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Have you ever thought it would be great to have ‘ZERO’ stress in your life? 

I know I have. 

There are times I am cranky because I am getting stressed-out over something or other.

Or other times where I am just feeling a mild level of stress in my body. 

At these times I wonder what it would be like to have ZERO stress, all the time.

As if that were the ideal target. 

And maybe it is. 

Maybe that is what ‘enlightenment’ is all about. 

Or maybe it isn’t. 

I have no doubts that every luminary person we can think of – who we consider as enlightened or self-actualized – also had their fair share of stress, and in most cases (if not all) had high levels of high stress experiences throughout their life. 

The first thing I think is relevant to this conversation is that I am not even sure that ZERO stress is attainable, or even the penultimate achievement in life.

No stress might actually be the bit just before we take our last breath. 

So today I am going to talk about how ‘zero’ stress may not a worthwhile target. 

Let’s now look at the reasons why.

I was trying to think today about how to best serve you.

What could be most useful for you?

And most relevant?

The thought that came to mind is what to do if you are going along swimmingly and then all of a sudden DOUBT starts to bubble up. 

Sadly, if left unaddressed, doubt can start to fester, leading to a downward spiral – generally speeding up as it goes – and then spinning into other parts of your life that you thought you were on top of.

What do you? 

THAT is what we will continue to explore today. 

You can thank Emma for this article. 

She suggested she would like to have me focus on ‘How to become more VITAL‘.

And just so we understand what we are talking about when we use the word ‘vital’, other words we could use include:

Spunk, buzz, jazzed up, on a high, light of spirit, energized, unstoppable, vibrant, radiant, expansive, thriving, and plugged into life. 

Feel free to add a few of your own. 😉

It is pretty much the opposite of anxious, fearful, worried, flat, fatigued, apathetic, disconnected, etc..

The less fun stuff.

I think the most basic way to figure out how to create the most vitality, for the majority of the time, is to do a good old fashioned “Audit”. 

It is a great place to start.

We are essentially going to come up with what RAISES our Vitality and what LOWERS our Vitality.

That’s the mission for today.

Bringing AWARENESS to you in relationship to your Vitality choices.

Giving you the insight to make better choices.

And yes, you would have heard a bunch of these from me before.

But as they say: repetition is the mother of learning.

Let’s start with what lowers vitality…

I am not a fan of seeing people suffer.

Especially unnecessarily.

That is why I like to write books about how to do life LESS hard.

I have also had a fascination (perhaps more like an obsession) for the last 25+ years on all things health, well-being, and how to create lifelong vitality. 

I have read 100’s of books on the subjects, listened to 1000’s of hours of conversations, plus tried weird and wacky stuff on myself to see what works and what doesn’t.

I also like to consider things from a very holistic perspective.

From the perspective and integration of the Body, Mind, Emotions and even Spiritual beliefs and practices.

So today I am going to share with you my beliefs plus what I have witnessed over those immersive years.

As always, take what resonates for you, and feel free let the rest just slip down the side.

(Because as you know your beliefs matter…a lot…when it comes to the ‘placebo effect‘).

You know I love to use my own life experiences to share lessons and insights.

So here goes.

As you know I have been in a town called Mildura (Victoria, Australia), where I have been doing some work, prior ro heading to Perth for my 35-year reunion from graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

While in Mildura, I delivered a couple of presentations, and leadership training, and one of the topics that was relevant and prevalent in each of the presentations, was our relationship with “EXPECTATIONS”.

I have written about this before and it is a chapter in my new book – 18 Ways We Make Life WAY harder Than It Needs To Be.”

The other thing about my 6-days working in Mildura was that it was exceptional in every way.

The place I stayed, my host, the food, the long walks along the Murray River in the morning, the audiences I got to present to, the smells of the eucalyptus, the sounds of the kookaburra’s, and even the swimming pool were I was staying, which was about 13 degrees Celsius and part of a 3-min ritual each morning.

What Wim Hof would call entering the cold.

So the context is, that I had a fabulous time in Mildura, and was on my way to my next port-of-call, which was Perth and my military reunion.

Perhaps the long day and delayed flights might have contributed to the outcome, but I had a great conversation with the passenger seated besides me, so it was actually pretty chipper, so we might rule that out as a factor in the event I am leading to in this article.

A quarter of a century ago, I started my ‘personal development’ journey.  

It started with a 30-Day program (6 x CD’s), by Tony Robbins, called Personal Power II, and as a result I made three (3) radical changes in my life.

Firstly, I stopped getting drunk (I switched to low alcohol beers and limited myself to 2 or 3 if I was going out for the night).

Now for the record, drinking “Lite” beers was not well received by my Army buddies.

Next, I switched to a pescatarian diet (principally vegetarian, with the exception of occasional seafood).

And finally I started attending YOGA classes at my local gym in Bondi Junction (Sydney).

In order for you and me to be at our most awesome, we need the highest amount of ENERGY we can generate.

We do this by putting great fuel into our bodies.

Getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air.

Moving our bodies mindfully.

Staying hydrated.

Sleeping well, and a bunch of other stuff, I often talk about.

The other way to maintain high energy is to not WASTE it on stuff that is not important.

Which is where we are going today.

We will be looking at a common place people waste, mismanage, throw away and recklessly spend their valuable energy reserves. 

If you waste 20% of energy on something that doesn’t add value to your life, you only have 80% in your tank to play the game of life with.

Yes, you can generate more, but that takes time.

So let’s make sure we don’t waste energy needlessly.

Which brings me to this…

I was doing an online presentation the other day for a group, when I was asked a question.

It related to ‘Purpose’.

And it was a combination of how do we ‘find’ our purpose, and how do we live a purpose inspired life?

It was a pretty good question, and probably relevant for many people.

So let me share with you my thoughts on the topic.

Firstly, I think there is great psychological benefit in having something to aim for, and a clear path to walk.

I think it was Aristotle who said we are teleological beings; meaning we are at our best when we have a target to aim for.

Where the target might be something one year into our future, or even what I would call our North Star.

I am a huge fan of learning and growing.

Never stop learning and you will never stop growing.

I spend several hours each day doing reading, research and listening to presentations about mostly health-related topics (physical and mental), but also mindset, Geo-political, environmental, financial, and anything else that might impact my life and the lives of my clients.

I am also VERY aware I don’t know everything.

So I approach learning with a very open-mind.

I also change my mind if I am presented with new and compelling information.

I love critical-thinking, establishing what is self-evident, and looking deeper into the WHY, and WHO benefits most when information is presented.

Given that, I thought it would be cool to round out my year of writing to you, with 10 of the top things I have learned over 2023 (or relearned more deeply). I will also let you know if they have caused lifestyle changes, and where to go if you want to go deeper on the subject.

(They are not in order of importance or impact)

About 15 minutes ago, I finished doing a ‘self-healing’ technique developed by Dr Darren Weissman.

I did an abbreviated version of what he calls the LifeLine Technique.

Part of the process is setting an INTENTION (which is very relevant to this conversation).

First, you set an intention.

Starting with “I AM…” (a powerful two-word combination to be used wisely).

My chosen intention was: I am a creative genius, able to create something from nothing.

Part 2 of setting an intention is to connect to the FEELING associated with experiencing the “I AM” statement, in the now.

And as you may or may not know, it is the quality (coherence) and intensity of our feelings that most influences the quantum field around us.

So the feeling I felt, when I truly connected to being a creative genius, was…

PURE POTENTIAL.

It (and I, when I experienced and connected to this emotion) felt AWESOME…and full of pure potential.

I created the feeling by self generating the feeling from the inside out.

That is the potential that exists in all of us.

To create the emotion or emotions we actually wish to feel.

This is easier at some times, harder at others, but is still POSSIBLE for us all.

Now here is what I also want to remind you…