Today I took a plastic carrier bag with me when I walked round the nature reserve. Why? So I could pick up bits of rubbish - beer cans, bottles, crisp wrappers - that had been bothering me when I walked ("Why do people do it?" I'd say to myself. Then I changed it to "What can I do about it?")
The inspiration for this came from my friend & teacher Bill Cumming (www.oneperson.net), who invited me to find a way to leave every environment better than I found it. I've always been quite an untidy person, but the idea of making each room I went into just a little better before I left it seemed much more manageable than "changing my ways".
Then I drew a connection between this idea & something I learned when I first started studying NLP: leave people better than they were when you found them.
These are simple principles to practice on a daily basis, & will improve the quality of YOUR life (to say nothing of the lives of those you touch).
Imagine if we all practiced these two principles...
You don't have to! Just start doing them, & they will have a viral effect, spreading to others. When you make someone feel good, they pass it on. When you improve a space, others will be inspired to do the same.
And even if they don't, you'll improve your inner space every time you do it!
To your success,
Big love
Jamie
Friday, 19 December 2008
Thursday, 18 December 2008
How to Have a Wonderful Holiday – Part 1
In this article (also published today in my NLP tip), you're going to discover some simple mindsets that can connect you with the source of a deep sense of wellbeing you can bring into your day during the holiday season & beyond.
For the past 12 weeks, I've taken part in a weekly conference call as part of Bill Cumming's “What One Person Can Do” programme (www.oneperson.net). Bill's mission is "The well-being of the planet", & he recognises that it starts with the wellbeing of the individual, with the practice of spiritual self-care. The fundamentals of self-care are as follows:
Acknowledge that this moment is precious – be grateful to be alive
Recognise that everything is interconnected, including you – in awe of the miracle you've stumbled into
Realise there's only one thing you can do anything about, & that's how you'll be as you move through the world. Aim to be as clear, present & loving as you can be.
This week we'll be playing with the first element.
Acknowledge that this moment is precious
According to Wikipedia, the average lifespan for a human being on the planet Earth is 66.12 years. I would normally round that off to 66, but given the subject we're discussing, the .12 amounts to 43 days, just over 6 weeks.
Of course, if you live in a country like USA, the UK or Canada, the average goes up to over 75 years, while living in certain parts of Africa drops the average to 40 or below. Either way, let's look at the average:
66.12 years rounds off to...
793.44 months
3450 weeks
24,150 days
“So what?” you may ask.
Well, consider this. Modern geophysicists consider the earth to be 4.5 Billion years old, & I shouldn't be surprised if it continues to exist for some time to come. DNA evidence suggests that Homo Sapiens (the brand of biped we are today) first arrived on the scene 200,000 years ago, while some sort of humans have been on the planet for up to 2.5 million years. Of course, in the old days (a million years ago), the average lifespan was between 20-30 years.
Stop for a moment, & imagine the vast length of time the Earth has been here, & the amount of time humans have been on it. Our lives take only a small span of that time.
And consider the vastness of the universe. Yet here you & I are, at this moment in time (me writing, you reading), out of all of history, at the points in space we occupy.
Isn't that amazing?
I don't know what happens to my consciousness once I die (or where it came from when I was born). The Buddhists say “fortunate you are to be born a human being”. For the time we are alive, we are part of this amazing experiment, this miracle. Imagine that! Most human beings who have ever existed aren't around any more.
But you & I are! Taking all this into account, we're lucky to be alive. What else?
You're able to read this because you live at a time when 80% of the world's population can read.
As late as the 1840s, over 40% of English people signed their wedding certificate with an X because they couldn't write.
Only half the people on the planet have water piped into their home. Of those who don't, 60% of them get water from some sort of improved water supply like a standpipe or protected well, while the other 40% get it from wherever they can.
Be grateful to be alive
My friend Richard Wilkins says it's a good day if he's not dead. Quickly check. Are you alive? Then it's a good day.
People often challenge him and say that's a very low standard for a good day, but he asks the question “What would you rather have – a million pounds, or not be dead?” He explains that people in hospices, who may not even live to see their children's faces this Christmas would have no difficulty recognising what huge value there is in being alive.
I'll finish with a translation of the word Namaste which I got from Bill:
Namaste: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides.I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth and of peace. And when you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
For the past 12 weeks, I've taken part in a weekly conference call as part of Bill Cumming's “What One Person Can Do” programme (www.oneperson.net). Bill's mission is "The well-being of the planet", & he recognises that it starts with the wellbeing of the individual, with the practice of spiritual self-care. The fundamentals of self-care are as follows:
Acknowledge that this moment is precious – be grateful to be alive
Recognise that everything is interconnected, including you – in awe of the miracle you've stumbled into
Realise there's only one thing you can do anything about, & that's how you'll be as you move through the world. Aim to be as clear, present & loving as you can be.
This week we'll be playing with the first element.
Acknowledge that this moment is precious
According to Wikipedia, the average lifespan for a human being on the planet Earth is 66.12 years. I would normally round that off to 66, but given the subject we're discussing, the .12 amounts to 43 days, just over 6 weeks.
Of course, if you live in a country like USA, the UK or Canada, the average goes up to over 75 years, while living in certain parts of Africa drops the average to 40 or below. Either way, let's look at the average:
66.12 years rounds off to...
793.44 months
3450 weeks
24,150 days
“So what?” you may ask.
Well, consider this. Modern geophysicists consider the earth to be 4.5 Billion years old, & I shouldn't be surprised if it continues to exist for some time to come. DNA evidence suggests that Homo Sapiens (the brand of biped we are today) first arrived on the scene 200,000 years ago, while some sort of humans have been on the planet for up to 2.5 million years. Of course, in the old days (a million years ago), the average lifespan was between 20-30 years.
Stop for a moment, & imagine the vast length of time the Earth has been here, & the amount of time humans have been on it. Our lives take only a small span of that time.
And consider the vastness of the universe. Yet here you & I are, at this moment in time (me writing, you reading), out of all of history, at the points in space we occupy.
Isn't that amazing?
I don't know what happens to my consciousness once I die (or where it came from when I was born). The Buddhists say “fortunate you are to be born a human being”. For the time we are alive, we are part of this amazing experiment, this miracle. Imagine that! Most human beings who have ever existed aren't around any more.
But you & I are! Taking all this into account, we're lucky to be alive. What else?
You're able to read this because you live at a time when 80% of the world's population can read.
As late as the 1840s, over 40% of English people signed their wedding certificate with an X because they couldn't write.
Only half the people on the planet have water piped into their home. Of those who don't, 60% of them get water from some sort of improved water supply like a standpipe or protected well, while the other 40% get it from wherever they can.
Be grateful to be alive
My friend Richard Wilkins says it's a good day if he's not dead. Quickly check. Are you alive? Then it's a good day.
People often challenge him and say that's a very low standard for a good day, but he asks the question “What would you rather have – a million pounds, or not be dead?” He explains that people in hospices, who may not even live to see their children's faces this Christmas would have no difficulty recognising what huge value there is in being alive.
I'll finish with a translation of the word Namaste which I got from Bill:
Namaste: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides.I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth and of peace. And when you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Instant Financial Security
OK - here's an insight that (if you internalise it) will make you 100% immune to “the credit crunch”, redundancy, & any other economic weather that happens to arise.
During the 80s & 90s, I thought that the key to financial security was pay increases. I worked hard, switched jobs every 2 years & increased my salary. I noticed that the contractors who worked alongside me earned 2 or 3 times what I did, so eventually I went contract & increased my income further. Then I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, where I learned that “passive income” was the key to financial security. I created Salad & developed a strong passive income stream.
Have you spotted the pattern yet?
- I'll feel financially secure when I get a bigger salary.
- I'll feel financially secure when I've got a contract income.
- I'll feel financially secure when I develop passive income.
I was trying to get an internal feeling (security) from external factors (salary, bank balance, sales figures etc).
Oops!
As human beings, what we most desire is feelings. Feelings of love, success, fulfilment, peace, joy, happiness, security etc.
We live in a society that trains us to believe that we need to use external things (money, fame, partners, cars, jobs, achievements) in order to access those feelings.
This is a lie.
Looking on the outside for something that exists on the inside is a classic case of looking in the wrong place (this is also the structure of addiction, as it happens).
1) Identify a goal / change / fix you've been believing will make you feel a certain way (Hint: it probably has the structure “I'll feel A when B happens.”)
Here are some examples:
- I'll feel secure when I've got X amount of money in the bank.
- I'll feel successful once I've accomplished X, Y & Z.
- I'll feel peaceful when I change this limiting belief.
The fact that you can even say this (I'll feel A when B happens) means that you have an internal representation of the feeling (A). It also means that you've been conditioned into thinking that you actually need to have the external experience (B) before you can allow yourself to feel it.
Once again, this is a lie!
You are already emotionally complete. You don't need anything in order to feel your feelings.
2) Ask yourself “What would happen if I allowed myself to feel it (A) now?”
People sometimes think that if they allowed themselves to feel their feelings now, they would lose the motivation to change, grow & achieve. But that doesn't seem to be how it works.
Happy, successful entrepreneurs feel successful whether their businesses are prospering or not.
3) Change your criteria for feeling the feelings you want.
Here are some examples:
- I can feel secure now, because I have awareness. There was a time when all I had was awareness, & now look at me!
- I can feel successful now, because I'm alive. Living is the evolutionary gold star.
- I can feel peaceful now, because I can accept myself exactly as I am.
As my friend Michael Neill says...
"Unhappy people want what they want in order to make them happy. Happy people just want what they want."
This is part of why affirmations can be so powerful. When you feel how you'll feel when you've got what you want, it subtly reminds you that you don't need the stuff in order to get the feeling.
Believing that you need ANYTHING in order to feel happy / fulfilled / whole is the epitome of neediness.
Knowing that you are already complete is the epitome of abundance.
By the way, I'd love your comments on this - please give me feedback so I know what you think.
During the 80s & 90s, I thought that the key to financial security was pay increases. I worked hard, switched jobs every 2 years & increased my salary. I noticed that the contractors who worked alongside me earned 2 or 3 times what I did, so eventually I went contract & increased my income further. Then I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, where I learned that “passive income” was the key to financial security. I created Salad & developed a strong passive income stream.
Have you spotted the pattern yet?
- I'll feel financially secure when I get a bigger salary.
- I'll feel financially secure when I've got a contract income.
- I'll feel financially secure when I develop passive income.
I was trying to get an internal feeling (security) from external factors (salary, bank balance, sales figures etc).
Oops!
As human beings, what we most desire is feelings. Feelings of love, success, fulfilment, peace, joy, happiness, security etc.
We live in a society that trains us to believe that we need to use external things (money, fame, partners, cars, jobs, achievements) in order to access those feelings.
This is a lie.
Looking on the outside for something that exists on the inside is a classic case of looking in the wrong place (this is also the structure of addiction, as it happens).
1) Identify a goal / change / fix you've been believing will make you feel a certain way (Hint: it probably has the structure “I'll feel A when B happens.”)
Here are some examples:
- I'll feel secure when I've got X amount of money in the bank.
- I'll feel successful once I've accomplished X, Y & Z.
- I'll feel peaceful when I change this limiting belief.
The fact that you can even say this (I'll feel A when B happens) means that you have an internal representation of the feeling (A). It also means that you've been conditioned into thinking that you actually need to have the external experience (B) before you can allow yourself to feel it.
Once again, this is a lie!
You are already emotionally complete. You don't need anything in order to feel your feelings.
2) Ask yourself “What would happen if I allowed myself to feel it (A) now?”
People sometimes think that if they allowed themselves to feel their feelings now, they would lose the motivation to change, grow & achieve. But that doesn't seem to be how it works.
Happy, successful entrepreneurs feel successful whether their businesses are prospering or not.
3) Change your criteria for feeling the feelings you want.
Here are some examples:
- I can feel secure now, because I have awareness. There was a time when all I had was awareness, & now look at me!
- I can feel successful now, because I'm alive. Living is the evolutionary gold star.
- I can feel peaceful now, because I can accept myself exactly as I am.
As my friend Michael Neill says...
"Unhappy people want what they want in order to make them happy. Happy people just want what they want."
This is part of why affirmations can be so powerful. When you feel how you'll feel when you've got what you want, it subtly reminds you that you don't need the stuff in order to get the feeling.
Believing that you need ANYTHING in order to feel happy / fulfilled / whole is the epitome of neediness.
Knowing that you are already complete is the epitome of abundance.
By the way, I'd love your comments on this - please give me feedback so I know what you think.
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