Categories
Choice consciousness Decision Making Feeling Life Lessons Perspective

Tough Decisions, Complexity, Better Questions and Cute Dogs

Yes; we will be discussing all of those topics.

As they weave together.

Regardless of whether you are a ‘dog person’ or not, I am sure you will get where I am coming from, and take something of value from this conversation.

Over the last bunch of weeks I have had some really tough decisions to make in relationship to dogs, which have not been easy.

Time to really practice what I teach.

All of which I have written about over this year and are in my latest book (18 Ways We Make Life Way Harder Than It Needs To Be) and YES, that is a ridiculously blatant plug for my new book, but I am okay with that as I know it will serve you well.

Now let’s jump straight into the life of Carl Massy story time…

Categories
Choice Life Lessons Nutrition Optimum Health Perspective

Wisdom, Discernment and What’s for Breakfast?

You know I am a fan of wisdom.

I am also a fan of discernment, critical-thinking and sensing what is ‘self-evident’.

Having read a book recently that was a deep-dive into the differences between the right and left hemispheres, it is pretty clear that our education systems and societal systems in general favour a left-brain bias (and worldview).

This means being taught what to think (by people supposedly smarter than us) and not being taught ‘how to think.’

Wisdom is about knowing how to think and then applying that knowledge in a conscious way.

And it turns out that the right brain is best for discerning BS, so stretching our minds a little more is definitely in our favour.

Mindfulness practices like meditation help develop the right hemisphere, by expanding our consciousness, and dropping into the interconnection of everything.

Everything is connected (as quantum physics agrees with).

Whereas the left hemisphere is about reductionism, fixation, inflexibility, judgement and making stuff up.

So, having said that, and having created some context for what I want to support you with (becoming wiser) let me get back the topic of “What’s for breakfast?”

Categories
Belief Choice Doubt Fear Feeling Growth Life Lessons Overwhelm

This Can Break The Dam Wall of Worry

This article is for anyone that does, or is currently doing, the WORRY thing.

It’s a story about what I recently did (about 30 mins before writing) to break the dam of worry that had been looming over me for days.

If you read last weeks post, I spoke about getting triggered putting up ‘For Sale’ signs around my neighborhood, as we are in the process of selling our house in Bali (while doing a build at the same time).

So I am juggling a few balls in the air.

Which I am sure that you can relate to.

I am 100% sure.

Rarely have we got all of our ducks lined up so we can kick back with our feet up, and be in blissful rapture.

The price of wanting to live an extraordinary life is there will be a bit of resistance, disruption, set-back and frustration.

It’s the ticket price to play life at the next level.

So I know that you know what I am talking about.

Life can get pretty overwhelming at times.

And then we can do this worry thing.

Which I like to thank my mum for teaching me.

She taught me well.

Just joking mum!!

(Sort of).

So that takes me to one of my main points of today’s ‘lessons’.

Drum roll please maestro…

Categories
Fear Feeling Life Lessons Negative Emotions Perspective Problem

How to Stop Getting Triggered

One of the primary things I do when working with new clients is have them record when they get TRIGGERED.

This information is gold dust.

Outstanding feedback.

BUT…only if you do something with it.

We all get triggered.

But IT is the wisest among us who learn from it, in order to grow and evolve and to not get triggered (as much or not at all) next time.

Firstly let me define what I mean by ‘Getting Triggered‘.

It is essentially any time where we are reactively taken out of an elevated emotional state, neutral state or homeostasis, and dropped into a survival emotional state. Essentially the amygdala has determined there is some sort of physical threat, so it activates the sympathetic nervous system, and we have a physiological fight, flight or freeze response. This does not include automatic responses to real physical threats.

Sometimes we are ‘positively’ triggered and that is awesome and another great thing to learn from.

Thumbs up and now do more of that.

However, for this article (and your ongoing well-being) I am more interested in the ‘negative‘ triggers, and the bigger the trigger, the more (loving) attention we need to give them.

Examples include: getting triggered by an email, getting triggered while driving on the road, getting triggered by your partner or friends, getting triggered by people wearing face masks while alone on a beach, getting triggered by being told ‘no’, getting triggered by people riding motorbikes through intersections while texting on their phones, etc..

Categories
Choice Emotional Fear Growth Life Lessons

A Sneak Peak Inside My Next Book

I have been threatening to send you a sample from my upcoming book, so here is the PREFACE, which gives you a sense of where I am going with the book, plus I get to share with you some of my (mis)adventures and insights along the way.

Please enjoy.

PREFACE

“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.”

Henry Poincare (French Mathematician)

Have you ever been to Bali (Indonesia)?

What a magical place. Beaches. Balinese massages. Sunshine. Great surfing. Outstanding food (did anyone tell you Bali is a food mecca?). Beautiful local people. Such an amazing place to relocate to, in order to start the next phase of your life journey and professional transition. What could possibly go wrong?

And yes, I was chuckling as I wrote that line, as I am sure at some points in your life you have uttered those very same magical and fateful words. “What could possibly go wrong?

Categories
Acceptance Choice Decision Making Life Lessons Perspective

Knowing Thyself is Not Enough, You Also Need to…

We have all heard the philosophical maxim, “Know Thyself” attributed to the Greek Temple of Apollo in Delphi.

It sounds pretty cool.

And it is a bloody great idea.

But there is a catch.

“Know Thyself” usually focuses our attention on the attainment of ‘knowledge‘.

Versus ‘Wisdom‘, which comes from knowledge AND experience (plus a healthy serving of consciousness).

So…

It is super awesome to know thyself, but it is even more awesome as to what you do (experience) with that knowledge.

And thus begins our story…

Categories
Acceptance Emotional Feeling Growth Life Lessons Perspective

Don’t Do This…Unless You Love Rollercoasters

I am not sure of where you are at when it comes to roller coasters.

Occasionally, they can be fun.

Like once or twice a year (for me), but definitely not weekly.

Pass.

So I would like to (strongly) recommend you don’t make a habit of this.

Unless of course you love roller coasters, and especially the emotional kind…

Categories
Choice consciousness Decision Making Emotional Fear Life Lessons Perspective

5 Ways We Accidently Make Life Harder Than It Needs to be

Hands up if you want a ‘hard’ life?

I am guessing we had about 0% of hands showing.

I reckon the numbers would swing back to approximately 100% if I asked who wants more PEACE in their lives!

Who wouldn’t?

So let’s imagine at one end of the spectrum there is HARD and the other end is PEACE.

This article is about what we mostly ‘unconsciously’ (or accidentally) do, which sends us closer to the HARD end of the spectrum, and what we can do to move closer to the PEACE end of town.

So let’s dive straight in with the first way we make life harder.

Categories
Choice Decision Making Growth Life Lessons Perspective

How Not to Make Terrible Decisions

This post might save you an inordinate amount of pain in your butt.

And who wouldn’t want a bit less of that?

You know I am big on decision-making, and how it shapes our reality.

I also have a lot of experience in the decision-making space, having not only written a book on it (Decision Making Mastery), but also having attended one of top leadership academies in the world (Royal Military College, Duntroon), was an Army Officer for 14 years, did consulting on bomb management to a bunch of Olympic Games, and been coaching for over 15 years.

I am not tooting my trumpet.

I just want to let you know I have some experience in the topic of decision-making, and how not to suck at it.

Sucking at it, is something I find is pretty common (unfortunately).

And the consequences are significant and make peoples lives much harder than they need to be.

I have also paid extra attention to a blind-spot playing out in a number (most) of my clients of late.

And because I am super curious, I am now even more clear about what the issue is.

Which is something you will DEFINITELY benefit from.

So let’s walk through the process.

Categories
consciousness Emotional Feeling Growth Life Lessons

How ‘Pride’ Holds Back (Our) True Potential

You know I am big on the consciousness thing.

You also know I am big on the EVOLUTION thing.

YOUR EVOLUTION.

I want us all to evolve into our fullest potential.

Plus to experience the most JOYFUL and BLISSFUL life experience (day-to-day).

I also believe at my core the human potential we have to date witnessed is still WAY short of our possibility.

There are a whole bunch of genes not expressed in our DNA, which are just waiting to be unlocked.

So, let’s help this evolutionary process.

And let’s do it in an super practical way.

That is, with a little help from Dr David Hawkins and his Map of Consciousness work.

And yes, I have talked about this before, but because it is SO important, I want to really zero in on one particular aspect that holds back almost all my clients.