“Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”

Holidays are always that amazing time for complete rest and abandon. As soon as I write this, many tropical getaways come to mind. Recently I was watching a movie with Robert Machado, where he delves into such a tropical abandon. Away from the world of competitive surfing, he can focus solely on what he loves the most. The more he distances himself from others, from civilisation, the more he believes he is finally at peace and in full focus. But ultimately he comes to the realisation that we do need others to feel in contact with our lives.

 

I’d say holidays, or some form of rest and relaxation are crucial to each and every person. An amazing quote springs to mind straight away:

“Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”

Life without holidays, becomes such a drudgery, a conglomerate of similar days, moods, feelings and therefore outcomes. I believe we always need to be refreshed and refocused to go after our goals and dreams. This is what living, and not merely breathing is about. It’s easy to simply exist, to fall into the monotony of life, to see each day in the same shade, and believe that repeating the same thing over and over gets us somewhere else in life. But it’s harder (and more rewarding) to push beyond the boundaries of pure existence, check our current state against that of our dreams, and aim to make that connection to get there. Every day, in every way.

Obviously to feel a dream is worth doing, you need to be inspired. But inspiration is like a bird in the hand, it flies away too quickly. If you pursue it too fervently, it simply escapes you. But if you take the time to attract it, make room for it in your life, it appears very quickly to aid and guide you. Holidays, allow you to feel wonder, awe, amazement – all feelings which attract inspiration. Holidays are almost a moment taken out of time and existence, when only inspiration and love conquer. However holidays, like birds and inspiration, fly away too quickly too. Inspiration is just the spark that provides the flame for the realisation of dreams.

Daily attention to dreams and goals, continually taking time to be inspired, keeps the flame alive. Paulo Coelho says:

“One day you will wake up, and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”

We need to put a sense of urgency on our dreams. If you are not living YOUR life, than who is? If you are not taking that holiday you always wanted, than who is? If you could be a better person for yourself and others, than what is stopping you?

Everyone needs to take time out to find their own “tropical getaway”, from which they can emerge refreshed and revitalised towards life. We are not merely breathing, we are living a dream of our own… It’s always time to get reconnected and inspired.

Do it now.

SoulSurfer © 12th September 2012 at 3.56pm. Photo by Patricia Pahl. 

Be (with) someone who makes you happy.

I read this quote this morning, and it has really stuck with me for the last few hours. I guess an explosion of creative and positive energy originated from this quote, and I am happy to write the following…

I have noticed recently the depressing ‘reality’ of everyday life. Stay with me here, because I assure you this post is not at all depressing, as well as the ‘reality’ I describe not all that real.

Life confines us and boxes us in to certain rules, regulations, conventions, ways of being. We follow these and hope they will lead us to a happy, stable, and foreseeable future. And for the most part this works. But to be honest, we get so lost in the routine of our lives, that we lose touch with our souls and our heart’s desires. Maybe this comes with age, but just one look at the state of our world, and especially the level of enthusiasm and positivity of our young generations, and we can see that their view of their own lives is not emanating from a place of hope and happiness.

At this time, countless “how to be happy and rich and successful” books spring to mind, all with apparently tried and tested formulas on how to live life to the dot to ensure happiness. But as my partner accurately pointed out, happiness does not come from things, people or places, it comes from within ourselves. Only we can choose to connect to our souls, listen to our hearts and really follow in that direction.

And so we are not living in a reality.

Paulo Coelho accurately described the process of killing our dreams:

“When we renounce our dreams and find peace, we go through a short period of tranquility. But the dead dreams begin to rot within us and to infect our entire being.
We become cruel to those around us, and then we begin to direct this cruelty against ourselves. That’s when illnesses and psychoses arise. What we sought to avoid in combat – disappointment and defeat – come upon us because of our cowardice.”

I think this accurately describes the state of most people’s lives. They put off following their dreams, as if following them would be a source of shame or futility. It’s not. Life is living your dream. Just as no two fingerprints are alike, no two people’s lives are the same. Everyone has a purpose, a goal, something to fulfil and contribute with open heart in this lifetime. Of course, we have the choice not to follow our paths, but the only person we hurt is ourselves.

Really connecting with ourselves and following our dreams is our privilege and right, and in turn it makes us truly happy. True happiness cannot exist if it has not originated firstly from within. And we cannot give happiness to others, if we are not happy ourselves first.

And so, be someone who makes you happy, so you can be with someone who makes you happy.

Written by Copyright © SoulSurfer 18th July 2012 at 11.10am

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

It seems the eye of the storm is the perfect place to ponder life. And Sunday afternoon in Manly proved to be the perfect place to be awed by Mother Nature’s beauty and splendour.

Picture this: about two dozen surfers scattered across the choppy and grey-hued sea, desperately competing against each other to catch the remnants of a decent days’ surf. It was about 5.30pm, when Mark and I stopped in our tracks and looked above. What happened over the course of the next 15 minutes was breathtaking.

The surfers continued to paddle towards the kamikaze waves, but our focus had shifted to the sky above. These pictures are simply beautiful. A grey sky melting into yellow across the skyline, finally being lit up with a magnificent red glow from the west. In one place rain began to fall and develop, but on the sunny side the sun struggled back into the spotlight to reveal a beautiful, full-arched, luminuous rainbow, which then cast its Technicolour shadow on the droopy and heavy clouds. The effect was a rainbow glow of light scattered across the clouds.

The photos below.

So Mark and I stopped on one conclusion: focus on doing what you love, and aim to improve yourself in what you love everyday. You only have one life, and the skills, passions and talents you have received in this life to enjoy and experience are unique to YOU only. Aim to be better than yourself everyday. Spend more time giving time to your passions and hobbies. Like Kelly Slater, aim for perfection in your craft over accolades and recognition. Be the best you can be in what you love.

 Life opens up doorways to those who are truly in sync with their life’s purpose. When you dedicate yourself to your passion, your cup is full and overflows; you learn to give to others willingly and selflessly. You cannot give if you are not self-full first.

 The first step lies in giving into your passion. Life is really what you make of it, and if you are in line with your purpose, JUST THINK of what lies ahead for you!

If you are not in line with your purpose, you are not contributing conscientiously to this world. And if you are not contributing conscientiously to this world, you are wasting your time here.

Let us go, and DO WHAT WE LOVE!

Copyright © SoulSurfer 9 August 2011 at 8.43pm

Always act like you're wearing an invisible crown...

Today I realised it’s not fair to always feel inferior to your dreams. To be focused on what you don’t have as areas for improvement toward attaining “the dream”.

I let myself run into the “I cant’s” of life. I can’t do this. I don’t have that. I’m not this. I don’t know that. Gosh, do I really have to overlook all that I DO HAVE?

Instead of working from a position of power, working with what I do have, I always seem to be working for the things I don’t have. It’s like a rat in an exercise wheel – always running after something, never being happy to just stop. There is a saying “work smarter, not harder”. I seem to take immense thrill in working hard. But sometimes the wariness of working hard can detract you from your goal. Sometimes it can make you lose sight of what it is you are good at. Sometimes you forget to stop and smell the roses along the way.

The problem with success is that we struggle all too much to attain the pinnacles it defines: the first huge paycheck, the new clothes, the first shiny car, the first impulsive purchase without a look at the price tag. But somewhere along the way we forget to stop in the mirror and say “Hey, I am doing pretty well” and rack up the self-confidence points. It seems sometimes the only time I am happy is when I am on the long and winding path to an (obscure) goal. I feel like I am working toward something – key word being ‘something’. It’s like the rat race defines my way of life. As if being inferior to the goal, feeling you have to “work your way up” to attain confidence and success is the only way to be happy, to feel useful and fulfilled in society.

But can I just be happy in the meantime? Can I be proud that I pitched a good idea to my boss? Can I be happy I scored a meeting with an event manager? Can I be happy that I finally got the $49.11 off the client who hadn’t paid in three months?

What about all the small skills you learn along the way? Learning to format a report properly, learning to fix a jam in the fax, learning to change the towel dispenser in the bathroom? These are all skills. Why does my success have to be defined by a mountain, when it should be defined by several hills? And in today’s world, where experience is essential, isn’t it better to know a bit of everything from these small successes?

I know there will come a time when my life narrows down to one thing, one avenue of work, but then I think I’m sure to get bored quicker. I realise now that really you cannot be happy, or attain happiness, if you are not enjoying the road that is taking you there. More importantly, if you are so blindsided by the goal, that you ignore the journey, there will no doubt come a time when you may have to revisit the path, only to find you have no idea where you are.

My point is simple; live in the here and now. Praise your effort now. Be confident in what you know now, and pay importance to the can-do’s and am-able-to’s in your current life. Your success should only be defined by your own vision, not someone else’s, but even then; your success should be as simple as self-praise for living the past day as well as possible.

So always act like you are wearing an invisible crown, that way you are always the king or queen of your success. 

Copyright © 21^st June 2011 at 7.54pm by SoulSurfer