Nina Amir, is a seasoned journalist, author, inspirational speaker, and a conscious creation coach. Additionally, she does a show called Conversations with Mrs. Claus, a weekly podcast heard in more than 90 countries and downloaded by 110,000 listeners per month. Through her writing and speaking, Amir offers human potential, personal growth and practical spiritual tools from a unique perspective, although her work spans religious lines it is pertinent to people of all faiths and spiritual traditions. In all she does, Amir strives to help people live fully and feel the Divine Presence in their lives every day.

Here’s Nina Amir

Choosing to Move from Fear to Awe Allows You to Live Fully and Achieve Your Full Human Potential

These days, many people feel they have reasons to fear. They may worry that they will lose their job, their home or their life’s savings. Other people worry about their health and safety. Their worry may turn into fear, and fear soon can become terror.

Any degree of fear, however, stops us from reaching our full human potential. It keeps us stuck in place, unable to move forward to achieve our goals. Plus, our fearful thoughts only create more reasons to have fear. However, learning to move through our fear, or to deal with it in a positive manner, allows us to achieve a new level of personal growth. In this way, we can, indeed, live our lives fully.

One way to remove fear from our lives, or at least to lesson its impact, involves looking at it differently. In fact, terror and awe represent opposite extremes of the same spectrum. Thus, we can find awe even in our terror.

To understand this spectrum and how it might help reduce fear, let’s first look at the definitions of terror and awe. Terror constitutes intense fear or anxiety. This is not simple worry but full blown, overriding fear. Awe, on the other hand, can include an overwhelming feeling of reverence or admiration—or the power to inspire these feelings, but it also can include fear or the power to inspire fear.

In fact, fear and awe exist in different places on the same spectrum of emotion. To understand how this works, imagine yourself feeling awe at arriving at the top of a mountain and seeing the gorgeous panoramic view, then moving closer to the edge of the cliff and feeling fear, and moving even closer, so close that your toes almost hang over and rocks tumble off the edge, and you feel terror about possibly falling.

If you can take your terror and physically step backward to fear and then backward again to awe, you find yourself seeing the miracle of life once again. You find yourself feeling wonder and exhilaration at the miracles around you; you feel awe for God’s presence in all that exists. Thus, you experience both ends of the emotional spectrum of fear—terror and awe.

Simply changing your focus accomplishes this as well. If you were still standing at the very edge of the cliff, you could focus upon the dirt and rocks falling and your toes at the edge of the solid ground, all of which bring up your feelings of being vulnerable and exposed to danger, or you could focus on the same thing you focused on as you came up the trail—the fabulous, awe inspiring spectacle of nature and God’s handiwork. Instead of fear, you would feel awe.

In this way you get back to awe not by physically stepping backward and away from that which causes you fear or terror. You simply back up your thoughts and emotions to the place where you felt awe, to the place where you experienced the thrill of life. You change your emotions by changing your thoughts and where you place the focus of your attention.

Or you can focus upon the fact that you actually are standing at the edge and are safe. Be in the moment. Allow yourself to feel the exhilaration of standing on the edge of a cliff and knowing all is well. Allow yourself to see the miracle in that moment, in the fact that you are safe on the edge of the cliff. Make a choice about how you will feel in the moment, how you will perceive the experience. Be in the “now.”

You also can picture awe and fear as if they exist on opposite ends of a bridge and find a way to walk across the bridge from one end to the other, your goal being to find a place along that particular bridge that feels positive and comfortable. Hopefully, you will discover that as you walk along the bridge you end up at the opposite end of the spectrum. In other words, if previously you stood on the “fear side” of the bridge, you now stand at the “awe” side. Any other thoughts or feelings that go with your sense of fear can be used in this exercise. For instance, you can walk from the “fear side” to the “courage” or “safety” side. If you felt “insecure” before, you may now stand on the side of “security.” Accomplish this by taking small steps—actual physical actions—that help your traverse the mental bridge as well as actually move through your fear. Also do so by making choices about where you place your focus (on fear, awe or safety).

If you remain conscious, you can choose fear or awe in any moment. By so doing, you can dictate if you are able to move forward freely and courageously towards your goals. If you do so, you will find that you are living your life more fully and achieving your full human potential.

For More Information on Nina Amir, Please Visit:  http://www.purespiritcreations.com .

Nina Amir

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you, our newest guest blogger, Nina Amir.

7 Ways to Relieve Stress by Becoming More Productive

Most people feel stressed when they fail to accomplish necessary or desired tasks. Their stress level rises when their to-do list grows longer rather than shorter each day, week or month. In fact, our society measures success by productivity, which only increases our sense of needing to become more productive, and therefore, our level of stress.

Ways exist, however, to achieve a higher level of productivity without increasing our level of stress. Here are six tools that will help you do get more done and feel more relaxed as well.

1. Turn off technology. Yes…for a period of time each day, turn off the phone, the Internet, television, everything except what you absolutely need to get your work done. And don’t turn them back on until you’ve finished the project at hand—or at least completed a designated amount of work. We spend an amazing amount of time answering emails, texting, looking at things on the Internet, etc. Technology, while useful, becomes a huge time drain. So, for a certain amount of time each day, refuse to be at technology’s beck and call. You’ll be amazed at how much time you gain…and how much stress you lose.
2. Meditate in the morning. I can hear you groaning. I know this adds time to your day, but it’s a proven fact that meditation can help you gain time and lose stress. First, meditation does, indeed, reduce stress. Second, it helps you get centered, and quiet so you can ask yourself, “What are my priorities.” You might be surprised at the answer. Then you can prioritize your day based on your inner guidance and start out in a calm and focused manner.
3. Tighten your time belt. Take a realistic look at your day, and ask yourself “Where do I waste time?” Do you hit the alarm clock three times before getting out of bed? (That’s 20 minutes.) Do you spend an hour and a half every day looking through your email and clicking through links? Do you coffee klatch in the break room? Do you stand in front of the television set holding the clean clothes rather than folding them? Even if you really stick to a schedule, find some way to tighten your time belt so you gain at least another 30 minutes during which you can accomplish one more task.
4. Find work tactics that work. When you say you are working, are you really working? Are you focused? Are you getting something done? If not, figure out why, and then find some work tactics that work—that help you work. Are you hungry? Are you tired? Are you uncomfortable? Try taking a quick walk around the parking lot or up and down your driveway to get your energy moving—both in your body and in your mind. Start exercising every day so you feel good. Eat something that will help your brain work, like proteins or water, before you start a project—and at every meal so you don’t have that “crash and burn” sensation that makes you tired after eating. Take good vitamins every day. Sit up straight and tall at your desk rather than slouching. Get a pillow to support your back. Do something different. Find a tactic that helps you really be on task when you say you are working.
5. Be your own accountability authority. Whether you own your own business, work for someone else, or would simply like to get more done around the house each day, you have to become your own accountability authority. This means that you have to have a driving desire to get more done not for someone else but for yourself. It’s easy enough to find an accountability partner to whom you must report on your progress; this does tend to make you get things done. It’s also easy enough—although not always pleasant—to account for your productivity to a boss; this also will increase your productivity (but probably your stress as well). However, he desire to be productive and what we think of our own performance—rather than what someone else thinks of it—really makes someone productive. So, give yourself a set of realistic productivity goals (notice the word “realistic”), and then set out to accomplish them. Make sure they are goals you really want to achieve. Ask yourself, these questions:
   1. In what ways do I really want to be more productive?
   2. Why do I want to be more productive?
   3. Do I really want to be productive?
   4. What will I gain from being more productive?
   5. How will my life change or how will I change if I’m more productive?
   6. What does being more productive look like to me?
   7. What things do I want to accomplish?

Then be accountable to yourself for making that happen. In the process, you’ll likely find that you feel better as well.

1. Take baby steps. Most of us have a tendency to try and make big changes. We bite of more than we can chew. We take on 10 New Year’s resolutions instead of one or two. Instead, start small. Take baby steps. Try to be a just little more productive each day. Then pat yourself on the back for that, and take another step forward the next day; try to be just a bit more productive. Each day you’ll find that you have accomplished more than the day before, and in this way you’ll do so without adding a lot of stress to you life.
2. Battle the enemy at dawn. Most of us like to put off the tasks we don’t like. Instead, battle the enemy at dawn; the enemy represents the tasks you like least or that feel the most daunting. If you do these first, you’ll find that you spend less time procrastinating or avoiding—wasting time so you don’t have to do what you don’t want to do. This will reduce your level of stress, because you won’t have as much hanging over your head all day. You won’t feel like the enemy is lurking just around the corner. You’ll know you have fought the battle and won; now you can relax and go on to something else.

For more information on Nina, her books or to read her blog, please visit:  http://www.purespiritcreations.com.

She's feeling better now!

Manage Your Stress:
Ten Ways to Ease Stress right now!

Britney Spears has a whole new bag of skills under her belt now… I bet that rehab taught her a lot about dealing with real life. Not that she lives anything close to a real life mind you. How silly would that be? A pop star living in the real world.. Nah. Wouldn’t happen. Anyway… I really do read every email and some of you know that I am not afraid to pick up the phone and call you either.

So many of you have written to me about a friend or loved one (yes someone loves K-Fed too believe it or not) who just can’t seem to relax. “What can I do?” you ask. Well, your wish is my command.

Drum-roll please…

From the home office in Las Vegas, NV here is my “TOP TEN” list! (I feel like David Lettermen)

1. Eat and drink sensibly. Alcohol and food abuse may seem to reduce stress, but it actually adds to it. That’s the bottom line.

2 Assert yourself. You do not have to meet others’ expectations or demands. Unless of course, the court is trying to give your parental rights to K-Fed. Then, fight like hell. It’s okay to say “No.” Remember, being assertive allows you to stand up for your rights and beliefs while respecting those of others.

3 Stop smoking or other bad habits. Like driving down the highway with your baby in your lap while being follow by the paparazzi …Aside from the obvious health risks of cigarettes, nicotine acts as a stimulant and brings on more stress symptoms. Give yourself the gift of dropping unhealthy habits.

4 Exercise regularly. Choose non-competitive exercise and set reasonable goals. Aerobic exercise has been shown to release endorphins (natural substances that help you feel better and maintain a positive attitude). Besides that… you wouldn’t want to be FAT in your next music video.

5 Study and practice relaxation techniques. Relax every day. Choose from a variety of different techniques. Combine opposites; a time for deep relaxation and a time for aerobic exercise is a sure way to protect your body from the effects of stress. My Deep Relaxation CD will help guide you into a deep relaxing state of peace and calm anytime you desire. Try it!

6 Take responsibility. Control what you can and leave behind what you cannot control at Rehab. That’s what the hollywood celebrities do. This is the most difficult one for most people. Just let it go.

7 Reduce stressors (cause of stress). Many people find that life is filled with too many demands and too little time. So tell K-fed, it’s time to hit the road so you can kick your publicist into “damage control mode” just in time for your next tour. For the most part, these demands are ones we have chosen. Effective time-management skills involve asking for help when appropriate, setting priorities, pacing yourself, and taking time out for yourself.

8 Examine your values and live by them. The more your actions reflect your beliefs, the better you will feel, no matter how busy your life is. Use your values when choosing your activities. Like getting married for about 30 minutes in a Vegas drive-through wedding chapel at midnight.

9 Set realistic goals and expectations. Thinking your midnight marriage to K-Fed will last forever is not a great example of realistic goal setting. It’s okay, and healthy, to realize you cannot be 100% successful at everything at once. Be yourself. Be true to yourself and live.

10 Laughter. When you are feeling overwhelmed, remind yourself not to take life so seriously. Have a healthy sense of humor and learn to laugh at what is stressing you out. Go see a funny movie, visit a comedy club and laugh, laugh, laugh… like nobody cares. Guess what… they don’t.

There are several other methods you can use to relax or reduce stress, including:

• Deep breathing exercises
• Meditation
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Mental imagery relaxation
• Relaxation to music
• Biofeedback
• Counseling, to help you recognize and release stress

Tell me what works for you? Have you discovered a special technique that really takes the stress away? (That’s legal and moral.. mind you. It’s a family show here..)

Please post a comment below and let us hear what works for you.