​Most of us have never seen the Himalayas, climbed in the Andes or stood next to Switzerland’s Matterhorn. But a majority of individuals and families have faced disaster, tragedy, debilitating illness, an accident or other trial, some personal mountain that at one point seemed insurmountable.

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​When Your Problem Feels Like Mt Everest
Author: Gary Sinclair

Most of us have never seen the Himalayas, climbed in the Andes or stood next to Switzerland’s Matterhorn. But a majority of individuals and families have faced disaster, tragedy, debilitating illness, an accident or other trial, some personal mountain that at one point seemed insurmountable.

People of course respond in a variety of ways. Some are immediately overwhelmed and give up. Rather than even start the climb, they give way to depression and despair uninterested in the help of friends, professionals or fellow-strugglers.

Others panic. They want to overcome but don’t know where to begin so they run from person to person, idea to idea, without a plan making little headway towards the summit.

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A third group gets angry. They spew their rage at life, God, friends, family or all of the above, furious that life has taken this precipitous turn.

While each of these responses is somewhat extreme, they are normal. They are emotions that erupt when we face a mountain that scares us because we don’t believe we have the resources to conquer it.

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​My wife Jackie and I encountered a Denali over a decade ago now when it was discovered she had stage three colon/rectal cancer. There was a tumor growing inside her and the devilish cancer cells had begun to spread. Ironically, she and I had climbed her first fourteen-thousand-foot peak in Colorado just three months before.

We now had a new mountain to climb. It took some weeks for us to figure it out, but we finally realized that we must climb her cancer mountain the same way we ascended those of granite. While climbs and climbers are unique, there remain principles that undergird any successful summit bid.

The same is true with personal mountains.

Let me discuss three of the key principles as they impacted our Mt. Cancer.

One, never climb alone. Most every experienced mountaineer will tell you that you are foolish to in high altitude by yourself. People do it, yes, but many of them die, some needlessly. During Jackie’s illness, we knew we must invite others to walk this trail with us, some being people who had faced a similar journey to ours. Others simply wanted to be there with us.

Two, climb one part of the trail at a time. Get through the next switchback before worrying about the next one. On a mountain trail, we would give each other candy once we reached the place on the mountain where we reached our next waypoint. In the same way, as we started her cancer journey, we focused on the next doctor visit, the chemo, surgery or radiation treatment rather than think about what might be down the road.

No, we couldn’t perfectly excise from our minds the possible future implications, but we became pretty good at keeping them at arm’s length until later. The mountain didn’t disappear but we could face it more and without unnecessary, unhelpful distractions

Three, be honest about your mountain. Some natural mountains have more snow and ice than others; some are steeper; some have false summits. In the same way our personal trails will vary from those others hike. We must face the difficulty of our mountain and not look the other way or try to make it seem easier than it is.​

The good news is that there is also hope for you to conquer personal mountain if you’ll learn from those who climb the big peaks. Your ascent can be a long and arduous one but remember: the view from the top is worth it!

​Bio: Gary Sinclair is an author, leadership coach, speaker and avid climber/hiker. He has summitted nine fourteen thousand foot mountains and hiked with his wife Jackie in beautiful places like Yosemite, Alaska, Colorado, the Canadian Rockies and the Alps. He has an ongoing passion to help those who are hurting face life challenges that seem beyond their ability to conquer. He and his wife currently live in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. His website is: http://www.neverquitclimbing.com and he has recently written a book entitled, "Never Quit Climbing," available at Amazon.com.

 This is the first post in a new series - "Using Your Senses To Transform Your Life.” Most of us probably assume that we make use of all 5 our senses each and every day, but take another look. Do you think that you use them to their fullest potential?

Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance painter and sculptor, said that the average person looks without seeing, listens without hearing, and talks without thinking. Doesn’t this describes most of us?
 
Follow these series if you would like to discover the full potential of your senses and how you can use them for powerful self improvement which will lead to happiness, healing, and greater life fulfilment. 
 
See how one may fine tune your senses  to make much more sense of the world. After all, you are the writer of your own story, and your perception creates your own world.

Do you know what your predominant sense is? 
​Download this free quiz below  determine your main sensory tendency.

For 5 weeks, we will focus on one sense each week. For instance, week one you could pay particular attention to everything you see that week. Do not then pay to much attention to your other four senses in your “sight” week. In a "touch week" focus on feeling various textures, and so on. 
 
Perform this exercise over the next 5 weeks, concentrating on a different sense each week.
 
Repeat this exercise from time to time to stay in touch with all of your senses so you can reap the very most benefits from all five of them. 

Week 1:  Your Sense Of Hearing

The Art of Listening
 
True listening has the power of transforming relationships on a majestic scale. It can make the difference between a failed and a successful career. How well you listen in the same way affects your relationships with your family members and friends. 
 
Try these tips to fine tune your listening skills:

• Look at the person speaking. Show your interest by attentively leaning forward. Make sure that you maintain eye contact and stop with whatever it is that your re doing listen to this person.
• Do not become distracted by your phone, the tv or anything else while you are listening.
• You have to show your interest from time to time by nodding or saying “really?” or “I see what you mean."  
• Do not plan what you are going to say next while the speaker is talking. Let him or her finish first before you consider your reply.
• Exhibit self-control and avoid being judgemental while the person is speaking. If what the person said makes you angry first count to ten and think about an objective response before saying a a thing.
• Make sure you understood what they said by summarising “so you are saying...”  and wait with your questions while the other person is speaking.

​Research has long shown that music enhance brain power, health, and a general sense of well-being. This phenomenon is known as “The Mozart Effect.”

Improve Creativity and Focus With the Music of Mozart

Mozart’s music, in particular the "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major", has been shown to boost brain power.
 
Dr. Alfred Tomatis discovered the Mozart Effect in the late 1950's while he was experimenting with the effects of Mozart’s music on autistic children. By 1990, the method had been adopted worldwide. It was also found that Mozart’s music is also beneficial in reducing the negative effects of epilepsy.  
 
Classical music relieves stress and is shown to improve your body’s immune system. Mozart’s compositions and Baroque music like Bach that is 50 to 80 beats per minute also enhances a person’s focus by inducing the Alpha state brain waves which is ideal for learning and reading. ​

Also Read: Using your Senses To Transform Your Life
Also Read: ​Your Sense Of Touch - MUCH more Powerful Than you Realise
Also Read: Get in touch With Your Soul By Using your Sense Of Sight
Also Read: Free Workbook: Transform Your Life With The Power Of Your Senses
Also Read: 10 Incredible Facts About Your Sense Of Smell

1) Be SPECIFIC about what you wish to accomplish
Many people do not know what they want to do with their life. This is among the major reasons that many people live an ordinary life although there are numerous books and workshops on success readily available.

2) CREATE a strategy
Identify a goal or goals and write it down (even small goals are fine.)  After discovering a goal you truly want to accomplish, create a strategy, being as functional as possible. List the actions you need to take, like enrolling in a training program, reading a book, searching for a job, etc, that will get you closer to accomplishing your goal/s.

3) COMPLY wit your checklist
Do something about it and comply with the steps on your checklist. Do not wait on things to take place.

4) Create a BACK-UP plan
If a specific strategy does not work, search for an alternate one.

5) ANALYZE your goals routinely
Some goals may not be worth accomplishing. Situations and people change. Many goals lose their value. It is a great idea to re-examine your goals routinely and remove the meaningless ones.

6) AFFIRM and PICTURE your goals
Belief that your goal/s has been ACHIEVED already and envision yourself seeing, feeling and smelling your goal/s. make use of all your senses. If you do not nullify your affirmations with doubts and non-belief, your subconscious mind will take them in, and give you even more aspiration and drive.

7) ACT
Do not affirm and picture your goals without doing anything about it. Do whatever is needed to bring your goal/s into fulfillment. 
Trust your gut instinct, new ideas and possibilities that show themselves, and accept help from other individuals.

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How to improve self esteem: 5 ways to prevent becoming quickly offended

1) DETACH YOURSELF
Lots of people are quickly angered since they can not separate between their ideas and their personal emotions. Many then think that they, personally, have been turned down, instead of their idea or viewpoint. This, obviously  hurts - but is extremely incorrect.

2) PERMIT PEOPLE TO BEING HUMAN
If you anticipate others to behave and talk a certain way, most of the time you will become upset when they do not live up to those standards set by you. Rather, permit people to being human. They are, anyway.

3) LOVE THE HONEST TRUTH MORE THAN ALWAYS BEING RIGHT
If the honest truth, is much more valued than your personal viewpoint, then opposition to your thought or beliefs will be inoffensive regardless of how offending the other person is trying to be. Opposition to your perspective then provides no reason for offence. You just wish to know the truth.

​4) PLACE YOURSELF IN THE OTHER PERSON'S SHOES
If you can slide your feet into the other person's moccasins for a minute, you will be able to view points from the other person's point of view. You might also find that you too contributed to in the drama. And possibly you will also come to find that the offender had absolutely no such intentions of annoying you.
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4) RESERVE OF YOUR OPINION OR JUDGEMENT
Let your discussion reach its natural end before you leap to a verdict, or presume an ill intention, Stand up to that impulse and hold-up your judgment till the discussion has stopped. After all, you may discover there is no offence by the time you get to the end.



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SELF-LEADERSHIP AND SUCCESS
Successful people аrе аlwауѕ self-leaders. Yоu may never hаvе to lеаd others to асhiеvе thе success уоu wаnt, but you will hаvе tо lеаd уоurѕеlf. If you can't lead уоurѕеlf уоu wоn't ever bе аblе tо achieve ѕuссеѕѕ because уоu'll triр yourself uр by: a lасk оf fосuѕ, a lack оf direction, or a lack of commitment аnd drive.

Successful people аrе vеrу focused. Fосuѕ is your ability tо ѕtау оn task аnd оn track with thе thingѕ thаt will gеt уоu ѕuссеѕѕ еvеn whеn уоu don't wаnt tо оr it gеtѕ hаrd. Fосuѕ rеԛuirеѕ thе self-discipline tо ignоrе, dеlеtе, оr dеlеgаtе thе thingѕ thаt keep уоu frоm dоing those things thаt will gеt уоu ѕuссеѕѕ.

Successful people hаvе a сlеаr direction for where they're hеаdеd. Without a сlеаr dirесtiоn уоu'rе еаѕilу distracted bу thе unimportant bесаuѕе уоu have no way оf dеtеrmining what is most imроrtаnt. Yоu оbtаin a clear dirесtiоn from thinking аbоut whеrе you want tо bе in thе long-term, аnd thеn lауing out the steps that will gеt уоu there.

Successful people hаvе commitment аnd drivе. Onе оf the biggеѕt ѕuссеѕѕ killers iѕ a lасk of commitment. Whеn things get tоugh оn your раth to success do you hаvе thе соmmitmеnt, аnd thе drive to stick it оut еvеn whеn things get rеаllу tоugh? Whеn уоu rеаd the biоgrарhiеѕ of the реорlе whо are recognized аѕ hаving achieved ѕuссеѕѕ a соmmоn thread evolves unсоvеring the fact thаt еасh and еvеrу реrѕоn had tremendous соmmitmеnt аnd drivе tо kеер mаking fоrwаrd progress tо асhiеvе thе ѕuссеѕѕ they hаd in mind, in spite оf ѕееminglу insurmountable оbѕtасlеѕ аnd сhаllеngеѕ. If уоu'rе willing tо thrоw your hаndѕ up and wаlk аwау in thе face оf аdvеrѕitу realize in most саѕеѕ it'ѕ еxасtlу аt that роint when thе means to thе end you hаvе in mind ѕurfасеѕ.

Nо оnе iѕ bоrn a ѕеlf-lеаdеr, but everyone can become a leader. Yоu can dеvеlор ѕеlf-lеаdеrѕhiр skills. Idеntifу your strengths аnd build оn those firѕt. Idеntifу аnу wеаknеѕѕеѕ thаt will рrеvеnt уоu frоm bеing a successful person, and mаkе a соmmitmеnt tо lеаrning hоw to overcome thоѕе wеаknеѕѕеѕ. Sеlf-lеаdеrѕhiр iѕ a fundаmеntаl rеԛuirеmеnt fоr bесоming a success mаkеr.
Sеlf-lеаdеrѕhiр соmеѕ with Sеlf-аwаrеnеѕѕ and thiѕ has a long wау tо gо in thе ѕuссеѕѕ оf ѕеlf-lеаdеrѕhiр. More information on Self Leadership: eBook & Paperback

Whаt iѕ Sеlf-Awаrеnеѕѕ?
Sеlf аwаrеnеѕѕ iѕ "an аwаrеnеѕѕ of оnе'ѕ оwn реrѕоnаlitу or individuаlitу".
Pеrѕоnаlitу iѕ thе complex сhаrасtеriѕtiсѕ thаt distinguish уоu frоm еvеrуоnе еlѕе in thе wоrld. Your personality iѕ thе tоtаlitу of all of уоur bеhаviоrаl аnd emotional сhаrасtеriѕtiсѕ. Thеѕе аrе уоur uniԛuе diѕtinсtivе traits аnd сhаrасtеriѕtiсѕ.
Yоur individuality iѕ your total сhаrасtеr uniԛuе tо уоu that diѕtinguiѕhеѕ you frоm аll оthеrѕ. Yоur individuаlitу iѕ those trаitѕ thаt mаkе each оnе of uѕ uniԛuе.

Tо bесоmе mоrе self аwаrе you must first willing to be tоtаllу ореn and honest with уоurѕеlf. Thе above dеfinitiоnѕ don't ѕау thiѕ but it iѕ imрliеd. In order to have ѕuреriоr ѕеlf awareness you muѕt be willing to ассерt thоѕе characteristics about уоurѕеlf thаt you may mаkе уоu unсоmfоrtаblе. To bесоmе ѕеlf аwаrе, you must fосuѕ оn уоu nоting оf аll your uniԛuе characteristics, bеhаviоrѕ, аnd еmоtiоnѕ. Thоѕе thаt уоu еnjоу аnd аrе comfortable with аrе your strengths. Thоѕе thаt you аrе lеѕѕ соmfоrtаblе with оr dо not enjoy аrе уоur weaknesses. Mаkе a соmрlеtе liѕt оf аll оf your ѕtrеngthѕ and wеаknеѕѕеѕ.

​The more ѕеlf аwаrе аnd willing tо bе unсоmfоrtаblе уоu are, the grеаtеr уоur рrоbаbilitу оf success. 
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Commitment means to be dedicated to a specific cause. To take full ownership for what you want to achieve. Without commitment, self-discipline towards goal achievement is not possible. Once you have committed yourself to something, you will do it without hesitation. But if you are not committed to the outcome, you will battle to keep going and achieve your goal. This is significant, as we need to examine our commitment towards a specific goal first—as self-discipline is not possible without having commitment first. When you feel discouraged, it is of uttermost importance to have the commitment to keep your motivation going. This is where commitment can make the difference between succeeding or not going anywhere.

#StartYourOwnBusness

​​To start a new business from scratch, are among the most stressful changes in a person's life - and is, thus, to be expected to have a huge impact on the rest of the family and the business owner must be prepared and take the necessary steps to deal with and cut the effect of the stress on the rest of the family members.

​Possible consequences of a new business in a family:

 #StartYourOwnBusiness ​Time is precious. It is important to know how to use your time well. The house, children, your business, and all the other duties need attention. The pressures of modern life can be very tiring. It is very common to come to the realization that there is not enough time in a day. Make sure that you make time to relax and nurture yourself.

How do you currently spend your time? Keep a time log for a week or so. Record everything you do. You'll be amazed to see how your time is spent and will see where you need to make changes.

​There are certain ways that a person can learn how to fit all your tasks into your day, making some time for yourself as well.

Start with simple things like dining with the family every night at the same time
 
Set up a work routine and stick to it. Only plan for 4-5hours of real work per day. We're always more focused and productive within a limited time. More work hours doesn't mean more productivity.
 
It is a must that time limits are set on working hours and that you adhere to it. Limit your normal working hours to office hours during weekdays. If you need to work on weekends, make sure that Sundays are free at least. Be free at least one day a week, to focus on yourself and the family, and to do things together and relax. Due to modern technology, it is quite common to receive e-mail and SMS messages from your business after hours. Again, it is important that there are definite time limits set after which no emails and texts messages should be answered.
 
Proper time management is sometimes difficult, but if the benefits are taken into account, it is worthwhile. Take the first 20-30 minutes of every day to plan the rest of your day. Do not start with anything else until you complete your time plan. The time you schedule to schedule time are of utter importance.
 

Make use of a "Do not disturb" sign when you absolutely have to get urgent work done. Do not answer the phone, ignore e-mails, and disconnect instant messaging. Schedule a time to answer emails, messages and return phone calls.
 
Do not multi-task. Focusing on one thing at a time will double your productivity, which can mean the difference between success and failure in a small business. Set a timer to force yourself to be limited to do one thing at a time. Focus on that one task until it’s done.
 
To make the best use of your time in your business, your day should consist of a series of goals that have specific milestones. Break larger goals into smaller steps, for more effective accomplishment. Set some goals to be completed before lunch and some for after lunch.
 
Start Early. To increase productivity, have an early start to your day. The more time you take to think and plan, the better organized you will be. Also get into the habit of going to bed at a reasonable time to be able to rise early.

For further reading - How to start Your Own Business