This was explained to me by our yoga teacher Paul. See your yoga practice as like dominos, one pose leads to the next and if you do these well then you get in a state of flow. The intention behind this yoga, (like many other forms of exercise) is to Struggle, Yes struggle he said. Allow me to explain. You see when you struggle you are building new building blocks in your body; it is a new thing, to struggle. This will strip away to your authentic self and eventually get to your essence. Powerful stuff I thought. So struggling is good YES, most definitely. When you struggle you get growth, your body is doing something different. That is why when you finish your class you feel a wonderful sense of completion. You have a sense of achievement because it was a struggle, not a walk in the park! So next time you embark on your exercise regime, remember these wise words, Struggling means you are going to make a breakthrough, so take a deep breathe and keep struggling. Success awaits those ...

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I never thought the day would come when I would say “where are the good old days of emails?” To yearn for a letter, well that’s just outdated … but an email??? Understandably as technology improves, the ways in which we communicate are constantly changing. First there was MySpace, then YouTube. The latest craze to hit our virtual world is Facebook, another social network. To the untrained eye (that is, me) it seems much like MySpace (though probably has better viral marketing). So, as is the case with these fads, I joined – begrudgingly. Now I realise I’m at the more “mature” end of Gen Y and that this comment makes me feel old (as though already I’m not able to keep up with change) but I’m totally overloaded. Between a website, blogs, online newsletters, regular emails (all of which require immediate attention of course), I feel like I’m constantly glued to a computer. My relationships with my friends and family are all screened and observed by my little black laptop! So my way of...

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  Self-image is how your perceive yourself. It comprises of a number of self-impressions that have been built up over time. Your self-image has a direct impact on your identity, behaviour and results. A positive self-image is extremely important in aiding you to achieve the results that you want in your life and ultimately your level of happiness. It has been said that you will never out-perform your self-image. Your image of yourself can be distorted in comparison to how others see you. It is very important to understand this point. We can be over critical of ourselves or think too highly of ourselves. Either way it can be detrimental to us. It is important to have a realistic image of yourself. How do you see yourself? The way that you see yourself can manifest itself in how others end up seeing you. If you project a positive self-image others will more likely see you as a positive, capable person. It is easy to be fooled in thinking that an intelligent, attractive and fi...

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Don’t think of a red apple, no I said don’t think of a red apple! He he... What did you just think of? Give me a clap if you just thought of a red apple. Yipeeeee, thank you! No, I’m not a mind reader, however what I do know is this....... you can’t think about, what you don’t want to think about, without thinking about it. Think about that! Yep, I’ll say it again and I bet you’re saying it in your head slowly, right now..........you can’t think about, what you don’t want to think about, without thinking about it. Think about that! So........What’s this all about then? Why is it some people might say “I hope I don’t put on weight like I did last time I went on a diet? What are they really focused on telling themselves? Of course,.....putting on weight. What are they just as likely to do in the long run? Put on weight, right? Because that’s the image they have created in their mind. Think about it for a second, what happens when a person who wants to create a great relationship is...

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  GIVING UP PERFECTIONISM Perfectionism is a myth. When someone says “I am a perfectionist” what I am hearing is that they really have no standards. Perfectionism cannot be achieved, so it’s the same as saying you want to achieve the impossible. Yet isn’t it interesting how much time people spend trying to attain it. Saying we want perfection is really another way of saying I don’t feel confident to say the task is complete. And isn’t that another way of saying I fear not being enough? Hmmmmm.... How about instead of focusing on perfection, you focus on the results you really want to achieve? Giving up the illusion of perfection is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, because it frees up your energy and time to focus on what really matters. When people are first introduced to this they tend to feel a level of fear because they have convinced themselves that it’s necessary to achieve this. Abandoning perfection seems scary because they are unclear about what to rep...

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On my way to the office today I walked past a homeless man whose sign read 'please give me a coffee and croissant, I haven't eaten breakfast today'. Well guess what? He got his coffee and croissant! (lesson # 1: Ask and you shall receive). As I sat there chatting to him I learned he worked 5 hour shifts, his friend J covered the other 5, he earned about $30 a day and he had just had his pension cut off because of a mix up with an address (he lives on the streets mainly). What struck me most, was that although he was -less a home (so to speak) he was happy. Why? Because he had certainty (he knew he had a place to sit everyday where he could make money without fear of being kicked out - he went on to explain how political the street world could get and that he had a good patch), connection (during the 10mins I was there at least 3 different people came up to have a chat with him) and a sense of belonging to a group or purpose (maintaining spirits high despite the injustices of bureaucra...

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When was the last time you got out of your comfort zone? For me last Wednesday was the day of getting out of my safe routine. You see I went door knocking. I wasn’t selling I was raising money for a worthy cause. It felt strange and I began to realize that most of us have built-in safety zones, we go within the boundary limits and that is it. Because to be frank with you having to stretch yourself is scary and you are vulnerable. So as I approached my designated street I practiced my speech out loud. “Hello Red Cross Calling” why did I volunteer? Simply to do just that, to get out of my comfort zone and raise money for a great charity. So as I approached the first block of units I realized that most people weren’t in or made excuses for not giving at all. In my head I was not attached emotionally, whatever they could give great, and if not, fine, said thanks and walked away. By the time I had reached the end of the street, I was more relaxed, smiled and donations came my way. As they ...

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As I sip on my Lindt hot chocolate at the Lindt cafe in Martin place I am reminded of a place, far away: rue de la confederation, Geneve. The home of the intoxicating Swiss chocolate, other tasty treats and precision machines. We love the finer things in life, good food, creamy chocolates that melt in your mouth, full-bodied wine, sexy, beautiful clothes and the wonderful trimmings in our everyday life. This is the motivator for us to get those ‘luxury items’ and have prestige. This reflects every area in our lives from work to personal relationships. We need to feel in control of our lives and often times pick partners that are not really on the same wavelength as us, why do we do that? Ah yes we see what we want to see and we filter the rest. We focus on what we want in that person to be, like “he is tall and good looking” and in our minds we have created that perfect mate. However reality it’s different isn’t it? The things we have ignored start to surface. “He is not mature enoug...

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“Whether you think that you can or that you can’t, you’re right” - Henry Ford * Have you ever wondered why someone else is always the one to get the promotion or the pay rise and yet you don’t think they’re any better than you? Have you ever wondered why you set a goal but for some reason you just can’t achieve it or something goes wrong to sabotage it just before you reach your goal? These are just two of the things that can happen when your internal language is not in harmony with what you want to achieve. If your unconscious is busy telling you “I can’t…..” or “I’ll fail…..” or “I’m not good enough……” or “I’m afraid……” or “I don’t deserve it……” then it’s likely that you will not achieve what you want because you have already embedded in your mind the belief that you will not succeed. Sometimes we build up these beliefs on the basis of past performance and then make the excuse to ourselves because we failed once, we will always fail. One thing that Thomas Edison knew was that ma...

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At the recent Christopher Howard Seminar he mentioned that in life we get what we expect not what we want. If we expect things to turn out bad that becomes our reality as we are projecting our perceptions and these are just fed right back! I was interesting to hear this again as most of us live in the drama cycle of life. We want things to go a certain way, in our relationships, career and so on. However our thoughts do something else, we introduce doubt, hesitancy into our dialogue and this becomes our new expectation, consciously or not we are not being congruent with our wants. If life gives you lemons…. Make Margaritas! According to Chris Howard. I love that concept use what you get in life, if you resist it, it will persist. So go with the flow, become in alignment with what you truly want, in every sense of the word. If you are given something you do not want, embrace it and make it a part of you and turn that energy around and make that your point of differentiator. The sooner...

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