The Renzulli Learning Personal Success Plan (PSP) is a research-based*, goal-oriented assessment and treatment tool designed to encourage students to think, dream, and succeed. It provides proven instructional strategies that raise achievement values in test scores, grades, and attendance.

The PSP helps students to identify their interests, understand how to develop these interests into talents, associate themselves with role models, and ultimately create meaningful, attainable goals and plans.

By supporting students individual social and academic goals, The Personal Success Plan gives them the incentive and ambition to succeed. Students are introduced to a variety of careers and project ideas both traditional and unique that match their own interests and expression styles

Each students interests, heroes and helpers, and career ideas help guide the establishment of plans and goals, which he or she starts to attain by developing appropriate projects. This plan provides students with a roadmap of achievable tasks that head the way to proven results and personal success.

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PERSONAL SUCCESS PLAN - RenzulliLearning

You spend each day chasing your professional goals and working hard to enrich your career, seldom pondering on whether youre achieving your personal successes. What are personal successes? Its not as straight forward as you may think. Its that feel-good achievement thats beyond corporate success you may even say its a transcended state of personal satisfaction.

And why shouldnt you be thinking about your personal successes, after all dont you love the job that you do? Shouldnt it be rewarding, even fulfilling, on a personal level? Like I said, its not always easy. You need to look beyond the obvious and examine ways that will help you gauge your personal successes.

Sure profitability, market share and shareholder value are all great ways to measure your accomplishments. But you want to look beyond that, and consider the impact youre making on:

Irrespective of what line of business youre in or what role youre playing everything you do should target having a bigger impact. This impact is what will help you feel personal achievement in an intangible way.

This could be something as simple as reading a blog or article which provides you a new perspective. While we spend plenty of time staying updated about the industry we work in, its important to look at other things going on in the world. Such learning could be useful in conversations with other leaders who may take an interest in you and in turn could possibly impact your business.

Another way to learn something new is to look within your organization. As a leader you should be spending time with your team to learn something about them. This shouldnt necessarily be focused about the duties they perform, instead it could be learning about what motivates and drives them. And what it spells out to is one of my favorite topics engagement.

Theres no greater reward than the feeling of being there for someone in their time of need. While you chase your own goals its important to stop and look around you at who is falling short. Leaders are guides and counselors who are a source of knowledge and problem solving. Here, I believe that a good leader plays the role of a mentor a guidance provider who your team can turn to for help, support and wisdom. Learn more about modern mentoring in this excellent TEDx talk from Karen Russell:

Honestly, how good is it when you leave work feeling accomplished when you just want to step out and say Yes! I did it!

It may not happen often, as there will be days when youre wrapping up and listing all the things you have to do the next day. And hence, when you do leave feeling satisfied with your days achievements, make sure you list it off as a personal success. Its something you should be happy and fiercely proud of.

Its easy to get caught in the rat race where day in and day out youre slowly going down a downward spiral of monotony. Believe me, it will catch up with you. And thats around the time when you start to question what youre doing and why youre doing it. This is why your personal successes are important to list out and strive to achieve. These will keep you motivated and content with the career you have embarked upon.

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What is Your Personal Success Gauged By? | Paul Keijzer ...

Online colleges offer many different types of undergraduate and graduate degrees, and have benefits and drawbacks for prospective students to consider.

Experts say the quality of an education from an online college is, in many cases, just as high as one pursued in person, and that online learning offers the ability to communicate with a professor and other students through technology. Enrollment in online courses has grown each year for more than a decade.

People interested in getting an online college degree, especially working adults looking to go back to school, should consider the flexibility of online learning given their responsibilities outside the classroom. Those with full-time jobs and families might find a part-time online degree program ideal, enabling them to juggle their various daily responsibilities without having to commute to a physical classroom. In many online degree programs, students can access course material on their own time and in a location of their choice, regardless of their distance from a physical campus.

Prospective online college students should be aware that an online program isnt always less expensive than one earned in person and federal financial aid may be available for those who take enough credits.

Online learning also has its downsides, and not every subject is suited for online education. Prospective students should be on the lookout for scams, which includes making sure a program is accredited. Pursuing an online college degree requires more personal responsibility from students as they complete assignments and group work based on their own schedule. Online students also need to be prepared to effectively manage their time. And though communication with instructors and students is possible through electronic means, prospective students should weigh whether they want to sacrifice face-to-face interaction for the flexibility online education provides.

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Online Education - US News & World Report

We primarily grow as human beings by discovering new truths about ourselves and our reality. Steve Pavlina

The scope of personal development and growth is a broad one. It is through the powerful impact of personal development and growth that we can grow and improve our relationships, our careers, our wealth, our health, and our happiness. At the very fundamental core of this broad and powerful pursuit is self awareness.

To discover new truths about ourselves is to expand our self awareness. Think of self awareness as a circle. Everything within and without the circle is the self. What is within the circle is what your current level of self awareness allows you to consciously perceive.

As you expand your circle of self awareness not only are you consciously aware of a greater portion of your self but also the borders of your awareness have expanded such that your self awareness borders upon an expanded field of future discovery and growth.

The more doors we open the more doors we discover there are to be opened. Self awareness is the very beginning of personal development. It may very well be the ultimate end.

A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes. Gandhi

The perspective we take on the happenings of the world and our lives largely determines for us the state of our world and our being. Thus probably the most vital lesson we can learn in life is the importance of what we think.

If you think failure you will find reasons to fail and inevitably succumb to it. If you think health and wellbeing you will make the conscious decision to take the path that leads to greater health and wellbeing.

Unfortunately, many of us do not consciously choose the perspective we take. Our thoughts, which may be considered covert behavior, may simply roll with life and become conditioned by events, the media and other people around us.

If this happens we have given up our power as human beings to create our world and our life around us. In fact we are using our own power against ourselves to make ourselves feel powerless. It is impossible for us to develop and grow ourselves if we lack awareness of ourselves.

A person who is aware of himself is in a better position to predict and control his own behavior. B. F. Skinner

Within Buddhism one of The Three Poisons is Moha or delusion. Buddhism sees the three poisons as the root cause of all suffering. Moha basically means not knowing what is going on within oneself.

According to Buddhism, Moha is the most fundamental of the three poisons. It is a lack of awareness that lies at the root of all our problems. The cure Buddhism proposes is to extend clarity and awareness down into processes that are normally unconscious.

It is mindfulness that Buddhism uses to achieve this aim. Mindfulness is the process of bearing something in mind. An awareness, which does not drift along the surface of things but is a thorough observation, observing without judgment, without habitual reaction or compulsion, but clearly acknowledges what is actually there in the flow of experience, noting its nature.

Thus one of the ways in which we can expand our circle of self awareness is through the development of mindfulness. This can be achieved both through meditation practice and by making a conscious choice to actively be more mindful in our daily lives. In this way, through greater self awareness, we become empowered to choose our own way, to grow ourselves in the manner of our own choosing.

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Dictionary entry overview: What does mental attitude mean?

MENTAL ATTITUDE (noun) The noun MENTAL ATTITUDE has 1 sense:

1. a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways

Familiarity information: MENTAL ATTITUDE used as a noun is very rare.

Dictionary entry details

MENTAL ATTITUDE (noun)

Meaning:

A complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

attitude; mental attitude

Context example:

he had the attitude that work was fun

Hypernyms ("mental attitude" is a kind of...):

cognition; knowledge; noesis (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mental attitude"):

acceptance; credence (the mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true)

irreverence (an irreverent mental attitude)

reverence (a reverent mental attitude)

disrespect (a disrespectful mental attitude)

esteem; regard; respect (an attitude of admiration or esteem)

intolerance (unwillingness to recognize and respect differences in opinions or beliefs)

tolerance (willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others)

disposition; inclination; tendency (an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others)

position; posture; stance (a rationalized mental attitude)

paternalism (the attitude (of a person or a government) that subordinates should be controlled in a fatherly way for their own good)

mentality; mind-set; mindset; outlook (a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations)

southernism (an attitude characteristic of Southerners (especially in the US))

high horse (an attitude of arrogant superiority)

hardball (a no-nonsense attitude in business or politics)

defensive; defensive attitude (an attitude of defensiveness (especially in the phrase 'on the defensive'))

culture (the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization)

orientation (an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs)

"Bitter pills may have blessed effects." (English proverb) "Every frog must know its sole-leather." (Bulgarian proverb) "If you see the fangs of the lions, don't think the lion is smiling." (Almotanabbi) "Do not hide your light under a bushel" (Danish proverb)

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What does mental attitude mean? definition, meaning and ...

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Your goal in life should be to feel good. And having a positive mental attitude (PMA) is the only way to meet this goal. Napoleon Hill stated that "The only thing that you have control over is your mind."

So if you want to change the circumstances of your life you need not worry about what's going on in the world or what other people are doing. The only thing that you need to worry about is tending to your own mind and thoughts.

If you feel that you are in a dead end job or would like to do something different with your life. You should plan exactly how you would like to succeed. Set a goal. Decide what you would like to do or the position or title that you would like to hold and the money that you would like to make.

Give your wants and desires a time limit for example two years, five years etc.

Paint a picture of what you desire in your mind and hold that thought there for as long as you can. Visualize it often and your life in regards to that particularly experience will change.

Training yourself to have a positive mental attitude is not as hard as you think. We all know right from wrong and you can tell by the way your words or your actions makes you feel.

We are all meant to be successful and to receive all that we want and desire and thinking negatively will hold you back from obtaining what you want.

The way you've been thinking is a reflection of everything that you have attracted into your life thus far.

Remember your thoughts are the only thing that you can control, and by practicing a positive mental attitude is the first step in changing your life for the better.

Some ways to maintaining a positive mental attitude is

1. Making yourself friendly and approachable - If own your business or if you are an employee of a business. You must make your self friendly and approachable to your clients or coworkers if you expect the same in return. You are where you are because of your personality and your attitude and how well you relate to others.

2. Helping other people - In life you have to help other people in order to succeed. In business you can help people in several ways, if you are in sales, you are helping by selling a product or providing a service. Or you can help someone by simply providing good information.

3. Appreciation - Express your appreciation for where you are in life right now, even if feel like you still have a long way to go. Just the feeling of appreciation will allow the Universe to move you towards the goals that you are trying to reach.

4. Compliments - Everyone loves to be complimented. Don't concentrate on a person faults. Find something that they are doing well and compliment them and they will in return find something that they appreciate about you.

5. Change your negative attitude - If you find yourself becoming angry about something, focus on something that you love such as your wants or desires, your family pet or reaching or maintaining your goals. Give yourself time to change your negative attitude to one that is more positive.

6. Beliefs - In order to succeed you must believe that you can do anything that you put your mind too. Set your goals and maintain a positive attitude and you will be successful at whatever it is that you desire.

Remember life is what you make it and we are all learning new things everyday. Learn from every lesson, the good and the bad and strive to make your life better.

When you think good thoughts, you will attract good things into your life and maintaining a positive mental attitude will help you to stay on your path to achieving all that you want and desire.

Sending Love and Happiness,

Shontel

LEARN MORE ON HOW MAINTANING A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE WILL ENSURE THAT YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL IN WHATEVER PROFFESSION THAT YOU CHOOSE!

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Minecraft name(s): Meguzara Skype ID: Freema has it Time zone: Central Have you ever been banned or received a strike? If so, link the report: Nope Do you hold / have you held any other staff positions? Currently on no staff team, previous staff teams: Forum Moderator, Villain Application Team, and Event Team. Magic Application Team, GM Team, and I led the MAT. What MMORPG/video games have you / do you play? (Past and Present) Oh jesus here we go... LoL, Diablo 2/3, Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 1/2/3, DayZ, Dark Souls 1/2, Skyrim, LoG 1/2, Magicka, L4D2, Portal 1/2, Payday 2, Civ 5, Risk of Rain, Pillars of Eternity, tf2. What are your characters? Are you willing to sacrifice any to become a Event member? I pretty much only play my frost witch Lumia now. Id really rather not sacrifice her or anything, but, just having one gives me a lot to work with. What race / group do you think your events would best cater to? If none in particular, give an example of the type of group that your events would entertain. Hm, I can't say any race in particular, I don't think I'd be very good at orc/dwarf events, though. I think any event I would organize would cater more to adventurous characters or players. I want the events to be as dynamic as possible, where the player's would want to ask questions and investigate things, and not just sort of run around, you feel me? What do you believe are key factors for a successful event? 1. Time- Putting thought, time, and effort into an event is crucial. Half-Baked events thought up on the spot suffer compared to events with more pre-planning. Note, I'm talking about large events here, spontaneous small ones are fine. 2. Interest and Intrigue- Your event won't get far if it doesn't catch player's attention. A good story can make or break an event. 3. Have a Plan- This goes back to my mention of dynamic events. In order for an event to go smoothly, you need to plan out what you want to do ahead. And most importantly, think of what players might do. If you expect players to do 1 thing, and plan for that, then they do another thing, you are probably going to struggle. When was the last time you saw a event? Havent seen one that I can remember since I came back to LOTC. Although I could be forgetting. What strengths could you contribute to the Event Team? Are you knowledgeable in lore or great at organizing? I'm on a lot, I love doing events, I love taking part in events, I like writing, I have a good grasp on LOTC lore in general. I think I could contribute a different perspective, hopefully, as well! Why do you want to be part of the ET? Im super biased towards this map in terms of design and want to develop story. Theres so much potential and great stuff that can happen, and I would love to work on it. Create three distinct RP scenarios/events based on LOTC lore that you would organize. These are pitches to the Managers and Ouity, not to the community. Note: Not all of the group must be handled at once. Eg: 20+ people via 5 person increments in a dungeon. 1) For 1-3 person Title: A Friend In Need ET Members: 2 NPCs: Marrie Mona- Female/Human/30's Fidgety, on edge, would be more open to humans/dwarves/elves, would be fearful of orcs/khas, but would still speak to them. Seeks help in finding her brother, who went into nearby woods and did not return. Would request players find her brother. Would reluctantly accompany them, if requested. Would take some convincing. Would offer small mina reward. If taken along- Would be on edge all the time in the woods, the slightest noise causing her to jump or scream. Would cling to strongest looking member of the player group. If left behind- She would wish them good luck, and wait. Upon returning, if they player group accepted the money from Martin and lied to her, she would be devastated, but grateful that they allowed her some closure. If the players were to tell her the truth, she would be angry, but then remorseful, regretful that she drove him away. She would request that they take her to the cottage. If the players do, Martin would not be there, and she would request some time alone at the house, giving them their reward. If the players do not escort her, she would go to the cottage alone, frustrated with them, but still giving them their promised reward. Should the players return to the cottage afterwards, they would find it completely empty, Marriee nowhere to be found. Martin Mona: Male/Human/30s Lax, stoner-ish. Lives in small cottage in the woods, alone. Wishes to get away from overbearing sister, without hurting her feelings by telling her hes leaving. Planned to fake his death by going into woods and simply living there alone. If Marrie is with player group- She would confront him, distraught. They would exchange words, and, without player intervention, make up. Should the players interrupt them, Martin would be put off, and annoyed at their intrusion. Marrie would calm him down, and they would make up. Should the players threaten Martin, or should they be incredibly rude/intrusive. He would push Marrie away and lock himself in cottage. Cottage would not be well fortified, and he is not a fighter. If the player group does not take Marrie- Martin would offer them a small cash reward to tell Marrie he perished. Should they take it, he would be grateful and go inside. Should they refuse it, he would be angry, and would lament having to leave the cottage to avoid his sister. Build Requirements: Cottage in a Forest 2) For a group of 5-10 Title :Skulls For the Skull Throne ET Members: 5-8 NPCS: Old Man Withers: Male/Human/50s Withers will be the initiator of the event, seeking help with a grave-robbing issue. He would explain that the cemetery he tends to is frequently being robbed, however the thieves only take the skulls of the corpses. He would be slow, frustrated with the robbers, and eager to help the players. He would direct them to a nearby cave that he is suspicious of. He would insist on following the players into the cave. Withers would use a shovel to fight, and should he be killed, he would thank the players for helping him, request that they find the leader and kill him, and bury him in his cemetery. Trak, Lord of the Mind: Male/Elf/?? Trak is the main antagonist, the leader of a small cult of illusionists/mental mages living in a cave. He is insane, seeking skulls to create an elaborate throne. He is physically weak, but a powerful illusionist. He would be completely unreasonable, and negotiating with him would not be possible. Cultists: Male-Female/Human-Elf/20s-30s Mages and fighters of varying shapes and sizes, they would be Traks henchmen. The first group would be at the start of the cave, 1-2 mages and 2-3 fighters. They would be idly chatting, working to clean up skulls for Traks throne. Should the players approach them, they would be instantly hostile, commanding them to leave at first. One would then suggest that they kill the players to acquire more skulls. The others would agree, and a fight would ensue. The second group would be with Trak, 2-3 mages and one fighter, Traks lieutenant, Kat. She would be a burly fighter, brash, proud, and impatient. Once they are defeated, two items may be looted from Trak and Kat, respectively. The first is the Circlet of Spook a silver circlet with an opal in the center, which, when worn, gives the head of the wearer the appearance of a skull. The second would be the Axe of Bluffing an axe which makes the holder look as though they have larger muscles than what they actually have. It does not change them in any other way, it simply looks like they are physically stronger. Withers would thank the players, offer them the items, and a mina reward. He would then begin to work on taking back the skulls. Build Requirements: A graveyard with a hut, a small cave system with 1-2 small rooms to the side, filled with corpses and henchmen working, and one large foyer with Traks skull throne in the center. 3) For a group of 20+ Title: The Hidden Keep ET Members: 15+ Synopsis: Less of an NPC driven even like my previous two, this one would involve a small group of explorers and scholars requesting aid in exploring a keep that was recently discovered in a forest. Precursor: A server wide-broadcast of a large forest fire, like, very big. This would attract different players such as druids or any other interested parties. The forest fire would burn all the trees and foliage that kept the keep hidden. NPC Group: 6-7 Leader: Kalkan The Brave: Male/Wood Elf/100-300 The leader of the group of adventurers requesting aid. Uses a bow and short sword, generally proud, kind, brave, although rather foolish and headstrong. Would want to be the leader of the party, and would oppose player character taking control. Would yield if player character showed strength, however. Liadri: Female/Human/20s Thief of the group, a scout, nimble, agile, and stoic. Would be reluctant to want help, but would request so under Kalkans orders. Galhad: Male/Dwarf/ ? Think Gimli, pretty much. Friendly, adventurous, etc. Algernon: Male/Human/40's Standard scholar type, would be a mage, fire evocation, telekinesis, and arcane shielding. Rather quiet, but insightful. He would be reluctant to adventure, always wanting to examine things. Basically I want this to be your standard DnD party, in a way. Just an adventure into a dungeon of sorts, with the ET NPC party interacting with the players, and seeing where that goes. This event would be multifaceted, as well. Players wouldn't have to go with the party, however the keep would be much more dangerous. There is also the option of ET working on the ramifications of the fire, if people want to clean up, or help fix things. The Keep would be standard, in ruins, bodies, debris, etc. Below ground there would be a large library, that can open up into a large cave system. The system would be trapped, and have signs of human interaction. Small rooms with journals and books, experiments, etc. What is left of the books would be from a man named Varen it does not go into much detail about him, but he appears to be researching something. He mentions having to be sneaky, revenge, a great happening, etc. When the party reaches the bottom, they would come across a large door, seemingly hidden. Upon opening the door, the party would find a large pile of bodies, bones mostly, with what looks to be an area where a ritual was performed. It is too old and mangled to determine what the ritual was, however. A short time after, they would be attacked by Voidal Terrors (Mindless sub-set of Voidal horrors). The Terrors would be dormant at first, however there would be about 9 or more, depending on the ET members, and they would fight the players. One large voidal terror would be built, this is up to the builder's discretion. The outcome of the fight would be non-scripted, however the NPC ET members would step up should the players falter, this should not be necessary, though. Upon defeating the terrors, the players would find the final notes of Varen, detailing how he lured the inhabitants of the keep down here to summon the terrors, planning to use them for himself, however they turned on him and he perished along with the rest of them. Varen was the librarian, and claims to have found something on voidal horrors in the library. The library would be in ruins, and little would be found about the horrors, if anything at all.The hidden nature of the door prevented the dim-witted horrors from escaping, so they were trapped there until the players arrived. There wouldn't really be any loot, although the NPC ET party would reward the players, and head off for another adventure. Maybe they would show up again in another event, like recurring characters. Just a thought. Build Requirements: A semi-large, burnt forest with a keep in the center. A keep, medium size, with a library basement that leads to an underground cave system. This system opens up into a larger cave, with bodies and room to fight, with one large voidal horror creature in the middle. How long do you plan to stay in the ET? For a while, the only thing I can see removing me from lotc would be school, but that wont happen till the fall, and even then thats not 100%, Tell me a joke My IRL social life.

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Positive Mental Attitude - The Lord Of The Craft

Arnold H. Glasow

An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupies.

There are two distinct parts of human thought. One part is the brain, and the other part is the inner mind otherwise known as the subconscious. Both parts work together to help shape our view of reality. When congruence exists between them, there is harmony in the system, which includes the body and the emotional centers that shape how we feel from moment-to-moment. However, when congruence doesnt exist between the brain and the inner mind, then thats when conflicting agendas create havoc within the system, leading to emotional mayhem and self-sabotaging behavior. But more about that later. Lets first take a closer look at the brain.

The brain is at the center of the nervous system. Its role is to think, to make conscious decisions, and to create associations between past memories and present experiences. The brain does all this through the five human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.

As information comes through these five senses, the brain interprets this data in a very specific way that is dependent upon your beliefs, values, human needs, self-concept, meta-programs, psychological rules and perspectives. All of these elements come together to create a thought, which directly affects your emotional state-of-mind.

As the brain senses something familiar, it immediately interprets this information based on its reservoir of memories and past experiences. These memories are of course built upon the elements discussed above, and therefore your interpretations of reality are only interpretations and not facts. Your interpretations are just a version of reality that you have manufactured based on your life experiences to date. Therefore how you perceive and interpret things are as unique to you as they are to any other person.

Given all this, it appears as though your brain presents you with a very personal and biased view of reality that makes sense to you. As such, there is no right or wrong, there is only one perspective or another perspective. Therefore, everything is as it seems, and not quite as it seems all at the same time.

The brain itself is made up of several components or parts. First, there is the middle brain. This is the part of the brain that controls emotions, sex drive, long-term memory, hormonal drives, and the immune system of the body.

Next is the left hemisphere of the brain. This is the logical part that enjoys thinking in sequential steps. Its often preoccupied with writing, language, mathematics, reading, problem solving and making judgments about space and time. This is essentially the analytical part of the brain that helps you make sense of the world you live in.

There is also a right hemisphere of the brain. This is the part of the brain that enjoys working with the creative elements of life. Its often preoccupied with emotional self-expression, pattern recognition, creative artistry and musical pursuits. Its function and role is very different to the left brain, however its not a separate entity, but rather one part of a whole that works together to shape how you perceive and interpret the world around you.

The final component is the Reptilian Brain. Lets call this the Emotional Mind. This is the primitive brain that consists of the Hypothalamus, Amygdala, and other parts including the Thalamus, Basal Ganglia, Hippocampus and the Brain Stem. These areas of the brain handle many of the automatic emotional responses that are tied to fear, stress, anxiety and worry.

In the event of a perceived emergency or an uncomfortable situation, the Hypothalamus releases neurotransmitters and hormones into the bloodstream that successfully intensify the emotional experiences within the body leading to the fight-flight response. This is only possible because of the Amygdala, which is the storehouse of your emotional memories. The Amygdala assesses the danger of the situation based on past experience (emotional memories), and thusly helps activate the heart and other muscles of the body readying them for action within emergency situations.

You experience an emotion as a result of the hormones that are being pumped through your bloodstream. Your emotions are therefore nothing more than chemicals passing through your body that make you feel a certain way. So whether you feel angry, sad, happy, anxious, in love, or depressed, it all comes down to the chemicals that are currently flooding your bloodstream. And whats even more significant is that the release of these chemicals is dependent upon how you tend to interpret your experience of reality. And of course your experience of reality is tied to your five senses.

What makes one person feel fear, makes another person feel excitement. They are both thinking or looking at the same thing, however they have very different interpretations of this thing. And its these different interpretations that trigger a different cocktail of chemicals that result in varying emotional experiences for both people.

Both individuals look at this thing and ask:

What does this mean?

How must I respond?

If a person views this thing as something that must be feared, then they will respond in fear. And because they are interpreting things in this way, the Emotional Mind will help them out by pumping a chemical cocktail of fear into their bloodstream. On the other hand, another person will view this thing as something that sparks their curiosity and gets them excited about life. In such a scenario, the Emotional Mind will pump out a chemical cocktail of excitement into their bloodstream. As such, this second person responds very differently to these events and as a result has a very different emotional experience.

The first person who responded in fear interpreted their experience in a fearful way based on past memories. Their brain automatically asked What does this mean? And when you ask a question, you often get an answer. And in this persons case, they saw this thing and made sense of their current circumstances by calling upon past experiences (references) that are in some ways related to this thing. And based on those experiences (memories), they successfully made sense of this thing and responded accordingly in a fearful way.

For the second person, they too looked to their past experiences/memories and asked the same question: What does this mean? However, their past experiences/memories werent related to fear, but rather to curiosity and excitement. And as such they responded very differently to this thing than the first person.

There is nothing wrong with reacting in fear. This system is simply a defense mechanism that has been built into the brain to help protect us from harm. However, the flaw in this system is that it works on autopilot. It doesnt interpret reality based on fact, but rather based on past experience (emotional experience). And your past experience is built upon your memories; and your memories are nothing more than interpretations of what might have happened; and these interpretations are often very flawed because they are clouded by limiting beliefs, unhelpful thoughts, psychological rules, and much more that goes on at the unconscious level of awareness.

Reality isnt how it is, it is rather how you make it out to be. And how you make it out to be BECOMES YOUR REALITY.

The brain is only guided by the programming it has received over a lifetime. It thinks and responds to the events and circumstances of your life in very specific ways because thats how it has been trained to respond. If you want to respond a different way, then you will need to interpret things differently. And to interpret things differently you will need to dig deep into your past memories in order to unlock the references you have collected over the course of your life. However, the problem is that many of these references lie below conscious awareness. They are unconscious and tied to automatic thought patterns. And this is the sanctum of the Inner Mind.

The Inner Mind is the part of you that controls your automatic responses, behaviors (habits), and biological functions. It is also the part of you that controls your automatic reactions to people, events and circumstances.

One of the Inner Minds main roles is to ensure that your conscious decisions, behaviors, and actions are consistent with your underlying thoughts, human needs, beliefs, meta-programs, values, psychological rules, wants, intentions, emotions and self-concept.

All of these parts of you are built upon a lifetime of experiences. You form beliefs, values, meta-programs, and psychological rules as a result of your responses to pain and pleasure. In other words, every experience you have-had has either been a painful experience or a pleasurable experience.

When something has been pleasurable, you have associated positive emotions with that experience. However, when something has been painful, you have associated negative, limiting and unhelpful emotions with that experience. And as a result of these experiences you have collected a wide variety of references that have gone into creating your belief systems. And these beliefs influence your values, meta-programs, self-concept, psychological rules, emotions, etc. Likewise all these areas influence your belief systems. Its therefore important to see this as a cycle that constantly revolves with one area always influencing all other areas.

Bringing things back to today, all those beliefs, values, psychological rules, etc, are nothing more than memories that are built upon the references you have collected. And these memories are often flawed and dont quite represent how things used to be. The reason for this is that your memories are entangled with your beliefs, values, psychological rules, etc. Therefore what you think is a perfectly clear memory, is actually far from perfect and certainly not clear.

Your memories are only interpretations of how things used to be. These interpretations are built upon all of the above mentioned unconscious elements of your psyche (beliefs, values, rules, etc). These elements are built upon the references you created that are based on your personal experiences of pain and pleasure. And of course your experience of pain and pleasure might very well been flawed, and as such everything you think is real, is not as real as you think it to be. Its a flawed perspective/memory of reality that is currently influencing your daily choices and decisions.

Your Inner Mind holds everything from your past together at an unconscious level of awareness. All your references, thoughts, beliefs, values, human needs, psychological rules, meta-programs, intentions, etc, are all here sitting deep within the recesses of your Inner Mind. When they all coalesce together they come to form your interpretation of reality. Furthermore, when they all converge together (which is all of the time) they influence the daily choices and decisions you make and the actions you take. They are therefore together influencing every aspect of your life. In other words, for better or worse, they are shaping your destiny. This by itself isnt a problem, however, it does become problematic for most people because of one fatal flaw.

The fatal flaw for most people is that their Inner Mind often has a different agenda than the Conscious Brain. You might want to do, be, have and experience certain things on a conscious level of awareness, however, under the surface of conscious awareness is the Inner Mind that has its own agenda. And its agenda is to ensure that your Conscious Brain does things in accordance with the underlying thoughts, values, needs, beliefs, meta-programs, etc, that have already been programmed into the Inner Mind.

But what does all this mean?

You may very have all these wonderful goals that you would like to achieve. There is no doubt you want to achieve these goals given your level of passion and motivation. However, the reality is that you will NEVER achieve these goals. You will never achieve them because you wont be able to stop yourself from indulging in self-sabotaging behavior. You may therefore make some good progress towards the attainment of your goals, however at one point or another you will do something or fail to do something, and this will put a stop to your efforts.

Why would this be happening?

Remember that your Inner Minds role is to ensure that your conscious decisions, behaviors and actions are consistent with the way you have programmed yourself over a lifetime. And this programming goes back to your interpretations of pain and pleasure, which are based on the experiences you have had. This response to pain and pleasure has formed your beliefs, values, meta-programs, psychological rules and other unconscious elements of your psyche. These elements are now memories that function as an aid to help you make choices and decisions in the present moment. This is fantastic if your current choices and decisions are congruent and consistent with your underlying programming. However, problems arise if your Conscious Brain has a different agenda then whats been programmed into your Inner Mind.

However you have programmed yourself over a lifetime now lies within the recesses of your Inner Mind. Your Inner Minds task is to make sure that you act consistently with this programming. If you diverge from the path, then its the Inner Minds job to get your back on track to make sure that everything stays consistent and congruent.

Your Inner Mind doesnt handle conflict very well. Therefore if you set a goal or task for yourself to do something that goes against the Inner Minds programming, then your Inner Mind will do whatever it takes to make sure that you dont achieve that goal or take that specific action. As such, you will do something or fail to do something and will ultimately sabotage yourself in some way. Your goal will continue to be out of reach, and you will have no idea why you are making next-to-no progress.

The programming that goes into shaping your Inner Mind is a very powerful force. In fact, your Conscious Brain can do very little about it. Its like a dog on a leash after years of obedience school. The dog will listen to everything that its owner instructs it to do. It will listen because it has been trained to respond to pain and pleasure. It knows that when it obeys that it will feel pleasure, and that when it disobeys that it will experience pain. Yes of course the dog might have other desires and wants, however it has been conditioned to act in a certain way over a lifetime, and even though it might want to do something differently, it will stay consistent with how it has been taught to act and respond to specific commands. In a similar way your Inner Mind is the master and the Conscious Brain is the pet that has been trained to act and respond in a very specific way to the events and circumstances of its life.

Now, lets say that the dogs owner suddenly becomes very abusive. In such instances this turn-of-events might very well create enough pain for the dog to act differently and not follow the commands that it has been taught. This will initially be very difficult to do. It has been conditioned to act and respond in a certain way for many years. Breaking this cycle and pattern will not be easy. However, if the dog experiences enough emotional pain as a result of the abuse, it will successfully reprogram itself by resisting the commands from its owner. It might even decide that its had enough, and lash out in anger.

I realize that this is a pretty extreme example, however it does provide some insight into what it might take to break the cycle and to reprogram your Inner Mind in ways that will help support the conscious goals and objectives you would like to achieve.

Reconditioning the Inner Mind will take a great deal of effort. You have a lifetime of experiences that have shaped who you are and what you think and believe. This doesnt change over night, however you can certainly recondition your Inner Mind in a better way over time to ensure that it supports your conscious endeavors.

To recondition your Inner Mind you could use hypnotic suggestion, psychological modeling, and/or visualization. No matter what method you decide to choose, keep in mind that reconditioning comes back to the pain and pleasure principle. The dog went against its automatically conditioned responses when it experienced enough pain to make this change possible. You too must use the principles of pain and pleasure to recondition your Inner Mind in a new way. Pain and pleasure will help create new references, which will help shape your beliefs, and will subsequently influence other areas of your psyche.

You typically have 60,000+ thoughts per day. Ninety five percent of these thoughts are known as habitual thoughts. These are the thoughts you consistently bring to mind every single day. Moreover, these are the thoughts that go into recreating your body and your cells. Yes, your thoughts are creating and recreating your body and cells on a daily basis. This means that you are who you are (physically and emotionally) because of the thoughts you have allowed into your mind. This also means that your health and wellbeing is tied to your thoughts. Your body therefore corresponds to your thoughts in much the same way as your tongue corresponds to the words you use to express yourself. But what is an actual thought?

Thoughts are impulses of information that go into creating molecules (thinking cells). These thoughts are built upon the five human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. As such, thoughts can come in many different forms. However, thoughts most commonly manifest through sight and sound. When you picture something in your head you are at that moment creating a thought. Also when you talk to yourself you are at that moment creating a thought.

Because your thoughts are built upon the five human senses, they are therefore only interpretations of reality. Your thoughts are perspectives you have about the world you live in. These perspectives are based on your expectations. What you expect to see, hear, smell, taste and touch, is what becomes real in your life. As such, your thoughts for the most part correspond to your unconscious tendencies. These tendencies include habits of mind that are built upon your beliefs, values, human needs, meta-programs, psychological rules, self-concept, and emotions. Your thoughts are therefore interpretations of the reality you have led yourself to expect. And this can either help you or hurt you, depending on how you have conditioned yourself over a lifetime.

Your thoughts create Neuro Peptides that trigger the release of specific kinds of hormones into your bloodstream. As such, you cannot have a thought without producing a chemical cocktail in your body that leads to an emotional experience. You therefore experience an emotion because of an initial thought that triggered the release of a chemical within your brain, thereby creating the emotion you are currently feeling. This chemical cocktail of hormones can for instance come in the form of antidepressants, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antibiotics, and other drugs. However, these are not artificial chemicals injected into your bloodstream by a medical professional. These are chemicals produced by your brain that result from your thoughts. These thoughts come about because of the expectations and perspectives you have chosen adopt.

Because your thoughts create your emotional experiences, they are akin to psychological anchors. You will have a thought and this will result in an emotion. This emotion manifests physically through your body when you tremble, sweat, or blush. Your thoughts are therefore psychological triggers for your emotional experiences.

Your psychological triggers are learned responses that have been conditioned over a lifetime. These learned responses have become habits-of-mind that you have adopted and taken as your own. These habits-of-mind come about as a result of neural formations/connections in the brain.

A neuron consists of an axon, a nucleus and dendrites. When you think a thought an electrical impulse of energy is sent along the synaptic gap between neurons in your brain. These messages create dendrite synaptic protuberances (DSPs), which are formed every single time you talk, think, experience an emotion, and/or take a specific action. These DSPs are the pathways that allow information to travel from one cell to another.

Pathways are created when you have a thought. Pathways are strengthened when you have repeated thoughts about the same thing. And when the same pathway has been used many times over, thoughts cross this pathway with less effort then ever before. And thats how your habits are formed.

Lets use an example of a field with long grass. When you initially walk through this field there will be no evident pathway. You will need to make your own way through the field to reach your house on the other side. However, over the course of days, weeks and then months, you keep walking along the same grass within this field. And as you continue walking on this grass a clear pathway comes into view. The grass along this pathway gets worn out over time, and as a result you are now walking on dirt that clearly outlines the path you must follow to get to your house.

In much the same way thoughts used over-and-over again create pathways in your brain. That first original thought is difficult and uncertain. Its difficult and uncertain because there is no solid pathway for this thought to travel upon. However, as you continue using that same thought time-after-time, you will travel the same pathway. And the more times you travel this pathway the easier it is to walk this pathway because you have successfully created a groove for your thoughts to walk on.

This is how habits are formed. You have a thought, and then you undertake a specific kind of behavior. As the thought and behavior are repeated, the pathway grows more prominent in your brain. As such, the thought and behavior become easier and more effortless to indulge in. Over time, these thoughts and behaviors turn into unconscious habits. You become so proficient because of the depth and strength of this pathway that you form a habit that no longer requires any conscious attention. This is much like walking.

When you tried walking for the very first time you probably had to put a lot of conscious effort into it. However, over time the walking pathways in your brain strengthened, and as a result it became much easier to walk. And then over time after repeatedly walking every single day, you became so proficient at walking that you no longer had to give it any conscious thought or attention. And that is how lifelong habits are formed for better or worse.

Have a think about all the habits you have acquired over a lifetime. Think about your fears, phobias, limiting beliefs, and behaviors. These are all habits that began with a single thought that was repeated over time creating a strong pathway that is now difficult but not impossible to break.

In order to break-free from one of your unhelpful habits, you will need to STOP crossing over the pathway that created this habit. And this means that you will need to start thinking in a different way. You will need to create a new habit, which requires creating new thoughts that will help you to create new pathways that you must repeatedly use over-and-over again until you establish a new habit.

This process of course isnt easy. Establishing a new habit will take time. However, its time well spent if you desire to make positive changes in your life.

When you establish a habit, you call upon your Reticular Activation System (RAS). The RAS is a filter that is applied to the staggering amount of data that gets picked up by the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. This filter works 24/7, and its the only thing that keeps you from getting overwhelmed by the massive amount of stimuli passing through your sensory organs.

The RAS determines what you will consciously decide to give your attention to at any given moment in time while filtering out the remaining data and information, which passes through into the unconscious mind.

When you establish a habit you also set-in-stone a set of beliefs, thoughts and expectations that go into maintaining and supporting that habit. This subsequently instructs your RAS to only filter through information that is of value to help support this habit and its associating beliefs, thoughts and expectations. In other words, your RAS will only filter through information into your conscious awareness that is aligned with the habit your are indulging in. As such, you never see the full picture. You are instead only seeing a biased view of reality that matches the personal beliefs, thoughts and expectations that help support your habit. Its much like peering through a keyhole. You can see the room through the keyhole, however you never see the room in its entirety. You might for instance notice that the room looks messy, and you therefore assume that the entire room and the house are also messy. However, this may or may not be true.

What all this means is that not only might you be indulging in an unhelpful habit, but you wouldnt even know about it because your RAS is filtering out everything that goes against the beliefs, thoughts and expectations that are supporting this habit. For this very reason, unhelpful habits are very difficult to break. However, difficult doesnt mean that they are impossible to break. If you originally conditioned yourself to do things a certain way, then you can certainly recondition yourself to do things another different way. Awareness is always the first step to change.

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Overcoming a Negative Mental Attitude - IQ Matrix Blog

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 2:5)

Behind every face is a mental attitude, a manner of thinking. You are what you think! God mandates that you think divine viewpointthe mind of Christa perspective of life based on the infallible Word of God. When Bible doctrine is the foundation of your thinking, you will have confidence and stability under all circumstances, an orientation to grace, an inner happiness that produces capacity for life, love, and blessing, and a relaxed mental attitude toward people.

This book is dedicated in loving memory to two faithful servants: Laura Kay Tapping whose spirit of service to the Lord is alive and well in this ministry and my faithful canine companion, Sassy, who spent many long hours at my feet while I studied the Word of God.

The cover, drawn by Katherine Stark Tapping, is a portrait of the personnel of R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries in the year of our Lord, 2000. Laura Kay, who went home to be with Lord in 1998, is pictured to the left of Colonel Thieme.

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2000, 3rd impression 2010

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R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries Mental Attitude Dynamics