Goal Setting for Success

So you’ve done the preparation for setting goals by reading the post Preparing to Set Goals here

You’ve got your Wheel of Life and have written in the centre circle, you six life priorities/areas of life that are important to you.

Step 1: Consider your vision of Success

Take each life area and reflect on what ultimate success and happiness would mean to you. What would this area of your life looked like if you couldn’t be any more fulfilled or satisfied? Close your eyes and visualise ultimate success. Consider what you would be doing, seeing, feeling, sensing, saying..

Write your vision of success in a notepad or your favourite journal, then write down an actual event that would occur if you had realised your vision. For example, in your family and relationships section, you might have visualised having a happy and harmonius time with your family. An actual event might be to take an hour’s walk with your daughter, sharing thoughts and time together without arguing. If it was health – perhaps enough energy to not be exhausted when you take a dance class. If it was wealth perhaps you’d be able to pay all of your bills on time, and have enough left over to cover your basic needs.

Summarise this vision in the Final Goal section of the Wheel of Life by writing a few words or thoughts. If you can name specific details like timescales or numbers to measure success this would be great, if not, it doesn’t matter - it’s the visualisation and target for success that is important.

Do this for each of your life areas.

Step 2: Consider your level of Satisfaction with your Life

Now you are going to rate how satisfied you are with each of your life areas. This is your level of satisfaction (not your level of achievement) with where you are in that area right now. This is a measurement of your feeling of satisfaction. Let us say your overall wealth vision was to be completely debt-free and you knew how much money it would take to be so. You might be a long way off with reaching your final vision, but you may be completely satisfied with what you are currently doing to get you there and give yourself a score that showed you were totally satisfied.

It’s ok to not be very satisfied – when this exercise is first done; you may feel overwhelmed with how dissatisfied you are. This is ok. The good news is that we are going to work on improving this.

Use the following scale to rate your satisfaction:

0 = worse it could be/totally unsatisfied
10 = best it could be/totally satisfied

Write each satisfaction number anywhere inside each slice so you can easily see the rating. Don’t spend a great deal of time doing this. Work quickly going with your first feeling or thought.

Draw a line across each slice depending on your level of satisfaction for that area. So for example, if you have rated something 0, you will draw a small line just going over the very tip of the slice, if you have rated it five, you will draw a line halfway across the slice – I imagine it as having a piece of pie and deciding how much I am going to cut off from the tip, a small piece or a larger piece. Do this for each of the slices, and you will have something that looks like a spiders web.

So now, you have your Wheel of Life, divided into segments, one for each area of your life that is important to you and each slice has been labeled with these areas. You have your ultimate vision for success and you have also rated each area on a scale of 0 to 10.

Step 3 : Choose an area of your life to work on

Now from your six life segments, choose one area of your life you’d most like to see some improvement, or would like to work on that isn’t a 10.

Your plan for achieving your vision of success is to take one small step at a time. You only know what is in the ‘here and now’ so we not going to try to plan the future out. One small step towards your vision, whilst maintaining your vision, is all you need to do. Small steps in the right direction will be much more effective that many steps in the wrong direction!

Step 4: Consider your Options

On a piece of paper, write down all the things that would take you one step closer to your vision. If you decided that you would like to have one vegetarian meal a week you might think of all the ways to go about doing this - eat out, buy sushi, cook for yourself, ask someone to help you etc etc.

Decide on what you want to do from your list of options, and what you will do within the next 24-48 hours. In the First Journey Goal section, write down your action(s). This is very important. It requires you to demonstrate to yourself that you can and will take action to work towards your vision. For example, phone a friend or book an appointment, go to the library and find some books on the subject you are interested in. Consider all of the things you could do, and select the one that you want to do, and will do.

Take a look at what might prevent you from achieving your action. Do you need to schedule some free time? Do you need support or advice from someone else? You’ll need to manage these barriers and perhaps set yourself some additional management actions that will ensure you complete your intended action. You can write these actions in the Barriers section of the Wheel of Life and take action to manage them!

Decide on when you are going to take action and commit yourself to doing it. Self-discipline and demonstrating to yourself that you can take control is very important. Don’t set yourself actions that are too large or unrealistic for you to achieve. Small steps.

Step 5: Take Action!

Do whatever it is you planned to do!

Step 6: Review your Vision

Over time you might find you vision of success changes. Often we find we do things and then find ourselves on a different route! This is a journey. You have the freedom to seek out your ultimate vision and to change it. It’s your life. Refine your vision and your vision will become stronger and clearer with each small step you take. As your vision becomes stronger, so will you, and your ability to get there. You can do it!

Preparing to Set Goals

If you haven’t done so already Create your Vision by reading this Post .

So you’ve now got a rough idea of what it is you desire in your life. Before we move onto creating some actions, let us take a look at your strengths. You will have many. Your strengths will be so natural to you that you may not be consciously aware of them. You do have them. We all do.

Think about one thing you have done that you feel a sense of achievement. This is something you have done well, or a challenge that you have overcome – physical, emotional, spiritual doesn’t matter.

What did you do?

For example:

• You helped someone in need
• Escaped a dangerous situation
• Created a loving and harmonious home under financial constraints
• Hosted an excellent party or event

What personal strengths did you use in this situation? Based on the items above, your strength might have been:

• The ability to listen, communicate and show empathy
• The ability to take action at the right time, courage, ability to overcome fear, independence
• You are resourceful, responsible, caring, reliable, positive role-model
• You are great planner and organizer, fun and social, a natural host and entertainer

You have far more strengths that you realize. Strengths come easily to you, that’s why it can be difficult to identify them. Strengths are things that other people would say about you, they are things that make you different, things that make you the person that people would say – oh, we need to get so and so to do that.

Write down your top five strengths and consider how you have used them. If you prefer, write down the top five strengths you are working on developing, or would like to have more of.

Why do we need to focus on our strengths? When we focus on what we are good at, and what brings us joy, the rest disappears. If we do not invest in our weaknesses, they do not have energy. If we do not give our weaknesses energy, they will not be attracted into our experience.

Goal Setting for Success

Copy or print out the PDF document  Wheel of Life

Step 1: Idenify your Life Segments

Using the Priority/centre section of the Wheel, write down six areas that make up your life today, that are important to you. Think of your life as a pie, and each slice, represents an area of your life. So for example, some of the things that you might include are: 

• Meaningful Work/Career
• Time for Self
• Service & Contribution
• Health
• Wealth
• Love & Romance
• Family & Friends
• Personal Development (Mental, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical)
• Enjoyment and Excitement
• Travel & Freedom

Step 2: Refining your Vision (optional)

So you’ve got your long list of Be, Do, Have’s from the Create your Vision exercise. Now you are going to consider each one on the list and ask yourself whether it positively contributes to any of your six chosen life segments. This is an optional exercise, but it can help you to think a little more about your immediate priorities. If the items on your list do positively contribute to your life segments, then give it a tally mark.

So let us look at an example:

Let’s suppose that Frank considered the following Life Segments are important to him:

• Family
• Career
• Wealth
• Time for Self
• Travel & Enjoyment
• Health

Frank’s Be, Do, Have List (part thereof..)

1. Have a Harley motorcycle
2. Play Golf every week
3. Be an excellent father to my children
4. Write a book on Leadership in the workplace
5. Be debt-free
6. …….and so on

So starting with number 1 on the list. Have a Harley Motorcycle. He gives a tally mark against this item for each area of his life this positively contributes to. He decides: Family (No), Career (No), Wealth (No), Time for Self (Yes), Travel & Enjoyment (Yes), Health (Yes). He gives this item 111 tally marks.

Item 2. Golf every week. Frank decides that he has little time for his self and if he could give one thing to himself each week it would contribute to all areas of his life. He puts six tally marks against this item.

He looks at item 3 which is about being an excellent father to his children. He decides: Family (Yes), Career (Yes), Wealth (NoYes), Time for Self (No), Travel & Enjoyment (Yes), Health (Yes). Frank decides that his career would improve if he made sure he was home for dinner every evening and learnt to delegate responsibility. He originally thought that being a good father might drain his bank account, then he thought that if they spent more time as a family then he might not feel the need to spend so much money on them out of guilt! Whether you agree or disagree with Franks choices, this is a subjective exercise - it’s just a way to get you thinking!

So go through your Be, Do, Have list and compare it against your life priorities. Once you have done this, you might want to rank your list starting with those with the most tally points. This excerise helps you to focus on what is really important to you and what you want to make happen!

What’s your Vision?

People who create a life of their dreams, usually have some sense of knowing what their dreams are. I say this loosely because there are many ways to go about creating what we desire. As human beings we are multifaceted. We have physical, emotional, spiritual and mental intelligence and if we go deeper, there is a universal intelligence running through all of us - call it the intelligence of Life, if you like.

You may have an intelligence that takes the driving seat - some of us prefer rationale and logic, some of us primarily use a feeling-based intelligence. I have met people who have no vision for the future, yet are perfectly content and at ease with the present moment. I have also met people who are passionate about creating change, and have a clear vision of the world in which they want to live. Whatever is most natural for you, and brings you great joy is right. Don’t let anyone tell you to be who you are not. Who you are, is just fine.

To explore your other intelligences can bring you much awareness and balance into your life. Goal setting is a structured way to create change. It can help to know where you are going, or where you desire to go - otherwise you’ll end up somewhere else and say “how did I get here?” When you create a vision, your mind instructs your subconscious to ‘go fetch’.

Create your Vision

Creating your vision is about examining what’s in your heart. Creating your vision can involve the question “who am I and what am I here for?” This can involve a journey that extends beyond the realm of the mind. Creating your vision can involve examining the purpose of your life. But there is a simple exercise you can do right now that will get you started..

Your Be, Do, Have List

Ask yourself:

• Who would I like to Be? 
• What would I like to do?
• What would I like to have?

List every single thing you want to be in your life, everything you would like to do, and have in your life. No rules. Be honest – if you are after that Porsche then put it down, we are not filtering or prioritizing or judging at this stage but consider yourself a whole person, consider your wants, desires, your feelings and thoughts.

Consider what you want from your relationships. Let’s say that you want to be a good parent, or friend. How you want to spend your time. Let’s say you want to visit the Great Wall of China. What experiences you want to have. Let’s say you want to experience the thrill of a bungee jump. How do you want to feel?

Don’t exclude something that you want because you can’t work out the how. These are all personal thoughts and they are not what you think you ‘should’ do, these are things that you ‘want’. It is so important for you to draw this distinction.

So - write what comes into your mind. These are dreams. Look backwards and imagine you were reflecting on your life. What is it that you will want to have achieved or be remembered for? Aim for at least 30 items on your list.

You might want to consider the following life categories:

• Meaningful Work
• Time for Self
• Service & Contribution
• Health
• Wealth
• Love & Romance
• Family & Friends
• Personal Development (Mental, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical)

Now that you’ve given yourself permission to open up possibilities, you will find that ideas will come to you over the course of the next few days. Keep your Be, Do, Have list with you and keep writing. It doesn’t matter if this list changes tomorrow, just go with what you know today. Aim for at least 100 things on your list!

Consider your Vision

Once you’re satisfied that your list, sit quietly and review it. Is there a vision emanating from your list? For example, my list included details of writing, sharing, travelling, learning, and expressing. Over time, as I focused on what I wanted from my life, I realized that I wanted to be a student, teacher, healer and philosopher. I wanted to learn about connecting with the Divinity in life, to live a life of passion and free expression and to share it with others.

It doesn’t matter why I have this vision, and it matters not why you have yours. You need not justify yourself. The ‘how’ doesn’t matter. So when you’re working on your vision, you don’t need to be concerned about how you will realize your vision. Your job is to set one.

Write: It seems that I have a vision to…

Your vision can change. It doesn’t have to feel complete or accurate. Just do the best you can in this moment.

Build your own Website

Times are changing. Gone are the days when we have to find a professional website developer and handover hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars to have a good simple website presence. It is time for self-empowerment and that includes being empowered and in control of your business exposure. Website designers do a fabulous job - you’re likely to need them for anything more than a basic website. There’s a whole science behind the design of an information system that is user-friendly but if you’re a small business with a requirement for a few online pages then you can do it yourself.

I’ll soon be adding my thoughts and experiences on getting your business cards, newsletters and online advertising up and running so watch this space and leave a comment on what it is that would be helpful for you to know..

Take our website, Life Academy Online - yes I have an IT background but my website development experience is self-taught. It just requires time, patience, persistence and the ability to work through some logical steps. Ignoring the vast amount of time required to design the site just as we wanted, the actual money handed-over was $20 upfront and then about $10 per month hosting. There have been fees for images used but this is an optional extra.

I feel a little hesitant sharing with you what I know, only because I don’t want you to get ‘in a pickle’ and then I’m not around to help you out. However, it’s worth giving it a go and if you come unstuck then you haven’t lost a huge amount of money, perhaps a little bit of time and you just might need to book some chillout-time to get over the frustration. I’m also going to share with you my formula using the products and services that I know and work for me. This is not the only way, it may not be the best way, but it’s my way. If you are happy to work independently, happy to ’suss’ things out for yourself and feel at ease at the thought of learning as you go along then you might just do it! 

1. Get yourself a Website address (optional - please read)

So - the first thing is your domain name. This is the website address you will use for your website. Choosing the best name can be a lengthy discussion in itself but bear in mind what you want people to search on, and are then matched to your address. You’ll need to decide whether your website address is the name of your company or a description of the services you offer. For example: I could set up a website called yourpurposeconsulting.co.nz which is the name of my company or I could call it spiritedbusiness.co.nz which describes what I do. What are people most likely to search on? It all depends on how you will market yourself and how you want to be considered. I once set up a website with theemergingpath.com - I liked the name of it but who thought to search on that when looking for coaching services? With The Life Academy of New Zealand we knew we wanted our website address to represent our company name in some way and people do search on ‘life academy’ now that the word is out.

One very useful tool to help you decide is Google’s Keyword Selector Tool. You can type in a word or phrase and you will be told how many people have searched on that term and what the competition is. The more people that search on a term, the greater you’ll find the amount of website results being returned. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 

Another thing to do is to google the words you are thinking of using in your address and see what else is being returned. It’s an interesting exercise as these are the websites you’ll be planning on joining if you use these search terms. The bottom line is go for what makes you feel good, what sounds good and you’ll be proud of shouting about! I also do a numerology check on the phrase to see if it vibrates the intent that is behind our business. I’ll hopefully get some notes on how to do that, up soon, and link from here.

Another thing is deciding whether you go for a .com or .co.nz extension. This will depend on whether your business is primarily international or New Zealand based. So once you’ve got some ideas you’ll need to see if it is available and purchase it. Google ‘register domain’ and you’ll be given plenty of choice. I’ve used freeparking.co.nz for NZ addresses and domain.com for international ones. I’m a creature of habit. Once something works for me, I don’t change if I’m happy with the service I’m getting. I purchase the straight address with no hosting add-ons or extras and pay about $20.

Alternatively, your hosting provider can obtain your new website address for you at the same time as setting up your hosting. This will remove steps 3 & 4. I tend to keep things separate so I retain full control - there’s probably not a great deal of extra benefit but I since I purchase more than one domain name and only have one hosting account this is why I do it separately.

2. Get yourself some Hosting.

So you’ve got a website address! The next thing you need is a home for your website. This is called hosting. Hosting is basically the equivalent of having your website stored on someone else’s computer that can be seen on the Internet and is secure. Now - there will be loads of options on this. Hosts generally provide a range of services including unlimited email addresses based on your new website address, automated website builders and all sorts of things to help you manage your own site. Website design companies usually provide hosting as part of the design package deal and may provide you with direct access to your site for modification or may not. Since we are doing the D-I-Y thing you’ll need to set-up your own.

I use Dot5Hosting www.dot5hosting.com in the US. I’m all for using New Zealand based services where I can but I know my way around dot5hosting and at about $5.00 USD a month hosting fee it works for me. Please note that I have no incentive to recommend any service to you. Sometimes the support offered by dot5hosting is excellent, sometimes it’s not. On the whole, I’m a happy customer.

Whatever hosting company you use, you will need to make sure they provide support for installing/using ‘Wordpress’ as part of the package. We’ll talk about Wordpress later but basically this is the website platform you will be using for free. Google ‘website hosting’ and take a look to see what’s on offer.

3. Point your website address to your hosting account

If you bought your website address separately to your hosting, you’ve got a website address and somewhere to ‘house’ your website. You’ll need to let your website domain provider who has the authority for your domain name. This is called updating the Domain Name Servers (DNS). Log-in to your domain account you purchased your address through e.g. freeparking and go to the part of the account where you manage your domain. Find the area for updating the ‘Domain Name Servers’. Your hosting account will tell you what the domain name servers (DNS) need to be changed to - if you can’t find out, ask the support team for your hosting account. For dot5hosting you change DNS 1 to : ns1.dot5hosting.com and DNS 2 to : ns2.dot5hosting.com This basically gives the authority to dot5hosting for your domain name.

4. Add your Domain name to your Hosting account

In your hosting account, you’ll need to add your domain name. Depending on which hosting provider you use, you may be asked your domain name when setting up or they might offer to  In dot5hosting this is ‘Add Registered Domain to Account’. You’ll just need to type your website address in. In Domain Pointing Manager your website domain address should be pointing to your Home Directory. Your Home Directory is the home/public_html folder. In file manager you’ll see a filing structure - your wordpress will be installed to the public_html folder.

5. Choose a Wordpress Template

This step could be done later and it might also be a good idea to do this before step number 1 so you can decide whether you like Wordpress. Wordpress is an open source (freely available) blogging platform. Blog is short for Web Log - meaning a number of journal entries (posts) that are regularly updated on the internet - a bit like an online journal. Blogs usually include:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organised into categories
• An archive of older articles
• A way for people to leave comments about the articles
• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.

Wordpress is a blogging platform that enables you to create more permanent pages of information such as details about your services, your contact information etc and a series of blogs (posts) where you can regularly update your website with interesting and relevant information. There will be inbuilt functionality that will enable your visitors to interact with you by leaving comments to your posts.

Visit www.wordpress.org and read up about having a wordpress website. Go to Extend > Themes Directory and choose a template that you would like for your website. Once you have selected a site, download it to your computer by pressing on download.

Wordpress is free because it is open source. This means that people have developed the wordpress technology and made it available for public distribution. You have no exclusive rights over the template you use (as others can choose it also) and have no authority if you find an error. However most developers are so keen to keep improving their work that they are always improving and fixing faults. Having said that, Wordpress sites are tested and approved before going live and I have never had a problem.

5. Install the Wordpress platform

Hopefully you have got a hosting account that enables automatic install of wordpress. In dot5hosting you’ll find it under Scripting & Add-ons > Install Central > Blogs > Wordpress. If not then you’ll need to read up on how to manually install Wordpress on the wordpress.org site - Good Luck - that’s unknown territory for me!

You’ll be asked to give your Blog a name, create a username and password that you will use to log-in to your wordpress website and choose the domain name that the wordpress will install to - you’ll only have one option which is your website address. Leave the installation sub directory field blank and tick the box ‘yes install to this directory’. By leaving this field blank wordpress will install at the highest level of your home directory (public_html). Select ‘create a database automatically’.

Note: If you completed anything in this installation directory field you would be entering the name of a subfolder i.e. public_html/nameofsubfolder. I tend to install to a subfolder because I have more than one website in my home directory (public_html).

Follow the onscreen instructions and wordpress will install. You’ll be told that your wordpress installation was successful and the name of the URL. If you go to this URL you will see the default wordpress theme installed. Note that at this stage, the www. is missing from the URL.

If you go back to vdeck > Scripting & Add-ons > Wordpress you’ll be given the URL address of the admin screen to start making changes to your site. It will be your URL (minus the www.) with /wp-login.php at the end.

For info: take a look in your file structure in the public_html folder and you’ll see the wordpress install files there.

6. Add the www. 

Two important things to share. Login with your username and password (the ones you gave when you installed wordpress) and go to Settings. In the Blog address (URL) field add the www. to the name of the URL.Update. This means that you can now type the full URL including the www. and get to your website.

7. Very important - Prevent Spam

The next thing you should do it Activate the Akismet plugin which protects your website from Spam. Since your website enables comments, there are many people out there automatically spreading rubbish and linking to inappropropriate websites. If you don’t activate your Spam filter you’ll wake up with 20 comments you won’t want to display and might get banned by google. Protect yourself.

Go to Plugins and follow the instructions for activating Akismet. This basically requires you to create a free account at wordpress.com and obtain a key (passcode) from your account details. You enter this key when you activate Akismet.

8. Upload your chosen theme

You can use the file upload on file manager to upload your theme folder inside the wp-content/themes. You’ll need to unzip the downloaded theme folder or at least open it and copy the contents to a new location. If you upload the whole zip folder you’ll find it won’t open. It’s best to download some free FTP (file transfer protocol) software which allows you to quickly transfer files from your computer into your hosting account. Google ‘free FTP software’. Once you’ve got some software then in your hosting account you’ll need to create an FTP account or use one already created. This provides you with a username and password to enter into your FTP software to create the secure connection to your hosting account. It’s worth taking the time to do this so you can quickly transfer images and other files across in future.

7. Control User Registrations

Another basic thing I do is go to Settings > General and make sure the following box is not ticked ‘anyone can register’. If this is ticked, people can create their own accounts and publish blogs on your site. I retain control of this and for the Academy, we invite people to blog and we create accounts for invited guests.

8. Display your new theme

Log-in to your wordpress account, go to find the Themes section - if you’ve uploaded the complete theme folder inside ‘themes’ then you’ll see it there and all you have to do is click on it.

9. Have a Browse

Take a look around your wordpress admin and get to know what is there to play with. Full suppport documentation is available on www.wordpress.org

Final Words

Without my explanation, if you get yourself a good hosting account that uses Wordpress www.wordpress.org then the documentation and support will help you get there by yourself! I hope I have shown that it is do-able. Once you’ve done it once, you’ll be able to do it again and help all of your friends!

The Divination Experience Results 20th May

On Wednesday’s evenings we experience The Divination Experience! A group of us come together to connect with the Divine truth within and without, and connect with one another. Connecting with the Divine is about connecting with your own wisdom, your intuition, your truth. The Divination Experience aims to bring back the experience of channelling insight and knowledge into the every day.

According to Wikipedia, Divination (from Latin divinare “to be inspired by a god”, related to divine, diva and deus) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Divination is not telling the future that is based in fact. Divination can provide possibilities based on a person’s current path and decisions which can be changed at any time. This is called Free Will. Be wary of anyone’s claims that they can “see” the future, although they may be able to “see” the future possibilities.

Below is a list of commonly used Divination methods, although there are many more:

• Tarot
• Cards (Playing Cards, Angel Cards, Animal Guides)
• Numerology
• Runes
• I Ching
• Pendulum
• Connecting with Angels and Guides
• Scrying
• Crystals and the Crystal Ball
• Dominoes
• Astrology
• Palm Reading
• Tea Leaves
• Automatic Writing/Drawing
• Dream Interpretation

Man, throughout history, has found any tool to aid the connection to his own innate wisdom. The wisdom is not within the tool, but within ourselves.

We’d like to share the wisdom received on Wednesday 20th May. The question posed to the group of Diviners was:

How can New Zealand bring enlightenment to other Countries around the World?

Here is a summary of what was received:

New Zealand in Partnership

Working in unison and in tandem. There may be struggles at first. Remember that we are all one system, connecting with our commonalities as a human race. We are all children of God.
There would be much benefit in each of us connecting in brotherhood with another person in another country as Companions of Light. The wisdom received could be considered like an ‘exchange project’, connecting, exchanging and building bridges across Countries. A similar idea is groups connecting with like-minded groups in other countries. For example, a similar group/organisation to The Life Academy of New Zealand, exchanging experiences and building bridges across the water.

There is much to gain in bringing back lost ‘friends’ such as Fiji.

New Zealand with Positive Intent

Don’t try to make things happen. Set your intent to bring Light to the world and let the journey unfold. The Universe will help and support you through your Intent alone.

See Love everywhere and allow it to grow. You have the opportunity to transform your World through your positive radiance and vibration, so just remember just to Be and Be in the Now. Your ability to be in the Now will have a knock-on effect elsewhere.

Relax, breathe and stay fresh. Lose old habits that no longer serve your purpose. Maintain positive thoughts and affirm positive things. Pray Big – think Big. Treat New Zealand like a Wishing Well.

New Zealand as an Example of a Green Country

Do not waste Earth’s resources. Set good examples of how we can be self-sufficient, clean and green. Aim to be pollutant free and live with simple measures. Help others in being clean, green and nuclear-free.

Observe the Stars, the Moon – draw wisdom from Maori tradition, carvings and symbolism.

New Zealand as an example of ‘Good’ Business

Good Business Structures can make meaningful contributions to the world. This requires businesses to have high intent and to see themselves in service to others. True wealth is aligning Heaven with the Earth.

Demonstrating Leadership in Business through busyness and creating – not following. New Zealand can take the lead with its strong spiritual vibrations. We can build strong foundations with other countries through good negotiation and finding ways to be more creative.

Find new ways of exchanging resources, using outside sources where beneficial and replicating strategies that work. Spread good news. New Zealand can flow like a natural current – like a current of the sea. A new currency can be introduced by paying for goods and services.

The number 8 serves as the symbol of balance and perfection. Building bridges and building bonds across the waters. Being the number of perfection, this can be manifested if this is your intent.

Don’t borrow resources for they are not unlimited. Create resources, increase flow. Combine work from the home.

New Zealand as a Family

Restore the natural balance of family. When family runs in order, so does society. Nothing else flows if the family is in disorder. Work on restoring this balance and set this example for others.

Do let us know your thoughts about how New Zealand can bring enlightenment to the world. Leave us a comment. Thanks!

Is there a recipe for creating Miracles?

So many questions around creating miracles……

What constitutes a miracle?

How do we make miracles happen?

Are there a number of steps that we all must go through – is there a recipe for sucess?

Is a miracle a random event that was so unexpected but considered positive beyond our wildest dreams?

What is the difference between a miracle and a tragedy?

How can we wish upon ourselves one thing yet reassure ourselves that the possibility for getting caught in some form of personal disaster is so slim?

What are your thoughts about how we can create miracles in our lives? Leave a comment….

The Value of Astrology

I am often asked what value is astrology to the average person. Is it all a lot of hot air, or is it something that I could take to the bank?

Going back to the earliest civilisations people have used astrology to make their important decisions. In biblical times, we know that Kings used astrologers to predict events. The aspects in a King’s chart frequently told whether or not he would be successful in his wars. We know in Ancient Egypt the Pharaohs used astrology and in Atlantis which predates hundreds of thousands of years ago, astrologers were elevated to very high positions of power. So here we are in modern times and you might ask yourself what does astrology do for you? 

Astrology can show you what motivates you, where your talents lie, how you get along in your relationships, with your finances, your career and your work. It can even indicate your life path and destiny. In fact, it relates to every single area of your life. At the beginner level, you look in detail at your own chart: your gifts and talents, your challenges, which life areas need the most focus, what cycles you are going through.

You can see the natal promise in a chart – some people should never even bother buying a lottery ticket as they do not have aspects in their chart that are favourable for risk-taking. For example, Jupiter conjunct Pluto in the 2nd or 8th house can indicate great wealth. Warren Buffett has this aspect in his 8th house, which is the house of investment, and Bill Gates has it in his 2nd house, which is the house of earned income and self-employment.

Astrology can help you find your optimum life and career path and shows why some people are striving for success out in the world and others are happy to work behind the scenes. Astrology can show you your gifts and potential in which life areas you are most likely to find fulfillment.

Astrology can examine not only your personal affairs, but also the global affairs. For example, the current global financial crisis can be seen astrologically. I like to tie in world events with personal astrology and who how it works on both the macro and micro levels.

Psychological issues can manifest in an astrology chart. For example, if the Sun is the 8th house, the father may have a profound effect on the child – either by his absence or by his demanding presence. Astrology can show abandonment issues, relationships that are better left as friends rather than romantic attachments, it can show obsessive behaviour, it can even show the characteristics of people you would find attractive – not just physically, but personality quirks as well. That elusive something is found in almost all relationships. When you look at a relationship that should never have been, you have to ask yourself, how did these two people ever get together? The answer to that can also be found in the astrology chart. Sexual preferences can also be shown in a chart. A chart can also show whether a person is a risk-taker or very cautious, perhaps even fearful.

You can see a person’s whole personality and development from childhood to adulthood without ever having met that person. Why are some people natural born charmers – who charm the birds out of the trees – and other people are shy, and seeming to blend into the wallpaper? These   characteristics often show up in a chart. It’s the age old nurture versus nature when you think in terms of – can a person learn how to be more of a risk-taker or more socially active or more of something that that person is not naturally? And those answers can usually be found in the chart.

It illustrates that a person comes into this world already hardwired for certain things in their personality. They might learn how to take risks a little more than they ordinarily would, they might learn how to be more socially aggressive, but it will not be their natural inclination. It will be learned behaviour as opposed to what they come in with in the astrological chart.

It’s a fascinating subject that encompasses all areas of human existence and whether you are interested in your everyday life areas such as your relationships, your career, your finances, your home and family or whether you would like to know more about your soul’s path this lifetime and the more esoteric side of your nature, astrology can guide you towards your greatest and highest good.

Live your Life Purpose

Let’s look at some definitions of Purpose:

• An anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
• The reason for which something exists
• To set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself
• To intend; design

These definitions, for me, create two thoughts. The first, is a little more subtle and suggests that there is a reason for our existence, and in that reason, lies our purpose. You are a master of your own destiny – yet there is a guiding purpose that you have been born to fulfil in this lifetime.

Finding purpose, and living it, does not guarantee a life of free of pain and worry. The physical world as we know it one of duality – of two sides: light and dark, good and bad, cold and hot. According to Neale-Donald Walsch, the purpose of duality is to set a context for our experience. How do you know joy, unless you have known pain. The feelings and emotions we experience is a physical feedback mechanism that reports to us our experience.

So to live with purpose doesn’t mean you need only to be ‘good’ and that you need ‘fixing’. You don’t. Good intentions, good thoughts, good deeds, only showing good, only doing good, only being good, only having good is only one part of the whole. You cannot have good, without evil. You cannot have light, without dark, you cannot know peace, unless you have known fear. You cannot experience joy, unless you have known pain. At the highest level of our being, we are source energy that just IS – it is neither good, nor bad, but to experience the physical sensation, we need context.

This universal energy that drives the whole of creation is pure. It can be described as Love, God, Source, Life, the Divine – and so many others. This energy cannot die, as shown in Science by Quantum Physicists. Energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. You are energy, you cannot die, you can only be transformed. You have a body, you are not your body.

Whilst we are ‘powered’ by this Source, we are also experiencing the physical reality of what it is to be human. We have to deal with the reality of this illusion, and part of that, is accepting within our humanness, there exists the dual potential for both light and dark. Part of finding out who we are, is discovering the wholeness and duality of who we are.

So, finding purpose is about finding what is driving you from a greater universal perspective, and part of that means accepting that some things are out of your control. There are universal laws with which you need to work and allow if you are going to fully manifest the purpose in which you have intended.

Quite often, we can be drawn to defining the outward ways on which are purpose is to manifest, which actually is not our business. To know purpose, is to know how insignificant we are, yet how significant we are, to know how nothing is in our control, yet so much is in our control.

So moving on, and looking a bit closer to home, let us look at purpose from the perspective that we have the ability to design our lives, as we would dream of. Within the hands of fate, we create purpose through our intent, our desires. We ask ourselves, what purpose do I have? What need within me is driving me in this direction? What are my intentions? What are my goals that I would like to achieve? How can I serve? What would I choose to be, do, or have if there were no constraints?

Our purpose is found in doing what it is we love to do. It becomes deeper than that – it turns into what you are inspired to do. You were given a combination of talents and qualities for a reason, and that reason was to express them, and to experience the joy of creating.

To know purpose, is to ‘let go and let god’. This doesn’t mean that we become lazy or disillusioned about life because it’s not in our hands. It means that we have a wonderful ability to use our intent to create, and allow the universe to bring it to us. This can be quite scary, especially when we don’t know how the future will unfold to us. You’ll get to love the work you are doing and the life you are living, planning only when planning is called for and let your purpose evolve and manifest. When you are expressing yourself and contribute to others in a way that brings you great joy; the universe will take care of the how. If you get stuck, it’s because you’re dictating and controlling how you want something to manifest.

From a numerology perspective, each number within your chart is an archetype, meaning an expression of yourself that can be found in everyone, and by their nature, they have both positive and negative aspects. Finding purpose is about understanding yourself to the extent that you know and understand the main archetypes that are playing themselves out through you, and reconciling and transforming those aspects that are causing you difficulty, and holding you back from expressing the entirety of who you are.

How can you find your Purpose?

The question about finding your particular purpose; is about finding out what makes you unique from other people.

Let’s look at finding purpose from the perspective of a few questions.

Your self – who am I, walking this path? What are my strengths, my challenges, my motivation and inner-most heart’s desire?

When we connect with our self, we see ourselves for all that we are. We accept and love ourselves; both our light, and our dark side. We learn about what brings us pleasure, what we would choose to do, rather than should do, we give ourselves permission to express ourselves in a way that serves our needs, and in doing so, serves others.

Connecting with self, is also about reconciling those sides of our self that do not serve us in a way that is for our highest good. As a child, and moving into adulthood, we created parts of ourselves to help us deal with the challenges of life. All too often, these sides of ourselves create us trouble, by not responding in a way that is always helpful.  By lovingly accepting all parts of who we are, and transforming those sides of us that have not been given the opportunity to mature, we can move forward, having liberated those parts of ourselves that hold us back.

Your journey – what path am I walking in this lifetime? What is my goal? Where am I going, where have I been?

When we connect with our path, we feel in control of our journey. We start to plan for what’s ahead and equip ourselves accordingly. We are also able to enjoy the path, drawing our gaze away from the horizon, and not looking behind us to the road that has been travelled. We stop still, and take in all that is around us.

Your experience – what talents can I bring to this experience we call ‘life’? What lessons will I learn that will enable me to grow?

We do not travel, for travelling sake. We travel because we want to be enriched by the experience. We travel because we want to find ways of connecting with our inner most being, to experience joy, happiness, and excitement of bringing our talents out into the open. How many times have you had a holiday where you gave yourself permission to express yourself in a way you wouldn’t ordinarily? This may have included singing around a camp fire, dancing, relaxing and absorbing the sounds, doing something adventurous. Notice how people’s true natures shine, when they give themselves permission to ‘take a break’.

How many trips have you been on, when you have been challenged in some way, and have responded by saying “well next time I’ll remember not to….” Life is a journey, in which we travel, and learn along the way.

I’d like to share with you the Prayer of St. Francis. I feel is encapsulates my life purpose in its highest possible sense.

Make me a channel of thy peace;
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.

To me, dying refers to the end of our blindness, and awakening to the eternal source that we are.

How close are you to discovering your purpose in life? Do you feel you are living with purpose today? Share your thoughts by leaving me a comment.