There is Good News Ahead

Hello again
It's coming up to the holiday season and there's a lot of uncertainty in the air. Am I going to lose my job? Where should I keep my money? What's going to happen in the markets? Will the price of food keep on going up? Will this be a long and deep recession and how can I protect myself?

These are many of the questions that people are asking themselves right now. Over the holiday period, it is a good time to take stock of your situation. Even if your work or income is not endangered by the crisis, take a long hard look at your life. Are you doing what you really enjoy doing? If not, what are you passionate about? Look at your interests and your aptitudes. You may be interested in a field but not have the aptitude for it, or you may have the aptitude but not the interest. The key to success is finding something for which you have both the aptitude and the interest, but also feel passionate about.

Give yourself small goals at first - this will give you confidence to carry on to your bigger goals. Set yourself targets that only only just outside your comfort zone - don't make it too difficult or you will get disheartened and you won't carry on. For example, this year, I have written two books and I have never written a book before. If I had set myself the goal of writing two books, I probably would never have got started. However, I started out with a goal to write just three pages a day. Once I had momentum, I was easily able to extend that goal.

Take a bit of time out to meditate, to visualise and to get in touch with that which really excites you this holiday season.

Even during the very worst times of the last Great Depression in the 1930's there were still only 27% unemployed. That meant that 73% of the population still had work. I am not suggesting that it will get so bad, but remember, there were many people who thrived during the Depression. It was just a case of thinking differently, finding new opportunities and thinking outside the box.

For example, in Mumbai, there is a cafe called The Leopold,where eight people were killed a couple of weeks ago in the terrorist attacks, which is now packed out with customers. The cafe has become a shrine of defiance against terrorism. Tourists come to buy T-shirts emblazoned with the cafe's logo. Sales are up five times what they were before the attack.

We are all exposed to situations in life some of which we like and others which are most unpleasant. However, it is our attitude and reactions to them that will shape our destiny. In this global crisis, we can focus on all the alarming issues and terrible outcomes, but we can also look at it as an opportunity to come together and to start to create the kind of world we want to see. No longer can we trust our governments and many of our financial institutions - more and more fraudulent activities are being unearthed around the world - so it is up to each individual to take the bull by the horns and to create the kind of life you want for yourself, and also to come together with like-minded people.

It's certainly a time to reach out more - to become more independent, self-sufficient and to help one another.

This can be a very exciting time to be alive - so I hope that I have given you some things to think about over the festive season.

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.