There was once a time when the human race existed in close-knit communities. We all had our tribe. Our very survival relied upon our ability to connect, collaborate with and rely upon the strength of those around us. Humans functioned from a “we” mentality.

Now it seems the world has turned that we into me.

Maybe it’s because life was much harder when we had to hunt and gather for our food? Maybe because there was a constant threat to safety we needed the people around us more. Now, we seem to want to find fault in the people around us. 

Anyone that is seen as “different” in society becomes an enemy – or an outsider.

How on earth did we end up here?

The Power Of Connection And Why We Need It Now More Than Ever

I feel sad when I look around my own city and see the disparity of wealth and privilege. 

It hurts to think there are those of us who sleep on the street with an empty stomach, while others are sleeping comfortably like royalty in luxurious mansions with bellies full. 

The human race has made abundant leaps and advancements in science and technology, but what have we learned about connection? 

Or perhaps the better question to ask is – what have we forgotten?

I don’t have a time machine – but if I did, I have a feeling when our ancestors were learning and creating ways to advance humanity, they didn’t think that in the future we’d forget the basics of what it means to be human.

Kindness. Empathy. Respect.

What good is the capability to fly to the moon if we aren’t capable of knocking on our neighbour’s door?

We have missed the mark. And we need to fix it.

Connection to others still keeps us safe, its value has just been forgotten.

Social media has a lot to answer for – something that was initially created to connect people has become the ultimate tool in dividing us. People compete with one another for likes and followers, all while pretending to be something, or someone else, in order to validate their existence.

We have lost connection to ourselves and to others.

We have become a self-obsessed society with a drive to be “better” than or have more than others. 

We have forgotten what we are. 

What can we do? 

I think what we need is a great remembering. 

A world where we remember to celebrate connection over creating imaginary perceptions.

Where we embrace and encourage collaboration over competition.

We need to remember that we are all connected, whether we like it or not. 

And hey, maybe this seems idealistic, but I truly believe that each one of us has the power to make a difference. We just have to start in our own backyard. 

We can all practise kindness, we can all show respect for others and to ourselves. 

We just need to remember that other people are for the most part, on our side. That we all have the capacity to connect to those around us with love.

I want to end on this quote from Margaret Mead. I hope it inspires you.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

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Henry Miller was a writer and artist who tested the boundaries of the literary world by incorporating mysticism, self-enquiry and philosophy into his work. Here are 7 Provocative Henry Miller Quotes That Will Ignite Your Soul

He was so controversial in fact, that in 1938 the American government banned one of his books for being in opposition to what was perceived to be moral at the time.

7 Provocative Henry Miller Quotes That Will Ignite Your Soul

1- One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.
– Henry Miller

Our life journey can be shifted and altered at any time based on our perception, awareness and ability – or courage – to apply critical thinking to what it is we are experiencing. When we realise that we all have the power to shift the way we see things, a new level of empowerment is immediately uncovered.

2- The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
-Henry Miller

Awareness is a powerful tool that allows us to be present and in the moment. When we slow down and allow ourselves to just BE then life in all of its messy and wondrous glory, has the chance to unfold right in front of our eyes.

3- Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.
–Henry Miller

I have learnt that there is no running from the wounded parts of ourselves. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, those parts will show up eventually. This is why it is so important to practice self-enquiry. Self-enquiry means looking into the parts of who we are that we perceive as bad or negative – and integrating them. When we truly embrace the whole of who we are – we are free.

4- I made up my mind that I would hold onto nothing, that I would expect nothing.
-Henry Miller

One of the best ways to feel disappointed in life is to hold onto expectations. We do it all the time – with ourselves, other people, even the weather! But life has its own plan, and people have their own challenges and idiosyncrasies. When we choose to accept people as they are and allow life to be as it is, we cause ourselves a lot less pain and anguish.

5- If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.
-Henry Miller

Peace comes from acceptance of what IS. When we are in alignment with life and its messy ways, we have the opportunity to experience true, lasting peace. The pain is always in the resistance.

6- The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love.
-Henry Miller

Love is something every single person needs and wants, yet at times we find it hard to give out freely. I believe the strongest, bravest people in the world are those who still choose to give love despite experiencing insurmountable pain. The world needs us all to give a little love now more than ever. The wonderful thing is that love is never-ending. You cannot run out of it. 

7- Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
– Henry Miller Quotes

There is a great big world out there, but so often we get caught in the mediocrity of our day to day world. Jobs, kids, bosses, neighbours – we live in a state of rinse and repeat only seeing a small version of what’s possible. Life is not meant to be this way. We are here to have an experience if we only allow ourselves that permission. This does not mean acquiring material possessions or living like a celebrity, in fact, you can live a life full of wonder quite simply. 

It all comes down to embracing the world around you with wonder. It means taking the time to appreciate all that is, in every moment. The smile of a child, the smell of the ocean, music, books and art. Beauty is everywhere if you look for it.

I hope these quite have touched your heart, and if you have any favourite Henry Miller quotes, share it in the comments!

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This Speech Will Help You Understand Why You Have To Go Through Pain Sometimes

Written and Spoken by Chiara Gizzi

Aristotle once said: “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”

It is during our darkest moments… that we must FOCUS… to see the light.

It is during our hardest moments, our most difficult challenges that we must trust that this moment will not last forever.

In our most difficult moments we must remember that this moment will pass… we should remind ourselves that all difficult moments pass, the rain doesn’t last forever… the sun will shine again. We don’t know what this will mean in the greater perspective of our life.

Are you afraid of the dark? I used to be. Not only as a child who was scared of imaginary monsters under the bed – but as an adult too.

To live the human experience means to live both in the light and in the dark. Mother nature shows us this polarity in many ways. Day and night. Oceans and deserts. Summer and Winter.

When we are living in the light, life is good. We know who we are and where we are headed – nothing can stand in our way. We can see clearly.

While we want to spend most of our days in the light, that is, in positive emotions like joy, happiness and gratitude, it is an inevitable part of life that at times we will experience the opposite. There has to be darkness in order to appreciate the light, just as there needs to be struggle and hard times to truly appreciate the good times.

But what happens when darkness descends on your life?

Maybe you lose your job, or a relationship fails. Maybe your mental health takes a steep decline. Sometimes it doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes there seems to be no good reason for this to be happening. Darkness is just a part of life.

However it happens, when we find ourselves in the darkness, we can feel lost, alone and even scared. It can feel as though there is no hope for the future. Motivation disappears. Everything feels like an uphill battle.

It has taken me many cycles of light and dark in my life to understand that in the moments of darkness in our lives we are not lost, we are simply learning a new way of being. We are growing. We are expanding.

When a tree that has spent all summer blossoming in the sunshine begins to feel the inevitable pinch of the autumn air on its leaves, does it just shrivel up and die? No. It changes.

The inner knowing of the tree allows itself to surrender to the world around it with grace. The tree allows its leaves to change colour, shrivel and fall away – all the while knowing that this is not the end… just a new beginning.

Even though it may be hurting, the tree knows that come spring, as the air begins to warm and the light gets brighter new growth will come. And that is exactly what happens. As the season changes, the tree is renewed. After the months of darkness, the tree flourishes for another season.

Life is full of transitions. But, perhaps because we fear change, we resist the dark winters of our experience.

What if you made a different choice?

What if, instead of resisting our dark times, you embraced them as a time of rest, renewal and regeneration?

What if you could learn to love the darkness in your life as much as you love the light?

The thing is, without the darkness, you may never grow into the bigger, bolder, more beautiful version of who are.

We all know the stories of inspiring, amazing people who have turned their challenges into triumphs. We’ve heard countless stories of struggle and hard times that turned into powerful strengths that shaped beautiful lives. Would those people have been able to achieve such greatness had they not been forced into the darkness?

When we experience difficulties, it is important not to try to avoid them. We must learn to embrace them as an integral part of our life experience. You never know what you can become. There is a reason for everything.

Instead of asking WHY ME…
ASK: Why now?
ASK: What does this mean?
ASK: What CAN I DO right now to make this situation better?
ASK: How can I see this from a different perspective that will help me feel better?

You always have the choice to trust the process of your life, trust in the Universe to support you and believe in your heart that the light will return. You can choose FEAR or FAITH.

You can surrender. You can trust and believe that your life is a miracle – even if you don’t always understand it.

The darkness is not the end. It is simply a chance to grow into the person you need to be when the light breaks through.

If you are in the darkness today, I want you to know that I see you. You are loved. No matter how hard it seems, you are worthy of joy and you can get through this.

The light is never far away.

Never lose hope.

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How many times have you been in a conversation or even argument with someone and you have found yourself wishing they could see things from your perspective? But no matter how hard you try, the other person seems determined to misunderstand you? 

Why We Reject Opinions Different To Our Own And How To Make A Different Choice

Do people really go out of their way to misunderstand each other? Occasionally I think some people do! But for the most part, I believe that human beings are good, that we want to connect more than we want to argue and fight.

So what are some of the reasons that cause us to discount other people’s points of view?

Observer Bias.

Every person has a unique set of biases, assumptions and preconceptions based on many things including age, sex, race, environment etc. Essentially, observer bias is when we alter what we see by only noticing what we expect, rather than the whole picture.

Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information. It is known as the ‘psychological stress’ experienced when a person participates in an action that goes against their own personal set of feelings, ideas, beliefs, and values.

In his book, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, author and psychologist Leon Festinger found that human beings seek out psychological consistency to function mentally in the real world. He expresses that someone who experiences internal inconsistency tends to become psychologically uncomfortable. 

Fear.

Simply put, sometimes we are so attached to our own points of view that it is too scary to consider an alternative. Human safety relies on connection – we are pack animals. We gravitate to people who share common views and ideas as a primal behaviour. If we are to consider opinions that go against the ideas of our pack – we risk putting ourselves in danger.

Do any of the above examples sound familiar to you? Perhaps you have experienced one or all of them in an exchange with another person. Maybe you have done them yourself – even unconsciously.

So what now?

The psychological processes I have mentioned mean that what we see and hear is filtered through a lens that can cause us not to necessarily have the ability, or the desire, to view things from another’s perspective.

Our brains are wired to avoid pain. When we are presented with information that goes against what we feel, believe and perceive to be true – it can cause us physical stress. Perhaps this explains the occasional emotional outbursts that occur when points of view differ.

We are here on this planet to learn and grow. We want to become more conscious, loving and accepting of both ourselves and others.

Why We Reject Opinions Different To Our Own And How To Make A Different Choice

To make the choice to take on another person’s perspective means intentionally creating distance from your own point of view. It does not mean that you have to adopt their perspective at all. 

You are entitled to your own opinions. Just like everyone else. 

What it does mean is accepting that you may not have all the answers. That can be challenging for our ego to accept!

Think about a recent conflict that you may have had. Now, try to set aside your point of you and think about the mental state and perspective of the other person.

Notice the resistance you may feel. Breathe into it. Keep going.

Use your imagination to think about why the other person has their point of view.  Ask yourself – what is it about this person’s experience of life that has created this perspective?

Using empathy in this way to see things from another person’s perspective is humility in action. It is emotional intelligence. It’s actively choosing to operate from the heart instead of from fear or conditioning.

I believe this is one of the single most important practices we need across the globe in 2021. 

Everywhere we look there is fighting and division – it is truly heartbreaking. 

If we can all be brave enough to choose to accept differing perspectives, without fearing that we will lose ourselves in the process, the world as we know it would shift dramatically towards a more loving, conscious and accepting place.

It all starts with us. So, what choice are you going to make?

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It’s no secret that we are living in a very challenging time in the history of the world. At times it can feel quite hopeless. With that hopelessness can come a whole plethora of other emotions like sadness, despondency, anxiety, fear and anger.

Here are 4 Powerful Ways To Process Your Anger In Turbulent Times

Personally, I have felt most of these emotions regularly lately, and still do at many moments throughout my day to day life. I live in Sydney, Australia and I have been in lockdown for almost 10 weeks. I have felt the energy of anger moving in me many, many times throughout the ups and downs of the past year and a half since the Covid19 pandemic began. 

This isn’t an article about the pandemic though. This is an article about being human. I want to talk about anger – a human emotion often misunderstood and labelled as ‘negative’. 

Why do we do that? Why do we label some emotions as ‘good’ and others as ‘bad’? Emotions are neither. They just are.

What can be challenging is the behaviour that comes from an inability to be with our emotions. This can mean we express them in ways that are harmful to ourselves or others.

4 Powerful Ways To Process Your Anger In Turbulent Times

Many of us have not learned how to correctly process our emotions in life. This can lead to the suppression of those emotions. 

Suppression is particularly common with the emotions that we perceive as painful, or those that we feel unsafe to confront – perhaps because we fear being judged or even outcast by our peers, friends or even our family.

This can happen to both men and women. Suppression of anger for women could be due to a woman not wanting to seem “too emotional” or even “crazy”. For men, they are labelled as weak for expressing emotions – the saying “man up” comes to mind.

This conditioning is more damaging than any emotion.

And here’s the other thing. Emotions are smart – they know what’s what and they do not appreciate being ignored. Emotions (aka the wisdom of the body) are so smart they will even allow you to THINK you have pushed them away – at least for a while. 

Eventually, though, those emotions you tried to hide from that are intimately connected with the deep wisdom of your physiology, will show up in your life. 

It could be hours, months or even many years after an event.

Suppressed emotions or trauma can show up in many different ways, such as physical illness, mental illness and even as an excess of whichever emotion that was suppressed.

So now that we understand the importance of processing our emotions – how do we do it?

Well, each emotion is different – and each human being is different, too. We all process emotions in different ways. These are the ways that have helped me.

4 Powerful Ways To Process Your Anger In Turbulent Times

1- Therapy.

If you don’t first know that you have trapped emotions, or where they come from, how will you ever know to start processing them? If you are reading this article, you have some idea that you have anger and that you need to process it.

Speaking with a qualified counsellor or therapist can be powerful in helping you to uncover where your anger stems from so that you can set about learning to process it healthily.

2- Movement.

When emotions are trapped in our physical body we need to use our body to move them through us. There are many ways to do this. One way I love is perhaps a little surprising – it’s dancing! Yep, when I feel like there is some anger I need to let go of I put on some music and shake it out like nobody’s watching. It is incredibly therapeutic.

I have also found boxing to be helpful. Using my hands to punch through my anger was cathartic. And as an added benefit, it’s awesome cardio.

3 – Setting Healthy Boundaries.

Whatever your emotions are in a given moment are a message from your body. Sometimes that message is letting you know that a boundary of yours has been crossed. Boundaries are what separates you and your feelings from that of another person.

When you feel a boundary has been crossed – be that through a disrespectful comment or someone crossing a line physically with you, emotions will show up to let you know.

Learning to determine what your boundaries are and setting them with the people around you allows you to better understand yourself and your relationship to the world around you.

4 – Acceptance. 

This one is probably the toughest of all – and perhaps the most important. Your feelings matter. Read that again.

Whatever you have been told by those around you or even perhaps from the nasty inner critic, you are important and your experiences are real. Learning to accept yourself in all of your emotional glory is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

Feeling anger isn’t bad. Emotions are the messengers of the body. When we learn to deal with them in healthy ways, they can help us to evolve closer to the truth of who we truly are.

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What is the ego?

The ego is a self-generated identity consisting of every belief we believe about who and what we are.

This includes our personality, our talents and our likes/dislikes.

The ego is what keeps us locked away in our minds in an endless cycle of chatter, separated from the present moment.

It is the identity created and reinforced by the story we tell ourselves. Our stories are, however, just that. Stories. They do not make up who we are.

While the ego is an aspect of the human condition, it is not the true essence of who we are. When we operate from ego we are generally obsessed with right/wrong, blame/shame and justification.

Learning to identify the traits and behaviours of the ego then working to consciously make a different choice will drastically change your life.

3 Tips On Managing Your Ego To Create A More Peaceful, Loving Life!

1. Stop Taking Things Personally

The ego loves to get offended. It loves to feel wounded and it THRIVES on pain and conflict. When we choose to be offended over things we are actively choosing to allow the ego to take hold of our lives and create pain. In order to disassociate from this decision and make a different choice, we must recognise that love is our natural state. Humans actually want to connect and feel joy, not misery.

If someone does or says something that makes you feel bad, you have two choices. You can engage in conflict, or you can recognise that the trigger within you is an opportunity for your own growth. You can also choose to recognise that anything said from someone else is likely a projection of their own ego.

It makes engaging with it sort of seem silly, doesn’t it? Two egos going to battle like that? Don’t waste your precious energy.

2. Forgive

The ego loves being right. It sustains itself in this way. The problem is it also keeps you from doing what you need to do to move closer to love and truth. The ego is sort of like a weed in this way. It may have pretty flowers for your inner garden, but if left unattended it will choke out all of your other plants and leave you in a big mess.

When you forgive, you allow your heart to open and you separate from the need to be “right” and instead choose love. This is functioning from your true self. Forgive others and forgive yourself too.

3. Let Go And Observe

Let go of trying to be right, trying to win, trying to be seen, trying to be heard. Instead, observe.

The ego wants to prove itself and jump up and down to gain love and validation. Our higher self doesn’t need validation. Our higher self knows that it IS love.

By becoming aware of the ego, and its need to be seen heard and acknowledged, you open up space to be seen and heard without expectation.

By observing without expectation you then see things as they are. You see people as they are rather than through a projected sense of lack because they are not matching up to your ego’s demands.

In this space, there is also an opportunity to sit back and observe as to who or who is not functioning from a place where they can offer themselves up emotionally to GIVE love, acceptance, adoration to you.  These means we let go of controlling people in an attempt to have our needs met. This is freedom.

There is no denying that the ego serves its purpose. But when the ego becomes the dominant process of your mind, you fall out of alignment with your true self.

With practice, you can learn how to manage your ego better and create a life that feels more peaceful, loving and authentic.

What do you do to help manage your ego? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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The luxury of being able to spend time alone is becoming rare.

We live in a world where we are constantly being exposed to people. Whether it’s in person, over the phone or online, we are constantly “in touch” with the people in our world.

And in lots of ways, this is a great thing! Being connected to our tribe is a fundamental human need. We need to know that we have a community around us in order to feel safe, loved and supported.

But when we do this continuously we can actually forget how to BE without the influence of other people.

This is why learning to love your own company is so important.

Watch the video on YouTube:

When You Learn To Love Your Own Company These 4 Things Will Happen

1. Your Mind Will Clear

Our minds are in a constant state of chatter. Sometimes it can feel like a jungle in there! When we take time to be in our own company, we give ourselves the opportunity to clear out a lot of that mental chatter and tune into our inner voice, our intuition. From this place, we can make better decisions and overall achieve a much greater sense of peace and clarity.

2. You’ll Remember What You Love

When you spend time alone without the influence of other people you are able to reconnect to the things that you love and make you happy! This can mean doing something creative like painting or drawing, or even a hobby you love that you can’t do with other people. Indulging in your creativity without the influence of others is a beautiful way to connect to your self.

3. You Will Feel At Peace

When you spend time alone, you give yourself a gift. Sometimes, the people around us can cause us stress. Family friends, work colleagues can all put pressure on us, whether they mean to or not! When we are alone we have an opportunity to rest and renew.

4. Your Relationships Will Improve

It’s interesting to note that by spending time alone we actually get better at relating to others. This is for a couple of reasons, the first being that when you spend time alone, you then value the time with others more highly. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by peoples presence, you embrace it!

Secondly, when we take time alone to understand and value ourselves, we are better able to understand and value others. We build our empathy, compassion and patience. 

While it’s true we all need to spend time with others, its clear that time alone is just as important.

Do you like to spend time alone? I’d love to know what you have gained from it! Share your experiences with us below.

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Imagination is the ability of the mind to simulate objects, people and/or ideas that haven’t yet happened in reality.

Like many functions of the human mind, scientists cannot yet fully understand imagination. It’s believed that imagination is a network which shares information across different regions of the brain.

We all have access to the power of our imagination, but are we using it to our greatest advantage?

Is there unlocked potential lying within our ability to imagine?

When we are young, imagination comes to us easily. Without effort, we are able to create elaborate stories, ideas and characters. Which provide hours of fun and entertainment.

But as we get older, often our imagination fades. As the responsibilities of “growing up” increase, the time and space to spend accessing our imagination slowly becomes less and less. And like anything in the body that is left underused, over that time our creative imagination gets weaker and weaker.

This is a real shame because imagination has a great role and value in our lives.

Imagination is much more than having your head in the clouds or daydreaming. In fact, we are constantly using our imagination. We spend a lot of our time in our minds thinking about what our day will look like, how a conversation will go or what is up next on our to-do list

This is using our imagination unconsciously.

To use our imagination consciously for creativity is to decide what we want to focus on and use our imagination to drive energy towards that outcome. Using our imagination in this way is accessing the power necessary to create something, be it a project, a piece of writing, painting a picture or even cooking a meal!

“Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.” Ken Robinson | Unlock Your Imagination

So how do we start to use our imaginations consciously and consistently and access our unique creative spark?

It’s actually really simple. You just need to practice.

How To Unlock And Embrace The Incredible Power Of Your Imagination

You don’t need to learn how to imagine something. You know how to do that. What you need to do is decide to make expanding and using your imagination a priority in your life. Start by spending 5 minutes a day daydreaming. Let your mind wander instead of trying to focus it on a particular task. By using your imagination more regularly and easing into your own unique imaginative process you will grow and develop your imagination.

With regular practice, you will become better and better at consciously using your imagination and therefore you will be more discerning about how and where you focus your energy and creativity.

Like anything new, learning this process will take time. If you stick with it, you will have added an invaluable tool into your life that will flow into all aspects of your world.

Expand Your Creative Output With Jeff Bellow 

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It’s safe to say that most of us don’t wake up EVERY single day with a positive attitude.

There can be many reasons for this, some of which are totally valid. But no matter the circumstances, as conscious creators of our lives we can decide at any moment to change that.

Deciding to choose to start your morning in a powerful, proactive and positive way sets you up not only for a great day but ultimately a great life.

By creating habits that empower you and put your mind into a positive state, you become the creator of your life, rather than being the victim of your circumstances.

4 Simple And Powerful Ways To Have A Great Day, Every Day!

1. Express Gratitude

Sometimes we can get caught in the thinking that life is happening TO us rather than happening FOR us. But in reality, there is so much to be thankful for! If you have money in the bank and in your wallet, you in the top 8% of the richest people in the world. If there is food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a bed to sleep in and a roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the people in the world. Your ability to read this means you don’t belong to the 200 million people in the world that cannot read. Start a daily gratitude practice by simply noting down 3 things you are thankful for in your life & your life will change..

2. Set Your Intentions For The Day Ahead

Choose to write intentions rather than goals. Focus on the feeling of the outcome of these intentions. Even if the doing itself is not so much fun, e.g. washing the dishes, the outcome (clean dishes) will make you feel calm and happy. Focus on the feeling of knowing it is done and you now have clean plates! Do the same process for all of the things you want to achieve in your day.

3. Smile! | Powerful Ways To Have A Great Day

There are some days when we simply do not feel like smiling or “putting on a happy face”. But science has proven that simply using your face to smile or even putting on a fake smile will increase your feelings of happiness. Neurologist Dr. Isha Gupta says that a smile sparks a chemical reaction in the brain, releasing certain hormones including dopamine and serotonin. “Dopamine increases our feelings of happiness. Serotonin release is associated with reduced stress. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression and aggression.”

Researchers at the University of Kansas published findings that smiling even helps to reduce the body’s response to stress and lower heart rate in stressful situations.

4. Breathe | Powerful Ways To Have A Great Day

Well obviously you are breathing, or you’d be dead right?! This is true, however, the fact is a lot of us are not breathing properly. That is, we are not breathing deeply, slowly or regularly enough.

Breathing is useful for more than just staying alive. Breathing helps to activate the autonomic nervous system, which regulates certain body processes such as digestion, blood pressure and heart rate.

In times of stress, we ten to hold or restrict our breath and over time that can become a habit. A habit like that is definitely not ideal for managing moods or creating wellbeing.

Right now, try taking a long slow inhale of 6 seconds, then slowly exhaling for 6 seconds. Notice, how does your body feel? What about your mind? A lot can change from just one breath! Imagine what could happen if you began to mindfully focus your attention on your breath every day. The long terms effects can be phenomenal.

It’s safe to say that not all days will be good days. That is an unrealistic expectation to hold of yourself. But, with a few simple tools like the above practised consistently, you can give yourself the best chance of having a great day, no matter what happens around you.

Remember, you are in charge of your life, no one else. Love yourself enough to put in the effort and create your ideal day!

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Every person you meet will have a slightly different definition of what success is to them. Whether the goal is centred around finance, health, relationships, or their career, the point of “Success” is subjective.

No matter what it looks like.. we all desire to achieve it in one way or another. We desire to achieve, to excel, to gain; this is just a part of human nature.

When we decide to reach for success or set ourselves a new goal, it’s obvious that at the point we are at, we have less understanding, knowledge or skills than someone who has already reached that goal.

So it can be said that when we set a goal, we not only set a challenge to achieve something specific, we set ourselves a challenge to become the person who is able to achieve that thing. We do this through gaining new skills, practice and determination.

What Every Successful Person Knows But You Won’t Hear Them Say

Often when we are at the starting point of attempting to achieve something new, a goal can feel overwhelming. We can feel as though the goal itself is HUGE or that perhaps we aren’t capable of achieving it at all.

But the thing about success is that it’s a process.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he stated that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master of something.

This is a theory of course, which will vary from person to person but the point is clear. There is no such thing as overnight success. It takes years to become successful.

People generally don’t talk about this part of becoming successful. Maybe because most of us don’t want to hear the reality. In a world of instant gratification, perhaps the idea of long term hard work is too difficult to swallow.

The truth is, not only does it take years to become successful at something, but at the beginning of your journey, you’re probably going to suck at it.

Yep. There is likely going to be a bunch of time, be it days, weeks, months or years of you learning to be great at something that you simply won’t be any good.

This is partly why many people never try new things. The idea of not being immediately brilliant at something is too much for their ego to bear.

It’s kind of sad to think about how many people never try anything new or set themselves a goal because they feel like they need to be good straight away.

You Don’t!

In fact, you can’t! It’s completely necessary to not be good at some stuff. How will you grow and evolve and get better at anything if you don’t suck a little bit to start with?

A great quote on this concept comes from American public radio personality and the host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life, Ira Glass..

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me.

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there is this gap. For the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not that good.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase. They quit.

Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.

And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.

I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It takes awhile. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.

—Ira Glass

All successful people know and understand this concept.

They know that greatness does not happen overnight. They embrace their growing edges and choose to allow themselves the space to learn.

If you are thinking of trying something new in your life, embrace the space between where you are and where you want to be.

It’s in this space that you get to learn about who you are. You gain new skills and knowledge that can lead to amazing destinations and success beyond your wildest dreams.

You just have to be brave enough to suck a little bit first.

The 10,000 Hour Rule: Your Key to Greatness 

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