4 Tips for a Great start to Year (2019 and All the Possibilities)

4 Things to look forward to in the New Year

IMAGE: PEXELS

There's something about the new year that feels refreshing and rejuvenating and It's not the fireworks, food or the festive joy and laughter with all your friends and loved ones. 

Here are some of the things on why I love the New Year:

1. New Start 

IMAGE: PEXELS

It's that feeling of moving on to a fresh new start, a clean slate, a new beginning and a brand new outlook on what's ahead. 

It's also that feeling of leaving behind all your worries, your insecurities, your failures, your regrets and anything else that you don't want to take with you in the new year up ahead.

It's having a new perspective in life and trying out something new, when you let go of something that was not initially working in the past and having time to think and tell yourself that this it is time for a new start to try something else, to start the beginning of something new!

2. New Experiences

Every year I always reflect and think back on all the new experiences that I have done in the previous year. There's so many things to do in the world that you don't want to miss out on an opportunity to find out about the new experiences and opportunities presented to you.

I always keep a milestone list every year to keep track of what I've accomplished or new things that I've done throughout the year. This keeps my spirit burning with passion, knowing that it's not always the same every year. 

You might already have a bucket list and think about ticking off some of them from your list this year. Another thing that I love doing is trying out new food or restaurants that I have not already tried out. 

It's amazing how different and each restaurants are and how each of these have a different feel to them and the way they present the food that they serve. 

Try looking for discount special vouchers online, to expand your horizons of where you eat and what you do. You'll be surprised with the vast array of choices available out there.   

Two websites or apps I love using for discounted products in Australia are 'Groupon' and 'Deals'. They would often have 50% off or more discounts on several things as part of promoting their own product, restaurant or experiences that they offer.

IMAGE: GOOGLE

IMAGE: GOOGLE

3. New Places to Travel

For some people, when the word 'travel' is presented, they may think about it and what may come to mind is travelling overseas. To fortunate people who work hard, this may be a reality. But for some who don't have the funds to travel overseas, they may see this as a limitation, as travelling overseas may often be quite costly and expensive. 

However traveling is not only limited to travelling internationally. Travelling may mean that you are exploring new areas in your own country or state where there are possibly other tourist destinations that are usually visited by other people from other country.

Don't take for granted the place where you're at, because no matter where you live, there's bound to be somewhere new that you have not yet explored.  

IMAGE: PEXELS

What amazes me when I travel to new places and explore the beauty of what they have there and talk to the locals about the place. Some of the locals will mention to me that they have not even personally traveled to those destinations in their own country, even if it's somewhere nearby, because they have not bothered thinking about seeing the natural beauty of what they have around them as it's "always been there".

Travelling to new countries overseas inspires me to have a creative mindset in life. This world is so diverse and I appreciate the different cultures and way other people live in other countries, reminding me that we are all unique and there is no cookie cutter to mould everyone - but everyone creates their own mould in this life.

4. New You

Every year is also an opportunity for you to grow your character and learn from your previous mistakes and failures to shape the person that you become.

Every year, you may face many trials, hardship, set backs, conflicts and encounter difficult people who you don't necessarily get along well with.

At best, we can just ignore, leave or pretend that these problems don't exist. But a better approach in these difficult circumstances is learning how to develop your character. 

Every year you become different from the previous year of who you were. Hopefully for the better. If you are presently aware of any challenges in life - instead of withdrawing from everything else, try to see how you can better improve your character as running away is not always an option. 

At the start it might be difficult to even conceive in your mind on how to overcome some of your challenges, but through persevering and always doing what is right, you will be able  see your character improving and growing.

  

IMAGE: PEXELS

So don't feel discouraged when you face challenges of many kinds. Hold your head up high and learn to love and accept people, regardless of how they may treat you. 

For me, praying to God helps me to find my centre of who I am and who God has made me to be. You'll find life more fulfilling when you develop your character instead of expecting everything else or everyone else to change.

Hope you enjoyed this blog If you like this post, please share it on your social media and be sure to subscribe to keep up to date with all future blogs that I will write. I will write a blog each week to give you Tips to help you be Inspired, Motivated and Encouraged to keep becoming the better person that you are.

5 Tips for finding Inspiration in life

5 Tips to be Inspired in Life

IMAGE: PEXELS

Welcome back Blogsters! It is of great enthusiasm that I write this post and share what I have learnt this past few weeks to encourage and uplift your spirit just as how I have been to a journey of feeling low to a sense of well-being.

If you just stumbled on this page, you are most likely reading this post because you may be at a road block,you may possibly be having a clouded perspective in life also and perhaps not being optimistic about your situation right now or, you’re just reading this to find out about finding inspiration in life.

Fortunately, I’m currently in a very positive mindset at the moment after being in quite a dark depressing state of mindset.It just feels great being out of that dark hole and in the light. I want to share with you all, how I’ve managed to get back my motivation and be inspired to live life to the fullest again.

When we feel sluggish, lazy, tired and unmotivated to do anything in life, it is often due several reasons. It could be mental health related or physically related. I hope that the tips below will help you regain that passion of fire to re-ignite a dying or dead flame of passion inside of you to help release that creative person that you were created for 😊

Tip 1: Rest

IMAGE: PEXELS

As repetitive as it sounds and having mentioned this tip over and over on my previous blog, resting your mind and body is vital to ensure well-being and help your brain function properly.

It’s hard to have your mind be inspired if you are fatigued and lacking sleep or rest. A mind that is not fatigue is a creative mind. Your mind is more likely to flow with ideas and goodness if it is well rested.

If you are finding it hard to get a full length of 7-8 hours sleep as recommended by health professionals, try taking a short power naps to compensate for some of the lost sleep and allow your mind to rest. After you wake up from your nap you may feel invigorated and ready to start going at another task at hand. If you nap longer that 1 hour it may often leave you drowsier and more lethargic, but I find that 30 mins nap may be sufficient to recompense for lost sleep.

So rest up and see the benefits this can do to your thinking. Allow your body to just shut off and recover from the stressors of life.

Tip 2: Forgive yourself and forgive others

IMAGE: PEXELS

One of the things I found that was a burden and a heavy weight in my spirit of why we feel un-motivated to do anything, is due to guilt caused by a conflict against other people or unforgiveness from a wrong doing done towards you by someone else.

Whoever is at fault against you and if you can identify the issue, it is best to resolve those issues, either by apologizing to them and seeking forgiveness from them if you are in the wrong or allowing yourself to be released by the bondage of hate by simply just forgiving them even if they don’t apologize to you.

Releasing your anger and resentment towards other people can release that heaviness that you may feel and it has positive effects for both you and the person who you are having an issue with.

The other person that you may want to forgive is yourself. Sometimes we may say, behaviour had malice in our mind towards things that are immoral or impure in this life and this can leave a painful stain in your soul that can feel demoralizing.

For me the first step is knowing that you want to change and be better moving forward. It’s about allowing God to transform your mind and lifestyle and allowing you to move on from your past and be forgiven.

If you had done something against someone and you apologize for it, yet they still have not forgiven you – let it go. Learn how to bring healing to yourself by letting go. The issue will no longer be from you but from the other party.

If you have haters, detractors, trolls, bullies or whatever you want to call them in life, just ignore them and move on with life. You have a huge life to live ahead of you, to be dwelling with negative people in this life of yours.

Tip 3: Don’t compare yourself to other people

IMAGE: CITY SPORTS CLUB

In this life, we as people tend to always compare and look down on ourselves, especially when we see the success of other people in the same stage of life as we are.

It could well be the following thoughts:

          Your friends having been married and you remaining single or

Your old school mates now having a successful career or business and you working in part-time job you don’t even enjoy or

Your friends having a new car and yourself having a hand me down from your dad’s old car

The list can go on and on but you get the point. The list of comparison to other people or celebrities is a big motivation eater if you let it get to you.

You can instead use that as an inspiration to motivate yourself to get started on mastering an area where you are actually passionate and good at.

Everyone treads at a different pace in life and sometimes what you see in social media can be deceiving from what is reality. So get started on small things that can lead to big opportunities in life.

If you want to learn more tips on how to get started on anything, I have written a previous blog on it. Just type on the search tab 5 Tips on how to get started on any project.

Just remember, see the blessings you have and don’t compare yourself to anyone else because you are no one else. You are unique and you can unleash that inner creative person inside of you.

Whether you are a writer, blogger, dancer, singer, artist, comedian, musician, game master etc. You can achieve bigger things one step at a time.

Tip 4: Try out new things

IMAGE: PEXELS

This is probably my most favourite thing to do to be inspired. The more that I explore our local restaurants, buildings, natural parks, malls and other attractions – the more that I feel inspired with how wonderful God’s creation is and how creative the mind of other people are.

For example, a beverage that I was accustom to in that past was purely just tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Nowadays we have a variety of drinks which can tingle your senses such as white hot chocolate, matcha latte, taro latte, chai latte and more variations of what other hot drinks are now available.

With food, there are a variety of multi-cultural spices and taste that are new and really exotic and different to your own culture or country that you are living in. Food is also a favoured leisure activity of people to bond and connect with each other.

The other things could also be trying out new experiences and adding things to your bucket list of things to see and things to do. Sometimes, people take for granted what they have locally, but if you just search and use google there are a variety of bloggers writing about their hometown of things that you could do.

Some of the simple areas I like visiting around Melbourne Australia are the beaches, mountains, natural parks and waterfalls within the vicinity. Besides that I also love travelling with my wife to other countries and seeing new places and new cultures.

It inspires me to write about the uniqueness in the world, because life becomes more colourful and fun – not the usually black and white grey routine of doing things over and over again and with no purpose but just to work and pay the bills.

So enjoy the creation of God and the creative mind and ideas. Just be sure that those new experience you try are non-destructive to your body, other people or the environment and not immoral experiences.If you do, this is counter intuitive to what we are trying to achieve, which is bringing about a positive mindset and creating a positive environment.

Tip 5: Express your love to your loved ones and receiving love

IMAGE: PEXELS

This last tip is one, that will often be taken for granted and at times may not be appreciated by some, however one of the most inspirational things that you can do in this life is to love the people that are important to you.

It could be as simple as saying how you love them, appreciating them by giving them small gifts that they can appreciate, spending quality time with them, doing something for them like a favour or a simple massage of some sort and or just giving them a simple hug.

If you haven’t heard of the 5 love languages here are some of the love tank fillers that will not only inspire you, but also help inspire other people that are important to you.

The 5 love language comprises of the following:

          Physical Touch

          Words of Affirmation

          Quality Time

          Acts of Service

          Gifts

When you express love with the following, depending on which love language speaks strongly to them will have positive effects on having your love tank be reciprocated. Though sometimes receiving back love, may not always occur – loving others can be overwhelmingly satisfying to our spirit and soul.

Hope you enjoyed this blog If you like this post, please share it on your social media - be sure to subscribe to keep up to date with all future blogs that I will write. I will write a blog each week to give you Tips to help you be Inspired, Motivated and Encouraged to keep becoming the better person that you are.

5 Tips on how to sleep better

5 Tips for a restful sleep

IMAGE: DetikHealth

Welcome back Blogsters! You must have stumbled on this page or are reading about sleep if you’re someone who finds it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep at night.

There may be different things that are coming into play on why you are experiencing difficulty sleeping, but I hope to impart a few tips on how to help you sleep better at night.

So, lets start!

Tip 1: Turn off all technology and devices

It has been widely documented in various literatures that when we look at light and especially the light emitting from our devices, that it can actually stop your body from releasing the sleeping hormone melatonin.

Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate sleep.

Without this hormone prompting us to go to sleep, we can often find ourselves browsing non-stop in our social media and find that even after we finished reading all the posts and picture of our family and friends or whoever we are following that our mind will still continue to have unending thoughts.

It is therefore important that you switch off all your devices or put them in silent mode and just embrace the natural darkness in your room. Try to do some meditation or relaxation methods, until you eventually fall asleep. 

Tip 2: Taking a warm shower or bath

Taking a warm shower or a short-bath before you go to sleep can really help relax you, calm your nerves down and reduce your stress levels.

Relaxing with a warm shower or bath will also help reduce your blood pressure just before you head off to bed, ensuring that your body can prepare itself to go to bed.

When you take a shower it also feels nice to have a clean fresh body and invigorating sense of fulfilment before you head off to bed.

Tip 3: Meditate

I find that most of the times when I find it difficult to sleep, it is usually because my mind is running. Whether my mind is thinking about what I did today, what I will do tomorrow or forming new checklists and ideas of what I have not completed yet – I will often find myself thinking about so many things about life.

When this happens, stress can often take over and then I find my mind being really worked up with things that are often not really a priority but feel may need to be actioned.

What helps me relax my mind even further is usually meditating. Meditation can come in different forms, but what would usually work for me is praying. As a Christian believer, when I pray to God about my worries and concerns, I can feel rest assured that he has got it all planned out and that he holds the future in his hands.

I would often be reminded of different scriptures in the bible such as Jeremiah 29:11 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

or Proverbs 3:5-6 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

to remind me that God has plans for my life and that I just need to trust in Jesus alone.

Not intending to make this blog into a preaching, praying really helps me re-align my worries, guilt and fears to God’s vision and intentions in my life.

Another meditation method which really works for me and have been amazed of how well it worked is the ‘Rain Rain App’

IMAGE: TIME4Positivity

What this app does is actually create an audio white noise of various natural relaxing loop sounds and you can set a timer of how long you want for the sound to play for. The sound will then fade away subtly until you fall asleep. For me I find that the 15-minute timer is sufficient, then I just wake up the following day refreshed and realising that I had fallen asleep from the white noise.

For some this might not work, but for me I had to try different methods of meditation and this one really works for me.

In future I’m intending to share a post on just different various meditation methods that have worked for me.

Tip 4: Set a daily routine

Now that I have provided some practical tips above, it’s now time to put them into practice and make it into a habit or daily regular routine.

Some studies in relation to sleep have shown that our body has a natural circadian rhythm that we may not notice, but basically – it’s our internal body clock that tells us when to sleep or wake up.

Circadian Rhythm is a 24-hour internal clock that happens in the background of our brain that cycles our alertness and sleepiness at a regular interval, it is otherwise known as your sleep/wake cycle.

That is why if you’ve traveled flying to a different country, what you’ll find is that the time zone of that country will not conform with your sleep, as you have your own natural sleep/wake cycle.

This also means, that if you have an unregulated sleep pattern, that your body will find it hard to adjust, to know when you are needing to go to sleep, unless you feel really lethargic or tired. By this point you are probably also restless and will find it difficult to get to sleep, despite your feeling of tiredness.

I would recommend you aiming to get to bed and having a down time of at least before 10pm or 11pm to ensure that you are maximizing the amount of darkness outside without the natural sun to help you sleep longer.

Once you form a habit and discipline of sleeping more regularly, at regular periods as well, what you’ll find is that sleeping will now become more natural and less of a struggle that you will face.

One last word of advice in relation your daily routine, is to ensure that you open your curtains as early as possible when you wake up, to allow the natural sun to penetrate your eyes. Natural sun light is found to have good effects of waking you up during day time and also prompting you to sleep once the sun is down at night.

Tip 5: Consider seeking professional medical help

There are some instances where the advice I have provided above, is beyond the control of just adjusting your environment. For people who have actual sleep disorders or medical/ mental diagnosed issues such as insomnia, sleep apnoea, depression, anxiety or physical pain – it is worth seeking professional and medical advice to allow the health professionals or your doctor to give sound medical guidance.

They may be able to help prescribe medications to help you deal with sleep or provide you with alternative specialist advise as well. Please seek medical advice if sleep is really a big issue that you need help with.

Hope you enjoyed this blog If you like this post, please share it on your social media - be sure to subscribe to keep up to date with all future blogs that I will write. I will write a blog each week to give you Tips to help you be Inspired, Motivated and Encouraged to keep becoming the better person that you are.