An interesting way to look at your life from a state of gratitude may be like this.

I’m fairly confident in suggesting that everyone either knows of, or has heard of a story of someone who contracted a terminal illness, whether it is cancer, aids, heart disease or whatever.  Often people in this situation, once they get over the initial morning period, grief period or shock and accept the fact that they are going to pass at some time, move into a state of peace, or contentment.

They begin to look back over their lives from a place of absolute gratitude and they look forward to the remainder of their days with a joyous expectation.  The funny thing is that we all suffer from the same terminal illness; it’s called life, and I am terribly sorry to inform you but it is contagious.

“Life loves the liver of it.”

Maya Angelou

I can make one absolutely clear promise to you, this is that every one of us can be certain that we are going die, we just don’t know the date yet.  Couldn’t we too therefore look back on our lives past, with gratitude?  And too, couldn’t we look forward to the remainder of our days with joyous expectation?!

When I first recognized that I was born with the terminal, highly contagious, untreatable illness called life I was driving home from work, somewhat stuck in traffic thinking about one of  my dearest friend’s mother, who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer.  Catherine, our friend, was understandably extremely upset about the diagnosis as too were Nathalie (my incredible partner) and I as we both cared greatly for not just Cat but her entire family.

“The Art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

-Marcus Aurelius

But in the moment of thinking about them it dawned on me that we are all going to die.  I knew for certain that her mother would move into a state of acceptance or understanding and be once again at peace with herself, whilst moving into an emotional space of absolute gratitude for not only the time she has had, but furthermore the time yet to come.  This made me realize that I too had a limited time on this planet, and even more so in this ‘bag of bones.’

“A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.”

-Stuart Alsop

This was yet another catalytic moment in my life.  Now I know it sounds silly that in this moment, at the ripe old age of thirty six and a half I had a light bulb moment and realized that I was not going to be around forever.  It was more that I realized that if it takes a terminal illness for us to take stock of what we have and of what we are yet to have, and feel complete happiness, love and gratitude for it, then we all should be living our lives being absolutely grateful for everything!!

It made me realize that all of the garbage or all of the ‘stuff’ that I focus on in my life, all of the little things that irritate me, or frustrate me or anything like that really, really truly does not mean anything to me anymore.  I made a vow in that moment to live a life of gratitude.  I was going to live my life the way that I should, to the full, a life of absolute health, joy, wealth and abundance.

“Any idiot can face a crisis – its day to day living that wears you out.”

-Anton Chekhov

Oddly enough everything else in my life was falling into place like a children’s jigsaw puzzle so I had absolute faith that this was going to work itself out.  There was no doubt in my mind, I was living my life the way it should be, not the way it was presenting itself to me.  I decided to live my life to the full, after all I knew that I suffered from the most common terminal illness mankind is ever to be afflicted by, life.

I refused to allow my apparent circumstances dictate to me how I should or should not be feeling at any given moment.  I knew that that very day could have been my last and made a conscious decision to fix the things I could, not fuss over the things I couldn’t change and enjoy life fully in the process.

I greatly invite you to consider the same.

There was an incredible sculptor in Italy many many years ago who travelled to a small village at the base of the Dolomite Mountains.  He aquired a small workshop and then trekked deep into the mountains and lugged back a huge piece of marble to commence work on.

He worked on the stone for many months only coming out of his workshop to buy food and to procure water from the nearby well.

After months of work he covered his work and dragged it out into the centre of the village exhausted.  The crowd gathered for the unvieling and when he pulled back the shroud and the gasped at the magnificence of the piece.

A older man from the crowd pulled the sculptor aside and said, “Look at the amazing art that you have created!  You have created the most beautiful sculpture I have ever seen!”

The sculptor smiled gently at the older gentleman and replied, “That sculpture was always inside the stone, all I did was chip away the rough edges.”

The same goes for us all.  The perfection of who you are is already inside you…  you only need to chip away the rough edges.

I once heard that whislt a human baby can live without food and water for quite a while, one that is starved of love will die extremely quickly.

When people become recluse or abandon society to live by themselves they require some kind of animal or pet at very least to retain some level of sanity.  We are creatures which require community or some level of societal contact to maintain our minds and hearts to function correctly. 

The greatest combatant of sadness or depression is love.  The creator of all things is based in love.  Love does not destroy or ruin.  By its very nature it creates.  The oldest living human on the planet still feels like a child when in the throes of love.  The hardest business person becomes soft and caring and the angriest child becomes content when showered with love and affection.

Many people fear putting themselves “out there” when it comes to “putting their hearts on their sleaves” and expressing the love that they feel for another, and often find out that their delay was unnecessary and the person they felt for reciprocated their feelings all along.  Love is NOT a one way street.  Genuine love runs both ways.

Express love freely and openly.  Tell those that you love of your feelings.  A dear friend of mine, Rocky Brivik once said to me that we must “Drop the “F” Word” (FEAR).  Step safely into your feelings and express them to the people that matter to you.  Don’t do it with an expectation of a result.  Do it with an expectation of expressing your feelings.

You are love, loved and loving.

All you need is love.

Lennon/McCartney

From The Blue Album

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Whilst I was dropping my five year old son at school this morning, I had the beautiful experience of running into one my best friends from high school.  He was dropping his child at the same school that my boy goes to.  I had not seen him for nearly twenty years and I found myself feeling like a young school boy with how happy I was to see him.

What this experience made me recognise was that I have lost contact with so many of my old friends.  These were people that assisted me in defining who I was at the time, people that I valued more than anything else in the world at the time, people that felt my pain, people that shared my triumphs and joy, people that I considered brothers and sisters of choice.

The feelings that came up when I saw him could only be defined as childlike.  Do you remember how you couldn’t wait to get to school to see your best friend?  Can you remember how you would race home from school so you could call your best friend for no good reason?  Can you remember how when the weekend came how much you used to drive your parents mad with how many times you could ask to go to your best friend’s house?

These were the feelings that I felt.  AND IT FEELS AMAZING!!

How is it that you loved/cared for/cherished in your childhood that you would love to connect with?  Social Media aids our search now beyond belief, there is almost no limit to who you can reach back out to now.

I often teach my clients how to tap into the inner child.  This is an integral part of embracing who we used to be and allow us to move forward into the life that we live now.  I never actually realised that one of the easiest and most satisfying ways of doing this is to reconnect with someone you held close to you in your childhood years.

I invite you….

Pick up the phone, turn on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any other social media site and find your best friends from the past…  They are out there somewhere.

Trust me, its worth it.  I feel like a big kid again!

YAY!!!

Roger Federer is the epitome of what can be achieved with DECISION and INSPIRED ACTION.  He is the most highly decorated male tennis player in history and continues to play at the top of his field even now.

His playing style is one of grace and touch and he manages to play the seemingly unplayable shots that he is famous for.  His focus is unsurpassed and his skill undeniable.  I trust that you enjoy the video compilation that follows, and I gratefully thank it’s producer and creator.

Over worked?

Over it?

Tired?

Exhausted?

Demotivated?

Many people wander through life doing the things that they feel they have to do for five or six days each week somewhat looking forward to a relatively uninspired weekend (or in many cases just a Sunday). 

Sickness, Illness, disease, upset, anger, frustration and stress tend to follow many people for this very reason.  These are completely understandable reactions to a seemingly fruitless existance.

What’s worse is that when many people go home of an evening they mentally take the bulk of their frustrations of the day home with them which inherently disallows the ability to gain a restful, good night’s sleep.  After a restless slumber of an evening the process is repeated and exascerbates the situation over and over again to be followed, more often than not, by a night of alcohol fueled frivolity which must then be recovered from on the only day off that they get to have.

Now I am not for a moment suggesting that you should stop drinking, nor am I suggesting that you should quit your job.  We all have our responsibilities and there are always the bills to pay, the mortgage to meet or the rent to be funded.  What I am suggesting is that you remember….

You see, for most of you, you were really excited about landing the job that you are currently in.  If you remember when you applied for the job you were eagerly awaiting a response back from your prospective employer to see whether or not you were successful in your application.  When you got the call to confirm your success you undoubtedly called someone that you were close to to share the news and you perhaps went and got your hair done, bought a new suit or at the very least went out to celebrate your new found employment or change of job.

It is certainly not uncommon to lose sight of the excitement of a new role once that role is no longer new.  It is in our nature to become complacent or bored with what we do for any prolonged period of time.  This is of great benefit to us as it is what drives us to improve, grow and excel.

Mentally returning to the place you were when you first started the role is an effective way to bring back the feelings of excitement and joy you experience from the role.  It also allows us to move into a more productive state at work and produce greater results.  Remember how much more commited you were to your position when you first started?  You were the star!  Now you just work there.

Be as grateful for the role that you have as you were when you started.  Greater benefits come to those that shine than do come to those that are dull.

When you are able to enjoy your work you are much more able to enjoy your life.  Happy at work, happy at home.

Love what you do and do what you love.

Have a great day!

Often we feel that there is just not enough time in a day to do whatever it is that we need to get done.  The usual action taken when things feel like this is that we pack in as much into the day as humanly possible (or impossible) and freak out for the whole day trying to get it all done.

Obviously when we spend the day freaking out we tend to decrease our productivity by not only stressing out but due to the fact that mistakes are made and things are overlooked when we are in a pressure situation.

Sometimes, more often than not, by taking a moment to stop, breathe, relax and refocus we enable ourselves to move into a more productive state and are able to fall back into flow with both ourselves and Universal forces.

I strongly recommend a regime that includes meditation.  Personally I like to both start and finish each day with one form of meditation or another.  I begin each day with a simple visualisation meditation whereby I allow the day to present itself to me the way in which I desire it to transpire.  I focus on running through the day in my mind, seeing all of the appointments, clients, and administrative tasks running smoothly and in the manner that produce the results that I desire.  I even see myself and those around me throughout my day celebrating the wins in advance.

I have found that it is quite amazing as to how often the day presents itself in exactly the way that I have visualised it during the morning session.

I like to finish the day with some more visualtion meditation whereby I initially visualise the day that has been.  Instead of seeing the day as it actually happened I see it as I would have liked it to occur.  Anything that didn’t produce the exact results that I wanted I alter in my visualisation to have had it turn out exactly as would have liked.  I then follow this visualisation meditation with deep level core meditation.  I personally use a CD produced by Bill Harris at the Centerpointe Research Institute called “Holosync”.  These CDs use a technology called Binaural Beat Technology.  The basics of how this technology works is that the tracks on the CD are recorded in two channels (Left and Right).  By listening on a set of headphones one channel plays one frequency and the other channel plays another frequency.  Now, to the listenner all that is heard is rain and gongs and the like.  On the backend, as the two frequencies are played into the brain, the brain then consolidates the two frequencies and ultimately an altered brain wave pattern is created.  This technology enables one to attain amazingly deep levels of meditation very quickly and thus extreme rest is achievable.  If you don’t meditate or you would like to reach deeper levels I highly recommend looking into this type of technology.  You can gain access to a free demo disc from Centerpointe by going to www.centerpointe.com.

Throughout the day I often take a few moments out of each day to relax, refocus and re-energise.  I find this works a treat to keep myself on track and committed to the task at hand.

Take a moment.  The day is yours and its outcome is in your hands.

Do great things today, take great action, live fully!  Whatever results you achieve today, you are giving up a full day of your life to obtain them.  Make the results of today be worthy of the price you are paying for them.  ONE FULL DAY OF YOUR LIFE!!

It has been spoken about (albeit behind closed doors) for centuries.  Going back in history anyone discussing it openly would have either been stoned, lynched or renounced a heretic.  Leonardo da Vinci depicted it in his work, Earl Nightingale released it in his breakthrough work, “The Strangest Secret”, Wallace D Wattles depicted it openly through his writing in his book, “The Science of Getting Rich”, Napoleon Hill learned of it in his interviews with the worlds most powerful and successful people and then documented his learnings in his incredible text, “Think and Grow Rich”, George Lucas spread “the message” in his six part movie series “Star Wars”, the Wachowski Bros detailed it in their epic tale, “The Matrix”, James Cameron depicted it on an imagined planet called “Pandora” in the blockbuster, “Avatar” and so on and so forth…

George Lucas spoke of this firstly through his character Ben Kenobi in the first of the Star Wars Movies, “A New Hope” when explaining the force to an intrigued Luke Skywalker.  His words were, “…it is an energy field created by all living things.  It surrounds us, and penetrates us.  It binds the galaxy together.”  It is suggested in later movies that when you begin to understand and develop a greater control over “The Force” that you are able to effect not just your own life but the lives of all those around you also.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said that, “None are more hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe that they are free.”

In the Wachowski Bros. epic series, “The Matrix”, the leader of the resistance, “Morpheus” explained the existence of this “Matrix” by explaining that, “The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this very room.  You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television.  You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes.  It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth…”

The truth that he refers to is that the world that we “see” before us is not “real” at all.  Rather it is a computer generated world that we are “plugged into” and the image of ourselves is nothing more than a “residual self image” that is represented as “Avatars” in this computer generated world.

James Cameron in his incredible tale of the future, “Avatar” explains how all things connected and that the planet has a life force of its own that all things are linked to.  All things communicate through an energetic link that  whereby all life is merely energy in one form or another.

This brings us to the foundation of physics.

The word “Physics” comes from the Greek word, “φύσις”, which means “nature”.  It involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, as well as all applicable concepts, such as energy and force.  One of the most basic principals of Physics is that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred or transformed.  It suggests that all energy, whether it be the physical representation of matter or that of a thought itself is merely just that…Energy.

All things that exist, physical, mental or otherwise being the same way, with the same thing.  THOUGHT.

Everything that exists begins with thought.  That which you focus on comes to be.  Energy flows where focus goes.  Society has been focusing on all of the negatives in the world and thus what becomes more and more present is the negative.  “Global Financial Crisis” is preached about all over the world and thus more and more financial crisis is experienced by more and more of the population.

“Life’s tough” – Life becomes harder.

“I hate my job” – more things present for you to hate your job.

“All men are bastards” – harsher acts are conducted to make you right.

The list goes on and on.  What you look for, you’ll find.

Start looking for what you want instead of finding all of the things that you are focused on not wanting.  It takes practice.  For the most part, most of us have been that conditioned to quantify our existence based on our misery.  Just until the end of the month, focus on only the desired result (whatever that result may be), every time you think a negative or success negating thought write it down and set both the note and the thought aside.  See how much you focus on not being able to achieve your goals.  Energy flows where focus goes.  Pretty easy to see why you are where you are.

Happy trails!!