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By Seamus Anthony

“Aggh! What’s Wrong With Me?”

Ever asked yourself that? I know I have…

But look – the answer to that question is NOTHING! There is nothing wrong with you dude!
You are a human and humans don’t just feel great all the time – humans feel all kinds of emotions including the unpleasant ones.

Humans make mistakes, they regret their actions, they lose their temper, they get drunk, they spend too much money on stupid things, they hurt themselves and the ones they love.

Normal.

All of this is completely normal and I want you to know right now that you don’t need to be a super-disciplined self-help guru to be happy! You don’t need to try and be perfect – YOU ALREADY ARE PERFECT! Even your so-called flaws, even those things that you want to change about yourself – these things are all perfect. That doesn’t mean you can’t implement positive change in your life – but meanwhile stop giving yourself a hard time, TODAY!

By Séamus Anthony

A short, sharp shock here and there, even an unpleasant one, can be a very powerful motivator. If you let go of your naturally defensive reactions and ‘look for the gift’, you may just find that the situation brings unexpected rewards.

The other evening I was walking to a party with some friends when I was very nearly hit by a moving car. It was traveling at a fair whack, and I would say it most likely would have been curtains for me had I been struck.

I didn’t even see it – I was jaywalking in front of some cars that were idling at the intersection and I didn’t realise that the left-turn arrow was green. The car was rushing to make the lights, and the first thing I knew about it was the sensation of something very large passing very quickly very close to my backside. My friends hollered at me to be careful, and the car pulled over. The young lads in it gave me some lip about watching where I was walking. They were rightfully angry; I wasn’t using my head (it was in the clouds).

I sure as hell am. Didn’t stop me getting on one though…

I have a new two-part tale of high horseback adventure up over at LivingNow.com.au

How To Conquer Your Fear of Abandonment (and Horses) Part One

and Part Two is here … but it would be just plain contrary of you to start there

Hope you enjoy!

Seamus

It happens to all of us doesn’t it?

You finally get the time to sit down to read a good book, write a new blog post or meditate when Mr Jones next door decides it’s time to mow the lawn, then go around the edges with his edge-trimmer, then use the leaf-blower to blow the clippings into the gutter – even though he did it all just last week.

Great.

Ju-u-ust perfect.

In this scenario you have two options.

No wait, three, but physical violence is against the law so we’ll focus on the other two:

1) Get Mad and Burn Up Inside.

2) Get Mad, Then Find A Way To Quickly Diffuse That Anger

We’ll get into these in a moment but first…

What Are The Lawnmowers In Your Life?

Lawnmowers are just my pet hate – but the things that get you all riled up inside might be different. Maybe the way your partner talks to you when they’re in a bad mood, or the way your boss treats you or just the irritating habits of the guy who sits across the desk from you at work.

By Seamus Anthony

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you start out with a really punchy list of awesome things that are going to get done and then it all goes pear-shaped?

Well, I am in the middle one right now and it’s been a darn good litmus tester for all the Zen waffle I spout, let me tell you…

Entrepreneurial Action Stations – Go! Go! Go!

The week started out looking like it was going to be a corker, I had two articles coming out, one about The Way of Retreat over at the Change Blog and another about meditation over at Pick The Brain. Next in line was the release of a new e-book here at Rebel Zen, not the Curly’s Law one featured up top right (you should grab that now if you haven’t already), but one on Meditation (with a twist).

Then we (as in Steve, my business partner and I) were planning to finally launch PeoplePages for our client LivingNow. Only Steve has been struggling through great swathes of jungle-like code (or whatever that impenetrable babbling is behind the scenes here at the Internet-show) which incidentally is why he hasn’t written for this blog for a while.

By Séamus Anthony

Ever wondered how some people manage to get up before the sun to meditate and exercise? Well, let me categorically confirm that I’m no expert, but recent* experiments have shown that three elements are integral: persistence, patience and good humour. Without these you might as well stick with the sleep in!

The Frozen Buddha

With strains of classical music the clock radio burst to life. What was my first thought? – “I must be insane”.

I have this year resolved not to wimp out during the frosty months but to rise despite the cold – which frankly, I despise – and do my meditation, chi gung, and exercise routine at dawn.

First thing.

In the face of my every screaming instinct.

Shivering, I stumbled out of the bedroom at 5:11am (to avoid beginning my day with an earful of bad news, I never set the alarm to go off on the hour). I then proceeded to have rather a funny time of it. Apparently, this was my day to have my persistence, patience and good humour well and truly tested.

Well back on board after the weekend and just spent a few minutes reading some cool stuff before retiring for the day. As the hail pelts down on my little bungalow in the mountains, here’s five posts that I reckon are worth your time:

8 Great Anti-Hacks to Fundamentally Change Your Life

This is some Rebel Zen in action right here. An anti-productivity rant from Clay Collins of Project Liberation and The Growing Life that advises us to “be flaky and denounce the cult of permanence”.

Sound advice that, denouncing the delusion of immortality that is, which leads me to my next recommendation for the day:

Death and Happiness – a Paradigm Shift for the West

This is a powerful article that reminds us all not to forget that at any time now we may die. I’ll let Steve Jobs sum up my opinion on this matter:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

By Seamus Anthony

We all face plenty of problems in life, but most of them can be overcome if we take to them like a Samurai takes to battle with his sword.

Be Objective

If you let your emotions over ride you, then you set yourself up for failure. Use your mind to pierce to the heart of the problem, making sure to recognise any hang-ups you may have that may cloud your judgment. Ask others around you to give you an outsider’s perception into events; it is often amazing how influenced we are by our own preconceived ideas about any situation.

Find Out The Facts

Don’t just accept the facts as you understand them from your own point of view. Go to lengths to understand what other facts may exist that you have missed or that others may have kept from you. Again, ask around, what are others aware of that you are not? This information could be the decisive element that wins the battle for you.

Have Fortitude

By Seamus Anthony

Once a young man called Snoozer sat dozing in his favourite spot at the bottom of a great mountain.

All of a sudden he was rudely awakened by a foot poking him in the ribs.

“Hey man! What’s up?! Snoozer demanded. He looked up through sleepy eyes to see an older man grinning down at him as if he had just thought of an extremely funny joke.

“I’ll tell you what’s up – the answer to all of your prayers, that’s what!”, chuckled the old man.

“What are you talking about, Old Dude?” Snoozer asked, not really wanting to know. Just what he needed, some old crackpot getting in his face. Snoozer scrambled to his feet and started making moves to leave.

“Not so fast! First you listen to me.” Old Dude said “I live at the top of the mountain, and from up there I can see everything very clearly. Each day I look down to see you wasting away your youth sleeping all the time, so I thought I’d walk down and let you know that if you venture up to the top of the mountain with me, there you’ll find the answer to all your prayers!”

Here’s three great personal development articles that are worth a look:

How to Climb Up the Ladder of Healing and Growth

Ari Koinuma gives us a short and a long version of this post. Having the attention span of a gnat, I went for the shorter version first but in fact the full essay makes more sense (although if I were Ari, I’d steer clear of calling something an essay, makes the schoolboy in me want to run a mile).

The concept he is exploring is that we are at any one time set to a default state-of-mind that appears on a scale of what he terms a “healing/growth spectrum”. This idea will be great for systematic minds that like classifications, numbers and graphs. That’s the complete opposite of how my brain works, but still I really enjoyed this post. Ari has good storytelling skills and the guts to reveal information about his personal journeys. And as a new father, I was especially interested in the idea of young children starting out at a fairly positive level, then moving up or down according to what cards life deals them. Definitely worth a look.