Starting a Great Career in Business Analytics

By Shalini Madhav

There are many things to consider before choosing a career path. In most cases, a career starts with a desire to work in a given field. Then it is necessary to start out on that path. Anyone can decide to pursue an analytics career, whether they are undergraduate students or established professionals who want to make a career shift.

Starting out

There are many things to think about when you want to pursue a career in this field. Before you even consider taking this career path, you should consider the reasons why you should build such a career in the first place. The main advantage is that this is an industry which will grow exponentially. Data is now readily available in digital form in large quantities for every industry (Big Data) and there is a great need for qualified professionals to analyze the data and provide smarter data-based recommendations.

Reports indicate that there is a lack of qualified professionals with the necessary analytical skills to analyze this data. This means that the industry has great potential for employment with many opportunities for those interested in the field. Analysis of the data to provide information necessary for decision making requires analysts who can manipulate Big Data and make it meaningful.

Why it is hard to find out exactly where to start

It is clear that analytics are important, but there are some reasons why many people don't know exactly where to start.

� The industry is still emerging and so there are no pioneers that can offer the much-needed guidance to the newbies.

� Business analytics is a term that is somewhat loosely used and this makes it a bit difficult for some to appreciate and understand the role that it plays in decision making.

� There aren't many paths laid out that can be followed so as to start out in the field.

Two approaches to use

It is important to think of business analytics just like any other career. There are two approaches that you can consider. The approaches are:

- Be hired by a company that has already been established

The company can train you on all the skills that you need. This is something that can take a lot of time, especially in cases where the company does not have a structured training option. You also need to choose a company that is already dealing with analytics. Another option that you may consider is to get an internship into such companies. You may need a few months so as to learn as much as you can about business analytics.

- Get certification in the field

This is a great way to get the technical skills that you need. Even though they can't compare to experience, there are many great training options available and some are even offered online. This is an option that anyone can take advantage of regardless of whether they are students or are already in the job market. When you are certified, you stand a better chance of getting hired into big companies.

You also need to increase your personal awareness. You should read extensively on the subject via blogs or interact with online communities. If there are forums being conducted, plan to attend so as to get better insight.

  Analytics training course delhi allows you to start off a great career in the industry. With such training, you can grasp the basics and even obtain a mastery of what it takes to be a great analyst. Choosing such a course will give you a competitive advantage, especially when your goal is securing a job at one of the leading companies.

How To Get Local Customers To Your Online Store

By Jon Allo

Even if you have an online store, don't ignore the results you can get when you appeal to local customers to buy online from you too.

Due to the fact your business is local, a lot of people who want to go shopping online will shop with your website because they feel as if they're still shopping locally with small businesses. And they are, despite the fact that they don't have to leave their house.

Get The Local Keywords Right

Your customers have a lot to say about the keywords you use on your website because they're the ones that are browsing online. Establish your target audience the same way you always do, but add the geographical demographics to it too. That means you'll need to add keywords to your content, marketing and targeting that will attract local customers.

Use Facebook To Target Local People

Facebook advertising enables you to specifically target people who are living in your area. There are a number of different types of Facebook ads you can use to promote your business and you can start and run a Facebook ad campaign for as little as $5.

Verify Your Business Locally on Google

Getting listed on Google My Business is a good way to show up more in search engines for local results. Because of this, even if someone uses a commonly used phrase to find the products you sell, you'll show up for the people who are local to you first.

Ask Local People to Review Your Business

When local people do buy from you, make sure that they're added to your email list. After they have purchased from you, you can send them a link that allows them to leave a review for your business. When local people leave a review on Google, Facebook, or other public places, their friends will see it. Personal recommendations are a powerful marketing tool.

Be Active on Social Media

Replying to people, subscribing to conversations, and sharing what's new on social media with your local friends and connections is also a great way to get known locally for your website.

Become a Resource For Local Media

Your local media needs content for their audience. No matter what your expertise is, try to be a resource to them so that if they have questions about your industry, they'll come to you. If you prove to be a reliable source, they'll keep coming back to you.

Every business needs a clearly defined sales funnel. This is a pre-planned series of steps that guide and inform potential customers about your products or services. It helps them decide whether or not to make a purchase. To learn more, download my free Sales Funnel Checklist at    https://jonallo.com/salesfunnel

5 Skin Care Tips to Help You Manage Your Oily Skin

By Shalini Madhav

If you are reading this article, chances are that you have oily skin. If your skin is oily, you may be looking for skin care tips. Oily skins are annoying and irritating. Unlike dry skin, oily skin is more difficult to manage. Although we can't promise that these tips will make your skin free of oil but they will definitely give you positive results. So, without further ado, let's go through the 5 tips.

1. Wash Your Face at Least Twice Per Day

Although it seems obvious, make sure you clean your face with lukewarm water at least twice per day. It's recommended that you opt for a good quality face wash. As soon as you wake up in the morning, wash your face. In the same way, before you go to bed, wash your face once again.

While it may seem tempting to wash your face over and over again, don't do it. Frequent washing will remove the natural oils making you too sensitive and prone to oil.

2. Eat the Right Diet

If possible, your diet should include lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Also, you may want to reduce your intake of processed and fried foods. In the same way, you should stay away from sugary beverages. Instead, you should stick to kiwis and lemons in order to treat your acne and balance the tone of your skin.

3. Use a good Moisturizer

There are many causes of oily skin. For instance, when you don't drink enough water or lose too much water from your body, your skin tends to produce a lot more oil, which may result in acne.

So, how can you treat this type of acne? You can opt for a special moisturizer to hydrate your skin. It will tighten the pores and moisturize your skin.

4. Exfoliate your Skin

You can benefit greatly from exfoliation, which involves the process of getting rid of dead skin cells. They are found on the top layer. This layer tends to block the pores. So, all you need to do is scrub your face with a good quality scrubber. It will leave your skin clean and smooth in a few days. Moreover, it will serve as a good cleanser that can help you get rid of whiteheads and blackheads. Make sure you don't cross the line or you may end up with dry skin.

5. Workout

With regular exercise, you can maintain better blood flow in your body. And better circulation will help nourish your skin. Moreover, exercising will open up blocked pores that can remove toxins from your body. We suggest that you drink at least 6 glasses of fresh water on a regular basis to get rid of the toxins.

In short, if you are sick of your oily skin and are looking for the best solutions in the form of tips and tricks, we suggest that you give a go to the 5 tips given in this article. Hope this article will help you.

For the treatment of oily skin, a    Korean facial mask can work well. They can work great as far as    Korean skincare is concerned.

The Essential FACTS Of Leading

By Richard Brody

One does not need, to reinvent, the wheel, in order to lead, effectively! Rather, the key is often, adapting certain techniques, and, even, age - old, teachings, in order to focus your efforts on the perceptions, goals, needs, visions, missions, and priorities, of your specific organization, and set of stakeholders. Perhaps, the single - biggest obstruction, to effective leadership, is the belief, one knows everything, has all the answers, or leads, in a vacuum! Our greatest, most effective, meaningful leaders, commit to putting service to others, ahead of any personal agenda, and/ or, self - interest, and not only, learn, the essential FACTS of leading, but proceed accordingly. With that in mind, this article will attempt to briefly examine, review, consider and discuss, using the mnemonic approach, what some of these eyes, and why understanding, and effectively using them, is so important and relevant.

1. Face facts; future; furnish; fruition: It is, often, far easier, to wear blinders, than, to be ready, willing, and able to face facts, and act accordingly! One must avoid empty rhetoric and promises, based on populist politics, but rather, seriously consider, the future, and proceed, with the best system, to achieve a sustainable solution! How one furnishes his service, and whether he brings his ideas, to fruition, often, differentiates, between a great leader, and the rest - of - the - pack!

2. Attention; attitude; aptitude; articulate: A meaningful leader must have the ability, and willingness, to pay, keen attention, to the best way, to serve his group and stakeholders! This requires, combining, proceeding with, a positive, can - do, attitude, with developing a quality aptitude, based on a relevant skill - set! It is essential, to be ready, willing, and able, to effectively, articulate, a compelling, insightful message, which inspires and motivates others, towards, becoming the best, one can possibly be!

3. Character; cooperative; clever; create: Do you have the quality, of character, to focus on cooperative efforts, and approaches, rather than polarizing, self - directed ways? Are you clever, enough, to create an environment, which inspires and motivates, others, to care more, and become, far more committed, and involved?

4. Timely: The single - biggest enemy of effective leadership, is remaining within the restrictions and limitations of one's comfort zone, and resorting to, procrastination! An essential necessity of leading, is consistently, proceeding, with well - considered, timely actions!

5. System; strengthens; sustainable solutions: Everything a leader does, must focus on strengthening his organization! He must consider options and alternatives, and develop a meaningful system, which leads to the best possible, sustainable solutions!

Now, that you, realize some of the essential FACTS of leading, will you proceed, accordingly? Are you ready to serve?

Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, Director of Development, consultant, professionally run events, consulted to thousands of leaders, and conducted personal development seminars, for 4 decades. Rich has written three books and thousands of articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website http://plan2lead.net and Plan2lead can also be followed on Facebook http://facebook.com/Plan2lead

Do You Want To Be A GREAT Leader?

By Richard Brody

Although many, either, are elected, selected, and/ or, ascend to positions of leadership, very few, actually, become, truly, GREAT leaders. Greatness, only occurs, when an individual, possesses a combination of the best reasons to wanting to lead, genuine commitment, prioritizing service (over personal agenda, and/ or self - interest), a positive, can - do, attitude, and a well - developed, relevant skill - set, leading to the most desirable, effective aptitude, etc. We will attempt, in this article, to briefly examine, consider, discuss, and focus, using the mnemonic approach, on why this, is so relevant and important.

1. Growth; generate goodwill; genuine: In a desire for either, personal relevance, and/ or self - interest/ personal agenda, a real leader must consistently, be genuine, and focused on serving the best interests of his organization, and stakeholders! Groups must, consistently, undergo relevant, sustainable growth, which only occurs, when the emphasis, is on generating goodwill!

2. Relevant; reliable; realistic; responsive: Why should anyone be considered, a leader, unless/ until, his focus, was on relevant solutions, and taking the appropriately actions, in a reliable manner? This must be combined, with a realistic perspective, and prioritizing the needs, concerns, and priorities of one's organization, and stakeholders, in a consistently, responsive way!

3. Empathy; emphasis; enrich; excellence; endurance: Since no one, has all the answers, there is a need, to begin, by effectively listening, and learning from every conversation, and experience, and proceeding, with genuine empathy! When an individual places his primary emphasis, on enriching others, and demands his utmost degree of personal excellence, he begins to make a difference, for the better! However, only when this is combined with the endurance to persist, when the rest - of - the - packs, gives in to challenges, can he be, a great leader!

4. Attention; attitude; aptitude; articulate: What will dictate, how you focus your attention? Will you maintain, a true, positive, can - do, attitude? Will you commit to developing the most appropriate, relevant aptitude, and skill - set? Will you expand your personal comfort zone, and step forward, willing to articulate your compelling message, strategic and action plan?

5. Trendsetter; timely: Will you stick, to the same - old, same - old, ways, but will you become a trendsetter, who considers options and alternatives, in a focused way? How will you do so, while, consistently, proceeding with, well - considered, timely actions?

Do you really, want to be a GREAT leader? What will you do, in order to become the best, you can possibly, become?

Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, Director of Development, consultant, professionally run events, consulted to thousands of leaders, and conducted personal development seminars, for 4 decades. Rich has written three books and thousands of articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website http://plan2lead.net and Plan2lead can also be followed on Facebook http://facebook.com/Plan2lead

Meditate the Way You Enter a Hot Bath

By William T Batten

Some days, meditating is easy. Other days is seems impossible. If you're starting out, maybe every day feels like one over the other. As you become more familiar with the techniques, there are more of the good days.

It helps to know what to do when you're having a bad day, though. Maybe you're new to all of this or perhaps you've got a lot on your mind.

Life happens. You don't have to be perfect.

And thanks to one awesome technique, you barely even have to be decent.

The trick is to meditate the same way you'd enter a hot bath.

You know what I mean. You dip your toe in then recoil out immediately.

Then you go for it a second time and it doesn't seem as hard. Maybe you make it to your ankle before pulling out.

On the third try, you lower yourself in a few times.

Then you simply ease into the warm water and let it envelope you.

You can meditate this way, too. Just like with the bath, it's a lot slower but its success rate is phenomenal.

If you're trying to meditate and it's not working, that's okay.

Open your eyes. Breathe. Bring yourself back into your normal state of awareness.

Then go again.

Close your eyes, draw your attention inwards and do whatever meditation techniques you like.

And if it still doesn't work, repeat the cycle. Then repeat it again. Keep going until you're in a state of meditation.

There's a principle in hypnosis called fractionation. The idea is that bringing someone in and out of trance brings them deeper into trance. It's strange but it works. Each time they go back into trance, they go deeper and faster.

It's the same with meditation. Every time you close your eyes, it gets a little bit easier.

Think of it like a warmup. Runners stretch before exercising and this is the mental equivalent. The experience guides you to better results.

And let me tell you this:

This exercise builds your meditation skill like nothing else.

Reaching a state of meditation, even when you struggled with it, is like training with weights on. The difficult days are where you learn the most. The struggle is where you progress.

What I love about this is how friendly it is. If it's too challenging, then stop, take a break and start again. It's so effective and enjoyable that you have no excuse for not using it.

You can apply this with self-hypnosis, too. If your mental landscape becomes unstable, fractionation will bring it right back into balance. From there, you can activate your greatest emotions, skills and states of mind.

Only if you learn about how to do it first, though...

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/

Don't Ignore Distractions

By William T Batten

One of the big challenges with meditating is learning to handle distractions. It shocks no one to learn that it's a useful life skill, too. Staying focused despite noise, discomfort or even your own thoughts will transform more than your inner life.

It's a challenge. No one will pretend that it isn't. Some days your thoughts are calm like a pleasant stream. Other days the world around you is a turbulent mess.

Good meditators can enter the right state no matter where they are. Let me tell you from experience that being able to meditate on international flights is amazing.

Great meditators can even handle their thoughts being noisy.

It's funny - even as I write this, I'm getting distracted. There are noises outside, which are nothing compared to the ideas popping into my mind.

That's okay, though, as I'm still writing. And my meditation sessions are similar.

In fact, the problem's worse when I'm meditating. When my mind is quiet, that's when ideas start flooding my mind.

At least, they try to.

The trick is not to ignore distractions. That takes effort and is itself a distraction. There's a much better way to keep you on task.

Suppose that your young child brings you a drawing of theirs. That's cute, right? But let's assume that this is the ninth drawing this hour... and, to be blunt, they're not very good.

What do you do? Do you yell at the child? Tell them to leave you alone? Pretend they don't exist?

Well, you could. It might even stop them distracting you.

But I hope it's clear that this is not the best approach.

What do you do? You take the picture, smile, thank them for the beautiful drawing and wonder if they can make an even better one.

It's a loving, accepting, patient attitude.

Strange as it sounds, it's often useful to treat your own mind like a child. If you are meditating and fixating on distractions, don't blot them out. Acknowledge the thought or sense, and thank your mind for bringing it to your attention. Calmly explain to yourself that you're busy right now. Later, you can give any distractions they have your full attention.

Now, though, you need to focus on this.

Meditation is the ultimate me-time. You need to protect it, even from yourself.

But it can never be a clash of wills. When you fight your own mind, you lose no matter what. Calmly owning what you are entitled to is the smarter way to win.

This technique of treating part of you as another person is very useful with self-hypnosis. With it, you can transform yourself quicker and easier than you might believe.

Change is easy when you work with your mind.

And you can learn everything from inductions to change work right now:

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/

Post-Meditation Gibberish Means It's Working

By William T Batten

Now, this is not a universal experience.

It's pretty common. It happens to me all the time and I see it in others, too.

Some of you will read this and nod your head. For everyone else, keep this in the back of your mind. You might find it useful one day.

There's a curious phenomenon with meditation. You might go so far as to call it a side effect.

This phenomenon is where, after a really good meditation session, you suddenly become completely inarticulate. You can barely string two words together. I'm not talking about if you try to describe your session, you find your experiences don't translate well to words.

No - this is where you can't talk about anything.

Something as simple as your dinner plans leaves you grasping for the right vocabulary.

Like I say, not everyone will know what I'm talking about. Some lifelong meditators never experience it.

This is for the rest of us.

The best remedy for this is time. Your words will return to you. Simply take a breath or five. Your brain needs to switch gears again, then it will know what to say.

If you don't have time or you don't want to wait, how can you speed this up?

It helps to know what causes it.

The brain has two hemispheres - left and right. It's a misconception to say that you favour one or the other. All complex tasks use both hemispheres. But it's also a misconception to conclude that they are the same. Each specialises in different styles of thinking and logic.

Your left brain tends to be more analytical, its thoughts are more linear and it likes to think of the past or future. The right hemisphere tends to be more open, parallel and thinks in the present moment.

This is an oversimplification, of course. Your brain is complicated and no simple model can capture it. Even so, it's pretty accurate.

Language mostly comes from the left hemisphere. But notice that the right one pays attention to the present moment. When you practice mindfulness meditation, your right brain temporarily activates more than your left brain.

The better you held your attention on the present, the more intense this imbalance becomes.

Of course, this shift is tiny. It's not like your left hemisphere switches off and you become a blubbering, irrational goofball. But if you find yourself unable to find the words, it's because that part of your brain has put its feet up and it enjoying a rest.

Time restores your balance. If you want to speed it up, then start engaging your left brain. Count from one to ten, then start over. Pay attention to specific details in your environment. Make it clear in your mind where your body ends and the world out there begins.

And, of course, you can practice speaking. That's the surest way to find your words again. It's also a good measure of how far deep inside yourself you went and how quickly you're returning.

Another strategy is to learn self-hypnosis. There are techniques you can learn and apply to enter deep trances and exit them smoothly. No fuss, no difficulty and nothing but a great experience.

And you can learn all about this different approach to your inner mind here:

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/

Applied Neuroscience Secrets of Ancient Mystics

By William T Batten

The power of meditation is the power of your mind. It trains useful mental skills that lie at the heart of everything you do.

For example, focus.

Learn to do that and nothing won't become easier.

For example...

If you want techniques that improve your memory, the best place to turn to is the latest neuroscience research.

The second best place is a book by William Walker Atkinson.

Memory: How to Develop, Train and Use It is over a hundred years old. It is remarkably timeless, though. Not everything that he wrote still holds true... but most of it does.

A hundred years ago, they knew a lot less about how the brain works. You'd be surprised by how much they knew about using it, though. Atkinson drew on the techniques and traditions of ancient cultures.

And many ancient cultures knew a lot about maximising their memory.

Before the printing press, books were written by hand. If you owned a library, it meant you were rich. If you were lucky enough to be literate, the best most people could hope for is to borrow books.

And if you have to give books back after a week or so...

Well, you'd better memorise as much as possible. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.

That's not even mentioning cultures that memorise their holy texts. These people need to be word-perfect with long, complex writings.

You can't do that without solid memory skills.

So the brain may have been a black box to them. But they sure knew how to wield it.

The arts of memory require dedicated training in a range of techniques. But there's one principle that you need to master before you can even begin:

You can't make a good copy of a bad recording.

If you're not paying attention, then it doesn't matter how good your memory is. If you walk through life in a mental haze, then you won't notice anything. And if you don't notice something, you won't remember it.

Focus is important. It's the first step in all mental processes. If you don't pay attention to something, you won't remember it, learn it, appreciate it...

The list goes on.

Through meditation, you learn to still your mind and focus on what's in front of you. Master this and nothing else, and your memory will naturally improve. Your thoughts will organise themselves better around good copies of clear records.

And if you decide to learn memorisation techniques on top of that...

Well, who knows how far your memory will develop.

If you want to train both your focus and memory, there are dozens of self-hypnosis techniques you can apply. If you're good at meditating, you'll find these both easy and captivating. If you have struggled with meditation in the past, this might be the approach you're looking for.

You can learn all about self-hypnosis from the ground up here:

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/

How Genius Is Like Stupidity

By William T Batten

As you learn a skill and develop your abilities, there comes a middle point. From this point, the road before you looks an awful lot like the road behind you. In a way, mastery is a regression back to your baseline...

Novices see the world in a simple way. This is because the novice ignores most of the information in front of them. Think of someone learning to drive. Before they sit behind the wheel, they think it'll be easy. They've seen adults do it without any drama.

You just turn the steering wheel and go, right?

A master at driving also sees it as a simple task. They ignore most of the information, paying attention only to what matters.

Then they just turn the wheel and go.

In between these two phases - near the middle point - driving is complicated. There is so much information to pay attention to. Lanes, speed, other cars, your destination...

They turn the steering wheel while information floods into their mind.

Both geniuses and dunces see things as simple. The path to mastery is about learning complexity, then how to simplify it.

What separates the masters from the novices is focus. Novices don't know what to pay attention to, so they ignore almost everything. Masters also ignore almost everything, but they narrow in on the one relevant detail and decide from there.

This is the true power of strong focus. Yes, it keeps you on track. Yes, it allows you to ignore lesser priorities.

But its real virtue is being the heart of mastery.

The better you can focus, the more able you are to fixate on the relevant details. Once you know what to focus on, mastery accelerates.

And the best way to train your focus is through meditation. If you can pay attention to your breathing, then you soon realise you interesting it can be. There are so many sensations involved in inhaling and exhaling. Until you notice them, every breath seems the same.

Like a novice ignoring all the details.

When you learn to find interesting variations in your breathing, you can apply that to anything. If air moving in your nostrils is interesting, people are fascinating. You'll never suffer through a boring conversation again, because you realise there's no such thing.

Monks can stare at a rock with rapt attention, mesmerised by its features and details. As the sun moves through the sky, it lights the stone in different ways. You can learn to see more of it through the power of focus.

And when your focus is this powerful, everything else in life becomes easy.

Another way to train your focus is through self-hypnosis. People think of a hypnotic trance as like sleeping. The truth is you become hyperaware. In this state, you can quickly and easily exercise your powers of focus.

And the gym to exercise your mind is right here:

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/

3 Types of People Who Can't Meditate (and How They Can Learn)

By William T Batten

When you spend time on personal development forums, talking with curious people or hanging out with open-minded folk, the topic eventually turns to meditation. And this conversation splits itself into two main camps: those who swear by it; and those who tried it and it didn't work.

In these communities, the people who haven't tried it are a minority. That's cool, though I'm not talking about them today. I'm focusing on those who gave it an honest, solid try and walked away frustrated.

Now, I need to make clear that what I'm about to say is my opinion. It may well be wrong, though I'm confident in it. I base this off my own experiences with meditation and the psychology of the unconscious mind:

My belief is that well over 99% of people can learn to meditate. And most of those who "can't" meditate, even after giving it some time, seem to fall into three categories.

The Already-Unconscious

Meditation does many things for your mind and body. If you only use it to relax, that's great - it's an ideal tool for that. Just know that it's like swatting a bug with a suitcase.

It can do so much more. Your unconscious is the source of your emotions. Not just obvious ones like happiness or anger, but complex ones like motivation and concern.

If your emotions are imbalanced or doing strange things, you have options. One option is to find the cause deep in your mind and address it.

People use meditation because it quietens the conscious mind while giving you useful tools, like patience and acceptance. In this state of inner tranquillity, you can expose and resolve patterns in your own thinking.

But there are people who are in this state all the time. By some quirk of psychology, their conscious mind is always quiet. Their inner dialogue is a whisper, or completely absent.

Does that make these people enlightened?

Maybe, maybe not. But if you think this describes you, then my advice is this:

Practice being patient with yourself. Learn to accept your thoughts. If you judge your thinking, then your mind will keep things from you.

A close friend will stop talking to you if you judge everything they say. Treat your mind as you would a good friend.

Then, meditation becomes easy for you. Simply think about whatever you want to work on. You can skip the techniques around focusing and breathing - those get you to a state you're already in.

The Meditators by Different Names

Some people meditate but can't let go, keep their focus or stay on task. They then decide that they tried meditation and it isn't for them.

For some of these people, you dig a little deeper. You ask about their hobbies and it turns out that they like hiking, painting, swimming, movies...

Maybe their favourite thing is playing with their children. Perhaps they love their jobs.

If you have activities that you love, then you can use these to meditate. If you often lose yourself in the activity - if it leaves you feeling recharged or at peace - then I have good news. That's the state of meditation.

You might think it strange that something like tennis can be meditative. After all, tennis is about speed, sweat and excursion. But how many tennis players experience time slowing down and the world going quiet, even as they move to intercept a 200 km/hr tennis ball...

Meditation isn't a special class of thinking that only happens in monasteries. You experience it all the time in your life. It's about harnessing, expanding and appreciating something that you already do.

The next time you meditate, keep that experience in the back of your mind. Anything that brings you closer to that state is good. If you move further away from it, go back to what you were doing before.

The Inner-Blocked

Then there are people who find it harder to access their unconscious mind. Their emotions are dulled, their imagination is grounded and the above descriptions about playing tennis made no sense to them.

There's no judgement here. If you think I'm describing psychopaths, I'm not. Some people live highly intellectual lives. There are thousands of rewarding careers that need people like this - people able to rationally think through a problem without getting distracted.

There's nothing wrong with pursuing satisfaction instead of happiness.

If you find meditation difficult because you're too conscious, this might be you. When someone tells you to close your eyes and go inside, you don't know what that means. It's an unclear instruction and, boy, that must be irritating.

You can learn to meditate anyway. The question you might ask is whether you should.

The general rule is that exploring your unconscious mind enriches your life. It adds unconscious material to your conscious awareness, which opens up what you can do. It gives you more options without detracting from anything you have.

Having said that, what you find might surprise you. Most people have a lifetime of experience dealing with strange unconscious materials. Things like random emotions, strange memories and unusual thoughts flicker through our minds all day. If you're not used to it, it can be unsettling.

My advice would be to find a meditation coach. Not just any coach, though. You'll want someone who understands where you are coming from.

Ideally, they'll have gone through the exact process too. They'll know how to guide you to the next step and how to handle anything that comes up.

Working with them might be the greatest decision you ever make.

I suppose there's a fourth category: people who find meditation boring. It's supposed to be boring, as remaining still while your brain craves novelty punches through the veils in your mind.

But still. It's boring.

If you want a fun way to engage your unconscious and explore your mental landscape, look into self-hypnosis. Once you get good at it, it can give video games a run for their money.

And you can get good here:

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/

Align Your Body to Align Your Mind

By William T Batten

Meditation involves being still and quiet, both in your body and mind. The problem with a still body and a quiet mind is that it draws your attention to any discomfort. If you plan to meditate for long periods, you need to get your body comfortable.

Then again, maybe you don't.

Discomfort has its place. It can keep you awake and focused. It can drive out other distractions.

But, and I may be going out on a limb here...

I assume that if you want more discomfort, that's easy to arrange. If you want to change something, it'll probably be to decrease discomfort.

And with that not-so-controversial assumption in our minds, let's talk about posture and meditation.

Firstly, it's a myth that you need to sit cross-legged. You can sit however you like. In fact, you don't even have to sit. I usually meditate while sitting in an office chair. I've done it lying down and standing up.

A few times, I've meditated while walking around. I find self-hypnosis works better - I can use the ever-changing scenery and the sensation of walking to drive the experience. For other people, mostly those who are really good at shutting down their inner dialogue, they meditate while walking with no problems.

So do whatever you need to. If doing yoga keeps you calm and focused, do that. If that sounds terrible, don't worry about it.

Secondly, sitting upright is not necessary natural. Our ancestors walked most of each day for most of their lives. If you're not comfortable with it... well, neither were they.

But if sitting still appeals to you, then here's how to do it right.

Your ears, shoulders and pelvis should form a straight line. If you have a mirror handy, use it. If not, don't worry. There's a better way to measure it than eyeballing your reflection.

The first thing to check is to see if there's any tension in your body. Focus especially on your pelvis and lower back. If you are holding the posture using tension, then you're not really holding it. The goal is to remain relaxed throughout.

Then work your way up your core. Are your stomach and back muscles relaxed? If not, release any tension and adjust your position as needed.

Check your pelvis again to make sure the tension hasn't moved.

Do this again with your shoulders. Release any tension and move them into a stable alignment.

Finally, check your head and neck.

This exercise takes practice. If you need a month or two to get it right, take a month or two. It's time well spent.

Or just lie down to meditate.

And if you want to learn more about how to use self-hypnosis - whether you're lying down, sitting up or walking - then click the link below. You can learn to explore your own inner reality even as you navigate the outer one.

   https://guided-thought.com/downloads/unlock-vault-self-hypnosis/