The Art of Being Brilliant by Andy Cope & Andy Whittaker

Do you ever get the feeling you’ve been gone for a lot longer than you thought you were. Well I do, sorry every one for being a little haphazard recently. I’ve written a lot of posts about why I’ve been away but basically I’ve been busy. REALLY BUSY. When you live with lots of people in shared housing there’s always another job to do but it kinda feels okay to leave it to the next person? When you live in a household of two it’s a little more difficult. Risk pissing off the person you’ve moved in with (sorry T) or get your act together. Then I felt out of my blogging habit and then I did something crazy – I joined a gym and that has been taking up a little more time than I thought. Turns out I really enjoy the gym. But that’s something for another day. For now a brilliant book on how to be, well, brilliant.

We all have good days and bad days. Some days we’re on form, others we can’t really be bothered and feel a little lack lustre. No one enjoys those slump days – so let’s do away with them! The wonderful, uplifting and funny authors of the bestselling The Art of Being Brilliant are here to show us how to get motivated, get positive and get happy, and, most importantly, how to be all three consistently. Every single day. Using a solid understanding of positive psychology, but with clear visual illustrations, simple explanations and a bit of funny stuff, Be Brilliant Everyday shows us how to foster some serious positivity and mental agility and transform our lives. The book is crammed with practical tips to help us ditch those down days and flourish every single day.


img_1808How to live and breathe positivity everyday

Learn to be truly happy, confident and more effective

Become a great example to others and inspire those around you

 How to cope and feel brilliant in a busy, demanding world

This book is a well-constructed self-help book, centrered around the idea that we can get ourselves back on a positive track and the ways that we can help ourselves, mainly by looking at things in a different way. I want to say – this is definitely one of those books that is love it or hate it and would say, it’s for those that KNOW that the troubles lie with their habits or ways that they look at things. I feel like this book definitely doesn’t take into account mental health/depression and I think if I had read this book with that in mind I could have been a little offended.

The idea revolves around us being lazy to change due to a lack of effort, allowing ourselves to be stressed or distracted by our mobile phones when we should be looking at how we see ourselves. Quite clichéd things but things I haven’t really ever thought about too deeply.

Last week I was in a horrendous mood because of the rain. Sounds stupid, but I don’t own a coat with a hood, I recently found out there are problems with my tax from my last job, I lost my purse a few days before and I was RAGING. I stomped home, threw my gym stuff on and raced down to the gym in a horrid mood. As soon as I got there I managed to drop my phone onto the metal rail of the cross-trainer and it smashed horrifically. What I could or should have done is really thought

img_18071)     I have sorted the tax thing – at least initially

2)     I have heard from the person who has my purse I should be able to get it back

3)     I will eventually have enough money to buy a coat with a hood and I should have done MONTHS AGO.

If I had done this maybe I wouldn’t have had a mini argument with T (who has been incredibly supportive through it all) and maybe I wouldn’t have smashed my phone to crap. I mean I might have done but at least I wouldn’t have felt so horrendous due to me being a mood hooverer (someone who is almost looking for things to be angry about – ie the rain.) Looking at things as if nothing, nothing at all would make it better.

The book revolves around this throughout, is backed up by quotes from other self-help motivators and experts and for me it has a brilliant message in addressing negative self-talk. I realise I’m massively going on in this review but it’s my first one back so shrugs. It does have a slightly condescending tone or at least moves towards it. For me it just stopped before pissing me off but the stick men drawings and some of the jokey language was beginning to grate.

I think if you’re looking to make little changes in your life and want a book that maybe makes you look at somethings you’re doing differently once in a while this is a lovely little book to pick up. It would also work wonderfully as a stocking present filler! (If you’re thinking about Christmas already.) Gah I’m going to wrap this up here because I HAVE GONE ON A LOT. I enjoyed it but I think there are lots out there that take a deeper look at psychology and self-help. This was book to start me on a journey of self love that I hope to continue.

LIIIINKS 

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RE-INVENT YOURSELF! A Lifestyle Transformation Guide for Women

RE-INVENT YOURSELF! (7)

Hellllo readers, hope you’re well! I’ve got a really exciting guest post for you today from the fantastic, Cheryl Garrison talking all about her fantastic book. Without further delay let’s get into it! 

The Re-Invent Yourself book is a working guide for women over 50 who want to take their life from ordinary to extraordinary. Do you ever feel as if nothing is ever going to change for you, that this is it? Are you ready to change but don’t have a clue how to begin the process of making a change?

I wrote this book for you (and to be honest for me as well). One day I was a 20 Something, bold and confident career woman, wife, mother and entrepreneur and the next I was over 50 and struggling with my purpose in life. I had lost the passion. I had lost the hope. I had lost my vision. I was lost and I didn’t like that feeling. I had two choices. Keep dealing with this feeling of inadequacy and lack of desire or re-invent my life so that I could experience the success and vibrancy that comes with being passionate about living.

RE-INVENT YOURSELF! (3)

I wrote this book for every woman who wants to regain the passion and experience real change. I believe that the first steps in re-inventing yourself is to actually know who you are and what you want. I had forgotten my own identity, at least I thought I had. Who was I? I knew I was a wife of 30+ years, a mother of three adult children, and a grandmother of one incredible granddaughter. But was that enough. Unfortunately, not really. At one point in my life, I had aspirations to be tremendously successful in my own business. In fact, I had many years of successful entrepreneurship.

But in my early 50s I experienced a very painful business failure that left me in debt and jeopardized my family’s financial stability. This probably would not have been that big a deal if I had been younger and wasn’t heading toward those retirement years. But here I was, a husband approaching retirement age, having to liquidate years of savings and security to pay off the debt. All I can say is, on the other side of this experience was a 50Something-year-old woman who was almost too afraid to get out of bed let alone try something new again.

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What I discovered was I wasn’t alone in this journey. I met many women who were experiencing some sort of life experience in their 50s and beyond and found themselves in the same place – afraid, depressed, and devoid of the passion that had carried them into their mid-life. Whether divorced, laid off, down-sized, empty nested, or obsolete in their career, the result was the same. Now what?

An off the cuff comment from my son led me to create the 50Something Lifestyle network and ultimately writing this book, Re-Invent Yourself! I began researching different techniques I could use to get out of the “funk” I was in. I started listening to motivational videos, reading and writing affirmations, studying techniques on how to rediscover my true identity and finally how to put together the steps needed to rewrite my story.

This book is a working guide for women who also want to rewrite their stories and begin dreaming again. After realizing that identity was the first thing lacking in women in this age category, I researched authorities in helping people find their true self and included exercises that will help women come away with the knowledge of who they are the personality traits they have that will support them as they create a re-invention plan for their life. After completing the exercises, I was able to resolve the conflict I had developed about who I was. I am now acutely aware of who Cheryl is and what Cheryl has to offer to the community at large.

RE-INVENT YOURSELF! (5)

The second obstacle that plagued me on this journey was What Do I Want? I had plenty of past experience both in my career and in my entrepreneurial endeavors to do almost anything I wanted. But for the first time in my life, I had no clue what to do. In talking to several women who took this journey with me, we came up with the phrase that we were stuck in “cement blocks”. I even wrote a blog about how it feels to be stuck and not know what you want to do or how to go about getting it done.

As I pondered this, I knew that the only way to renew the passion was to find something I wanted to do that excited me. I discovered the concept of “Life Possibilities” which is an exercise where you list all the areas in your life that you have a possibility to change (career, family, leisure, education, etc.) and then identify all the things that you would like to accomplish in those areas (time and money now being a factor). If taken seriously, this exercise can help women create the beginnings of what will eventually be their goals/lifestyle plan.

The book also helps women resolve the obstacles and beliefs that keep us from succeeding and gives full details on how to create goals. The exercises and worksheets included in the book will result in a re-invention plan that if followed can change the life of every woman who gets the book. By integrating personal experiences and exercises I wanted to give women over 50 the tools they need to create the life of passion and purpose that they are seeking.

If you are ready to reinvent yourself and begin designing your lifestyle plan you can get your digital download copy here http://www.50somethinglifestyle.com/books or follow  Cheryl Garrison here! 

 

 

7 Keys to a journey of personal growth.

-If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose- — Charles Bukowski

Everyone deals with personal growth and happiness in different ways. Some individuals experience road blocks that have the greatest effect on the ability to create positive change. Others recognize the road blocks and obtain appropriate tools to help them move beyond inner confusion. Throughout my career as a professional motivational speaker in the field of Spiritual Psychology and Social Services, I have been able to help individuals to effectively deal with the challenges faced and identify their personal road blocks and apply seven keys to move forward toward their personal growth and happiness. Here are my seven keys:

Live Happier: It’s so important to acknowledge that we all need Love to keep stress at a minimum. Conscious loving releases endorphins in your brain and the simple act of forgiveness works as a natural anti-depressant.

Positive Attitude: Choosing forgiveness sets the heart free to embrace more loving. As much as our bodies need rest, so do our hearts. It’s important to take time to meditate to help with your life’s challenges.

Personal Goal Setting: What are you really called to do in this life time? Set goals that serve your highest purpose. Don’t just be good, you can be great!

Meditation Techniques: Sit quietly and listen to your mind. Then tell your mind to be quiet. Let you soul be the lead in the conversation. This will help give you calming and pleasurable feelings.

-If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose- — Charles Bukowski (1)

Realizing Your Potential: One of the few industries that thrive is “fear”… There’s a reason for that. Fear calls people to action, but so does Love. Whether a new birth, a wedding or a goal achieved … loving generates more love. I recommend aligning your goals with what is true to your heart! Uplifting events will occur naturally.

Developing Healthier Thoughts: Science has proven the conscious loving releases positive endorphins. Think about how you can love more each day.

Trust Love: Get in the conversation. Ask questions. Seek answers. Find the next level on your path to creating move love in your life.

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The release of my new audio book “The ABC’s Of Loving Each Day: A Journey to Personal Growth and Happiness” is an expert guide to help gain a better perspective on life. To listen to this audio book, visit online at www.soundcloud.com/dr-see-love/sets/the-abcs-of-loving-each-day. For more information please call 424-226-8772 or email me at connect@drseelove.com or visit my website at www.DrSeeLove.com