How do you stay calm and present in stressful situations? Part one.

The crucial thing is that the more present you can be ordinarily, the easier it’s going to be when things gets tough. You'll notice yourself losing your cool and be able to step back and gain some objectivity sooner and sooner.

The more you prioritise your peace, the more you can see it slipping - the more you can tell when you aren’t prioritising it.

Gather to yourself an eyes closed practice - some time and tools to really get familiar with presence and inner stillness. Let that be the foundation upon which you structure your day, so you remember to be present and aware when you are out and about with your eyes open.

The regular practice develops a baseline of happiness and calm within you so it becomes super obvious when you stray from it. It just gets easier and easier to return. It actually gets to a point where peace comes and gets you when you leave it. Which, needless to say, is pretty cool.

From here life becomes more and more enjoyable. The saying “do you want to right or do you want to be happy?” becomes crystal clear to you in terms of your choices, and so you lose it less and less, just because it's not worth it any more.

"Hmmmm... do I want to be right or be happy?"... Happy please!

So don't let up on your practice when the going is good. Don't assume you don't need it. Just do it and get so familiar with inner stillness so that you never leave, even when the house is burning down around you.

Being calm and clear starts with a choice, now. If you're consistent with that choice, being consistently calm and clear comes quickly, and easily, and simply.

More on this though, so stay tuned for part two...

The zone of awesomeness.

There are times in life, no matter what you are doing, where you are captivated, absorbed, transfixed by what you are doing.

It is a very enjoyable experience, and it is a universal experience, one that many have had a taste of and long for more of.

Everything you do has this potential zone of awesomeness within it. It’s probably called something else by those who study such things, but as amateur researchers in the good life I’m sure you can grasp what I’m referring to.

Classic names given to it are the “runner’s high”, being in “the zone”, or a state of “flow”. It doesn’t matter what it is called, the fact is that it exists, and within it performance and enjoyment are maximised.

The people at the top of their fields - whether it be sports, art, music, business, parenting, whatever - they all know how to access this zone with relative ease.

Here’s what you need to know about it:

It need not be something you touch upon. It is possible to live life continuously in the zone. That is the whole point of meditation. Meditation is training to be Alive.

Second, the zone exists within you. It is not about the activity. You have favourite activities that you love, and you love them at least partially because they bring you closer to absorption in the zone. But it’s not about the thing, it's always about where your attention is.

The ability to control your attention is everything. It is the ability to be focussed and relaxed at the same time. Too much arousal and you become stressed. Not enough and you are bored. There is a sweet spot in any activity, and that sweet spot is the zone.

The easiest way to be in the sweet spot is to be completely absorbed in this moment.

How do you do that?

Notice what is going on in your mind. Bring it back to to now, bring it back to what you are doing. Ignore everything else. Constantly and gently do this and your mind will learn to stay here, in the same place as your body.

Absorption and flow, the zone - it's all right here, right now. Where are you?

I can’t encourage you enough to learn to meditate. A simple tool like the Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension is worth its weight in gold because it makes the return to presence of mind and relaxation of the body so effortless. It makes living a life in the zone inevitable. It makes everything awesome.

Good luck! Enjoy, always enjoy. After all, that is the purpose of life, is it not?

- Arjuna

___________________________ How to be mentally fit, fluid and free www.arjunaishaya.com

Your life is your attitude.

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." -Viktor Frankl

Sometimes I get accused of being unrealistic, harping on about the need for living life with the glass half full. People say that having a constant positive mental attitude is a nice idea, but sometimes life isn’t like that, that positivity is sometimes ignoring reality.

But what is real? What is reality?

Here’s what I see: You shape reality by *how* you see *what* you experience. It is all about your perception. Nothing is real, beyond your thinking about it.

Do you realise this?

Here is your life, and here are your mental processes about your life. They are the same thing. Your life isn’t different from the filters that you maintain – the judgements, the beliefs, the attitudes.

You, and you alone, define your own life. That’s what you get to choose, and no one can take that away from you. It is your internal attitude that shapes and makes everything. This choice is total – the experience of hell or heaven depends on you.

Your life isn’t about the circumstances, your life is always about your response to these circumstances.

You decide how you will respond to everything. Engage this choice, it is one of the most precious things you possess. Choose to see the good, to appreciate. Choose to be thankful. Choose to love.

Choose and choose again until it becomes a habit. And then choose once more. You will come to a place where nothing can make you suffer, unless you consciously allow it.

Heaven or hell? It all starts with your attitude.

The Zen of doing and not doing.

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” - Serenity Prayer of Alcoholics Anonymous

The mastery of life lies in the mastery of the above three things: The ability to do nothing, the ability to make change, and the presence and wisdom to realise when to do what.

Doing nothing is just as important as doing. Yet while many are excellent do-ers, not many can truly do nothing. That is why it comes first.

If, for example, within a situation you dislike wherein you cannot change or leave, you must accept. You must. There are no other options. Instead, many people complain and resist and blame, all stressful, pointless responses.

Life is change. Attempting to follow a set plan despite the reality of what is actually happening will always be as fruitful and enjoyable as banging your head against a wall.

In acceptance you are surrendering to what is.

You give up your insistence of what “should” be happening in exchange for peace and perspective: an excellent trade off.

You stop fighting and are able to see clearly and work with what you have, within the situation you find yourself in. There lies fluidity and freedom, and great serenity too.

Secondly, life is also about action. If you don’t do something, nothing will happen.

What do you want to do? It is your choice. After you decide, you need to follow through.

All of this may require courage. Now - needing courage to do something is an excellent sign that it is important to you. Keep walking that direction. Everything that has been important to you has required a jump into the unknown. A gulp and a leap. As tempting as it may be, don’t avoid it, do it.

Thirdly, the wisdom to know what to do comes from being very alive to what is being presented to you in this moment. Then and only then will you be able to meet the need of this exact moment.

Be alive to now, see what this moment requires, and let the next course of action be revealed to you. Wisdom lies in the ability to wait and see what is needed, what can be done.

When you know, do, or do not, but be whole hearted in your doing, or not doing. Don’t sit on the fence.

OK? Nothing worse than living a life half arsed.

Stop pushing.

We think we are in control. We strive and force and try and for what? A life of struggle? Is that how you want to live?

No, of course not. It's just often we don't realise how much we push.

Life is meant to be one of ease. Don't get me wrong - life still involves action - but action that is inspired, fluid and simple.

All the great things that have come to you have come with this straight forward, flowing effortlessness. A moment of inspiration and then an outpouring. An absorption in presence and then simple, obvious action.

Instinct, flow, grace.

Every time - and it doesn't matter if you are an athlete, an artist, a writer, a mechanic, a father, a teacher or a business woman, every good thing has come this way.

You act and you choose and you do, but the best comes when you let go of the future - of any idea of what should result.

The greatest moments have always been when you were totally present. Not overly concerned with the result or the plan, simply doing the right thing to do as it felt in that moment.

Control is the opposite. It kills inspiration and grace. It kills effortlessness and fluidity.

When you control you struggle and you try and you strain.

Struggle happens when you think you know what you need to do, and its not happening to your plan.

Instead of being fluid, you push a little more, and a little more. The resistance gets bigger and bigger. You get more and more tired, more and more stressed. There's less and less enjoyment.

You need to be aware of when struggle comes in and, in the knowing it is counter-productive, simply let go.

Letting go of control is that simple. Stop struggling. Stop fighting. Stop resisting what is.

The bottom line is protect your own peace. Protect the baseline.

You think you can do that? Of course you can. Just now, notice the trying and let it go. That is all. Little by little. Be present, be peace.

The key to staying cool, calm and collected

The key to staying cool, calm and collected is to have little islands in your day, regular little points of detachment from the world where you completely come away from what you are involved in. Spreading these times throughout your day when you stop and reconnect is the key to not losing your peace and fully enjoying what you are doing - whatever that may be.

How you do this is up to you. When I first started The Bright Path Ascension meditation, what was recommended was time in the morning before work, some time in the afternoon - perhaps at lunch and/or on coming home, and last thing at night.

(This is eyes closed time - "power nap" or meditation/breathing time. Anything else is fine, but time closing your eyes is much more beneficial, just so you know.)

This way I had a little "oases" (plural for oasis) so I could start the day right, plug back in so the afternoon was easier, and/or in the evening so I could let go of the day and sleep well.

It quickly made such a difference to my attitude and energy levels.

Doing this means peace is a priority to you. If you commit to these times - not let them be flexible on a if and when basis, but a definite appointment, then you are saying to yourself that remaining clear, calm and content is the most important thing.

It sets a bench mark of calm so its easier to know when you're getting wound up and you need to back down.

Without this benchmark stress just creeps up on you. Sometimes you're not aware of how uptight you're getting simply because most stress comes in little by little, a death by a thousand cuts.

When a weight gets cranked up little by little it goes un-noticed until the straw comes that breaks your back, and you yell at the person who (usually) least deserves it.

With this benchmark you are more prone to take action to stay there. You are more conscious of your physical wellbeing, your internal attitude and mood, everything.

If you're regular with a practice of stopping it means this benchmark of calm is easier to come back to. If you fly off the handle, you can let go and reset quickly. You fly off less, need to apologise less, everyone is happy.

The bottom line is the ability to act - to have clarity of choice - as opposed to reacting, habitually.

There is nothing better than the ability to consciously steer your life in the direction you wish it to go. There is no need to be captive to the ups and downs of life. You want to be captain of your own ship, and you can be, it simply requires a little practice.

Freaking out about life

I just came back from three months at the Bright Path Ishaya retreat in Spain. Waking up this morning in my little cottage in the UK is different, but wonderful. There was a real sense of peace and serenity and aliveness on the mountain there in Spain.

But you know what? There is here in North Yorkshire too.

While waiting for our lift to the airport I read the last chapter of an autobiography of a guy who went to live besides a river in India to find his peace.

He returns back to the west after years and years of spiritual study and practice and instantly freaks out. The noise, the yelling, the traffic,the consumerism, the drunkenness, the sex.

He completely loses it, becomes a gibbering wreck until he manages to stumble upon a meditation centre - to him, an oasis of sacredness in the midst of a city of the profane.

How sad.

He's completely missed the point of all of his practice. He's created a mood, an idea that peace and clarity is only available when the world looks a certain way. When I'm by my river, then there is peace. When I'm on my mountain retreat, then there is peace.

Life is out there, continually knocking at your door. You cannot avoid it forever. You cannot make it look the way you want it to all the time.

But peace is everywhere, no matter what, if you know how to tap into it.

In reality there is nothing that is not worthy of love.

All this time you've been looking for peace, it has been within you - and it will be, forever more.

Life transforms when you realise this. The circumstances of life don't give you peace, you bring peace to life - regardless of the circumstances.

Permanent peace, freedom and happiness is an inside job.

It may take practice to realise this, but it is the only reality in town.

Doing something for nothing

“When someone seeks, then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.” - Hermann Hesse

Meditation gives you what you need, not necessarily what you want, and definitely not what you expect. The same might be said about life.

The trouble comes when we’re not innocent, when we have a demand or an expectation of an outcome. If you become present and let go of your expectations, then the trouble goes.

You have a goal, you have an intention or whatever, but it’s almost like you allow it to fulfil itself. You dream, do, act, say, all of that, just let go of what happens next. Attachment to an outcome shrinks your perspective, creates resistance and then hurts.

So when you meditate, don't do it to get - anything. Don't do it to get rid of your thoughts, don't even meditate to have peace or to rest. Don't do it for any reason or for any result, just do it and see what happens.

In life, don't anticipate any result from anything that you do or say. Notice especially when you do or say something in order to get something for yourself. Instead, choose and let go. Act and let go.

Try it. If you do so, you will find it – ironically to the mind – very rewarding.

Why meditate?

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

The result of meditation is the ability to not attach to the stuff in your head. It is the ability to be mentally fit, fluid and free.

You develop the ability to purely witness, to allow thoughts and emotions to come and go.

You develop the ability to choose what to focus on.

You gain the ability to enjoy every - every - aspect of your life.

Perhaps there is a negative thought or a worry or a doubt. Meditation isn’t about banishing it, it is about simply letting it be there but not getting wrapped up in it.

It is there, but it isn’t you. You don’t get lost in it anymore. Or if you do, you can choose to let go, simply, effortlessly, immediately.

Meditation in action is when you take this ability to not react to things in life.

So something doesn’t go the way you want it to. You are able to not be affected, to remain calm and clear and see what you can do about the situation - if anything.

You don’t get wrapped up in drama any more. You develop the awareness that being calm and at peace is much more enjoyable, and you know how to choose for it.

You give up your ticket to the rollercoaster - life becomes one steady, super enjoyable, very effective moment. Joy and contentment is the overwhelming response to life.

This is good, that is good, all is good.

From that calmness and clarity comes the ability to live the very best version of yourself.

All through a little practice. A little commitment to being that version of you.

You can do this, it is who you have been all along.

Stop, take a moment from trying to work stuff out or trying to control. Be present and alive to this moment. See the beauty that is here, see the good that is already in your life.

Why would you want to set aside time to meditate?

So you become aware, and in doing so, totally and completely alive.

It's worth it.

How to meditate simply and effortlessly

The overwhelming difficulty so many have with meditation is that they believe they need to empty their minds.

Meditation becomes confused with having an empty head, no thoughts, complete silence in the skull.

Rejoice! For I am to tell you this is not necessary. You can have the busiest mind in the world and still experience peace, calm and clarity. 

This alone will make all things in your practice super simple and easy. Maybe it will help you try again if you find meditation hard work. Draw in closer...

Meditation involves no force, no strain, no controlling, no trying whatsoever. So don't start.

Meditation is effortlessly allowing each and every thing. Being aware of all, and sitting in the middle of this awareness.

You don’t have to change a thing, simply change your relationship with everything.

Be totally okay with each thought, emotion, sound, and sensation as it passes through your awareness.

Watch it come, watch it go.

A child can sit and watch. So can you. And so you will, especially with practice.

Make yourself comfortable, close the eyes, take some deep breaths if you like that, and just sit.

Open your senses, be presence itself. Just notice.

Distraction is normal. No deal, come back. It is never a problem unless you make it a problem.

If you have a technique like the Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension, use that simply and gently.

Allow, allow, allow.

This moment is the only moment you can do anything. The past is gone, the future not yet here. Just be here, right in the middle of the moment.

All is well here. Enjoy.

Fear is more closely related to love than you know

A wise man once said that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.

If that is the case, and I believe it is, fear isn’t the opposite of love either.

Fear is actually more closely related to love than you know.

It is an emotional response to the unknown and the uncontrollable.

Some shut down in the face of fear. They try to grab and hold tight until the storm passes.

Others open up.

They know that fear only comes when something is important to you. If it’s not important you would be indifferent, you see?

Fear means it is important to you and therefore can be a reliable indicator to head in that direction, to investigate, to be aware.

When something requires courage to do, don’t delay, don’t dilly dally - therein lies your passion and your purpose. Therein lies what is important and where your love dwells.

Go that way. Don't let fear stop you.

_______________________________

ps. the top quote and the subject for this blog came from a cool book by Steven Pressfield which I just read:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439380612&sr=1-5&keywords=steven+pressfield

The hidden danger of indifference

“The opposite of love isn't hate; it's indifference” - Steven Pressfield

Indifference is a very subtle beast, yet once fallen into leads a long way down a grey and winding path indeed.

Like a sleepwalker wandering deeper and deeper into the forest, life becomes lost not through deliberate choice but through not paying attention.

Its a truism that you don’t know how good you have it until its gone.

What you have to do today becomes more important than what is here, already. The lack takes our attention instead - what is missing.

This focus, continued for long enough, means life becomes one constant question: “Why?”

“Why is this happening to me?”, “why doesn’t life go the way I want it to?”, “why isn’t this working?”, “why does she have all the good luck?”.

Indifference directly leads to living life with the perspective of a victim, one long grey, whiney, blame and stress filled existence.

The solution lies not in the past or in some future time, but here, is this exact moment.

Pay attention, for what you focus on grows. Be not indifferent, or take things for granted. Base your life in the appreciation and gratitude for what you do have, right now.

Through continued nurturing and choice, the automatic - the natural - response and reaction to life becomes not one of “why?” but one of “wow”.

Richness and blessings lie solely in perspective. And now you know.

You may not be able to control the circumstances of your life, but you can control how you react to it. It’s not about the what, its all about the how.

Don’t allow life to unconsciously slip away.

Regrets? Why not make a life so you don’t have any?

I saw an article the other day - it’s from a few years back, but it’s still really fresh.

The author interviewed elderly people on their death beds as to their regrets. Although its about people who are dying, it is really advice for people who are living.

Read it here:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying

It’s a quick read, but something you might want to come back to again.

What did you think?

What I see is that the basis of all those regrets is not having balance, of not seeing what is important or making time for it until it is too late.

Not surprisingly, at least to me, the list contains many of the things that the people who come to the Ishayas’ Ascension meditation classes say they want from life.

You see, the people that I meet already know what is important to them, its just that they don’t prioritise it, or they don’t know how to prioritise it.

Actually I think everyone already knows these things, we just don’t do them.

Don’t wait until its too late.

You have to live a life so that when you look back on your deathbed you are filled with joy. That you don’t have a single “I really wish…”

You deserve the fullest of lives, in every sense.

Part of that comes from an attitude of finding the good in everything, of being present and not looking back.

The other part comes from making choices that are fulfilling, of finding a way to prioritise what is really important to you.

Meditation - to me the Bright Path Ishayas' Ascension is the simplest and most powerful of all meditations (I could be biased) - is the thing that enables both. It really does. It changes your approach to life, it helps you be the very best version of yourself.

Take the time every day to stop and go within. Close your eyes, rest. Discover what is there and how when you nourish it, it nourishes you.

It is the secret to living life versus Life.

Just practice - five, ten, fifteen minutes every day. Set a time, sit and don’t come up until the time is done.

You won’t regret it.

Any questions, send them to me, I would love to help.

A guide to living the best life possible, part 2

How do you live your life? Here's part two of Arjuna's guide to a rich and fulfilled life:

Find ways to be of service

Give more, in all ways. This life isn’t about getting. Your peace and happiness stems from the ability to openly give.

Stop complaining

Don’t complain, whine, whinge, bitch or moan. Don’t blame anyone either. It is the fastest path to misery ever.

Appreciate and be grateful

Go out of your way to speak about your appreciation and gratitude for everything. Through this your experience of life will be that the glass is not only half-full, but continuously over-flowing.

Seek for contentment, always

Your path in this life will be different from every body else’s. Rest assured, all will turn out fine. Don’t compare, live your life as it comes to you. Set lofty goals, but live now content in what you have.

Your purpose is intertwined with your passions

Do as much of what you love as possible. It is closely related to your purpose for being here.

Be full-on

Don’t be half arsed. Don’t wait for life to be given to you. Take 100% responsibility and make this how you want it. Someone once said: “When you were born you cried and the world rejoiced. Live a life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” Sounds like good advice to me.

Your natural state is freedom

You are a limitless being. Your awareness is unbounded by time or space. You are more than just your body or your beliefs. You are perfect, exactly as you are. Rest in the heart of your infinite being, be well, live, be free.

Eat your greens

Sleep well, exercise and drink lots of water too…

Excellent. Don't take these seriously now. Enjoy!

A guide to living the best life possible

Life doesn’t come with an instruction book. You have to work out for yourself what works. For what its worth, and for your entertainment and edification, here’s how I think life’s guide book should go:

The past is completely gone and the future is beyond your control

Base your life in the here and now. Become alive to this. You cannot live in any other moment. Stop regretting the past and trying to predict the future. Its futile. Be right here. The only moment that matters is now. It matters not a jot what just happened or where your attention was. Where are you now?

It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you do it

Your impact on the world is less about what you say and do and more about where you are when you say or do. Your presence speaks louder than words. Being in the same place as your body, absorbed in this moment, means you can meet the need of this moment. Everything will be so much more than if you are in your head.

Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?

Prioritise your peace and happiness. Humanity is crazy. There are so many people who would rather be right than happy. The end of all conflict lies in valuing happiness over everything else. You like happiness? Stop caring if you’re right or not. As my meditation teacher instructs, also take things a little less seriously every day.

You reap what you sow

You want a different fruit? You need to plant a different tree. Doing the same thing and expecting different results will never work. What you give, you get. What you focus on, grows.

Love people just as they are

Don’t insist that people change. You may be clear and honest in what you want, but after that step back and whole heartedly accept and allow every single person you meet.

Change what you can change, accept what you must accept

See the difference. Give yourself the wisdom to see what you can change or leave and what you must accept. Don’t push or force anything. Its a complete waste of time.

Call your mother

It's important.

Part two coming soon...

Freedom of choice.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could choose how you felt? Wouldn’t it be great if instead of reacting and firing off that you could choose to be all zen, and just flow through? Or if you did react to something, if you got angry or mad or sad, then you could just choose to drop it when you wanted to?

Actually it is cool to live like that.

It makes life so much easier. Instead of carrying anything, you are able to just let it go and get on with what is in front of you.

It’s much more fun. Being overwhelmed by your emotions or being pulled this way and that by what life brings you, holding grudges and maintaining arguments - that isn’t much fun. But living with complete choice is very very fun.

Living a life of constant free choice is possible for you, if you want it. It is also simple. All it takes is practice, the right kind of practice. That is all.

The right practice is one simply of being as present as you are able. Be alive to now. Absorb yourself in now.

When you fall into the habit of going into the past or future, choose to gently bring yourself back.

The only reason you carry anything is because of a habit. The only reason you react to anything is a habit.

Why not create a new habit?

Aristotle said something wise about this:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

It doesn’t require hard work. It does require commitment, but then so does anything. Getting to the shops requires a certain maintenance of focus long enough to reach the store and purchase what you want.

Same here with this experience of being free of being yanked by the chain of the mind.

Life is your choice. Exercise your freedom of choice. Do it until it becomes second nature.

Well, actually its your first nature, as in it is the way you were meant to live so there is nothing second about it, but you know what I mean.

As I sit here eating cheesecake, I realise all of this is an easy thing to say. I get that.

Cheesecake is good, and easy, though not often plentiful, at least in my house. Life is different sometimes. I know.

But here’s the thing - start now. Practice when life is easy, when the going is good. Then when you need it most, you won’t need to work at it. It’ll be as simple as I say it is. You'll become like human teflon, laughing all the way to experiencing heaven on earth.

If you want it, and do what is necessary, you’ll become it.

Let me know how you get on.

Let me know too if you are interested in learning the Bright Path Ishayas' Ascension. This one guy I taught last week described it as "sneaky", in that it comes and gets you. He's right. Choice comes and gets you. Can't make it any easy that that.

Where are you?

The greatest way to live the best of lives is to spend as much time in the same place as your body as you can. That may sound funny, but humans are the best time travellers. We are anywhere but here in this moment, we are always in the past or future. We live everywhere but in our bodies, we spend an awesome amount of time in our heads.

That is the reason why you enjoy what you enjoy so much, whether it is golf or knitting, climbing rocks or making music, exercising or just sitting, watching.

When you do these things you become very present. You get out of your head, your senses broaden, you become aware.

You become absorbed in the task, and in this moment. It captivates you, invigorates you, you become alive.

But this experience isn’t task or situation specific. I always thought that kayaking brought me so much joy because it was being in nature, it was exciting and it was physically challenging.

It is all these things, but critically I enjoyed it was because it was an escape, and being an escape I let go of my life. My life was somewhere else, but now was now. This was ‘me’ time!

It wasn’t because I was up a river, it was because I let go and focussed on the here and now.

It is the same with everything - It isn’t about what you do, it is always about how you do it.

I realise now that I am better at being present I can have the same buzz from washing the dishes. Being in the outdoors may give me an extra sparkle, but the sense of being alive and absorbed, completely and utterly present to this moment is available no matter what I do.

Letting go of what has been and what will be is the key.

Just now - be awake. Be here. Notice. Be involved in now.

You may live the busiest of lives but you can only do one thing at a time - do that one thing. Be totally absorbed in it. Don’t half-arse do it whilst thinking about what you have to do next.

You will find you become much more efficient, and perhaps more importantly, enjoy yourself much more.

Be alive!

Your life is your choice.

I am halfway through spending three months in a retreat centre in Spain, teaching yoga and The Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension meditation. Life is pretty darn good, as you might expect. The weather is sensational and we are surrounded by mountains and forests in which I get to run and explore on my days off.

Best of all, I get to live with all kinds of amazing people. There are some seriously cool human beings here.

One is a young fella from Norway called Thomas. Thomas is blind from birth but has the greatest attitude to life. He doesn’t let anything stop him from doing what he wants.

Try walking around your house with your eyes closed. Try doing yoga - or simply stand on one foot - with your eyes closed. Try just eating with your eyes closed.

Now imagine what it would be like to get yourself downtown and find the shop you want. Or get yourself to an airport and fly to another country where you don’t speak the language.

And everything he does, he does it all laughing, all day long.

The effect on everyone else is huge.

First of all, no one can complain about their small problems any more. Thomas and his attitude puts everything in perspective. They drop their “stuff” and just get on with life, enjoying it, squeezing this moment for what it has.

Second of all, everyone wants to help him out. He’s such a joy to be around, everyone wants to be around him.

You see, life follows a series of fairly simple rules. One of these is that what you put your attention on, grows.

If you focus on what you don’t have, on what is missing, on things that you regret then you end up complaining and in misery.

If, on the other hand, if you focus on the good, on what is great about your life, about what you do have - no matter how small - you will have an amazing time.

Since you have choice, how do you want to live?

Thomas walks into plenty of walls, but he never stops exploring, and he never stops smiling.

You, and you alone, define your life.

When you take responsibility for defining your life, you shake the world. When you refuse to be a victim to circumstance and just play your cards as you have them, you not only live a great life, you inspire everyone.

All your heroes have done nothing but the same: “I’m not waiting for someone to give me life, I'm going to take it.”

Choose to be a hero.

The way to happiness, part 2.

Happiness. Why are so many people searching for happiness? Why doesn’t it come naturally to humans? Well, it does, actually. It is your true nature to be happy. It is very easy to be continually happy when you know how. Honestly, I speak the truth as one who has experienced unhappiness, stress, times of depression, anxiety, fear, all of those things that we don’t like. If I can find constant happiness, you can.

Life does not need to be ups and downs. That is not part of being human, it doesn’t have to be part of the deal. Suffering is not necessary, I promise.

If you like that idea, then you are in the right place. Just assuming it as a simple possibility is the first step to experiencing complete happiness and contentment, in every aspect of your life.

Last blog (see here if you missed it) I talked about how people expect that people, things, possessions, careers etc., etc., will make them happy. It’s not true. Make happiness an inside job, make it about not getting but being. Happiness is an attitude. First be happy, make it a foundation, then live your life.

The second reason why you aren’t continuously happy is this:

• You don’t make it a priority.

What is the most important thing to you? If you could give your loved ones one thing, anything at all, what would you give them?

Everyone I ask this question tell me some version of happiness. When it comes down to it, happiness is the most important thing to everyone. Everyone just wants to be happy.

But they don’t prioritise it.

It is well down the list of things to do.

Their lists are full of things to get and to achieve and to do, and then, right at the bottom, last on the list, when they have time to get to it, is to be happy.

Only because we believe after I do x, y or z, then I can be happy. Work first, finish things to do, and then be happy.

Nope, doesn’t work, you never get there.

If you are interested in being happy you have to be like an Olympic athlete of happiness.

Focus.

Make happiness the core of everything you do. Make it first and the middle and last. Train to be happy. Make everything about internal happiness.

Then, and only then, it comes and gets you. You realise that you are happy for no reason at all. Nothing can give you happiness, you just choose it. Nothing can take it away either. You prefer things go a certain way, but either way you are happy.

Practice. You need to prioritise and practice. Close your eyes every day and meditate. Keep it simple and joyful. If you want it simple, and joyful then learn the Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension. Fastest path to happiness ever. I promise.

Be happy!

The way to happiness, part 1.

Just watched a film called "Hector and the search for happiness". It was alright, not amazing but not awful. But... it involves a psychiatrist who realises he’s not happy and he can’t help his patients be happy so he takes a journey to see if he can find happiness.

Many adventures later and he comes back to his girlfriend and his home, where - surprise, surprise - happiness was all along. I’m sure there’s a moral in there somewhere.

There are so many films and books about happiness at the moment. But shouldn’t happiness be normal? Not only a human right, but a human reality?

Obviously happiness is being missed by so many. Why don’t a big chunk of the population consistently experience happiness? More importantly, the question is: Why don’t you experience happiness all of the time?

Here’s the first reason why (look for the second reason in the next blog):

• You don’t know where to find it.

Stop looking for something or someone to make you happy.

Happiness is an inside job, always and forever. Things don’t make you happy, you decide to be happy and go from there. Happiness is never given to you, happiness is an attitude that you choose, no matter your circumstances.

Remember Golden Rule of Existence #41: ”It is never the situation, only, always and forever it is your reaction to the situation” .

You aren’t so much in control of the circumstances (although you’ll try hard to be - stop controlling, by the way), you are totally 100% in control of your reaction.

If you are looking for happiness in a person, in possessions, in travel, in anything, you will miss out, always. These things are to be enjoyed, but happiness does not lie in them.

We have it backwards. “When I have x, y, or z, I will be happy”. Nope. Be happy first.

Consider happiness as being your base, your foundation. If you have a solid happy foundation, everything you add to it will only be more and more enjoyable and life affirming. If you have no foundation, nothing you throw on top will satisfy. Make sense?

It will require practice. To make happiness your foundation in the quickest amount of time the best practice I know is to meditate. Better still learn the Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension. If you have already learnt, make sure you close your eyes every day. It’s important.

Okay?

Look within. Be happy, enjoy everything.

Part two soon.