photo credit: Wonderlane

Ever wondered what it would be like if the everyday things going on around you were things you couldn’t comprehend?

What would it be like to have no clue what people are on about? What would you think when the world interacts with you?

A Glimpse into Not Understanding

Learning japanese and martial arts have given me a chance to taste what it would be like as a child trying to understand something incomprehensible.

When you truly do not understand, you do not even know what understanding means

Attempting to converse with native japanese people in the beginning with free speech is a very interesting experience.

I hear the sounds, I know there is information but absolutely nothing registers.

It is like my brain is hollow, the words pass through without triggering anything at all. Like a silent lake where rain does not even create ripples.

At times like this my brain can not even comprehend what it would take to understand. There is simply nothing that can take that experience and translate it into anything else. That is where the beauty is.

What you know you don’t know, and are willing to accept, remains pure

Because I know I don’t understand, I’m willing to let the words flow through me without trying to manipulate them and make them fit the world I already understand.

When you don’t touch the world around you but rather let it meld with you without reserve then you can touch into the present moment. That is a wonderful sensation.

Ignorance is not bliss, acceptance and oneness leads to bliss.

The state of mind wherein you just want to take in everything around you without transformations allows the perceptions of things that are not understandable by the mind.

Perceiving such things is understanding, that is the beauty of not understanding.

Self development is a big deal. Really it should be the one thing that underpins our lives.

Therefore you must manage your self development, you must have a plan. This post is going to provide an outline of what you need to do to manage your self development.

Create a golden statement

This is your dream of the person you want to be. It is an unrefined statement of who you want to be.

You can use an inspirational picture describing your living sensations or you can write a mission style statement entailing your commitment to yourself.

Know what you want

It is not enough to say that you want to be a better person. Saying that you want to be president of the world is more specific than that.

You need to write down the qualities that you wish to possess and the things that you want to be capable of doing.

Make plans

While you can read and dream about change as much as you want you must make actionable plans if you are to ever make real progress.

Making plans is where managing self development starts bringing results to life.

Take a look at all the things you want for yourself and outline the steps that you need to undertake in order to achieve them. This is where reading and research into self development is useful.

Setup a system

It is necessary to have a system that supports you in your self development and keeps you on track.

Have a daily, weekly or monthly system that involves the following:

• Reviewing what you want, your golden statement and your plans
• Identifying problems that are holding back your progress
• Creating solutions to solve the problems you have identified

With this system you can continually improve how you improve yourself. Consequently your rate of progress can increase exponentially.

How do you manage your self development?

There are two types of people. Those who chase their dreams and those that just let life run it’s course, only thinking about their dreams.

On the weekend I bumped into some work colleagues from 2 years back and we had about 60 seconds in order to update each other on our lives. I quickly rattled off how I was now a software consultant, australian Iaido champion, black belt in Jodo and learning japanese.

When I asked them how their life was, their response was a rather sheepish ’still working at y company…’.

Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: liber

Happiness can be thought of like a set of keys.

Whenever you have lost your keys it is always because you put them down and forget about them or they got hidden under a pillow.

Happiness is the same.

We put it aside and carry on with our lives and then when we want it we can’t seem to find it.

Or worse, our happiness gets covered by a negative emotion and we believe that it is lost forever, nowhere to be found.

How to Find your Happiness (And your Keys)

1. Systemise where you put it so you can find it easily. Create a method which you can reliably bring yourself back to happiness. This could be using affirmations, knowledge of your right to happiness, smiling or meditation.
2. Don’t cover it up. Emotions will always cloud over your happiness if you let them dwell. Whenever you begin to be taken by a emotion, see it and then let it pass by. Keep your happiness at your fingertips.
3. If it seems really lost, ask a friend. No matter how hard you look sometimes you can’t find it in your house. Rest assured it is always there and turns up eventually. Sometimes all it takes is a friend to take a fresh look at you.

How do you find your keys?

Happiness is King.

Whether you want to improve yourself or help others, the pursuit of happiness should come first.

Happiness is the stable base in which you can launch yourself from.

While you have not mastered the art of being happy you will find yourself torn in one direction or another throughout your life.

If you pursue money before discovering the secrets of happiness then your journey will be one full of turmoil and your success or failure will be nothing more than a note in your book.

Finding Happiness Destroys Negativity

When you know how to achieve happiness in any given moment then you have gained the ability to choose how you feel.

Once you have this ability to manage your internal state then undesirable emotions that negatively impact yours and others lives no longer have a reason to inhibit you. Because you have decided that they should not.

With the freedom gained knowing that you can choose to be happy at any moment then you can stop worrying about yourself and focus on what else you can do in the world.

The extra energy freed up provides the stimulus  to enable you to immerse yourself in life and begin to create new change in yourself and others.

I have dreamed of a world where everyone knows that they can be happy whenever they want no matter what the circumstances.  Unfortunately it seems to be a piece of knowledge which very few are aware of, or if they are refuse to believe.

No doubt I have to write more about getting to happiness. Let this be the beginning for you and me.

As I watched Star Trek at the movies the other night I felt like something was lacking. Great movie and all, but compared to my daily life I felt inhibited.

Near the end of the movie it hit me.

You have no Power to Act while watching a movie.

The wonderful things in life are those in which you have the power to interact and create.

While watching a movie you are reduced to less interactivity than even a rock who atleast has an impact on the breeze as it flows.

Life is incredible when you go out there and make decisions.

Whether you are redirecting your finances or breathing in the air at the park, these are the actions in which you have the opportunity to grow and take action.

When you go and take action you discover another half of yourself that you didn’t know existed and find a huge supply of energy.

So right now, pick the next task towards your dreams and do it. Don’t think about, DO IT!