Category Archives: dreams

a better life, awareness, Beliefs, better choices, body, dreams, game of life, Goals, habits, Imagination, life, long-term perspective, love, mind, muscle building, muscles, perseverance, responsibility, safe training, skills, Strength training, time, workout, your life

Hard Yakka: Please Apply.

It’s ok to enjoy a treat once in a while. Fruit is great after a meal; it satisfies your desire for something sweet but has fewer calories, then, say, ice-cream.

Having dedication is critical.

Even the best training advice and know-how amounts to nothing unless it is catalyzed and fused with dedication to consistent action.

Read that again – dedication to consistent action or like I have summarized to many gym goers over the years, one of the secrets to maximizing benefits from efforts in the gym is simply being CONSISTENT and PERSISTENT. Many people don’t like hearing these words because they think there is some magic formula, some magic supplement portion, some magical new way of training. Well, I have news for you: there isn’t!

Some training enthusiasts have consistency but are not persistent. Some are persistent but not consistent. To be successful in training or muscle-building you need both traits repeatedly practiced. I believe you need the same two traits to be successful in any other area of life. If you strive to be a better person and getting success out of your training is one of your priorities, then having dedication is critical.

Dedication to anything worthwhile achieving takes a lot of mental, physical and emotional discipline.

Dedication is the unsung virtue in today’s world.

With regards to training success in the gym, dedication alone will be wasted if it is combined with poor training and recovery. Many people look at dedication as painful and a slog but this is far from the truth, which is that dedication is an unsung virtue in today’s world.

It is a virtue because dedication involves and includes discipline which can be seen as doing what needs to be done with consistency and persistence. Many successful people in their respective fields of interest have become successful because for some of them, they have practiced mental and physical discipline, day-in, day-out. Along with talent, we cannot discount all the ‘yakka’ and discipline to deliberately practise their craft over many years in most cases, to get them to where they are. Some of you may not be familiar with the term – yakka, and that is perfectly understandable. It simply is an old Australian word that means ‘hard work’. Please apply. Having the opportunity to apply discipline in your chosen field is a BLESSING. This is exactly what is needed to successful training: discipline or in other words – consistency and persistence.

10kg dumbells will always be 10kg wherever you are on this planet. Keeps you grounded.

Not tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come.

Everyone who has ever lifted weights to get stronger, bigger, smaller, more toned, fitter, healthier and so forth is by definition, a bodybuilder. Muscle-building is not just for competitive bodybuilders, it is an activity for everyone who wants to take charge of their physical appearance and conditioning, regardless of age, sex, culture, race or background. It is for you and everyone in your family, for Everyone you know.

Real bodybuilding is a fantastic goal to have and deserves your best efforts.

The benefits go far beyond mere cosmetics. The training, nutritional and recuperative areas of bodybuilding when implemented in a structured and safe manner, can and will produce extensive health benefits. Like I have said before, by improving your health and vitality you can add more life to your years and possibly years to your life. So, don’t wait any more and ‘get off the fence’ and do something about your training and making strength training a part of your lifestyle, today.

Not tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come.

Your are your brain neuro-pathways

A Healthy Brain is a Happy Life.

Everything we do and feel is governed by how our brain cells, or neurons, connect to one another. What most people think of as psychological makeup is rooted in the biology of these connections. The brain is constantly being rewired and exercise helps keep your brain healthy and balanced.

Exercising with the right intensity, especially like weight-training, is like taking a little bit of Prozac or a little bit of Ritalin, as it elevates the same neurotransmitters, like the drugs do. A useful analogy to make but the main point is that lifting weights and exercising helps balance neurotransmitters – along with the rest of the neurochemicals in the brain.

Keeping your brain in balance can change your life. A healthy brain is a happy life.

I love mathematics and here is a little formula I have come up summarizing success in training or body re-engineering. I have shared this with the many clients I have helped over the years:

Conceptualization/Imagination(dreams and desired outcome) + Effort (know-how and dedication) + Heart (determination of purpose) + Belief (passion) == > SUCCESS in training

So, don’t delay, put hard yakka in to your strength and health training and make it a priority in your life – today!

 

Until next time,

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Building a World Class Natural Physique takes patience and deliberate practise of key daily habits.

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

Standard
a better life, action, adaptation, adequate sleep, ageing, attitude, awareness, better choices, caring, change management, choices, diet, dreams, eating, Energy, game of life, habit, habits, life, long-term perspective, long-term strategy, risk, self improvement, self-respect, sleep, Strength training, success, taking action, truths, Vitality, workout, you, your life

7.5 Key Habits that would reduce your risk of the flu this winter.

Change your philosophy, change your life.
Vv.

My wife and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary next week. Wow, a wonderful achievement. A milestone reached. I mentioned it to a long-term client and friend of mine and he said:

“well, that is a milestone indeed, Paul. Congratulations. One thing it does say, Paul, is that it reflects the tolerance you both have had for your short-falls in character – your character flaws. It shows you’re willingness to grow and adapt to one another, for your togetherness.”

I thought about this ‘togetherness’ and I agree.

I’ve certainly adapted and she has, too. We have grown individually and together as one. But upon reflection, I realised that before you have adaptation as a choice, one needs to precede it with Awareness followed by the application of Action. Yes, appropriate and relevant action. This then leads to the critical step of Adaptation, if one hopes to have sustainable change.

So, in effect, it is the application of my Triple A to Life Philosophy: Awareness; Action; Adaptation.

There are many ways of approaching a potential risk or problem but you can certainly apply my Triple A approach to improving you personal immunity and reducing your health risks. Lowering your Risks of illness or susceptibility to the common flu or cold if you do get sick quite often during the colder months of the year.

My wife tells me that she has never met or knows anyone in her life so far that gets sick fewer times than me, I think she said that she can only remember me being ‘sick’ (and not a case of ‘man-flu’) a handful of times in the 13 and half years we have been together.

I asked her why she thinks that is the case and she identified some 7.5 key daily habits that she has seen me do consistently since she has been with me.

She said:

Key Habit One: I drink loads of water.

She is true.

I do drink, in my opinion – ‘adequate’ daily requirement of H2O, generally, approximately 1L of water per 20 kg of body-weight. Currently, I am drinking about 4.5L of water per day. Adequate daily levels or water is a huge part of my clients’ success with my body re-engineering programs.

I consistently find that most if not all my clients were not drinking sufficient water at the start of their program.

For the average person, your daily guide should be to drink 1L of water per 25kg-30kg of bodyweight (after taking in to other considerations such as age, exercise experience, activity levels, health condition etc).

Beauty is Truth, truth – beauty. That is all there is on earth ..and all ye need to know.
Be aware of the beauty with and around you.
Don’t just look, ‘see’

Key Habit Two: I eat loads of Dark Green vegetables

She is true, again.

I always tell my clients that if its green and not a frog – eat it!

Yep, load up on your dark green vegetables, something most of you would have been told by adults in your youth. Amongst other things, greens fill you up and addresses your satiety levels better, adds loads of fibre to your bowels and helps the transportation of oxygen through the blood and with it, vital nutrients for the optimal functioning of organs, especially the most vital: the brain.

Guideline: aim to consume 1cup of dark green vegetables (broccoli, spinach or long beans) for at least 1 meal per day for the first 2 weeks and work up to 2 meals per day for the next 2 weeks. See how your body changes and notice how your energies improve. Maintain a minimum of 2 meals per day with dark green vegetables in it for 90 days and see how your good body and mind feel and look. Try it!

Showing a top athlete client of mine what and how I eat. Can you see the dark green vegetables?
If it’s green and not a frog, eat it!

Key Habit Three: I wash my hands loads of times

My wife is absolutely true – again!

I learned way back in primary school that germs and a lot of bad bacteria is spread through the hands and is one of the main instigators of illness. I made a conscious effort all the way back then to keep my hands relatively clean as much as a I possible could, every single day. As a result, I wash my hands before and after almost everything I do. It may be a bit obsessive compulsive now but the risk of not doing so far outweighs the inconvenience of frequently washing hands.

Guideline: Try washing your hands more frequently if you’re not already doing so. Try and become aware of cleanliness of your hands and increase the frequency of hand washing. With soap. Act. Repeat consistently and persistently.

Adapt accordingly.

Key Habit Four: I eat loads of Protein in diet

She said ‘loads’ but I would have to disagree, not ‘loads’ but ‘adequate daily intake requirement’ of protein.

After water, the protein is the most abundant substance in the body. It is the life blood of your being. Yes, I do to ensure that my hard-working muscles get sufficient muscle-replenishing protein for repair work post work-out but also because it fills me up better than the weighed-equivalent amount of carbohydrates or fats, for example:

Give this a try. Eat 200g of chicken breast and 200g of white rice. Compare which one fills you up better and keeps you fuller – for longer. Yep, the chicken does, doesn’t it? Protein is more filling. Protein are the ‘building blocks’ of muscles and the human body and mind. Without adequate levels – you feel like crap and you wilter away like a plant uncared for.

Here’s my guideline: determine what your LBM or lean body mass is (the mass of your body that isn’t fat). If you honestly assess your daily intake of protein for a week, you will find that you would most probably not be eating even daily minimum requirement to maintain your LBM. Apply appropriate action and eat more protein: chicken, fish, lamb, pork, tofu and eggs are great sources. Your guide should be 1g of protein per kg of lean body weight, but of course, you need to consider other factors like age, activity levels, fitness levels etc. So, LOAD UP ON PROTEIN! So, if you’re a 200lbs male, with a normal bodyfat percentage of 25%, your LBM would be about 150lbs. If you exercise 3-5 times per week, then your body would need anywhere between 140g and 180g of protein just to sustain your LBM.

How do you consume that amount of protein every day, you may ask. Well, you need to ‘split’ your meals up and consume more better composed meals. So you may have, for example, 5 meals per day, with 30g per of protein per meal, which totals 150g per day. Sufficient and not excessive by any means. What gives you 30g of protein, you ask? Well, every 30g of lean meat gives you approximately 7g of protein, so you would need 120g of lean meat to give you 28g of protein. That is about a ¼ of what the average male would eat when he eats a piece of steak (anywhere between 350g and 500g) at lunch or worse, dinner in one sitting!

So, think about your portions of meals and adding more frequent, well-compositioned meals.

I hear people say, well, Paul, isn’t it quite pedantic to measure your meat weight and meals?

I say, no. It is necessary! We measure everything else, don’t we? I mean, we rely on measurements with everything else in our lives, think about it, would you not measure how much money you are paying for fuel? What about measuring your feet for proper fitting shoes? What about getting length of trousers wrong, wouldn’t that piss you off? We live with measurements with everything else in our lives except what is going in to our mouths. So, get yourself a scale that graduates all the way down to milligrams and start weighing my friend.

If you can’t measure something, you certainly cannot manage it!

In the gym.
Adequate levels of protein helps repair and build ‘worked’ muscles.
Give your body what it wants … after water, protein is the most abundant substance and everything in the body, every process, comes down to amino acids and the communication between them.
So eat protein I say!

Key Habit Five: I load up when in the gym

She is correct, again.

Since I picked up my first dumbbell at 17 years of age, I have consistently and persistently made gym training a part of my life, becoming entwined in to my chosen lifestyle and a vital and necessary part of me. My life.

I don’t believe in light weights. Period!

To get the best ‘bang out of your buck’ when you’re in the gym, nothing beats free weights and gravity. You need to use MODERATE TO HEAVY weights though and stay away from ridiculously light weights that you see many people use (unless you’re warming up your joints and/or in rehab). For the comparative amount of time you invest in any physical activity, nothing beats the results you get when you DO THE BASICS – in the gym. In terms of efficiency and effectiveness of health, strength and fitness benefits, in the short-term and the long-term, nothing beats the basics. What are the basics? Well, they are:

  • Deadlifts
  • Back Squats
  • Bench Presses

You can throw in some other full body movements like: clean and presses and lat-pulldowns and lunges with a few arm curls and dips. Workout done!

Neuroscience confirms that exercise, specifically weight-training, stimulates neurogenesis – the birth of new brain cells. You get smarter!! An estimated 3 million people (about 12.5% of the population) suffer live with anxiety or depression. A staggering number indeed.

Guess what, regular exercise of moderate to heavy intensity can be an effective adjunct treatment for depression. Both aerobic and strength training are very helpful in treating depression.

Remember: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” WHO.

Guideline: Get back to BASICS. Keep it FUNCTIONAL. Keep it SIMPLE. With CONTINUITY and PATIENCE. How much exercise then, Paul you ask? Well, the Australian National Physical Activity Guidelines recommend: 

  • doing exercise is better than doing none.
  • be active on most days of the week.
  • Each week try to do 2 1/2 to 5 hours moderate intensity exercise or 11/4 to 2 1/2 hours of vigorous intensity physical activity.
  • Do muscle strengthening activities on at least 2 days each week.

So, there you go. Just do it.

Try it!

Muscle is precious. Build muscle then, do everything you can to preserve it.
I load up in the gym!

Key Habit Six: I limit my intake of sugar

She is not wrong.

I do try and limit my intake of direct sugar but also am aware of the indirect sugars in other foods. To do this I try to eat more foods that come straight from the ground. The less processed the better for you.

Sugar – this insidious killer is not only the most addictive substance on this planet but almost every living human being cannot say no to it. It is the biggest killer of the human race – add up all the deaths caused by every other cause and I bet you will find it pales in comparison to the deaths caused by sugar, either directly or indirectly. That is how serious this matter is.

It is the over-consumption of it that results in many health, and dare I say it, mental problems.

There is direct correlation between food and mood. Meaning, there are clear dose-response relationships between diet and level of mental health and well-being. What I practise is very similar to what Scientists refer to as the “Mediterranean Diet” which emphases high consumption of plants (vegetables, fruits, nuts) and rich in good fats.

How do I do it? Well, whenever I get sugar cravings I substitute with either of the following:

  •  100g of blueberries
  • 150g grapefruit
  • Cup of green tea

My Guideline: become more aware of sugar in foods you put in your mouth and do your best to eliminate direct sugars from you diet, one at a time. Its difficult at first, I know but give it a try – persist. One less teaspoon sugar may just mean lesser health costs later in life. Maybe, a teaspoon less of sugar in your coffee or tea or drop the honey from your cereal.

Neuroscience studies show that eating too much sugar is linked to weight gain (we all know this), obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), stroke, high blood pressure (hypertension) and age-related illness of Dementia. Diabetes is the risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. The widespread assumption that sugar consumption can lead to addiction is inaccurate based on neuroscientific defintions of addiction, tolerance and withdrawal.

Remember this: “What we eat really affects our brain, our behaviour, our neural circuits, and our health in many ways. “ Neuroscience SFN 2014.

A healthy, balance diet encourages a healthy balance of gut microbes and there is a strong and definite Gut-Brain-Microbe connection. Having too much sugar can disrupt the gut-brain balance which disrupt signalling which may lead to abnormal brain function, changes in behaviour, thoughts, emotions, our perception of pain and impact on our immune system.

Resulting in increased susceptability to getting sick and being ill. So, in a roundabout way … try out these key habits to help build your immunity from all facets of being human.

Maybe, eliminate your cereal entirely and just opt for something more nutritious and simple, like spinach and eggs for breakfast, for example and replace that orange or fruit juice with plain water.

Having fun with a star jump!
Live each day like you are dying to live.
Vv.

Key Habit 7.5: I get adequate Quality Rest

True, again.

Notice I said “Rest” and not ‘sleep’. I have seen people who get loads of ‘sleep’, getting ten hours or more per day and wake up feeling more restless than they did before going to bed.

You need to focus on getting quality Rest. That could happen at any time of the day. A little nap during the day for less than 30 minutes would do wonders for your energy and focus levels at work. Note: latest neuroscience confirm that there an ‘urge to nap’ and it is programmed into our circadian rythyms. Taking a < 25 min power nap improves memory and learning, sparks creativity and regulates emotions. More than this results in sleep inertia (you feel overwheming tiredness).

Try it, if you can. The essence of this is to ‘clear your mind’ or ‘quiet your mind’. Such rest is priceless because you release hormones throughout the body and brain that help elevate your energy levels as well as your ability to focus on tasks at hand, for longer periods.

Try taking short periods of ‘rest’ for the body and mind. Almost like a short period of meditation. Find your quiet place and un-think to Rest. Take a page out the Fijian’s Life Book and apply the “Fiji Time” mentality to your life when appropriate, when you need to get away from it all. Learn why this race is consistently rated the Happiest People on the planet. It is not by chance, it is by choice. Their individual and collective choice as a race. They try to keep things simple. I know, because I was born and raised there.

Its not the quantity of rest, but the quality. Getting better at the latter will enhance your sense of being – your “vitality”, that essence of life – your life!

Little by little … every step in the right direction gets you to the destination.
Be like a postage stamp, stick to whatever you’re doing until you get to your destination.
Luck has nothing to do with it.
Hard YAKA and persistence gets you there!

Remember: the compound effect of the application of habits with the power of imagination and self-regulating behaviour is the REAL MEDICINE here. It is what I refer to as your HEALTH AND VITALITY INSURANCE. It is preventative insurance, that adds to a better quality life not only now, but more importantly, in old age.

A little persistence and consistency in the application of the 7.5 habits I have elaborated on may just help improve your overall immunity to the common cold and flu, like it has for me. The reason I have said ‘7.5’ habits is because this is obviously not a definitive list of reasons but it certainly is the Key 7 habits that you are in full control of. Habits that I consistently adopt on a daily basis.

Try them, see how you feel after seven days, after 4 weeks. Try 3 months and all of winter. Then, get in touch with me and tell me all about it.

The application of these key habits should help your overall sense of vitality and lower your risk of feeling like ‘crap’ or low in energy and vitality as frequently as you may have felt. It just might add years to your life – keeping your batteries re-charged.

Remember also that elephants don’t bite, mosquitoes do!

These habits are little things that could become a problem if you don’t take of it. So, take care of the these mozzies and other mosquitoes in your life, if and when you identify them.

As you know, Little Things Matter – simple actions, repeated over time, will determine the life you lead.

Someone once said that practise does not make perfect – perfect practise makes perfect. I agree.

So, become Aware. Apply Action. Adapt accordingly and repeat practice, with good execution …. Within reason. Keep things simple, don’t complicate things and know that everything will be ok in the end.

Best of health and vitality to you!

 

Yours in iron & muscles.

Until next time …

 

Here we are … my beautiful wife and I.
at a dinner party.

The Old Captain Viking Pirate Fiji Island Muscle Monk

On a beach in one of my favourite parts of the world.
Enjoying the sun again.

The Power of Habit.
The dedication to small, yet, important key habits on a daily basis helped me represent Australia at not one, but two consecutive World Natural Physique Championships, placing in the Top 5 in the World in both.
An island boy born and raised in the Fiji Islands went all the way to be one of the BEST in the world.
That is the power of the compound effect of little things done consistently over time.
Try the 7.5 key habits and see how well your immune system gets…. and then tell me all about it.

Standard
dreams, risk

Clothed in overcoats

Life is full of opportunities.

Some people are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Their parents are rich and understanding. And the children can take up any activity that they fancy. Not always successfully.

Most of us, however, are not that lucky. We have to achieve whatever success we can through our own efforts and possibly the support of family, and sometimes complete strangers.

It is important that you recognize those opportunities as they come along. Sometimes opportunities come clothed in overcoats, and you don’t realize it until the coats come off.

It is important that you recognize chances as they come along. Grasp them with both hands, give them a good shake, and say “Thank you”.

Don’t let fear hold you back, grasp these chances with all your might and stare fear in the face. I have always believed life is a huge exercise in Risk Management. So, take the risk … admittedly, after an educated assessment of the initial risk and implementing measures to help mitigate the risk to a personally acceptable level. Ask for help. Ask for help from the right people if you’re not sure. You don’t want to go to a florist if you need help with a plumbing business idea, for example.

Don’t be afraid to ask, it takes more courage to ask then not to and it saves you from a lot of potential pit-falls in the future. Take the opportunity and the attached risk or risks that go with it. Appeal to the “David” in you as you face up to the apparent Goliath ahead of you.

No risk – no nothing. Period!

So, set your plan and work your plan, even if you don’t have all the information available before you act. Work them, work your plan, work them, work them … and never, ever, ever  …. Give up. Life is already full enough with people who have ‘given up’. Don’t add to the world’s burden. Take charge, take life by the hands and give your chances the best, the best of – YOU!

When you do recognize these limited opportunities, always keep in mind that the BEST of YOU, requires that you be the BEST SERVANT you can be. Nothing more. Nothing less. With this philosophy steadfastly etched in your mind, in your way of life, in the way you walk …  the way you talk … the way you relate to people and animals and the way you relate to the BEST YOU, be prepared to embrace all that you receive. With gratitude.

I think someone great worded it terrifically in the years gone by – saying that there is a universal law of reciprocity.

Whether you believe so or not, understand that what you get out of life is not directly proportional to what you put in, no, I believe, what you get out of life is directly proportional to what you give without expecting, genuinely not expecting anything in return.

It is difficult to do, but try it and most importantly, persist.

You may only get one, two, or three opportunities in a lifetime. Make the most of it.

If you are religious – think of it as God’s blessing.

If you are not so inclined, put it down to fate.

 

Until next time ….

Standard
adaptation, awareness, Beliefs, dreams, Goals, Imagination, life, self-image, you

Don’t give something up – take something on!

About to start a workout in my Old School Gym. Old School training principles with a 'modern twist'. Know the basics. Stick to the basics. Apply the basics. Its the most efficient, effective and safe approach to building a muscular physique in the gym. Paul.

About to start a workout in my Old School Gym. Old School training principles with a ‘modern twist’. Know the basics. Stick to the basics. Apply the basics. Its the most efficient, effective and safe approach to building a muscular physique in the gym. Paul.

Belief
An old mentor once told me –

“As one thinketh in his heart 💓, so is he”

You could use that as a possible definition of the word “belief “. What is your definition?

What do you believe in? Do you have a belief? What philosophy is it based on? What is the foundation of this philosophy? Is it the truth? What truth is this? Who’s truth is this? Do you question those so-called truths?

The most important truth is, do you know YOU? What do YOU stand for? Do you love YOU? Do you, really?

I was raised a catholic and still am. My wife adopted this faith as well as my children. It is our choice. What is your choice? Your choice in religion? Or are you ‘spiritual’, not religious? Maybe you’re an atheist. Maybe an agnostic. It is your choice. Choices have to be respected. No one is better, we are just different. 

Me & a member of my Family Gym. He strives to be his best every day and seeks to help those who need his help, to help them, help themselves.


Lent

I have come to question a lot of things about my chosen faith and about me, just like, I assume, you would have also about yourself. You see, I have always told people who don’t know the sport of bodybuilding very well, that preparing for a contest to ultimately, win or get a podium finish is like an extended period of Lent. Yep, Lent!

To achieve the goal of presenting your very best and improving your chances of winning, I have to go through an extended period of Lent, or in other words, an extended period of self-deprivation.

However, the difference with actual Lent, is that with Lent, you are told to ‘give up’ something you love – it could be chocolate, alcohol, smoking or anything else that makes you ‘feel good’ and somewhat makes you also ‘feel guilty’. As a kid, I remember choosing to give up chocolate during Lent and that was difficult because I loved chocolate.

I still do. One of my many weaknesses.

To pursue your SHIT and never achieving it is far better than never having a go at your SHIT and living with regret forever.

bodybuilding, periods of “self-imposed purity bubble of deprivation”

In the preparation of yourself for a body-building contest, you have to take this philosophy and multiply it and take it to another level. A level that very few are willing to take. You don’t just ‘give up’ one pleasure, you have to ‘give up’ many. And not just for a month (approximately the period of Lent), you have to ‘give up’ almost all the pleasures of life, all the things that make you ‘happy’, for anything up to 20 weeks, give or take. That is 5 months of your life. Five months of self-imposed self-deprivation. Five months of saying ‘no’ to things that make life a little bit more pleasurable, a little bit more happy.

You live in a self-imposed ‘purity bubble’ in a world that is in a continuous state of decadence. That is what you have to do, to achieve a ‘look’ that the judges and fans are looking for when you’re on that stage. That body-building stage. That is why I believe body-building is the toughest sport in the world (others would argue otherwise but I understand differences in perception).

That is what you have to do to get the results. To win. This is what you have to do in this sport, just like a swimmer needs to swim daily for his sport, just like a soccer player has to kick a soccer ball around.

To win!

I dared to be different. I dared to not only dream but … to Dream BIG. I wanted to be one of the best at something I loved to do… not just in my state, my country.. but in the world 🌎. I couldn’t stand being “the same”. I just wanted to strive for an ideal… another vision of what I would like to be . And I did get there … 2 x World Championships- took me 10 years but I got there

Taught to Fear Failure

Got me thinking about Lent and our society’s insatiable desire to win, sometimes to win at all costs. You see it everywhere. On tv reality shows, In relationships. In business, In sporting events, in schools and even in families. To ‘get ahead ‘ in life, we’re taught to fear losing.

Fear failure.

Growing up, I would hear my grandparents and aunties and uncles reminding us kids the point of Lent was self-denial. That by depriving ourselves of something we love, of something that brought us pleasure was a good thing. That it proved that you were strong. What a load of you know what!

Here’s where I am at odds with this way of thinking now. Here’s where I am at odds with my chosen religion. It is the propagation of the whole set of attitudes that implies that being pleased with yourself is somehow wrong. Suspect. That not being the same as everyone else is crazy. That being different is dangerous.

That high standards means lots of losers and that suppressing or ‘putting people down’ is the best way to make them grow, The best way to make them spring up.

The bible says that we need to love thy neighbours as thyself. Lovely philosophy but flawed! Back to my earlier question: do you really love YOU? I think there are more people than not that do not really love themselves.

Think about it.

The Brain 🧠. The Real Power rests within this living organism… between the billions of neuronal network… Great thinkers know that thoughts 💭 change the world. Guard and work on your thoughts … every single day. Your most important investment.
The mind.
I AM.
Use this most complex tool every created to become a better medium of communication to …. the universe, to infinite intelligence … to consciousness.
To your GOD.

Taught to feel like losers

Too much of our society and its teachings are designed to make most of us feel like LOSERS MOST OF THE TIME.

Gee, they have even got one of the most popular reality tv programs, with that very word in it. To make us feel like LOSERS MOST OF THE TIME. Like I said, its everywhere – in the media, on tv programs, in gaming shows, in our examination system, in our organizations. Its everywhere.

So, I now question that very belief of ‘loving thy neighbour as you love yourself’ and the philosophy it stands on. If machinery of today’s society, is designed to make most of us FEEL LIKE LOSERS MOST OF THE TIME, then, if we really did love our neighbours as ourselves, most of our neighbours would get the short end of the stick. They would get a raw deal. They would lose out.

My biggest competitor is ME

The up-coming Winter Olympics is a celebration of elite talent and what I am talking about will be on show there. The podium finishers: first, second and third are celebrated. Whole countries are judged on their medal tally and haul.

What will be on show during these games, is it is as if we were governed by the philosophy that only the top three count and the rest are ALSO-RANS. This philosophy is flawed! I’ll tell you why.

When I started my body-building competitive career (over 20 years ago), I always felt my biggest competitor was ME. That no matter who I came up against in contests and no matter what result I got, I would not lose sight of the fact that I am competing against ME. I was setting my own standards for ME. My goal was to set my own targets. My goal was to be better than I was yesterday and the week before that and the month before that and the year before that.

Even though winning or being in the top three was a goal of mine, it never defined who I was as my performance was not tied to the result, but it was tied to the effort I had put in to it. I dreamed of being a better ME. I dreamed of bettering myself at each contest, compared to prior contests. To prior years. Not to others That’s comparing apples with apples.

Amongst other things … I am a “Physique Artist”
Building the best physique you hope to does not rely on chance.
It comes down to many variables summed up here –
Imagination + Visualisation + Effort (hard deliberate practice) + Feel (Heart) + Talent (genetics) + Focus (never-say-die Mind-set) …
To create Balance & Symmetry in design.
It does not matter which art medium is used – building architecture, watches, cars etc ..
Beauty = Balance & Symmetry
The only difference between sculpturing your physique and the other types mentioned above is –
the human body is alive and has a mind.
Continue to work on yours.

Biggest obstacle: don’t be different, it’s too dangerous 

However, most of what we’re taught in life is to win and sometimes to win at all costs. With that comes the dreadful mind-set of the fear of failure (refer to my earlier blog on this topic and how everyone should love the ‘f’ word more). This is a direct consequence of the idea that winning is very important, even though it is so difficult.

So, fear of failing becomes more paramount. A disease of the mind. The best strategy in this case would be to avoid losing. To avoid failing. So, everyone effectively accept the ‘status quo’.

Everyone be the same. Don’t be different. Its too dangerous.

I. AM.
GOD?

If you fail, you escape responsibility 

So, if the best strategy is to avoid losing, its best to lower your sights, lower your standards, lower your goals, dream small – not big. Keep your head down, don’t try to stand out but above all, don’t try too hard. Nope! Don’t try too hard. That way, if you fail, god forbid, you can always blame your laziness, not your lack of ability. You can continue to fear failure and stay the same. That is what society wants. For everyone to stay the same.

If you fail, you escape responsibility for your actions and explain your failure by claiming that the particular challenge/contest/business venture/ relationship you were in did not justify the energy needed to sustain it.

What a load of rubbish!

I think it was the recently deceased Nelson Mandela that said that ‘being small, serves no one’. I agree. However, much of what society and religion has been founded on is the philosophy of being humble or in other words – being and thinking/dreaming SMALL.

Thinking too big, dreaming big, is not encouraged and dangerous as it leads to being ‘different’. Being different can be very costly to you, the individual, and the society, as we are taught to believe.

What Mr Mandela was trying to say, I believe is that being ‘small’ or being ‘humble’ for the sake of being humble serves no one: it does not serve the person giving it nor the person receiving it. It does not serve humanity.

What Mr Mandela was saying was probably that if humility is the mode, then apathy is the mood. Inaction and indecisiveness is exactly what society wants. Inaction or apathy is the fuel of all fears. And we wonder why the fear of the ‘f’ word – failure, is so rampant in our society. Its because, the firewood that strokes these flames is everywhere, in the very fiber of society and religion.

Know YOU.
It’s ok to Love 💓 YOU… it’s ok to be YOU…it’s ok to be different

It’s ok to be different 

Its sad, but true, it seems that most people need to be stroked like a pet cat. Frozen with fear, people need to be stroked emotionally and psychologically in a positive manner, by someone for something, almost every day. If they are not stroked, they are a heap of mess. If that is for one person, then it must be for many more.

it seems, Energies are low. Belief in self is low. Depression and diseases of the mind are rising exponentially around the developed world. The obesity epidemic that has been gripping the world in recent times is only a symptom of a bigger problem caused by the machinery of society and religion. The obesity epidemic is a symptom of the ‘obesity of the minds’ of people ( I will talk more on a later blog).

Its okay to be different.

Yes, being different does come at a cost. But it is ok. Be brave. Know yourself more. Love yourself more. It is okay to love yourself more. We are each meant to be different and to celebrate and appreciate each other’s differences. That is what makes the world go round, right?

Become a somebody 

You have been blessed with a bunch of talents or gifts and you have a responsibility to use and improve your bit of YOU. Your bit of creation. In turn, if possible, you should also help improve the talents and gifts of others. To not allow yourself to dream big, to not allow yourself to imagine a better, more improved you. To ignore these god-gifted talents yourselves and take it to new heights, new standards is to deny yourself and others a most beautiful thing.

It gives humanity the short end of the stick, the raw deal. This is the ultimate disrespect to your creator, whoever, whatever religion that you follow.

So, get up and love yourself!

Why not love yourself a little today and then love others. Make a commitment to love yourself, even more, tomorrow and continue for as long as you live. Love YOU. This is not soft. This is not wrong or bad.  Now, your neighbours will not get a raw deal, when you adopt that saying “love your neighbours as yourself”.

They will get the BEST OF YOU.

That is what I have taught my daughter to say as her prayer every night: “God, help me be the best I can be, for ME and for everyone else.” Notice, it is for her first and foremost, not for mum or dad. And so, if she hypothetically came last or out of the top 3 in a contest, but if she tells me she gave it her best, then, in my eyes, she won.

In my eyes, her effort and her participation tells me she won. And that is exactly what she will believe in. That will hopefully, instill a belief that will lower the risk of her fear of failure and allow her to just ‘have a go’.

Participate. Just do it!

It is okay to be an ‘ALSO-RAN’ and also feel like you’re a winner. You’re a winner because you didn’t believe in apathy or inaction. You’re a winner because you tried. You gave it your best. You gave it a go. You’re a winner because you came in fourth, exhausted and encouraged – because last time you came in fifth.

You’re a winner because winning is also – giving yourself to others freely; winning is also never whining; it is also picking up a beer can you didn’t throw on the beach; it is becoming that dream of yourself that would fulfill you as a person with high self-esteem; it is being glad you are you,; it is unconditional love; it is a way of thinking – a way of living; it is a habit (so is losing – be careful).

Winning is all in the attitude, an attitude of the mind. Your attitude toward your potential is either the key to or the lock on your door of personal fulfilment. Action squashes all fear.

Now, consider an alternative definition of Lent: don’t give something up, take something on. Dream big. Dare to be different. Don’t fear failure. Set higher standards for yourself.

Love yourself. Love yourself more. Love others. Give more of YOU to the world. Exercise your attitude of mind.

Become a somebody!

All the best in your journey in the sea of life.

Until next time,

My gritty Viking Pirate 🏴‍☠️ Princess 👸

 

Building muscle, one rep at a time with relevant tools like a dumbell. In my Old School, no frills gym. Just the way I like it.

Building muscle, one rep at a time with relevant tools like a dumbell. In my Old School, no frills gym. Just the way I like it.

Standard
dreams, Goals, Imagination, life, you

Why you should love the “F” word more.

What “F’ word are we talking about? Well, its not the F word that first comes to mind, for some of us and rhymes with duck. No, not that one, but the other, arguably more important “F” word with regards to your journey in pursuit of your definition of success. The word I am referring to is of course, “F” for “failure”.

The key to success is massive failure (Thomas Watson – IBM). So, I guess, we could conclude, that if failure leads to success, then your goal is to fail as best as you can. Yep, strive for failure and don’t stop until you get there, in pursuit of the elusive success formula, everyone is searching for. So, don’t fear the “F” word. Matter of fact, go after it, better and faster than your competition. Fail faster and better than your competition. It would seem that whoever can fail the most and the fastest – WINS!

A business mentor told me once that ‘Paul, bigger, isn’t necessarily, better’. I agree. To a point! I don’t in regards to failure. The bigger, the better. If you’re going to fail – FAIL BIG. Fail big, I say!

So, you could argue that the volume and speed to fail is a determinant of success. I think it was Brain Tracy (America’s Leading Business Authority on Success) that said that “Failure is a prerequisite for great success. If you want to succeed faster, double your rate of failure.” And the one of the ways he said to overcome your fear of failure is to “act as if it were impossible to fail, and it shall be.”

Great failures is on the list of success. You can only experience growth through failure as you constantly try to improve and tweak, iterate and improve. Failure is the gateway to the ‘next level’.

“F” your way to success! What do you think? Do you agree? Let me elaborate.

We should not be concerned as to why we have failed. You should learn lessons from GROWING THROUGH failure. Seeing failure as a growth stepping stone, you can learn not only to accept failure and learn from it but more importantly, learn to pick yourself up quicker … learn to get up off the ground, faster …. Learn to take that step forward again …. Have the courage to get over that hurdle and the next time …. Succeed.

One of the many things I love about Arnold Schwarzenegger (besides him being one of the best bodybuilders of all time), is that in his Hollywood movie-making phase of his life, he always asks writers and producers who give him countless movie scripts for him to consider to act in is: what would the movie poster look like. The movie poster needs to ‘sell’! Smart man. I think, we can all learn from him and his approach to certain elements of his life. In terms of posters and the road to our own success, maybe, just maybe, we should become the poster-child for failure. Yep, become your own Poster. Make your movie poster (for failure) and sell. Do it big!

Have you experienced many failures in your life thus far? I’m sure we all have. Small failures and big failures. Failures in examinations, in relationships, in financial dealings, in sporting endeavours. I’m sure, if you thought candidly about your life thus far, your life would be littered with many examples of the F word: Failure. I know mine is.

As most of some of you know, I am a natural bodybuilder. I have been competing on the bodybuilding stage for about 20 years now, on and off. I love everything about muscle. The human body is made up of more muscle than anything else. Your heart is a muscle, your stomach is a muscle, you have skeletal muscle to hold you upright and carry your skeleton and organs in the direction you want. As far as skeletal muscle is concerned, I eat for muscle, rest for muscle, exercise for muscle and I teach my clients about muscle and the maximization and optimization of muscle retention, using my framework of body re-engineering. Someone once told me that I was just a ‘ball of muscle!”. I took that as a compliment. Anyways, bodybuilding is an avenue for self-improvement. It is a lifestyle, just like a surfer lives his lifestyle. Just like a martial artist is a martial artist every day of the week and not only on the weekend. Bodybuilding as I see it is the never-ending pursuit for balance, aesthetics and beauty and a daily appreciation of what God has given us (our body, mind and spirit) and the hope and faith that I am striving to BE THE BEST I CAN BE and DO THE MOST I CAN with what has been given to me. I think there are parallels with what it means to be a Christian or to be a follower of a faith/religion. Not doing my best and not giving my best is anti-christian and the height of hypocrisy (probably for most religions in the world too). Being a Christian, I think, demands going beyond mediocrity, demands a higher standard, more devotion to your life. More devotion to the task of living. More devotion to life itself. That is the essence of bodybuilding. Oh, and you train and work your muscles, too.

Anyways, in all those years of competition, I have come up against many formidable competitors. The biggest competitor to me was – ME. Each year, I came up against myself. My whole goal when I started was to make ME better than yesterday, than last month, than last year … and maybe, as I hoped, I will present the best of me one day. I felt comparing myself to myself was the relevant comparison as you could artificially feel good with a result because you came 1st but results could be mis-leading because the line-up could have been average or mediocre. Sometimes, it is better to come last in high-calibre line-up. So, your placings do not reflect the quality of the competition, and statistics can lie. We all know that. Politicians know that. However, it is lovely to come first and be considered the best built bodybuilder on that day and saying that I didn’t like coming first would be telling a lie. That day came and went many times. However, I also missed first place many times. I came second countless times. Made third many other times. Sometimes, I never made the podium at all and never got a second ‘look’ from the judges. It hurt. Failing to win, felt bad. Failing to make the top 3 felt even worse. I wouldn’t lie. Months of focus and dedication came down to a few minutes on stage under strong lighting. Strike! You are asked to execute standard bodybuilding poses and ‘strike!’ the judges would call out. Failing to win or get a place, hurt. However, each competition I did, each line-up I stood in, each year that went by, I learned to overcome my disappointment in failing to win a bodybuilding contest – better. I got better at dreaming. I saw failing at winning these contests as ‘successful experiences’. I saw failing as something that was necessary. Something that was necessary to make me a better bodybuilder. A better person. What mattered to me was ‘progress’. Was I making progress to being a much better bodybuilder. A much better human being. Each failure got me one step closer to knowing ‘myself’ better and as I did, my standards rose too … so much more that it resulted in my representing Australia twice in 2007 and 2008 World Natural Bodybuilding Championships in New York , USA. I placed in the Top 5 in both years. Top 5 in the World. Not too bad. It started with a dream. It was only through the many contest failures that I started dreaming more. Bigger. I ‘super-sized my dreams’ … and became what I believed. I became a top ranking natural bodybuilder in the whole World. Each contest failure made me better. Each contest failure got me closer to succeeding. Each failure made me dream bigger. There are many parallels in the journey through life. So, if you are going to dream, dream BIG, I say! I looked and still look at bodybuilding contests as beacon of hope … and keeping my hope alive .,.. making one definite step to being better … holding on to the hope that my best days are ahead. And I daily tell myself: they are. You should too, in your journey through your life.

I believe seeing failure as ‘good’ in any area in life it occurs in, whether it be in business, in exams, in relationships. It does not matter what it is. Just make sure you take the lessons you are to learn from it and try to do it better next time. Failure helps you become better. It helps you become your BEST. Stay ‘big-picture’ oriented as failure should be seen as a ‘break-through’ and not as a ‘break-down’. It is a matter of perspective.

Change your perspective, change your results. Change your life direction.

Never let your fear of failure sabotage your forward progress. You need to break that cycle of fear of failure. Most failures we experience can be tied to 1 or 2 things or both: 1) Poor decision 2) Bad strategy or plan.

There are many ways to manage failure when you are experiencing it. One of the ways I like is to remind yourself of positive mild-stones and battles/wins you have had in the past. In the midst of failure, you need to ‘rewind’ the tape of your life and remind yourself of your successes in your life. Whatever you’re in, whatever failed adventure you’re in, remember: you’re not STUCK IN IT! It is only temporary. Wherever you’re headed in life, whatever goal you have set yourself, whatever obstacles you will have to face on your way to knowing your truth, remember: its not a matter of ‘if’ … its just a matter of time. You will get there. A great thinker once said that:

“If it were not possible to fail, it would be impossible to succeed. If it were not possible to lose, there would be no such thing as winning”.

Don’t let your fear of failure sabotage your forward progress. You need to break that cycle of fear of failure. You need to continue with the idea that there is nothing wrong with failing … .and there is everything wrong with ‘not trying’. I somewhat believe that the fear of failure is nothing more than a self-confidence issue. You see it everywhere in life … all areas of life, e.g., in examinations, picking up a potential date in a social situation, sales calls … living in the past is a problem.

It probably comes down to two rules:

  1. NEVER give your power away to an event that has not yet occurred (for example, if you’ve spilled milk on the floor, there’s little point crying about it … just wipe it up and go get a new pack of milk)
  2. GET GREAT!

I would attribute success coming down to habitual excellence (refer to a prior blog on the importance of self-regulatory behaviour):

1) Being your best

2) Being the BEST at what you do (your industry, your state, your country, the world)

As I mentioned in previous blogs, I get my daughter to say a little prayer every night before bed and every time she leaves me for school, she says “God, help me be the best I can be. For me and for everyone else”. A simple, yet profound prayer. A talk to her subconscious mind to be at her best – always. This simple prayer, helps everyone else to then get the best of her, too.

An attitude strengthening-exercise for the mind. Just like you need strengthening exercises to increase skeletal muscle, one needs what I call “attitude strengthening-exercises’ for the mind.

Just like bodybuilding competitions, each attempt makes you better. Each failure makes you better. There are parallels to life. If you are a business man/woman, when you get better at business, business will get better for you. If you are a student, when you get better at being a student, grades get better for you. It follows then, that when you get better at life, life will get better for you. All reluctance is a symptom of lack of confidence. This leads to not attracting success. Maybe, you need to change your perspective on failure to:

“I am not judged by the number of times I have failed. I am judged by the number of times I succeed. The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion with the number of times I have failed and keep on trying”.

Like I have taught my daughter, “never, ever, ever, ever … ever give up!”. It is a belief of hers now.

I keep a bodybuilding contest journal. After each contest, I self-critique my plan and my performance and make new goals for the future contests, based on what I have learned from the one I had just done. If you don’t already do this, maybe, you could probably get in to the practise of having a success journal – write down everything, for whatever area in life you’re working to getting more success from.

Ask yourself these 3 questions when you have failed at something:

  1. what did I learn (this experience)?
  2. How can I use this as a positive force in the next contest/phase of life?
  3. what skill or strategy that I need to re-group on to never experience this again.

I love that NIKE logo : Just DO IT! So simple, yet so powerful. Some say, success is defined as ‘successful failure’. Then, just do it. Just Fail!

Having a good support network is vital in picking yourself up when you’ve fallen down. When you’ve hit a hurdle in life and hit the ground! There is much more talk about failure and very few talk about tolerance for it. You need to increase your tolerance to failure and this comes only from not fearing failure. The only true failure is the failure to TRY. Dreaming up possibilities/hopes and making it real is success. What matters is that you are doing it.

The biggest failure is FEAR. Having the desire to learn those important lessons from learning from other people’s mistakes. Life is too short to try to experience hurt/failure ‘first-hand’ all the time. If someone says that you will get burned if you ‘play with fire’, you should take heed of that advice and not try to get yourself burned because you would like to experience it for yourself. Stupid. As a child, an uncle of mine used to mutter sometime when he observed something happening “Stupid is, stupid does!”

Don’t be stupid. There are enough people out there doing that already.

I think it was Thomas Edison that said something to the effect that : “I haven’t failed. I just have found 10,000 ways things won’t work”. Like the desire to become a better bodybuilder, it takes years and years of dedication to build quality, dense muscle, that proportionately flows from head-to-toe. Then, using the stage as your canvas, you then master the art of painting a living, breathing picture of ‘art in motion’. Beauty and aesthetics in motion. The first thing I resolved very early in my bodybuilding career is to focus on long term. I think that is the first challenge for everyone in life. Life is not to be viewed from the eyes of a hare. One should try to look at it through the eyes of a tortoise. Your challenge: don’t be focused on short-term success, need to focus on long-term and I think many people strive too hard for perfection. This is a futile goal. I have learned one very important thing from all my years competing. There is no 100% rule, there is no secret to success in bodybuilding. Everyone does it their own way, through learning from others and learning what is best for them. This is the same for life. There is no 100% rule in Life. It is through failure, that you succeed in life.

There is one powerful point I have learned through bodybuilding though: it is the search for BALANCE. Balance of the flow of muscle. From top-to-bottom. Balance of muscle. Balance of the mind-muscle connection. This also flows in to all areas of life. We are all searching for balance and beauty. This is a universal appeal. This is what being human is. Need to keep the pendulum swinging … the ability to look for balance! Failing is part of that search for your sense of balance within yourself and also finding your place in this world (refer to an earlier blog called ‘The Pendulum of Life’).

Balance and the search for balance is the ESSENCE of Life. Life, itself, is about balance. The human body strives for balance, for homeostasis, constantly evaluating and accepting change whilst keeping everything in equilibrium. In balance. Nature is constantly striving for balance, as it is constantly in a state of order and chaos, of progress and of entropy. Just like building muscle – you’re constantly ‘breaking it down’ to allow growth and new muscle, bodybuilding follows the same formula for Nature: for progress and new growth, you need to destroy – stimulate and annihilate. This is the same for life and progress. This is why nature needs fires in bush-land. To allow new growth, through destruction. You need to keep pushing the boundaries, your own self-imposed boundaries and limitations. Ridding yourself of the fear of the “F” word, of failure and learning to love it and love it more, lifts you to another level. To another consciousness level.

In Physics, the second law of thermodynamics suggest that all physical systems, however efficient they are, inevitably undergo some sort of degeneration over time. The ordered energy within them degrades into disordered energy or chaos. When applied to the universe and nature, as a whole, that in any physical process, the entropy of the entire universe goes up a little bit but the universe overall, gets a little bit more chaotic! The universe, itself, is constantly striving for balance.

However, in your search for balance, amidst all the confusion that life throws at you, remember one thing: the answer rests in YOU. In your mind. How do you lift yourself up from confusion, misery, melancholy and failure? How do you absolve yourself from emotional and physical bondage? How do you get to the road of freedom, happiness and peace of mind?

The answer: your mind – specifically, your subconscious mind. Refer to some of my earlier blogs on clues to finding growth, through your mind.

We covered a lot of ground with that “F” word and I think we should all learn to love it more. Build up your hours with your “F” word. It is said that you become a ‘world class expert’ in a chosen field with a minimum of 10,000 hours of deliberate practise. Build up your hours with that F word. Become your expert.

Become GREAT at it …and you may just achieve your definition of success!

Until next time.

Standard
a better life, action, adaptation, awareness, balance, beauty, Beliefs, better choices, brain, change, Change Agent, choices, consciousness, courage, decisions, diet, dreams, Energy, examined life, game of life, God, gratitude, habits, Imagination, life, long-term perspective, love, muscles, needs, perspective, responsibility, risk, self discipline, self improvement, success, trust, truth, Vitality, you, your life

Too many mind.

To dig deep, you have to dig deep.


My grandfather told me … 

Yes, not who are you… no, what are you?

My grandfather told me when I was very young that – “You are what you constantly think about every day. “ My grandfather was a bit of a philosopher as I later inferred.

Well, great. I guess, we had better think life-affirming thoughts then, shouldn’t we?

I think so.

Thought has power.

Thought has power.

You’re probably aware of that already… but how do you use that power – consciously?

Thought has energy. What is Energy? One would immediately think of an energy drink. Energy does not vanish., it is never created nor destroyed. It does not disappear. It persists for all of time. All of eternity. Energy transforms from one medium to another or many.

To think, really think .. is probably the hardest thing To do in life

Energy is life.

Energy TRANSMUTES.

Energy transmutes from one moment to another. Energy is the life-blood of life itself. Without energy,  I would cease to exist. You would cease to exist. Life, as we know it, would cease to exist.

So, it could be argued that energy is life and that would make Einstein one of the greatest thinkers that has ever walked this earth.

Why?

Simply, because I think he came up with a formula that fundamentally sums up Life. And what formula would that be, Paul? Well, I’m certain everyone who is reading this knows this following formula:

Energy (E) = Mass (m) x (C x C),    where C = Speed of light

Or, in layman’s speech – E = M C squared.

In the Quantum world the Experimenter becomes part of the experiment.
That is the “hard problem” of the Quantum

Everything is energy, including your thoughts. 

So, if life is Energy, then based on the formula above, everything is energy – all matter, and matter being gas, liquid and solid…. & everything in-between.

Energy is everything and everywhere and omni-present.  It could be said that Energy is God, because God is omnipresent too. The formula above describes that of classical physics but in Quantum Physics, the energy of a particle in its simplest forms (photon, proton etc) within a system is summed up in another famous formula by Physicist – Max Plank:

That Energy (E) = the wave vibration of the particle x Plank’s constant.

Phew, what is that Paul, some of you may ask?

Well, it simply says that everything is energy and that each sub-system of a system, for example, a particle, has a certain wave frequency and oscillates at that wave-length. It should also be noted that Quantum particles can exist in two or more states or locations simultaneously and can be mathematically described by a Quantum wave-function. Interesting findings by science, isn’t it? So, energy is everywhere. Everything is energy, including your thoughts.

So, What does that say? What does that tell us about thought?

Everything has a frequency, everything has a resonance. What is your resonance? What resonates with you?

Are your thoughts … Oscillating in a wavelength that is healthy?

Well, we have got to ask ourselves what frequency of thought we are on and if we are oscillating in a wavelength that is healthy. If we are not, can we and what do we need to do to change our thought operating frequency (from negative to positive) and make the change to a different thought oscillation, making this your default. Your default way of thinking.

So if everything is energy, I also think we have got to devote more thought ( as I’ve established is a form of energy) … devote more thought to energy itself but in particularly, in our management of energy.

Back to my opening statement about thought.

What are you?

You become what you think of, everyday.

It is said that any thought held unwaveringly in mind, or any thought held constantly in mind through focused concentration and brought into the conscious mind often enough, seemingly, attracts to it those qualities of the human mind which it most resembles. Basically, you become what you think, every day.

A thought is like a seed put in the ground, that produces a crop that is of its kind and how healthy it turns out depends on the nutrients and caring it has from its internal and external environment.

Therefore, one must watch one’s thoughts.

It is dangerous to allow the mind to hold any thought which is destructive. Why, because, such thought will manifest itself in the physical sense, sooner or later. Be careful, I say, be careful! Just like the seedling needs constant nutrition and nourishment from the sunlight and healthy soil to keep them alive, so does the qualities of your mind. Without proper nutrition and nourishment, everything that lives and grows, dies.

Everything.

Feel the interconnectedness of everything
Live 4 2day

Nutrition for the mind is as important… than nutrition for the body.

The qualities of the human mind also dies, if one does not nourish it and constantly feed it the nutrition it needs to live and develop. Nutrition for the mind is as important, if not, more important than nutrition for the body. How do you do this, I hear you ask?

Simple. Keep it simple, stupid (The KISS principle I learned from one of my business mentors).

Like, any plant would: learn to become more aware (of your thought/thoughts), concentrate and think about it, making the correct choice and then apply (or use it). My philosophy of the Triple A can be adopted here. Refer to an earlier blog for an elaboration on the first A: Awareness.

Are you a spirit… a soul … a leaf 🍃 of consciousness in the vast seas of consciousness?

No one has ownership of your mind, but YOU.

No one has ownership of your mind, but you.

Yes – YOU!

You do not need anyone else in this world to help you manipulate your mind so it will function as you want it to. You also have control over your mind, no matter where you are in life, which phase you  are in life, but provided you exercise the right rather than allowing others to do so for you.

Better control and ownership of your mind and choosing to exercise these factors will allow you to free you of the curse of all fears and stagnation. And why is this important? Well, because I believe that there is a growing hidden epidemic in mode-day societies (one of many) and that is many are suffering from –

Too many Mind.

We’re all swinging like a pendulum .. continuously moving between two points – activity & non-activity/ entertainment/rest . Creating waves 🌊…in the universe

Clutter to the mind is akin to weeds are in a garden.

Your mind is made up of the hardware and the software.

The software keeps changing, keeps getting updated, every day, every second of the day, for some. What happens when you fill your tummy up with so much crap, when you eat too much ….

Well, you feel like crap, don’t you?!

Well, that is also what happens when your nutrition for the mind is also crap. If you keep feeding it crap, you will think and ultimately act like someone who is physically ill. But like I said earlier, who has ownership and control of your mind?

You, yes – YOU!

Not managing your food for your body well enough, can make you very ill, just like mis-managing your nutrition for your mind. This leads to chaotic thoughts, which ultimately causes increased clutter & “noise” in the mind, which then leads to bad decisions, because of lack of focus, which then causes distress in the physical world.

Clutter to the mind is akin to what weeds are to a beautiful garden. The weeds feed on the limited resources and sometimes overgrow and overtake the area, affecting the proper growth of the desired plants. Even killing them off.

So, watch your thoughts, I say. Be the best gardener you can be for your garden! Thoughts, positive or negative GROW STRONGER when fertilized with CONSTANT REPEITITION. Remember this.

My idol.

Too many thoughts = Too many mind.

Too many thoughts = too many mind. 

Very similar to that age old saying – “too many cooks spoil the soup.” That I heard adults saying when I was a child. If you have too many thoughts … too many mind … running chaotically through your consciousness … you muddle up the soup .. muddle up or clutter up … your most precious resource: your Mind.

Clutter doesn’t do much more than cloud up or congest one’s life. One’s mind. Its like a ship with too many destinations  and being paralysed with motion as it has too many competing travel plans. I’m not sure who said this but some thinker, I think it was Einstein, that taught us a big lesson: he felt it was more important to use your mind to “think” than to use it as a warehouse for facts.

That if you could record the information somewhere, then do so, hence freeing up your mind for more important decisions. So, do just that. Don’t use your brain as a storehouse of information, it will just cause unnecessary clutter. Instead focus on the thinking or thought process behind the intelligence. That is why my kids are amazed that I have over 35,000 unread emails in my gmail inbox. I chose yo filter out unnecessary “stuff” and stopped weed from using up my brain cells and cluttering my mind.

Let your light bring colour to the world. Focus 🧘🏾‍♂️ your thoughts 💭 on the area you want the rainbow 🌈 to land

The ability to know how to get information is more important than using the mind as a garage for facts.

The ability to know how to ‘get information’ is more important than using the mind as a garage for facts.

What really matters is not how much intelligence you have, but HOW YOU USE what you do have. The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than the quantity of your brainpower. In other words, the thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have.

Does science have the answers?

All the answers to the truth? The answers we may have to harvesting the mind? What truth is this? What is truth? What is science anyway … it could be seen as a makeshift, a means to an end which is never attained?

Could nature be truth? Could the universe be truth? Where is the source of our knowledge? Do we know everything? Do we think we know something? Are we, as human beings, so arrogant to think we know something … our so-called meagre knowledge … and maybe, missing out on the advantages of actual ignorance.

A man’s ignorance may not only be useful, but can be seen as beautiful. Sometimes, knowledge can be worse than useless and worse still – ugly!

A butterfly 🦋 knows when to fly and when to sit and feed.
Timing is everything in their life.

Where and how can you harness your mind?

So, where and how can you harness your mind, de-cluttering it in the process. Well, one way, is to get you dreaming again … to spark your imagination. To do this, you could try to fall in love with nature. Become one with nature. Become one with the universe. Let nature become one with your spirit – your subconscious. This would allow the mind to be fertilized and bear fruit in the garden, the garden of your subconscious, the fruit of which is imagination.

How would you know which of your thoughts is valuable: a clue could be any thought that comes to your mind, that is anything, but what you thought….& resonates with your heart ❤️.

That is imagination. Imagination is key: A key gift to you in your journey through life.

So become more aware of your thoughts, and then, catch that ‘aha’ thought that you weren’t trying so hard to think about. Unthink to think (refer to an earlier blog on this).

Until next time,

P.

Tesla, Einstein’s hero was so “in-tune” with the Energy & understood HOW to harness that Power energy

Standard
dreams, Imagination, life, self-image, you

Dad’s old wallet

Mimicry is the most flattering form of appreciation. It’s another level altogether. Makes you feel like a ‘God’ … a god on earth!

How is your wallet? How long have you had yours for? Did you get a new one for Christmas? Do you still use the old one? Is has almost every receipt you ever had in there? Are you cards bulging out the seams of the wallet? Maybe, you need a new one. Well, my wife was struggling to think about what to get me for my Christmas gift last year until I told her that I thought I needed a new wallet to replace the 12 year old one I had. There was a sign of relief from my wife as she finds it difficult buying a present for me most of the time. The old wallet was still functionally fine. The main reason I needed a new wallet was that the transparent photo holder was damaged. The plastic was no longer transparent but translucent now. So, light passed through but one could not see through it. So, this meant that I couldn’t clearly see the photo I had in there of my wife and two children. It was irritating me for months because every time I wanted to look at it or show it to someone I had to painstakingly pull it out of the photo pouch. Little irritants. One needs to reduce these in life, if you can.

On Christmas Day as we sat around our Valentine Christmas Tree that we all put up together, my beautiful daughter, brought me my little wrapped Christmas gift, saying, “Dadda, this is for you”.

It was perfect. Just my style. It was me. Re-confirmation that my dear wife, knows ‘me’.

As I cleaned out my old wallet and chucked out all the unnecessary documents (accumulated stuff) in there, I announced loudly that I would give my old wallet to my son. Well, that was the end of that!

He was enthralled with it. I mean, he couldn’t leave it alone. He went everywhere with it for 2 whole days … just him, his favourite stuffed dog called “Foof, and the wallet. He had so many other gifts from family and friends but wanted nothing to do with it. What he wanted was dad’s old wallet.

Got me thinking. Got me thinking about role models in life. About the importance for each and every one of us to have a male and female role model. Yes, no one is perfect but we still need a beacon of hope … a light at the end of the tunnel … a shining example of a human being at all phases in life that we could adopt certain traits we admire from. We’ve just got to be honest with ourselves and keep our eyes open.

It was one of the best feelings I have felt in my life. My two year old son owning my old wallet. Going everywhere with it. Out to visit relatives, to shopping malls … to the toilet … to local parks … playing with the ‘old cards’ in there … tossing and turning it in bed … holding it close to his body. No one was allowed to touch the wallet for a while there, not even me. I felt very special on this occasion, just for being me. My blood. My son, loving my discarded wallet, like it was another ‘Foof’.

He gave me the biggest form of flattery I have ever experienced, my two year old son. My son was teaching me a few lessons of life and he didn’t know it yet. What lessons, I hear you say?

I have heard countless times that parents have a huge job in teaching their off-spring values and principles. True, but not totally. I believe that there is a reciprocity in this relationship too. Like all relationships, it’s a two way street. Both parties teach each other something, as long as the parties involved are open-minded and are willing to learn the lessons to be had. A child-parent relationship is no different. The parent just has to be aware of the lessons that his/her child is teaching.

Anyways, I believe it was an exercise in self-image.

He was modelling himself off me and I guess he is constantly doing that daily. He was indirectly practising two images:

  1. What you “see” is what you get.
  2. Who you “feel” is who you are.

At two years of age, the child has no care in the world. No stresses. No fears as yet. For us though, we could read one message through the intersection of the two points I made above: that most, if not all your limitations, are self-imposed. I think I heard someone say once that – it is not what you “are” that holds you back, it’s “what you think you are not.”

I saw that my son was pretending to be, me. He was dad for a day. He loved it. He went everywhere with me (me being my wallet). The wallet helped his imagination. The wallet (that was part of me … as he cannot wear my shoes right now .. the wallet is more manageable) helped him create his reality. A pretend life.

Made me think about us adults and how we behave. It seems, that individuals behave, not in accordance with reality, but in relation with their ‘perception of reality’. How you feel about yourself is EVERYTHING. As everything that you ever do or aspire to do will be based on your ‘self-image’.

I observed my son’s behaviour change, ever so slightly, when he hung on to my old wallet. Dad’s old wallet. It would seem that self-image is fundamental to understanding human behaviour. It seems that if you change your self-image, you change your personality and behaviour. My son’s self image is still being formed. I think the owning of my old wallet, was a significant moment in his development. Since birth, he has been and is constantly forming his own intricate web of self-images, that he alone is imagining in his mind. These self-images are fundamentally based on the beliefs sprung from every thought and experience he has ever had so far, every loss and win he has and will experience.

Observing him intently, I concluded that he had a ‘mental picture’ of himself when he had dad’s old wallet. That he was somehow – me. This mental picture or photo controlled him. These ‘mental photos’ control all of us. What mental pictures or photos do you have of yourself? Do you say things like “I have a terrible memory”. Or, “I’m never on time.” Or, “I’m a born loser”. Ask yourself what your inner self has been telling you. That second person. That second voice. That little voice on your shoulder.

Understand one thing: from what I have observed in life thus far, you CANNOT OUTGROW THESE SELF-IMPOSED LIMITS. You can ONLY SET NEW LIMITS. New threshold limits. You then learn to live within these limits as comfortably as you can. This feeds in to your self-image.

Your self-image is a function of your mind. Like a segment of a car engine performs a specific function. Your self-image determines the kind and scope of person you are – it is your ‘metabolic rate’ or your metabolism. As you know, everyone has a different metabolic rate – the rate at which your body consumes energy. So, basically, what my son was imagining was his perception of reality when he ‘owned dad’s old wallet, and this is the same for us adults. Apparently, scientists have agreed that the human nervous system cannot tell the difference between an actual experience and an experience imagined vividly, emotionally and in detail.

Wow, how about that? Vividly, emotionally and in detail.

What this tells me instantly, is that you need not only to start dreaming more often, you need to start attempting to dream better. Much better.

I think we can all try to imagine or dream, better. I think we can all try to learn how to play ‘pretend games’ like little children again. Like how my daughter plays a mermaid, called Bianca … and plays it so seriously. I can’t even call her real name out, without being scolded. Maybe, we should start playing “lets pretend” games again as adults.

Maybe, that is one of the secrets of finding the “winner’ in you again. Maybe, I think it was Einstein that said “imagination is power” or to that effect. If the self-image dwells at the subconscious level or ‘metabolic level’, and it does not know the difference between what is true and false, then maybe, the key to improving your self-image is playing ‘pretend games’ like my children do everyday. It seems that a permanent change in your personality or behaviour comes from a change in your self-image, which is influenced by your environment. Playing pretend games with yourself, like enlarging your universe … or area you would like to improve on … one where your subconscious is fed with roles that you pretend play with … of whomever you want to be. The subconscious mind or your metabolism part of your engine cannot tell the difference between “The real you” and “The one you see”.

So, before trying to change external influences in your life, try turning within… within you… within yourself. Try imagining more. Try dreaming more, maybe try dreaming again. Learn the secrets of imagination. Learn it through interaction with children. Learn from them. How they immerse themselves totally in whatever role they are playing. You were once a kid. I believe you still have that ‘kid’ still inside of you, you just have to let him/her out. Realize the tremendous importance of self-image is to you and your life. Understand the vital role of your imagination and what it plays in the creation and up-grading of your self-image. That if, you cannot possibly ‘see’ yourself doing something, achieving something, you literally cannot do it! This is NOT A LIE. This is LAW. A Universal Law! Become aware. Apply the law. Adapt accordingly. It could mean finishing on the podium in the various areas of your life or just being ‘just making up competition in the line-up’. See yourself winning.

Try this: If you spend time around young children, become a storyteller and use your imagination and run wild with stories for the children. Keep trying. See how this may change your world. If you don’t spend time around children, try limiting your television viewing and instead set aside 20 to 30 minutes a day to try to relax and imagine yourself achieving and enjoying your most personal desires. Try picturing yourself in a scene of family happiness, or relishing a personal triumph at work or achieving some if not all the News Resolutions you have set for yourself or still setting for yourself as you read this. Try to ‘feel’ the event. Connect it to your heart.

Like I tell the many people I have helped over the years when I get them to exercise their skeletal muscles in the gym, the essence of working your muscles is ‘feeling it’. Its not in how much you lift, the essence is in how you feel the muscle contracting and extending (working on improving that ‘mind-muscle connection’) throughout the range of motion of the chosen exercise. I tell them to leave your ego at the gym door. If you’re not feeling the muscle, you’re not totally understanding what ‘working the muscle’ means. The essence of working a muscle. Like all things learned though, it takes time to develop this.

So, just like working your skeletal muscles, ‘feel’ the event in your heart and mind (your ‘other mind-muscle connection’, as your heart is a muscle). Like I said earlier in the blog, the imagined event/experience is to be vivid, emotional and detailed. This is the work you do when you are away from the gym.

Feel it!

I have told the many people I have helped in my transformation programs over the years:

“Change within, to change without”. The only person that can instigate help for “you” is, YOU. I then provide the vehicle in my many programs to help them achieve just that. With success.

Believe it so!

Change and upgrade your self-image(within). Change your world(without).

If you’ve made it this far in reading this blog, here is a star “*” for you. Well done.

All the best!

Standard
a better life, action, adaptation, adequate sleep, awareness, balance, beauty, better choices, body, breaking points, caring, change, change management, chaos, choices, courage, dreams, Energy, examined life, game of life, life, long-term perspective, long-term strategy, perspective, responsibility, risk, self, self discipline, self improvement, sleep, spiritual balance sheet, symmetry, synergy, trust, you, your life

The Pendulum of Life

We’re all swinging like a pendulum .. continuously moving between two points – activity & non-activity/ entertainment/rest

How does “How are you equal Busy?”

“How are you?” someone would ask you during the day.

“Busy” you may find yourself replying.

Busy.

We’re all guilty of that, being ‘busy’, I mean. How busy is that? How busy is busy?

I guess it would seem, that it is better to be busy than not busy. It depends. This isn’t a blog about how busy you are in comparison to everyone else. It isn’t a blog about not being busy. It is, however, about the two things we seem to swing back and forth every day of our life.

These two things are like two points on a line or two points on a pendulum in a clock. I introduced this thought in my most recent blog “Unthink, to think”. Specifically, the two points on a pendulum of life that we swing back and forth on are:

1) Activity

2) Recreation

We swing back and forth between these every day. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Goes the clock. Your clock!

Keep your pendulum swinging … because to be stuck at one end is not life-affirming

The ebb and flow of the tide

I’d also like to think of this pendulum our lives being as similar to the tide of the open sea moving out and then back, in. The ebb and flow of the tide. Repeating and never stopping.

What would happen if the tide stopped? Well, I would think that there may be a serious problem with the earth’s gravitational force, for one, and our time, our life on this lovely earth would be, up. Hmmmmm …. Not a very good ending.

The same would happen if your pendulum got stuck at one end or the other.

What is it that keeps the clock going? Well, it’s the pendulum of course. Just like the gravitational forces that keep the tides of the seas moving, so does the pendulum keep the clock ticking.

We’ve got to be aware of the forces in our lives and it’s impact on our energy and ability to keep our pendulum swinging.

We all need our Re-charge point

So, back to us. To our lives.

You see, if we represent the pendulum, we have to be aware of  how much time we are spending at each end of our clock and not lose ourselves in the busyness of life. We need to keep swinging, ever so skilfully between the two ends – of activity and recreation.

Activity in this context is anything that we do that is not recreation. The most common being paid work, house work and work-related activities – travel, research, meetings etc.

The essential component of recreation, is recreate, which means to refresh by means of relaxation and enjoyment,  and as to restore physically or mentally. Is there a place or activity that you do, that ‘re-creates’ or ‘re-energizes’ or ‘re-charges’ YOU?

One of my re-charge points is my hour of weight-training I do 5-6 days per week. Apart from the myriad of benefits exercising with weights and living a bodybuilding lifestyle does for the body, mind and spirit, I feel a sense of improved vitality and an extra spring in my step, after each workout. At its very essence, life comes down to energy management – everything is energy. Just like our many electronic gadgets need re-charging every day, so do we.

We all need a re-charge point!

Orderly chaos. We need to be better managers if the fusion of chaos & order

Keep swinging…

I also see these benefits with everyone I train at my gym. They may commence their session with low energies, feeling tired or depressed, and they leave feeling 100% better with new determination to take on whatever life has to throw at them. I see this every day. Every day. Don’t leave it to your yearly vacation. You should be doing this every day. Yep, every day. Once a year is not near enough.

It is better to work on managing your energies, instead of your time. We have an energy crisis in the world today. Start by becoming a better manager of your energies and you can avoid your pendulum stopping or getting stuck at one end, before its too late.

Ask yourself, where your ‘re-charge’ point is? Where do you ‘re-create’ yourself? Where do you go to escape the hustle and bustle of life? Where do you go to escape? It could be in the car home from work listening to some soft tunes. For some, it could be the golf-course, or for some, ironically, could be the commuter trains and buses from work. For others still, it could be the garden, the pub or your church.

If you don’t have one, don’t fret, try reaching out, maybe you can use just absorb the beauty of the morning, the quiet of the evening, the touch of friends or the smile from strangers, or may be, just the strength of silence to stop. Yes, that’s right – stop!

Take it all in, including a deep breath, fill your lungs up and then keep pushing on.

Wherever it is, whatever it may be, hang on to it. Hang on to that re-charge point. It is vital to you maintaining your sense of vitality.

It is vital to maintaining that delicate balance between activity and re-creation. It is vital to keeping your pendulum of life swinging.

Keep swinging, I say, keep swinging. Back and forth, back and forth. Don’t stop. Tick, tock, tick, tock!

The alternative: six feet under before your time, is not that attractive.

Thanks

yours in iron, mind, heart 💓 & muscles 💪,

Paul e 💝alentine

Keep your pendulum ticking. It relates to the ticking of your heart 💓. Your life.  

Become better at “being comfortable at being uncomfortable “ to keep your pendulum ticking … & your life, living

 

Standard
a better life, action, adaptation, asking questions, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, belief, Beliefs, better choices, care empathy, change, Change Agent, change management, choices, compassion, consciousness, decisions, desire, dreams, Energy, examined life, game of life, Imagination, life, long-term perspective, mind, self improvement, strengths, success, symmetry, taking action, trust, you, your life

What can you “see” that lies behind your eyes when you look in the mirror?

Are you your brain or are you your mind?

The two greatest mysteries of nature

What do you ‘see’ when you look at that person looking back at you when you look in the mirror? When you pick up the comb or brush to set your hair the way you want (lucky you if you have that … because I don’t have much hair to comb, like so many other balding middle-aged men out there in the world).

Specifically, what and who lies behind those eyes that look back at you in the mirror.

Now, this is not a very easy question to answer for many reasons. Why is this question so difficult? Well, because it is one of the two greatest mysteries of nature. And what is that? Well, it is simply –

The MIND.

The other great mystery is – the Universe.

Now, as I see it …. to witness the mystery of our mind, all we have to do is stare at ourselves in the mirror and wonder, What lurks behind our eyes? But, this raises even more questions like: Do we have a soul? What happens to use after we die? Who am “I” anyway?

I believe the universe and the mind intersect in a variety of ways but I won’t go in that here. Suffice to say, there is a connection … between the mind and the universe or consciousness.

True?
Neuroscience is still at the level of where medicine was in the 1700s
A long way to fully understand who we are….
Who “I AM.”

Triple A

In our journey through life, I would like to think each and every one of us are striving, at our own individual pace, to become the best person we can be … the best person we want to be … the best person we know we imagine ourselves to be, in all areas:

  • the very definition of Personal Development.

And if you’re not trying to be better than you were yesterday in whatever form and whichever area of life and you choose to do so, then, I have three words for you: you’re a fool!

Read no further.

But, if you desire to help you, then all I believe we all need is: an open, determined and curious mind. 

Now there are many approaches to personal development but the one I aspire to, as detailed on the face of this blog page, is quite simple. A system I developed summarising this process: my Triple A (AAA) approach to any form of personal development is:

  • Awareness
  • Action
  • Adaptation

Responsible for transmission of critical electrical, chemical & hormonal messages -internal communication

The first A: Awareness

Today I will elaborate on the first of the three A’s: AWARENESS.

What does it mean to be Aware or rather Self-Aware?

Now, we’ve got to be careful here, as there are always two sides to a coin, there is Negative Self-Awareness and there is Positive Self-Awareness, lets focus on the latter.

Positive Self-Awareness is the first and most important step in self-development. It is that “aha” moment one experiences in understanding the potential and abundance we have, and perhaps how little we have done to challenge our minds thus far.

And just how little we know.

Here’s a thought to give you an idea of what it means to be self-Aware: Can you look in the mirror and “see” what you don’t see? Can you look in the mirror and see what lies behind your own eyes? Have you? Is how you think, feel and act consistent? Keep looking in the mirror until you see the real “you”.

Me, some of my quirks (showing off my muscles, posing at every and any opportunity and my desire to ‘over’ dress than to ‘under’ dress. Also, my quirk of love for dogs (and in particular, my pirate dog _ MR Fuzzy/Fussy Cuddles!) and animals in general. I know who “I am”. Do you?

Being Open-minded

I believe, fundamentally, being Positively Self-Aware means being open-minded. Are you open-minded? Or, do you look at life through your parents glasses? Are your prejudices inherited or are they your own?

Or, are you hardened, cold and closed to new ideas and new opportunities and change? This hardness can come in various forms: vulgarity and rudeness, intellectual cynicism, prejudice, stubbornness, lack of empathy etc. Ask yourself this the next time you look at yourself in the mirror, if you’re brave enough.

The Brain 🧠.
The mind.
I AM.
Use this most complex tool every created to become a better medium of communication to …. the universe, to infinite intelligence … to consciousness.
To your GOD.

To Not become narrow-minded

Strive to not become a narrow-minded human being.

Being open and able to see the many alternatives in every situation is being Positively self-Aware. Try looking at “relative” rather than “absolute” facts in a situation.

I’ve always asked my kids when they tell me something from School, like “Dad, this was my best day ever!” I would tell them that that was great but “compared to what?”. Everything is relative.

Being self-Aware is accepting that skin colour, birthplace, religious beliefs, sex, financial status, and intelligence are not measures of worth. It is realizing that each human being on earth is a person with equal rights to fulfill his or her own potential in life.

Allow your mind to ”connect’ with infinite intelligence.
With consciousness.
It is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.

We’re not on the same wavelength

Each of us are unique, unique in our fingerprints, unique in our footprints, unique even in our lip-prints. We also speak and think on different frequencies. Haven’t we all found ourselves saying “we’re not on the same wave length or page!”

We don’t have to look very far for examples of this, just give the nightly TV news 5 minutes and you will see the result of people on different frequencies illustrated in many ways …. discord in family, social and international life. Everyone is looking through a different set of lens. Looking at different mirrors.

Empathy

What it means to be positively self-Aware is to have empathy.

How is your ability to be empathetic? Ask yourself “how would I like to have a husband like me if I were my wife?” or “how would I like to have a father like me if I were my children?” or “how would I like to have a manager like me if I were my employees?”

Like what the great modern-day thinker, Mr Seth Godin says … work on your ‘emotional labour’ to help others, help themselves. Become more in touch with elements of trust, care and compassion.

Or as I would like to say – “become more human”.

Love your ‘feminine side’ … appreciate beauty in all it’s forms … like cars, watches, beautiful architecture … beautiful women.
Embrace the “Real Man” in YOU … men!

Know your limits

Being self-Aware, we must all strive to find our own healthy stress level in life and to operate within that range or level. A domestic cat would not be able to handle the stress levels that which a tiger would be able to handle out it’s environment.

Know yourself. Know your limits. The truth is some never do.

Being self-Aware also understands that the person who does not read is no better than the person who cannot read – and, that a person who does not continue to learn, to adapt and grow, is not better than one who cannot grow.

We’re all truly unique individuals with unique strengths and weaknesses. Understand your uniqueness and appreciate the differences in others. It is a beautiful world indeed.

De-clutter your brain of all that noise built up from early childhood clouding your thoughts.
Delete and stop contributing to the bottom-line of ‘bullshit’
Work on managing your funnel better.
Know your limits.
Seek help before it is too late.
As a great book says –
“Seek and ye shall find;
Ask and ye shall receive”
Now do.

Like a dog chasing it’s tail

So, I leave you with these thoughts:

  • by knowing who you are, where you’re at and where you’re going allows you to see the possibilities and alternatives available in your life. If you leave things up to chance you may miss opportunities as you muddle around in circles, like a dog chasing its tail.

Alternatives only exist if you know which way you are going.

Change your philosophy on life. Change your environment. Change your life.

A change of philosophy follows a better Awareness of self.

The altar of worship.
Some find their beauty, their truth in Religion of choice.
Their search for beauty is being ONE with the ONE.
Keep searching for your beauty. Your truth.
No one else can take your journey for you, but you.
Be brave. Slay your Goliath.Make believe and imagination is key to improved self-awareness

Here’s one idea to increase your sense of self-Awareness you may want to try: Try imagining being someone else that you know for a day: your wife; your husband; your parents, your children, your workmate.

Make believe and imagination is key to improved self-awareness. Try seeing life through their eyes and how you imagine them to ‘see’ you. What would each of them be thinking about you. Why?

I’ll leave you with a little prayer that I’ve got my lovely daughter to say every night as I tuck her in to bed. She says “Lord, help me be the best I can be…. for me, … and for everyone else”. and I also get my kids to say … Ïf I can dream it … and believe it … I can achieve it!”

The key phrase is: ” and I believe it” . Belief is everything. Without it, you achieve nothing. I’ve always believed – “No belief, no nothing!” . Do you think I got to 2 x World Championships without unwavering belief in me, my God and my team … to win? All the way to the Top?

No, I didn’t think so.

So, dream …and imagine … and believe. With your whole heart and soul. Believe it so.

Believe or not believe.
Get your ass off the pole of the fence (stop sitting on the fence!)
Choose.

The best you can be. For YOU. First.

Understand that person who is behind those eyes when you look in the mirror.

Strive to become more self-Aware, more positively self-aware. Your destiny in life hinges on it.

All the very best!

 

Cheers & Ahoy!

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate … & thoughts on ‘seeing’ beyond what you look at, when you look in the mirror.

Achieving a well-balanced physique should be understood for what it is: a masterful fusion of art and science.
One should improve once’s “BODY Smart”knowledge. this takes time and deliberate practise.
Top 5 in the world, two years in a row at a sport I love ain’t too shaby for an city boy from the beautiful paradise islands of Fiji
If YOU think you can and you BELIEVE YOU CAN … YOU CAN.

Beauty comes in the human form.
It is a living masterpiece.
On display, from a masterful poser/artist, the human body exemplifies beauty and truth rolled in to vibrating ball of flow of muscle.
The hard part is to CREATE beauty. We all have the ability within us.
To create a beauty through the human form is genius.
Providing the scaffolding for your childs(ren) character building towards a ‘beautiful character’ is like sculpturing a great physique.
Everything matters, however, small it is.
GIGO for their minds:
If you want to create champions and leaders , feed them daily champion & leadership thoughts.

Standard