Five Steps to a Great Life

Thank you for being a loyal reader of Life Coaching Insights.

The year is winding down and this will be the final post for 2014. Even my keyboard deserves a break!

I thought I would leave you to enjoy the festive season with something to contemplate as you consider the prospects for a brand new year ahead.

In the life coaching business one of the questions I get asked regularly is: “So what does it take to lead a great life?”

Here follows five bits of the best advice I know…

Five steps to a great life (continued)

 

1. Understand that the world is not what it may seem to you

We have an interesting saying in life coaching: “Real for you but not necessarily reality”.

In other words, your perspective on the world may constitute your reality but it does not reflect the reality of others. Neither does it represent the actual reality, whatever that might be.

Let me explain.

Our ancestors would observe the sun rising in the east and setting in the west and the change in the position of the planets and stars from season to season and deduce that the Earth was stationary at the centre of the solar system with the heavenly bodies orbiting around us. It made intuitive sense that our home, the Earth, took pride of place at the centre of everything that was and is.

Thanks to scientific discoveries we know now that this is not the case. We also know that the earth is spherical and not flat. These discoveries completely changed the way people think about their existence and the meaning of life.

But how much is there that we are still to discover about the wondrous universe in which we exist?

Given the sheer extent of the universe and how little we know about it, it seems highly likely that we have we just dipped our toes in the ocean of a vast mystery.

When you come to terms with this and the fact that the perspective you have developed thanks to the senses you were born with, is both limited and one of many, you can start to appreciate that there is almost certainly far, far more to life than may at first be apparent to you.

This realisation can seem a little frightening to some who contemplate it for the first time but when it sinks in it is incredibly exciting and liberating.

It starts the process of questioning who we are, why we are here, why we do things the way we do and how we can bring about positive change by tapping into the vast unseen resources of this amazing universe.

2. Keep an open and enquiring mind

If you want to experience the joy and growth that comes with true freedom you have to break free of imposed dogma and start thinking and behaving for yourself.

Self centred people, organisations and movements operate by controlling others and they do this through imposing doctrines and rigid belief systems that are upheld through instilling fear of the consequences of non adherence.

To cite an extreme example you only have to look at how terrorist organisations work. But there are countless other everyday examples of how people are subjected to control and abuse to serve the ends of others.

Sadly, many people either have no idea that they are being subjected to deliberate control and abuse, or they become part of the problem by assuming that ‘this is just how life works’ or ‘this is my lot in life’.

Every one of us was born with free will. Every one of us has the ability to question what we are told and the right to make up our own minds about how we want to live our lives.

Never stop questioning. Find the answers that are right for you!

3. Understand that freedom for you means freedom for all

Just as important as your freedom to live the life you want is your duty to recognise and respect that this is true of all other people.

If you choose a path that’s right for you and obstruct others from choosing a different path then you are imposing your views on others and in so doing seeking to deny their right to freedom.

You cannot experience true freedom if you are not prepared to grant it to others.

When you start to disconnect from dogma and begin to appreciate and celebrate the great diversity of choice available to people through their thoughts, behaviours and lifestyles, you become a happier, lighter and more carefree person.

Try this and see how you start to look at people who are different from you in a more tolerant, loving and caring way.

4. Love yourself first

Your ability to contribute to this world through your love and loving deeds depends on your ability to love yourself first.

Violence, aggression, manipulation and control are attributes associated with people who do not love themselves and very often hate themselves. They are simply projecting the inner anguish that they feel onto others.

Likewise, people who continue to submit passively to those who seek to abuse and control them usually do so because they are unable to love themselves. Their low self esteem traps them in victim mode.

In order to live a fulfilling, happy life you have to come to terms with what an amazing, special, talented person you are. You need to learn to love and respect yourself.

In that way you will start to project your love and respect on to others and help make this world a more beautiful place.

5. Connect with your higher self

Creating the reality you desire starts with the quality of your thoughts, so you need to change how you think about things if you want things to change.

But equally important is to really know how you feel about your life in order to make corrections along the way and engage in with new and more relevant thought processes.

For many of us our thoughts are largely reactive responses to the programming of the world around us, rather than creative thoughts aimed at changing and improving the world in which we live.

Likewise our feelings are simply programmed reactions to what the rest of the world thinks and says about us. We suppress or hide our true feelings which are based on what we think about ourselves and our lives.

In order that you may live a joyous, meaningful life you must learn to connect with your centre of feeling – your higher self.

The way to do this is by learning to trust your intuition. Your intuition is your connection to a higher state of consciousness that is your true essence.

Allow your intuition to speak louder than your ego so that you can break the shackles of a programmed life and start to live the life you love!

Food for thought, I trust!

See you again in 2015 🙂

 

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