Your Mental Health

Congratulations! You are on your way to building a healthy, lean strong body. You are motivated to eat the proper foods and exercise regularly. Take a moment to appreciate the road you have already traveled. After you read this sentence, take a deep breath, close your eyes and ask yourself if you sincerely desire to further change your eating or exercising habits. Feel your inner-power to continue on your successful journey. Acknowledge all that you have accomplished so far and congratulate yourself for being committed to your well-being. If you feel you have not yet attained the level of physical fitness you desire, don’t worry. In this chapter, I will help you reach a better mental health - and once this is achieved, your physical health will improve as well.

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No masterpiece has ever been created overnight - so give yourself the gift of time. It will all come into place and you will be amazed most likely when you least expect it. In the course of a big project, people often become discouraged and feel like nothing is moving. And then, one day, it suddenly hits you that you have achieved what you worked very hard to do. This masterpiece is the result of long and continuous work. You are on the way to reaching your goal - the perfect balance in your life.

I want to share with you that I am in the same boat as you. I too am going through the same evolution you are! This is the only way my experience can be honest and duplicable. I am greatly enjoying this journey. I look forward to sharing my experiences with people I have the opportunity to meet during conferences or the Internet.
Get ready to open your mind, your heart and all your other senses - and create your successful life right NOW!

  Setting Goals

“If you don't know where you are going, you will end-up somewhere else!”
Author: Unknown

Take a moment to realize that often we are in such a hurry to go through life that we tend to forget where we want to go. After all, wouldn't it be a shame to lose your life trying to earn it? A study was done at Harvard University on goal setting. The results? Three percent of the students who wrote their goals down in college had a more fulfilling and better-paying job than the 97% who did not. If you have not yet done so, take a moment to write your goals down now. You can separate them into goals you want to achieve in one week, one year, and ten years. Beware of very long-term goals, as it is too easy to deviate from them and get discouraged. If you have a GREAT BIG GOAL, one trick is to split it into three or four smaller goals.

That's what I did for my web sites and programs. One of my favorite sayings is:”How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” That's what I do.The Alpha-Power^© Program will help you transform your dreams into goals by tapping into your inner strength - your subconscious mind. After all, I have never met a person who did not have dreams. If you don't believe me, ask anybody you meet what they would do if they won one million dollars in the lottery? The answer usually follows very quickly. What separates people who change their dreams into reality from those who don't is MOTIVATION and SELF-CONFIDENCE.

“A goal is only a dream with a deadline.”

Write your main goal for this year:

Write your main goal for the next ten years:

You can decide to write your goals on many pieces of paper or even do a colorful scrapbook to give them life. Seeing a picture everyday of the car you so strongly desire has the power to give you the “drive” to take action and attain that car. Your goals have to be your own true desires. I have often witnessed people studying in the wrong field or enduring the wrong job just because that's what they were told was good for them. Later, they realized they had been wasting valuable time.                            

On the yellow disc, you will be invited to define and embrace your true goals in life. Enjoy the answers that will be provided and trust your subconscious to know what is best for you. I want to share with you a little anecdote that happened to me recently. I had been working non-stop to advance this project because I strongly believed that I could help people and make a difference.

I have a dear friend who often sends me uplifting e-mails with beautiful slide shows. Invariably, these e-mails finish by stating “transmit this email to five or ten of your friends and good luck or great gifts will happen to you.” So, I sent her an e-mail asking her, since she transmitted all those e-mails, if she had attained those fantastic promised gifts. Her answer was: “Yes, I have my health and great friends - I am fulfilled.” I admire her for knowing her goals and truly living by them. Ask yourself again if you are clear on your goals and how you will attain them. I invite you to send me an email with your goals at info@naturalperfectharmony.com. This will empower you to ask yourself what you want to accomplish or get out of life. Many persons have already done so and I feel privileged to share in their aspirations.

During the creation of my web sites www.aperfectharmony.com, my hypnosis for childbirth program www.hypno-beginning.com, and now Alpha-Power©, I got to wonder why I was pushing myself so hard. I did all the required work (recording self-hypnosis CDs, giving conferences, interviews, building the web sites, answering all the requests from people interested, etc.) on top of my regular duties required by my medical career. As I was questioning my deepest motivations, I asked myself if I was getting greedy. I ran across a wonderful e-book I received as a free bonus from a recent purchase. The book was from Philip Humbert and made complete sense to me. By wanting to be successful, I was fulfilling my true desire to be the best I can be. Plus, I really love to work - to create. The Internet provides me with great possibilities as it opens the door to a vast audience. I am in the process of automating the repetitive tasks, thus allowing more time for the personal interactions I enjoy so much. Like water though, money has to circulate in order to avoid becoming rotten or stagnant. So, once you make it big, keep in mind that you must be grateful for what you have and share the wealth you have accumulated - more will come.

Correctly enough, my children made me notice that I have put way more money and energy into this experience than I have made - and that's just fine. If I helped one person along the way, it was all worth it.

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Getting back to setting your goals - one big topic is the work you are doing. On average, you spend around 30 to 40 hours at work per week. I find it to be a sin if a person is unhappy and unfulfilled with the work he or she is doing. You have to do what you love and love what you do. There are so many jobs out there, no one should accept doing one that is not satisfying their basic needs of feeling useful and content.               

Since tomorrow may never arrive, I don't recommend you hang on to a job that doesn't make you happy a day more. I had a nice discussion with my fourteen year old daughter about what she wanted to be later in life. Without hesitation, she told me she wanted to be successful, earn a lot of money and be able to help people in need. So, I told her she wanted to be a “philanthropic millionaire”. She liked that very much. She then asked me what major she had to take in order to become one. I explained to her that most successful people studied in a basic subject like law, medicine, engineering, marketing, etc. and then went and got whatever they needed to attain the next level. Since I want her to get a higher education, I did not tell her about all the very successful people who did not even finish college, who instead were self-taught and did great.

The question here is how motivated are you to attain your goals. I will do my part by helping you open your possibilities and awaken your inner drive. Beware of your negative programming like we have discussed in the first chapter.

If you recognize that you have a pattern of self-sabotage, procrastination or find excuse after excuse to not getting where you want to go, ask yourself if deep inside you really feel worthy. Low self-esteem is the number one reason people do not dare reach for their goals. In The Alpha-Power^© Program, I have included confidence building to help you realize that you are a beautiful and worthy person. We all are.

Be careful, here comes a little rain with the rainbow: There is work involved. Since inheriting from an old wealthy grandfather is not that common, you will have to put in the work if you want to get to the upper level. Successful people are persistent people. When I feel I am not progressing as fast as I want, I remind myself of Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb. He did not get it right the first time. He had to make over a thousand attempts before he found the right way. Instead of getting discouraged by all those unfruitful tests, he just kept going, more motivated than ever. An ill-intended journalist asked him with a grin “Didn't you get discouraged by all those failures?” Edison answered very calmly “I did not fail, I discovered one thousand ways that did not work!”

At this point, you have to ask yourself if you have the persistence it takes to achieve your goals. If you do, then no challenge will be big enough to stop you. On my web site www.alpha-power.org, I have included a section at the end of the ”Your Mental Health” page with many reflections I find inspirational.

  Daily Life

All right! Now that you are motivated and focused on what you want to accomplish, let's see how you can get there in the most comfortable manner. Let's face it, sometimes things do not go our way. If life was happening without any new elements, it would get very boring. You can decide that whatever is presented to you is a challenge more than an obstacle in order to face it more easily. Think of the joy you will feel when you have risen to the challenge. I was once told that I was lucky, that I had it easy. The person who told me that was surprised when I told her that my house had been flooded twice, suffered severe fire damage once, that I had been robbed more than four times, had a miscarriage, went through a long and nasty divorce, and more. And here I am keeping the more personal challenges for myself. I was happy to realize that I give the reflection of being a person who has it easy.

Ask yourself if you burden yourself with negative, down-talking messages. We are our own worst judge. Give yourself permission to be human and embrace all your experiences as being steps forward. Always respect the power of words, especially the ones you tell yourself because the subconscious mind does not argue with what it is told - and your mind believes it. With this in mind, I have created the silver disc in The Alpha-Power^© Program. I created this disc for two principal reasons. First, I needed to have time to do my daily hypnosis and my daily exercise. The idea of active hypnosis hit me and it became a reality. I had fun recording and then listening to all those powerful positive affirmations recorded over a very up-beat musical track.

When I exercise while listening to the silver disc, time flies and exercising becomes easy. This is great because I normally don't enjoy exercising.

The second reason is that sometimes we don't feel like lying or sitting still and listening to a relaxing hypnosis session. We need to move. Didn't you ever just feel like dancing all night long or hitting a punching bag? Active hypnosis provides you with just that - the perfect combination of positive affirmations and a great beat to make you move.

Sometimes we do everything right but the challenges arise from the outside. Situations have to be dealt with. When you are being tossed about by a difficult situation, remind yourself that all this will not be that important in ten years, one year or even next week. I am often surprised to realize that one night of sleep has the power to greatly diminish what felt like a gigantic problem the day before. Don't get me wrong, many situations need to be addressed and will not disappear on their own. Just like interest on a debt, a small problem can grow proportionately if you let it. Makes sense?

What can we do if dealing with other people gets unpleasant? Here, allow me to tell you I have more than my share of feeling irritated by others. I know I get easily frustrated if I feel I am not getting the treatment I deserve. After all, I want to get the same respectful interaction I give others. Life is not that simple - and let's face it - some people have issues we don't even know about.

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  Finding the Right Balance in Life

OK, so now you are motivated, you exercise, you are on the way to attaining your goals. Great! What I am about to say might seem contradictory, but I will now tell you to never forget to rest. Physical rest is a very important part of a successful life. By the nature of my work, delivering over 200 babies per year - many of them during the night - I often do not get a full night's sleep. My secret is that I go for quality - not quantity. I can tell you that I always privilege the proper rest I need. I sometimes go to bed at four o'clock in the morning and tell the nurses jokingly:

“I am not going to sleep, I am going to fall into a coma!” Often I get the deepest sleep you can imagine, waking-up in the same position I fell asleep in. Sleep is a very important factor of a well balanced life. Optimally, you would always wake-up naturally, with your eyelids gently “butterflying” open. If you cannot afford this luxury and instead must be dragged-out of your bed by your alarm clock, give yourself permission to enjoy a rejuvenating full night of sleep when the weekend comes. If you had trouble sleeping in the past, most probably you will realize with The Alpha-Power^© Program that you will enjoy a deeper and more relaxing sleep. By being able to easily push away your thoughts and worries with hypnosis, you can reach a deeper level of sleep rapidly when the time to rest arrives.

Anger and resentment are feelings that have the power to eat you slowly if you let them. Buddha summed-it up pretty well when he said “Revenge is a coal that burns more the hand that holds it than the person it is destined for.” If a person has upset you during the day, whether voluntarily or not, offer your forgiveness mentally before falling asleep. After all, they were only doing what they could. Furthermore, you do not want to bring any negative feelings with you into your peaceful sleep.

Furthermore, in order to attain a good balance in your life, you need to stop, pause your busy schedule, and admire and enjoy life around you. There is nothing like an afternoon spent with your children, a walk in the woods or a beach sunset (aaaaahhh!) to replenish your energy reserve. You cannot wait until you get the perfect job, have your first million in the bank, find the perfect mate to enjoy life and be happy. You can choose to work towards reaching all those things...and more. The important thing is that you enjoy every moment getting there. Take a moment today to appreciate or discover what you are thankful for: your family, your health, the beauty of nature, etc. One should always enjoy living in the present - in the NOW - many times a day. It is the secret to a full and happy life.

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  Accept Only the Positive in Your Life

Whether you want to or not, everyday you will interact with other people. Most of your encounters will be pleasant and easy. Sometimes though, your road might cross another person's and you might feel like the relationship is draining you. While some people can be considered givers by their generous nature, others feel easy in asking (sometimes demanding) whatever can fulfill their needs. One can easily get caught up in this. The bigger problem is when a “taker” person encounters a “giver” person. Then, there seams to be no limit to what the asking person will ask or demand. To a point where you can get into a very vicious cycle, the more you give, the more the person is asking or taking. Heck, some people would take one of your kidneys if you let them!

We all have had the experience of such a “vampirizing” relationship. I am now giving you permission to say NO to such persons - to do a nice housecleaning in your surroundings and save yourself for true friendships. You do not need to be rude and tell them that you feel drained by their attitude.

By just stopping to answer all of their many needs, they’ll easily pick-up your signal and leave in search of another person who has not yet learned the meaning of the word NO.

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So now that you only allow positive self-talk, you might feel like everything will get very easy. Again, allow me to warn you that other people have the power to influence you in so many ways if you let them. For example, you have learned all the fantastic self-hypnosis techniques in this program. You have to acknowledge that one word can cancel all that you have learned if you allow it to cause yourself DOUBT or FEAR. Many of my patients have experienced very comfortable and peaceful births with the help of hypnosis. You have to know that they were determined to not allow any negative programming or doubts in their minds.

This is the reason I have also incorporated into my program a protective bubble that you can build to shield you from negative influences.

If I have motivated you in this chapter and you desire to go further, my recommendation to you is the “TWO TONYs”. Hence, for an intelligent and complete exercise program, my personal favorite is Tony Horton’s Power 90® program. On the other hand, if you are interested in personal achievement, I recommend Tony Robbins’® Personal Power and Get the Edge® programs. So many people worldwide have been inspired by Tony Robbins’ flamboyant way of motivating people.

(One little thing though-I was disappointed to find out that most people working on Tony’s seminars are volunteers. I know he has done a lot of great actions to help the neediest persons but a little sharing with the people he works with would certainly give weight to his “sharing the wealth” chapter.) Nevertheless, he is a great speaker and his enthusiasm is highly contagious.
As I was writing this, I realized that our three programs had the word “Power” in them. I guess we commonly believe in the power that rests in all human being.

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  YOUR PERFECT PLACE

How would you like to have access to a place where you are perfectly happy, content and stress-free? This place exists and lies in your subconscious mind. It is yours to explore. Your perfect place can be a place that you have already visited, like a very nice sunny beach (my favorite), a calm lake, a quiet mountain chalet - whatever makes you happy and comfortable. If you have absolutely no memory that is pleasant to you, I recommend you go to your local travel agent and pick-up a few of their travel brochures. Look at the pictures until they initiate a positive and strong desire in you, and then take-off and live the trip of your lifetime! In this third session, we will review and you will be invited into your perfect place. It doesn’t matter if your perfect place is real or imaginary as long as it makes you happy and calm. You can decide to go to your perfect place if you have to go through a surgery or appear in a trial. The beauty of building your perfect place is that it will be yours for the rest of your life and that you will be able to come back to it whenever you feel the desire to. What a great gift!

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