Tag: self improvement

Some last thoughts before I sleep..

As I close my eyes I let the day pass away – but not before I let some final thoughts sink into my subconscious. These are precious thoughts – the most important thoughts of the day. For as I sleep, as my brain waves slow down to theta and delta, this is the moment when the door to my unconscious slips open. This is the moment when thoughts slip through unchecked and my subconscious can work on it all night. So I make sure my final thoughts are special thoughts – of gratitude for something special that has happened that day, and affirmations – reminding myself of who I truly am. This is pushing the reset button before I sleep. For I know that the last 5 minutes before I sleep are the most important 5 minutes. This is when mind programming takes place  – for better or worse – depending on the thoughts. And the program your subconscious runs affects your whole life.

I first encountered this idea – of the last 5 minutes before sleep – when reading the work of Dr Wayne Dyer, and it has stayed with me ever since.

So before I sleep tonight, allow me to share something with you – the key to it all is awareness – not effort or strain – simply, awareness. It takes practice but with enough time you can get there.

We already talked about meditation. But it doesn’t stop there. It starts there.

Make the last 5 minutes before you sleep count and you will be rewarded.

Remember – this is for you and you alone. Don’t sabotage your efforts by trying to explain or justify to someone else. They will never understand until they come to it of their own accord – if it’s their wish. Your life journey is your own business and no one else’s.

I found this incredible music on YouTube and I wanted to share it with you. See the link below. As a musician myself it resonated so much with me. I like to have something like this in my head before I sleep and just let the world drift away.

There is another life you know, without all this madness. You don’t need to travel far to find it. It’s all right within your grasp. You just got to look for it..

Simply Hypnotic

Ten Minutes to Change Your Life

There is a great lie that has been told which has kept us in chains – both literally and figuratively speaking – since the dawn of civilisation. It is a lie that is so big we cannot see it – we do not even know it is there – so we can scarcely challenge or question it. But it is there. It is the lie that has plagued us from the cradle to the grave, from one generation to the next, across the whole of the supposedly civilised world. 

We believe this lie – implicitly – unquestioningly, unfailingly.

We love this lie because it gives us our identity and our place in society. Whilst it doesn’t always make us happy it at least affords us some comfort from the security of our daily routine of life.

What is this lie?

It is the belief that we are not perfect. We are not good enough the way we are. We are never enough. It is the belief that our happiness and fulfillment lies outside of ourselves. It is the belief that there are others who know what is best for us. It is the belief that we alone are never enough and that we are unloved, unlovable. It is the belief that we are never good enough.

And it is a belief that has probably caused more misery and unhappiness on this planet than anything else. For without that belief in the self, without that self-love, self-affirmation and self-knowing, we are incapable of truly loving anyone or anything outside of ourselves.

If you don’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else? How can you love and care for our world?

Everyone talks about fixing the planet. The planet isn’t the problem. We’re the problem. Fix ourselves first. All else follows from that. Rainforests don’t cut themselves down. We’re the ones who constantly crave stuff. We’re the ones who are stealing from this world and going against nature because of that empty void inside – which all stems from lack – lack of self love, self-esteem, self belief. This leaves us wide open for others to step in and reprogram our minds for endless, mindless consumerism and materialism and a never-ending spiral of “more-faster-cheaper” that is an insult to our true nature.

When is it enough?

So where to start? Take the first step. Know yourself. Learn to meditate. Ten minutes a day. Ten minutes to change your life. Make it your business to find out how. You’re not stupid. If you can negotiate your way around Amazon (the website, not the rainforest), drive a car or use a phone then you can learn to meditate.

You owe it to yourself. We owe it to each other. It will be the greatest investment you ever make. Investment in yourself. And it will repay you in ways in which money alone can never do.

You can never ever be anyone else – no matter who you are, where you are, what you are, what you own, what you say or do. You can never ever be anyone else.

So you may as well get good at doing what you were brought here to do – being yourself. Be so good at being yourself, be so authentic and real as far as is humanly possible. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It never has mattered. You’re the only one who thought it did! Everyone else is too busy doing what the hell they want to worry about you.

Do it. No excuses. Be your own best friend. Coach yourself. Look after yourself. Cherish and nurture yourself.  Stop depriving yourself of the life you’re meant to have.

You have a choice.

It all starts from that. It costs nothing but time and the will to do it. If not now – when?

 

In pursuit of happiness right now.. not tomorrow

Why do we put off happiness now by believing that our true happiness lies in some utopian future? Why don’t we realise that this utopian future can never be and that it is only right here and now in this moment that we can be at peace and find true happiness.

We only have to learn to become self aware to achieve this – instead of sleep-walking through life in a daze on a path dictated to our subconscious by a belief system that is not our own but is inherited from society.

It is about real living. We hear in the news a lot about fake news these days. The problem isn’t fake news, the problem is fake lives. Inauthentic lives – at every level of society – from the humblest and poorest to the richest and most powerful. Lives of fear and self-repression. It is not real living. It is us living in fear of things we can’t even name. Ultimately the fear of death itself – which is the end fear of all fears.

So how do I define real living in this context? Well, it is my belief that if each one of us strive to adopt the following even 50% of the time, it would make a massive difference to our individual lives. Now just imagine the sum total of all those changed individual lives.

I define real living as being yourself as fully and as far as possible so that the You that you keep private eventually becomes the You that you present to the world without fear or anxiety. To be transparent to the point where ‘what you see is what you get’ and to feel great about that.

It is being able to live in the present moment without being dictated by your past or by a fearful imagined future.

It’s about doing what you want with your life and not giving a damn what anyone else has to say about it – whoever they may be and however well meaning they may be.

It’s about waking up each morning and feeling invigorated and excited to start your day because you just discovered you have an amazing life and that you are an amazing individual.

It’s about feeling like you won the lottery – even though you haven’t.

It’s about being happy with who you are, where you are, what you have, rich or poor.

It’s about knowing that there is nothing that anyone can say, or do that can ever take this amazing feeling away from you.

It’s about knowing that that you no longer have to rely on anything or anyone else to bring you happiness, because you have realised that “there is no way to happiness – happiness is the way” (Quote: Thich Nhat Hanh)

It’s about becoming aware of the real you – the one who operates your body, who thinks your thoughts.

It is about being able to live every minute of your life and move through each minute of your life with complete awareness of everything you think, feel and do – to the extent that you are no longer a victim of your life but instead the creator of your life.

It’s about knowing you have an immense journey and making a decision right here and right now that you are going to relish and savour every step.

It’s about deciding that never again will you live in fear, regrets or wistful thinking but instead will recognise that everything was meant to be – to bring you here to this moment in time – this moment of revelation.

It’s about finally realising that you need no-one’s permission to live the life of your dreams and that the only one holding you back is you.

It’s about finally realising that all that negative stuff serves a purpose – it gives you wisdom to see how it has infected everything you have perceived as your reality – every experience you had, everything that anyone said to you, did to you, withheld from you, put upon you.

It is realising that through your thoughts you turned a moment of fear into a lifetime of anxiety and that with this realisation comes liberation.

It is about that moment when the veil is finally lifted and you suddenly realise with a jolt that your life is happening right here, right now, in front of you and that you have unconsciously created every moment of it – and with it, the awesome realisation that you don’t have to have it this way anymore.

It’s when you finally realise that you are the star of the show – the movie of your life – not a bit-part actor in someone else’s life story. And it’s realising that everyone loves this movie because it is real, it is authentic and it has depth and meaning.

It is remembering that you are more than just somebody’s son, daughter, brother, sister, wife, husband, partner, father, mother.

You are more than just a citizen of a nation state, a national insurance or social security number, a passport number, a follower of a religion, a plumber, a scientist, a social worker, a doctor.

It is when you realise you are much, much more than your job.

It’s when you realise you are unique, one of a kind, a one off. There is no one else like you.

It’s about realising that the world is your canvas too – and the whole world is not just waiting for you to paint your picture, but it needs you to paint your picture – to complete your part in the great universal tapestry of existence.

It’s when you realise you are the artist of your life and you have everything in your power to make it the most beautiful work of art that you can imagine and that every action and thought leaves a trace in the universe.

It’s when you realise that there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore and that the past is the past and is gone and you have a choice to select a glorious future.

It’s when you realise that the you which you thought you were is not really you – but is in fact something infinitely greater.

It is looking at yourself in the mirror, into your own soul and being aware of the higher intelligence which is expressing itself through this body.

It is seeing your true beauty and not needing anyone else to validate it

It is finally removing the borrowed filters and lenses through which you have viewed the world and experiencing it without prejudice as it really is in the way it relates to the real you.

It is stepping out of your own shadow and turning to face the sun.

It is about realising that all of this is within your reach if only you would reach out and take it.

It is realising that you love yourself so much that from this moment on you make a vow to yourself that you will be the best friend to yourself that you could ever have.

It is knowing that in the end it’s all going to work out just fine.

It is knowing that once you were lost, but now you are found.

It is knowing that none of this will cost you a penny and is worth more than anything money can buy.

It is knowing that it is good to be you and that you wouldn’t change it for all the money in the world!

If you want to change the world – first change yourself.

Now, that, my friend, is living! 🙂