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People who follow self improvement or spiritual growth techniques, such as concentration, meditation willpower or self discipline, sometimes get bored, lose interest and desire to quit.

There are many reasons why this might happen. If you over practice, your body and mind might resist your efforts. If this is the case, reduce the time you spend on the exercises. Sometimes, doing less is actually doing more.

Like it is with everything else, so it is on the inner path, there comes a time when one becomes bored or tired. In this case it would help, if you were able to motivate yourself to continue. You can do so by thinking often about the benefits of self-improvement or spiritual growth, and by reading about people who practiced what you are doing now and about their success.

There is another point to remember. The mind does not like to be controlled. It wants to stay free and undisciplined. Willpower, self discipline, concentration and meditation are aimed to control the mind and make it obedient to you. When the mind realizes that it is going to lose its freedom, it uses various ways to prevent you from controlling it. It might make you desire to stop the exercises, feel uncertain about the usefulness of what you are doing, make you feel you are wasting your time or just make feel too lazy.

Sometimes one feels as if he or she is being tempted to stop what they are doing. This is the time to show inner strength and discipline. The inner path requires time, devotion and perseverance.

You can help yourself by reading inspiring literature, thinking about what success would mean, not overdoing the exercises, and not obeying the desire to quit.

Sometimes people say that they feel they are losing interest in material things. It is natural, while on the path of spiritual growth, to lose some interest in the material life. One has to use common sense when this happens, and find the balance between the material and spiritual life. It is quite possible to live in both the spiritual and material worlds at the same time. There are people who live in ashrams, who do not care about the material life and about possessions, and there are people who work, have family and possessions, and yet are intensive in their spiritual quest. It possible to go caring about your business, doing the best you can, and the same time have your consciousness, as if in another dimension.

Change and transformation happen on the inner plane and not necessarily on the material plane. Spiritual progress happens inside you, while your external life could continue with almost no change. You may continue working and living the same external life, and at the same time practice self improvement and spiritual growth techniques. As you progress, you will develop some kind of inner detachment, which will allow you to function harmoniously, both on the spiritual and material levels. You will be able continue with your work, job and relationships, but with a kind of free and detached frame of mind.

Recommeded book to help you develop your inner strength:
Will Power and Self Discipline

It is rather weird that though everyone has his or her due share of worries, anxieties and never ending thoughts, few do something to remedy this condition and gain inner peace. It is only when the situation becomes unbearable that one starts wondering, whether there is a solution, and if it is possible at all to gain some degree of inner peace.

Worries, anxieties and restless thinking are regarded as a natural part of life. It is only when they become exaggerated, or under special circumstances that one becomes acutely aware of this state of inner restlessness and lack of peace. At such time, one realizes how unruly the mind is, and how difficult it is to calm it down.

The inability to stop the racing thoughts becomes especially obvious at times, when you need to do some boring job that requires close attention, study something that requires concentration or do anything that requires a focused mind. The mind just keeps wandering away, and you have to bring it back again and again.

This lack of ability to control the mind and make it quiet is the reason that it is always occupied with thoughts, worries, fears and anxieties. Such thoughts bring unhappiness, suffering and lack of peace.

Though most people desire inner peace, yet they do the opposite. They cannot enjoy being alone or in silence. They always seek something to occupy their minds, as if afraid of inner peace and silence. They read the newspaper while traveling, walk with earphones, while listening to music, talk a lot on phone for hours, exercise with background music or drive their cars while listening to the radio. They all keep their minds busy, never at rest.

The mind is busy even when just resting or not doing anything. At such times, if pay attention to your mind, you will see how busy it is with unimportant thoughts, musing on past events, worrying or just racing from one thought to another. Even when going to sleep at night the mind does not let you be, but accompanies you to bed with all kinds of thoughts, until you finally you fall asleep.

You can bring more peace into your life. You can learn to focus your mind when you need to. You can go to bed and fall asleep immediately, without buzzing thoughts or worries.

When the mind is relieved from its restlessness there is more focus, peace and happiness. Worries and anxieties keep away, and the quality of your life improves.
 
There are various ways to gain inner peace. Some just bring temporary peace, some help you gain more inner balance in certain situations, and other techniques are aimed toward overall and permanent state of inner harmony, balance, peace and freedom from restless thinking. There is no quick way to success. The ability to overcome worries, anxieties and restless, futile thinking is not easily won. The mind has to undergo complete change, and this does not happen in one day. Yet, this inner work is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.

Don’t be discouraged and feel it is an impossible task, because it is possible. Many have learned to pacify their minds, and so can you.

Inner peace articles - Inner Peace.

Read Peace of Mind in Daily Life - A book with instructions, exercises and advice for gaining inner peace, happiness and freedom from restless and uncontrolled thinking. You can also read a free chapter at the above link.

Imagine someone could grant you three wishes, what would you choose?

Would you ask for the first thing that comes to your mind, or would you give it deep thought and make a wise choice? Or maybe you know exactly what you want, and don’t even have to think about it?

It is a difficult question if you are vague about what they really want. Actually, most people don’t have clear goals, while those who gained great success knew exactly what they wanted and saw it clearly in their minds. Without setting clear and definite goals you will not be able to focus your energies and not accomplish much, so the first step for success is to know exactly what you want.

This is a difficult task for most people. Many go through life where it takes them, lacking any direction. They find it difficult to arrive to a clear understanding of their abilities, what they are best suited to do, and what they really desire to do with their lives.

You need to look inside you for the answer. Sit down everyday with a pencil and paper, where you won’t be disturbed, and write down all the ideas that come to your mind. Analyze every desire, its pros and cons, and whether you really want it achieved. You will be surprised how many ideas, which look plausible at first, turn to be futile and useless goals after a little thinking.

Don’t despair if you don’t find anything that really interests you. Just keep thinking, writing down and analyzing your ideas day after day. Even if you don’t find what is most important for you after a few days, a week or more, the understanding and insight will gradually unfold to you.

Remember, even small goals are goals. One of the reasons people find it difficult to decide about goals is because they believe they have to choose something big, and this frightens them. They might be afraid of the big responsibilities that come by pursuing and achieving big goals, and prefer to lead a simple, ordinary life.

When looking for your real and true desires, don’t just think about the wealthy and famous people you see on TV or read about in the newspapers. Not everyone wants or attains fame and power. Achieving smaller goals on a personal and more mundane level might be what want or prefer, and that’s quite okay.

You should be clear about your goals and ask yourself the following questions:

Upon achieving this goal, would I be happy and satisfied?
What will it solve in my life?
What will be its effect on my life?
What will be its effect on other people?
Do I really ant to achieve it?

After finding what you want and being sure about it, try to see how you can make your goal a little bigger. Don’t limit your thinking, because whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can eventually accomplish. For example, if your goal is a good and satisfying job, think about something bigger and believe you can get it. If you desire to a certain amount of money, and you feel mentally comfortable with it, try thinking about a larger amount. If your goal is losing a certain amount of weight, try getting your mind comfortable with the idea of losing a little more, provided of course you don’t harm your health, and so on and on.

After setting clear and definite goals you will certainly know what are your three most important wishes. You don’t need to ask for a genie to grant them, because you have within you the power to make them come true. This is the power of your mind, expressed through visualization and affirmations.

Remember, what the mind can conceive and believe to be possible, it can eventually achieve.

I am often asked about affirmations, how to use them, and whether they really work.

I am sure you have heard about affirmations, but in case you didn’t, affirmations are positive statements, which describe in positive words a desired situation, event, habit or action, and which are repeated many times, so that they get into the subconscious mind and influence it. By repeating them, you program your subconscious mind to help you manifest your goals, change your habits or develop new skills.

It is not enough to repeat affirmations just a few times. This is one of the reasons for the failure to get results, and which eventually leads to losing faith and giving up the use of affirmations.

If you wish to use affirmations and get results, I would advise you to start with small objectives at first, in order to get some experience. It often happens that after a few days of repeating affirmations the mind starts raising doubts about the efficiency of affirmations. If your goal is a small one, it takes a shorter time to achieve it, and therefore the mind has less time to raise doubts.

Small success at first, will strengthen your faith in the method, and the resistance of your mind will diminish.

For affirmations to produce results, they should be repeated often, with attention, interest, desire, feeling and inner conviction. Don’t stand in their way by raising doubts and thinking negatively. It is also important that you don’t just affirm, stay passive and wait. Follow your intuition, do things and take the opportunities that come your way.

How do affirmations work?

# They motivate you to do something, in order that you attain your desires and goals.

# By repeating affirmations, you become more aware of opportunities that might surface, and which could make your aims and goals come true.

# Affirmations can strengthen your ambition and desire.

# Affirmations that you repeat often, with attention and emotion, affect your subconscious mind, behavior and habits.

# They program the subconscious mind to bring up helpful ideas for making the affirmations come true.

# Affirmations activate the power of the subconscious mind, which will supply the desire, ideas, opportunities, and even the right circumstances.

You can find detailed information and guidance about affirmations and how to use them effectively, in the book “Affirmations - Words of Power”. It is comprised of two parts,  the first includes information and guidance and the second includes a long list of positive affirmations suitable for almost every aim and goal. Click on the link below for more information:
Affirmations Words of Power