How Nature and Nurture Both Contribute To Your Success

Here’s a fun tidbit about the old phrase “nature and nurture” and why they’re connected:Did you know that when you achieve something or are …

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5 Simple Strategies to Strengthen Your Leadership Skills

Being a boss, manager, or supervisor doesn’t make you a great leader. Anyone can get a promotion and be in charge of a team. However, it takes commitment, personality, and focus to become a quality leader. Excellent leadership skills are something most people can develop over time. While some people already have the confidence and […]

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Reign in Your Busy Mind to Live More Consciously

Too often, as we move through our daily lives, we pack more than we need — and I’m referring to mental baggage. No matter where we’re going or what we’re doing, we allow our minds to run rampant and never stop. Recent research shows that humans tally more than 6,000 thoughts each day. Those thousands of thoughts are an irrefutable consequence of our society’s obsessive need to be busy and distracted. 

Yet if we don’t stop, even occasionally, from our obsessive mental planning, rehashing and cataloguing, we become disconnected and removed from a source greater than us. Instead of busily looking for answers outside of ourselves, and relying on distractions, stimulants, materialism and other external influences that we believe will give us meaning, we all have the ability to become more awake, present and aware — and in our awareness, to transcend limited thoughts and beliefs and raise our consciousness. 

Practicing Mindfulness is a way to reign in the random thoughts swirling through our minds. It holds us in present moment awareness. As we stay focused on the present, we’re able to look more deeply into what we’re actually feeling in that moment. Mindfulness opens our minds so that we can see with total awareness.  

By attaining this state of complete awareness, we can remain observant of our thoughts and feelings with acceptance and non-judgment. This is when we’re in a pure state of mind, and it’s in this state that we can guide ourselves wisely. With more heightened awareness, we can participate in life as grounded, sensitive human beings. This means that everything we do is done with a conscious awareness of how we’re doing it. Therefore, we become more thoughtful, kind, compassionate, sensitive, creative and attuned. 

The challenge is training our minds to stop — really stop. The mind is prone to wander out of the present moment. But the more we train it to stay in the present and the more we move away from the busy-ness in our heads, the better we become at utilizing Mindfulness to achieve higher-order thinking skills. 

Put these principles into practice to live more consciously: 

1. Strengthen your present-moment awareness muscle. The more present you are, the more aware you are, and the more aware you are, the more present you are. It keeps evolving from there. When practiced consistently, Mindfulness can sharpen your awareness so that you can see beyond what lies on the surface. 

2. Surrender your ego-driven self. Learning to value slowing down and quieting the mind means that you must refrain from manipulating the world, or your thoughts about your world, to feed your ego. Get out of your own way and out from under the drama you create. Don’t let your “small self ” run the show. Aspire to heighten your awareness, raise your consciousness and continue on the path of spiritual development with the veils of falseness lifting one by one. 

3. Feed your spirit. When you feel a type of emptiness, or ennui, that’s your spirit telling you something, something extremely important. But, if instead of going deeper within to find out what’s troubling your spirit, you choose a type of distraction or a way to anesthetize yourself, you aren’t tending to your spirit. Feeding your spirit can mean anything from meditating, practicing yoga, sitting in contemplation, taking a walk in nature, gardening, playing with a pet, making love, painting, cooking, serving someone in need or moving to music. 

4. Slow down to engage in more conscious knowing. Mindfulness is a mental state of being conscious and aware. It helps you to find union in reality, free of illusion. Don’t you want to know what this life, this reality, truly is? It can’t possibly be just what’s on the surface. Remaining on the exterior is like living outside of a magnificent palace and never getting to go inside. 

5. Open yourself to a sense of oneness. As you begin to explore life beyond the surface, you soon begin to know there is so much more to see and know. You are part of the collective, the universe, the cosmos, the oneness and the supreme consciousness that breathes life into us all. Consciously become aligned with it. In this way, Mindfulness can lead us down a mystical path. If you keep your mind open and your thoughts illumined, truths will be known to you when you are ready to know them. 

If you practice Mindfulness, stay in present moment awareness, commit to self-surrender, and lift the veils of falsehood, you will feel the shift. And with your own shift in consciousness, you help to raise the consciousness of the planet. 

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Ora Nadrich is a pioneering Mindfulness expert, international keynote speaker and coach, and the founder and president of the Institute for Transformational Thinking. A sought-after expert in the fields of Mindfulness, transformational thinking and self-discovery, she is the author of Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever, and Live True: A Mindfulness Guide to Authenticity, named “one of the 100 Best Mindfulness Books of All Time” by BookAuthority. Her new book is Mindfulness and Mysticism: Connecting Present Moment Awareness with Higher States of Consciousness (IFTT, Nov. 11, 2021). Learn more at oranadrich.com. 

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Here’s how Utah’s leading workplaces have stayed connected even while working from home

Miki Adams, president of CBC Mortgage Agency, said her company was reluctant to embrace telecommuting ahead of the pandemic — and that when COVID-19 …

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What You Need to Know about Peripheral Artery Disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects almost 9 million Americans, including up to 20% of those over the age of 60. Many of them are unaware of their condition because they have no symptoms. That’s troubling because early intervention can help you deal with the increased risk for heart attacks and stroke. PAD usually responds to […]

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How To Overcome Instant Gratification: The Dangers of the “Right Now” Mindset

You know the feeling - You realize you've been scrolling through your smartphone for an hour, and it's not even noon yet.

Suddenly, you remember that you wanted to work on that project for school or write your resume. 

You decide to take a break, but then, after five minutes of doing something else, you find yourself back on your phone again.

It's easy to succumb to instant gratification, to check social media one more time, or scroll through Instagram or YouTube videos. But this short-term reward can come at the expense of long-term goals and fulfillment. 

The good news is there are 9 ways to overcome this "right now" mindset and become content with what we have at the moment. Read them carefully to extract all the values from them.

1. Know the causes behind instant gratification

Allowing instant gratification to become a dominant part of your life comes down to three reasons: habit, poor self-control, and lack of attention to self. 

Being more aware of the three causes of instant gratification will help you recognize its dangers and eliminate these problems from your life. If you already struggle with these issues, you can start by being more mindful of your habits. 

Once you recognize that instant gratification is one of your bad habits, you can start doing something about it.

2. Taking Control of Your Life

When I first decided to lose weight, I was surrounded by dozens of things that I wanted to have. 

I had the fantasy of what my ideal weight would be. 

My friends and family were trying to take me out of my health goals, but I decided to ignore their opinions and take control of my life.

If your friend asks you what you had for lunch, tell them and share it with them.

If I had gotten up and gone to the cafeteria and then told my friend that I had a big salad, she probably would have told me what a loser I was. But I didn't have time to go through all that. I had to eat the food I wanted, and I wanted fruit. So I took control of my food.

3. Create a Plan 

Working through problems without a plan can be difficult, but it will help you more than anything. 

Thinking things in advance and putting a plan in place will give you the required structure.

When you create a plan, you know what you want, where you are headed, and how to get there. 

If you don't know where you are moving, you have no direction. If you don't have a direction, then you won't know how to get there.

4. Embrace Failure 

Failures are a key to improvement and self-growth. 

An average person, in a decade, learns to do something called the stop and go. In that decade, he learns to drive a car, play tennis, write, eat with cutlery, control a computer, read a book, dance a rumba. And in the same decade, he learns to fail. He'll usually fail at least twenty-five times before he masters the skill.

Today's always-on culture encourages us to have everything we want and do everything we want right now. 

Living in the instant gratification bubble can lead to impulsive behaviors. 

All the problem-solving skills that come from failure and failure-making, which leads to success and achievement is a double-edged sword.

5. Stop Comparing 

Stop comparing yourself to others. It makes you feel less than you already are. You look for shortcuts to improve yourself or your life instantly. 

Be the best version of yourself, and you will find contentment and motivation. Focus on your own life and the happiness you want to feel. Don't let anyone else's life bring you down or make you think their lives are better than yours.

6. Practice Mindfulness

Overcome instant gratification by practicing mindful living. It means slowing down and paying attention to everything around you. 

Learn to pay attention to what you are feeling in your body. 

Imagine how you want to feel in the moment? What would you do to feel better? 

For example, if you are working to achieve better fitness, examine how you treat your body. Think about what kind of foods you need to eat to feel healthy and strong.

7. Learn to Say No 

We all have been told "no" in some way or another throughout our lives. 

There is a big difference between the results of "yes" and "no". If you say "yes" to something that is not for you, it is only going to hinder your life, and who knows where it might lead you?

That is why learning how to say "no" is so important. You have to set up boundaries in life and know when you are asking for too much in a short time and when to take a step back and say "no."

8. Gain Perspective 

As tempting as instant gratification sounds, let’s take a step back and think about it for a second. 

Your relationship with food could be a great example. 

Is your trip to McDonald's going to ruin your diet? Not really. Then, how much is too much? Does it mean that every time you crave a piece of chocolate cake, you are going to eat it instead of walking away from the delicious tempting food?

Many of us have become so used to instant gratification that it's just what we do. While it can be a temptation, it's even more of a temptation to become a slave to a lifestyle of instant gratification.

9. Live in the Moment

The next time you want to get something right away, stop and think about how you really feel. 

• Is this an urgent or important matter? 
• Does it serve a vital purpose in your life? 

If it's urgent or important, you will be able to get it resolved as soon as possible. But if it doesn't seem that important, give yourself a bit of a break. 

Most of us really don't need that luxury of instant gratification. 

The beauty of living in the moment is that it doesn't have a time limit. You are here to learn, not to have fun or chase trivial things. What will happen tomorrow will be taken care of tomorrow. 

Don't try to save a single rose for tomorrow. Live the life that is in front of you and enjoy every second of it.

End of the Line

The Instant Gratification Trap is the single most common trap to get you off course in your life. As with any other trap, the temptation is simple, and the route is paved with lies. 

The moment you start down this path, you will feel an immediate sense of fulfillment. You will be excited and empowered by your newly discovered power.

So, Do not be the victim of instant gratification. Have patience, and you will get what you deserve.

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Hi there! I am Varun Pahwa.
I’ve learned several lessons from some of my darkest life experiences. Join me at Uprisehigh where I share brilliant tips on personal development, relationships, life simplification, and a lot more. Share your stories and honor me with the opportunity to help you out with your problem

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Why It’s So Important to be Empathetic

Merriam-Webster defines empathy as: “The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.” It might seem like empathy is something that you do for […]

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