North Star Mental Fitness Blog

Living New Year's Resolutions

As we approach the beginning of another New Year, you can turn New Year's Resolutions into Successes with a mental fitness procedure. 

Most people fail in keeping their resolutions because of lack of focus, weak commitment and insufficient will power. 

Successfully, reach your New Year's goals by using The Power Choice from the North Star Mental Fitness Program.  You do not need will power to be successful.

From a mental fitness perspective, there are three necessary steps for success.  

Freedom from Life Dysfunctions

Everyone has successes that have turned into failures.  Successes that have turned into failures, I call Life Dysfunctions.  Everyone has Life Dysfunctions. 

It doesn't matter what has caused your dysfunctions.  Your dysfunctions could be the result of your genetic makeup, your personality, your familial environment, your educational experiences, your government's interventions or your living in a depressed economy.

What matters is what you do about your dysfunctions! 

Do you continue to pursue past successes even though you are continuing to fail? 

Do you continue to think about your life in a feeling good way, when you are feeling discouraged and disappointed?

Do you continue to grieve and complain about the losses in your life?

Do you want freedom from your Life Dysfunctions or do you want to remain stuck in misery?  It does not matter what your particular dysfunction is.  What matters is that you make changes.

If you want freedom from Life Dysfunctions, it is important to make new choices.  Sometimes, you may not know what you need to do to change.  As a result, you do nothing.

The Freedom Choice from The North Star Mental Fitness Program has been crafted to help you become free from your dysfunction.  When you don't know what needs to be done, make a Freedom Choice. 

With the Freedom Choice you prepare your mind for making functional changes and choices in your life.  You begin by thinking the thought "I want freedom from" your dysfunction.  Just by thinking that you want freedom from your dysfunction, you will begin to make new choices.

Also, there are also other empowering choices to help you overcome your Life Dysfunctions in The North Star Mental Fitness Program.

Remember, You Live within the Dysfunctions Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Willingness and Willpower

Do you need willingness, willpower or both in order to achieve your goals?

What is essential for success?  For years we have heard that willpower is necessary to reach our goals.  Willpower has been defined as the "resolution or the ability to control one's behavior" in order to reach a goal.

At MizFit the concept of willingness was suggested as an alternative to having willpower.  Willingness was described as "being willing to do whatever is necessary" in order to reach one's goal.

Willingness is certainly a refreshing concept.  It focuses on one's freedom of choice and attitude.

As I thought about these two concepts, I realized that both will be necessary in order to reach our goals.

While both willingness and willpower are important ingredients for success, both can be difficult to maintain in the pursuit of success.

Mental fitness training strengthens and supports our focus, willingness, and willpower.  Mental fitness training is the foundation providing life support for our willingness and willpower. 

The essence of mental fitness training is to motivate us to take care of ourselves and provide the powerful thought processes to maintain willingness and willpower.

A strong motive and commitment to take care of ourselves is the prerequisite and necessary ingredient for maintaining willingness and willpower.

The North Star Mental Fitness Program provides strategies for taking care of ourselves.  The strategies can be used for achieving any goal or solving any problem.  These strategies can make you strong enough to have sufficient willingness and willpower to achieve any goal.

Please CONTACT ME for more information about the mental fitness program or to purchase the mental fitness program.

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

The Army Validates Mental Fitness

Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, Director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness confirmed that the Army has realized the importance of mental fitness.  At www.Army.Mil C. Todd Lopez quoted Gen. Cornum frequently in his article "Soldiers learn to impart mental toughness on others".

Brig. General Cornum compared physical and mental fitness.  "Mental fitness is like physical fitness: lifelong and ongoing".

I have emphasized that with mental fitness training people can be stronger than their problems.  Brig. Gen. Cornum emphasized the purpose of mental fitness training by saying "resiliency, or mental toughness, is part of the Army's larger "Comprehensive Soldier Fitness" program, that aims to ensure Soldiers are as mentally tough as they are physically tough".

Mental Fitness is the result of mental fitness training.  Brig. Gen. Cornum was quoted as saying regarding mental fitness "It is not something that you can do once, any more than you can get physically fit by one trip to the gym. This is not an individual single event. It is a way of looking at your psychological health as important as your physical health." 

What is mental fitness?  It is learning different thinking skills according to Brig. Gen. Cornum.  Mental fitness training makes people stronger and fit by learning powerful thoughts and how to think adaptively and quickly.  For example, in the North Star Mental Fitness Program There are 15 thinking skills that can be learned, applied to solve any problem or make a person mentally stronger and fit. 

Mental fitness training is for the average citizen as well as for the military.  The average citizen as well as military personnel must avoid self-defeating behavior and engage in successful behaviors in difficult circumstances.  Mental fitness training and resiliency training helps people cope with everyday problems and not allow problems to overwhelm us.

"Cornum said resiliency is a way of thinking that allows Soldiers not to fall into self-defeating traps. It takes a developed and resilient mind, she said, to put money problems, relationship issues, health issues, or tragedy on the battlefield into perspective, so a Soldier can continue with the mission and with life.

"Resilience is a way of thinking -- you apply optimistic thinking to a problem," she said. "It is really a difference between, for instance, when you invite somebody for a date and they say no, resilient people think 'their loss -- I'll do better next time.' What they don't think is 'nobody will ever like me. I'm worthless.' That's really what it is. It teaches you to remember that problems are temporary, that they are local." 

Mental fitness has been validated by the Army.  Mental fitness training can help you become stronger than your problems and not allow your problems to deter you from enjoying your life.  I believe that people need mental fitness training to cope with rough economic times as well as the emotionally painful problems in everyday living.

Is it time for you to invest and mental fitness training?

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

15 Keys for Overcoming Difficult Times

Difficult times continue.  Governmental solutions have been slow to improve the quality of our economy and our lives.  Difficult times will continue as we will be facing increasing taxes to support the governmental solutions.

I read Alvin Soon's post, 9 Keys for Overcoming Difficult Times.  Alvin and I share a common psychological perspective.  After reading his post, I was motivated to share with you 15 solutions for overcoming difficult times from The North Star Mental Fitness Program.

The basic theory for successful managing of difficult times is to realize that your success or failure in managing difficult times will be determined by how you think about the difficult times. 

• If you think your situation is impossible, it will become impossible.
• If you think you are bound to fail, you will fail. 
• If you think you are going to be successful, you will succeed.

The above two statements may be very simplistic, but they are nevertheless true.  The North Star Mental Fitness Program provides 15 thought patterns or keys for overcoming difficult times.  These keys are:

1. Motivate yourself by thinking that you want Freedom from Difficult Times.  Make changes in your life on the basis of freedom instead of any other motivation such as desperation.
2. Think successful thoughts that are not based upon fear, anxiety and stressful emotions.  Think about difficult times as an opportunity rather than a problem.  Think about yourself as capable of overcoming difficult times rather than being overwhelmed.
3. Focus on taking care of yourself and focus on making decisions to improve the quality of your life rather than focusing on how bad circumstances are.  Be willing to make decisions that are best for you!
4. Act with confidence and courage to actualize your focus.  Only focusing on solutions to overcome bad times will fail if you do not act.  You can't become successful, if you do not act and motivate yourself to do whatever you can do to take yourself and overcome difficult times.
5. Celebrate little successes.  Overcoming difficult times will be the result of frequent and daily successes.  By celebrating, I mean to experience happiness, peace of mind, freedom and control over your life after you have acted to actualize a small goal in the process of taking care of yourself.
6. Accept the frustrations necessary for success. 
7. Identify and accept your self-defeating thoughts and behaviors.  You can freely choose to engage in a self-defeating behavior that will prevent you from overcoming adversity or you can choose to make a decision to take care of yourself. Realize that self-defeating thoughts such as the feeling overwhelmed, confused and inadequate are normal.
8. Check your thoughts, goals, actions and evaluation of your progress to make sure that you are on target to reach your current and long-range goals. 
9. Make sure you are making logical and practical decisions to cope with difficult times.  Be aware of the possible consequences of your decisions.
10. Make sure you are living a balanced life and have set aside time and energy for play.
11. Make sure you are living by your values and making decisions that are best for you and not just logical.
12. Identify your problems that could occur in relationships because of all the stresses associated with bad times.  Focus on turning your interpersonal weaknesses into strengths. 
13. Identify and communicate your genuine feelings and values to those who are important to you.  Show your appreciation and feel your appreciation from those who support you.
14. Keep your time frame in the present.  Accept the fact that the past is gone.  Focus on how you want your life to be in the future and live in the present. 
15. Let go of your past, painful emotions and self-defeating actions.  Learn to forgive yourself, learn from your mistakes and look forward for the next opportunity to make a good decision for overcoming adversity

These are the 14 major ideas in The North Star Mental Fitness Program for coping with problems and lives.  Applying these 15 ideas on a regular basis will make you stronger and more fit for coping with life's challenges.  If you would like coaching in applying these 15 ideas in your life please e-mail me at drhal@northstarmentalfitnessblog.com.

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Living in a Recession

Recession is here.  We do not know what will happen tomorrow, let alone today.  There seem to be so many major forces controlling the economy of the entire world.  The major question is how do we survive psychologically as well as financially.

The North Star Mental Fitness Program has 15 major strategies for coping with recession.  The strategies can give you hope.  The strategies will allow you to be free and independent.  The strategies will allow you to overcome feeling emotionally devastated as you loose your homes, jobs, finances and savings.  The strategies can become tools for making your life decisions; big or small.  The strategies can help you learn to take care herself in all situations, even in a recession.

                                            THE 15 STRATEGIES

OF THE NORTH STAR MENTAL FITNESS PROGRAM AND

I LIVE WITHIN THE ENVIRONMENT CREATED

BY MY CHOICES

1.  THE FREEDOM CHOICE:  How to become free from your past and present                                                  

                                                       problems.

2.  THE RIGHT CHOICE:  Procedure to change thoughts, feelings, behavior,

                                          relationships, activities and external circumstances.

3.  THE WAKE UP CHOICE:  Identification of your wants, needs and what you need                       

                                                      to do to take care of you and be successful.

4.  THE BIG CHOICE:  Procedure and criteria for caring for you.

5.  THE POWER CHOICE:  Three step procedure for success and successful caring for

                                                  you.

6.  THE RESPONSIBLE CHOICE:  Procedure for managing frustrations.

7.  THE TURN AROUND CHOICE:  Procedure to stop “messing up”.

8.  THE CHECK POINT CHOICE:  Procedure to monitor and evaluate your choices.

                                                

 9.  THE TIME CHOICE:  Purpose and procedure for living in the present.  

                                       

10.  THE RELATIONSHIP CHOICE:  Procedure for heartwarming relationships.                                                                  

11.  THE RELATIONSHIP TURN AROUND CHOICE:  Procedure to stop “messing          

                                                                                                  up” in your relationships.

 

12.  THE CHILD CHOICE:  Having fun, spontaneous emotions and activities.

13.  THE ADULT CHOICE:  Making logical, practical and rational decisions.

14.  THE PARENT CHOICE:  Being a good parent to yourself.

15.  THE LETTING GO CHOICE:  Procedure for letting go of “messing up,” guilt and        

                                                               painful emotions.  

                                                           

With these 15 mental fitness strategies, you can emotionally survive and thrive in difficult times like today's financial world.  With the strategies you can psychologically prepare yourself to make successful decisions in your financial life.  I urge you to seek financial guidance from experts.  With the mental fitness program and financial guidance from the export of your choice, you can begin to live in a thriving environment.

 

If you are interested in purchasing these programs, please e-mail me.

 

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

 

Dr. Hal

 

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

 

 

 

Counseling or Mental Fitness Training

I recently wrote the following post at Healthcare.com and wanted to share it with you.

I am often asked what is the difference between counseling and mental fitness training.  This is a very important question.  The differences are significant.  For some people counseling is a better match.  For other people mental fitness training is preferable.

It is very difficult to reduce all forms of therapy into a brief synopsis.  Therapies usually emphasize the individual’s discovery and understanding of the nature of their problems in order to overcome the problems.  Different therapies may analyze family history, interpersonal dynamics, irrational thought patterns, unconscious dynamics, and feelings as the road to recovery.  Therapies are based on self-analysis, usually of one’s past.

Mental fitness training is not based on self-analysis.  Mental fitness training is learning new strategies for making decisions and becoming psychologically stronger.  Remember, the strategies in the North Star Mental Fitness Program are the empowering strategies for change learned from successful clients in therapy.

If you do not want to enter therapy and discover your own successful and empowering strategies, then you can learn from others.  You can learn 15 different ways to solve problems and to make yourself stronger.  You can become stronger than your problems.  You can be strong enough to solve your problems by applying one or as many of the mental fitness strategies as you choose.

Mental fitness training takes many forms:

1. You learn 15 or less strategies for solving problems or reaching your goals. 
2. You think about your life, problems and goals from the perspective of these 15 strategies.
3. You can apply these solutions for any problem in your life or when you want to make new changes in your life. 
4. You can keep your focus with these 15 solutions, when you are working on changing lifelong patterns or reaching long-range goals
5. You can use the mental fitness strategies for improving your self-concept, going beyond your comfort zone and for determining your emotions.
6. You can repeat the mental fitness exercises much as you do physical exercises in order to make yourself mentally and psychologically stronger.

Both counseling and mental fitness training can empower you to make changes in your life.  It is your choice to use either service, when you are dissatisfied with your life and what more for yourself.  

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

DOES PHYSICAL FITNESS MAKE YOU MENTALLY FIT?

One of my readers recently lost a lot of weight and talked about how her physical fitness improved her mental fitness.

There are many people who believe that becoming physically fit automatically will make you mentally fit.  Becoming physically fit will not make you mentally fit! 

Certainly, when one has achieved a goal and become physically fit, that person will feel successful and confident.  They may like themselves a lot better and their self-concept may improve tremendously. 

Physical fitness can significantly improve the quality of one's life, both physically and mentally.  However, physical fitness does not automatically translate into mental fitness.  If you become physically fit, there is no guarantee that you will be mentally fit.

In fact, there are numerous well-trained athletes, who fail to reach their dreams, because of poor mental fitness.  They spent a lot of time training your body and their professional skill, but ignore training their mind for victory and success.

People need both the mind and body of a champion to become a champion.  Mental Fitness is more than feeling good following following success.  Mental fitness is learning how to think like a champion and rigorously exercise the mind for overcoming obstacles and maximizing performance.

There is a difference between feeling and training.  If you wan lasting success, it is important to train for success.  Successful feelings without training the mind dissipate quickly.

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Do You Know Why?

Have you ever wondered why people exercise?

Do you know why they continue to exercise?

In my last post, Do You Believe That Your Life Experiences Have Made You Mentally Fit, I emphasized that life experiences, although grueling at times, do not make us physically or mentally fit.

In order to become mentally or physically fit, it is necessary to go beyond the experiences of everyday living and perform exercises on a regular basis.

So what are the general benefits for becoming mentally and physically fit?

First of all, mental and physical fitness can make us healthier.  Don't we all want to be healthier?

Secondly, mental and physical fitness training makes us stronger for managing our everyday lives.  Mental and physical fitness training can make us stronger for coping with the stresses and demands of everyday living.

Successful managing of life experiences will not necessarily make us physically and mentally stronger.  In contrast, successful mental and physical fitness training will make us stronger in managing life experiences.

If you want to be physically stronger in coping with everyday life experiences, then commit to a physical fitness program.

If you want to be mentally and emotionally stronger for coping with everyday life experiences, then commit to a mental fitness program like The North Star Mental Fitness Program.

Remember, You Live within Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

There Is a Cure for Choking And Loss of Momentum

"Tonight I was playing in the finals of a local tournament and missed the nineball in two games. Due to these misses, I came in second place.

Is there a cure for this disease?"

 

This was the gut wrenching plea from a frustrated billiard player, who wrote "Choking nine balls? Help!

 

Is there a cure for choking and loss of momentum?

Choking and loss of momentum are seen on a daily basis in every sport.  Errors and mistakes are inevitable and part of amateur and professional sports. 

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune humorously wrote about choking by one of baseball's super stars, Soriano: