Nine Lives to Live

I'm sure most of us have heard how cats have 9 lives. (If you haven't - you have now!)

It's one of those urban legends or old wives tales based on the family cat surviving some close shaves, when crossing the road, falling from a great height, being stuck in the neighbours drain pipe etc... And it is easy enough to draw the conclusion that cats have 9 lives. For those of us with an accounting brain we tend to start counting the used lives, much like playing a PS3 game. Checking on how long the cat has, before it uses it's last life and the game is over for the cat!

I have a question for you. How many lives do you have?

(No, this is not about whether there is life after death)




I'll ask you again. How many lives do you have?

1-2-3-4 .... 9?



What's your answer?



The answer I was wanting, was - ONE (1)

The only life you have to live is the one you have right here, right NOW! That's the only life you or I have. That we can be certain. As long as your heart is beating and you are breathing. You are alive! And this is the ONLY life you have.

The only moment that you live for is the here and now. I have met far too many people that think they live for retirement, that upcoming holiday or when the kids have left home. People who live for tomorrow and miss the beautiful moment they are actually having, that very second!

Let's Take a Trip

Our planet has time zones. If you fly Eastward, you can leave Auckland (NZ) and arrive in Hawaii before the time you left New Zealand???? If you were able to transport yourself to the other side of the world you can either end up in a time zone before you left or travel ahead in time and miss a day completely. I remember Lena and I leaving Los Angeles on Sunday evening and arriving in Auckland NZ, on Tuesday morning. The flight was only 12 hours, yet we had not had a Monday!

Hard work jumping from one time zone to another. You not only miss out what you're experiencing at the time, but you can be worn out by it all. Quite exhausting - it is, travelling time zones (ask any international traveller).




What time zone do you live, the 1 life you have?

• Do you more often think about what could be, should be or may be?
• Do you focus on your tomorrow's and the years ahead, more often than the moment you have right now?
• Do you think of what was and could have been back then? How you could've made a different choice and things would have turned out different.
• Got some past regrets that you catch yourself dwelling on regularly?
• Do you live for something else, someone else, an event that is nearing?

What life do you live, and more importantly, what time zone do you live in while living this gifted life you have been entrusted with, from birth?




A Time Travellers Tool

Yes, we can learn from the past. In fact it's a great thing to do!

How many times do you have to go back in your past to do that though? How about you do it only once!

Simply ask yourself the question - "What would I do differently next time, that would have made a positive difference should a similar situation occur to me?" Make some notes based on the lessons you've learned from asking this question, and apply those learnings to yourself.

Next thing is...

Travel ahead in time (your only imagining - ok!) and visualise yourself in a similar situation as the one you had had in the past - but in the future. Imagine yourself, using the positive lessons you have learnt and how things will be different for you in the future. Should a similar situation happen again. Then immediately return to the present and completely notice where you are, and be in the moment, you are living NOW!

You only get one life. Being present in the moment, by finding each moment intriguing, curious, fascinating, interesting etc... enables you to be present. As a manger, team leader, coach or trainer. When you are present with your staff, client or students, you are free from the weariness of mental time travelling. You will hear more, see more, feel more and understand more. When you allow your current life to be splintered by psychological time zones, you lessen the ability to manage and deal with the situation you have at present. You will miss things, misinterpret conversations and not have your full functioning brain at your disposal when you most need it.

At the moment there is an add on TV which depicts 2 mouths talking at exactly the same time. It's impossible for the viewer to accurately make out what either of the voices are saying. The point of the add? To let you know that while you are driving and talking on the phone, you can not be fully aware of what's happening around you as you drive! (try it as an exercise with 3 people talking to you at the same time for 15 seconds and then repeat back to each of them what they each said!)

How many lives do you have then? Where do you mostly live the life you have?






Be There

Practice living in the moment. Learn from the past and ensure that the future you visit in your mind, is one that serves you well and ensures your success. We too easily imagine the worst for ourselves. How we will forget out words at the upcoming business speech we have to make, or how they'll hate me at the job interview next week. Shit! Stop that type of thinking and time travelling!

If you're going to visit momentarily, either the past, or future do it with some style! Stop shitting on yourself in every time zone you visit. YUCK! I certainly wouldn't want to travel with you, if that's what you do! Sadly, more people seem to do that, than not.

Learning to live your ONE life in the moment is a skill. You can learn (we teach it, as do others) and you can be coached to it. And you can learn it yourself, just on your own. Either way - DO IT!

You'll be pleased you did.