This is a fantastic Guest Post by Milan Bakrania – Writer, Artist; to let you know about his spiritual art exhibition happening soon in London.

The Exclusive works of Bhumi & Milan

1st Aug – 13th Aug (The Air Gallery)
15th Aug – 3rd Sept (The Gallery in Cork Street)

Two years ago, Bhumi (my wife) sat down and decided to paint. She was the first to embark on this fantastic journey. In a matter of months she had created an entire range of paintings based on ethnic motifs and vibrant colours, all from the depths of her imagination. Swaroop Arts was born and I was hooked.

Her perseverance and style inspired me to pick up a paint brush for the first time since primary school. The empty canvas lay before me and, in a matter of hours, my first creation was born; a landscape painted without any reference whatsoever. The gates were opened and nothing could stop us from flooding the empty canvases with our thoughts and colour. A true calling that could no longer be ignored!

We held our first exhibition last year in London at the end of a mediocre summer and, despite the frequent downpours, the response was overwhelming. The private view left us gob-smacked. It was one of those days when we knew that it was all worth it. A moment of pure satisfaction, money couldn’t buy that moment! We subsequently sold four paintings in one week and generated plenty of interest.

A year later, we are back! But this time with 2 separate shows, one after another, in the heart of the world famous Mayfair. We begin where we left off last year, in the Air Gallery. This year we are exhibiting fresh and exciting creations which will leave you spellbound! Come mid-August, you can catch us in The Gallery in Cork Street. Here you will see more of our exclusive paintings laced with colour and joy.

Is there a theme to your exhibitions? I hear you ask. Well, you see, one painting is so different to the next that it is difficult to classify them, and that’s the beauty of what we do. Each creation is truly unique. Once we’ve expressed one idea, it is difficult and considerably monotonous to replicate that on another canvas. Also, Bhumi and I have a different approach to painting which also results in more variety.

We have always nourished our souls with creativity. It’s just our method of expression and communication. Be it through music, dance, art or creative writing, to us they’re different waves of the same ocean. So looking back, it doesn’t surprise us that we forged the path that we did.

So come on down and join us for this month-long festival. It would be an honour to distribute some of the joy we have felt in bringing something new into the world.

1st Aug – 13th Aug (The Air Gallery)
15th Aug – 3rd Sept (The Gallery in Cork Street)

More info at www.swarooparts.com

I’m going to come right out and say it that 2010 has been probably the most challenging year of my life.

Despite everything I’ve still somehow managed to bounce back. Even though this article is a ‘how to’ there is no magic pill to bounce back other than to just get up and try again.

It started when my mum became sick in India after being taken ill. It took a huge amount of resources and over a month to repatriate her. As soon as I got news of her illness I flew straight out and went to look after her. The experience of being in a strange country without any support was incredibly stressful.

After returning I spoke to my doctors to find out that I’d have to make a life altering decision about my own health

Next, I got made redundant from my job.

Then, just a few weeks ago, I had the biggest setback to the launch of my media career which really knocked me for six.

Finally, just last week, I injured my back and I suffered, what I believe to be, a double slipped disc. I have slipped a disc before and had sciatica as a result but this was much worse than anything I have ever experienced.

Anyone who’s had it before will know that it is one of the most painful, non lethal, injuries that you can have. I’ve heard that people who have this condition often have to go on Morphine to control the pain. I chose to avoid any form of pain control.

It’s been 8 days and today is the first day I can finally sit up for short periods and now walk. I can’t even to begin to describe the elation I felt this morning when I knew that I could stand up without being in agony.

I feel like I’m kind of gloating about these challenges, and in a way I am. These events have all defined who I am and contributed to who I choose to be. The intense life experiences have built my character and have added to my references.

I hope in some way they let people know I’m not just a a faker. I’ve been through some rough times and I’ve pulled through using every piece of knowledge and advice I’ve dished out to others. My life is a Petri dish of my knowledge.

During the phases where I was feeling down, or angry, or annoyed at all these events I opened up to people. I used to bottle all these things up but then I realised that was ultimately the worst thing anyone can do.

By talking to people about these events I learned a lot. I learned who the coaches are that have no idea and cannot tell the difference between people who genuinely need help and those who simply need to vent. By seeing that in others it opened my eyes to it too; to recognise the difference.

There are very few people out there who genuinely stop to listen. Most are over eager in offering suggestions of advice and help; and to those who just need to vent, there is nothing more frustrating! Those offers of help did nothing to help me bounce back.

Then there are also those who come out with pathetic statements like “you’ve attracted those experiences”…no shit Sherlock! That is the equivalent of saying “oh look, you have a face”.

The reason I’m covering this ground is a plea to coaches and those advice givers…really learn to listen to your subject. Before you jump in there with stupid remarks, how about asking some questions to find out more.

As I mentioned at the beginning there is no magic pill or cure to help you bounce back when bad stuff happens. It is just a choice, pure and simple. You can choose to stay down for the count or to get back up and take as many blows to the chin as it takes to succeed.

If you fall down twice, stand-up three times. Keep the kind of friends that remind you of that. Don’t waste time with friends who would let you stay down. They aren’t your friends.

Sometime over the weekend I had my 100,000th visitor to The Power Of Choice. (50,000 of which have been in the last year.)

Lets face it, that doesn’t make my blog the most popular in the world, but that’s not the way I see it. In my own way, I have touched 100,000 people through a very powerful digital medium.

I call this connection, service. Life is all about service. You need to make sure your needs are taken care of, as well as the needs of others, but there are billions of ways of doing service; from the humble person who shines your shoe to the super successful Hollywood types who get paid millions.

There are those who spend much of their time working for charitable organisations, or just helping those people who have difficulty helping themselves. Some people see meditation as a form of service by spreading positive vibrations.

Service is viewed in many different ways and it is given many different words. In my opinion the words ‘client’ and ‘service’ are part of the same family. You are doing your client a service. Client is the modern word given to those that we do service for.

Reward is often the result of service. When we serve others we are given some kind of remittance. Do you focus more on serving and the value you provide or are you more focussed on the remittance? Those who focus more on the remittance are the ones who often have to deceive or are the ones who do not succeed.

Have you noticed that even those people, who do great service and ask of nothing in return, get it returned many times over? It’s like those guru’s in India who do not ask for wealth or riches but yet it comes to them anyway because people want some way of showing their appreciation.

Service is foremost. It is the reason for being alive and in action! Without it we just exist and in a very empty, purpose-less way.

I believe that the return you get in value is exactly equivalent to the emotional response you create in others. Think about that for a moment. Why else is music so powerful and lucrative? Music evokes such powerful emotional responses within us that masses of people pay for it. It moves enormous groups of people and together they feel a sense of euphoria; something worth paying for.

Last Wednesday I was giving a talk at the PRU as I have done for the previous 2 years and I even though I was only speaking to small groups of these youngsters I could really feel and see the impact the words were having.

Mostly, I was there to speak from the heart because my story, from when I was younger, is one they can relate to. I also wanted those words to last a lifetime; to say something they will take away and use for the rest of their lives.

On the flip side, last Thursday I was hosting a cabaret event, organised by a belly dancer named Aurora with lots of pole dancers (even male ones), belly dancers, burlesque dancers, contortionists, magicians, comedians etc.

(A whole night spent with belly and pole dancers….now that’s my kinda way of doing service! Hubba hubba!)

Aurora had organised the event to raise money for the WWF because it was a cause that was close to her heart. It was a fun way of serving in a two fold sense. Not only was she organising and providing entertainment for a whole night but she was also raising money for a fantastic cause.

I was telling jokes in between and serving with humour, in my opinion, the most powerful form of service.

Recognise the forms of service that you do in your life. If there is a form of service you are not doing but want to do it, when are you going to start? How can you reach countless people and evoke emotional response? What kind of emotions do you evoke? Where is there a need for you to serve?

Just think of all all the things you can do…

- Tell a joke
- Tell a story
- Sing a song
- Write a song
- Write a book
- Through food
- A new product
- Teaching
- Dancing
- Entertainment
- Listening

This list could be endless so feel free to share your forms of service below.

The Babybliss Dancers

- Thanks to Maani for the picture.

You’re reading this article because of an amazing synchronicity telling you that it’s time step up a level. No longer will you dithering around on the bottom rung of the ladder feeling hopeless and depressed.

If you really want to climb the ladder to a more enlightened level of thinking and raise your vibration, you need to raise your vision and let go of your outcomes.

This process, which I’m going to aptly name ‘The Sodha Method’, is probably the most simple and yet powerful process you can follow to get out of any rut or any place where you’re feeling hopeless.

Sometimes these processes can be tough to articulate when it’s something you do naturally. It’s something that happened for me when I recently discovered that I would possibly be losing my job. My initial reaction was one of fear, doubt and uncertainty but thanks to this process I was able to change the way I felt and ultimately move from a place of hopelessness to a place of positive anticipation.

I mentioned recently about shifting your focus and I wanted to expand on that for this topic. Your vision of your life, your goals and purpose will directly affect the way you feel. When you choose to shift your purpose to your highest desire for you, is when you feel something extremely powerful.

When you raise your vision or vibration and let go of your outcomes something wonderful happens. You will start by feeling a sense of ecstasy within your body. You will feel exceptionally light and so stable that not even a bulldozer could knock you off balance. You will feel like you’re ready to take on the world.

1. Raise Your Vision

The first step is to raise your vision. Lets start with a clear cut example. If you were facing the prospect of losing your job, your initial reaction may be one of fear. Understandably you’d be worried about how to pay the mortgage, your bills and make ends meet. Those kinds of thoughts are totally natural. Don’t feel bad for feeling that way. That’s important because the last thing you want is to dig yourself deeper into that place of feeling low.

If that happens the first step is to start thinking on a larger scale. Feeling low often stems from small thinking. When we think on bigger scales and understand possibilities then we can start, with our vision, to enter a whole new mental state.

If you stay focussed around the region of bills and mortgages then you will never escape the gravitational pull of that state. If however you start to look at a bigger picture and think “Maybe this is the opportunity I’ve been looking for to go help children in third world nations”. Immediately you will feel the difference.

When you do this in stages and think up at each stage you’ll start to feel even more unstoppable. It’s okay to still think about the bills and money, but this part of the process redresses the balance of staying the in the same place.

If you struggle with this process of thinking up, there is very simple thing you can do which instantly change shift your vision. Are you ready for it? Go to higher ground. Yep, it’s that simple! Go to the top floor of a tall building or up a hill. Just looking at the vista from a high view point can also alter you vision and vibration. If you’re stuck, go to higher ground

2. Let Go Of Your Outcomes

I’m sure you’ve noticed it just as much as I have that something magical often happens when you let go of your outcomes. When you stop hoping for a set outcome and let the event unfold naturally, standing only as a detached observer, you will open yourself to notice other opportunities that you may otherwise blind yourself to.

If you become too fixed on one outcome and the way in which it is ‘meant’ to transpire then it shuts the door on what ‘could’ transpire, including ways that you may not have fathomed. Keep uttering the mantra to yourself of ‘no matter the outcome’. Repeat it to yourself over and over again.

It’s important to remember the ultimate ‘‘why’ of what you are doing. When you remember and understand that, and yet release your grip on it, you allow it to come to you. Have fun with this process and see how it affects the events that transpire.

Raise your vision and let go of your outcomes.

A huge thanks to oddsock for the awesome photo.

Spirituality is not somewhere you go to sit on a rock and contemplate on the universe. There is a fundamental problem with the way some people view spirituality. They will go on a spiritual retreat, feel wonderful only to return and be exactly the same way they were before.

If you are one of those people you are creating a huge problem for yourself. You are splitting your personality. You are seeing your spiritual side as something to be lived separately from the rest of your life. Even subtle ideas like ‘I am only exhibiting my spiritual side by meditating’ is a massive misconception.

Your actions are not spiritual. Your life isn’t even spiritual. You EXISTENCE is spiritual! I feel however that we do become distanced from the most spiritual core of our being by becoming focussed on the mundane. The opposite of being in a place of your original spirituality is being in a very secluded place in your thinking.

Let me explain further…

I was sitting in a park recently on a gorgeous sunny day. I was alone and there were many people in groups surrounding me. For a moment I was a bit self conscious. I let the thought creep in about what people might think of me being there on my own.

That thought gave me a feeling of being very insecure and alone. It’s not a very nice place to be in. But then I shifted my awareness and started to just think about simply ‘being’. Instead I focussed on enjoying the gorgeous weather, appreciating the clear blue sky and the nice cool breeze. I suddenly felt much more in tune with my spiritual existence.

I shifted that again to focus on remembering that I am such a small entity in a giant universe and that my body was composed of tiny sub-atomic parts the came together to make the whole. I felt even more in tune and in-line with what I am. I am spirituality expressed.

You need not go anywhere to discover it. It can be discovered right here and right now in this moment no matter where you are and what you are doing.

So the objective is not to go somewhere and feel temporarily spiritual. The goal, no matter when or where, is to become more in tune with what you are. You are aligning your vibration, your thoughts, and your being back to your original spiritual existence.

Don’t split your personality into parts and buy into the fallacy that spirituality is achieved at a retreat centre. Spirituality is not a facet of your life. YOUR EXISTENCE IS SPIRITUAL.

You can get in tune with that spiritual feeling while playing a game of poker, while eating a mango, while riding your Harley, at work, at a club, while you’re being mugged, or even while you’re meeting the Queen of England.

Here’s a few thoughts on how to get in tune right now:

1. Step away from mundane thinking. Ask yourself what you could be focussing on instead?

2. Expand your thoughts step by step, move away from the local and go to the global. Then go from the global to the universal. Keep going and pay attention to the way you’re feeling as that is your guide back to being in tune.

3. Don’t buy into the thought that you need to go somewhere special to be spiritual. You can do that right here, right now!

4. Practice this often and allow it to become second nature. Eventually it will become your nature because it is who you are.

It only takes a few words to inspire the world and you can quote me on that. It’s the reason why I love quotes so much. In addition to that I believe that it is the reason why something like twitter has become so popular. It is because it has given humans an avenue to share those micro thoughts that they have during the day. Those little ideas and gems that would otherwise be left unheard and unacknowledged.

I believe you can turn those communication methods into an art form. It has its avid followers and haters alike. The haters say that it is because of mediums like text and internet that we have lost traditional communication methods like writing letters. They haven’t gone anywhere. You can still write letters if you choose, it is just that they have become less popular. I believe texting and tweeting can be just as poetic and eloquent as writing letters; only more succinct. They can be and they are becoming an art form unto themselves.

Spread ‘Em

Since they’re getting more and more powerful it got me thinking about how we can spread certain messages through it. For example, I’ve heard that it’s been incredibly powerful in spreading news about the relief efforts in Haiti. It is a new way that fans can connect with artists or how hot websites (like this one ) get discovered.

Have you ever received a text message, email or even tweet that you’ve had to retweet or forward onto other people because it was so good? In the case of the case of a text message you may not even know of the creater of the message but you loved it so much it was worthy of being forwarded. I’m sure we’ve all had one and I’ve often wondered about the creator. Who was the person behind such a beautfiul message?

Your Inspired Messages

If you only had one last chance to send a message to the world and you had only the opportunity to send a quick text or tweet, what would you say? It’s your opportunity to leave a legacy and you have only a few minutes in which to do it, what would you say?

With that in mind I decided that today would be a good day to start a movement by which we can convey our transformation and inspirational messages around the globe and so from now on and forever more, Tuesdays shall become ‘Textastic/Tweetastic Tuesday’.

Send your messages out to the world. Who knows how far they will reach and the impact they will have. Exponential reach is a given these days with all this wonderful technology. Here’s how you can get your messages out and maybe even start a new movement.

The 5 Rules Of Textastic/Tweetastic Tuesday

1. When sending a text precede the text with ‘TT’. For twitter use a hashtag so #TT. That way people will know it’s a TT message.

2. If you want to forward or retweet something you’ve received, that’s perfectly fine. Or, better still, create your own inspiring message and wait for it to spread.

3. For text messages keep it below 160 characters and for tweets under 140.

4. Make sure the message is inspiring. It can be funny, poetic, provide hope or even offer some wisdom that makes people think.

5. Make Tuesday your day for sending out your inspirations to the globe. Make this a new avenue for leaving a legacy and making a difference in the world.

Here’s my contribution for today, feel free to use it, forward it, tweet it, retweet it, bin it, whatever you wish!

Remind yourself that each new moment is a new begining of life.

As my peers get older the more I hear them say the same words at this time of year. People often comment on how fast the year has passed. I don’t think that this kind of speedy time passing has anything to do with having a good time. I believe it has more to do with not taking the time to absorb and all the wonderful trials and tribulations of life.

So many things happen at such a fast rate that we almost can’t keep up. That’s why it’s good to make a note of events and achievements over the last year. If you intend to make resolutions then I believe they require two key ingredients to work:

1. To know where you were so that you know how far you’ve come already.

2. I believe it’s of utmost importance that the goals inspire you and fill you with excitement and passion. If it doesn’t it will fail and there will be very little you can do about that.

But lets forget resolutions ‘coz everyone’s talking about them and I like to be different! If it’s inspired though that you’d like to be, then here’s my list of the 10 best places to receive that inspiration.

Lets do a countdown…

10. The Toilet

Oh come on, you knew that was going to be in the list somewhere! I know that we all have the amazing streams of inspiration that have hit us when we’ve been passing motions. It’s uncanny that ejecting that waste seems to make some sort of space for new ideas to enter the mind and body! Maybe it’s one of Gods practical jokes…ha ha very funny big man!

9. Go Somewhere Wet

There’s something so soothing about staring and listening to water. There’s an app you can get for smartphones called White Noise that you can use to generate various sounds to sooth your mood or fall asleep to. There are a few water options; there’s the trickling stream or the lapping of the ocean. Both give you the impression that you’re near some sort wet body. Or just get off that butt and go take a walk by a river…now there’s a thought! Here’s a song that will get you thinking while you’re there.

8. Staring At Indian Traffic

Ok, bear with me on this one! While I was India recently I was on a balcony staring at the traffic. There’s nothing quite like watching people, bikes, mopeds, rikshaws, cars and trucks all jostling for space on the bumpy roads and not using any sort of discernable traffic system that one can ascertain. They just all go for it! There’s something just so incredibly hypnotic about it. I’ve just uploaded a quick 30 second capture I got from my trip.

7. Playing Poker

I’ve had some pretty profound revelations whilst playing poker. Both winning and losing are great teachers and I think the reason poker is so popular these days is that because it is such a powerful representation of life. There’s an excerpt from the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling that is along the same lines: –

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

6. In The Shower

Have you ever been in the shower and got water to the exact temperature that you like, so much so, that you almost don’t want to get out? It puts you into such a relaxed state that when you finish you feel like you’re ready to take on the world. It’s easy to get carried away in that feeling so just remember to put your clothes back on afterwards!

5. Taking A Walk…On The Wild Side

Going for a walk in nature and observing how animals behave always gets me thinking. I’m sure you’ve all stopped to watch that squirrel as it was scurrying around search for it’s nuts. I was at a wildlife park recently with lions and tigers and in particular there were these two baby white tigers there just playing and having hours of fun with a ball. I could happily stand there and watch them for hours. At one point I was even contemplating catnapping them! So cute!

4. Sipping On Some Darjeerling Or Espresso In An Uptown Cafe

I can’t really work at home. It’s not just the distractions but I just find that when I know I have things to do that are there that I have to do them. I much prefer to go to a cafe, order my soya hot chocolate, switch on my laptop and get writing! I enjoy people watching and sometimes that gets my creative juices flowing and it sparks an idea or some thought that leads to my next blog post! There’s always something going on. I just find it exciting to be there.

3. Listening To Music

I’ll be following up on this with some deeper insights in the new year but for me, music gets me inspired. Various types of music seem to give me that zing and get new ideas coming to me. In particular, pop music, both contemporary and ol’ skool give me a buzz that always get me jazzed up for the tasks ahead, or when I’m out running. Don’t get too carried away though, just a couple of months ago I was on the tube and on my iPhone this song came on and I just had to shake my booty. Everyone was watching…but I didn’t care!

2. Stargazing

About 10 years ago I just decided to go camping by myself one day. I drove to the campsite and when I arrived it was dark and it wasn’t going to be easy to get the tent up. It was such a beautiful night that I decided not to bother putting the tent up and I just decided to sit on the hood of my car and stargaze. I fell asleep there and woke up in the morning. To this day it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. Staring at the stars just always somehow puts things into perspective.

1. Driving

Driving has got to be the place where I receive my biggest and best inspirations and ideas! Driving is a recreational thing to me. I get so many ideas whilst in my driving trance that I sometimes don’t get a chance to write them all down and I often forget them by the time I arrive at my destination! That’s beside the point though. If I’m ever constipated for ideas then I jump in my old banger BMW and go for an midnight exploration!

What unusual places or activities get you inspired? Happy new year everyone and have an amazing 2010!

Here I am in India soaking in all the sights sounds and smells. There’s never a dull moment here. In each moment there’s always something stirring, horns honking, and people on the streets selling food, trinkets, and clothes.

I started reading Shantaram on my way to LA but didn’t get very far. I’m kind of glad though now as I’m in India it’s definitely the best place to read it. If you haven’t read Shantaram then it’s a book you must read. A few friends told me about it some years ago and a close friend gave me a copy on my birthday but I’m so glad I didn’t start reading it until now.

The story is set in Mumbai and is about an Australian who escapes from prison and ends up in there and eventually ends up in the slums embroiled in the criminal underworld whilst also helping many people.

It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realized, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when its all you have got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.

– Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram (The opening paragraph)

As soon as I read the opening paragraph the book just completely grabbed me. When I talk about the power of choice that pretty much sums up exactly what I’m talking about. I wish I could say that I always succeed in that endeavor but it’s the path I’ve chosen and the path that I believe in.

Through my failures comes a deeper understanding of that power to choose. It’s the power to forgive oneself during the failures that you gain and the power of forgive others. Then ultimately, you realize there is no such thing as failure and nothing to forgive.

The book goes into depth about the Indian people and culture and even though I’m Indian it’s given me a new way of looking at and a new understanding of the people and customs. The last time I came to India I was alone and wasn’t quite prepared for the challenges that faced me but now that book has become my companion and has given me the sense of preparation and excitement that I never felt before.

If you’re ever planning to go to India then Shantaram is the book that you must take to accompany you.

Last night I went to that new movie 2012 and it got me thinking about how I’d spend my last moments were the world to end. I’d like to think I live every moment to my last but I know it’s not true. I do however know that it’s a habit I wish to invoke and a powerful way to live life when kept in context.

So that also got me thinking about variety. I enjoy having variety in my life and I do get bored easily. I need to keep things fresh in order to maintain my enthusiasm for whatever it is I’m doing. Even on a day to day basis, unless I throw in some variety and change the way I focus, not only on my goals but on my moment to moment being, I tend to lose a bit of that zeal that keeps me going.

We’ve all seen the, new age, buzz words doing the rounds over the last few years but I think it’s time for a refresher! Remember that you can focus on any of these at any particular time and, if you’re having a bad day, where you’re feeling a bit unfocused, use this list to remind you of all the plucky new age, hip and happenin’, acronyms!

1. ARK – Act Of Random Kindness

Do an act of random kindness. Give some money to a beggar or pay for someone’s coffee. The options here are endless! Doing something for a stranger is always a powerful thing to do!

2. PIF – Pay It Forward

Do something big for someone and if they offer to return the favour say no! Ask them simply to pay if forward! Let those actions ripple.

3. LOA – Law Of Attraction

The law of attraction is always at work. It is always delivering to you. It works for me, every time. Find out what you want, and then ask for it! When it does come to you, remember it, how you did it and then keep doing it!

4. AOG – Attitude Of Gratitude

What was the last time you just stopped, for a couple of minutes, and gave thanks? Cultivate your attitude of gratitude. If you cannot find anything to be grateful for, you’re either not looking hard enough or, your life needs a big shift.

5. CANI – Constant And Never-Ending Improvement

You are perfect just the way you are. However if you decide you want to improve on perfection then CANI is the way to go!

6. LOL – Laugh Out Loud

When was the last time you laughed so hard you were almost in pain? It’s never too late and you’re never too old! Watch some stand-up comedy You could also play some ‘morning jack’. If you’re not sure how to play let me know and it’s guaranteed to make you laugh!

7. JAM – Just A Minute

It only takes a minute to make a difference. Use those free minutes during the day wisely. It takes no effort at all to say ‘I’m sorry’ or to forgive someone.

Here’s some I made earlier …

8. POC – Power Of Choice

Learn to exercise your volition or your conscious power of choice without worrying about the result. Just go for it! Remember that you decide how you respond to events and which ice-cream flavour to choose.

9. SOS – Simple Obvious Strategy

Is you life complicated? Maybe what you need is an SOS. (Simple obvious strategy) Sometimes all you need is a very clear cut simple and obvious way to change the results you’ve been getting. Create a new SOS for yourself!

10. FAF – Focus Act And Follow-Through

Start FAFing around! Know that if you want to get things done you have to FAF.

—

There we have it. A comprehensive list of inspirational acronyms you can remember and use at anytime. Do you have any of your own that you’ve invented? If so feel free to share them here.

I’ve been incredibly busy recently writing new comedy material and rehearsing. I’ve got a gig tomorrow and I’m really excited to try out the new stuff. I know some jokes will work and others might not but the buzz of being on stage and entertaining people will always be there for me!

I don’t like not blogging for long periods of time. During those times of not blogging I come up with several ideas and unless I do the blog post within a day or two I tend to lose the excitement of that topic. I’m not worried though. I move on quickly but I do feel it’s important to act quickly on moments of inspiration before they dissipate.

Have you ever needed to send an email or correspondence to someone of importance and not been sure what to say or how to say it? Have you ever felt that burning in the pit of your stomach from all the nerves before you clicked the send button?

A good friend of mine recently inspired me to take action on something that I could’ve done a long time ago. That didn’t matter though, what mattered was me taking action now and not worrying about the result. In the past I let those nerves and fear hold me back from taking action. DUH! The only person I’m letting down is myself.

Yes I’m taking a risk and things might not go the way I want them to go but I will never until I make an attempt! How do you even know if you’re good or bad at something until you try? If you just let the fear of it stop you, you may never discover your true talents! I say always give something a go, (don’t take that one out of context) and at best you’ve discovered a new talent; at worst you can scratch something off you list you never want to do ever again!

So there I was talking to this friend and I took on board what she said. I wrote an email and sent it off today. I truly don’t know what the outcome will be but at least I can say to myself that I did make and effort to make something happen and if it doesn’t I’ll move on quickly and do something else.

When I was about to click send I felt those nerves. I decided to stop just before I pressed the button. I sat there and I thought ‘no, I’m not going to send the email while I’m in that state.’ I took a minute and composed myself. I reminded myself not to pin my hopes on this one email. I got myself into the a confident, worthy state. I let go of all hopes and expectations and I sent the email in a relaxed, but excited vibe and believing that I can make a difference.

Will it make a difference sending the email while in that state? Who knows?! I however believe it does!

To recap, before you click send:

1. If you’re feeling nervous, stop and take a minute!

2. Get into a confident state. Know you’re worthy!

3. Let go of any hopes and expectations.

4. Think: No matter the outcome, I will move on quickly.

5. Click send!

P.S. Do a spell check too!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited back again to give a talk to the year 11 students at the Brent PRU (Pupil Referral Unit). It’s a place where students have been given a second chance after being kicked out or expelled from school.

I went there on Wednesday to give the talk and I have to say I wasn’t quite expecting the day to go the way it did. The plan was that I would give a talk to the students in two separate groups and then we would give them practise interviews to help prepare them and exercise their social skills.

When I do these kinds of events I don’t really go in with a fixed plan or a rehearsed speech. I do prepare before hand with some notes and I basically get it clear in my head the message I want to get across. I do share a lot about my personal journey as I do feel it’s relevant to the kind of students there, who don’t fit in, in a normal school.

I feel it’s important to be be able to talk about yourself comfortably, not in an arrogant way, but in way the demonstrates possibility with a message. Speaking of which Arvind wrote a fantastic post on why it’s ok to blow your own trumpet.

It’s not the easiet thing in the world to relate to young people but there are a number of ways this can be accomplished.

1. Speak from the heart.

Be genuine and sincere with your words and be there because you feel you have something special to share which they will benefit from. You don’t have to plan something especially but by being you they will automatically respond to you.

2. Understand their personality.

Young people will act very differently to when they in a group as opposed to when they are alone. In a group they are comfortable with their peers and they might come across as confident, loud, full of self esteem but put get them in a room alone in an interview type situation and watch that facade tumble away. It is just a facade and on their own they are people just like you and me.

3. Use language they can relate to.

There’s no point in using big words they might not understand so keep it simple. Here’s another great trick: Watch how much they relax when you toss in the odd swear word or bit of slang in a jovial manner. Suddenly you’re not so alien to them and immediately you will see their whole body language change and they will relate to you in a very different way; like an equal.

4. Hook them in.

Find something to get their attention from the offset. For me it was using magic. I promised that if I could get their attention for just a short space of time I would do a really cool magic trick for them. Kids and young teens love that kind of stuff and so it’s a great way to get them engaged at the beginning. I didn’t dissapoint with the magic trick!

5. Have a clear message.

Know why you’re there and what it is you’re trying to say. When I was there I was very clear that I wanted to convey and that was 3 things:

i) Never to give up. I saw a great line on Creating a Better Life by Lyman ‘If you fall down twice, stand up three times.’ What an awesome line. I quoted Lyman I could see from the body language that they all loved that message! I also told them to recongnise when they’re giving up; because that thought alone maybe enought to inspire them back into action.

ii) Discover your talent. You never know what your talents are until you try different things. I would never have discovered that I am good at magic until I tried it. I would never have discovered I am good at stand-up comedy until I tried it. I would never have discovered I was good at coaching until I tried it. Everyone has a talent and often they remain undiscovered. Find your talent and use it!

iii) Change the way you feel about failure. If you have a different understanding about failure and what it means for you it can mean a world of difference for your life. If failure no longer scares you imagine how your life would be different.

So there I was and I gave the talk to the first group in the morning. Unfortunately we had to be in a big hall which wasn’t the best room to deliver a talk in as it was very large, had poor acoustics and wasn’t intimate enough to hold peoples attention. I made the most of a bad situation.

Once I did the talk we then interviewed the students to give them some practical experience of being in an interview situation. I have to say I was totally blown away by how mature all these students were. It’s was a shame to discover that many of these students were there because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but then, I learned something amazing!

Each of the students were so happy to be there! They were miserable at school but this environment gave them an opportunity to be somewhere, where life was a more flexible, and the learning environment was much more relaxed. It was the best thing to happen to them! I hope the staff there know just how much they’re doing for these young people and just how special they really are!

They all blew me away with some of the answers they gave to the questions I gave them. They gave some really well thought out answers and were so honest. Because they were honest it allowed me to then give constructive feedback which they could really take on board.

In the afternoon things were the other way around. I interviewed some of the students first and then gave a talk afterwards. That worked better as they became much more comfortable with me. This time I was sitting down with the students around me in a circle and because we were in a smaller room they could clearly hear what I was saying.

They all paid attention and really got into my message. I can see how some people being in that situation could be very easily intimidated but these young people have a different value system and that is why they don’t fit in a normal classroom. Other than that they are all incredibly talented and have so much to offer the world.

It’s important to understand that just because they are at the PRU it doesn’t mean they won’t go anywhere or make anything of their lives. They love being there because it suits their needs and because of that they have the opportunity of finishing their high school education and to go on to do bigger and better things. I’m still in awe of how talented and intelligent these youngsters are. I took so much away from the day. I was totally humbled and inspired by them and the amazing work the staff at the PRU do.

There was one student there who said something to me which you would generally expect from someone much older. He said he loved it when people put him down or criticised him for being at the PRU because when they did it made him stronger and motivated him even moreso to pass his exams and do better!

I got forwarded this in an email and decided to post this up. I used to get sent loads of this kind of stuff in the past but not so much now. I thought I would post it up as it was one I quite enjoyed!

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants (factory)
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy
5. Make time for prayer
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2008
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day —- and while you walk, SMILE !!

Personality:

11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do ; keep your limits
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously ; no one else does
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and Laugh more
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community:

25.. Call your family often
26. Each day give something good to others
27. Forgive everyone for everything
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day
30. What other people think of you is none of your business
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right things
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful
34. GOD heals everything
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up !
37. The best is yet to come
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be HAPPY !!!!!!!

Here are some quotes I’ve come across recently and wanted to share here. I’ve also included them on the Quotes page which you can check out any time! Feel free to share any of your favourite quotes here too!

“It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” – J. K. Rowling

“Before you go and criticize the younger generation, just remember who raised them.” – Unknown Author

“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” – John Mason

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Althsuler

“Don’t be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin.” – Grace Hansen

I recently heard one of my fellow DJ’s on Westside Radio play a song that I now absolutely love! It’s called ‘Perfect Day’ and it’s by a very talented young girl called Natalia who I also managed to interview on my show. I decided to post the video up as it’s a great video but the song has some beautiful lyrics also! Check it out!

I’ve been intrigued recently by two particular adverts I’ve seen on T.V. that have a deeper message behind them. Yep, they are advertising their products, but they also have a taken a brave step by conveying messages of hope, human definition and spirituality.

If you haven’t already seen them check them out for yourself and see what you think!

– Nike Advert

– Orange TV Advert