Enter The Simpsons Movie Contest with me!
(more details here)
Find Out About The Simpsons Movie Contest
(opens in new window)
Fox TV and Opera (browser) have paired up to sponsor an official The Simpsons Movie contest where a Random winner can win official The Simpsons Movie merchandise.
The contest will end on July 27th, so there are only 7 days left for you to enter the contest.
This post is SHORT because I have to go back to enter the contest, myself. I got so excited and realized that I can tell a LOT of people about this contest through my blogs, so I dashed away from the entry form in order to post a notice about the contest right away - and in as many places as I could find.
You'll probably beat me to the entry form if I don't hurry up!
Find Out About The Simpsons Movie Contest
(opens in new window)
Good luck!
Feed Shark
Friday, July 20, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Are Your Friends Motivated?
Are you trying to be 'motivated' while you're around friends who don't understand what you're trying to do? Do you have friends that say "I don't know why you think you need to do that" in response to some positive changes you're trying to make - such as testing out a new volunteer position, engaging with affirmations on a daily basis, trying out a new kind of meditation, some pointed physical exercise - other basic self-improvement activities?
Do you have friends that say "you're fine - let's just go do what we always do" - who seem to be making it easy for you to get off track before you even really get started with the new life you're trying to develop?
A tip - your friends don't need to be motivated along with you. They truly might not understand why you feel the need to make changes or what changes you're trying to make. Although it's beneficial to have people around you who are motivated in the same ways as you, it's not a necessity to make your regular friends and family 'agree' with your changes. It is, however, pertinent that your friends and family understand that you're going to go ahead and proceed with making changes. Whether they accept this fully or not, you have no control over.
Maybe you can explain "It's not about what we already do...I'm just wanting to try some things out." You don't really have to tell more about it at all. If your friends demand to know more, ask if they'd like to try some of the same things with you. If they don't, leave them alone. If they do, great. Either way, you've let them know that you'll be making changes, the changes aren't due to something good or bad about THEM, you've also invited them to 'share' in the changes, if they like so that they don't have to feel 'left out' of some of the 'new you' that you're trying to create. Again, they'll choose what they choose, but at least you've communicated with them.
Often, when an individual makes changes, people around the person make assumptions about why the changes are being made, and these assumptions can often be wrong, leading others to make snap judgements and feel discomfort (based on their own perception of the situation) for a while. Often, others just want things to remain the same, so there's no disputing that making changes in YOUR life can be difficult if people around you keep wanting you to be the same, familiar person that you've previously been.
The best safeguard to 'being allowed' to make changes (that is, to set a boundary with friends which says "I am going to do this - do not interfere"), is to be as honest with people as you can be and keep the changes about YOU.
"I feel such-and-such way, so I'm goin to change this or that in my life,"
or
"I feel such-and-such way, so I'm going to change this or that about myself,"
These are good ways to let others know that you're trying to change YOU and not 'circumstances' that might affect others, as well.
When an individual makes changes within a social group, family, even the smallest circle of friends, the dynamics change in the group, even if not intended by the individual making changes. Sometimes this is uncomfortable for people, even when one person changes for the better. Really, if other people can come close to understanding what you're up to, this is sometimes best.
People might be afraid that you're trying to deliberately change dynamics in the group and make the group follow what you are doing, so if you keep your statements about your new motivational goals confined to what you are doing and what you have as a goal, this might help people to know that you're not being critical of someone else or of your relationships within a group of people, family or friends.
This might alleviate some of the negativity and conflict that often occurs in relationships when one person tries to start making positive changes and develop more positive thinking.
Do you have friends that say "you're fine - let's just go do what we always do" - who seem to be making it easy for you to get off track before you even really get started with the new life you're trying to develop?
A tip - your friends don't need to be motivated along with you. They truly might not understand why you feel the need to make changes or what changes you're trying to make. Although it's beneficial to have people around you who are motivated in the same ways as you, it's not a necessity to make your regular friends and family 'agree' with your changes. It is, however, pertinent that your friends and family understand that you're going to go ahead and proceed with making changes. Whether they accept this fully or not, you have no control over.
Maybe you can explain "It's not about what we already do...I'm just wanting to try some things out." You don't really have to tell more about it at all. If your friends demand to know more, ask if they'd like to try some of the same things with you. If they don't, leave them alone. If they do, great. Either way, you've let them know that you'll be making changes, the changes aren't due to something good or bad about THEM, you've also invited them to 'share' in the changes, if they like so that they don't have to feel 'left out' of some of the 'new you' that you're trying to create. Again, they'll choose what they choose, but at least you've communicated with them.
Often, when an individual makes changes, people around the person make assumptions about why the changes are being made, and these assumptions can often be wrong, leading others to make snap judgements and feel discomfort (based on their own perception of the situation) for a while. Often, others just want things to remain the same, so there's no disputing that making changes in YOUR life can be difficult if people around you keep wanting you to be the same, familiar person that you've previously been.
The best safeguard to 'being allowed' to make changes (that is, to set a boundary with friends which says "I am going to do this - do not interfere"), is to be as honest with people as you can be and keep the changes about YOU.
"I feel such-and-such way, so I'm goin to change this or that in my life,"
or
"I feel such-and-such way, so I'm going to change this or that about myself,"
These are good ways to let others know that you're trying to change YOU and not 'circumstances' that might affect others, as well.
When an individual makes changes within a social group, family, even the smallest circle of friends, the dynamics change in the group, even if not intended by the individual making changes. Sometimes this is uncomfortable for people, even when one person changes for the better. Really, if other people can come close to understanding what you're up to, this is sometimes best.
People might be afraid that you're trying to deliberately change dynamics in the group and make the group follow what you are doing, so if you keep your statements about your new motivational goals confined to what you are doing and what you have as a goal, this might help people to know that you're not being critical of someone else or of your relationships within a group of people, family or friends.
This might alleviate some of the negativity and conflict that often occurs in relationships when one person tries to start making positive changes and develop more positive thinking.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Powers of Mind
I just saw a really cool motivational video about the powers of the mind. It reminded me (again) that most people only use a small portion of their 'smarts' on any given day, myself included.
This is something I am trying to change in my life - the tendency of 'not thinking' things through, not using my mind enough and fully...the tendency to accept things without thinking - instead of using CRITICAL thinking skills, and my own intuition more often.
Often my 'intuition' gets stuffed down because 'other people' have a set and steady way of doing things and they tell me to think a certain way, do certain things. If many people are also doing these same things, it becomes easy for me to just 'go with the flow' without heeding what my intuition says or without thinking critically about why I am about to do the same thing as many other people.
The truth is - I don't think all that much like other people. My life has been filled with a lot of bad things like addictions, abuses, etc. No, I'm not whining about it or trying to 'express my different-ness' blatantly - and I will own up to the fact that a lot of these bad things were self-imposed, that's for sure...I just also know that I still carry a lot of perceptions about the world that active addicts also carry and act upon...only I do not act upon these things by choosing alcohol and drugs as a way to blunt unpleasant perceptions anymore. I know for a fact that because of my addictions, I DO NOT PERCEIVE OF THE WORLD like non-alcoholics do, so it still baffles me as to why I listen so little to my intuition.
It kind of baffles me, at the moment, too, as to why I just lumped the whole sum of the worlds' people into 2 general groups while I began this post! (1 group of addicts and 1 group of non-addicts haha). I know better than this - but again - it's what 'average' people do when the topic of 'addiction/alcoholism' comes up...in truth, I rarely think of 2 groups, but rather - of an array of individuals, each separate and unique - however, for this post, I fell into 'labelling' just like 'most people do' - and even THIS kind of expresses a type of 'non-critical' thinking - or reaction to the topic I set down temporarily (addiction topic)...so again - I have proven that I often do things without engaging in 'critical thinking.'
I've been successfully sober and clean for over 3 years but will often still disregard 'general feelings' - intuition - and simply REFUSE to use my mind fully. Sometimes intuition tells me that certain situations 'feel' unsafe for me or that certain people 'don't feel' to me - to be 'average.' For example, perhaps someone is DRUNK near me and most people don't pick up on this - but I am picking up on 'something' that is not right because I know very well the behaviors of addicts while others might not pay attention unless a person under the influence does something DRASTICALLY out of 'the norm.' I may mostly ignore some behaviors of the person in question, too, because I LISTEN TO THE NORM NOW that says when most people are out in public they are assumed to be 'normal,' 'sober during business hours,' and 'displaying good behavior.'
In 'my old world' of drugs and alcohol, I got very used to seeing bad behaviors and I know how those work, how they play out (these are actually MORE FAMILIAR and 'normal' for me to acknowledge, so disregarding these is a constant battle of which most people don't understand) - but since I've been sober, I see mostly 'good behaviors' from people. This is partly because I am not around active drunks and addicts anymore...but if there's an addict around, even where most people are sober, I usually pick up on it...or - I can detect a certain agitation in people who are 'away from their stash' for a while, trying to do something 'normal.' Not always, but very often. My 'sober' friends all try to get me to 'be normal' and IGNORE things like this...and the more I do, the more I try to comply - the less I honour my intution and acknowledge the things that my 'inner self' knows...the more uncomfortable I get. If I am around 'recovery friends' who don't think this kind of intuition is strange or useless at all, I am much more comfortable. Part of 'not listening' to intuition when I am with non-addicts is also a part of the 'turning into a non-thinking person' just because other people told me to turn into this kind of person and ignore certain detals - so really, it's not all that beneficial to me on some days.
The more sober time I have, the more I am starting to heed my intuition...at least, I find that when I do listen to my 'inner gut feeling,' I put myself in fewer difficult situations and have less stress, in general. I don't think intuition is really all that 'new age,' 'questionable' and 'mystical' at all. I believe that the mind is equipped to deal with certain intricate situations and perceptions that I simply may not be paying attention to fully...in short, I'm not using my brain fully most of the time, so the inner workings of my mind keep on spinning, detecting dangers, discrepancies in situations versus what is said (perhaps someone is lying to me and their words are convincing but their body language is not...but I invest my energy in their convincing words. I will get an intuition from my mind, along the way, perhaps, if the unconvincing body language is enough for my subconscious to pick up on).
Anyhow - I'm sure that a lot of other people have similar views on the topic of intuition and the idea that most people hardly ever use their minds to full potential. Also, I hope what I wrote will allow those reading who are in 'Recovery' to know that their 'strange feelings' are NOT JUST PLAIN WEIRD...it's pretty natural to feel uncomfortable and have an intuition in certain ways that 'normal' or 'non-addict' people do not really put any esteem upon. It would actually be a DANGER to be without this discomfort - it's just part of the inner mind working better than your consciously, mindful efforts at any given time.
Now, I'll leave you with an obvious BANNER - to some information about mind power. I am actually pretty displeased about the wording on this banner, so I'm commentint about it before I post the image...
It says on the banner "How To Influence People: Subjective Communication" but I have gone to this website, myself - it's where I viewed the video (mentioned at the beginning of the post) - and sorry, but I DISAGREE with this 'stated purpose' on the banner!
A blatant marketing technique, I can only imagine - for spreading this information, even to people who are just interested in 'Influencing People.'
I can tell you RIGHT NOW - that if you respond to this banner - it will not take you to any information that will uncover how to 'influence people' and mess around with them to achieve your ends.....HAHA (for those who just want to mess around with peoples' heads and affections).
What this stuff REALLY IS
Is
Information about how to think more critically, how to do things more 'mindfully' so that you're using more of your mind power!
If you follow the banner - even if you sign up for free information - you're going to learn about a new way of THINKING and of using more of your mind's potentential - rather than 'being able to influence people.' lol
Anyhow - here's the banner - as well as the video I mentioned:
This is something I am trying to change in my life - the tendency of 'not thinking' things through, not using my mind enough and fully...the tendency to accept things without thinking - instead of using CRITICAL thinking skills, and my own intuition more often.
Often my 'intuition' gets stuffed down because 'other people' have a set and steady way of doing things and they tell me to think a certain way, do certain things. If many people are also doing these same things, it becomes easy for me to just 'go with the flow' without heeding what my intuition says or without thinking critically about why I am about to do the same thing as many other people.
The truth is - I don't think all that much like other people. My life has been filled with a lot of bad things like addictions, abuses, etc. No, I'm not whining about it or trying to 'express my different-ness' blatantly - and I will own up to the fact that a lot of these bad things were self-imposed, that's for sure...I just also know that I still carry a lot of perceptions about the world that active addicts also carry and act upon...only I do not act upon these things by choosing alcohol and drugs as a way to blunt unpleasant perceptions anymore. I know for a fact that because of my addictions, I DO NOT PERCEIVE OF THE WORLD like non-alcoholics do, so it still baffles me as to why I listen so little to my intuition.
It kind of baffles me, at the moment, too, as to why I just lumped the whole sum of the worlds' people into 2 general groups while I began this post! (1 group of addicts and 1 group of non-addicts haha). I know better than this - but again - it's what 'average' people do when the topic of 'addiction/alcoholism' comes up...in truth, I rarely think of 2 groups, but rather - of an array of individuals, each separate and unique - however, for this post, I fell into 'labelling' just like 'most people do' - and even THIS kind of expresses a type of 'non-critical' thinking - or reaction to the topic I set down temporarily (addiction topic)...so again - I have proven that I often do things without engaging in 'critical thinking.'
I've been successfully sober and clean for over 3 years but will often still disregard 'general feelings' - intuition - and simply REFUSE to use my mind fully. Sometimes intuition tells me that certain situations 'feel' unsafe for me or that certain people 'don't feel' to me - to be 'average.' For example, perhaps someone is DRUNK near me and most people don't pick up on this - but I am picking up on 'something' that is not right because I know very well the behaviors of addicts while others might not pay attention unless a person under the influence does something DRASTICALLY out of 'the norm.' I may mostly ignore some behaviors of the person in question, too, because I LISTEN TO THE NORM NOW that says when most people are out in public they are assumed to be 'normal,' 'sober during business hours,' and 'displaying good behavior.'
In 'my old world' of drugs and alcohol, I got very used to seeing bad behaviors and I know how those work, how they play out (these are actually MORE FAMILIAR and 'normal' for me to acknowledge, so disregarding these is a constant battle of which most people don't understand) - but since I've been sober, I see mostly 'good behaviors' from people. This is partly because I am not around active drunks and addicts anymore...but if there's an addict around, even where most people are sober, I usually pick up on it...or - I can detect a certain agitation in people who are 'away from their stash' for a while, trying to do something 'normal.' Not always, but very often. My 'sober' friends all try to get me to 'be normal' and IGNORE things like this...and the more I do, the more I try to comply - the less I honour my intution and acknowledge the things that my 'inner self' knows...the more uncomfortable I get. If I am around 'recovery friends' who don't think this kind of intuition is strange or useless at all, I am much more comfortable. Part of 'not listening' to intuition when I am with non-addicts is also a part of the 'turning into a non-thinking person' just because other people told me to turn into this kind of person and ignore certain detals - so really, it's not all that beneficial to me on some days.
The more sober time I have, the more I am starting to heed my intuition...at least, I find that when I do listen to my 'inner gut feeling,' I put myself in fewer difficult situations and have less stress, in general. I don't think intuition is really all that 'new age,' 'questionable' and 'mystical' at all. I believe that the mind is equipped to deal with certain intricate situations and perceptions that I simply may not be paying attention to fully...in short, I'm not using my brain fully most of the time, so the inner workings of my mind keep on spinning, detecting dangers, discrepancies in situations versus what is said (perhaps someone is lying to me and their words are convincing but their body language is not...but I invest my energy in their convincing words. I will get an intuition from my mind, along the way, perhaps, if the unconvincing body language is enough for my subconscious to pick up on).
Anyhow - I'm sure that a lot of other people have similar views on the topic of intuition and the idea that most people hardly ever use their minds to full potential. Also, I hope what I wrote will allow those reading who are in 'Recovery' to know that their 'strange feelings' are NOT JUST PLAIN WEIRD...it's pretty natural to feel uncomfortable and have an intuition in certain ways that 'normal' or 'non-addict' people do not really put any esteem upon. It would actually be a DANGER to be without this discomfort - it's just part of the inner mind working better than your consciously, mindful efforts at any given time.
Now, I'll leave you with an obvious BANNER - to some information about mind power. I am actually pretty displeased about the wording on this banner, so I'm commentint about it before I post the image...
It says on the banner "How To Influence People: Subjective Communication" but I have gone to this website, myself - it's where I viewed the video (mentioned at the beginning of the post) - and sorry, but I DISAGREE with this 'stated purpose' on the banner!
A blatant marketing technique, I can only imagine - for spreading this information, even to people who are just interested in 'Influencing People.'
I can tell you RIGHT NOW - that if you respond to this banner - it will not take you to any information that will uncover how to 'influence people' and mess around with them to achieve your ends.....HAHA (for those who just want to mess around with peoples' heads and affections).
What this stuff REALLY IS
Is
Information about how to think more critically, how to do things more 'mindfully' so that you're using more of your mind power!
If you follow the banner - even if you sign up for free information - you're going to learn about a new way of THINKING and of using more of your mind's potentential - rather than 'being able to influence people.' lol
Anyhow - here's the banner - as well as the video I mentioned:
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