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“In a kingdom called Bhutan in the Himalays they value a little thing called self-realisation that we would do well to seek in our own lives. Let me break it down for you. Is your life who you really are? Have you actually realised who you are? What's holding you back? Would you like to realise yourself and follow your destiny? If the seeds of such dreams and desires are already there in your mind, then why not bring them out into the sunshine where you can make them grow? Plant fresh ideas into your mind. Be your own gardener; pull out the weeds, dump the dirt, and make your life into a garden you can be proud of - and that symbolises you. And keep this moment of awareness: a good gardener knows that anyone can plant a seed, what counts is how you care for the plant so that it grows well.”
— Mickie Kent
Are you having the time of your life? I ask this because when you dig into the practicalities of life (as we all have to do) and you lose yourself in the work, you lose yourself in the dead-ends of life. We find that work piles up, and our momentum slows down. Sometimes even our family can seem like hard work, and we have little time for them.
And while you're supposed to be having the time of your life, you're treading water furiously to keep yourself from drowning. Trust me, I've been there. We can all get caught up in the routine of the grind. But I make it a priority to refocus every day and to concentrate on the reason why I'm here in the world. To share moments with my loved ones, to keep my head held up high, eyes locked onto the stars that brighten our lives.
This does something pretty unique. It makes me slow down. It makes me assess. It gives me a space in which to recover and to boost my motivation levels. I get many mails asking what people should do when their motivation dries up: "It's great to begin with, but then the motivation slowly goes; it doesn't last," is a complaint I hear plenty and often. The challenge comes when your initial motivation fades as life gets super busy or an unexpected personal crisis knocks the wind out of you.
I say that motivation is like hygiene for the mind; you need to go to the bathroom everyday, don't you? So, too, should self-motivation be a daily thing, a moment where you can flush the remains of the (previous) day, and come out good to go. Some call it dumping the dirt out of the brain. You'll not only be refreshed, but you'll be re-affirming what's important to you, and your unique purpose in life.
You'll remind yourself that maybe you need to spend more time with your loved ones. Or maybe you'll want to shake your life up a bit; as they say, life begins at the end of your comfort zone. You'll attract extra zing, because motivated people are contagious. They are bubbling with energy, focused, and eager to do what it takes to achieve their goals.
Click here for 5 ways to change your life!
Funnily enough, when you slow life down for a minute and take a deep breath, you can motivate yourself to work smarter, and stop wasting time. When you stop procrastinating, you'll discover that you get more time back to do the things you were meant to do. To get back to the time of your life and start spending more time finding yourself in life and less time regretting missed opportunities.
A great quote I read recently from an article titled The Art of Manifesting Our Dreams in The Huffington Post is: "You miss a 100 percent of the shots you never take." The article is filled with actionable tips that you can implement immediately, but what caught my eye was the spiritual element to getting closer to your best potential self.
Sometimes the universe has other plans for us, or we just aren't ready to receive yet. This phenomenon is also well-documented in science with the placebo effect.
The placebo effect points to the importance of perception and the brain's role in physical health. Some call it the power of our minds to heal our bodies. Some well-being experts speculated that if most illnesses are caused by the mind, it is extremely likely that most illnesses can be reversed by the mind, too. They theorised that by healing our minds, our emotional state, and changing our thought patterns, we can create physical well-being as well. This is called psychosomatic wellness.
The theory not only concerns what is termed as the neural top down control of physiology - involving the direct regulation by the brain of our physiological functions - but it also suggests by default that what we believe affects us strongly. In the same way, it's believed we can be conditioned to associate certain things to one another, even if they have no logical link - just as 19th Century scientist Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs to associate the sound of a bell with the prospect of food. Some believe that superstitions work in the same way; we are conditioned through external factors to associate good luck with a rabbit's foot, for example, when one doesn't have any logical association to the other.
This reminds me that we close September 2012 with a Harvest Moon. The moon has been waxing larger each night, and full moon is the night of September 29-30; in traditional skylore, this full moon is known as the Harvest Moon because it's the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.
For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the autumnal equinox came on September 22. That makes the September 29-30 full moon the Harvest Moon. As there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise during this period, in times past this feature was said to help farmers working to bring in their crops, hence the name. If the full moon fell on the first actual day of autumn, it became "super harvest," or the "harvestest".
In 2010 we saw a super harvest moon, a rare occurrence (not to be confused with supermoons) and the first time in almost 20 years. The last such event was in 1991. There's also a name for the next full moon after the Harvest Moon. It's called the Hunter's Moon, and it'll come this year on October 29.
We tend to treat full moons as powerful symbols; it's a full circle that symbolises endings and beginnings. When something completes - and full moons bring completions - something begins. Similar to the wheel of life, some believe it speaks to our luck and destiny, as our thoughts and beliefs turn all three.
Full moons are traditionally associated with many subjects, ranging from the romantic to the horrifying; namely temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic derived from "Luna", the Latin for Moon) and various "magical phenomena" such as lycanthropy (the professed ability or power of a human being to transform into a wolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics). Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behaviour around the time of a full moon or according to the cycles of the moon - although studies have shown a full moon can disrupt our sleep.
But if the Moon can affect the tides of the oceans, then why not the tides of the emotions within us? Some still strongly believe that the magnetics of the Earth can affect how we think and act. Astrologers say that this full moon is the most intense full moon of 2012 and the last week of September and the first week of October are going to be the most intense for us. Thus if we believe in such things, the advice is that we do need to be aware of our energy - and practice being calm, centred and grounded.
Read about the power of meditation.
Thus major changes are to be expected - and to go back to the start of this post - if you feel stuck in a rut, maybe you're feeling the pull towards change, as though the ground seems to rock beneath your feet. I've even has some readers email me to complain about dizzy spells and feelings of nausea attacking them from out of the blue.
The secret to our success in a shifting environment is our willingness to experience change. Rapid revolutions can be painful at times, but necessary for our long-term, gradual evolution. Their rewards can be great; conflict and oppositions are not things to be feared. Conflict can be healthy; it's unresolved conflicts that can lead to violence and hurt. Conflict can make us learn; oppositions are awarenesses that come to us externally from other people, events, situations from relationships, partnerships to question our balance and harmony - and whether we really are happy with our lives.
Maybe you feel that the world is currently filled with injustice; you want to set the world to rights. Is something inside challenging you to fight for the rights of the individual, the rights of women, the rights of children, the rights of the environment. Keep in mind, however, that though we may feel compelled to fight for just causes, we need to do it peacefully, with use of non-violent language and protesting for our rights.
Some say energies empowering our communities to "fight" injustice will be with us for years to come, changing us from the core level, pushing us on to change things so we have greater prosperity, abundance and freedom not just in our lives, but for everyone. Maybe you feel your energy shifting from the inside out, shifting everything and everyone. Astrologers say this is because the full moon of September 2012 is in Aries coupled with Uranus, and Aries rules action, the individual, courage and inspiration. This also includes originality, taking risks and putting yourself out there.
It's time to free the individual in you; it's all about the rights of the individual; and sometimes under powerful emotional stress the mind and body are capable of almost unbelievable feats. The status quo is not going to do well in this type of shift. The old paradigms are collapsing as more people become empowered to ask for justice, for a proper distribution of global wealth so that we can all share in the prosperity, abundance and freedom that life has to offer - because we are connected as much as we are also unique in ourselves.
Some may feel it's time to come together as one to bring about the necessary change, so you may want to seek out like-minded people, join a support group, or seek out new forums to help you in your transformational change. One of Confucius' life lessons was that friends matter and that your friends are a prophecy of your future; where they are is where you're headed. It would serve you well to find friends who are going where you want to go.
Even the most determined student, the dogged athlete goes through emotional slumps when they lack their usual zeal. Build up your own inner circle of supporters as no one climbs the mountain of success alone. Be on the look out for those people who are willing to be your cheerleaders, and who you can cheer in return.
On the opposite side of the coin, it could time for you to practise extreme self-care. Set boundaries with those that are not loving and respectful. Unfortunately, many people in your life will not be supportive of your dreams. While this lack of support can be a real drain on your energy and motivation, do not let your enthusiasm for your dreams drop.
We are being asked to upgrade our relationships, and the biggest relationship is with self. How are you taking care of yourself? If you're noticing that your sleep is off, or you're not meditating, or exercising enough, then astrologers are saying it's because the energies are so intense. They suggest that you pay attention to your lifestyle and make the changes as needed. It's all about balance; don't be too co-dependent in relationships, or so aggressive that you're running rough shod over everyone else.
Your balance by extension affects your loved ones; a family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden, but if these minds get out of harmony with one another, it's like a storm that plays havoc with the garden. Balance is the key, and the key to taking care of ourselves so that we can be balanced and present in our relationships with others and ourselves. This will also determine whether you are riding the wave of change, or fighting the changes struggling to keep the status quo, when clearly the universe is showing you otherwise.
Love is the true balancer in life.
The advice is to be open to the new, and to allow the wave of change to carry you. We are all changing, all the time. Resisting change - even immense change that goes to the core of your being - is futile. It's unhelpful to hang on to what's not working; we must all change.
Ask yourself: What self-limiting beliefs, paradigms and behaviours do you need to release? Does your inner critic hold you back from taking chances? A shifting climate will bring opportunities, but we have to be willing to take a chance - whether it's a relationship, a new job, a new living location, a new business or a new idea. Whatever it is, we need to be willing to take that chance.
Again ask yourself: What needs to change for you to experience greater freedom and joy? The need for change pushes us to blaze new trails, and those trails are in the right relationships, right economics, right livelihood and rightful care of our environment. Could this be the opportunity for you to think outside of the box? We shouldn't just limit our knowledge to those previous boxes of understanding that people in the past put information in because they didn't understand it - such as New Age, Christianity, Islam, etc. Albert Einstein said that the religion of the future should be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Maybe it's time for you to push past dogma and the war machines, and find your own path (and new ways) to peace and prosperity.
Listen to your intuition; empowerment comes from following your intuition and taking chances. Pay attention to the events in your life as these could be cues to your destiny. Are you being coaxed into a new direction? What is right for you? What is right work, right livelihood for you? Are you on your "right" path? If you are doing what's right for you then you would feel as though you're living life, rather than just going through the motions. Likewise, experts in this field say that if you're running into resistance and struggle, it may be an indication that it's not on your right path, and you should let it go. You're free to resist, yet many suggest you may profit by going with the flow and seeing where life opens up for you.
Change is a time of questions, challenging us to see where we've come from, and where we're heading, to see if this is the direction in life we need to go. Thus, if you feel you want to improve yourself, now could be the perfect time to do so. Some see this as a type of self-therapy; an approach that emphasises an individual's inherent drive towards self-actualisation. This humanistic psychology is sometimes referred to as a "third force" - distinct from the two more traditional approaches to psychology, psychoanalysis and behaviourism. It typically holds that people are inherently good. It adopts a holistic approach to human existence and pays special attention to such phenomena as creativity, free will, and human potential.
Is war an innate part of human nature?
It's the type of approach I generally advocate to my readers, but I also believe that a unified approach with the talking therapies under medical supervision for people with deep seated concerns is a must, too. This approach isn't a replacement, in fact it should be a lifestyle choice. Moreover, I always prefer readers to have their own experience when they read my articles. I rarely say anything is "fact" - I say decide for yourself. Take on board when resonates with you. This is what I believe true self-help articles should emphasise, helping you to help yourself.
Because when energies stir us, we can't rush to a trained professional at any given moment in an emergency. We need to have "hot spot" methods to calm us in the heat of those moments of crisis when we feel we might lose control of our emotions and our words, which we could come to regret later. The more we get ourselves out of the hot-spots, the more confidence we will have for the next crisis that comes along. It will also make us flexible, adaptable and adjustable - willing to change and let go of what no longer serves you. Similarly, don't allow what you can't do to interfere with what you can do.
Astrologers are also saying of this period that anger could be at an all time high; we could experience sudden surprises. The cosmic message is be bold, but be love. In times of uncertainty, we need to expect the unexpected. Marcus Aurelius in his meditations proclaimed, "How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life". Expect the contradictory and the impossible. Your first step to an extraordinary life is to take the attitude that anything is possible.
- Don't dismiss anything as impossible: Notions such as "failure" and "defeat" start from within, and if you don't believe in yourself you're dooming your efforts before you even begin. Don't allow yourself to be locked in, totally constricted by imaginary boundaries that only exist in your own mind. The fact of the matter is you can only accomplish what you believe is possible. Anything is possible, if you keep thinking.
All these people said "it'll never happen", imagine what we would have never accomplished had others (sometimes even themselves) truly believed them!
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), British scientist and mathematician said that flying machines were impossible.
- Ken Olson, whose company made computers used by big businesses in 1977, believed there was no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
- In 1876, Western Union the telegraph company stated in a report, on whether they should get into the telephone business, that the "telephone" had too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. They believed the device to be of no value to them. But by 1877 Western Union changed their minds and decided to set up the American Speaking Telephone Company. This would become part of the American Bell Company, which by 1900 would have almost a million phones in service!
- Margaret Thatcher speaking in 1969 said it would be years before a woman would become Prime Minister in the United Kingdom, and certainly not in her time. Although she repeated this in 1970, 1971 and 1973, she must have changed her mind, as only ten years later she became Prime Minister of the UK.
- Sir Harold Spencer Jones, UK's Astronomer Royal, in 1957 said that space travel was bunk. Two weeks later, the Russian spacecraft Sputnik orbited the Earth.
- Dr Dionysus Larder, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London said, "Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia".
- In 1946 Darryl Zanuck, legendary movie producer, said, "Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night" - failing to foresee that the popularity of TV would one day be prolonged when they were made of plastic rather than plywood.
- Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, in 1948 said, "Television won't last. It's a flash in the pan".
- In 1927 H.M. Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers movie studio, said, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" - failing to see that the people who want to see actors walk would also want to hear them talk.
- Be completely certain and 100% confident that you can overcome any obstacle: You need to take this attitude when going after a goal; you don't need to worry about the obstacles that might come your way. You will deal with them one by one until they have no more affect on your life. Remain confident and deal with each one as they come; sometimes you may need to ask for help, sometimes you may need to take a new approach, but no matter what don't let any obstacle deter you from achieving your goals to get you to your purpose in life - once you have truly identified it. Just keep your eye on the prize and believe deep down to your core and things generally have a way of working themselves out. As long as you keep this attitude, challenges become lessons and steps that lead you higher on to the next level of your purpose.
- Take action right now: This is a tactic I have mentioned before as a recommendation by the experts, and from experience I can say that this works. However, although it is crucial to success (especially in goal-achieving when opportunities arise) many of us don't like to hear it. We generally like to put things on the back burner, and do them another day. Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today. The harsh truth is this: If you haven't taken any action (for change, on a goal, etc.,) then you haven't really made it your true purpose.
Action and achievement are so closely entwined that's it's impossible to really separate them. This means that we can't just sit and wait for our completed goals to fall magically into our laps. Positive thought requires the addition of inspired action to equal achievement. That's why taking action right now is crucial to lasting change.
The good news is that once you do take action, each step taken (each "win") makes the next step easier as you start to gain momentum - sometimes the first step really is the hardest! The true insider secret to long-term success is that the world rewards people who take action. Don't talk yourself out of some idea, opportunity or inspirational passion that has opened its door to you, or tell yourself you'll purse that idea, goal, etc., "some day" - after this or that thing has happened. Don't lose that first rush of energy or enthusiasm you get from a passionate idea or emotional desire for change that spurs you into creating momentum.
Moreover, you can only truly recognise your intention when you take action. So, whether you believe in the law of attraction or human psychology, taking action on a planned, thought-out goal towards your life purpose will yield results. Possibly not even the ones you were expecting, maybe different, better results than you could have ever imagined. Just don't allow yourself to lose your drive in a gradual decline as you drift further and further from that initial rush of inspiration, desire for change, etc.
This is why procrastination is basically another form of self-sabotage. Some people use procrastination as a way of stopping them from reaching out and taking opportunities that are handed to them - which lead to...
- Do away with procrastination once and for all: I won't be unrealistic and say I never procrastinate, but what I have done is put a stop to the control procrastination has over my life. Waiting until the last minute is NOT the only way to get anything done, and the unfortunate truth is that you can never do your best when you're doing something at the last minute - which you do only when doing nothing gets too painful.
Procrastination stems from the limiting belief that taking action now is going to be more painful than doing nothing, but if you're last minute efforts are anything like mine, you realise that doing the whole thing at the last minute is going to take more time than you initially thought. Never mind the stress or hurry or feeling rushed as you try to finish everything at the last moment, worst of all is when you put something off until you have literally lost your chance.
When you've let procrastination completely destroy an opportunity that you knew you had. The best way to overcome procrastination is to keep in your mind that in the long run you will experience more pain as a result of doing nothing now. When you consider putting something off even for a second you need to remember that each second that passes makes it more likely you will lose a chance at an incredible opportunity that may be in front of you right now. If you can't get excited about your goals, or your desires then it's time to start finding new ones to rouse passion in you, or evaluate whether you are on the right track to your true purpose in life.
Whatever are the things holding you back, you need to realise that the long-term future suffering of never following through is worse than anything you can experience from putting yourself out of your comfort zone to take immediate action. Remember that anything is possible, and you can handle any obstacle, but you have to take some action - no matter how small - before you've officially started on your way to change.
- Get clear on what you really want out of life: Some experts say this step is actually the most important step, and is touted as the one piece of "secret advice" which is the quickest way to achieve any goal, desire, etc. It's not a trick, or a cheat. It's a simple task - so simple that most people completely overlook it initially because they think they already know what it is they need to know. Here it is: If you want to to determine the fastest or surest path to achieve something, first you need to be totally clear about what you actually want.
For example, it could be you're not a "money" person, i.e. you're simply not locked into generating wealth of that kind, money wouldn't really make you happy. This isn't wrong, it just isn't you, but as money is such a central issue in our society you feel you goal should be to "make lots of money". But what if you know deep down that reaching that goal is not going to make you happy - you might not even know what you would do with "lots of money" even if you had it. This is something you need to know right now if you are ready to create massive success in your life.
And no matter how much you really think you know what you really want, you won't have the requisite clarity until you have specific, measurable details about your goal, desire, or change you want to achieve. Another danger zone is that if you're fuzzy on the details, and just know broadly what it is you want, you may spread your efforts so thinly across so many different areas (e.g., by trying out various different tasks to achieve your goal) that it becomes almost impossible to achieve massive change that really transforms your life.
But if you take the same amount of effort and channel it all into achieving one goal with laser-like focus then you'll start seeing the results you really want. Mentally desire to zoom in on specifics, and things will start to happen. So ask yourself: what is the number one thing you are trying to achieve and what does life look like now you have achieved it? Thus if money is your goal, what does having money mean to you? Does it mean you want to have enough money to travel the world? Does it mean you just want enough to pay your monthly bills, with some left over for luxuries? It could be you want the freedom it'll provide for you to work less and spend more time with loved ones or providing help to your community.
Once you truly know the answers to these questions and can keep a clear picture of the goals you'd like to achieve in your mind - as you make decisions on how to you use your time - experts say you'll start to see these goals speeding towards you in real life.
Yours in love,
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