The English are great at complaining. When I visited the UK back in May, many people were lamenting the harsh and long winter that had blighted much of the previous 10 months. When I visited two weeks ago, several were moaning about the recent heatwave being too hot. Apparently, it’s awful.

Contradistinctively, some residents of Los Angeles tend to pretend that everything is awesome, all of the time. Who cares if much of it is completely disingenuous; there is a value of faking-it-‘till-you’re-making-it. Or maybe, like Python’s Brian nailed up on his sun-kissed crucifix, the Californians are perpetually looking on the Bright Side of Life.

An ancient formula suggests a new way of seeing our life, telling our story and creating our state. When presenting the first produce of a new fruit-bearing tree, farmers would have to explain how their forefather was a ‘wandering Aramean’, how their ancestors were put into slavery for 210 years, how they prayed for relief, and how they were brought to their current state of freedom and opportunity, living “in a land flowing with milk and honey…and have brought the first fruit of the soil” (Deuteronomy 26: 5-10).

There is a deep, timeless power in all of this. When talking about our life and articulating our experience, we have an incredible choice before us. We can layer our narrative with value judgements – “I have had an awful life, my leg has been aching for years, my relationships are all failures”, or we can just recount the facts – “My dog ate the cat, my leg got severed and the computer chip in my artificial prosthetic limb keeps crashing and my ex-wife was getting more than just a weekly botox injection from her cosmetic surgeon”.

When we pack our story with judgments, especially negative ones, we pay the price of losing our power. If we talk about our life as awful and only lament the bad weather, we can fail to see the good things that are in front of us. If we pretend that everything is wonderful when there are some negative experiences, we also suffer by not recognising and naming things as they actually are. When we can tell a story with just the facts, we open up a whole new realm of possibility.

Today, consider re-telling your story. Keep it to the facts. By all means mention how your first business when bust and your first husband ran off with the Rabbi, but try omitting the value judgements, cutting out all negative statements beyond the facts, i.e.‘business went bad and my life sucks*’. Instead, try concluding your story on a note of opportunity, focusing on what is currently working, or an opportunity that is front of you. What is your current land of Milk and Honey, and what are the first fruits of your labours? What is going well for you at the moment?

The rain will always rain heavily on a rain-covered isle and the sun will always shine too much during heatwaves. When we zero-in on the facts of our life and focus on the opportunity ahead, we free up a huge amount of energy to see that in most cases, our lives are awesome.

**Click here to reserve your place on Marcus’s next webinar “WHATEVER IT TAKES – Break Through Fear, Step Into Greatness & Grow Your Business” **

————————-
*US terminology. ‘Sucking’ is a metaphor, unless you are a vacuum cleaner. UK common usage: ‘my life stinks’. Stinking is a metaphor, unless you are a rubbish tip. ‘Rubbish’ is UK usage for ‘garbage’, or ‘trash’, which in turn are US metaphors for rubbish. ‘Rubbish’ can also be used in the phrase ‘my life is rubbish’, which would be UK usage for ‘my life sucks’. Writing this footnote is giving me a sucky rubbish headache. You?

HOW TO USE THIS IN YOUR BOARDROOM: Tell the story of your business three times in succession. Each time, just focus on the facts. Notice how each re-telling will reduce the value judgements. Draw out the current opportunities – what are the big things that you are up to at the moment? What is in your power to achieve?

HOW TO USE THIS ON THE YOGA MAT: As you practice your postures, notice where there are old aches and pains. Focus on your experience and reduce the inner voice of negative judgement. Finally, focus on the things that are working. What is currently the most functional part of your body? What is working best?

HOW TO USE THIS ON THE MEDITATION CUSHION: Drop the story altogether. Notice the stories arising in your mind. Focus on the sounds and what is on the outside. Continually divert your mind away from your inner thoughts. Regular training and continual practice will yield deep and powerful results.

Marcus J Freed is an Optimizer who helps people sharpen their creative edge when launching & growing purpose-driven businesses.

**Click here to reserve your place on Marcus’s next webinar “WHATEVER IT TAKES – Break Through Fear, Step Into Greatness & Grow Your Business” **

Gullfloss waterfall, Iceland. Courtesy of 1,000,000,000 Pictures.

This post is an important reminder to reconnect with your ambition, and use it for the good of everyone. After all, what good are your talents if you aren’t maximising them?

______
Youthful ambitions can be forgotten over time. I was recently inspired on meeting with an old friend and hearing how their ambition was still strong, vibrant and alive. Too often we can forget our dreams and get stuck on autopilot, just getting by. Many of us were excited as 10-year-olds, full of plans for what-we-want-to-be-when-we-grow-up, but what happens now your are grown up? Are you living the life today that you dreamed of 25, 10 or even five years ago?

The first stage production I ever saw was Peter Pan, the story of a boy whose dreams were a vibrant reality, and it inspired me watching the actors flying around the stage. In the 1991 film Hook, Robin Williams played a grown-up Peter who had forgotten how to fly and had to relearn his soaring skills (“look Wendy! I can fly!”).

There is a comic Biblical episode about the pagan prophet Bilaam who tries to curse the Hebrews but every time he opens his mouth, a blessing comes out. By this point the Children of Israel have been in the desert for 40 years and they are a long way from their ‘childhood’ – more like the Adults of Israel. Many of those adults had become stagnant, cynical and disillusioned with life.

Bilaam tries to speak a curse but unwittingly says “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob” (Numbers 24:5), which we could translate into English as “How Amazing Is Your Life!” (Californian translation; “Your Are Awesome/Amazeballs”).

How amazing is your life right now? Sometimes it takes an outsider to point it out. We can get easily lost in the hustle of everyday reality, and forget about the blessings that are around us.

Bilaam takes it one stage deeper: “Those who bless you are blessed and those who curse you are accursed” (Numbers 24:9). This is very similar to something that was heard many years earlier from God to Abraham: ‘I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you’ (Genesis 12:3). Bilaam talks about giving blessings, Abraham heard about receiving blessings, but either way it is a reminder to tap into our wider potential.

What does it mean to be a blessing? Personally, this is at the core of my work as an Optimizer. Reminding people that they have inner strengths, skills and talents. Helping people overcome the blocks that stop us from playing using our talents to maximum effect. That is getting effective, getting back in-flow and getting optimized.

What is your deep, inner blessing?
What is your blessing?
Where can you be great?

The majority of people start with big dreams, then grow up, get married, have kids, get stuck in life, wake up at the age of 40 and say ‘what happened?’. Today, kindle the dreams of your youth. Remember the true power that you have inside, and unleash onto the world. How Amazing is Your Life.

******

HOW TO APPLY THIS IN THE BOARDROOM: Are you suffering from ‘Mission Drift’? Why did you get into this in the first place? What was your original vision? Tap back into it and take positive steps today towards achieving your goal.

HOW TO APPLY THIS ON THE MEDITATION CUSHION: Meditate on ‘What is my dream?’ or ‘What am on this planet to accomplish?’

HOW TO APPLY THIS ON THE YOGA MAT: Notice where you have ‘settled’ for something in your body. Where are you not experiencing or exercising your true power? Today, work harder in your asana practice, go deeper and unleash the lion-power within. Choose a powerful standing pose and enjoy it to the full.

FOOTNOTES
Based on Parsha Balak; a personal interpretation.

JOIN MARCUS ON HIS NEXT WEBINAR – “CONFIDENCE ON CAMERA” – http://seminars.marcusjfreed.com/