Complimentary Mindfulness & Emotional Awareness Resources to the First 100 Participants!

 

YouTube link with details here: https://youtu.be/lGAjkkmNfAk

Best,

Lise Villeneuve

www.lisevilleneuve.com

Mastering Your Mind: The Most Effective & Direct Path To A Happy, Empowered, Successful Life

 Mastering Your Mind: The Most Effective & Direct Path To A Happy, Empowered, Successful Life

She Made Me Angry! Really?

It can be truly shocking to realize that our mind is the ONLY obstacle to our inner peace, well being, happiness and success in life. If the majority of us fully understood this, we'd be living in a radically different world. Our current world reinforces the belief that things and people "out there" have power over us and they "make us feel" a certain way that keeps us trapped and powerless. But do things "out there" really have the power to "make us" feel anything without our consent? Let's explore this.

Believed Thoughts Change Your Body Chemistry

Happiness or unhappiness originate in the mind. It all starts with a thought, a story or a belief that we either accept as "truth" or reject. Every thought we believe - whether it's helpful or stressful, acts just like a hypnotizing spell. For every single thought believed, the body creates corresponding physical sensations of comfort or discomfort. A fearful thought will trigger contraction, tension, rigidity or loss of energy in the body. On the other hand, a loving thought will instantly create a state of harmony, flow and well being in the body. 

Physical Sensations Are Expressed Externally As Emotions, then Behaviors

When our body sensations of comfort or discomfort become very strong - sometimes overwhelming - we release this "energy in motion" (e-motion) as emotions that are always expressed externally via our body language. We may decide to act on these emotions with behaviors. Remember, a single thought that we believe triggers the following chain reaction: 

• Believed thought / Corresponding physical sensations of comfort or discomfort / Emotion / Behavior. 

Others Don't Have the Power to Make Us Feel Anything!

Without that prior conscious thought (or subconscious memory) that is assumed to be true, there can be no feelings, emotions or behaviors. If others can't control which thoughts we will accept or reject as untruthful - which will prevent the emotional chain reaction from happening, then we can logically conclude that others don't have the power to make us feel anything. Of course, mastering our mind is a skill that requires discipline, practice, self-awareness and knowledge.

Time For Accountability! Happiness or Unhappiness Originate in the Mind

Once we understand how our own brains and bodies work, we become fully accountable for the way we think, feel and act. Imagine if everyone became accountable this way! There would be no more blaming others for the way WE feel. We would no longer feel victimized or powerless about our state of mind, our rage, our depression or our anxiety. This is very good news! Our happiness or unhappiness originate in the mind, which means we've always had the power to control how we respond to all the unpredictable things life will continue to throw our way. Will we be able to gracefully accept "what is" in this moment? - which doesn't prevent us from taking action in the next moment, or will we believe resistant, angry, hopeless thoughts that argue with what has already happened? Stressful, resentful thoughts will raise our discomfort level, drain our energy and darken our mood. Will this help us to get what we want in the end?

Don't Underestimate the Power of Your Subconscious Mind!

Not only do our thoughts directly change how we feel and perceive the world, they also have enormous creative power in our lives. Maybe you've heard the accurate saying "thoughts become things"? There is a simple explanation for this. The thoughts we accept as true with our conscious mind become deep seated-beliefs that get stored in our subconscious mind. If only we realized the extent to which our subconscious programming is driving our actions, behaviors, beliefs and expectations! If only we could see the direct relationship between most of our life circumstances and what our subconscious has accepted as truth or facts! 

We Are Our Own Worst Enemies

Day by day, the negative, stressful thoughts we believe without questioning insidiously slip into our subconscious mind and then we wonder why we constantly sabotage ourselves and experience less than desirable outcomes. We are our own worst enemies because we constantly underestimate how incredibly powerful our mind is! Our negative self-talk is extremely toxic and destructive! It changes our body chemistry, our mood, our behaviors, and it may very well end up as a permanent program lodged in our subconscious that can impact us for life! 

If You Don't Believe Me, Try This...

Are our kids aware of the power of their thoughts and beliefs? Have they ever been educated about the constant mental chatter going on in their minds? Do they know that their thoughts are not facts, and most thoughts should not be believed? We truly have no idea how powerful our mind is! If we did, we would make a conscious effort to use it constructively and we would be blown away by the results. If you don't believe me, try reprogramming your subconscious with words like "joy, peace, vitality, health, wealth, success, love, harmony...etc." right before you fall asleep at night and immediately as you are waking up. Simply say these words to yourself for the next two weeks and see what happens! I dare you.

You've Had The Power All Along...

Once you master your own mind, you also master your body, your emotions, your perceptions, your (re)actions and you will have more control over many of your external circumstances that are largely influenced by your subconscious beliefs. If mastering your own mind is not the most effective, direct path to a happy, empowered, successful life, then what is? It's time to stop looking for answers "out there" and instead, look "in here".

How Can We Learn To Master Our Minds?

I believe this is THE most important thing we should be teaching our children (and ourselves). It's not that hard to learn, it just takes a little practice. I have written a complete manual for kids that teaches the following steps to self-mastery in a simple, gradual way through short stories and fun activities (Wise Willy's Secret Manual To Become a Mindful Superhero):

1) Become aware of your thoughts (mental chatter)

2) Become aware of your body sensations

3) Understand the relationship between thoughts, body sensations, emotions, behaviors and perception

4) Understand how your brain and body work (rational brain, emotional brain, emotions)

5) Develop self-awareness of your thoughts and feelings

6) Increase your tolerance for discomfort

7) Learn how to question your stressful thoughts, release uncomfortable feelings appropriately and self-regulate your moods.

8) Use your focus to harness the incredible power of your conscious and subconscious mind.

New Printable Mindfulness & Emotional Intelligence Cards!

I have recently created 40 printable mindfulness and emotional intelligence cards from Wise Willy's Secret Manual that are great reminders for daily practice. Thanks for taking the time to read!

Lise Villeneuve

www.lisevilleneuve.com

A Story About True Happiness...

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Make sure you take some time to relax and recharge.

So...I decided to do an audio recording of one of the stories from Conscious Kids (an online mindfulness course for kids I've written). Just click on the video above to have a listen!

The deadline to sign up for the next Conscious Kids class is February 1st, 2016. You can register here: http://www.lisevilleneuve.com/#!consciouskids/ckgl

Don't be shy to tell your friends!

All the best,

Lise
www.lisevilleneuve.com
www.conscious-kids.ca

Do You Get Daily Drama From Your Kids?

Lately, our house has been a Conscious Kids factory! We've been so busy preparing our free online mindfulness course for kids that starts October 5th, 2015. Emma has been doing the illustrations for each story I write -that gets reviewed by my ex-journalist husband Rob. Emma (who has loved to draw since she was a baby) illustrates the pictures inside mandalas that she also creates from scratch. All the children who are signed up for the course will be able to colour these, so that's pretty exciting for an 11 year old!

We have families signed up from all over, from Australia, to the UK, the US, across Canada, Bulgaria and more. The world is ready for mindfulness on a big scale, I have been feeling this for some time now. I feel extremely motivated and grateful to be able to share what I have learned about consciousness / mindfulness over the past few decades with others. I know how these essential skills can better the lives of children and their families, I see it with my own children. As they grow older, Emma and Theo increasingly need a roadmap to help them navigate the unpredictable waters of their emotions, thoughts and perceptions. Writing this course has given me the opportunity to really think about the best order in which to teach the basic skills to kids. The funny thing is, the majority of adults would also benefit from learning these! For example, here are some of the questions that are answered in the course:

-What creates your emotions?
-How can you tell if your thinking has been predominantly negative or positive?
-What can you do when you feel intense, overwhelming emotions?
-What are your emotions telling you?
-When you're stuck in a negative mood, what can you do about it?

Theo, Emma (and our cat Precious) participate in brief videos we make that explain what each weekly lesson will be about. I'm already pleasantly surprised to see how simply participating in the making of these videos has helped Theo and Emma deal with bursts of emotions and moodiness! It's one thing to teach them about emotional self-regulation with words, but it's an entirely different thing to teach them with real-life examples.

When Theo and Emma act out a scene for the videos, then watch themselves back and are asked "what would be a better way of dealing with this situation?" they really get it. When a daily drama outbreak happens in our home, as it inevitably does, I simply remind the kids of what they did in the videos, and they instantly calm down and remember what they can do to make themselves feel better! I honestly didn't foresee how these little videos we are making are probably going to teach Emma and Theo more about mindfulness than the weekly stories from the course! I read each story I've written to the kids and I carefully notice if they are looking bored, not paying attention, or loving every bit of it. They are my quality control process! So far so good!

Anyway, I won't be blogging quite as much for the next little while, there's just too much to do with Conscious Kids. You can still register for the course for FREE up until October 1st, 2015. We'll see you in virtual class! Thanks for sharing, the more the merrier!


Warmly,

Lise
www.lisevilleneuve.com

Becoming a Mindful Superhero

I'll have to make this post short and sweet, but the video above says it all. I'm really excited about offering this free online mindfulness course for kids that starts October 5, 2015. I'm super busy preparing everything, and it's SO much fun! The kids are excited too, and they're eager to help out. I'm really enjoying writing short creative stories that explain the mindfulness concepts simply to kids. I think another book may be in my future...you never know!

Anyway, if you have kids, and even if you don't, I hope to see you in virtual class soon! The deadline to register is October 1st, 2015. Here is the page to learn more and register.

http://www.lisevilleneuve.com/#!consciouskids/ckgl

Warmly,

Lise
www.lisevilleneuve.com