This is such a quick and easy method, I encourage you to use it right away! Please post any questions you have and I’ll be able to give you an answer. Let me know how you get on.

Was she as bad as her boss made out? She couldn’t deny her mistake. Not that it was deliberate. But she felt so small, so hurt. 

Only later, as she soaked in a warm bath, did she begin to remember. Earlier that day she had been on a high. A colleague had thanked her for all her help; she had felt appreciated and generous. Then she had enjoyed lunch with her best friend. It was right at the end of the afternoon that it had all gone wrong. 

The bathroom mirror had misted over and the wine glass was nearly empty. As she relaxed, Donna began to wonder who she really was. Was she the helpful, appreciated, generous person from the morning or the small, inferior, hurt person that came afterwards? Both seemed equally likely because both felt very real. 

For a moment she caught the light playing on the bubbles on the water. And then she started to laugh. The absurdity suddenly hit her. If both versions of herself seemed real, neither could be! It would be like having a car that changed colour – red one minute, blue the next. Neither could be the true colour. 

The real Donna must be a separate player – able to be aware of experiences but not defined by them. She smiled – the idea seemed to fit. She could remember times, even busy times, when it seemed that she was observing herself. 

Like now, she was able to ‘see’ that she was having a relaxing experience. She was aware that her thinking had calmed down; the little voice in her head was soft and soothing. 

As she dressed and dried her hair, the warm air from the dryer played on her face. She smiled again as she could see how much her fast-changing thoughts had shaped the day, and how her feelings had risen and nose-dived because of them. Yet, through it all, her inner observer – the real Donna – had been there, stable behind all the drama. 

Tomorrow she will remember that. Then, as the inevitable stream of thoughts pours in, she won’t need to take all of them seriously.

When you’ve seen the video, please let me know what you think as a comment below – thanks

Yet this miracle often passes us by. When we awake to a brand new day, we often re-shackle ourselves to the same limitations as yesterday. We don’t do it on purpose of course; we do it out of habit. 

You may recognize the moment when you have just woken and for a few seconds, as you lie in bed, everything seems OK. Then life’s problems and frustrations seem to flood in and invade your day. The miracle of life is the last thing you think about. 

Compare this to an inspiring day. For the first few seconds after waking, everything seems OK. And then, as the minutes pass, things continue to be OK. You feel excited and energized by the prospect of the day ahead. The miracle of life is a reality. 

How can you have more inspiring days?

The most profound thing I’ve learned in recent months is that we don’t need to take all our thoughts seriously. This is because they are just thoughts. They may seem to be founded on reality but actually it is the other way round – what we think creates our own reality. 

So if my day starts with a sinking feeling, I look to see what I’m thinking. If I find thoughts about problems and frustrations, and I feed them with lots of attention, then they stay and grow, spoiling my day. If instead I recognize those same thoughts as just thoughts and treat them lightly, they fade and get replaced with new thoughts.  

You can do the same. You have a choice on how you treat the thoughts that pop into your head. Given a fresh day to live, there is no obligation to pick-up and shoulder all the burdens from yesterday. Be kind to yourself – it’s when you spend your energy and attention with the thoughts that nourish you that the day becomes inspiring.

Let me know the difference it makes!

Distractions come in all shapes and sizes. For instance, most of us find that the internet offers many tempting options. We can easily get drawn in to idle surfing or spending too long on Facebook. 

Or the distraction can be more subtle. It can be something you feel the need to do before you actually get down to the real goal. This ‘pencil sharpening’ is the slippery slope to procrastination.

How can we be free of distractions? Last week, I was distracted in a way that uncovered a clue to the answer.

Clive had arranged to call me for a coaching session. When I answered the phone it was obvious straightaway that there was interference on the line. The noise only seemed to affect my end; Clive could hear me well. So we made a start but the noise was so bad that I found it difficult to concentrate. After a few minutes I asked Clive to call back in the hope we would get a better line. 

It had taken considerable effort to find a date that suited both of us so the last thing I wanted was to have to abandon the session. In the few moments I waited for the call back, I really hoped that the line would be clear. 

When I picked up the phone, the noise was still there. I tried to detect any improvement, imagining that it was a tiny bit better. I could still hear Clive through the noise, so I had to make a choice. Either I could listen to the noise or I could listen to Clive. I decided to go for the second option. 

It took a lot of effort at first but, as I tuned in, I found I could concentrate better and give my full attention to Clive. The noise stayed the same throughout the call but my thinking changed. I was able to think thoughts about what Clive was saying rather than thinking thoughts about the annoying noise. 

This is the clue to all distractions. Although it looks as if the distractions come from ‘out there’ – the doughnuts, the Facebook page – they actually start inside our heads. The ultimate distraction is a thought such as “I need a doughnut” or “I must update my Facebook status”. 

You can’t escape thoughts because thinking is part of being alive. For all of us, thoughts naturally come and go. But while you can’t control what thoughts pop into your head, you can choose what to do with them. You can choose to invest a thought with importance or choose to not take it seriously. 

If a thought takes you away from your goal, treat it lightly until another thought comes along to replace it. You have no obligation to act on a thought – it’s a choice. This is where freedom comes from. 

Like a beachcomber at the water’s edge, you will see some things washed up by the tide of thought that are worthless flotsam; others are real treasure. It’s up to you what you take home.

As a result, we spend so much time rushing about that it seems normal. But if you want to be truly effective and reach success without exhaustion, here is how it works. 

Back when I was still a teenager, one summer evening I headed out of London with my school buddy Steve to visit another friend near Oxford. We were pressed for time so we didn’t stop. 

After a sociable evening together, Steve and I set off on our return journey. By now the fuel gauge was low but the local garage had shut for the night. After another dozen miles through country lanes, the needle was resting on empty. We paused to dip the tank – a length of cord fed through the filler showed a trace of petrol in the bottom. Now came the test; we had to make the final drops last as long as possible.

We had to resist the urge to drive quickly in the illogical attempt to get to the next filling station before the fuel ran out.

Instead we had to run the engine at its optimum speed so the fuel was used most efficiently. By driving neither too fast nor too slow, we just made it to the next filling station as the engine was beginning to splutter. Then, after a good long drink, the car was able to take us back to London without drama. 

The same principle is seen in the story of my son’s first cross-country race. He was just twelve years old and he arrived at school to discover he had forgotten his training shoes. All he could borrow were some plimsoles which were four sizes too big! 

The race was against several other schools, 52 runners in total. As the race got started, many runners streaked ahead but he found a nice steady pace that suited him. After the first mile, many of the runners had begun to tire so he caught them and, running at his same easy pace, he overtook them and went on to catch the leaders. In the end, with shoes far too big, he was delighted to finish second overall. 

The just-right pace will also work for you. Rushing is counter-productive and uses energy inefficiently. Crawling along wastes both time and energy. Somewhere between the extremes, each of us has a natural pace where we are simultaneously most effective and at ease. It is then that our personal fuel lasts longest. 

Because we have been conditioned to think that faster is always better, we often overlook this natural pace. The pace that actually works best for you may be slower than ‘normal’. Yet, paradoxically, when you use that natural pace you’ll get more done and feel better doing it.

When looking for inspiration, one place to go is a book. Books can awaken us for all sorts of reasons. 

It’s likely that you’ll have a favourite – it’ll have a special place in your heart. Maybe it’s a story that speaks strongly to you or it’s a particular passage or poem that stirs the soul. Perhaps the beauty of the language captures your imagination or the author opens your eyes to thrilling possibilities. 

I have my favourites. If I want to be uplifted, I go to Thomas Hardy’s poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’. It replaces despondency with exquisite hope – it does it for me every time! There are other writings I know that act like reminders – they bring me back to my true self. 

The point is that we have all read inspiring books. So how about sharing a title? Think of all the other inspiration-seekers who are reading this post – they would like to know your favourite so they could try it for themselves. So I invite you to name your most inspiring book – just post a comment below. 

To kick off, here’s my suggestion. I love ‘Crossing the Unknown Sea’ by David Whyte. The metaphor in the title refers to the author’s adventures on the way to his eventual discovery of his true vocation. It’s beautifully written – David is a poet first and foremost – and every page seems to talk to me personally. 

So, what’s your favourite? Just pop a comment below. Between us we could build quite a list!!

It didn’t stop there; every wall carried hedgehog pictures. She had them in pastel, pencil and watercolours. She had engravings and lithographs. Hedgehogs appeared on tablemats and tea towels. Even the bathroom mirror was shaped like a hedgehog and in her bedroom the duvet matched the hedgehog curtains. 

Jenny was proud of her collection. It had started with a single souvenir from a holiday in Devon and she had added to it over time. When friends and family saw that she was collecting, they gave her birthday and Christmas hedgehogs. Colleagues at work joined in and soon every present Jenny received was some kind of hedgehog. 

This went on for many years until one day Jenny realized that there was no more room for hedgehogs. Even the box under the bed was full of them. That day became a turning point. 

She decided to slim down the collection. Because she was now an expert in hedgehogs, she knew that not all her collection was of the same high quality so she was able to sort out some to sell. Others she would donate to charity shops. 

When friends came to call, they remarked on the space on the shelves and walls. They were shocked to see the bathroom mirror had changed. Jenny got the impression that they thought she had faded into a half-hearted collector. That decided it – Jenny resolved to remove all hedgehogs from her life. 

It took several months until they had all gone, even the one on the neck chain. The surprise was that she felt a deep sense of relief. There was a lightness of being which reminded her of childhood. She had more space – both physically and mentally – for exciting new possibilities. 

No longer did she see herself as a hedgehog collector – she was going to claim a new identity. She made it clear to all those around her that hedgehogs were the past. At her next birthday she was delighted not to be given a single hedgehog. 

While it is unlikely that your life is dominated by hedgehogs, the chances are that you have some habit that has outlived its usefulness. It might be something that is taking over more of your life than you intended. It could be yesterday’s dream. What was once a good idea that’s now a burden? 

The beauty of Jenny’s story is that it shows the way to become free does not mean extra work – it means letting go.

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The reason I ask is because – believe it or not – there is a link with our quest for inspiration. You see, when we’re searching for inspiration, we can get bogged down by trying to figure out how to make the most difference.

Now, if you have used a wheelbarrow you’ll know that it can move much heavier loads than you could by simply carrying them. This is because of the seductive principle of leverage: with the right lever you can gain a big effect with a small effort. 

So let’s apply this principle in our search for inspiration. Where can we get the biggest effect for the smallest effort? 

To answer this, let’s agree that all our experience of life starts with what is going on inside our heads. Our thoughts create our experience. 

Before you point out that no amount of thinking can actually make Penelope Cruz materialise in my living room, the power of imagination is an amazing thing. When Ms Cruz appears on television my thinking can translate the image on the screen into a real person. 

It can work the other way too. I expect you have had the experience of walking past someone or something that was as plain as day but you didn’t notice because your thoughts were elsewhere. 

Going deeper, our emotional lives are created by our thinking; our feelings come from our thoughts. When you think a happy thought, you feel happy. Rerun an embarrassing episode in your mind and you feel the toe-curling humiliation all over again. 

This means, returning to the wheelbarrow principle, that the thinking going on inside your mind is the point of leverage. Changing your thinking is the way to make the most difference. 

At this point, forget all about suppressing certain thoughts – that will simply give them more attention and hence more energy. Also don’t bother with trying to insert ‘positive’ thoughts either because this will take you into analysis and judgment. Instead, just be open to new thoughts.

Given that most of the thoughts we think are repeated ones, it will be new thoughts that bring inspiration. Making space for new thoughts is simply a matter of watching for them. New thoughts are flowing all the time but we tend to devote all our attention to the familiar ones. Now you are aware of this, you can watch for new thinking and, if you like it, you can put your attention there. Otherwise you can let it pass and continue watching. 

This is the essence of being creative. You were born as a creative being and you can rediscover your brilliant creative self anytime you like.

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Snowdrops and primroses have woken early. Song-thrushes and woodpeckers are breaking their silence and squirrels are scurrying around like March. I’ve even seen a bumble-bee venturing from hibernation. 

The surge of life-energy will soon make the sap rise in the trees as they start to grow again. Yet even knowing this, it still amazes me that what look like dead twigs will actually burst into blossom! 

This life-energy is global – it pulses through the rain forest and it powers the food harvest. It saturates the oceans and is discovered in the desert. But here’s the key point. 

This same Life-energy flows in You!

1. The clearest sign is the physical one. Your body runs on life-energy and is always giving feedback on the flow. This is most obvious during exercise yet I find that even when sitting quietly, I’m aware of latent strength permeating my body.  

2. Life-energy is evident in your stream of thought. Healthy curiosity and a thirst for learning reflect the flow of life-energy. Creativity springs from thinking new thoughts; fresh connections you make in your mind open new possibilities for the future. 

3. Feelings that nourish you (as opposed to those that leave you drained) come from the flow of life-energy. You may feel this in heart-felt responses to beauty, music or art. Because life-energy is universal, you are inherently connected with all other life. You can feel a sense of oneness with other people and the world at large. 

How are you using your Life-energy?

In your heart, you know what makes life really worth living. And each day the universal energy of life flows into you. The question is how are you using it?

• Are you using it in a worthwhile way or wasting it? 
• Are you keeping the channel clear or are you blocking the path? 
• What would you love to do with it? 

We can take our cue from nature. As life-energy flows, the natural world becomes full of excitement and productive activity. So can you!

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