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

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)

Learn to fail

Today we'll take a look at learning how failure can create success, and how that success can help you avoid the bad types of failure.

Failure is a natural part of life, particularly in the beginning phases of learning anything; you're never going to get something absolutely perfect the first time around. Think about the first time you ever set foot in a gym, the experience probably left you a little disheartened, but after a few trips your bruised ego wasn’t feeling so bad.

Here comes the big fix, prepare yourself for failure, don’t try and avoid it.
If you prepare yourself for failure and have an analytical eye about the mistake's that you made you ensure that the next time around you'll have learned from your experiences.

Break that down:
Prepare to fail
Learn from your failures

It is only through failing that you can see your errors and learn how to fix them. In this way you can ensure you are always keeping an open mind to your abilities and progressing forward in whatever you do.

Move forward with the confidence that you’re not afraid to fail.

We all have questions

Yes, we all have questions, curiosity as to what or why or how we should be doing this or that. But then there are also those deeper questions, like, why am i here, or what can I become or even how can I achieve happiness? These are all legitimate questions, and they all end with one easy answer.


Did you hear that? An easy answer? Well that's right, you see, the answer is easy, coming to terms with how to resolve this answer is the hard part. So what’s the answer? Take a deep breath because here’s where it gets important. The answer is you.

The answer is finding that solace deep within yourself that leads you down the right path, that teaches you how to write that masterpiece and shows you how to do it again and again.

So what am I talking about, you’re probably thinking surely if I had all the answers I wouldn’t be asking these questions. That’s just it, you ask yourself questions because you desire the answer, you desire that perfect life, you desire that dream home and you desire that loving family. So it is your desire's that lead you down any given path.

If you are asking how to be happy it is because you seek that happiness, so in seeking that happiness through question you need simple to look at yourself, like a reference book and think about the things that would make you happy. Maybe a new car would make you happy, or maybe that perfect man or women walking into your life. The thing is, you already know all the answer's you just need to come to the realisation that you have them and then move on to the second step of answering those questions of how to get them. Could I be nicer? Could I smile more? Could I dress better? they are all questions you can ask yourself in determining the answers to your own life question's, and in doing so, you will open yourself up to asking questions more often, so that whenever you seek some beacon of knowledge or desire some material product, you simply look inside and ask yourself, what does it take for me to get it? What must I do? And by asking, you begin to seek, and find and learn how to do it better and better each time.

Remember, you’re working with a brain that isn’t even functioning at 4% of its full potential and yet you remain so bright, if anything could answer the questions you pose, it's you.

Stay curious and never stop asking questions

Jared dodgson