When it comes down to it, the vast majority of the choices that we make throughout our lives are in reality inconsequential. The real issue arises when we give too much weight to the perceived consequences and therefore fail to take action, or procrastinate, wasting precious time in the process.

Anxiety causes the importance of each decision to be dramatically overstated.

In most cases making a quick decisive decision is far more productive than extensive contemplation. Regardless if you are suffering from the symptoms of anxiety, or are dealing with the mental ramifications of the many choices and actions necessary to follow your dreams, you need to ‘Stop Thinking and Start Doing.

The words people use, the actions they take, their mood, the topic of conversation and their personality all influence how you think and feel.

Please don’t disregard this off hand. Humans are social creatures, we love to be included, accepted and connected. We have evolved to see and empathise with the emotions, thoughts and feelings of those around us. By putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes, we can almost feel what they are feeling and think what they are thinking. This process is vital if we hope to maintain any semblance of social connection, something which most people desire.

Just because it is written in a book, published online or spoken about with confidence by an ‘authority figure’, doesn’t mean the information is true.

I believe in informed enthusiastic consent in all things - If you and everyone involved are not saying ‘fuck yes’ to an idea, event, or action it’s a ‘hell no’…

Writing poetry is therapeutic.

As you identify and express your emotional state, you are both detaching from and connecting to your inner world.

By sorting through your thoughts and labelling, them with specific words and analogies, you are taking ownership and a step towards growth. By putting words on the page, you are in effect laying yourself bare and cleansing yourself. You are opening up to the possibility of growth.

In this course you will learn how to write poetry as a form of self-expression…

Want to gain control of your mind?

In this course you will learn how to mindfully meditate and to establish it as a daily practice in your life.

This Course Contains:
- Seven guided meditations (1-20 minutes long)
- Deep level instruction on mindfulness meditation
- Introductions to eight supplementary styles of meditation
- Practical solutions for common problems with meditation
- Opportunities to receive feedback and personal assistance…

Learn to destroy bad habits and to add good ones that will transform your life!

There is a reason that you have struggled to lose weight or to quit smoking. It’s the same reason that you haven’t taken up that new hobby, started exercising or began to write that novel. It’s the same reason that has caused you to give up on every new year’s resolution.

I am the cause of most of my suffering. Me. Not the past trauma, not the lingering mental health issues, not the state of the world, not my bank account, and not the health of my body. But me, or more specifically, my response to all those things. I have learnt that suffering is the difference between expectations and reality – and that your happiness is proportional to how much you accept that fact.

Let me explain…

What would happen if you were to make a practice of habitually injecting positivity into the darkest moment of your day? What if you believed and acted as if a moment of darkness is the opportunity for light?

What if instead of turning to scrolling social media, picking up the bottle, or doing any number of other less than ideal coping strategies, you instead reframed your thinking and actions towards your own long term good?

I have had tremendous success recently transcending trauma and healing complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems and wanted to share a deep unlock that I experienced today.

Below is a poem called ‘dear little part of me’ - it expresses the end point of an internal dialogue that I had with a young protective part of me…

This free from surviving to thriving PDF will outline seven life principles to turn your life around.

It will help reframe your thinking, giving you guiding principles that will enable you to make and maintain positive changes in your life. Changes that will help you move from surviving to passionately thriving.

This box breathing pdf will provide you with an easy-to-follow guide to calm the nervous system and relax the mind. It can be used as a lead into a meditation session or as a sleep aid before bed.

It works by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), the parts responsible for relaxation, recovery, sleep and digestion, by slowing down the breath - The mind will interpret the slowing down of the breath as a sign of safety. This occurs even when you actively and purposefully slow your breath down, as in the case of box breathing…

Communication, either via words on a page, or spoken, is not perfect. The complexities of communication can mean that people will not truly understand your writing in the exact way that you earnt it. The speaker formulates a concept in their mind (imagery, feelings, sensations, memories, emotions) and condenses all of that down into words and expresses it….

There is something spiritual about cutting your hair, about literally discarding a part of your past and the watching as the energy of the present replaces it. Yes, cutting my beard is a simple act, but it symbolic of a decision, to reaffirm myself and to choose to live…

I am two people contained in one body.

Number One is self-conscious, prone to prolonged bouts of mental illness, and not at all confident.

Number Two is a highly motivated, fit and confident person. One who pushes himself daily to grow, learn and produce.

My father was a drug dealer. He would use the profits from what he sold, to pay for what he used himself.
 
Growing up I was exposed to his dealing on a daily basis. I watched and learnt. Taking in all of the lessons he didn’t realise he was teaching…

To sell anything, you need two things: a product people want and the awareness of its existence. To sell your self-published poetry is no different.

Your muse may balk at the suggestion, but your book is a product like everything else. So, if you want people beyond just your close friends and family to purchase it, you need to reconcile that fact.

Success will come when you learn how to move people’s emotions…

When I write, I lose myself in the present moment. I tap into the muse, put pen to paper, and all else disappears.

Then, some indeterminant time later, it ends. I don’t exactly know what it is: inspiration, flow, creativity, but all of a sudden I wake up to myself, finding the present moment, along with some words on a page expressing a moment in time, or a thought, or beauty.

That, or a palimpsest of healing. Words written by myself, about myself, for myself about finding myself…

Pro tip: write what you know, not what you think will sell.

One of the main problems creatives of all persuasions have, is that they attempt to replicate the current trends. They see what is working and then try to do it themselves, only to get discouraged when they fail to see similar results…

There is no one size fits all when it comes to self-care, everyone is different and our needs change. So it is important to have a self-care toolbox that we can use in the moment as a response to life stress, and as a part of a daily routine. This post will give you some ideas for 5 minute self-care. You are encouraged to try each one and then repeat the ones that work for you…