Yesterday I brought my mum to watch the spectacular Cirque Du Soleil - Dralion.  This is the second time I have been to watch this particular show and it still amazes me how each and every performer could perform such artistic beauty.  In a matter of moments I was spellbound, and for a second time my heart soared with admiration at wondrous beauty before my eyes.

My favourite part of Dralion was the Aerial Pas de Deux, when two of the most beautiful people came on stage and danced ballet utilising long bands of blue cloth to lauch into an arial romantic dance.  The passion was undeniable and it was a love story told through the beauty of dance and acrobatics.

It is hard to explain and as they say a picture speaks a thousand words but a movie speaks a million more. (I added the last bit, thought it sounded good)

To see such a beautiful dance with your own eyes is something that you must do in your lifetime and I recommend watching Cirque Du Soleil - Dralion.

As I was driving home I realised that when watching the show I was at peace and the happiest I have been in a long time.  It made me ask myself why I was so happy and what state of mind was i in to achieve this happiness.  I quickly came to the conclusion that it was my mind and heart escaping the realities of this world and surrounding itself with beautiful imagination.

Everybody’s escape is different, some people get lost in music and others become lost in dance.  Mine was a combination of both and it made me feel incredible.  I never wanted this serene feeling within me to leave, and now that I know where it springs from I will never lose it again.

I remember when I was 10 years old I vowed to myself never to lose my imagination.  Strange to think that I was so young and made such a firm pact with myself.  I think this was probably a time when I realised how boring and monotonous adults and adult life could be.

Interestingly I never let go of this vow but slowly as my life became more complicated with, ’important things’, like my career, bills, mortgage payments and so on, time for imagination and dreaming had shrunk.  You never really notice losing something when it is gradual, thank god I found out that my imagination was waning before it was too late. 

Knowing where to find your pure happiness is something important to me.  As a male who tends to keep his soul and emotions closed, it is fantastic to find something that can disarm me in a matter of seconds.  Knowing how to open my soul will help me release all my tensions and enable me drift into the world of imagination and make believe.

Live the dream

Leon

The year of 2008 and is coming to an end and the festivities to celebrate are just beginning.  Christmas is right around the corner and during our holidays I think it worthwhile to reflect on the accomplishments that you have made.

Here are my accomplishments for 2008

• I got married to my wonderful wife Kirsty
• I graduated and became a fully fledged volunteer docent at Perth Zoo
• I made a few career moves and have landed in a great position at Fairfax Digital
• I lost weight then gained it back with a huge number of reinforcements (a new battle will be waged in 2009 with success)
• I bought a massive 60″ Plasma TV (a present for my wife. hehe)
• I joined an indoor cricket team
• I have made some great new friends and reconnected with old ones
• I started this blog and hopefully have made some differences in peoples lives

This is just a small sample of my reflections for the year 2008 and will be celebrated with lots of joy. Reflecting on the year has shown me that I have grown throughout this year and as they say, ‘If you’re not growing, you’re dying’.  There is no middle ground of limbo here, its either one or the other.

An important part of my Christmas holidays is to dedicate one whole day to goal setting for 2009. This gives me the chance to really think of what I would like to achieve for the year to come.  I really encourage you to take some time out and set some goals for yourself.  Don’t call them new years resolutions because society has linked the term to failure and made it completely okay and funny not to meet your resolutions.

A key to setting your goals is by getting massive leverage on yourself.  This means that you need to know the consequences of not reaching your goal.

E.g

My goal: Lose 30kg by 1st December 2009.

My Leverage:

If I don’t meet this goal:

• I will feel lethargic and fat for another year
• I won’t perform to my peak ability when playing sport and let down my team
• I will need to buy new clothes if I get bigger which will cost me money
• My confidence will shrink because I would feel self conscious about my size
• I will feel depressed because I am fat

You need to really think to yourself how it would make you feel to be fat for another year.  You must feel the feelings with intensity.  If you do this right then you can be certain that you have strong leverage to reach your goals.

On the other hand you can also think of the great things you will recieve from recieving your goal, thats the easy bit so Ill leave that with you to figure out.

I wish all my readers a wonderful Christmas and a propserous new year.

Have a Safe and Happy Holidays

Leon

I have a confession to make……  I have a massively overblown ego, this huge part of my personality and has been with me all my life. My ego has been created from all the good but mostly bad experiences that I have had in the past.

Lately I have started to really hate and dispise my ego.  See not only does you ego give you brash confidence in some areas it also limits you endlessly through over protection.

Take for example.  I am wanting to get into TV commercials and a bit of acting, but because of my ego’s, fear of looking stupid or making mistakes, I have procrastinated.  This procrastination has gone on for at least 8 months and its really eating me up.

Over the years my ego has gradually developed into a second personality.  So if you speak to me, sometimes you may get my ego, armor and all, or sometimes you will get the real Leon.  Very rarely will you see the real Leon because the ego first duty is to protect, the soft heart underneath.  My ego has been so dominant that it has become my prime personality.  How scarey is that!

Here’s an interesting thought, is my ego part of me or is it a seperate personality made to shield me from the feelings of pain and rejection?  I am uncertain about this and need to do further reading to the field.

Sitting here writing about this topic is giving me a slight dull ache in the centre of my back, and what this is, is the feeling of vuneralibity.  Exposing the real Leon and who I really am makes my ego nervous and naturally does not want this to happen and is showing me by making me feel scared to write this blog.

This truly feels so liberating, to dig through all the crap and to push aside the ego that has controlled you for all your life and making the first break through.

In my younger days I was a fat little asian boy with a not so flattering surname, (not the one I use today), and was teased constantly, I just wanted to disappear and not be noticed.  This is when my ego was born.  As years went on and my size became bigger my ego developed a more aggressive approach to bullying and teasing.  Underneath this tough ego exterior was and still is a scared little boy who is afraid to be judged and to scared to show the real Leon, for fear of being ridiculed.

So right now I have a predicament, I have the Leon that wants to be fearless and do what ever he wants and I have the protective armor of ego saying” Don’t do it because you will get judged and hurt by what people say about you.

Heres an example of how my ego has stopped me achieving what I want in life.  Throughout all the books I have read there is one thing I have learnt, if you want to be the best in something, find a person that has achieved it and emulate that person. This is because that person has gone through all the road bumps and mistakes, and in this way you can avoid those mistakes.  But my ego tells me, no, I want to do it my way, I want to cut my own trail so I can feel that I have dont it all by my self.  So now I am still cutting through and making misttakes when I could easily find someone who has achieved what I want and simply emulate them.

Right now there is an internal war, and its between the ego and the true Leon that is fighting to escape his self imposed cell.

Interestingly my ego wants to do all the tv acting etc, but its the True Leon that has decided that it wont be the ego that stars, it will be the true Leon that stars.

Confusing I know!

So my question to you is, have you got control of your ego or does it control you?

I wish you all the best in your battle as mine has only just begun.

Smile!

Leon

Today had been a testing day for me and I desperately needed strength and courage to feel confident in my abilities. Then my spirit guides reminded me of an Incantation I learned from my Unleash the Power Within courses with Anthony Robbins. The incantation empowered me and made me feel stronger and with help of my visualisation I became a confident unstoppable force.

It has been a while since I last blogged, and tonight I had some inspiration to start writing again. I went out to dinner tonight with my family and a special guest who is a very respected public figure in Perth. After chatting about society and different subjects I felt a great sense of energy to write my blog.

We all need a mental pillar of strength to access immediately when we feel the need for it and I had forgotten where my pillar was.  This incantation gave me strength and adding my visualisation of success and power made me feel stronger.  My emotion of nervousness and uncertainty faded away.

So here is the incantation that I used:

NOW I AM THE VOICE!
I WILL LEAD, NOT FOLLOW!
I WILL BELIEVE, NOT DOUBT!
I WILL CREATE, NOT DESTROY!
I AM A FORCE FOR GOOD!
I AM A LEADER!
DEFY THE ODDS!
SET A NEW STANDARD!
STEP UP!
STEP UP!
STEP UP!

When you say these incantations, say it with strength, pride and certainty.  Say it over and over again and you will feel inner power.

Wishing you all the power you need

Leon

Is there something that you always complain about but do nothing to fix it?  Do you have friends who say

• I wish I could lose some weight
• I wish I could earn more money
• Why dont I have a steady relationship

In this great life of ours, most of us have something to complain about, but strangely enough don’t do anything about it.  We complain so much that our friends say, why don’t you just do something about it then?  But we don’t.

This is where the Dog and the Nail story comes in.  My old boss told me this story a couple of times when I was complaining about why I wasnt getting the money I wanted and why I wasnt succeeding in certain aspects of my life.  The story has stuck with me ever since.

Now I don’t remember this story word for word, but I will retell it to you as best I can.

A man had been driving through the country on an old dusty road and was looking for somewhere to rest and stretch his legs.  He had been driving for some hours and had not passed any places where he could rest and recharge.

As the sun started its decent into the afternoon the man saw in the distance a small farmhouse.  As he drove closer he could see an old farmer sitting on a chair looking out into his fields.

The man, who was in need of a break decided he would pull up to the farm and see if he could rest a while.  The man pulled up on the roadside and walked up the well worn driveway.  When he approached the old farmer he asked if he could sit next to him and rest a while.  The farmer looked up with a piece of straw in his mouth, smiled and nodded at the man. 

As the man walked to take his seat next to the old farmer he noticed an old working dog lying beside the farmers legs.

Giving the dog a quick pat the man sat himself on the next chair and closed his eyes to give them a well deserved rest.

As time went by the man noticed that the dog sitting next to the farmer would suddenly howl and winge in great pain then suddenly stop.

The dog did this 3 to 4 times in the hour he had been sitting there and finally the man looked over at the old farmer and asked, ‘why does your dog howl and winge every now and then?’

The farmer looked down at the dog, shook his head and looked up at the man, the old farmer replied, “you see son this old dog here is lying on a nail, but its only hurts enough to winge about”.

The man looked at the dog and wondered to himself how many things in his life hurt only enough to complain about, but not enough to do something about.

This story is ingrained in my mind and helps me put into perspective anything that I complain about.  I hope this story propels you into action so you dont end up being the, ‘old dog’.

A special thankyou to my old boss and mentor Philip Langley for telling me this story and guiding me back to the path of success.

I wish you less pain and more action!

Leon Grey

Last night I was having a discussion with my wife as to the question, what is love?  Interestingly enough we both had the same sort of definition.

Love is unconditional, with lots of hugs and kisses and most importantly individual respect for each other. Love is the feeling of wanting to please your partner and love is everything pure and beautiful.

After agreeing on this, I asked my wife what does it mean to be loved?  Her answer was very interesting. She said that she feels love when I touch her face and kiss her.  I was interested in this, because to me, touching my face while kissing me wasnt love.  I felt love when I got big and long hugs from her.

Then it dawned on me, I had been giving my wife love the way I thought love was supposed to be given. Instead what she was getting was big hugs from me and even though it was nice for her, she wasnt feeling the love.  This was the same with her, when she would lovingly touch my face and kiss me, I didnt feel the love she was giving because love to me was big hugs.

With this understanding I realised everyone in this world has a different perspective on what certain things mean to them.  Next time you have a chance ask your partner or spouse what makes them feel love and you might get a surprise.  Instead of those lovely dinners you make it might be something simple like making them a cup of tea in the morning.

So now the question to ask yourself is this, what does love mean to you, how do you know you are loved?

Lovingly Leon

I have two words for you, “thank you”.  When is the last time you said these words and meant it, I mean REALLY meant it? Thank you.

I learned last year in 2006, why I was not moving forward on my path to financial abundance.  My mentor pointed it out to me blatantly one day when he said, “Leon you are not grateful for what you have now, how can you expect more good things to come to you”.

When I was growing up as a young boy when ever I achieved something or got an A in a school report, my mother would say, ” thats good Leon, but wheres the A+?”  Now 20+ years later on I have realised that I had been conditioned by my mother not to be grateful for all the fantastic experiences and material things I have now. 

The one thing that I am truely grateful for is my ability to look at myself and understand why I feel and do the things I do.  It’s called self awareness, everyone has this ability but a good majority choose not to do anything with it.

I am now so grateful for everything that I have in my life.

• I love my partner even more, she is my rock and she keeps me in grounded when I get over passionate
• I am grateful for my mother, who cares so much for me, and I realise I dont say, ” I love you” or give her enough hugs and kisses.
• I am grateful for all my different mentors, who have guided me to where I am today
• I am incredibly grateful for my friends who have kept me focused on my path to abundance
• I am grateful for living in this great country of Australia, where food and water and employment is abundant and we have a government that is true to the people.  We are truely the lucky country

There is so much more I am grateful about, but I think you get the message.

Another part of being grateful is to give back.  Since my talk with my mentor I have sponsored two Peruvian children through World Vision, I dontate to charities that “shake the tin”, and most importantly I give my time to charities that need help distributing food etc.

When you give back through charity you are telling the universe that you have more than enough and the universe will answer and in turn it will give you more than enough.  Gratitude is the true path to abundance in all forms includng wealth, health and spirituality.

Today is the 1st of January 2008. I ask you to think about last year and what moments in 2007 that you are grateful for and what you are going to do this year to show your gratitude.

To all my readers I wish you abundance for 2008

 Leon Grey

Everything in this world had been created twice, first in your minds eye and then in physical form, reality.  The chair that you are sitting on right now was created in the mind of the designer and then physically created in the factory.  This rule of creation applies to everything in this great world of ours and is proof that what ever we think about, we manifest.

In simple terms, “what we think about, we bring about.”

You alone have the power to manifest and create your own destiny.  By utilising the power of visualisation and imagination you can create the image of anything you want in your mind.  Hold on to that image and really feel that you have it right now.  Once you truly feel that you have what ever it is you see in your minds eye, something happens that no one can explain.  Your mind automatically creates a vibration which is sent out to the universe.

This vibratory occurance is coined, “The law of attraction” 

All thoughts have a specific vibration and these vibrations attract more of itself.  If you visualise driving and owning a particular car your mind sends out that vibration and the universe shifts to provide you opportunities to drive and own the car you visualised.

Now this is sometimes hard to grasp, but just think about it.  Do you know a a person who is always negative and says that nothing works out for them?  Everything they do is just hard work and they can’t seem to get it right.  What has happened is that this person has sent out the vibration that life is tough.  In return, the universe says, “your wish is my command” and delivers more hardship.    

On the other hand, a person who is always happy and loves life will attract more happiness and joy.  Sounds simple doesnt it, thats because it is.  Life was never meant to be tough, we humans just complicate things. 

There is no limit when it comes to the law of attraction, size and amount do not matter, so dream big.  “Aim for the moon, if you miss you may hit a star” - W. Clement Stone. 

The key to visualisation is to really ‘feel’ that you already have what ever is in your mind.  You might want to make the sense of feeling stronger by trying on that new watch, test driving that car or even enquire about that holiday in South America. 

An interesting thing about the mind is that it cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is visualised.  Research by Psycologist Maxwell Maltz, PHD showed that when competition atheletes were told to visualise a race they were competing in, all their muscles fired in sequence to how they would run it physically. Amazing!

So lets put this to the test.  Imagine a bright yellow lemon freshly picked from a tree, get a knife and slice it to quarters.  Take a wedge of the lemon and sink your teeth into it, taste the lemon juice running into your mouth.  How does it taste?

Now if you did this correctly your mouth should be salivating like crazy.  This is your proof that the mind cannot tell the difference between real and imaginary.

Now you know the law of vibration, you have been empowered to manifest anything you want in life.  Your powerful thoughts create your destiny, so make sure your thoughts are positive and good ones.

If you would like to know more about the law of attraction, I suggest watching a DVD called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne.  ”The Secret” has opened my eyes and lifted my thoughts and dreams to a level I never knew existed.

As always I wish you abundance and happiness

Leon Grey

Ever wonder why you don’t do things you say you should do? Do you think that you’re just lazy or maybe lost motivation? It could be a bit of both, but one thing I know is that the language that you use on yourself has a dramatic effect on whether you complete what you need to do or not. Most people in this great world of ours use the word “should” too often. Here are some examples

• I should clean the house today
• I should go to the gym tonight
• I should buy my wifes present today

Have you notice that things you should do can be pushed to the next day, funny thing is the next day isnt the next day anymore, the next day is. I hope you catch my drift.

Your brain computes the word should as something that has to be done but not urgently, so it can be put off. As my mentor Anthony Robbins says “You say should, should, should so much that you end up shoulding all over yourself?

Try replacing the word “should” with a more powerful word like “must”. your brain computes this as something you must do without fail. Ill replace should with must in the afore examples

• I must clean the house today
• I must go to the gym tonight
• I must buy my wifes present today

Read them out aloud and you can feel the importance of doing these tasks now.

Dictionary.com defines the word “must” as a couple of things

1. to be compelled to in order to fulfill some need or achieve an aim: We must hurry if we’re to arrive on time.
2. to be or feel urged to; ought to: I must buy that book.

So next time you say the word “should”, stop yourself short and repeat the sentence with the word “must”. Try it and see the changes in your ability to complete tasks.

Another word on the list is “try”, as my ex boss and mentor Philip Langley drilled into me, “there is no such thing as try, either you do or don’t” A classic example:

What is trying to sit down? - Standing up
What is trying to stand up? - Sitting down

So next time you say, “I will try to, fill in the blank”, just make a decision to do it or not. It will make your life a lot more easier.

Now clean off all that should on yourself and get going.

Success and Abundance

Leon

Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, “What happened?”

What a fantastic quote, I’m not sure who wrote this but it really hits the nail on the head.  Which one are you?  Most people would like to say they are number one, but I would think most people fall into number two and scarily number 3.

What are you doing to make things happen in your life?  Are you chasing your dreams and goals or have you resigned yourself to a life that has been dealt to you by the ”circumstances” of your life?

Do you want to be a millionaire?  Do you want to achieve your ideal body weight?  Is there a job that you are dreaming to attain?  If so what is stopping you from going for it? Have a think about it, some people fear failure and quite commonly people fear success. 

So what does it take to make things happen?  Quite simply, “action”, do what you have to do to take the first step.  “A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a  single step”, Confucius.

So take that first step and the second one will become easier, if you find a hurdle simply find your way around, over or under it.  Make things happen.