Today’s Daily Sunshine is all about how to move towards the life of your dreams. And how most of us get it back-to-front.

The first step towards the life of your dreams?

Without hope, there is no dream.
Without the dream, there is no inspiration.
Without inspiration, there is no action.
Without action, there is no change.

 

The first step towards the life of your dreams is hope. Everything else is a chain reaction.

Where could you dare to hope today?

Most of us start at the ‘action’ end. But random actions are rarely likely to move us towards the life we yearn for.

It would be like setting off on a journey, without a clear destination, randomly turning left or right and expecting to end up where we wanted to!

Instead, by daring to hope for a better, happier, more fulfilling future, we can feed the dream, allowing it to grow.

By tuning into the dream, with hope, we tune in to our ‘inspiration radar’.

Our ‘inspiration radar’ shows us the most effective actions we can take, to create the change we are longing for.

Action without hope or a clear dream is unlikely to ever get us to where we want to go.

The first step towards the life of your dreams is hope. Everything else is a chain reaction.

Where could you dare to hope today?

Which kind of seeds are you sowing?

Every thought, word and deed in the present moment is sowing the seeds of our future. Whether we are creating it intentionally or accidentally, it’s what we do today – right now – that will shape our life tomorrow and beyond. Yet how often are we consciously aware of the types of seed we are sowing?

“Are you sowing seeds of worry or hope?”

Every time we think about something and worry, we’re sowing seeds of worry. And guess what they’ll grow into?

Every time we think about something and hope, we’re sowing seeds of hope. And these, if nurtured, grow into much happier, stronger and more empowering plants in our future.

The great news is that, even if sowing seeds of worry has been our previous habit, we can start to make a shift right now.

With each and every thought, how about playing with the idea of catching yourself at the seed-sowing game? Just before you sow that seed (thought / action / word), how about checking whether it’s a seed of worry or a seed of hope? And if you don’t like the answer, you can change things, one thought at a time.

It only takes a few minutes of playing with this one to lift your spirits and turn things around.

I’d love to hear how you get on. How about sharing, via the comments box?

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare

“In every experience, we can choose to look for the sunshine or look for the clouds.”

Can we choose our weather?

We might not be able to choose our experiences, but we can certainly choose how we perceive them.

Whether we look for the sunshine or look for the clouds, the external factors remain unchanged. Our experience of them – and also our response – are very different.

It’s not about changing your name to Pollyanna and pretending things are ok, if they’re not. It is, however, about choosing whether to give more of your attention to the stuff that upsets you, rather than that which is ok.

Shifting that balance is one of the easiest ways to change your life.

Are you going to choose sunshine or clouds today?

What do you think? We’d love to hear your views via the comments box!

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare
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“Any choice made from freedom creates more freedom.”

James Twyman

How free are you feeling?

Yet our choices are usually made from a place that is far from freedom. You can spot it in the language we use:

• I have to…
• I must…
• I ought to…
• I should…

Where’s the choice and freedom in that?

And freedom is, to a large extent, a matter of mindset.

Why do we set our minds to feel trapped and not free?

Could it be as simple as flicking a switch, to make that shift?

Yes!

I have lost count of the number of times I have used this technique with clients and it works every time – if they choose it to!

Here’s the secret:

Swap your ‘should’, ‘have to’, ‘must’ and ‘ought’ for ‘choose to’.

Try it out now – even with something mundane!

“I have to do the laundry.”
or
“I choose to do the laundry.”

Which one feels better?

How about shifting more of your choices to come from a place of freedom today?

Let us know how you get on via the comments box!

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare
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“Whether you laugh your way to freedom or cry your way there, the destination is the same.

The journeys, however, are very different.”

Are you ready to laugh your way to freedom?

It’s funny how seriously we can take our personal development.

The number of workshops I have attended where tears and dredging up old pain are the norm far outnumbers those where laughter was the backdrop.

Yet who says that setting ourselves free from old limiting beliefs, painful memories and destructive habits has to hurt?

Who made that choice for us?

The fact is that when we spot our old patterns and choose to let them go, we can also choose how to experience that release.

It doesn’t have to hurt to work.

So today I’m choosing to laugh my way to freedom.

Care to join me?

Got any thoughts on this one? How about sharing them via the comments box?

Plus we’re collecting as many contagious laughter YouTube videos as possible. If you’ve got any favourites, please let us know!

Here’s what we’ve got so far: http://www.youtube.com/user/mydailysunshine#grid/user/473ABBEAC2EFA9BF

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare

“Before seeing results, a gardener must first choose what to grow.”

What could you choose to grow today?

Before even planting a seed, a gardener must have a clear vision about what they want to grow. Not only that, but they need to have some kind of idea about how it will fit with the rest of what is already in their garden.

How often in life do we take the time to consciously choose what we want to grow; what we want to cultivate?

I’m not talking greenhouses here. I’m talking about our life dreams, our visions, our characteristics, our capabilities – even our beliefs.

Often, especially with beliefs, we sow and nurture the seeds that someone else has given us, without being consiously aware of the long-term consequences.

Sometimes, with characteristics and personal change, we try the ‘scatter’ approach, throwing random seeds onto the fertile soil, rather than choosing and focusing on the aspects that would most benefit us.

If you could choose what to grow – which seeds to plant – today, what would you choose?

How about sharing, via the comments box below? We’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare
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“The second best time to plant an oak tree is today.”

When is the second best time to plant an oak tree?

So often we put off beginning long-term projects, because we are filled with regrets about not having started them weeks, months or even years ago.

But if we never get started – if we never even take that first baby step – then they will only ever stay as ideas. They will never become reality.

Yes, if you want a big oak tree, planting it 100 or more years ago would have been the best time to start.

But given the current absence of time machines, surely starting today is the current best option?

Is there something in your life that you could start today?

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare

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Some wisdom from Wayne Dyer this morning:

“The mighty oak was once a little nut that held its ground.

It’s all right to be a little nutty, as long as you also hold your ground!”

Is there an area of your life where holding your ground – or going a little nutty – could help you today?

Just wondering…

Go on – it’s Friday!

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Namaste,

Clare

Gregg Braden is my kind of philosopher. With a strong background in physics and engineering, he brings a rigorous, common-sense approach to the metaphysical world. This means he writes about `hippy stuff’ by first analysing the evidence and then presenting conclusions.

His conclusions are much the same as all the others writing about `hippy stuff’. But, if you’re even vaguely sceptical, then Gregg will help you weigh up the data and draw your own conclusions, rather than telling you what to believe.

“The Spontaneous Healing Of Belief“, I have to say, is a title that wouldn’t have made any sense to me, if it weren’t for my background in science, psychology and so-called “New Age Spirituality”. But for anyone looking at this book in a store, the opening sentence on the back cover helps clear things up:

“Could a change in our perceptions – a shift in our beliefs – hold the timeless secret to healing, peace and even reality itself?”

Or maybe it doesn’t?!!!

This is a book about how the biology of our brain creates beliefs and how these beliefs then act as filters in the way we perceive the world.

So, for example, if someone holds a belief that the world is a dangerous and angry place, then they will be more likely to spot evidence in their life that confirms this belief. If, on the other hand, they believe that the world is generally friendly and a positive place to be, they will filter their experience to notice the good stuff more often. Pretty basic NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming).

Gregg’s book goes much deeper than that, into how the really subtle areas of quantum physics (explained in words a 12 year-old would understand) impact our brain – and beliefs – and how all of this literally creates the “reality” in which we live.

He gives the reader tools to help you get your conscious mind back under control, to have more choice in the thoughts you are thinking, the emotions you are feeling and the actions you are taking. He explains, step by step, how to pinpoint specific beliefs that have been holding you back and – to a certain extent – how to change them.

From the point of view of being able to apply the stuff from the book, Gregg could go a little deeper into the “how”. But I suspect his main aim with this book is to wake us up to the fact that our beliefs exist and have a massive impact on our life, rather than being a substitute for therapeutic intervention.

“The Spontaneous Healing Of Belief” is structured logically and is a book you’ll want to read from beginning to end, rather than dipping in and out. Gregg makes it easy to grasp the main concepts by using his “Belief Code” lists, whilst also illustrating the theoretical points with real-life case studies.

Despite the book being well-researched and well-written, some of the concepts and metaphors Gregg presents may be hard for a typical reader to swallow. But at least they’re presented with more evidence and scientific rigour than most other books on similar topics. And, whether you believe his arguments or not, he does make a compelling case that our beliefs can seriously hold us back from living the life we truly want – and that we can change our beliefs.

If you’re someone who is ready to jump in and discover just how much of your life you are currently creating by accident, but like a scientifically justified approach, then this is the book for you. Gregg Braden demysitifies much of the mythology that other “New Age Thinking” books have spun around the topic of “manifesting”.

If, however, you’re scared by the very memory of school biology and physics classes, then this is probably not your cup of tea. Although the science is explained clearly, the book does require you to be interested in the research and to be at least vaguely open to taking action!

Personally, I found this book inspiring, particularly given its thoroughness in combining the latest scientific research with ancient wisdom. Even if just one of the ideas in the book resonates for you, it could change the way you think about life. The question is, are you ready yet?

Have you read this book already? We’d love to hear your thoughts & opinions via the comments box below – or you could join in the discussion on the Daily Sunshine Facebook page.

Our final quote in our series to inspire you to change is:

“If you don’t believe in yourself, who else will?”

We might be scared by the changes we want to make, but if we break them down into baby steps and believe we might be able to do it, then we are going to succeed.

There’s no point having a team of cheerleaders around you until you are ready to accept their message.

Is it time to start believing in yourself?

Who could you ask for a helping hand?

If you’ve got a change you want to make in your life, but would like someone to hold your hand as you take that leap, you might consider some personal mentoring.

A good mentor can help you:

• pin down what it is you really want
• get clear about why you want to make changes
• stay motivated, even if hurdles come up
• break through barriers that may have blocked you in the past
• actually enjoy the experience of changing, moving towards the future you really want

Your mentor could be a friend or family member you trust, a work colleague or even a professional mentor or coach.
The main thing is that your relationship is built on trust and that your mentor guides you to finding the solutions that will work for you, rather than telling you what to do.

Is there a change you’d like to make in your life today?

Asking for help is a sign of strength and commitment, not weakness.

Who could you ask to walk by your side?