Mission to create a new reality of relaxation

I have a mission to create images of how I am relaxed in situations where I am normally not very relaxed.

This is part of the Uneståhl Mental Training course (UMT).

This is really a challenging mission.

To create an image of relaxation in my mind seems almost impossible, but I know it's not.
I can do this! I just need to practice a lot!

I can't help thinking of my German lessons where my teacher used to start the lesson with a relaxation exercise. I really felt reluctant to practice mental training during my German lessons, but this teacher didn't mind. He considered it to be an excellent idea.

What we needed to do was to imagine that we visited a nice, secure place, our own mental room.
I am sure this exercise can be a really good thing, not just during German lessons.

Therefore, what I certainly need to do is - create an image of myself enjoying to create a mental image where I am relaxed.

Isn't this something?
Do you think I will succeed?

How to structure your documents and files in a smart way

I believe that good structure is good for your mind and body. If you have a clear structure it is easier to find what you are looking for and you save a lot of energy.

Calendar

• I have a google calender which I share with some of my family members
• On my cellphone I use the calender and it is synchronized with Outlook
• I have installed a calender app called "Jorte".

Email

• My cellphone is synchronized with Outlook.
• I use both Gmail and Outlook (old Hotmail). It's great to be able to access the email from various places. It was useful while travelling in Australia for example.
  
  I am sometimes thinking about the fact that I use a "Cloud service" for emails and I wonder, is this a good thing? Do I want a company I actually don't know much about to handle my important files? Since I am not completely sure I don't use a "Cloud service" to permanently store other files yet.
  
  Some of the benefits with a "Cloud service" is that you can access the data from many places.
  There might also be possibilities to get backup of your files.
  
  With a "Cloud service" you store your data "in the cloud" at a company's computer/server, instead of for example buying a program to handle files that you store on your own computer.
  
  While writing this post I searched for cloud services and got this result, this could be interesting to read:
  http://www.top-10-online-backups.com/best-cloud-storage
  

Bills

• Some of my bills are electronic and that's practical. 
• My other bills I keep in a pile until they are payed, then I keep them in a drawer,
  After some months I put them in a binder. To me it's great to store the bills easily in a drawer instead of putting them in a binder at once. 

Perfect size to fit a paper

Photos

Dropbox

• To share Photos temporarily I use Dropbox. 

Google Drive

• A friend of mine uses Google Drive, which I have not used, but it seems similar to Dropbox.
  

Locally on the computer

• Otherwise I keep my photos locally on my computer and we have one backup made in Linux and another manual backup which is done by copying folders.
• I store copies of my data files at another destination on an external drive. 
• To keep the manual copying easier I store my files in a structure sorted by year.

Tags

To easier find your photos you can add tags to your photos. These tags can be used to filter and find specific photos.
You can do this in Windows Explorer by selecting a file with the context menu, then  select properties and the "Information" tab. In this tab you can find Tags. The Tags are separated by semicolon ";".

You can also use tags on other kinds of files, like a Word document.

Photo program Lightroom

If you have access to the program Lightroom it is really easy to add tags to your photos. You can add tags in Lightroom and export these tags to the final photo files.

To start learning how to relax

Mental training 

Photo in a Swedish park: by Anette Svensson

I have recently started a Mental training course and the first task was to train relaxation.

Thoughts

I think it can be quite tricky to relax, even if I am better nowadays. Years of experience of life makes a difference.

This is what happened during my first relaxation exercise:

I lie down on the floor on a yoga mat. The relaxation cd is started and I can hear a voice speak. In my head I start thinking. 

"How tense is my hand? Do I tense it hard enough? Is this really a good way of relaxing your body? I am not sure if I will be patient enough to listen to all this. "

For a while I get quite relaxed but then I start thinking again.

"How should I breath? How much time is it left? I am not sure I can get very relaxed. I feel quite tense.
Can this really work? It should work, but I am not sure, will it really, really work? "

Now I have had time to relax some more times and some thoughts remain, but some have actually disappeared.

It takes time to learn something new. Repetion is necessary. I need patience to continue and finally I will feel great. I know it.

Mindfulness - A life style

Mindfulness course 
Some years ago I attended a course in Mindfulness.

I thought it could be a good contrast to the stressful part of life.

It's very easy to think about the past and the future and forget about what we are doing right now.

Have you ever walked along a familiar street while being really in the present?

I would say it is quite often that this is not the case. You are probably thinking of where to go and this is your main goal.

After some times at the Mindfulness course I started to notice things around me in a completely new way.
I saw details of houses, I noticed small things which made a big difference when walking along a street I had been to many times.

Mindfulness is to me a way of staying "in the moment" and thereby leaving thoughts about the past and future behind. This make you feel better and enjoying the moment.

It's been great to me to focuse on "the now". The body is relaxed in another way.

I got an insight - when I meet people I want to stay there with the person not thinking about what happened before I met the person or the next thing I am going to do afterwards.

The thought of the next thing sometimes really ruins the moment with a person.

Leave the cellphone

I love it when people shut down there cellphones when meeting them. It is not so common though.
But I really love it when the cellphone has second priority and I get full attention.

Doesn't everyone want to be in focus?

One thing at a time

Focus on one task at a time, for example only write this text and not shifting between this text and a chat with a friend.

Feng Shui - a way of thinking

Clear your clutter

I have read a very interesting book about Feng Shui called "Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui" by Karen
Kingston.

Before I read this book, I had the feeling that Feng Shui was only about where to place your furniture.

However this book taught me to get another view of what Feng shui is all about. It is not just about moving furniture. It is much more!

What I really kept from the book is this: 

1. The items you own - do you really love them or do you really need them?
2. Make sure that you have a clutter place in each room. By doing this you keep the clutter.


I really recommend this book if you want to learn about Feng Shui! 

I don't agree with everything in the book, but I still thing it's worth reading.

Some items you want to keep and some items can make your home cosy. But don't let the items own you!

Candle harmony