There’s no shortage of advice out there claiming to make you better, but mindfulness meditation is the rare, research-proven technique that boosts your performance by physically altering your brain.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia recently pooled data from more than 20 studies to understand how practicing mindfulness affects the brain. While the researchers found significant changes in eight brain regions, there are two regions that are of particular importance to you.
In these brain regions, the simple act of practicing mindfulness increased both brain activity and the density of brain tissue:

1. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is responsible for self-control. It enables you to resist distractions, to focus, and to avoid impulsivity in order to work efficiently and make great decisions. The ACC is also responsible for flexibility, and people who have problems in this brain area are known to stick to ineffective problem-solving strategies when they should be adjusting their approach.
2. The hippocampus, which, among other things, is responsible for resilience in the face of setbacks and challenges. The hippocampus is readily damaged by stress, making it a need area for most people. The hippocampus is red/orange in the image below.

Mindfulness is a simple, yet effective form of meditation that enables you to gain control of unruly thoughts and behaviors. People who practice mindfulness are more focused, even when they are not meditating. Mindfulness is an excellent technique to reduce stress because it allows you to stop feeling out of control, to stop jumping from one thought to the next, and to stop ruminating on negative thoughts. Overall, it’s a great way to make it through your busy day in a calm and productive manner.
Just as doing curls increases muscle density in your biceps, practicing mindfulness increases the density of brain matter where it counts. Mindfulness is perhaps the only technique that can change your brain in this way, which produces a ripple of other positive effects. Thankfully, you can reap the benefits of mindfulness in as little as a few minutes a day.
Gandhi was once with a group of followers who inquired about his schedule. He told them, “I need to set aside at least one hour each day to meditate.” They were vexed by this and told him, “There’s no way you have that much time!” He responded, “Well, if that’s the case, then I need to set aside two hours a day to meditate.”
Like Gandhi, you’ll soon find that mindfulness is one of very few things that are well worth your precious time, and the busier you are, the more important it is to have a clear mind if you want to be productive.
Mindfulness doesn’t have to take place in the mountains of Nepal or a weekend retreat under a vow of silence. The beauty of the technique is that it’s so simple you can do it anywhere and just about anytime.
Mindfulness is the simple act of focusing all of your attention on the present. This requires you to observe your thoughts and feelings objectively, without judgment, which helps you to awaken your experience and live in the moment. This way, life doesn’t pass you by.
I realize this might sound a bit abstract and complicated at first, but it isn’t. Here’s how you can do it, even with your busy schedule.

1. Focus on your breathing. 

Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor, and spend a few minutes doing nothing but breathing slowly in and out. Focus all your attention on your breath. Feel the air travel into your mouth, down your windpipe, and into your lungs. Then feel your body shift as it pushes the air out of your lungs. When thoughts surface that distract you from your breathing, don’t worry. Just let them pass, and shift your attention back to your breathing. After some practice, you should be able to spend a few to several minutes doing nothing but immersing yourself in the act of breathing, at the expense of all the other thoughts.

2. Go for a walk. 

You can also meditate just by going for a walk. All you need to do is focus on each step. Feel your legs move and your feet hit the ground. Focus solely on the act of walking and the sensations of your surroundings (the cool breeze, the hot sun, or the dog barking in the distance). When you feel other thoughts creeping into your mind, focus even harder on the sensation of walking. Focusing on something that’s second nature is refreshing because it alters your frame of mind as you turn off the never-ending stream of thoughts that normally dominate your attention. You can do the same thing when you brush your teeth, comb your hair, or eat a meal.

3. Feel your body. 

You don’t even need to stop doing what you’re doing to practice mindfulness. All you have to do is focus all of your attention on what you’re doing without thinking about why you’re doing it, what you should do next, or what you should be doing. Whether it’s the gentle stroke of your fingers on the keyboard or your posture in your chair, you can direct your attention from your thoughts to your bodily sensations at the spur of the moment.

4. Repeat one positive thing about yourself, over and over. 

One of the main goals of mindfulness is to stop the steam of thoughts that cycle through your mind over and over again each day. Funnily enough, a great way to do this is to choose a short, positive message about yourself and to repeat it over and over with each breath to keep your mind on track. A great phrase of choice is “I am capable.” The simplicity keeps you grounded in the exercise and keeps other thoughts from taking over. The right phrase also builds a little confidence, which never hurts.

5. Interrupt the stress cycle. 

Any moment when you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or stuck on something is the perfect moment to practice mindfulness. Just stop what you’re doing, let the thoughts go for a moment, and practice your favorite mindfulness technique (breathing, walking, or focusing on body sensations). Even a few minutes of this can make a huge difference in quieting your mind and reducing stress. You’ll be surprised how reasonable things look once you’ve taken a few moments to clear your head.

Bringing it all together

Nothing can improve your brain the way mindfulness meditation can. Give it a try, and you’ll be surprised where it takes you.

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• Less injury
• Better co-ordination
• Know what your body is doing
• More effective workouts
• More in touch with your body and aware of how it feels
• Efficient use of muscles in day-to-day activities

Have you ever read or heard about the law of attraction? Do you know and understand, that you are always attracting what you think about and what you say? Do you know of colleagues, friends, or neighbors, who always seem to attract bad luck? "I have a black cloud over my head." "I knew this was going to happen!" On the other hand, do you know of people who seem to have a horse shoe up their a..? Everything they touch seems to turn to gold? Have you ever watched the movie, "The Secret"? There is a gentleman in it who visualizes big fat cheques coming to him in his mailbox. Another thing he does, is know that each time he needs a parking spot he gets one! How cool is that? Imagine, if you live in a city that has no parking and each time you went somewhere you knew there would be a parking spot available. Try it! I have... it works!

Let's do an experiment, just for fun. Let's say you need to pay $500 for a bill you did not expect. You are concerned because you have no clue where you are going to get the money. Focus on how you are feeling when you are stressed about not having the money. Why do this? Because, you have to be able to recognize this stressed feeling about not having enough money, to be able to change it. Now, stop! Shift this feeling by affirming, "I am letting go and allowing money to easily flow into my life, right now!" Dance around the room, laugh out loud and recall a moment in time that made you jump for joy. Tag the feeling of being joyful to imagining money flowing to you! You have just raised your vibration and this is what the universe responds to. It responds to your feelings. So if you want to be wealthy, feel wealthy first. "Easier said than done!" you say? Absolutely! You are correct that this is simple in theory, harder to implement in reality, because feelings are involved. However, if you can grasp this concept then you may never feel, or be poor again. So, fake it before you make it! Feel wealthy now!

How do you do this? Well, you can make a vision board of all the things you are looking forward to when you design the life of your dreams. Keep the vision board in a place where you can see it daily. Know in your heart it is speeding to you! Expect it but do not stress about it. Allow it to happen. Know it is on its way. Be aware of serendipitous events that come into your life. Follow your intuition. If you feel compelled to do something, do it.

Imagine that you receive the money and some extra, from an unexpected source. You see, it is not your job to know where the money is coming from. This is the universe's job. It is your job to expect the money and be grateful for having received it, before you receive it. You do this by raising your vibration, by how you feel. A lot of people feel stuck when they say "I am wealthy now." Why? Because they simply do not feel wealthy when they say it! They feel like they are lying. On the other hand, when they say, "I am allowing money to flow easily into my life, right now!" The sense of "allowing" may feel more right. Allowing something to happen seems truthful. Try it! It does not cost a penny to do so. This simple shift of affirming on a daily basis, "I am allowing money to flow easily into my life, right now!" and the feeling you now have of being wealthy, is priceless. You have the power to change your life.

Never let anyone steal your dreams! Never stop believing in yourself, or your dreams, until you have achieved them. Live with gratitude. Live with the knowledge that you can have, be, and do whatever you can imagine, as long as you play by the universe's rules and never harm another person. Raise your vibration and allow the universe to give you what you ask for. Receive it with open arms.

Fake it before you make it!

Wishing you great happiness and success in all that you do!

Confidence is an extremely attractive personality trait. It can be attractive to the opposite sex and dating situations and it is essential for success in the workplace and in any sort of self-employed business endeavor.

Confidence is a trait that is naturally built with time. After period of successes you cannot help to gain confidence and grow more self-assured.

This does not mean the confidence is not also a habit that you can be intentionally built and reinforced. Confidence can be intentionally nurtured.

One of the very best ways to build confidence is with a simple, "fake it, till you make it" attitude. What I mean by this is that if you take steps to act and looked confident all times, you will slowly begin to become more confident. As you gain confidence and begin to have small successes your confidence will grow. Soon enough you'll be as confident as were once pretending.

You can choose confidence, or you can choose shyness. If you learn the habit of confidence, the choice is still yours. Below are 10 of the keys to building a confidence habit. If you intentionally follow many of the steps below, and try to act confident, soon enough you'll begin to become confident.

10 Keys to Developing the Confidence Habit

1. Never Fidget

Confident people don't fidget. All movements are slow and with purpose. Tapping your foot, drumming your figures on the tables and other types of fidgety moves all show off a lack of comfort in your surroundings which is a sure sign of lack of confidence.

2. Assume your Right to Space

Confident people make large and splashy hand gestures. They have no problem spreading out their files at a meeting. They will lounge in a chair or the couch like they own the place, because in the mind of the confident person, they do. Sometimes shoulder confident can all be about real estate. No one is going to invite you to take up more space, if you're confident you'll grab it.

3. Make Eye Contact

Looking people in the eye is one of the keys of confidence. You want to spend a good two or three seconds looking someone in the eye when you meet them. When you're talking to people make sure you also gaze into their eyes. Never look down or look at your feet. Not only is keeping someone's gaze a good confidence habit, but it also shows you clearly when you're going off track and losing people in the conversation.

4. Maintain Good Posture

Shoulders back, chest out and keep your head level. If your mother was like mine, she may have constantly harped on you about having good posture. Now I know why, and I appreciate all those lessons. Poor posture is an outward manifestation of poor self-esteem. It is as simple as that. Walk around like you have a steel pole up your spine and you will simply exude confidence.

5. Do Not Try to Please Everyone

Confident people know that it is impossible to please everyone. If someone disagrees with your point of view, fine, they have a right, but you will not bend to try to make everyone happy.

6. Speak Slowly

Watch a few of the great speeches. Notice how Martin Luther King, John Kennedy and others speak slowly and with purpose. While you do not need to develop that, "speech cadence" you can learn something from the speed. People who want to sound confident do not rush out their words. Speaking slowly also gives you the time to think of the right word. Speak slowly, pause for effect and make your words important. Confident people know that the listeners will wait to hear what they have to say.

7. Be Yourself

You are trying to act more confident, but you do not need to act like somebody else. Acting confident is more about being the best version of yourself rather than trying to be somebody else. Confident people know that they have no need to apologize for who they are. Be bold, be yourself and be confident!

8. Make Them Work for that Laugh or Smile

People who lack confidence will often smile and laugh a lot to cover their lack of self-assurance. If you are acting confident you not feel the need to assure other people at the funny. Something genuinely makes you laugh... laugh, but don't feel the need to insert laughter just to make others feel better. Make people work for that smile or grin.

9. If you do not Know it; do not Say it.

There's saying I've always loved, "it is better to keep quiet and have people think you are stupid, rather than open your mouth and have them be sure". Never feel the need to jump into a conversation, "just because". If you have nothing to say on topic, say nothing. If you don't know an answer, don't guess. If you always talk about subjects you have real knowledge about and come up with answers that are always right people remember those and not the times you remained silent. Remember that no one can know everything, and not knowing is perfectly fine.

10. Pause When you Speak

People who are nervous and lack self-assurance are scared of silence. Confident people know that silence is their best friends. Moments of silence give time to gather your thoughts and make sure the things you say are impactful and thoughtful.

Confidence is just one of hundreds of good habits that you can and should be trying to build.

Build Self Confidence

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We all reach a point in our lives when we need to reinvent ourselves. Whether it’s a personal, professional, or both, life sometimes doesn't go exactly as planned. We've all been there or will go through it at some point in our lives. You're not alone.

If you feel stuck or have recently lost everything, then now is the perfect time to reinvent yourself so that you can go on to live the life that you always dreamt of. And, here are 25 ways that you can accomplish that.