back from living to our full potential and from fulfilling our life person. This lack of achievement and progress brings us unhappiness and feelings of failure, reinforcing our feelings of inferiority.

    To make the most of our experiences in life it is time to create our own norms and our own ideals we can use for self-evaluation. By doing this we set realistic standards with personal meaning. This process will allow us to eliminate feelings of inferiority that are caused from unachievable standards. The process will also allow us to express ourselves, our strengths, and our skills. It will help us to become the person we were meant to be while being blessed with joy, love, and success.

    Bruno LoGreco Life Coach Toronto, Author & Television Personality

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    Ten Powerful Self-Coaching Tips

    By Bruno LoGreco

    Are you living the life of creativity and happiness that you've always dreamed of, or are you allowing your fears or other outside factors to influence you?

    Following the path that your heart's desires requires courage and might require a shift in attitude. There are several methods you can use to act as your own life coach and start working toward the life you dream of.

    Ideas for self-improvement

    You don't need to change every aspect of your life at once in order to improve your attitude and outlook on life. Self-improvement can feel daunting if you try to change everything at once.

    A good way to embark on your journey of self-coaching is to make one change and see what kind of impact it has upon your life. The following tips are designed to help you improve your life and become your own life coach. Try out one of the following tips at a time to positively impact your attitude and daily life.

    1. Find some ‘you' time. Everyone needs time alone to meditate and recharge. You may think you don't have extra time in your day. Start with 10-20 minutes to use for meditation or silent reflection.

    2. Ask yourself what you truly want in life. Are you living your life according to your true dreams and desires? You may be unaware of your desires that lie hidden beneath your surface needs and wants, so take the time to find out.

    3. Write everything down. Even if your thought seems silly, write it down! You may be surprised by the inspiration and ideas you can come up with.

    4. Journal daily, but with a twist. Instead of just writing about today, try writing about yesterday.

    5. Keep track of the "happy moments." Each day has potential for many small moments that bring joy and happiness. If you don't make a special note of them, you may not even recognize the small joys in your day.

    6. Choose one task each night to complete the next day. This way, you have focus, and you accomplish at least one task. Tasking and taxing yourself with effort is important in reaching goals.

    7. Smile when you wake up. Smiling is contagious. By smiling you improve your mood and can potentially improve someone else's day as well.

    8. Give thanks each night. Gratitude will improve your outlook on life and help you see all the good and wonderful moments of your day.

    9. Try something new. A new experience fuels creativity and your enjoyment of the day.

    10. Create at least one memorable moment each day. Make each day unforgettable, even if in a small way!

    Taking the next step with a life coach

    Self-coaching tips are great ideas for helping you improve your life. However, you can take your life to the next level with a life coach and mentor. A professional life coach can help you set goals and help you move forward with your dreams. If you're looking for the right path toward happiness, a life coach can help you discover the path your heart truly desires.

    Want to learn more about self-improvement? Bruno LoGreco is a Life Coach Toronto and mentor. Visit BrunoLoGreco.com and find out how to unleash your potential for success and happiness.

    The Success Indicators on Your Life Path

    Many people seek out a particular goal in their life path and are content when they achieve it. The chance to broaden their horizons or learn new things within an existent structure is not as appealing to them as it is to some others. This is an issue that arises in many individuals because they mistakenly think they have achieved what they wanted to in their lives. The plethora of environmental noise around them begins to infringe upon their goals and forces them to lose sight of what they truly wanted.

    A good way to think of this problem is to envision a large square box. This is not just any box though. Rather, in this case, your box has been divided into three separate, but equally shaped rectangular boxes, all stacked on top of one another. Each of these rectangular boxes is a highly important expression of your life goals -- individual levels of success. Within each of these levels of success is an indicator that tells you how close you are to becoming successful in this area of your life.

    Every area of your life that you identify as a potential path for success can be further divided, containing the many different events and obstacles you will encounter as you strive to reach your goals. Think of each sector of your life as being divided even further, with three new sections within one of the three stacked boxes (sectors). Within each stacked box are three separate sections, divided by dotted lines that make up the life path you will follow. These dotted lines are not the same as the solid lines dividing the sectors -- they are a path that you have envisioned since childhood -- a series of goals and pathways to success that you want to follow.

    As young people, these life paths may not be fully formed. Or they might be crystal clear in our minds--long, straight life paths from the early days of college and adult living to the ultimate goal of success that you have always strived for. You can see exactly what you need to do to reach each success indicator and achieve what you have set out to accomplish. And you probably did just this. After all, your goals as a youth were to be successful in the same way that you saw thousands of others live their lives. You wanted to reach your success indicators and experience the measure of success by which you would measure you life for decades to come.

    However, nothing is ever as simple as we envision it during youth. There are countless factors that interfere with your ability to clearly see those success indicators and life paths to success. These factors, or "Environmental Noise," can be detrimental to even the most focused of individuals. Think of what would happen if you dumped the contents of downtown New York into your box and tried to maintain your focus on those goals. Would you even be able to see your life path anymore?

    Everyone must travel their life path with environmental noise inundating them from all sides. It begins to become cloudy. The dotted lines, our life paths, begin to look like the straight lines and the success indicators start to be confused with any number of different distractions.

    And then something will happen and you will realize that you are in fact nowhere near the original success indicators you set for yourself. Everything has changed and yet you are stuck in a way. You are deep within the center of the middle rectangular box and you have no idea which way to go or how to get back on track. The noise only grows louder and you grow dizzy trying to regain your focus.

    It is in this instant that you must clear the noise and return to the basic, almost instinctive mode of thought you experienced as a child. What did you want from life? Where did you want to go? What do you need to get to that point? What was my life path? All of these questions must be asked without the distractions of the world around you muddying up your thought process. When you can revert to a very simple perspective of the world and only spend time thinking of what you want from life, you can be that much more successful.

    You can succeed in life despite the environmental noise, cruising down your life paths and moving through your rectangles with ease, but oftentimes you need a helping hand to clear away the noise and look at life with fresh eyes. There is nothing wrong with asking for help to weed out these distractions and remove the clutter from your life sectors with a professional life coach.

    Is your life path inundated with environmental noise? Learn how you can lift the noise and begin reestablishing your success indicators today. Visit www.brunologreco.com a Life Coach Toronto today.

    Chapters.ca

    Top 10 Benefits to Journaling

    By Bruno Logreco

    There are countless reasons to maintaining a journal. The top ten benefits of journaling may differ from person to person. However, there seems to be general themes that are attractive in the collective unconscious. Many people are looking to daily entries of their personal experiences to reap some of the following rewards.

    Maintaining a journal is a natural way to exercise the brain. People who make regular entries are taking time to develop writing and communication skills that are very valuable in everyday interactions. This mental exercise also helps to allow your thoughts to flow freely.

    Creativity is a second benefit to consider. This is an important aspect of journaling. The right hemisphere of the brain is associated with visual, imaginative and intuitive facets of thought. When you take time to write, you free the right hemisphere. The ideal entry will be one that puts the inner editor on hold. Thoughts and ideas should flow freely and naturally.

    The uninhibited nature of this form of writing serves a third benefit of developing self awareness. People often create different faces to meet various circumstances. We tend to recreate in distinct situations including the work environment, the community and even when at home.

    The process of keeping a journal helps you recognize the various aspects of your unique personality. The growing self awareness is a powerful force that can lead to even greater benefits in the future. Gaining insight into the self is among the most important aspects to maintaining a journal.

    The fourth benefit is the ability to set priorities. Once you get a grasp on the thoughts and emotions that are filtered through your personal experience, you begin to gain control of them. The process eventually leads to a greater understanding of what is and what is not important.

    The ability to re-see the past is another great benefit of keeping a journal. The pages can be revisited with a fresh perspective. It can be very surprising how much your understanding of an event changes over a relatively short period of time. Some writers find great moments of epiphany when rethinking and rereading entries.

    Journaling is a fantastic problem-solving resource. The approach of using entries to come up with various solutions to troubles is a little different than approaches for self awareness and growth. Many people choose temporary brainstorming techniques that serve to give viable solutions to problems.

    The seventh benefit of journaling is variety. You can choose what kind of entries you want to make. Common choices include brainstorming sessions, automatic writing and reflective notes. Personal journal entries can be made upon inspiration, when you first wake or right before you fall asleep. Some choose to do a combination of these.

    Purging is the eighth benefit to this practice. Many people find it helpful to place negative thoughts and feelings down on paper. Once the negative energy is placed on the page, they are free to let it go. This practice also works well when dealing with anger towards another individual. Purge the negativity and work towards a constructive approach.

    The ability to communicate with others is another benefit of keeping a journal. Those who work with life coaches can find a wealth of resources for sessions. Journaling can help you tap into your fears and dreams, helping your coach gain insight through entries that you choose to share.

    The tenth benefit is improvement in your overall health. Journaling reduces stress. It provides time for you to meditate. The process helps to make the positive forces in your life surface and it helps to bring the harmful elements into light. The result of personal journaling is a new perspective on how you can take control of many aspects of your life.

    Want to learn how online journaling can help you reach goals and problem solve? Learn more about life coach Toronto at brunologreco.com and journaling at iijournal.

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruno_Logreco
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