Living (and loving) the dream

Fresh off my holiday from the Maldives (and what better place to get re-inspired!), I opened the good-old Facebook to find an outpouring of fresh and inspiring energy. I’m talking about friends who are literally LIVING their dream, bit by bit, every single day. One friend has been globe-hopping for years, and is currently working for 6 months in a hostel in the Dominican Republic. Every day she “tires” us with pictures of beautiful sunsets, crystal blue water and her own self looking very tanned in a bikini. Then I have my other friend, a Buddhist and keen photographer, who has been enthusiastically pursuing his hobby of photography with an urge to contribute to society, by selling photos from his travels to charity. I recently looked on his website Zenwave, and his appeal is steadily growing, with new followers inspired by the cause daily!

Such amazing, raw, creative energy to come back to! Which is why I firmly and whole-heartedly believe that ‘success leaves clues’. Like Hansel and Gretel leaving breadcrumbs in the woods, those who achieve their inner longings, dreams and desires, leave a trail of clues to the path of their success.

Success has been defined as many things; and I will simply put it this way – it’s getting what you want. It’s looking deep inside yourself, seeing the things you want to accomplish, and moving steadfastly towards your goal. Of course, from point A to B, there are many obstacles and diversions along the way, but success really is as simple as realising that which you want. What you want can change, but the approach should never change:

IT’S YOUR LIFE. MAKE, CREATE, OF IT WHAT YOU WANT.

I’ve been reading a very interesting book recently, by Neale Donald Walsch called “Conversations with God”. The book comes in three parts, but the main premise behind it is this:

1.       Thoughts are creative.

2.       Fear attracts like energy.

3.       Love is all there is.

Very simple and powerful stuff. If you can be patient enough, to really invest in your thoughts and hold the thought you wish to act upon, you can shortly start to see some pretty big changes in your life. The kind of changes which are exactly as you want. What we constantly think about is our reality, and anyone from a sports star to an artist has had millions of thoughts they then turned into a winning game or a work of art.

Then comes the fear. We are all human, and naturally doubt our abilities. But we have to doubt, so we can trust. Once you realise where the power of fear can lead you, contrasted with where the power of trust and positive energy can, you can make better choices. All life is a choice, and the most inspirational people consistently make the choices which produce what they want. Where it is a choice between being positive or negative, working hard or working average, dreaming bigger or staying the same, we all have a choice. Inspirational and successful people make their choices work to their advantage. In fact, a truly successful person, doesn’t make any other choice than that towards continually fulfilling their dreams and desires. These people never worry about the money, time, effort they need to expend, because fulfilling their dreams is success within itself.

And lastly, love is all there is. That’s the first and the last of it actually. All dreams begin with a love for what you do, for what you want, for what you create, and upon fulfilment you receive love once again. That is why love is all there is. All big dreamers love what they do, and invest their love, into creating more love. And if the world needs anything, it’s more love.

Imagine how your world would look if you could love in love all day, every day? Be in love with your life, all day, every day? It is hard to miss the inevitable trail of happiness that all successful people leave behind. The key is not to blindly follow the same trial, but to believe that with the enthusiasm, love and your own unique talent, you can blaze a trail of your own, which can inspire others.

To my good friends, Mark and Agnieszka, you’re the ones inspiring me at the moment! Thank you for your love and dedication to fulfilling your own Personal Legends!

Copyright © Written by SoulSurfer 13 May 2013 at 3.07pm

Making it meaningful

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend -- or a meaningful day."

~Dalai Lama~

I arrived at work a little grumpy today, after having missed a ferry, then running to a bus, then missing a train, and finally arriving late at work. I was grumpy, because I was missing my car, which is in repair and would take me to work in lightning speed. Not that I don’t like public transport, but for the hours I work, a car is essential and gives me 30 minutes more sleep in the morning.

I arrived at work, tuned into my phone which has a handy ‘Buddhist quotes’ app, and read the above quote by Dalai Lama. Suddenly I realised something; why am I complaining? Apart from the slight inconvenience of taking 90 minutes to get to work (instead of 30), nothing is wrong.

That’s it, nothing is wrong.

The key in this quote for me was “…make it meaningful”. No matter what is happening in life, just make it meaningful. This quote also hinges on the subject of impermanence. Nothing stays the same, everything changes. New friends become old friends, new days become old days, so we just have to roll with what we have and ‘make it meaningful’.

Honestly, I snapped out of my bad mood straight away. I sat down and decided to make everything I did that day meaningful. From the emails I wrote to customers, to the computer work I did, to my interactions with others. Meaningful. Meaningful, so that if I were to look back on any space of time today, I could say there would be nothing I could have done better. Meaningful, means you have invested yourself truly in what you do, and the action, thought, feeling or interaction is genuine and uniquely you. If we consider meaningful friendships or meaningful events, they have inspired us in some way, so as to create the person we are today. Routine, problems, stress and ignorance dim the ‘meaningfulness’ of life, so that we begin to perceive everyday as the same. As a famous quote from Paulo Coelho goes:

“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

Meaningfulness, is perceiving that each day is different; that even though the sun rises each morning, we through our choice have the power to make each day different. Perception is everything. What we infuse our minds with, we begin to see in our surroundings. By beginning the day with a commitment to creating meaningfulness we can create the correct thought, which in turn creates the correct reality around us.

Reality is a reflection of our mind; how meaningful our reality is depends on how meaningful our perception is.

Copyright © SoulSurfer 11 December 2012 at 2.13pm