Author: Iwona King, Ambassador of the World Healthy Living Foundation

A Closed Heart
If you close your heart, shut the doorway to your emotions so no-one and nothing can get in, you will not get hurt, but your heart won’t work the way it should. As your heart is hurting, you still have a choice. A choice to let people in, a choice to try and trust again. These choices may feel like stepping out and taking risks, but in life you must take the right risks to discover the good in others and to avoid numbing yourself to the world around you. You always have a choice. There are always solutions. Your mind, your thoughts, your feelings may be the problem, but you are also the solution.

Fear of Change

Everyone fears change, but change is the only constant in life. And change is as good as a rest. It is not the fear of change that stops people wanting to make a change, it’s the fear of failing that prevents it. When you want to achieve something new, learn new skills, start a business or do anything outside of the normalness of your life and routine, the fear of failing prevents change. That lie kept creeping into my mind “If you don’t believe that you going to achieve, what is the point of even starting?” My mother told me once, “If you have 100 reasons for not doing something, but one of them is a reason that you should at least try, then do it!” If you don’t try, you wont know. Fail and you can learn to not do that again. Succeed and enjoy the fruit of your labours. Not stepping out will only bring regret in the future. Regretting is worse than failing, they come with words like “…if only…” or “…I wish I would have…” – make the choice to step up, step out and embrace the change.

I Have No Time for Myself

Everyone can be heard complaining about the lack of time to do anything, and in that you always put other priorities above yourself. You’re doing the job, looking after the kids, caring for the dog, watching out for others, but when do you have time for you? Every human being on the planet has the same number of hours in a day, 24. How you manage and use them is up to you. Are you going to spend time reading books, educating yourself, spending time with people that influence you in positive ways, or will you spend the time with people who will bring you down and lead you to destruction? Life is simple, but we like to complicate. Be clear on what you want to achieve, decide, act, commit and make the time, have a huge dose of self-discipline and succeed – then we can repeat.

What’s the Point?

Personal development is important, but what’s the best way to get the best out of your time and financial investment in being on a journey of personal development? Value comes from an investment. Knowing that you are worth the investment is the first barrier to smash. Because, you ARE worth it. You deserve a life of freedom from anxiety, depression and negative thought patterns.

Yet, it’s only you that can make a decision to step into this journey. No one else will do it for you. In my experience all the time and money I have spent, and continue to spend on my personal growth, not only benefited me but the people around me too, but the other individuals that are in my life that I have touched and influenced in positive ways. To me that’s priceless and why I continue to walk in the freedom I now live in and want to serve people like you in the same way. Your value comes from your mind. Decide today and say “I am worth it!” and dig deeper into this guide with me.

The Biggest Barrier

The biggest barrier in being able to achieve your goals and making a change for the better in your life, is your brain and the way you think. Your brain is you best protective organ, it’s your defender and your shield.

It will try to get you out of anything that considers it a risk, or worse, a fatal risk. Often it’s the things that are outside of normal day to day life and your daily routine that will feel like a risk to your brain. When you start taking small steps, soon you’ll start to think in new ways. The usual mindset will continue to be there until you kickstart and train your subconscious mind to a new way of thinking that will then become the norm. It is like rebooting a computer, reprograming your mindset and your mental computer. Our thoughts, our language and behaviour will all be affected. And all for the better.

Not Pushing Through

Never mind how hard the task or assignment, you must always find a way to push through! Sometimes it’s not easy but it’s always possible! You’ll see that with greater levels of self- awareness, self-believe and an improved internal self-image, replacing old habits for new ones, things will change.

It’s Not all About You

The best way to achieve results is to use your passion and purpose by serving others. This will create feelings of gratitude and other positive emotions in your life. By providing the service to the best of your abilities you will become more confident in yourself and the outcome will be, by helping others you help yourself.