FIND YOUR OWN 'SLICE' OF HEAVEN

This one is mine.

I woke up to this view one day, the sun was on my face and although my eyes were not happy about the initial glare, once they got over that - the view was so nice, the sun felt so warm and the sky was so blue that it felt good and it made me smile ...

I rolled over to grab the phone and took a snapshot - my heavenly moment immortalised forever.

It is definately something I look back on whenever the chimera of sh*tty days feels the need to rear its unwanted and ugly face.

BUT WHAT'S YOURS?

It can be something tiny or even something of grandeur but either way make sure that it is your own bit of heaven and not the idea of heaven pushed onto you by others. The 'slice' of heaven is yours - why should other people be telling you what it is like or shoving their own ideals into it?

Think of it as a game of  The Sims - you have built your perfect town/city, with all the people, buildings and whatever other trappings you want in it. Now let's say you forgot to press save or even pause and had to rush to answer the phone/door etc, come back to find your cat/sibling has wrecked your household or that a Sim has come to an unfortunate end (death by meteor).

Or better yet - you have just built your tower out of building blocks or LEGO and somebody decides that it is time to knock it down.

In either scenario you would be pissed.

So find what is heaven to you and strive for it, make it happen - only you can do it because it is yours. You may need the occasional help and assistance but you are the overseer.

Alice has her wonderland, what's yours?

VULNERABILITY AND EXPOSURE

It's something a lot of us fear and do anything to avoid - having or displaying moments of vulnerability, exposure is scary business. But what is even scarier is the things we do to hide it, unfortunately we do whatever it takes not to be exposed, sometimes (most of the time) making situations worse rather than better.

That is what I have been doing for a while now and I have finally come to the realisation and conclusion to STOP, hold the press, re-evaluate and be proactive about how I deal with anything that challenges my fear of exposure and being vulnerable. It all begins with acknowledging it, you can't confront any problem if you don't acknowledge it - it's almost like a form of acceptance. To fix it, it has to exist otherwise you are just wasting time trying to correct something that you don't acknowledge.
I may have made it sound easy but it isn't necessarily the case, if it were - we would never have any problems in confronting and overcoming our issues. Essentially we have to be willing to open the floodgates and let the dam burst.
And for people who are as guarded and feel the need to be in control as much as I do ... that is a hard thing to do - letting go.
But that is what I'm going to practice doing because in the end, it will be better for everyone - but most importantly for yourself.
Don't forget that.

IT'S DECIDED - WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS A HUG

It's the conclusion that me and my sister came to after getting in touch and talking on the phone, the world is broken right now and we need to hurry and start dishing out the love - STAT!

We are in a serious state of turmoil that has progressively been getting worse and worse, instead of resolving problems we are to busy adding to them, whether it's fueled by ignorance, greed, anger, selfishness or just downright evil - (or potentially all of those mentioned). Not enough is fueled by either love or selflessness.

We came to the conclusion if people just stopped what they were doing for a moment and just hugged the person next to them about 80% of world problems would diminsh.

(Now I am not saying that all of a sudden everything will happen magically and famine will disappear, pollution or even wars and conflict will just *poof* and disappear), but I am saying if we stopped marching around with guns blazing a little more and made room to allow for love and positivity flow through us for a little while - wouldn't it give us the room to reflect a little more and come with actual real solutions for our problems.

We need to start the trend of hugging, let the negative dam burst and flow out so that the better and positive wash over and flow in. A simple display of affection, such as a hug can be more powerful than we even realise - if we allow it to be.

BE A CHAMPION ...

... be one as much for yourself as for others. In fact be one more for yourself than for others.

Why?

Because if you don't feel or believe yourself to be a champion, when you have to be one for others you have to pretend to be and that is much harder especially if someone depends on you to be their champion. It becomes difficult to maintain, gets mingled with resentment and if anything it may end up making you feel worse (hell like sh*t) rather than better.

If you are able to be a champion for yourself and really believe it ... a sh*tload of things will improve.

You will notice and feel changes, I'm no expert but I can guarantee you that.

1. If you believe yourself to be a champion = you will feel like a champion.
2. If you feel like a champion = you will act like a champion.
3. If you act like a champion = people will believe that you are a champion.

If you are able to get other to believe that you are a champion, without having a put on a façade or getting home and not feeling like dying, crying, punching a wall or all three plus more - then you have truly earned that title.

Wear it like a boss!

The most important reason to be one for yourself is that you will feel better about yourself in general, so go out there, hum the theme tune to 'Rocky', run up a flight of stairs or a hill, and shout 'I'm Queen/King of the World!' - I dare you!

POSITIVE OUTLOOK: DRIVE AND GOALS

WRITE YOUR GOALS DOWN
(or they just remain thoughts and dreams)

ASK YOURSELF

1. Where in my life would I like to be in one years time?
2. How will I get there?

BE PROACTIVE - DO! DO! DO!

HOW TO MENTALLY PUMP YOURSELF UP

• Get up early (make the most of your day)
• Look at yourself in the mirror and smile (teach yourself to smile at your own image, you'll learn to love it)
• Make time for yourself for 20minutes each morning (reading, writing, meditating, etc.)
• Learn to love yourself (if you are at peace with yourself - you pretty much elimate a lot of your own hangups)
• Appreciate your life (makes you more determined to improve it)
• Dedicate yourself to being open-minded and having a student mentality (there is always room to learn something new)
• Don't maintain a negative state of mind, create solutions for obstacles (it will train you to become a problem solver)
• Take each 'no' life throws at you as a 'not just yet' (try, try and try again)
• Tell yourself that you are the best (until you believe it)
• Let someone you love know that you love them (it will make them feel good and in turn so will you)
• Write a plan of action (and actually take action)