Whether you want to put a dent in the universe or live a fulfilling life which resonates with your soul, you need to get out there and just do it! We spoke to 10 professionals who live their dreams.
Take baby steps. Whether it’s trying a food you’ve always wanted to try or learning a new language, the secret is actively taking that step, says novelist Christopher Hope. “Look at your life, look for regrets, look for hopes, look for small dreams, even the ones that are completely out of reach, and start taking steps to get to them. You may never, but remember, sometimes the journey is more important than the destination,” says the author of Brothers under the Skin: Travels in Tyranny (2003). “Start from the beginning, stop reading this article, and do something bold, or meek, flamboyant or minimalist, just do something.”
Variety the spice. Says Viv Gordon, who besides owning a specialist recruitment agency, mentors four previously disadvantaged students, the key is balance, “I believe in the trilogy of looking after your heart, head and body in equal parts.” For her heart, she does Bio Danza, a dance form which has opened her heart to love, appreciate and respect her children beyond all expectations. For her head, she sees a trusting therapist and for her body, and self-esteem, she goes to gym and walks, which culminated in a recent trip to Peru where she climbed Salkantay at 4600 metres. “I now believe there is nothing in the world that I cannot do.”
Get off your butt. For straight-talking motivational speaker and team building trainer Mark Berger the way to seize the day is dramatic. “Move on. Let it go. Get a life. Or make a big sign and go picket against whatever is freaking you out. Just don’t waste your precious energy agonizing over stuff you can do nothing about. And if you can do something, then do it. Get involved. Play the game. Stop sniping from the sidelines. It serves no purpose, other than to increase your blood pressure, stress levels and the sales of alcohol and antidepressants. Erase the word BUT from your daily dialogue and watch how your outlook on life will change. Dramatically.”
Let go to grow. While seizing the day for some means literally that, for others it means letting go of past mistakes and making constructive choices to grow. Says Derek Davey, drummer for Them Particles, a Johannesburg-based country and blues band, every morning he starts out with a yoga session and a light-hearted mantra which helps him tune out any inner chaos, “May I shut up, cheer up and not repeat my mess-ups. Grace and humour, be my wings.” As a sub-editor for a busy daily newspaper during the day, his nightly band practice is both his meditation and his muse and his lifelong dream of an overseas road trip is always in the wings.
Feed the well. Life coach Laura Young believes the secret to managing her full life is by constantly filling the inner well. “It takes a considerable amount of discipline to remember that we have a whole inner aspect to our lives,” she says. The most effective way to do this is to turn seemingly menial, functional tasks into internal ‘feeders’. “Hiring someone to do the weeding so that I can make time to read a book on building my business, for example, might look sensible thing, but it’s like farming out my own meditation. Gardening, for me, isn’t an external task. It’s an INTERNAL one. And, believe it or not, cleaning is, too,” says Young.
Set a time. “For years I didn’t seem to have the self-discipline to write. Eventually it occurred to me that I always felt at my best first thing in the morning, so I made a decision that I would work between breakfast and lunch,” says author of The Wild (2000), Esther Freud. “Instead of sweeping the floor, putting the washing in and taking out the rubbish, I went straight to my desk. So now my house is much less tidy, but I have written four novels and I’ve stopped wondering how people have the discipline to sit down and write.”
Pay attention. For astrologer Tracy Shaw, the secret is in little acts of connectivity. “On waking I immediately open the blind, so I can see the world outside. Through the course of the day, when I notice something beautiful, I stop for a moment to take it in. When a friend calls, even if I can only speak for a few minutes, I give my full attention. That way I am left feeling really connected.”
Prioritise. Though she says she’s lucky to be able to be doing a job that reflects her heart desires, journalist Lauren Beukes says learning to say no in order to do proper justice to her work has been her biggest lesson. “I’m inspired by the world every day, from the whimsies and wonders to the wrenching atrocities that inflame me. It’s all inciting. All the things that make me happy and angry fuel my writing,” says Beukes, adding that discipline is paramount as there is no magic shiny inspirational energy to make it easy.
Live like you are dying. Every day since the age of 17, Steven Jobs, inventor of Apple Computers, has asked himself whether he would do the same thing that day if it were his last day alive. “Whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” Diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2004, his aspiration to put a dent in the universe was amplified. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose,” he says. “You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Give thanks. When Jaco Swart, a tubing guide on the Storms River, survived after being swept into a dangerous gorge by a flash flood, together with 14 clients, he made a vow to give thanks to God. “Only one client survived and I hung onto a log for 27 hours with a shattered knee before being rescued.” Nine years and six operations later Swart is living up to his promise and on January 15 set out on a barefoot walk around the borders of South Africa. Two months after leaving Cape Town, he crossed the 1000km mark and has high hopes of completing the 6500km stronger than ever.
(Published in Aquarius, Dubai, May 2009. Copyright held by the author.)
