Life doesn’t get better or worse, just how you see it does.

We all experience bad things in our lives, some worse than others. Some problems we have are minor and some are quite life changing. But whilst we’re concentrating on the our failures, mistakes or heck even natural disasters, sometimes we forget that good things can also shape who we are.

It’s easier to focus on the bad things because they stir up drama and anger which are easier to build upon. Problems pushes all of our buttons and if we make them out to be worse than they really are, it can make other people feel sorry for us.

It’s easy to believe that unpleasant things define who we are, makes us stronger people, but that’s not always the case. It’s how we deal with them, and how we move on which really builds character.

Focussing on good things that happen to us, no matter how little they may be, cultivates a positive attitude that is the basis of all the good things we really want in life, reliable friends and family, amazing opportunities, a job we love and most importantly, self confidence.

I’m not saying all you have to do is put on some rose-tinted glasses and everything would be fine. Just that we should step back and be aware of which side, the good or the bad, that we are placing the most emphasis on and thinking about the kind of effects it has on the rest of our lives.

If you think about all of the lonely superstars who appear to have everything vs. kids who live in village huts with smiles on their faces, you might be able to see that it isn’t our financial circumstances that decide how good life is. Our attitude towards it is worth more than a million bucks if we use it right.

• Happy Birthday to you
• Simple Philosophies – Live like you’ve only got once chance

Reading is one of the best things you can do for your mind. It expands your horizons and takes you to places you can never go. Unfortunately, books can cost a lot of money, especially university textbooks, but here are some ways you can save money.

1. Check the library. If you are only going to read it once, or use it for referencing, then the best thing to do would be to borrow it. Universities usually have an extensive collection of textbooks, especially expensive or rare ones.  If you want to buy to make notes, ask yourself “Will I ever look through these notes again? Are they going to help me improve in anyway?“. If not, then it might just be worth borrowing and then taking a few notes in a separate ‘reading notebook’ instead of the actual book.

2. Check the reviews. If you decide that you need your own copy to keep or make notes in etc. check out the reviews on Amazon, other book review sites first or maybe even ask your lecturer. It might not turn out to be what you want and could end up being a waste of money. You might even find you can eliminate some books on your reading list this way.

3. Shop around. There are so many places that you can buy books there is bound to be a difference in pricing. In general, buying online is cheaper because websites don’t have to pay as much overhead costs, however, you may be able to find things even cheaper in charity shops. Also, some universities do a trade-in scheme for higher years to sell books to lower years at a reduced price. It might be worth it to save a few bucks here and there.

4. Consider re-selling. After you’ve made use of the book, you should consider reselling it if you don’t plan to use it again. This way, you can make some of the money back that you paid for it and somebody else can obtain the book for a fairly low price. This is good for the environment and is good for decluttering your room.

5. Share. Lending books to friends and sharing books around can save all of you a ton of money. Remember to take care of borrowed books. The mutual benefits can be amazing, I can’t tell you how many books I’ve discovered because a course mate, friend or family member recommended it, and because of their kindness, I never had to spend a penny.

What are your tips for saving money on books?

Chances are, it isn’t your birthday today. (If it is, then happy birthday!)

Birthday’s are great because people do things on this special day that they wouldn’t do otherwise. Mainly, they have fun.

They’ll go out of their way to throw a party, gather with family and friends or do something that will make everybody laugh and have a good time.

So my question is, why do we limit this to people’s birthdays?

Why wait until one day of year to get out and do something amazing?

If we only treat every 365th day as special, aren’t we pretty much wasting the other 364 days? What is a birthday really if not a celebration of your life? Why not make every day special, or 10th, 50th or even 100th day?

Okay, so we can’t go out drinking or booking expensive restaurants or buying birthday gifts and cake everyday, but we can do the other main part, which is to do something amazing. It’s funny how we forget to have fun until a special day comes along to remind us to do so.

make every day special

1. Birthday. For one day of this week, pretend it’s your birthday! Do something fun and spontaneous with your friends, have a great time! (You don’t have to tell them you’re pretending it’s your birthday – they might think you’re the Mad Hatter 😀 ). It doesn’t have to be fancy – how about a movie night, or a cake-baking day, or even something really wild.

2. New Years. For some reason we suddenly decide that because it has become January we want to lose weight and get fit or read more books or quit smoking or any other kind of resolution. What’s wrong with the other months of the year? Who cares if it isn’t January, make a resolution right now to accomplish something you’ve always wanted to do.

3. Anniversary. Don’t wait for a special day to show your appreciation for someone. Do something special now for someone you care about, it could be your partner, friends, parents, kids or teacher. Write them a note or make a card or even pick some flowers thanking them for being there for you.

Don’t wait ’til you have an excuse to have fun, every day is a miracle, let’s celebrate it!

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little”.  ~ Edmund Burke

Welcome Becoming Minimalist readers! This is the second half of the guest post I wrote over at Joshua’s blog, please check it out if you haven’t already!

As minimalists, we’ve given up a lot of stuff.

We’ve stopped buying, eating, driving, watching TV and generally consuming as much as we used to.

We’ve changed our lives for the better and for many of us, there’s no going back.

But as Christmas appraoches, I’m beginning to wonder, is it enough?

Is it enough to just stop taking?

half the battle

We’ve gotten very far to be where we are now. But still, I can’t help but feel we’re only halfway there.

Yes, as minimalists, we’ve given up a lot of stuff, but as human beings we need to start giving too.

For many of us, we are lucky enough to have the choice to stick with having less. But there are many people who didn’t get to make that decision.

Minimalists choose to have enough, but there are some people who don’t even have that.

what can we do?

Spread the word. Show people there is another way instead of spending hours in a shopping mall fretting over which perfume to get their loved one this year. People have forgotten that Christmas is a season of giving (and I don’t mean pointless presents) – we’re supposed to be generous, kind and caring. Instead, it’s become a time for wanting, taking and demanding for things we think we need to be happy.

Before I get any emails about it, I’m not saying let’s abandon Christmas. I have some very fond memories of Christmas with my family and friends. Actually, it’s especially because I love Christmas that I hate to see it transformed into something ugly.

If you think about it, it’s spending time with other people and making other people happy that makes you happy. The present giving tradition probably stemmed from people wanting to make their kids or their friends happy by giving them something from the heart. But TV and magazine advertisements, card companies and shopping malls have made Christmas into a season of over spending, competitiveness, material desire and stuffing ourselves.

If only we spent a little less money on brand clothing, toys, cards, decorations and the like, we could help people who don’t even have clothes to wear or even a home at all.

If only we ate a little less just because of the date of the year, we could help people who don’t have much to eat the whole year around.

If only we spent less time shopping or working so much, we’ll have more time to give to our family, our friends, our community and those that need us.

We can’t do everything, but we can do something. You don’t need more money, you just have to spend less. And you don’t need a lot of time, you just have to simplify more.

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one”.  ~ Mother Teresa

From our cosy houses sometimes we forget that winter is a cold season. There are people in the streets. There are people who are hungry. We may not be able to change the world, but even if we help one person, we can make a world of a difference to them.

Change somebody’s world this Christmas.

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“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen for you, to you and because of you.” T. Alan Armstrong

There’s no denying that going to college can get pretty expensive, not only in money but also in time. Firstly, there is the initial debt that comes from paying for tuition and accommodation, and then there’s the time we lose having to work to pay it back. Going to university is a huge sacrifice, the question is, is it worth it?

The answer, I think, is yes, if you possess what is one of the most important ingredients in student success – Real Passion, with capitals.

Real Passion is magical. It creates motivation, determination and perseverance. It gets you up in the morning, it energizes your day and it pushes you to the best of your ability.

In an ideal world, everyone would love the subject they’re studying. There may or may not be other reasons for choosing it, but the main reason is that they want to learn. Now, this may seem obvious but up until now, I’ve met too many people that have forgotten the reason why they came to university. They spend too many nights out, they skip lectures and cram in all the work in at the last minute. They’ve forgotten their purpose, which is very sad, especially when I see it happening to my friends, the people that I have really come to care about. Of course, I myself am not perfect, and every now and again I have a lazy night in when I don’t do a shred of work but eventually, I find my way back on track by finding my Real Passion.

What is Real Passion? This can be answered by asking what Unreal Passion is. Unreal Passion is lust,  it’s based on fickle things like beauty or money and it eventually burns out. If you’re doing a subject because of salaries and titles, your happiness won’t last. Real Passion means putting genuine love into everything you do, even if people tell you it’s stupid and it doesn’t pay well. It may not always be practical but as they say,

Do what you love and the money will follow.

Passion has many meanings, but the most crucial part of any kind of passion is desire. It may not be very ‘Zen’ of me to say it, but this kind of ‘desire’ is different. Here, it is the desire to quench an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a desire to do the best that we can and a desire to be happy.

I know it isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, sometimes academic life is tough, and full of rough patches. But that’s ok, as long as deep down inside the passion is still there, then you can keep going. If you’re having trouble finding it, try:

1. Meditation and reflection. Sometimes we get so caught up in our lives that we leave things that are important but not urgent at the back of our minds. Quiet meditation, even for a few minutes, can help us find the reasons why we chose to be here in the first place and let them generate the passion that we lost from the stress of everyday life.

2. Reading. The essays, articles, posts, books and other works of the great experts can be really inspiring. They create goals that you can aim for, maybe even one day surpass. I can guarantee that those people didn’t get there without a dash of Real Passion.

3. Visualisation. Connecting the previous two suggestions, visualisation is a powerful tool. If you can visualise yourself in your dream job, you’re a quarter of the way there already, because you know where you’re going. You can figure out how to get there later. If you had no boundaries and no fears, where would you be in ten years time?

4. Going home. If it’s possible, going home for a little while (perhaps for one weekend) can really help make you realise how far you’ve come since you left. I went home for the first time in months after leaving for college and I was surprised at how both the same and different everything seemed. Not much had physically changed, my home still smelt like home and even my old room was just as I left it, but I was changed. I had come so far in so little time, I was so amazed, I didn’t want to stop. When I got back I was completely motivated to keep moving forwards.

5. Focus. Sometimes we lose our passion for something because we spread what passion we have over too many commitments. We want to try out new things, make lot’s of friends, fit more things to do into our lives. Most of the time this a good thing, we should make the most out of the opportunities that we get in college, but every now and again being spread to thinly can make us forget where our real passion lies. Bringing it back to what we love best and focussing on that can help recreate the passion we once held for it.

All being said, it is important to distinguish between temporarily forgotten passion and passion that has died. When it is time to move on, it’s time to move on, and letting go of attachments to once-have’s and what-could-have-been’s can be just as important. Nevertheless, it all boils down to how greatly you need to have passion, how influential it can be and how crucial an ingredient it is in The Recipe for Student Success.

Do you think that Real Passion is important? What else do you think is vital in The Recipe for Student Success? I’d love to hear your opinions, comment below!

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Colleges and universities are full of examples of people wanting to make it. They want their names to be written down in history. They want to be remembered for the great things they wrote, the great things they discovered or the great things they built.

Just take a look around you at the names of the buildings and libraries. They were paid for by people who wanted their names to be remembered long after they are gone.

But, as great as they were, did they realise that nothing can ever be remembered forever? That everything in life is impermanent and constantly changing?

Nothing really belongs to us. Our favourite pair of shoes are only in our possessions, until they become worn or lost. Our bikes and cars are only ours until they are stolen, sold or passed on. Even our names are not really ours because they are just labels attached to our physical bodies – which will eventually be gone too.

And yet, some people dedicate their whole lives to financial or intellectual greatness, at what cost? So that a few generations of people will remember them. But what will happen when those people forget? Was your life wasted?

There isn’t an answer or solution to impermanence. After all, everything is impermanent except for impermanence itself. So, what can you do?

You can be the best that you can be, now. Live life to your full potential, discover and write great things, cultivate amazing relationships, help people, be inspired, inspire others and don’t worry about after. Just think about what you can do to make life better for people today, and do it.

If you live a good life, other people will know it, and maybe they’ll write it down, but the most important thing is that you did your best, and that is something nobody can take away from you.

If you look at the kind of people who have achieved ‘success’ in their lives, presidents, Olympians, millionaires, great artists, world leaders, you will find that there are a few things they all have in common.

Now, there probably isn’t a secret ingredient to success (if you find one, let me know) but rather ‘success’ as most people see it, is a result of combining great habits that incrementally lead to a successful and fulfilling life.

I’m no expert, nor am I ‘great’, ‘successful’ or ‘perfect’, far from it. These are simply the habits that I have incorporated, or at least planning/trying to in my life because I know that I can become a better person by doing so.

1. Wake up early. There’s a feeling you get about the peaceful silence of the early morning that you can’t feel at any other time of day. It’s the feeling that you are the only person in the world, solitary and ready to take on the world, whilst everyone else is sound asleep. When nobody else is awake, there can be no distractions, which makes it ideal for focussing. Combined with the fact that (hopefully) you had a good night’s sleep, your mind should be feeling calm and clear. Early morning is also a great time to practice some meditation.

This is a habit that requires discipline and dedication. It can be hard to wake up early after a late night out, but you don’t have to do it everyday if you don’t have to. Waking early is supposed to clear your mind, not make you feel grungy of uncomfortable. Sleeping a little earlier the night before can help too, if you really want to start waking up early, just try 20 minutes earlier, and build up from there. You won’t regret it.

2. Stay healthy. For some reason, it’s easy to forget to stay healthy, especially as a student. You have a deadline, so you stay up late, your bank balance is flashing red so you buy something ready-made and cheap, and social law dictates that drinking is a minimum requirement to be cool.

Most of these can’t be helped, and because they are pressing and urgent, they get bumped up to the top of the priority list. Your body, on the other hand, is stays almost silent. It can’t shout or persuade or threaten, so it slowly suffers whilst you put other things first. The only way it can tell you it’s suffering is by that tiredness you feel during the day, or that headache you feel the ‘morning after’.

Your body is your tool to life. Imagine if you didn’t have one, you wouldn’t be able to speak, hear, see…you wouldn’t be able to experience the great things in life, so why not take care of it? Eat well and exercise.

3. Learn new things. Life is what you make of it, and if you just stick with the things you know, it isn’t going to be much fun. The fact that you are at university is a good step towards the right direction, but there are so many opportunities that universities offer, don’t let them pass you by. Read books, join societies and try out new things. Step out of your comfort zone. Be careful not to overwhelm your timetable, but for certain things try to think of them as part of your timetable. Expand your horizons, you get out of life what you put in.

4. Be proactive. Great people seek their own opportunities. They don’t wait for them to fall on their laps. If you want something, go and get it, it probably won’t come to you. The great presidents didn’t get their seats because they sat around at home, the great Olympians didn’t get their amazing bodies from watching it on TV and the great writers and musicians didn’t create their art from just daydreaming about it. Go out and do it, even if it is just a tiny step towards the right direction. Do something today that will move you towards your goals.

5. Be compassionate. Often we forget about the people that surround us everyday and how much they shape who we are. Even perfect strangers on the street have an impact on your life, whether you realise it or not. When people hurt you, you want to push them away, but it will only hurt you more in the long run, being alone is one of the most terrible feelings in the world. Real, true and genuine relationships are the stuff of life.
Be kind. Forgive. Smile. As Mother Teresa said, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier”. That is what success really is.

Further Reading
I found a fantastic post about how to cultivate greatness via the Daily Mind. Many of the ideas I have are shared here.

Do you have any other ideas about what it takes to be a successful student? Share your ideas below.

If someone said to you that they would give you $1000 to spend in any way you like, but with only one rule, would you listen to what they had to say?

The rule is: you must spend the money on making your dreams come true.

Want to play?

The trick is, all of us are already playing this game. We might not be getting free money from a stranger off the street, but if we’re managing to earn money, then the same rules apply, don’t they? Except this time, you have a time limit too.

We can spend a portion of our money on unavoidable or necessary costs such as the cost of living, but the rest? We’re free to do whatever we want with it, and unfortunately too much of it gets wasted on things that have nothing to do with our dreams.

Is buying a fancy car your dream? Then buy it. But most people need something more than just stuff, to do something worthwhile.

The next time you’re about to spend a respectable sum of money, or hours/days of your life, ask yourself: is it going to get you closer to your amazing ambition you want to achieve before you die? Or make you a better person or the world a better place?

If it doesn’t then stop.

It’s absolutely vital to pause every now and again to give some thought into what time and money mean to you. Money itself isn’t evil, only greed for it is. It doesn’t make you a bad person if you have a lot of it, it all depends on how you earned it and how you will spend it.

And realizing that you only have a limited amount of time isn’t being melancholic, it’s being mindful of the truth.

Your resources and time are too valuable. Life is too precious. You are too special.

Investing in your dreams is the best money you’ll ever spend.

Have you ever lost a hard drive?

It’s the digital equivalent of your house burning down. Suddenly, you lose your past work, files, documents, and most painfully, your photos. Gone. Forever.

This happened to me one year ago today. Granted, I still had some of the most important things saved elsewhere, but for the most part, I lost the better part of six years or so of documents.

At the time, losing so much data felt like losing a part of my life. Things that I created during that time, the hours that I put in to writing, editing, saving everything so that I could look back on it again one day, gone.

A year later, how do I feel?

In a word, content.

That’s right. I feel fine. The minimalist part of me should have known I would be. I don’t miss anything and my life hasn’t collapsed because of it.

The things that I thought were so important a year ago don’t matter to me as much now. And I imagine a year from now, they’ll matter to me even less.

I’m a strong believer that things happen for a reason (or at least, one should try to find lessons in the things that happen to them) and losing my stuff was no different.

To me, this was a lesson in letting go.

We live in an age now where we can save everything in our lives. We can snap moments that were supposed to last a second, and keep them forever. Although this is good in some ways, it can also be negative in others. We can recall feeling angry, irritated, or sad at someone or something, and this time actually remember why.

My digital house burning was a cleansing, of sorts. It allowed me to start afresh. Knowing that the things we capture are only a snapshot of each moment, I was able to enjoy each moment better.

Instead of worrying about taking photos wherever I travelled, I stopped to talk to people, and appreciate the sights, sounds, and smells of the places I went.

Cleansed from the baggage of my past, I was able to  focus better on creating new work. I had grown and improved in so many ways in the last six years, and holding onto old things wasn’t going to help me progress forward.

Yes, it’s difficult to go through a digital house burning. I’m not saying that people should start setting their hard drives on fire (I now keep a second hard drive and also back up into in the cloud) or stop taking photographs. In fact, I am a big advocate of keeping diaries for reflection. But what I am saying is this. Even if certain stuff feels important to us now, ultimately it’s just a thing. If we lose it, we all have the strength inside us to get over it.

One day, the things that feel so precious to us now will be gone. Until then, let us cultivate a mindset that focusses more on things that we do have, rather than on the things that we’ve lost.

Learn to let go, and in the end, you’ll be okay.

–

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