May
29

The Secret Of Success: Freeing Up Your Inspiration

Mind on May 29th, 2011

It could be a myth – but often myths are basic facts lost in the passing of time – that, having sought for many years to discover the meaning of life, the Buddha understood the truth whilst simply sitting under a tree. Again, it may be legend, but legend has it that Sir Isaac Newton made is most important scientific discovery, once again, whilst sitting under a tree. And although it was an apple that reputedly dropped for Newton, you have to find your own tree to allow your very own pennies to drop for you – your personal development depends upon it.

Inspiration only comes to the clear uncluttered mind. And the normal mind is anything but clear and uncluttered. Psychology explains that the normal mind is overwhelmed by random thought – some fifty thousand random thoughts fly through our minds every single day. The majority of those thoughts are harmless but, research concludes, some of these thoughts are self-destructive – I was going to say positively self-destructive but that would be a contradiction – these thoughts are both negative and toxic. These are the thoughts that create the false perceptions of low self-esteem, worry, anxiety, stress and depression. Left to its own devices, the adult mind simply cannot be inspired.

Is life worth living without the excitement of inspiration? Surely life is nothing more than going through the motions if you’re not excited and delighted by the cut and thrust of the out-of-the-ordinary? Sadly, the out-of-the-ordinary is far too rare an event for the normal mind that survives on the comfort of the mundane. However, if you don’t stir yourself out of the slumber of the mundane you will simply not have experience real living. Not only that, you’ll be a negative influence on those around you – especially the people that you claim to love.

Everyone is capable of being inspired and inspiring. You are capable of escaping from the norm and living your very best life. But you must make space for inspiration, you’ve got to give yourself the clear, uncluttered time to let the inner you out. Our next-door neighbour in the Alps has often asked me what I do for a living. And, although I’ve explained it to him on a number of occasions, he still keeps on asking – in his own words “It seems to me and my wife that you spend a lot of time doing nothing!”

Doing nothing is not a waste of time. Doing nothing can often be time most fruitfully spent. The clarity and peace of mind that comes with doing nothing is the incubation chamber in which inspirational ideas simply spring to life. Thomas Edison found that he only became inspired when his mind was still to the extent that he set about creating quiet moments for his mind throughout each working day. A prolific inventor, he had had over four hundred inventions patented to his name. Pablo Picasso stated that he was never sure when inspiration would strike so he made sure that he cultivated a prepared mind.

How prepared are you to be inspired? How regularly do you simply let your mind go off on flights of fancy? I’m not talking about wandering into negative thought – I’m talking about effortlessly allowing your mind wander onto what normal people would find unachievable or undoable. These things are only undoable to a normal mind constrained by pre-programmed thought. De-program yourself – let yourself go, let yourself off the hook of normal ‘living inside the box’. Seek out your tree, sit down and devote quality time doing nothing.

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May
29

Changing Your Life: Who’s The Next Most Important Stranger?

Mind on May 29th, 2011

Consider this – the people who are the most important to you were at one stage complete strangers to you. Whether by chance or what I might view as synchronicity – or, indeed, what a quantum physicist might consider as a type of quantum entanglement – you’ve ended up where you are as a result of a string of random events at the core of which are people who were, when you first encountered them, complete and utter strangers.

When I was growing up I was told, as many children were and still are, not to talk to strangers. Of course, there is a good deal of sense in that from the perspective of protecting your children from the undoubted presence of some very strange people in this world. But, unfortunately, the subliminal message that follows us into adulthood is that we should avoid engaging with whoever we might casually encounter in the course of everyday life.

And, as we go through our normal daily adult lives, the fact is that we wouldn’t really notice a stranger anyway – because, during our formative years, we developed a self-preservational psychological ability to categorize new people that we meet without giving any attention to who they actually are or how important they could be to us on the journey of our lives. As a consequence of this facility of ‘categorization’ and, indeed, our pre-programming, we pay no attention to people that we don’t know. The next time you’re on a tube, subway, train or bus or the next time you’re in an elevator, observe how carefully people avoid making eye contact.

What are all those people missing? Perhaps the next most important total stranger who could change the course of their lives. You haven’t the first clue who might change the course of your career, who might become your most important customer ever, who might become a life-long friend and mentor. You have no idea who might be the next person to change your life. And you’re not going to find out if you can’t start paying attention.

Wake up. Opportunity abounds – but is completely missed by the normal automatic mind that’s too blind and closed to see anything. Psychology asserts that the normal person only perceives what they expect to perceive and only experience what they expect to experience. What a death sentence we’ve all been given – by our programming and by our laziness and unwillingness to take the small leap of faith that making personal contact with a total stranger requires.

You need to open your eyes, you have to smell the roses, tune into life’s opportunities and go with the flow of a world that is just waiting to respond to you. I’m not suggesting that you start behaving irrationally and outrageously in public places! I’m proposing that you put up your antennae, start tuning into the present moment, let yourself off the lead of the normal outlook. Because, until you do, you normal life will continue to be mundanely, repetitively and boringly normal – and it will be your own stupidity.

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May
28

Challenging Times: Riding Life’s Big Waves

Mind on May 28th, 2011

I got an invoice from my lawyer a couple of days back – for what exactly I’m not, as what he’d done for me didn’t really match the bill! He explained that he was ’dispatching’ invoices to a number of clients to “keep the wolf from the door in these challenging times”.

Challenging times they may well be. We face unprecedented economic circumstances currently, we’re regularly faced with the ups and downs of everyday normal relationships and we are frequently confronted by the trials and tribulations of work and career. However the only real challenge we face is the challenge within. “How am I to react when faced with so much negative stuff coming at me?” as one client put it to me recently. “It’s damned difficult to stay centred in the midst of all that’s going on around me” said another. “How in God’s name am I meant to stay focused when my personal life is falling to pieces around me?” another client once asked.

These challenges are just life’s “big waves”. Life is like the Volvo Round-the-World yacht race. If you’re taking part, you already know that there are going to be plenty of big waves so you prepare in advance and make sure that you’re adequately equipped to handle them. As a result, you ride those big waves. So it is with life’s ups and downs. You know for a fact, because you’ve seen it all around you, that life is full of these big waves. So, just like the yachtsman, you need to be prepared and ensure that you’re appropriately equipped to ride those waves. Now, I’m not talking about being prepared in some vague sense – I’m not just suggesting that you be on your guard. I’m talking about practical personal development – about developing the kind of clarity of mind and mental focus that will enable you take real action in the face of what life throws at us – rather than crawling back into the normal cocoon of knee-jerk reactive behaviour that compounds the mess that we think we’re in.

And, considering that life is lived moment to moment, you’re going to have to be up to the task, moment to moment. In other words, before you set sail every morning, you need to focus your mind in the here and now – not focused on the day ahead, the day ahead will unfold one moment at a time. So, for example, whilst you’re drinking your breakfast coffee, that’s the only thing you’re doing – inhaling the aroma, tasting the sharpness, feeling the heat of the mug in the palm of your hand, looking at the steam curl off the liquid’s surface, feeling the warmth run down your throat, listening to the sound as you swallow.

You need to focus your mind each morning. Otherwise, you’ll end up participating in life’s yacht race in a rubber dinghy. If you get drowned, you’ll only have yourself to blame.

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May
28

Becoming Your Own Leader – The Secret Of Leadership

Mind on May 28th, 2011

Each one us is called upon to lead – if you have children, direct reports in work, people who confide in you – Leadership is required of you. You mightn’t call it that, but that is what it is. Above all, we’re called upon to lead our own lives. Yes, we’re called upon to be leaders and few wish to shoulder the responsibility. The normal person will look to someone else – if not for leadership, then for blame. It’s the bankers’ fault that my business is suffering – it’s politicians’ fault that my lifestyle has deteriorated – the system’s unfair, that’s why I didn’t get promoted. Pull yourself together – start promoting yourself! Aren’t you meant to take the lead in what is, after all, a lifetime for which you can write your own script.

But what does it mean to be a leader? How will you write your own script to create the life that you want? Well, strangely enough, the answer to these two questions is the same! It takes presence – the hallmark of highly successful people, the very essence of leadership. And the wonderful news is that we can all develop our presence no matter how ineffective you think that you might be – if you’re suffering from a lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem or poor self-image, get real, all these notions are just figments of the normal mind’s obsession with paying attention to everywhere except where life’s actually happening – the present!

And that’s how you develop your presence – there’s no magic formula, no big secret. Psychology has determined that your ability to be happy and successful – and your ability to make a great impression on others – is related to how you pay attention! Yes, it really is that simple – focus on what’s actually going on and you’ll activate parts of your brain that are only ever otherwise activated when you experience a natural high. In simple English, turn yourself on – tune in to the only place where life can be lived – the here and now – because tuning in tunes out all the noise in your head that has conned you into believing in your own inadequacy.

Tuning in means actually seeing what’s going on now for what it is – it means coming to your senses – it’s all about seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling and tasting the reality of the here and now – not peering through the crud-covered window of your own sick mind (no offense meant and, I hope, none taken, all normal minds are sick). And, guess what, if you bother your ass to turn up to the present moment, you’ll be head and shoulders above all the normal people on this planet. You will be present – and, if you are present, you will have presence – and the rest is up to you.

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May
28

Self-Realization: Awareness

Mind on May 28th, 2011

I receive these strange replies to some of my posts. I recently posted a piece on the importance of paying attention to the present moment, making the point that it’s the only time and place that you can be – and if you couldn’t be bothered to turn up to the reality of the moment, how can you possibly expect to get anything worth talking about out of life. I received a comment – from someone who signed themselves as a “personal development expert” said that, OK, the here and now is all very well – but really personal development is about awareness and choice.

So, here’s the big question: What is Awareness? Let’s make it even easier – what can you be aware of at any particular point in time? Of course, you could be aware of what you’re thinking – most people aren’t because, as decades of research prove, most people aren’t aware of anything much at all. You could be aware that you’re feeling anxious or hassled – but these so-called emotions are only the product of the thoughts that you’re not aware of in the first place. You could be aware of how you feel about yourself – your own self-image – but that’s not awareness, that’s getting side-tracked by the ongoing internal power struggle between you and your personality (remember, personality derives from the Latin word, “persona”, meaning a mask and your personality is nothing more than the amalgamation of all the personal “snapshots” you took as a child).

Real awareness is being aware of the present. To paraphrase the Buddha, when I am walking, I am aware that I am putting one foot in front of the other. Only in the present moment is reality to be found. In fact – scientific fact as researched by quantum physics – only in the present moment does anything exist and all that exists is changing from one moment to the next.

And what of the choice we must make? We have a stark choice that has a fundamental impact on our lives – we can choose to be aware or we can (and this is the default subconscious, mindless choice made by the average person) choose to live in a make-believe world created by our own, predominantly negative, thoughts. This is a choice that we must make again and again, moment to moment because nobody becomes aware and stays aware – it is an ongoing process in exactly the same way that the reality of our universe is a continual process.

Your life is the way it is as a result of your action, reaction or inaction in the present moment. The normal person reacts to their own perceptions and thoughts. The extraordinarily successful person acts on the basis of the facts in the moment and, as a result, creates a life that is exciting, spontaneous, adventurous, fulfilled and successful. Now, there’s a choice!

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May
23

Self Improvement – The Link Between Body, Mind And Spirit

Mind on May 23rd, 2011

Very often I find it hard to discuss some of the key concepts in what I might call personal development or self improvement given that ordinary words and language are far from adequate. For example, do the words ‘universal energy’ adequately explain the fact that you and I are energy, we live in a world and universe made up of vibrating energy and that energy is responsive? Does the sobriquet ‘Law of Attraction’ mean different things to different people? And where are the boundaries between mind, body and spirit?

Of course, in fact, there are no boundaries between mind, body and spirit just as there are no limits between us as individuals and the universe of which we each comprise an integral and indispensable part. Not only are we part of a whole, when it comes to us individually, there is just one – mind, body and spirit are simply different aspects of the one. It’s important to understand this because, when you look at the facts in this manner, it is clear that what we’re thinking has an immediate effect on how we feel physically and mentally. For example, when one examines the apparent reality of stress and its all too real physical results, we discover that our thoughts directly generate changes in body temperature and heart rate, shifts in the production and distribution of a whole range of chemicals all of which, if unchecked, lead to serious illnesses – such as heart attack and stroke – and, if seriously out of control, will lead to untimely death.

My point us this. Our state of mind has a direct impact on the state of mind of others around us – this has been proven time and again by research in the field of psychology. How much more does our mental state affect us, ourselves? Your fitness, health and wellness are all direct consequences of your state of mind. Even your weight – your ability to gain too much of it or a variety of dietary disorders from bulimia to anorexia – is a direct consequence of what you’re thinking.

And what you’re thinking is directly within your own control – or should be if you could be bothered to make the simplest and, ultimately, most powerful decision that any one of us can make as grown ups – choosing your own thoughts. The ordinary mind is tortured by inappropriate thoughts, most of which are derived from the subconscious. Research tells us that the normal subconscious focuses on the events of our childhood years and is more likely to focus on the more negative events. This is our default state of mind. That is not to say that we can’t control what we’ll pay attention to, however.

You’re your own boss. Your life, every part of it, is dictated by what you’re paying attention to – whether you know it or not. This ultimate and powerful choice that I just mentioned can be taken, each day, each moment, by deciding to pay attention to the actual reality of the here and now. That’s the only cast-iron way of stopping your own subconscious focusing on self-sabotaging thoughts. No other way is more effective, no other way gives you the power to absolutely transform your health, your fitness, your wellbeing, your personal effectiveness and, ultimately, your ability to have a life of happiness, peace and unbelievable success.

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May
23

How To Shape Up For A Fabulous Life

Mind on May 23rd, 2011

Life is supposed to be fabulous – you are supposed to be happy and successful – you shouldn’t struggle and, definitely, worry, anxiety and stress should simply not be part of your everyday life at all. And you should never think that you’re inadequate, you should never even consider the notion of self esteem or self confidence – you should simply be engrossed in living life to the full.

Does any of this sound familiar? Probably not – because only an idiot would believe that life could be like that. WRONG! If you believe otherwise, you’re the idiot – and there’s seventy years psychological research to prove that we’re all idiots, wallowing in the same self-defeating view of life – that life’s a struggle, life is a hassle, you work for a living, etc. etc.

Sure, I’ve got plenty of work to do – sometimes I think that it’s a pain – but it’s the thought that does that to me, not the work. Sure, I’ve three hormonal teenage children who can get themselves into sticky situations at times – but which is more effective and easier – for us to work through those situations without tying ourselves in mental knots, or doing what normal people do until they’re so stressed and so worried that everything that they do makes matters even worse?

My point is that how you view your life, what you feel about your life and how you experience your life is all down to what’s going on in your head – not what’s going on in your life. And your head’s a mess – everyone’s is, it’s how we’re hard-wired. But you can pull yourself together and shape up – mentally. All that’s required is a little training and, perhaps, ten minutes commitment each day to make the other twenty three hours and fifty minutes so much better.

What do you do during those ten minutes? You’ll pay attention – not to what you think is going on but what is actually happening. You’re going to pay attention to what your five senses are telling you – without saying to yourself that that noise is distracting you or that pain in your big toe is annoying you – without moaning that that smell is horrible or that dust on the shelf is doing your head in. You’re going to just sit up and see, feel, hear, smell and taste what is really happening. It’s called coming to your senses! And, when you come to your senses for five minutes every morning, you’ll be in a far greater state of mental readiness for whatever life throws at you for the rest of the day. But, more importantly, you’ll be far more awake to the opportunities that life will throw in your direction today.

So, time to shape up!

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May
22

Self Help: Handling The Crap In Your Mind

Mind on May 22nd, 2011

Haven’t you got crap in your head? Undoubtedly you have – we all have. However, if you’re paying attention to the crap in your head, you are only creating the crap that you have in your life. You are what you’re thinking. Unfortunately, it isn’t just the thoughts that you know you’re thinking that create your life, it’s a little more subtle than that. Actually, more than anything else, you are what you’re thinking subconsciously. Your subconscious mind rules – or ruins – your life. All your behaviour, everything that you do, all your reactions and all your interactions – with those who are close to you, companions, colleagues and even strangers – are all dictated by your subconscious. And the really big problem is that, because of the way you’re wired, all this happens automatically.

But you’ve got an even bigger problem. Your subconscious mind is crammed with crap. It’s crap because it has nothing to do with who you are or what you’re supposed to be doing right here, right now. The crap is a hangover from your childhood, when you were young and impressionable – from what we all know as our formative years. And, even though all the automatic behaviour happens subconsciously, from time to time you actually know that this crap is ruining your life. Sometimes you might feel down, stressed, negative or depressed. You might feel that you’re useless, uneasy or inadequate. Sometimes, or in certain situations, you could feel anxious or nervous. Perhaps you feel that you lack self-confidence or that you’re being dragged down by low self-esteem. But this is just crap created by crap! This is the crap that has your life stuck where it is – and you let this happen by paying attention, whether you’re aware of it or not, to the crap that’s buried in your head.

Your own personal crap will not go away – but you can choose whether or not you pay attention to it – either consciously or, in actual fact, subconsciously. That’s what personal development or self improvement is all about. You see, as a grown adult, you can actually take charge of your subconscious mind – decide, moment to moment, what you’ll pay your attention to. So you’ve got to decide to pay attention to reality instead of letting your subconscious mind just drag you by the nose into an ever deepening vortex of crap. The only thing that’s really real in your life – the here and now. The now is where you could actually be the very best you if you could just stop paying attention to all that crap. Start paying attention to now – to what you see, feel, hear, smell and taste. This focus will drag your subconscious (sometimes kicking and screaming) away from its natural obsession with all the unreal crap. Normally you don’t actually experience anything real because you see it through a fog of crap. You’ve got to clear the fog – it won’t clear of its own accord because it’s your personal fog. Clear the fog by experiencing that it’s not there at all! There is no fog.

All that’s real is what is here just now. So teach yourself to experience your five senses – make sense of now instead of nonsense. It’s life changing.

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May
22

Grasping The Extraordinary Power Of Now

Mind on May 22nd, 2011

If you’re pursuing your personal development or self improvement, you’ll have some understanding of the importance placed by many experts on being focused in the here and now. Ekhart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’ emphasizes the virtues of what you might call presence of mind. However, Tolle, together with other personal development ‘gurus’, does not either adequately explain why ‘Now’ is so important or, indeed, give practical advice on how to be more ‘all here’.

First of all, now is the only time and place that actually exists – the past is something you learn from (although psychology proves that most people don’t learn but subconsciously live there) and the future is something that will only pan out the way you want if you’re prepared to be focused and effective in the here and now. In addition, quantum physics tells us that the universe only exists now – and it confirms that universal energy responds to our energy – now. In other words, it is vital to be present. Being present creates ‘presence’ – the hallmark of all successful people.

The big problem is that normal people are not present. Our subconscious is focused in our so-called formative years, whilst our conscious mind is overwhelmed by useless thought – thoughts drifting towards negative worry and self-doubt. As a result it’s little surprise that research suggests that the normal person is just one percent present. If that’s true you’re extremely unlikely to elicit much response from an otherwise responsive universe.

In short, it is imperative that you become more present. But how? Presence means being focused on what you’re doing and where you are now. Most, according to many surveys, are not focused on what they’re doing, preferring instead to do what they’re doing whilst thinking that they don’t like what they’re doing! In addition, most people haven’t grasped the simplicity of what focus is. Focus means paying attention – nothing else. It means tuning into the reality of the moment, using the only mechanism that’s available to you to do this – your five senses. These are your only interface with the world. Yet we pay little attention to what our senses are telling us, we prefer to let our subconscious put its own interpretation on reality. We all use our preconceived notions to make sense of now and, as a result, make utter nonsense of it.

You’ve got to relearn how to pay attention. We were all expert at this when we were young children. The easiest way to relearn is to set some time aside to re-focus one sense at a time. I’d like to suggest that you find somewhere quiet to sit tomorrow morning. Close your eyes and notice how all the sounds around you become more defined. They’re not, of course, it’s just that you’re paying more attention. Notice your body’s sensations – feelings that you wouldn’t notice when you’re normally all over the place. Next time you sit down for five minutes you might focus on how your body reacts each time you breathe. Five minutes each morning will considerably improve your ability to pay attention for the rest of the day – you will be more focused, more present, more in tune with what’s going on and the opportunities the moment offers.

Then you can start measuring your presence by reference to your results. You’ll find yourself more responsive to people and siutations that they might otherwise fail to notice or avoid completely, you’ll be more open to doing things that you wouldn’t otherwise do. And, on the basis that the one thing that has you stuck in a rut is the fact that you rarely do anything different, bold or brave, this can only be a good thing. As a result of your presence you will not just be open to new opportunity – you will actually create your own opportunities. The net result is that, at least, your life will move forward – in the right direction. At most, your life will never be the same – you will achieve effortless and measurable, success and happiness.

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May
22

Personal Growth: Practicing The Law Of Attraction

Mind on May 22nd, 2011

Much has been written and said on the subject of the so-called ‘Law of Attraction’. It has become a byword as a result of DVDs and books, like ‘The Secret’ and by television talk-show hosts such as Larry King. And yet few people understand what the aforementioned ‘attraction’ actually means. Does it mean that you can attract into your life what you want out of life? And, if that’s what it means, how can you actually put the ‘Law of Attraction’ into action for your own benefit?

The first thing to understand is that the ‘Law of Attraction’ is working in your daily life as you read these words. This may come as a surprise to you but what you need to understand is that the life you lead is a perfect mirror image of what’s happening in your head. Sadly, most of what is rattling around in the normal person’s mind is doing them damage instead of good because, left to its own devices, the subconscious mind is both negative and focused in the past, constantly ‘enabling’ you – and that’s obviously not the correct word – to repeat all the learned behaviours that are, right now, creating your life. To put it bluntly, as a result of the normal mind’s inner turmoil, it follows that the normal life is also in turmoil.

It doesn’t matter if you’re aware of or not, the ‘Law of Attraction’ is a given fact of life. I’m not convinced, from reading some of the mountain of stuff – often misleading stuff – on the subject, that most people will have fully grasped the gravity of this situation. But say that you appreciate the situation. Maybe you already understand that, to quote ‘The Secret’, your thoughts become things – what occupies your mind ends up manifesting in your life. Great, you’ve grasped this all-important concept intellectually – but intellectually understanding these facts and being able to get this ‘manifestation’ working for you, rather than against you, is a totally different ballgame.

If you do not consciously take action each day to ensure that you’re in the right state of mind, then it really doesn’t matter how much you understand the way life works, you’re simply fooling yourself into the wonderfully cosy misconception that the ‘Law of Attraction’ can change your life in a positive way.

To truly practice the so-called “Law of Attraction” you’re going to have to clear your mind. There’s little or no point in filling your mind with all the things that you want – no one knows for sure what they really want. Here’s a far better idea – fill your mind with the only place and time we have – the now. In doing so, you will drag your subconscious away from its obsession with all that’s negative. You will become extraordinarily focused – efficient, effective, inspired and inspiring. In a clear state of mind you will attract the very best in life, enabling you rise to heights that normal people cannot go.

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