Too right you should be frustrated...

So, there I was tonight sitting in a relatively major traffic jam, listening to the Olympics and relaxing. I had nowhere to be so the easiest thing to do is just to chill out, isn't it? I have 20 minutes where I can be and will be nowhere else, so why stress?

That got me thinking.

I was watching the cars that seem to be really, really eager to get nowhere; pushing up behind the car in front. Filling gaps of a few metres with misplaced haste as if them filling the gap makes the queue move quicker. And I asked myself the question "why is it people get so frustrated when they have a perfect chance to do nothing yet do nothing when they have every chance to do something?".  It sounds complex but I don't think it is. I think it's really simple.

Pictures. It's all a matter of pictures.

When people sit in traffic jams, they have a clear picture of where they want to be playing inside their heads. The gap between sitting in the jam and that picture of where they should/want to be causes the frustration. Take the phrase 'I've got better places to be than sitting in this bloody traffic' as an example.

So why don't we do that in our lives? Why don't you try running a picture of a fitter, healthier, happier you inside your head and run it sooooo vividly that the fact you aren't there already causes you so much frustration you would do anything to be there now? Why is it that we use all our mind's incredible resources on traffic jams and so little on making ourselves who we want to be?

Run the picture now. Be frustrated at the fact you aren't there already. Promise yourself that yo are going to use that frustration as fuel to close the gap, to drive up the arse of the things you don't want until they get out of your bloody way and you can get to where you want to be instead.
Vroom, vroom, people! You've got better places to be than where you are :)

Congratulations, you've been successful...or have you?

What is success? I mean, I know what we're told success is but that isn't actually what success is.

I think sometimes we're all hypnotised to believe that if we don't have the big house, the fancy car, the right label on our clothes, the right body or even the right kids that we're not successful. There are a lot of people out there striving and pushing and stressing to achieve a dream that they will realise, when they get there, was actually someone else's dream, not theirs. 

Success is subjective, it's a personal thing. You might even be successful now if you just paid attention to what you have rather than what you think you want to have!

For me, walking around the shops today laughing with my oldest daughter, taking my family out for dinner last night to celebrate some recent successes from all of us, looking forward to another 2 years of my wife being a student and achieving her dreams and many other things are my gauges of success before anything else comes close.

Money is nice but sharing in love and respect of all those around you is success. After all, driving your nice car into your nice house all alone would be, let's face it, pretty dull.

Love and respect :)

7 Pillars of Life

When I first started my Personal Development journey I was excited about everything and investigated all sorts of techniques and systems, some of those spiritual.  One of those systems, that I symbolise proudly everyday as a tattoo, had the following incredible 7 'pillars' that it was built around.  Here are those 7 pillars.  What the system was, doesn't really matter, what matters is that you understand how true these are;

1. The world is what you think it is
2. There are no limits
3. Energy flows where attention goes
4. NOW is the moment of power
5. To Love is to be happy with
6. All power comes from within
7. Effectiveness is the measure of truth

I think they are beautiful.  A perfect summary of how to live an effortless life.  Look out next week and I'll expand on each one in turn over the course of 7 days with a wee optional exercise for you to do :)

Aloha :)

The moments that define us

Late Night Musing: why is it that we accept that, in moments of negativity like fear, regret or uncertainty,that our lives can change in a second, never to be the same again? We hold these moments dear, telling people how we'll never forget them and then replay them in our heads again and again making ourselves feel crap and keeping ourselves trapped. 

Yet, in moments of joy, happiness or extreme excitement for instance, when life gives us a treat of epic proportions we believe them to be temporary,fleeting moments, with no lasting impact past the immediate afterglow. We let them slip past us as quickly as they happen never to be replayed, held deep in our memories gathering dust and losing their potential impact. 

Isn't it just the same process in reverse? 

Replay your highlights every day; life will never be the same again.