MISSING

Neuroscience tells us that setting goals rewires our brains. When we set a goal, we are biologically programming our brains to create new, stronger bonds between neurons that help us change and theoretically reach our goals.

Goal-setting is linked to higher motivation, self-esteem, confidence, and autonomy and impacts the ways in which the different sections of our brains communicate with one another.

Our brains' neuroplasticity, modifies, changes and adapts structure in response to external stimuli, or experiences. Once we set a goal our brain nudges us until we start working towards it.

If we don’t, we feel guilty.

And no one likes to feel guilty.
 
Most of us do not fail to reach our goals because we didn’t work smarter or harder. Most of us fail because of what is missing. The right knowledge, presented to us in the right way at the right time.
 
But as no human being gets things right all the time and our greatest lessons often come when we 'fail', what if we let go of any guilt and engage our imagination, our creativity, our joy to explore, learn and grow with no attachment to the outcome.

Then our life's goal is to simply never stop learning.

#beinghuman #motivation #neuroscience

ENERGY

Energy is like air, wind or a subtle yet vital breath that interacts with the visible and the invisible that creates all life.
 
A good analogy is a horse and rider, where energy is the horse and our mind is the rider. If the horse gets sick, the rider may stall, lose control, fall off or worse.
 
We need to be aware, respect & look after our energy by ensuring all the elements of air, fire, water, earth, space and consciousness stay in balance as without energy our minds, speech and bodies simply do no work.

#beinghuman #creative #respect

MAGIC

Life is magic, truly magic.

And we all watch, believe and engage in the magical, mysterious, mythical manifestation of life.

The illusion is created when all sorts of amazing, incredible, unpredictable interdependent causes and conditions arise, meet our senses and are manipulated by our beliefs to then manifest as the subjective experience,  the magic of our mind.

Looked at this way, being human is true magic and we are magic too.

#Beinghuman #experience #entrepreneurship

100

I took on a challenge to write 100 posts on Linkedin and today I reached 100.

I decided to use it as a form of daily meditation, a time to think about what I believe in, my philosophy and to simply practice writing and sharing.

I have not been strict, had a summer break, a Christmas break, a birthday break but I have grown to relish the morning ritual of taking time to reflect, muse, write and share.

What has interested and suited me is very few people have responded to my rather philosophical posts despite viewing numbers that have blown my mind. I think my posts are not what anyone expects to see on Linkedin... no jobs, conferences, sales or photos

But in the 'real' world so many people it seems have been reading the posts and the responses are beautiful.

I feel this ritual is now an important part of my life and creative practice and during this time totally left Facebook, Instagram & Twitter as they simply do not pay and play fair.

So, as long as LinkedIn continues to play and pay fair, bring on 1000...

#linkedin #beinghuman #challenge

METTA

Metta is a Sanskrit word meaning unconditional love for all beings as opposed to meta, the name of one of the richest tech companies on the planet meaning referring to itself or self-referential.

Metta means being kind, first to ourselves and then to all.

Metta means feeling worthy and valuing others’ worth.

Metta means opening our hearts and believing others will open theirs.

Metta means positive energy no matter how hard the circumstances

So don’t let big tech hijack your heart and mind and when you see the word meta replace it with metta and feel the love.

Metta is our birthright as human beings.

#beinghuman #love #tech

LOVER

We are all a little bit schizophrenic.

We all have a voice in our head that deludes us from time to time.
We all see & hear things that really didn’t happen or at least not in the way we thought. All of us can let our speech & thinking get messy sometimes. We can all be silly, resist instructions, feel disorganized & lose interest in life and we all have a voice in our head that can be a friend or a foe.

The important thing is to really pay attention and listen to your voice.

If your voice was a person, would you actually like that person? Is your voice kind, patient, loving or does your voice give you a really hard time, tough love or even not like you?

Sadly, many voices are simply not nice to be around and we can talk to ourselves in a way we would never dream of talking to others, not even a stranger.

So, embrace your own personal, personality disorder and if your voice is mean. moody or malevolent then simply end that toxic relationship and find a new caring, cool, calmer compassionate lover who helps you more.

#beinghuman #mentalhealth #love

MIRACLE

I awake
I touch
I see
I hear

I have the sun
I have the sky

I move
I hug
I rise
I seek

I have my family
I have my tribe

I drink
I eat
I talk
I taste

I have my body
I have my health

I connect
I listen
I imagine
I create

I have tools
I have a brain

I smile
I laugh
I love
I am loved

I have nature
I have energy

I breathe
I exist
I feel
I surrender

I have a miracle
I have a precious human life

#beinghuman #miracle #life

MIRROR

Life is like a mirror.

All our experiences are like reflections in the mirror.

The mirror has no likes or dislikes, the mirror is present, clear and unbiased.

The mirror does not judge, prefer or discriminate but simply stays present, sure and open to whatever arises

If we are wise, we learn to trust the mirror, rely on the mirror and be like the mirror observing the reflections, the phenomena that arrive, rise and fall leaving no stain on our mirror of life.

#beinghuman #experience #VR

IMAGINE

Imagining is emotional, somatic and embodied.

When confusion, a totally intrinsic part of every human's life arises, imagination is totally essential for survival.

Imagination can dissolve confusion, showing us how things actually are even when we are attached to our binary beliefs in solidity, position and certainty.

Imagination is a complex, compassionate, crazy ally within us all with the power to bind, liberate or dissolve our thoughts, beliefs and habits. Our minds are always full of ideas, images, to-do lists, worries and intentions and our imaginings can either hide our consciousness or reveal the clarity of our consciousness beyond our confusion.

Imagination mines the infinite, unstoppable creativity that lives within us. Evocative, shimmering and elusive, imagination interprets our experiences, for better or worse, as we tighten or loosen our grip on life. Imagination can create pain or peace, sadness or joy, hate or love as our lives exist in our imagination.

The possibility of the imagination is phenomenal, ubiquitous and unimpeded. Our imagination’s shimmering poetry can give voice to truth, experience and spontaneity. Our imagination has many roles and this includes, ironically, the power to free us from imagination as we release ourselves and others from any imagined limitations.

Imagining is not thinking, not reasoning or determining but we can use our imagination to determine what it is reasonable to think.

Thinking simply won’t get us there.

Our imagination is our true home.

#beinghuman #imagination #creativity

LATE

By 2050 the number of older people in the world, and that will be you, young people will have doubled. Every second, two people on our precious planet celebrate their sixtieth birthday. For many of us longer life is real and the need to urgently change our attitude to ageing is real too.

We need to personally and collectively move from anxiety and avoidance to loving every stage of our precious human lives.

We need to deepen self-awareness and embark on a journey of simply being who we are, wherever we are in our life cycle.

Research shows that if we gather our knowledge and experience and explore how we can use it to embrace and enrich our later years and serve others, age can bring a deeper sense of contentment and appreciation of life.

If we resolve our past and find contentment in our present we can face each milestone as an opportunity to deepen our capacity for love, compassion and understanding.

And it’s never too late…never... even if you are in the music industry...

#beinghuman #experience #love

SNOWFLAKES

Snowflakes are beautiful, pristine, unique, special and when united strong, disruptive and challenging.
 
Snowflakes know nothing lasts forever, change is in their DNA, their instincts and their guts.

Snowflakes are socially aware, kind, gentle, conscious of their environment and ready to flow.

So, snowflakes everywhere, whatever your age, be proud of your vulnerability, your emotions, your beauty.

You are catalysts for change, you are different and you want to make a difference and you may just save the world.

#beinghuman #change #millenials

TREASURE

We all have a mountain of treasure hidden in our mountain range of doubt, criticism and judgment.
 
The way to find the treasure is to learn the practice of appreciation and make it part of our life and our daily routine and no matter how bad it seems, we can always find something to appreciate.
 
We are human beings, we are alive and breathing.

We have a mind, we have choices and can choose how to act, think and feel.
 
We have a body and senses, we can see, hear, taste, smell or sense the most incredible, never-ending feast of sensory, kinaesthetic experiences.
 
We are free to think, believe and be whatever and however, we want.

We decide where and how to focus our attention.
 
We have WIFI, phones, laptops and access to more knowledge than at any time in human history. When all can keep learning, growing and connecting.
 
When we remember to love ourselves every day, we recognise and appreciate our innate goodness. We see that love, compassion, wisdom and awareness are our fundamental nature.

We then appreciate our precious, passionate and phenomenal human life.

#beinghuman #creativity #learning

KIND

To be kind, we need to feel love and to feel love we need to feel happy or at least that we are OK.

We need to feel a sense of well-being in our bodies, in our minds and in life.

Once we feel happy, we can want others to feel happy too…
That is kind, very kind…

However, if we hope and fear our way through life our energy gets disturbed, blocked, chaotic and it gets hard to be kind.

To experience and sustain kindness we need to be aware of the feelings that disturb us. We need to start to feel the energy in our bodies, in others, in our life so we can train our minds to relax and ride on this energy.

Being kind is simply learning to feel OK, no matter what is happening, OK enough to be kind to yourself, kind enough to let yourself relax and enjoy the ride
 
Only when we feel OK, no matter what is happening, can we really be kind.

#beinghuman #love #kindness

ME

As soon as we come into the world, we start to cultivate & invest in an identity, something that makes me… me.

Life becomes a hotter, hotter, colder, colder game, like heat-seeking missiles we seek out what we like and avoid what we don’t like.

This view of ourselves and the world can lead to confusion as sooner or later, the game is no longer fun and our missile implodes.

But like ice and water, confusion is actually inseparable from wisdom. We just need to learn how to melt the ice.

We need to be brave, feel our emotions and let them thaw without being tempted to fix or freeze them.

Once our ice melts we can dive into the water of wisdom. Where everything is fleeting, flowing and open to possibility and so are we.

When we go beyond our likes and dislikes, emotions lose the power to disturb us and are simply precious; a precious part of our precious life here on our precious planet.

#beinghuman #creativity #wild

CREATUS

The word create has a Latin root, ‘creatus’ the past participle of ‘creare’, meaning ‘to bring into being’.

When we create, we bring into being something where there is nothing, we take what is and imagine so much more as we produce, procreate and propagate.

We take risks, follow our guts, trust our instincts, feel our flow and embark on a journey, travelling to who knows where and arriving who knows when.

We must protect, nurture and delight in our creativity and give our love, time and resources to creation on a personal, societal, political, economic and global level. 

So, as creo, creas, creat, creámus, creátis, creant, never forget...

Create good.

#beinghuman #love #creativity

AWE

Awe is a complex emotion, from the scary to the sublime, awe is powerful, potent, persuasive…

Awe makes humans more social, more modest, less narcissistic and kinder as being in the presence of vastness helps humanity evolve.

When we feel awe, we feel less stressed, more connected and that life has more meaning. Awe helps us cooperate, share resources and sacrifice for others. Awe stimulates wonder and makes humanity more curious, creative and compassionate

So, as your brain’s 80 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections filter, feel, fail, flow, function and figure out life, open your mind to awe… be it through nature, art, music or the everyday nobility of others, be awesome.

Seek out what you do not understand and let awe’s power heal your mind, body and soul.

#beinghuman #connections #power

SOLID

After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth.

Each year, we humans pour enough concrete to cover England. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world, surpassed only by China and the US.

Our grey world is now bigger than our green world, as concrete outweighs the combined carbon mass of trees.

In the last 60 years, humans have produced 8bn tonnes of plastic, but humans produce more than 8 bn tonnes of cement every 2 years.

Concrete is how we tame nature, create shelters and protect ourselves from the elements but concrete entombs our soil, chokes our rivers and disconnects us from the natural world, lessening our fertility and magnifying the extreme weather it shelters us from.

Concrete is hard and degrades slowly, very slowly serving our human longing for solidity and desire to hold back time. Concrete is a metaphor for our human inability to accept change, ageing, death and dying. Our human desire for the ground to feel solid, the earth to feel solid, for life to feel solid but the earth is not solid, life is not solid, nothing is solid….

The power structures built on concrete will only fall, and they need to fall, when we humans remember our fertility, our future and that we only need a solid conviction to change.

#beinghuman #future #architecture

WEAK

Being weak is a totally normal, natural and necessary part of the human condition.

No one has all the answers, no one can know everything, about everywhere and everyone, every time… so embrace not knowing, embrace uncertainty, embrace the fact you are not an expert and ask for help.

People love to help and people will love you if you give them the opportunity to help you.

No one is perfect, we humans make mistakes and sharing stories about our mistakes and how we feel about our mistakes is how we learn.

Being vulnerable, being uncertain, taking risks and exposing ourselves. helps us to be honest, open, brave humans who have integrity and connect authentically.

We are all frail, fragile and vulnerable sometimes…. And being honest about that, with ourselves and others, is ironically actually our superpower.

Weakness is our superpower.

#beinghuman #vulnerability #opportunity

FRIDAY

Stop, relax, breathe and ask yourself...

Do I really need more stuff?

#beinghuman #blackfriday #sustainability

SIMPLE

Life is sweet, simple, sublime... if we get out of our own way.

But we humans and our human minds love to hide this simplicity by complicating, labelling and elaborating our experiences in our struggle to work out who we are and what our life is for.

But human darkness, doubts and delusions can be dispelled if we simply shine the light of awareness of how simple, how effortless, how easy life actually can be.

When we give up grasping and give our mind permission to chill out, to let go of who we think we are, what we think our life is for and what we need to do, be or become, our life becomes simpler, saner and more spontaneous.

Ironically when we surrender to life, we help ourselves, others and the planet more. We are more, our life is for more, more than just me, myself and I.

#beinghuman #love #work