People love to use the phrase YOLO (You Only Live Once).  But they are quite mistaken, You Only Die Once.  Each day we are born again.  Each day we are given a choice to change our lives or make them better.  Not everyone has the ability to pack up and live a hedonistic lifestyle travelling the world, most have jobs, children and bills to pay.  Thankfully to live right, you don’t have to move. Simply change your attitude.  I say simple but it takes practice,  The real voyage of discovery consists not of seeking out new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Their is no reality only perception.  Your life is what you see it as.  Emotions are not problems to be solved.  They reflect states of mind & body.  They cannot be solved only felt.  Do you need to justify how you are feeling?

Perception can change in 3 ways;

1.  See the world in a different light.  Imagine looking over a city landscape as the sun comes out after a summer shower.  Imagine the vivid colours, the sun glistening off raindrops and dew, the shadows evaporating.

2. See the world in a different place.  Friday evening stressed, stuck in heavy traffic after a long mundane week of work and routine.  But Monday morning you wake you, after having breakfast, you lie all day on a tropical beach.

3. See the world in a different time. You returning to your childhood family home, you haven’t seen since you where 7.  The rooms look and feel smaller.  Or imagine falling out with a family member, only to regret it at their funeral.

The ability to control your mind or change your perspective is a great skill to have in life or in a fight.  With training you become more aware of the internal voice constantly playing in your head.  Because it runs 24/7 inside your head you can become immune to listening to it.  Ask yourself how you feel, if you’re sad, you’re thinking sad thoughts, if you’re happy, you’re thinking happy thoughts.  Your emotions or moods are a reflection of the internal voice you are playing in your head.  With the correct training, YOU can change your internal landscape irrespective of what is happening around you.   Then it is possible to stop feeling lonely while at a busy party, make your opponent angry, stay calm in a crises, stop feeling sad etc.

Once you become more aware of your internal voice.  You can start the process of changing how it speaks to you.  All of your circumstances in life are a reflection of your subconscious beliefs.  You can change your subconscious beliefs with auto suggestions.  Think of someone wanting to become a  homeowner.  They think they’d like to own their own house, so the start saving.  They change their behavior, maybe not going out every weekend, not buying those unneeded trainers.  Pretty soon, they see their saving increase, and the make further changes, maybe forsaking a holiday.  Then they save enough, get a mortgage and become a homeowner.  The thought changed their beliefs. the beliefs changed their behavior, the behavior made them work towards their dream.

Your unconscious mind cannot process negatives.  You think “I don’t want to be poor”, you brain hears, “I want to be poor”.  Much better to think “I want to be wealthy”.  Your brain receives 2 billion bits of information per second from your senses.  Your conscious mind can deal with 5-9 per second, depending on your interest in the subject.  Your brain use filters.  Its why you can hear your name across a crowd room, because your brain is programmed to hear you name.  Brain filters are deletion, distortion, & generalisations.

Your values determine your filters, which can be changed.  Your values drive you towards pleasure or away from pain.  So learn to listen to your emotions, to control the thoughts in your head, to change your behavior, practice in the dojo, every time you step on the mats, is another opportunity to improve yourself or change the world around you.