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One of the not so surprising findings from my last round of seminars is the growing amount of people who find it difficult to sleep because of the growing activity in their mind.
Honouring this I would like to share with you an exercise that overtime will help to reduce the buzzing / activity in your head. The benefits will be more than obvious overtime.
Find a favourite spot, somewhere where you will not be disturbed. Sit in an upright chair, spine straight, hands on thighs, head upright. Ensure that your knees are not higher than your thighs.
It is imperative that your spine is straight. Therefore a soft chair is usually not adequate as the posture restricts the flow of energy in your body.
Before starting, set a time limit. If you are concerned about time, put an alarm clock in another room set it for 20/30 minutes (or even 10 to start with).
Consequently, in addition to realising the time is up, the sound is muted, so you do not experience any major shock to the system when the alarm goes off.
Take a deep breath, inhale through the nose, which warms and filters the air. Exhale.
Focus on the sound of your breath.
Follow the rise and fall of your stomach as you breathe in and out. Don’t worry about whether your breathing is shallow or deep, this isn’t the issue – FOCUS is.
When any distracting thoughts pop up, acknowledge and let them go by returning to focus on the sound of your breath.
When your time is up, slowly bring yourself back to ‘reality’.
The key to success in this exercise is to set aside 30 minutes daily – 5 minutes preparation, 20 minutes ‘on-line’, 5 minutes re-integration time (back to ‘reality’).
You will find that the experience becomes richer and richer with time.
Try this out today.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
A quick entry to show my appreciation to all the people who attended my personal development/ motivation/ communication seminars in Ireland over the last fourteen days.
Thank you for your enthusiasm, your openess and indeed your healthy cynicism!
I was asked by a few attendees to create this blog so they could register their comments on the days and discuss further some of the thoughts highlighted - enjoy!
As a result of your feedback we have decided to run two more open seminars in Ireland in March and April 2004.
And a final thought - with knowledge comes responsibility, please take the first step in the context of achieving your dreams today.
Remember "here today, gone today - live life now!"
Thanks again.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:05 AM | Comments (10)
“Meditation is the smart person’s bubble bath, ” says Joel Stein in Time Magazine’s October 27th edition.
What a great quote!
But even this description undersells its power.
Stress reduction, improved focus, enhanced immune system are some of the more obvious benefits, but I would argue there are even more.
I believe meditation and revelation go hand in hand. The more you meditate, the more you begin to reveal your programming, ie the more you identify some of your limiting programming. Regular readers of this blog will know that I believe that identification is the first and all important stage in healing. Identification and consciously choosing differently in the future are two key steps in the process.
Furthermore, another benefit is you begin to live more in the now. The more I learned how to relax, the more I begin to appreciate the wonder around me, the sunsets, the waves, etc. It was like looking at the world with a different set of eyes.
And finally, the more I relaxed, the more intuitive I became. It was as if by removing some of the layers of conditioning that were not serving me, I began to tap into real wisdom or divine whispers – my intuition.
In these cost conscious days, this last benefit should strike a chord with the rational economic man – you don’t need to employ any gurus, just get yourself a cushion!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 08:39 AM | Comments (1)
What can we learn from David Blaine ?
Forty four days in a box without food , the question is - is there an even greater challenge?
What about a week in a room alone with food but without any outside stimuli – no windows, television, papers, books anything?
This I believe could prove equally as difficult.
“Mans greatest problem is his inability to sit quietly alone in a room,” said Blaise Pascal.
How right he was.
In this situation you have to truly meet yourself, for many a first. You can’t lose yourself in someone’s smile or a wave from a passer by or an impromptu performance from the crowd– all there is, is you.
During this time, your focus must be on just being present – focusing on your breath or a prayer or a candle - whatever you choose. During this time your mind will initially flood with thoughts and chatter. As they advise in Tibet – acknowledge and let go. Say “welcome – welgo,” returning your focus to your breath etc,
It is possible that in this time you will identify patterns that haven’t served you. Identification is the first step in the context of disabling limiting beliefs - commiting to choosing differently in the future is the second..
Let us make this a little more relevant to the modern day man or woman – it is critically important that we integrate timeouts into our daily routine – a time where we can meet ourself – quieten the incessant traffic in our mind – get below our thoughts and beliefs, which will help renew and revive us for the day ahead.
Five minutes to start will do. The more you get to enjoy this exercise; the more you will factor in more time.
After each timeout, you will see more clearly – you will see that you can be just as efficient in eight hours with a timeout, as you would be in sixteen hours without a break.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that sleep is good enough to recharge your batteries – when you sleep, your mind is still working away. Have you ever got up in the morning feeling physically fresh, yet mentally wrecked.
You know what I mean!
Thus you need a technique to quieten the mind.
Time for Timeout!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
One of the key messages I impart at seminars is the importance of embracing the fact that everybody, yes everybody can be your teacher. Indeed the person that most annoys you at this moment in time could well be your greatest teacher; remember they are highlighting your boundaries.
For many participants who have invested heavily to attend the workshop, hearing that they could learn more from a stranger in a coffee shop or from the “annoying” relation, than from me can be quite unpalatable!
I suggest that oftentimes our ego restricts our ability to attract teachers, circumstances and events that help us achieve the dream of a fulfilled life.
Our ego will say “what would he/she know” – something deeper inside will tell us “he/ she is truly your teacher.”
The message is very simple – embrace this truth and a life of magic and adventure awaits.
In life, we move through three stages - dependence to independence to interdependence – do not allow your ego to restrict your movement through the stages.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 05:40 PM | Comments (1)
On Friday and Saturday, we kicked off the new Transition Year Initiative, “Looking ahead and Living now” with the teacher training module in Athlone.
I would like to thank the teachers who travelled from all the corners of Ireland to attend the training. Their enthusiasm was refreshing, their input critical.
I am confident that with their help, this course will become a permanent fixture on the transition year schedule for years to come.
Also in attendance was our sponsor Mr Pat McDonagh from Supermacs, who was cross examined by the audience.
One quote that comes to mind:
"All great achievements start with a single step"
- let this be the first step of many.
Yet again, thanks!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 05:21 PM | Comments (3)
An excerpt from The Sunday Times October 05 that may interest you:
“Millionaires are significantly more likely to suffer from dyslexia, according to a study of the character traits that define Britain’s successful entrepreneurs.
Psychologists who analysed the mental make-up of business winners found that learning difficulties were one of the important precursors of financial success.
The study found that millionaires are four times as likely as the rest of the population to be dyslexic with 40% of the sample of 300 studied diagnosed with the condition.
One explanation given is that dyslexics who tend not to be good at processing details learn to excel by grasping the bigger picture and producing origional ideas. The social exclusion many feel because of dyslexia is also identified as a motivating factor.
The findings by Tulip Financial Research show a huge majority of Britains estimated 5,000 self made millionaires performed badly at school and continue to perform poorly in aptitude tests.
The latest study was commissioned for a BBC2 series, Mind of a Millionaire to be shown on Tuesday.
“How happy are these people?” – this is the question that remained unanswered, that didn’t appear on the questionnaire. That said, this research is inspirational and instructional in many ways.
Is “pain the shell that encloses our understanding?” as Kahlil Gibran , the great Lebanese philosopher once asked. Is pain the great personal growth catalyst for many people. Not until it hurts, do they stand up to life?
Can we do better to prepare our students for the World of Work and Living?
I think so and hopefully the first step starts this Friday, when our new schools programme “Looking Ahead and Living Now” kicks off.
Can we continue to see the stars even though we are submerged in the gutter? Yes.
Life is truly a journey of choice and we can still choose to live a fulfilled, enjoyable life, regardless of circumstances.
Make that choice today!
(PS if you want to check out whether you have the mind of a millionaire or not- www.bbc.co.uk/science)
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:57 AM | Comments (2)
This is just to let you know that there is a new book being published on Tuesday 7th October in aid of a very deserving charity, and I’m very pleased to say that I am a part of it.
It's called “From The Heart Of Ireland” and is a collection of inspirational true-life stories compiled to raise funds for the benefit of Laura's Hope, an international charity devoted to finding a cure for Huntington’s disease.
My story, "The Son of my Father" is in there, along with Gay Byrne and Mary Kennedy, John Sheahan of the Dubliners, Con Cluskey of the Bachelors, politicians Liam Twomey, Marian Harkin, John Perry, Liz McManus and Gerry Adams, journalists Mary Kenny and Angela Doyle;the brilliant Andy McGovern, businessmen Feargal Quinn and Bill Cullen, world famous sports physiotherapist Gerard Hartmann and plenty more.
It has been compiled in such a way that whenever you have got a few minutes to spare, you can read a full story, or two. You can dip in and out whenever the mood takes you, and in just a few minutes gain inspiration from one of the many stories.
I know you’ll enjoy it yourself and I'm sure it would make a great present for someone else.
Brendan Power, who compiled the book, will be talking about it on Ireland AM (TV3) on Thursday 9th October sometime between 7.30 and 9.00 and if you would like to know more about it , have a look at Brandons Books.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:26 AM | Comments (1)
Watching the sun set over Galway Bay yesterday evening, I could not but recall Rumi’s inspirational quote:
"Those who don’t drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take in the sunset like supper, those who don’t want to change, let them sleep."
For those who want to change, take the first step today.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)