"Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post." - January 15th 2025

Until then...

Live well and live happily!

Along this journey of life, we are all going to face challenges at some point or another. The challenge you are facing right now, may not be your first and it certainly won’t be your last. There are moments when you have planned so well, worked so hard, and given it your best shot and yet it still doesn’t work out. Why? Why now? Why me? These are some of the questions that we tend to ask. Or we make statements like - ‘That’s not fair!’

Things are just not going to work out the way we want to all the time, and we are going to win some and we are going to lose some. That is just how it is. If things don’t turn out the way we planned, or if we have given our best and we fail, the most important thing to remember is this - What is this moment trying to teach me? You see, failure is how we learn, it’s how we grow and get better. Yes it’s not fair, it’s not meant to be fair, it’s about growing so we can become better.

So let’s dust ourselves off, stand up and try again. It’s not easy, I know, but in the end giving up will be much worse. We must dig deep within ourselves, our courage will help us to persevere, remembering our purpose will help us get unstuck. Don’t let this setback stop you, use it to get better and stronger. Focus on your goals and pursue your dreams with passion in 2025.

Live well and live happily!

It is absolutely natural for one to get upset or feel hurt by a negative statement that is directed at us, or if someone (especially someone we know and care about) makes a condescending comment. Remember the old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” - Well it does hurt, and now in the world of social media it hurts even more, and in some cases the outcome can be quite tragic.

The sad truth is negative communication, be it criticism or insults, tend to come more naturally to people, than compliments, encouragement or celebration. What’s worse though, and far more damaging is self-criticism. This has been referred to as automatic negative thoughts aka A.N.T.S. (coined by U.S. Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen) which is even more damaging to us. Yes, a colleague’s criticism or a family member’s insult may last a while, but the A.N.T.S. are with us all the time.

How do we overcome this? Well there are various methods and truth be told there is no one size fits all miracle solution. But there are some proven practices that can help us a great deal. The first and most important practice is Self-Awareness. “You can’t slay the dragon that you cannot see” Observe your self-talk, notice the automatic negative thoughts and replace them with a positive thought. The key to identifying this behaviour are our emotions, for example; if you catch yourself feeling overwhelmed and your self-talk says, “I don’t know if I can do this.” Your brain goes to work to find evidence confirming that you can’t do it.

The good news is the same is true for positive self-talk, here’s an example of what you can do; replace the negative thought with a powerful positive empowering thought, and declare to your self with faith and conviction “I am more than capable of handling this situation, because I am working for the mutual benefit of all involved.” - Now your brain goes to work to gather all the evidence as to why you are more than capable. As you and your sub-conscience work in unison towards this goal, solutions and answers will come to you. Changing your thinking, affects your behaviour which directs your actions and ultimately influences the end result or outcome.

Be kind to yourself - you deserve the best. Be kind to others - you deserve to be better.

Live well and live happily!

Have you ever noticed that when you spend time with certain people, you end up spending more than just your time. You feel emotionally drained and sapped of energy. Then you spend time with a different type of people, maybe a much smaller group, but when you are with this group, you feel emotionally charged and physically energized. Now, is this news to you? I don’t think so, we all know this right, right? Yet we still do it, and consequently hours and sometimes even days later, we find ourselves easily annoyed, frustrated and sometimes even angry. These negative emotions impacts our personal space and professional space. It affects our creativity and our productivity.

“It is time!” (as the wise ‘Rafiki’ would say) Yes it is time we take stock of who and what we are spending time with. It’s time we question, are these associations or activities contributing to our life and progress or are they taking from us, leaving us miserable and exhausted. You deserve to feel good, and to enjoy the company you keep. Connect with people who inspire you, who empower you, when you are with them you can just feel the synergy between you, because they are getting the same value from you as well.

Invest your time wisely with the people and activities that positively contribute to your life. The benefits will be incredible and you will enjoy your life as an adventure of learning, growth and continuous progress.

Live well and live happily.

"New year, New me" (Hahaha, Sounds familiar hmmm......?) The new year resolution! The personal claim we all tend to make. It's become more like a greeting card that we buy for ourselves on New Years Eve and we only open it later that year at Christmas time. We look at the list of things we wanted to do, that we should have done, but we just didn't get around to that list. We feel let down by ourselves, disappointed and sooo... upset, that on the following New Years Eve we buy a new card and start a new list, only to repeat the cycle.

Why do we do this, just to see how upset we can actually get? I don't think so, I believe we really want to achieve that wish list, and therein lies the problem. It's a wish list! We want changed results, but we have not changed our thoughts, beliefs, habits, associations or activities. We still use our energy and time the same way, and expect different results.

How about this, just for fun? This time we don't write a wish list that we only open at Christmas time, but rather we come up with a list of real goals. Plus we make the effort to change for the better so that we can actually accomplish those goals. We make the effort because we are worth it, YES YOU ARE! Look I get it, I know it's not easy, but it is simple. Life changes the moment you change.

Live well and live happily!