Happy Mondays

Leading life and happiness coach

SHOPAHOLICS and gamblers will know what I mean when I say it’s the next purchase or bet that will sate the need. You buy the dress, but now the big problem is getting the right boots. You get the boots and it’s the jacket that will complete the look. You’re convinced you have backed an odds-on winner in the next race. So it goes on.

We all search for the things that will be a life tweak – an upgrade, an improvement or another step toward “the answer”. For some of us it’s the desire for a fast fix, something to give us the heads-up on busting anxiety or our need to control, or simply something that makes sense of all this.

It could be fire-walking with janitor turned personal development emperor Tony Robbins or chanting mantras for an abundant life with Deepak Chopra.

I’ve been there and dipped my cranial crudités into these delicious offers too, seeking some sort of tool-kit for daily existence. Many of us want answers. Indeed the secret you seek to everlasting joy could very well be found in a self-help book or on a retreat spent scouring your soul with Epsom salts and algae smoothies.

The thing is, all of it works and – here’s the rub – none of it works. It’s just what lands with you that day and gets a bit of movement and change going.

However there is ONE secret to all this understanding of life, happiness and riches galore that the better-life Brahmans and gnomes of knowledge rarely tell you. Despite all the showbiz folderol and tips on leading a meaningful life there is one thing many gurus won’t spell out clearly enough.

If you want to re-calibrate your psychic and spiritual satnav you just need to look inwards. I know, bit of a let-down isn’t it? All the pain, avoidance and fear we experience as part of our human condition can, of course, be eased and aided by folk like us, coaches and teachers, who can support you and help you get perspective and clarity. The real answer, however, is already within you.

Experts can help you look at the “why” and give you tips on the most important “how” and hopefully get you to the “who” – which is where you come in.

There are a million recipes for success and happiness, but none will work until you do some internal journeying and line up the fresh ingredients to make it happen.

Doing inner work pays off. When you know yourself you have greater clarity, you know what you want – instead of the lengthy and so urgently delivered list of what you don’t want – and that’s when you start to feel more confident.

You forgive yourself easily and give things a go for the sheer joy and curiosity of it. You show yourself compassion and take life lightly. You develop resilience and bounce-backability and see the joy in simple things.

It may sound like a cliché but it is a journey worth taking. A one-way ticket inward and onwards.