Monday 31 December 2007

Day 364 - the end of evil

I am one day away from completing a whole year out.

Feels good.

I am spending today walking up the Helderburg Mountain in Africa, where I intend to contemplate the following question: Is the world ready for the end of 'evil'?

I think it might be. More to follow later.

In the meantime, here are 9 little films for you to enjoy as the year ends: http://www.oneearth.org/

x

Thursday 27 December 2007

Day 350 - seeing the silver lining

A few years ago I would not have batted an eyelid at a distant political assassination. I was your standard boys boy - a city dealmaker on the fast track to nowhere.

But taking time out has greatly enhanced my awareness and empathy for world affairs - and today I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear that Benazir Bhutto has been killed in Pakistan.

This senseless murder of such a great woman - the first woman to be elected as prime minister of an islamic state - twice the prime minister of Pakistan - imprisoned for 5 years in solitary confinement on bogus charges - returning recently to her own country, where her own father was executed, of her own accord and under the threat of an assassination which has now been mercilessly fulfilled - has me fighting off feelings of helplessness about this world that we live in.

Here I am writing regularly about a global shift in consciousness... And then something like this happens. I feel many emotions right now, but mostly I feel despair at religion. Who could possibly sanction such action other than the most twisted of extremists?

I read a quote the other day, I forget who from, but it was something like: 'All that is needed for mankind to progress is for us all to realize we are in love with the same god.'

I agree with that. And I believe Benazir Bhutto did as well.

I believe in God wholeheartedly, but am not religious in the slightest. Although on days like today, I find myself wondering how such things can happen.

God moves in mysterious ways I guess.

I am sure Benazir Bhutto will be remembered as one of the greatest martyrs of all time.

How inspired I am by her life. What a stand to take - to invite responsibility for an entire nation - indeed for all islamic women. She was everything a leader should be, and her death has got me thinking about leadership and all it entails. Honour, love, knowledge, commitment above and beyond personal safety. Integrity (so key in all leaders, and yet so rare nowadays as to be unrecognizable to most).

I am reminded to focus on the good people that we have seen in this world.

And to remember Benazir Bhutto under the banner of 'Leadership'.

So today I have permitted myself a short period of mourning, and will now focus on the silver lining of life, observed by the leaders of the word past and present that inspire me, and who remain the beacons by which I guide my own raft toward where, I hope, lies salvation.

- Aung San Suu Kyi

- Nelson Mandela

- Mohandas Ghandi

- Muhammad Yunus

- Winston Churchill

- Martin Luther King

- Che Guevara

- Helen Keller

I can recommend any or all of these leader's life stories as more or less divine sources of inspiration - each of them has enabled me to connect with my higher self, and thus been instrumental in helping me grow, for which I am eternally grateful:

I believe Benazir Bhutto belongs firmly among these leaders, God bless her.

PS: Sometimes, I wish I could press 'pause' on the whole world, and invite people one by one to step outside and view the whole thing objectively. Truly, if we could only recognize what a giant pickle we are in, that would be something. For now, we carry on blindly, with just a few blessed souls carrying the flickering torch for the others.

Tuesday 25 December 2007

Day 346 - santa claus? read Buffett and Gates...

Last night I was on a plane to South Africa, overjoyed to be escaping freezing London for a 30 day 'time out' in and around Cape Town. After watching the excellent Rescue Dawn, which I firmly believe to be on a par with The Deer Hunter, I flicked over to watch an interview in which Nebraska University students asked questions of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Watching these great people respectfully and patiently answer questions from students was a true lesson in life.

Out came the notebook...

These aren't exact quotations by any means, as I was scribbling to keep up, but it is what I 'got' from the film:

WB (3rd richest guy in the world): 'Your inner scorecard is always, always more important than your outer scorecard.'

BG: (richest guy in the world): 'I get a million emails per day. Seriously.'

WB: 'I tell my guys to make every decision as if an unfriendly reporter from their local newspaper is in the room, who could instantly destroy their reputation with colleagues, family and friends. We got all the money we want - we can lose money. But we can't afford to lose reputation.'

BG: 'I model much of my existence on Robin Hood.'

WB: 'The day I die I will have done a full days work because I genuinely love what I do. I never want to stop. I only found out how much I earned in my first job at the end of the first month - there was never any need to ask as I was absolutely clear that this was what I was supposed to be doing.'

BG: 'I would like to extend my lifetime and read faster. I love being corrected by my wife.'

WB: 'Dynastic fortunes are not what America is about. My kids will have enough money to do whatever they want, but not enough so that they can do nothing at all.'

BG & WB: '99% of our fortunes will go on philanthropy - towards making the world a better place.'

And lastly, in response to the question 'What is your definition of a successful person?', Buffett responded: 'If you die surrounded by people who genuinely love you, you are a successful person.'

What an awesome legacy, and what a great message for people to hear at Christmas.

Sunday 23 December 2007

Day 345 - a christmas carol

I met with two friends of mine for lunch today - a christmas tradition that goes way back.

One of them, a successful fashion buyer, told me a story that warmed my heart. Her story touched me because she told it authentically.

On a heady night out recently, Mandy had been attending one of several parties and jumped into a cab a bit worse for wear.

She awoke later that morning and noticed that her watch, a diamond encrusted Cartier, was missing.

In a hungover panic, all the worst thoughts crossed her head. Had the maid stolen it? Had the cab driver realized she was drunk and slipped it off her wrist? Had one of her 'friends' taken advantage of her?

Anyway, she reported the unsolved crime to the police and put in the insurance claim.

Thing is about Mandy is she is one of the finest people I know. Privileged, but immensely grateful. Troubled, but not self obsessed. Beautiful and stylish but kind and intelligent. Above all, I believe she consistently puts others before herself.

Around 4 weeks later, Mandy received a call from the police.

Believe it or not someone had handed her watch in, having found it on the street. On picking it up, Mandy realised that the clasp was loose and it must have slipped off her wrist.

The watch is worth a hell of a lot.

And I don't know if it's sad indictment on my own take on human integrity, or a reflection of how bad things have gotten in society, but the fact that someone handed it back in having picked it from the street, renews my belief in the human spirit.

Either way I loved hearing this story at Christmas.

I think it was Lao Tzu who said that anyone can observe the Tao while solitary in the himalayas, but keeping such behavior in the midst of a hectic city is true strength.

The lady who returned the watch was called Charity, and Mandy sent her one of London's largest floral dispatches in recent years.

Beyond this, I really got that problems like ours really pale in comparison to the rest of the world's. But I got that everyone's issues are relative. And that if we can only ignite the human spirit to the extent that Charity showed, the world would be a much, much better place. I know that each and every one us has the ability to do this - for me, it is time to use it.

That is what my life is about.

I wish you all my love, and many, many happy wishes for the holiday season.

Ben x

PS: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WKwVlTFjYXo

Thursday 20 December 2007

Day 344 - brando's take on things

Marlon Brando said:

“People say, 'What did you do while you took time out ?' - as if the rest of my life is taking time out. But the fact is, making movies is time out for me because the rest, the nearly complete whole, is what's real for me. I'm not an actor and haven't been for years. I'm a human being - hopefully a concerned and somewhat intelligent one - who occasionally acts.”

This quote sums up my feelings about taking time out.

It is what I want to say in the future when I look back on what I have done - whatever that was.

Wednesday 19 December 2007

Day 343 - abundance for all

'The vision comes from every citizen of this planet. My fame came from lending $27 to 42 people. You couldn't get smaller than that. And look at the effect it had. We can all do it - but we don't know.'

Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate, talking at the launch of the Elders, 2007.

Why don't we know? What holds us back in life? What stops us believing we can have the same effect on the world as Professor Yunus?

I am interested in this. Passionate about it. I believe we can all change the world - I believe it and I know it. Imagine if we were all set free to this way of thinking, what could be caused and how quickly it would happen. No limits, no boundaries, just endless, unpolluted possibility and potential - a world full of idealistic, child like leaders.

That is what I am up for. I am publicly declaring my stand as 'abundance for all' - abundant life on an abundant planet.

'It's our world and we are going to build it in the way we want it. And we will make it happen.' Yunus finished.

I am with him all the way.

Monday 17 December 2007

Day 342 - corporate governance or corporate governments? who cares? the wheels are in motion.

Taxi talk commented on my post yesterday that 'corporates own the world'.

It got me thinking. It could be true. Corporates may well own the world right now, and governments may well work for those corporates, and this and that and blah blah blah.

I wonder if any of us will ever know the truth about this?

One thing I am sure of is that each of us can change the world - whatever is in place right now doesn't have to be in place tomorrow.

It is the ordinary members of society that refuse to believe in the world as 'a lost cause' hold the key to a free, abundant future for all.

Log boats (as in giant rafts made of logs tied to one another) on the Mississippi River used to carry hundreds of passengers downstream. When they reached a bend in the river, it took the simplest of things for the whole boat's trajectory to turn sharply to ensure it did not collide with the banks.

It took one guy.

One guy standing on the corner of the boat, thrusting a piece of wood into the mud bank and hanging on with a firm grip.

And the boat would start to turn, changing the course of the journey for all those people.

I believe the world works in the same way. It's not quite as individual a process, but it starts in the same way - one person taking a stand. And as others realise that stand will benefit them and their children, they start to gather around the individual and he becomes a team.

Until recently, this type of progress has been slow.

But one thing, I believe, now renders the corporations powerless: the Internet.

The Internet gives anyone acting with integrity the ultimate shop window. Just one little guy can set up shop online and, as long as they practice integrity, can connect with an audience of millions, and empower them into changing the world into what they want it to be, not how the corporates dictate it to be.

Even the most suspicious of corporate sects like the Bilderberg group (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3773019.stm) must be able to relate on an emotional level to the almighty mess that the world is currently in. Surely they know it to be inescapable for their families as well as the families of the gullible consumer. And these guys can be brought to account and turned upside down by the little guy, now that the Internet is here. Groups like Bilderburg, after running the world into the ground for so many years, must be running scared at the tides of change that are currently underway. I mean, we need to look after the planet for goodness sake. Even they must be able to see that they are creating a giant sauna for their grandchildren to frazzle in. A world ripped apart by religion, poverty and conflict. Unless of course they don't even care about their own grandchildren.

The shift in global consciousness toward the collective over the individual points to a freer, better world. Surely these corporates are aware of this and are not sitting round a table drinking brandy and discussing ways to screw the rest of us over?

I don't believe it.

The people have a voice now - they have a place to say what they want to say - the Internet.

Bilderburg and co must now be scratching their heads in survival mode, as opposed to running some racket more commonly found in a Bond movie. Unless of course they too are not immune to the global shift, and are figuring out ways for us all to find what we love doing and live long, fulfilled lives...

Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know - but at least we don't have to take it lieing down anymore. 

Here's to the blogosphere.

Power to the people.

Sunday 16 December 2007

Day 341 - courage, belief and detachment

There comes a point with 'projects' when things get... big. Perhaps, even, too big for me.

In fact, I hope it becomes too big for me.

Background developments are occurring with Cycle 4 that could see it become the force for change that I have always proclaimed it to be.

Forgive the dramatics, but the feeling is that constellations are shifting and energetic forces gathering to take my embryonic charitable project, the culmination of my first year out, and blow it up into something that will have a profound effect on the world.

And while I want to guide this project to reach it's full potential - it's not like I can really do this alone from my flat... I feel it will soon be time to relinquish my attachment and give the project over to the universe.

We are often afraid of dreaming really, really big.

As Emerson says in my quote section: 'we are ashamed of that divine idea within us'.

But these past few days, ever since the dust settled on Cycle 4'S first projects in India, Nigeria and London began, I have found myself freed of 'early stage thinking'.

And I see that it is only this type of dreaming - outlandish, out of control fantasy thinking - that will accomplish the work that needs to be done on this planet.

My head is in the stars, my heart in my mouth, and I am walking on air - and I am making every effort to stay there. Because I am present to forces emerging to help, now that we have taken the first steps. I wish I could blog about them, but I am keeping quiet for now. I am present to no one having any idea where this world will be in 5, 10, 20 years time.

And that it is you and me, the guys on the ground, the guys in amongst it, who have just as big a say in what is possible as Nelson Mandela, or Al Gore, or Hilary Clinton... or George W Bush. I swear to you that is true.

Poverty, violent conflict, AIDS, malaria... They can all be dealt with.

The input of people with moral courage, integrity and no vested personal interest, thinking freely, is what will consign these diseases to history.

Integrity, responsibility and generosity will end it all. These things will make possible bountiful, great life for all. Abundant life on an abundant planet.

All that it takes is for everyone to believe this like I do - for people to take off the blinkers that hide their infinite greatness and their giant capability to manifest change - and we will be there.

Because today I believe AND know, that this journey I have taken, is going to have the maximum possible impact on the world. And I have only had one thing on my side that many others do not - just one - and that is self belief.

I just cannot wait to see how things unfold.

Friday 14 December 2007

Day 340 - as if by magic

Things are happening in my life right now that I find hard to explain.

The overwhelming complexity of the universe, of energy and of hope, seem to be manifesting physically in my work on a daily basis...

Carl Jung, when asked in a television interview whether he believed in God, said: "I don't believe - I know".

That is very much where I am at.

More to follow.

Tuesday 11 December 2007

Day 339 - living like water

As you can tell by some of the pictures in this blog, much of my time out was spent traveling to the great rivers of the world.

Lao Tzu said:
"The highest excellence is like that of water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving, the low place which all men dislike. Hence it is near to the Tao."

And also:

"Living like water is to flow around obstacles, not confront them."

I recently read a great review by Tom Butler Bowdon of Hesse's Siddhartha:

'Siddartha concluded: "The only thing of importance to me is being able to love the world, without looking down on it, without hating it and myself - being able to regard it and myself and all beings with love, admiration and reverence."

It is the river which helped Siddartha arrive at this. He listens to the 'thousandfold song of the river', which sounds like life in its unceasing movement towards goals, its strivings, sufferings and pleasures, yet which also moves as one. Existence, though it may seem a bewildering and fearful tumult of separate people, places, events and feelings, is like the river in that it is really all one current. And in its oneness it is perfect.

The message of Siddartha is that we should not try to withdraw from life to have a superior feeling of holiness, but to throw ourselves into things; as Joseph Campbell put it, always saying 'Yes' to our universe. Filled with events, thoughts and relationships, life often seems terribly fragmented, but from the perspective of the river bank, it is one, smooth-flowing river of experience. If you can appreciate this unity, you become less wrapped up in yourself and identify with the larger flow of life. What Siddartha finds is that it is only when he gives up finding nirvana that a degree of enlightenment comes to him.'

I really got that.

Throughout my travels while taking time out, I never felt such oneness, peace and vibrancy as when observing, and living beside, our planet's rivers.

Monday 10 December 2007

Day 338 - your job, or your life?

Whether or not they believe it to be true, most people I know behave as if their job is more important than their life.

Life is a 'being' thing.

Job is a 'doing' thing.

In my experience, things only start to work when the latter comes out of the former... i.e your doing, your work, your legacy, is a direct result of self expression - i.e you have found what you love doing and are happy with it.

There's a key breakthrough to be made here... A fun-da-ment-al distinction.

I wonder... I wonder if I am the guy - to make that breakthrough happen...

Are people ready to see western culture for what it has become - a disease?

Friday 7 December 2007

Day 337 - living the wisdom of the tao

Taking time out gives us the chance to really choose how we want to live our lives.

How we want to 'be'.

I had the chance to read so much on my year out, and undergo so many different developmental processes.

But without doubt, the most effective teacher, the guru that resonated with me most, has been the chinese sage Lao Tzu.

His magnum opus, the Tao Te Ching, was written 500 years BC. It is a sacred pathway to getting to our true selves, mother nature, the universe and the Tao...

As a member of the star wars generation, I see clearly that Lao was powerfully aware of and connected to the force.

I love one story about Confucius and Lao Tzu - both Chinese philosophers around that time. Confucius had heard of a great and wise man, and travelled to seek his thoughts and advice on the subject of etiquette. However, on learning that Confucius was concerned with such a trifling matter as correct social behaviours, Lao Tzu spurned him and refused to talk.

He was a man after my own heart. What progress would we make if everyone in this world concerned themselves with how best to care for their neighbour, rather than how best to address them?

Lao Tzu was a great sage, and the Tao Te Ching is a guide for being such a sage. Lao Tzu was a man who believed that the Tao was the sole aspect of the universe, that we are all joined, all one, all abundant, all a part of the same energetic forcefield.

2500 years later, quantum physics is proving that this is true.

There are 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching to take in... And over 85 different translations... So how to choose the best one?

Well, I struggled for most of the year with one translation or another. And I drew wisdom from each of them.

One in particular stood out - a translation by Stephen Mitchell. it filled me with the peace of god, and made me more aware of the complex majesty of mother nature than I had been since I was a little boy. I loved nature as a child.

But still there were verses that I couldn't decipher and relate to my life.

Then I was in my local mall one day, quietly muttering to myself about the local kids hanging around cursing, fighting and bullying (very un-Tao of me to complain like that), and I came across a new book by Dr Wayne Dyer called Change your thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. I read the back of it and saw it was a guide on how to apply the Tao to our hectic western existences. Just what I needed, you would have thought.

But my reaction was again very un-Tao. I sneered at it, and with my nose in the air dismissed it as beneath me - an already confirmed scholar of the Tao!!! I retreated to Starbucks and struggled uncomprehendingly through another badly translated verse...

A few weeks later, having made no progress in my pursuit of Taoist ecstasy, I passed the same bookshop and saw Dyer's book peaking out at me again. And this time I nearly bought it, but for some reason I didn't have any money on me.

I returned to the shop the next day, but they had sold out!

Finally, I was breakfasting in New York a few weeks later with a girlfriend / goddess of mine, who came straight out and told me to read this book immediately.

I finally sought it out and bought it, and it has proved a pivotal investment.

I started to read the book as my plane left for a month long trip to Peru, where I was going on a retreat called the magical earth, to generally commune with nature, diet various plants and live peacefully for a while.

I consumed the book piece by piece over the next 3 weeks or so, and it was just beautiful. It has finally infused my life with the Tao. My every action has been affected by reading this book. It has simplified everything. It has reduced my desires, my attachments, my possessions, my whole life. It has increased my appreciation, my presence, my concentration, my love, my awareness of the environment and mother nature.

And I was able to consume each and every word while lazing on the banks of the amazon river, the greatest source of life on our planet, and walking through the peruvian jungle. Under the cover of the greenest of canopies, accompanied by torrential downpours, beating sunlight, equatorial temperatures, dazzling birds of paradise and monkeys playing and chattering. I was eclipsed by the complex majesty of the Tao, manifesting and evolving as our magical earth right before my eyes.

More than anything Dr Dyer's book has completed my belief that there is a greater force at work, caring for each of us, and if left to do its work unfettered, this force will see each of us through. The Tao always carries the day. There are no accidents and no coincidences - everything happens for a reason. The dots will all connect in good time for us to sit back and survey our life and our contribution and say 'I am pleased with what I have been'.

I finished the book as my plane touched back down at Heathrow 3 and a bit weeks after take off.

And therein lies the greatest message - the Tao held the book back until just the right moment.

And Dr Dyer's interpretation of this work is just... seminal. He even chose the translation by Stephen Mitchell that I liked as one of his recommended translations.

And I am finally living the wisdom of the Tao.

Thank you Wayne Dyer, and thank you Lao Tzu.

Thursday 6 December 2007

Day 335 - what 'is'

I had a profound moment of clarity last night.

I was giving a talk to around 45 people, and recognized what was happening around me as a reality I could not only accept, but one I could feel proud of. We were making change happen.

The people were the first to donate to Cycle 4, the charity I am launching this winter. They were a beautiful audience.

Money - thousands and thousands of pounds - was being transferred around the world for the benefit of people that needed it. Commitments were being carried out. Promises followed through. Awareness crystalizing into action. Connections being made that will become lifelong friendships.

Lives were being transformed.

As I spoke, my right knee began to tremble. And it wouldn't stop. My voice was steady, but my whole body was hot. I could have broken down. It was seriously nerve racking - like a reality check, in the best possible way. A profound distinction of what 'is'... What exists.

So much of my life has been 'talk'. There is so much bullshit in the world.

It's awesome to be taking these first steps on the road to change - both in my life and in the world.

Action of this kind feels incredibly vital.

Wednesday 5 December 2007

Day 334 - commitment ignites the universe

"Until one is committed,
there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
Then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favour all manner
of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material assistance,
which no man could have dreamt
would have come his way.

I have learned a deep respect
for one of Goethe's couplets:

"WHATEVER YOU CAN DO, OR DREAM YOU CAN, BEGIN IT.
BOLDNESS HAS GENIUS, POWER, AND MAGIC IN IT."

From "The Scottish Himalayan Expedition" by W. H. Murray

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Day 333.5 - launching change

I'm giving a talk tomorrow for the first 30 donors to Cycle 4, the non-profit I am launching.

This is the start of a long and beautiful adventure.

For those of you that don't know, Cycle 4 is Cycle 4 is a communitarian networking website that connects western professionals with people in the developing world, and facilitates the flow of funds between the two. You can download more information at www.cycle4.org (we are 100% non profit, we get 100% of your donation in to the hands of those who need it, and no one is paid for their work on Cycle 4).

Our first relationships are off the ground - 27 western professionals have reached out and are improving the lives of 27 people in India, Africa and London. The projects include the funding of IT diplomas, sanitation projects, study scholarships and start up funds.

it's exciting to be causing this stuff.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That's where I'm at.

It feels lucky to have that feeling at 30. Over the weekend I was counting how many of my friends are married now with children on the way, or moving out of town or similar. And I realized for the first time that I had no melancholy around the whole thing. I was happy to be on my own, working on my project in London town, taking the first small steps on this journey of a thousand miles. Now I'm on this path, I feel so settled, so intentional, so sure... Peaceful.

After we go through change and growth, it's tough to communicate to people. I feel the best I ever have right now, but people all around me think I am losing it! Grabbing a coffee or a meal with a friend here and there doesn't really suffice in terms of real communication. So I look at tomorrow as a great chance to have people relate to me as what I am up to in the world, as opposed to how they know me from our youth or otherwise. It's a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to it.

It's interesting we have 27 relationships set up. In 1976 a gentleman in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, launched a project that leant $42 to 27 families. That project became The Grameen Bank, and last year the bank leant $2.2bn to over 1m families. Oh, and Professor Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I feel like I'm at the start of a similar journey. Every now and again in life, we become present to boundless, infinite potential - possibility in it's truest form. This is how I feel right now.

Without wanting to sound egotistical, which is difficult in a blog which is all about how I am being and what I am doing, I feel the seeds of my legacy have been planted.

27 people helped... A billion or so to go.

Day 333 - creation

Loved this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce9f0JP6eks

Perfect.

Monday 3 December 2007

Day 332 - monday morning...

Is now one of my favourite times of the week.

I realize that what I have done is invent a life that works for me - as opposed to the other way around - and it's a life that I really, really love.

I just work when I want to work. And because I love my work, that is pretty much all of the time...

So I arrive at Monday morning, having spent the weekend chilling in all sorts of cool and groovy office spots in west London - having done everything I need to do, and more. instead of 48 hours of doing nothing, I have 48 hours of wonderful work behind me.

And it's been raining all weekend.

But now, on Monday morning, the sun is shining.

Once solely the preserve of 'when will this end' administration, desk clearing and heavy-headedness, monday morning is now peaceful, quiet and free.

I am about to exercise my autonomy.

In what feels like a brazen, revolutionary act of rebellion, I am going for a stroll, a cup of tea and a muffin by the river.

Am taking my notebook in case I develop new global change strategy.

Time out rocks!

Saturday 1 December 2007

Day 331 - decisions vs choices

The benefits of time out are just immeasurable.

Why is this?

Because we are exercising choice over decision - choosing to create a new context for our life that will deliver new content. Deciding to do things, as opposed to choosing, is a by product of the disease that is western culture - otherwise known as accumulation. The need to accumulate removes choice, and in its place comes decision - you decide to do stuff because it will yield the desired result.

But those of us who have the luxury of choice, simply make choices in accordance with what makes us happy.

It was such a huge distinction when I got that.

Think about the word 'decide'... Then think about 'suicide'.... Then 'genocide'... It's all decision making - taking action to cause an outcome.

My life was a constant stream of decisions - good ones, bad ones, off the wall ones. Every decision was dictated by circumstances and consequences.

And the fear about shifting from decision to choice was very real - starting to do things for what makes you happy right now as opposed to what is 'for the best' is a huge leap into the unknown.

But with that leap comes a dynamic shift - choice gets you into the present moment like nothing else - and you realise just how un-present you have been all your life.

And when you're present, nothing is wrong, bad or broken, ever.

That's what choice gives you.

Don't decide on survival.

Choose life instead.