The more we trust our self help techniques, more we will use them both in everyday situations and during times of high stress or crisis. Habitual use helps to facilitate skill and intimacy with methods. Intimacy does not breed contempt in this case... it helps us gain greater confidence and trust in our own inner process and helps us to develop greater self awareness, a critical factor for interacting masterfully in life.

The best, most effective techniques involve aligning different layers of ourselves so as to maximise inner awareness. We cannot interact masterfully with others if we do not know and understand our own inner workings.

Inner alignment increases clarity, focus, effective self direction and leadership skills. These all link powerfully together to maximise manifestation of our goals and dreams consistently, joyfully and with minimum stress.

The following three effective power self help techniques can be easily incorporated into a busy lifestyle:

1. BREATHE!!!

Fast, easy way to align on spiritual, mental, emotional and physical levels. The breath is important to connect, rebalance and remain aligned with our deepest center during our hectic, challenging days.

Breathe. Deeply and fully for several minutes, many times during day. Breathe in peace, wisdom, love, abundance, joy and fun. Breathe out worries, anxieties, sadness, fear and hurt.

2. SELF TALK CHECK

Do a quick check of quality of thoughts playing through mind since awakening. Negative self talk changes frequency we emit and attracts real life situations that support, reflect and strengthen negativity.

If we are not happy with either situations we are encountering during day or quality of our self talk we can transform both by reprogramming our self talk more positively in line with what we would like to manifest.

Having discipline to regularly check-in on quality of our self talk realigns it to work in partnership with achieving our goals and dreams.

I find all this interest in mindfulness quite thrilling. It's fun to see people looking at ways to pay attention at work as well as at play. Of course, most of approaches focus squarely on meditation and its role in providing clarity in a variety of settings. The higher stakes, more it seems that meditation is considered only right path to mindfulness, and most dire circumstances seem to encourage most brow-furrowing effort. It would appear that serious problems require serious solutions.

I beg to differ.

Sometimes lightest approach is one that lifts those who are in deepest pit of despair. Those suffering from severe depression have most to gain from mindfulness, and there is no reason to believe that meditation is only way to get there.

There's tremendous power in levity, and because I'm an evangelist (evangelista?) when it comes to playing with mindfulness, it's not too surprising that people assume I shy away from anything too deep.

Au contraire. Mindfulness saves lives. I've seen it happen again and again. I offer it, lovingly and lightly, on a silver platter to those who are facing toughest fight of their lives--finding a reason to live.