Top Gun – the art of movie-awarenesss

One of the coolest 80s movies

I wanted to be “Maverick” out of Top Gun when I was 14. That movie struck a chord with me as a teenager. There was something about being in a F-14 Tomcat going at Mach 2.0 (that’s pretty darn quick) just so I can make the sausage sandwiches on deck before the bbq ends. There certainly was no art of self-awareness going on then.

And I wanted to buzz the tower! Top Gun buzzed my tower when I was a school kid. The amount of times I watched it as a teenager was staggering. I still remember the first time I saw it at Grafton Saraton Theatre. This place…

A walk down yester-year…

It’s pretty cool watching a movie from the 80s. Where I wanted to go in life as a kid may be vastly different to where I am going in life now but one factor remains constant. How I’m going to get to where I’m headed!

Back in the 80s it was all about learning and having fun. If I wasn’t at school in the 80s, I was having fun doing pretty much whatever I wanted. So now I’m learning again, and also having fun when not at “school”. My movie-awareness reminds me to keep going for my goals and have fun – 80s style!

I was an 80s kid

Whatever way your art of self-awareness, make sure it’s done the fun way. There’s no need to get down about the past because it only remains as a movie. Use your movie-awareness to learn from the past, make the most of the moment and have the rest of the movie continually improving as you play it in your head.

Finding peace with the art of self-awareness

Ever had that feeling where everything around you is calm? You look around and the wind is barely moving, the streets are quiet and the world is gently turning. That’s what finding peace with the art of self-awareness feels like. I took that photo feeling very calm this afternoon walking the dogs.

And the time it has taken find peace? It’s been on-going since I came across it over a decade ago. You know, when somebody in the early 20s starts realising there’s more to the world than what goes on the outside of our heads.

Finding peace with the art of self-awareness is something that is now part of my daily routines. Taking a “chill-out” from the rest of the world, even if it’s for 10 minutes a day, can add so much positive energy to your life.

The peace that you wish to see on the outside must first come from the inside. So many people are waiting for peace to happen. Well, it can happen with self-awareness. The moment you make the choice you can find peace.

Train you mind to find peace and the world around you transforms. It’s been 20 short days and my life continually improves and finding peace is easier. Not every moment is life changing – it’s just the way you look at it that turns anything around.

3 ways the art of self-awareness can improve your life

When was the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror?

Do you feel unsettled? You shouldn’t. Who stares back at you should be somebody you really freaking enjoying seeing – because you see yourself alot! And let’s face it. You think about yourself a lot too. Being self-aware of who you are and when you love every second of it, it is life changing. If you embrace it your life becomes the best movie you’ve ever seen!

Here’s 3 ways the art of self-awareness can improve your life:

1 – Gives you a sense of humour

Being self-aware requires a sense of humour because there will be times when you mess up and have to laugh at the situation to learn from it. We laughed so heartily as babies. Do you still laugh as heartedly? Come on, we know you do!

2 – keeps you truth·ful  

/ˈtro͞oTHfəl/

Adjective (of a person or statement) Telling or expressing the truth; honest. (of artistic or literary representation) Characterized by accuracy or realism; true to life

Synonyms veracious – true – honest – faithful

Being truthful to yourself about who you are more times than not builds confidence. The more honest with yourself, the better you interact with people, the more confidence comes. See how the art of self-awareness continually improves your life?

3 – Gives you inspiration and energy

This step is a kicker. How awesome does your life become when you can see it all unfold in front of you?

Just a little daily thing I love doing.

Taking daily notes about your art of self-awareness keeps you on the scene of where you’ve come from, to who you are and where you are headed. It’s such a journey –  take note of each day to keep focus. Looking at your accomplishments inspires you to getting it done!

Living in the moment and the art of self-awareness

That’s Mr Norris on the right. Chloe on the left. We’re living in the moment. These two were having a ball chasing each other. Nothing else was going on in the world except the two dogs going nuts up and down the drive way. The art of self-awareness can mean living in the moment.

How often do you stop and look at the everyday and live in the moment? It can be as random as a washing line with the moon in the background.
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My dogs are not glamorous and awesome all the time. Sometimes they’re caught in their own moment. Clearly they are here.

Living in the moment with the art of self-awareness gives you a chance to see things differently. When you let life roll the camera in your head, then you’re watching life from a viewer perspective. When you direct the camera and capture the story you create, you are living in the moment. Time slows and the organic energy of life comes alive.

Maybe it’s too many of these. French martinis. Apparently I make good ones. To make a sublime martini, you have to give respect to the contents you are mixing. You have to mix them with passion. You have to live in the moment.

 

 

The art of simplifying self-awareness

It’s your choice.

 

Peeps.

These posts are the thoughts that run through my head. They are nothing more nor less. Just thoughts. At the moment I’m in the process of simplifying the way I live. Not to the point of ridiculous where there’s no thought involved. Changing the paradigm from I can do it all to a calmer – I’m going to be awesome at these few things to start off with.

Through the art of self-awareness, life can be lived in a way that you can the most fun out of… if that’s the way you want to be. You know, happy, vibrant and full of life. That kinda stuff.

Taking the alternate road takes a different way of looking at life. No longer the “I can do it all but haven’t yet so don’t feel like doing it any more” attitude to “simplify my shit and make it happen”. Yes – that just happened.

Getting it done takes dedication. A will to embrace the moment and make the most out of it. It can be a game changer taking you from an ‘I have so many ideas that will never see the day of light’ person to a ‘I’m getting shit done’ person.

Simplify life. Get it done and freaking love it. Your choice.

Letting go of the past and the art of self-awareness

Letting go. Can you do it? Is it a simple process? Man, two too many questions already. Letting go can mean so many things. For the purpose of this post, we’ll keep it connected to past inflictions – the stuff that can have a negative effect on your life.

It will be ok. That’s actually a great statement. If you learn to let it go with the art of self-awareness, your life will be okay. You’ll be okay. The life around you will be okay.

I’ve learn to let go of a lot in the last 14 days. And it’s taken me into the stratosphere of life. There’s an energy that has been created that I have never felt before. It’s positive. It has direction.

Being self-aware requires participating in letting go. How can you focus on something you’ve never done if you keep focusing on the things you’ve always done? It’s simple because it is.

The art of self-awareness is on-going. Much like the art of SEO. Sorry, that was a shameless self piece of promotion. It’s what I do though. I live online. I live offline too.

I let go of the past because there’s no place for it really. Especially if you look at it from a quantum mechanics perspective. Time doesn’t exist. Not when you’re living in the now….

 

The art of self-awareness

It should read “Self! Beware!”

Life is what we make it. That’s me making the most of my day today. It’s the last day of the working year and the picture sums up what’s going on inside my head. Not much…

The art of self-awareness is a journey into ‘self’. It’s not something that should be completed within the space of an hour as it is a life long purpose of understanding who you are, where you have come from and where you are going. Being self-aware means digging into the deepest recesses of your mind and poking around to find what makes the clock tick-tock. Then you examine the results and ask a few more questions. Like:

* Are you happy with what you found?

* Can anything be improved?

* Are you really like that?

* Is that how you want to come across to other people?

* What stuff can you do in the future that you could change where you’re headed for the better?

I have not been schooled in the ways of the mind though I have read many books and continually improve my art of self-awareness so I can live a better life and hopefully create a better life for those around me too. To think that the art of self-awareness is a lonely ride not true at all. You have to take into consideration the relationships you have with everybody to know more about yourself. If it were just all about you, then everybody would think they are perfect!

Have fun with your learnings… it’s the best way to make a difference.

Art of self-awareness and the blame game

Peeps!

I was watching an interview with a producer of one of the ‘mafia’ type TV shows (I think he was the producer – anyway…) and he was asked if he thought that violent TV shows and movies had a negative impact on society. The response was almost jaded and was definitely shifting focus away from the questions. His reply was something along the lines of – is there any stats on the movie Mary Poppins and if that has had a positive impact? Nice way to use the art of self-awareness.

Instead of deflecting the question, why not take a stand and actually voice your opinion rather than taking the soft way out. It’s easy for me to sit here on a laptop (MAC baby!!!) and ride my high horse but the more self-aware I’m becoming, the easier it is for me to be who I am and say what’s on my mind. That doesn’t mean I’ll come out guns a blazing for a retort to a challenging question. No way. With the art of self-awareness I can reply calmly and with intelligence instead of dodging a bullet and hopefully letting it hit another target.

Using the blame game gets people into more trouble than being upfront. I’ve learned that the hard way. Thankfully I have a more thoughtful head on my shoulders these days.

On the road to awesomeness.

Family and the art of self-awareness

It’s my grandmother’s 92nd birthday today. Happy birthday Nan! She’s tearing it up just as much as she was when I first came into this life some 40 years ago. A happy and vibrant gal is my grandmother yet there’s a little tinge of sadness going on in her heart because there are some family members that are holding decade old grudge and aren’t open to bridging the gap because their egos are in the way.

My journey on the art of self-awareness started years ago when some stuff went haywire in my life. I think that’s how most people become self-aware. So I’m grateful that I can easily, well not always easily, take stock of my life and realise when I am hurting or have hurt other people. And I’ll quickly make amends too for my ego is not greater than anyone else’s. Maybe if they tried these 3 ways to improve self-awareness, then we’d be closer to becoming the happy family we once were.

The art of self-awareness can be a tough one if you’re not open to taking for responsibility for who you are and what you do. It’s easy to lay blame on others and walk away thinking that you’re in the right. I still do it but if I’m in the wrong, then I’ll own up to it.

Family is family and need to be strongly bound. If we don’t have family, who do we have? (Yes, our closest friends but that’s not the point of this post). Our families have helped shaped who we are today. I’m blessed that we’ve had our trials and tribulations. It’s part of who I am.

It’s time to heal the wounds.

Self-awareness and the art of a business meeting

Sitting in a meeting and talking chit chat at the end is both unproductive and boring if it’s not about rapport building. Well, in my mind anyway. Why sit and waste valuable business time if you’re not engaging in conversation that adds value to the situation? If it’s talking about what the wife and kids are doing for the weekend and you have a genuine interest then by all means keep talking. But when it comes to the dull drone of everyday politics and world views then it’s time for me to high tail it out of there.

With the art of self-awareness, I realised today that I am no longer the type of person that can sit idly by and let someone else control a business meeting. My time is becoming more meaningful to my career and that’s an awesome realisation. No more being lead down the garden path because I didn’t have the balls to end a meeting when it should have.

It’s a real blast taking stock of who I am and where I’ve come from. Trust me, this is not arrogance speaking regarding this post. The art of self-awareness is simply coming to terms with what goes on inside my head and that of the environment around me. No quacks making me sit on a couch and diving into my child. Just me and my noggin’ nutting it out one day at a time. AWESOME!

On the road to awesomeness!