Your Ultimate Self

Wealth | Health | Wellness

Tag: Life coach

  • How Awareness influences Outcome

    Just how much of our thoughts and actions are we truly in control of? During our waking state we consciously make the decisions to plan our days in a certain way. We can plan to structure our day down to the hour precisely or take a more free flow approach. Regardless, we are making a conscious decision on how to spend our time and construct our day. 

    However, most of the decisions we make or don’t make go through an audit system in our mind. We determine what is a good and bad use of our limited energy. Who or what then makes that decision of what is worth spending time pursuing or not? A great many of us think we are still acting from the layer of the conscious, but I would argue that the filter that determines what is good or bad for our time is actually at the deeper layer of our subconscious and even unconscious. 

    You see, we have been conditioned at an early age by society, friends, family, and even our selves to create judgments – rationalizations – values – beliefs that have been molded by our internal and external environment. These intrinsic properties that are working underneath the hood of our mental engines are not apparent to us when we make a decision to eat fast food after work or have a sugary snack after we feel upset. These conditioned values and beliefs lay at the core of our decision making and go beyond just dietary choices – starting your own business, asking your boss for a raise, starting an exercise routine; doing these or not are all examples of how our subconscious properties guide our decisions and choices in life. The sobering part of this realization is that we aren’t even aware about these processes working in the background of our psyches. 

    On the bright side, these conditioned and hidden internal systems that are created inside of our selves are not fixed. They are ever changing and evolving – for better and for worse. The fact that they experience plasticity is great news to us, only under one circumstance. If you do not know something is working in the background how can you change it? For that we need to bring these subconscious systems in the mind into our conscious awareness so that we may interact with them and reflect on how they are working towards or against us. 

    “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

    Carl Jung

    Are you interested in learning about your hidden judgments, values, beliefs, and rationalizations that have created the life you are currently living? And if so are you interested in bringing this awareness into your life so that you can change the outcomes you are observing? If so then reach out and book a consultation session today.

    Dr. Shaikh M.D

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  • Resistance: Friend or Foe?

    Resistance is a feeling that is opposition to the goals we set for ourselves and ideals we wish to achieve. Too often it is the silent enemy that is the cousin of procrastination. The insidious nature of resistance is tied to the fact that it is intangible, but also nurtured by the individual it plagues. 

    What if we didn’t have to look at resistance as this antagonistic force that resides within? What if it could be used as a guide or an indicator; similar to how a treasure hunter on a beach uses a metal detector to sweep the shifting sands for gold and silver. How can we use the feeling of resistance to fuel us towards our goals as opposed to something that shrinks us away from the possibilities within ourselves?

    If you think about it, resistance only appears when we attempt to become better. There is very little resistance when we are trying to indulge in a destructive habit: like eating cookies on a diet, skipping our workout, or avoiding an important conversation. When spiraling downwards we don’t deal with resistance hardly as much; however when trying to climb the ladder of success or elevating our selves it seems like resistance is at every corner. 

    With this being said how then can we use resistance as a guide or a sensor instead of a looming feeling that puts us in a state of paralysis? Awareness is the first step; awareness that resistance is a precursor to improvement and change for the better. When we can understand that we feel resistance when we are improving we can change our relationship with resistance and how we interact with it in our day to day lives. 

    Instead of seeing resistance as something discouraging we can flip it into a feeling that lets us know we are on the right track. Feeling resistance can now be used as a marker for the things that desperately need to be done. Whether that’s resistance in writing the book you’ve always dreamed of, starting your YouTube channel, or telling someone how you truly feel; instead of seeing it as something that drains you and makes you smaller than you are it can be seen as what it truly is: a signpost that you are on the right path doing exactly what needs to be done. 

    If you are interested in learning how to shift your mindset and working one on one with a professional to overcome your own inner resistance and limiting beliefs then feel free to reach out and send a message. 

    Dr. Shaikh M.D

  • AI and Human Mindset

    In a world where information and technology has become the great equalizer, how can we differentiate ourselves from others? Tools such as AI have leveled the playing field in terms of obtaining knowledge and information. No longer does one need to spend hours perusing the library and engaging in punctilious research to find the answer they are looking for. 

    So then, it would seem as though everyone should easily reach their goals in greater numbers than ever before. But a quick survey of those close to us would illustrate the contrary. Of course there are more technological resources now than in the past, yet it seems like human achievement is relegated to only a select few in spite of our abundance. 

    Clearly, there are other factors at play. While many different forces can be attributed to this observation, I’d like to emphasize the invisible role that mindset plays and how its role will grow in importance as the sands of time sink in the hourglass of our lives. As technology continues to even out the playing field in life, what will be more and more important is the way humans are able to play the game. Hence, our ability to overcome our inner circumstances and challenges will prove to be just as crucial if not greater than our external environment. 

    Dr. Carol Dweck makes an interesting point about the difference between Fixed and Growth mindsets that we can take with us as we navigate our own lives. Having a fixed mindset is a means for our egos to avoid failure at all costs; mainly at the cost of our own self development and evolution. “Whatever talents I have (intelligence, gifts, abilities) are all that I will ever have” is the story that those with a fixed mindset tell themselves.

    On the other hand, someone with a growth mindset embraces failure and challenges and sees taking risks as an essential part of the process towards success. The stories told by people with growth mindsets sound like this, “I will only reach my highest potential by taking risks and accepting uncertainty as part of the growth process”. Failure for them is something to be learned from instead of shrunk away from. 

    Thankfully, the way we make meaning and the stories we tell ourselves are mutable. We can shift towards growth or we can fall into a fixed mindset; for most of us this is a dynamic process that ebbs and flows from one to the other. When we become aware of these stories and thoughts is when the magic happens and we can start crafting the meanings for the challenges of life in a way that lead us to our highest potential. 

    Dr. Shaikh M.D