Use the sounds and "distractions" around you to pay attention to the reality of the here and now non-judgementally. We often think that "mental exercising" is something solely to be done in the privacy of our own home (or, sometimes, car) but, surely, the real point of this mental exercising is to pay attention to the here and now. So, do it now - use the now to practice being in the now.

As we said in the last Ezine, with all change, there comes loss - for everything I chose, there is something I don't chose, for every direction I take, I do not take an alternative direction. And, sadly, we're not very good at taking any action or direction or making any choice that takes us beyond our comfort zone. Heaven forbid, we might actually start enjoying life! And, as a complete aside, if you're Irish you'd then feel guilty about enjoying yourself (I really did believe that Irish people have the monopoly on guilt until an Englishman put me right on that!!).

But, I digress. We don't like change because we're wired to resist it - it's part and parcel of our evolutionary baggage. In fact, everything about how our body and mind are managed by the autonomic nervous system ensures that we live life in a narrow band where only minor deviation from the norm is tolerated: our bodies only operate within a very slim temperature range, we have similarly tight operational parameters when it comes to hydration or dehydration and, in exactly the same way, our psychological autopilot dictates that we don't stray outside what is now commonly called our comfort zone. To do so could, twelve or twenty thousand years ago, prove fatal. Today, it's proving fatal but only very slowly... death by a thousand self-inflicted cuts - of opportunities missed or shunned because they would make me feel uncomfortable, of actions long-fingered because I don't normally do that kind of thing, of a life passing by the window of my not all that comfortable comfort zone.

It's only when we disengage the autopilot, that we set both our evolutionary and personal baggage down, that we can start effortlessly doing what we need to do to get to where we want to really and tryl go.

• Purposefully focus - it doesn't come naturally, we're actually "wired" to not focus
• Set goals in a way that energizes your subconscious into focused effortless action
• Make your very best decisions and solve problems with ease - your brain can do this effortlessly
• Banish stress - we're ordinarily "wired" to be stressed