Carl Jung

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and is renowned as the founder of analytical psychology. Although he was a theoretical psychologist and practicing clinician, much of his life’s work was spent exploring other areas, including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, sociology, as well as literature and the arts. His most notable ideas include the concept of psychological archetypes, the collective unconscious and synchronicity. Jung is the source of some of my all time favorite quotes. I admire how he mixes logical thinking along with a grain of spirituality and the subconscious realms. Here is a list of my favorite quotes from Carl Jung:

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.

Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.

The healthy man does not torture others – generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotions.

A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.

Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.

It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.

Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.

Shrinking away from death is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose.

The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.

The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.

The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.

The word “happiness” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

Who has fully realized that history is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood?

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Shedding My Skin

So, this always happens to me. I go through this phase. I shed what was once me and recalculate. I'm really trying to figure out the adult I want to be. The 30 year old I want to be. Who I am. What I stand for. Being a good friend. Finding a career that I absolutely love! Have a family. Get married. Travel. More animals. Happiness. I want so bad for things to just go together and without too much struggle, I think that is achievable. I want so much to be this person that I value, respect, and look up to.

My first 3 obstacles that I am going for (from Sunday to Saturday) are to call all the girls about bridesmaid dresses. Do they want me to go with?? Will they need help? Tell them to take pictures. ;)

The second obstacle would have to be getting active. I need to start working out. I want to lose weight. I want to be healthy. I want to have children one day and I want to be able to keep up with them. I want to have cool looking clothes that I'm proud to wear and defines who I am. I want the increased self-esteem.

The third obstacle is getting my car washed. The interior and exterior!

These are totally attainable goals. I will do it. xo

Remember to Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables

*Fruits*

Green Grapes – Vitamins A,C,D,E,K, Protein Fiber, Folate, Magnesium, Zinc

Kiwi fruit – Vitamins C, E, Fiber, Potassium,

Green Apples – Vitamins A, C, E, K, Protein, Fiber

Pears – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Fiber

Honeydew Melon – Vitamins A, C, Calcium, Iron

Limes – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Folate, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc


*Vegetables*

Broccoli – Vitamins A, C, E, K, Protein, Folate, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron

Arugula Lettuce – Vitamins A, C, Calcium, Folate

Kale – Vitamins A, C, K, Protein, Fiber, Folate, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron

Collard Greens – Vitamins A, C, K, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Folate

Romaine Lettuce – Vitamins A, C, K, Folate

Spinach – Vitamins A, C, B, E, K, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Folate, Magnesium, Iron

Artichokes – Vitamin C, Fiber, Folate, Magnesium

Celery – Vitamins A, C, Protein, Fiber

Peas – Vitamins A, C Fiber, Folate

Onions – Vitamins, A, C, K, Calcium

Sprouts – Vitamins, B, C, Folate Potassium, Iron

Asparagus – Vitamins B, C, E, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Swiss Chard – Vitamins, A, C, K, Potassium, Iron

Olives – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Calcium, Potassium, Iron, Zinc

Avocados – Vitamins C, B, E, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Green Beans – Vitamin C, Protein, Fiber, Potassium, Iron

Cucumber – Vitamins B, C, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Zucchini – Vitamins A, C, Potassium, Folate

Soybeans – Vitamins A, B, C, K, Protein, Calcium, Potassium, Fiber, Lysine, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Time For Me to Fly

I've been thinking about typing on here for a while. You see, I start things, but never finish them. I do it ALL the time. I have a million journals..4 or 5 pages long...haha. It's quite funny when I think about it. Why do I do that? It's like I get bored with myself or with what I'm up to at that time. It's as if I'm driving and a fork in the road comes along and I'm like, "See ya, I'm taking this route now.."

Even right now, I was about to check out another website. Abandon ship here and come aboard another ship. To me...that is an inability to keep focus, inability to finish things, getting bored, forgetfulness. I look at all these words and they are soooooooo negative. Inability, forgetfulness...

I keep shouting to myself.. "stop being so hard on yourself!" And really, I am! I'm soooo hard on myself. It's so frustrating! But, I think I'm going to stop that. I've been listening to positive vibes lately and have been really inspired! Law of Attraction, baby! ;)

I'll write more later.

Bye Self. xo

2 Simple Keys to Long Term Exercise

I’ve been working out at least 4 days a week since I was a freshman in high school. I’m now 26, so I feel like I have a solid understanding of how to stay consistently motivated and dedicated to an exercise regimen. I’ve read numerous articles with widely varying tips on how to accomplish this. These tips range from the simple act of getting a gym membership all the way to the intricacies of documenting a well defined set of fitness goals and personal rewards for accomplishing these goals. I’ve even read that getting dressed in gym clothes or making a commitment to walking the dog is enough to get the average person motivated.

While I don’t doubt the legitimacy in some of the suggested methods I’ve read, I don’t really think that they hold the key to long term exercise motivation and commitment. A regular exercise routine can be extremely redundant. The redundancy will eventually bore the average person out of their right mind. So even tough joining a gym, finding a workout buddy, and documenting fitness goals is a good start, it won’t exactly keep a person motivated 6 months down the road. In time, most people will start thinking hard about all the enjoyable things they would rather be doing instead… at which point the battle is lost.

So, what’s the key to long term exercise motivation? There are actually 2 keys, 2 very simple keys, music and variance. Motivation is usually driven by the desire to accomplish something, but it is kept intact on a moment to moment basis by continuously stimulating the mind. If the mind isn’t stimulated, it will rapidly lose desire for the original goal. In order to create a desire for exercise, you have to stimulate your mind by making exercise an enjoyable and adventurous experience, which is exactly what music and variance add to a long term exercise routine.

Music – Music makes us think, it gets us going, and it sets our stream of consciousness on a positive course. Both fast beat and slow beat music have the same stimulating effect on the mind, so alternate between the two while you exercise. Also, discovering new music that you like is one of the most rewarding experiences. Once you overplay all your favorite artists, start plugging their names into the various Web 2.0 music recommendation sites. These sites will assist you in discovering new bands and artists based on similarities to music you already like. Use your exercise time to rediscover your favorite artists, discover new ones, and build a massive collection of music that you will enjoy for the rest of your life. It won’t be long before you realize that music makes exercise fun.

Variance – No matter how wonderful an activity is at first, if it is performed in repetition over the course of several weeks it will ultimately become a dreadfully boring experience. Keep things fresh! Do a variety of different exercises each week. Your gym has numerous exercise machines, free weights, and pieces of cardio equipment. Ask a trainer for help if you need to, or just be adventurous and figure it out for yourself. Watch other people and learn. Just make sure you always start off with very light weight or speed settings when you are unfamiliar with an exercise. Once you have all the exercises down, start randomly alternating through them on a weekly basis. Do 3 or 4 sets of 3 or 4 exercises 3 or 4 times a week. Never do the same exact exercises in the same exact order 2 weeks in a row.

Do What You Want

Is there anything in your life that you would like to be different than it is right now?

Perhaps to lose weight? Meet a mate? Make more money?

This is the big fundamental issue we all face, because most of us would like to change or improve certain aspects of our lives. If you find yourself in this camp (and who isn’t there at least some of the time), then you will find the following steps very handy and useful. It is a process you can follow to "change anything in your life".

1. Know What You Want Rather Than What You Don’t Want

No matter what, you have to decide what you do want so that you have something specific to move towards. The reality is that most of us focus on what we don't want in our lives or don't want to experience. For example:

➢ I don’t want to be alone anymore.
➢ I don’t want to be overweight.
➢ I don’t want to be broke anymore.

The reason this is so important is that we gradually create what we focus on in our lives. Understand this key concept: where you put your attention is where you get your results. Think about it: if most of your attention is invested in pushing away the things you do not want, you inadvertently remain focused on exactly those things.

Following the examples outlined above, you remain focused on being alone, being overweight, and being broke. Doesn’t sound too pleasant, does it? Of course not, but many people do it their entire lives.

Conversely, we are suggesting you focus on what you do in fact want to be true in your life. Instead of the above consider thinking:

➢ I look forward to having a beautiful man/woman in my life who is a great fit and match for me.
➢ I look forward to living happily at 125 pounds (or whatever your desired weight is).
➢ I look forward to making $250,000 next year.

Understand that this doesn’t mean that you necessarily now know exactly how you are going to make it happen. That would not be realistic. However, the creative process necessary to get you there will never be sparked if you’re endlessly focused on what you don’t want. Therefore focusing on what you do want is a crucial first step to catalyze yourself into positive, forward-moving action.

2. Cultivate the Belief That It’s Possible

In order to achieve what you desire, you must first truly believe it is possible. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how often people want an outcome in their life they don’t really believe is possible.

Consider the example of losing weight: many people want to enjoy the benefits of permanent weight loss, but when questioned they realize they don’t really believe it’s possible. Here is a great question to ask yourself:

On a scale of 1-10, where 1 means you don’t believe permanent weight loss (or whatever your goal is) is truly possible in your life, and 10 means you couldn’t possible believe it any more, where would you put yourself right now?

This is a great question to ask yourself frequently to chart your progress. The rest of the steps outlined in this article are essentially designed to increase your level of belief that your goals are possible in your life.

3. Cultivate the Overwhelming Motivation To Succeed

Some people are naturally motivated to make their goals and aspirations happen. For these people, it’s relatively effortless. While it would be nice if we were all like that all the time, not everybody necessarily has the urgency to bring their vision to light. They may have the capability, but not the urgency.

For those to whom this urgency does not come easily or naturally, they must at times “manufacture” the urgency, or else they run the risk of stagnation. One “trick” if you will, for doing this is to become very clear on the pain that inaction will ultimately bring. If you don’t take action to lose weight, meet a mate or increase your income, where will you be in a year? In 5 years? How about 10 or 20? Realizing the pain that will result from inaction is powerful motivator for many people. It can often then be enhanced by contrasting this pain/misery with the enormous pleasure that is going to result from taking action.

4. Change Your Patterns, Change Your Life

As a quick experiment, I want you to cross your arms. Notice which arm is on top and which is on bottom. Now reverse the order. If your left arm was on top, make sure it is now on the bottom.

Feels strange, doesn’t it?

Now try the same experiment by interlocking your hands so your palms are touching and your fingers are interlaced. Which thumb is on top- your right or your left? Now switch everything around so your fingers are still interlaced, but the other thumb is on top.

Funny how that works?

These are patterns in your life. They are physical patterns, but they are also metaphors for the emotional and psychological patterns in your life.

These patterns show up in how we think about ourselves (“I am good” vs. “I am bad”), how we think of others (“I like people like him” vs. “I don’t like people like him”) and what we expect to be true in our lives (“I can be thin and happy” vs. “I will be overweight my whole life”). Of course these are simple examples, but they communicate the basic point.

They also show up in our behaviors. For example, turning to food when we are stressed; acting with rage towards others when we are upset or scared (or bottling it up completely, by contrast); looking towards others for reassurance that we are “okay”.

Here is the important thing to understand: our current patterns have gotten us to EXACTLY where we are in our lives right now.

They have gotten us no more and no less. Therefore, if we stick to the same patterns, we are not going to change, and the circumstances of our lives are not very likely to change either.

In order to get the changes we want, we have to change our patterns; we have to change our approach. When it comes to weight loss, for example, maybe this means following the “Eat To Live” approach for a month and mixing it up.

Maybe it means being open to getting outside feedback and coaching to help you uncover and correct your negative patterns. Maybe it is as simple as saying “no” to somebody you generally say “yes” to or vice versa.

One great thing we find again and again at PEERtrainer is that an interruption in negative behaviors or emotions can lead to powerful results. We get lots of amazing fan mail at PEERtrainer and have for years. One of the key reasons for this is that we provide tools and services that help people interrupt their negative patterns.

What is interesting is that PEERtrainer is growing faster than it ever has. The reason is that we keep taking action and introducing new ways for people to interrupt their old patterns by creating new products and services. We have new email programs, new blogs, and a new “go at your own pace” coaching program that people are loving.

All these new tools increase the odds that we will provide what people need to help them make the change towards the life they desire. We know this because you tell us. We listen to you and bring new things to the table to create the most helpful offerings we can.

This is the same thing that you can do in your own life: keep creating new patterns and behaviors that replace the old ones you are letting go of.

5. Create New Patterns to Replace the Old

After you have learned to interrupt your old habits, begin the search for positive alternative behaviors. Options are all around you that you can start developing immediately. Ask yourself, “what is the experience I really want to be having in my life?” Ask yourself that question and “listen” to the answer that comes back from within. Where does it guide you? Where does it want to lead you? What new behavioral options does it incline you towards?

This is a very important step. If you neglect to do this, you will likely return to your old habits. The more you do this, the more you create positive neural pathways in your brain that increase your sense of pleasure and reduce your frustration or pain.

For example, there are an infinite number of things you can do at night instead of mindlessly snacking, or binge or emotionally eating.

Make a list of all the positive things you can do at night that don’t involve food (other than a basic, healthy dinner). Here are a few ideas to get you started:

➢ Become a night “exerciser”
➢ Join a volleyball league
➢ Join a bowling league
➢ Go to the theater
➢ Take an art class
➢ If you are in our coaching program get in the habit of listening to the coaching calls in the evening.
➢ Hang out with friends.

Regardless, stay laser focused and persistent. Find the positive alternatives.

6. Reinforce, Reinforce, Reinforce (then Reinforce some more)

The sixth step is to reinforce this behavior over and over again. Repetition is the mother of skill. This is why we send out a tip
of the day email each and every day- it helps to reinforce positive patterns over and over again each day.

There is a reason why our coaching program is 12 weeks- it gives us time to not just teach, but also to reinforce the material. Throughout the week, you are sent activities, articles and assignments to help “condition those new muscles”.

Similarly, the online peer group you become part of in the coaching program provides you with a group of people who are also laser focused on developing new mental patterns. This total “reinforcement from all angles” is why people are having such great results, or are gradually developing an unshakeable belief that they will get where they want to be.

Hypnosis is another tool that you can use to attack the change process. PEERtrainer has written a review of hypnosis and weight loss. This is a proven reinforcement tool.

7. Embody the “Gratitude Attitude”

While this may sound rather cliché, it’s actually quite an important part of the process. Very often we are intensely results driven in our lives. This is a normal part of making a living and dealing with the daily concerns of life. That said, we are too often so busy getting from point A to point B (literally and figuratively) that we lose our ability to slow down and truly appreciate the mystery and wonder that is so much a part of life. I recognize this may sound “corny”, but I am still going to challenge you to really consider what I am saying.

I am talking about the kinds of things mystics and poets have written about for eons: the innocence of your child when she brings you a picture she has just colored in, a flower garden in spring, the sun setting- even things as simple as eating a meal with a friend.

We are all guilty of losing sight of the beauty and wonder around us much of the time, and yet there is real value in being able to “get back to it”. For me, the best way to “remember” these things is to be grateful, meaning to commit to find moments in my day to deeply appreciate my life; to be grateful for all that I have in spite of the normal ups and downs that come.

I think this is such an important part of the process because it brings our attention back to what we do have, rather than endlessly focusing on what don’t have yet. Shifting out attention to this positive place of gratitude is a great (and in my opinion necessary) “balancer” to the intense and avid pursuit to make changes in our lives and achieve our goals.

Gratitude reminds us that while it’s great to pursue our goals in life, having happiness and wholeness ultimately results from a choice that comes from within.

Five Goals

1. Take more pictures. Find out what it would take to get Photoshop. Work on editing. Learn how to tag people in a picture. Name all my pictures.

2. Keep up with emailing my mom while she's in Florida. She wants to be in the loop. Email and call her a few times this week.

3. Exercise and eat more consciously. Stop with all the pop and junk food. Start eating healthier and making choices that coincide with my goals.

4. Work on a Valentine's Day craft. Find something, look into the material needed and do it!

5. Buy lots of Lean Cuisines.