Digital media has provided a sensationalised assessment of how the world is outside our own lives. Beautiful people with beautiful lives can make vulnerable minds feel small. If you are comparing yourself to things you see on the internet you are bound to come up second best. Your best self exists in the mundane reality of the here and now. It may not be as dramatic or sensational as the stories you read about online but its your life and its happening right now. You have the power to live in this world and experience everything it has to offer.

There is a natural growth to our adventures and self development. Learning to be useful starts with recognising that there is something truly unique and powerful that you can offer this world. This power may be absolutely in its infancy and need to be developed. You don’t need to know what this is or how far you can go. All I ask is that you try and be useful. Take something that you are interested in or can do and develop this skill or knowledge.

Now find someone or a group of people who you can be useful with. Could you be of use to someone else? I don’t really care how small or demeaning the gift might be. I am using the word gift because being useful doesn’t always mean being paid. That may come with time.

Watch what happens when you share your gift with others. You feel useful, you gain confidence and self esteem. They feel grateful and appreciative. You have gained status and it is with this action that you can build momentum.

In a world that makes people feel useless and unwanted, it is up to you to fight back. This fight starts with small steps and small wins, and is fought with consistent effort in the face of overwhelming odds. This is your life to live and you deserve to give it a go.

Embrace mistakes and rejection. These are the obstacles and proof that what you are doing is worth something, turning you into the person you will become. Every setback is an opportunity to get up and try something new. Every failure is another step closer. Every obstacle gives you more experience points as you craft your skill.

There is no end point when you are good enough. Good enough to have the partner or job of your dreams. Good enough to have great friends and resources. You are alive now and are good enough already. You arrived on this earth as a human miracle. You are beautiful and unique in every way.

The answers lie within you my friend. You get to decide how you feel and how you react to the world. To be useful you need to foster the right mindset. You will need a degree of positivity and drive to give it a go. Begin to take notice of how you are feeling and what triggers changes in how you feel. Could you over time gain more control over how you feel?

We probably haven’t met and I know how hard life can get. If things are tough and you feel like your stuck playing on hard mode, its time to shake things up. Instead of playing the game, which could be designed so that someone else wins, could you change the rules? Like a game of snakes and ladders, some ladders take you right to the top while others keep you on the slow go. Maybe there is a whole new game, just for you, right around the corner.

There is no more to read and this the end. If you have read this far, you are committed to change and I believe in you. Go well my friend, your new world awaits.

Get up, get the kids ready for School. Drop them off and go to work. Do your job, talk to your work mates, all in a familiar environment. Ok so not all jobs are like this. But you get my point right. Even jobs with reasonable levels of uncertainty provide structure.

What happens to you when all of this disappears suddenly? Initially its natural to be surprised, shocked, sad, disappointed and all of the things. We all have expectations about how are lives are supposed to be and we get used to how things are. We have adapted our minds and bodies to cope with our existing environments, structure and routines.

So when these change dramatically, our ability to adapt is called into question. We must find a way to address any thoughts and emotions arising from loss, in whatever form it has presented. We need to accept that life as we knew it before, has reached its conclusion. While that journey has reached its end, a new journey has begun and you are in the drivers seat.

It’s natural to have thoughts and feelings that place doubt on the new journey. After all you are in unknown territory and it is full with uncertainty. When this occurs reach out for the things that ground you. Spend time with good friends. Indulge your hobbies or passions if you can. Get curious about new things.

In times of great change, your mind is flexing its mental muscle. You have turned on”adapt” mode and its time for an upgrade. This is the moment you can get a Great Leap Forward. This is the moment to discover new passions, new people, new ways to spend your time. Your mind is more open to change and that means you are about to level up. In “letting go,” you get to move forward with what you need. You can choose to remove behaviours or patterns of thinking that no longer serve you.

Many of us will choose to re-establish routines as soon as possible and that is ok. This may mean taking on a new job that ties up your time for example. Some of us will reflect on life and attempt to design a future based on personal values or the pursuit of meaningful purpose. Either way you are going to be ok. Try and lower your expectations. The road to happiness requires less than you think.

Whatever you decide or need to do, know this… someone or something needs you and you are magnificent.

Ok so, its about now you expect some sort of “self help” blah blah blah about getting plenty of exercise, sleep and avoiding processed foods right? Your only half right. What I am proposing is this…you consider three must do areas when you start your day. Are you ready to find out what they are?

Here we go. The first is “perspiration”. You have been lying down for like eight hours or something. You have rested, do you think your body now wants to go and sit in a chair while your brain, mouth or fingers are the only thing that moves. Some of you are thinking yes… NO! Your body wants to move. The more movement the better. So my first suggestion is to exercise or move your body in the morning. Go for a walk or to the gym. Go for a swim or a run. Your blood will flow, your body will move and you will feel alive!

The second is “inspiration.” Our mind needs to be calibrated with the right mindset. It’s so easy to be caught up in the small things. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by our ego and our limitations. You need to train your mind that your potential is limitless and that you can achieve the impossible. Set your mindset up for success. You thinking “how” right? Ok so sit and read a book that inspires you for as long as you can. Five minutes, ten, thirty minutes. Whatever you can spare.

The third and final is “relaxation.” Your thinking… its the morning are you insane? Does he realise how much I have to do today? The pressures! Yes I do realise and that is why relaxation is key. Relaxation is hard to do and it is the right thing to do. In this world of stress and overwhelm the wrong thing to do is to neglect the power of relaxing. Yes! You guessed that its time to meditate. Sitting quietly for yourself when the day is going to be so busy seems wrong and counter productive I know. Yet, this action alone will help give you find the clarity of mind to stay calmer as your day unfolds.

Now these things are easy to do and they are the right things to do every day. Most people will not do these things consistently because they are not fundamentally essential. This is the difference between people who are high performers and people who are doing the bare minimum and struggling. The high performers understand the importance of investing in themselves. The high performers know that doing the “Easy” things are the hard things and they do them anyway because they are essential to doing better and feeling better.

Give it a go…you can be better. You can do more, feel better and I believe in you.

We show up and the school system feeds us averaged content in groups, via a planned structure, appropriately designed according to the needs of average students. We really need to get this fundamental learning done, so this system is mandatory and important for most.

Once we leave school, our job locks us into set timings and devoted attention. Appropriately, many get paid only to have the real profit margins removed in taxes, therefore leaving the remainder to cover essential expenses. These attributes make the system mandatory for most people who must feed and shelter themselves, and others. This system works for many but for some people they are left feeling like they haven’t found their purpose.

The entertainment industry with the likes of Netflix, serves us up content to zone out too and if we feel slightly more attentive, there are many social media options that feed us individualised content. While entertaining, these structures are highly addictive and waste away spare time.

All of this, whether its school, a job, television or social media, is comforting and expected. It is safe. In these structures you are being looked after, you are being taken care of. Someone else is taking care of the structure for you.

To move the mind beyond the boundaries of these existing systems, you must first convince yourself that there is more to reality than that provided by your existing routines.

To define a vision is to imagine some describable point in the future that inspires people. An inspiring vision excites you, it makes you feel good, it has merit, it is good for others and it is worth doing. These are some of the ingredients that feed a feeling of purpose and a meaningful life. Long term visions like landing humans on mars, require long term commitment. They require years of commitment, discipline and perseverance to follow through. It makes really smart sense to set milestone moments along the way, so that you can feel that sense of progress as you move through setbacks and checkpoints. A long term vision at a scale that benefits humanity becomes a “massively transformative purpose.”

When you start forming some details and timings around your grand vision, yet its seems impossible and your not completely sure how it will be done, it becomes a “moonshot”. President John F. Kennedy announced that America would put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. To most people this seemed hard if not impossible and that is why this vision is inspiring and exciting. People love the challenge of doing something that seems impossible. This is not an ordinary endeavour for ordinary people. This is meaningful and exciting work.

Are you ready to explore a new vision and embark on an exciting journey? First you will need to disrupt your existing patterns and break free from the trance provided by your existing structures. How will you free your mind from all of this temptation? Do whatever you can to break the routines. That doesn’t mean quitting your job or quitting School. It means creating “breaks” in the structure to allow your mind the opportunity to explore outside the system. As you look out into the unknown, it will be scary, hard and unsettling. Somewhere out there is the adventure of your life.

Acknowledgement: Article and terms inspired by Peter Diamandis digital community: https://www.abundance.digital/

It is enough to live to a personal standard – to conceive of and seek the accomplishment of challenging goals. To think and feel and autonomously action irregardless of mood and thinking. This is a state of true self awareness.

If we are wronged, it is the fool who directs anger and frustration within. Seek respite by your standard. Hold face with honour and poise. An angry face will miss the beauty and magic. A wise and open man will gain wisdom, as inspiration is a waiting gift.

We are privy to a constant flow of thought and feeling. All are engineered and of our own design. Our place is to choose those that serve us well, accept those that do not, for all are of this place.

If your state of well being in a day was represented by the sea we would forever be attempting to move forward towards the dunes, always drawing back by our own advance. It seems to me that we could easily surge forward and engulf the earth with our joy. But perhaps this would not be as beneficial as we might think. To be truly alive we need to accept that we are like the sea. All positive thought and motion cannot be limitless – it must be constrained so we do not explode into euphoria and ultimate insanity. So be happy if you are positive at least half of the time, enjoy your tides and marvel as the sunset shines over your shores.

Secondly, jack plants the seed or consideration in your brain. He sits directly in front of you and if you notice he doesn’t stare at the food, he looks you directly in the eyes. For Jack he must be noticed, he must be considered for his wish to potentially come true. Jack plants the seed of his success without saying a single word.

Finally for jack to be successful he is persistent. Think of how many times Jack has had to wait patiently only to be ignored while i stuffed my face with a sausage roll. He has failed time and time again but every once in a while, Jack gets something.

Are you getting some?

My Nana enjoyed a beautiful cup of tea several times a day. She meticulously prepared the Choysa bag in her favorite white mug. Neither did she know that there were ants in her kettle. No one knows how long the ants had been there and why they were there. All we know is that they were there and that’s concerning.

Let’s stop and check the kettle once in while.