MindHabits - Need A Little Boost To Your Self Esteem?

I grew more and more intrigued as I listened to a Public Radio broadcast about the power of our subconscious mind. What we think and don't even realize we are thinking shapes how we see the world. My subconscious thought processes help me decide what kind of world I live in and how I think people see me. Is the world a happy or cruel place? Do people like me or am I always left out of the fun? Interesting stuff, the games our mind will play with us.

So let's play a game with it and train ourselves to think more clearly and respond quickly to positive social feedback instead of focusing on and expecting negative reactions. MindHabits is an online game you can play for free or download the full version for a small fee. In just five minutes a day you can retrain your mind to boost your self-esteem and lower your stress levels. The researchers say that this game has been shown to lower stress producing levels of cortisol in the players blood, thereby helping us feel better.

I've been playing for the past few days and I can see a difference. All you have to do is focus finding the smiling face in the crowd and click on it as quickly as you can. I've cut my time in half and I've noticed that I hardly even see the frowning faces any more. It's like they have less value to me. The first few times I played I grew frustrated because all I saw were unhappy people staring at me but that is changing. Now I think of the smiling faces as my friends and I kind of have a crush on the peaceful looking guy in the hat...big smile.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Will Bowen Wants A Complaint Free World

One day Will Bowen, the pastor of Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, MO, decided it was time to do something about the negativity he saw around him. So, being a minister, he laid out the problem and his plan from the pulpit.

The problem - too much complaining. "Negative talk produces negative thoughts; negative thoughts produce negative results," he told them. We don't even realize how much we complain and the effect it has on our emotions and the well-being of the people around us. If thought truly does create reality and all we do is complain, well? - ouch - that's a tough one to swallow.

Pastor Bowen put a challenge to his congregation - stop complaining, start being grateful and seeing the results in your life that you want. As the phenomenal performer Melissa Etheridge says in one of my favorite songs, "Love is what you get when love is what you speak."

The congregation that accepted the challenge were given purple rubber bracelets as a reminder of their pledge to stop complaining for 21 days. Pastor Bowen instructed that every time the caught themselves in a complaint they were to move the bracelet to the other arm. The hardest part- they were to being the 21 day count all over.

It took everyone some time, even Will Bowen, who says he moved his bracelets many times before he made it the entire time. He was stunned at how much he actually complained.

Because of national media exposure and the positive results of this challenge in their lives, the church started A Complaint Free World and to date has sent almost 5,000,000 bracelets to 80 countries.

Here are some words from purple bracelet wearers from around globe:

"Since I learned to live a life without complaining, I no longer have migraines." -Tom Alyea

"But by far, the greatest gift I have received is the freedom from depression! "-Patricia Platt

"In Mostar, we are "famous" because of war. And my goal is that my family and I will live without complaining. We are trying to live like normal people from all around the world and be happy for every new day. We try to smile because we have many fine years in our lives. ' - Zeljka Rubinic and family Mostar Bosnia/Herzegovina

If a woman and her family living in a war torn country can do it, certainly I can. I don't have a purple bracelet yet but a simple rubber band will do. I'm wearing it now. Wish me luck.