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This episode is full of insights and tips that will change your life. We explore the waste of worry - but, most importantly, we explore what happens when you put your worries down, what happens when you are carefree. In this episode, I tell you what worry does and how it does it... and, even though it's "crazy normal" to worry, you really don't want that in your life, at all. You'll learn what being carefree actually is. You'll learn how to achieve that state of mind, that way of being. And I tell a story - and I've loads of them - about how being carefree enables you sit back and watch what you want "falling into your lap". Want to know all this, time to listen and learn.

Yes, in this episode, we have a real-life example of what happens - and how effortlessly it happens - when you turn up to your own life. Listen and accompany Mark on the journey of a lifetime - from the crippling thoughts that hold us all back, to the enlightenment that comes from simply bothering to turn up to the here and now, armed with an essential understanding of... the kind of life you'd love to live. Anyone armed with a normal mind (and that, by the way, is all of us), is prone to shooting themselves in the foot! We've got to disarm the thoughts that get in our way - the ones that, until disarmed, will always take us back to the same destination of the rough and tumble, ups and downs, of the mundane normal crazy life. Take this short journey - less than half an hour - and discover how this works in practice, what effortlessness actually looks and feels like and how opportunities are all around us all the time. All we have to do is, as the title suggests, turn up!

Today, you can rid your life of worry, anxiety and stress. Today. Today, you can start living the kind of life that you really want to live. No more feelings of inadequacy; no more thinking that you might be undeserving; no more feelings of guilt. Today, you can get out of your own way. For it's not your thoughts that are getting in your own way or holding you back. Rather, it's only the manner in which you pay attention to your thoughts that is stopping you living the life you'd love to live. All you have to do is redirect your attention. This episode explains how all this works: how the way we normally use our minds stops us in our tracks, removes us from our lives. And, more importantly, what you can do right now that will enable you start living and experiencing a completely different life... straight away. OK, you might think that that sounds completely unrealistic. But that's only another one of those normal, crazy, debilitating thoughts!

Yes, you can glide through your day, every day, like a graceful ballerina - never putting a foot wrong, always being the right person, in the right place, at the right time, effortlessly doing what you need to do without giving it a second thought (or even a first thought). The secret to achieving anything and everything that you'd love to achieve all boils down to one key thing: turning up! We know - if you didn't listen, have a listen to Episode #81 - that, when we use our minds normally, we are marked absent from our own lives, missing in action (or, actually, reaction!), absent without leave! We also know how to re-train ourselves to turn up to our own lives. Once you do that, the difference is immediate and often stunning. I can tell you this... it will certainly change your life.

A big and bold statement - after all, how do you treat yourself to the life you'd love when you have to contend with the madness of normal crazy people, day-in, day-out? Well, in this episode, I explore exactly how to deal with the bad behaviour of people who are not in control of their own state of mind. I explore exactly how to deal with the frustration, annoyance, worry, anxiety and anger that that creates in your own head... if you're not control of your own state of mind. And, most importantly, we explore how to control your state of mind and, most importantly, what impact that will have on your life - starting pretty much straight away. I also mention in today's episode that I'm running a free online training program at present - and, although there should be a link on your podcast player to enable you sign up for that, I've been told some people have not been able to find it. So, you can sign up using this link: https://tinyurl.com/4j2vm8s2 Either way, the key thing you need to know that everything is in your own hands, even the shape of your brain.

I've decided we need to explore the real stories of some of my clients and Program Owners because, for all the wonderful science in the world that confirms how we can manage and set our mind to achieve our goals and objectives, the real action is in the real adventures of real people. Today, we start with a salutary tale - one where my friend was literally bombarded by the grand opportunities that would effortlessly enable live the kind of life he really wanted to live. And we explore the two things - yes, there are just two! - that you need to do to live your life your way. I've also got a new free online training program for you - just click the link to start your own adventure. Then, you'll be able to answer the above question with a big "Now". And, as we know, now is all that matters.

Actually, the title of this episode could be shortened... how to live your life. Because, if you're not in flow, if you're not present, you're absent - absent from your own life. And the really horrible thing is that being absent is normal! To be abnormal you have to refurbish your brain!! In fact, it's a little more fundamental than that and a lot easier than you might think. You need to fundamentally alter the fabric of your brain through changing how you use it. We know that the brain constructs and reconstructs itself according to how the user uses it. Truth be told, if you're using your mind normally, the user is marked absent. One small change to how you use the piece of equipment between your ears changes everything - even the very structure of your brain. It changes your life and you end up experiencing flow most of the time every day. Your transform your ordinary everyday life into something extraordinary.

Psychology often wraps facts up in unnecessarily complicated language so let me say this really simply: You can achieve anything that you know you can achieve. It is that simple - nothing needs to be added. And yet... The normal mind doesn't know - it thinks it knows! The normal mind thinks that you're inadequate (we all have our perceived inadequacies); it thinks that you're undeserving and, in constantly getting in your way, the normal mind constantly proves to you that you can't achieve the goals that you'd love to achieve. In this episode, I don't just start simple, I keep it simple. I provide you with a really easy starting point from which you will take the journey to the life you'd love to live.

I mean it - the difference between war and peace all boils down to the baggage that we carry around with us - the baggage that blinds us, that gets in our own way. Are we talking about big wars, like the war in Ukraine? Well, as you'll discover, we could be. But, whilst today's episode is not going to change the world overnight, what we're exploring has the proven power to change your world... overnight. Using the training that we talk about in this episode, you will go from being muddle-minded, addled and ill-at-ease to being focused, present, at peace with who you really are. And, on top of all that, you'll be fully geared up to create the life you want, peace of mind and all. So listen in. Or do more than that. Click the links to the current free video sessions that I have online that are no more than a warm-up for the free Zooms that I'm hosting over the coming days where you, anyone or everyone, can "Ask Me Anything" about changing your life, putting your baggage down and living the life that you'd love to live. It's up to you.

Yes, ordinary everyday life is full of ups and downs, hurdles and challenges or, not to put too fine a tooth in it... crap. And that crap is real. But which is easier? Rise to the occasion and deal with the crap or think about how crap it is and layer crap upon crap to the point that you (believe that you) cannot cope? The answer's obvious. But that doesn't mean that's what you're going to do because that is not how the ordinary mind sees things. And, most importantly, it's certainly not how your ordinary mind sees you and your capabilities. That's why this episode explains - in basic fundamentals - how to get out of your own way; how to start rising to living your ordinary life in, yes you'd better believe it, an extraordinary way. We're talking about the keys to living the kind of life you'd love to live. And, as you'll discover, it all boils down to one awfully fundamental choice...

It will probably come as a surprise to you but, in our everyday lives, there is simply no such thing as fear. Yes, we're often "afraid" of doing or saying what we deep down know that we need to do or say - or we're often simply afraid of making a fool of ourselves. But none of that is real fear. You're simply experiencing a reaction to what I describe, in this episode, as "the ghost in the machine". Or, to put it another way, in purely practical psychological terms, what you think of as fear (and, by the way, thinking makes it feel awfully real) is just a product or construct of... your own thought. In allowing your mind think that way, you're feeding the ghost in the machine. Many people will say to me that their perceived fears come from their upbringing or childhood and, as long as they continue to allow their minds run in an automated normal way, they will be right. But... their not children any more! You are an adult. It's time to man up - or woman up - and take responsibility for your own state of mind. When you do that, you'll realise something that will completely liberate you from your own thoughts... there is no fear.

Even if you’re a world-class meditator (not sure what that is, actually!), there will be days when you’re a bit “flat”, a tad “out of sorts” or even mildly anxious, often without being able to pinpoint as to why that might be. So what!  At least you’re aware of your state of mind - most “normally-minded” people are blissfully (clearly not the right word!) unaware.  And, being aware, there’s something you can do about it - simply a question of making the right choice. But what if you’re not that world-class meditator?  What if you’ve never meditated at all?  (Don’t worry, we’ll deal with that!!)  What if you’re anxious, stressed, distracted, uneasy, annoyed? Well, it is what it is and it’s only natural.  You’re using you brain the way nature intended, the way it evolved. But, today, you’re taking charge of your own personal evolution.  Seriously.  Not a slogan, not a feel-good affirmation, simply a statement of scientific fact. Today, you’re going to, as I way in this episode, discover that, when you open the door to your own mind, there’s a whole new life waiting for you.

Yes, you read the title of this episode correctly. Most people think that they know what they want. But it is that very thinking that gets in the way of us knowing. The fact is, of course, at an instinctive level, we do know. We know exactly what is best for us. More than that, we know exactly how to get it. Again, it's only our thinking mind that thinks it knows best. That's why you need to get out of your own way. As a client told me "When you get out of your own way everything becomes so much easier". Easier to the point of effortless. Effortless, a word I love and a state of mind that is confirmed as scientific fact again and again. When you get out of your own way, when you stop giving your attention to the same repetitive preprogrammed thoughts that are rattling around in your own head, when you begin to see the present moment clearly for what it is... everything becomes clear. The struggle and stress is over. The life you really want begins. Time to allow yourself see the wood for the trees.

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated my 26th anniversary of working for myself - doing what I do with my clients, what I explain in this podcast. As I reflected on the past 26 years it occurred to me that there is a common thread running through the conversations that I've had with oh so many people over that time. That common thread? Above all else (because if you get this right it deals with all else!) people seek peace of mind. In a world of ups and downs, highs and lows, everyday challenges, cares and worries, peace of mind is, on the one hand, elusive. On the other, as a statement of psychological fact, it is beyond the reach of the human mind when used normally. The normal mind is noisy. It does not do peace of mind. You need to use your mind a different way. You need to find the innate presence of mind that doesn't just dwell in all of us, it is, as we discuss in this episode, our natural way of being. We simply have to rediscover it. That is what this episode is all about... how to do the one thing that only you can do that, when you do it, everything else falls effortlessly into place.

We know about healthy mind, healthy body - we discussed that topic in considerable detail in last week's episode. This week we explore what managing your state of mind does to your physical brain and your functioning mind, bearing in mind (if you pardon the pun!) that, as defined by psychology, "mind is what the brain does". In this episode we explore how to manage your state of mind (you're the only one who can!). We discuss the "right state of mind" (there's only one) and how best to get into that state of mind... how to stay there is something we'll explore in further detail again. I then go on to explain some of the wondrous discoveries of modern neuroscience - from how regular meditation restructures the brain's key subcortical components, to how we can literally reboot the ageing brain. What does all this mean in practical terms... well, we get into that in detail too - and it provides you with what we might call a modern evolutionary advantage.

You've heard the expression, you are what you eat. Well, you are what you think or, more correctly, you are how you think. If your mind is ill-at-ease, your body will suffer dis-ease. There are direct causal links between what we're thinking and our physical wellbeing. Over many years at this stage, research has established links between stress and heart disease and cancer. The links between stress and digestive disorders has been know for a very long time indeed. Your weight and how you manage it - or not! - is directly related to how you think - all the diets in the world won't work if you're not in the right frame of mind. In this episode, we explore what this means in terms of your practical everyday life right now - and off into the future. More importantly, we explain how to change how you think.

Astonishingly, more than 75% of people say that they have been bullied at some time during their adult life.  Bullying is something that ruins people's lives.  But bullying is something that you can deal with effortlessly - but only when you're in the right state of mind. In this episode, we explore why bullies bully.  We explore what is actually happening when bullies bully.  And, most importantly, I explain how to manage bullies... completely out of your life. We explore the psychology of what you must do to rid your life of the threat imposed upon you by a bully.  I explain how the bully is, essentially, feeding off your energy and attention.  And I provide you with the couple of key practical steps that you can start taking today to rid your life of bullies and bullying. A little longer than usual, this episode is worth its length in gold!!

We're talking work/life balance in this episode or, more to the point, we're exploring how you can live the kind of live you'd love to live where work is an integral part of how you live your life in flow. The key factor in enabling you create the kind of work/life balance and, indeed, life that you'd love to live is the attitude of mind that you bring to the party. Attitude is the key success factor. In work and life. So, if you want to experience greater levels of happiness and success in your life, there are just a couple of important things you need to do - and, most importantly, you can do those things... now. In today's episode I explain how to change how you think and, right at the end of the the episode, I provide you with one of the most important pieces of advice you will ever get in terms of moving towards doing you're own thing in your life... whatever turns you on. So, buckle up, we're in for a ride today that will, if you hop on board, change your life.

Today probably feels much like any other day because your mind is designed to make it so. That leads to a creeping lack of ease of mind - so many people tell me that they're seeking peace of mind - and, when one's mind is ill-at-ease, we bring about dis-ease in the body. That's just one of the things we explore in this episode. And, of far greater importance, is what happens when we cultivate ease-of-mind. What happens as a result is transformative. First and foremost, we transform our understanding of who we are. We discard that which we thought we were and, in doing so, discard stress, worry, anxiety and... dis-ease. There is just one thing in life over which you have any control - it is something over which you can have absolute control - you're the only one who can. Listen, learn, transform.

Imagine discovering your own inner potential and realising that doing what you need to do to live the life you'd love to live could be... effortless. All scientifically confirmed: effortlessness is a scientific fact when you're in flow - when you're free of the thoughts that hold you back - most importantly, when you're free of your own self-limiting thoughts. You are not who you think you are. You are someone completely different, someone effortlessly capable of living your life your way on your terms right here and now. How do you discover who you really are? Well, for starters, you need to know how and why you think you're someone else! Then you need to take a little step (that's all) to become aware, self-aware. That is what this episode is all about.