If you are not manifesting success and prosperity or whatever else you truly desire, then I ask you seriously to examine the messages you tell yourself about living successfully.

Consider this: Success is a state of being and a state of mind.

You can choose to "feel" successful, whether in career/money, love, health, attitude or just having fun. On the other hand, you can choose to feel like a failure. As Henry Ford said, "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."

Do you need anymore evidence today that positive thinking and believing in yourself are the two most essential ingredients for living a full and meaningful life?

Aren't you bombarded with messages from this life coach, that self-help expert and probably even your rabbi, minister, guru or personal mentor that if you want to change your life for the better and attain the joy and peace of mind you deserve and crave, that you must embrace a positive attitude?

What Are You Waiting For?

First, start by giving yourself permission to be successful in whatever endeavors you choose? Have you done that? If not, you may be sending your unconscious the direct and powerful message that you do not deserve to be a success in life. Until you change those outdated messages, you will struggle to create what you truly want and deserve in your life!

Best selling author Og Mandino writes, "To be ambitious for wealth and yet always expecting to be poor, to be forever doubting your ability to get what you long for, is like trying to reach east by travelling west."

Simple, yet effective techniques to change your attitude and thoughts:

1) Sit quietly with your legs outstretched, either comfortably on the floor or on a sofa, with your back straight. Close your eyes. Breathe in to a count of 8 (watch your abdomen fill with air). Hold breath for a count of 3 ? breathe out to a count of 8 as your abdomen deflates. Repeat 5-7 times. Relax. Don't worry about random thoughts, just let them come and go without judging or trying to manage them.

2) Ask yourself if you are truly ready to make positive changes and if so, are you willing to do whatever it takes to make your life better?

3) If your answer is affirmative, then begin to consider what you want to manifest in your life. What are your goals? What behaviors do you want to change? What are your life-long dreams?

4) Once you have some answers, write them down in your journal or somewhere you can access them daily. Read these goals, dreams, desires aloud to yourself and affirm your sincere commitment to bringing about change in your life.

5) Now write each of your goals, desires or wishes as a positive statement. Examples: Every day in every way I am getting better and better. I am a success in everything I do. I am lovable. I deserve happiness and prosperity. I am attracting wealth and clients each day by honoring my talents and abilities and acknowledging my inner strength.

6) Each day sit quietly for at least 10 minutes, breathing first, then honoring your intention and writing out each of your affirmations 10-15 times, then repeating each one aloud over and over. If necessary, "Act as if" you believe these things are already coming into your consciousness. It does not matter if you pooh-pooh the whole concept all the while you are doing it. It does not matter if you don't believe anything you say - Just do it! Eventually, your obsolete and unhealthy mind talk will switch over to the newer, more positive language and things will begin to shift in your life. Use these exercises for sixty days and be aware of your changes. Write them down. Celebrate your progress! You will begin to attract the things you want most.

Give Yourself Another Wonderful Gift

Buy or borrow Shakti Gawain's timeless masterpiece Creative Visualization. The above is taken from Shakti's book. Reading her book started me on my path to higher consciousness and to a more fulfilling life. I painstakingly followed her guidance, although I resisted accepting the truth in the affirmations. Nonetheless, it worked beautifully and made a big difference!

Certainly, if you've had years of abuse, beat yourself up emotionally, or have other entrenched negative belief systems in place, you may require much more in the way of therapy, 12-step recovery, coaching, or other healing modalities to effect significant improvement. However, changing your thinking and believing you can have a better life can help you to open to new possibilities and surely cannot hurt!

I wish you enthusiasm in all that you choose, a passionate journey and an open heart.

Remember ? It's your life, you can choose joy or you can choose to be joyless.

Pie Dumas is a publisher, writer, certified Life Coach, volunteer mentor to incarcerated women and enthusiastic survivor of life. Please visit her website: http://www.piecesofpie.com There you will find more about coaching and an excerpt from her new book Pieces of Pie: Surviving Love.