There are so many questions that we answer every day. Some of these are straightforward – ‘what should I eat today?’ or ‘what TV channel should I put on?’ But we also quickly amass large, existential questions that are so overwhelming and complex that they become frightening. In our society, we’ve learnt that we must answer every question, as if it were a pop quiz. But what we have missed is that there are certain questions that go beyond the capabilities of the mind – the spiritual, emotional or philosophical. To me, the phrase ‘I don’t know’ is my own acceptance of surrendering to something bigger than me.
Tag: #change
Releasing the mind through the form of movement
This week, I’ve started work with a new coach around body movement. I’ve been working a lot on myself, but an area I hadn’t really addressed was around my comfort in my own body.
I remember being in India in February and seeing people dancing. I felt absolutely paralysed by the idea of it. More broadly, the moment anyone suggested dancing I felt frozen to the spot.
Somewhere along the way I had created body movement to be such a complicated thing that I felt an anxiety cycle the moment a situation came up.
Constant ordinary action creates the extraordinary
This weekend I’m at another personal development intensive in London. Over this weekend, we have spoken about the way in which we create the different aspects of the things we want in life.
I continuously go to these learning experiences because I learn something new each time. I’ve found that hearing something the first time sometimes doesn’t mean too much for me, but revisiting it later can make a profound shift.
Yesterday, we spoke about how we create the extraordinary. The idea of running a marathon, getting a six-pack or writing a book may sound unfathomable because of the colossal nature of the goal.
But if we gave ourselves a few minutes to figure out ‘how to’ do these things, we could most likely figure out a way.
The best way to learn is by getting into action
When we are looking for change, we can often get into the trap of constantly searching out more information. A new book or course can be helpful to learn more, but in of itself doesn’t really do anything until you do something with it.
We can get so addicted to learning that we actually learn to infantilize ourselves. Whenever we find a problem we search friends or the internet for guidance, rather than genuinely learning how to do things for ourselves.
For me, this looked like constantly looking for new personal development books and courses. I would finish one non-fiction book and move straight to the next one, without stopping to reflect what I had really learnt.
So if you want to genuinely learn something new or change something in your life, there is only one real choice: action.
The importance of simplicity in our messaging
I’ve worked in technical fields throughout my career, using words that most people would simply not understand. A key skill has been to make these things understandable and relatable for anyone.
I could easily bamboozle the people around me through specialist language, acronyms and obscure terminology. But learning to explain things to people in simple, short sentences has greatly enhanced my ability to get people to actually care about the stuff I’m talking about. Unfortunately, many people are not doing this very basic step, even though it is available to all of us.
The Power of Movement to Free the Soul
Last evening I went to my first ecstatic dance party in London. I wasn’t really sure about what to expect, but I’ve been enjoying entering into new experiences without too much thought. Ecstatic dance parties are a no-alcohol, shoes-off, no chit-chat experience. More ethereal vibes and melodic, hypnotic music. It was probably the most fun […]
The state of your room indicates the state of your life
For the last few weeks, I’ve been putting off tidying my room. For example, when I came back from my recent trip from the UK, it took me a week before I unpacked and moved my mini suitcase. It lay in the middle of the room like an obstacle course.
My state of mind betrays the way that I’ve been living my life. When I am too busy to take care of basic things around the house, I am in a constant mode of doing. I’ve felt quite tired and lethargic after spending each day running on my self-created task treadmill, so I’ve generally not ‘felt like’ cleaning up.
What has changed my perspective on prioritising myself is realizing that without me being at my best, I am far less potent in all the things I do.
Plant the seeds for the life you want to live
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.
Our lives are created based upon the seeds we are planting. If we want a field of sweetcorn, we better plant sweetcorn seeds. That makes sense for us logically, but this also applies to what we want in life. For example, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want a happy, positive and fulfilling life. So the best thing to do is plant happy, positive and fulfilling seeds. It is very simple, yet very effective.
Many of us want these things – happiness, success, love, money or any other number of things. Yet the seeds we plant are the opposite.
Our language creates how we experience the world
This week, I’ve been in several conversations about the massive power language has in the way we live our life.
The language we use is the way we create our reality. For example, if we say that the meeting we’re going to have this afternoon is going to be ‘tedious’ or ‘boring’, we are already creating this to be how we are going to experience it. I’ve been far more mindful in the way I have been prejudging situations. Holding off on these labels has meant I show up in situations far more open. This in of itself is a massive lesson.
But the power of language goes even deeper. The way we describe events can cause emotional reactions which frame our wider worldview
The power of asking for what you really want
Recently, I’ve been taking a more direct approach to asking for what I want. LinkedIn is a great example of where this works, but really it exists in any facet of life.
A coach recently suggested that I reach out to somebody else to have a conversation. They were doing similar things – they had written a book and had done a lot of public speaking. They were a few steps ahead of where I am at. It was obvious that I could really benefit from this person’s knowledge, but they were also someone I had never met. They also sounded quite impressive, so I had no idea if they would respond.
I’ve been looking to be more proactive in doing what I say, so I just went ahead and sent a connection request, followed by a message. They responded within an hour. I then asked if we could have a conversation because I would love their advice. By the end of the day, we had booked something in the week later. The conversation itself was really helpful, but the biggest lesson was realising that connecting with someone was far easier to organise than I thought it would be.