Can Psychotherapy Help With Depression?

Can psychotherapy really help with depression?

I agree that it takes more than just ‘Sucking it up’ but I disagree that depression is a mental illness.

I was diagnosed with depression and bi-polar disorder.

I was suffering such severe anxiety that I often wouldn’t leave my room or answer my phone for days.

But I think these days we’re getting it the wrong way round and trying to ‘cure’ this problem by treating symptomatic responses.

As Don Tolman says

‘if you want to find out about disease and death then study disease and death but if you’re interested in health and well being then study health and well being’

In other words what we focus on grows. We need to be constantly vigilant of our focus.

What changed my life was when i realized that it was not that I AM depressed, it was that I was BEING depressed. It takes a lot of effort to be depressed.
It does and anyone that has DONE depression knows that fleeting joyful moments need to be quickly replaced with negativity in order to keep up the illusion of depression.

For me the meanings that I assigned to the circumstances of my life created a feeling of depression. This feeling of depression left me in inaction.
This inaction created more of the same circumstances in my life and reinforced the original meaning that I created. It was a viscous circle. Medicine will not break this cycle just poison and numb our bodies to the symptomatic responses and not allow us to objectively view our circumstances and move forward.

So for all those who ARE depressed I have one question ‘Beyond that, what ARE you that is so much more?’

Bradley Stuart is a life coach renowned for his program The Shift based on Da Vinci’s 7 Principles of Living. For amazing breakthroughs in your Finances, Health and Relationships head to http://www.theshift.info

An Essential Guide to Goal Setting

People often ask me “What are your goals, what do you want to achieve”

I’ve spent a lot of time in my life thinking about goals, writing goals down, chasing goals.

And don’t get me wrong I think setting goals is fantastic and an essential tool for manifestation, but have you ever wondered what it would take to achieve all your goals?

Have you ever wondered why you achieve some goals and why other goals just fall to the wayside?

I have found what works in my life and I would like to share it with you.

You see I have discovered that making decisions is a lot more powerful than making goals. To decide is to essentially kill off all other possibilities. To set goals and hope we achieve them holds little weight when compared to killing off all other possibilities.

In my experience when I make decisions, when I decide I will play full out, when I overcome the fear to commit even when I can’t see how it will happen, then the universe seems to align itself to fulfill my goals. When we’re doing our best from a place of commitment and conviction then the universe conspires to do good things for us.

A decision is not a decision until we’ve taken action.

Dream a dream and then decide, that it will be yours, that it is truly for you and then eliminate all other possibilities than fulfillment of that dream.

GFC? You Can Make $200-$300 A Week for a $1 investment

With the global recession, oil prices, interest rates etc, etc there’s a bigger strain on our wallets than ever before, but how about instead of focusing all our attention on scrimping and saving we embraced the abundance of the universe and just made more money?

Doesn’t that seem logical.

Here’s a method I’ve been using for a while now and I knew absolutely Nothing about computers and internet marketing. I just followed someones instructions and even though I was skeptical it worked and I started to make money.

It does not require you to have an adwords account or even have your own website.

I have been researching internet based home business for a while now and I know that some people out there are selling this exact  method or very similar methods from between $27 to upwards of $700 generally depending on the level of support they offer.

Most of the internet marketing methods they are selling out there now are this exact method or a variation of this method.

So why am I giving it away for free?

Is it because I’m just such a nice guy (well no, but my mum says I’m lovely)

You will see for yourself as you follow the steps.

This method could see you make plenty of cash if you work it day and night but really I think the average person would just prefer to put in about 5 hours a week and make an extra $200-$300 on top of their normal pay-packet.

Allow yourself about 2-3 hours to set this system up. Then you’ll need to put in about 5  hours work a week in the first few weeks. Once you’ve started making money (usually in about 2-3 weeks) then you can decide how much time you want to put in, but it gets easier and easier as you go along.

This method is about making money selling other peoples information products.

Ok so here it is.

Step 1 – Research

Find a hot niche market.

Look through the newspaper, check blogs, read ezine articles and just see what people are looking for and talking about.

Don’t go looking for evidence of your preconceived ideas of a particular niche.

Remember that it doesn’t need to be your passion or your expertise (although it’s nice if is).

So don’t go in there thinking “Oh I really love pink bunny slippers” lets see who else does. Go looking for what people are talking about “Oh I noticed a lot of articles on self care, maybe this could be a niche market?” (hint,hint).

Ok so once you think you’ve found a hot niche go to www.googleeasysearch.com and begin to research keywords. Think about words and phrases that people would use when they’re using a search engine.

What you are looking for a keywords that are searched for between 30,000-70,000 times per month (Local search volume for the United States).

Any less than this and the market is too small and any more than this there is too much competition from large companies.

Find yourself about 10-15 keywords. You also want as little competitors as possible. This is indicated by the green lines on the left. Just hover your mouse over it.

If you think you’ve found a great niche market but there is just too much competition then start to get more specific, for example I recently used this process for the vegan market. While I found a lot of people were looking for information on being vegan there was just way too much competition.By reading blogs and surveys I discovered there were a lot of people considering being Vegan but were concerned about getting enough protein in their diets.

Niche market – Protein for Vegans. (Don’t use this one it’s mine. haha just kidding)

Step 2 – Find a product

Once you have found your Niche market it is time to find a product. What you are looking for is a down-loadable  information product such as an e-book or an audio. When you’re first starting, look for products around the $30 mark.

Ok so to find an information product you can sell,  go to www.clickbank.com and sign up for a free account. Once you have signed up click on Marketplace and browse the products. The marketplace is where people allow you to sell their information product and in return they pay you a percentage of the sale. Often up to 75% , some products have on-going subscription fees and offer their affiliates a cut of these.

What you are looking for is a product that would appeal to your niche market. For example I chose a book called A Fresh New Vegan You. This was being retailed for $27, and as an affiliate I received $11.98 (this is a little low, usually aim for around $20).

The reason I chose this product even though the return was a little low was because of it’s convincing sales letter and high conversion rate. Look for a product that would appeal to your niche market. Look for a convincing sales letter and simple, plain text website. Also check the conversion rate with clickbank (That is how many prospects converted to sales).

Once you have decided on a product, click the PROMOTE button and then enter your nickname in the pop up box.(Do not worry about the tracking ID). This will then give you a http:// address for example (http://a725065veiosd5agn5nd4q3qa6.hop.clickbank.net/). This will be in the top box. Copy this address.

Do not worry about the html code in the box below this is for embedding the link on your website and we don’t want the hassle of creating a website.

Step 3 – Register a domain name

This is the only step in the process you will have to spend money. It can be as little as $0.89 for a .info domain name.

Go to www.godaddy.com and register a domain name that is in the same general realm of your niche but don’t get too specific so that you can use the same domain later to sell different products later.

For example the domain name I used to promote A Fresh New Vegan You is www.good-food-ideas.info. This cost me just $0.89.

Ok so now you have registered your domain name, log in and go to domain manager on the left hand side of the page.

Once in Domain Manager tick the box of your domain name. This will highlight the icons above. Click on FORWARDtwo options will drop down. Choose FORWARD DOMAIN.

This will take you to another page a box to insert the address to forward the domain to.

Paste the http:// you saved from Clickbank.

Ok so now whenever anyone clicks on or types in your domain name. i.e. www.good-food-ideas.info they will be directed to the sales page of the product you are promoting, you’ll be paid anytime they make a purchase.

Ok so that’s simple enough but how does anyone know you’re domain name?

Where are they going to click if you don’t have a website? Well that’s step 4.

Step 4 -Driving Traffic to your Domain Name

Ok so in this step you can either put in a little work and do it for FREE or you can hire a professional to do it for a small fee (sometimes seriously small like $7-$8).

The next step is going to a site called www.ezinearticles.com. This is a site where writers submit articles and Ezines (online magazines) pick them up and publish them.

You give away all the intellectual property rights to your article but in return they must include the authors name AND (you guessed it) your DOMAIN NAME.

So here you can submit articles relating to your niche market. From your research you’ll know what they’re looking for right?

So go write an article like Vegan Protein – 5 Essential Sources. Your articles should be around 250-400 words ideally.

Don’t write rubbish. You want to establish yourself as an expert in the field.

But what if you have absolutely no idea what to write?

What if your topic is so far out of your expertise you can’t even imagine what to write?

What if you just couldn’t be bothered writing an article about becoming a vegan (as you bite into your meat pie?)

Simple! Pay someone else to do it.

Go to www.elance.com. This is a site where professional writers hang out looking for work. Just tell them the topic and a brief description of what you want and writers will apply to write your article and tell you their asking price.

You then have all rights to that article and can simply put your name in the authors box.

What I do is rather than looking for 10 different topics I give the writers a very general brief and then ask them for a 3000 word article.

Then with a bit of editing I submit that as 10 separate articles.

For example I asked them to write me an article about becoming a vegan and could they please include information about vegan protein, how to become a vegan and some vegan recipes. A lovely lady who had recently become a vegan herself offered to write the article for $80. I then turned this into 10 different articles. That’s just 8 bucks an article.

Ok so now you have your articles submitted to ezinearticles, there is an approval process and usually takes about 2-3 days.

They will not approve anything that is simply advertising or includes links to other sites (the only place for your domain name is in the author’s box).

Also there is a place to include the keywords at the bottom, don’t just write an article linked together with keywords.

Now you want to submit that article to some search engines so copy the url at the top of your article page and go to www.submitexpress.com this will submit your article to over 40 search engines for free. If you really want to get it out there, then there is software you can buy like content www.contentcrooner.com. This will submit your article to 1520 search engines (This is how you see really quick, effortless results) Costs about $270 i think.

Ok so here’s another important way to drive traffic to your url. Create a blog specific to your niche market. go to www.wordpress.com

What could you post in your blog?? hmmm? maybe your articles?

Get involved in other peoples blogs and just become part of the community in general.

When you update your blog head to http://www.ping-o-matic.com and they will do something (I’m not computer savvy at all so I can’t tell you exactly what it is they do) but they will do something to inform other people your blog has been updated.

So that’s it. There is a few pitfalls along the way and if you’re having any trouble just email us at admin@theshift.info.

Ok so have you guessed now why I would give this system away for free when others are charging for it? Well it’s simple. I’d love you to come and checkout my life coaching program The Shift- Based on Da Vinci’s 7 Principles of Living at www.theshift.info

Best of luck

Bradley Stuart

Health Reforms? They’re making me sick!

With all the talk of Kevin Rudd’s health reforms it has got me thinking and I apologize in advance as I realize these comments will offend people.

I just wondered Why don’t  we spend all that money on closing hospital beds instead of opening more?

What if we started to focus on health rather than sickness?

What if instead of all that money going to pharmaceutical companies who have a vested interest in discovering more disease and more ailments, we invested that money in providing our population with fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains.

We continue to allow pharmaceutical companies to bully and scare us and then we PAY them to poison our bodies. Why?

What if we put all that money into programs that focused on unprocessed diets, moderate exercise, getting more sunshine in our lives, having loving relationships and living lives of passion.

How much time would we have left in our lives for disease then?

What if instead of Sickness Reforms we actually had Health Reforms?

Bradley Stuart www.theshift.info

No Purpose? Where is your focus

Just a little story I thought I’d share about focus.

I hear a lot about focus and always thought to myself “What does it mean” I mean what do I do? Does it mean I just have to stick to the same task day in day out?

Does it mean hard work with no breaks and intense discipline? Does it mean sticking with the same plan even if it’s not working?

Well this story made focus a little clearer for me and hopefully for you too.

There once was a great king. And this great king had a vision, a vision of a grand temple to honor his god. A temple so big it would take 100 hundred years to complete. So he gathered together the best stone cutters in the land and he sent them to work. Eventually the great king died and his son took up his legacy. And then the son died and his son took up the legacy. The workers too, died and in turn their sons worked on the temple too.

One day a man from a distant land passed through and saw all the work. He approached a disgruntled and stern man and asked “excuse me sir but what are you doing here?”

“Well, I’m a stone cutter” The man replied. “My Father was a stone cutter, his Father was a stone cutter and eventually my son he too, will cut stone”.

The man continued a short way until he saw another stone cutter, but something was different. This man was joyous and his work was immaculate.

“Excuse me sir” he asked “But why is it that your work is so much better than the other stone cutters?”

“Oh you’re mistaken sir” The man replied with a smile.

“I’m not a stone cutter. I’m a temple builder. My Father was a temple builder, his Father was a temple builder and if he’s lucky my son will be a temple builder” He beamed and then was quickly back to work.

That little story made things a little clearer in my life and I hope it has the same effect for you in your life.

Until next time, all the best. And live life joyously!

Bradley Backhouse is a life coach and entrepreneur. For amazing results in your life head to http://www.theshift.info.

Ketut Liyer – Light Healer

I recently traveled to Bali with one objective in mind. To find my life’s purpose!

If anyone knew my life’s purpose it was surely Ketut Liyer. The man of legend, the locals spoke of him with reverence and respect. He became world famous after featuring heavily in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ which was turned into a movie starring Julia Roberts and directed by Brad Pitt. If anyone knew my life’s purpose then surely it would be Ketut Liyer.

“You are destined to be a healer like me,” I imagined him saying. “Your purpose is to bring peace to the world,” he said in my mind as we made the short trip by motorbike from Ubud.

A hand written sign on a street corner pointed us in the right direction. “Ketut Liyer Healer” was all it said and an arrow pointing around the corner.

As we rounded the corner I saw an old man standing outside his house. He walked straight over and greeted us like old friends. “I’m very happy to meet you,” he said with such endearing infliction in his voice and such energy that we couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear. “Come inside I will read your palm.”

Ketut began singing a song in Japanese and suddenly I was filled with a sense of calm. Just being around this man was filling me with a profound sense of joy. His vitality and energy were astounding.

We came and sat on his porch while he adjusted a fan. Just to make sure we didn’t get hot. He then proceeded to read our face, palm, back and knees. My heart sunk. It was clear that this was a well rehearsed recital. He’d given the same reading to hundreds of people. I was devastated. I had traveled all the way here. Couldn’t he see he was part of my journey? Wasn’t he going to miraculously point me down the right path?

I summonsed my courage and asked very seriously, “Ketut I have come here to find my life’s purpose.”

He looked me straight in the eye and burst into laughter. “Your life purpose?” he questioned as he burst into laughter. “You ask an old man like me your life purpose? You are very smart,” he said. “You can figure it out. Hahaha,” he laughed. “I have to make pee now very sorry. You understand pee?”

“Yes Ketut,” I said. “We understand pee.” And with that he shuffled off and was gone.

That’s when I decided, there was something to learn here. No one could tell me my life’s purpose. It was only through the journey of self discovery and inner reflection that I was able to discover it for myself.

To learn more about Bradley’s Life Coaching Program, The Shift based on Da Vinci’s 7 Principles of living head to www.theshift.info

Go Vegan?

Went to see Don Tolman last night and blew my mind away.  http://www.dontolmaninternational.com

He has so much courage to stand up and speak what seems to be so obviously the truth. He made an awesome point, that the truth requires no credentials because when we hear it we know to the very fibre of our being that it is in fact the TRUTH. It gave me goosebumps as what he was saying sank in.

His whole food medicine concept was incredible in it’s simplicity.

So thank you Don for getting up there and doing what you do. I really got that this guy was committed to a world of joy and love and not one of fear and disease.

Over the last few weeks I have been researching the idea of a vegan lifestyle for an e-book that I am creating. I am not a vegan myself and I intended to it to be just a guide for those interested in the idea of a plant based diet but not wholly committed to the idea of a life void of all animal products.

The more I researched the more shocked I became to learn of the cruel treatment of animals in factory farming.

I’m now considering the idea of veganism and want to know if anyone has any compelling arguments either for or against?

I read an awesome book in my research process if anyone’s interested Click Here!

Ultimate Responsibility

I recently became aware of the concept of ultimate or total responsibility.

This was brought to my attention while completing Dr Joe Vitale’s Awakening course(I highly recommend this course by the way).

In it he refers to Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len a Hawiian therapist renowned for “curing” his patience without actually meeting them.

When Dr Vitale asked him ‘What were you doing within yourself that caused those people to change’

He responded “‘I was simply healing the part of me that created them,’ (Check out the full story at http://www.zerolimits.info)

This is really taking responsibility to the next level. A step above just being responsible for our thoughts, words and actions but actually taking responsibility for everything that occurs in our reality.

Hmmm well how far can we take this? Can we end war, poverty and disease?

This really got me thinking as for years I’d been avoiding watching news or reading the paper as it was all so negative.

But was I just avoiding the problem? Sweeping it under the carpet because it was all too much for me?

So now I’ve taken a new approach. I now read the paper and when I  find a negative article that envokes an emotional reaction within me I stop. I highlight that emotion in my body and I mentally offer it to the devine (god, buddah, Allah, your higher self, what ever you believe in) and I ask the devine

“Please forgive me for whatever part of me brought this into reality”

“I’m sorry for what I’ve done or haven’t done that created this”

“Thank you for the beautiful world in which we live”

“I Love you”

Now that’s just me, and yes you may say “fat lot of good you’re doing, Look in the paper the worlds full of violence and pain”. But what if we all did this? What if the entire planet took responsibility for their lives and everything that occurred.

Imagine a world without disease, hunger, pain or frustration. Sounds good right? Well then just pick up a paper and get going!

Good Luck

Bradley Stuart