Motivation - Driven to Succeed Mind Over Body!

I had some powerful thoughts recently on Motivation. I was reading a book about our Aussie Champ Sally Pearson, and I feel that Motivation is a huge driving force within all of us.
It can be for whatever pursuit we attain it to, sports, career, athlete success, business, relationships... the desire to just make something come full circle starts with a goal, or an idea. A vision, an inspiration... a dream perhaps.

Some of us are Not motivated. We are not particularly driven to do anything substantial. Perhaps reasons for this are varying, it can be the place we are at right now in life. What I want to talk about is what drives a person to follow through, and what sustains momentum? What essence keeps motivation strong? I will not go into excess detail I tend to ramble too much in my blog posts, so I will try to keep this short. Two main principles I have discovered for me personally have been:

Discovering your Passion. I love this T.D. Jakes quote:

I believe all the primary success masters have adopted this simple mindset of - if you do Not enjoy what you do, that can be your career or job, or chosen interest/pursuit you will not succeed. Find or discover your True passion and it will be your true purpose.
That is a first guiding principle I found worked for me, and opened up paths and realms of possibilities.

Principle One: Purpose and Passion - or Love.

Loving the passion, and getting such a high level of enjoyment from it, you are forced to always do it. How many things do we honestly maintain for a long period of time we dislike?
If you paint or like writing Poetry, but you only get a low or moderate level of joy, perhaps look into something that draws your creative energy stronger - into feelings... not short term emotional reward; but something that feeds you the feelings of happiness and pleasure.
If you embrace exercise and fitness but do not like certain activities, change the exercise to something you do enjoy, or change the mindset approach.
If you do not like working at McDonalds, get the hell out of there and push yourself forward.
If you are in retail, but dream of something big - but a family member or some fear holds you back from trying to think about something else - think big, shoot the fear down. Perhaps you are from a family that expects you to accomplish something according to what they believe. What they believe is right for you - You might be expected to be a Lawyer, and frowned upon for expressing a desire to follow a different path - ignore them - this is Your Life - Not Theirs. If you allow yourself to live under the control and expectations of others, allow yourself to be dictated to by the opinions; good or bad, of others - if you listen to the Naysayers - you will be doomed. This leads me into the next principle because you are held back by the above by a strong force:

Second principle - Fear and the required Dissolution.

Fear is the number one enemy. It prevents most of us from everything.
It comes from the mind - but you can slay it. You can learn to beat it.
Most people have fears of failure - what if I try and fail?
What will my friends and family think?
What will I think of myself?
Failure will come - to everyone - but learn to embrace rather than hide and avoid it.
Each little obstacle is just another hurdle you can jump and you must keep hold of hope, you and focus. You never know, the path might be clear for the next 100 metres until the finish line. If you think, that hurdle was too hard... there are twenty more ahead - I might hit the next one with my knees, and fall down. I will lose. I do not have the energy or strength left in me to reach it. It's too hard. You will not get to that finish line in life. The Motivation has been lost. It escaped you. The bad aspect of your mind won - it beat you down like a champion boxer, it gave you a KO, but the sad thing is - it was Not better than you - it was not a champion that beat you - it was a shadow. It was something within yourself you allowed to break you down, largely in part from your own negative thinking.

I was listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival the song below at 4am this Sunday Morning during fasted Steady State Cardio - ... Run Through The Jungle.
It got me onto the thoughts of how war time and extreme life challenges force motivation. I need not discuss or raise opinions about war and killing - what I want to emphasise is the mindset in order to survive and endure hardship - in order to stay motivated.
I heard recently that a person who was in the Jewish filled death camps observed the people around him, he wrote or noted that the people who gave up, had no motivation to survive, usually met this fate. The people that had some drive within, the fighters that embraced a mindset of - I want to get out of here, and tell the world what horror took place - I will Not allow myself to die in this shit-hole. These people cannot beat me. I want to tell my future children and grand-children of the atrocity - so this never happens again... these people had something worth living for - a sheer drive to continue. The motivation needed in order to last... of course not all of them did survive; but the majority of the stronger minded people walked out to share the tale. The people who said this is it. I give up... generally one would be led to believe, endured a tougher time and relented first mentally.

Mental strength is paramount. The Mind is more powerful than the body. You need to learn that success is based on how you think, and what you think - what you create in your mind - how you visualise your goals - and how you sustain the motivation needed.

I will include a great video interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger on this topic. Place your attention on the mind aspect he discusses, and the people who speak to him of the desire. The people that crave on hunger and feed from it, as opposed to those who do not.

Nourish your motivation with passion - feed it heaps of calories, fatten it up everyday - make it obese in fact. Fuel the mind, Research. Read. Watch. Listen. Learn. Be inspired. Create. Share ...Grow.
and RUN THROUGH THAT JUNGLE OF FEAR - beat the odds and come out the other side Victorious.
There will be times you will doubt, you may want to entertain quitting. Think about the reasons you are doing it - perhaps the soldiers in this clip thought about that loving wife back home, the family they intended to reunite with. Think about why are you doing this? Focus - and continue the march.

Like I always say Improve the Body the MIND follows!

If you have any questions I am happy to answer and help when I can, I am Not motivated by money or a desire to profit from my positive encouragement. I do not have a website that wants you to outlay large sums of money in order for me to feel whole. This blog is public and not advertised it is free and basic. I have been ignored by many of the highest profile fitness and health industry bloggers. I do not care, I will continue to enjoy what I love doing. Character is everything - arrogance and ego are ugly. I just try and promote my social media interests to feeding my own goals - the gratitude I receive from others telling me - they can learn from this. What I have faced and the challenges I can share - how I have learned from them. What I can show to others;  a light that remains behind a closed door. If you want to open it up, look into changing things - start with an idea, a dream, a vision. Build on it. Look into mental fitness such as meditation and nutrition for the physical, get yourself active and help your body learn to love you back. Then things start to happen, things can open up. You can gain confidence. I was watching the Biggest Loser this time last year, and when the Trainers spoke of the concept - Let go of the Past - In order to move forward - I was thinking at that point in time ... How??? Is it possible??? I Wish I could. Please explain how this is possible?

Now I understand. Now I get it. You grow, the strength comes from the manner in which you learn and adapt and apply. With growth comes mass - you get bigger, mentally and physically. Stronger in mind and body. I am not talking about bodybuilder mass I am talking strength of heart, mind and body in terms of gaining true Power. The strength to start to view the world differently. 

If you want a truly great tip; if like myself - you faced some severe mental challenges and issues in the past the book called "Your Erroneous Zones" by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer may just be the blueprint you will need to get started. If you have faced challenges you cannot let go of, or just think the past cannot possibly be forgotten - consider investing in it - if there was one book I needed to read - if the world ended, and I was forced to hold one book for the rest of my days - and if the world was troubled - that book would be my gift to myself. If I can share this gift with one person and it changes their life, my work is done.

like Dr. Wayne W. Dyer says:

if you change the way you look at things, 
the things you look at will change.

The Art of Letting Go

This blog was inspired by a video I viewed last night by Giovanna Silvestre (ConfusedGirlLA). I have been blessed to have my path graced by her presence. Thankyou. I left a comment on her latest work Titled The Art Of Letting Go. I will include her video in this blog.

My comment revolved around how I was listening to Dr.Wayne W. Dyer only yesterday morning. I found an 8 disc edition of a work titled It's Never Crowded Along The Extra Mile (ten secrets for success and inner peace audio). 
He speaks of how he rarely gave endorsements, but when he heard a tape by Caroline Myss who was just starting on her journey, he was motivated to credit her. Her work was discussing Why People Don't Heal. 
Wayne's thoughts are that most people are too powerfully bonded to the wounds of their past.

I will use my crutches analogy, you can break a bone and recover - but why would you want to keep using the crutches long after the injury has gone?
Someone in my life did this, they actually wanted to keep using real crutches after the bone had mended because they felt comfort or some sense of safety in it.

Wayne says you can change anything in your life - In the now. Anything can be changed. One thing that cannot be changed is your history. Your past. He says about 80 percent of most people spend most mental energy on either trying to change or allowing the memory to upset them. It holds them back. It keeps them stuck and prevents future hope.

He mentions how you may meet someone, within about five minutes of talking to them, they tell you they are an alcoholic, or they were sexually abused. They had a Father who walked out on them. Or they lived in an orphanage, or came from a poor background. They suffer depression.
He explains this is all very well, they are not expected to shut this out and forget it or say it never happened. They are not expected to disregard it. But it is a calling card it keeps holding them back.

I am learning this myself, only recently I wrote about my history.
From what Wayne advises this is great, get it out and help other people with your story. But when you have moved on let it go. No need to discuss it constantly anymore.
So my blogs will not focus on some of my former past. I have moved on rapidly in recent times. I still found myself leaning ever slightly on those crutches. Now they have been returned to the hospital, in order for someone in true need to use them, in my mind.

This title of Giovanna's video made me think of my good friend Dr. Gillian Ross, she did the Relaxation or Meditation CD titled The Art Of Letting Go, which I discovered around six months ago. The benefits of Meditation in letting go are touched upon at the end of the video by Giovanna. If you would like to look into this CD, I must add, Giovanna was unaware of it - released by a wellbeing expert in Australia, but I urge anyone that needs some healing to look it up link:

https://shop.abc.net.au/products/gillian-ross-the-art-of-letting-go-cd

I will also include a song that touched me powerfully the other morning, it is my new theme song for personal development and I had never absorbed the lyrics before, It applies in every essence to this post. Please let me know if the video gets taken down, it is made by a fan and uses footage from movies if so I will edit and add another clip.
The song by Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, is powerful because she has dealt with alcohol and prescription drug addiction. It nearly destroyed her and her entire career. There are some infamous stories of public on-stage meltdowns. She was crippled by demons and anxiety and has found a way to move on now. Her song was written during the time, I do not believe she was over this, but what you do reflects in what you create. I think her song represented what she hoped for. What was possible, but the title makes me think again of how people reject it. Maybe Not. I can change or I can dream of a better life - Maybe not?
You need to learn to change your mindset.

Never listen to the Naysayer - a Christmas morning Special

1:35am Christmas Day MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
(I was enjoying my sleep but ever since I started doing my Gillian Ross Meditations of the Breath Heart Light and Chakras, I guess the Universe says No - something more important you are destined to do, you can miss a little bit for the good of yourself and others.  For now time stands still. Not a complaint.)

I just felt compelled or guided to write some thoughts on how every single person on this earth, regardless of race, religion, aspirations, appearance (body shape and the perception of beauty) status, and any person that has any sort of challenges they faced in the past, remember the golden flow - it takes the worst in life to bring out the best, is more than capable of reaching success and happiness in their lives - through embracing change, if they are aware the current mindset or attitudes, and or fears and limitations currently hold them back.

If you take a differing opinion against the disability statement I will tell you a quick story. I used to always not bother even considering owning a bike because I had this idiotic fear or worry what if I was out riding it and I had a puncture - I would have no idea or capacity to change a flat tyre - imagine if the bike was my transportation to my employer or something?  imagine if I was 10km away from my home?  You may or may not be aware that someone that empowers their mind and becomes stronger usually learns to let go of worries as trivial as this, and not only is that certain worry a prime example of the useless thoughts some of us endure - (not that one for all mind you) - but it reinforces the effect not only did it hinder me it held me back with a fear that subsequently prevented me from enjoying a possibility in life.
But I am starting to deviate from the original story the flat tyre and disability.  I was given a link to this crazy YouTube video of this man who rode for a charity pursuit, without the full arm capabilities we all take for granted, please watch it I will try and include the link, it will make you realise why I am now planning to buy myself a bike.
http://youtu.be/AV4H04Rmkrw

If you want to consider a different mindset and attitude, and open the door to the possibility that your current life is not dictated by the premise of fear and an attitude of it can never change I am stuck. Nothing will ever work out... I will never be truly happy.  My life is destined for a plain below average day to day agony or struggle pity party. Than I am happy to tell you that you have a correct assumption waiting to be acted upon, at any time, at any age, at any stage in your life.  It is never too late or too early.  I like the general theme Jim Morrison expressed in a song (I cannot remember the exact lyrics I am just generalising the theory) he said something along the lines of when you die your life gets replayed back over and over as some kind of movie reel and you are forced to watch it over and over, so you better have some good incidents happening in there!
That lyric struck me so powerfully many years ago because it dawned on me my movie would never be considered by Hollywood in fact no person in their right mind would even contemplate sitting down with a box of popcorn and a drink to bother watching it, in fact they would get up and walk out after a few minutes; and more than likely - demand the ticket refund in pure disgust!  And if I myself was forced to watch it over and over I have one word I would love to type, or emotion I would feel REGRET.

This is a certain time of the year when many people consider change.  In the New Year most people are encouraged (to me personally for unknown logic it is the most chaotic unstable time of the entire year) - to embrace the weight loss initiative or to quit smoking and become healthier - great right?  No not at all when you witness the amount of carcasses you see lying on that path to success, in fact so many it scares the rest considering it from trying, or the ones who have started to turn back. Carcasses that are being lovingly picked apart by haters called vultures and family and friends who hated the fact the person even wanted to consider trying something many of them were not capable of, and therefore tried to put them down and instead of encouraging the idea in fact was a driving force in helping it reach failure.
Why on earth did I just negative rant like that?  Because one thing you will face with certainty if you make the decision to consider change in life - you will always encounter resistance.
Yes some family and friends may encourage and support you - but be warned some others might actually hate the fact and resent it because since they feel inadequate of doing it themselves, they will want to try and stop you or it makes them feel stronger keeping you weaker. 
I loved the person who came up with HATERS stands for Having Anger Toward Everyone Reaching Success.  Do not listen to them for a second - remember the wisdom of Arnold Schwarzenegger (For a beast of body he actually has a more powerful mind)  He says if he had listened to everyone that told him he could not do things in life - he would be nowhere in fact said:

If I would have listened to the naysayers I would still be in the Austrian Alps Yodeling. I would never have come to America. I always listened to myself say "Yes you can."
Many people told him that he was not suitable for Hollywood, his physique was crazy to even consider it, and I believe many people from the very beginning attempted to drive into him into the mindset of or the limitations of you cannot and will not do this.

So if or when you consider change make sure you plan and commit and be smart wise motivated and strategic about it - if you apply discipline and effort and sustain your desire in the face of the times when your mind and body feels like quitting - you will succeed.
I say You Will - notice that - I did not say You Can.
enjoy the decision you have taken and embrace the challenge and at the end SAVIOUR THE REWARDS.

You may read this and say oh very well oh perfect child of the universe who never battled ANYTHING you who was lovingly born with an easy road?
okay I will list some things I have overcome and beaten - My Dad left when I was so young a boy it slowed my progress to speech for years, and I was raised by my single mother who relied on welfare and part time jobs, we scraped by on a budget most would never have known for all my life.  My childhood was full of bullying I was weak and vulnerable held back by fear and such a lack of self confidence, the education system sent me for classes on building self-esteem.  At 13 years of age my dear Mother was at a bar, and a stranger came up to her and said urgently YOUR SON IS IN TROUBLE QUICK COME WITH ME - and after she jumped in his car he took her to an isolated park raped her and very nearly killed her - he had the belt around her neck and told her he was going to listen as she died, but an inner voice told her to praise him and he relented on the death wish.
I had a major mental breakdown from the shock of that and was placed into an adolescent psychiatry ward at that tender age and put on a medication that was in later years banned - because it caused instant death heart failure in random people.  Lucky I am typing this to you all.
I went onto a path of drug use and crime and smoked and drank and then the mental health system again was able to harness the power to bring me to my knees... not the caring doctors and nurses I am talking about the underfunded and the system back then that said: You must withdraw from society, be held back by self doubt for the remainder of your days, you will enjoy the prospect of not having a decent source of employment - in fact we want you straight on the disability pension and so forth oh and the meds - we will lovingly zonk you so hard you will be unable to get out of bed until after lunchtime and not only that the med and lack of motivation will make you explode in body weight to over 94.4kg which was considered obese by BMI standards ... and you are destined to embrace a life of anxiety and fears until oneday it kills you.
Anyway I now get great displeasure from even expressing all of this it sounds like ego talking again so you get the general gist.
I believe I just perfectly illustrated the reason why we should never judge or make assumptions about anyone or try and judge them for what they do or the reasons they do it.
They say you do not know until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes the true reasons for the way they behave, or the manner in which the mind treats them, or they allow it to, the drugs they might do, the things they abuse, or the way they may project hurt anger and violence.
But I am happy to say I am now 38 years old (yes I do not look it I am told by many) and I have overcome every single challenge life threw at me - I say life threw at me - interesting - I now might say the life I created for myself because it is clearly true you draw much of your thoughts actions emotions desires and create the environment around you - if you plan success expect to draw so many great fantastic like minded people into your path - you will know what I am talking about - doors start to open things start to happen but when you remain negative and clouded by the illusion of never embracing change that old life is stuck on rewind over and over and over again.
Just like Jim said GO OUT THERE AND CREATE SOME INTERESTING INCIDENTS!
and lastly the quote from Arnold and on this day you may be surrounded by some family or friends that will challenge this concept, I personally found this day many years ago a true challenge when some people in my life used to make me realise my lack of mental strength.
Have a wonderful day people of this beautiful universe Love and Light xx

If you enjoyed this blog please help promote it I am a recent blog writer I think this my third one so I would love to gain a little more exposure, at the moment I am finding this challenging. I sent some of my previous blogs to high profile fitness and mind people that promote it - and they did not even respond in most cases. If you are on Twitter (ColVanDerWoude) and you desire to follow me by all means please do and if you are on Google + with the same desire please by all means act upon it.

Namaste

basic ego is ugly in fact it can destroy talent

It is almost Christmas I thought it would be a great chance to reflect on the past twelve months and what I have learned and grown from.  In fact I will share my most powerful realisation.

I have done some rapid progress made some changes improved myself, my mind, my body. My skills and my ability, also talent.  While this is all good a part of me grew unnoticed.  It was noticed by others but I failed to see it, or perhaps I was too drawn up in my own excitement and pride to consider it.  It became a fatal flaw that can turn something nice into something ugly.

It was ego or the fact I became so self absorbed and obsessed with what I had done I lost all focus on what is essential in life and relationships:  Remain humble.  Listen. Speak less.

I drove some good friends away.  It took a remarkable one during a phonecall today to hit me clean in the face with sledgehammer strength.  I adore her for this.  I used to take any criticism once upon an unenlightened time as a personal attack, and react with the defence mechanism to replace the feeling of - should I consider what this person says or does it hold any truth? Should I stand in their shoes and consider the point of view, or just dismiss it as a basic attack on me?

You gain much strength from change and when you gain self-confidence and pride you need to always keep the ego at bay. The ego only considers you.  If I called someone I did not even ask much about how they felt - what was their day like? What was happening in their lives all the things you must do to engage a vibrant healthy conversation. 

Rather than inspire someone if you bombard them with how well you are doing, and how great life is, how much you have done the last year - rather than feel admiration it can turn to disdain, and they will want to end the conversation rather than continue it.

In a good person is a true LISTENER

Some people might tell you all their problems, but rather than wanting you to solve them, in many cases all they want is to have your full attention, and for you to offer the gift of listening.

If you can offer suggestions at the right times when needed and if the solutions are positive and you believe they can help the other person - talk.

Until then or if it is not needed Do Not. Rather - Listen.

And learn to dismiss the judge in you - we are all different everyone is unique and everyone has a story and a reason for doing what they do and doing things they do... the sooner you can let go of trying to judge why or putting certain people into any form of confining category the better.

I always was aware of certain elements of the Ego but I thought visually, like the guy at the gym staring in the mirror doing dumbbell curls hoping or assuming the fitness females in the area actually enjoyed this - THIS IS ALWAYS UGLY - but I did not even consider ego is much deeper.

I thought ego was the personal trainer who is ripped and he knows it. And assumes he can have any female he desires. THAT IS ALSO UGLY.

But basic ego is deeper and much more complex.

You control what you think and what you draw into your life.

How you interact with people is critical.

If you exude confidence and charm most people are appreciative but if this is soured with an attitude or a lack of character - the bad starts to over compensate the good.

You can be charming and attractive perhaps cute or super sexy but this means NOTHING IN THE GRAND SCHEME.  If you lack true HEART AND COMPASSION AND CHARACTER... if you cannot make people relate to you and you always project your image onto them without considering yourself - think of it this way - the ugly factor or the things you hate in others - is what you hate most in yourself so you must become the best person possible, and learn to love yourself but remain humble and true to life, and then life and the universe will guide the energy you project.

You can change life at any moment if you are unhappy and think this is not possible you are mistaken. But if you embrace change make it the best possible change and become the best possible soul on this earth you can be.

Shine a light so bright and vivid that it reflects in the smiles of others.

Express gratitude for every day and every moment.

Use any challenge as the mindset of - how can I use this problem as a solution?

Instead of thinking of the past or dreading the future - focus on THE NOW.

Consider meditation and do everything to help nourish and give life to your body and mind.

read and learn and move and grow.

Too many people are stagnant, stuck in a part of the sad reality of - nothing can change. Everything is hopeless.  I can never beat any problem. Things are too big. Life is too hard.  I will never become someone, I will never experience true happiness... I can never reach any level of success.

And my anxiety controls me. The past defines me.  What happened yesterday will continue to cast a shadow on tomorrow.  I can never get that "thicker skin", I will always allow others to offend me, and I will be controlled by my emotions, they will use me until I am so crippled with my fears my body will fail and my mind as well.

I will always care about what anyone thinks and says about me. I will take any criticism whatsoever as a direct attack on me and possibly even stew on it for days weeks or months.

I am here to tell you ANYONE ON THIS PLANET - does NOT have to be confined by ANY OF THE ABOVE.

anyway, Merry Christmas and may 2015 be a year of growth and personal development for anyone that seeks to pursue it

because many will and many do and the universe wants it!

Lastly to any of you who took the time to read my thoughts one word:

GRATITUDE.