Tag Archives: feel-good tools

The Secret of Quantum Living by Frank Kinslow (Book Review)

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If you enjoyed ‘The Power of Now,’ by Eckhart Tolle then this is another book to add to your reading list.

And don’t let the title scare you – it’s not one of those books that spends a few chapters diving into quantum mechanics leaving you bewildered!

Within The Secret of Quantum Living, Mr Kinslow explains how to practice Quantum Entrainment (QE).  The author states that by doing QE you will be able to:

  • heal negative emotions
  • find more creativity
  • heal physical pain
  • improve atheletic performance
  • have better relationships
  • sleep better
  • avoid financial woes
  • and more!

Additionally, Mr Kinslow highlights the advantages of teaching your children on how to practice QE.  (As you may know, I have a 16 month old so I’m very interested in teaching her to stay connected with her true self – whatever that means).

Anyway – I read a lot of books and to me, the true test is whether or not I can relate the information to my life and ultimately improve how I think, feel and live.  Hands down I can say that The Secret of Quantum Living has positively impacted my life.

I’ve always had issues with meditation.  I’m fine with guided mediations where I listen to a CD or MP3 but when it comes to sitting still and trying not to think I lose the plot.  Within a few minutes I’m thinking of something or other and forget that I’m supposed to be meditating!  In the end all I do is spend 15 – 20 minutes thinking about things in the same way I normally do with no positive results.  Drives me nuts.

Well…after reading the very easy instructions on how to practice Quantum Entrainment I finally understood what mediation was all about.  The best way for me to explain QE is that it’s a method that teaches you how to stop your thoughts and allow the feeling of bliss to arise in your body.

It doesn’t make any sense, but when you stop your thoughts and experience nothing there is a really awesome feeling that comes from it.  The author calls these feelings ‘Eufeelings’ and thanks to him for giving it a name!  By naming the feeling I was able to notice it and bring it into my reality.  Before I may have noticed that I felt good but the shear act of naming the feeling has made it so much easier to stop my thoughts and feel the bliss.

Right – this is one of those things where I can write all sorts of things but you have to try it for yourself to experience it.

If you want more peace in your life or are looking to heal physical mental wounds, I would definitely read this book.

In addition to the book, you can also find a large and growing community that discuss their QE experiences, questions and feedback.  Check out the forum at:  http://www.qediscussions.com/qesimplemachinesforum/index.php

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Reduce your stress levels with my favourite Yoga DVD recommendations

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After writing the article, “Yoga can definitely help reduce the madness levels in your life” I had many readers email me for my recommendations.  I thought you might want to see them too, so I’ve put my thoughts (and links to Amazon) below.  I have over 30 Yoga DVD’s and most of them I’m not happy with.  Some are too hard, others are too fast and some are filmed in a way that you can’t see what you’re supposed to be doing!  Anyway – these are my favourites:

Yoga and You, Leah Bracknell

My favourite DVD seems to no longer be selling, however you can buy one used from Amazon.  The price seems a bit steep so I would suggest you look on eBay. The reason I like this CD is it has various sections – you can pick and choose or do all of them.  When I have enough energy I do the full DVD, more times than not, I skip a section or two.

Each section is easy going – you don’t have to do many sequences.  This DVD is more about stretching and relaxing into the poses rather than doing fast sequences.

After I’m finished I always feel less stressed and very peaceful.  This DVD is not for exercise maniacs – it’s really for people like me that never exercise and don’t want to break into a massive sweat!

Yoga for Life, Leah Bracknell

My newest favourite is Yoga for Life.  The DVD is broken into a warm-up that gets your blood flowing (but it isn’t difficult) and then moves to an energising section, peaceful section, breathing section and a relaxation session.

I usually do the DVD from the start, but choose either the energising or peaceful section but not both.  This DVD has many more sequences and you don’t hold or stretch for too long.  It’s nice and flowing and anyone can do it.  The great thing about Yoga is that you only stretch as much as you feel comfortable to do.  It’s not a contest…it’s all about feeling good.

Kundalini Yoga – to Detox and De-stress, by May Fiennes

Okay…this was a totally different kind of Yoga for me.  At first I thought it was some kind of Sex Yoga, but it’s not…although I think it could help improve your sex life if that’s something you’re looking for!

Anyway…it’s not so much about the poses and stretches – it’s more about breathing while moving/stretching.  I purchased two DVD’s from Amazon for Kundalini Yoga – the one mentioned above and another by Ana Brett and Ravi Singh.  The one by Ana and Ravi was way tooooooo much for me.  You had to do this breath and motion thing that was impossible – I had to give up and felt like a failure.  Many people seem to really like Brett and Singh based on Amazon reviews, but I’m not one of them.  It was just too hard for me.

Anyway, the May Fiennes one is really good.  It’s not difficult although there might be times where you can’t do it all.  This DVD is easy going and the end result is AMAZING.  I’m not kidding when I say that you will feel like a new person once you finish it.

An example of an exercise is this – you sit cross legged, and start off clock-wise circling your body around inhaling when you go around the front of your body and exhaling when you circle around the back.  You do this slow and then you speed up – doing it both clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Another example is putting your fingers together in front of your heart and then flicking your hands and arms out to your sides exhaling strongly (and doing this for a few minutes).  This is the most difficult exercise for me on the DVD, but I always make it to the end and feel good for it!

What I’m trying to demonstrate is that this kind of Yoga is not difficult, but the results are great.  After finishing I always feel lighter, happier, more peaceful and I get an overall sense of calmness.

I’d love to tell you to buy the DVD and I’ll refund you the money if you don’t like it, but I won’t.  You’re a big person…you can decide whether it’s for you or not! (hehehehe)

Geri Halliwell – Body Yoga

I’m not a massive fan of the Spice Girls or  Ginger Spice, but I must say that this Yoga DVD isn’t too bad!  It’s quite a bit of work and you will sweat during this DVD, but it’s in sections so you can do as little or as much as you want.  I totally don’t recommend Geri’s other Yoga DVD – Geri Yoga…don’t get that one.  It’s just not very comprehensive.

Yoga – Learn Yoga

Right – the reason I purchased this one was because it had so many 5 star ratings on Amazon.  The DVD is good from the perspective of teaching different poses; however it looks like it was recorded in 1980.  Overall, I recommend this DVD but it’s not my number 1 favourite.  Also – don’t do as I did and mistakenly choose the advanced section first!  They had me doing a head stand – not only did I almost break my neck, but I felt like a moron.  Luckily it dawned on me that I must have accidentally hit advanced rather than basic!

If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment!  I’m sure others will appreciate your thoughts as much as I will.

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Feel peaceful, relaxed and happy in 30 seconds – Easy feel-good exercise

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I don’t believe in quick fixes but this little feel-good exercise had a profound physical and mental effect on me.

Take two minutes, try it out and if it doesn’t work all you’ve lost is a small bit of time.  If, however, it does work you might have a new tool to add to your box that will help you to enjoy your journey more.

Instant feel-good exercise – use to reduce/eliminate stress, clear your mind, un-shrug your shoulders or to simply feel good:

1. Close your eyes

2. Pay attention to your thoughts for a few seconds

3. Consciously say to yourself, ‘what will my next thought be?’ or ‘Where will my next thought come from?’

Give this a go for a minute before reading on.

Once you ask your mind a question about your next thought there will be a small gap where there is no thought…where there is nothing.  It might be a millisecond or it could be 3-4 seconds.  I doesn’t matter how long it is.

After the gap, thoughts will start to come in again.  Once you realise that you are thinking, pay attention to the thoughts and once again ask ‘what will my next thought be?’

This exercise will cause you to have gaps in your thoughts.  By creating gaps in your thoughts it gives yourself a break from the incessant ruminations, thoughts, ideas, fears and worries.  That little break causes your body and mind to relax into the most amazingly peaceful place.

The cool thing is that you can do this for 30 seconds and feel the effects… You don’t have to sit in a corner of the room for an hour trying not to think.

Give this a go and let me know what you think!

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Here’s a good way to end your day with gratitude

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Every evening I ask my husband what he’s grateful for and after he’s finished, I then run through my list.  Ending the day sharing your gratitude can help you to:

  • Increase the likeliness that more good stuff will come – what you focus on you get
  • End the day on a positive note
  • Prepare yourself for good dreams and a solid night’s sleep
  • Discuss your day’s best points with your partner (rather than its low points)

And when my daughter (15 months old) is old enough to comprehend gratitude I’ll start to include her in on the routine too.

I sometimes get resistance from my hubby but for the most part he’s able to list off a handful of things.  While he’s re-running the good parts of his day I see him light up, smile and he often remembers something funny to share.

Rather than do the norm and complain about a bad boss, a moron work associate, terrible traffic or the latest war casualty count we talk about eating a fantastic lunch, sharing some jokes with a co-worker or listening to our daughter try roar like a lion.  His gratitude list sparks off more things on my gratitude list and before you know it we’re rolling with happiness.

Sickening – isn’t it? (in a good way, of course).

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Is your day broken – read about a tool that will help you mend it

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In the book Blissology, by Andy Baggott, there is an excellent tool to fix a bad day and prevent it from happing again.

Have you ever woke up and knew from the moment your eye’s opened that it’s going to be ‘just one of those days’?  This happened to me recently – I woke to my crying daughter, discovered there was no hot water for my shower and then walked into a door giving myself a black eye all in the space of 10 minutes.

The scary thing about a bad start to the day is that it is often is a precursor to more bad stuff to come.  Have you ever noticed how days can spiral to one extreme or the other – either everything goes perfect or everything goes horribly wrong.

Baggott explains that you get what you focus on, so if you’re focus is negative, more negativity will follow.  And when bad stuff happens it’s a result of the feelings you’ve been holding. Baggott also explains that life is about contrast.  If we always had warm days they wouldn’t be special – it’s because of smouldering hot days and freezing cold days that we realise warm days are most enjoyable (to most of us).

So – when bad stuff happens, the best thing you can do is find a way to stop your negativity and focus on what you would like to happen instead.  Easier said than done.  For some reason, when I’m unhappy I often can’t snap out of it.  I’ve tried affirmations, telling myself things are fine, turning the other cheek, but my brain quickly falls back into the ‘I’m angry and I want to be angry and don’t try to stop me’ mode.

However, at the end of the day I’m more apt to reflect and put aside my negativity.  There’s nothing else that’s going to go wrong (usually).  This is where Baggotts tool comes in.  Before going to sleep it’s important to be in a positive frame of mind ensuring that you have a good sleep AND, more importantly, to make sure that the next day has a fair chance of being much better.

In the book Blissology, Baggott has some steps to mending your day, but I’ve slightly changed them to reflect a system that works best for me:

1. Get comfortable and take a few deep breaths

2. Remind yourself of positive things that have happened to you in your lifetime (I often think of my daughter giggling or a sailing trip I went on with my parents.  I also look through a list of good memories that I keep in a journal – flipping through them helps me to re-live good times.)

3. Recall your bad day and contemplate what made it bad (quickly)

4. Replay your day but do it in a way that the outcome changes to a more positive one.

At the end of my bad day as described earlier, I envisioned waking up to birds chirping (rather than my daughter crying).  I visualised a nice hot shower that felt relaxing and peaceful (rather than no hot water at all).  And I then imagined that the door I ran into hit my face and instantly removed all my little wrinkles.  Happy days!

Give it a try and let me know if it works for you! Also – I do recommend the book Blissology – it’s a good read.

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Why knowing what you don’t want can be a good thing!

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Some days I wake up and I feel that the world is against me.  I’m not sure if it’s the result of a bad dream or the build-up of too much negativity.  When I get to a point where I’m ready to rip someone’s head off, I know it’s time to do my yellow pad left/right exercise.

Right, it’s so easy yet so powerful.  Doing this little exercise will seriously help you to feel better.  Give it a try:

Why knowing what you don’t want can be a good thing – a feel better tool

1.  Get a lined piece of paper and a pen (my favourite is a piece of paper from a yellow legal pad)

2.  Fold the paper in half from left to right allowing the page to form two columns

3.  On the left side allow your negativity to flow out of you with sentences like:

  • I’m afraid I’ll never figure out what to do with my life
  • I’m nervous that flight to New York will get cancelled
  • I hate my complexion – it’s tired and bumpy
  • I’m so tired and have no energy
  • I’m afraid that my friend thinks I’m depressing and no fun to be around

Tip 1:  If you can’t fit everything onto one line, just use the space above your sentence to wrap the text…no one other than you will read what you write, so as long as you know how you wrote it, that’s fine.

Tip 2:  Keep writing until you can’t think of anything else that is making you annoyed, angry, frustrated, and so forth

4. Once the left side is complete and you can’t think of anything else that is bothering you, you need to fill out the right side of the paper.  To do this you simply write the exact opposite of what you see on the left.  You can also spice it up a bit so that it’s energising.  So, in relation to the top examples, here’s what you’d see on the right:

  • I have figured out what to do with my life and it’s exciting
  • My flight to New York will go ahead as scheduled and the journey will go fast
  • My complexion looks great – vibrant and smooth
  • I’m so alive and energised – I feel great
  • My friend things I’m optimistic and fun to be around – wooowooo!

Tip:  Pay attention to the fact that you’re starting to smile and feel much better.

5. Now carefully tear the columns in half along the vertical crease you created.  Rip up the left side that outlines all your negative feelings. If you’re into fire, burn them.  I just rip it up so no one can see how pathetic I must appear (on paper) and throw the angry shards into a rubbish bin.

6. Re-read your right side and at the bottom you can add a line to the Universe, God, an Angel/Fairy, or any one or thing that you believe in the following, “Dear Universe please make the above come true or better for the greatest good for me.  Thank you, it is done.”  If you don’t believe in anything, you don’t have to write the last line…the whole process will still make you feel better.

7. Keep your papers and in a week or so you can look back and realise that loads of things (or better) have come true.

Overall, the yellow pad left/right exercise is a great tool to help get you out of a negative rut.  As we all know, you get what you focus on so we need to find ways to focus on good stuff.  The better we feel, the better our journey through life will be.  Amen.

Actually…one last thing.  There’s no rule to any of these tools.  You can use them once a day or once a week.  I tend to accumulate a bit of negativity over time and suddenly decided to use this exercise for 3 – 4 days in a row. I also find that if something major is coming up, this exercise works well.  Like going on holiday, having family over for the holidays, or having to do a presentation or public speaking.  The important thing is to remember that this tool exists and use it to get you back on a journey that feels good.

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