There will be times when certain circumstances may cause a detour in your life. It’s important to be aware of these distractions, but never let them take you off your chosen road. One way of recognizing that you are probably on the wrong road is by how you are feeling. If you are not feeling good about what you are doing then that is a fair indication you are heading in the wrong direction. Maybe it is time you checked out what is happening and adjust your map accordingly to get yourself back on the right road. It’s no different to when you are driving your car with the intention of going from one destination to another. You need driving directions on how to get from A to B with the least amount of hassle. If you are lost, you don’t feel too good about what is happening and you will very quickly want to get out of that situation.

Sometimes you allow circumstances to distract you because it gives you the opportunity to avoid having to do something you are fearful about. For example, you may want to increase your income because you know you are capable of earning more, and you know what that extra income will do for your lifestyle. You know you could get a better paying job and you have often thought about starting your own internet business. Then all of a sudden you allow your logical mind to get in the way of what you really want and you start over analyzing everything.

Somehow you just never seem to have the time to do anything about making those changes. Besides, what would happen if you didn’t like your new job, and horror of horror’s, what would happen if you lost more money than you could make on the internet. You’ve heard all the other horror stories of people who have lost money on the internet and you don’t want to finish up in that situation. All those old doubts and fears start to rear their ugly heads and before you know it you have given up, as it all sounds far too hard.

Even though you are not particularly happy with your current set of circumstances your lack of belief in yourself will keep you there. You don’t trust yourself, or have faith that you will be able to achieve what you really want. You allow your excuses to bring about your failure.

Never fear, you are not alone in experiencing these circumstances, as many people fall into the same trap. Everyone deserves to have the very best that life has to offer. Your emotional intelligence can play a major roll in how you feel about yourself and what you believe about yourself. Once you learn how to improve your emotional intelligence, you will be able to eliminate those past beliefs and self doubts that have caused all those detours and distractions in your life.

At Learn Wealthy Secrets we have sourced numerous methods you can use to help you on the road to achieving the right mindset. Sandy Forster’s book, How to be Wildly Wealthy Fast, is just one of those resources that will really inspire you to overcome those self defeating attitudes and beliefs. Right here, right now, you will learn through simple, easy to follow steps, how to attract prosperity and abundance into your life and change your circumstances for the better forever. Gone will be the days of not being where you want to be, and what is stopping you from getting to where you want to go.

Alison Bolger has been studying and teaching self improvement and wealth creation for over 20 years. To read more tips and techniques like the ones in this article please click here: learnwealthysecrets.com/ learnwealthysecrets.com

One of the biggest fears many of us have in our creative lives is that if we increase our creativity, then it will somehow drain the supply of new creative ideas we have.

It’s as if the amount we create is closely connected inversely to the ideas we’re able to have, and we’re allowed to enjoy a high level of only one or the other, but not both.

So let’s put this myth to rest.

“Increase Your Creativity” DOES NOT EQUAL “Reduce Your Ability To have New Ideas”.

In fact it works in the opposite way. When we create more, we become more fluid, more open to new ideas and they complement and feed each other beautifully.

But because this is against the logic many of us hold about the way creativity works, we struggle to accept this truth.

One way to appreciate this from a new perspective is to become a Creative Lightning Rod.

Lightning rods are used on buildings to attract lightning during electrical storms, to protect the building below. The key to their effectiveness is that they’re made of a highly conductive, low resistance material.

So the lightning is drawn to the rod because it’s the path of least resistance for it to connect to the earth through.

In a similar way, if we are to be more creative, and have more creative ideas, we need to adopt some of the properties of the lightning conductor. We must find ways to attract ideas and let them flow to us with as little resistance as possible.

A great way of putting this into action is to start an Ideas Diary.

This can be just a little notebook, small enough to keep with you at all times, in which you jot down new creative ideas as they come to you.

For this to be most effective it’s crucial that you switch off your critical voice when adding to your diary. Sometimes, ideas that seem silly or bizarre or unrealistic at first turn out to be the most interesting and the deepest, richest sources for developing further.

Also, to give yourself more confidence and freedom, make it a personal book that no-one else will see, so you’re free to write in it anything you want.

Start by just writing the ideas you have in your head right now about your current or next creative project.

Before you say you don’t have any, just think about the following questions and write:

What would you like to create next? How could you create it? What form could it take? What’s at the core of what you wish to express? What other ways could you express the same idea? What other related ideas come to mind?

The hardest part is starting. Once you get going, the writing becomes addictive and the ideas flow freely. If you do feel you’re slowing or get a little stuck, just refer back to those questions and write on.

Remember: The more ideas you have, the more ideas you’ll have.

Or, put another way, the more you allow yourself to have ideas, the more you lower your resistance and become that Creative Lightning Rod, the more the ideas you’ll attract, the more each of those ideas will attract others, and so on.

The next step is to start doing something with this flow of new ideas, but that’s for a whole other article!

© Copyright 2007 Dan Goodwin

Want more great creativity articles, tips and exercises? It’s easy: just sign up to “Create Create!” – Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s free twice monthly ezine – today, and get your FREE copy of the powerful and practical “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Head on over now to CoachCreative.com/createcreate3 CoachCreative.com

You only have to look around you at your friends, family and colleagues to see that there is an abundance of people who have talents, yet many are held back by a mortgage, a family, lack of confidence or some other reason.

Deep inside us we all have a dream of living a thriving, prosperous life, but often we‘re unsure of how to navigate our way through the issues that come our way, and too many people, too often, give up and start making excuses to themselves about success being for others.

What I think is vitally important, and something that is often completely ignored these days is this: no-one else is quite like you. That’s right, you are unique – as unique as a sacred place, rare bird or a beautiful flower.

This uniqueness seeps out of you each and every day. It can’t help it. It’s because it is who you really are. When this uniqueness is suppress, negative feelings like frustration, anger or disillusionment rise.

You only have to look at the statistics that employers publish about lost days through stress or other related sicknesses to know something is not right in the employment market. This is nothing more than individuals forgetting about their unique gifts and trying force themselves into a role they have no energy for.

What I work with is Life Purpose. Life Purpose is all about starting with the unique gift you were born with and using that as the central driving force for your whole life. Working like this clears away the clutter of reasons and excuses. It re-ignites the fire of life.

You only need remember a time when you totally loved what you were doing. If you remember a time like this, you’ll know you were in timeless awareness – where the hours slipped by without you realising.

I’m one of the fortunate ones, I’m absorbed by work I love. It took some initial searching to find my purpose, but I’m now totally absorbed by what I do and earn my living from doing what I love.

If you’ve been signed off work recently with stress, feel lethargic, overweight, depressed, lost and often unsure then I strongly suggest reviewing your life purpose. If you don’t you’re going to drift through life like a boat drifts across the sea when it has no rudder.

Suggestion – Take time to consider all your talents and gifts. What have you been doing when you have been completely absorbed and lost all track of time? What areas do you feel you haven’t explored that you would have like to have done? Ask
other people what they see as being your strengths, talents and gifts. What do they think is unique about you?

Jo Ball (LCA, Dip, NLP) is a Life Purpose Coach. She’d love you to join up to her free monthly newsletter full of ideas, tips and stories on living life on purpose. What’s more when you join the fast growing readership she’ll send you a free e-book, Greater Steps to Happiness as a thank you gift. Join Jo now at unstoppablelife.com unstoppablelife.com

When I was fourteen I was fortunate enough to be introduced to backpacking. While I was in the Boy Scouts, we made a trip to Isle Royal, a 50 mile long national park island in the middle of Lake Superior. This remains one of my fondest memories. Crossing beaver dams and eating lunch while dangling our feet off a ledge, looking down on the trees far below us. I’ve had a few other opportunities to hike other national parks since then and have always enjoyed the experience.

Before my sons were even born I began planning our back packing trips together. I had always planned to return to Isle Royal when they became old enough to enjoy it. This was now the year.

I bought all new gear and put the plans in place. My oldest son, now 14, and I put the plans together. We did an easy 3 day warm up trip on North Manitou Island in Lake Michigan to test the gear and to see how things would work.

Isle Royal remains as I remembered it 26 years earlier. Rugged and beautiful. In spite of the rain, blisters and a sore knee, there is no possible way to be there and now enjoy the peace of it as contrasted against my normal busy life. There are no cars, no pagers and cell phones do not work there. After carrying 60 pounds of gear for 10 miles, each and every freeze-dried meal suddenly becomes the best meal you can remember having.

There were moose with us. The island has more than 900 of them there. I scared one up from its’ sleep late one night as I walked the short path to the outhouse. Separated by about 10 yards, you feel quite small in comparison to the size of these animals. But this cow jumped and ran several yards away. I’m convinced that at that moment, as she turned around and starred at me, she was just as frightened as I was.

Other animals weren’t so timid. We had had a fairly long hike one day and had finally come to a fork in the trail we were looking for. I pulled out the map to verify where we were when my son calmly pointed out that there was a fox here. I looked and saw the fox only about three feet away looking up at us like a lost dog. Instantly, thoughts of having to go in for a series of rabies shots rushed through my head. I had never had an animal of this size just walk up to me before. We backed up to put some distance between us. There, he blocked the path we needed to take. I yelled at it to try and get it to leave but it was beyond intimidation by a mere man. Finally it began to circle us some and opened the path we needed. We slipped through. I’m sure that at some time someone chose to feed it and it was just looking for a handout again. At the end of our 6 day hike I asked a ranger we met and found out that this kind of behavior was common for the foxes on the island. The foxes would steal anything. At least one backpacker had a boot stolen.

These hikes always give you time to think. Hours of walking and resting quietly in camp allows time for your mind to wind down and set into a free flowing pattern of contemplation. This trip something different struck me and I spent time pondering it. As we walked, the majority of the trail was always quite clear. There were only signpost at major trail crossings but there could be no mistake where now at least two generations of people had walked. But there were places where the trail crossed major areas that were solid rock. No trail was worn here since one could not be. The first time we came up to the rocks I was immediately confused as to where the path picked up again. It was kind of my best guess that enabled me to find it.

After searching a few more times for trails I noticed that where the trail picked up again, there was always a small stack of rocks. I then began to look for the stack of rocks every time we couldn’t see the path. Every time I found them. My son began to lead the way on the trail and he had the same trouble as I originally did finding the trail and after I pointed out the rock he never had another problem. The way was always clear.

I assumed that a ranger put the rocks there. Perhaps a Boy Scout troupe did. Who ever placed the rocks there did so with intent and effort. I thought briefly of a playing practical joke by moving the rocks somewhere else. It might be fun to send someone down the wrong path. This idea was discarded instantly. Too many people count on the rocks to point the way.

I thought a lot about the rocks. Somewhere this had meaning for me. It took awhile, but it finally occurred to me that we as Christians are like these stacks of rocks. These rocks may not be a stack as large as a church steeple, but perhaps just the quiet person that is a rock in their own way, that the a lost soul looks for when the path just cannot be found.

Just as the ranger placed the stack of rocks on Isle Royal, God places us where we are. There are people coming behind us looking for the path. Too often the path we walk in our Christian life can’t be easily seen. When we have a hard time finding the path are we looking for the rocks? Other are. We also need to be sure we are a rock for those following the trail behind us.

Just as I briefly thought of moving the rocks, Satan is trying hard to move any and all rocks away from the path so that others will go the wrong way. I’m sure that sometimes the rocks are kicked down, but God can stack us back up again.

We should check ourselves. Many people are searching. They are looking for the path. Perhaps even for rocks that point out the path. Are we pointing to the right path? Remember that there are people looking for the path every day. Are we stacked up high so people can see us or has Satan knocked us down or perhaps even moved us to point down the wrong path? Be sure you are a rock that points to the right path. Others may be lost without you.

Ralph Nelson Willett is the Webmaster for USChurchNews.com USChurchNews.com