I WROTE in a previous article about stress  (here) and it is appropriate for this article to examine the definition of stress.

Stress is – being here and trying to be there.

Ancient man was open to stress when he hunted in the forest as he was exposed to the dangers of being attacked by wild animals.

If he had an encounter with a wild bear it was a survival mechanism to be stressed as he needed his body to kick into action rapidly (stress hormones, faster breathing etc) in order to run away from the onslaught – in other words he needed to be there (somewhere safe) not here (imminent danger).

What triggered the body to get into stress mode (this had to happen instantly for obvious reasons) was man’s connection with his senses – what he saw, heard, tasted touched and smelled.

Back in those early formative years man was prey, so think of a rabbit taking off when it senses danger about.

The point I’m making is that that sort of danger was very, very real and stress was an absolute requisite for the survival of mankind. So stress was a very necessary and good thing once used in context.

If we move on through the Millennia and centuries that have followed, all of these wild animals are to all extent dead or in captivity.

Yes there are wild dangerous creatures at large, but especially since the invention of firearms, man has got the upper-hand and death from this sort of experience is as rare as hen’s teeth!

The problem with modern living is all of the running and racing that people are doing on a daily basis in order to keep up with all of the daily chores.

From the moment we arise in the morning the rushing starts; Beds need to be made , breakfast needs to be downed, kids dressed, rush to school, rush to work, answer  phonecalls, look up emails, check facebook do whatever work entails, have a quick lunch, back to work, rush home, do all the collections and dropping, have dinner, watch television, check twitter or facebook again, play on the computer, go to bed and get up and do all the same things all over again.

I’m even exhausted writing this and I don’t even live in a city!

The body interprets all this rushing around in exactly the same way that it interprets running from a wild animal.

We are running around and breathing faster as a result, the body in turn interprets this as saying that there must be danger about and thus it produces stress hormones whether or not the real danger exists.

The stress reaction is based on survival and the body is not going to take a chance that the danger may not be real – in other words the stress response is part of our automatic system.

Yes, we have to live in the modern world, but if we do so with awareness of the harm that excessive stress can do to our bodies, then perhaps it is worth having a good look at it.

They say that over 90% of modern illness (Cancer, depression, diabetes, anxiety, high blood pressure, cholesterol among others) are related to stress and unaware modern lifestyle.

Ok Roger – we cannot stop progress, we cannot change the world, we cannot stop modern technology so are we doomed?

No we cannot change all of these things (and we won’t want to unless we come to the realisation of the harm they may cause) but we certainly can always change how we react to these things.

We have always got the choice of controlling our reactions to the world we live in. The best way to react to modern living is practice mindfulness living i.e. introduce some sort of meditation into our daily lives.

Just like our ancestors lived – pay attention to our breath and also to what we see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Have you heard all of this somewhere before – yes – come to your senses!

“Everybody wants freedom but with freedom comes responsibility” – Nelson Mandela.

Next week I am going to write about – benefits of technology

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

I SUPPOSE it’s very hard to differentiate the chicken from the egg, thus the famous saying – ‘which comes first, the chicken or the egg?’.

In my previous article (here) I wrote about how energy and spirit are basically the same thing, and not to sweat the small stuff.

Science uses the modulus of energy and Church uses the modulus of spirit and both are eternal (unlimited) and thus indefinable.

That could thus suggest that Church and Science are ultimately the same thing, and here lies the crux of the matter – nothing could be further from the Truth.

They have something in common. Both have baffled mankind for centuries and both have caused heated arguments (sadly to say many needless wars and deaths have been caused because of these differences).

So what is the real difference? To me it is very simple.

Science: Is always searching for the answers.

Church: Tells us we already have the answer.

I know that this might sound a little over-simplistic, but please allow the possibility that the beauty of this realisation might lie in its simplicity.

The key to the answer lies not in the the words Church and Science but rather in the difference between ‘searching’ and ‘having’.

Science is always searching for answers, the intricate study of our DNA, the ultimate limit of our universe (black holes etc) and the true origin of mankind to pick a select few.

Searching, searching, searching, always exploring and always looking for more, always on a never-ending quest. Have no doubt that it has caused great progress in the quality our lives (and ultimate destruction if we are not very careful!).

Remember, I defined stress in a previous article as ‘Being here and trying to be there’. So science is therefore involved in a never-ending quest for more knowledge and results, this may well satisfy the desires of the thinking mind but it will not result in providing ultimate inner peace, in fact it is the antithesis of this.

Church practice (I am using this word in a very broad way to cover all religions and even non-religions that promote inner peace) if done in a meaningful way can provide us with inner peace.

In fact, if it doesn’t what is the point. We are asked to believe in God and to put our total faith in God. Remember, even the name God is a manmade name and can result in real conflict between people as to whether He exists or not.

Interestingly enough, we are given a direct message in The Bible through the story of ‘Doubting Thomas’ that we should never try to understand God.

The reason for this is that as humans we cannot and never will understand the unlimited, so therefore we can never understand the unlimited Love that God has for us.

The key to this is again that word acceptance.

When we as humans accept that we cannot and never will understand a certain inner peace arises. This inner peace arises within us when we are not searching for answers and we allow ourselves to simply be.

That is why meditation and mindfulness has become such a part of modern living. One can never understand how mindfulness and meditation work in exactly the same way that we will never understand the concept and power of God.

It really is not important how it works what is of far more significance and importance is ‘That’ it works.

If you were in a field being chased by a bull in dread of losing your life and if you rang me and I gave you strict instructions to follow and you did so diligently.

If the result of following these instructions got you out of the field and into safety –  it is far more important that you got out, not how!

Jesus gave us all a very strict but simple message: “I am (living in the Now) (is) the way, the truth and the life come follow me and I will give you rest.” Note he didn’t say I was or I will be he said “I am”.

The old name for God is Yahweh which means “I am who I am”.

For those of you who do not believe in Jesus, or in God for that matter, you can still follow the message.

Following this message will deliver an inner peace, joy and happiness to our lives that the human ‘thinking mind’ will never understand.

But then again the real beauty of this is that it works, and we will never understand it, but just like getting away from the bull we don’t need to know how but that it works!

If stress is ‘Being here and trying to be there’ then surely the opposite of stress is ‘Being here and not trying to be there’.

So accept that we cannot understand and practice more mindfulness, meditation, living in the now simply because it works. As Jesus directed us; ‘Be still and know that I am God’

Next week I am going to write about the power of laughter.

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com

SOMETIMES in life we have to put ourselves out there, be forthright, and say what we truly believe.

What our elders meant when they said ‘Calling a spade a spade’. I am going to make my own radical statement by saying that I truly believe that the only thing that separates us from true happiness is our thoughts.

If you are standing by a fire and you suddenly decide to put your hand into the fire and you get burned then surely you will learn (by the hard school of knocks – i.e. direct experience) to stay away from the fire and all that it entails.

It is true for many things in life – we can only know calm when we experience turmoil, we can only know safety when we have experienced danger, we can only appreciate real joy (happiness) until we have experienced real suffering.

Just like the fire I have learned this at first hand as for many years. I suffered from severe depression. Thanks be to God that I learned from the experience and I now use the word suffered (note past tense for over 10 years  now!).

Once I became the master of my thought process I became the master of my life. I coined a phrase at the time which came to the notice of a friend of mine – it goes as follows;

“If my mind could make me sick, surely my mind could make me better”

My friend went to the trouble of printing that slogan out, getting it framed and sending it to me. Putting the substance of that slogan (staying away from my thinking mind) into practice has been the essence of my very recovery and I am sure it will also apply to many people who suffer from any type of psychological difficulty.

Side note : What I mean by the mind is ‘the thinking mind’ in other words the thinking process!

Another very good slogan to bring to the table right now is the following (author unknown by me)

“We cannot control what happens in our lives – But we can always control how we react to what happens in our lives.”

This is probably the most important sentence that I can make as it means that we truly can take control of our own destiny by our reactions and our reactions are always controlled by our thinking process.

Here we are again back to the basic facts which need to be repeated that our thought control is a direct link into bringing  peace, joy, freedom from suffering to our lives – Now how good is that.

When we learn to control this (i.e  practice meditation/mindfulness) we are in control of the peace and harmony we can bring to our own lives.

Not only will it bring peace and harmony but it will also result in better decision- making as our choices will be made with a background of freedom from fear. (Remember fear paralyses).

Using the breath as an anchor can play an extremely important role here – See previous article here.

You may often have heard the phrase – “We are our own worst enemy”.

In a nutshell what I am saying is that when we take control of our own thinking process

“We can become our own best Friend”.

Please note I refer to ‘thought control’ not ‘thoughts’ because the essence of our happiness can lay in restraining ourselves from our very own thinking mind i.e. connect with the breath!

Our thoughts (thinking process) can be the very thing that caused the suffering in the first places so surely staying away from them is the answer

See the connection with the ‘Fire’ image above !!

This is what Jesus meant when he said: “Love One and Other as I have loved You”.

We cannot truly love another until we become our own best friend first.

Next week I am going to write about resilience.

BEFORE I discuss anything to do with food, I believe it is imperative that I write about love and kindness first.

What is love? Now there is the quintessential question that has baffled man through the ages.

Let’s look to the wise men for an answer. The Buddha was once asked – What is love (Happiness) and his answer was very simple – ‘Freedom from suffering’.

Notice in his very clever answer he didn’t actually say what love is, he said what it isn’t i.e. suffering.

Basically what he means by the word suffering is exactly the same as the modern equivalent word stress. So love is essentially ‘Freedom from stress’.

Note in a previous article (here), I gave a definition of stress as ‘Being here and trying to be there’. It is worth reading this first as it will help with understanding the next section.

Jesus also made a statement – “Love one and other as I have loved you”.

If we look at love in the context of not stressing ourselves then things will begin to make sense. In other words, how can we be loving of ourselves if we are putting ourselves under stress? I can hear you asking; ‘Roger what has all of this got to do with food?’

Well I wrote in a previous article how every single cell in our body is a living entity in its own right. If you eat a lot of junk food then obviously they (the cells!) won’t be very happy especially if it is done on a regular basis.

The cells of the body will feel stressed (being here and trying to be there!). If they could talk at this stage they would be saying something like this; “Please don’t keep filling me with junk food as I cannot perform to the best of my ability for you, if you don’t supply me with the proper nutrition and vital vitamins.”

You would not put bad petrol in your car so why do it to your own body.

This is very important in this day and age as we are more and more exposed to unhealthy foods and as they say – ‘You are what you eat’.

There is now a proliferation of fast food joints and ready-made meals available on practically every corner of every street in the world.

These are highly processed foods with little or no nutritional value. Furthermore they are being advertised on our TVs, Internet and in supermarkets etc. using expert marketing material (e.g. bright colours and strategic placement of product) that make it almost impossible to ignore.

I am convinced that the continuous consumption of highly processed food (especially sugars) along with stressful lifestyle is the reason for the proliferation (that word again) of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

It is costing an absolute fortune to the economy of this country/world as well as our own general health.

It is up to the awareness and action of each individual person to take control of this. I do not think I am being over-dramatic when I say that this is urgent, as the last thing anyone wants to be is an ‘I told you so’ type of person.

So (a) Be aware of the food you put into your body i.e. Love your body

(b) Take action (Remember awareness without action is futile!)

(c) If you want your body to perform – treat it well (loving/kindness)

Next week I am going to write about Loving Kindness (thoughts)

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

THIS is the start of a new year. A new dawn beckons so this is the perfect time to discuss habits.

So what is the big deal about habits? Probably the most interesting statement I have ever heard about habits is the following: ‘Habits make Habits’.

Very simple, very interesting and also very true. If this is a ‘very true’ statement then it is really worth having a very good look at.

Let’s get to the point. They say to create a new habit takes at a minimum of 21 days of concentrated effort.

It is also said that if you concentrate on practicing this new habit (way of living) for 90 days or more to good effect, then the new habit becomes almost irreversible.

This is because it is connected with the mechanisms of the thinking mind. The ‘thinking mind’ can work for us or against us – whichever we choose.

An essential tool in changing the thinking mind is ‘meditation’, but I don’t want to get sidetracked on this as I have written much about this subject in previous articles here  amongst others. So this is a good place to start.

Another good thing to bring to the table here is motivation.

Why do I want to change? Ask the questions (1)  ‘What will it bring to my life ?’ (2) ‘What are the reasons that I want to change?’ (3) ‘Am I suffering enough in the way my life is that I really want to change?’

You see these types of questions must first be challenged and answered in a very honest way in order to gather the fuel for motivation.

The motivation will come when the desire for peace in our mind is greater than the desire for suffering. A relentless desire for change will beckon.

What change is required? Firstly a recognition!

If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.

So perhaps we are trying to lose weight and want to change. Answer the above three questions.

Now the next important facet is to have a good perspective.

‘When you change the way you look at the world, the world you look at changes.’

Basically what we are doing here is weighing up the pros and cons involved with the change.

In other words am I willing to accept the short term suffering involved with the change in order to achieve the goals that I desire. (No Excuses) the answer Yes or No is required.

A plan (in the case of diet we have to become aware of what foods are good for us and what are not) put simply – No Junk Food.

“Action without awareness is fatal, awareness without action is futile” – Wayne Dyer

Action – J.D.I. (Just Do It)

• Next week I and going to write about ‘Kindness’

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

AS I wrote in a previous article, happiness can be best achieved in life not necessarily by finding the right answers, but perhaps by asking the right questions.

To this effect a great question to ask is ‘What is the meaning of Truth?’ Now Roger figure your way out of that one.

Well to answer that, I first want to make two statements of fact that must hold up for any Truth.

No 1. Truth is not my opinion nor your opinion.

No 2. Truth works.

Let’s examine No 1 in more detail. You see, you cannot really have an opinion on Truth as real truth is beyond opinion.

If it is a real Truth and if it is to hold up under all circumstances we have to be very, very careful about opinions as these opinions arise from the thoughts of Man and Man by his very nature can be flawed.

If I was to carry this a little further we cannot believe in the Truth we Know in the Truth. Beliefs by their very nature come from the opinion (thoughts) of Man and thus may be flawed, whereas Knowing is a statement of fact (not opinion!).

A classic example of this is as follows. Since the beginning of mankind, up to circa 500 years ago, man thought that the world was flat (Man and in particular the powers that be i.e. the hierarchy of the Catholic Church).

Because of these beliefs man was afraid to travel too far for fear that he would fall off the edge (there are many ancient drawings to substantiate this).

These beliefs also suited the church as Rome was the centre of power and basically all power extended from there and above it was Heaven and below the fires of Hell.

Two men Copernicus and Galileo began to observe nature and suggested that the world was not flat but round and also that the earth was not the centre of the universe but orbited the sun.

When they suggested this, they were in fear of being of being excommunicated by The Church. It is not important that Galileo was right or that the Church was wrong (except God bless those who disagreed with it at the time).

What is most important is The Truth – the world is round!

No 2.  Truth works. It works because it is a Truth and it is a Truth because it works.

The world is round is a Truth. It stand up to all the tests. All of the thousands flights commissioned on a daily basis land more or less on time and can be navigated to perfection because the flight engineers employed by Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary and Virgin’s Richard Branson etc … can work out the exact flight path of any given aircraft based on Truth i.e  Fact.

How do we know that it’s a Truth? Because it works.

Another working example of this is – We need to breathe.  Let’s test the criteria.

No 1.  It is not my opinion nor your opinion

No 2. It works (If you don’t believe me try ‘not breathing’ and see how long you last!)

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true. The other is to refuse to believe what is true.”  –  Soren Kierkegaard

Next week I am going to write about ‘Bringing mindfulness into the workplace’

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

WHEN we look at life and particularly the human body through the ‘eyes’ of energy everything begins to make sense.

Because our bodies are energy, there is an energy field around every single living thing so it would make sense that we connect with other energy sources such as heat, light sound and colour.

All of these things have a common denominator of being energy and thus like all energy have a frequency and a wavelength.

The energy centres of the human body are known as the chakras and it is generally regarded that there are seven of these chakras.

The word chakra is derived from the ancient Sanskrit language meaning a wheel or a circle. It is like a vortex of energy spiralling out from the body.

Generally they cannot be seen but there are people highly skilled in the field of healing and energy that can see and observe the activity of these chakras, these people are known as ‘Seers’.

They have the skills to detect and treat an individual who displays a certain illness that may be determined through observation of a particular chakra. In other words each chakra carries the energy frequency that takes responsibility for different areas of our lives and I will give a brief summary of these below.

Each chakra has a particular colour and not surprisingly each of the seven colours is a constituent of the ‘colour’ white i.e. they are all the colours of the rainbow when combined make white. These are Red, orange, yellow, green blue indigo and violet.

• Root chakra,    Colour Red.   This is the base chakra and it is open if you feel grounded, stable and secure.

• Sacral chakra,   Colour Orange.  This is about feeling and sexuality. It is open if you are feeling creative; your feelings flow freely and are expressed without being over – emotional.

• Navel chakra,    Colour Yellow.  Also known as the Solar plexus – When it is open you feel in control and you have sufficient self-esteem.

• Heart chakra,    Colour Green.  This chakra is about love. When open you are compassionate and friendly and you work at harmonious relationships.

• Throat chakra,   Colour Blue.  When open you demonstrate the ability to verbalize and are able to express truth through power of the spoken word.

• Third Eye chakra,    Colour Indigo.  This chakra is all about insight and visualization. When open one can see the Divine perfection in all things.

• Crown chakra,    Colour Violet.  This is about wisdom and being at one with the world. When this is truly open man is at one with his deepest desire i.e., Peace

It is vital for our general health that we ensure that our chakras are working to the best of their ability, but like everything else we won’t do anything about them if we are not aware of them.

That is why it is so important to get properly educated and to pay due attention to the chakras if we want to truly understand ourselves and what truly makes us happy.

Next week I am going to write about Panic Attacks.

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

AS I wrote in my previous article (here), in the area of psychological illness (depression anxiety, panic attacks etc.) I believe many lives have been saved due to medical intervention.

However, unfortunately,  I also believe many lives have been lost because adequate attention has not been paid to the other three legs of the stool particularly the leg of learning and meditation.

I really believe that living in the modern world without awareness can place enormous stresses on the body, so as I write about each of the three legs (ie. other than medicine) I will often compare modern living with that of our ancestors.

The reason this is important is that our bodies and the way they operate have evolved over millions of years and thus our bodies still react in a prehistoric way, despite rapid changes that have taken place in the world especially over the last hundred years.

A classic example of this is that it took from the beginning of time, up to the early 1800s for the world population to reach 1 billion in population yet since then, over the next 200 years it has now reached over a staggering 7 billion.

Our world is changing so rapidly in so many ways, but our bodies cannot keep up with these changes thus resulting in various forms of stresses.

If we don’t address these problems at a national and international level, world health and thus the world economy, is going to reach a crisis point.

Exercise

It is vitally important for good health that we exercise on a regular basis. I believe that five 40 minute sessions of moderate intensity is required on a weekly basis.

It is important that this exercise is seen as enjoyable and not seen as a chore. A good example of this is walking and cycling with friends.

We can see how many people have come to realise this for themselves – thus we see many people out walking on the roads at night (look at the fat mile!) and also the huge increase in cycling of recent years.

The reason for this is that modern living has become very sedentary (e.g. sitting in front of a computer all day) whereas in our ancestors time running, walking and manual labour was part and parcel of daily living and thus they were able to burn off any excess energy.

My main advice on exercise is J.D.I.  ‘Just Do It’

Diet

All I can say about diet is that the food that is generally available to us has changed enormously over the last hundred years.

Many modern foods are laden with fats sugars and salt along with all the preservatives and additives. The fast modern life style has forced people to dine in restaurants, fast food joints, garages (the breakfast roll!) and mega supermarkets.

Many of these foods have the nutritional benefit value of eating a cardboard box. It is playing havoc with our digestive systems and the evidence has been the enormous increase in world cancer and diabetes.

Our ancestors didn’t have to worry about this as these types of food didn’t exist – remember the modern style supermarket  is only with us about 40 years. The evolution of our bodies and digestive systems are unable to cope with these changes – thus stress – thus disease.

Tip – Examine the style of food that our ancestors ate – vegetables, fruit ,nuts ,leaves, meat (organic if at all possible) and eat in a similar manner ie smaller portions on a regular basis.

Learning and Meditation

All I can say about learning is that we should be open to learning every day as long as we live. The two most dangerous words in the English language are  ‘I Know’. I love the following piece of advice ‘Live as if you are going to die tomorrow – Learn as if you are going to live forever’ .

Meditation has enhanced my life in more ways that I can possibly explain. It can save us wasting enormous amounts of energy on useless thoughts and it can bring so much to our lives by connecting with our own body intelligence.

It is a practice that is very little understood in the Western World, but all I can tell you is that the benefits are huge. There is a great book available free on the internet called ‘mindfulness in plain English’ and this will explain the benefits in more detail.

Tip – Just like exercise J.D.I.  ‘Just Do It’.

Next week I am going to write about the benefits of laughter and humour in our lives.

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

BEFORE I begin, I believe I should inform the readers that I got most of my knowledge as a direct result from recovery from mental illness (depression).

Having travelled the journey and made a full recovery (whatever that is!), I realised the importance of having a good plan as this gives confidence and is a great reference tool to have.

A good plan should be simple, easily to follow and with no difference to any other type of plan (building etc) the follower should have great belief that if applied with diligence it will bring the required result.

I now refer to depression as being nothing other than ‘low energy’ so every part of my plan should help in acquiring higher energy levels.

I have no conflict with the medical world and as a lifecoach  I do not comment on medicine as I do not have the requisite knowledge to do so, however I do have the strong belief that if we pay attention to the other areas of our life, it can only help with our overall well-being.

It is very important that I declare this from the outset, as there are many people with psychological illness and as long as they are taking medical treatment that works for them, then they should make absolutely no changes to that routine (a) if it works for them and (b) without consulting their medical adviser.

This is where I developed the concept of the ‘Two Stools’! You can comfortably sit on a four-legged stool and not fall off!

You can also sit comfortably on a three-legged stool and not fall off ! (think of a stool for milking the cows long ago !).

But if you sit on a two-legged stool you will surely fall on your backside. I do not judge the stool as long as it brings the required result, no more so than I don’t comment on the area of medicine in recovery from any illness, as long as the client is happy and the acquired result is realised.

However, I do think it is important to apply all of the first three legs of the stool if we want to live full and happy lives and this applies to every human being. If one neglects any one of the legs, it is surely to the detriment of our quality of living.

The currency that I speak of when I discuss any leg of the ‘stool’, is the currency of Energy. In other words – Will it bring more energy into my life if I apply it properly and also the corollary – will it result in a drop in energy if I neglect it or even worse if I don’t apply it at all?

All of the above facets (legs of the stool) are so important for enjoying a healthy life, but it is so important that they are all applied in unison and should one be neglected, it is no different than someone pulling a leg from under the stool and resulting in one falling on their backside.

The great blessing of depression (low energy) is that it acted like a great teacher (disciplinarian) and made me pay great attention to all of the legs of the stool.

Yes I did use the word ‘blessing’ on purpose as it thought me so much about life and who we are as human beings and as to how we function in this world.

The teacher (depression) is now dead but the education continues! Many many people would not be alive today had it not been for the good medical intervention of their doctors.

I now sit comfortably on my three-legged stool but I am so happy and totally non-judgemental of anyone sitting on a four legged stool as long as it is bringing solace to their lives.

Next week I am going to write in more detail about the separate legs of the stool in Plan (part 2)

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

‘KAIZEN’ is a Japanese word meaning ‘good change’ but it is used in business terms meaning the philosophy of ‘continuous effort at improvement’.

The great Toyota car company in Japan would be a good example of the kaizen philosophy at work. As I have often said, there is a huge connection between business, health (lifestyle) and sport so the art of kaizen can equally be applied to all three areas of our lives.

The area I am mainly concerned with is healthy lifestyle which obviously requires the development of regular good habits.

If we want to improve any situation in our lives one of the first things we must do is to develop the ‘right attitude’, take ‘Ownership’ of the situation and come to the realization that change is required.

Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it!

If you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got.

Take for instance that I wanted to lose some weight. One of the first things that I would do is to listen to the advice of an expert.

They say that in the ratio of importance that losing weight is something like 70% diet and 30 % exercise. In other words I can do all the exercise that I want but if I don’t pay due attention to my diet (what I eat) then I am fighting an uphill battle from the start.

The basic ingredients required for success are

• Desire
• A Goal
• Right Attitude (approach)
• A Plan
• Action
• Kaizen

All of the above are required for real benefits to occur but most importantly they must be applied with the kaizen philosophy. A continuous effort at self-improvement.

The reason for this is that old habits don’t die easily and as a result we need to be vigilant. There is no doubt that one of the greatest problems is when the initial enthusiasm subsides what happens then.

It is inevitable that a ‘blip’ or a ‘slip’ will occur and what is needed at that stage is a little bit of ‘Stick-at-it-ness’ a bit of ‘forgiveness-compassion’ and some resilience.

That is where ‘group’ work has the advantage because you see the ‘human’ aspect of the project where dealing with initial setbacks is all part of the equation.

Even this doesn’t always work. Just observe the increase in attendance at fitness centres around the country every year. There is a glut of increase in membership in January but by mid-February this will have dropped by nearly 70%.

This is where the continuous part of the ‘kaizen’ practice is most beneficial. We realise that there is no ‘short term’ fix and that the only way that this is going to work is by applying a change of lifestyle.

‘One fat laden meal won’t make you heavy no more than one green salad won’t make you thin’!!

Next week I am going to write about developing a good ‘Plan’

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

J.D.I. (the Nike slogan) is a slogan that is very close to my heart.

The reason for this is that it works and it was of huge benefit to me in my own life.

Every morning I made myself go for a walk, rain, hail or snow whether I liked it or not (I just did it).

What I found was that at the start I didn’t particularly like doing it – in fact I vehemently didn’t want to do it – but after a while the thing that I didn’t like initially became very enjoyable.

It was as if my mind was saying that no matter what I do, this fellow is going to keep on walking so I may as well enjoy myself.

When we analyse why J.D.I. works, things get very interesting. You see J.D.I. bypasses the thinking mind. In other words if you have a task to do – Just Do It and don’t think about it.

You see when you apply the J.D.I. philosophy you take choice off of the table. In other words whether I choose to do something or not or whether I like it or not is irrelevant – just J.D.I.

By applying this we get all the benefits of doing the task (e.g. exercise) without the resistance of the thinking mind which is the very tool that can put us off doing it in the first place.

How often in your life have you said ‘I should do this’ or ‘I could do that’ or ‘wouldn’t  life be great if only I had done that’. We must ask ourselves what is stopping us ?

When all is said and done, when you get to the bottom of it you will find in 99% of cases, the thinking mind is involved in some form of resistance – I don’t like this and I don’t like that…blah blah blah!

“Everybody is looking for freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility” – Nelson Mandela

One of the greatest freedoms we can give ourselves is freedom from our own thinking minds. If we are to be totally honest and we want to improve our lives, the best place to begin is to accept the fact that we are where we are as a result of the choices we have made.

The main difference between successful happy people and others is purely down to the choices they have made (please don’t confuse rich with happy and successful!!)

As I explained in a previous article, over 80% of the thoughts of the average human being are negative so that means when we stay away from our thinking mind (meditate), we hit the jackpot 8 out of 10 times – not a bad result from any bookmaker!

Here is the crux of the matter – when we practice J.D.I. in it’s true form we are bypassing the thinking mind and all the resistance (negativity) that goes with it. This can help us in many areas of our lives and here are some good examples.

Exercise – Decide on a healthy programme (get expert advice) and then apply the programme – don’t think about it, J.D.I.

Diet – Decide on a healthy programme (again get expert advice – we also instinctively know what foods serve us well and those that don’t) – don’t think about it, J.D.I

Meditation – Learn to do it (Get advice or look it up on youtube) and practice it – this is without doubt the most rewarding advice I can give you as it impacts on all others – so J.D.I.

Most people refuse to J.D.I. purely because of psychological fear (resistance), however we find in practice those fears aren’t real.

FEAR = False Expectations Appearing Real

So finally I am going to leave you with another great slogan

In Doing We Learn

Next week I am going to write about – The Paradox of Exercise 

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

A YOUNG man came into my office recently knowing that I had an interest in the whole area of meditation and asked me ’what is it and what is it all about?’

I was just about to launch into an enthusiastic reply when he started to speak. I will never forget his wise and revealing words on the subject of meditation.

He said that he heard of a great story to explain the benefits of meditation and it goes as follows: Two men Johnny and Michael were given two axes and were asked to go to either side of wood which was exactly three miles wide.

Their task was to chop a pathway into the centre of the wood and the first man to reach that point was the winner. All the conditions were equal and they were able to hear each other chopping in the distance.

Johnny was chopping away frantically and after a while he noticed something very strange. In the distance he could hear silence after a regular period of about thirty minutes of chopping.

He came to the conclusion that Michael was taking a rest from his work and that that would give him an advantage if he kept on chopping. So he kept on chopping incessantly in order to achieve his goal.

After about three days he reached the centre of the wood, but to his great chagrin and astonishment, Johnny found that Michael was sitting on a bench smiling and rested.

He asked Michael how long he was finished and Michael responded that he had reached the centre of the wood about eight hours previously.

Johnny was very confused by this as he could hear Michael taking a rest from chopping every half hour ,while he had persisted with his work non-stop and if right be right, he should have finished before Michael.

How had he managed it? “Well,” said Michael, “every half hour I sat down for ten minutes and sharpened my axe.”

Meditation if practiced on a regular basis will enhance our lives in a similar fashion.

It is not always easily explained but the most important thing is that it works. It allows us freedom from our thinking mind and puts us in the space of being an observer even of our own thoughts.

From that point of being an observer, we can then choose what thoughts serve us well in our lives and what thoughts don’t. Thus we can reduce the amount of useless repetitive thoughts that we have and as a result, save energy.

Meditation is a means of connecting with our subconscious and is done by connecting with the body energy.

This can be realised (NB: notice I used the word realised not achieved as it is not something that can be searched for) in many different ways, the most popular thing is connecting with the breath, but other ways are connecting with what we see, hear, taste touch and smell.

This is what is really meant when our elders gave us that powerful advise ‘Come to your senses’ and it is also the true meaning behind the advice that Jesus Christ gave us when he said ‘Be still and know that I am God’.

Remember Napoleon was an ordinary foot soldier when he was on the battlefield but when he went to the surrounding hills and observed what was truly going on he became a general.

Next week I am going to write about ‘The Inner Self ‘

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

SUCCESS: Is having what you want.

Happiness: Is wanting what you have.

Very often we hear in life ‘don’t take things literally’, but in this case, I think to get the full meaning and benefit of the above mentioned definitions, it is important to take every word literally as it was meant.

Moreover it is in the application of the above definitions that the real benefits accrue.

Every human being on this planet, if they are honest, is at one level or other searching for happiness but here lies the crux of the matter; searching for happiness is the antithesis of happiness. It is like trying to chase after a feather in a hurricane; you will never get there as you can never search for happiness, you can only be happy.

With this in mind let’s look at the above two sentences in more detail beginning with the former.

Success : Is having what you want.

This implies always wanting, which at some level, implies always searching, if one is to be successful.

There is a constant state of flux which in turn may result in a state of temporary satisfaction but deep down there remains an underlying feeling or unease.

It’s like climbing a mountain, looking at the view and wondering if the view may be prettier from the other mountain in the distance and perhaps you may even reflect that you climbed the wrong mountain in the first place.

More is constantly lurking in the background.

Let’s take a ridiculous example (bear in mind some people may not find my example that ridiculous!!).

Suppose I set my stall out and decide that my idea of success is owning a Lamborghini that can connect with an iPad 5.

I achieve this and everything is wonderful. One day I am walking down the road and a friend tells me that ‘Johnny’ down the street has a spanking new Lamborghini Mark 2 that can connect with an ipad 6 (the difference is Johnny’s can connect with live television in his car and my car is unable to do the same).

Initially I am courteous and delighted for Johnny, but if I am honest, at some level I am a little envious and am perhaps considering working a little harder and will upgrade my Lamborghini to the new model and then I will be successful. You get the picture.

At this stage, please bear in mind my definition of stress in a previous article here ‘stress is being here and trying to be there’ – a continuous state of flux, which in turn leads to unease which in turn leads to some form of psychological suffering!

Happiness : Is wanting what you have.

If you truly want what you have, then the natural law of reflection means that you have what you want and therefore you are in a constant state of ease instead of unease.

This in turn leads to stress-free living. Of course the reality of living in our world brings many ups and downs in our lives.

We cannot change what happens in our world, but we can always change how we react to what happens in our world. We always have a choice.

With awareness and practice, we can develop the wonderful skills of acceptance and resilience which in turn enable us to cope with all things that the world can throw at us on a daily basis.

In fact, these ‘difficulties can make us strong; ‘a stormy sea makes a good sailor’. Just look at last Sunday how the Kerry team grew in body and spirit in overcoming the mighty men of Donegal which in turn caused the largest turnout of a crowd ever to welcome them home on Denny Street.

Getting back to my point – if you want for nothing, then nothing will make you happy.

This is the point that the wise men of India (Saddhus) make when they go into the mountains and survive in a great state of happiness on a minimal existence.

It is also the point that Jesus Christ was making when he told us not to be trapped by the materialistic things of this world as they will not result in true happiness, only a temporary transient satisfaction.

True happiness comes from inner peace which is a state of mind and by nature does not involve searching; ‘being here and not trying to be there’.

The Buddha was once asked what is happiness?

His answer? ‘Freedom from suffering’.

In other words it is a state of mind that must be realised and cannot be found. When you remain still the feather will eventually land on your lap.

Next week I am going to write about meditation

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

IF one is to succeed in life, it is important to have the right answers, but in my opinion it is of far more importance to ask the right questions.

A great question to ask is –‘what is stress?’

I think it would be fair to say that stress is one of the most talked about issues in our world today.

On a daily basis, billions are being spent on treating it. It is costing the economy billions in lost revenue while at the same time it is a multi-billion euro source of income for doctors and the general medical and holistic therapeutic professions.

Even the tourism business is now getting in on the act when we watch the prolific growth of spas, hydrotherapy and other holistic treatment centres popping up all over the world.

They are all treating stress. If you again asked the question ‘what is stress?’ I really wonder how many of them would be able to give you a reasonable answer.

Very few I would suspect, which would in turn beggar the question ‘if they don’t know what it is – how can they treat it effectively?’

Ok enough of postulating – what is stress? To really understand stress and all it’s connotations we have to appreciate the importance of the abstract.

For instance air is abstract. In normal circumstances you can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell it but I would challenge anybody to live without it. You can’t.

Air is only really important when you can’t access it. A simple experiment is to put your hand over your nose and mouth and within a few seconds you will realise the importance of it. Yet air is abstract.

Another example is energy – again you can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell it . Yet when we don’t have energy in our bodies we are dead! Energy is abstract.

Stress is abstract – you can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell it. But yet it is this most taked about subject. What is it?

Ok enough is enough – The best definition of stress ( from a working point of view) is that Stress is ‘Being Here —And trying to be there’, so therefore to live a stress-life we should learn and more importantly apply the concept of being here (and not trying to be there).

This is the basis of the book ‘The Power Of Now’ written by Eckhart Tolle (which has at this stage sold in excess of 30 million copies).

It is the power of living in the moment, which by my above definition, will in turn lead to stress-free living which is the true definition of happiness.

I was introduced to this book about 10 years ago, but I must also mention that it works best when listened to as an audio book.

In fairness to Eckhart Tolle he gives the credit to the essential message of Jesus Christ when He says ‘I am (is) The Way The Truth and The Life come follow Me and I Will give you rest. This was a guarantee of stress- free living.

‘I Am’ means to live in the Present moment. (I inserted the bracket (is) to help with understanding). It is not ‘I was’ or ‘ I will be’ so therefore it is the power of living in the ‘Now’ which is the same as living in the ‘I am’ space.

The application of this basic message will in turn lead to stress-free living (which is another word for ‘rest’).

Love the message simply because it is The Truth and because it is The Truth it Works. Love and follow the Message which will in turn make us love the Messenger.

It is now so chic to talk about mindfulness and mindful living but do not forget the original advice was given to us circa 2000 years ago by a man from Galilee.

Next week I am going to write about the difference between Success and Happiness.

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

THERE is a saying that goes like this: ‘If you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got’ (Definition of madness: keep on doing the same thing and expecting a different result!).

This is what I call a ‘truism’, in other words – our results are because of our actions. This was very true in my own case as, for many years I ambled through life in what I now realise was in an unaware way.

Yes, I was what I would best describe as ‘happy go lucky’, but when this ‘attitude’ began to take its toll on my health then things got pretty serious for me.

They say that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ so fortunately I began to look at life in a different way. I began to look at life through the ‘eyes of energy’ and luckily I have never looked back since.

Our thoughts are energy. The average person has circa 60,000 thoughts in a day. We may be unaware that that is the case but whether we are aware or unaware that is still the case.

Someone who has a condition like depression, anxiety, panic attack or suffers from any other form of ‘stress issue’ could have in excess of 300,000 thoughts in a day and that is a hell of a lot of energy to be burning up.

It is no surprise then that our bodies are energy and we are burning up (wasting energy though the aware or unaware thinking process) energy that eventually the ‘chickens will come home to roost’ and our bodies don’t function properly which will eventually result in ‘ill heath’ (I explain this in a little more detail in a previous article about worry, here).

With all this excessive thinking going on – energy being burnt off – is it any surprise that our organs don’t perform as they are under stress which in turn results in disease.

This would quite easily explain where the term disease originates from i.e. Dis-ease in other words an organ under stress.

I don’t mind a problem in life – in fact they say that problems are like good fertilizer (manure!) they help with growth – but I like a problem to come with a solution and here it is – Meditation.

With meditation you learn to control your thoughts – not your thoughts controlling you. A key ingredient of fear is thought.

I pose the question – How is it possible to experience fear if you are not thinking?

Answer – it is impossible.

Through regular practice of mindful meditation, we can slowly but surely begin to de-stress our bodies which will in turn cause our internal organs to function in a less stressed manner and thus eliminate disease. It will, by default, result in a state of ‘Ease’ in our bodies, maybe not initially but over time.

A quote from The Buddha – ‘Concentrate on the process and the results will come’.

Thus when we begin to eliminate ‘Fear’ from our bodies as a parallel we can also begin to eliminate ill-health. Meditation is a very little known skill in The Western Hemisphere – I for one am a huge fan purely because I have seen the results it can deliver.

It can bring peace, harmony, joy and good health to the world. Now how good is that, not only to our world but also to our health and thus our economy?

Meditation is ‘Free’ simply because our Breath is ‘Free’. Enjoy it – and the benefits – before they put a tax on it!

• Next week I am going to write about stress.

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com 

IN my previous article (here) I wrote about how ancient man experienced real fear.

The reality that he was going to die when he stepped out of his immediate environment (comfort zone) for more rewards (rich pickings) with the prospect (risk) of attack from dangerous wild animals or neighbouring tribes.

This fear was very real but he used his senses to great effect to dispel the fear.

In the modern world we are required to step out of our comfort zone on a much more regular basis but the risk of attack by these dangerous wild animals etc has completely diminished (most of them are dead or are in quarantine zones).

The reality is that this is the case but our bodies still react in the same manner as ancient man was conditioned to survive (a warning that we are in danger of being killed).

Of course we know that we are not going to be killed but our bodies still react with the same fears.

To aid this understanding there is a very helpful acronym of the word Fear – it is;
False
Expectations
Appearing
Real

In other words we have to face many challenges in modern living but many of the fears that we face aren’t real. They are more to do with what is now called psychological fear.

A classic example of this is fear of wasps. Many, many people have a serious continuous fear of wasps. They can run away from a single wasp with the fear that they are going to die. (That is what their body with the reaction of ancient man is telling them).

The reality is that they are not going to die but they might possibly on a rare occasion get a sting (which can easily be treated with vinegar).

So the truth is the fear isn’t real. The thought is real but the threat isn’t. However our bodies react to the thoughts as if they were real. When we learn to control our thoughts (meditation) we can in turn learn to control our reactions and slowly come to realise that all this fear is unnecessary as it isn’t real in the first place it only appears to be real.

We now very much live in a computer age. Many young people use computers in the same way that they would eat an ice-cream.

Nowadays even five and six year olds can use a computer easier than they can tie their shoes.

If you put a group of inexperienced elderly people in a room with computers they would look at you as if you had just announced that they were given a death sentence.

The reason for this is fear. They are out of their comfort zone and have already convinced themselves that they are unable to cope and have been paralyzed by fear.

I love the expression – ‘In doing we learn’ so with a little coaxing and a little gentle persuasion from the younger generation and a little practice all of these fears can be quickly overcome.

The reality is with two clicks of a button most people are able to access ‘Google’ which in turn gives access to whole world of learning (has practically replaced God!).

The other reality is many of these computer companies want to sell more and more of these computers, tablets etc and thus are getting easier and easier to use.

So all of these Fears are thus purely psychological and are not helpful.

I now prefer another acronym for Fear;

Feeling
Excited
And
Ready

This helps us to realise that fear is a very normal part of our makeup and with awareness of how it works (hopefully my recent articles have helped this understanding) it can enhance our lives in a very positive way.

Thus we can change this fear into positive energy and have every reason to feel excited.

• Next week I am going to write about the connection between fear and modern business.