Food for thought…
Sometimes it’s the little things we take for granted that are the real wonders of the world. Thank goodness for the innocence of children to remind us what really matters.

Please leave your comments below and if it struck a chord with you personally like it did me, then please share it with your friends and family.

Last week a young gentleman knocked on our door and offered us a super special deal to get 3 x standard car maintenance services done for a total of $169 at a local car service and repair shop.
We normally get our car serviced by our dealer, and the last time we serviced it, it cost almost $400 so we decided this could be a huge saving and why not give the local guys a shot at servicing our car.

Now we also recognised this was a marketing promotion. I’m an avid fan of Groupon, Cudo and other discount deal sites so this was nothing out of the ordinary for us.

Today we took the car down for it’s first service, and unfortunately were met with the mindset that is killing the global economy. The 3 x std car maintenance & service did not cover parts or fuels. It only covered the cost of labour. Any parts and fuels such as the oil filter and oil would be charged at an additional cost.

Two things to note here;
1. This additional cost was never disclosed in the initial sales offer AND
2. We have since found out our oil and an oil filter will cost almost $100 (that’s a rip off in case you don’t know!)

A final note, we received a phone call to say the air filter also needed to be replaced at a cost of $18 as it was extremely dirty. This was replaced only 6,000km ago, so we are highly dubious that it in fact needs replacing at all!

So the outcome of this experience for us is, we don’t trust the company and we are not likely to do any more business with them after the next 2 services. Sure, the total we will pay overall will still be less than our normal car maintenance repair place, but anyone with a profitable business will tell you

– it’s not about the price.

Price is ALWAYS one of the last components to making a sale, or building a long term relationship with a client.

If the company had used the marketing effort to get us in the door, and then WOW’d us with their service, we most probably would have come back again and again and again… The return on their marketing investment may have been 12 months or even 2 years later, but they could have secured us for 3-5 years AND we have two cars. If we liked them, we would most definitely have bought our 2nd car in for them to service & maintain.

These guys made the fatal mistake a lot of businesses worldwide are still making – get the client in then get everything you can from them. It’s like the mentality is no-one is loyal, everyone’s out to get me, so I better make sure I get them first! It’s a competitive and scarcity model of thinking… AND IT DOESN’T WORK long term.

You only need to look at the results worldwide to see, this old style of doing business is not sustainable. If you want to increase your profits, build better relationships. Be loyal and trustworthy to your clients and they will be loyal and trustworthy back to you.

Come from the attitude of SERVICE. How can you serve them and give them the best experience possible?
This is the attitude we need to adopt. This is how we will build a sustainable future and build long-term profitable relationships.

Let me share a quick example of how this can work:

6 months ago I bought a $49 cudo voucher for a facial and overall beauty treatment at a local salon. The facial was well worth over $200, and even though they were run off their feet with people who took up their offer, their service and quality of work was outstanding! I was so impressed, I booked in for another promotion they were running and bought all their products suitable for my skin. I’ve since invested over $1,000 in their salon over the past 6 months. They spent $50 on acquiring me, and received over $1,000 in return… and that’s only to date…

Serve and collaborate rather than take and compete, and I guarantee your profits will soar.

There are many ‘rags to riches’ stories of people who came up the hard way to make their first million and the rest as they say was history. There is a thread of similarity running through the many stories of people from impoverished backgrounds that fought against all odds to do just more than make it!
What is impressive is that one and all have demonstrated a doggedness that is admirable. Every one of them believed in their dreams and was not content to let them remain dreams but to turn them into reality.

According to Lakshmi Mittal, owner of the world’s largest steel company Arcelor Mittal,
“Everyone experiences tough times. It is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them.”

There is no magic pill or one fail-safe formula for guaranteed success – sheer grit, determination and a willingness to do whatever it takes, is just one formula that is needed to succeed in this world.

Everyone has the ability to become a billionaire. Within each and every one of us is the key to our own success and financial stability. Here are just 3 qualities that stand out as being present in all the billionaires I have studied. (Remember, even if you don’t want to become a billionaire, by embodying these qualities, you will be closer to reaching an elevated level of success and financial stability – whatever that is for you)

1. Belief in one’s self

Oprah Winfrey, was once quoted as saying she always knew she was destined for greatness. That sums this quality up perfectly!

Oprah had a knowingness inside and a belief that stemmed from the very core of who she was. It is this belief that has allowed her to touch the lives of millions of people across the globe and build a multi-media empire.

Too many people live with ‘what if’ scenarios and self-doubt. Both are guaranteed to poison and kill your dreams. No matter what your dream is or how far fetched it is, the degree to which you believe you will make it happen is the first step to realizing it in the material world. Your doggedness to do whatever it takes and determination to consistently take action steps to move you closer to your dream are the true keys to success and characteristics of a billionaire.

2. Remove the blinders – look for opportunities

Contrary to the mainstream consciousness of the planet, we live in a world of opportunity. Some of us trip over opportunities, others have them hit them in the face, and some have opportunities fall on them like a tonne of bricks. And let’s not forget those of us who have them served constantly on a platter. It matters not how these opportunities are delivered to us, what matters is our ability to see them for what they are. Billionaires see opportunities everywhere and whilst they focus on their end goal or vision, they keep their awareness expansive to ensure they are ready when opportunity comes knocking at their door.

They do one more thing that most people don’t… they take MASSIVE amounts of action. In fact a common strategy they all employ, is as soon as they get an idea or recognize a new opportunity, they implement one action step that will move them closer to the goal.

Don’t sit around waiting for things to happen. Get in the game, remove your blinders and look for the opportunities in everything you do.

3. Know your Purpose and Vision
All billionaires have a vision bigger than themselves and a purpose that motivates them to jump out of bed every morning. When you can link your purpose to your vision, you are on the winning pathway to success.

Too many people chase the money for the sake of money itself, yet it those of us who chase the passion who reap the most rewards. Billionaires are where they are financially because they love what they do. They are energized and motivated by where they are spending their time and what they are creating.

Know what it is you want to create in your life, and make sure the vehicle you use to achieve that vision is one that motivates and excites you.

Creating a vision that is bigger than you is something that few
people take the time to explore. Even fewer people focus and
commit to their vision on a daily basis.

Why is that?

If we create something that would be so amazing to obtain, that
would completely blow us away & fulfill our wildest dreams, why
is it so many of us don’t achieve our vision or even come close
to achieving it?

I believe it’s because we try to hold onto the vision all by ourselves
instead of allowing others to help us secure it in place.

Let me explain what I mean…

If you take a look at the most successful people around the globe,
they have a clear vision, and they have a team around them who
knows what that vision is, and are taking actions steps every day
to achieve it.

“It takes a team to build the dream”

I want you to look at this quote from a perspective that is deeper
than the one that is blaringly obvious. Consider it from the perspective
of holding onto the dream or vision in the first place.

It is energetically draining to try hold on to something that is so
much bigger than you all on your own, all of the time. Most people
give up on their dream before it has even begun because it
overwhelms them, or energetically drains them.

But instead of giving up on the dream, what if you could just take a
break from it? Give it to someone else to look after and breathe life
into, while you re-group and re-energise yourself?

Your vision or dream is a living entity and needs life force to become
a reality, and most of us struggle to breathe life into our visions 24/7.

The first step to successfully creating your vision is to ensure you
have someone to be a care-giver to your vision when you need a
break.

Most often that someone is our spouse or business partner, because
they are closest to us and support where we are heading. It doesn’t
matter who it is for you, the importance is to have someone who believes
in you and the vision you are creating. The belief is all that is required.

The more people who believe in your vision and dream and who are
willing to breathe life into it on your behalf, the more momentum
you will create for it.

I wanted to share with you an article by Tyler Tolman. He is the son of Don Tolman and is carrying on his work in regards to healing the body naturally through the foods you eat. Whilst it may be difficult to follow all of his tips, incorporating even some of them into your daily life may extend the quality of your life as well as the duration.

There’s a great quote from a teacher of mine that goes: “If you don’t make time to exercise today, you’ll have to make time for illness later.”

Perhaps some of Tylers tips may be useful…

“Many people go through life experiencing unnecessary discomfort and pain and eventually their daily habits begin to take their toll.
If we only would stop ‘treating symptoms’ and learned how to address ‘causes’ by being more conscious of what we take into our bodies, people would have more energy and there’d be a lot less sickness and disease.

Here are some important tips for leading a more healthy and conscious lifestyle:
•    Answer nature’s call immediately – never suppress the urge for a bowel movement
•    Consume 20-25 grams of dietary fibre daily from live, uncooked, unprocessed plant sources
•    Drink 4 litres of pure, filtered water each day – any excess will simply run out of the body
•    Peak sleeping time is 11pm to 3am and 6 to 8 hours is best
•    Choose, organic, non-processed whole living foods
•    Eat as much locally grown, organic produce as you can get your hands on
•    Breath good clean circulating air daily
•    Get daily heliotherapy – at least 10-20 minutes in the sun
•    Include portions of live cultured or fermented foods often to stabilise the ecology of the gut
•    Maintain good dental health and chew your food well
•    Exercise moderately every day 20-45 minutes walking
•    Surround yourself with happy relationships
•    Avoid or reduce consumption of common toxins like distilled alcohol, processed sugar and tobacco
•    Assist ‘house cleaning’ each quarter by completing a Colon Cleanse (unless you  are eating a plant raw based diet only)
•    Find a passion – something that gives you happy feet and make sure you do it often!
•
Being more conscious of what you’re doing on a daily basis and why you’re doing it is really the key first step in leading a healthy, happy life.  Once you have this mentality, embracing simple daily behaviors that will benefit you in the short and long term will become habit before you know it.”

I was thinking the other day about  death and how Doug has taught me to view it from a totally different perspective to most people. My father was killed in a motorcycle accident when I was just 12 years old, so I understand and can appreciate how painful losing a loved one can be. From where I stand now though – it doesn’t have to be that way.

Let me share with you why…

“Little Soul in the Sun” by Neale Donald Walsh is a parable about a little beam of light who comes down to earth to experience forgiveness. It’s a great metaphor for taking responsibility for everything that happens to us in our lives, and for understanding why people die.

Doug and I believe that when a person passes away, it’s because they have accomplished what they came here to do. We may not consciously know what their task was, it’s more an understanding that they got the lesson they needed to achieve or they helped others get the lessons they needed. Another way to look at it, is they simply moved to a new level of consciousness.

Whilst this may sound great in theory, it does little to help comfort those of us left behind…right?

What if you changed the meaning you’re currently associating to their passing?

You see, when a person passes away they ALWAYS leave a gift. The question we ask people who are grieving for their loved ones is “Did you get their gift?”

When someone dies, your heart breaks open because you have to bear the unbearable. In doing so, it opens you up to a deeper level of love. Their gift is the gift of love. The gift of love that is inside of yourself.

Think about a funeral you may have attended in the past, and notice that the people in attendance are a lot more open and accepting of the people around them. They soften because their hearts are open.

Sure, there is a degree of pain involved, but that is simply because you have stopped the flow of love going to the person who has left this world. What you need to remember is, it is only their physical form that has left this world. Their essence still remains.

When you think about a memory of them, the love you have inside can still flow to them and in flowing the love, the pain will disappear. It’s only your attachment to their physical form that is causing you pain.

Another way to describe it, is to keep your heart open to them, no matter where they are now.

So the next time there is a death in your reality, remember to look for the gift they left behind for you.

Feel free to leave your thoughts below or share this with someone who may benefit from it.

“The purpose of our lives is to comes to terms with our darkness, so we can live in our light.”

I love this quote. It’s so easy to hide away from our pain, our fears, and our hurts. For many people, they are under the false assumption that turning away from the hurts of our past is the best way to deal with them, yet this assumption is a false illusion. It’s this illusion that keeps us playing small, living mediocre lives, and surviving rather than thriving.

What if you made your life’s quest to search out the darkness – embrace it for being part of your journey, acknowledge it and allow it to be brought into the light of awareness where it could be healed? How different do you think your life would be?

You see, what you don’t own about yourself will eventually own you. Our emotional baggage, our limiting beliefs and our false assumptions are the things that are keeping us small. For the most part, we don’t even know they are down there running our lives and sabotaging our dreams. The cool thing about it all, is when we do become aware of them, we have the ability to reconfigure them and dissolve them back into the light. We have the ability to get to know ourselves even more than we already do.

When you can know yourself fully and then accept every part of yourself, you are indeed on the path to enlightenment. Knowingness and acceptance are crucial to self-love. Without self love, there can be no peace; and without peace, there can be no joy.

Our darkness is what keeps our journey interesting, and paradoxically, the brighter we shine, the bigger the shadow we leave behind us.

Embrace the shadows of life. After all, there is a learning moment in every event, if you choose to look hard enough.

Gift of giving

One of life’s greatest gifts is the ability to give to another person. And when I say give – I mean give unconditionally, with no strings attached. Giving purely because you want to. This is the TRUE secret to living.

Think about the last time you gave a gift to another person. How did it make you feel? Did it deplete your energy and sap you of your resources, or did it energise you, give you pleasure and joy?

The simple joys of giving can be achieved in so many ways and comes in many different forms. Some include monetary or material gifts, some are just random acts of kindness. When was the last time you gave to another human being for no other reason that because you could?

On the flip side of the coin, you must also be able to receive. Many people feel uncomfortable accepting gifts from another person, yet think about the joy you are robbing that person of by refusing their gift.

I will never forget the moment when I learned the entirety of this lesson. I was having dinner with a friend/mentor of mine. He offered to pay for the meal and I felt I had got so much out of the evening there was no way I could accept more of his kindness. His response to my refusal went something like this:
“How dare you be so selfish to not allow me to enjoy the gift of paying for our meal.”

You must equally be able to receive. The two go hand in hand. And ironically, the more you unconditionally give, you may just find the more you will unconditionally receive. What a wonderful world we live in.

I was at the beach today playing with my toddler down by the water with his construction trucks. Along came another family who had some trucks and buckets too. As we sat and watched the two boys interact and play together, I thought about our society as a whole and how we live in an ‘us’ and ‘them’ environment. Yours and mine rather than ours.

Looking at the innocence of the young children playing, I recognised there is no ‘us and them’ in their vocabularies yet – just ‘ours’. What would we like to play with next?

They understand the true nature of our world in the sense that we are all connected. We are connected at an invisible level. Essentially we are all brothers and sisters who belong to the same family. It is only a illusion that we are separate.

Mystics and sages have told us that for thousands of years. It has been recorded time and time again from ancient cultures all across the globe. We are all cut from the same cloth, and when you hurt another person, you hurt yourself as well. When you keep yourself separate, you are going against the true nature of your being.

To live in harmony, in peace or grace, we must first begin to remember our true nature, and the connection we have to all things in the universe. The easiest way to do that, is to watch a toddler or baby play. See the pure innocence & inner wisdom, from the knowingness of who they are – free of guilt, judgements or fear.

This is where we all began, and it’s in the remembering that allows us to go back and experience that same wonder and joy for the world we live in today.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

I was thinking about a seminar I am about to teach and it got me thinking about one of the main reasons people don’t achieve what they are capable of achieving in their lives. That reason is fear.

Fear of the unknown.

Many people live in what you call a comfort zone. But how comfortable are you really in this comfort zone? If you have financial stresses in your life, if your health is less than perfect, and your relationships could do with a bit more pizazz, then your comfort zone doesn’t sound very comfortable!

Think of this analogy:
A boat that never ventures beyond it’s mooring will never be damaged, but that’s not what boats are made for.
Similarly, a person who never ventures outside their comfort zone into what may seem like the unknown, will never get hurt – but that’s not what we were made for either. That’s not living life.

The unknown is where “the new” exists and it’s this place that possibility resides. There is a quantum soup of possibility available for you in every moment of time, and the best news is – it’s YOURS for the asking. You have choice at every moment. Choice for what something means, choice for how you feel, choice for what actions steps you will take and choice for managing your fears.

“Fear is not the unknown, for it is where your greatness resides.”

When you choose to be courageous and step outside your comfort zone, I guarantee you will feel the the adventure and thrill of living. You may still have fear present, that is natural. Courage requires you to continue walking forward despite the presence of fear, focused on the vision or goal that is important to you. On the other side of fear, will be your fortune.

Look upon fear as the catalyst to give you courage to achieve your dreams.