A friend sent me a link to this video earlier today, knowing how I LOVE cute animals… and it made me think about some life lessons too…

What I got from this video (apart from loads of smiles):

It reminds me that we all start from a place of not knowing, & can learn & do amazing stuff

A friend forwarded on a great email this morning, on the topic of fear – and how it can impact out lives. I’m not going to reproduce it all here, but there were 2 paragraphs that really resonated :

It’s amazing what we can accomplish if we refuse to be afraid. Fear – whether it’s of pain, failure, or rejection – is a toxic emotion that creates monsters in our mind that consume self-confidence and intimidate us from doing our best or sometimes even trying at all.

and

….   For most law graduates, passing the bar exam should be no more difficult than walking across a board 20 feet long and two feet wide. The trouble is, they don’t walk normally because they’re intimidated by the illusion that the board is suspended 100 feet in the air and that getting across is a life-or-death matter. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Embarrassment, inconvenience, and expense – but none of these is fatal.

Perspective is an antidote to fear. Most things you fear will never happen, and even if they do, you can handle it.

I’ve been going through a lot of fear – in my head – recently, mainly around perceived lack of financial success, and a couple of weeks ago it go to the point where it was really impacting my ability to focus on my business.

Through chatting to a wise and wonderful friend, who gently questioned things I was asserting (she just asked, “Is that really true?” – very powerful…) I realised that
(a) this fear was just in my head – I have a business that gives me a decent income
(b) by focussing on “lack” I was forgetting about the abundance I have in so many areas of my life, and this led to unreasonable dissatisfaction, spiralling into fear
(c) if I focus on things I want, and things I love about my life, I’m far more likely to action in those areas. Fear paralyses me and stops me doing pretty much anything.

So – you’re not alone if you get confounded by fear – but you can take a few steps to lessen it’s hold on you – so good luck

The Universe is guiding me to read/listen to Jim Rohn – I received yet another email with a very interesting quotation from him, this morning:

“What we ponder and what we think about sets the course of our
life. Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it
all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind
to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any
day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it
immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

“We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if
the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we
can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labour, entertainment
over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The
choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we
continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed,
“The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” We created our
circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the
responsibility to make better choices beginning today.

I’m going through a time of re-thinking my business strategy, finding ways of reaching people en masse, not 1-to-1 as then the limits are on my time – today I choose to spend 2 hours planning around that!

“It’s the cut of your sail not the blowing of the wind that determines your success” Jim Rohn

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.
“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family. The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs …. I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”
“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City ! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”
“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.
“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.
“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my friend, That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”
“Millions? Really? And after that?” said the Mexican.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings doing what you like and enjoying your friends.”

Know where you’re going in life … You may already be there….

Thanks to Caryn for emailing me this.

I know that the global economy is in a rickety state – but how on earth does it help anyone to show hour after hour, day after day, week after week of negative news that cannot make a difference in anyone’s world? (Unless it’s to make them even more fearful than they already are!)Please take a few minutes (well, 15 minutes if you don’t mind!) to watch a portion of a video of a talk by the world-renowned Dr. Wayne D. Dyer, who wrote “The Power of Intention”. This video has some real gems in it, but for the purposes of this post, I’d like you to fast forward to the 26m:30s point, and watch the next 15 minute segment, and I hope it uplifts you like it did me. (The whole video is over 2 hours.)

Yes, things are tough, but we can all make a positive contribution to our own lives with the power of our intention and desire to improve our lives.

Watch the video:

It’s not the best sound or picture quality, but turn your speakers or headset up at the appropriate point, and enjoy it

Wishing you abundance and a good life!

Tracey

(By Jeremy Orbell)

The evocative phrase: ‘Living every day with passion’ conjures up wildly different images for many people. Living is life, pure and simple, and your perception or definition of life is determined by your past experiences and your current thought patterns.

What does the word passion mean to you? Apart from the obvious sexual reference or lust, it can be about a very different kind of desire – the drive to succeed. It is an emotional term that can be positive or negative but it a powerful driving force. It could be for a political cause or just a hobby but ultimately it’s about doing what you love to do.

Life can be of heaven for some or hell for others. Then there are those who seem to view life purely as existence whereby they move from day-to-day without any inclination that there could be something more. Where do you fit in?

Take a moment to think about where you are this moment in time. Are you contented, stressed, angry, thrilled, eager or sad? None of the above? Express to yourself now your emotional state and say it out loud.

Well? Did telling yourself outright have any physiological effect on you and your body? Did you slouch, stand up, smile, jump around or nervously chew your nails? When you spoke was it vibrant, quiet, excited or angry?

What does this tell you? The sound of your voice and your posture is giving you an obvious sign of whether you are truly contented or not and you should treat the message being fed to you with respect.

I’m sure some of you will have noticed that I have asked a great number of questions in this article. The writing style may seem cumbersome but I have deliberately been using it to get across the importance of asking questions of yourself.

There is a rule that many life coaches use that says that you should never give direct advice if at all possible. This is because the coach’s viewpoint is mostly based on their own personal circumstances, morals and viewpoints; what would be right for them is not necessarily right for the client.

If you have a success coach of your own or witness a session taking place on TV, listen to how they speak to the coachee. It’s questions, questions, questions. This surprises many people as they often expect that they will be dispensed with some words of wisdom that will suddenly cure all their problems. Not true.

We all have it within us to solve our own problems because, let’s face it, who knows you better than yourself? Keep asking yourself questions and couple your answers with consistent action and you should begin to see some changes. If these changes don’t have the desired response try again, do it differently, until you have results that you are happy with.

Remember that we have options to choose from and decisions to make every moment of every day and we decide how we react to any one of them.

This may all seem to be off-topic but it isn’t really. Passion is an evocative word as we’ve said and when we attach it to the way we live we instantly become more positive and excited about life.

Do you feel passionate about our job? If the answer is no what does that mean? Apart from telling you that you probably shouldn’t even be doing it in the first place, it also asks you to consider your motives for being there at all. If it’s purely because of money are you able to accept that financial gain justifies any unhappiness on a longer term basis?

What activity gives you the greatest satisfaction and fulfillment? Think back now to the last time you experienced the high of doing exactly what you wanted to do, purely for the love of it. Grasp that memory and relive the feeling and do whatever you can to make it part of you.

Living every day with passion is about waking up in the morning excited about the day and the possibilities and opportunities that lay ahead of you. What will I learn, what will I experience, who will I meet?

Ask yourself again: “What is my passion?”. Decide now, take action and make it real. “

Jeremy Orbell wrote this article on Ecademy; I would like to thank him for asking enough questions to get my mind working in a much more enthusiastic way!

Live a life that feels wonderful!! This is what Greg Hicks believes you can do, and he outlines ways of choosing such a life, in his new book Choosing Brilliant Health: 9 Choices That Redefine What It Takes to Create Lifelong Vitality and Well-Being. I haven’t seen Oprah Winfrey’s show – but I’m a subscriber to her regular newsletter, which mentioned a talk about this book last week – you can hear a snippet from the radio show & read a little about the book on the link to Bob Greene’s show on “Oprah and Friends Radio“.

As Bob Greene says on the website:

“What’s the secret to living a long life? According to Greg Hicks, there are actually nine universal secrets to health, happiness and longevity, which he chronicles in his book Choosing Brilliant Health: 9 Choices That Redefine What It Takes to Create Lifelong Vitality and Well-Being. Greg says research has shown that positive emotions play a fundamental role in maintaining wellness, and he shares with Bob a few of the ways we can create positive behaviors and attitudes that will help us live longer.

• Live with positive intentions. While we can’t always choose our circumstances, we can always choose our attitude, reactions and intentions—which in turn affect every cell in our body, Greg says. Not surprisingly, he says people who live longer give themselves positive “commands” for the day, beginning the moment they wake up. “The more we can be successful at choosing these positive attitudes, the more our brain creates these new neuropathways that make it so they become more our automatic responses than whatever our automatic responses [were],” Greg says.
• Be accountable to yourself. Greg says people who live long tend to have a sense of competency and control that helps them tackle life’s challenges, including disease or illness. On the other hand, people who don’t have a sense of accountability tend to view themselves as powerless victims, he says. “Even though we may be victimized in life, if we panoramically see ourselves as a victim, we have shot ourselves in the foot because our body does not like this,” he says.
• Think about the things you love. Because thoughts have such a determining role on our health, Greg says it’s important to identify your passions, envision them in your mind, journal them and share stories about them on a regular basis. “Just thinking about something that you love or a passion of yours activates the same part of the brain that’s actually experiencing that thing,” he says.
• Do the things you love. In addition to thinking positive thoughts about what gets you excited and happy about living life, Greg says you have to do those things too. To the degree that you can, make those activities central in your life if you want to live a good, long life, he says. “Living [your] passions is not debatable,” Greg says.”

Even if you don’t read this book, take these few pointers to heart, realise that YOU are so much in control of YOUR ATTITUDE and thus your outlook on life, and health – and be well!

Blessings
Tracey

P.S. another related link: also from Oprah’s website

Have any of you felt that visceral fear that arises from a phobia? Where your underarms prickle, your heart rate accelerates and you act irrationally?

Then read on – this will be an eye-opener…

I was at a talk given by Michael Bradford last evening in Camden’s “Inspiral Cafe”, where he spoke on the importance of intuition and healing energy blockages, and also about finding your own true path. During the talk, which was mainly a fascinating question and answer session, he worked with several audience members and cleared their energy fields, some in just a matter of moments. It was incredibly touching to watch the reactions that people had. One girl ended up sobbing in his arms as she let go of some long-held beliefs that were holding her back in life; another man, who didn’t even approach the stage, had a stunned look on his face as he felt the energy shift within him after a brief conversation with Michael.

One thing that Michael said several times when talking about finding our life’s purpose, was to only do things that are right for you – ask yourself, “Is this in my highest and best interest?“. Answer that questionly honestly and you will be on the right path.

I then asked Michael about the relationship between energy blockages and phobias…. and unexpectedly found myself up on stage too, being worked on in what was for me an incredibly nerve-wracking moment. My phobia was about spiders; it’s something I’ve been working very hard at overcoming in recent months, with limited success. As I stood on the stage, I was shaky and perspiring, wondering what would happen up there. Spiders provoke a strong and irrational reaction in my body. If I unexpectedly see photos of spiders in a magazine, for example, I have in the past dropped the magazine, leapt up from the sofa and then wondered what the heck was wrong with me as other stared at the madwoman!

Michael checked my energy field and said that the real issue hiding “behind” the phobia was me not dealing with a perceived lack of power in my life. I didn’t really understand it at first… until he did muscle testing to check for energy blockages. Muscle testing is defined as follows:
“Based on the concept of internal energy fundamental to traditional Chinese medicine, muscle testing is a noninvasive way of evaluating the body’s imbalances and assessing its needs. It involves testing the body’s responses when applying slight pressure to a large muscle, to provide information on energy blockages, the functioning of the organs, nutritional deficiencies, and food sensitivities, among other things.” (http://www.goodhealthinfo.net/herbalists/muscle_testing.htm)

Michael told me to repeat certain statements that were patently true (e.g. My Name is Tracey) , while he tried (with a lot of strength) to lower my outstretched right arm. My arm barely budged, and that wasn’t really even due to much effort on my part.

Then when he told me to say “My real fear is about spiders”, and he did the muscle test, my arm fell like it had no strength at all! I was floored! I’m a strong person, and I could not hold my arm up! This showed that the statement was NOT true for me. To cut a long story short, through a series of probing questions, more muscle testing and getting me to forgive myself for an event in my past, Michael was able to get me to say, with conviction, that I am a powerful woman in control of my life … and I passed the muscle test with flying colours!

Sign up to Michael’s newsletter at his website (http://theintuitiveadvantage.com/) and keep an eye out for details of any talks he gives in your area – it’s well worth exploring an amazing side of our lives that we are so often unaware of.

Peace

Tracey

P.S. I’ve not encountered a spider … yet … so I can’t tell you what would happen after my healing. BUT – I have a picture of a Red Kneed bird-eating spider (!) on my noticeboard next to my computer, and for the first time I can touch the picture without having a prickly-sweat reaction under my arms… how cool is that!!!

P.P.S . I decided to search on Google images for a picture of a bird-eating spider for this post – and I have to say, my heart took a bit of strain looking at the pictures; it was pounding. But I didn’t scream, jump up or rush away. So … if you are brave, have a look at this page of pictures that I looked at: http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=bird+eating+spider – it is NOT for the faint-hearted, be warned!

I could NEVER have done this before!!!

UPDATE: MAY 31ST
I was in the garden this afternoon, pulling out a few weeds & just pottering around – and came across 2 spiders in the one flower bed. So I took off my gardening gloves & (gently!) picked up one of them & let it walk on my hand – these are the same spiders that used to have me jumping up when I first encountered them in my garden 8 years ago! They aren’t QUITE in the same class as the spiders in the link above… but nevertheless, it was quite something for me to do that! Thanks again Michael!!

I read a newsletter this evening that really got me thinking … about how I, like so many others, often don’t do the important things in life – the easy, trivial or seemingly important things take priority.

Alexander Green, author of Spiritual Wealth, wrote the following (see the full article on the blog):

“On the first page, my eye fell on the following quote: “There is no shortage of time, only a confusion of priorities.”

He puts this quote in the context of a personal story, but it’s so true in MY life – much as I try to change that, it’s very easy to slip back into old habits.

He then continues:

If you need encouragement, John Maxwell, author of “Today Matters,” offers a helpful prayer:

Dear Lord, So far today, I am doing alright. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or self-indulgent. I have not whined, cursed, or eaten any chocolate. However, I am going to get out of bed in a few minutes, and I will need a lot more help after that. Amen.

According to Maxwell, “People create success in their lives by focusing on today. It may sound trite, but today is the only time you have. It’s too late for yesterday. And you can’t depend on tomorrow. That’s why today matters.”

Most of us are planners, of course, and forward-looking by nature. But it’s what you do today that determines what you are tomorrow. Or, as the great industrialist Henry Ford once said, “You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”

So give yourself a friendly push and start pursuing what matters most. Commit to it daily. And, remember, “there is no shortage of time, only a confusion of priorities.”

Read the full article if you can, but if nothing else, take away that last quote… and live for today, for yourself!

Blessings…

Tracey

I’ve listened to Roger Hamilton a couple of times – and have also joined his world wide network, XL. He is presenting a brilliant course in London in April – take this chance to be there!

Your Life, Your Legacy – by Roger Hamilton

Wishing you success!

Tracey