North Star Mental Fitness

Is Mental Fitness for You?

Take Care of You.  Take Control of Your Life.  Think to Be Strong.  Think to Be Stronger Than Your Problems.  Organize and Empower Your Mind with Mental Fitness Strategies.

Life is full of changes, risks, disappointments and challenges.  Mental fitness training can help you find the strength, clarity of thought and confidence to successfully take care of yourself, even during difficult times.

The goal of mental fitness is to make you strong enough to achieve your goals and solve your problems.  The goal of mental fitness is much larger than solving specific problems.  You can be stronger than your problems.  You will find peace of mind and solutions for any and all of your problems by increasing your mental fitness.

At North Star Mental Fitness we believe everyone can improve their mental fitness.  We can all improve our mental fitness by concentrating and making our thinking more organized, efficient and powerful.

Just ask us how!

You can have the tools to turn your past failures and disappointments into successes by applying mental fitness strategies from the North Star Mental Fitness Program and the e-book, I Live within the Environment Created by My Choices.

Remember, You Live within the Mind, Body and Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

 

WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE

We are pleased to announce that www.northstarmentalfitness.com has replaced northstarmentalfitnessblog.com.  All of the posts from the former website can be accessed through northstarmentalfitness.com.

Please add www.northstarmentalfitness.com to your list of Favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stretch Your Mind

"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions".

This wonderful quotation was made by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The essence of mental fitness is expressed by Oliver Wendell Holmes' quotation. In order to grow our mind and have a healthy, strong minds, we need to find new ways to think or new ideas to expand our comfort zone.

Isn't it comforting and exciting to know that once we really stretch our minds with a new idea, our minds never regain its original dimension . New ideas challenge the tyranny of our past and usual way of thinking about ourselves and our lives.

New ideas can refresh and remodel our lives. We need to add new ideas into our minds so we can turn our failures into successes or turn our weaknesses into strengths.

Remember, We Live within the Environment Created by Our Thoughts!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

 

 

 

 

30 Quotations on Faith

At this holiday season, it is appropriate to talk about faith.  These quotations will indicate that faith and mental fitness are not inconsistent or antagonistic to each other.  Mental fitness will involve many ingredients including faith, courage, passion belief and reason.

"Keep your dreams alive.  Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination and dedication.  Remember all things are possible for those who believe."  This quotation is from Gail Devers.

 "You block your dream when you allow your fear to go bigger than your faith."  Mary Manin Morrissey is the author of this quote.

"To me faith means not worrying".  John Dewey quotation.

"Fear is faith that it will not work out."

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible."  St. Thomas Aquinas quote.

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe."  This is a Voltaire quotation.

"Faith in oneself is the best and safest course".  This quotation from Michelangelo.

"Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of what they see.  It is above them and not contrary to them."  Quotation from Blaise Pascal.

"Faith is an oasis in the heart which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking".  Another quotation from Blaise Pascal.

"Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof."  Quotation from Kahalil Gbran.

"Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.".  This quotation from Dr. Elton Trueblood.

"Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into."  Quotation from Mohandas Gandhi.

"Faith is reason grown courageous."  Quotation by Sherwood Eddy.

"In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't."  Quotation from Blaise Pascal.

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."  St. Augustine is the author of this quotation.

"Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.".  Quotation from E.M. Forster.

"Faith… Must be enforced by reason… When faith becomes blind it dies."  This quotation from Mahatma Gandhi.

"Reason is our soul's left hand, faith her right".  This quotation from John Donne.

"Take the first step in faith.  You do not have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."  This is a Martin Luther King, Junior quotation.

"A man of courage is also full of faith".  Marcus Tullius Cicero is the author of this quotation.

"As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight in benefit."  This quotation from Emanuel Teney.

"Every tomorrow has two handles.  We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith."  Henry Ward Beecher is the author of this quotation.

"Faith is like electricity.  You cannot see it, but you can see the light."

"The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason" according to Benjamin Franklin.

"Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible."  This quotation by William James.

"Faith is the art of holding onto things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods."  This quotation from C. S. Lewis.

"Faith is a passionate intuition."  Quotation from William Wordsworth.

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."  This quotation from Mother Teresa.

"Faith makes all things possible… Love makes all things easy."

"Living without faith is like driving in a fog."

As we live in a a world that seems to thrive on reason and unfortunately the lack of reason, let us not forget to have faith.

Remember, We Live within the World Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Do Professional Athletes Know How to Stop Choking?

In professional sports, there is tremendous pressure to achieve.  Athletes want to be "Mr. Clutch"!  Athletes went to lead their team to victory.  Athletes want to continually elevate their performances to higher levels.  Athletes want to win, when victory or defeat is determined by what they do!

What is choking?  Choking is the failure to cope successfully with the pressures associated with professional sports, because of anxiety and panic.  Failure to "always" cope effectively with pressure in sports should be expected.  All professional athletes sometimes in their career will fail to achieve at the critical moment.  The critical moment is when what they do will determine the joy of victory or the agony of defeat.  Failure to successfully achieve is not choking.

Professional athletes need to set realistic expectations for themselves.  If a person wants to be a professional athlete, then they need to expect and accept that they sometimes will fail.  After all isn't winning and losing the nature of the game.  Isn't playing well and playing poorly to be expected?

Choking is when professional performance deteriorates, because of anxiety, fear and panic.  Choking is associated with prolonged failure to achieve at a level commensurate with one's ability, because of anxiety, fear and panic.  When focused attempts to achieve result in continuing poor performance or deteriorating performance, choking is present.  Anxiety, fear and panic can completely destroy confidence and prevent successful achievement.  When this occurs, professional athletes are in a state of choking.

There is a lot that can be done to control and manage choking.  Some athletes seek psychiatric treatment and counseling for their anxiety. I recommend mental fitness training for successfully coping with choking.  Mental fitness training is just as important as physical training for successful performance and managing of the pressures associated with professional sports.

Often times, professional athletes are given wonderful advice such as in Patrick Cohn's article,How to Avoid Choking in Baseball.  Although professional advice may be correct and valid, it is only effective when an athlete's default mindset for coping with choking is changed.  The mind's default position for coping with choking can only be changed through hard work or mental fitness or mental toughness training.

Athletes need to know: 

• Advice from their friends, fellow players and coaches usually is ineffective in reducing anxiety induced choking and sometimes can increase choking!
• Attempts to consciously stop choking can actually increase choking!
• It is important to change one's mindset in order to effectively manage choking!
• Mental fitness and mental toughness are the result of one's thinking and not automatically associated with professional skills.
• Mental fitness and mental toughness training can make an athlete stronger than the anxiety associated with choking!

If you or someone you know is struggling with anxiety associated with their performance, suggest to them that they get mental fitness training or contact me for further information.

Remember, We Live with the Performances Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Brain Fitness Programs

As a clinical psychologist, I am frequently asked to evaluate people for memory loss and other areas of cognitive decline.  After evaluating people, some are prescribed medications by their physicians.

Frequently, I encourage people to use brain fitness programs.  There are brain fitness programs to improve memory, eye-hand coordination, visual-spatial problem-solving, attention and focus, and processing numbers.  I discovered a very practical website, Play with Your Mind.  This website offers a lot of different brain fitness programs.  I highly encourage you to visit this website and utilize their programs.

Unfortunately, many people with memory losses and declining ability to function, are unaware of resources for improving their functioning for delaying the process of cognitive decline.

I really want you to keep this post for a resource.  There was a post at Play with Your Mind entitled Brain Fitness Programs and Websites.  You'll have to look no further for brain fitness training and opportunities.  This will be a wonderful resource for you.

Brain fitness programs are relatively new, but extremely important for people who want to be fully functioning for as long as possible.  These programs will stimulate and challenge our senses and cognitive abilities.

These programs are different than the  North Star Mental Fitness Program, which provides exercises to improve decision-making, taking care of oneself and making one stronger than one's problems.

The  North Star Mental Fitness Program is a practical program for making life's decisions, while most brain fitness programs are developed to improve various sensory and cognitive functions.  Both mental fitness and brain fitness programs are important and necessary, although different in their objectives.

You can use the North Star Mental Fitness Program's strategies for improving your life focus and for making life decisions easier and more satisfying.  You can use the brain fitness programs for sharpening your senses and thinking abilities.  We need both.

Remember, We Live within the Minds and Environment Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Use CPR To Kill Your Ant's (Automatic Negative Thoughts)

Dr. Daniel Amen believes you could have an ant infestation in your brain!  It sure sounds gross, doesn't it?  Before you call an ant exterminator, let me explain what Dr. Amen means.

Life Dysfunctions

Life Dysfunctions!  We all have them.  Vern from Aim for Awesome asked the important question.  It's a question many people avoid asking.  It can be a very painful question.

The question is: What Are Your Life Dysfunctions?

She Stopped Crying

For years, she wanted to stop crying.  It was so embarrassing for her.  No matter what she tried, she couldn't stop crying. 

Mental Strategies for Losing Weight

Do you believe that mental strategies are necessary for losing weight?

Paige Waehner from Exercise Blog talked about The Truth about Weight Loss-Mental Strategies for Losing Weight.

Paige had a intriguing insight into the mind's role in creating obstacles for losing weight.  Paige wrote

"This week, I'm talking about the mental side of losing weight and discussing some of the obstacles the mind creates, such as failure, self-doubt and dishonesty. Learning how the mind can derail you may be enough to overcome those obstacles the next time around."

Yes.  We do need mental strategies to overcome the mind's creating obstacles for losing and maintaining weight. 

What are your mental strategies for losing and maintaining weight loss? 

One of Paige's readers wrote "You are right. Weight loss and fitness is about 10% understanding the importance of exercise and eating fewer calories than you burn, and 90% mental. I’ve lost 120 pounds in the past 26 months."

Another reader wrote "I agree totally with TM. Most work to do with weight loss starts in the brain. It is a constant struggle, every second, minute, hour, day, week. I have lost almost 50 pounds in the last 10 months and it is very hard. Everything I take a bite out of makes me think!!!!"

Have you ever considered adding a mental fitness program to your weight loss program?  If you really want to be successful in losing and maintaining weight loss, I recommend the North Star Mental Fitness Program.  This program can be added to any weight loss program in order to not only manage the mind's attempt to derail you from becoming successful, but also for providing new strategies for losing weight and maintaining your weight loss.

With the right mental fitness strategies, weight loss does not have to be a constant struggle!

With the right mental fitness strategies, weight loss can be maintained! 

Remember, You Live within the Body Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS

What is inattentional blindness?  Wikipedia put it this way

"Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is the phenomenon of not being able to see things that are actually there.