Why a Life of Fulfilment & Freedom Will Raise Our Happiness. Fact or Fiction?

I am my own happiness. I am my own life’s fulfilment and for that I continue the search. I seek constantly to discover, unlock and connect more deeply with my soul. What I have learnt as I venture further towards truth and the meaning of life is that real fulfilment is not an easy feat however it is possible for all of us.

You see the idea of fulfilment in our current world has been twisted and distorted to a point now where we no longer even understand what true fulfilment looks and feels like. Having travelled so far down a path away from how life should actually be we now look for superficial ways to greater fulfilment. Nowadays, for many, fulfilment is like fiction – an imaginary, dreamy place that doesn’t truly exist. The fact however is that it does exist!

Fulfilment is the achievement, attainment or realisation of something. This may be something we desire – a goal, something promised or something predicted. We become satisfied and fulfilled when these are realised. The issue that is commonly found is that even when such things are achieved, one’s level of happiness is not certain to rise. Actually, often it leaves us feeling more empty than we set out.

The successful are not the happiest people alive. Why? It is because while they may have riches and possessions that many of us believe are the prize in life, they are simply not fulfilled. One study suggests that while the successful might be in a greater position to obtain happiness due to their circumstances that they are in fact only on average 10% happier than the rest of us.

I recently listened to an interview that Tim Ferriss did with Tony Robbins that became my motivation for writing this post. Now, if you think of Tony, what do you believe? I assume majority of you reading this know of him and likely you would perceive him to be totally in control, happy and fulfilled.

Naturally we base our perceptions on what we see. He has built an empire with revenues this year of over $5 billion, he constantly travels the world speaking and inspiring mass audiences and he does what he wants. In this interview Tony shares his spiritual journey and his awakening to fulfilment in life. He shares a few stories and examples to emphasise his point but what really hit me was that even Tony is still on a quest to really define his own life’s fulfilment.

Just to clarify, I think Tony is likely very stable and in life, however, the idea that he still raises that age old questions, “what’s it all for?”, makes me satisfied and further convinced that it doesn’t make a lick of difference of all your successes, all your achievements, all your possession, if you’re re not first fulfilled all this stuff means bugger all.

We have created a society obsessed with superficial happiness. For much of my 20’s I was apart of that and my chase was all about money, possessions, and extrinsic experiences and feelings. I was dissolved in how I thought life was meant to be lived and I was no happier. I made this discovery not by choice but by force and it is one of the grandest things ever to have happened to me.

I began to unlock myself from the chains of society, I began to disconnect from everything I once believed and everything I thought I knew. The drive towards more short-term superficial happiness started to fade and the real driving force kicked in – freedom!

The journey this has led me on has been absolutely eye opening. My values remain the same but my beliefs on how to live them have almost back flipped, and they continue to do so. My essence has not changed, my essence always existed even within the chase, however, it is no longer being covered or masked by behaviours that are non-conducive to the connection with my authenticity. This is allowing me to further express, expose and uncover my full potential.

The lessons that I will share with you should not be taken as universal fact, as they are not. They are however fact to me as I base them on what I have experienced including how and why they have helped me to continually and gradually reach more happiness and fulfilment in life.

I don’t believe fulfilment in life is fiction, I don’t believe it’s saved only for a select few of us, I don’t believe it is reached by following the status quo nor is it the path that society has created. I believe that to reach fulfilment in your own life you have to walk your own path. I believe that to gain greater meaning and happiness in life that you have to start searching internally within.

“True success, true happiness lies in freedom and fulfillment.” Dada Vaswani

For most of my teenage life and my early 20’s I searched for love. I grew up from a loving family, beautiful family and three elder brothers that I admire, look up to and love deeply. Love was all around me until I delved more into my independence. At times I felt so lonely that I felt depressed – poetry that I wrote from that period reflect my anger and sorrow. My belief was that to be happier I needed to find love, I needed to be loved.

Low and behold I found it. I meet an amazing girl who to this day I am still with. My happiness with her is great but life has a way of levelling out. We had the initial lovers hi. As selfish as this seems the request and demand to be loved did not and still does not give me any heightened level of happiness.

I was career hungry. In my teens I was a hippie at heart yet in my 20’s there I was in the cooperate arena, working for the man as an executive manager across various companies. The money was huge, more than I really knew what to do with and I had all the physical possession I desired. I use to buy shit just for the sack of buying shit. I bought I set of golf clubs once with all the bells and whistles and 8 years later I thought of selling it, never once used, other than for the occasional cane toad cull.

“There is no fulfillment in things whatsoever. And I think one of the reasons that depression reigns supreme amongst the rich and famous is some of them thought that maybe those things would bring them happiness. But what, in fact, does is having a cause, having a passion. And that’s really what gives life’s true meaning.” Ben Carson

Possessions raise levels of happiness, temporarily. I had two cars, several properties and money in the bank. Today I don’t own any of them and while I still value the experiences money can bring I no longer base my happiness on it, rather I base my happiness on freedom.

Too often do we look externally for happiness yet the answers are never there. If you seek happiness from love you will continually seek love. The answer is to give love and not half-heartedly but fully and unconditionally. This is a human need that must be nourished. Happiness in life is not gained through what we take from the world but rather through what we give.

Externally we try heal our pain and suffering by material possessions. We invest in Kardashian branded make-up, Gucci watches, fast cars that stroke our ego and attempt to raise our status – and they may. However, what they don’t do is make as any more fulfilled in life. They don’t bring any long-term happiness and they don’t bring with them more freedom, actually I think they often restrict our freedom locking us into the system making it hard to escape.

I try live my life as a minimalist now and still find myself tempted in the act of consumption, buying stuff that I don’t need, and when I catch myself must slap myself in the face. I know longer make the money I used to yet I still remain in the top 1% of income earners globally. For this I remain grateful. I have everything I need and own less. I have more freedom, I am more fulfilled and in that I am happier.

Status and position no longer are my concern. I would suggest no one needs worry about this. My message is all about living life with greater passion and purpose. I learnt that extrinsically a job, a tittle, status was all mastery in disguise. I have learnt that doing what I love, following a passion or passions has allowed me to develop greater mastery. All the other stuff was externally motivated and pleasing whereas now its directed inwardly.

Motivation that is more intrinsic leads to greater personal growth and development. It takes you closer towards a life that is living within your true potential. Like love or the need for social connections, constant and continual growth is another critical human need. Without it life will be without meaning. You will exist but you will never truly live.

Happiness is found in following your passions in life not in superiority of status. Superiority seeks to demand respect and admiration among others yet in following your passions you will create that following not demand it.

“By virtue of being born to humanity, every human being has a right to the development and fulfillment of his potentialities as a human being.” Ashley Montagu

The fundamental driving force behind all human beings is freedom and if it is not in your life yet, it needs to be! Freedom comes in many shapes, sizes and forms. One pair of pants will not fit everyone just as one mould of life will not satisfy everyone. If it is happiness that you truly seek the first step is to understand this and the second step is to unchain yourself. Start to discover the life that fits you.

Freedom is not found within the Latte’ you drink nor is it found in the porn you watch; they may raise your level of happiness momentarily as like many stimulants they release our instinctual happy chemicals. However, happy chemicals like any drug don’t last forever. Freedom wont be found in your next pay cheque, it wont lay beyond that next promotion, freedom will only be found when you awaken your soul and start living in alignment.

All humans value autonomy, we all crave the ability to be entirely in control of our own lives. Society is created to control us not the other way around. However, the fact is that our reality is created by our perception of it and our perception is 90% created from our own brain – our beliefs and our thoughts.

As humans we attempt to control everything that is external without any efforts to control ourselves internally. The truth is, that which is external to your control can not be controlled by your, only influenced, and if you are not internally in control first, your ability to influence it will be weakened. Control only raises happiness when what you seek to control is directly inwardly.

In summary, fulfilment in life is possible for all of us. It is not and should not be left only as a dream – it should be instead what we all strive for. If you seek fulfilment and freedom you will immediately begin to raise your level of happiness in life. Long term fulfilment comes by working on the inside, it comes from personal growth, love, connection and passion for what you do. It means that we must stop looking externally and directly ourselves internally.

Raj Raghunathan, the author of The How of Happiness and the Myths of Happiness, suggests that 10% of our happiness is our circumstances, 50% is our genetic make-up and the remaining 40% has to do with our values, attitudes and habits. If then we can be more grateful for our circumstances, and most of us should be because we have circumstances that exceed majority of the worlds population, we may raise our happiness. Next, we can continually work internally on ourselves through constant personal development – this will further improve our happiness and fulfilment in life.

For the 50% attributed to our genetic make-up, I don’t believe we can use that as a scape goat for living an unfulfilled life. Science has proven more and more through epigenetics that we can actually influence our genes. This research relates to the studies of how we can alter our genes without disrupting our DNA. And without the need detailing this it is essentially affected by the lifestyles we choose.

There is no excuse not to live a fulfilled life. If you are craving more to life, if you a feeling life is currently lacking, if you are truly wanting to live the life you desire, one that is totally aligned and congruent with your truth and authenticity then you can make it happen. The responsibility is all yours. No one will hand it to you, you have to find it. Once you begin you will begin to notice the effects immediately.

“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.” Tony Robbins

Why Traveling Will Change Your Life Forever

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

How do you know anything about the world if you don’t travel?  How do you know what life is like or what other people think or how other cultures exist if you stay in one place your entire life?

A lot of us travel right out of college which is exactly what I did.  Twelve countries in thirty days!  When I look back on that time I realize I was fairly miserable during the trip, totally unprepared and out of my comfort zone.  But, what an adventure it was.  I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Here’s the thing.  Travel changes you.  It changes the way you view the world.  It takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you see that there isn’t only one way to live life and only one way to think.  Humans generally fail to appreciate what we have when we have it.  I would question you to think about this.  In the future, try and be mindful of where you are, of everything you have and the experiences of each day.

Life is nothing but experiences and moments.  Even in those toughest moments where you are tired and overwhelmed and you don’t understand anyone and you have no idea where you are going or how you will get there or if you will ever sleep again, those are the moments you should treasure.  They are part of your path and there is no way to get around it so you might as well embrace it.

There were so many special moments experienced throughout my trip.  I remember eating chocolate and drinking wine on the steps of a church in Paris, being nearly trampled by sheep in Switzerland when I pulled out a box of cookies, the clumpy milk for cereal (they don’t pasteurize), trying not to fall asleep on the train on the way to Germany in case the guys hiding underneath the pull outs tried to steal my stuff, visiting the Fields of Flanders and picking up pieces of shrapnel from WWII, the Domes of Florence and the scenery of Austria, the American Express building where all the Americans hung out in Budapest and the never ending array of cows.

Lessons

But, what I remember more than anything is that I wish I had appreciated everything more.  I wish I had the maturity to truly understand the gravity of my trip.  Unfortunately, my boyfriend and I were not getting along.  I remember going to a phone booth in Paris in the pouring down rain and calling my mom crying and wanting to come home because he was being so mean.

Twenty five years later I still have the map of the route we took, my journal and my Euro railpass.  Why did I keep all of this?  I kept it because it was the beginning of my love affair with travel.  It still speaks to me as if I took the trip yesterday.

Every day you slog through work and every day you get up and go to the gym and go to the store and watch television and go to bed are days you will not remember.  But, the day you are on your deathbed you will never regret all those places you went and all those people you met and all those things that you saw, experiences you had and all that scenery you never could have imagined existed.

Life is not meant to live in a bubble, at least not for me.  Some people have no desire to travel and those people probably won’t read this post.  But you….you get it or you want to get it.  You understand that everywhere you go, even if just another state is a lesson learned in life and an experience most will never have.

There is More Out There

Many of us stay in our little bubbles.  We have the same friends, go to the same places, watch the same shows and live in the same environment we grew up in.

But, many of us want more than this.  We crave experiences like we crave oxygen.  We realize that it is only by expanding our horizons that we truly live and to live any other way is tantamount to death.

For the past 3 years I have not traveled and it has nearly killed me.  I have come to realize that I am an adventurer at heart.  It doesn’t matter if I’m uncomfortable or fussy or don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing.  The very experience of travel changes me.

There are so many places to go and so many things to see.  Do you think you will ever regret going on that safari in Africa, or finding spirituality in a temple in India or drinking wine with Parisians?

Every culture is different than our own and that is what makes it all so beautiful.  If you never experience this and never know this I believe you are living half a life.  If you have no desire to know others and what they think and believe and why they believe it then I’m sorry for you.

But, again, if you are reading this my guess is that you desire to know what it would feel like to sit amidst Gorillas in Africa, or visit a Bazaar in Morocco or experience the magnificence of Macchu Picchu, eat steak and drink Malbec with Argentinians and see the unparalleled beauty of the Greek islands.

Traveling isn’t about staying in your comfort zone.  Traveling isn’t about being tourist.  Traveling is about experiencing life in a different way and understanding that we all have a different history and a different way of viewing the world.

Why Everyone Should Travel

Traveling changes who you are. If you are a true adventurer then once you go you can never see the world the same.  Some cultures may be a better fit than others and that’s okay, but every place you go will be life changing.

Every time you travel you don’t just learn about other people you learn about yourself.  You learn your strengths and your weaknesses, your tolerances and intolerances and you expand your horizons just a little with every step you take.

Whether you drink tea with milk in England or start liking toast with honey for breakfast and even if you decide you hate the idea of never having a washer and dryer or can’t fathom living in the economically and politically oppressed places you visit you will always have a view of the world that is bigger than most.

You will have had experiences.  You will carry them with you forever.  You will die knowing that you did something that many people will never do and that alone should be enough.

About:

Carrie L. Burns is a blogger on a mission of self-discovery which, for her,  can be found  through traveling and writing.  She believes that life is nothing without adventure and having experiences and the most life altering experiences come through travel.  Some of her other work can be found at www.acinglife.com.

The New Wave of Entrepreneurship

There is a multi-trillion dollar economy opening up to technology faster than ever. It has been driven by trends that have changed the nature of how entrepreneurs will be characterised going forward; specifically, industry executives will be the next wave of in-demand startup CEOs.

In April of 2007, Apple changed everything with the launch of the iPhone. It is hard to imagine that it has only been 8 years since the release of the first truly pervasive smartphone, but there is no denying its impact has been world-changing. Beyond the creation of a new dimension of industry-driven, by location-based, services (and with it, a myriad of billion dollar companies), an equally significant phenomenon emerged. By creating technology that was intuitive to the consumer masses, every person around the world started to embrace technology as more than just a work tool. Lawyers, doctors, car mechanics and people from every sector of the economy not only had a tool for productivity, but a piece of technology in their pocket they embraced as an intimate part of their lives.

Furthermore, these new consumers could now point to a standard for usable technology. Cumbersome, enterprise legal software that won’t allow a lawyer to search cases from outside the office is no longer acceptable. For those outside of the Silicon Valley silo, conversations can be heard from construction workers sitting on a lunch break saying “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app to …”. Unfortunately, these conversations are often too far away from Silicon Valley’s ears, which are still dominated by the talk of what will be the next WhatsApp or Instagram. Even so, a new breed of entrepreneur is emerging who see firsthand the challenges in their industry, and with that the opportunity to make a world-changing impact, and these entrepreneurs do not fit the founder archetype that many Silicon Valley investors look for.

Previous decades saw similar shifts in entrepreneur characterizations. The late 90s were about Harvard MBAs applying traditional management techniques to leverage brand new Internet technologies. The “aughts” brought on the “22 year-old Stanford Computer Science” graduate applying technology to a low hanging industry. Now, in this decade, we are seeing a new wave of entrepreneurship driven by industry executives with deep product backgrounds leveraging technology to disrupt a traditionally non-tech industry.

For the past 2 years I’ve had the opportunity to see this shift firsthand as the managing partner of Silicon Valley Software Group (SVSG), a firm of CTOs focused on helping companies with their technology strategy. SVSG has seen entrepreneurs ranging from movie producers, lead singers of platinum album rock bands, travel executives, and hedge fund managers all trying to figure out how to leverage their domain expertise through technology. After a number of similar engagements, a few observations have emerged:

• In each venture, a product-focused entrepreneur saw the adoption of technology among their peers in a particular industry and, with that, the opportunity to create a product focused on that industry.
• None of these entrepreneurs had notable tech experience.
• Hardly ANY of these high profile individuals had relevant connections with the Silicon Valley community.

This last observation is of particular importance!

As tunnel-visioned as Silicon Valley might be, there is a reason that it has produced so many world-changing companies.

The combination of growth capital, multidisciplinary talent, and mentors sharing best practices around how to create hyper-growth businesses are often taken for granted by those who are part of the ecosystem.

However, the disconnect between Silicon Valley natives and outsiders is shocking. Many of the companies SVSG has come across have no ability to raise strategic capital at first because their businesses are too risky when considering common pitfalls they are more likely to fall into compared with their Valley peers. Concepts as commonplace as the lean startup methodology are welcomed as sage insight to these new entrepreneurs.

What is missing for these new founders is a bridge into Silicon Valley. To date, this has been stymied by a narrow mindset from the Silicon Valley community. However, the forces of capitalism will eventually prevail and these new entrepreneurs will find their own community to center around. Keen investors will lead the herd and take advantage of existing markets ripe for change. Incubators and accelerators will emerge with a focus on entrepreneurs with deep industry experience. We are in a tech boom right now and there are countless ways to apply technology to industries that haven’t changed in decades. For those sitting in the corner office, the time has come to venture out, there are markets to disrupt.

The original article was written by MATT SWANSON

You don’t need to know the details of what I’ve done but I am here to tell you that I have slightly fucked up. I have before and I likely will again. When it happens the feeling is fucking awful! I feel like curling up in a ball and dying yet even that seems impossible. My mind is running at a million miles and I can’t do anything. I wonder how I can right my wrong.

I would love to cry! Instead I fester up what could possibly happen with what I’ve done. I think about the worse possible scenarios and that just makes the feeling worse. I am dead! That’s it! I have fucked up once again. I live and learn but sometimes I wonder if I indeed ever do. Hmmm… what will happen next!

The next best thing to do is not to do stupid shit. Easier said then after the act has already been committed. The next best thing to do is think logically however that seems to make this pain worse. So where to next?

This is my first policy – always be honest. I have had to many throw backs from past experience where I tried to cover the fact. This just ended in me eating my shorts. Honesty admits and respects the fact that I’ve done wrong. I wonder sometimes if its just a means to making me feel better about the wrong by sharing the burden or if it is actually protecting the other from any further hurt that may eventuate from my mistake.

Have you read Arnolds Schwarzenegger Bio? He opens up about is secret affair that he had with his maid. For 14 years he covered it up. He had a child to the women and didn’t realise it until several years after the birth. Why didn’t he say anything? Because he didn’t know how to – the conditioning that occurs in all of us as we develop. Arnold states that holding secrets seems to work for him in life, they don’t for me and I really believe this one didn’t work for him.

After 14 years it came back to his wife and caused an immediate separation and subsequent divorce. The pain of this experience from everyone involved I would assume would have been greater than if it was dealt with back when the event actually occurred. Either way things level out and Arnold is still moving forward greatly in life as he always has done. Do I judge him? No! People do stupid shit – as I well and truly know.

Either way, hurt will be experienced by all parties concerned yet may be lessened with the honest approach. The idea of making someone else experience pain from my stupidity makes me want to cry further! If it were just me and no one else, I can deal with that but when others are involved – that is the evil. I need to clear my conscience and as selfish as that might be that means sharing it openly and honestly.

If the pain has already been caused, then honesty will allow the doors to be opened to healing. Dishonesty will keep thoughts, emotions and the trauma enclosed, trapped. This will not encourage or allow any healing.

If nothing happens as consequence from the wrong then so be it, I would rather my mind be free. Again, in fighting emotions do we only continue them and the attachment to them rather then letting them pass. I was always told to avoid a fight. A fight with your emotion will only intensify it – try walk away. The thought of sharing my trouble may open new eyes and perspectives and maybe even opportunities to discover the truth behind what has been done.

Sometimes honesty may appear to ignite further pain and trouble but sometimes I feel this is the universes way of allowing all emotions to be put on the table so that we can be released from them. I also know in experience that attachment to any emotion is a sure way not to proceed. An open and honest consciousness allows for an open and honest life and I believe in this act we live more freely. We are all lost without honesty.

The next best thing is to assess the situation for the facts. Once you realise the facts and how they might make impact you and others you can then understand how best to deal with them. Often the situation will feel much more serious than it is but when you really dig in and assess the facts, its never that bad. In my current situation, while not good at all, I feel a little more relaxed that after the initial assessment.

I also recommend trying to rest or calm the mind by mediation, sleep or another practice before an assessment is made. Sometimes in the heat of a situation our minds are unable to think clearly – this will affect how then we handle the situation. Take time out and remove yourself from the environment.

If you have killed someone it may be hard to get comfort from the facts but the truth is that most situations like the one that I now face don’t have life and death consequences. This being the fact what is the worse that could happen considering death as the worse. Life will go on, it has to, and things will level themselves out, they always do.

The issue I face is the ‘what if’ questions. What if other people find out? What if I am exposed? What will be the consequence then? What if… what if… what if…

We face these questions in situations that we have acted wrong or inappropriately. Actually we face these in many aspects of life. In my journey of discovery, I have realised that these questions often linger without eventuality – 90% of the time they never come about. They only hinder our ability to progress, not assist. In situations of stupidity the same rule applies.

The way I have learnt to deal with the ‘what if’ question is to simply avoid the thought. If it comes about I have to tell myself and reinforce that nothing is true unless it exists and existence is a mere perception. I then allow that thought to dissipate, knowing that if a ‘what if’ problem should rise later I will deal with it at the point. The ‘what ifs’ in life take us away from living in the moment which is not at all what life is about.

In summary, I fucked up! I have to deal with it. I wish only to share this with my audience to give insight into how I deal with these situations. Actually, reading over it, it makes me appear like the expert in fucking-up! Sometimes I feel like I am but I know we all have these moments. If you can use this to help you deal with your next idiotic event let me know by leaving your comment below.

I learn from my mistakes, sometimes not as quick as I like. This is life – a continual progression of one’s improvement and self-mastery. This is one account of my experience.

In my teen years and my early adult life, I was dreamy about early retirement. I thought if I just pushed myself hard today, sacrifice, work hard, hustle and do what ever it takes that by the time I was 50 I could retire. Retirement for me meant to sit back and do nothing.

Do nothing? What does that look like? As I reflect back on my journey, I have to laugh. I am the most impatient and most incapable person of doing nothing. I get bored easily and find it very hard to sit still. This was my goal to retire extra early than the then average age of retirement so that I could do nothing.

Retirement is an invitation to die. The word actually means ‘to be put on the shelf’. Traditionally we would do so once we were no longer capable of doing the type of work we did. Back in the day what we did was very physically. Today it is not.

Life is magically and the more I venture on my journey of personal development and transformation the further I discover my true self and what life really means. Retirement is not what I desire nor is it a goal, its actually something I wish to avoid at all costs.

Retirement to me means being restricted from doing everything I truly want to do. Freedom on the other hand is the opposite, the ability to think, say and do exactly how I want, when I want. Freedom is the new retirement and this is now what give me purpose and the driving force behind everything I do.

If I knew what I know now when I was 20 I would have already retired. Correction! I would be living much more freely at an earlier age. Here are my lessons that I have discovered so far that have helped me live more freely and essentially retiring the thought of retiring.

Find Your Passion, Act with Passion.

My first discovery I made as I began to break free from the mould of society has created and was to start following my passions. Not always possible, I know. We have basic needs that need to be meet and there are certain activities today that are necessary for us to upkeep these needs.

However, you can nurture your passions on the side. I have found when you do this you not only get excited once again about life but your side passions actually become infectious to other aspects of your life.

Generally, doing what we are passionate about make us happy. Happiness is a powerful emotion and hard to beat down by others. When you return to doing those shitty tasks or that work you simply don’t enjoy, you will find them more bearable. It is important to keep following your passion consistently to keep that feeling alive. You may just find by doing this you will eventually create a vehicle that will allow you to do it full time.

Also, it must be noted that even if you don’t enjoy certain aspects of your life that you can’t quickly get rid of, you can add little injection of passion to them. Instead of thinking ‘why me’, ‘why am I doing this’, ‘how long will this go on for’, start thinking about how you can create value from each situation. How could you enjoy the activity more? Passion can be created in anything!

Do What You Love, Today.

To me retirement meant sacrificing life today to do what I love later, in retirement. For many of us this is the case. We do the grind. We wake, rush to work, log on, log off, come home, retire from the day with mindless activities and then repeat. We do this continually for years without even knowing what for. We, society, have created this system to allow us to cope with this mundane existence. If you are fortunate early on in life you will realise this and you will commit to making change.

Doing what you love today matters. What is important to you? Is it working your job, spending time with family, writing, making great food to share with others, playing with the kids, staying back late in the office? Often we neglect what we love in sacrifice for pleasing others however the true discovery I have made in the last few years is that doing what I love is fundamentally what it means to be free.

If then I can do what I love everyday from now until the end of my days I will be freer, it will be like retirement everyday. What I realised is that I don’t even need much to do many of those things I love. Often we think we need more, more money, more time, more whatever, but this is simply not the case. You can schedule time everyday to do those things you love.

By doing the things I love I have found I have increased the time I have for doing more of these things, I have raised my happiness levels and have been in a better position to serve others more. Truly powerful stuff.

Stop Working for Money, Work for Freedom.

Working for money is simply a means to an end. Working for freedom is much more. If you consider your work is to just earn money, then you are likely to attach belonging to that money. By belonging I mean that you belong to it – this means money owns you. This is not what you want as when this happens its much harder to escape the grind.

Money is seen as necessary to pay the rent, mortgage, help buy food, pay for fuel, give you some entertainment activities, cable TV, movies, dinners, drink and help you buy stuff that raises a short-term mood of happiness. When you work for money, money doesn’t work for you, you work for it, remember that.

Start instead seeing work as a method to grow your levels of freedom in life. When we work we exchange time for money. You can get more money but never more time therefore its important to assess and understand what that exchange looks like in your personal situation.

If the money you earn is used to buy you more shit which only holds you back and locks you into the job it’s a pointless exchange. If, however you are using the money to raise your level of freedom by investing it, then the time for money exchange will be more appreciated.

If the reason you work is to give you more freedom today, then you are proceeding with purpose. If its not than what’s it all for? Seriously, is it really all worth it?

Be Grateful for Who You Are and What You Have

Greater freedom has been realised in my life as I begun to accept myself more for who I am and become more grateful for all that I have. In the rat race of life towards retirement people forget who they are. They become driven by their ego, they become obsessed with comparing themselves to others. The ‘my dick is bigger than yours’ mentality. It’s a lost cause. Competition is grand but only when its directed inwardly towards yourself.

There is not one other person that exists like you. There is not one other who has had the same upbringing or currently living with the same circumstances. Comparing yourself will not help you progress, it will defeat you. It may even provide you benchmarks that you may truly exceed if you didn’t compare.

Your uniqueness is all that matters. Your soul has been shut off by years of domestication. Its time to resuscitate your soul. Let go of what drives you for superficial enhancement and start connecting more deeply with your soul.

Finally, you need to realise all that already have by becoming grateful. When we live for everything we don’t have, all those things we desire, wish for, and think we need, we suffer. This behaviour sets us up for greater disappointment, stress, unhappiness and can often leave us felling more empty. It can even lead us to giving up the chase of our dreams.

It is better to be grateful for all that you have both within you and externally. I realised that I have much more than majority of the worlds population already, most of us in the west do, and for that I am grateful. This allows me to be happier and content with life. It allows greater clarity that assists me to continue the focus on my life goals.

Don’t be Elated by Prosperity, or Grieve in Decline.

The practice of being grateful will help this process. Our character can change in moments of prosperity and in times of poverty how ever extreme these may be. If we can become more consistent, no matter the situation we face, we will feel and live with greater freedom.

Gratitude’s helps us realise what we have even when we are in poverty. By adopting a fasting practice in any aspect of life we will be able to deal with such situations when they strike us unexpectedly. This practice means limiting something in your life that you take for granted for a period of time – like not eating for 2 days every so often.

If you are like me I get very excited by certain events or when things have gone favourably my way. Sometimes to extremely so. What I have learnt is that what goes up must go down. Some people have life in greater balance than I yet I have learnt to take prosperity and decline with more calmness.

When things are great I am pumped but when they vanish or become more of a struggle to obtain I can become stressed, depressed, negative and just not very nice to be around. Yet now know that I still have everything I desire no matter the circumstance. In this state I can to progress towards more of the life I desire with greater ease.

If you are struggling in life. If you are looking to live more freely. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, then its time to break free. You don’t have to accept life as it is anymore but you have to be willing and committed to taking action. We all have the power to be free spirits and not only is this our right but its our responsibility.

You will uncover magic as you start retiring or freeing yourself from your current existence. You have not been given this life to simply exist, you have been given this life to truly live. To truly live means doing whatever it is you desire – an existence obtainable by us all. Why wait until your 60 to start living when you can start living today?

Retirement is here for us all now, it comes in the form of freedom. If more and more of what you do in life is for the purpose of creating more freedom, then I believe you will be winning. You will really start living.

Powerful Feedback – Ideal For Greater Clarity & Improving You To Your Full Potential

Do I encourage feedback? If you are human you will understand how it feels to receive feedback, whether positive or negative. Feedback and criticism can be hard to swallow but, it’s essential if you want to make powerful improvements and progress in life. What feedback we choose to listen to, and how we handle and respond to it is critical.

Why? The reality we live in is directly a creation of how we choose to interact with it. There is a great quote by Charles R. Swindoll thats states, “life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react to it.” As this relates to feedback I suggest how you react to feedback is more important than the feedback itself.

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Stop Living For Myself – A Lesson For Today

To live with greater purpose we first need to have our fundamental human needs meet. This may be hard for some to grasp because some of us have higher needs than others. Some of us think we need more of something in order to first start living. The truth is that for many of us we already have everything we need, we just haven’t had that realisation.

If you really want to live with more purpose you have to understand that all you need is already with you. If it is not than you first must meet those needs before you can proceed to live with more purpose.

Purpose is beyond doing something to fulfil a need. It is about doing without a condition. Think about it, if you do something with expectation for reward then you are doing it to satisfy a need. If you do it without expectation for result or reward then it is likely you are doing something with a higher level of purpose.

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The Practices Are Grand – Don’t Allow Them To Be Disrupted

There are daily practices that I believe we must all do without questions. I also believe that there are daily practices that we, as individuals, should undertake. The problem that I face and that many people that I speak to face is that often practices are interrupted.

“If you want to disrupt life, don’t let life disrupt your practices.”

This is a great mantra to live by. One that seems to be constantly reminding me that if I really want to live truly free and live the life I desire then I must not allow my practices to be interrupted. I must not become distracted from the simple yet most profoundly important rituals of life.

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The Trek of Life: Overnight Success Will Be Created By The Journey We Take

Life is more like a marathon and less like a sprint. How many times do we hear this? There is a reason for this and I believe it to be true.

For all the people I interview about their life, their passion and their discovery to why they exist, they all highlight one thing very consistently and that is, “the journey to where they are going or how they got to where they are is not an overnight story of success.”

Granted, things in this day and age are getting fast, the technology and digital information age are making changes happen so quick that we as a society are becoming more expectant that things for us too, will happen instantly.

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Are we free men or are we all slaves?

“I prefer dangerous freedom of peaceful slavery.” Thomas Jefferson

I ponder this thought and yet still find myself no closer to a conclusion. Are we free or is the freedom that we believe to occupy falsely perceived by ourselves to make us feel more at peace? Slavery has passed and I am grateful for the freedoms we have now but as I free my own mind from self-inflicted slavery, I fear that I still seek out more freedoms.

This fear stems from thoughts about how much a slave I still am in my own life. I have a grand desire for a life of freedom and the thought of being restricted, harnessed, or confined concerns me. I desire not to be laying on my death bed wondering how much more I could have experienced in this life. If only I hadn’t stayed back late at work so often or if I lessened my concern for the need of money and material possessions that drove me to live beyond the present. Money is only a means to an end but what end would it be with an end of regret?

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