Month: January 2018

Focus to Achieve Your Heart’s Desire

~ jodiheisz ~ 3 Comments

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“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
— Bruce Lee

One of the things I struggle with and need to work on most is focus. With all the different responsibilities, obligations and expectations, it’s easy to lose focus on my goals to create my heart’s desire. It feels like everything gets in the way and distractions overwhelm me the minute I go for my dream.

The desire I hold deep in my heart is to be a great writer. One of my goals to achieve this is to write 500 words a day. I start with the best intentions to follow through no matter what. But the next morning I get a nasty cold. I step on a pile of laundry needing to be done. I get trapped in the Facebook time warp. I say yes to commitments not serving my higher purpose. With these distractions guess what happens? Nothing! My 500 words… not written (sad face).

If you have a heart’s desire burning inside to create the life you want, you need focus to achieve it. It’s a requirement for success. If I want to be a great writer, I must focus on making writing a daily habit. Or I will never be the writer I dream to be. Your goal will be different depending your dreams. Doing what it takes to achieve your heart’s desire is a daily effort using your attention and intention to make it happen.

So how do you focus when life gets in the way? Here are some things I am trying and hopefully they will help you.

  1. Start Small: Work on your goal with focused attention for 5 minutes a day. That’s it! Just 5 minutes. But make it the best 5 minutes you can to get the most out of it. Once you build your focus muscle, add 5 more. Then another 5. Over time, you will increase your duration giving you lots of focus time on your heart’s desire.
  2. Remove Distractions: When you are working on your heart’s desire, remove all distractions as possible. This helps to focus on the task at hand. Silence your phone and put it away. Turn off the TV. Close unnecessary browsers. Get off Facebook or other social media sites. Close your email inbox. For the time dedicated to focusing on your goal, cut yourself off from the world. Don’t worry… the world will still be there when you return. You need this quiet time to bring your best effort, attention and creativity to your work.
  3. Soft Focus: You want laser-like focus but balance it with softness. Like a soft gaze of the eyes. This allows you to relax while working on your project instead of being tense, rigid and stressed. It creates flexibility to roll with the changes and take challenges in stride. When you are relaxed, your creativity will increase and flow through you with a sense of joy and playfulness.
  4. Practice Mindfulness: To develop your focus muscle, practice mindfulness throughout your day. Be mindful of the different activities you do, the places you go and the people you talk to. When you are doing the dishes, only do the dishes. When you are in a conversation, be fully present and listen attentively. When you visit a new place, use all your senses to notice the details of the environment. Practice focusing doing one thing at a time.
  5. Prioritize Your Life: Make your heart’s desire a priority. Learn to say no to the good and yes to the best. By making your heart’s desire top priority, you set the intention for manifesting success to create the life you want. Try to work on this first before anything else. Your confidence will boost making you feel good about yourself. This will motivate you to keep going. If possible, delegate things to give yourself more time to focus on your passion. Don’t let anyone talk you into something taking you away from your dream or if it’s not aligned with your beliefs, vision and goals.

You want to fulfill your heart’s desire and see your vision come true. But to do so, you must focus on that one thing. It’s ok to start small and build up over time. Take it step by step in a comfortable pace that’s right for you.

Your momentum will build. Your focus will grow. Your work will evolve. You’ll see results on your progress inspiring you to keep going. With consistent and daily effort with focused attention and intention, your heart’s desire will breathe and come to life.

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

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New Year Resolution… More You

~ jodiheisz ~ 2 Comments

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“I know of nothing more valuable, when it comes to the all-important virtue of authenticity, than simply being who you are.”
– Charles R. Swindoll

New year. New beginnings. New resolutions. New and better me. At least that’s what I have tried year after year after year. And year and after year after year, I failed on my resolutions. The only result was me being way too hard on myself. “Bad Jodi!”

Well… not this year. I am trying something new. A gentler, more loving approach to personal development. Instead of new resolutions to be a new me, I am going to be more of the real me.

How about you join me in this challenge to be more you instead of a new you?

We always want to make more money, lose weight, pay debt, get a new wardrobe, etc. All of those are positive and it’s good to have goals to improve your life. I have new goals set for this year too.

But what if in 2018, your focus is on becoming more you in everything you do? How would your life improve if you were unapologetically you? Always being your authentic, genuine self under all circumstances is a challenging but worthy effort. If you stopped trying to change your true self and stopped being a watered-down version, you would be happier and more at peace. I know I will be.

Being yourself takes the stress off trying to be someone you’re not. It requires less effort because you’re simply just being with no agenda, acting out a fake persona, or trying to keep up with the status quo. Things will flow gracefully when you tap into the true nature of who you are deep down inside.

To be yourself requires three key things I am working on: Courage, Clear the Clutter and Say Yes to the Best. Hopefully, these will help you too.

Courage
It takes a courageous heart to be yourself in a critical and judgmental world. Especially when this world exists in your mind. The more you are yourself, the more confident and independent you will become to stand strong in your beliefs, talents and gifts.

Every day, be brave to take off the masks you wear, stop playing the roles you play and choose to be present instead of going through the motions. When you have the courage to show the scars, the rawness underneath, magic starts to happen. This magic is the real you. Being brave showing all of yourself helps you connect with others in a deep and powerful way. Including connecting with yourself.

Clear the Clutter
To be more you, clear the clutter from your life. Physically and emotionally. When you clear what no longer serves you, you clear the space for you to see the light within. Clutter is distracting keeping you away from true joy and happiness.

In your physical space, donate old clothes from your closet you never wear, get rid of those old pots and pans taking up room in your cupboard and clear your table from papers and unnecessary items to leave room for a mindful meal.

In your emotional life, let go of self-doubt, judgements, fear, anger, worry, resentment or any negative thoughts about yourself. Imagine throwing these thoughts and feelings into a big, yellow dump truck in front of your house. One by one throw these negative thoughts away. When you are done dumping everything, see the dump truck driving away from your house. How do you feel? Do you feel more clear, peaceful and at ease?

The more clutter you remove, the more you can see the real you. Just like when you remove clutter from a room, everything looks clear with light shining into the open space.

Say Yes to the Best
Make a commitment to yes to the best and no to the good. When you say yes to what’s best for you, you give your true self permission to shine and take center stage. You deserve to do what’s in your best interest to live aligned with your vision, goals and beliefs.

Never back down from your gifts to please others. Do what you feel is right in your heart. Remember, you are the one who was to live with you the most. When you do things to fulfill you in the deepest way, your life will be peaceful and full of wonder. This will make your loved ones happy too because they will feel your positive energy emanating from your soul.

Your experiences will be vivid and vibrant by committing to the best things. You will have less stress and resentment and will stop feeling overwhelmed by choosing to say no to the good. You enter a sacred space connecting to your true self, God and the energies surrounding you. Living and being the real you and doing things honoring your true self allows you to live in the moment going with the flow of life. You are free to just be.

Join me in 2018 to be more you. It won’t be easy and it will be scary. But you will be energized, happy and peaceful living true to yourself. God wants us to be who we are, nothing less and nothing different. He created us for a reason with a purpose for being here. Let’s honor His will for us and honor ourselves deep in our hearts and souls.

Commit to this resolution with me to be more you.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash