Should You Slow Down on Meditation? The Impact it Had on me.

Over about the last month I kind of switched my focus from meditation to yoga.  At first it felt nice and still does feel nice, in no way is yoga bad, but I started to feel more in my head and more tense in the chest.  About a week ago I started only 5 minutes of meditation just to ease back into it, and I forgot the wonders it works for me.  When I stopped meditation I could notice I had less control over my emotions and I knew right away that I needed to get back into it.
Meditation has been a life changer for me and I let it go for a while.  Even doing 5 minutes a day has been helping but I am slowly stepping it back up to the 20 I used to do every single day.  When I would do 20 minutes a day I found it to be obtainable and calming.  So you don't need to use 1-2 hours on it a day, unless you can but thats more power to you!  20 minutes would make me present and at time put me so in the zone that I could feel a feeling of what  I think it would be like to be high.  Some days I was able to bring life to object around me, not just trees and plants but even objects like fans.  Since not doing it I notice that feeling is nearly impossible, and even breathing deep normally is harder to do.

Starting back up is the hardest part for me, every morning 20 minutes used to be so easy and set the pace for the rest of the day.  For me meditation is one of the biggest things for my success, and not doing it daily I saw drawbacks from success.  Meditation alone can affect happiness which for me affects how much I get done for my life, so the more I start my day out with meditation the better my day and life in general!
So what would I say is the big takeaway for you guys?  My big point is to either start meditation now if you aren't doing it for extreme results or to continue your path of meditation if you are already doing it.  If it still seems hard to focus the only way to get better is to continue doing it every day.  It isn't easy but once you get into the rhythm it becomes more and more enjoyable!

As always enjoy yours journey, I hope this blog post helped you out in some way.

-Brian

What is it Like Practicing Yoga Daily?

I have been practicing yoga almost every morning for the past 2 months now and I love the changes it has provided in my life.  Starting my day off with a boost of clear minded energy provides the stepping stone for the rest of the day.  It helps me prove I am flexible in my body and mind more than I would regularly notice and helps me be more creative throughout the day.  I also get a workout and stretch from it, and become more mindful in the morning.
Gaining flexibility.
2 months ago I never thought I would have the flexibility I have today.  I am still not as flexible as I would like to be but thats why I keep practicing every day.  I can touch the ground with straight legs which seemed impossible 2 months ago.  The impossible becomes possible!  I also have a more flexible back and shoulders.  I would notice my shoulders cracking and making popping sounds when doing shoulder press at the gym every single rep but that has slowed down since I started yoga, sure the popping and cracking still happens but just not as much!
Fixing struggle.
Many times during yoga poses become hard to do and I struggle through them and make a tense face, but over time I see how much just my breathing alone can turn that struggle into an accomplishment, even if I fall in some of the poses I am still learning to not struggle when keeping the pose.  And falling isn't bad either thats how we learn, but struggling on the other hand doesn't teach us to have a clear mind.  I have found myself many times making a tense face when in some poses, but the breathing alone calms it down in my body and mind as well.  So not only does this breathing help with struggle in yoga but also in everyday life, as I said a lot breathing can help fix tension in my body and mind if I have a lot to think about or even a sore back taking deep can help soothe the pain for a second and release tension in the back.

How to Create Opportunities That set you up to Achieve Confidence

I have struggled with confidence my whole life and lately have been working on it as many of you know.
Today I thought I would share some ways to improve confidence no matter if you have no confidence right now or if you have confidence already but want to improve.
My tips are to
1) If you have no confidence to set easy goals for the day that you can achieve to prove to yourself you can do what you say you will, this leads into the next step.  But first let me explain what I mean by this.  Set goals you know you will achieve such as shower, floss, and brush your teeth.  This build momentum and you are proving to yourself you are capable of what you say you will.
2) Set bigger goals as you reach higher and higher confidence to show yourself you can achieve big as your confidence grows.  These can be things such as starting your own website or losing 20 pounds.  Make sure these goals are clear, and specific so you know when you reached them.  Now these may take more than a day to do, so be consistent, because true confidence come's from doing what you say you will and making those things something you love doing.
3) This one is easy, change your physiology, changing your physiology can wildly improve confidence.  I used to slouch a lot and what did that get me in turn?  Low confidence, and I don't want that for you, so simply stand up tall and straight with your shoulders back, it may sound silly but it really works!
4) Create certainty in your actions.  This means do what you love not what others want you to love doing.  If you don't love th
e everyday things you do, you will never become more confident.  Think about it, if you do only things you hate how can you love yourself?  What is it you love doing?  Find this out and make it work fro you.  If you love drawing draw more, if its swimming swim more.  The better you get the more confidence you will have, and the easier it will be to be yourself.

How to Deal With Loss of a Loved One. (My Life Story).

This is my first blog post about an extremely big subject in my life, but I knew sharing my story with it will help all of you.  We all lose someone very close to us more than once in life.  In this particular blog post I am going to share a story and throw in some ways I dealt with it.  So here it goes.
It starts when I was 6 years old.  My family and I had just lost my mom to cancer, and being a small child especially, I was devastated and sad.  I can remember I didn't sleep for 3 days after it, but my true anxiety from it didn't start till a few years later, when I was old enough to realize more of  what life is. 
Now this part I did mention before, I would have trouble going to school or even not being with my dad all the time in fear something was going to happen to him.  I couldn't even handle him walking the dog without me there in fear something bad was going to happen!  I was even prescribed anti-depressants because of how scared I was of losing my dad at times. 
I can still remember how everything felt from losing my mom to dealing with that anxiety off loss and being scared of losing my dad as well, and I'm writing this almost 13 years later.  These feeling never fully go away after you lose someone very close to you.  If you have lost someone close to you, you know exactly what I mean by that.  Chances are you clicked on this post to read it for this part, so  here it is.  You heard a brief story of my history with my experience, so now time to give you guys some ways to deal with loss.
For me, I had people all around me showing care, so find someone to talk to, whether its family, friends, or even a counselor if you need to.  Talking to others can be really beneficial to get over it, as they can understand what you are going through and help you through it.  And all these people will always be there for you when you need them.
Also you can remember the good things this person has done and how much they did in life.  What do I mean by this?  Well look at how much they enjoyed their life, how much they did the things they loved to do.  This little trick helps you see how much more their life meant and the purpose it has, and also helps you see that they lived an amazing life, true to themselves.  Seeing the best part of a lost loved on can open up calibration for their life instead of mourning.  Now nowhere am I saying mourning a lost loved one is bad, what I'm trying to get across is to also celebrate their victories, this has helped me and can help you as well.
Anyways guys I hope this short post helped you in some way if you lost someone close to you recently.  Loss can be very difficult, but it happens to everyone, so I sincerely hope you got some value out of this post.

See you guys on the next one,
Brian.