Resources To Help Get You Inspired & Motivated

We all have days that we want to hide from the world. To get back into bed and dream the day we wish we had. Or hide behind the curtains and watch old movies, eat a pint of ice cream (my favorite is cookies and cream) and try to escape the events of the day. But hiding away doesn’t fix anything.

The ebb and flow of life is generally a normal part of living. Maybe we do need more sleep, a nap might turn things around. Maybe we need to examine what we’ve taken in that nurtured our body and mind. Have you been focusing on junk food? Maybe a healthy meal could give you some energy. Have you been burning the candle at both ends? Wearing yourself down like that makes it much easier for your body to catch even the smallest bug that turns into a big bout with a cold or the flu.

Or maybe you’re spending too much time thinking about the mistake(s) you made and allowing those events to anchor you in the negative energy that won’t allow you to flow out into a better day. Negative self talk is a very common problem with a lot of people. And it can be very destructive for many people. Even those who seem to have it all together.

Some times we need something to remind us of our blessings, or what we should be doing to move forward. Things that help us stay focused and mindful of our thoughts and actions can lessen the valley of sadness. Little inspirations that help boost our desire to dance!

There are many resources available that can help remind you to Dance YOUR Dance! And I’d like to share a few of the ones I use with you. Maybe one or two of these, or all of them, can help inspire your day. These are the things I use each day to help me focus on what’s worthy of my attention. Yes really, I do all of this. If one mode of inspiration doesn’t help, another idea or reminder might do the trick. Nothing wrong with constant reminders to help keep you Mindful!

Setting and Keeping Goals
The first step to being inspired is deciding what inspires you and what you want to be inspired to accomplish. Think of it as finding your passion. And you can have more than one passion. If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve in life, how are you going to get inspired? Setting goals isn’t hard. You can start with simple things like getting in shape, losing weight, finishing your research paper or getting through your inbox each day. No matter how small or how big, you can set goals for the day, or for any time period through out your life.

Create A Green List – The It Works List
Everyone has desires and goals in life. Things we want to be, want to aspire to, to achieve or even things to have. Set and maintain a written list of goals and desires. Yes you must write it out and not simply think about it. List 10 things you want to achieve. Each day read and review your list, at breakfast, lunch and bedtime. Keep your goals in the forefront of your mind and you’ll be able to put energy toward them throughout the day. Click the link in the header and you’ll learn more about the Green List, how to write it and where the idea comes from.

Visual Inspirations – See What You Want
Today nearly everyone has a PC and/or smartphone and/or a tablet. So why not use those things to help you be inspired. I turned my Green List into a graphic and set it as the start-up image for my laptop. Some people aren’t this tech savvy, but if you like this idea it’s easy to do. Make the image and take your pc to a local computer store and ask them to help you set it up. There’s always a way or a person who will be willing to help. If you don’t want to do that, create a graphic and set it as your desktop image. Then you’ll be able to see it once your PC starts up and through out the day.

SlideShows:
Start using a SlideShow screen saver. Today Windows based PCs have this built into the operating system. All you need to do is set it up. Then start finding images that inspire you to put energy toward your goals set on your Green List. If you’ve listened to The Ænigma Project, for any time, or visited my FB page, you may have heard me talk about one of my ultimate dreams, to have a Bugatti Veyron! Yes it’s ok to dream of a material thing as long as that’s not all you try to attain in life. The Veyron is one of those really big long-term life dreams for me. So I have several screen saver images of the one I’d like to have. Each time the image pops up, it reminds me of why I’m working so hard to do something when I really don’t want to be working at all. That moment of inspiration can often be enough to change that attitude back to a positive effort.

Your dream might be a degree, or a certain career, maybe to have a family or a trip to a certain place in the world that you feel drawn to. So find a picture of the degree you’d like, if you’re good at graphic design, you can change that image and put your name on the picture. If it’s a career you want, find images that show people working that career. If you don’t like strange people in your screen saver, than find a cartoon image! Same thing for a family, those stick figures can go a long way to helping you think positive thoughts. Go to your favorite search engine and type:  psychologist 3d people and press Enter. You never know, you may find the perfect image!

Technology Helps Too
There are a ton of applications, both pc and smart phone/tablet that can help you stay inspired.

Set Calendar Reminders
Whatever calendar software you use, set reminders. If you want to meditate every day or at least once a week, schedule it and set a reminder to help you keep on schedule. If you want to work on your Green List each week, set a reminder. If you want to remind yourself to look at your green list, set a reminder!

My cell has a built-in clock that allows me to set alarms. I have several that remind me it’s time to do something. From getting up in the morning, to “it’s time to start dinner”. I can get pretty focused when I’m working on something and it’s not unheard of that dinner time can go by and suddenly 2 hours later everyone’s saying “I’m hungry”. If you don’t take control of your time, who else is going to?

Last night I set a new calendar reminder to check my MindBloom tree. I’m looking forward to that.

MindBloom – Grow The Life You Want
Ms. Sushi turned me onto this last night during the Ænigma Project show. This is a kewl little place. You can set goals for your day, week, whatever. You can have MindBloom remind you of the things you have to do that day. For instance I set a goal to clear out my inbox each day. A big task for me because of the large amount of email we receive at the office.

I set a goal to meditate each day, even if it’s only 10minutes; there’s a benefit to that! I set a goal to check my MindBloom tree each day and to write a bit on the next book, whatever book that maybe. Each time you complete a goal or action for that day, you can water your tree, or give it sunshine. It’s a really kewl little site. And you can also put an app on your phone and take your tree with you.

Keeping Your Goals
Setting goals is great, but having something help you to keep that goal and keep track of it can also be inspiring. Today, there’s always an App for that. Smartphones in my opinion, are the greatest inventions of all time! Even if you don’t use them as a phone, they’re still a mini-computer in your hand. And many of those apps can help you set goals, get inspired, keep inspired and help you monitor and track your inspiration!

Most, if not all of these are available on both Android and iPhone. I’m linking to the websites for the applications and they generally have links to their app on both platforms that you can go to and check out. Oh and the big plus to these, they’re all free. Though some do have features that can only be used after purchase, but I only use the free version and they work great for me.

Accupedo
I have a goal to walk every weekday for 20minutes. Some days that translates to a very short .25 miles and some days I hit my 20minutes and want to keep going for 4miles. This little app on my cell helps me keep track of how far I walked and it tells me how many steps I probably took through out the day or just during my walk. It tells me how many calories I burned during my walk and it lets me share my accomplishment for that walk on FB or Twitter. Because of course you want others to know you did something that you set your mind to do. Right?!  The app works for walking, running and biking.

Insight Timer – For Meditation
The Insight Timer is more than a timer, it also reminds you it’s time to meditate. It helps you set how much time you have to meditate, be it 2 minutes or 2 hours. It keeps track of your meditation sessions. It shows you who else around the world was meditating at the same time you were. It allows you to listen to pre-recorded guided meditations that others have uploaded.

I’m working on a few of these, but that’s out in the future right now. Don’t get excited.

Mindfulness – Being Mindful (a post here on Reflections).
There are several of these you might like. I found a site that lists several Mindfulness Apps you can check out.

The one I use is the Mindfulness Bell. I’m not sure if they’re available for iPhone. But you can find it on GooglePlay: Mindfulness Bell. All it does is ring a lovely gong sound to remind you to stop and check your thoughts. If you’re feeling frustrated, it helps you to remember that what you think, you create. So you can take that mindful moment and change your thoughts for the better. Refocus your energy and turn your day around.

Photo Slides (Photo Frame)
Sitting next to my lap I have a little stand for my cell phone. I let it play my slideshow of pictures while I’m working during the day. And in my collection of images are pictures of place I want to go, things I want to do, and even the material things I would like to have.

You know those fancy digital photoframes you can sit on your desk? The ones that seem rather expensive; to me anyway. Well I have that, on my phone. I simply plug my phone into my laptop, use file manager to transfer files to the Picture directory on my phone and tada, all those inspirational slideshow pictures I have on my laptop are now on my phone. So even if I’m sitting here working, over there on my phone is my slide show of inspirational images. With some family pictures thrown in.

Now I do some extra steps to help maintain space on my phone. The general size of images for a cell is 480×300. Regardless of which way your phone is turned. So I resize images I want on the phone and then transfer them. Along with adding an external SD card for storage and holding all my pictures. Your local cell store can help you with that.

I’m not sure if this app is available on iPhone, but I’m sure someone out there has a similar app.

Get Fit
Today there are now a ton of apps to help you get fit and stay fit. Each one has its own strengths and assist you in monitoring varying things. Maybe you need to be heart healthy, or maybe you’re a diabetic and you have to keep track of your carbs. Long term studies have shown that people who keep track of their meals are more likely to stick to their goals and achieve the results they want and need to maintain.

When it comes to your health, there’s no putting it off till later. By the time you’re 50, the damage could already be done and you’re living with diabetes or other serious health issues. Don’t wait that long. And if you’re already 50+, there’s no excuse for you not to start taking care of yourself now.

The app I use has been advertised all over the place on TV and fitness magazine reviews. It’s called Fooducate. It’s more than a food tracker, it also educates you about food and in particular, specific products. It shares what’s good about the food you’re about to eat, what are some healthier alternatives and if you do eat it, what are the nutrition values.

I’ll be honest, it took the first month or two to add in the things I normally eat and how I eat them. But it gets easier as you go. I still have to add things in, but nowhere near as much as I did when I first got the app. But keeping track has helped me stick within my allotted calories and carbs each day. And on those few days when I have gone over. It’s no big deal. Those days were usually some kind of special event and I didn’t have to deprive myself or miss out on the celebration. One day isn’t going to kill you.

Whatever it is you need to do to help kick-start your day and keep motivated, there are a ton of apps and websites to help you. And they don’t all have a fee or cost you anything but your time and a little effort to set things up. Don’t let that stop you.

If you’re serious about turning your life around and making things better in your day, than take action. Do something to keep your self looking and moving forward. You’re the only one who can make that kind of difference in your life. So as the staying goes Just Do It and start Dancing Your own Dance!  You have no more excuses.

© 2014-2015 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.