Category: Tools for Life

5 Tips to Overcome Procrastination

These 5 tips to overcome procrastination are particularly useful during this busy holiday season. Let me know if anything resonates with you in the comments.

A Little Background Understanding

Today as I listened to my daily Ten Percent meditation, The Nature of Thoughts, this quote by Joseph Goldstein, stood out.

When we are not aware of thinking, thoughts often exercise a great power and influence in our lives. And yet when we are mindful of them, we see their ephemeral, insubstantial nature. This understanding allows us to choose which thoughts are useful, should be acted upon, and which are not useful, and should simply be let go of.

This understanding is key to my 5 tips to overcome procrastination. Part of our avoidance of important tasks is the overload of thoughts that distract us.

The 5 Tips

  1. Adopt a daily meditation practice
  2. Find and utilize your motivator
  3. Start with the easiest task
  4. Or start with the most annoying task
  5. Acknowledge your progress

What If I Can’t Get Past Tip #1?

Truly, starting a meditation practice can seem overwhelming. It doesn’t need to be.

  • Sit in a quiet place
  • Cast your gaze downward
  • Inhale deeply through your nose
  • Slowly exhale through your relaxed lips
  • Repeat deep breathing 2 more time

Congratulations! You’ve just started a daily meditation practice.

But How Do I Find My Motivator?

Sometimes we stumble upon what motivates us. Perhaps you’ve been successful previously? Calm your mind with your new meditation practice, recalling all the aspects of that success, especially what motivated you. Generally, we are motivated by outside influences or an aspect within your personality. My blog about finding these personality traits might be useful.

Let’s Wrap This Up

In addition to the 5 tips to overcome procrastination, I’d like to share a final idea as navigate through this holiday season. As you think about wishing someone well, why not make it something more specific like, Thank you for…

Sitting out here accepting my donation for the kettle

May you be filled with love this December!

How to Grow Your Resilience

How to grow your resilience comes from many sources including an innate ability. We don’t often hear the word resilience. A Google search results in this definition for resilience – the capacity to recover from difficult circumstances or simply toughness.
In addition, it involves:

  • Connecting to a positive attitude
  • Developing a determination to work through
  • Saying “Yes” to difficult emotions
  • Developing the capacity to allow

Is This Something I Can Develop?

First, it’s nice to know resilience is a common occurrence in most people. However, we need to cultivate more of it. In fact, anyone can develop toughness or build upon it.

A meditation practice is key to developing all the qualities to build resilience. In fact, the capacity to recover (equanimity) is built-in to the meditation practice on Ten Percent Happier. A short meditation by Sebene Selassie is the basis for this article. Furthermore, you can watch a YouTube interview with Dan Harris and Sebene titled “The Joy of Allowing Life to Be”.

Practice

Although I recommend a set time for developing the habit of meditation, you can use these steps anytime you find yourself upset about a difficult situation. Allow your intuition to determine whether or not you remove yourself to a private location, safety first, always.

  1. Find a comfortable posture
  2. Either close your your eyes or gaze downward
  3. Begin with slow breathing, in through your nose, out through your mouth
  4. Soften any tightness in your body on the out breath
  5. Connect to the breath or whatever sensations in your body are prominent
  6. Accept anything happening right now; annoyance, distraction, ease, even pain
  7. Say to yourself, “Allow”
  8. Slowly open your eyes

Meditation practice is just that… practice. It doesn’t matter when you lose your way with distraction or thoughts. Noticing and starting again happens for everyone. Make space for exactly what’s here. Saying yes, starting over, allow.

Learning how to grow your resilience, your toughness, through cultivating a positive attitude, determination, and the capacity to allow result in working through difficult times.

Learning from Their Life Choices

Learning from their life choices is a great way to avoid some pitfalls. In this instance I’m referring to my mother. I have cared for her the last five years. In spite of my age (67), this past week I’ve seen clearly how my own choices can be improved.

Choose Your Viewpoint

Learning from their life choices, is influenced by the viewpoint we select.

  1. Looking downward in judgement
  2. From a place below them, feeling defensive
  3. Stretching out with care and curiosity

#3 is a viewpoint that enriches our lives and the lives of others. We are equal on this earthly plane. In fact, the equality is based on our sameness. Furthermore, we are all on this earth to learn, grow, and find our uniqueness, our special way we can help each other.

You Don’t Need to Feel Apologetic

If you feel a burden to others, remember “It’s okay.” You are teaching them something valuable.

If you feel you are or have been burdened by others, remember, “It’s okay.” Their difficulty is a window into your internal struggles. This is even true when they are no longer in your life.

We can bring memories into the present moment, activate our curiosity about what we can learn from it and transform the memory into a peaceful, heart-filled new reality.

Add a Dose of Gratefulness

I find meditation is a beautiful way to start the day. The Ten Percent Happier app is my go to place each morning. For instance, today Anushka Fernandopulle led me through a ten minute Grateful for Your Body meditation. It was exactly what I needed.

I invite you to download the Ten Percent app and try it. If it resonates, keep it and pay for it. Yes, I know there are tons of free meditations on YouTube. If you are happy with that and use it everyday, you need look no farther. For me, I find the helpful words of the meditation experts on Ten Percent Happier app are exactly right for me.