Joy

‘Mind is the Master-power that molds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:–
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass;
Environment is but his looking-glass’ – James Allen

Part 25 of the MKE.

in line 27. “Necessities are demands, and demands create action, which results in growth. This process makes for each decade a larger growth. So it is truly said that the last twenty-five years have advanced the world more than any previous century, and the last century has advanced the world more than all the ages of the past.” – Charles Hannel

Two years ago a young man who would have been 24 this year, died from an accidental drug overdose. He was one of my ex-students and a terrific friend of my daughter. In fact, he was her best friend. He was an A* student, highly intelligent and yet he found himself mixing with young people who like him were increasingly becoming confused about where they truly wanted to be and what they wanted for their lives. The adults around them would express their opinions and desires for what he should and shouldn’t do and college played a significant role in that with regards to expectations and fitting the mold.

Things were no different for my daughter, the only advantage she had was as her mother I wanted her to be different and to follow a life that made her happy and gave her joy. She happened to choose the life of modeling, and despite all my reservations, I had to believe in her and encourage her to pursue her passion, regardless of what I thought about her choice. Today she is a successful model growing and discovering her purpose and real joy. But this success cost us our relationship with my siblings, her uncles and auntie’s, and to this day my children and I are ostracized because we don’t fit the square holes.

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men – that is genius. – Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch the gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within…., Yet he dismisses without notice his thought because it is his. ” – Ralph Waldon Emerson – 1841

Today we are in the position where both my daughter and I share similar values, and these are to raise the awareness of young people about the power of self-belief. Our vision is to create a national movement of hubs with the LINKS HUB, to bring together the UK’s most inspiring, creative entrepreneurs who share their experience for those hungry for success. We are both passionate about empowering young creative entrepreneurs to find their purpose and direction. Whats key to recognize is in the UK today, and maybe the rest of the world too; thousands of young creative people are leaving education, and they want to follow their passion and make a living from it. However, they lack the essential skills around leadership, emotional intelligence, and authenticity. They are looking for the tools and supportive relationships to make their dreams happen, and yet the traditional education system is stuck in an era of testing and assessing. The funny thing is, many adults today, like me are growing these skills themselves. If it weren’t for my determination to see my children happy, maybe I would have become lost within the expectation of society, cultural norms and continue to do whatever I could to destroy myself, just so that I could fit in with society and what it expects of me.

Just last week we offered a talk in a high school and much of our time was first taken up by the examination officer, telling the students what color pen they must bring, and if they were to break an arm, it must NOT be the one they write with. He drooled on and on for fifteen minutes, eating into the time we had to present. The students slumped in their chairs, many completely blank faces were somewhere else but not with their bodies in the seat they were occupying. I could empathize with them. I was three decades older than the students in that hall, and even though the world is so very different today, I could see my younger self-sitting in a chair just like they were and not wanting to be there. Anywhere but not there. Just the thought of being assessed and examined would send my body into a panic attack. For the first fifteen min of any exam, I would experience hot and cold sweats. I wouldn’t be able to read the text, and it would take all my inner strength to bring myself to look through the examination papers. I lacked self-belief, a belief that my thoughts actually accounted for anything.

“In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

My daughter turned around and looked at me, and we both realized our work was going to be cut out for us. The talk was about following your dreams and raising your vibration with an understanding of how our emotions played a significant role in where they the students would find themselves in five years time.

The presentation knocked them off their feet, as my daughter shared her challenges and tribulations through her school years at the very school we were in and how she discovered her thoughts had to change in order for her to make her dreams a reality. Students were pushed out of their comfort zones as were the teachers present. It was an experience they had not ever experienced before, and they were not afraid to say they thought it was crazy. Fear had gripped a number of students and still many came forth at the end to thank us for an experience they had not experienced in the school environment before.

“To be great is to be misunderstood” – Emerson

We recognize we have much work to do to make a significant difference, but we are committed to pushing through, regardless of the challenges that come our way. What do we choose to think through each experience is that we must do the best we can do in the situation and leave the outcome to the universe. This way we are training our emotions do not dictate the reality that a few words could create from people whose world is vibrating at a lower frequency. This is not judging; it is respecting and understanding, of where people are and that most often it takes 200 exposures before a human being can understand on a cellular level.