Page 3 – Personal Growth Cafe

March 7, 2018January 7, 2018

How to Help Your Children Develop a Positive Outlook on Life

When you equip your children a positive outlook, you’re setting them up for a happy and successful life.

Don’t believe me?

Well, who do you think would be most successful?

The person who believes he can achieve anything, become whomever he wants, and follows up with swift action, or:

The person who complains about anything, is indifferent about everything, and gets nothing done out of feelings of hopelessness.

Obvious, huh?

You see, children have such an amazing ability to learn.

They’re babies one day, and the next they’re learning language and life skills at a rate much faster than any adult can.

This gives us, as parents, a very important and sometimes overwhelming duty: to teach our children every day.

There are many things you can do each day to foster a positive outlook in your kids, but having a positive outlook yourself is the most important thing you can do to help your children grow.

Let them know they make a positive difference in your life and love them unconditionally.

Keep the following tips in mind to help your children develop a positive outlook:

1. Lead by example. From a young age, your children pick up on more than you know.

While you may live by the notion that you should always put your kids first, you also have to concentrate on your own self-development.

Because, when you think positively, so will your kids.

2. Watch your reactions. Just as with leading by example, you must watch your reactions, especially when things go awry.

If someone gets hurt or you learn some bad news, fight the urge to have a negative reaction. If you yell or outwardly worry, you’ll affect your children.

Teach your children that sometimes things don’t go our way, but eventually the tides will turn.

3. Find the silver lining in challenges. As your children learn and develop, they’ll be faced with all sorts of challenges.

Some of them will be easy, while others are more challenging.

Be sure to point out the silver lining in any challenge your child may be facing.

It’ll help them to see your point of view when they’re facing challenges alone.

4. Help them change their thinking. When you’re child is in the midst of a tough challenge, he may bring up the idea of giving up.

Do your best to bring wisdom to the situation to know when your child simply needs to be pushed further.

Perhaps there’s an angle to the problem that your child hasn’t tried yet.

Nudge them in the right direction until they find the success they seek.

5. Promote laughter.

Laughter breeds happiness and positive feelings. Your children will each have a unique sense of humor.

Play into your child’s humorous side by promoting situations that your child finds funny.

You can play games, go to shows, or simply have a good time together as a family.

A Happy Healthy Home

When you remember to treat your children in a calm and loving manner, they’ll be more likely to do the same.

If your child tends to panic, don’t scold them for this behavior.

Put them at ease as best as you can and show them that there’s a solution to their problem.

If you panic, the situation may spiral into an unhealthy cycle.

In the end, there’s no right or wrong way to raise your kids.

Do what’s best for your family in the way you know how.

When you maintain a happy and healthy home, your children will learn to have hope and think positively!

When was the last time you spent time with your kids?

How do you teach them about being positive in life?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

Also, as your gift for taking this to heart – and this is profoundly important… to us ALL – go to UnitingPlanetEarth.com/ignition/ and do the Uniting Planet Earth 7-Day Quick-Start Ignition Program… and Allow it to Transform Your Life.

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March 6, 2018January 7, 2018

The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. – William Wordsworth

March 6, 2018January 7, 2018

How to Improve Communication with Your Boss

Good communication allows many life situations to run smoothly.

However, there are certain relationships that deserve extra attention, such as the relationship you have with your boss.

You and your boss have drastically different roles, and when each of you fulfills these roles with a hard working and understanding attitude, you’ll both feel fulfilled.

Get To Know Your Boss

As in all personal and professional relationships, it’s important to understand how others communicate.

Everyone has their own set of likes and dislikes, and everyone has their own unique personality types and communication styles.

Once you understand their preferences, you can adjust your style and methods of communication to best suit their needs.

Understand Your Relationship

It’s important to develop a good business relationship with your boss.

Find out what he expects and what his goals for the business are, that way you can both be working toward the same goal.

The following tips can help you further improve your communication with your boss:

1. Avoid being too It’s important to be friendly, but only to a certain extent. You’re not true friends with your boss.

While it may seem like a good idea at first, it can lead to some uncomfortable situations.

Your boss might have trouble giving you negative feedback, or your co-workers may develop jealousy.

2. Schedule meetings with your boss. Your boss may or may not be scheduling regular meetings with you.

Regardless of this, take the initiative to schedule time with your boss if you feel the need.

Your boss will know that you’re serious about developing your business relationship and that you really care about your job and the company.

3. Problem solving. Find out if you can help your manager with any problems that need attention.

While you don’t want to step on any toes, your boss will surely appreciate you taking the initiative.

Doing so will really give you the chance to stand out.

4. Maintain patience.

Perhaps you would’ve done things differently than your boss or you strongly feel that one of his decisions won’t turn out right.

Develop the wisdom to know if you should keep your mouth shut and go with the flow, or if you should politely speak up.

5. Shift your perspective.

You can improve your communication with your boss and feel less frustrated just by putting yourself in their shoes.

Imagine what everything is like for them; they likely have more burdens and pressures on their shoulders than you realized.

Be Prepared

Even if you’re not quite sure what to say all the time, as long as you prepared and honest in your communication, your boss will surely notice.

So if you have to reflect and write down your thoughts ahead of time, so be it. That level of preparation will benefit you in the long run.

With any relationship, good communication skills are a huge benefit.

Strive to work on strengthening these skills every day and it will help your career to flourish.

In the end, your positive attitude and willingness to understand others will help you forge stronger, more permanent bonds.

How can communicating with your boss have an impact on your work?

How can you work more efficiently because of this?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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March 5, 2018January 5, 2018

Assert your right to make a few mistakes. If people can’t accept your imperfections, that’s their fault. – Dr. David Burns

March 5, 2018January 5, 2018

Coping with Anger from a Loved One

Coping with anger from anyone can be tough.

However, when anger is coming from someone dear to you, it can be especially difficult to deal with.

If someone you love is showing anger now, or continues to show anger on a frequent basis, you must resist the urge to fight fire with fire.

Fighting back will only make the situation explode and you and your loved one will find it increasingly difficult to come to a resolution.

Keep the following tips in mind as you deal with anger from someone you love:

1. Avoid reacting immediately. You shouldn’t let yourself explode with a burst of emotion.

Anger can get heated quickly and you don’t want to respond rashly, whether it’s with anger, sadness, or resentment.

2. Allow yourself time to cool down so you can approach the situation calmly and rationally.

3. Refuse to take things personally. There’s no doubt about it, this is hard to do when a loved one is hurling mud your way.

It’s easier to avoid taking it personally from colleagues and strangers, but for those close to you, it’s hard not to take their opinions personally.

Talk to your loved one about what they said.

Explain how you see their actions as personal attacks.

If they didn’t intend it as one, they’ll have a chance to explain themselves.

If they did mean to personally attack you, it’s important to work out the issue.

What can you do to improve the situation so these outbursts won’t happen again?

4. Admit the problem. It’s also important for your loved one to admit that they have a problem with anger if it’s recurring.

They may say they have control over it, but it’s only a matter of time before it flares up again and causes deeper wounds.

5. Help them cool down. Whether the anger is directed toward you or another person, step in and help them cool down before they lose control and let anger take over.

While you may like them to develop these skills independently as they practice on their own, they may need your assistance in the beginning.

You can help them reflect on their thoughts and feelings before they act.

6. Identify feelings. People don’t just immediately burst out in anger without a flood of emotions first.

Help your loved one identify their triggers so they can put a halt on anger before it starts.

7. Teach healthy anger expressions. Anger is a part of life. However, it’s how we react and deal with anger that’s important.

Here are some healthy ways they can express and cope with anger:

Write in a journal.
Exercise – go for a jog or run when anger arises.
Count to 10 and take several deep breaths before reacting.
Practice relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation.
Express anger through art.
Focus on the good of a situation.

It’s important to discover a coping mechanism that works for your loved one.

At the same time, you shouldn’t get lost in your loved one’s struggle with anger.

You can go over some of the healthy anger expression techniques and implement them yourself as well.

By becoming a model for your loved one, it just may be what they need to change.

But if their anger turns violent, remove yourself from the situation immediately and seek professional help.

By helping your loved one learn and grow, you just may be able to strengthen your relationship and developer a lasting bond.

How can you continue to show unconditional love to those who matter to you despite the things that they do?

How can anger hinder us from forgiving freely?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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March 4, 2018January 5, 2018

What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable, rather than how valuable we are. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

March 4, 2018January 5, 2018

Coping with Crippling Fear – When NOT to Trust Your Thoughts

Trusting your inner instincts is an important skill to learn, although there are times when your mind can play tricks on you.

When your body and mind are under stress, it may be difficult to see the difference between good thoughts and those that arise from fear.

Dealing With Fear

No one enjoys dealing with fear; however, it’s a necessary part of a fulfilled life.

The best line of defense is to practice remaining calm and ask for help when you need it.

After all, two minds striving for a rational solution is usually better than one.

When Not To Trust Your Thoughts

Even in difficult circumstances, you probably have an idea about what is truly right or wrong.

However, it’s a good idea to try to recognize the situations where you tend to have trouble thinking clearly.

That way, when these situations do come up, you can start working on solutions, instead of giving into the cloudy thoughts.

You probably shouldn’t trust your thoughts in the following situations:

When you’re under stress – People often don’t recognize how detrimental stress can be to the mind and body.

Stress can cause you to make unwise decisions and think too quickly. Stress can take over your body and produce hormones that alter your thinking patterns.

When you’re feeling anxious – There are varying degrees of anxiety that can affect anyone at any time.

When it takes over in a strong manner, such as when you’re dealing with crippling fear, it can lead to erratic, irrational thoughts or even panic.

When you’re having negative thoughts – Sometimes you’ll have a bad day or even a bad week.

Having a tough time can cause a negative thinking pattern that can cause you to think unreasonable or even absurd thoughts.

You may start to have angry or depressing thoughts that can’t be trusted.

When you’re having thoughts that seem real, but are rather unreasonable, remember that it’s not coming from you.

Rather, it’s coming from the build up and repression of years of self-doubt, negativity, stress, anxiety, or even past circumstances.

That’s precisely why you cannot trust those thoughts!

Dealing With Your Feelings

You now know that negative thought patterns can arise from stress, anxiety, fear or even the past.

Crippling fear, unfortunately, hurls many strongly negative feelings your way.

But it’s how you deal with them and proceed with your thought patterns that make all the difference.

Strive to take time to cool down and relax your mind before making important decisions.

One way to know if something is your true feeling is to wait a few days before making a decision.

For example, if after a week of thinking something over, you still think the same way, then it’s probably true.

Of course, you first have to ensure that your mind isn’t under attack from stress, anxiety, negativity, or fear.

Healing From Fear

If you find that you’re frequently in fearful situations, you can concentrate on healing those feelings.

When your mind begins to race, take in a large dose of oxygen.

Believe it or not, deep breathing is a signal for your mind to relax and think clearly.

So breathe deeply and breathe often!

Also remember that you’re not alone.

You have people who can help you and you shouldn’t feel shy to ask for that help.

If you feel uncomfortable talking with a family member or friend, consider the help of a coach or counselor.

Just remember to avoid taking drastic actions that arise from fear.

Take your time when making decisions, breathe deeply, and seek the help you need to overcome the grips of fear.

How can you face your fears?

How can this affect your attitude towards life?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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