Welcome back to my weekly blog. 

Today, we return to a deeper investigation of the six pillars that make up a meaningful, complete and most importantly of all - a happy life. Remember my premise right at the start because it is key to living the life you were totally born to live. "You are meant to have an amazing life!" It's that simple - you really are meant to have an amazing life, and hopefully by adopting some of the strategies I've been suggesting, you can begin to do exactly that. 

The fourth important factor that limits us from being the best we can possibly be is; fear, doubt, anxiety, and worry. These emotions effectively rob us of so many of the wonderful opportunities that are presented to us every single day. We spend hours of our precious time on this planet worrying about things that are outside of our control; that we can do absolutely nothing about anyway; so much so that we forget, or miss the chances to experience the things that can bring us the joy and the happiness that every one of us so richly deserves. The key is to live in the PRESENT!

Now, I've written a number of blogs in the past about these particular emotions, but they are that critical to us living the life we deserve that they warrant a recap. I cannot stress enough just how debilitating and soul-destroying worry and fear can be. There are so many people who are literally paralyzed by fear or anxiety and consequently they are selling themselves short of the joy, the sense of achievement, and the thrill of trying something new.   

I believe the very title of this blog today sums up one of the most important thing that we need to get into our heads, as human beings; "There Is No Tomorrow!" To put it as simply as I can; tomorrow just does not exist - it has not been created yet. What tomorrow holds is an exact reflection of what we do, how we react and how we live our lives TODAY! All the gurus say we have to live more in the present; but what exactly does that mean? 

To me, it simply means that we must focus everyday on the things that are happening right now. How we live our life today will, with an absolute certainty reflect back on how our lives unfold, when tomorrow is finally created. 

Exactly the same thing applies to yesterday. Yesterday is gone, buried, and dealt with. Nothing we did yesterday can be changed or undone. The ONLY thing that we have any control over at all is how we behave, and what we do today. This is what "living in the present" really means. It is about letting go of any disappointments, arguments, problems, mistakes or conflicts that occurred yesterday and ensuring that what we do today will not result in those same results. 

Similarly, forget about what tomorrow may or may not bring - remember tomorrow is the sum of what you do and achieve today; so by focusing on this very moment, you are creating your own tomorrow. You are in control - you are the creator; but only if you live in the present; the here and now. 

So, how does this relate to and counter our fears, our anxieties, our doubts and our worries. 

I get it - we live in a seemingly dangerous, confusing, fast-paced, constantly changing, and at times quite frightening and bewildering world. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant stream of negativity that we are exposed to on a daily basis. 

How do we stop ourselves from worrying?

Let's address first of all our concerns and worries about what happened yesterday. When I say yesterday, I actually mean every yesterday, that ever there was, in your life. I know for so many people, they have this tendency to dwell in the past - to self-flagellate themselves about their perceived mistakes and the failures that they feel they had made before. So often this fear of repeating the same mistakes, facing the same humiliation, and feeling like a failure, absolutely stops them from ever trying anything new again. They have dreams, they have plans, they have great ideas; but always it is easier to remain in their "comfort zone" and avoid the possibility of failure.

What you think of as being YOUR fear of failure, is in fact not you at all. It is an insane little creature that lives inside your head called your ego. When you think that you are busily telling yourself that you are a loser, that you can't possibly do that cool thing you really want to, or implement that brilliant idea that you came up with; remember that is not the real YOU talking, it is your ego!

Failure is not to be feared - failure is a good thing because it is the very FIRST step on the road to success. People who avoid failure at all costs, also avoid success, and achieve mediocrity, at best. If you want to achieve and be the greatest you that you can possibly be; the fear of failure must not be your watchword - what you have to do is to actually make a start, and then persist. 

What if you push your fear away and try something new; but you don't initially succeed? Will the world end? Will the sun still rise tomorrow? Actually, two wonderful things will have happened to you.

• You will feel immense pride in yourself for having tried something new that you've always wanted to try. Perhaps for the very first time you will have given some new idea, endeavor or adventure your absolute best effort and there is immense satisfaction to be had in that. This is where you get your true growth, as a person, from. This is where you get to fall in love with yourself (which is critical to your ultimate success); and 

• You are now experienced at whatever you tried. Sure you made mistakes, and maybe even some poor decisions, but you can use those as building blocks for the next time. You will not make those same mistakes again.

Very few people get it "right" first time - but here's the rub; if you don't participate in the race, you sure as hell can't win it. You want to do all these things; whatever they are. They are the things that give you passion, joy, excitement and achievement - and it is your right to do them; but if you don't even try because you are paralyzed by memories of past failures, you have condemned yourself to nothing more than mere existing. 

Let go of the past and embrace the "now".

People often say to me; "how can I not worry about the future?" They will mention things like; the world is such a frightening place; what with crime, terrorism, sexual predators, job insecurity, the economy, and on and on - the future is just such an enormous unknown that's it's impossible not to worry about it and...what about the world our children will inherit? It's such a worry.

My answer is always the same; "There is no tomorrow!" This great unknown that so many of us are so frightened of, is out there somewhere - in the future; but the future has yet to be created. You are the only person who actually can create your future and more importantly, the ONLY thing that you personally can control is YOU. If you want to ensure your future has all the things that you dream of and aspire to; then what you do today and how you live today will create that future. There is only today.      

If you spend all your time worrying about and focusing on all the bad things that might, just possibly happen in the future, then guess what - that's exactly what you future will hold. You will have attracted to yourself the people, circumstance and conditions that you focused on today. You will force the Universe to deliver to you the very things you desire to avoid - How nonsensical would that be? 

I read an interesting comment the other day that may or may not be true, but for me it does have the ring of common sense about it. "Only 8% of the things we were worrying about this time last year, actually came to pass". So why are we spending all our time worrying about that eight percent. 

I'm not suggesting you don't plan for the future; that you don't set goals for the future; or that you live for today, at the expense of the future. That would be just as silly as actually worrying about the future. Set those goals, have those dreams, and aspire to that greatness; BUT remember, unless you actually do something about it today, they can never come true.

I have a couple of extremely effective and practical ways of combating our natural fear of the unknown. 

First and foremost; try to make a deliberate effort to cut down on all the negative, scary diet of news that we are constantly bombarded with every single day. I actually cut all media from my life for an entire month and I was literally stunned at the positive effect it had on my day, on my demeanor, on my attitude, and just on my general temperament. We tend to think we're just keeping up with the news; but what we really are doing is passively feeding our fears, our anxieties and that voracious little ego inside our head that wants to scare us silly into doing nothing. 

Find something else, positive to do in those times you would normally watch the news, read the paper or surf the websites - How about writing down a list of the things you plan to achieve this year and making an actual start on one or two of them? Now there's an idea! 

You are not going to make your future what you want it to be by sitting on the couch being bombarded by negativity every day. You don't have to be as extreme as I was, but just removing some negativity will result in a surprisingly positively enhanced day. Give it a try - what have you got to lose?

My second suggestion will no doubt have many of you up in arms, but it is equally as important, if not more so than my first. Surround yourself with a circle of friends who are positive and supportive and are seeking the same path as you. There's an old saying; "you are the average of your five closest friends"; and like all cliches or truisms, there is a solid foundation of truth in that. 

I know how hard it is to cut people from your life; especially people who are closely related to you, or with whom you have been friends since grade school; but the reality is that many of our so called "friends" actually revel in criticizing us, bringing us down, gossiping about us, or constantly complaining, whinging and moaning about their lives and the injustices done to them. These people are hurting you and you need to create distance from them. Even if it is impossible to actually "jettison" them, and I do understand that; at least spend as little time with them as possible, 

Surround yourself with people; who share your vision of life; who lift you up and praise you, when you try something new; who will always offer their advice, their time and their skills to help you achieve what you want to achieve. In today's exciting, interconnected world it is so much easier to find these people than it has ever been before. 

Your time on this planet is short - don't waste a second of it in negative, destructive and ultimately useless personal interaction. You owe it to yourself. If you are the best you can be, you automatically can help others achieve their dreams also.      

The last food for thought I'd like to pass on today is a simple method (that I actually use) to help create the wonderful, exciting, happy, purposeful life that you were born to live - that you absolutely and totally deserve to have. It's a method developed by a man called Andy Shaw and it is as simple, as it is effective:

• Decide NOW (this very moment) what it is you truly desire to have or do in the future.
• Experience having, or doing that thing, completely and utterly, inside your own mind, until what it is you desire to have or do is already part of your own reality. 
• When you have achieved what you want in your own mind then set about working diligently to bring it into everyone else's reality. 

It's a simple technique, but an incredibly powerful one and most important of all, it works.

CHOOSE TO BE FEARLESS - EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITIES AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS! 

Have a great life and spread the love! 

 Changing the world – one reader at a time!  

Hi, and welcome back to my weekly blog. I do realize that we are in the middle of a six week series of blogs on self-discovery; but I will beg your indulgence and hope you won't mind me departing from our topic for just one week. I promise you we will get back to discovering our inner selves next week. 

This week and especially yesterday has been an amazing time for me and I just wanted to share some of that experience with those of you who read my blog, plus I really want to make some comments on publishing and especially self-published or "indie" authors. 

As an author, I think it is fair to say that the "Holy Grail" for us is and always will be, publication. This week I have achieved my "Holy Grail" with the publication of my first novel; "The Second Coming". It has been a time of immense excitement and euphoria that I just wanted to share with everyone.  

Before I discuss my own personal journey though, I would just like to say a few words about books in general. 

The world of publishing has been turned on its head in the past decade. No longer do the big publishing houses have all the say; no longer do just a few elite writers have the opportunity to be published and no longer does the aspiring author have to wade through hundreds of rejection letters just to try and secure a literary agent, let alone a publisher. Technology has changed forever the ability of people to access the publishing process. Independent authors are indeed a rising force in the publishing game. Self-publishing is not only an option it is now a doable and achievable option for just about anyone. THIS IS A GOOD THING! 

I've heard and read many opinions on this issue and the most common complaint I hear (especially from the entrenched "big name" authors) is that the self-publishing revolution has "dumbed down" the literary market. They suggest that the poor quality of writing, the poor quality of editing and the poor quality of the finished product destroys the very integrity of the published book. To this I say POPPYCOCK! 

I have two absolutely inalienable beliefs about books: 

1. Reading is VITAL to good physical, mental and social development for every single person. and; 
2. There is no such thing as a BAD book. 

Let me illustrate my first point. In this mad, rapidly changing, hectic, fast-paced world, our children are subjected to 90 percent visual stimuli; be it television, video games, computers or just their own observations. Visual stimulation is good, don't get me wrong, but what it also is, is often passive. It doesn't usually require, in general terms, our children to think, to imagine and to fantasize, but merely to react. Those functions are exactly what our children need from an early age to stimulate the parts of their brains that deal specifically with creativity. 

I consider myself blessed in that I grew up at a time when all this visual stimulation was simply not available. What I learnt about the world, about people, about relationships and about ideas, I learnt from books. I had to use my mind to create the visual images that were written on the page. I am absolutely convinced that it was this early exposure to mental stimuli that made me into the writer I am today. 

I am sure we all remember as children how books allowed us to escape our boredom and transport ourselves to exciting, fantasy worlds of adventure and deering-do. It was an absolute joy and a treasure. It does concern me that many of our children are missing out on this amazing opportunity. My one advice to parents on this issue: Next birthday, next Christmas, just for a change give your child a book, instead of the latest game, the latest DVD or the latest subscription to XBox360 or whatever - in thirty years time that child will thank you.

Secondly, my construct that there is no such thing as a BAD book, I'm sure will have many people throwing their hands up in horror - yet I firmly do believe this. 

What is a book? 

To me, it is a collection of an individual's ideas, their fantasies, their personal recollections or their perspective on an issue, or on life in general. I hold the belief that everyone's opinions, ideas, dreams, ambitions, views, etc are not only valid, they are rightfully expressible. If they chose to use the medium of the written word to express them; then, I say, all power to them. 

Sure, I may not agree with or in some cases I might totally disagree with what they write, but I do believe it is their inalienable right to do so, and the new publishing landscape now allows them the freedom to do just that. That is a GOOD thing. 

The biggest objection made about self-publishing and independent authors is that they have flooded the market with poorly written, under-priced (says the big publishers), atrociously edited and sloppily presented books. There is some truth in that, I won't deny it; but if as these elite authors contend these books are SO bad, as good free-enterprisers I'm sure they would agree that the market will find them out very quickly, and they will sell very few books - so why worry about them anyway.

What I have found personally is that yes, self-published and especially self-edited books can be full of errors and typos and indeed they can be frustrating, but I'll use an example of one I read recently to show that it is not necessarily a bad thing.  

This particular book was a first novel by a young, new author. I found numerous typos and misplaced words within the story which did somewhat frustrate the flow of reading his book, but you know what else I found in this book: I found insightful comment on the futility felt by many young people in today's society; I found exciting, fascinating and incredibly colorful descriptive writing that immediately transported me to the places the writer wanted to take me; I found interesting and varied language that I enjoyed. Despite the errors, I enjoyed the book very much. 

This writer has talent, this writer has something interesting and worthwhile to say - something we would never have had the opportunity to read if it wasn't for the rise of self-publishing. I did review the book and I suggested the author re-edit the book and put it back on sale as a Second Edition - a very easy thing to do in this world of digital ebooks. I hope he takes my advice and I hope he continues writing because he has real ability with the written word.

The author's name is Bodhi Alvarez and his novel is called; "Masturbating With Strangers". If you are interested in reading my review of his book and maybe considering reading it for yourself, you can access it here: http://grantleishman.weebly.com/book-reviews/masturbating-with-strangers-bodhi-alvarez

There endeth the sermon for today: 

Now a few brief words about my own personal journey to the release of my first book: The journey from conception to birth of "The Second Coming" has certainly been longer than the normal nine month gestation period and has produced a number of "scares" and "close calls" along the way, but most of all it has been a trip of great fun, excitement and ultimately joy.

I think it was around September 2013 that I finally had the epiphany that I was way too young to retire and be a house-husband, a kept man, or even a gigolo. Realizing that writing was what gave me the most pleasure in life, I determined that writing was to be my future; but if I was going to be a writer, then what was I going to write? In my naivety I just assumed that writers write novels, so I would write a novel - "I mean, how hard can it be? Plenty of people do it."

It was only after four months of trying different ideas, different stories, different genres that the concept of "The Second Coming" struck me one day, out of the blue. As I'm sure most writers do; I often sit and contemplate that one big question; "What if?" It just hit me one day as I was pondering my total lack of progress to date; "What if God got so absolutely sick of man's inhumanity to man that in a fit of rage he decided to destroy the earth and start again?" The whole concept grew from that initial question; "What if?" 

By this stage I already had three different manuscripts of three very different stories and ideas composting away on my computer (incidentally all three stories are still there and have progressed no further since). I clearly had no idea how to progress past the exciting first chapter. Luckily I read one piece of advice that saved me from "newbie" author oblivion - "Just One Step at a Time!" Once I began "The Second Coming" I followed that advice to the letter. I wrote the first chapter and invariably the ideas for the next chapter would come to me, before I completed it. 

When I started, I knew what my first chapter was about; I knew what the ending was going to be,  but that tiny, little, bit in between....well, that was just a blank. By focusing on one chapter at a time though I was able to progress at what I thought was a remarkable pace. By the end of June 2014 my novel was finished! Hallelujah! Or so I thought.

OMG - Who knew editing was such a time-consuming, painful and at times soul-destroying task (not me, that's for sure!) I sure as hell could not afford a professional editor (in the future I hope that might be the case; but this time it was all my own work).

Ultimately it took me until around the end of August or early September 2014 before I pronounced myself satisfied with my work, but the absolute truth is we are NEVER entirely satisfied with our work. Even yesterday as I was flicking through the completed book when it arrived, I looked at something and thought; "damn, I should have done that a bit better". But I suspect that is just the nature of most writers - we do tend to be perfectionists and we are horrified when we see something could have done better; especially when it is too late to change it.

I'm done - Hallelujah! Or so I thought.  

At the end of the day you're not a real author until you're published. Try as I might to convince myself otherwise, I knew deep down that it was a truism. Besides, I wanted to be published - I didn't pour my heart out onto this computer keyboard just for my own entertainment and elucidation (although that is definitely part of the process); I  really, truly wanted others to derive pleasure from what I'd written also. But how? 

In my absolute naive "newbie" mind I thought I could just send it off to Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, or whoever, and then sit back and wait for the offers to pour in. Twenty seconds of research quickly made me realize I had a monumental task in front of me. Imagine my angst when I discovered that not only could you not communicate directly with the publishers - even those that could (i.e. literary agents) were incredibly picky and choosy about who they represented. Apparently just finding a literary agent to represent me was going to be potentially impossible, 

So, what were the other options? If I was even moderately well-off, I could hire all the people I needed to publish my novel. There seemed to be a plethora of self-publishing companies offering their editing, cover designing, formatting and publishing options to independent authors. I have no doubt that these companies perform a wonderful service and fill a very important place in the publishing world, but they were not for me - I couldn't afford an editor, let alone anything else...so what hope was there? What was left? 

That was when I discovered crowd-funding.    

There are many types of crowd-funding websites out there, some even dedicated to authors wanting to publish; such as Pubslush and so I began the process of checking out which was best for me, asking questions of fellow authors, and preparing to make a decision. 

Whilst trolling through the google search engine one day with the criteria being; "publishing crowd-funding" I came across one hit that seemed interesting. It was a small Spanish company called Pentian and they promised that they were going to "revolutionize" the publishing world. Now I've always been one for revolutionizing and shaking up any established institution, so I clicked on it to check it out. 

Pentian published Spanish books, but the first thing I noticed was one English book on the site. Intrigued, I read that Pentian had developed a new type of crowd-funding and more importantly they wanted to expand into the English speaking market. Their point of innovation was that people didn't just put up money to help a new author be published, they actually directly invested in the book. The backers; the people that put up the money for the book to be published, received a proportion of every single sale of that book. 

I loved the idea, so even though I thought my chances were slim, I submitted my manuscript and was amazed, thrilled and overjoyed when it was not only accepted, but Pentian's principal said some really nice things about it. I was stoked - I had a chance.

With the support of some wonderful family and friends, plus a little extra boost from one of Pentian's investors, suddenly on November 17th 2014, my funding was 100% complete. My book was going to be published. 

I've done it! Hallelujah! Or so I thought. 

I'm not going to dwell on the length of time that it took for the book to be finally published (almost exactly seven months,) because at the end of the day Pentian produced a quality product that I am immensely proud of.
 
I have no idea how other authors get on with, and communicate with their publishers, but for me it was a tricky business. There was the language barrier (I often received emails in Spanish.Thank God for Google Translate). Their publishing website was in Spanish and I actually didn't realize some of my responsibilities, until way too late. There was the time difference, which never helped.

The biggest problem that occurred was that of editing. Pentian's general rule was that they never edit manuscripts. I was totally unaware of that and had always presumed my manuscript would be edited by them; as part of the package. It wasn't until the first printed proof copy rolled off the production line that they realized there was a problem.

Kudos to Pentian! They broke their own rules and edited my book. Now herein lies the real lesson about self-editing. I consider myself a pretty good editor (I worked as a reporter for a newspaper for a couple of years) and I had fully copy edited my work on three separate occasions and yet I had missed at least twenty (count them TWENTY) typos, misplaced words or incorrect word usages. It is absolutely true that authors cannot properly edit their own work - I am living proof of that!

Thank you Pentian for saving me from the embarrassment of a badly edited novel hitting the market.  

None of that reduces the absolutely wonderful experience of finally seeing my book for sale on Amazon and Google Play, plus the sheer joy of unwrapping my package of printed copies. It is an awesome feeling and one that will live with me forever. I don't know if the second or third books will evoke quite the same joy and excitement, but I actually suspect they will. I think it might be something that never gets old.

I've done it. Hallelujah! Or so I thought.  

Now I actually have to market the book, so here I am (pictured) begging you to try it. 

I know you'll enjoy it, so do, please consider buying it, reading it, and most importantly of all leaving a review. Authors need reviews, so wherever you buy "The Second Coming" from, please consider just writing a few lines there as a review. It doesn't have to be much - even one word (for example: "AWESOME" would be good) and of course rate it  A review is like food to an Author. Please feed me!

I have included links here to Amazon and Google Play. I haven't yet found it on iTunes, but I'm promised it will be there, so if you're an Apple fan, please search for it: 

http://www.amazon.com/Second-Coming-Grant-Leishman/dp/163503003X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1434783895

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Grant_Leishman_The_Second_Coming?id=isPpCQAAQBAJ&hl=en

How has this journey affected me and what are my feelings now at the end? They can be summed up very simply actually; humility and gratitude. I am so incredibly humbled and grateful for all the amazing love, support and assistance I've received along the way, so it behooves me to spend some time thanking everyone individually. 

First and foremost to the two people who "The Second Coming" is actually dedicated to; my son Chris and to my gorgeous, loving, wife Thess. To Chris who gave me so many ideas, especially at the beginning, when I was struggling and was never afraid to give his Dad a proverbial "kick up the arse" when I was procrastinating, you're amazing son. He was always prepared to read my work and critique it honestly (sometimes too honestly to be fair) - Thanks buddy! 

To my biggest fan, my greatest cheerleader and the woman that rocks my world: Thess, you have been my constant companion on this journey. You have ridden the highs of elation and the depths of frustration with me. You have put up with my moodiness at the slowness of the process, but most of all honey you never, ever doubted me. You believed that this dream would come true and because of you - it did! You are my rock, my lover, my wife and my best friend. I am immensely proud of what you've achieved and are still to achieve. You are AWESOME babes! Sweetheart, I am YOUR biggest fan. Let's keep this ride going ha! 

To Pentian: Thank you for the faith you showed in me and my book. You produced a wonderful product and although the road was rocky and long; you came through. Thank you to Enrique, Cristina and Julio. 

To my Backers: Marilyn, Tracey, Nick, Darren, Nette and Heidi; you guys put up your own money to make my dream come true, and I can never express my gratitude for that enough. My fervent hope is that you will get a wonderful return on your investment. Thank you. 

To my #promocave family: You guys have built an awesome independent author platform that I am just privileged to be a part of. Your support, encouragement and responsiveness has been amazing. To Jorge, Amilcar and Enrique; thanks guys. I look forward to working with you long into the future. 

To my Facebook, Twitter, Pininterest, LinkedIn and other social media friends and followers. Thank you for reading my posts, liking my posts and commenting on them. Your constant support and encouragement means the world to me. 

To all the other wonderful independent authors that I've met on this journey - you are all amazing and you never fail to help a "newbie" when he's stuck. Thank you guys. 

In fact, to anyone who has been part of this process, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 


MARAMING MARAMING SALAMAT PO!              

So where to now for Grant Leishman - Author? 

My second book "Just a Drop in the Ocean" is complete. I just need to get the editing done and it's good to go. 

The sequel to "The Second Coming" is almost 75% complete. It is called "The Rise of the AntiChrist" and principally follows the lives of Maria and JC's two eldest children. 

The third book in the series is entitled "Holy War" and is still just a figment of my imagination, but it is next on the production line.

You can read some information about these books elsewhere on this website under the heading: "My Books" 

After that - well, the skies the limit. We are only limited by our imaginations! 

At the end of the day: Writing truly is the most fun you can have - with your trousers on!

Till next week. 

Here we are now at the third of my six articles on self-discovery - the halfway point and it is appropriate that today we will talk about the most important word in the English language - LOVE! 

For millennium love has been the most talked about, written about, sung about and misunderstood word. 

When we talk about love we are speaking of so much more than the common perception of love for your partner, your family or your favorite things. Love is an all pervasive entity that impacts on every thing we do, think and say, every single day. 

There is a reason why love has always been the at the center of all great religions and faiths. Simply put, love is the ultimate power in the Universe. Everything good, joyful and wonderful in this world and in our lives is brought about by love. Everything negative, sad and destructive in the world and in our lives, is brought about simply; by a lack of love. The key to success and happiness is to "FALL IN LOVE WITH LIFE".

Yes love is an emotion, and probably the most powerful of all emotions, but it is so much more than that - it is a force, a power that drives our very existence. If it were not for love we would not even exist. It was the poet Robert Browning who said; "Take away love and our earth is a tomb". If the force of love were to disappear from the earth tomorrow, humanity would dwindle and eventually die out.

Everything we as human beings take for granted today was originally thought of, designed and created by people who loved what they were doing. If it were not for the Wright brothers' love of the idea of flight, we would not have discovered how to fly. If it were not for people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who had a burning love and passion to create the personal computer we would not have the wonderful variety of technological gadgets that allow us to communicate and save us time and effort every day. Without exception everyone who has achieved great success in life has achieved it through love. By doing what they love, what they believe in and what drives them to get up every morning they have harnessed the power of love to achieve greatness and success. 

What allows these exceptional achievers to reach the heights that they reach is exactly the same thing that resides in each and every one of us. We are complete - there is nothing missing in us or in our makeup. We all have, inside of us, the tools and abilities to achieve anything we desire. The key to success is understanding and harnessing the greatest power in the Universe - Love!

If, as we have discussed previously, our ultimate goal in life is merely the simple one of being happy, then love plays a vital role in achieving that happiness. 

None of us actually wants to do the things we do not love - that would be silly. We all want to spend our lives doing what sets our hearts on fire. We all want to wake every morning bursting to get out of bed and start our day, filled with enthusiasm and excitement for the challenges and rewards that the new day holds. For most of us though this seems just a pipe-dream. We feel locked into lives that we cannot change; we feel we have responsibilities that we just cannot shirk; and we are deathly afraid to take a chance on something new - to take a chance on life. 

I can think of nothing sadder in life than to be sitting back at the end of our days looking back over our journey and saying; "if only". Dr Wayne W. Dwyer says: "Don't die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice, and don't get to the end of your life and say; What if my whole life has been wrong?" We owe it to ourselves to not allow that to happen. YOU deserve the very best - I know I keep repeating this over and over again, but that's because it's true. YOU really are the best. Nobody that has ever lived or will ever live has your unique mix of talents, skills, personality, looks and viewpoint. YOU ARE AWESOME! Once you accept and understand just how incredible you, individually, are as a person you are well on the way to achieving the happiness we all seek.

I'm guessing here that there are some people reading this who are thinking; "Hmmm, he's very good at throwing cliches around, but how exactly am I supposed to 'fall in love with life'?" Well, that's what I'm here for; to give practical, simple steps to achieve our ultimate goal of being happy. 

So, how do you "fall in love with life"? You fall in love with life in exactly the same way you fall in love with another person; you adore everything about that person, you see only good things in that person, you turn away from and ignore any negative things in that person; and you think about and dwell on that person constantly. To apply these to your daily life, here are some simple tips on how to approach life from an attitude of love and to "fall in love with life".

• When you wake up every morning don't get out of bed and start your day immediately. Spend just a few minutes being grateful for all the wonderful things in your life, including the fact that you have yet another day to enjoy in this life. 

• Be optimistic about everything. I often tell the story of the two men who get up in the morning and throw open their windows. One man says; "Good morning God!" whereas the second man says; "Good God! It's morning!" Be that first man! So often we look at situations and events from a pessimistic outlook. Embrace the positive - we live in a world of duality; in every negative situation or event there is always something positive to be found, if you look for it. 

• Stop wandering around in a state of utter unconsciousness. Most of us are totally unaware of our surroundings and the beauty in them. We wander around, either wrapped up inside our own heads planning this or that, or worse still nose down peering at some device or other. Look around you - "smell the flowers!" Even in the most concrete of urban jungles there are beautiful things to be seen. Look for them - put away the electronic devices and see the beauty in nature, in architecture, and in the people that are all around you. 

• Wherever you go and whatever you do, be constantly on the lookout for things you love. Say to yourself as you walk along, or drive along; "I love the shape of that building; I love the smell of those flowers; I love the color of that woman's hair; Oh, I absolutely love that handbag, those shoes, that car, those mountains, that mall etc etc..."

• Make a list of the things you love: I've mentioned before the power of actually writing (or typing) things down. There is a direct correlation between writing something down and the likelihood of it sticking in your subconscious, so make a list of everything you absolutely love. You'll be surprised just how long it can be! 

• Don't criticize, judge or gossip about others. That is not giving love! There is so much to love about everyone we meet; if we look always for the positive in people. We don't know their stories and we can only change one person - ourselves; so "live and let live!" 

• Surround yourself with like-minded people. We become the sum of the people and attitudes of the people we are closest to. If we surround ourselves with negative people who constantly criticize and complain; we will find ourselves constantly criticizing and complaining.      
  

There is so much in this world to love and the more we love, the more goodness and joy will come into our lives. It is important to note that this isn't just about being more positive and optimistic in life. Yes, that in itself is indeed a great attitude to have and should be the aim, but it is what results from this love and positivity that is actually so incredible. 

The Law of Attraction clearly states that what we give; we shall receive. If we give love, optimism and positivity out to the world, then the events, circumstance and people that come into our lives will be loving, positive, and successful. Similarly if we give out despair, sadness, pessimism and negativity out to the world, then the events, circumstance and people that come into our lives will be hurtful, negative, and will drag us down.

I'd like to finish today with an incredible thought for the future: 

If everything negative in this world is brought about by a lack of love, ponder for a few moments the immense power of individuals who actually choose to love. If we all agree that the world needs more love, then what are we waiting for? Let us all make the change and "fall in love with life". If enough of us do we can actually tip the world from negativity into positivity; then just watch the wonders that will occur when that happens.

We live on a gorgeous, beautiful, planet with infinite resources. There is no shortage of anything and when we, as a human race, fully embrace the concept of loving each other, embracing and celebrating our differences rather than fearing or hating them - we will have created the world we were always destined to inherit. Be part of the movement to change our world, by changing yourself. You can and do make a difference.

Till next week:      

In this, the second article of my six-part series on self-discovery, we will look at the role that attitude plays in both improving your own life and the lives of those that you surround yourself with; your loved ones, your friends, your work colleagues and everyone else that you interact with on a daily basis. 

As discussed last week, your thoughts and actions are like ripples on a pond, spreading out, influencing and affecting everyone around you. Most important though your attitude affects YOU! It affects how you feel, how you think and how you act. If you want to succeed at anything you need to ensure your attitude is spot on. Henry Ford said it best, when he said; "If you think you can, or you think you can't, then either way you are right!" If you truly want to achieve something, especially something beyond your normal comfort zone, if you think you can do it; you're well on the way to success, but if you start off the whole process with a list of reasons why you can't achieve your goal - then guess what? You won't! ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!  

The key to success is belief. Most of us desperately want to believe in ourselves, but we allow that insane little creature inside our head (our ego) to convince us that we are just simply not good enough to do it. You know exactly what I'm talking about - you come up with an idea, something you desperately want to try and immediately that little voice inside your head gives you 101 reasons why you can't do it - you're too old, you're not smart enough, you don't have enough resources, you don't know enough about it...and so on and so on, ad infinitum. What your ego is desperately trying to do is protect you from the pain of failure and retain the status quo, 

The status quo is simple, it's comfortable, it's easy, so your ego tries its very best to knock you down at every opportunity and remind you of your perceived shortcomings. What we need to understand is that our ego is NOT us - it is not the real you, it is merely a collection of pre-programmed ideas and concepts that were drilled into us from our very earliest days. You may remember your parents, your teachers or your friends saying things like; "Oh rich people are just lucky, or even worse, all rich people must be crooks; you need to find a stable career, something to support your family; leaders are born, not made - some of us are just meant to be followers; only the really smart people can succeed in life; or perhaps the worst of all, you just have to accept your lot in life, there's nothing you can do about it" As we grow up we accept these things as being gospel and we limit our opportunities and life accordingly. 

NONE OF THIS IS TRUE! You have infinite power inside of you to change anything in your life and in your circumstances - life does not have to happen to you; you can make life happen for you, and it all begins with your attitude.

I love this quote from Rhonda Byrne's book "The Hero"; "It isn't necessary to have big dreams, but if you don't have big dreams; big dreams can't come true." One of the first things that happens when we begin to get "ground down" by life is that we lose the inspiration and ability to dream. Without dreams we are just mere shells of the amazing, awesome human beings that we were meant to be. Dreams, aspirations and goals are what makes us unique in this world. 

Everyone should have big, wild, seemingly impossible dreams - it's what gives us a sense of purpose, of fulfillment and of wonder. If you reach for the stars, even if you don't always make it, you'll surely come closer to heaven. We need to remind ourselves that this is OUR life; not our parent's life, not our bosses life, not our children's life, not even our spouses life - but it is OUR life and we need to work toward making our dreams come true, for our own sake. 

One of the biggest problems I see with people who make a commitment to following their dreams or to set goals, is an immediate attempt to try and map out the path toward success. This is a big mistake! You will never be able to clearly see the path toward achieving your dreams. The key to achieving your dreams, is to actually start out on the road to achieving them - not in trying to figure out how to get there. Whether you believe it is The Law of Attraction, the Power of the Universe, Karma, or just plain good luck doesn't actually matter; the reality is that when you are following your dreams and approaching life with the right attitude; the people, the circumstances and the opportunities WILL appear in your life and will show you the way.

There are as many ways of;  beginning this journey in search of your dreams, as there are "self-help" gurus out there offering to help you on your journey. I'll just share with you the simple method I use, which doesn't involve a hell of a lot of effort, but does get spectacular results. I will have to necessarily credit Andy Shaw of "Creating a Bug-Free Mind" for the essence of this system, because he was the one that taught it to me: 



1/ Get very clear in your own mind what it is you want: 

What is the specific goal(s) you want to achieve? The very best way to do this is to write it down. There is something decidedly effective about expressing your thoughts on paper. Let's take an example from my own life. When I first started writing, I decided my first and my biggest goal was to be a best-selling novelist. That is what I wanted my future career to be, so I wrote down in my list of goals: "I want to write a novel; I want my novel to be published; I want to sell a million copies of my novel. 

Now, it is important to note that I had absolutely no idea how this could be achieved. I knew nothing about the publishing industry, I'd never written anything longer than a University Essay and most importantly of all, I really didn't believe I could do it. Of course, at this point my ego was blasting away at me telling me how stupid I was. "Who do you think you are? You? Write a novel? Get real Grant!" Despite all this swirling around in my head, I just laughed at my ego, and told it - just you wait and see fool!

2/ Live your dream inside of your head; make it a reality for you!

This really is the fun part of the whole process. It involves using our imagination to really feel and experience our dreams come true. You must feel all the emotions you will experience when your dream actually happens. For me it was a case of picturing myself writing the first chapter; the sense of deep satisfaction I felt when I typed; "Chapter 2, on my manuscript. I visualized in my head the entire process of writing the novel. I experienced the joy, the pain and the anguish of the characters in my novel (incidentally this process also gave me some great plot ideas). Finally, I felt and enjoyed the absolute satisfaction of completion - the moment when I looked at my manuscript and boldly typed; THE END. There was a real feeling of elation and contentment in the finishing of a manuscript and I experienced all of that long before I had written a single word.

I also pictured and felt in my mind the joy and pride of holding a book in my hand that bore my name, as the Author. I saw the cover (incidentally my pictured cover bore no relationship to the final actual cover, but that doesn't matter). I actually pictured myself sitting on the floor of my lounge-room ripping open my box of books, holding one up for my wife to photograph, with this enormous grin all over my face. I felt all the excitement and joy that I would experience at that moment.

I have also experienced and lived the thrill of watching my book climb up the Amazon Charts. I have seen it listed in the best-seller's list in its genre. I have even watched the moment when the sales clicked over to one million. It is also worth noting here that the Author page that I have created in my mind has not just one book for sale on it, but many. I have already lived this dream in my mind. It is REAL for me.  

3/ Work diligently to bring YOUR reality into everyone else's reality: 

This is the part where so many of us fall over when we are attempting to follow our dreams. It's not just enough to dream it, to experience it inside our minds, we also have to actually do some work to bring our reality into the world. Again, it is important not to look at the HOW will I achieve my goal. What you need to do is only to focus on one thing that will bring you closer to where you want to be. Rhonda Byrne has a very good quote that describes this perfectly. "You can only EVER take one step at a time, so that's all you actually need to do - take the next step."

For me this was crucial. I had no real idea how to construct a novel; how to write anything longer than a few thousand words. So, all I did was focus on writing the next chapter. Once I had decided what would happen in that chapter, I would set about writing it and a wonderful and mysterious thing happened. Every time I neared the end of the chapter, the idea for the next chapter would spring forth. Before I knew it I had a complete manuscript. This is the beauty of following this system. You don't know how you will succeed, but the Universe does and it will lead you gently down the right path to success. 

Exactly the same thing occurred when it came time to look for a way to be published. I knew nothing of the industry and it soon became apparent that traditional publishing roads were going to be long, tiring, and full of rejection and disappointment. Deciding that wasn't for me, I looked at other options and just like magic I discovered Pentian Publishing a Spanish Crowd-sourcing company who were looking to expand into the English speaking market. I submitted my manuscript and was shocked, excited and overwhelmed when it was accepted. My manuscript was just the second English book they had accepted for publication. 

There are still many parts of my reality that haven't actually been brought into everyone else's reality YET - but I'm just doing what Andy Shaw teaches and working diligently on them; one step at a time. 

I really hope this simple system of making your dreams into a reality gives you some inspiration to try it in your own lives. Remember; "If you think you can, or you think you can't, either way you are right!" GIVE IT A GO AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!          

Before I finish today, I'd just like to give you some quick and simple tips on ways to change your attitude from the negative to the positive:
 
1/ Before you get up in the morning, spend just 5 minutes listing in your head all things you can and should be grateful for.

2/ Read, listen to and watch less news. In fact, why not do what I did and have a total media ban for a month. You'll be amazed at how much the negative news has been subtly impacting on your attitude and thoughts.

3/ When you are walking somewhere, smile at people, for absolutely no reason other than you want to share your good mood and attitude.

4/ We live in a world of duality - for every negative circumstance, there is ALWAYS a positive opportunity. Look for the positive in everything and just turn away from the negative. 

5/ Pay absolutely no mind to anything anyone says about you or does to you. Their opinions cannot hurt you - only your reaction can. Just turn away and be happy and proud of who you really are.

6/ Get into the habit of performing small "random acts of kindness" every single day. They make the recipients day and they also make you feel absolutely awesome. It can be something as simple as standing for a lady or an elderly person on the train or the bus; holding a door open for somebody; or giving a few pesos to an elderly or disabled beggar. It doesn't matter really because once it becomes an ingrained habit for you, the benefits will surely be seen in your attitude, your thoughts and your actions. 
        
7/ Don't listen to, or spread gossip. Gossip really only hurts one person - YOU! You never know the full story of anyone's life, so don't judge them and certainly don't start or pass on rumors or gossip about them. There is only one person in this world you can control and that is you. 

There are many other little tips, but that's a good start, and I'm sure you can come up with many more. In fact, please feel free to leave a comment on this blog, with your ideas and tips. I'm always excited to get new ideas.  

Till next week - have an awesome week and maintain an attitude of gratitude.

As promised in last week's blog, I will spend the next six blogs explaining and expanding on the qualities of life that I mentioned. The first of those was this: "LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD".

Far too often we can easily fall into the habit of assuming that life is a trial, some sort of painful process that we must go through to reach some "mythical" or "promised" destination. For some, that destination might be "heaven", for others it might be "paradise", or it might be some form of "reincarnation", but it is a recorded fact that the vast majority of people do actually choose to believe that this is not all there is - that there is something greater and better to come, in the "hereafter". 

I'm certainly not going to dispute their beliefs or their faith - that is personal to them and I respect every individual's right to choose their own path. For me personally, I do believe in an "hereafter", but only in so far as I know that we are made of energy and energy can never be destroyed, it can only be converted; so what that "hereafter" may look like I have absolutely no idea and even less concern. I (like every single one of you reading this) am eternal. The energy that makes up the essential me always was, and always will be.

No indeed, the hereafter can look after itself. What I am concerned to talk about is the here and now - the PRESENT; this thing we call life. On average most of us will have around 28,000 days of life on this planet (some a little more and some a little less) and what concerns me is how we spend those days. What are we supposed to do with this thing called life? 

If we take my opening comment - "Life is supposed to be good" and examine it, what can we discover? Firstly, if life is meant to be good, then it surely changes our whole outlook on everything we do. If we are meant to live a life filled with joy and happiness, doing what we absolutely love then suddenly we can look at our own lives with new eyes - why are we not experiencing that joy and happiness that we are meant to receive? 

I would pose the question: Does it make any sense that we would be put on this planet to struggle, to suffer and to experience great pain - slaving at a job that neither fulfills us nor excites us just so we can grab a few fleeting moments of joy and pleasure at weekends (if we're lucky)? What would be the point of a life like that? Sadly, for many, that is exactly how they would describe their own lives. 

Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way - life IS supposed to be wonderful.

The impact that we make when we finally realize that to change our lives and our worldly circumstances what we need to do is to change ourselves and the way we think is much greater than you might imagine. The best analogy I've read to illustrate this is what is known as the "butterfly effect". It poetically and eloquently sums up the massive effect that the change in one person's outlook and attitude can have on the rest of the world. "When a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it sets in motion a chain of events that ends with a tornado in Texas." This is exactly what happens when we change our outlook on life, our thoughts, and our actions. By flapping our wings we set in motion a chain of events that impacts firstly on ourselves, our families, our friends, our work colleagues and ultimately on society as a whole. When we choose to embrace life and love life we make a real difference in more than just our own lives. This is the pure beauty of falling in love with life. 

My tag line for my blogs has always been; "Changing the world - one reader at a time!" and this is the perfect example of putting my beliefs into action. I can't change the world in massive strokes - I'm not a world leader, a great politician, a great scientist or a well respected business leader, but if one person makes a positive change in their life after reading one of my blogs, the "butterfly effect" ensures that my actions will spread; like ripples in a pond through that person's family, friends, colleagues and community. I believe we all have this power within us to change the world for the better - and lets be honest this world desperately needs change; it needs salvation and that salvation can only come from within those of us who choose to change.

One of the first things we should understand is that EVERYONE and I do mean everyone that inhabits this beautiful world called Earth has a special and unique talent that can and should be shared with the world. Unfortunately the vast majority of us never get to understand or realize what that unique talent is and deprive ourselves and everyone else of the joy and creativity that they could be indulging in. For me, that unique talent is the ability to share my thoughts, ideas and visions through the written word and although it took me far too many of my 28,000 allotted days to discover that talent, I am now committed and excited to spend the rest of the days I have left doing exactly that - writing. 

I strongly believe that the happiest, most joyful people in the world are those that have discovered their unique talent and have managed to combine it with an ability to earn an income from it. We all know people who are doing what they truly love to do and also making a living doing it - whether they be entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, writers, actors, scientists, doctors, nurses; whatever, by developing and practicing their unique ability they have combined happiness with wealth and for most of us that would seem to be a perfect recipe for life.

So, to answer the question I posed in the title of this blog: Life - Why? In one word the purpose of life is to be HAPPY! All success and fulfillment in life comes from HAPPINESS and happiness comes from the perspective of LOVE. To achieve happiness and fulfillment in life, you really must "fall in love with life" and cease to view it as a trial or a struggle that you must get through. You should wake up every morning excited and thrilled at the opportunities each new day has to offer. Every day of life of our 28,000 days is a true gift and we must treasure and nurture each day as being the absolute wonder that it is. Stop living in the past (regretting the things we did or didn't do); Stop worrying about the future (it will be determined by what you do today) and live 100% in the marvel of the present - of today (for that is all you can ever have and all you can ever influence). 

Now, I want to finish by challenging every single person that reads this blog to do just one thing after having read it.

I don't want you to quit your job and hightail it off to a Tibetan monastery or to an Indian Yogi, or whatever, to seek further enlightenment. I don't even want you to make massive changes in your life. I just want you to do this:

Sometime in the next few days I want you to find some time for yourself. Just thirty minutes where you won't be interrupted by children, by your spouse, or by your electronic devices (in fact turn off your cellphone for thirty whole minutes - can you do that?) I want you to sit down in a quiet room and write a list of what truly excites you, what gives you real pleasure and joy. These can be things you already do (such as hobbies or interests) or they can be things you've always wanted to try (a sort of bucket list), but most importantly they must be things that you know will put you in that place of bliss. 

Now, over the next week I want you to either spend some time indulging in that activity or making concrete plans to try one thing you've always dreamed of trying. When you do this I want you to picture yourself actually participating in that event. I want you to feel the emotion, the excitement, the trepidation even, of trying something new. When you are finished I want you to feel in your mind that you have already achieved it. I want you to feel the excitement and sense of achievement of accomplishing that thing. Most of all I want you to treasure and remember the feeling of bliss you experienced when participating in your activity. 

It is from this type of exercise that your unique talent will make itself aware to you. You will probably receive a massive flash of inspiration or intuition that this is something you are not only good at, it is something that fills you with joy and happiness. This is what life is supposed to be about. 

I'll leave you today with one final thought: Every day this coming week, when you wake up in the morning, before you get out of bed, even before you start to think about the day ahead and what it might hold for you, just say the following sentence to yourself (saying it out loud is even more powerful and effective): "Today I CHOOSE to be happy". The power of those words is enough to set your day off on the right foot. "TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!" 



Have an awesome week and remember always; you are a special, unique child of the Universe. Nobody has the abilities and talents that you have. Be proud of who you are and love life.