Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking: A Step-by-Step Guide

Anxiety and fear of public speaking are very frequent. When it comes to speaking in front of a crowd, more than 75% of people experience some level of anxiety or nervousness. This fear is often ranked higher than spiders, heights, and death by those polled. The first thing to remember is that you are not alone in your dread.

Glossophobia is a more intense form of dread that can vary from mild uneasiness to paralyzing terror and panic. Many people afraid of public speaking either avoid them completely or suffer through them with trembling hands and a quavering voice. To be successful in several fields, you must effectively communicate and explain your ideas in a public setting. Practicing public speaking may assist you in advancing your career, expanding your business, and forming strong relationships. Promoting ideas and motivating people to take action on issues that directly affect them and society as a whole may be useful. You’ll have to present a pitch, an idea, or a body of work in front of a group of people to do any of these things well. And fear might be all that separates you from your audience at times.

Glossophobia: More than just a fear of speaking in public

When speaking in public, most of us have had apprehensions. Glossophobia, on the other hand, is a condition in which a person cannot control their anxieties and has a severe dread of public speaking, often to the point of panic.

Uncontrollable trembling, perspiration, and a fast heartbeat might accompany this. In addition to speaking in front of large groups, people with glossophobia may find it difficult to talk in meetings, classrooms, and other smaller groups. Patients may find it incredibly challenging to convey their thoughts and ideas clearly and straightforwardly due to this. As a result of glossophobia, the patient may find it difficult to attain their academic, social, or professional goals.

When giving a speech, a presentation, or performing on stage, most people are nervous or anxious. Even though they aren’t enjoying themselves, they manage to cope with the situation. On the other hand, people living with Glossophobia may purposefully avoid circumstances in which they would have to speak in public.

What Makes Us Afraid of Speaking in Public?

Fear of public speaking has less to do with the quality of a speech than how the speaker feels, thinks, and behaves when they are in front of a crowd. People are terrified of speaking in public for a variety of reasons. Four elements have been recognized as related to the fear of public speaking in theories:

1. Physiology

The stimulation of the autonomic nervous system in reaction to potentially dangerous stimuli is involved in fear and anxiety. Our bodies prepare for a fight when presented with danger. Our ability to perform easily in front of audiences is hampered by this hyperarousal, leading to an emotional feeling of terror. It eventually discourages people from seeking opportunities to speak in front of a group of people.

According to several studies, those who have greater anxiety levels in a variety of scenarios are also more likely to be uncomfortable while speaking in public. People who are more prone to anxiety may find it more difficult to overcome their fear of public speaking and would choose to avoid it. The physiological indications of terror they experience as they anticipate, prepare, and perform in public are comparable to others, but their worry is confined to public speaking circumstances.

Furthermore, some persons have anxiety sensitivity, or the dread of fear, as described by researchers. Worry sensitivity indicates that people are concerned about public speaking and their anxiety about public speaking and how it will impair their capacity to communicate effectively in difficult situations. In addition to worrying about whether their speech will achieve their goals, people with high anxiety sensitivity are also concerned that they may appear shaky in front of their audience if they are very stressed.

2. Thoughts

People’s attitudes about public speaking and their abilities as speakers are another element to consider. When people exaggerate the risks of speaking in front of a group of people, they see the event as a danger to their credibility, image, and chances of reaching an audience. Anxiety and dread of public speaking can be exacerbated by negative opinions of oneself as a speaker (I am not good at speaking in front of audiences, I am not a good public speaker, I am dull, etc.). There is a contrast between a communication and a performance focused on certain ideas.

You perceive public speaking as something that requires special talents, and you see the audience as a judge evaluating your ability to convey effectively. The major focus of communication orientation, on the other hand, is on conveying your ideas, presenting facts, or telling your narrative rather than on expressing your thoughts. The goal for persons with this attitude is to communicate with their audience in the same way that they communicate with others in their daily lives. Consider this in reverse: If you consider each discussion you have in front of another person to be “public” speaking, you have ample evidence that you can communicate effectively and clearly. You’d then approach public speaking engagements in the same way, focusing solely on delivering knowledge and ideas. The anxiety tends to be stronger when the focus turns from being heard and understood to being assessed.

3. Situations

When it comes to public speaking, while some individuals are naturally worried or don’t think they’re good at it, there are specific conditions that are likely to make most of us feel more uncomfortable.

It’s a lack of knowledge. Experience, like everything else, gives you a sense of self-assurance. You are more likely to develop a fear of public speaking if you don’t have much stage time under your belt.

Graduation of grading. The terror is heightened when there is a genuine or imagined component to the circumstance. You may be more nervous if you speak in front of a group of people who are already filling out assessment papers.

A distinction in status. You may experience a bigger dosage of anxiety tingling through your body if you are about to speak in front of individuals of higher prestige (e.g., people in higher positions at your business or groups of successful professionals in your field of work).

Ideas that aren’t familiar to you are welcome. You may be more concerned about how people will react if you express thoughts you have not yet discussed in public. When you’re presenting something new in front of a crowd, it’s more difficult to state your stance, answer queries from the audience, or deal with individuals who try to find holes in your argument.

New audiences. You may already have some public speaking and public speaking experience. You may, for example, be accustomed to speaking in front of experts in your field of expertise. When the target audience changes, there may be a sense of fear. Your confidence may be a touch unsafe if you’re speaking to a group of individuals who aren’t like the ones you regularly speak to.

4. Skills

Finally, how well-versed you are in public speaking is another aspect that adds to the fear of public speaking. Even though many individuals believe they are inherently good speakers, there is always space for improvement. Speakers who concentrate on their talents rather than depending on their innate abilities are the ones who stand out the most. There are various ways to improve your public speaking ability and improve your skillset. An effective antidote to dread is increasing competence, which leads to increased self-assurance. On the other hand, confidence isn’t enough to make you a good public speaker.

Wrapping it up!

The many advantages of sharing knowledge and thoughts in public exceed the fear of speaking in front of a group of people. The next natural question is: how can we get rid of this apprehension? Fortunately, various methods are effective in skill development and confidence building.

The keys to overcoming your fear of public speaking are preparation and experience. If you’ve done your study thoroughly, you’ll feel more confident in your ability to present a clear, fascinating speech. You’ll feel more at ease with the whole process and won’t be as nervous as you used to be. To combat your fear of public speaking, volunteer to speak at a conference, practice in virtual reality, or try any other method to get out and talk in public a few times.

6 Key Benefits to Use Transcription for Your Business Gain

The audience nowadays is increasingly distracted and impatient given how flooded it is with information. We often open a video just to close it a few seconds later if we don’t like how it started or what we saw while skimming through it. Below, we argue that doubling the information contained in the video by means of transcripts/ captions comes with multiple benefits.

Why Use Transcripts?

1. Including full transcripts along the video enables the audience to locate the desired information instantly

Suppose your viewers are hoping to locate a very specific bit of information from your video. Extracting and pasting the full transcripts somewhere underneath the video under a structured outline could be an incredible time-saver. Additionally, your audience could simply use the search function to locate specific words or word combinations they are looking for and then, either read the transcript fragment or jump to the respective video timing.

2. Videos with captions are easier to adapt for multilingual audiences

Transcription files can be used directly to generate translations in dozens of languages without messing with the original audio. Translating captions can be performed with minimal effort – one just needs to translate the sentences in the original transcription file without altering the timings. In fact, video transcription is nowadays one of the standard services offered by professional translation services online and the latter already feel very comfortable approaching such tasks, having acquired the necessary expertise. Alternatively, if no translation is intended, making the full transcripts accessible can enable the audience to perform the translations themselves using tools like Google Translate.

3. Transcripts make it easier to disseminate the information embedded in the video

Accessing the transcripts alone would only consume a fraction of the traffic necessary to watch the video, which would make the latter easier to disseminate under certain circumstances. Text excerpts could be also embedded in emails or sent through other channels with limited attachment size, can be included in posts on social media, RSS feeds, printed media, etc.

Video Content

4. Videos with transcripts are better at attracting attention

Text is just another channel of information that can be exploited in an extremely competitive setting, such as when advertising. On many social media platforms, videos on the timeline start muted, therefore, videos with captions have a greater chance to attract the attention of the timeline scrolling audience. Just ensure that the video starts with a punchline, ideally, an explanatory one.

5. Captions make videos viewable by people with hearing impairment and by those who struggle with the language

As opposed to signing language, which takes training to learn, everyone can create captions and hence, could make videos viewable by people with hearing impairment. Besides, captions make it easier to discern speech for everyone else, including for those learning the language. This can be even useful for representatives of the same nation when dialects or strong accents are involved.

6. Captions enable watching videos discreetly

There are times when we only need to pretend to pay attention or times when we don’t want to disturb the surrounding people and also don’t have the earbuds anywhere nearby. Captions enable us to retrieve all the important information from the video without turning on the audio, be it at a boring unproductive meeting, in public transport, and so on.

Video Captions

Final Thoughts

To conclude, transcribing videos comes with multiple benefits. Fortunately, it is not too time-consuming and can be entirely delegated to third parties that deliver this as a service. Alternatively, you could do it yourself given the simplicity of the process.

For instance, if you need to transcribe a YouTube video, this article lists several ways to achieve it. Note that you could greatly accelerate your work by employing intelligent tools using artificial intelligence – while some errors are guaranteed, they might save you a lot of time.

Bio:

Merissa worked as a content writer for academic assistance and content marketing platforms. She wrote lots of creative essays, produced carefully researched and documented academic papers, and created inspiring promotional messages. Now, she gladly shares the experience acquired throughout this time.

Positive Words Research – 6 Key Benefits to Use Transcription for Your Business

How to Write the Greatest Speech Ever Simple Tips

Writing a speech is a challenge. Writing the greatest speech is an even bigger challenge. When you want to talk, it means you have something to say. You have a message you want to convey. And many times you must be able to convey that message. But how to write the greatest speech ever?

Every person has experienced a moment in which they have a lot to say but are unsure of the best words to use. Words become mixed, and the main idea is lost as a result. In such a case, it’s common practice to write down your thoughts on a piece of paper first. However, if this is also challenging, you can get services like write my speech from expert writers, who can help you properly express your thoughts and seem more confident in your speech.

Delivering a speech is full of emotions. Even the most experienced public speakers have emotions when they speak. And it’s normal. When you give a speech, a group of people who want to be inspired listen to you. And this pressure to say something valuable to your listeners creates emotions.

But there is a trick with which you can significantly reduce the emotions of speech. This trick is to write your speech in advance. And an even better trick is to memorize that speech. Of course, it’s good to leave a place for improvisations.

It is good to know this trick, but how do we write the speech. How to write a good speech. Moreover, how do we write the greatest speech ever? Fortunately, there are some tricks here as well. Little secrets that if introduced, the speech becomes a powerful inspirational message. Find below a list on how to write the greatest speech ever:

How to Write the Greatest Speech Ever

1. Add Power Words To Your Speech

Add between 8 to 10 strong words to your speech in a conscious and intentional way. Check the list of positive words and take some strong words from it and add them to your speech. Write the speech around these words. Repeat these strong words several times during the speech. People remember only a few words at the end of a speech and those are usually the strong words repeated more often.

2. Add Sentences To Be Remembered

Add around 3 to 4 sentences to be remembered by the audience. Intentionally add between 3 to 4 sentences during the speech in order to be memorized and remembered by the public. Include in these sentences some of the power words you have chosen. Do not put the sentences all in the same place or all at the end as a conclusion. Scatter the sentences to be memorized during the speech. Intentionally think about these sentences and write them separately before you start writing your speech.

3. Write From The Heart

Write about 40% of your speech from your heart. The rest can be informational and with things that have been heard before. This 40% will give your speech a vibe full of authenticity. The remaining 60% write it with information that most people know so that you can be relatable and give more value to the authentic parts of the speech. Be bold with your authentic side. Say exactly what you have to say.

4. Write The Speech Structured

Write the speech structured in 3 parts: introduction, middle-content, and conclusion. Try to structure your middle content in 3 large parts. Write in such a way that it is clear what the introduction, the middle content, and the conclusion are. In the introduction, attracts the public’s attention through an intelligent and inspirational statement, but also says things such as the purpose of your speech and who you are. In the end, try not to conclude the whole speech, it is better to write one of the key sentences that you want people to remember. Also at the end be careful to introduce a part in which you tell the audience how to continue on their own the research for the topic of speech.

5. Use a Genuine Sense of Humor

Humor in a speech may or may not be beneficial. Don’t put jokes made by people that you do not personally know in your speech. The best jokes are the authentic jokes that already exist in your family. Those jokes that no one but you and your friends knows. Mention who you were making that joke with. The joke in speeches is better received when you say: my mother joked with me and told me, my father joked with me and told me, my friends and I used to joke and say. But be very careful not to be perceived as racist, mean, stupid, or boring. Limit the jokes to 2, a maxim 3 per speech.

6. Don’t Thank The Audience

Many people advise you to thank the people who listen to you. But Toastmasters, the world’s largest network of people who learn to speak in public, makes it clear in their textbooks not to thank the audience in your speech. You can thank the organizers or mentors who taught you something. In this way, you make the edification of the organizers and mentors who in return build you up. When you thank the organizers and mentors you increase the value of your speech and when you thank the audience you decrease the value of your speech.

7. Frame Your Speech In Time

Every speech has a time in which it must be said. Make sure you know the time you will speak and write your speech for that time. If you have to talk for 10 minutes then you will write another type of speech. If you have to talk for an hour then you will need to write a different kind of speech, in more detail. It is very important that before you start writing a single word in the speech, you know the time of the speech. Whatever time you have for the speech, keep the same structure and follow the same rules that are described above.

Conclusion

Writing a great speech requires practice. You have to accept that the first speech you write will not be the greatest. But with practice, you will improve considerably. Writing your own speech is super awesome. You’ll see. You will feel that you have a voice, that you have something important to say. You will start to feel listened, right from the moment you start writing your speech. Somehow as you write your speech you seem to begin to see the people who will listen to you, and you already feel listened to.

Congratulations on wanting to express yourself. Freedom of expression is a great gift of the age we live in. Always remember that in the past people were not allowed to express themselves authentically. So have courage and speak authentically. Speak from your heart. Because you are allowed and we all want to hear your message.

Positive Words Research – How to Write the Greatest Speech Ever

Write the Greatest Speech Ever

Society Offers Learning Opportunities With Online Platforms

Nowadays, future specialists must possess not only the basic theoretical skills and be competent in the chosen professional activity, but also have a high level of development of mobility. Therefore, the training of specialists in different fields should be based on the use of active teaching methods, which will allow students to master the material at the level of their cognitive activity.

We live in a time when there are a lot of learning opportunities, and students can easily choose the most appropriate one for themselves. They can try learning online, order essay on one essay site, take part in an exchange program etc. If talking about writing, there are a lot of sources where you can find free essays https://studymoose.com/. It is extremely convenient when everything needed is available in one place, but not less important is to find desire and motivation to study, and how to manage to do this?

What is an online platform, and why is it needed?

One of the ways of learning is an online platform. Using the online platform implies the ability to create any course in accordance with the goals and professional interests of the student. At any stage of training, the course can be changed/supplemented in accordance with the student’s academic performance. So, if the teacher and the methodologist understand that the student has learned certain material before the planned date, they can pick up new content without spending time on the already studied. In ordinary schools, this principle is partly realized only in the case of working with corporate clients, when an ordinary course adapts to the company’s goals (special vocabulary is added, descriptive words are removed, which is one of the best student development opportunities).

The online platform allows you to save and view video lessons. On the one hand, this gives the student the opportunity to return to the material studied and repeat the study, and on the other hand, the methodologist can look at the teacher’s work and give him recommendations on the work or adjust the course. In addition to the video, the platform provides a very detailed analysis of the student’s progress: the time of his speaking in class, the speed of reaction, the rate of speech, the psycho-emotional state at the time of speech, the growth of his skills in various aspects of the language and much more.

Modern innovations in education

Innovative technologies in education make it possible to regulate education, to direct it in the right direction. People were always intimidated by all that was unknown and new, they were negative about any changes. Stereotypes that exist in the mass consciousness, affecting the usual way of life, lead to painful phenomena, prevent the renewal of all types of training. The reason for the reluctance of people to take innovations in modern education lies in blocking vital needs for comfort, safety, and self-assertion. Not everyone is ready for the need to re-learn the theory, pass exams, change their minds, spend personal time and money on it.

But innovations are really important in education, students had more troubles in the past without the help of the internet. Nowadays teenagers cannot imagine how it is to be unable to find essays online, to ask for help with essays term papers, essays research papers, to order essay online. They are not used to going to the library and search for needed information there, so with the help of innovations the next generation would be able to deal with something even more convenient and interesting than internet resources.

In innovative education, the management of the educational process is organized in such a way that the teacher plays the role of a tutor (mentor). In addition to the classic version, the student can choose distance learning, saving time, money. The position of students regarding the option of learning is changing, they are increasingly choosing non-traditional types of knowledge acquisition.

Exchange programs for students

The exchange program for students and specialists of different ages provides a unique chance to make the learning process interesting and profitable. The main goal of educational programs is to increase their knowledge, improve language skills, gain invaluable experience and gain a large number of positive emotions.

Cultural exchange for students and pupils. The main objective of this type of program is to get acquainted with the culture of the country and to overcome the language barrier. Here, earnings act as an instrument of immersion in the national flavor and communication with people.

Internship abroad. This program provides for the acquisition of important knowledge and valuable skills in their field. Of course, during the course of work, the intern is paid a salary. These programs are suitable for senior students and beginner specialists who want to gain invaluable knowledge and practical experience.

Positive Words Research – Society Offers More Learning Opportunities

Society Offers More Learning Opportunities

Best 7 Tips To Encourage Your Kid To Write Motivated Today

How to motivate children to write

Every child can be a good author of school or college papers, but only if parents encourage him or her to develop their own skills. It’s well-known, that most kids have great imagination and fantasy to describe anything, but sometimes laziness, uncertainty, and other things stop your young author from coming up with a good story.

That’s why the task of each and every parent is to help children and motive them to write. There are several useful tips from college paper writing service on how to make good lessons for kids and gain brilliant result.

5 steps to start the writing game

What do kids like the most? They adore games and animated characters. That’s why it would be great to make the writing process similar to a game. This type of activity has rules to follow, which helps to balance the good leisure and education.

Games have always been a great teaching technique. Such an approach helps to set free the inner feelings, creative potential, and develop skills. That’s why sneaking writing into game and practicing at home are great options. This way every parent feels great responsibility, because he or she executes the role of soft of a coach, whose obligation is to teach, encourage, and motivate their mentee.

So first of all, you need to understand your task. As studies show, grammar and spelling are not the main goals. Parents must pay attention to developing kids’ attitudes, outlook, and ability to express feelings.

Here is a sample of a game with your child:

1. Begin the game. Just tell your kid what you are going to play together, no need to mention that you’ll be writing something.

2. Choose the topic. The best idea is to choose the subject your child is excited about.

3. Proceed with conversation. Talk about the topic, ask questions, let the child describe their feelings, listen carefully.

4. Make notes or drawings. This will help your kid easily remember ideas you came up with together.

5. Writing part. Since this is a useful game, not an exam, you can either do some dictation or let your kid do some writing based on what you discussed, and found out while playing.

6. Showing your approval. Don’t forget to praise your mentee for good work (no matter how you actually asses it). Also, put the writing in plain view, for this is something to be proud of!

This approach is exciting and fun, which will definitely help your child express their ideas in writing. Just remember to make your ‘games’ short and consistent. Here are some more interesting games you can use to encourage children to write.

TOP games for grades K-2

Eat the words

If writing is particularly, it might be a good idea to start with words or even letters. Edible letters will help you make a lot of fun! All you need is some products and time for cooking. Use the following ideas:

– cookies in the shape of words;

– traditional family dinner with letters;

– special dishes with short words, etc.

There are many options, how to play with food, so you will never lack of ideas. In addition, children adore eating something fun and delicious, so such game will definitely motivate them to write and eat more wholesome food.

Survival

The game appeals to a lot of children, especially to the ones who like stories about journeys and adventures. It’s quite simple and needs no special preparation

Imagine your kid and you are trapped on a deserted island, just like Robinson Crusoe. Your task is to write the word ‘help’ in an unusual way, without pencils and paper. You have only your hands and surrounding in your disposal. If you are in the park, you can use leaves and grass. Playing at the beach allows you to use shells, sand and water. The variety of options is even bigger if you stay at home.

Start with one word and continue with the entire sentences. Surely, if you don’t lose excitement and have enough stuff around. You’ll definitely have fun, and the game will help your child develop good attitude to writing.

Messages are flying

This game requires not much stuff: the ball, tape, some pieces of paper or longs stripes. The task for both of you is to write several commands on the paper, where you’ll ask another player to make some kind of movement or noise. Notice that you shouldn’t spy in each other’s papers while writing.

Here are ideas to write on strips of paper:

– Touch your nose 3 times;

– Jump on your left leg;

– Sound like a cat.

Then it’s your turn to go outside and wait your kid tosses the ball. To start the game you need to tap the strip on the ball. When your child gets the flying message, he or she executes the task, tapes the strip on the ball, and throws it to you. You can play the game until there are no more messages left or forever.

TOP games for grades 3-5

Fortunately and unfortunately

Writers need different skills to make good papers. One of them is ability to alternate between good and bad situations to demonstrate changes in story. To develop such a skill you can play with your child a special game. Both you and your kid get one sheet of paper to write sentences. You need to divide it into two parts and mark each column with words ‘Fortunately’ and ‘Unfortunately’. Then ask your child to imagine your trip to the unknown country and describe it with a series of opposite statements.

For instance:

‘Fortunately, we went to Disneyland to see real magic. Unfortunately, it was raining first half of the day. Fortunately, we had big umbrella to cover all the family’. Continue the story till you come up with a happy end.

Once upon a time

Suggest that you kid tries being a blogger for one day. Blogging is so popular today, he or she will definitely get inspired. It’s not a big deal in terms of preparation. Just give the kid a photo camera and let them make the photos of anything they want during the day. Then print the, pics and talk about why they chose to make these pictures, what the objects in pictures mean to them, what they felt while taking a picture and what were the reasons. Help a kid make a book with the photos and there story. Decorate it the way you like and keep it as a memory.

Not only will it be a reminder of the great time you spent together. Talking about the child’s feelings, ideas, attitudes is crucial in developing their personality, as well as imagination and writing skills.

The time capsule

This is a great game for all the members of your family. You can write notes about anything you want and store them in a box. The more years pass, the more precious your capsule will be. Usually such a box is meant to be opened in 10, 20, or even 50 years.

Tell your child to write something that is valuable for him or her at the moment. It could be favorite a toy, some happy moment, wishes, etc. Then find a proper box, place there all your notes, mark it with warning ‘Do not open till 2028’ and leave it in safe place. Be sure, the process of writing notes will be exciting, and the entire family will be happy to open the capsule in years.

If I become a president

Most children want to rule the world. So let your kid do it! Imagine, that elections were held and now the power in his hands. But to start using powers the speech is required. So your kid’s task is to write a good speech, which can encourage people.

In addition, you can make the task more complex and interesting. Ask your child to choose the outfit, hairstyle, personal symbol of the power, the full name, etc. You may also use additional stage property, such as tribune, name badge etc.

All these games will definitely help you to encourage your children think, write, and be creative. Remember, that your task is to create an exciting game, but not make your kid do a chore. Make sure, that writing is an interesting process, but not an obligation.

Additional tips for parents:

– Give you child some time. Writing skills may be inborn, but sometimes they have to be developed, which does not happen instantly.

– Give your kid feedback. Try to praise his or her activity and give pieces of advice on how to write better.

– Help with writing, but do not write yourself. This won’t help you kid gain writing skills.

– Do all the tasks together. Your help will be very useful, so demonstrate your support.

– Motivate to practice. Practice is crucial for learning something new.

Writing is a really useful skill for children, because they will definitely face with numerous tasks to create academic papers in the future. School, college, university, and even work require everyone to know how to express themselves.

That being said, remember that being involved in education of children is an obligation of every parent, but don’t get too overwhelmed or bossy. After all your kid is already a personality with some innate talents and skills. So if you clearly see that writing is a real challenge for you child, don’t exhaust him or her with exercises. A good essay writing service like Tutoriage.com is the best solution in this case!

The Biography of the Author

“James Murphy is essay writer that is fond of writing about various spheres of life. The most recurring themes he covers are education, writing and marketing. 
He has his own writing style and this is why he is appreciated by readers. Feel free to follow James on  LinkedIn

Positive Words Research – 7 Tips To Encourage The Kid Write

7 Tips To Encourage The Kid Write

Why Is Important To Take 10 Mindful Minutes And Do Nothing

Here is an incredible video from TED. The speaker is Andy Puddicombe. His speech is called “All it takes is 10 mindful minutes”. The following words are the transcript of this talk and at the end of this post, you will find the video. Enjoy below the speech!

Transcript of “All it takes is 10 mindful minutes”

We live in an incredibly busy world. The pace of life is often frantic, our minds are always busy, and we’re always doing something.

So with that in mind, I’d like you just to take a moment to think, when did you last take any time to do nothing? Just 10 minutes, undisturbed? And when I say nothing, I do mean nothing. So that’s no emailing, texting, no Internet, no TV, no chatting, no eating, no reading. Not even sitting there reminiscing about the past or planning for the future. Simply doing nothing. I see a lot of very blank faces. You probably have to go a long way back.

And this is an extraordinary thing, right? We’re talking about our mind. The mind, our most valuable and precious resource, through which we experience every single moment of our life. The mind that we rely upon to be happy, content, emotionally stable as individuals, and at the same time, to be kind and thoughtful and considerate in our relationships with others.

This is the same mind that we depend upon, to be focused, creative, spontaneous, and to perform at our very best in everything that we do. And yet, we don’t take any time out to look after it. In fact, we spend more time looking after our cars, our clothes and our hair than we — okay, maybe not our hair, but you see where I’m going.

The result, of course, is that we get stressed. You know, the mind whizzes away like a washing machine going round and round, lots of difficult, confusing emotions, and we don’t really know how to deal with that. And the sad fact is that we are so distracted that we’re no longer present in the world in which we live.

We miss out on the things that are most important to us, and the crazy thing is that everybody just assumes, that’s the way life is, so we’ve just kind of got to get on with it. That’s really not how it has to be.

So I was about 11 when I went along to my first meditation class. And trust me, it had all the stereotypes that you can imagine, the sitting cross-legged on the floor, the incense, the herbal tea, the vegetarians, the whole deal, but my mom was going and I was intrigued, so I went along with her. I’d also seen a few kung fu movies, and secretly I kind of thought I might be able to learn how to fly, but I was very young at the time.

Now as I was there, I guess, like a lot of people, I assumed that it was just an aspirin for the mind. You get stressed, you do some meditation. I hadn’t really thought that it could be sort of preventative in nature, until I was about 20, when a number of things happened in my life in quite quick succession, really serious things which just flipped my life upside down and all of a sudden I was inundated with thoughts, inundated with difficult emotions that I didn’t know how to cope with. Every time I sort of pushed one down, another one would pop back up again. It was a really very stressful time.

I guess we all deal with stress in different ways. Some people will bury themselves in work, grateful for the distraction. Others will turn to their friends, their family, looking for support. Some people hit the bottle, start taking medication. My own way of dealing with it was to become a monk. So I quit my degree, I headed off to the Himalayas, I became a monk, and I started studying meditation.

People often ask me what I learned from that time. Well, obviously it changed things. Let’s face it, becoming a celibate monk is going to change a number of things. But it was more than that. It taught me — it gave me a greater appreciation, an understanding for the present moment. By that I mean not being lost in thought, not being distracted, not being overwhelmed by difficult emotions, but instead learning how to be in the here and now, how to be mindful, how to be present.

I think the present moment is so underrated. It sounds so ordinary, and yet we spend so little time in the present moment that it’s anything but ordinary. There was a research paper that came out of Harvard, just recently, that said on average, our minds are lost in thought almost 47 percent of the time. 47 percent. At the same time, this sort of constant mind-wandering is also a direct cause of unhappiness.

Now we’re not here for that long anyway, but to spend almost half of our life lost in thought and potentially quite unhappy, I don’t know, it just kind of seems tragic, actually, especially when there’s something we can do about it, when there’s a positive, practical, achievable, scientifically proven technique which allows our mind to be more healthy, to be more mindful and less distracted.

And the beauty of it is that even though it need only take about 10 minutes a day, it impacts our entire life. But we need to know how to do it. We need exercise. We need a framework to learn how to be more mindful. That’s essentially what meditation is. It’s familiarizing ourselves with the present moment. But we also need to know how to approach it in the right way to get the best from it.

And that’s what these are for, in case you’ve been wondering, because most people assume that meditation is all about stopping thoughts, getting rid of emotions, somehow controlling the mind, but actually, it’s quite different from that. It’s more about stepping back, sort of seeing the thought clearly, witnessing it coming and going, emotions coming and going without judgment, but with a relaxed, focused mind.

So for example, right now, if I focus too much on the balls, then there’s no way I can relax and talk to you at the same time. Equally, if I relax too much talking to you, there’s no way I can focus on the balls. I’m going to drop them. Now in life, and in meditation, there’ll be times when the focus becomes a little bit too intense, and life starts to feel a bit like this. It’s a very uncomfortable way to live life when you get this tight and stressed.

At other times, we might take our foot off the gas a little bit too much, and things just become a sort of a little bit like this. Of course in meditation — we’re going to end up falling asleep. So we’re looking for a balance, a focused relaxation where we can allow thoughts to come and go without all the usual involvement.

Now, what usually happens when we’re learning to be mindful is that we get distracted by a thought. Let’s say this is an anxious thought. Everything’s going fine, and we see the anxious thought. “Oh, I didn’t realize I was worried about that.” You go back to it, repeat it. “Oh, I am worried. I really am worried. Wow, there’s so much anxiety.” And before we know it, right, we’re anxious about feeling anxious.

You know this is crazy. We do this all the time, even on an everyday level. If you think about the last time you had a wobbly tooth. You know it’s wobbly, and you know that it hurts. But what do you do every 20, 30 seconds?

It does hurt. And we reinforce the storyline, right? And we just keep telling ourselves, and we do it all the time. And it’s only in learning to watch the mind in this way that we can start to let go of those storylines and patterns of mind. But when you sit down and you watch the mind in this way, you might see many different patterns. You might find a mind that’s really restless and — the whole time.

Don’t be surprised if you feel a bit agitated in your body when you sit down to do nothing and your mind feels like that. You might find a mind that’s very dull and boring, and it’s just, almost mechanical, it just seems it’s as if you’re getting up, going to work, eat, sleep, get up, work. Or it might just be that one little nagging thought that just goes round and round your mind.

Well, whatever it is, meditation offers the opportunity, the potential to step back and to get a different perspective, to see that things aren’t always as they appear. We can’t change every little thing that happens to us in life, but we can change the way that we experience it. That’s the potential of meditation, of mindfulness.

You don’t have to burn any incense, and you definitely don’t have to sit on the floor. All you need to do is to take 10 minutes out a day to step back, to familiarize yourself with the present moment so that you get to experience a greater sense of focus, calm and clarity in your life.

Positive Words Research – Why Is Important To Take 10 Mindful Minutes And Do Nothing

mindful

Positive Words Analysis: I Have a Dream Martin Luther King

Positive Words Research has analyzed the text of the famous I Have a Dream Speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. and discovered some very interesting aspects. This speech was delivered on 28 August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and is considered the best and empowering speech in history.

The text of the speech was included in Positive Words Researcher. The following output was found:

List of positive words found in the text

ABLE – occurences: 8
ALLOW – occurences: 2
Count of positive words starting with letter A – 10

BEAUTIFUL – occurences: 1
BRIGHT – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter B – 2

CAPITAL – occurences: 1
COMMUNITY – occurences: 1
CONTENT – occurences: 2
CREATIVE – occurences: 2
Count of positive words starting with letter C – 6

DIGNITY – occurences: 2
DISCIPLINE – occurences: 1
DREAM – occurences: 11
Count of positive words starting with letter D – 14

ENGAGE – occurences: 1
EQUALITY – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter E – 2

FAITH – occurences: 5
FREE – occurences: 5
FREEDOM – occurences: 20
Count of positive words starting with letter F – 30

GIVE – occurences: 1
GLORY – occurences: 1
GOD – occurences: 1
GREAT – occurences: 5
Count of positive words starting with letter G – 8

HAPPINESS – occurences: 1
HAPPY – occurences: 1
HOPE – occurences: 4
Count of positive words starting with letter H – 6

INDEPENDENCE – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter I – 1

JOYOUS – occurences: 1
JUSTICE – occurences: 8
Count of positive words starting with letter J – 9

LIBERTY – occurences: 2
LIFE – occurences: 2
LIGHT – occurences: 1
LIKE – occurences: 2
LIVE – occurences: 2
LUXURY – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter L – 10

MAGNIFICENT – occurences: 1
MANY – occurences: 1
MARVELOUS – occurences: 1
MEANING – occurences: 2
Count of positive words starting with letter M – 5

NEW – occurences: 5
Count of positive words starting with letter N – 5

ON – occurences: 5
OPPORTUNITY – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter O – 6

PRESENCE – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter P – 1

REAL – occurences: 1
REALITY – occurences: 1
REST – occurences: 1
RIGHTEOUSNESS – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter R – 4

SACRED – occurences: 1
SATISFIED – occurences: 8
SECURITY – occurences: 1
SOUL – occurences: 1
STILL – occurences: 4
SWEET – occurences: 1
Count of positive words starting with letter S – 16

THANK – occurences: 1
TIME – occurences: 5
TRANQUILITY – occurences: 1
TRANSFORM – occurences: 1
TRUE – occurences: 2
Count of positive words starting with letter T – 10

UP – occurences: 4
Count of positive words starting with letter U – 4

WARM – occurences: 1
WELL – occurences: 1
WILL – occurences: 27
Count of positive words starting with letter W – 29

YES – occurences: 1
Total of positive words starting with letter Y – 1

Total number of words in the text: 1667
Count of positive words found: 179
Percent of positive words in the text: 10.74%

Some interesting notes:

The positive word WILL tops with 27 occurrences. Then we have FREEDOM with 20 occurrences, but if you add also the word FREE which is found 5 times, you have 25 times in total. The next words are ABLE, JUSTICE, SATISFIED each found 8 times. Therefore the top positive words in the speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. are: WILL, FREEDOM and FREE, ABLE, JUSTICE, SATISFIED. All this positive words are highly connected in the speech. This words will push your brain to make connections like: With WILL you can get FREEDOM. You are ABLE to get FREEDOM. JUSTICE means FREEDOM. Only FREEDOM can make you SATISFIED. Being SATISFIED is connected with FREEDOM.

Sincerely I was expecting the word FREEDOM to top first, but instead I found the word WILL that tops 27 times. Which gives a clear message to the brain: The WILL is FREEDOM. In many very empowering texts I found the word WILL to top. The WILL of a person is very powerful. Analyzing the positive words of the text I can draw the following conclusions that I could not spot, if I would not focus on positive words: the target of the speech was the WILL of the present moment of the people. The WILL was first, then second the focus was on FREEDOM. At that time, to this WILL was given a name and that name was FREEDOM. But the secret was about empowering the energy of the WILL of the people, not the energy of freedom.

Another surprising discovery was to see that the word SATISFIED tops in the first 5 words (if we consider FREEDOM and FREE as one word). During speech the people heard this word 8 times. They already heard the word WILL for 27 times and the word FREEDOM for 25 times. The word SATISFIED make the brain think: Your WILL needs to be SATISFIED. It transforms the WILL into a necessity that need to be SATISFIED.

The results of this research on the famous speech I Have a Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., are amazing for me. It it exactly what I intuitively known. You can deconstructs a text and discover the secrets of the text by focusing on positive words. Connecting the positive words, thinking about them, shows you all you need to know. You immediately find out why one speech empowers the brain and another go unnoticed. Positive words always top above all negativity, clearing everything and empowering you.

What other interesting aspects can you notice about this amazing speech?

Share it below.

Positive Words Research