I’ve been a little quiet on here lately, and as life has begun to shift rapidly for me, my mind and thoughts are getting carried away with where I’m going next.

As you may know, three weeks ago I finished up at my work. Instead of pursuing a new challenge or a new field of work straight away, I’ve decided to stand still for awhile. I’ve decided to take time to see how I feel and what and where I next feel most drawn.

My mind is a little alarmed by all of this. It wants to know what my plan is. It wants to know why I’m not being very productive. It’s also starting to stress out when it sees me simply sitting around, taking a nap or with my nose in a good book. Continue reading →

I imagine that many people read last week’s Meaning Experiment about manifesting abundance and at best thought it was interesting, but mostly thought it was a little too “alternative” or beyond the scope of reality.

And that’s fine by me, each to their own and all that. My aim is to encourage as many readers as possible to achieve a shift in their perception of reality and to hopefully help people realise that their life is their own to create and explore. We all need to test the boundaries and experiment with reality to gain a better understanding of what is truly possible.

So just when I was thinking last week’s post might be pushing people a little too far, the wonderfully thoughtful Peter Paluska left a comment that was striking in its obviousness and a real awakening all at the same time. This was the comment: Continue reading →

I wonder what you thought when you read the title of this post? It probably depends on what you think of Oprah and her role in your life. Whether you’ve been a follower of Oprah or not, it cannot be denied that her influence on our planet has been profound and widespread.

These days I don’t tend to be at home when The Oprah Show is on, but I was an avid watcher about a decade ago and was changed by what I saw and learnt.

With her final show finished and her farewell episodes airing here this week I feel sad and grateful.

I’m sad because I wonder who will introduce the world to the amazing people who might have otherwise remained unknown. A decade ago Oprah introduced me to Gary Zukav, a personal and spiritual teacher who has taught me volumes through his many appearances on the show and through his writing. Continue reading →

If you get really honest with yourself, can you actually imagine yourself being successful? And while we’re asking probing questions, can you clearly define what success actually means for you?

But what is being successful anyway? Does becoming an entrepreneur, or an urology specialist, or an astronaut, or what?

Steve Pavlina has started a series of posts on creating passive income, something I’m excited to read a lot more about. Before he gets into the practicalities of the what and the how, he wrote an excellent post about envisioning yourself at the endgame, at a point where you have the amount of passive income flowing in that changes your life. If you’ll imagine yourself at this point, what happens next?

It seems a simple enough question, but it is central to achieving success. Continue reading →

Reading something fictional one hour a week didn’t sound like it would be that hard or interesting either. It wasn’t challenging but it was revealing for me. I had my sneaking suspicion that I would find something else to do with that one hour each day and by day five that is exactly what happened.

On days one through to four I did read for an hour, usually at around 8 pm. Weeks before I had started reading “Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life” by Francis Mayes. I hadn’t finished this book and didn’t feel like starting on a new novel. When I finish a book I like to absorb what was there and Francis Mayes had a lot to tell me about being a writer and a lot more for me to think about.

That wasn’t the main problem though. The hardest part for me was the sitting and reading for an hour. Not because I don’t like to sit and read – most people would describe me as a bookworm and no-one can deny me the everlasting love I feel for my couch. Some days I feel I could sit there all day. No, the issue was that I can’t stand to be tied down to a task or chore at the moment, whether it be self-inflicted or otherwise, if I don’t really feel drawn to it. I found myself watching the clock to see how long I had been reading for and how much longer I had to go. I couldn’t just get into the flow and enjoy the experience. Continue reading →

I can’t trace back to an exact date when I started taking the red pill, but I know that I’ve been taking it in small doses all my life, and for the past sixteen years regularly. In case you’re not sure what I’m referring to, it is a reference taken from The Matrix trilogy, now used popularly to refer to waking up to reality and truth.

Once you begin truly thinking for yourself, examining the whys and the hows, and being slightly suspicious of the truth behind everything you hear and think you know, there is no going back to the innocence and ignorance that you may have enjoyed before. No matter how much you might wish to go back to a life where you accepted the status quo, you can’t go back.

After some time, you will find that you are on the outskirts of the status quo, watching everyone participating around you, while you wonder what might be left for you. You can’t participate with those who are seemingly content with the way things are because you don’t understand how they continue to fail to awaken and they don’t understand what’s wrong with you and why you just can’t be happy. This is where I find myself now. Continue reading →

Whether you love Seinfeld or not, you can’t deny that Jerry Seinfeld has been, and still is, a huge success both on the Comedy scene and also in business. I’ve read often about his very simple approach to holding himself accountable to get tasks done and I find it appealing in its logic and simplicity. He attributes this method to becoming a better and more successful comedian and it is the advice he gives to others to help them achieve their goals.

The ideas is this:

You have on your wall or in some prominent space in your house a calendar for the entire year. (I printed beautiful monthly A4 calendars from The Organised Housewife for the remainder of this year.)

Each day you do something physical to move yourself towards your goal – it can be small but it must be something real and tangible. Once done you can cross off the day on the calendar. Continue reading →

We live in a world where clearly it seems that the majority of us have lost our way. This is in no small part attributed to how we think we should go about being happy.

On a daily basis we are encouraged to believe that we should be happy immediately and in all moments. There are a variety of gadgets and experiences you can buy that are advertised in such a way as to make you believe that instant happiness will result after you consume them. While you might feel happy for a time, it is rarely long lasting, and thus the cycle of buying continues.

As someone who has taught hundreds of teenagers, this misguided belief that we should be enjoying ourselves at all times in order to be happy, is rampant among our youth. As teachers we are at odds with what parents are doing at home; parents may be trying to provide their children with constant enjoyment and distraction since this is what their children demand and teachers are trying to encourage students to develop focus, discipline and thought in order to achieve goals and develop knowledge beyond their imaginings. Continue reading →

If you tend to read blogs on personal development and how to live a fulfilling life, then it’s highly likely that you’ve stumbled upon a few blogs on the minimalist lifestyle. There’s all sorts of bloggers writing about how many items they own and how they live out of a carry-on case. While the practicalities of minimalism fascinate me, it’s the minimalist mindset that I find most powerful.

I have a little confession to make; I was wrong to start up at another teaching job this year. Although it is all part of my plan to accumulate savings rapidly in order to retire early, it is still a mistake.

It’s not the school, and it’s certainly not the students, who are a really delightful group of young women. It’s me. It’s who I’ve become. I’ve changed and unfortunately I’ve pushed this realisation aside while throwing myself once more into a situation where I don’t want to be. Realistically I’m stuck here until the end of the year. Sure, I could resign, but I feel I’ve made a commitment to these students and so will do my best to see the year out.

So how am I going to get through a year of feeling stuck between worlds? How can you get through another year if you’re feeling the same way? Continue reading →