Have you discovered Your Passion?

JULY 30th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time‘.

Take the opportunity today to take The Passion Test.

Chris & Janet Attwood created The Passion Test as an easy to use tool to understand more fully what we truly desire. I thorougly recommend you investigate further – buy the book even, because I cannot do the process justice here in just two pages.

Having said that, what I will do is explain my experience of doing The Passion Test, which is a powerful exercise in getting ‘clear’. Clear about what it is you want in your life. As the Attwoods say “Passion is about how you live your life. Goals are what you choose to create in your life.”

So I started by making a list of five things I am passionate about. As instructed I started each with the words: “When I am living my ideal life I am…” Then, I got Em to ask me the following: If you could have your #1 Passion but not your #2 Passion which would you choose? Then, if you could have your #1 Passion but not your #3 Passion which would you choose? And so on. The idea is that you really do have to think of having one or the other, but not both. In choosing, you get a bit clearer. In doing this you’ll probably find it a bit difficult to choose sometimes – but choose you must!

You should end up with your five Passions in order of how important they are to you. So then I tried it with 10 Passions. If you do this process a few times you should end up with a really good idea of what you are most passionate about in your life. After that do the test every few months to see if things have changed.

Once I discovered my #1 Passion I went to step two and made a list of actions I could take to move towards it. Once this list was done I went through the comparing process as per the passions list. That is, asking if I could take action #1 but not #2 which would I choose. This made it clearer which actions I should take and in which order.

If you decide to do this, whenever you are faced with either a decision, choice or opportunity, always choose in favour of your Passions. Ask yourself each time: ‘Will this move me towards my Passions or away?’

Scott Ginsberg has another insightful way of judging whether one of your interests is actually a Passion – he suggests you ask yourself two questions about it:

1. What are you prepared to suffer to do this?

2. Would it cause you suffering if you did not do it?

To find out more about The Passion Test and the work of Chris and Janet Attwood go to: http://www.ThePassionTest.com

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

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Does accepting stop you changing?

JULY 29th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time’.

Take the opportunity today to accept things the way they are. It doesn’t stop you changing them.

There’s a psychological process that we all suffer from on occasion: Attachment.

Attachment is the holding on to an outcome of some kind. Let’s say you’re trying to get a new job and you see the perfect position for you advertised in the paper. You apply and you get an interview. The interview goes well and they say they’ll let you know within a week if you have the job. Meantime your boss in your present job rubs you up the wrong way and you begin to ‘hope’ that you get the new position. This hope is fine up until the point when you get a phone call or letter saying unfortunately you didn’t get the job. At that point your mood sinks, you become depressed at the thought of going in to work the next day.

You become miserable at the thought of being stuck in a job you hate.

You have become ‘attached’ to the outcome of getting a new job. You have made your happiness dependant on getting that position and when that doesn’t happen you spiral into a bad mood.

The healthier thing to do is ‘accept’ the situation. Just accept that you didn’t get that job and continue looking for another position. Accept that until you find another job you’ll have to keep working at your present one. You’re still looking to change that situation. But through accepting it you can remain calm and focused.

A lot of upset in our lives is caused by our attachment to outcomes whether it’s being stuck in traffic which is making us late for something, or builders not turning up when they agreed which means your kitchen won’t be fitted today, or whether the person you wanted to ask for a date is now going out with someone else.

They are all attachments to the outcome. Some are harder to accept than others but practice will help. Start today accepting things the way they are and the way they turn out, then, continue trying to change them. Calmly and with determined focus.

Remember: we can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we react to it.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

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Do you do stuff you’re not good at?

JULY 28th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time‘.

Take the opportunity today to make a list of things you’re not good at – now work on them.

Most of us can be self critical at the drop of a hat so I’m guessing it won’t take long to write this list.

The time, and therefore effort, is spent working on them.

Make it easier on yourself by just trying to work on one at a time. Give yourself a chance. You may just find that with a little perseverance you are better at some things than you thought. Then you may find opportunities presenting themselves where you never thought to notice before.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

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Are you one of life’s moaners?

JULY 27th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time‘.

Take the opportunity today to STOP moaning!

OK – moaning can be therapeutic. Getting something off your chest can relieve the pressure and stress of a situation. We all have bad days at work. We all have encounters with rude or obnoxious people from time to time – so go ahead and moan about it. But not ALL the time.

Not only are you going to relive those scenarios over and over, you’re going to relive those ‘feelings’ over and over. And guess what, you didn’t like those feelings the first time around so why do you want to experience them again and again? Moan once if you really need to then stop!

You’ll end up wearing your friends or partners out if you become an habitual moaner so why not give them permission to stop you. Make some rules maybe – like if they’ve heard that story before you can’t tell them again, or if it’s about the same person, they can ask you to stop.

You get the idea. Be aware though that if they follow through and ask you to stop – you can’t then moan at or about them for doing it.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

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How do you reconnect with nature?

JULY 26th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time’.

Take the opportunity today to go to a high point and just look out.

Whether it’s a hillside or a high building it doesn’t matter. What matters is the view. If it’s a great view then you’re going to have a similar experience. I do this when I need to feel that feeling of awe. It makes me catch my breath, sometimes I get a tingling feeling down my spine. It’s difficult to explain but you know what I’m talking about don’t you?

There’s something deeply primal about looking out to a distant horizon, maybe it’s a territorial thing, maybe it’s a security thing – a caveman may have felt safe being able to see all around him for any dangers for instance.

Whatever it is – I love it. I’m guessing a part of you does too.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

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What does it feel like to give?

JULY 25th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time’.

Take the opportunity today to buy something for someone for no reason.

Of course we’re all used to buying birthday gifts and Christmas gifts and maybe even Valentine gifts, but how often do we get something for someone for no other reason than we saw something and thought of them. This gesture goes a long way to reminding that other person that they are on our mind.

Imagine for a moment how nice you’d feel if suddenly you were given an unexpected gift. It wouldn’t have to be big or expensive, in fact it could have the same affect if it were small and silly. As long as it was relevant to you you’d be over the moon wouldn’t you?

Give someone else that feeling today – it might be as simple as their favourite coffee from Starbucks.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

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Is your anger hurting you physically?

JULY 24th of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time’.

Take the opportunity today to express your anger next time you feel it.

Anger is a natural emotion. Like all natural emotions, if suppressed it can distort into more destructive behaviour. There are ways of dissipating anger when you feel it welling up such as meditating or just slow, deep breathing. Sometimes though it happens too sud- denly – when you stub your toe for instance or maybe your computer crashes, deleting an hour’s work in the process. At times like these our house can become blue with my choice of language! My other half usually keeps her office door closed due to the volume of that language in case she’s on a call. I’m working on it!

The thing is, once I’ve screamed for a couple of seconds I calm right down – sometimes it might last for a minute or so. I rarely fester on something however. Through expessing my anger I can get through it very quickly and can therefore find clarity of mind on the other side.

I remember a scene in the Billy Crystal and Robert de Niro film ‘Analyze This’ – where Billy, the mafia boss’ psychiatrist, tells him to hit the pillow on the sofa (to express his anger) and de Niro pulls out a gun and shoots the pillow into a billowing puff of stuffing! Hilarious! If you haven’t seen it – treat yourself.

The big key here is – don’t allow the expression of your anger to hurt or intimidate another person. It’s your anger – you keep it!

If you find that you tend towards anger then I suggest you seek some pro- fessional advice as it can lead to physical disease. Remember, exercise can relieve the tension of anger so go for a walk to relax.

(One of my 90 Day Program members emailed me this morning to tell me she’s been feeling a lot of anger recently, then she read today’s page (above)! Coincidence? You may think so – I think her increased awareness allowed her to notice the message more clearly.)

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

PS: If you enjoyed this post Buy yourself, OR someone else, a copy of my book right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).
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What would YOU do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

JULY 23rd of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time‘.

Ask yourself this today.

This is a great thought exercise as long as you let your imagination be as wild as possible. No holds barred, think BIG!

By allowing your conscious mind to explore the possiblities (and what you think are impossiblities), you allow your subconscious mind to offer up ideas too. This is important as it’s your subconscious mind that holds a lot of the information you might need to actually take action on any of your ideas.

If your spouse or significant other or maybe a trusted friend want to join in over a glass of wine, then it can become a lot of fun. Set some rules that keep all options open and possible, keep all comments positive – this should be fun, that’s the best way to make it creative.

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

PS: If you enjoyed this post Buy yourself, OR someone else, a copy of my book right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).
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Can eating different foods combat prejudice?

JULY 22nd of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time’.

Take the opportunity today to eat something new.

How many times have you sat down to eat the same old meal that you have time and again? We know what we like and we like what we know, right? But before you knew what you liked you must of just tried stuff.

Remember really enjoying the flavour of new wonderful food? Maybe you tried food from another culture. Usually when that happens you’re either in another country or your in an ethnic restaurant or you may be around a friend or colleague’s house. Either way part of the food experience IS the culture. It’s in the surroundings and the traditions. How many people do you know that want to use chopsticks when they eat Chinese food? I know I do. It just feels more authentic.

This very act can bring a new perspective on another’s culture and beliefs.

Anyway, foreign food is one way of trying something new but often there are foods from different parts of our own culture that we haven’t tried. Try some today and appreciate the culture difference aswell as the food difference.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: If you enjoyed this Buy yourself OR someone else a copy of my book right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).
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What does success look like to you?

JULY 21st of  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At A Time‘.

Take the opportunity today to decide what success looks like for you.

Of course it’s easy to imagine the nice big house, the car you’ve always dreamed of, holidays in exotic places and beautiful clothes. But look a little deeper and what would you be doing if you were successful?

Let’s imagine you’ve been around the world and seen everything you wanted to see. You’ve spent a couple of years just relaxing and indulging in all of your hobbies and pastimes and you’ve come home. Now what?

This is similar to yesterday I know, but I really want you to look closely at this.

Really think about this today because the answer to the question could reveal a lot about who you are, who you want to be and what you want to do. When all the other ‘desire’ clutter is out of the way you are left with purpose.

What does your version of success look like?

Enjoy

Stu

🙂

PS: If you enjoyed this Buy yourself OR someone else a copy of my book right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).
36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

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