Courage

Courage is the act of proceeding despite fear. Fear is like a line of nettles we must cross before reaching the soothing and cooling waters of freedom. Facing your fears is one of the best decisions you can make in your life.

Sometimes, even when we have decided to face our fears, courage fails us. Fears come disguised as discomfort, unwillingness, carelessness etc. We think, I am like that – I don’t like doing this – these are all excuses. Having once decided to face one’s fears, we must look forward to facing all clumsy, uncomfortable, undesirable situations. I want to fail, I want to be uncomfortable, I want to face my fears, again and again and again – should be your war cry!

Sometimes we are so afraid that we choose the security of cowardice over the adventure of fear. But every moment we have a choice and courage is making the right choice despite our conditioning and false feelings of security. Beyond fear lies strength indomitable, so why not proceed. Don’t we miss 100 percent of the chances we don’t take? So why not treat every problem – mind you- each and every problem as a challenge and solve it? Why give in to our own thoughts? We are not our thoughts, are we?

ACTION

Action is the greatest motivator. Ideas are crap if you don’t act. List out your goals. Prioritize them, but its all a waste if no action ensues. Action stirs you on, relieves inertia and enthuses the spirit.

Lethargy and the fear of failure, inertia stop us. Lethargy is a useless thing. One jerk is enough to overcome it. So jerk yourself up and overcome lethargy. Inertia does not make sense. Why should you care two hoots about what is happening, if you believe in the beauty of your dreams? The law of inertia – if I am doing this – then I must keep doing this is baseless. Rational thinking and inertia don’t juxtapose on each other.
Fear of failure – shed it right here and right now. Fear of failure stems from the fact that we may be more worried and in a bigger dilemma than we are now if we take action. But failing a hundred times is better than not trying even if you are in a better position by not trying. It is the education of the spirit that matters. Fail, fail, fail – don’t believe in what they keep saying. Failure is the best indication of the fact that you are taking decisive action.

So, arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.
[ Swami Vivekananda]

How to stay motivated throughout the day

Here are some tips:

For long lasting motivation and positivity:

-Listen to motivating, enthusing music everyday with full concentration.

-Listen to motivational tapes (audio) everyday for around 30 minutes every day. ( Zig Zagler, Brian Tracy etc.)
-Act. The very act of doing something with all your concentration is extremely positive.
-Get into flow frequently. Getting into flow means that you forget everything else but the task at hand. You and the creative/ designing/ brain storming /intellectual work you're doing become one and the same.
-Read enthusing books and articles whenever possible.
-Be disciplined and agile – and never lethargic. Lethargy breeds negativity.
-Talk positive all the time. “I want to”, “let me help you” “ no probs, we'll do it anyway”.
-Make sure you're never idle. Work is worship. Either you work or you think positive thoughts.
-Never procrastinate. Never ever. If you must, then decide right now exactly when you're going to do that job and tis is only if there is a rock solid reason for not doing it now. Procrastination is immensly negative.
-Stay away from negative people, negative influences. If you need to interact, make sure you overwhelm yourself with positivity while you talk to people who have been habituated to thinking negatively.
-Meditate – calmly sit and think about all the beautiful things you have. Think about how beautiful the world is and be calm.
-Help other people without expecting anything in return. This fills you with irresistable joy.

Relaxing tips

What can you do if you want to relax without using the logical part of your brain, surrendering to your emotions?

-Watch videos on your computer.
-Listen to songs as you lie on your bed.
-Listen to songs and parallelly play “Real Lives” trying to live a beautiful life.
-Dream about how you can achieve your dream goals or dream about your life when you have achieved a certain dream goal.
-Dream, just dream.
-Sleep.
-Read a relaxing novel/ self-help book.
-Surf the internet for interesting things to do.
-Build or invent something. Example, build a device which you can use to catch wasps in your room and release them outside.
-Call home, or call your friends.