Happy New Year!

I found these on Facebook and I thought they were good so I had to share. Number 5 is my favourite and relevant for lots of people I meet, but I am sure you will have your own. Thank you Jon for writing them and from all here at the Mind Detox Tunbridge Wells team, here’s to you having your own positive 2014! 

20 Tips for a Positive New Year 

1. Stay Positive. You can listen to the cynics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can trust that with faith and an optimistic attitude all things are possible.

2. Take a morning walk of gratitude. I call it a “Thank You Walk.” It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

3. Make your first meal the biggest and your last meal the smallest. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

4. Zoom Focus. Each day when you wake up in the morning ask: “What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?” Then tune out all the distractions and focus on these actions.

5. Talk to yourself instead of listen to yourself. Instead of listening to your complaints, fears and doubts, talk to yourself and feed your mind with the words and encouragement you need to keep moving forward.

6. Remember that adversity is not a dead-end but a detour to a better outcome.

7. Don’t chase dollars or success. Decide to make a difference and build meaningful relationships and success will find you.

8. Get more sleep. You can’t replace sleep with a double latte.

9. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in your purpose, people and the positive present moment.

10. Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.

11. Live with the 3 E’s. Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.

12. Remember there’s no such thing as an overnight success. There’s no substitute for hard work.

13. Believe that everything happens for a reason and expect good things to come out of challenging experiences.

14. Implement the No Complaining Rule. Remember that if you are complaining, you’re not leading.

15. Read more books than you did in 2013. I happen to know of a few good ones. : )

16. Don’t seek happiness. Instead decide to live with passion and purpose and happiness will find you.

17. Focus on “Get to” vs “Have to.” Each day focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Life is a gift not an obligation.

18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:

I am thankful for __________.
Today I accomplished____________.

19. Smile and laugh more. They are natural anti-depressants.

20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Sign up for more tips at jongordon.com

Why “not doing” is the solution!

Wow! After a beautiful evening meditating with friends led by a very special and wise soul and then returning home and just hanging out with four very calm equine souls peacefully enjoying their evening grass, I just had the most exhausting experience.

I made my way to a certain, well known social media site and as I flicked through there were lots of articles and posts relating to people what they can “do” and what they can “do for you” and how they can solve all your problems if you just “do what they tell you to do.” It felt pretty aggressive and in your face too. After all that meditation and wonderful experience with the horses it was like – phewie – how exhausting!?!

So many people (myself included once and sometimes still) think the solution to our problems comes from doing, from mustering up energy, putting up a fight and bulldozing your way through. Or maybe the technique is negotiation, or it is this angle, or it is that – whatever it is, I am sure you can find yourself a “guru” that will “solve” it for you.

If the purely “doing” technique worked – and if it is as effective as these super-confident people promise – I’m pretty sure we’d have fixed all our problems by now – because they make it sound so easy right? What they don’t tell you is that as soon as you have fixed that problem, another one will come up and you’ll feel compelled to battle your way through that one too, and then another and then another and so on – before you can reach – well what? Success? Financial stability? Recognition? Acclaim? Often these “super guru’s” don’t say!

The truth is, they are often locked in themselves to a perpetual cycle of problem – fix – problem – fix – problem and they are just selling your their own delusion (trust me – I work in the industry – this really happens). Well all I can say is they must have a lot more energy than me, because I couldn’t do it.

I strongly suspect that our solutions actually come from “not-doing”. By that I mean not resisting, not pushing away and not trying to “fix”, but allowing, being present and aware of and allowing the things to happen, happen and allow them too to just go away.

Surely not you say?

No-thing is for-ever and with all things in life, things will come and go – including us and our time on this planet.

Instead I suggest you reconnect to the “not-doing” part of yourself, and maybe just maybe don’t even try to fix that “problem” – maybe just let it be. From that you may well find yourself drawn to a particular solution one way or another – but this time it has come from the quiet infinite space inside of you rather than from a “guru” that is promising to “fix” you. You are not broken, you never were. What you are going through is what you are going through right now – nothing less, nothing more – you are moving through it whether you want to or not.

Save your energy I say. Inspired action doesn’t feel like “doing” at all – it is be-ing. May I suggest that all your solutions come from being, accepting and allowing. Be-ing compassionate; be-ing kind; be-ing thoughtful; be-ing loving; be-ing honest; be-ing fair; be-ing courageous. Notice how different the energy for those kind of things are? For me they are much more attractive and grounded.

Don’t take my word for it though – try this for yourself. Tell me, what are your experiences? I know what I will be putting my focus and attention on more from now on.