Wellbeing is often thought of as an ambition to feel better and laugh more. This is like looking at a garden and focusing on the need to have flowers. This is upside down thinking. If we were to plant the seeds, cultivate the soil, water the ground and ensure there is good sunlight, then flowers will appear. If we cultivate our bodies, so we may feel physically well, cultivate our relationships, so we may feel connected to others, cultivate our thinking, so we may feel mentally well, and cultivate our purpose, so that we have a direct towards which we work, laughter, joy, love and a feeling of wellbeing will blossom all by themselves. Without this wellbeing will never blossom.
Category: Mini Reflections
Mini Reflection: Helping each other be fulfilled
“To help each other live fulfilling lives is to fulfil what it means to be human.”
– The Fullfilment Project
#LiveDeeply #Fulfilment #BeingHuman #BringTheJoy
Mini Reflection: Be a beacon
Light is how we see and how we navigate our world. Light is a symbol for many good things, not least a symbol of unity. Light shines upon the whole of the earth throughout its turning. It feeds the plants and trees, which feed all other living beings. Light also symbolises hope in dark places. There are many dark places in the world at the moment and we must share our light, so that others may see hope and may also see understanding, compassion and forgiveness. Together we can bring light back to the minds of those who are blinded by dark thoughts and ideologies, by being beacons for all that is good in the world, through what we do and what we say each and every day.
Mini Reflection: Accountability is key
Whatever we do in life whether it is related to work, relationships or life events accountability is key. It is very tempting to blame negative things on something outside of ourselves, like another person or a situation, but this can cause us lots of problems. Others will see us as someone who does not take responsibility or someone who cannot be trusted to complete a project or an assignment. It also creates an attitude in ourselves that causes us to miss out on opportunities, because we lose confidence in ourselves and we play small. However, if we take accountability for every aspect of our lives we can achieve great things. Every successful person in the history of mankind has taken responsibility for their lives. If we are caught in traffic it is our fault that we did not account for that and set off earlier. If we don’t get a job it is our fault that we did not ace the interview or have the right experience. If we get overlooked for an opportunity at work it is our fault that we did not hustle and get noticed. If we change our mindset to thinking that everything is our fault, far from being a negative thing, it actually trains our minds to be problem solvers, to be objective achievers and to be high performers. Accountability is key.
#Accountability #HighPerformance #Success
Mini Reflection: In life we are always ending and beginning
We have just had the Winter Equinox, one of the two points in the year when the days and nights are an equal length, a point at which we march towards Spring and then Summer. We are also approaching New Years Eve, a time when we celebrate with loved ones and reflect on the year that has passed. We reflect on all the happy and sad moments of the year, all the times when we shined and the times we wish we could do over. We also make resolutions for the coming year. These are often impulsive attempts to improve our lives that often don’t stand up to the busyness of our lives and the already entrenched habits that we already have.
Having said all of this, our lives are actually in a constant flux of ending and beginning in every moment. We are not the same person we were ten years ago and we are not the same person we were ten seconds ago. We get a whole new body roughly every seven years and our minds change with every though that we have in the context of every other thought we have had. So we do not have to wait until a key point in the year such as New Years Eve to make a positive change in our lives, we can do this in every moment with one decision and the habits to back it up.
Mini Reflection: Success depends on necessity
Quite often we know what we have to do to be successful. Most of the time we know how to do what we need to do as well, but we don’t do it. Something inside us, some doubting voice in our head says it is too difficult or it will end in failure, so we don’t take action and success remains illusive. Breaking through this mind barrier to take the action that will bring us success is not easy, but it is possible. What we need to do is make these actions a necessity. As Tony Robbins tells us, we have to turn our shoulds into musts. Success by necessity is how we can achieve success consistently. This is what I refer to in my Fullfilment Framework when I talk about raising your standards periodically. Raising your standards of what you expect of yourself, what your musts are. When you reach your current standards for yourself it is time to raise the bar and keep doing so. These standards need to be a necessity for success to manifest in your life.
– Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection-Talking yourself into it
Many of us have ambitions to do certain things, big dreams, or even medium sized dreams, but there is often a little voice inside out heads that whispers discouraging words. Suggesting that we are not qualified enough, we are not clever enough or that we will likely fail so what is the point in trying. Learning to control our inner dialogue is one of the most important things we can do, because our brains have evolved to talk us out of things that could be dangerous or life threatening and in our modern day world the brain still reacts in the same way to any bit of anxiety we have. Recognising when our primitive brains are hijacking our decision making abilities is the first step. Then we need to engage in positive self talk; “I am capable”, “I am courageous”, “I will achieve my ambitions one step at a time.” Thirdly we have to take positive daily actions towards completing our ambitions.
However, before we get started on talking ourselves into doing any old thing that makes us feel anxious, we first have to know ourselves really well, this is part of what I call the Foundation in the Fullfilment Framework. We need to know if an ambition is true to our core values and beliefs, because if it is not it will not bring the desired happiness or success if we achieve. We have to know ourselves and then control ourselves to achieve our true ambitions.
– Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection: Contentment and progress are not opposites
There is a temptation to discount the idea of contentment in favour of progress, as if they are somehow opposites. I would like to suggest that we need both of these things to feel fulfilled in our lives. The mistake that some make is believing that the acquiring of money and expensive things shows the world that they have progressed, but these shallow achievements will not bring happiness.
If the goal of progressing is to have more things and be more rich, then this will move us further away from contentment, because things and money do not last. Putting our hopes for happiness into these things takes control of our happiness and gives it to things which are out of our control. Things break and money is spent and gone as a result.
However, if our progress is rooted in our self development, in our ability to be better at the things we feel passionate about. If we acquire more knowledge and skills to do more and help more people, then our progress will be closely aligned with our contentment, as long as we are content with how we live our lives. The relationships, the opportunities and the necessities. If we can manage to be both content and to progress then we will live deeply and live well.
– Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection: Open your heart
We so often harden our hearts against those who are different from us in their views, their beliefs and their cultures. This is born out of conflict and a wish to stay within our own ‘tribe.’ We harden our hearts to protect ourselves. When conflict occurs we close ourselves off from anything different from ourselves. The irony is that if we opened our hearts and let ourselves be vulnerable we would lead richer, deeper and more fulfilling lives. We would have more love and joy in our lives. Don’t let the media and the news trick you into thinking that the world is against you. Open your heart and welcome the world in. This is deep living.
– The Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection: 3 things we need to reach greatness
If we want to reach greatness in any particular area we need to continuously do three things. First we have to work hard. This might seem obvious, but very few are prepared to put in the hard hustle. Second we have to be able to accept criticism and use it to improve. Feedback is fuel to get to greatness, if we use it as fuel. Third we have to be teachable. To become great we need mentors and leaders to get from good to great, but if we are not teachable, if we think we can learn it all ourselves and we don’t need help from others we will only reach mediocre.
Mini Reflection: The challenge of short and long term goals
Always have a vision, an almost unachievable and wonderful reality that matches your values and beliefs, but also set achievable daily goals which are aimed at the vision ahead of you. The vision is the destination, your values and beliefs are your compass and the map comes into existence when you know where you are and where you want to get to. However, without achieving the daily goals we will never get there.
Mini Reflection: Lao Tzu
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”
– Lao Tzu
Mini Reflection: Mastery in the moment
It can be very beneficial to have big plans for our lives, but focusing on achieving the whole thing can be debilitating. It is better to try and master what is in front of us. To believe that we can be at our best in this moment and the next moment and so on. If we can try to master the one thing that is set before us in each moment then soon we will be the masters of our whole lives, because how you do anything is how you do everything.
Mini Reflection: We can do great things together
New beginnings and old stories criss-cross through our lives. When people come together in collective collaboration then old and new connections come together and amazing things can happen. We in our community can plan and build and create together, we can thrive. Together we can do great things.
-The Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection: The blessings of others
Let us ponder on our blessings, on the gifts that come into our lives. Each of us is a gift to each person in our lives, and each person who comes into our lives is also a gift. Sometimes they make us smile, other times they help us to practice patience, other times they help us to practice working together for a collective goal. Let us all try to be a gift to every person whose lives we touch.
-The Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection: We are one
“We are all drops of water in an ocean. We are simultaneously individuals and the universe itself.” – The Fullfilment Project
Mini Reflection: Being a Why Finder
“A Way Finder is someone who is skilled at finding their way forward to an intended destination. To be a skilled Way Finder in the journey of life, first you have to be a Why Finder. Understanding your purpose in this life means that you have a North Star. Your Why is your North Star and no matter what challenges you face having a Why means you can find a Way.” – The Fullfilment Project
The Fullfilment Project 