Chumbawamba

In the immortal lines of the song by Chumbawamba a decade or so ago, "I get knocked down but I get up again - you ain't ever gonna keep me down...."

This is a wise philosophy for anyone who is pursuing their dreams or Life Purpose. I frequently have to remind myself of these words as I put the message of Walk Innovation out to the general public. It has been a long hard lesson in what doesn't work for me in the marketing arena over the past months in St Albans as only a few people have trickled into my events.

However, as Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."

Pursuit of a Life Purpose is a quest of belief, congruence and persistence. Today I have been in contact with the local business agency, radio station and networking group. All have offered to help me publicise my events. This represents a nice step in the right direction.

Keeping focus on the bigger picture of what Walk Innovation aims to do - helping attendees to help themselves, have fun and help the planet for our future generations - is where I always come back to. Nobody has achieved great things without challenges. It is how we respond to such challenges that will ultimately dictate the quality of our lives.

Right now I have had a huge rush as a downward turn of life's rollercoaster hits the bottom. Fortunately, the next part of the ride necessitates a swift movement up - I'm ready for that. Indeed, it just adds to life's rich tapestry.

Transforming negativity into hope, focus, purpose and action is a perpetual path. It may not always happen instantly but it always happens to me. The alternative is misery and my years as a nurse have shown me where that path leads - not for me thanks!

As long as I still have my health I am a happy man. It is an unfortunate truth that many people may never realise this until their health has gone. It will never be enough to make them happy when they have good health but it will certainly compound their misery when they do not.

Being grateful for what we have is the easiest route towards changing stress into happiness. Alternatively, you could just complain to someone about life's trials and tribulations - this is a great way to drain the energy of those who you care to share such stories with.

Dealing With Challenges

  The last two days have been incredibly challenging for me. Over the past 7 weeks I have been spending a great deal of time and energy in getting my new Walk Innovation website up and running. It has involved daily liaison with my web designer, who was based in the United Arab Emirates.

  After 7 weeks of continued e-mailing and tinkering the website was almost perfect and my designer had told me that I would be able to easily edit the site. Originally, I had hoped that the site would be finished within a week and then realised that my needs were not being translated into actions. 

  As a trainer of NLP it is always important to remember that the meaning of all communication is the response you get. What I thought were easy to understand instructions were continually being ignored or misinterpreted by my web designer. Only through continued repetition of exactly what I wanted did I get most of what I did want done.

  Then came the bombshell - my designer had to move country and would not be available to help for at least 2 weeks. This led to a very rushed couple of days and an almost correct website.

  I then spent 2 days leaving flyers in every shop and establishment in the locality as I could, to get the word out. After this I decided that I needed to change some details on the site in the absence of my designer. Not being familiar with Wordpress I managed to lock myself out of the site (the reset password address obviously went to my designer's in-box and not mine.) So, I was locked out of my site and it had all gone horribly wrong. All queries were sending back an auto-responder message that we would get back to you as soon as possible - yet not reaching my in-box. I have no idea how many potential clients are still waiting for a reply that will never come. Great start for a new business venture!

  I watched 7 weeks of work undone in 1 second. This is a horrible feeling.

  My solution was to hold my head in my hands for a few minutes and let the reality of what had just happened sink in. Then I realised that it was my duty to transform the energy of this situation. My first task was to transform my mood. A quick click onto Youtube for some Eddie Izzard, Robin Williams, Monty Python and a bizarre Spanish lesson with a twist soon had me laughing out loud. I then meditated, asking the universe for help.

  Within minutes of finishing my meditation a friend of mine, Loren, who also happens to be a web designer, phoned me! She told me that we were going out for the afternoon and she would call by my house later. Clearly, Carlsberg don't do fortunate synchronicity, but if they did.......

  I was picked up, introduced to her friend, Natasha, and taken off to a lovely waffle house, sitting outside for a wonderful lunch. I was then taken to a favourite spot of mine, Tiki's Cafe, in Hemel Hempstead. The owner, Erkan, is an incredible man and has a very intuitive connection with energy. He sat down and spoke to me about a couple of niggling issues that I had, nicely buried in my unconscious mind. His questioning soon brought them to the surface.

  A little tweaking brought these out and made me realise how I had been holding myself back with my business. Simultaneously, Loren put up a temporary page on my website that stopped people from thinking that I would be getting back to them, when I wouldn't. She then agreed to redesign the site for me.

  In a few hours of magic my moment, minute, hour, day, week, month, year and life were transformed. After all, it is only the moment that we find ourselves in that dictates the life that we have had and will have. I'm tuned into the magic of the universe at the moment, I am grateful to my friends and I love my life.

  The gift of a situation will rarely be visible when the proverbial hits the fan. It is our belief that it is coming and congruence with our life path that expedites the journey from trauma to bliss. 

  I'm choosing bliss right now.