My Positive Life
By Jo Gilbert
I feel completely privileged and blessed to have been asked to write this blog for the WUN about staying and being positive! Why? Well, for one thing it shows that I’m being recognised for having a positive energy and outlook in my day to day life.
Over the past few years I have invested heavily in myself, my self-development, my mind set, by learning meditation, visualisation techniques and so much more. I have led quite an eventful life to say the very least and looking back on my journey, most people would say I have every right to be down or negative. I’m not one for wallowing in self-pity, so, I just keep plodding on and try my best to get through whatever life throws at me on a daily basis. However, a life-threatening illness in 2009 stopped me in my tracks and from that moment on my outlook on life and my career completely changed.
I found after such a life changing event I was now super thankful for everyday and waking every morning. Let’s be absolutely clear here – you don’t have to get to this point to have a positive outlook on life. I was positive before, but now I just see no point in wasting my energy on being negative, sad or worrying, or indeed spending time with negative people who only serve to bring you down. I would highly recommend you don’t wait for something quite as drastic as my experience to start living your happiest positive life. I would like to share with you the best tools I have found to support my positive outlook.
It all started with ‘The Secret’ – the book by Rhonda Byrne, I got the audio book, it’s all about the ‘Law of Attraction’ and also watched the film on YouTube, its rather over dramatised, but, if you can get past this, it really is a great watch. It made perfect sense to me, so I began to practise some of the techniques and got a hunger to learn more.
I invest my spare time in listening to self-development audio books, I make use of the pockets of time available to me for example on my daily commute. Whenever I have spare time, I fit in meditation, or time to dance, or have a gratitude rant! – I literally spend two or three minutes reeling off everything I’m grateful for right there in that moment, until I’m all out of things to shout about, it really does raise your energy instantly, so does dancing and exercise – all three are great ways to start the day.
I use ‘hooks’ or ‘Anchors’ as daily reminders of gratitude, I have a small pebble I carry with me everywhere. Whenever I reach into my pocket the pebble is there and I take a few moments to remind myself of three things right there in the moment that I am grateful of. I have found the more I practise gratitude, the more positive my life becomes.
Then the real magic begins to happen, opportunities, ideas, partnerships, places, people – as one door closes another one opens. I have been introduced to some of the most incredible people all around the world who all share similar outlooks and visions and are living their happiest lives.
In the summer of 2017 the most incredible breakthroughs happened for me. I went from practising techniques, to doing them naturally without effort or thought. It had taken me a number of years, but I finally got there, I just needed the right tools and the right people around me.
I joined the Female Success Network’s unstoppable mastermind. A group of 24 business women who are all on their own journeys of self-development and success. From all different background and walks of life. Abigail Horne and Sarah Stone the Co-founders of FSN, and all the ladies in the group, they have been a fantastic support.
I read ‘Awakening’ by Erin Fall Haskell, a 40-day guide to unleashing your spiritual powers, life’s purpose and manifesting your dreams. Later in October 2017, I was excited to receive my copy of ‘Now Is Your Chance’ by Niyc Pidgeon, Positive Psychologist, a 30-day guide to living your happiest life. And more recently I’ve been reading ‘The Mind Makeover’, the answers to becoming the best you yet by Sharron Lowe. Three brilliant authors, three very different books for a complete mind, body and spirit makeover.
And finally, I went to Bali in February of this year for the Ultimate Human Experience, where I was treated to 5 days of fantastic workshops with Number 1 Best Selling Author of ‘Raise Your Vibration’ Alex Tripod. Accompanying Alex in Bali, was Sarah Jane Blackah and both of them led the group of 10 business entrepreneurs from around the world in early morning yoga, guided meditation techniques and soul-searching sessions.
It was just the most perfect getaway. It gave me the icing on the cake if you like and I now feel fully equipped to live a fulfilled and happy life. If I ever catch myself feeling low, I now recognise this and have all of the tools and techniques from all of these incredible women, to lift my vibration and energy and bring myself straight back to positive. The more I put into practise what I have learnt the less and less I have to consciously think about completing these things. It is now routine for me to meditate, to dance, to gratitude rant, to carry my pebble as a hook to remind me of gratitude throughout the day.
I find it is nigh on impossible to be down, negative, sad etc. when I’m so focussed on living in a high energy, high vibe energy state of positivity and happiness. I highly recommend you invest in you too and find some pockets of time to work on your mind set. You don’t need to go off to Bali to find happiness and positivity, but if you ever have the opportunity to go on a retreat like this, I would honestly say JUST DO IT! It’s the best thing I ever did.
I highly recommend all of the books I have mentioned, but if I was to choose only 1 book to assist with living your happiest most positive life – for me it would be ‘Now Is Your Chance’ it’s a must read.
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