| The Miracle of Mindfulness - Thich Nhat Hanh |
| ISBN 0-7126-4787-2 |
A couple of months ago I was sharing a drink (or three) with a good friend in a Dublin pub. We were talking about life, success and happiness – with a little bit of psychology thrown in.
The guy beside us leaned over “So, do you believe that we control our own destiny?” Having discussed our response that we believe we do, he asked “And do you agree with Richard Dawkins that there is no God?”
Having said that I’d love to have the time to write a response to Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion”, and pick a load of factual holes in it, I said that I agreed that there is no supernatural God – it’s just that normal people are so small-minded that they cannot even begin to fathom the power of a natural God.
“I tested the theory that there is a God” our companion said. “I wanted to see how people would react to Jesus’ second coming” he continued. “So, one evening, after overtime, I went into the toilet and took off all my clothes, shoes, underwear, the lot – and strolled out through an office that was still three-quarters full.
I strolled up Grafton Street (one of Dublin’s busiest shopping streets, on a late-opening Thursday evening) and into one of the big shopping centres – and nobody paid a blind bit of notice. I was another mile away before a police car pulled up beside me and whisked me away. The moral of the story is that, even if I was Jesus, no-one noticed and, on top of all that, I spent three months in a psychiatric unit.”
The people you meet in a Dublin pub!!
Another “New” year is upon us – but what has changed? Research (in the Universities of Chicago, Milan, Harvard – the list is quite long!) tells us that, in general, normal people lead repetitive lives where little ever changes.
Sure, you might have made an important career change, met the love of your life (for now!), launched a new business, or captained your club on their way to winning the cup in 2008. But, so what! Little, under the skin (personal or corporate) ever really changes.
How many New Year resolutions were a repeat of a previous year’s? Does this year’s new business target or budget build on last year’s performance? Are you just going through the motions? What constrains normal people and organisations from rising, spectacularly, above the norm? And wouldn’t you like to know how spectacularly successful people do it – because there are common threads between them all.
The universities conclude that approximately 96% of us are normal. I use the word normal derogatorily – because the same research indicates that normal people use less than 1% of their mental energy – consigning them, in turn, to normal, repetitive lives – where nothing spectacular ever happens.
This January I celebrate thirteen years of enabling normal people be a little abnormal – or, put another way, helping ordinary people live their lives a little extraordinarily.
You see, some people are different – some organisations are different. We all know them – names that trip off our tongue like everyday language. Muhammed Ali, David Beckham, Nelson Mandela, Microsoft, Michael Johnson, Nike. Granted, an odd list when put side by side – but, extraordinarily successful people behave differently from the average idiot – they behave abnormally.
How? They are more focussed, single-minded and clear about what they want out of life. They can see, feel, hear, smell and taste their success – even before they have achieved it. Their secrets are spelled out in the words I’ve just used.
Focussed, clear, single-minded – means they don’t allow their minds wander aimlessly the way a normal person’s mind wanders – the way, no doubt, your mind has wandered as you read these words. Unlike normal people, the spectacularly successful don’t beat themselves up about the past (they learn from it) nor do they worry about the future. They have the kind of here-and-now energy that enables them simply do, without procrastination, what needs to be done – effectively. You know, we all know, what that can be like – we all have that natural high from time to time – when you get so much done with such little effort. Like when you’re up against a deadline, or immersed in what you’re doing – and you feel that time flies.
Successful people eat, sleep and drink their objectives – as if they have them already – and sometimes that can be obsessive. Really successful people, however, find balance in their lives – the kind of balance we all seek – where our business or career is sweet, and our achievement brings others with us. Where we get well rewarded and we have loads of time to indulge in the things that really turn us on.
That level of success is attainable everyday – personally, corporately, financially, health-wise and in our personal relationships.
Do you want that kind of success? Why shouldn’t you have your cake and eat it? Even if you regard yourself as a success already (and none of my clients come to me as failures seeking a magic bullet) all the research indicates that that success is measured against such a pathetic norm that, in reality, life can offer you so much more – effortlessly.
The secret to that kind of success? Simply be focussed, single-minded and clear. Gurdy shows you how, step-by-step, to be all that you can be. By taking control of your mental energy – by investing more than 1% of it in what you’re doing, you’re bound to get an awful lot more out of life.
My clients’ testimonials are full like ‘phenomenal’, ‘life-changing’, ‘unbelievable’, ‘profound’, ‘astounding’ and ‘inspiring’ to describe their new-found ability to live life to the full. You can experience that kind of life, everyday, effortlessly.
2009 needn’t be another year, simply built on the foundations of what has gone before – 2009 can be a quantum leap for you. It’s simply a question of setting your mind to what you really, really want.