KnowledgeReform.com » Motivation

Think Your Way to a Successful Life with The Master Key System

Jason Cooper — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:08:53 +0000

Unlock your mind with The Master Key System so that you can become a god in both thought and action…that’s if you study and master its inspirational secrets according to the following excerpt from the website The Secret,

‘This remarkable book documents the methods and the science behind the methods to help you live The Secret, the secret of thought as creative energy, as power, as the Master Key to your own development. Charles Haanel’s Master Key virtually opens the door to universal intelligence, allowing you to attract everything you need to achieve your dreams.’

In the following video, be self-empowered to success by the wisdom and power of The Master Key System:

Download the eBook: The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel, or order your copy on Amazon.co.uk.

The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 2

Jason Cooper — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:49:01 +0000

Read part 1 of 2: ‘The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 1′

I now Officially have a 1-Pack for a Stomach

After a self-indulgent Christmas of putting on weight and growing another belly, I decided that I needed to motivate my rotund body into doing a few exercises so to improve my overall fitness, mood and general well-being.

I am now 4 weeks into my exercise regime, and have to say that I’m already seeing and feeling the results of my labours.

As for you guys out there, you can use the following exercises as an example, or inspiration, for you to create your own personal regime to adapt to your daily life.

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

~ Bruce Lee

Create an Exercise Regime and Inspire yourself to Keep Motivated…and maybe you’ll be rewarded with a body like Mr. Lee

Three things we use as an excuse to stop us from doing exercises:

motivation
time
money

Five wise things that can help you to start exercising and keep motivated:

do the exercises and sports you love doing, which will certainly help to keep you motivated.
change the routine and exercises to suit your needs. It is important not to get into a rigid routine which can make you become bored. Mix-it-up and be flexible with your routine in terms of type of exercises performed and length of time doing it
you don’t need to spend hours exercising to get fit. I recommend up to 30 minutes daily for the body to benefit immensely, or just do what you can to fit into your schedule. Even a quick 5 to 10 minutes here and there is better than nothing.
save money by not joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer. You can achieve the same results exercising in the comfort of your own home.
the money saved can be spent on exercise equipment such as weights, rowing machine and stationary cycle. These can be used anytime at your choosing.

Example Exercises Routine: “What Does Not Kill You, Makes You Stronger”

“Above all, never cheat on any exercise; use the amount of weight that you can handle without undue strain.”

~ Bruce Lee

Walking

Something as simple and obvious as walking can be the best form of exercise if we choose to take advantage of carrying our own torso, head and limbs everywhere we go. To put it simply, if we used our legs more in this day of modern transportation we would all be generally fitter than we currently are.

Tip: Why don’t you leave the car at home? Why wait for the bus or a lift to arrive? Why stand there waiting for an escalator to take you up or down? Why not take the opportunity to exercise by walking instead of using every mode of transport you come across in everyday life – every little helps.

Stair Climbing

If you have stairs in your home then you have the opportunity use them to build strength and endurance. Running up and down a flight of stairs is an excellent cardiovascular exercise and is better than many horizontal exercises – just be careful with your knee joints.

Tip: Hold a light dumbbell in each hand whilst stair climbing which will burn more calories and give your arms a simultaneous workout as well.

How-To: Run Stairs to Build Strength and Endurance

Shadow Boxing

These can be done easily anywhere in the house as you do not need much room to perform combination punching. Great as an aerobic exercise and can improve punching technique and footwork if you ever wanted to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

Tip: use light dumbbells to punch with to get a more strenuous workout- will improve arm strength and power.

How-To: How to Shadow Box in a Small Apartment

Push-ups

Effective and simple exercise for strengthening the upper body including arms, chest and back.

Tip: use a pair of elevated push-ups stands which provide more flexibility in performing different types of push-ups as well as more intensity for arms and chest.

How-To: How To Do a Perfect Push Up

Sit-ups

Great exercise to strengthen and reducing the stomach area, and who knows, you may even achieve the legendary 6-pack, unlike me.

How-To: Bruce Lee’s Ab Workout Routine

Exercise Equipment

To make your exercises more varied you can incorporate equipment in your routine such as weights, stationary cycle and rowing machine. These can be excellent for exercising every muscle group in the body and for non-impact cardiovascular workouts.

How-To: Before You Buy Home Fitness Equipment

Bruce Lee Strength Exercises

Please read the following excellent article, ‘How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym’ for more great ideas on exercises you can do to become the next Bruce Lee…good luck!

Before you start any exercise routine you must have the following in mind:

if you have any heart or physical conditions always consult with your doctor and exercise physiologist before entering any exercise program
always warm up and stretch before doing any form of exercise. This will help reduce the risk of picking up any strains or injuries.
do not listen to that unwise saying “no pain, no gain” and overdo any exercise unless you are looking to get a severe strain or worse. Perform exercises up to a level that you’re comfortable with and without pain.
start your exercise regime at a moderate pace until you are strong and fit enough to perform at a more advanced level.

How-To: Warm-up Stretches Routine

The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 1

Jason Cooper — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:13:29 +0000

Exercise both Mind and Body to Achieve Total Self-Improvement

There are two levels of self-improvement one can pursue in life, these are:

improvement of mind
improvement of body

Some would say that the improvement of mind is the more important area to concentrate on, but I feel the body is also an important vehicle to keep as healthy as possible so that one can instigate, with ease, the promptings of the mind toward physical activity.

So there is no reason not to exercise both parts to achieve a more total improvement in your life, hence the following eloquent quote,

“The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.”

~ George Santayana

The Body Requires a Good and Moderate Amount of Fuel to Work Supremely

Despite exercise, one must also use common sense to either moderate, or better still, avoid the things that can do serious damage to the organism, such as:

high-fat diet
smoking
alcohol
drugs

To limit such things from entering your life and body, you must learn to raise your awareness so to avoid both developing these destructive habits and then becoming dependent on them.

If not, both mind and body cannot flourish to the best of their abilities, and instead, can ultimately end up damaging your quality of life in general.

Obvious things that the body requires to be in a healthy state are:

fruit
vegetables
wheats and grains
if not a vegetarian, a moderate amount of fish and lean meat (especially poultry such as chicken and turkey have less fat than other meats)
water
fruit juice
low-fat milk

“A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.”

~ John Locke

Get a body like Bruce Lee in Less the Time and Less the Cost…

…Well, maybe not exactly like Bruce, but as near as. So now is not the time to neglect your body for only cerebral pursuits.

Although one must not get too attached to a body that must grow old, is susceptible to disease and will become nothing but dust one day, there is no reason not to look after it while we are still able so that we can enjoy life in relatively good health and vigour.

So I encourage you to improve your body through exercises of your own creation which can be done in the comfort of your own home. No need to go to a gym and spend hours and money killing yourselves.

Part two of this post will feature my own exercise plan that you can use to create your own daily regime that you can adapt to your life.

Update: Read part 2 of 2: ‘The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 2′

The Schopenhauer Philosophy: How not to be a Grumpy Old Man Whilst Avoiding Pessimism

Jason Cooper — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:13:50 +0000

Why am I such a Miserable Old Fart?

It’s easy being pessimistic when you are a grumpy old man like me, with nothing but endless conflict, the continuing economic crisis, and Mayan predictions of something terrible to come.

So all I can see in front of me is the impending march of doom. For every minute the clock passes, brings me ever more closer to extinction.

This awareness of my own mortality brings with it cynicism, as I cast envious eyes over the world that I will soon no doubt leave. For vengeance I wish nothing but misery for the rest of you poor souls who will remain in this apparent existence of suffering.

But then again, why would I want to spend anymore time here being tortured by this miserable and superficial planet anyway, with its competitively violent human beings and their ignorant ways – maybe I am the fortunate one.

Schopenhauer Predicted the World Will End in 2012, not the Mayans

Another grumpy old man that agreed with my pessimism of life was German Philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who had an extremely bleak outlook on existence as a whole.

In short, Arthur’s philosophy of existence was that life itself must have been an accident, a cruel joke played on us unsuspecting victims. As observed by Arthur,

“Human existence must be a kind of error…it may be said of it, ‘it is bad today and every day it will get worse, until the worst of all happen’”

A very depressing and sobering thought indeed from Mr Grumpy himself, but in reality, Arthur wasn’t a bad old fellow and had much wisdom and compassion for humankind’s lot, which ultimately pained him towards a pessimistic view of life.

I still would have to agree (obviously I would, with him being a fellow misery guts) with some of Arthur’s observations on human suffering in general. However, Arthur did have a serious intolerance to noise and almost pushed a woman, who was gossiping outside his door, down a flight of stairs because of it – the reason for his apparent indiscretion is intimated in his following quote,

“Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but is also a disruption of thought”

Yes, Arthur had his issues and could be a miserable old beggar at times (aren’t we all? Okay, I’m speaking for myself), but I’m sure all of us have had something to complain and be miserable about in our troublesome lives.

Find a Purpose and Meaning to your Life toward having Optimism For Tomorrow

So what can be done to relieve any pessimistic views that one might have?

Surely there is more to life than just existing, and there must be a chance for a brighter future despite whatever I or my fellow pessimists may think. So if you are a person who suffers from pessimism in life, you must aim to transform your negative viewpoint into optimism by finding something worth living for, and use that something as a motivating factor towards vanquishing any feelings of futility.

It is totally in our power to give our life meaning and to remain optimistic about the future. However, sometimes one cannot help but feel the seemingly pointlessness of life, but there is much we can hope to achieve and look forward to:

what more can you live for if you are a parent who is responsible for nurturing your child
daily self-learning towards self-knowledge, wisdom and continuous spiritual growth
opportunity to remove any ignorance, fear or apathy you may have so you can face life with confident vigour
overcoming present troubles, to instead find joy in life
finding something of interest and of value to learn and use for the benefit of your life
realising your goals towards total fulfillment and happiness
developing closer bonds in all your personal relationships
teaching or guiding another pessimistic human being toward self-fulfillment
living a wise, good and happy life before departing gracefully

Just take a look at that inspirational list above, my friend. It should provide you with many reasons to be optimistic about your existence on this insignificant dot in the universe. All you need do, is to free your mind and give life a chance to teach you a positive and purposeful lesson that you have been sceptical of up to now.

So have no fear of what tomorrow brings, just develop a positive mindset for the present moment, which should give you the impetus to go on to achieve anything of benefit for your mind and spirit.

What else can we hope to achieve in this apparently short life? ‘Marcus Aurelius, would you please?’

“Live each day as if it were your last.”

6 Steps Towards Freedom from Pessimism

Before I go to put my bunion-ridden feet up in front of the telly and complain about the crap that’s being shown, I will leave you with some sound advice on overcoming pessimism, and for you not to become as grumpy as me:

Always live in the present and have no fear with what the future brings. Fear of the unknown can cause anxiety and pessimism of what’s to come
Embracing the hope of a positive future can make you feel at ease with whatever difficulty you may be presently experiencing, not to mention opening avenues for you to find greater meaning and purpose in your own lives
Always keep in mind that you are growing wise, and not old. This will help to remove your self-imposed pessimism (and grumpiness) regarding the detriments of old age, ‘To grow old is no evil, just learn to cultivate your mind into becoming like fine wine’
Remain young at heart and find joy and laughter in everything you do
Have goals in life to give you some purpose to get up for, no matter how small
Create, learn or discover something of positive value and worth living for

Will’s Words of Wisdom

Jason Cooper — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:08:13 +0000

I never thought I could learn any sort of wisdom from an actor such as Will Smith, but he surprisingly seems to be a man who excels in positive thinking and also possesses a steely determination to succeed in life.

I always assumed that celebrities usually spent their spare time getting drunk at parties and attending to their looks every second of the day…how wrong was I.

Will your Journey of Life take you Down the Road to Wisdom or Perdition?

Jason Cooper — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:05:18 +0000

Take the Road to Wisdom to Find a better Life

Wisdom, wisdom and more wisdom! How many more times must I spell out this simple but obscure six letter word that hides a beneficent gift to humankind.

The reason for encouraging you to attain this rare commodity, is because of the seemingly sad state of today’s superficial and ignorant world.

Whilst pursuing the things that we think will make us happy, paradoxically, they eventually serve to make us more miserable as we continue down the path of self-destruction.

Why not get off this ignorant path of perdition, my friend, and instead discover for yourself a pathless trail towards self-knowledge, self-improvement and limitless wisdom.

My Own Journey

I will forever be on this journey of self-discovery towards wisdom; of course I will make mistakes along the way and will stray off course from time to time – I am human after all – as the more I learn to know myself the more I become aware of how ignorant I actually am.

While I still have breath, I am determined that I will never retire from this most difficult of journeys, because every mile that I travel will provide me with a little improvement, bringing me that much closer to wisdom.

We all have opinions, and we are educated to believe that the attainment of knowledge will make all our dreams of so-called success come true. But to be frank with you, we don’t know a goddamn thing – especially of ourselves. This is where the problem lies with humankind – we continuously seek external solutions for inward problems.

We think to make ourselves happy and successful in life, one must have money, power, luxurious possessions, a celebrity image or social status. How wrong we are. Each and every one of those aforementioned man-made creations can eventually become self-defeating and can cause negative behaviour that we wish to avoid in the first place. We can become aggressively competitive, insecure, anxiety-ridden and worst of all, filled with fear of losing every external superficial baggage we have accumulated to make us feel secure.

So why can’t we see what we’ve become so we can then change for the better? You would think that with a bit of awareness and time to contemplate this current situation we find ourselves, we should then obviously see the path that we have presently chosen can lead us to disaster, and for the planet as a whole.

I’m guessing that common sense is not something that we’re all born with, and is as uncommon as seeing today’s world leaders having the wisdom to guide the people to “The Promised Land”.

Unfortunately, the way our society is run leads us to be continually on the run ourselves. Always distracted, without any time to spend with ourselves because we are all supposedly too busy and in too much of a rush to get somewhere – sadly, we go looking for answers to our problems everywhere else but ourselves.

Then again, maybe this is the reason why wisdom is so short in supply and so difficult to attain. As the ancient philosophers would say, “Wisdom is a much vaunted prize from the Gods! Where only a select few of seasoned competitors, who have trained hard in the sport of virtue, can lay claim to it once they pass all the tests of life. Upon receiving their prize their minds are then rewarded by being set free to ascend to the very heavens themselves.” Paradise at last reached – if only.

As for me, all I can do is to continue to learn from past mistakes and try to unravel the misguided thoughts in my mind which can create obstacles to my present growth, relationships and general well-being.

Most of my ignorance is probably self-inflicted or conditioned, but I know despite the root cause, I must aim to liberate my mind completely from “the burdens of yesterday” if I am to ever have the clarity and wisdom to live a peaceful and contented existence.

The following resonant quote has been very motivational for my personal journey towards emancipating my mind of destructive, negative conditioning,

“Truth is a pathless land’. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation, and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man has built in himself images as a sense of security—religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these dominates man’s thinking, relationships and his daily life. These are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man in every relationship.”

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

I always make a point in saying to myself that “the biggest challenge in life will always be myself”. We are usually taught in everyday life that to be successful we must conquer every external obstacles that stands in our way. But they fail to tell us that the real obstacle in life is really ourselves – the very same self that can stop us from improving, being happy, or even achieving peace.

It may sound funny, but I think that if we really want to improve every facet of our lives we must aim to conquer ourselves first. The only enemy that threatens to imprison our minds is a jailer called ignorance.

With every question that you ask of yourself you will always find a truthful answer

I now continually ask the following philosophical questions to myself, those of which I will endeavour to answer in a future post:

Who am I?

What is the meaning of life?

Why do I get the feeling that there is more to life than we have been told?

Why do I feel that I have been conditioned with a false view of life?

How can I attain happiness in life?

Am I living superficially?

How can I live a more authentic life?

How do I live an honest and truthful life?

How am I to improve my character?

How am I to overcome adversity?

How am I to improve relationships?

How am I to live contentedly?

How am I to attain this wisdom?

What if all else fails what do I do then?

What I am now slowly discovering, as I contemplate where I stand in this mysterious life, is that philosophy and self-knowledge are the probable keys available for us to open both the doors of “the meaning of life” and “wisdom”.

So I suggest that you find some time out of your busy lives to ask the above questions to yourselves, as being aware of your own ignorance and attaining wisdom begins when you start to question how much you actually know about yourself and the life you presently live.

The Search for Meaning and Wisdom

I have read many a book written by the great philosophers who purport wisdom as a priceless thing to attain to guide our lives. I have watched many thought provoking videos and educating talks which discuss liberating the mind so we can live a more conscious life. I have also at the same time observed: the inner workings of my own mind, other human beings and the natural environment in which we all interact with each other.

Am I any closer to wisdom? I don’t know. But what I do know is that the one important lesson I have learned so far is to accept myself for who I am. Security is a much demanded comfort in this fear-ridden society – but external security is just an illusion. Being secure within yourself is the only security you will ever need to live a contented, confident and prosperous life.

It can be an empowering liberating force when one is secure within themselves and accepts all imperfections and weaknesses that they may have despite any outward pressures to conform or become superficial.

Once you embrace independence of mind you can take control of your life and drive it wherever you wish as long as you have a full tank of inspiration and motivation to keep you going. You should then be capable of reaching any destination you wish to visit, be it personal growth, self-knowledge or wisdom.

It is our one and only life to live after all, and nothing should constrict our ambitions of improving and being happy within ourselves once we become aware of who we are.

Always Apply what you have learned

Enough talking from me…time for us to apply the knowledge we have learned about ourselves so that we can make an active, positive and wise contribution to everything in our life.

It’s now time to get tough. We must see through all the bullshit and be real with ourselves and with others. No more false thoughts, or actions. Time to step up to plate and grab life by the reins and take control, because nobody else will live it for you. That is perhaps the wise thing we can all do.

If we are successful in gaining wisdom, and using it when a challenge suddenly arises, we can then leave this life in full knowledge that we lived a good and happy life, as we pass the “lamp of wisdom” onto the next generation so that they can then continue illuminating this planet to dispel the darkness of ignorance forever more…no matter how unlikely that may all sound.

And lastly, to my little boy: “Build your strength up, my son, especially of mind. As I prepare for you this wisdom that I will shortly pass on to you. Make me proud!”