As you stress, strive and struggle remember that who you think you are is only one aspect of who you are. What you think you must become - and all it’s holds… goals, dreams and ambitions are just one branch of life - the branch of the mind. The other aspect is not really about gathering, gaining, growing or even knowing - it is about another more subtle type of discovery. It is the the desire to find one self. It is a call to re-member. The challenge here is that you are looking for what is looking. You are looking to become that which you are. The more mindful you become of this play of life and light the the less weighed down by mind you will be. The more you will be awake and available to yourself. The dream chasing and the dreambuilding will continue, that is the nature of shape and form. But life, and thus your very essence, is the space as much as the substance, the unmanifest as well as the material.
On a ‘practical’ level as a ‘life coach and motivational speaker’ I meet people all the time who are pursuing goals on the one hand but seek the peace of mind that is self-realisation on the other. Both hands are of one body. Being aware of this and shifting attention out beyond the mind will soften the mental ties. This peaceful awareness is fulfilment.
The inspiration behind my book The Gift of Inner Success was all of those things we cannot see and yet shape our lives: trust, acceptance, instinct, flow - and so much more.
Yet we often get caught up and fixed on what we can touch, see and label based on the limited knowledge and limiting conditioning we have. As such it is very easy to become fixed in a perspective, caught up in ‘problems’ and seeking ’solutions’. But life is before and beyond problems and solutions.
So much of life is beyond our everyday awareness. Yet most of the time we become fixed on the ‘tangibles’ of life. The reality is that so much is unmanifest or flitters between the manifest and the unmanifest. Thoughts, ideas, inspiration all fall into this category. And we should also remeber that the tangibles are constantly transforming.
At the same time so much of what drives us is before and beyond our knowledge and comprehension (at least for us who are not biologists, quantum physisists and scientists). And even many in these communities see life is a mystery and a constant discovery.
The more we become aware that this is the nature of life and that is our nature, the more we become aware to life and our very selves.
On a very practical level this way of being can transform your life. You can go beyond seeing life as problems that need to be fixed. You can go beyond an idea of yourself that is someone who needs to completed.
Rasheed is a leading coach, motivational speaker and author of the Gift of Inner Success. He is a leading specialist on inner fulfilment.
Here are a few tricks that the mind can play to be aware of:
What happened in the past:
As valuable as this can be for learning / growth, this can keep you obsessing about the past - or your assumptions based on what you think you know about it - rather than where you are right now. You only need to look at the world political ’stage’ to see how this plays out.
What should have happened:
Haha this is an even deeper mind trap. It’s a tempting one, but it can be a difficult hole to get out of. And while you’re stuck in it life will be passing you by.
What should be happening:
This one is far more appealing and tempting. It’s related to it’s deliciously tempting friend ‘What if’. Their value is that they it can help you to explore possibilities. However, beware it can leave you at odds with what is.
Stay tuned for more potholes to beware of.
Rasheed Ogunlaru is a leading life coach, motivational speaker and is author if The Gift of Inner Success.
It recently struck me that ‘your brain simplifies life while your mind complicates it’.
The brain - with its activity which operates below and beyond your every day consciousness - does a very good job of regulating your body. The mind-body mechanism does a wonderful job like an autopilot on a plane.
Your mind, of course, is a collection of the ideas and thoughts that have been fed to you over a life time and that you continue to assimulate. These thoughts and ideas of life have their value and can be of use to us in all facets of life.
Most of the challenges we face in life are mind made. After all it is the mind that labels a situation that we don’t like as a ‘problem’. Life is essencially a series of sensations, situations and circumsances.
When we become mindful we realise that the ‘mind is full’. Full of thoughts and ideas. This is all fine. And by geently becoming aware of this there is suddenly a sense of space that can liberate us from the fixed and therefore limiting perspective and approach we have to life. We realise that our be believe to be so is simply that.
There’s a myth that business is all about being competitive, selfish and self-serving. Many people I coach and address at workshops are entrepreneurs, sole traders and micro business owners who wish to create businesses to serve and enhance the lives of others. What’s more it’s possible to build a business through compassion and co-operation. This is the theme of “Soul Traders… building your Business by Heart’ a talk I’m giving this lunchtime at City Business Library.
The talk is fully booked but here are some of the points and principles I will be discussing:
Clarity & Courage: Building a fulfilling business requires that you have the courage to look within and build a business based on your values, ethics and talents. This will give you the strength for the road ahead.
Customers: Ensure that your customers and prospective customers are at the heart of all you do. Customers will sense when you only care about their cash and will head elsewhere. The opposite is also true; even when the going gets tough they’ll stay loyal to you. Listen, learn from and value your customers and your business will grow by reputation, referral and the quality of service you give.
Contribution: Why are you in business? What do you bring to the table? How good is your product and service? In what ways is it that you / your product improves the lives of your customers and community if at all? Put contribution into the heart of what you do and your business will flourish.
Communication & Connection: Ensure all your spoken and written communications are clear, crisp, concise and compelling. Be mindful of your audience, speak their language and have a clear message.
Co-operation, competition & compassion: As a sole trader / small business owner you can learn much from athletes. It is possible to support and work with others in your field. Know too that like an athlete you will need to develop a strong team and supporters to grow your business. Your attitude will create or negate your opportunities.
Enjoy your journey.
Rasheed is a life coach, speaker and business coach. He is the Business Coach partner of the British Library’s Business & IP Centre. He is also author of The Gift of Inner Success and A Zest for Business.
A few years ago I wrote a song called ‘Love is the Answer’ for a talented singer friend of mine. He had been through a number of challenges personally, financially, emotionally and in his relationships. In the end he didn’t record the song but it stayed with me. Putting aside the song and the story ‘What are the challenges you are faced at the moment?’ if there are any. If are there any, to which is love is not the answer?
Most of the time we find ourselves fighting life, fighting situations, fighting scenarios, fighting others… fighting oursleves. Very often the fight is waged in the mind through ideas about us, about others, about the world.
Love - beyond the idea of love - has nothing to do with what you think of yourself, anybody or anything else. It is what it is. It is the ability to embrace life and oneself and others as they are - beyond how we think they are and should be. In it there is actaully and end to questions.
In the case of the song …love was found in the last place that the seeker looked for it. It was found in the one place where they never looked for it. It was found in the one they had to embrace. And you know who that is.
Life is the magic between birth and death. But too often we find ourselves paralysed by the past and fearful of the future. All the while this is happening we overlook the seed of possibility available to us here and now.
Here’s my 1min ‘Try This at Home’ film on exactly this topic taken from my pilot TV Show ‘The Rasheed Show… Be the Change, See the Change’
Rasheed is a life & business coach, motivational speaker and author of The Gift of Inner Success
Between what we believe and what we think we know we often find ourselves trapped. Trapped often throughout our whole lives in the confines of our minds. Tied up by invisible chains of who we think we are, what we believe that we are/aren’t capable and who it is that we think we are and should be.
Most of the time we accept these un-named voices … from sources that we often can’t recall. The constant invitation everytime anything goes ‘wrong’ or where we experience ‘unhappiness’ is to take a deeper, but gentler look at ourselves.
Are we actually ‘our thoughts’ or that which is aware of our thoughts? This is an important question. Even if we are simply more than our thoughts then we are more than we think we know…and we know little if anything.
Far from being frightening this is actually the birthplace of true liberation from where life is truly lived.
This is the paradox that I point to when I say ‘become who you are’. The becoming is merely looking beyond ‘your’ thoughts. As soon as this happens life expands - or rather we start seeing rather than looking from a perspective.
You could say you are more than you think.
Rasheed is the author of The Gift of Inner Success
Sometimes - when we are still enough - we realise there are no real problems, merely situations, stimulations and sensations that we through conditioning label ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘indifferent’.
Sometimes we get to a point in life where we are ready to stop fighting and embrace ourselves, life and everybody else. Sometimes we are keen to move from being caught up in the mind to mindfulness and peace of mind.
If this is true for you then you may find my new ‘Mindfulness Sessions’ very useful. The one-to-one sessions at my studio - or by phone - begin and end in 3 minutes silence and provide the space for us to look at life wholly rather from a perspective.
For more information or to book a session call me on 020 7207 1082 or email me rasheed@rasaru.com
I touch on some of these issues in the interview clip below at the launch of my book The Gift of Inner Success
I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who attended The Gift of Inner Success book launch last night and made it such a success. The event was an evening of inspiration, celebration, connection and was attended by a rich range or spirit souls. I hope that if you attended it that you enjoyed it and made some valuable connections. I also hope that you enjoy the book - and would love to hear your comments.
Special thanks to:
* The British Library’s Business & IP Centre and especially Clare Harris for the fantastic launch itself.
* Steve Bryne - who designed the book - for selling copies on the night.
* The fantastic Abd Al-Rahman of Global Faction for filming…looking forward to our documentary.
* Paul of Floyd & Pheonix photography(who I highly recommend) for capturing the event.
* Cally Robson - of Invention Intelligence for our pre-event interview and all our conversations.
Get your copy: The Gift of Inner Success is published by Rasheed Ogunlaru books and is available here at www.rasaru.com in book,. e-book and audio book MP3 format.
More talks on The Gift of Inner Success: I will be giving a handful of talks on the book, as well as running other workshops. Click onto my events page for details.
"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of
darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not
balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along
with patience and equanimity." - Carl Jung
Leading life coach and inner fulfilment speaker, Rasheed Ogunlaru
explores how to balance being true to your ‘self' with finding a
‘meaningful' life path in today's material world. [read more / hear extracts]
