RELAX AND LIVE FOREVER!
Chapter 13 - "The Little Book of BIG Inspiration" by James Sale. (That's me folks!)
If we're going to be truly inspired and inspiring, then we also need to be relaxed. This, curiously, is intimately connected with our longevity.
A recent book, The Okinawa Programme, available from Amazon.com, has some fascinating information on how to live to be 100 years old!
Some may not wish to reach 100, but most of us, I think, would prefer to go later rather than sooner.
Therefore, this book is of great interest, especially if we are into personal development, personal effectiveness and time management.
Okinawa is a chain of islands off the coast of Japan. The people there seem to have an unusually high number of centenarians, as well as some of the liveliest oldsters on the planet. Heart disease, dementia and various forms of cancer are virtually unheard of. Why is this?
First, the researchers found that it was not genetic - the younger generation attracted by fast foods, TV and other necessities of the modern life style were succumbing to the killer diseases.
What, then, did seem important?
§ Diet was critical - vegetable based, low in calories and fat.
§ Also, the Okinawans practised Tai Chi.
§ They had a positive spiritual attitude.
§ And critically lived in a low-stress way that avoided "hurry sickness".
Fascinatingly, they danced and party-ed a lot after a hard day's work AND their language had no word for retirement. These people, said one of the researchers, "keep doing what they've always done".
All of this is in one sense worrying - when we compare it to our life styles - but encouraging when we consider what simple steps we might take to improve the quality of our lives.
For when we look at all the above points, with the exception of diet, the key quality is RELAXATION.
One of the key elements in developing self-confidence that I teach on my personal development courses is precisely that - we need to structure in more relaxation.
Here are six ways to relax:
1. Meditate - use mantras: my favourite is 'that's good '. This was an expression used by Clement Stone. The idea is - whatever happens to you, say "that's good" and look to find what is good in the situation. It's amazing how this process can forestall negativity and the toxicity of negative emotions.
I once used this coming off Junction 16 of the M4. The road was up and my car got a tyre puncture. Normally, I'd fly off the handle with rage. Instead, I started reciting, "that's good". I rang ahead to say I'd be late.
I called the RAC. They arrived only to tell me the further bad news - not only had I a flat but all my tyres, including the spare, were nearly bald, and so illegal.
"That's good", I said. He looked at me with a strange expression on his face.
I rang my wife. Explained the situation. "But that's good", I said. She too had her doubts. But I explained - "You see, Linda, when I get back to Bournemouth I'll get five new tyres and the car then will be totally safe for you and Joe (our son). So, really, it's good." I arrived 2 hours late, but I was in a sweet frame of mind. I had avoided the toxicity of the situation and the emotions.
2. Try yoga or tai chi. So much relaxation is really about breath control - control your breathing equals controlling your emotion. Therefore, any structured way of doing this has got to help. Tai Chi has been described as a 'moving meditation ', although of course it is so much more.
3. Develop a 'single focus' on achievement - it's multi-tasking and never having a sense of beginning, middle and end to a task that can be so frustrating.
Try, therefore, to do one thing at a time. This is particularly relevant to women.
4. Take more physical breaks - this helps us feel more relaxed. But, remember, we also learn more this way because we increase the primacy/recency effects - we tend to remember the first and last items of a sequence; so, the more firsts and lasts there are, the more we remember! An extension of this is to recall World War 2 when people volunteered to work seven days a week to aid the war effort and defeat the Nazis - but productivity quickly fell. The day of rest is critical too for long term well being.
5. Create an environment round you that is rich in a sensory way - For example with music, art, greenery, living things, a great view etc. This makes an immense difference to how we feel.
So many people accept the concrete and the breeze blocks as given. Try to make your environment personal.
Again, bear in mind, mankind creates his environment - and is very proud of it. But having made it, and thereafter, the environment starts to create, or re-create, mankind. We start becoming like the 'things' around us.
Remember that scary moment in 'Fatal Attraction' when we saw Glenn Close's room - all white and unadorned - a symbol of the blank intensity of her mind and emotions.
6. Laugh - 'laughter is the best medicine' as they say in the Readers Digest. Humour makes it difficult to be stressed, so seek it out and pass it round. Infect yourself and others with the laughing disease. (Caution: avoid malicious/nasty humour).
One thing I do is to have audio tapes in the car which are comic, and make me laugh.
At home, my wife and son and I all love Black Adder - we always laugh. Remember, Norman Cousins, the American critic, who cured himself of cancer - or at least had over a twenty year remission by buying up comedy videos and watching them sixteen hours a day - he laughed himself out of his sickness! This may not work for everybody - but there's no doubt that laughing is incredibly good for us.
Bear in mind, it is estimated that young children laugh about 350 times a day; adults manage about 15 times!
Get back to your roots!
'James offers some really easy to follow ideas and explains the concepts of self-esteem and motivation with crystal clarity'
- Chris Mitchell, Dorset UK
If you enjoyed reading the above chapter, why not check my whole book: "The Little Book of BIG Inspiration". It's crammed full of fantastic ideas to help you boost your motivation and enhance your self-esteem.
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