So just for fun, last night I commenced Ukulele lessons because in July this year the Uke Festival – an International Event is to be held right here in Cairns where I live. Wow, what fun that was, learning to play with around 30 other keen Uke fans.  Best play time that I have had in ages and I will be going back for more.

So, laugh, play, and enjoy your life my friends, I highly recommend it.

“When you are seeing the grand scheme,
the bigger picture of it all, you understand that
life is the funnest game you’ll ever get to play!
Seriousness is a disease to your soul.
Your overly serious self wants to be free,
so give yourself permission to have a big belly laugh today.
Let a little more lightness into your heart and drop whatever
weight you’ve been carrying on your shoulders right now.
Just take a glimpse of this infinite path your soul is on
and remember your only job is to enjoy your life.

A relaxed playful heart always serves as the best guide…”

reprinted from Enlightened Messages.

For those of you who would love to join us all here in Cairns for the Ukulele Festival, please get yourself a Uke and take some lessons because there is going to be a Guiness Book of Records attempt made for the largest group of Uke players. What a great time for laughing and playing that is going to be.

Sure, it can be a confronting process at times as you may start to explore some parts of yourself that you prefer not to face but that is where the real value if this lovely process comes in. You are exploring these things just with yourself!!  No-one else unless you chose to.  And then you can look at them in wonder, at a later date, and laugh about your fears.  Some of the things that I have been afraid of in the past have proven to be just nothing later, because I took charge of them.

How does it get any better than that?

So recently, in my quest for more content to help people to work with their daily journal, I was delighted to read “Your Pocket Life Coach” – seriously recommend that you get this one. Carole Gaskell, Author, outlines some of her ideas for the daily “inspirational” journal.  So test these out and see a previous blog of mine, 10 Ideas To Get You Started With A Daily Journal,  for even more ideas.

From Carole Gaskell:-

• Use your daily inspirational journal to record your thoughts, insights, intuitive ideas and actions
• Write about things that make you happy, confident, excited
• Record your achievements and what you are committed to doing next
• Note the people you love and why
• Outline your plans for the next day, week, month etc
• Put down what you have learned that day or things that have helped you in your development.

Oh, and have fun!!  And my congratulations to Carole for such a smashing little book.

A daily entry to your journal can be a simple account of the events that have had an impact or it can be a complex entry of self-discovery. To help you get started, if you have not already done so, try the following tips:-

1. Record 6 things for which you are grateful, appreciative or thankful that are occurring right now.
2. Record another 6 that are coming to you in the future.
3. Keep a daily list of the prosperity or abundance in your life.  This might be a simple as having a friend shout you a coffee or another driver graciously letting you change lanes.  Keep tabs on them all and let your abundance grow before your eyes.
4. Write about what you have done over the day, action that you have taken towards your life goal.
5. List what you intend to do the next day, week or month and check back later to see how you went.
6. Spend some time writing what you believe are your strengths and weaknesses and then write about how you intend to grow your strengths to outweigh your weaknesses.
7. Record the occasions during the day when you have successfully shifted your feelings from not so good to better by recognising your not so good feelings and changing your thoughts at that time.
8. Work out a set of questions that will help you to challenge yourself around your limiting beliefs.  For example – “What am I doing when I find myself having an argument with my partner?”  “How do I get into the argument in the first place?”  “How can I avoid it?”  This is just an example; you can use anything that you like.  Just make sure that you do not let yourself off the hook.
9. Use your journal to help you to visualise where you intend to be in life, in the next year, next five years, next ten years.  Write in detail about how your life will be, how that will benefit you and the community and why you need to have this life.  Regularly check back to see how you are going on your journey.
10. List the random acts of kindness that you intend to perform in the next 24 hours and then check back each day to see if you did them.

Above all, have fun with this wonderful daily habit.

In the lead up to Christmas, do everything possible to experience enjoyment and happiness, no matter who you are with, what you are doing or where you are. Make your experience pleasurable rather than a grind.  Life is meant to be fun, watch out for fun and just enjoy each moment.

Start to think about what you want from life next year. Seriously, think about what you want, not what you have and get ready for 2010 with that in mind.  Ponder the prosperity that you want to achieve in your finances, relationships, physically, emotionally, lifestyle and time.  Prosperity is about more than money, it is about every part of your life.

And while you are having fun and shamelessly enjoying yourself, dream a little about what life could be like and get ready to make it happen.

I have planted trees specifically for the purpose of feeding birds and butterflies and providing a bird friendly habitat. In the main these are native trees, however I have found through my reading that citrus trees and many non-natives work wonderfully as well.  I now tailor my gardening life to the birds that are resident or visitors.  For example I would never prune or trim the Justica’s during spring because all of the honey-eaters that are growing up their young and need as much food as possible.  My garden is a food factory for them.

You will also find in my garden, a couple of watering holes for the birds. Even though it took them a while, they eventually got used to them and now bathe and drink there throughout the day.  This makes it possible for me to be working in my home office and watching the birds come and go as they do.

The habitat it very important because all types of birds seek refuge for nesting and each seems to need something a little different. The sunbird pair need a sheltered place and a rope; the finches need a dense tree with a lookout nearby, the doves need a dense tree with peace and quiet and so on.  Over time, we have created two secret gardens to serve all of these purposes.  Additionally, our elderly terrier does her best to see any marauding cats off the premises!  Even so, cats managed to destroy the nest of a willy wagtail which was a sad loss to all of us here.  We were very excited to have this sweet little bird nesting on our deck.

So if you also love all things nature, and you live in town on an ordinary sized piece of land, you too can do your bit for the various species and create a wildlife refuge and habitat. Next time I will write about our animals and I am very happy to answer questions about how to create you own piece of heaven in your backyard.  In the meantime I am off to feel the joy – happiness really is birdwatching in my backyard.

It seems to me that a lot of you are “busy trying to master the Law of Attraction”.

You’re running through your daily affirmations.
You’re reminding yourself, “be positive, be positive”.
You’re asking yourself “how can I look on the bright side here?”.
You’re reading books, following advice, trying, trying, trying… while the rest of the world is running by you, laughing at you for staring in the mirror and reminding yourself how great you are, like you didn’t already know it.

It’s about this that I’d like to talk to you today.

Remember Why You Learned About LOA in the First Place

What is your goal? Stay focused. What is it that you want in your life?
Do you want to be able to tell everyone about how every little thought is creating and contributing to the Universe? Is that really the most pertinent thing in your life right now? Or do you want some money, so that you have the time to study the things that interest you?
Or do you want to lose 40 pounds, so you don’t have to worry about your heart failing while you read?

You’re Playing Your Cards All Wrong

What does LOA say?
What you focus on, you create.
When you focus on your “need to master the Law of Attraction”, you’re thinking about your lack of mastery of LOA. So really, while you’re sitting there thinking you need to do this and need to do that and “oh, why aren’t things manifesting in my life instantly already?”… you’re actually pushing yourself farther and farther away from this desired “mastery”. Truth is….

You’ve Already Mastered the Law of Attraction

That’s right. You already have LOA down, 100%. Everything you think about is being attracted to you, and if you’re thinking about how you WANT to master LOA… you’re really only thinking about things that you don’t have, simply because you’re telling yourself that you haven’t yet done it! Bizarre it is, but it’s the truth. You do not need to put any effort into mastering this fine art, as it’s a gift given to you at birth, something inherited, which you carry deep down inside of you.

The Solution

Rather than trying to master LOA, accept it as a fundamental truth, and move on with your life, knowing that you have this wisdom. Make a decision to go out, do the things you enjoy, make decision, decision, decision, take action, action, action, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Go out there and get the things you love. Hold on to the image of the things you want in life, and feel the feelings associated with having them.

The worst thing you can possibly do is get caught up in the “how”.
Don’t worry about “How do I change myself to make this work more in my favor”.
Rather, decide to make prompt and decisive decisions, and allow the “how” to come to you.
If you really believe in LOA, you know that you do not need to waste your time trying to learn it, rather just focus on what you want, and only then will you see how fast it’s actually working.

Nobody’s enjoying watching you sit there and wondering “how” to run.
Rather, we’re all cheering you on as you take the first step of that sprint…

Everyone who I’ve tagged in this note is familiar with LOA…
and isn’t wasting time tying his or her shoes!
Keep on running, my friends!

Much love,
Russell

p.s. Quit being so hard on yourself! There’s no need to repeat the mistakes of others! Have fun and do what you like, it’s what you’re here for!

But why would you bother?  Surely it is enough to just cruise along with life, taking it as it comes and if you are unhappy, that is just your fate in life. You may be surprised to know that there are happiness experts who study and teach happiness, sometimes known as positive psychology. These experts hold the view that happiness is a choice; you can choose positive emotions, you can choose to let go of fear, anxiety and sadness and you can choose to pursue happiness.  According to the studies, most people believe that happiness is important and is worth having not just for the individual but for society as a whole.

Happy people earn higher incomes and are more productive, they have longer and more satisfying relationships and more friends, more energy, better health and even longer life. There is evidence that individual happiness is a key factor in organisational performance so any employers reading this might want to explore happiness further.  The best possible news is that you can train your brain for greater happiness.  Read on to find out how.

1.  Create the habit of keeping a daily journal. This might take a while and some discipline and every day that you do it will make it easier to continue.   When you get to 90 days it is very likely that it will have become a habit.  Your daily journal should be primarily about the positive things that occur in your life and that you appreciate about yourself.

2.  Develop gratitude by adding to your daily journal a minimum of three notes about things for which you are grateful that day. Write down the things that people did that you appreciated, anything that made you smile or that you felt thankful for.  Talk to others about what happened and reinforce gratitude in your life.

3.  Use your daily journal to identify the things that you can see are your strengths. You might find that your writings about what you appreciate in yourself show some of your strengths and you can also ask trusted friends and family what they see as your strengths.  Use your strengths to make your life more enjoyable, for example, when you must do something that you do not like, approach it from the angle of your strengths.  Build on your strengths at every opportunity.

4.  Give generously of acts of kindness. Decide every morning how you will give at least five acts of kindness that day and be on the lookout for opportunities.  Doing this just feels so good and other’s are very appreciative.  It is like giving and receiving gifts all day long!

5.  Have fun! I know that sounds a little crazy and looks obvious – happy people have fun right?  You know what though?  Sometimes we just stop being playful and exercising our sense of humor and again, it is just about practice.  So be on the lookout for happy people with whom you can have fun and practice being funny.

6.  Be still with yourself – meditation, yoga and such pursuits calm the mind and give you time to see life from a different perspective. Meditation can also help you to release fear, anxiety and sadness giving you room to allow happiness in.  Meditation, by the way, can be a lot more simple than you may think.  It can be as easy as watching the waves role in and letting all thoughts drift away in the process.

7.  And finally, create yourself some habits like meditation, yoga or exercise. The creation of habits reinforces your belief in yourself to be, do or have anything that you want, including happiness.

So now you have the secret formula to happiness, you know why you would bother and you know that it is possible to be happy even if you are usually unhappy. The choice is yours – reach out and grab hold with both hands or let another day pass.  Have fun with these seven tips and be happy.

But how do you use contrast to achieve success? Most of the elite writers about personal development, whether writing from their own experience or channeling the wisdom of others, write about contrast or duality as it is sometimes called.  Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch is deals with this subject throughout the series.  These writers are referring to the learning gained from knowing one side and then the other of an experience.  So how can you know happiness if you have never known sadness.  How can you know courage if you have never known fear.  The way that I am thinking this through at the moment is that it is very much about feelings and getting familiar with your own feelings; being able to detect constantly how you are doing.

Feelings have a great deal to do with the path to achieve success. Esther Hicks writings on the Law of Attraction and almost any book that you choose to read on this subject will refer to the ability to get to know and understand your feelings and the ability to change those that you do not like.  My own professional colleagues use this on a moment by moment basis.  Feel something that they do not like – they simply reach for a better feeling thought.  Getting used to and interacting with contrast/duality is one way of experiencing your feelings on that particular situation.  This week I have found that the deep contrast in the weather has heightened my sense of feeling around a number of matters and reminded me to welcome such contrast into my life.

So instead of finding the weather a nuisance, I am now looking at it as a beautiful way to experience contrast and therefore my feelings. I am sort of back in the zone a bit, dragged away from the constancy of business and back to the real business of life.  If I use this experience well, I will be in a state of great vibrations and definitely attracting into my life those things that I desire.  Still in the zone to achieve success.

Do you have any special tips and tricks that keep you in touch with your feelings and the way that you are vibrating at any given moment?

What does success mean to you?