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Is there an inherent conflict between spirituality and intelligence? Are they perpetually at odds with each other? Must we choose to embrace either spirituality or rationality but never both at the same time?

Several years ago I would have said yes to these questions. But today I see that this conflict is nothing but an illusion. In fact, I think intelligence and spirituality ultimately follow the same path, and I don’t mean this in the sense of trying to program your head with religious doctrine and then trying to convince you of it by manipulating the facts. I mean that by embracing your intellect to its fullest extent, you will eventually arrive at a sense of spirituality. You may not label it as such, but you will find yourself generating similar results to some of the most enlightened people around.

In terms of the question of intelligence vs. spirituality, the problem arises from the perceived sense of conflict between these two supposed opposites. This perception prevents us from trusting and following either side far enough. We’ll only go so far down one side or the other before flipping back to the other side. We have our intellectual pursuits and our spiritual pursuits, and never the twain shall meet. They are both kept separate and compartmentalized. In the business world, our actions are governed by intelligence; we achieve the best results when we make the most intelligent decisions. But if we go home, meditate, and begin asking questions like, “What is the purpose of my life?” we have to load up a different set of rules. Now we’ve supposedly left the territory of the intellect and entered the spiritual realm. We try to interact intelligently with our outer world and spiritually with our inner world.

However, this perceived conflict is a fabricated one. If you were only to follow your intelligence or your spiritual beliefs far enough — really push them to the limits — you’d see they end up at the same place. The conflict is purely imaginary. It exists only in our thoughts…

(Continue reading this post via Steve Pavlina)

If I were to come across this title, I would be thinking “yeah right.” But I assure you that this is true and the way it was done was not revolutionary or difficult in the least.

What got me thinking about this post was a comment by Mark (Wizzer) from 6M Profit Method on my last post titled “My BS Revealed: Time Management Tricks for The Overachiever”. Wizzer says:

I think the BIGGEST mistake far too many people make is not seeing things through to the conclusion. I’ve done it myself this week - created a site, found the content, amended a header etc but something real important stopped my from ftping it and promoting. That real important thing was I didn’t like some of my copy. As you say Bullsh** - it needs to go up NOW and the changes made later. Thanks for the kick up the ****.

The reason this comment got me thinking was because there was one very critical thing that I did to promote my copywriting business that I procrastinated about due to of some sort of fear that I was harboring. But once I pulled the trigger, I instantly generated a steady stream of income for 1.5 years. That thing cost me 15 minutes of time and a grand total of $0.

When I first went into business for myself as a freelance writer, I did not have the confidence that I have today. Like Mark, because I didn’t feel like I was “ready” I was hesitant to promote myself and was limiting my own potential…

(Continue reading this post via Self Made Chick)

“A positive mental attitude is the starting point of all riches, whether they be riches of a material nature or intangible riches.”
- Napoleon Hill

Okay, so there’s no myth that I am a positive person, or at least striving to be one. However, I am aware that I’m not positive all the time. I am continuously working to become conscientious of my choices, thoughts and reactions. I frequently get asked about positive thinking, and I wanted to first clear up some points of confusion.

Positive people are not living like Pollyanna in some dream world with no hold on reality. Positive people may have an attitude like Pollyanna, but they are not necessarily unrealistic. Positive person are very capable of understanding the reality of a cynic. They just change their mindset to see the reality from a different perspective.

With so many myths about positive mental attitude (PMA), it’s important to separate the truth from the fiction. Let’s explore some of these myths and dive into the truths behind them.

Myth #1: Negative thinking is more realistic.

Have you ever heard a negative person say that they aren’t negative; they’re just being ‘realistic’? This myth keeps people locked in a negative reality of their own creation.

A person’s thoughts, whether positive or negative, do have an effect on their environment. If you think negatively, your mind will automatically seek out confirmation that the world is a terrible place. Seeing is believing, and your mind reinforces your belief that reality is negative. See how it’s a downward spiral of negativity? If you expect negative results, you are less likely to take risks and try new things. Negative thinking masks your impressions in fear.

Positive thinking works the same way. With a positive mental attitude, you’ll seek out positive choices and expect positive results. This helps you move past fear and try things that others may believe “can’t be done”. This typically end in positive results.

A person’s thinking helps determine their reality. Negative thinking is realistic for the negative thinker, but only because their thoughts make it true. Ironically, the positive thinking also sees reality, just in a different light. Both types of people see their own reality, and both consider it the reality…

(Continue reading this post via Think Simple Now)

The subject of today’s post is intention. Let’s start with some definitions.This first definition is from www.dictionary.net

A stretching or bending of the mind toward an object; closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.

The second one comes from www.margaretmccraw.com/glossary.html

Blending strong desire with strong belief to create a deliberate outcome.

John Locke, the British philosopher said:

Intention is when the mind, with great earnestness, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea.

Use Intention to influence the world

I’d like to suggest that setting an intention is a useful tool we can all use to help ourselves get more of what we want. There are lots of ways in which we can use intention but first of all we have to be clear about what we want - we need to be specific about the outcome we want to create. I have written on the blog here before about being clear and specific about our goals and objectives in life. It is equally important to be clear and specific about much shorter term things too. And I’d like to focus on the short-term today…

(Continue reading this post via The Happy and Prosperous Blog)

Waiting is the bane of modern living. Whether waiting in line, at the doctor’s office, for a baby to be delivered, for Christmas, for a phone call, for 5pm on Friday, or whatever, waiting drives us mad. But does it have to be that way? Well it depends on your perspective, circumstances, and how you choose to react. The truth is you have the power to transform waiting into a gift.

For many of us in modern society, when faced with waiting, the reaction is automatic and self-destructive. We get tense, irritated, angry, frustated, etc. Can you relate? We start complaining in our head and to others around us. We start thinking that time is being wasted. We focus on the things we could or should be doing instead causing a flood of resentment. The end result is higher blood pressure, headaches, muscle tension, and buildup of toxic chemicals inside our body. And did it change our wait? Nope. Did the waiting cause these problems? No, the negative side effects stem from how we chose to react. The good news is once you become aware, you can stop this destructive pattern.

How to Make Waiting Work for You

(continue reading this post via Life Learning Today)

In concentration we marshal all our dispersed energies into focusing on just one thing. When mastered, concentration can be of unimaginable benefit in our life; through concentration we can increase our productivity and give ourselves greater peace of mind. These are some suggestions for improving your concentration.

One-Pointedness

Concentration means that we can focus on one thing, to the exclusion of all else. Our concentration may involve writing or working on a particular problem. Whatever our activity the most important criteria is to give all our focus, concentration and attention solely to the activity at hand. Concentration becomes hopeless when we get distracted by several different things at the same time; to improve our concentration we must stop trying to do several things at once. If you are writing an article, don’t be thinking about what to say to your boss later in the day. If we can develop one-pointedness we will develop a tremendous intensity that enables us to achieve our tasks much quicker…

(Continue reading this post via LifeHack)

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.
- Aristotle

Are morning people born or made? In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I rarely went to bed before midnight, and I’d almost always sleep in late. I usually didn’t start hitting my stride each day until late afternoon.

But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high correlation between success and rising early, even in my own life. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not just in the morning but all throughout the day. And I also noticed a significant feeling of well-being. So being the proactive goal-achiever I was, I set out to become a habitual early riser. I promptly set my alarm clock for 5AM…

… and the next morning, I got up just before noon.

Hmmm…

I tried again many more times, each time not getting very far with it. I figured I must have been born without the early riser gene. Whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that blasted noise and go back to sleep. I tabled this habit for a number of years, but eventually I came across some sleep research that showed me that I was going about this problem the wrong way. Once I applied those ideas, I was able to become an early riser consistently…

(Continue reading this post via Steve Pavlina)