When you’re young, you have grand ideas about what you’re life is going to be like. Unfortunately, when many people grow up, they forget about these ideas. They get stuck in a dull rut, going to a job they hate, involved in activities they don’t even like. How does this happen? Well, it happens because you let your life control you instead of controlling your life. If you want to have the life you’ve dreamed about, you have to create it. You’re not just going to wake up one day and have everything magically change.

There are 3 steps you can take to live your life with intention and start creating your dream.

The first step is obviously to decide what your dream life is. You need to really think about this.

• What kind of person do you want to be?
• Who do you want to be with?
• Where do you want to live?
• What career do you want to have?
• What skills or hobbies have you always wanted to learn?
• Do you want kids, pets, or a house on the beach?

These are all questions you need to ask yourself. You need to start developing the entire picture. These things may take you a while to decide, so take your time and really think about them. It is your life we’re talking about after all.

The second step is to assess your current life. You need to decide what’s working for you and what’s not.

• Does your current career fit in with your dream life?
• Are you living in the mountains when you’ve always dreamed of being on the beach?
• Do you display the qualities your dream self would have?

Once you decide what doesn’t fit into your dream, you can start to change these things. Obviously some changes may be harder than others, and it may take a while before you can make them. That’s fine, as long as you’re making an effort to create the life you want.

Once you know what you want and what you’re not doing to get there, the third step is all about making changes. All of the choices you make should fit into your new life if possible. If you don’t like aerobics, stop doing it. If you want to learn the guitar, take a class. Rent your favorite movies, eat your favorite food, and buy that sofa you absolutely love. You should surround yourself with people and things you love. You should spend your time doing things you love to do. You should eat what you want to eat and watch what you want to watch. You’ll be amazed at how much time you spend doing things you don’t really like or want to do. It’s easy to be sucked into what you’re supposed to do or what people expect you to do. Forget about all of that and live your life for you.

It doesn’t take much to get in the mindset of “I’m never going to get what I want.” Or “I should just accept that this is what my life is going to be like.” If you think this way, more than likely, you’re going to be right. If you don’t take the steps to create the life you want, then no one else will. You have to be willing to live your life intentionally, not just go with the flow and let things happen to you.

A regular meditation practice can be rewarding and beneficial in many ways, but the act of sitting completely still and silent for a lengthy period of time is intimidating to some people. Either they struggle with random thoughts that they can’t seem to quiet down, or they simply grow bored and end up abandoning their meditation routine.

Have you had similar challenges with your own meditation practice? If so, take a look at the following alternate methods of meditation. They are less intense than traditional meditation techniques and therefore easier for many beginners.

1) Get back to nature.

When it comes right down to it, meditation is nothing more than the practice of quieting your thoughts and focusing on something soothing. Natural settings provide the perfect forum for releasing stress and connecting to soothing sights and sounds!

Choose a beautiful natural setting and take a slow, leisurely walk through it. Pay close attention to the beauty surrounding you, the breeze on your face, and the feeling of your feet moving in a steady rhythm.

Another option is to simply sit silently and observe nature. There are few things more calming than listening to the birds sing or a brook babbling softly nearby, while watching various forms of wildlife go about their daily routines. Just a few minutes of this every day can soothe even chronic stress away.

2) Immerse yourself in music.

Listening to music while you relax is also another form of meditation, especially if you focus on the notes and consciously release feelings of tension, irritation and negativity. Try to choose music that has few lyrics, or at least soothing or inspiring lyrics. Sit or lie in a comfortable position and allow your mind to drift pleasantly with the music. You can engage in some creative visualization if you like, or just relax and enjoy the experience.

As an alternative to music, you can also purchase audio recordings of natural sounds like ocean waves, rain and storms, wind and wind chimes, birdsong or whale songs, and more.

3) Practice mindfulness.

Sometimes meditation is a simple matter of staying in the present moment, rather than allowing your thoughts to drift forward or backward in time. Try focusing solely on whatever activity you happen to be engaged in at the present time.

Make it a point to consciously detach from external distractions and thoughts that are unrelated to your current activity and simply concentrate on BEING in this moment. It may take some practice at first, but the more you do it the more easily you’ll be able to remain in a state of mindfulness.

When you tune in and focus your full attention on an activity, you automatically let go of worries about the future and regrets, anger and sadness about the past. You are here in the present moment only; and therefore not stressed or anxious. You can do this with both physical and mental activities, such as household chores, work related tasks, errands and shopping, cleaning and organizing, and much more.

4) Utilize a Meditation Aid

The Deep Zen Audio Meditation by Holothink is a terrific program that guides your brainwaves into a meditative state. You can think of it as “cheating”! Seriously, life-long students of meditation rave about how this program helps them go even deeper into meditation than they can experience on their own in spite of years - even decades - of meditation practice. Yes, you can meditate as deeply as a zen monk!

To try a free demo of this program visit: http://www.deep-zen.com

Meditation is more often associated with states of deep relaxation, but it can also be an effective way to rejuvenate yourself and boost your energy.  Fatigue and sluggishness often result from a constant flow of negative, chaotic and stressful thoughts through our minds.  We may not even be aware when these types of thoughts begin taking over our focus – we just know we suddenly feel like we’ve got a thousand-pound weight sitting on our shoulders and we have no energy to attend to our normal activities.

The following steps will walk you through a simple process for releasing negative thoughts and boosting your energy through meditation:

1)    First, purge the negative stuff.

There are a couple of ways to do this.  You can either write out your dominant thoughts on a sheet of paper and tear it up, or simply close your eyes and imagine the top of your head opening up (or your chest is good too) and all negative thoughts flying out and disappearing.  Spend as long as you like on this step of the process, but for most people a few minutes should be plenty.

2)    Shift to more positive thoughts.

Once you’ve allowed the negative thoughts to leave your mind, it’s a good idea to consciously work on adopting more positive thoughts – otherwise, negative thoughts will just come creeping back in.

Here are a few ways you can do this:

First, think of something or someone that makes you feel happy.  Think of your spouse, children, best friend, beloved parents – even your pet.  Go over the reasons you love them in your mind, or recall a funny story that makes you feel uplifted.  Allow yourself to feel the good feelings as much as possible and if any unwanted feelings come up, then just notice them and let them go.

Another option is to engage in some positive self-talk and build yourself up with encouraging words - in other words, could you give yourself some approval?  (Of course you can!)  One unfortunate side effect of negative, chaotic thinking is that we’re usually picking on our self without even realizing it, which makes us feel even worse.  Turn that tendency around by mentally or verbally listing the things you love about yourself (or the things you COULD love about yourself).  Think about your skills, talents, achievements, positive characteristics, and so on.  Feel good about yourself and you’ll find yourself feeling good about everything else too!

If neither of those options work for you, think about what does make you feel good.  Spend a few minutes thinking about something that makes you feel happy or excited.  It doesn’t matter what you focus on, as long as it shifts you into a positive state of mind and emotion.

3)    Give yourself a boost.

Those first two steps alone will go a long way in reducing fatigue and irritability, but you can take it a step further by generating some great energy to rejuvenate yourself.  If possible, stand up and slowly stretch your entire body.  Reach as high as you can toward the ceiling and imagine your legs stretching down with your feet planted firmly on the floor.  Imagine a current of energy running up from the earth into your feet, up your legs and buzzing through your entire body.  See this energy burning off any lingering fatigue and feel yourself filling with limitless energy and motivation.  Smile and say aloud, “I feel fantastic!”  Take a few deep breaths to clear your mind and ground yourself, then continue on with your normal activities.

These steps are incredibly helpful in a pinch, but they can be even more effective if you do them on a daily basis.  Start each morning with this type of activity and you’ll quickly find that you have an abundance of energy to carry you through the day.

Meditation can be challenging for many people - zen monks spend years in solitude to master the skill!  I love this program called Deep Zen Meditation and recommend you give it a try.  Meditation can have a profound impact on your life if you practice it regularly.