April blogging #A-Z 2018- B

This post is written for the April blogging #A-Z 2018. 

I have chosen the theme Books and Authors for this year.

B - Bible

When I thought about this letter B-  two books came to my mind, one was the Bible which was introduced to me in my youth and another one was “Born to Win” a book that I borrowed from the library and read it. 

Both the books had a great impact on me, and my life. The first one was an inspiring and I continue to read till date, according to the seasons followed in the Catholic Church. Hence I shall focus on the first one.

The bible is a collection of books that the Catholic Church believes, that it was inspired words of God. It’s like a library of books that were written over the course of a thousand years.  It is considered sacred literature because it is inspired by God himself.  There are 73 books in the bible and it’s divided into two parts, the Old Testament that has 46 books and the New Testament that has 27 books.   

Being brought up in the catholic faith I was always fascinated by some very beautiful stories that appealed to me as a child. I still remember the popular stories in the old testament and loved to read – Story of Creation, Cain and Abel, Tower of Babel, Noah’s Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, Crossing the Red sea, Daniel and the Lion’s Den,  The story of Joseph, David and Goliath, Job, Ruth, Esther, Samson and Delilah and there are many more which are thought provoking books giving us learning’s and  lessons.

Then there is the New Testament books that focuses on Jesus - birth, miracles, teaching, preaching and some very beautiful sermons on the mount, parables with great insight on love, forgiveness, mission and the very purpose of his life here on earth.

I enjoy reading even now as I follow the daily readings in the church and would love to begin my day with bible reading to inspire myself and derive strength for my daily living. Some of my favorite affirmations from the bible I have learnt over the years and I still practice:

 “Fear not for I am with you” Isaiah 41: 10

“I am with you always, until the very end of time” Matt. 28:20

“I have loved you with an everlasting love” Jer 31:3

“You are created in the image of God” Gen. 1:27

“All things work together for good for those who trust God” Rom. 8:28

“I will trust in the Lord with all my heart” Prov.3:5

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalm 139:14

“I am never alone, God is always with me, He will never leave me nor forsake me” Joshua 1:5

“I am a child of the most High God “Psalm 82:6

“I am the light of the world, the salt of the earth” Matt. 5:13-14 

The second book Born to win by Muriel James & Dorothy Jongeward,was one of the best seller at that time, that speaks of Transactional Analysis (TA) a psychological method that uncovers the roles we play unconsciously.  I don't have this book now, but I remember it was quite interesting and enjoyed reading this book.

I am glad to be participating in this challenge; if you are part of this challenge, hope you are doing well.

Thank you for reading my post, would appreciate your thoughts in the form of comments.

Be happy and Blessed !!

April blogging #A-Z 2018- A

This post is written for the April blogging A-Z 2018. 

I have chosen the theme Books and Authors for this year.

 

“It is in your moments of decisions that your destiny is shaped”

 Anthony Robbins

I remember reading "Awaken the Giant Within"  by Anthony Robbins almost three decades ago, quite a big book and heavy with content. This book has 519 pages to be read and has  four Parts, this needs to be read in leisure as there are exercises after each part. Every part is filled with wisdom and knowledge.  Part one is about how to unleash your power, Part two on how to take control and Part three on seven days to shape one’s life and Part four on practical steps which is the ultimate challenge. Every chapter begins with quotes and you will find plenty of quotes through out this book.

Anthony Robbins speaks about how our brain is already constructed an internal system for making decisions – and how it controls and evaluates everything in life, and driven by subconscious mind that has been installed through so many years by sources such as diverse as parents, peers, teachers, television, advertisers, and the culture at large. He goes to explain in depth of the components that is responsible for taking decisions, and says that we don’t have to allow the programming of our past to control our present and future. He further states that there are three decisions that we make every moment of our lives control our destiny.

·         Decisions on what to focus on

·         Decisions about what things means to us

·         Decisions about what to do to create the results we desire.

He shares a lot of examples and personal experiences to enable the reader understand  and gives keys to help harness the power of decision. He says that it’s our neuro-associations we have established in our nervous system, that determines what we will do, for we have learned to link pain and pleasure to our nervous systems.  He further adds that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose, by changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behavior.

This book motivates us to make the changes we desire and the author gives us step by step action points to follow. I remember while reading this book – I was writing down these exercises to bring about some changes in my eating patterns J  He dedicates a one whole chapter to how beliefs work in our lives, and how they have the power to create or destroy.

And further reinforces on the science of Neuro Associative conditioning (NAC)… the law of reinforcement for habit formations…. By giving real life examples of celebrities and famous figures as to how they lived avoiding pain by indulging in smoking, drugs, alcohol, overeating and could never discover the true source of happiness.  It’s a huge book full of resources for self development and plenty of questions to reflect, with worksheet and exercises enabling the reader to take steps in gaining control over his/her life.

There is so much to discuss, challenge one’s own belief system – and understand our own self and even put into practice. I was just scanning through the whole book as I had read it a long time ago J and was smiling at some the lines underlined, and to see myself have written list of ways to change how I feel J (page175) I felt like rereading this book again, in fact some of the chapters I did read again and it was still inspiring to see blank page allotted to write down our personal goals/career goals etc.

I recommend reading this book slowly as there are plenty of challenges for the reader, Ten emotions of power, Ten day mental challenge, Seven days to shape your destiny and finally the ultimate challenge. I read this book first and while talking to one of my friends she told me that there was another book by Anthony Robbins which was the first one called the “Unlimited Power” which she has read and the book that I spoke about was the second one and it was more or less similar. So I picked up the first book and read that too J

I would love to hear from you, whether you have read this book if so, what is your thoughts!!

Thanks for visiting my page, If your are participating in the April challenge I wish you all the best for the A-Z blogging challenge.

Be Blessed & Be Happy!!

A-Z 2018 Theme Reveal

I am glad to participate in this A-Z 2018 challenge, last year 2017 I did not participate due to my health issues and work stress. This year I am much better and am excited to get back to connecting and also writing and posting for the whole month of April, 2018.

I participated first time in the year 2013 and posted randomly topics that inspired me, and continued participating for the 2014, 2015, 2016  mostly focusing on quotes, inspirations, travel and marital life.

I recall the first time when I joined this challenge – being new, I felt so inadequate and just joined for fun and started posting randomly, as I progressed I kept learning year after year, meeting a whole lot of bloggers and was inspired by their commitment and creativity that motivated me too to think, plan and schedule and also look out for a theme… glad on how I consistently grew in confidence and took inspiration from my fellow bloggers.

This is my 5^th time I am joining this challenge and hopefully would like to posts on the books and authors who have inspired me and influenced my thinking giving me food for thoughts, helping me understand, reflect and widen my perspectives… am grateful for all those motivating writers who have made efforts to put down their thoughts so that the readers not only learn, understand but are encouraged and motivated to develop their knowledge and skills.

So here I am busy planning and getting ready for the challenge, and wishing all those who have joined all the very best.

My special thanks to vidyasury for the tips which I found very useful and motivating to join this challenge, you can check in below for more information.

https://vidyasury.com/2018/03/april-2018-a-to-z-challenge-theme-reveal-with-tips-themereveal-atozchallenge.html

Do join in and connect with some lovely people blogging in this challenge, and wishing you a wonderful experience!!