Scientists once believed that the mind and the body were separate, that one didn’t influence the other. Today we know that isn’t the case. Your stress levels and general mental state can have profound effects on the effectiveness of your immune system.
 
Although we tend to think that our immune system mainly deals with illnesses like the flu or the common cold, this incredible system of protection reaches almost all facets of our bodies.  With auto-immune disorders rapidly on the rise, we can all benefit from understanding how stress and environmental factors affect our daily lives and how they impact our immune systems.  One profound step you can take in improving your longevity is to look at your thinking and stress levels.
 
Enhance your outlook and boost your immune system:


1) Cortisol is an enemy of the immune system. During times of stress, the level of cortisol rises in the body. The body recognizes this increase as an indicator of the fight or flight response and responds by limiting other body functions, including the immune system.

Prolonged stress keeps the immune system in a compromised state, which increases the likelihood of getting sick or developing more serious immune disorders.

2) Positive social interaction has the opposite effect. Enjoying time with others has been shown to lower stress hormones and boost immune activity for several hours afterward. Get out and enjoy time with other people.

3) Listening to relaxing music or getting a massage is also beneficial. Anything that’s relaxing, without being harmful, seems to have a positive impact on immune function.

Make a list of the activities that you find relaxing. Try to do a few of the items on your list each day. Ensure that you find a few items you can do in the car and at work.

4) Stress has also been shown to increase the risk of developing immune-based diseases. These include arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, asthma, MS, vitiligo, and lupus – to name a few. New studies are showing that inflammation is a common theme within immune-based diseases and is an auto-immune response to stress and other triggers in the environment. In time, it’s believed that science will show that many other diseases immune-based and, therefore, are influenced by stress.

5) Laughter has a powerful impact on immune function. Record the shows that make you laugh and try to watch one each day. Read a few jokes from a book or online during your breaks at work. Spend time with funny people! You’ll get the benefit of positive social interaction and laughter.  Even the act of smiling has enormous impacts on our mental state – so hike up those cheeks!  : ) 

6) Practice gratitude. Giving yourself a little reminder of the great things in your life will boost your mood and your ability to fight disease. This is a quick exercise that can turn your mindset around quickly.

7) Use positive affirmations to enhance your mood. Positive thoughts lead to positive feelings. Repeat positive affirmations on a regular basis, especially during periods of stress. Keep your mind occupied with something positive. Make a list of positive affirmations that resonate with you.

8) Be successful. Experience success by setting goals you can reach. Big, audacious goals are great, but be sure to have a few easier goals, too. Be happy with your small successes. Your immune system will reward you, too.

9) Exercise patience. Impatience creates stress. Relax and make good use of the extra time. The time will pass regardless of how you spend it. Take advantage of it and stay calm.

10) Be happy! What makes you happy? Figure it out and spend more time doing it. Read, knit, dance, meditate, grill outdoors, go on a picnic. These aren’t frivolous things. They make life enjoyable and keep you healthy.


Avoid underestimating the impact your mood and mindset can have on your immune system. Optimism, happiness, fun, love, and success keep your immune system in good working order. Scientists are only beginning to understand the impact of psychology on physiology. Being happy and positive doesn’t just feel good, but it also strengthens your health and wellness.

Fear is probably the biggest roadblock to success. Fear is a constant companion if you’re attempting to grow and achieve. The most successful people are often those that manage fear most effectively. Unfortunately, those whose fear controls them tend to not live up to their true potential. Learning to push beyond fear is a valuable skill that greatly increases your odds of success.
 
Conquer your fear and achieve success:

1. Control your thoughts. It’s possible to think about anything you choose. The best way to stress yourself is to think about stressful things. You’re not more effective when you’re afraid. You’re less. That doesn’t mean you should bury your head in the sand, but put yourself in a frame of mind that makes you most able to deal with the situation.
2. What would you do if you WEREN’T afraid?  My great friend, Beth, introduced me to this simple but powerful question many years ago.  I have a post-it note on my refrigerator that says, “What would I do if wasn’t afraid?”  If I am fearful about a decision, I look at that post-it, and it guides me to make the decision that my soul knows is in-line with what I really want.  Ask this question any time fear comes into a decision – it will change your life!
3. Breathe. Focus on your breath and slow your mind. Your mind will take reality and run wild with it. Focusing on your breath will calm your mind, and bring your perspective back to reality. Things are rarely as bad as they seem. When stress is at your doorstep, just stop and breathe.
4. Imagine a positive outcome. Raise the level of your expectations. Your fear will melt away if you expect something positive to happen. Create a future that you find exciting and visualize your fear away.   Repeat this exercise several times a day. Eventually, you’ll begin to believe it.
5. Exercise. Physical exertion is an excellent way to burn away your fear and anxiety.  Focus on what you’re doing – be mindful of your surroundings and, before you know it, your mind will be focused on exercise rather than fearful thoughts.  Go for a quick run, a long walk, or lift weights. When you’re pleasantly out of breath, you’ll find your fear has lessened.
6. Seek support. Talk to friend or a mentor. Choose wisely, however! Some of your friends and family are more supportive than others. Find someone who knows you well and will let you air your fears without feeding them. Online forums can be helpful, and you can remain anonymous.
   Understand that change and fear go hand in hand. There’s a reason to be excited when you’re afraid: It’s very possible that you’re at the beginning of a great change in your life.  Nothing seems to change when you’re comfortable 100% of the time. Be excited that you’re doing something that creates feelings of fear. Your life may be about to change for the better.  Remember:  Life happens outside of your comfort zone…GO FOR IT!
7. Make a list of the benefits of moving forward. Create a long list of the positive results that could result from being brave. Think about what it looks like when you’ve finally arrived after pushing through that fear and FEEL what that will feel like. For example, if you’re starting a new business: 

• Financial stability
• Doing something I love and enjoy.
• Being a successful entrepreneur allows me to work on my own.
• The things I feared about opening a business are all in the past!

 
    8. Do it anyway. Fear is a lousy reason for not doing something. Be brave and resolve to do the thing you fear.  Take one small step at a time – each time you conquer a fear, it will be easier the next time. Build your tolerance to fear by facing fear daily. 

Do you allow fear to determine your actions? Fear is a self-imposed roadblock on the path to progress. Developing the skill to handle fear appropriately is necessary to move forward in any aspect of life. When you feel fear, you’re on the verge of making a significant change in your life. Get excited!  Clay is a great way to identify the root cause for your fear – call us today to learn concrete tools to eliminate fear and go for your dreams!  

Enlightenment is a common term thrown around by a variety of philosophers and religions. The term “enlightenment” used by Emmanuel Kant isn’t the same as Buddhist enlightenment, but they share many similarities. Enlightenment is having an accurate view of the world and how it works. It’s much more common, however, to view the world through distorted glasses.

Our past experiences, beliefs, identities, and habitual patterns of thought can't help but skew our perception. We’re driven by habit and filter our current situations through the lense of our past experiences. It’s understandibly challenging to strip all of that away and perceive the world accurately. It can take a lifetime to reach a high level of enlightenment.
 
It’s not necessary to live alone in a cave or become a Buddhist monk to reach a higher level of enlightenment, however. All that’s really required is to pay attention and observe your thoughts.
 
There are many advantages to enlightenment:

1. It’s impossible to feel jealous, offended, or have other negative emotions if you’re enlightened. When you’re enlightened, you can easily see through the actions and behaviors of others. You’re much more likely to feel empathy when someone acts or speaks against you than to feel hurt.
   
   
2. You no longer feel the need to impress anyone else. You’ll no longer chase after achievements or possessions for the purpose of showing off. You’ll be free to pursue your true passions without regard for the opinions of others.
   
   
3. Simple things become much more enjoyable. Eating an orange or going for a walk can be as satisfying as driving a Ferrari. The most successful person isn’t the one that has the most...it’s the person that’s happiest and most satisfied with what they already have.

 
Enlightenment has a lot to offer. But how does one become more enlightened? It’s quite simple, yet arduous. Avoid the mistake of thinking that mental exercise doesn’t require effort. Becoming enlightened is challenging in the same way eating only one potato chip is challenging.
 
Try these strategies on your journey to enlightenment:

1. Meditate. Meditation is the primary tool to reach enlightenment. Buy a book or join in on one of our workshops to learn how to meditate. Meditation isn’t complicated, but it must be practiced regularly in order to get the most out of it.
   
   
2. Pay attention. Notice your thoughts and feelings as they arise. If you’re sitting in traffic, annoyed that you’re going to be late for work, notice the feelings and consider the origin. What are you feeling? Why? Are your feelings helping in any way? Have you always responded this way in similar situations? Would a child respond the same way?
   
   
3. Play the role of the observer. It’s not enough to pay attention. Strive to be objective and non-judgmental in your observations. Imagine you’re a stranger observing the situation with nothing to gain or lose. Be dispassionate. Notice the rise and fall of your emotions without getting involved. Be a detective.
   
   
4. Be patient. Becoming enlightened is like training for the Olympics. It can take years to develop the conditioning and expertise. Enjoy the fact that you’re making small amounts of progress each day. It takes time.
   
   
5. Let go of the past. If you’re still upset that your dad walked out on the family when you were six, you’re holding on to negative experience that will block enlightenment. Let them go, they are no longer serving you or protecting you.

 
Enlightenment isn’t just for spiritual, off-the-grid folks. Enlightenment is a worthy goal for any human being. Enlightenment is hard work, but the benefits are considerable. You’ll no longer have to be controlled by your emotions or feel the need to impress anyone. You can enjoy a freedom that you’ve never felt before – and it feels great!
 
Start your journey to enlightenment today!  We are here to help!

​It’s unlikely that an amazing life just happens by chance. It’s necessary to spend your time, energy, and focus in an intentional manner. Too many distractions, less important goals, and a shortage of resources can get in the way of living an amazing life. The lack of a clear objective is the greatest obstacle. These are challenges that can be solved with a little effort.
 
Here are some tips to create an amazing life that’s meaningful and exciting to you:

1. Remove what isn’t necessary. Too many responsibilities and distractions are obstacles to an amazing life. Get rid of anything that takes up time or space and doesn’t provide a worthwhile return. It should be important to you if you choose to include it in your life.
   
   
2. Decide on your priorities. You might not be able to walk on Mars, climb K2, become a movie director, or be chief of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. However, you can accomplish some pretty amazing things over the course of a lifetime.

• It’s important to narrow your focus to a few priorities. What’s the most important thing to accomplish or experience? Keep your list short.

1. Stock up on the necessities. Creating an amazing life requires courage. The more your risk, the more courage you require. But imagine if you had plenty of money, time, energy, and support. You’d need much less courage to chase after that amazing life. Fear will have much less influence over your life. Start building reserves in the key areas of your life.

1. Remove the distractions from your life. It might be the television, social media, or the goals that only interest you moderately.

• Warren Buffett often advises people to make a list of their top 10 priorities in order of importance. He then says to avoid numbers 4-10 like the plague. Those are the things that get in the way of accomplishing the top 3.

1. Deal with negative thoughts. Big goals and ideas stir up negative thoughts and emotions. Failing to deal with these can cause big challenges down the road. Be committed to expecting the best, finding solutions, and staying positive. Negativity takes the wind out of your sails and fuels procrastination.  Clay is a fantastic way to work through and reframe negative thought patterns – more info at:  http://theclaycoach.com/why-clay/
   
   
2. Spend your time wisely. There are multiple ways to accomplish any task. Avoid taking the easy path. The easy way is often the long way. Life is short, so choose the shortest path to your amazing life. This is often the most uncomfortable path, but you can handle it.
   
   
3. Get started. My best friend frequently says, “Eat that Frog!” – which is her philosophy for getting started. Do the thing that you find the most difficult first and you’ll be surprised at how many internal resources are freed up!  The first step is often the hardest. You have everything you need to take a meaningful first step. Avoid waiting for some future event to occur. You can do it today, even if you have kids, a limited income, or limited knowledge. Just get started.
   
   
4. It’s not that difficult. There’s really much less competition in the world than you think. Look at how much time the average person wastes at work and at home. Most people fail to prioritize their time. Most people don’t have goals. Most people have too many distractions.
   
   

• When you choose the direction of your life and eliminate distractions, the road is relatively easy.

 
Is your life less than amazing? It doesn’t have to be. Setting priorities and removing distractions are the keys to creating an amazing life. Use your time wisely. There’s still time to live the life you’ve always dreamed of, but it’s important to get started today.

​You might not believe this…but many things you believe about yourself are simply not true! In fact, many of our commonly held beliefs turn out to be incorrect. For example, we now know that the world isn’t flat and that the Earth revolves around the sun. This wasn’t always the case.
 
Your parents may have told you something they believed to be true, but wasn’t. You may have had an experience that led you to draw a false conclusion.
 
Contemplate what you believe about life and yourself that might not be true. False beliefs can greatly limit your options. It could change everything if you actually knew the truth!
 
You might think that you’re not good at sports or public speaking. You might believe that you’re not talented or that nothing you do is good enough. It’s time to show yourself that many of your beliefs are inaccurate. One of the best ways to find and eliminate false beliefs is through experimentation.
 
Follow this process:
 
1. Make a list of your limiting beliefs for which you don’t have significant proof. Significant proof is repeated personal experience. One experience doesn’t prove a thing. Even two experiences can just be a coincidence. Get some real proof.


2. Start with a limiting belief that you can test easily. Let’s just say, for example, that you have the belief that you can’t make friends. This might be based on the experience of not having friends in your younger days.


3. Learn what you need to know. Do you know how to make friends? It wasn’t covered in school. You might need to purchase a book and educate yourself. Maybe your social skills are a little rusty. Perhaps you need to work on minimizing your social anxiety.

• What do you need to learn or do to put yourself in the position to test your false belief fairly?
  
  

4. Release the belief.  Saying affirmations can help with releasing beliefs that hold you back.  Working with clay is an extremely powerful step in releasing as well (more info at: http://www.newmoonselfdevelopment.com/clay-techniques.html).
 
5. Practice. If you believed that you couldn’t learn to play the violin, you wouldn’t prove it to yourself by picking up a violin for the first time and giving it a whirl. It takes practice to test your belief.

• Likewise, you can’t prove to yourself that you can’t make friends by just walking up to a single person and saying, “Do you want to be my friend?”

• Practice your social skills. Get out of the house and practice interacting with others. Learn how to maintain a conversation. Learn how to be more charismatic. Learn and then practice. Then practice some more.
  
  
• Engage in your interests with others. Join a yoga class or a weekly poker game.

 
6. Test yourself. Make the test fair.

• Give yourself 30 days to make at least one friend. You don’t have to make 20 friends. The whole premise was that you can’t make any friends. One friend would prove that belief to be false. If you can make one friend, you can make two. If you can make two, you can eventually make 50.
  
  

7. Keep your expectations realistic. You’re probably not trying to prove to yourself that you’re the best in the world at something, merely that you’re competent.

• For example, most people only have a few close friends. It’s not reasonable to expect that you’re going to find 10 in the next 30 days.

 
8. Reframe your beliefs. With the proper preparation, you’ll find that 99% of your limiting beliefs are false. Once you’ve proved yourself wrong, be willing to adjust your beliefs accordingly.
 
Now go tackle another one. Challenge your limiting beliefs one by one and decide whether or not they’re true. Use your own personal experience. Test your assumptions whenever you have the chance. You’re likely to discover a whole new world of skills and experiences that you enjoy.