The difficulty lies in keeping our minds focused on what it is we truly want, when often our reality is something totally different. Doubt and fear often causes our mind to go racing in the opposite direction we really want to go.

This is where the habit of Expecting the Best can help us. If we can get into the daily habit of being the best and doing the best then more than likely we are going to get the best.

Expecting the Best means that we have to have belief in ourselves and in others. We have to believe that we can achieve what it is we truly want to and we have to believe that the people around us are willing to help us. We have to believe in the goodness of others. In today’s society many people believe that to succeed it has to be with the philosophy that “it’s every man for himself” but that is not the reality. It’s through collaboration and working together that we succeed in achieving our goals and dreams.

Our thoughts become things, so when we Expect the Best we get the Best. When we Expect the Best we keep our mind and thoughts on the positive, on things we want and it keeps our mind away from the negative doubts and fears that we have as humans.

When we Expect the Best we open the door for magic to happen and for miracles to occur. Try it – it’s fun!

New Year’s Eve is always a wonderful time for reflection as we contemplate the year that is about to end. Whether you can look back on the year and say “wow – what a great year I’ve had” - or “wow, that was a difficult year, I’m glad it’s over” it’s always good to acknowledge the past. By reflecting on the past we can re-affirm what is important to us and what we want in our life and bring these positive things forward into our new year and make a conscious decision to leave all that is not good and not serving us behind.

New Year’s Eve is also a wonderful time to dream and visualize the future we want. It’s from our dreams and visions that we can set meaningful goals or new year’s resolutions that will create the fertile environment we need for our dreams and visions to become a reality.

This New Year’s Eve when you are dreaming and visualizing your ideal life – remember to visualize all aspects of your life – Who are the important people who you want to share 2012 with? What do you want to be doing to earn an income? How much do you want to earn? What sort of health do you want? What leisure activities do you want to enjoy? Where do you want to live? What talents do you want to use? Do you want to grow this year by starting a new hobby, taking a course, reading self development books, finding a coach, growing in spirituality? How do you want to contribute to the community you live in?

When you have a complete picture of your ideal life you can then look at where you are today and where you want to be and see the “gap” that you need to bridge this year. This usually requires us to change – it may be old habits need to be replaced with new ones – there maybe things you need to stop doing and others that you need to start doing. This is where goals and action plans come into effect.

When setting your goals or new year’s resolutions remember to ensure they are all positive present tense statements! This will motivate you and help you achieve it. A good example that often happens this time of year is that people make a new year’s resolution to “stop smoking”. This is a negative statement and usually doesn’t inspire the person to do what is necessary to quit the habit. A positive goal for wanting to stop smoking is to say: “I am now a non-smoker” and to add more descriptive words you could also say “I am now a healthy non-smoker with excellent lung capacity and unlimited energy!”

2011 for me was a challenging year and in the challenges I have experienced huge personal growth, particularly spiritually – so in farewelling 2011 I am grateful for everything that I have learnt. In welcoming 2012 I look forward optimistically to continue my life’s journey of following my passion and purpose through The Joyful Life. I wish you all a wonderful 2012 and look forward to sharing your wins and challenges during the year!

Sadly, for many people Christmas and the lead-up to it is a stressful time. Broken and blended families struggle to see how they can have a joyful Christmas and single people feel even more lonely on this family-orientated festive day. Parents can struggle with the present expectations of their children and money can be tight. Here in New Zealand we have the added pressure of summer holidays – so not only are we stressed with Christmas, but we’re also under time pressure to complete work tasks before the summer vacation!

These are my tips to help you minimize your stress and increase your joy levels:

1. Know: To have a joyful Christmas you need to know what will make your Christmas joyful. Who do you want to spend it with? Where do you want to be? What shape and format do you want it to have? When do you want to celebrate it?

2. Communicate: When you know what your ideal Christmas looks like – communicate this to your partner, children, extended family and whoever else is involved. Ask and listen to what their ideal Christmas looks like too. Ask yourself how you can turn everyone’s wish list into reality.

3. Compromise: As a family when you know what everyone is wanting it’s a matter of sitting down and working out a plan that can accommodate the most of what everyone wants – it’s about compromise.

4. Plan: When you know how Christmas day is going to unfold you can plan the finer details of decorations, food and presents. List everything that has to be done, by whom and when, and then start working through the list. There’s still just over 2 weeks to go, so it’s not too late.

5. Budget: There’s no joy in Christmas if you’re stressed out about your finances. Set a budget that’s comfortable and then stick to it – remember it’s not what you give but the “thought that counts”. Personally the most meaningful presents I have ever received have been the home-made ones!

6. Relax & Enjoy: There is a special Christmas spirit so when the day arrives – make a decision to tap into that wonderful Christmas feeling and relax and enjoy the day. We get what we expect – so if you are expecting a happy, fun, relaxing day – then that is exactly what you’ll get!

Lastly for those of us that are Christians – let’s not forget that Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of Jesus!
Following Jesus’ example – let’s also look for opportunities to make this Christmas more joyful for someone else because in bringing joy to another we automatically bring joy to ourselves!

If anyone has some extra tips on making Christmas more joyful – I’d love to read about them.

We saw several smaller political parties win seats in Parliament through sheer determination and power of purpose. We saw people who had a dream and vision for their political party in New Zealand realise that dream on Saturday night – despite the odds, despite the opinion polls. To me it highlighted that we should never abandon our dreams and our visions, particularly when our reality is the exact opposite!

I believe we’re all unique and we have all been born to fulfil our special purpose on earth. When I meet people who are passionate about what they do and who radiate power and confidence – then I know I have met a person who knows their life purpose.

Sadly, a lot of people go through life without ever discovering their life purpose. They live dis-empowered lives in their current circumstances – blaming outside forces for their situation, frustrated that there is something in life eluding them, knowing that life wasn’t meant to be lived this way.

So how do we find our Purpose? Simple (but not necessarily easy) we find our Purpose by being quiet and still and looking within ourselves – and letting our higher or spiritual self speak.

I also believe our giftedness, our uniqueness can point us in the right direction to finding our life purpose. Each and every one of us is talented and it’s in using our talents for the good of the world that we feel inspired and powerful – because we know we’re making a difference!

Life is full of wonderful examples of people who have overcome extreme obstacles to follow and live their life purpose – two stand out people for me are Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa.

Who do you know who is powerfully following their purpose? Who inspires you to keep your vision and dreams alive?

I challenge you, if you don’t already know your life purpose, to make finding your life purpose your next goal because a life lived without purpose is a life only half lived

This week I tuned into a great teleseminar by Lev Nathan, a Life Purpose Coach in the USA, www.levnathan.com and what he said reminded me of the important difference between our visions and dreams versus our goals.

Every great thing we achieve in life starts with a dream or vision. Dreams and visions come from our spiritual self – our soul. They are inspired thoughts from our higher self. I see our visions and dreams as our internal guide – leading us to our full potential, our reason for living, our life purpose.

If we can dream or envisage something – then we can reach it – and that’s where the goals come into it.

Visions and dreams are our “What”, Goals are our “How”.

Unfortunately, many of us in our dreams and visions stage get too caught up in the seemingly impossible “how” and use this as an excuse to let our dreams and visions stay just that – dreams and visions!

To turn our visions into reality we need to make plans and strategies. We need to break down the seemingly impossible dream into smaller bite sized goals that we believe are possible. If our dream is large enough we often don’t know the “how” – so a goal that we can grasp and achieve becomes the first stepping stone on our journey to fulfilling our vision, our dream.

Our goals come from our conscious mind – they are things that we know we can create a strategy for. Our goals are S.M.A.R.T. They are Specific, we can Measure our progress with them, we believe they are Achievable, we make them Realistic and they are always Time-framed. Our visions and dreams are none of these things!

By starting the journey of our dream and vision with just one goal – we open the way for more possibilities to present themselves – we find out other ways of “how” to achieve our dream and vision. Each goal and the strategy behind it leads us in the direction of our big dream. We move forward one step at a time. Sometimes these steps are small, and sometimes these steps are gigantic leaps. Sometimes we may even have to back-track and then step out again in a different direction. The journey to achieving a big dream or vision is never plain-sailing – but the purpose of the dream or vision is often the journey itself – the journey of Life!

To me we can’t have goals without visions and dreams – and we can’t have visions and dreams without goals. What do you think?

Our mind is our most powerful tool in getting us what we want in life – but taming our mind is the most difficult thing many of us face and it all comes down to choice.

Every day we face a myriad of choices – what time to get up, what to have for breakfast, what to wear, how to fill in the day, what to say, who to see, and on and on and on. The most important choice we make each day however is how we are going to think! What thoughts will we let our mind be dominated by? We can choose our thoughts, rather than let them run on auto-pilot and the importance of this is that our thoughts create our feelings which in turn affects our emotions which goes on to affect our actions and therefore our results.

If your life is not how you want it – think about what you are thinking. When we face challenges it’s easy to become fearful and ponder the worst case scenario’s. This is natural, but in these situations the best way forward to a positive outcome is to accept the worst case scenario but then take positive action to ensure the worst case scenario doesn’t happen. The only way we can take positive action is when we are feeling positive and we feel positive if we are thinking positive thoughts – if we are keeping our mind focused on what it is we truly desire and not what we are fearful of.

Along with our thoughts we also need to watch our language. When we verbalise something that we don’t want we put it out to the Universe in such a strong way that we get exactly what we don’t want! A good example of this is time.

Many of us are challenged with a perceived lack of time to do everything that we really want to do and if you listen around you you will be amazed at how many people are “verbalizing” a lack of time. You will hear things like I’m so busy, there aren’t enough hours in the day, I never find the time to do what I want, my boss wants everything yesterday, etc.

Everytime we think or verbalize that we don’t have enough time we get what we think – not enough time. A wonderful affirmation I have used is “So much time and so little to do”. Every time I say this affirmation to myself it calms me down and immediately makes me more positive about being able to achieve everything I want to – why not try it!

I have found goals and affirmations to be the best way to keep control of my mind. If anyone has any other good tips on how to keep a positive mindset – please leave a comment!

We’re all aware of how the Law of Attraction works – what we think we get. We decide what it is we want and then we continually hold that thought until it becomes a reality.

So, why is it then that so many people struggle to attract what they want? I believe the answer is Belief or Faith. To have our dreams come true we have to believe, with unwavering faith, that what we desire we will receive. This becomes a problem for many of us when what we desire doesn’t materialize in the time-frame we have set. Doubt creeps in – and the minute we start to doubt is the minute that the Law of Attraction works against us – we will always attract what we think – and if we think we’re not going to get our desires then we won’t.

As humans we easily believe and manifest things that seem easy to us – a free carpark, contact with a person we want to speak to, etc. but when we have big dreams and goals that in our minds appear large we are more prone to have doubts about their achievement, particularly if they don’t materialise in our time frame or we face obstacles.

The way to ensure the Law of Attraction can work and deliver our desires is to tap into our inner strength, our spirit and ensure we win the battle of our thoughts. Belief and faith come from our spirit – our link with the divine. Everything has a gestation period and we need to allow the metaphysical world to deliver our desires in the perfect way and at the perfect time. Along with belief and faith we also need to learn patience!

Often you will hear someone say they have “20 years experience” in a particular job. I often wonder at this comment. A more accurate comment may be “I’ve had one year’s experience repeated 20 times”. You’ve all met these people. They have their own way of doing things. They don’t like change. They want to do it “their way”. They want to do it “the way they always have”.

But life doesn’t stand still and every day we are presented with different situations and opportunities to learn and grow. My question is – do we take them?

Being a “self-professed” personal growth junkie – I love learning new things – particularly about topics that I’m passionate about – like Universal Law and Joyful Living. But I appreciate not everyone is like me.

On a daily basis we have to feed our bodies for sustenance. On a daily basis we should also be thinking about feeding our minds and souls. It’s our thoughts that drive our feelings which drive our actions and gives us our outcomes – so feeding our minds and souls is something we should all be doing every single day!

If we feed our minds positively, we make good choices and we create good lives.

There’s a whole raft of things we can do to feed our minds – at one end of the scale we can just turn off the TV and grab a good positive motivational book on a topic we’re passionate about and read for half an hour to an hour a day. At the other end of the scale you can hop on a plane and travel the world going to international seminars and events.

If any of you are inclined to do the latter – then I recommend you visit Melbourne on 21st and 22nd October this year and attend the “21st CENTURY FINANCIAL EDUCATION SUMMIT” Richard Branson, Tim Ferris and other top entrepreneurs will tell you how to think like one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs!
Click the link below for more information and to book your tickets!

When we have a great love for somebody or something we instinctively know that in giving love so unconditionally we also put ourselves into a very vulnerable position because we know that we open ourselves to the risk of being hurt. Everything has an opposite: love and hate; joy and sorrow; war and peace; poverty and wealth.

If we are in a negative situation – be it business, relationship, financial, health or something else – through the Law of Polarity we know that the exact opposite also exists and this should give us hope.

Hope to believe and trust that we can get out of our difficult situation. Hope and faith that our business can thrive, that we can find a loving relationship, that we have an abundance of money, that we can have good health and vitality. The opposite of everything negative already exists – we just have to find it!

Through our trials and challenges we find our strength. We find our resilience, and while we may not always like these darker times – they do serve a purpose. They help us value what is good. They show us balance. They make us strong.

So enjoy the happiness and joy of good times and bear the bad times – because both must exist.

Missy Muppet – my dear wee cat – thank you for 10 years of joy! We miss you.

I think we all face busy lives in which we’re trying to juggle many things. So in our busyness we try to control everything – but obviously not everything in our universe can be controlled. And often the bigger our dreams, goals and aspirations – the harder we try to make them a reality at a physical level with never-ending “to do” lists, and action, action and more action.

But the key to all endeavour is that it’s not just about the physical! The meta-physical or divine or whatever word you want to give it plays a part too, and unlike the physical world, your effort will always defeat itself in the meta-physical world.

Now I’m not saying don’t take action towards your goals and dreams – far from it. Without action nothing would happen. What I am saying is that one of the physical actions you may need to take is ”surrendering to the metaphysical”.

In Universal Law we are responsible for deciding what it is we truly want and to believe without a shadow of doubt that it is ours already. How that happens is the responsibility of the Universe.  Where so many of us get stuck is that we don’t believe without a shadow of a doubt – and because we don’t believe we try and control and make it happen ourselves. This is where the “surrender” comes in.

We all have dreams and goals and we want them to happen NOW. But all dreams, all goals have a gestation period and the Universe, not us, knows what the perfect timing is. As humans we get impatient, we want it now so we try and force it now – we try and control.

If you’ve got some big dreams and goals and are feeling frustrated that they’re not coming into fruition quickly enough – take some positive action that is really going to help – surrender! Surrender your dreams and goals to the Universe, to the divine. Let go and believe without a shadow of a doubt that your dreams and your goals will become a reality – in perfect divine timing.

Do this and watch miracles happen!