FFC2016 - The Next Chapter

PLEDGE FOR THE NEW YEAR

I've made it! I have reached my goal of writing a blog post every day for 365 consecutive days. It's been a challenge and I've accomplished what I set out to do. But life is a series of challenges that are constantly changing and evolving. So today marks the end of a life chapter but also the beginning of another.

The Next Quest
It's just after 5am and I'm sitting at my computer typing this blog from a fresh mind. Currently, I have a few key objectives for this year that I will aim to complete and these are outlined below. I also have a few immediate take out learnings from 2015 that I wish to adhere to. These are the following:

Less battles. I wore myself out in 2015 standing my ground, fighting for the things I believed in and this has taken a lot out of me physically and mentally. This maxim stands true: If I get angry, I am the the loser. My mind has been filled with the planning, advancement, completion of and reflection on my battles fought. Consequently I've been consumed by these thoughts and they've impacted me in negative ways. Hence, I need to focus much more on the positive emotions if I'm to populate my mind with the creative thoughts and body with the necessary energy to encourage further development and success.

Be Happier. I tend to get caught up in concerns about the sad realities of life and focus too much on matters of the human condition - which makes me cynical. The facts of life will always be there as a reminder of the challenges we all face but we can still be appreciative of our good fortunes and approach each day in a positive and playful manner. Bringing attention to those things beyond our control, will only deter thinking away from what is there in front of our face. There's fun and happiness to be had right now in the moment if we allow it. So I intend to practice a daily mantra of gratitude to help promote happy & positive thoughts from the moment I wake until the last moments before falling to sleep. The teachings of the Dalai Lama can show us all how to train our minds to be better individuals for attaining true happiness:

“Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”

More compassion. I need to start thinking more of others and treat myself more kindly too. The judgement I bestow upon others is wounding me spiritually. This area of my being is where the greatest work is required and therefore I must practice daily compassion to get better at following the golden rule - being considerate to another's needs, which is just as I wish to be considered in return.

January pledge
- Up early every day at 5am
- Read 20 pages of a book daily
- Lean languages daily with Duolingo
- Qi gong daily
- Yoga daily
- Eat less to lose 'winter coat' and always make fresh meals with more vegetarian options
- Spend less, budget and save money
- Make up some meals from food left in the cupboards to save money
- Buy reduced items from grocers late in the day
- Research blog pages for developing my book
- Find a project I can develop into a new career
- Create an exercise programme outside of the gym
- Create a healthy and nutritious food plan

Statement
I pledge to be more understanding of others, loving & compassionate, more positive and less cynical. The illusion of life, it's shortness and inevitable end, needn't mean I have to believe everything is pointless. I need to concentrate on my key positive character traits which serve me best - namely my: steely determination, spirit of adventure and efficient focus on doing something well through to completion. I simply have to keep in mind my central beliefs for what I'm capable of. If I continue to strive towards achieving goals, just as I always have done, life's purpose will reveal itself and those things I excel in, will in turn, become my loved, rewarding life's work.

I will create my morning ritual and stick to it. This will incorporate daily affirmations, research, good nutrition, exercise and greater awareness of being more attentive to the needs of those around me.

Blogging
My morning's work will be to research the blog posts of 2015 and collate my findings for seeing where I've made gains, where more work needs to be focussed and this information will be written up into a book. I will post my findings once per week every Sunday without fail. They won't have to be long or have any new insightful messages or meaning as I want to focus the time on the book but they will still show any new learnings and the monthly posts will be a gauge on my progress.

This post is also repeated on the new blog called FFC2016, marking the first entry of 2016 and a life of continued mindfulness. To obtain a clearer picture of where my initial thinking lead me on this quest, my principal post from January 2015 can be found here.

Waiting For The Call

LIFE'S CALLING

It can be a frustrating, uncomfortable and unsettling predicament to be in. Being stuck in limbo land. Searching for life's calling, having a mission or purpose and not just feeling like we're wandering though life without any real meaning is a daily quest.

Many don't ever address it. Many must really feel it, being caught up in the hamster wheel. Work, eat, sleep, repeat. It can gnaw away at us more than the daily wonderings will do on our search for 'what am I?'. This needn't be the case. We have a life's calling and we just need to put ourselves in the right state of mind to find it.

Having a purpose-driven and meaningful life is something we can all embrace if we allow it to happen. Taking positive steps to get on the right path, will lead us to discovery. It may take many years to realise the benefits of our life mission. To find and live out our true realities can be an evolutionary process. It takes patience. But, merely knowing that you're embarked on this mission is all that's needed to help bring about the very changes in ourselves that we seek to achieve.

Thinking more positively about how we can better influence our decisions in order to bring about beneficial change, will place significantly more value on every interaction we make. Because we all have a meaningful place in life. Every person we connect with, every single action - everything has an affect on those we touch. Cause and effect. These actions determine our role and the reactions, in turn - define us. 

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

I've taken on board a fair amount of knowledge over the years from reading and listening to advice from those that have achieved success. There's so much out there it seems - especially these days - so much inspiration from 'gurus' to be found on the internet. There's 100's of success stories and many opportunities to see what can be achieved: how greatness can come from humble beginnings etc. There's no excuses why we can't also be winners....but seeing all this info and looking at some of the footage (a bit of envy creeping in here?) of smug winners has almost the opposite effect for me. Having so much of it in your face can give you inspiration overload - there's just so much to take on, it can wear you down.

All About The Journey

The reading/listening to advice/wisdom is the easy part. It's applying the necessary action that's hard. Following in the footsteps of successful others can be easier to do if you take on board the sometimes omitted fact: attaining success can be a long and challenging journey of a 1000 steps. A few small steps can feel insignificant in the grand plans. But if there's a written journal, focussing on what's immediately in front of me, a way to tick off the small victories, there can be marked improvements seen over time. Geoff Thompson has been a real inspiration on this subject. Reading Warrior this morning, I can see it's taken many small steps over the years to attain the experience and wisdom for Geoff to evolve. It's been very hard work - and he makes no bones about it. And that's also what makes it worth doing! Daily assessments: discipline and focus morning and evening, to measure the small successes - following a routine for consistently ticking off the milestones and setting up the tasks for the following days ahead.

Geoff tells us to write down our fears and goals - then use the fears to motivate ourselves and to visualise the goals that help us stay on the right path. Anthony Robbins and other inspirational speakers preach similar strategies for personal growth and success - but, coming from Geoff, to me it feels more 'real' in some way - not preaching but like he's purely relaying learnings gleaned from his first hand experiences and resulting success - applied learning has integrity. His wisdoms back up some of the stuff I already know, give fresh insights and learning for the stuff I haven't yet learned and because he's been doing personal growth for a good 10 years or more longer than I have, he's going to have so much more of that first hand experience that I can learn from. Learning from others will help me get where I need to be so much faster.

Self Mastery Takes Discipline
Taking on something that requires commitment/focus and that is both physically & mentally tough - out of my comfort zone, will give me a sense of achievement and greater strength of character.
I don't want to plagiarise from Geoff by cutting and pasting from his book - you need to read it for yourself! I will get round to thanking him for his wisdom – I'm sure he won't mind me putting this one sentence in here - something fundamentally at the heart of what I've started.
So, here's an excerpt from Geoff's book, Warrior (free to download):

"The power base of the warrior is control of palate: What he eats, drinks, ingests, reads, listens to and is influenced by. This is the start."

Self mastery. I hear it spoken in the mantra by the teacher at the end of my yoga classes. I know this to be truth. I can already see and feel the results since starting the new year. Through my diet and exercise routine, I've lost 7lb (half a stone) or roughly 3.5k in just a week! From Tuesday I'll be stepping up the routine to include a weekly early morning boxing training session and working on a strength and stability routine for my injured shoulders to compliment the yoga and pilates sessions.

I'm really looking forward to the week ahead!