I have waited 4 years for LIFESTRUCK to take flight and 33 more to be at a point in my life where I know in my soul that its is time. It FLOWS like nothing I can ever explain. The more gentle I am, the more abundant life. The more I give. The more I get.
Wether you beleive in our abilities to manifest glory in our lives. Wether you believe that you are victim, that life is just sh#t and we make the best of what K*ck we are given. Or that you are brilliant and that you deserve to shine is really a matter of perspective. And when you sit in the silence of the situation you are in and know that this is all perfectly right, all meant to be. That your journey is what YOU make of it and to actually succeed … win … get the job, the girl, (the boy) the bonus, the car, home house, family, dog, … whatever it is. You need to be in the game. By that I mean quite simply you need to be doing your part.
“You can choose to go, do, be, and have, and in the end you’ll exclaim, shocked and bewildered, that because of all the synchronicities of your life, all the “clicks” and “coincidences,” and the many happy “accidents,” your bounty and good fortune must have been your destiny! Or, you might choose to wait for a miracle, a savior, or divine intervention, and in the end you’ll exclaim, shocked and bewildered, that because of all the synchronicities of your life, all the missed chances and disappointments, and the many unhappy accidents, your lack and misfortune must have been your destiny. Do you see what the difference is?” – TUT.com
I am grateful. It has been a BiG week for me. For us. I have signed on my first multi-national client who have whole-heartedly taken the passion and ingenuity of people who believe that they can shine and a healthy good look at their business and said. “Bang! Just Push play” – we have a 6 month pilot and things are starting to happen. I am grateful for all the little synchronicities and clicks, from awesome lip biting shows with awesome friends(Burn the floor) to people who randomly email me and say; “hey, I dig LIFESTRUCK” or special people who say “Hey, I want to help, can i re-write this for you.” They very quickly become friends. Every private client I coach starts with them gaining from me, but in the end the flow always changes and they add more to me that i can possibly imagine … and thank you to my friends, business partners (BiG and Harps for endless cups of Vida) and my sponsors for believing in me when all i had was an idea and my passion.
It is why i do what i do.

So, … thank-you.

It is not just my time. It is yours.

Ke Nako from 2010 FIFA World Cup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhM-cpSwrmM&feature=fvwrel

Just push play.

Stu

Posted via email from lifestruck’s posterous

Respect!

Posted via email from lifestruck’s posterous

Posted via email from lifestruck’s posterous

Contrary to what many of us believe, the objective of meditation is NOT, not to think…that is an almost impossible ask especially for those of us raised in a ‘doing’ society. The aim is also NOT to achieve this almost unattainable sense of inner peace (Please do yourselves a favour and go see Kung Fu Panda 2 for further explanation). The aim is to get in touch with the very parts of ourselves we try to run away from in a gentle, non intrusive and compassionate manner.  

The aim of our meditation is firstly to become aware that we are thinking. It does not mean we follow those thoughts (often our thoughts are not true and seek to take us off on tangents) but rather we just become aware of how busy our minds may be at any point in time. The mind resembles a child and is always off to find something new and interesting. It does not help to scold the mind and force it to pay attention but rather to ‘entice’ it through the breath. It’s a matter of training the mind to rest in a particular place. We then slowly train the mind to come back to the breath and the body.

The second aim of the breath practice is to connect back to the body. Many of us are afraid of our bodies and emotions. We’ve grown up in a society that discourages expression of emotion so we’ve been programmed into not feeling what we feel. The aim of the meditation practice is to become aware of what we may be feeling, without judgment. The greatest courage comes from learning to be okay with ourselves even when we don’t feel okay – this is the Buddhist practice of compassion. (The Western idea that we always need to feel okay is not practical nor is it attainable and only encourages feelings of failure) The greatest compassion we can develop is compassion towards ourselves. As we begin to become aware, without judgment, we find it much easier to deal with uncomfortable feelings. Usually we suppress these uncomfortable feelings in life which result in a stream of self destructive behavior or neurosis. Depression occurs when we continuously suppress what we feel or think that we’re meant to be different from how we are. (I have attached an article that explains why allowing ourselves to be WITH pain or uncomfortableness ultimately releases it)

In my meditation practice I have combined the use of breath work with the use of creative imagery. The guided meditation makes use of creative imagery. The mind is unable to differentiate between a ‘real’ reality and a ‘imagined’ reality and because we learn / heal / progress through experience this provides the perfect avenue. We each hold beliefs about ourselves and the world very deeply within; on a cellular level. Using the mind in this manner stimulates the body to let go of beliefs that do not serve us or develop new beliefs.

The brain is a highly efficient system that is connected to every cell in your body by billions of connections. It is divided into two sides ñ the left, logical side (words, logic, rational thought) and the right creative side (imagination and intuition). Day to day circumstances usually are met in a logical, left brain mode; however by yielding to the right, creative side of the brain we actually restore balance in the brain. This allows access to the mind-body connection to achieve what you want. The right side of the brain automatically steers you to your goal. It totally accepts what you want to accomplish without giving an opinion and acts upon it without judgement. That is why visualization targets the right, creative side of the brain and not the left, logical side.

Most (in fact a very scary 90%) of our thoughts are dedicated to the past or future. In truth we only ever create the future with attention on ‘now’. As such most of us are only ever devoting 10% to the now which means we have limited energy with which to move forward. Meditation is the ultimate practice of brining ourselves back to the present. After all the aim of meditation is not just the 20 minutes of relaxation we experience but eventually to be able to take the experience into our lives by being more compassionate with ourselves, learning to take a moment to respond to situations and to evolve our ability to look at situations laterally and with the ability to solve challenges creatively.

Here are some ideas from Virgin Unite:
• Donate clothes to a homeless shelter
• Make hygiene kits with combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste shampoo, etc. for the homeless
• Organise a collection of canned food (as it has a long shelf life and can be easily transported) and give the food to a local shelter
• Organise a blanket collection
• Serve food at a soup kitchen
• Learn first aid
• Give blood
• Become an organ donor
• Donate money to your favourite charity
• Donate your time to your favourite charity – encouraging words from someone like you could be all that’s needed to help someone feel able to cope
• Organise a fundraising event for your favourite charity
• Offer your business skills to a charity
• Pick up litter in your local community
• Plant a garden or tree where the whole neighbourhood can enjoy it
• Plant a vegetable garden or give your vegetables to your neighbours if you have too many
• Mow the grass for one of your neighbours
• Remove graffiti
• Organise a tea party for local care givers
• Volunteer for a support helpline – check out www.befrienders.org for your nearest one
• Do a sponsored swim / cycle / walk / run
• Volunteer at your local youth centre
• Teach at an adult literacy centre
• Befriend older, sick or housebound neighbours
• Donate magazines to local doctors and dentist surgeries
• Volunteer at your local charity shop
• Donate your creative skills, for instance teach someone to knit, draw or play an instrument
• Go for a walk with a senior person in your community
• Give some money to the next busker you see
• Volunteer to help a reading initiative in your local school • Visit and spend time at a nursing home and give your company
• Walk a neighbour’s dog or pet sit while they are on holiday
• Offer to babysit or give a busy young family nearby a night off
• Support nearby farmers and buy local produce
• Buy some items from your local charity shop
• Get public transport to work or try walking
• Donate books to your local library
• Recycle your phone handset
• Support your local summer fete
• Donate magazines to a home for retired people
• Volunteer at your local tea rooms
• Organise a 5-a-side football/netball tournament to fundraise for a charity
• Support your favourite charities on Facebook
• Show a senior or less capable friend how to use a computer and the Internet
• Pick up groceries or medicine for a senior person
• Leave the car at home and walk round the corner to the shops
• Become a mentor
• Support an endangered species
• Donate your old computer to charity
• Set up a volunteering event at your workplace
• Give up your seat on the bus, train, tram or tube to someone
• Offer work experience placements at your business
• Volunteer your time at a local library
• Offer to attend a secondary school to talk to students about your career
• Donate an auction or raffle prize for a local fundraiser
• Write a letter to an editor about an issue you care about
• Sign up to volunteering websites
• Host a fundraising dinner in aid of a local charity or beneficiary
• Organise a charity cake sale at work
• Make the time to get to know your neighbours
• Help promote volunteering on your own website
• Show your support by following your favourite charities on Twitter
• Donate furniture to a local organisation
• Blog about a charity that needs support
• Live every day like it is your last!… and smile at everyone you see!

Just push play.

Posted via email from lifestruck’s posterous

Many people tell me that they’re not creative. They tell me that their jobs aren’t creative and that they’ve never done art or painted. The truth is that creative expression has little to do with the activity and more to do with the process of doing it. When I ask perhaps if they’ve taken a different way to work when they’ve been stuck in traffic, they answer yes. When I ask if they’ve approached a problem with a different frame of reference to which they first begun, they’ve answered yes. This is creativity!

What happens in ‘real’ life can often be likened to what happens in the brain. Most often we do the same things habitually expecting a different result. The same thing happens in the brain whereby we think the same thoughts over and over again. Our thoughts (almost 90%) are directed towards the past (which we cannot control) or the future (which we cannot control). Our thoughts create neural pathways in the brain and these pathways literally become like highways. In other words it gets easier to think the same thoughts over and over again because we’re so used to it. The other challenge is that often we’re not even conscious of the thought process. 

This is where imagination becomes important. The radical thing with the mind is that it cannot distinguish between an imagined and so called real reality so you can litterally ‘train’ your brain with a little creative imagination everyday. This is why activities such as creative or guided meditation are so important; not because they just relax you but because you’re literally training your brain to think differently. 

What are the benefits? Well apart from a well rested sleep at night, the benefits include creative problem solving (incidentally a very necessary process in work that requires analytical thinking), the ability to direct emotions, the ability to bring the mind back into the present (which is the only aspect of our existence we are ever in control of) and the ability to bring down cortisol levels. Cortisol is the main chemical released in response to a perceived stressful situation.

So whether you’re looking to run Comrades, increase your performance at work, enhance your relationships or even just ‘feel better’ engage in some creative exercise or just close your eyes and picture yourself doing it…the response is the same. 

Happy creative imagining

Lisa

PS Lisa is the founder of Life Inc (www.lifeinc.co.za) and facilitates creative meditation practice, counselling and retreats.