As someone whose English teacher considered her one of the worst writers in the world, you may be surprised to know that Lisa Nichols has two book deals going with the super-successful “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series. She was also featured in Rhonda Byrne’s “The Secret”. Lisa’s true passion lies in speaking and in the company she founded, Motivating the Teen Spirit LLC.

Motivating the Teen Spirit has changed the lives of at least 60,000 teens and their parents. The organization has prevented over 1,800 suicides, and it has encouraged nearly 1,000 high school dropouts to return to school. Teens everywhere have been reunited with their parents.

Lisa has had a passion for helping people since her youth. She remembers many prayers to God begging for help and guidance. She promised herself that if God would help her through, she’d later help others as well. Lisa was just like any other teenager, as social as could be, but she needed help with emotional illiteracy.

Greatness isn’t born. It’s not something that comes from “magic fairy dust.” Lisa believes greatness is a product. It’s something to which one must work, and it’s something that comes from each good and bad experience in life. Let each challenge be an opportunity to learn and thrive rather than knock down.

Lisa Nichols always wanted to be a public speaker. In fact, she believed it was something God was leading her to do. Unfortunately, Lisa was a lot like Moses in the Bible – afraid to speak. She even got a “D” in her speech class at school. How could she be a public speaker? Lisa dwelled on her fears for five years before finally acting.

Everyone struggles with passion at some point. It may not be a passion for speaking, but it’s a struggle just the same. Part of Lisa’s fear stemmed from her security. She already had a great job. She had benefits and a six-figure income with which to care for her young daughter. Why give that up for an uncertain future?

You have to face your fears without letting your security get in the way. Think about how happy you’d be doing what you really want to do. Think what needs to be done to change your life. It doesn’t have to happen overnight, but change doesn’t happen by itself.

Lisa Nichols overcame her fears by studying speech, facilitation, and entrepreneurship. She began working with teens for free. In time, confidence and credibility allowed her to start charging a fee. Now she’s happier than she ever dreamed possible back when her life was “secure”. Overcome your own obstacles and be happy!

Every self development guru has a different approach to success, but what people really want is a simple recipe for success that produces results under any circumstance. I’ve been using such a formula for years. When you see how well this works, you’ll easily make this a part of your results getting routine. After a while, you’ll forget you’re actually doing it.

I did not come up with this formula myself. I learned it from Tony Robbins’ “Personal Power II” home audio series. In a nutshell, it’s a four step formula for achieving results in any area of your life.

The great thing about this is that it is subject matter neutral. The formula doesn’t care what you want to achieve, but there are some guidelines. The hardest part of this may be that any doubts or fears you have based on beliefs and experiences need to be put aside if this is going to work for you.

To accomplish anything of great value usually takes a bit of a leap of faith. You have to learn to “get out of your own way” and take action regardless of doubt.

In simplicity lies great power, and this system is no exception. Imagine a complex invention like the automobile and all its moving parts and interdependent systems. Now, imagine that same complex invention without the many components that contain the simplest of inventions, the wheel. The automobile is nothing without the power of the wheel.

It’s possible that you might be tempted to dismiss this system for being too obvious and too simple. It won’t take long, however, for you to see the simple power in this recipe for success.

Motivation initiates action. Motivation, however, is easily lost and needs to be renewed. Following the guidelines in this recipe will help you to keep on track and renew your motivation. Below is the formula for success that works to get you what you want.

1. Decide on your outcome – You must decide on what you want. You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t have a destination in mind. Determine what it is you really want and make up your mind to get it. It sounds obvious, but most people spend much of their time wishing and very little time deciding.

2. Take action—Now that you know where you want to go, you have to take action in order to get there. This requires you to make a second decision to take immediate action on your first decision. Make a commitment to taking those actions that will move you toward your desired outcome. In order to do this, you must put aside all fear and doubt. Like Nike, “just do it.”

3. Track progress—Check your progress and notice what is working and what is not. Do more of what is working, and change or drop what is not working. Keep fine tuning your actions until you achieve the results you want.

4. Model someone successful—One of the quickest ways to success is to find someone who has what you have, and then do what they did to get it. Modeling means copying what works. You can then improve upon it by monitoring your progress and adjusting.

I invite you to try this simple recipe for success for the next 30 days. Once you see that it works, please share it with a friend.

Just about every American has something they wish they could improve. Some wish to be taller, shorter, funnier, or richer to name a few. However there is a fine line between wanting to change something and low self esteem. People who suffer from low self esteem have a negative view of themselves, others, lack self confidence and perform poorly. It is difficult to measure the amount of people suffering from low self esteem as it usually is related to other emotional difficulties.

Lacking self confidence or low self esteem is not something a person just learns from one random act, it is something that is learned through repetitive criticism. It can come from just about anyone, parents with unrealistic demands of their children, constant comparison to other siblings or children or simply from parents who do not understand he child’s needs can leave them feeling misunderstood and detached. Children can also learn poor self esteem from classmates or teachers through the same techniques. Others feel negatively about themselves because of societies demands. Many young girls have expressed pressure to be thin simply from a magazine article, they begin to self criticize every time they read an article or see a photograph.

We are losing an alarming, one third of our youth to drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, jail, teen pregnancy, crimes and violence, drop outs, and suicide according to Selfesteeminternational.org. All of these problems have one thing in common, low self esteem. Some people of society have a hard time accepting negative self image is the cause for all of these problems. Often, as stated before, low self esteem is just a cover up to other emotional issues. However Selfesteeminternational.org reported that 80-90% of pregnant teens do not give up their children because they feel a baby will give them the unconditional love they never had. High school seniors report using drugs and alcohol as a way to fill a personal void and improve self esteem at the rate of 66%.

There are a range of programs which offer help with low self esteem, Some suffers attend counseling sessions, take medication, or read self help books. There are also new techniques being used to help build confidence, one of those is hypnosis. Hypnosis works with the subconscious mind to uncover what memories are causing the low self esteem. Once the memory has been identified, the hypnotist and patient work though the memory and the patient’s reaction to it. Together they help rebuild self confidence and work through all feelings, good or bad until the patient is satisfied with their progress. Since it works with the subconscious mind, it is easier to open up and express feelings you might not know you were having.

Some still feel that medication or therapy is the best and only way to treat self esteem issues. However, the medications only work with the chemical reactions in the body, it will not create a positive image or with the memories which are causing the patient pain and agony. Therapy can go on for months before the real trigger and emotional reaction is uncovered and it also deals with the mind on a conscious level. When dealing with the mind on a conscious level, patients often become very censored for fear they are being judged by the counselor. It can take a long time before a patient begins to trust the counselor enough to open up. While under hypnosis they sub conscious mind takes over allowing for completely candid thoughts.

You have taken the first step in your treatment, whatever it may be. You have acknowledged that you have issues with low self esteem and want to do something about it. You no longer want to go on feeling the way you do. The choice is yours, will you choose a treatment that could take months and months, will you choose a short term chemical fix or will you choose to open you mind and discovery why you feel the way you do, the choice is simple.

When you start out working with the Law of Attraction more proactively, you may question whether you have to take physical action as well as your mental and emotional exercises. The answer to this will vary depending upon who you ask.

There are people who claim that no action is needed; just directing the right frequency of thought and emotion toward a much wanted target is enough. Then there are those who think that action is always required, because action is the vehicle through which all desires are manifested.

In my experience, it can undoubtedly work both ways. Depending on the circumstances, you might possibly find yourself needing to take certain measures toward your goals.

Here is an uncomplicated process to help you know for sure:

Take care of the intimate work first. Focus on getting your thoughts, emotions, beliefs and expectations into complete alignment with what you want. Don’t worry about “how” it’s going to happen, just focus on exerting the right frequency of energy to attract it. You can do this by meditating, imagining, establishing, and making a vision board, and so on.

Completely let go. Once you are in alignment with your yearnings, turn it over to the cosmos. Don’t fret about whether it will arrive, or put yourself in a panic trying to come up with a plan. Take a step back from it and let it build for a little while. The amount of time is up to you, but I recommend no less than a week or two.

Tune into your intuition. During this letting go period, turn your attention inward regularly. Tune into your intuition and find out if there is something you can do to bring this desire into your life. You may or may not obtain any insights about it. If you do get a hunch or nudge to do something specific, by all means go for it. If not, constantly pay attention for any opportunities that might appear later. Don’t try to push or hurry the process along, because you’ll most likely end up causing more interruptions. These things have a tendency of appearing at exactly the right time, regardless of how we try to mess it up!

The fact is there is no right way or wrong way to use the Law of Attraction. Interestingly, the way it works usually seems to correlate with your beliefs.

If you believe you have to take action to attract your desires, guess what? You probably will. Likewise, if you believe that you do not necessarily have to take action, the universe will find a way to deliver your desires without a bit of additional effort on your part.

However, there are occasions when you will be prompted to take action even if you initially didn’t believe you’d have to do so. When this happens, simply follow where your heart leads. The actions you are advised to take will ALWAYS be in your best interest, and they’ll typically be quite enjoyable! Discover how to trust your intuition for assistance anytime you want to attract something, and you will be shown the way to get it as fast and easily as possible – whatever that may involve.

Rebecca Fine, founder of “The Science of Getting Rich” Network, started introducing people to the eBook version of “The Science of Getting Rich” in 1998 through a little hobby website she’d set up. The book was originally written over 100 years ago by a man named Wallace Wattles. Because of this timeless book, Rebecca’s website now has hundreds of thousands of members all over the globe.

One who was introduced to “The Science of Getting Rich” is a woman well known all over the world. Rhonda Byrne read the book and later used concepts she learned about the Law of Attraction to write her book, “The Secret”. This phenomenal book has been translated in many languages and turned into a documentary film.

Rebecca was first introduced to “The Science of Getting Rich” by an email sent out from a life coach’s list. The title is what really caught her eye. Could there really be a “science” behind wealth? She simply had to find out, so she ordered a copy. When it came in, she ripped open the box and read the whole book in only two hours.

There are some things in life that take more than one run to really become part of your subconscious. “The Science of Getting Rich” is one of them. Rebecca didn’t immediately comprehend everything in the book, but she had learned enough to know what she was doing wrong. She could suddenly see why success was in other parts of her life, but not in her network marketing business.

While in the office, Rebecca told her partner she’d found the answer to their problems. She told her partner to read the book that very moment (which obviously caught the partner a little off guard). A couple of hours later, they were in total agreement – some things needed to change!

Rebecca’s business saw almost overnight success. Within six months, the CEO of the company took notice and pointed them out as examples for others in the business. Things changed, but was “The Science of Getting Rich” the reason behind it? Was it just a coincidence? Rebecca wasn’t sure.

It took only about six months of smooth-sailing success before Rebecca was convinced this “science” worked. She wanted to tell the whole world, so she started the little hobby website. She had no intention of list-building or anything like that. She simply wanted to help others.

The website grew by leaps and bounds in no time at all. No one could’ve dreamed how successful it would be. Due to popular demand, Rebecca later set up a discussion forum, recorded the book to audio, and started an online study course. Today the site almost runs itself!

“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”—Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There are lots of things to worry about. If you’re paying any attention at all to the news, you can see these things everywhere, on all levels, from inflation, oil prices, antibiotic resistant viruses, the housing market is crumbling, earthquakes and tsunamis, the crazy out of control deficit and the weak dollar, the polar bears—um. . . I could go on, but A) we all know what’s going on and B) I am making the conscious decision to nurture the beautiful things in life and impact the present with positivity.

It’s a challenge. From every angle, we’re pushed to interact on a very fearful, scarcity driven level. It is my desire in life to act as a catalyst for courage and abundance, self persuasion to the point of shifting reality, switching frames for everyone that I come in contact with.

This means, my readers, that I am opening up new avenues for exploration. I will always teach and continue to learn and advance the field of persuasion. That will remain a constant in my life. The new venture, though inextricably enmeshed with the field of persuasion (as far as persuasion goes), is going to be a new focus for me in terms of filling the void that we seem to find within us in these trying times. Instead of continuing to accumulate, I will be giving the tools—both old and new—to align ourselves with the proper mindset.

The law of resonance works like this: say you’re an unbelievably happy, upbeat, positive person, and you are working with a very depressive, negative person. . . well, it’s like the rock and the hard place. Either their energy will come up to meet you or your energy will begin to be depleted. Most likely, the two levels meet somewhere in the middle. That’s how it works on an unconscious level, at least.

My goal is to bring this law of resonance to a very conscious level so that the events and people around you, while they may seem hopeless, are not. My suggestion is that the vibration of everything in your world can be raised up to meet you. Again, this doesn’t happen passively, but happens instead through deliberate, mindful optimism.

I am not at all suggesting that there won’t be moments where you need a little support in life, some fortification, and someone to build you up when you have challenges. And I am geared to be that for you. I’m relentless about enriching our lives through pure, unadulterated hope.

There are opportunities everywhere if you have the eyes to see them. Even problems we might come up against contain the seeds of their solutions. We all have seeds, many seeds, that we can nurture, bringing focus to what we want to draw to us.

My goal is to teach you to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

At first glance, it would seem that positive thinking and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) have nothing to do with each other. But a lot of us with ADD develop negative thinking patterns because we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This destructive outlook then makes it even harder for us to manage those challenges and move forward.

Practicing positive thinking allows people with ADD to concentrate on our strengths and achievements, which increases well being and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to pass more time making progress, and less time feeling down and perplexed. The following tips supply realistic suggestions that you can use to help shift into more positive thinking patterns:

1. Take Good Care of Yourself – It is a great deal easier to be optimistic when you are eating well, exercising, and getting plenty of sleep.

2. Remind Yourself of the Things You’re Grateful For – Stresses and challenges don’t seem quite as bad when you are unceasingly reminding yourself of the things that are right in life. Taking only 60 seconds a day to stop and value the good things will make a huge difference.

3. Look for the Proof Rather Than Making Assumptions – A fear of not being liked or accepted occasionally leads us to assume that we know what other people are thinking, but our concerns are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member’s bad humor flows from something you did, or that your colleagues are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don’t waste time distressing that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there’s something to worry about.

4. Refrain from Practicing Absolutes – Have you ever told a partner “You’re ALWAYS late!” or complained to a friend “You NEVER call me!”? Thinking and speaking in absolutes like ‘always’ and ‘never’ makes the situation look tougher than it is, and programs your brain into believing that certain people are incapable of delivering.

5. Detach From Negative Thoughts – Your thoughts can’t hold any power over you if you don’t judge them. Whenever you notice yourself holding a negative thought, detach from it, witness it, and don’t follow it.

6. Squash the “ANTs” – In his book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” Dr. Daniel Amen talks about “ANTs” – Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like “Those people are laughing, they must be discussing me,” or “The boss wants to talk to me? It must be negative!” Once you notice these thoughts, realize that they’re nothing more than ANTs and crush them!

7. Practice Lovin’, Touchin’ & Squeezin’ (Your Friends and Family) – You don’t have to be an expert to recognize the benefits of a good hug. Supportive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an fast pick-me-up. One research study about this topic had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She picked up higher tips from these customers than from the ones she did not touch!

8. Increase Your Social Activity – By expanding social activity, you reduce loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, cheerful people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

9. Volunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person – Everyone feels good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.

10. Use Pattern Interrupts to Combat Rumination – If you find yourself speculating, an excellent way to stop it is to disturb the pattern and force yourself to do something entirely different. Rumination is like hyper-focus on something negative. It’s never productive, because it is not rational or solution-oriented, it is just excessive concern. Try changing your physical surroundings – go for a walk or sit outside. You could also call a friend, pick up a book, or listen to some music.

When it concerns the corporate world, protocol is pretty much the religion. To recognize the things to be done are the basics of productivity, but interaction and maintaining a steady mind makes up the entire path to true productivity. There are those who seem to work well even under pressure, but they’re rare ones and we are human and imperfect. To get these little things like stress under our skins won’t solve our troubles. Sometimes it takes a bit of courage to acknowledge that we’re turning into workaholics than tell ourselves that we’re not doing our best.

I spent the past week of my life dealing with the necessities of my father’s funeral and burial. He died a week ago Monday, and I mention him because he was without a doubt the most positive manifesting person I knew. And he never saw The Secret or read philosophy. I was with him by his side the last day and a half of his life. I held his hand. He did not want me to let it go. And it was both the most heartbreaking and the most beautiful time of my life- as I have never felt so much love in a room as I felt that day.

My father spent most of his life singing, dancing, and telling jokes. He lived in what I will call the happy zone, and for the most part life was a gift he opened with zest. So when I speak of how to access the law of attraction energy, I am speaking in some ways about my father, a great role model for me.

So if we want to use the Law of Attraction, we have to determine what makes each of us happy. Perhaps it is communing with nature, lying in the tall grass. Perhaps it is taking a jog or swimming in the ocean. Perhaps it is simply watching the sun set.

For me I can access my peaceful self by reading a spiritual book such as “Conversations with God” or Alanon’s “Courage to Change.” I can get it through listening to beautiful music or looking at lovely artwork. I can read affirmation cards, or meditate on the musings of the famous spiritual teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh.

I get into the space of love by lying on the couch with my arms around one of my children. I also get there by cuddling and watching a movie, or conversing with someone I care for about what makes them happy.

As for joy, my dad and I were both fond of the singing at the top of your lungs in the car method of accessing it. We did many a fine concert for the steering wheel, and when we did all cares and worries went away. But the question for you is “What gives me joy?” And as soon as you answer it, you must go about the business of doing it, if you hope for any success at all in accessing the Law of Attraction Energy.

It is certain that we do not access the Law of Attraction Energy by doing things that drain or upset us, such as being with negative people, or watching sad movies. My dad had this tool down pat and when he watched a movie it was The Sound of Music or Oklahoma. He knew instinctively that negativity was best taken in small, limited doses.

So do what makes you feel good. Or do what makes others around you feel good- which will often alter how you feel. And don’t do what makes you feel bad very frequently if at all. Follow these simple rules and you will be sure to begin to manifest the good things in life, as well as follow in my dad’s footsteps, and thereby keep him alive and with us.

Today’s world is more focused on the fast paced style that we have set for ourselves than the dreams and hopes that once fueled our aspirations. We get so very caught up in our responsibilities that the obligations and expectations of our lives makes for a more important goals than our true passions. Many people feel that if they focus on themselves they are being selfish and cutting the attention to the other aspects of their lives that they have deemed more important, thus leaving room for those inner most desires lacking.

The book shelves are full of self-help publications that aim at offering insight into the best ways to improve overall happiness and fulfillment in life. The heart of these techniques lies in questions we all must ask ourselves. What is your motivation? What are the things that make you smile? What did you want to be when you grew up?

In order to find happiness, we all need to look deep into ourselves and find the things that make us who we really are. Those things that make us smile and whistle when no one else seems to be feeling our happiness. These are the things that need to be the center of our worlds, these are the passions that need to fuel our lives.

There are those that have given up the things they wanted most in life in order to be what they were expected to become. The woman who gave up her dream of becoming a CEO in order to raise the family. A father who put away those model trains once life got in the way because they were childish and there simply was not enough time. These were the dreams we allowed to falter because life expected something or we perceived life expected something more of us than we had time to give.

Rediscovering your passion may actually be harder than you think it should be. After lying stale in our minds for so long, those small things that once drove us often become alien in nature and need to be rekindled and reworked in order to find a place in our every day lives. The best path is to revert to your youth. Think back to what things made you most happy. Remember the passions that made you smile and the hobbies that once held such a high importance in your life and make room for those passions again.

Once you discover your passion, pursue it! For some, it may be scary to step outside of the norm and onto a path less traveled. But personal growth only happens when we extend ourselves beyond our usual boundaries. You don’t have to neglect your responsibilities to pursue your passion. It may simply be to take an art class at a local community center or you may find that you wish to switch careers and become a graphic designer. Determine what you are passionate about and then find ways to embrace it.

There is no amount of money in the world that can measure up to the payment your passion can provide. While the payment may not increase your checkbook or give you that promotion at work, it will give you back a sense of yourself that has been lost for a very long time.

Stop right now and think about those things that made youth so wonderful. If only for a moment, take a step back 10, 20, 30, 50 years and find that one thing that drove your mind to the limits of happiness. Once you have that thought firmly in your grasp, go for it!

Do you know how soothing and comforting touch can be? Of course you do! You have experienced it yourself so many times through your life. When you’re depressed or miserable, doesn’t the touch of a child’s hand or the weight of a baby in your arms ease the unpleasantness? Touch can perk you up; dissipating the effects of stress and making your mind and body relax and feel better.

Some people are particularly benefited by touch. Consider elderly people living on their own or in an institution – touch delights them, and makes them feel part of humanity. With no one from their own families to see and interact with on a daily basis, these older people are so glad when they feel the touch of a friendly hand, since all they get to feel nowadays is the occasional clinical or functional touch from a nurse or helper.

The sense of touch can not only relax, but heal as well.

On the other hand, for those people that work on computers all day long, receiving a neck and back massage can have an immediate effect. Even though you may begin the massage feeling rather tense, you will soon find yourself sinking into the chair as your tension begins to disperse.

Suppose you are arguing with someone in the family when your child suddenly gives you a hug or even just touches you lightly. It’s hard to carry on the argument after that because it’s difficult to sustain your annoyance when you have just been lovingly touched.

Many pet owners find the benefits rewarding of stroking, cuddling, and spending time with their pets. You could be in the worst possible mood when you arrive home, but when your pet greets you with excitement as you enter the house, all of your worries seem to fade away, and you can relax.

It is undeniable that humans need the physical pleasure of a touch. It doesn’t matter whether you’re being hugged by your wife, son, brother or buddy, a hug or any affectionate touch will instantly make you feel better and look at the world with brighter eyes. Even hugging yourself makes you feel good, more relaxed and calm.

Take your kids to a petting zoo and see how much they love stroking and cuddling the creatures there. As they play with the various animals, they will delight in the feel of their different skins and pelts, full of interesting textures and appearances.

The art of touching can certainly relax, soothe, heal, and comfort a human being. It can either be sexual, sensual, or even allowing an individual who has low self-esteem to open up to you and discuss their feelings.

It is the touch of a child that can make a grumpy old man smile; it is the touch of a friend that can create a comfort zone in which one is relaxed enough to share feelings; it is a mother’s touch that can relax a crying child into a peaceful state of slumber.