“I need help!!!! I want to be a good Christian but can’t get thoughts out of my head. They are literally making me sick!

Well I have just been questioning him! A LOT! I’m willing to admit that. I will never quit praying and have a feeling in my heart God is in there. I’m just questioning Jesus a little bit. I was trying to defend my faith yesterday and just could not. It kind of made things worse. I’m just looking for answers for my desire is to believe. I’ve also been having bad thoughts about demons which I want to go away. I keep on praying and I’m sure things will be answered.

And it’s starting to make me wonder if I am a Christian and if Jesus is really the son of god. Like I said I keep on praying and will never give up.”

Does it matter whether Jesus was the Son of God? Question is… “Does He have anything useful to say about your life?” The teachings of Jesus are like riddles. The point is to discover for yourself their true meaning. They are vague, obscure; they resound in the heart, appeal to the heart but confuse the mind. The riddles are devices used by the master Jesus to awaken us. They are very ingenious in that you see them, according to your own level of awareness…

The opening of the Gospel of Thomas says “These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded. 1. And he said, ‘Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.’”

We are to discover their true meaning. To KNOW with full clarity and insight what they fully mean is to understand as Jesus understands, to see the truth as He sees it. He wants you to “follow him.”

The truth to which Jesus most often points is to the simple presence of being and non-attachment… “Become like a child.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” “The end will be where the beginning is.” “Look at the lilies of the field.”

I recommend that you focus only on the sayings of Jesus and their meanings and forget all the surrounding embellishments, distortions, additions and deletions.

To that end, I highly recommend reading The Gospel According to Jesus by Stephen Mitchell, which will renew your faith as well as give clarity about the meanings of the teachings of Jesus, which He wanted us to discover.

For your thoughts about demons, please read how to get rid of unwanted thoughts.

All the best,

Mike Kinnaird
Habit Guide: How to be Happy & Healthy

“Is observing your thoughts from a distance the same as being aware of your thoughts and not paying attention?

What about emotions… does the handling of emotions need to be done the same way?”

Observing from a distance is the same as being aware. Attention is then a matter of choice. Choice is not possible without awareness.

For most though, attention is not choice but dominated by habit, and that’s a problem. One factor contributing to the problem is the false identification with thoughts “I think this, I am that” and attaching a sense of self to the ideas…

Emotions can be a guide. If you feel good then move towards, if feel bad, move away. This is in general. In some situations, getting to good feelings can involve temporarily feeling bad but the aim is always to feel the best, feel good, long term, easily.

Don’t make a self out of emotion either but get to good feelings by mastering attention to what feels good. I don’t mean pleasure seeking which is short term titillation but deeper good feelings… contentment, appreciation, love, well-being. Fully experience whatever you are feeling right here and now, but remove attachment and the sense of self. Just notice, be curious about your thoughts and feelings and then choose.

All the best,

Mike Kinnaird
Habit Guide: How to be Happy & Healthy

“I have self-esteem issues that stem right back to childhood and the relationship I had with my father. He would tell me I am useless quite regularly and I guess that has stayed with me through life. And with my wife leaving, I think it blew the lid off issues that were hidden behind a cloud of depression. All sorts of distressing feelings and thoughts are bombarding my mind. Feeling I must be different, not good enough to live etc. I am trying to use your system in Habit Guide to win the battle over these thoughts.”

Is it true that you’re useless? It’s good to ponder that for as long as it takes to see it’s a lie. Most times these are projections from the parent of their own failings, lashing out when stressed or frustrated at their kids. And then of course it becomes habit, as everything does when repeated…

A friend of mine has the same story and spent her whole life trying to prove she was worthy. Very sad.

The Habit Guide system is absolutely complete and solves all problems other than genetic problems, which you don’t have.

Bringing AWARENESS to all thoughts, seeing thoughts for what they are, is transformational. The ego grows and becomes dysfunctional, causes pain to the point of wanting to die sometimes. With me, the ego saw its own dysfunction and then collaborated in its own death. It’s a self-limiting entity. The ego is simply identification with thoughts, the mind, or body. That’s why it’s a false sense of self.

The way to kill the ego is to notice it, be aware of it, be aware of all these thoughts you called “me,” like the thought “I am useless.” You will laugh at how you believed all this crap!

So… be aware of every thought that pops into your mind, just notice. Most times, there’s nothing that needs to be done other than noticing, and do this all the time, a constant practice. And then use the in-between moments to practice harder, when there’s no distractions.

If you are like my friend, then you have the stuff to do anything, but you simply need guidance. She has put amazing effort behind things that can’t solve her problem of low self-esteem. Habit Guide shows you clearly where to put your effort.

But everything matters Barry, don’t cherry pick if you want the best results…

• Get to bed on time, and do relaxation every night.
• No gluten — follow the Habit Guide diet, and stabilize… not bulking/cutting for now… just maintenance.
• Use fish oil as in the Guide.
• Do cardio… and lots of walking, that’s great for depression.
• Listening all the time, meditate at every spare moment.
• Get into the habit of actioning every worry-thought by asking yourself “What can I DO?”
• Tidy your soul.

And so-on… It all matters.

You also asked for clarity on the listen and ignore techniques in Habit Guide…

Listening is learning to notice, to step back from thinking.
Ignore is notice… “don’t care”… attention elsewhere.

When the mind is swirling, you need intense listening to STOP thoughts, when they’re “all over the place.” But once your mind is calm and unwanted thoughts are POPPING, then you simply ignore. Notice… “don’t care”… attention elsewhere.

All the best,

Mike Kinnaird
Habit Guide: How to be Happy & Healthy

I feel life is passing me by, and I have accomplished little, even down to the ordinary everyday things and I feel I have lost the zeal and zest out of life.

I feel that God would be saying that I need to wake up and use the life and talents He gave me, but I feel I do not have any talents either — I just drift into each new day and accomplish nothing different from week to month to year on a continuous basis.

And I just get so annoyed with myself and take it out on those of my family, which is so unfair. I have no focus, goal, challenge, as each of these require time and money to join, and be involved in activities which I cannot afford, well only very few if I push myself. I take on courses with great zeal and then after a few weeks into it, any excuse and I will lose heart in what once was something I loved.

Why does this happen me? Sometimes I think ‘What is my life about?’ Where is it all going? Will I feel like this in 10yrs time?

I’m in my early 40’s now and wish I had a dream, something of my own to attend to. I am envious of those who have the will power and motivation to change themselves.

I have all the books, on diet, food, health, positive thinking and still feel low self esteem and that people don’t find me interesting or want to become my friend — even though I have put myself out there, done the classes, am friendly, warm and kind.

But I do not tend to attract the same like minded people. I would really love to have a few good, trustworthy, loyal people in my life that I could be myself with, warts and all — and be accepted for my own personality and not compared to others which happens all the time.

I am my own worst critic of myself. I would love to hear from you about all this.

There’s a very true saying… “laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.” People want to be around happy people because we all affect each other with our “vibe” in very powerful ways. So people want to be with people that make them FEEL GOOD.

So, as always, your desire, focus and energy should rightly be behind BEING HAPPY. What does it matter how many classes you go to, how much you desire good friends if nothing about you changes? This is about YOUR FEELINGS first and foremost. YOU have to FEEL GOOD before you can cause others to feel good. And then you’ll be very popular because you’ll be a joy to be around.

You may well have all the diet and health books sitting on your shelf but how has that translated into ACTION, consistent action — good habits.

Seriously throw all these other books away because they have achieved nothing, and read Habit Guide, which is all about action — the consistent actions, habits, that will get you to a place of feeling good IF you commit to it. I will happily answer any questions you have about putting Habit Guide into practice, but first you need to read it — it’s short — only takes about an hour to read it cover to cover. And then you’ll be in no doubt what the causes of “FEEL GOOD” are. Then you will be truly empowered because you will know the truth about happiness.

Everything spins out from HAPPY.

Get happy FIRST, then good things will happen in your life. Happy first — focus there with as much energy and focus as you can muster. Step one — read the Guide.

And Trisha, I think it’s true that what we feel the world is withholding, we should give. So you can make sure that you are a trustworthy and loyal friend to those close to you, and fully accepting of everyone as they are. If you really think about it, can you say that’s true now?

Also, look at your thinking, WHAT you are thinking and holding as truth… yes you should think positively, but only when negativity comes. Your default state should be “no-mind,” just an alert awareness of what appears in your mind. If that is negative; “My life is a mess,” “I’m useless,” “What’s wrong with me?” “Everyone hates me,” then you need to tell a new truth about these things… substitute a positive thought, or at least see they are “not true.”

Just SEEING negativity for what it is, not identifying with thoughts, takes the sting out of them. Because when you really LOOK at these thoughts, you see them for what they are.

When you’ve read Habit Guide, you’ll be very clear about what matters and so you’ll be able to use all the positive ideas in the Guide to counter negativity. “I know what matters — happiness,” “I’m getting happy first, I have direction.”

There’s nothing important that you need to achieve other than happiness — happiness is not a puffed up ego. But happiness creates ripples as you interact with life, with people, and THAT has tremendous value. Even one random act of genuine kindness can deeply affect a person so you can see, that everything you do is making ripples.

All the best,

Mike Kinnaird
Habit Guide: How to be Happy & Healthy

Smile Qigong

Qigong (pronounced “chee-gung”) is a great tool to help heal from CFS/ME.

CFS leaves you with no energy but lots of time, so qigong practice is perfect — it’s something you can do to give you more energy and works on all levels to help you heal — physically, psychologically and emotionally.

What is qigong?

Qigong means “energy cultivation” and it’s the grandfather of tai-chi. It’s a series of slow-flowing movements and stances combined with breathing techniques which if practiced often, improve energy levels, strength, posture, body awareness, relaxation and clarity of thought. Qigong brings a feeling of lightness to your body instead of the heavy feeling that’s so common with CFS/ME…

Qigong created for CFS/ME

Smile Qigong was created by Ron Prescott ND, who’s worked with many qigong masters and who cured himself of CFS/ME using qigong as one of the cornerstones of his healing system. Smile qigong was created specifically for CFS/ME and can even be done sitting down if necessary.

Smile Qigong DVD

You can now get all the wonderful benefits of qigong for CFS/ME by getting the Smile Qigong DVD and using it to practice at home. It’s now available from the Amazon UK online store and can be shipped worldwide.

All the best,

Mike Kinnaird
Habit Guide: How to be Happy & Healthy