Handy Hints To Land That New Job!

Most people watch 3 - 5 hours of screen time a day (although none of you, I'm sure, or you wouldn't be reading this article) and the kind of material they’re watching, doesn’t help improve their life one iota. 

The most successful people in life, get the most results - they’re result oriented.

Unsuccessful people waste most of their time. Unsuccessful people check emails, look at Facebook, Instagram, Tic Tok and all the rest, however they aren’t working. They aren’t improving their lot in life. They sleep in, they loaf around the house and then spend the minimum time they can at work, doing the minimum amount of work they can. 

With truly unsuccessful people, most of their time is wasted. Even busy people can fall into the trap of majoring in the minor. Instead of working on the trivial and unimportant, learn what you need to do to, get the most out of your day. 

If you want to be successful, when you go to work: work. Don’t chit chat, check your screens and the like. Work. This will get you noticed and help with promotions and pay rises. 

To be successful, you need to think more and make better decisions, take better action to grow yourself and your company. You need to be agreeable and have a pleasant manner.

Your most valuable asset is you. If you improve you, you can improve your earnings. Your earning ability is an asset, as long as you improve yourself and work hard.

If you don’t improve yourself, in ten years you’ll be in the same place you are now. If you want to increase your income, study your field well. 

Most people don’t learn after they leave school. If you want to stand out – work hard and study.

If you wish to apply for a job, look at the web site of the company you’d like to work in. Learn what it is they do and what they stand for. Go in with some knowledge and then when you have an interview, let them know you want to be the best in the field.

Ask, whether or not you get the job, what could you study to be the best in this particular job. Ask what do they recommend you read, or which is the best audio program you could listen to? Do they recommend any particular courses, or seminars? 

This shows your prospective new boss, you're keen for the position and you’re interested in doing a good job. When it comes to selection criteria, these questions put you well ahead of the field. 

Let the interviewer know you want to make a valuable contribution, to their company. Ask them, what one skill would they recommend you learn. Ask; how can you take action? Then act. 

Don’t be all talk and walk away. Let your new boss see, you’re true to your word. Follow their recommendations, even if you don’t get the job (conceivably there could be someone more qualified for the roll) and perhaps next time, you’ll be better prepared. 

10 hours each week, is all it takes to be the best at what you do, because no one else is doing it. There’s 168 hours in a week and if you work 38, you still have 130 hours; surely you can afford 10 hours to upgrade your skill level. 

Most high earners in the world today, started from nothing, to very little. They made it in the business world because they practised this one strategy and are probably still practicing it. Successful people never stop learning.  

We should all be working on developing a new skill, to go further in life. If you want to improve your life and your finances, you need to develop more and more skills, for the rest of your life too. 

If your income is not going up, it’s because you’re not working on yourself, to improve your skills. Learning new things and doing the hard work, is something you can do to improve your lot in life. No one is going to do it for you. You have to put in the effort.

Once you land the job, notice those who are successful in it and ask those who are successful, how they do it. Every single field has a success formula and if you do what other successful people do, you will become a success, as they are. 

Curry Chicken

 

Ingredients: 

1 tblsp olive oil

1 tblsp butter

2 onions chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tblsp ginger

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp chicken stock powder

2 tblsp tomato paste

4 Chicken breasts cut into 2 cm cubes

1 cup water

Pinch of salt, to taste

1 tin coconut cream

1 tblsp lemon juice

Chopped mint for garnish (to taste)

Serve with boiled rice

Method:

Heat oil and butter, add onions and cook until translucent.

Add garlic, ginger, curry and chicken stock powder. Mix well and cook until fragrant.

Mix in tomato paste and stir through.

Add chicken in batches (roughly a third at a time), so as not to boil the meat, but fry and cook each batch until lightly browned (cook for around 6-8 minutes). 

Add coconut cream and water. Bring to a rolling simmer. Taste at this point and if you feel it needs it; add salt. 

Squeeze in lemon juice and stir. 

Serve with rice and top with chopped mint. 

Focus

 

Focus: One simple word, but not so simple to achieve. 

How do we achieve focus?

We start with a plan and don’t deviate from the plan. Without a plan, we get nowhere in life. Sure, occasionally we may fluke it, but do you want to live with the occasional fluke, or live with intention?

We need to stop time wasters. We need to stop mindless use of screen time; tv, iPad, computers, phones. Get serious about your intention, lay aside your screen time and your focus will improve. 

If you lay aside your screen time, you’ll have more ideas, new ideas, more plans and thoughts of your future and how it could look.

What does it take to focus and how does technology influence our ability to focus? We focus on 1 thing for 40 seconds, before our mind moves on and we easily become distracted. 

It’s not that our brains are distracted, it’s that our brains are overstimulated. When we’re hyper stimulated, short bursts of information keep our focus on the wrong things. Be intentional about what you want in life and bring all your focus toward that. Stop procrastinating and start doing. 

We’re easily bored and we like to be stimulated, however I’ve heard it said (although I can’t remember where), it takes 8 days for our minds to fully relax.

When we let our attention rest, we can begin to think about the past, the present and the future. Now there’s not anything we can do about our past, so let it go. Don’t waste time thinking about what could have been. 

However, the present and the future are in our hands. These we can do something about. Present and future is something we can direct and change.  

We need to let our mind rest, so it can sort problems and bring answers. That’s why, when we’re taking a shower, or going for a country drive, ideas come to us.

Find a hobby that calms you. Perhaps it’s knitting, or taking a bath, or photography. Anything you find relaxing.

While you’re relaxing, your mind will go to the areas that you need it too and it will be more creative.

Always keep a notebook handy and write those ideas, because it’s easy to lose them. Ideas flit through our mind and out again, in no time at all. 

When we think about intention, we think we need to fit more in, but in all actuality we’re doing enough. We’re doing so much, our minds don’t wander any more.

We like to think of distraction as the enemy of focus. The enemy of focus is not distraction, but overstimulation. Become less stimulated and the ideas will flow.

Have a disconnection procedure every evening, say 8 pm to 8 am and a sabbath every Sunday. After all, how important is what you’re doing anyway? Does it need to be all consuming? 

Rediscover boredom. Lay on the lounge and let your mind wander. If you feel you don’t have the time for all this relaxation, give yourself just 20 minutes a day. Allow yourself time to rest and renew and you’ll feel so much more revitalised. 

Yes, there are times when you need to take the bull by the horns and dive in, but life is meant to be lived with joy and peace, not all this frantic racing around in circles, getting nowhere fast. 

Learn what others did, to overcome their issues in life. Take years off the learning process, by following those who’ve gone before you and take time to smell the roses along the way. 

You might just be surprised at how much more you can achieve, when your focus is in the right areas. 

Bacon and Beans

                              Serves 2. 

       Cooking time; less than 30  minutes.

     Light in calories, but not light on flavour.

      Quick and easy for breakfast, or lunch.

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

2 rashers bacon

1 tin 4 bean mix

½ tsp garlic

2 tblsp cottage cheese

1 zucchini

1 tblsp grated parmesan

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tblsp parsley

Method;

Heat fry pan on medium and add olive oil.

Dice bacon and begin to cook, until it starts to brown.

While the bacon is cooking, add the garlic to the pan.

Drain and rinse beans and add to pan, tossing all ingredients together.

Mix through the cottage cheese, salt, pepper and parmesan and heat through. 

Using a spiralizer, spiralize the zucchini. If you don’t have a spiralizer, you can just grate the zucchini and add this to the bacon and bean mix, stirring gently until warmed through. 

Serve onto platter and top with chopped, fresh parsley.

A little sage advice...

If you feeling a little low, I have a little sage advice for you, because in the past I've been where you are and I hope you don't mind and I hope it helps...Tony Robbins is, I believe, one of the greatest motivational speakers in the world. He's always upbeat and people constantly ask how he remains so upbeat in life. His reply is; “I do get down, I just don't stay there.”

22 years ago I wrote down what I considered my ideal day. These days I'm living what I wrote all those years ago and I did it by listening to the experts, people like Tony Robbins. And occasionally I do have my down moments, but I don't stay there.

Happiness is our choice and our responsibility. At the end of the day, are you going to say - I wish I had, or I'm glad I did?

Following the experts can take 10, even 20 years off your learning processes.

Where the Bible says take every thought captive, it means "every thought." Our thoughts can run away with us, into negativity and darkness. When we're not taking our thoughts captive, it's like having horses and a carriage, where the driver has lost to control and the horses have bolted and they're heading in all directions. The carriage is going to crash, sooner or later.

When we take control of our thoughts, we take control of our destiny and can shape that destiny to be anything we want it to be. I know because I've done it.

There's no excuses either. In life we either make an effort, or make an excuse. The choice is ours to make. God gives us freedom of choice and sitting on the sidelines, won't make it happen. We can sow the seeds of what we want in life and if we stick with it, watering, fertilizing, pruning and trimming, we will eventually see the result we're after.

 

It's taken me 22 years to get where I am. It doesn't take that long for everybody. I think I was just so low when I started, that I had a longer climb ahead of me than others, plus I didn't know anyone who's done it, so I didn't know if there was truth in what I was doing and that made me double-minded at times.

If I knew then, what I know now, I'd believe more readily. At least you know someone who's done it - me - that might make it easier for you to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hopefully these words bring some encouragement and not condemnation, because when we're feeling low, it's easy to think to ourselves; here I am, doing it wrong again. But that's not my intention. Life is a joy and a great blessing, but we can only have that, if we're willing to work for it. I want to see you live the life of your dreams, not living a life of torment.

As I said, I've been where you are. I've also broken free and love the life I have now. It may have taken me over 20 years, but I've heard of people who have done it in as little as 2 years, so don't think this will take forever...just believe, then take action and it will happen.

Work out what it is that makes you happy and go for it. Don’t ever quit, until you achieve what you set out to achieve. 

I often say to people, if I had the chance to live my life over, I would believe more readily. Anyway, I hope these few words help and perhaps lift your spirits somewhat. Sent to you with much love. 

Seasons of life...

No matter how bleak the winter, spring invariably follows. If it's tough for you today, remember seasons come and go and the sun will shine again. Be patient, be brave and keep putting one step in front of the other. You will make it!

Mountain top experiences...

There’s beauty all around us. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes to it. 

Sometimes we’ve got to climb out of the hole we’ve dug for ourselves and make the effort to get to the top of the mountain. It’s a much better vista from up there. 

If you want the mountain top experiences in life, you’re the only one who can do it. You’re the only one who can put in the effort, to reach the summit. 

There will be challenges and difficulties on the way to the top, but if you dig deep and push through, you’ll get there. 

It all happens, one step at a time. One step today and another step tomorrow and before you know it, you’ll have that mountain top experience. 

Go for it! Do it! And remember; you’re stronger than you know.

20 ways to beat procrastination.

 

Most of us procrastinate over something in our lifetime and we all have reasons and excuses for not getting tasks completed. 

Usually people procrastinate due to one of three reasons: We either don’t have time, or we don’t like the task at hand, or the task is just too hard. Sometimes we may procrastinate, due to all three reasons.

You will, however, find the most motivated people you know, usually beat procrastination. How do they do it?

Highly motivated people have methods, or tricks if you like, which they use to get themselves up and going. I’ve listed some of those methods for you, to help you get motivated and beat procrastination. In doing this, you’ll free up some valuable time and hopefully this free time will enable you get on top of some of the things you need to do, or just rest, if that's what you need. 

Here are 20 ways to beat procrastination and get the job done:

1. Delegate! If you really don’t want to do it, delegate the task to someone else. This might mean paying someone, but sometimes it’s worth it.

2. Set a timer and get up, without thinking about it and do the task you’re procrastinating over. It’s the thinking about it, in which you can talk yourself out of it.

3. Create a hand gesture that you can link to making a move – I’ve heard of people who click their thumb and middle finger, or clap their hands together, one strong clap and that’s the cue to take action. If you can get into a habit of doing something similar, this method might work for you.

4. Turn off the TV, as soon as your show finishes. Better yet, don’t even turn the TV on, until you’ve done what you need to do.

5. Set your alarm in the morning and do not hit the snooze button.

6. Put your alarm on the other side of the room. This makes you actually get up and out of bed, to turn it off.

7. Trick yourself into doing only 5 minutes of the job at hand. Most of us don’t mind doing 5 minutes of something. When the 5 minutes is up, tell yourself you’ll do just 5 more minutes. Continue until you finish. Also, sometimes once you make that start, you then continue automatically, even after the first 5 minutes are up. Sometimes once you start, that’s all you need to get yourself going.

8. Have a partner to which you are accountable. Tell them what you’re going to do and give them permission to ensure you follow through. Don’t be cranky at them, when they do give you a push. 

9. Let your family, or colleagues know that you are planning a ‘say no’ day. This way they are aware that if they ask you to do something on the planned day, you will say ‘no’ because you are focusing on a task you wish to get done. Family and colleagues are less likely to ask anything of you on this day and are less offended when you do actually say no to them, because they’re expecting it.

10. Facebook and emails can easily distract you, therefor do not turn on Facebook, or open any emails, until you’ve completed your task. There’s nothing so urgent with either of these, that can’t wait. If it’s urgent, you’ll get a phone call. 

11. Having said that, switch your phone to voice message and screen the calls that come in. You then won’t be distracted and can answer the urgent calls only. You’ll find there won’t be that many of those. Any other phone calls, you can ring the caller back later.

12. Get the hardest task done and out of the way first, then do the easy tasks. You’ll accomplish a lot more when the hardest task is done. I don’t know why, but that seems to be the way it works. 

13. Break the task into smaller chunks, or bite sized pieces. This way you will at least make a start. Once started, it’s easier to continue. If you haven’t time to do the whole job, at least you can get a little bit done each day.

14. Instead of talking yourself out of the necessary task, talk yourself into it. You’ll be surprised how effective this method is. 

15. Write a list and tick each item off, as you do it. You’ll get a great sense of satisfaction doing this and it will encourage you to continue through the list, until everything is done.

16. As you go through your day, every half hour or so, succinctly jot down what you’ve done. This might seem like excessive work; however, it does keep you on track and focused and you’ll get more done throughout the day. When you can see what you’ve accomplished, you’re more likely to continue with the task you’ve been putting off.

17. Write a list of things to do in order of importance. Put the task you’re procrastinating on the list in its order of priority. Do your list in order and don’t skip past any item on the list. 

18. Put on your favourite music. It’s much easier to face a job you don’t like, when listening to music.

19. Make it fun. Gather your friends for a working bee, dance if you have to. If it’s fun, the task will be easier to get through.

20. There’s something to be said for the story of The Little Train That Could, who said, “I think I can, I think I can.” If it’s a particularly difficult task you could repeat this phrase, as you make a start on the task and watch what happens. I know the outcome of this will surprise you. 

Whether it’s exercising, cleaning, paperwork; whatever it is that you’re putting off doing, you’ll find it much easier once you know the tricks to being motivated and beating procrastination. 

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means and I’m sure if you look around, you’ll find other areas you can save time once you put your mind to it. Nor is it a list that you have to follow each and every point mentioned, but if you adopt a few of these strategies, I’m sure you’ll find yourself achieving greater results, throughout your busy day and climbing higher mountains than ever before. 

In 60 Seconds

 

If all you had was 60 seconds, what words of wisdom would you impart on the world?

I would tell people to love the Lord your God, with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind. For the Lord will do what you can’t, if you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. 

Then I would say; Set your course, your goal in life and don’t ever quit. A worthwhile goal will take a long time and we need keep our focus on the horizon, the completed goal itself, as we attempt to adjust our sails for the success we wish to see. 

There’s no straight line from point A point Z in life. It’s zig-zag all the way. We will make mistakes and we will fail at times and when we do, we need to get up, dust ourself off and look to the horizons we’ve set for ourselves, then go at it again. 

You can give way for a short time, while you recoup and regroup, but never quit until you’ve achieved what you set out to do! Remember; with risk comes failure at times, but when we win, the prize is always greater than the risk we undertake.

Keep your work, home, family and health in balance. Don’t lose sight of what’s important, as you work towards achieving your dreams.

Gracie

Little Gracie arrived yesterday. Cute as a button. 😀

At what cost, will you pay for failure?

 

Why are known hells preferable to strange heavens; miserable jobs, run by bosses who don’t understand? Miserable relationships, being cruel, callous and uncaring to each other, living with hatred in our hearts? Because it’s familiar and it’s easier to stay with the familiar, than it is to change. Life is tough and it’s scary. It’s scary taking a chance. It’s scary acting on your intuition and starting something new. 

People are immobilized by fear and new beginnings leave us feeling trepidation and dread. For those who are letting fear stop them from taking action, to you I say; Feel the fear and do it anyway! You’ll never know whay you're capable of, if you don’t push past the fear and take that chance at success. Even if you don’t succeed, at least you’ll know you gave it your best shot and that’s way better than living with regret for the rest of your life. 

Weigh up the cost of failure, should the worst happen and decide if it’s worth it to you. Decide if you could live with what the worst in life can throw at you. And if you can live with it, then go for gold and don’t look back!

Breakfast Toastie

 

                             Serves 2.

         Approx. 15 minutes cooking time.

Ingredients;

Crusty bread, toasted

2 cups grated pumpkin

1 cup loosely packed baby spinach 

Bunch sage

½ tsp minced garlic

20 grams parmesan cheese grated

Handful walnuts

Olive oil

1 tbls butter

2 tbls Greek yogurt, non fat

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped oregano to garnish

Method;

Dressing; Blend sage, walnuts, garlic, parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Mixture needs to be runny, but not too runny.

Garnish; Mix yogurt with salt, pepper and another drizzle of olive oil. Chop oregano and leave to one side. 

Pop bread in toaster and cook. 

Melt the butter with a little olive oil, in fry pan. Into this, add the grated pumpkin and fry until soft, then add the blended sage mix dressing and the baby spinach. Fry until spinach has wilted.

Place pumpkin mix onto cooked toast and dollop with yogurt garnish, adding oregano to top off the garnish.

Kangaroo Mince Lettuce Cups

 

Ingredients;

1 Onion chopped

Good pinch of sugar

500 grams kangaroo mince

Small pinch of salt and pepper 

(the soy and oyster sauces will add a 

more salty flavour, so keep the salt

to a minimum and taste towards the end)

2 tbls Olive oil

1 tsp Minced garlic

Grated nob of ginger

1 small red chili (2 if you like it hot and spicy) 

1/2 cup mushrooms

1 tbls soy sauce

2 tbls oyster sauce

3 chopped shallots

1 tbls mixed garden herbs

Lettuce leaves

Greek yogurt

2 chopped avocados

2 chopped tomatoes

1 peeled and seeded chopped cucumber

Method;

Cook the onion, in the oil, add garlic, sugar and toss through. 

Add chopped mushrooms.

Add ginger, chili and garden herbs.

Mix in mince and break down any lumps add salt and pepper.

Add soy and oyster sauce and mix well. 

Serve in lettuce cups, top with yogurt, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and shallots.

Bubble and Squeak

 

With poached egg and avocado

For this recipe, you can make your own bubble and squeak, from leftovers. In this particular recipe though, I used a shop bought bubble and squeak patty. 

Fry the bubble and squeak patty, with cherry tomatoes. Whilst they are cooking, poach your egg, to the consistency you like. 

And while the egg is poaching, mash an avocado, with a squirt of lemon juice, in a bowl.

Once the patty and tomatoes are cooked, place the patty on a plate, serve the tomatoes on the side and top the patty with mashed avo, then place the egg on top of that. 

Add salt and pepper and garnish with chives, or parsley. 

Just before serving, slit open the egg, so the gooey yolk oozes out and over the other ingredients. 

Satan is Real. Part 2.

                           

                        

During the end times, there will be false apostles, masquerading as apostles of God. The difference is so subtle you won’t pick it up, if you don’t know the word and you will be deceived. Whole congregations can be deceived, when the false prophet turns up and the bible tells us; they’re amongst us. 

Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light and his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Satan and his servants come in and undermine the word of God and cause confusion to the people of the congregation, who don’t know the word of God well and then we wonder why the church splits, or fails.

Satan cleverly and subtly gets in to people’s life. Who hasn’t been to a fortune teller, palm reader, or participated in Ouija boards? Who hasn’t read their daily star sign in the magazines on occasion, just to see if it works?

Even horror movies, such as The Exorcist, Amityville Horror, It and Poltergeist, just to name a few. These are all areas, where we open our mind to the evils of the world. We are drawn to evil. It’s intriguing and appealing. Even the subtilty of the white witch, where you think it’s ok, because you do no harm. It’s still witchcraft and sorcery. Don’t be deceived into thinking it’s harmless.

Deuteronomy mentions the detestable things of God and what practicing these things will result in. God is a God of love, but he’s also a God of wrath and He will bring His judgements on His people, whether they believe it or not. 

Satan has a way of making things look good, or at least look not so bad; through music, movies, books, through the internet especially, where evil seems to flourish. Be mindful of what you look at and listen to. Ask yourself; would Jesus be caught reading this book, watching this movie, listening to this song? 

You don’t need your loved one, who has passed away, to speak to God for you either. You don’t need to speak to the dead. God doesn’t want you seeking the dead. He wants you to turn and seek Him.

Satan makes it sound so harmless, but it’s all against God, even just a little bit is enough to displease God and bring joy to Satan. All this might sound old fashioned and fuddy-duddy, but the bible hasn’t changed its tune for thousands of years. 

Satan likes nothing better than to cause us to think we can be like God and there’s many works on the internet, which push that agenda.

We think with positive thinking, we can have, do and be all that we want and we can, to a point, because we’re on this earth to overcome; overcome monetary issues, relationship issues, health issues, addictions and much more, however, don’t fall for teachings that say we can be like God. It’s because Satan tried to be like God that he was cast out of heaven. 

The Great I Am, is the same yesterday, today and forever. You are not God! You cannot be God! 

When you start with the gospel and fall away, because you think you don’t need it and you think you can become God, this is a warning to you; Don’t be fooled by beautiful packaging. 

The Pharisee’s had the greatest intentions, but they’d been led astray. They thought they were a pure people. Over time though, they became self-righteous. They changed laws. Laws Moses had written. Laws that were given to Moses, by God. But they missed it. They missed Jesus, because they couldn’t get passed their own pride and therefor didn’t see the Son of God, when He was right there, with them. 

The strong man guards his house, but when someone stronger comes along, they take his stuff. Satan is the strong man, stronger than you and he proclaims his power, but you have been given all power, all authority, through Jesus Christ. If you have all authority, then Satan has none.

Satan is the strong man, particularly if you’re not following the biblical truths. Satan is very subtle. Satan can even can come across as neutral. Jesus says if you are not with me, you’re against me. There’s no neutrality, or middle ground. You’re either for Jesus, or you’re not. If you’re not with Jesus, you are against Him. 

Do you think Jesus was telling the truth? Ask yourself; Was Jesus a liar? The Pharisees tried to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing. They could not find anything in Jesus, to accuse Jesus, because Jesus is all Truth.

Fill yourself with what is right and good and you’ll have no need for all the junk. Keep good food in your store house. If you eat junk, you’ll end up sick and it’s the same with mental junk. You need to put good things into your mind and stop with all the junk and your life will be peaceful and full of joy. 

The only way to resist the devil, is to be filled with the word of God.

If you have a lot of junk in your life, going to church one morning a week, isn’t enough. Satan is getting to you, particularly if you’re still sitting on the fence. And you’ll continue to have junk in your life, until you ask Jesus into your life, until you spend time with Jesus, getting to know Jesus and learning to understand the ways of Jesus.

If you’re already a Christian, get into the word of God daily. Don’t think church one morning a week, is enough. Like food, which you eat three and four times a day, you need spiritual nourishment continually throughout your day, not just for two hours on a Sunday morning. 

And it’s not all doom and gloom either. If there is a satanic element in the world, there is also the opposite, because for every opposite there is an equal. Up, down, in, out, rain, sun, black, white, dark, light. There is an angelic element, just as there is a satanic element. 

Angels are mentioned in the bible, more times than speaking in tongues and throwing out the fleece. Angels come to our aid, when we call on them. Angels are entertained by us, when at times, we don’t even know it. The opposite side of the coin, is the better side, depending on which side you look at.

We get to chose the direction of our path, even when bad things happen. Do we become bitter, when bad things happen, or better? The choice is yours. 

As it says in Proverbs 9:10; The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Choose wisely.

Satan is Real. Part 1.

                          

                                 

Most people, Christians included, live as if Satan isn't real and that's what Satan wants us to believe. What if you’re wrong? What if, Satan is real? I believe Satan is real and once you get down to it and I mean really study it, you will too, for it’s all in the bible. If you don’t believe the bible, you probably don’t believe in Satan. Just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t make it not so. 

The bible tells us to recognise there is an enemy and yet we go about our business, not thinking, or realizing the enemy is with us all the time, seeking us out like a roaring lion, wanting to kill, steal and destroy. 

The subtleties of Satan are never ending and Satan would love nothing greater than to cause you to leave your faith. Don’t be deceived. Things will arise that try to keep you from God and Satan is the instigator of this. God sometimes even allows Satan to work in our lives; hence the biblical story of Job.

Arguments and friction in the home, is Satan’s ability to get right into your safe sanctuary and any kingdom divided, cannot stand. Your home is your kingdom, your domain. And it spreads. It starts with you and your significant other yelling and this might go on for years, then you’ll notice your children yelling. 

The children yell at each other first and then at you and your significant other and from there it spreads to other family members and friends and eventually the cycle repeats, as your children become parents. A house divided is not going to stand.

Remember, it didn’t start out this way. You and your partner got together because you loved each other. You overlooked each other’s faults and yet now, you can no longer overlook. Harsh words are spoken, anger comes to the for and the house is divided. 

Christians are especially vulnerable, because Satan wants to block everything you do, that might cause you to feel secure in God. He’ll try all the harder, if he thinks he can bring you to the point of not attending church.

Jesus preached repentance, for the kingdom of God is at hand. If you and your partner pray and get serious about your faith, the rift can be healed. And don’t think it was by your hand. You prayed. God answered.  

The bible also talks about demon possession. Does this happen today…yes it can. If you spend time with God every day, it’s less likely for you to become demon possessed.  You don’t just become demon possessed; you’re owned by God so a Christian can’t be demon possessed, unless he/she opens the door to it, in some way. 

You have to allow and invite Satan into your life. This can be done through Ouija boards and tarot cards. Even if this was done in your past. Even if this was done through your history and family line. If this has been an entry point for the devil to gain a foothold, you need to repent of it and ask forgiveness from God. 

Normal every day people who have nothing to do with Satan, or God, don’t often get demon possessed. Satan isn’t worried about them, he’s worried about you, the Christian. He wants to stop you from your progression, into God’s army. 

Satan wants to be lord of the earth and he knows you can stop him, by your faith. He doesn’t want to see that happen. So it’s doubly important for him to sway your beliefs, anyway he can.

It’s also when you dabble into other wrong things, Satan can enter into your life. Pornography, drugs, alcohol addiction, theft, lying. These are all entry points for Satan to bring you down and cause your faith to fracture. 

Satan’s cunning. He pretends to be a lamb, all the while being the wolf. Deceit is his thing. Right from the beginning, in Genesis, he used deceit to trick Adam and Eve and his methods haven’t changed much over the years.

You need to know your bible. It’s easy to become prey to false teaching. The bible is the best way to learn about God. When you read it for yourself, God opens up scripture to you and you learn there’s layers to be peeled back. This is why we meditate on the word.

When we meditate on the word, we don’t empty our mind, as that allows room for something else to enter. When we meditate on the word, we pick a scripture and play it over and over and God illuminates the meaning further for us. 

You can have revelation on one passage today and read that same passage another day and get a further and deeper revelation. Yes, if you’re busy, by all means you can watch you tube, while you cook dinner, or listen to a message while you get in some exercise and gain insight through it, but there’s really nothing like the bible for opening up God’s word.  

What you put into your mind grows. Grow good thoughts; good thoughts towards yourself, and towards others. Dark thoughts crush you, mentally. Replaying music of harm and death, seeps into your soul. Songs of joy, enlighten the mind and that’s what we should be working towards. 

Don’t give Satan a foothold into your life, through your senses, of seeing and hearing. Don’t think it’s all harmless fun, because it isn’t. In the long run, it really isn’t. And the "long run” is the approach we should take to life, because we’re here for 80, or so years and those years go by quite fast. 

"Special Cecil"

I wanted to make the front garden, as attractive as the back. I decided to add some plastic flowers around the pond. It’s either too hot there, or too cold and I can’t seem to get plants to grow. 

Lizzie isn’t keen. When she saw the plastic plants, she patted me on the head and promptly told me I’m a special Cecil, which reminded me of our “Special Cecil,” when the girls were little and it made me laugh.

The memories came flooding in, of always trying to keep Cecil from Soxx, lest she rip him apart and pull the stuffin’ out. Many’s the time I ordered Soxx; “Drop it,” in a scolding voice, as she would try to sneak past with Cecil between her pearly whites.

We never quite knew if Cecil was a baby platypus, or an ugly duckling. Poor Cecil, he was very special in his own way. 

Perhaps he changed into a beautiful swan and flew off, because Cecil eventually disappeared. I expected Soxx had finally snatched Cecil from his prime position on the girl’s beds and alas, he is no more.

Being remined of our “Special Cecil,” I mentioned it to Olivia, who promptly said; “Cecil’s here. He moved in with Kristelle and she has him in her room." Olivia took a photo and sent it to me. 

So, Cecil lives to fight another day and although he’s about 27 years old now, we all still love him, tired and scruffy though he is these days.  

Life is full of memories, some good, some not so good. Deposit great memories, for memories are the withdrawals you make in your mind, later in life when the pace slows and you have time on your hands. 

Letter to a Stranger

Hello there,

I had an idea to write to a stranger today. I don’t know you, or what your needs, or your desires are. This is not a sales pitch. I’m not offering anything but a little advice, on how to live the best life possible. How to live the life you dream about.

What I do know is; life can be wonderful, but we have to make it so. If we don’t like where we are, we are the only ones who can do something about it. We can’t wait for our ‘knight in shining armour.’ If we want to see change, we have to make it happen. 

We live in either pain, or pleasure. When pain gets so bad, only then will we do what we need to do, to move towards something more pleasurable. Why wait until it gets so bad? What would happen if you tried to change your life today?

If I had one thing to tell you, one thing of great importance, it would be to do what it takes to have the courage to move toward your ideal day. 

Most of us live in fear. Most of us wish we had courage. What if I told you courage is easy to step into? Courage is only a matter of seconds away. Whatever it is you wish you had courage for, count. Count 3, 2, 1, get in and get it done. In as little as 3 seconds, you can go; make that phone call, have that conversation, apply for that job, do that exercise, study for that test. Take 3 seconds and act and your life can change. 

Not only that, courage may be difficult the first time you try, but by the second or third time, what you were fearful of begins to dissipate. Have the courage to continue, in spite of your fears and courage becomes easier and easier, until there is no fear at all over the issue. 

Situations often look hopeless, only because we don’t have a clear idea of what we want in life. Plan your ideal day. If money and time were not an issue, what would you be doing today? If you could be anything you want in life, what would you choose?

Once you know where you want to be, you need to work out the steps to get you there. And once you have the steps, take action. Take those steps and make them part of your life. Do what you need to do, to move yourself to where you want to go. 

Life is joyous and if yours isn’t, get excited, because you can grab hold of your dream and make it happen. There’s plenty of books and articles on the internet, about achieving your dreams and designing the life you want. All you need to do, is access those.

I hope you don’t mind me writing to you today. One just doesn’t know, who needs this kind of thing and who doesn’t. If you feel you don’t need this information, pass it on, or throw it out. If it helps and you find it uplifting, then I’ve achieved what I set out to do, with this short letter. 

God bless you and may your life be the life you dream about and may you become the person you wish to be. 

With loving kindness, Alexandra Grose – photo journalist and author.

P.S.; If you wish to get in contact, please feel free to email me at:

alexgrose04@gmail.com 

What I know now, that l wish l knew then.

 

What I know now, that I wish I knew then.

I wish I knew courage, when I was younger. For whatever reason, I didn’t have any. I was fearful of everything and everyone. 

I wish I knew it didn’t take a lot of courage, to be courageous. All it takes to have courage, is to try one or two times and the fear of whatever it is, will leave you.

I wish I believed in myself more. As a writer, photographer and investor, I didn’t get started until into my 40’s. I didn’t think I was capable of much and didn’t believe I could do anything. If I knew how capable I was, perhaps it wouldn’t have taken as long, for me to become successful.

I wish I knew earlier, about goal setting and following your passion. It took a long time, for me to get to that point and a long, long time, before I could live the life of my dreams. Once you start setting goals and following through on them, the world really is your oyster.

I wish I wasn’t afraid of failure. If I knew way back then, that to succeed, one needs to fail and that failure isn’t the end. Failure was to show me, how not to do it next time. Failure also isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Any great person in their field, will have failed at some point, learned not to do it that way, and then moved on to success. 

I wish I didn’t get stuck in that failure, but learned to move on quicker. When we’re failing, we’re learning and growing. Failure’s not the end, but a new beginning. The only true way to fail, is to quit. 

I wish I knew anxiety and stress were things I could change and not things that can’t be helped. Anxiety and stress cause us to stop, when they should cause us to explore. Look at what’s giving you anxiety and stress and work out what you need to change and how you can heal.

I wish I knew depression is a state of mind and once you change your mind, you change your state. I’m not making light of it here either. I know how hard it is to break out of depression, but if you really work at it every day, it can be done. Learn from those who’ve been there before you, do what they did and you will have breakthrough.

I wish I knew it didn’t take a lot of money to have investments, it just takes small amounts frequently, if that’s all you have. Investing can be anything from coins and stamps, to housing, business, antiques, wines, shares and all sorts in between. If you knew you could start small, perhaps you too could invest. 

I wish I knew, if I’d just saved $20 a week from when I started work, until I retired, I’d retire wealthy due to the compounding of interest. $20 doesn’t seem like a lot, when you consider later in life it needs to be ten times that amount, to come close. You need to start early to take advantage of compound interest.

I wish instead of being “Jack of all trades,” I’d been master at one. I didn’t know what my passion was and I tried a lot of things before I found it. From an early age, I wanted to write, but the pessimists around me, said get a job. Then I changed from job to job, unsatisfied, whereas could I have done my passion, I might have been great at it early on and not limping along for years.

I wish I hadn’t listened to the pessimists, who told me I couldn’t do/be what I wanted. I wish I’d worked hard to prove them wrong, rather than give in, thinking I lacked intelligence and skill.

I wish I believed in God and the bible, when I was younger. If I’d believed, I could have learned all the more quickly, for the bible really is the success book to living life.

If you could look at your 80-year-old self today, what would you look back on and do differently?

Do you think you’d spend more time with your family? Do you think you’d have the courage to try for that job, do that course, study the field you wish to be in? Do you wish you’d not let your addictions (whatever they may be) take hold? Can you stop those addictions now, before they get worse? Do you wish you might have saved a few dollars, for a rainy day, or purchased that property you always wanted? Or not wasted years in a loveless marriage, instead, perhaps trying harder to fix it? Do you think you might like to try for happiness, in whatever form that is for you?

Ahhh, so many regrets in life. I’m told it’s not what one does, that one regrets in the twilight years of life, but what one hasn’t done, that one regrets. Your life isn’t getting longer. There is no time like the present. No matter what age you are, it’s time to take control of your life and do what it takes, to live the life of your dreams, or forever live with regret.  

Shoot for the stars, for even if you miss, you might still end up on the moon!

Pasta Free Lasagne, with a bit of a bite.

Ingredients;

2 onions, chopped

500 g turkey mince (you can use other mince, if you don’t have turkey, but as a lighter calorie alternative, turkey is good for this recipe.)

1 tsp garlic

2 finely chopped small chilli, or 2 tsp dried chilli 

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp mix herbs

Salt and pepper to taste

1 of each; carrot and zucchini, grated

1 red capsicum, chopped

1 tin red kidney beans, rinsed

2 tins chopped tomato

1 packet wholemeal and grain soft wraps 

1 tub 300gram light sour cream

Light cheese, grated (enough to completely cover the sour cream – or as thick as you like) 

Method;

Heat oven to 185 deg.

Fry onion in oil, until cooked and remove from pan.

Place mince in pan, with salt, pepper and all herbs and fry, breaking up the meat, until cooked.

Add onion back into meat, along with all vegetables and kidney beans.

Stir until well mixed and heated through. 

Coat a round 8” casserole dish with spray oil.

Place 1 wrap in bottom of dish, then layer mince and wrap, until 1” from the rim, finishing with a wrap. 

Spread sour cream over the final wrap, and top with grated cheese. 

Place in oven and cook for 25 - 30 minutes, until cheese is nicely browned.

Possibility and Potential

Your possibility and potential, are limited by your beliefs. If you’re confident and have faith in your abilities, it’s much easier to succeed. For the less confident person, success can still happen, but you have to work harder for it. 

There’s science behind how powerful we really are when we use our minds correctly and this is why the law of attraction works so well. You need to understand; your thoughts are very powerful and you have the ability to make your life much more fun and exciting. Your thoughts can also bring your life to the exact opposite, where despair and depression rule.

If you’re in a place of despair and can’t see a way forward, there is hope. If you can’t see yourself surviving the next few days, or even hours, I want you to write down your ideal day. Don’t think about it and don’t poo-poo the idea. Just take a moment to write your ideal day. 

If you don’t know what your ideal day could possibly be, just think if right now you had all the money and time you need, what would you be doing with your life? (And don’t say laying on the beach with a Pina Colada, because believe it or not, you would soon get bored with doing nothing.)

If money and time were no barrier, what would be the dream for your life? Write it down and then write the steps it would take to get you there. Are there things you need to learn? Do you need to improve your health, or your diet? Are there things you know you need to wait for, before you can proceed? Do you need more money, or time to make this happen? How are you going to get that money/time? Make your dream as big as you like! There are no barriers to dreams and writing them down brings a little hope into your world.

Once you start focussing on the answers to your questions, the universe lines up with you. Once you start to focus on what you want, instead of what you don’t want, the universe will line up with that also. So far you’ve focused on all the things that can go wrong in life and the universe has given you what you focussed on. So now you need to focus on better things. When you do, you put yourself on a better vibration level and things start to move you towards a better tomorrow. 

You are responsible for your life. You made the choices which brought you here and now you need to make new and improved choices, to take you from a time of depression and despair, to a life of joy, fun and excitement. 

Sure, you can blame others, and at times it might be others, but from here on in, the responsibility is yours. How you react to what’s happened, how you move from your mistakes to a new life of adventure, is up to you. No one can do this for you. You have to do it for yourself. Get in and do the work. 

Once you know this information you can no longer play the victim. If someone out there is controlling you, your feelings and thoughts and you feel like a victim, now is the time to do the work and stop this victim mentality. 

What is the work? Get off the couch, for one. Stop watching mindless tv and start reading books which will expand your mind and your horizons. Books on how other people succeeded. Books on how others overcame what you’re going through. Books on positive thinking and achieving your dreams. 

"You don’t like to read," I hear you say. Learn to like it. What we read, who we hang out with and the actions we take are what make us successful, or not. So read and if you really don’t like to read, get on you tube. It’s all there and you can listen while you work, while you exercise, even while you cook dinner, if that’s all the time you have available. 

Learning new things makes new connections in your mind. Learning new things, strengthens and grows your mind. Information creates awareness and these days you have all the information you need, at your fingertips. This information helps create the life you dream about and the freedom you desire to see in your life.

When you have a vision, one you’re striving towards, it’s easy to be distracted and to lose that vision. You need to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Keeping the vision before you, helps keep your focus. Ask yourself, when something crops up to distract you; will this take me away from my goal, or move me towards it? This will help keep you on track and lessen the disruptions and interruptions to your plans for your life.

Once you build momentum, you start feeling worthy and more confident. Your body can tell and you’ll notice you’re more confident. You walk more confidently, you’ll be less shy around others and you’ll exude an ‘air,’ about you. This ‘air’ is not something anyone can see, but others will be drawn to you and your confidence and even they won’t know why.   

And when things go well, give yourself a pat on the back. Only you know what you’ve been through and how far you’ve come. Give yourself a pat on the back and tell yourself; "Well done!" Because it’s easy to move past your accomplishments and get caught up in the doing. If something goes well, acknowledge it, as this reinforces what you’re doing right. And it will make you feel good about yourself and how your life is going. 

The stronger the emotion you feel, where you place your attention, gives your life greater force. So, regulate your thoughts, think about what you want to see, do the work in mastering your emotional state and you'll find you have the energy to heal and move forward.

All this time, you’ve created your reality, you just didn’t know you were doing it wrong. If you are in lack and emptiness and you spend your life wanting, this is the lack and emptiness you brought about, through your lack of understanding. 

Now you need to turn that around and you can do that by the way you think and feel and it’s a process and it takes practice, but if you don’t quit (because there will be difficulties and road blocks along the way) you’ll get there in the end. 

If you’re doing the work, you’ll start paying attention and your mind will start to believe in in what you’re doing and you’ll see change, but only if you change your thoughts and your actions.

You are way better than you think. You can live the life of your dreams. And quite possibly, courage will be the first requirement. Courage is the key to life. The opposite of courage is cowardice, a life lived in fear. A life lived in fear is a life of hell. If courage is the key to life, then heaven is behind the door marked; “Courage."

The only way to have courage, is to take responsibility for your life. In life, we are meant to overcome. We are meant to bring order out of chaos. An undisciplined life is a life of chaos. When we act courageously and take responsibility, then our chaos will come to order. 

You be the hero in your story. Don’t wait for your knight in shining armour. Act courageously, take responsibility for all that is wrong in your life…and fix it! Make an effort, not an excuse. If you don’t think you have the discipline, study discipline. Discipline is a muscle and the more you exercise a muscle the stronger it gets. Make the effort to practice discipline, don’t make an excuse. 

If you find you don’t have the discipline, try to focus for 5 minutes. If 5 minutes is too long and you forget everything, do it anyway, then do it again tomorrow and the day after, until you remember what you’ve learned. 

Life is lived in micro moments. 5 minutes now, is forming a micro moment. It’s doing the little things every day, working on the small goals in micro moments, that move you towards the fulfilment of the greater good. 

Put effort into your life. Wake up and get excited about the possibilities. Stop being distracted. Stop frying your brain in mindless internet and tv.

When you start something, prepare for failure. Don’t be disillusioned when it comes. No one ever starts at the top. We all fail on our first attempts and if we don’t, we haven’t set the bar high enough. If you want to succeed, you need to fail more often.

Do something every day, that moves you forward towards your goal. Even on a bad day; make an effort. Show up and do the work, every day. It takes hard work to be good at anything. Set yourself the task of being the best.

Practice! Practice! Practice! If your life isn’t everything it could be, change what you need to change and continue to change, until every day becomes your ideal day. 

It’s easy to do nothing, be nothing, have nothing. That takes no effort at all, and what kind of life is that anyway? It’s an unrewarding life. 

Our success is determined by the books we read, the people we hang with and the action we take. It’s that simple. Want success? Read, hang out with others who are successful and take action towards your goals.

I know what I’m talking about. My life was one of depression and despair and I was suicidal 20 years ago. Now I’m an investigative photojournalist and author, as well as an investor on the stock exchange. I love to cook and walk the dog and I enjoy every day.

I know once you make the decision to start, if you don’t quit, you too can be a success and live your idyllic life. Hang in there. Don’t quit. And watch your life move from depression and despair, to a life of overwhelming joy and abundance. 

An ancient message of hope, during these troubling times...

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed,

We are perplexed, but not in despair,

Persecuted, but not forsaken,

Struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

NKJV

It's a little bit personal, but I hope it helps

It’s a little bit personal…

 

I was 34, when I first heard about positive thinking. I read everything I could on it, for the next 2 years, then that “Still Small Voice” in my head asked; what have all these books got in common? I thought for a moment and then said; a belief in a higher power, a greater consciousness, God. It was there that I recommitted to being a Christian and walked my new path, with God. 

At the time, working towards my ideal day which I now had written down, all I had was a vague idea: I wanted to lose weight and gain money. I didn’t have any particular idea how much weight, or how much money, or how I was going to do it, because I know I’d tried and failed so many times and now ‘fear’ kept me at bay. Fear was stopping me from doing so much, because everything I’d done thus far had failed and I couldn’t bear to fail again.

Still I pressed on, because I was so depressed, I didn’t like the alternative. It took a while to work out what my ‘ideal day’ would look like. Within that first 2 years, while reading over 200 books on positive thinking, I decided I wanted to trade and write and to do it while traveling. 

Since then, I have done this and travelled, mostly close to home, but for me, even that was something and although I’m not making enough money to stop work altogether (I work part time in disabilities and full time as an author), I can still trade, write and travel, as I go to John’s and Olivia’s, or even for a trip to the beach for the day.

The idea was evolving all the time and I finally lost a heap of weight, however I got to a point where nothing I did would lose any further weight.

Initially I hit the hundred kilo mark and thought, if I don’t stop it now, it will become 110, 120, etc. And I lost 25 kilos, then put 10 back on and stayed there for the next 10 years, hitting a low and bouncing back up again, but never quite hitting the mark, staying there, or getting under it. 

Now, I’ve found a weight loss system which is working for me and I’m finally making new lows. I would like to lose another 4 kilos, and then see how I feel. Perhaps I’ll try for 5 more, perhaps I’ll be happy where I’m at. 

With a couple of dozen books now published, my weight coming down and my savings going up, (and with no real idea of where to stop with my savings), I finally feel somewhat successful. I make consistent money trading and I never tire of that. It’s fun. I expect to hit my targets by August next year and if that appears to be a long way off, I’m pacing myself, to do it comfortably. 

I’ve made a lot of changes to my diet over the years and am pleased to have not gained weight, but it’s been an elusive mark, to lose just that final 4 kilos. Right now, I feel it’s going to happen and that’s a bit exciting. It’s taken a lot of ‘tweaking’, but I think I’ve got it worked out now and I am seeing those final few kilos coming down.

In thinking about that, I’ve tentatively marked the spot on the calendar…as I said, August next year I should have hit my goal weight and have a nice sum of money in the bank. It’s been a long slow haul and at times, incredibly frustrating, but this is the first time I can actually see myself there. 

With a couple of dozen books on Amazon, I can now really see and believe in myself as an author. I can now see success as an author and as a trader and that’s exciting.

I’ve had a lot of fun along the way. Had some great experiences, as well as difficult days, but I’m pleased to say; I have way more great days (ideal days, the ideal day that I wrote I’d like to live, all those years ago) than difficult ones and that’s something I can be proud of. 

I’m thrilled with my new book; I Think I Have Fairies In My Garden. I’m really pleased with how trading is going. I’m excited to be hitting new lows, with weight loss and new highs with dollars in the bank. By Jove; I think I’m going to make it!!!

Probably the hardest part initially, was all the books on positive thinking said people were making it after 2 years. As the years and years ticked over, I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with me. It’s hard to have confidence in oneself, when one isn’t getting the results everyone else seems to get, in the time frame everyone else seems to be getting them. Perhaps that says something about how low I was, how much I had to work through, and how deeply rooted Satan was in my life, before I could see positive results.

Would I have gone ahead with it all, knowing it would take this long? Probably, because the alternative for me was dire, as I was suicidal way back then (it’s been 20 years). And all the ‘fun’ parts along the way, have made the whole thing worthwhile, in spite of how long it’s taken.

Now, if anyone asks what I do, I can proudly say I’m an author. I used to say it, without much conviction, now I can say it in truth. 

I am an author, who also trades commodities and currency on the stock exchange!

If you’re working towards something, which appears out of reach to you at this time; don’t quit. Hang in there. Hang in there, in spite of the difficulties and dramas and one day you too, will see the success you desire.

The Horror of the Human Condition

 

We go through the twists and turns of life knowing we can do more, be more, have more and yet we’re disappointed in ourselves, because we haven’t reached our full potential. We know we can be more than we are, but we procrastinate. We don’t do as we ought. We don’t manage our time, our money, or our relationships well.

We berate ourselves, for falling short of what we think we could be. We feel shame and guilt and this causes stress and anxiety. We know we should eat healthy and exercise and yet we don’t do it. We don’t like the way we look and we berate ourselves all the more.  

We don’t like the way we behave either. We can be mean, condescending, and downright brutal at times and we don’t like ourselves for behaving this way.

We also don’t need to stay this way.

We don’t need to change everything today. We just need to take one small step of action.

Changing one thing today, will make us better than we were yesterday and it will give us hope for a better tomorrow. Hope is fundamental to enjoying life. A hopeless life puts us in a downward spiral and that’s no way to live life. To have a joyous life, we need to give ourselves something to hope in and hope for. 

We can start with having less cigarettes (drop one or two today and next week try for more) or eating an apple instead of having that biscuit. Perhaps alcohol or drugs are the issue. Do what it takes, to make one small step today. Is it a phone call, a doctor’s appointment you need? Can you throw out all sugars from your home? Remember; one small step today.

We can start with walking, instead of sitting on the lounge doing nothing, even if all we start with is 5 minutes. We can build from there. And that may be only one small action today, but let’s say we take another action tomorrow and another one and another.

In a year, or two years, or three years, you’re going to be in a much better place and feel better about yourself, but only if you take action and what better time than today? It all starts with you and it starts with one small action.

Don’t try to lose 25 kilos, when that’s never worked for you before. Try to lose 1 kilo and then another and then another. Small actions every day.

And sure, you may not be where you want to be next week, or even in 6 months but you’ll be so much better off than where you are right now, if you take action and keep at it.

You don’t have to change everything today, there just has to be some action. Without action, nothing changes. Even a small action is better than no action.

If you get to a point where you have improved 50% on where you are now, how much better will you feel about yourself?

We all want to manage the world and half of us can’t even manage our own home.

Start with looking after yourself. Start to mend relationships. Start taking care of your finances. Eat healthy, get exercise, tidy your house and move on from there.

Because you can’t change the world until you can change yourself and until you can change yourself, no-one’s going to take you seriously anyway. No one’s going believe in you, if you want to change the world and can’t manage your own depraved behaviour. 

And maybe you don’t want to change the world. You might just want a better life for yourself. It still takes action on your part. So take yourself seriously!

Start with you, then your family, then your home, and then your finances and then you can tackle community. Because you will want to help others, once you’ve seen the positive results you get.

Don’t try to do it all at once, just start with one small step, one step at a time. Change something every day, until it becomes the new normal for you.

Also, stretch yourself past your limits. We feel fear and get stuck in fear. And if we don’t move out of fear, nothing changes and we spiral downhill. One small change is all you need to start with.

So set your goals, but before you set your goals, determine your values. If your values don’t line up with your goals, you will have greater difficulty manifesting those goals. 

If you think you have to work hard to earn money, then you’ll self-sabotage any idea you come up with, for ‘easy’ money. Your values have to line up with your goals. It is possible to work towards your goals and succeed, but you won’t have to work as hard, if your goals line up with your values. 

A core value to you might be that successful people are stingy people and although that’s not necessarily correct, that’s just the way you’ve seen it happen. 

You don’t want to be seen as stingy, so unconsciously (this is not something you’re particularly conscious of doing) you’ll do something to hamper your success (and it could be anything which hampers you), because subconsciously you don’t want to be seen as stingy. You might wonder why it works this way and I can’t tell you this. All I know is; it happens.

Do you know why people don’t make new year’s resolutions? It’s because they’ve never followed through and achieved any new year resolution they’ve made. When you make a resolution and don’t follow through with it, you weaken your muscle memory for next time and eventually you come to the conclusion; “I don’t bother making resolutions. They never work anyway,” and so you don’t try.  

Don’t wait though, for new year. Don’t even wait for Monday. Start today. Start while you have a little motivation happening and go for it. 

So, it’s simple; determine your core values, set your goals, make an action plan, start small and go for it.  

You are free to do as you like.

 

You are free to do as you like!

You’re free to smoke, you’re free to become an alcoholic, you’re free to sell your body. You’re free to do all sorts of negative things. You’re also free to do as you ought. You’re free to say no, to that which isn’t good for you and yes to that which is.

Often God gets the blame when things go wrong, but if we truly stop and ask ourselves how we contributed to where we are, we’ll find we did have free will, to make wrong decisions. Does that mean accidents don’t happen? Of course not. Things go wrong in life. Life’s hard. 

Even the bible states; you will have troubles. Life is hard. People we love get sick and die. Who do you know, ate all the wrong foods and got diabetes? Who do you know, who smoked and now has lung cancer? Who do you know, did all the right things and died anyway? Life doesn’t always give us what we want. But we can help things to a certain degree. We can make good choices and have good outcomes. 

Finances are a similar thing. Are you spending all you have, to impress people you don’t know and who don’t care? Finances are flexible, you just need to learn to manage them, to have them work for you and not against you.

If you’ve started a business and have found finances aren’t quite what you were hoping for when you started, it will help if you have an understanding about money. You might have thought the business would take off and flourish, but you’ve ended up with the opposite. 

You might have even thought, the passion you have in doing what you love was enough. However, I ask you; how much study did you do, before you invested in that business?  Go to the library, if you can’t afford books and borrow books on business and investing. Perhaps there’s a seminar on finances, in your area, that you could attend.

It’s the little things, the boring and mundane things, the things which you think aren’t all that important, that’s going to get you over the line. Things like making a budget, working out the costings of that one item, to ensure you’re selling it at a profit. 

There’s not many of us who like making budgets. Most of us want to stay home and party, but I gotta tell ya; A disciplined self is a self of power. Imagine taking the one thing you hate about yourself and changing it. That’s discipline! And when you do change that one aspect of your life, you feel empowered. That’s an amazing feeling. 

To become unfit and unhealthy takes years of wrong actions. It’s easy to be consistently broke, just keep spending. Or you can take control of your health, your relationships, your finances, or whatever it is, you don’t like about your life. You are free to do as you like.

One moment of carelessness and life can become wrecked. It’s hard to stay committed all the time and it’s easy to say; I’m free to do as I like. However, you do have moral obligations and if you work with those obligations, it will help you turn your life from one of constant troubles and hardship, to one of peace, joy and success.

The choice is yours. There are no moral holidays. You’re not free to drink and drive. Well you are, but the consequences can be quite dire and I wouldn't recommend it. 

If you want a successful life, you need to do what successful people do. Successful people do what the majority don’t want to do. They get up early and focus on their goals. Successful people don’t procrastinate and waste very little time watching tv, playing computer games, or reading trashy magazines. Successful people have plans in place and act on those plans, without excuse. 

There’s plenty of books and you tube messages on the internet, which tell you how you can become a success, so why aren’t we reading and listening to that? Because it takes action. It takes doing what the majority of people won’t do, of doing what’s difficult, even when we don’t feel like doing it. But I put it to you; if you set a goal and constantly work at it, at some point, you will achieve that goal, if you don’t quit.

You can create a vision board, or write a goals list. Write the goal, post a picture, whatever works for your creativity level. Add the steps, which get you there and go for it. Simple. The above photo, of a vision board, or goal setting board is a relatively simple one, as an example only. You can make these boards as elaborate as you like. Have a look on line and you’ll see some really imaginative ones, or as they say: KISS (Keep it simple, smarty).

We’re not born successes. We work at it, one step at a time and we are free to choose, to do as we like, or to do as we ought.

Curry Pork with Cauliflower Rice

 

         Curried Pork and Cauliflower Rice.

            Serves 4. Cooking time varies.

Curried Pork;

3 pork scotch steaks, cut into cubes

1 brown onion, diced small

¼ jap pumpkin cut into cubes

2 tbls red curry paste

I tin coconut cream

1 tblsp soy sauce

Green beans for garnish

Cauliflower rice;

¼ cauliflower, chopped into rice sized bits

1 brown onion, chopped

Pinch of saffron powder (turmeric, will do if you have no saffron)

2 tsp chicken stock powder

Chopped shallots for garnish. Parsley or coriander, if you have no shallots.

Method;

Place all ingredients for curry pork, except beans, in pressure cooker. Turn on high can cook for 40 minutes. You can use a slow cooker for this dish and leave it 4 hours on high, or 6 hours on low, if you don’t have a pressure cooker. 

Place green beans on a plate, on their own and steam in microwave, 1 ½ minutes.

Serve, with beans on top of the meat dish.

For the cauliflower rice;

Place chopped cauli and onion in fry pan, with a dash of olive oil. Fry for a few minutes, then add chicken stock and saffron. Mix well, cooking for 5 more minutes. 

Chop shallots on an angle. Serve cauli rice and top with shallots.