Shift Your Thinking Change Your Life - By Mo Shapiro - A Sheldon Press Book

What do you really want from life? How can you make changes to reach your goals?

In this practical and encouraging book, MO Shapiro shows you how to achieve what you want. By shifting the way you think about both yourself and the world, you can make radical changes to your life.

By following Mo's advice you can transform your:

• Social life
• Relationships
• Finances
• Health
• Leisure
• Spiritual life

"There isn't a person in the world who doesn't deserve more confidence, more pleasure and more choice in their life. MO Shapiro's Shift your thinking change your life allows for the development of all these things. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it" Caryn Franklin, Journalist and Broadcaster

MO Shapiro is a personal development coach who specialises in relationships, assertiveness and positive thinking.

Shift Your Thinking Change Your Life

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

• Shift 1 What do you really want?
• Shift 2Who says you should?
• Shift 3 Time for a clear out
• Shift 4 What are you telling yourself?
• Shift 5 Create more confidence
• Shift 6 Behave yourself
• Shift 7 Increase prosperity through small change

Further reading

Contact the author

Index

Shift Your Thinking Change Your Life

Thank you for choosing to read Shift your thinking change your life. However this book has reached you, whether you bought it, were given it or have borrowed it, you have done so because now is the right time for you to be reading it. I know there is something in it especially for you, to help you get to where you want to be. Enjoy the journey and look forward to the changes you want to create.

I have described the sections as 'Shifts', rather than chapters, because they represent movement and activity which give you opportunities to increase the flexibility of your thinking. Some parts of the book will resonate and feel right for you and some bits won't. Feel free to dip in and out as you fancy. Some will immediately provoke a 'yes' reaction, others will take time. You may even buy the book and just skim through it at first. Trust yourself to know when you're ready to go deeper into it.

I have used a number of techniques to generate action into the process. I want to encourage you to be dynamic as well as reading the theories. At various stages I have suggested certain questions you might ask yourself and created some activities to help you delve deeper into your specific understanding and personal relationship to the issues. In some places I have suggested you use your imagination to create things the way you want them to be. You can do this with pictures, words, sounds or just by experiencing the ideas. Whatever works for you is the way to do it. If you record the imagination exercises you can re-use them anytime. You may want to involve some friends and make these social activities, too.

As you journey through the shifts, be aware that you have a choice about what you do with what you read. The more you feel able to exercise choice here, the more you feel enabled to do so in any area of your life. I have used the notion of 'moments of choice' throughout the book. These are there to remind you that if you stop and think, you have more responses available than you might previously have realized. A lot of us make our choices at an unconscious level. The more you bring them into your consciousness, the more empowered you become. You may decide sometimes that you are going to respond to a particular situation with a moan and groan, rather than a straightforward response. This is fine as long as you know that it's your decision and that you understand the effect that the behaviour will have.

I have also made use of many affirmations to reinforce the messages you give yourself about your life. Affirmations are positive, simple and present-tense statements that you can repeat regularly to yourself with the intention of retraining your mind to think in a way you choose, or to change the way you think and therefore the way you act. I sometimes sing mine when I am on a long car journey; other people draw and decorate theirs and hang them around their houses. Repeating positive affirmations can reverse the negativity of the tapes that we play more often in our minds.

As you go through the book you will begin to recognize your 'starters' and 'stoppers'. The more you realize what prevents you from being the you you want to be, or from doing the things you want to do, the greater chance you have to change. In addition, you will acknowledge the ways you motivate yourself and the key ways you get yourself started on projects. Then you can increase the times you bring those into helping you move the way you want. Everyone has examples of some time in their lives when they have got themselves going. With this knowledge you too can go on to repeat your successful strategies in different situations.

This is a play book, not a work book. I want it to be as much fun for you to read and use as writing it has been for me. I have enjoyed researching and reminding myself of the bits that I need to learn about myself and my reactions to life. I know there are days when I need to get a grip of myself, think positively and be grateful that the techniques are there for me. I have plenty of dear friends and acquaintances who are quick to point out when I am living my life along the 'do as I say, not do as I do' lines (not walking the talk). In the main I can laugh and agree; when I can't, and feel myself tensing up. I know they've hit a nerve and identified an area for investigation.

This book is about change, and the only thing that doesn't change about change is change itself. It is often challenging. For some people this means that the sense of achievement felt is greater once the change is successful. There are a number of theories about how long and how many times you need to repeat a new action or behaviour before it becomes part of your make-up.

• It takes three weeks to replace an old habit with a new skill and at least another nine weeks to turn that new skill into a new habit.(Taylor, 2000)

Please use this book to help you change, and don't use it to beat - yourself up if the changes aren't as immediate as you would like. It may be that part of you is resistant because you have become so used to being the way you are — even if you don't like it. It's a familiar and, in an odd way, almost a 'safe' route to take. You know the routine, and the results. How would you feel if you were successful in your change? Perhaps a bit scared at first. Go at your own pace and trust yourself to know that something will happen when you are ready. It may take time. Be kind enough to yourself to take the time to understand yourself and understand why you are the way you are. Give yourself the same time, patience and compassion you would give your best friend if they were in the same place.

• Make a commitment to do something active, and let the changes begin

About the author: MO Shapiro is a Managing Partner of INFORM Training & Communication. She has a proven and outstanding track record as a personal development coach, psychological counsellor, management trainer and public speaker. MO is a sought-after broadcaster on radio and television. She is the author of four personal development books for the Institute of Management and is on the expert panel of Real Health and Beauty magazine, for which she writes regular features. MO regularly offers her expert advice and coaching input to all popular media. Her mission is to help people achieve their dreams and enjoy them for as long as possible.