The 7 Day Mental Diet
Looking through some of my papers I found an article written by Emmet Fox in 1940. The title is called "The 7 Day Mental Diet." The article is from his book, "Power Through Constructive Thinking." In this article Emmet Fox (he was one of the outstanding spiritual teachers of this century), suggests that a mental diet is more important any other diet. He says, "The most important of all factors in your life is the mental diet on which you live. It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life. It is the thoughts you allow yourself to think, the subjects that you allow your mind to dwell upon, which makes you and your surroundings what they are."
Emmet Fox believes that our thoughts and feelings determines every condition of our life. That the way to change your life is to change your thoughts. What we focus on is what we attract. If our thoughts are always negative we will attract more negative into our life. Emmet Fox calls this the, "Great Cosmic Law."
Along with your thoughts your emotions or moods must, also, be positive. You cannot be happy; you can not be healthy; you cannot be prosperous, if you have a bad disposition.
So how does the "7 Day Mental Diet" work? Below is the steps:
1. Devote one week solely to the task of building a new habit of thought, and during that week let everything else in life be unimportant as compared with that.
2. For 7 days you must not allow yourself to dwell for a single moment on any kind of negative thought. A negative thought is any thought that is not positive and constructive in character, whether it concerns you or someone else.
3. You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.
4. Do not start it lightly, Think about it for a day or two before you begin.
5. You can start it any day at any hour, once you start you must go right through for the seven days.
6. If you break the diet, stop the diet for a couple of days and start over again.
7. You will have negative thoughts and that is okay as long as you don't dwell on them.
8. Other people will talk about negative things and that is okay too as long as you don't dwell on them. Let those thoughts go and replace them with a positive thoughts.
9. Do not tell anyone else that you are on this diet, or that you intend to go on it.
10. And finally, remember that nothing said or done by anyone else can possibly throw you off the diet. Only your own reaction to the other person's conduct can do that.
Emmet Fox admits that it won't be easy, but he believes that if you do this it will be the most powerful diet you have ever done.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.laughingworld.blogstop.com
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
If It Makes Sense Let's Do the Opposite
Before I even started working for the county, I was told not to do to much. I wasn't sure what that meant. Within a week I knew what that meant. It meant that if I volunteered to do anything I got negative looks from my co-workers that meant shut-up.
I took one week to rest, by the second week I was bored. I went to my supervisor and suggested that I would like something to do. As I worked in a program that helped people get jobs I was given about fifty files and took to do follow-ups. These people had gotten jobs, and I was to call their employers and find out if they were still working.
We were required to do three-month, six-month, and twelve-month follow-ups. While looking at the first couple of files I noticed that no follow-ups had been completed. It was now between sixteen months and two years past when these people had gotten jobs.
This didn't make much sense to me and I went to my supervisor and asked him about it. He said, "Well, if they are still working there than we know they were working there all the other required dates." I asked, "What if they are not." His reply, "Well, just ask when they stopped working and just guess." I asked, "Aren't these suppose to be accurate." His reply, "They will be accurate." That is when I discovered "Magical Thinking."
I had come from a job where there was never enough time to one where the time was so slow. Here people all came in at 7:00 am, but didn't start work until 8:00 or 8:30, they went to breakfast each day. My biggest challenge each week was to decide whether to do all my work that first day or spread it over the whole week. If I did the work for the week the first day I would be through by 2:00 pm that day, if I spread it out over the week, I would be working about an hour or two a day.
The most amazing thing was that my co-workers were always complaining about having too much to do. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, within my own body. Whatever made sense the opposite was always done. If it made sense the powers that be would do the opposite.
Case in point was the man in the department who was known to sexually abuse his female co-workers, being named the Equal Opportunity Officer. Case in point was the man in the department who couldn't read or write, being named a site director, whose major responsibilities was writing required reports.
My supervisor was the nicest man, just totally incompetent. He was way past when he could have retired, but worked almost ten years past when he should have retired. He worked because his marriage wasn't the best and job was his social outlet. He was a Second World War veteran and loved to share his war stories. He spent his days telling anyone that would listen his stories.
I felt like I was in a zoo, with all the animals in control. This was just the beginning of my experience in the county where what makes sense the opposite happens.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.laughingworld.blogspot.com
Before I even started working for the county, I was told not to do to much. I wasn't sure what that meant. Within a week I knew what that meant. It meant that if I volunteered to do anything I got negative looks from my co-workers that meant shut-up.
I took one week to rest, by the second week I was bored. I went to my supervisor and suggested that I would like something to do. As I worked in a program that helped people get jobs I was given about fifty files and took to do follow-ups. These people had gotten jobs, and I was to call their employers and find out if they were still working.
We were required to do three-month, six-month, and twelve-month follow-ups. While looking at the first couple of files I noticed that no follow-ups had been completed. It was now between sixteen months and two years past when these people had gotten jobs.
This didn't make much sense to me and I went to my supervisor and asked him about it. He said, "Well, if they are still working there than we know they were working there all the other required dates." I asked, "What if they are not." His reply, "Well, just ask when they stopped working and just guess." I asked, "Aren't these suppose to be accurate." His reply, "They will be accurate." That is when I discovered "Magical Thinking."
I had come from a job where there was never enough time to one where the time was so slow. Here people all came in at 7:00 am, but didn't start work until 8:00 or 8:30, they went to breakfast each day. My biggest challenge each week was to decide whether to do all my work that first day or spread it over the whole week. If I did the work for the week the first day I would be through by 2:00 pm that day, if I spread it out over the week, I would be working about an hour or two a day.
The most amazing thing was that my co-workers were always complaining about having too much to do. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, within my own body. Whatever made sense the opposite was always done. If it made sense the powers that be would do the opposite.
Case in point was the man in the department who was known to sexually abuse his female co-workers, being named the Equal Opportunity Officer. Case in point was the man in the department who couldn't read or write, being named a site director, whose major responsibilities was writing required reports.
My supervisor was the nicest man, just totally incompetent. He was way past when he could have retired, but worked almost ten years past when he should have retired. He worked because his marriage wasn't the best and job was his social outlet. He was a Second World War veteran and loved to share his war stories. He spent his days telling anyone that would listen his stories.
I felt like I was in a zoo, with all the animals in control. This was just the beginning of my experience in the county where what makes sense the opposite happens.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.laughingworld.blogspot.com
Monday, March 03, 2008
Women are Too Emotional To be Leaders
For many years growing up and as a young adult I have heard the reason that women aren't in leadership roles is that they are too emotional.
I don't think so.
On Thursday February 28, 2008, the Michigan women's basketball coach, Kevin Borseth joined the long line of male coaches to lose it in press conferences. Kevin joins Dennis Green, Mike Gundy, Hal McRae, Herman Edwards, Jim Boeheim, and Bobby Knight, in ranting and raving, and throwing a temper tantrum. To see all these male coaches and more lose it, go to YouTube.
Emotional Intelligence, that was written about by Daniel Goleman, is now being found to be more important for success than IQ. Emotional Intelligence is an awareness and management of your own emotions, and an awareness of other people's. It really is self management, social management, and relationship management.
In study after study, women are found to have higher Emotional Intelligence than men. Which suggests that we are better able to control our emotions. So the thought that women are too emotional to be in leadership is false, and we might want to ask that question of men. Maybe, they are too emotional to be in leadership. After watching all these male coaches be so emotional, it begs the question.
Brain research, also suggests that when we lose it we get stupid. All the blood in our brain goes to our extremities for the "flight and flight," response. That is why when people are angry they say the funniest things. They are stupid.
Kevin Borseth apologized on Sunday, and his team lost anyway. My daughter, when she was four, had temper tantrums and she also apologized afterwards, but that didn't stop her the next time.
Men, I fear might be too emotional for positions of leadership. At least they need to clean up their act and become more "emotionally intelligent" and remember not to try to communicate when they are angry.
There should be no temper tantrums allowed by coaches in sports. And the next time a man suggests that women are too emotional to be leaders, I will just use my emotional intelligence and smile at him.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.laughingworld.blogstop.com
For many years growing up and as a young adult I have heard the reason that women aren't in leadership roles is that they are too emotional.
I don't think so.
On Thursday February 28, 2008, the Michigan women's basketball coach, Kevin Borseth joined the long line of male coaches to lose it in press conferences. Kevin joins Dennis Green, Mike Gundy, Hal McRae, Herman Edwards, Jim Boeheim, and Bobby Knight, in ranting and raving, and throwing a temper tantrum. To see all these male coaches and more lose it, go to YouTube.
Emotional Intelligence, that was written about by Daniel Goleman, is now being found to be more important for success than IQ. Emotional Intelligence is an awareness and management of your own emotions, and an awareness of other people's. It really is self management, social management, and relationship management.
In study after study, women are found to have higher Emotional Intelligence than men. Which suggests that we are better able to control our emotions. So the thought that women are too emotional to be in leadership is false, and we might want to ask that question of men. Maybe, they are too emotional to be in leadership. After watching all these male coaches be so emotional, it begs the question.
Brain research, also suggests that when we lose it we get stupid. All the blood in our brain goes to our extremities for the "flight and flight," response. That is why when people are angry they say the funniest things. They are stupid.
Kevin Borseth apologized on Sunday, and his team lost anyway. My daughter, when she was four, had temper tantrums and she also apologized afterwards, but that didn't stop her the next time.
Men, I fear might be too emotional for positions of leadership. At least they need to clean up their act and become more "emotionally intelligent" and remember not to try to communicate when they are angry.
There should be no temper tantrums allowed by coaches in sports. And the next time a man suggests that women are too emotional to be leaders, I will just use my emotional intelligence and smile at him.
Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.laughingworld.blogstop.com
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