Living is experience

As I'm writing this I'm sitting in the departures terminal of Brisbane airport, it's 9.56am and my flights been delayed by 25 minutes, I'm on my way to Canberra via a connecting flight from Sydney, the reason I'm filling you in on all this is to illustrate my next point; experience. That amazing little word is accountable for the majority of how and why we go on to live the lives we do. The truth is without experience you probably wouldn't be living the life you are now, imagine if no-one had to opportunity in life to instil confidence or principles in you, you would struggle through life afraid to speak up or unaware of where you stand. So you can begin to see why experience plays a heavy role in our lives. Not that I needed to tell any of you people out there, you’re smart and probably worked that out yourself, but a reminder of where we all stand never hurts. I know a trip through the airport is not the best example but it’s still an experience in learning independence, self reliance and humility, and often it can be more, for example on my way through security I was met by a very polite security officer who asked to swab my bag for explosives, something I was not expecting and yet another experience that I can say I have engaged in and look back and laugh at. What I'm trying to say is, don't ignore or avoid life's experiences, go out and experience as much as you can!

(EDIT: reception was lousy so this post ended up only going up today, five days after i wrote it)

A place for everything, and everything but disgrace

What is your ambition? Is it something small? Or something huge? Does it require a lot of skill? Or is it simply a state of consciousness? Whatever it is, wouldn't it be helpful if you had a collective of knowledge that you could refer to whenever you needed it?

What if you wanted to start a business and needed a little more info that perhaps a student doing their MBA might be able to help you with. Maybe you want to learn another language and you manage to get a hold on a linguistic nationalist whose be willing to help you out, wouldn’t that be fantastic?

Knowledge is a beautiful thing; it gifts us with creativity and new insights constantly. Sometimes it can even be life changing, so why not share the gift? I’m hereby dedicating this space to anyone who is looking to expand their knowledge or willing to share their own.

Human beings are incredible creatures and I feel gifted everyday in knowing that I have such unending potential simply because I am one, and so should you! So if you have a special skill or possess something you think could aid someone, share it! Let it be known that even when the world is in such a state of constant chaos, you stood above adversity, shared your gifts and talents and proved that the human spirit is undying in even the worst of times.
Leave a comment below and share your knowledge with someone else!

J.D

Turning your bad day into your best

Sometimes we can feel slowed by the weight of life’s stresses, we get bogged down by the expectations of others and of ourselves and don’t know what to do. From time to time we all have a day when we feel lost, drifting meaninglessly and don’t know what to do. Even the careful planners often get caught up eventually.

Therein lays a problem. If you already know that your lost and don’t know what to do, how do you counteract it? Often trying to solve the problem leaves you only more frustrated. Well let’s get straight to it, often your worst days can turn into your best if you know just how to turn them around. So how do you turn them around?

The first step to turning things around is just to start. Often we make the mistake of thinking the first step should be some critical decision that will alter the outcome of the entire day, the truth is that the first step should be one of your smallest, it’s your baby step that puts your foot in the door. By starting small you have less chance of failure and therefore your chances of accomplishment are higher, once you achieve your task you feel motivated, you’ve come this far why not step it up?

The point I’m trying to make is that once you’ve made your first step it gets easy from then on in, you want to achieve more and so you take larger and larger steps to try and make a bad day become fulfilling. Soon before you know it, you’re having a highly productive day and your ambitions seem to be coming to life. Think of it like this, your day seems sour so you want to turn it around, you start small by sending an email, or making a phone call you need to get done, or even just doing the washing up, from then on in try to escalate each challenge, eventually who knows, you’ll find yourself making video conference calls with the chairmen of entire companies, or even redecorating your whole house, your limitations are up to you. But only if you decide to place them upon yourself.

J.D

Create your own confidence

Having the confidence to take steps forward in life can be a daunting thing for some people. So today I’m going to delve into a bit about creating the type of confidence you want and deserve. First let’s debunk a myth; no one is simple born confident, confidence is built entirely through environmental preconditioning and mentality. What does that mean? Simply that anyone who is walking around with a large degree of healthy confidence has developed it through environmental interactions and their beliefs; a common environmental factor is succeeding in a sporting or academic background. The more a person feels their capabilities are superior or likely to be recognised positively, the more confident they are in performing them, this same confidence carries over to a small degree in everyday activity but is not the sole contributor. You see, confidence can be broken down into a number of categories, one being situational confidence, and another our wider day to day confidence.

To simplify things, think of it like this; you happen to be the best basketball player on your team and everyone knows it, you’re more likely to have the confidence to play those harder shots or make those drive’s to the basket, this is an example of situational confidence. Now chances are that you’re going to have reasonably well developed level of day to day confidence if you’re out there putting on a show on court right? Well this can go either way. Often individuals who feel they have an underlying imbalance will still tend to be less confident, because although they are good at basketball, they fall down when it comes to something else, like perhaps making conversation, and this makes them feel that their worth is less.

The key to developing confidence in a day to day situation comes down to your self-perceived worth. If you feel like what you have to say is not worth someone’s time, you’re not going to have to confidence to say it. Wow, sounds like a simple problem huh? Well it is, the problem is, people often talk themselves into believing it’s not, that perhaps they personally have a problem, and that maybe things are just hard for them because they are awkward. That’s not the case, the only problem is that you allow yourself to believe your worth is less than someone else’s, and nothing could be further from the truth, we are all individuals with unique and amazing qualities’. The problem is we forget we need to actually believe it. Where do you think all those corny “just believe in yourself” quotes came from? The reason they are there is because it is true. If you believe whole heartedly in what you do and who you are, then being confident becomes easy. So the next time your pondering whether to ask that girl out and wondering whether she’ll say yes, or your sitting thinking about if that guy you like and if he likes you back, remember, you define your own worth, your mind and your body will react to what you tell it to do, so start telling it that you are important and have a lot to offer the world. Because the truth is you are, you play a major role, no one can replace you. And there is something very gratifying in being 100% happy with whom you are. So why not start today?

Stay motivated, no matter the weather

Motivation is an amazing thing; it allows us the capability to achieve far beyond expectations. It is an important part of every single aspect of our lives and furthermore, it is the ultimate tool for driving your desire.

I wrote previously about desire and its ability to drive you towards your goals. And it's true; desire is the measure by which you construct your dream life. However you cannot achieve your desires without first being motivated. A lot of you who read my article on desire probably walked away feeling highly motivated to start taking steps towards making your desires a reality, but probably after a couple of days, that original motivation will start to wear away and you'll be stuck in the same rut you began in. This is where motivation comes in. Now motivation is two parts mental and one part physical, meaning that you’re going to have to really work on the mental side of things to get good and constantly turning that motivation physical. Why? Well there are two psychologically recognized forms of motivation. The first is called intrinsic motivation, meaning an internal motivation, and the second is called extrinsic motivation meaning an external motivation. Now it's important to note that both are good, but entirely for their own reasons. Intrinsic motivation is internally driven, it comes from your own mindset and is entirely dependent on you feeding it with your desires and ensuring that you keep it positively driven. Extrinsic motivation is entirely external and is motivated from outside influence, this is things like someone offering you money or reward to do or achieve something at a certain level, or someone positively encouraging you to do something.

So how do you utilize these forms motivation as tools to aid you in creating your success? Well if your motivation is feeding your ability to manifest your desires then you need to constantly be using positive motivation to always stay ahead, if your motivation wavers, so does the level of likeliness that you’re going to be able to obtain your desires. This all sounds very straightforward but how do you put it into action?

The first step in defining your own motivational plan is determining what forms of motivation work best for you. If you find yourself to be less internally motivated and perhaps you speak negatively to yourself, extrinsic motivation may help but it’s not going to remedy the problem. The key is to use a healthy dose of internal and external to promote and optimum environment for you to stay motivated. Even the best of us get down some days, and that’s an prime opportunity to use extrinsic motivation as a pick me up, or perhaps you just need to give yourself that really solid pep talk before you commit to whatever the situation may be. Observation is a big part of this, the more you observe how you feel; the better you can diagnose yourself a motivational counter attack.

It’s important to remember that you can craft the life you desire, it’s all a matter of deciding how, what, when and where, and for you that time is now.
 

The design behind desire

Desire is a very controversial topic to some; they were brought up on that thought that desire is bad, gluttonous and controlling. On the other end of the spectrum is desire’s group of strong supporters of various types, the groups that have to have the latest material possessions or status symbols, and the people who use desire as a tool for driving their ambitions. Now none of these groups are overly bad, they all live according to their own beliefs, and as a fellow human being with my own strong beliefs, I welcome them to maintain them if they so choose to. However if I had to pick a group out of the three, I’d choose to be the ambition driven group. Simply put, desire is not something that deserves a social stigmatism; it is a necessary and useful device for driving success, rewarding progress and part of living a balanced lifestyle. Imagine a life without reward, where all your hard work and progress goes completely over looked! It doesn’t sound very appealing does it? Agreed? Well read on.

So how do you put desire to work? Well a lot of people seem to think they have a strong desire for something, and will try to work towards a goal driven by that desire, but in reality, their efforts are as flimsy as a piece of tissue paper in the wind. What really set’s the winners apart from the losers is how deeply embedded their desire is. You might aspire to be the world’s greatest basketball player, but if you’re not out there every day, eight hours a day, busting your ass and hitting those three’s, you can be damn sure someone else is, and that’s why their desire is going to take them further than yours. The point is, desire is about how hard you’re willing to work. That may sound bad to a lot of people who’d rather take an easier path, but the truth is that there is no easier path. You can be guaranteed that anyone in any place of power or status worked damn hard to get there. But in the end, all the hard work and effort was worth it. The destination was worth the journey, and the path to get there only strengthened their character. So decide to yourself, right now, is the destination worth it? If so then you need to take your desire and turn it into a mental ferocity that is going to get you there.  There’s a reason people make reference to ‘staring into the eyes of a warrior’, as describing someone with an iron will. It’s because their desire and mental strength goes unmatched. So maybe it’s time you became your own mental warrior, and take what you deserve.

If you liked this article and think it could help someone, and then please, feel free to forward it onto them, or alternatively you can subscribe to become a follower. Thank you in advance!

Shape your life

It may seem obvious to some, but you are solely responsible for shaping your life. Often people seem to think that some outside experience, person or object is going to come along and reshape their life, but the truth is, the only way to make things happen for yourself is to take responsibility for your own life. Becoming self reliant is a powerful thing, and it drives success. Not only will you become empowered, but by being empowered you will learn to manage all aspects of your life better. Remember, no –one can make you feel bad without you allowing it, and likewise you can’t allow yourself to progress without first allowing it through consciously taking action.

Gaining grace through gratitude

In the pursuit of happiness we can often lose our way, rather than search for the affection’s of others through status and social progression, seek happiness internally, sharpen your mindset, so that each blade of grass, each caress of the wind and each sunrise is like an eternal bliss.

It may sound Zen, but achieving happiness through appreciating the finer details, doubles over when appreciating life’s finer things. Amazing comforts, great company and an extraordinary lifestyle.






Take a look at the beauty a single photo can capture, it is the essence of our creative selves that allows us to blossom.


photo ©Jared Dodgson 2011 (but your welcome to use it if you ask nicely)

Cope like a pro

Often, things can seem too much, too overpowering or too stressful. It can make you want to scream. You feel congested and irritated and downright low.

Time to take a step back. Your mentality towards anything determines whether you’ll make it or not. If you’re over thinking or catastrophising  a situation then the only real outlook is that you feel you can’t cope with the situation and are therefore becoming stressed, stop right there. Instead empower yourself, think as though you know all the answers or have all the coping mechanisms.

A study came out a while ago that illustrated mental role-playing works to help lower stress levels. So the next time your dinner catches fire, you should play it down as if you where a fire fighter and this was just another days work. Sounds easy right? Well why not try it in everyday life then. The next time someone’s arguing with you why not play the role of the cool calm negotiator or the sly politician. The sky’s the limit. So go out there and start role-playing.

Gaining real power

I’m writing this with something probably very similar in mind to what your thinking right now, that is, if you are a person who aspires to be or do something with your life, yet feels somewhat held back, doesn’t know where to start, or perhaps are just anxious about the whole idea in general.

Now the truth is, I’m not a motivational writer, or a guru or even a counselor; in fact some would probably look at me and say that I’m not equipped to give advice. Why? Perhaps it’s to do with my youth, I’m a 20 year old student, so couldn’t possibly have the experience to tell those of you out there who have “lived it” how it’s done. No perhaps it’s my approach, something free from a person of the “Gen-Y” label is sure to be a trick, a scam or any other form of deceit, take your pick. The truth is, what im giving. It is free. Why? That begs a good question. While we are living in an ever growing world of consumerism, why not choose to rake in some money from the average sap. While, I’d be lieing if I said I didn’t want money, that’s true, but by moral choice it wouldn’t be from depriving people of something of such value. I, like most people, dream of a life of rich’s. Good food, fine company, vast treasures and a good life, but never at the expense of others. Which is why I write this.

What I discovered, it isn’t new, it isn’t original, and to some it will pass straight over their heads without a second though. But when you really take the time to pause and let it sink in, you realize exactly how powerful it is. So here’s the magic word. Knowledge.

Right now most of you are probably rolling your eyes or about to click the little cross in the top corner of your browser window. But rest assured, if you read on and pick up at least one thing from anything I’ve written, your time has been well spent, and hey after all, it’s free!

Still here? Well, let me break this down a bit then. Most of us are stuck in dead end jobs, paying never-ending bills, and slowly dieing whilst doing it. Sound familiar? Why do you think that is? It’s defiantly not by choice, it’s because for most people, they simply don’t have the knowledge of how to get out of that cycle. So, imagine, just imagine if someone one day dropped the secret to escaping that slow death of working for mediocrity in your lap. Sadly, it’s not going to happen that way. The secret to knowledge is the way you interpret it. No universal plan to escaping your day job is ever going to fit into every individual’s personal planner.

So what now? Stick with the dead end job? Keep a stiff upper lip and live with it?           

Well that option is always available for those who choose it. But, for those of you who are tired of living under the thumb, those who are tired of a steadily growing work load and fast declining value for their hard earned pay, I suggest you take ear.

Knowledge is power, where have you heard that before. Well it wasn’t just spurted out for no reason. It’s absolutely true. But how do we gain it? This is where the hard part comes in, but no doubt, the most fulfilling. You make it happen yourself. To truly be happy you have to live holistically. Fulfill every aspect of what you can achieve, and unsurprisingly, then, and only then, will you feel fulfilled. Sounds hard right? Wrong.

But before I get on to why its wrong, let me just briefly explain what living holistically is.

Not a lot of people live 100% satisfied doing one thing. That is, they put all their eggs in one basket and are content with how things turned out. You have to have balance.

A lot of you have probably heard the phrase “mind, body, spirit” but don’t really give it a lot of thought. I didn’t either, until recently, but only through experience. If you’re constantly working only one aspect of the mind, body or spirit, then you become unbalanced. You don’t have time for the body because you’re too focused on the mind, or vise versa. This is how you get stuck in that terrible desk job crunching numbers all day. So to live holistically, you have to find a balance between the three. Now this is where I think a lot of people get confused. See, my definitions of mind, body and spirits are this.

The mind: Working to further my mind, whether it’s through art, reading, writing, or even just thinking about solutions to problems. That’s the mind covered.

The body: nourishing and using my body to its full potential. I’m a huge fan of exercise, especially lifting heavy weights and mixed martial arts. These are a few of my passions, so when I do them, not only am I making my body and myself happy but im fulfilling another aspect of my holistic style of living,

The spirit: this is probably the most confusing for people, but my interpretation of it is this. The relationships we share with those we love. These are absolutely fulfilling, no doubt.  So that’s why they’re part of our holistic lifestyle. I think a lot of people confuse the spirit part of things with spirituality or religion, and that’s okay. If it is something that you feel leaves you fulfilled, include it.

Now that we’ve covered that, let’s get back to the topic of knowledge.

Well you may or may not have just gained some. I know for me, when I truly started to figure out what living holistically meant for me, it was like having a brick of gold fall from the sky, suddenly it was like, huh, and it’s that easy? Well yes and no. Here’s the no. No it’s not that easy if you’re not willing to work at it, or even try it out. But there is no better way, in my opinion, to gain knowledge than by living holistically. It’s like taking little nuggets of gold from each aspect of your life and adding them to your ever growing pile. Why only add one nugget from one section, when you can add one from each, each day, for free. Sounds better right?

Well that’s what living holistically is, stimulating each aspect of your senses everyday, and growing just that little bit. Once you start, it becomes addictive. In the best kind of way. And the best part? You can go nowhere but up!

By living fully everyday, not only do you gain knowledge, but you open yourself up to experience, experience that shapes your life, and helps you control it. You see, what im giving away here, it’s not hidden knowledge or ancient scrolls. It’s no secret. It’s simple the best method of getting yourself into the state where you can take control of your own life, through the knowledge you gain, and through the way use it.

You can’t run a marathon on a days training. (I should know, a half marathon is hard enough!) And likewise, you can’t escape your own restraints, without first preparing yourself to do so. So if you’re looking for that way out of mundanity and being forever glued to a desk, remember, you can do it, take the steps, live holistically everyday, and soon, you’ll have the know how to power ahead of the pack.

If this helped you, please, leave a comment, inspire someone else and show the world what you’re really capable of!

Jared Dodgson