Lets just do it because it makes us happy.

Forget about everything else, what if we just do something because it makes us happy? Doing something that we believe in, something that gets us excited to wake up in the morning to face another day. What if we lived our life as we want it to be, what if we had total control over our life – like we are the driver and we are driving it to the destination where we want it to be heading.

What if we just took a leap of faith. Yeah I usually scratch my head at that idea too. It is not easy - isn’t it? To even get started is not easy. It’s scary especially from thoughts of various risks that are involved that flashes forward in our mind. Realistically so many things can go wrong. Taking a risk is not easy because its not safe. Generally safe is having a normal established career working for other people like normal people do and working till a certain retirement age where we can have a descent pension to sustain us in old age.

But than lets ask ourselves - Will that work for me? Is that better than taking a chance on my dreams? How does the normal pay off for other people? Would I be happy with that normal? How many things have I done so far that I have regretted? Would it be worse if I woke up one day realising all the times lost and the things I could have done  or regretting the mistakes that I will make that should push me further in pursuing a vision of my future I believe in? Think about it.

Then there is the other thing that makes it difficult to set up our mind to just go for it - the ‘deafening noise’ that confuses us and makes us loose touch with our inner voice. Other people with an opinion on how we should live our life. Those who feel that they know what’s best for us or those who just itch to fix our life or ‘make us great again’ (the Donald Trumps in our lives). It makes it hard for us to focus on the important things in life. It can make us doubt our abilities or the validity of our life goals.

I think we can build the courage to go for our dreams in full force without hesitations, so many people have done it and it has paid off for them a great deal. There are few important things that we need to do. Firstly we have to appreciate ourselves more, we have to start appreciating, acknowledging and respecting the things that make us unique and the things that makes us truly happy. We should get connected with our inner truth. You have to believe in yourself. We should try thinking back to when we were younger and more free - What were the things that made us happy then? What were we really passionate about then? What are some of the joyous things that you have lost along the way which you can bring back? What did you truly believe in? I believe that key to unlocking our great potential for the future lies in our past. We should embrace our past and use all that inspiration to propel us forward.

It’s also about connecting the dots and discovering things that has been consistent throughout our life. Can we see a pattern in things we have been involved in? If we can draw some sort of graph to account for all that we have done in the past, what is something that has been consistent there all along. Consistency is the key, I think it is sort of a key to having a balanced life. If we strive to be consistent in doing more and expanding on the things we love and things that means the most to us we shall always be proud and content no matter the outcome.

 Finally we have to put aside the goal of proving a point to other people or making other people happy. You should do it because you love it. You should do it because it makes you happy. You should do it because you believe in it with all your heart. Forget about the standard definitions of success in this world, our success should be based on personal contentment and satisfaction. Destroy the normal boxes that we are placed in, its a new age of great possibilities and people are redefining the standards and norms. We are at an age where we can create our own paths no matter how isolated it may feel at the beginning of our journey.

You and I just need to keep on doing what we want to do and what makes us happy. Just simply do it. Forget about what the gurus, the experts and the majority says of what we need to do or not to do. Forget about the strategies, forget about all that technicalities. Just go ahead and do it. Not even harsh criticisms and objections should distract you from your pursuit of happiness. You have to believe in the value of what you are fighting for and how it will add value to so many other people’s lives with your courage. But then it doesn’t feel like having courage at all because you were just doing what you love and what makes you happy - making other people happy is a great bonus.

Follow what your gut is telling you to do. Continue to ‘do something’, maintain consistency, continue improving and learn and grow along the way. It’s your life, you live it as you please and as you believe. You create your destiny and your path. Be happy. Do what makes you happy. Go ahead and create that life!

Just get started and continually master the art of improving.

Hi friends thanks for having me in your company. – “sounds a bit fake and like you are trying too hard”. Then how should I start this – “well you just started.” Okay. Hi there readers this week I wanted to talk about what I am trying to do this week – “aha..are you sure anyone want to hear about that?” Okay enough with that. Does that happen to you too when you try to get started on something. The critical voices that is so critical of everything we do. Sometimes it’s those voices that stops us from even starting. But darn it, be brave, puff your chest up to those critical voices and just get started anyways. Maybe by just going ahead, getting started and doing it anyways we can be more experienced enough to realize what needs to be improved as we progress.

Talking about improvement, for the past couple of days I have been asking myself what are some of the things I can do to improve something about me or maybe how I go about doing things. I thought to myself what if I try to at least improve something in a day. Wouldn’t that be productive? Ill be making full use of a day I am given, getting value out of it and not taking it for granted. Most times we are just carried away by the urgent day to day tasks that we forget to make improvements where it  is needed or making important improvements that brings us closer to the achieving of our life goals. I want to change that for myself.

They say that habits are formed in 21 days so what I have been doing is trying to be consistent with it in that period of 21 days and tracking myself. It takes a little bit of effort to do this within that habit forming period – I know because I am not always eager to do it every time when I wake up in the morning. So every morning I am waking up and repeating to myself ‘I am going to improve something’ a few times and once I am all excited, revved up and in the mood, I start searching my mind for something to improve today. For now I am starting with the little things like trying to be a little more tidier and organized, having a good posture or moving about a bit more faster. Very significantly I have been working towards silencing the critical voices and just going ahead getting started and doing things. I have been also trying to have a bit more stamina. Small inconsequential things really, it’s all about tiny steps and bigger momentum.

I am actually doing this deliberately, it’s nothing that just popped up in my mind and I decided to go for it. I would like to make it a habit, the habit to identify areas that needs improving and to work on it. Instead of dreading life and feeling inundated complaining how things are not going the way I would like it to be, I am going to find things to improve and throw my energy into that. I am going to be constructive and work towards continuous improvement, we wouldn’t be able to do that if it is not in our nature so it takes practice. Again practicing on smaller things first.

That’s what the world demands, people who are able to improve things. So we should acquire the eye for improving things. How can I do better? How can I make it work better? Things like that we should think about. Probably in a few months we can ‘master the art of improving’ and we can go ahead and identify bigger things to improve or we can be more strategic with what we want to improve, aligning it to our life goals. Note down your life goals (I have and it’s exciting looking at it) and slowly improve things so we are on the track to achieving them ensuring that nothing stands in the way.

Thanks for your time. I would like to hear from you how much of an expert or how not so much of an expert (like me) you are at identifying things to improve. I really love hearing people’s stories, I get excited and inspired by it. But be warned I might get too interested and cyber stalk you.. ahahahaha.. not in a creepy way. Anyways Happy mastering the art of improving everyone!!

First and foremost: Stop being dishonest with ourselves!

“Now comes the harder part, Nick. I need total honesty from you, it wont work any other way. So tell me everything about your marriage, tell me the worst. Because if I know the worst, then I can plan for it. But if I’m surprised, we’re fuck#d. And if we’re fuck#d, you’re fuck#d.” - Lawyer Tanner Bolt says to Nick Dunne

A quote from the book I am currently reading; ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn - very addictive and as clichéd as it sounds - its totally unputdownable.

It is indeed the hardest part to have to admit things – problems, weaknesses, threats, failures and defeat. Its uncomfortable having to not only admit to other people (totally unnecessary if it is none of their business) but also having to admit to our ourselves. In the above situation before Nick can give as honest as possible to his Lawyer all the raw truth he needs to be aware of the raw truth in the first place himself and acknowledge it like ‘yes I am conscious of my problems and where I screwed up.’ Else he would've been like “Oh mahnn, caught me by surprise there! I feel it at the back of mind that there is a problem but I really don’t have a clue what it is. But whatever it is I am sure it’s pinching me in the derriere,” and that’s not good isn’t it.

In my past blog posts, a few times I have talked about the problem with choosing the ‘easier and comfortable’ alternative – at times it presents us with a short term or immediate satisfaction but with long term consequences. In the case of this particular blog post, the consequences of being dishonest with ourselves. Dishonest with ourselves in the sense that we deny ourselves of the raw truth, we are conscious that something is wrong but we choose to be oblivious to it.

Do you at times feel like you lie to yourself? Because I sure as hell do. I prefer to be more irresponsibly optimistic. I lie to myself that everything is alright and their is no need for concern. I hate the thought of wrecking my brains delving into my problems, I fear that I might become too stressed out and depressed. It’s also hard having to analyse things about myself and I am not good with another person doing it for me either. I am very laid back which could be attributed to me being a 23 years old Fijian living in the land of sand and sunshine where life  is idyllically laid back. I often find that it is easier to say “Oh I am fine,” or “Its no big deal,” or “Its not that serious at all, nothing that cant be fixed,” – without a care and a clue of how to fix it.

Reading the book ‘Gone Girl’ has taught me one thing and that is the importance of being honest with ourselves. We don’t need someone else to come and coerce the truth out of us or maybe to actually capitalize on our weak areas and use it against us. We need to take ownership of our ugly truths and use it to fix things about ourselves that we know needs fixing.

It’s totally a personal decision if you want to reword the truth, make it colourful and tasteful for other people but when it comes to telling yourself the truth – you say it as it is – in its ugliest, yuckiest true state. But it doesn’t have to be a demeaning activity where we drain out our self esteem, we should see it as a way of giving ourselves constructive criticism. Not only identifying the areas where we lack in but also thinking of solutions and creating a very strategic action plan for ourselves.

Like what Lawyer Tanner Bolt says to Nick Dunne in ‘Gone Girl’ – if we know the truth than we can plan for it. Being very honest with ourselves give us an opportunity to have a proper insight and perspective into our own flawed life. Having a good understanding of just what we are dealing with helps us to manoeuvre ourselves better around problems making sure that we have control on our life. We are also able to prepare ourselves for the worst and in countering risks. By taking full responsibility we can challenge ourselves to make some changes. We will posses a foresight that should help us to create a game plan – a game plan to play the game better.

So friends let’s stop being dishonest with ourselves. Stand up, be brave and accept your truth. No one can attain perfection but we can do little things to improve ourselves. Let’s be responsible and be honest with ourselves first and foremost. Philosopher Lao Tzu says that “Mastering yourself is power.” You got the power!! Claim your power!!

Moved by Khaled Hosseini’s novels

In continuing with the challenge from the last blog post of turning information and inspiration into action I gave a good thought on what I found inspirational while reading the 2 books by Khaled Hosseini  (his 1st book The Kite Runner and his 2nd book A Thousand Splendid Suns) keeping in mind that I have to channel some of those things I was inspired by while reading into action. The thing is, yes I was inspired from here and there during the course of reading them but I was consumed with the pleasure of reading that after completing the books I had to make some extra effort. I really enjoyed them and its weird saying that because they are books about people having to endure life with so much pain, suffering and profound sadness. Probably a more appropriate thing to say is that I was moved by it. To be honest - and this is to some extent selfish - it felt comforting having to feel peoples pain greater then mine, as it made me feel less of my own miseries.

In those 2 book you can't help but fall in love with the characters despite their flaws and misgivings which is very human. For instance in ‘The Kite Runner’ I found myself criticizing and ridiculing Hassan as being selfish and just too needy. But then as I read on I discovered that their were bits and pieces that I related to and eventually I forgave him because you see most of the time its complicated, we can’t really go ahead and put a simple label on someone as there are so many facets to an individual to be considered.

Despite his books being based in his homeland Afghanistan the stories he tells is not about the war but it is about the ordinary people who are living through such unimaginable extraordinary circumstances, yet despite having all that darkness and despair surrounding them their is still that glimmer of the universal light of hope within them; "And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you," Hassan writes in a letter to Amir. That quote really made my heart ache. In his 2nd book ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ he shows how strong the human spirit is, that it is able to go on even in the most extreme and painful of circumstances just like how Mariam endured all throughout her life, from being an unwanted child, to being married to a very violent and abusive man, the miscarriages and eventually the sad end to her life.

Is he my favourite writer? He is definitely in that list of my favourite writer, but I haven’t gotten to the point of labelling someone as my most favourite writer and I don’t know if I ever would because I think every writer has a different way of writing which makes them unique. I love Khaled Hosseini’s very visual and emotional way of writing. He takes us on a journey with the characters through his description of their deepest thoughts and feelings and with a very vivid description of the surroundings. Oh and its also remarkable how Khaled Hosseini understands his female characters to the detail in his 2nd book - he decodes movements, mannerisms and actions and explains the feelings and emotions attached to it. Quite remarkable for a male writer to be able to do that, don’t you think?

I often get inspired by subtle things and I transform them into my own context. In both the books I was inspired by how people treated their religious practices so diligently without failing. They would do their prayers every single day as it is required of them and daily it meant waking up early in the morning. They were fully committed to it so I was intrigued by that unwavering commitment and devotion. So for me it inspired me to do things that are required of me even when it its not within the range of comfort. It supports my bid to be consistent and to be single minded when it comes to attending to tasks of great importance. Also in the process to be selfless and to focus on the bigger purpose.

In The Kite Runner; I was really inspired by Baba and how hard-working he was. How he would go ahead and achieve the impossible and always proving naysayers wrong. “But despite Baba’s successes, people were always doubting him. They told Baba that running a business wasn’t in his blood and he should study law like his father. So Baba proved them all wrong by not only running his own business but becoming one of the richest merchants in Kabul.”  He was a hard working man and even when they moved to America he never wanted to accept those food stamps handout saying “I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work. Thank you very much...but I don’t like free money.” I am inspired by Baba’s great example. When in doubt I shall think to myself what Baba would do and I know what Baba always does, he goes head to head with the challenge and come out victorious pounding his big broad chest.
I was also inspired by Hassan and Mariam’s selfless sacrifices. They were very brave individuals and they showed great bravery, also protecting the people that they loved. Like how Hassan would take on a group of bullies in order to protect his friend Amir. Hassan also had this unwavering loyalty towards Amir and I found it a bit stupid that he would do so much for Amir who I felt to some extent did not deserve it, but then its one thing I realized like I have mentioned earlier - the complexity of people. Mariam, dear Mariam lived such a solemn life from the time she was born a ‘Harami’ or unwanted child to her death. She had regrets, she was betrayed, she was looked down upon, she was unhappy and was violently abused and mistreated and you think that she would escape and find some freedom and happiness in her life - she didn’t. She is one of those people who never found that happiness but it is the little happiness that she managed to grasp from Laila and her kids that she felt proud and content enough to make the ultimate sacrifice that led to her end amongst spectators in a Pavilion during the half time of a soccer match. Nobody saving anybody, no heroes, no 11th hour intervention, it was just the end but she felt at peace because she was “.. a woman who had loved and had been loved back,” and it “..was a legitimate end to a life of illegitimate beginnings.” Always we hear the story of people who escape, who gets saved or who survive an ordeal but we never hear the stories of people who never get to see the light or breathe the fresh air. The truth is that these stories exist in abundance however we choose not to hear them because we all hope for the best ending which is good but nevertheless what this stories should teach us and definitely it has taught me is to be more grateful for the simple things in life because some are not privileged to experience such simple pleasures.

With all that I have learned from the 2 books I am going to be making a list of actionable goals. I want to be as silly as possible with those list and I am not sure if I feel comfortable to put it out here in the blog. Well don’t you make notes on your private notebook and dont want others to see them for fear of being laughed at. Well that’s exactly how I feel about my list. So I’ll just keep them to myself. But I have immensely enjoyed reading these books, it was a new sort of material that I wouldn’t have read before but now that I have read them I feel a sense of maturity. I believe that it’s when we try new things out of our comfort zones that we really get to mature. On that note let’s always keep in mind the children of war torn nations, where there is “.. a lot of children ... but little childhood.” For them lets pray for a better world.

Information and Inspiration into Action

There is an abundance of information available out there through a wide variety of sources such as magazines, books, movies, TV shows, internet, that keep us informed and inspired. I should make a special mention of the the information powerhouse – social media - which to some extent act as a source of information and also as the greatest vendor which circulates interesting information.

Like food we can choose information that we feed to ourselves. Choosing of information I feel is somehow similar to how we choose foods that we consume, its often based on our areas of interests, goals, beliefs and values like being vegan or non-vegan or whether we prefer to eat only organic food or if we are okay with eating non-organic food. Information ultimately has an impact on the choices and the decisions we make so its very important to align information with our goals, values, beliefs and also I just thought about it now and I should add because it is very important to consider and that is our visions. Once we have carefully done that; what is next? That is actually something I would like to delve into in this particular blog post.

I like reading autobiographies of successful people, books about survival and perseverance, true to life kind of books that is both empowering and informative. When it comes to movies I also have a similar choice, I like movies that show real people, living a real life, facing real struggles and real problems. I also love documentaries and autobiographies. It is similar on social media too, I go inspiration hunting on social media - one of my favourite things to do on Twitter is to read articles shared by websites like The Entrepreneur and Forbes magazine. They share some really educational, empowering and inspirational information, some very helpful materials. On You Tube I like watching Biographies, Documentaries and also Vlogs by Influencers. Like what Nigella Lawson says about food I find these things very comforting.

I come across some very powerful information but what am I doing with it? Well for most of the times I am just getting informed, get inspired but with no action, just plenty of absorbing which I have figured is really a futile way to be spending time. The other thing is reading or watching is also listed under things we consider as a hobby, it makes us feel good and naturally we are drawn into doing things that make us feel good, it’s the easier and a more comfortable alternative. However the putting into action of it is not often on the feel good and comfortable side of things as it involves getting up and out of the comfortable couch we are sitting on and doing something that is not necessarily within our comfort zone.

So with this blog post I am launching a personal initiative which is a very conscious effort to turn ‘Information and Inspiration into action’ and I would really love it if you could join in with me. So how do we go about doing this? I’ll try to unpack it and make the process as simple as possible below.

Firstly to ensure that the informative and inspirational book that we have just read or the empowering movie/documentary we have just watched really sinks in, we should make ourselves a very honest and candid summary of all that we have gleaned from it. Remember we are writing this for ourselves so lets be honest and uninhibited and squeeze out all the information into paper. Forget about whether you remember or don’t remember few details, just put in all that you know. Summarise them as deliciously as you possibly could. Be creative with how you put them into paper or otherwise be messy and wild with it, do your own thing. Try to make it a feel good activity.
After we have done that the next thing to do before we progress further into the next step is to read all that information that you have just put on paper. Yes, read it first and derive some sense of satisfaction on all that we just wrote. After reading it and smelling the great aroma of our work we shall progress into the next step which is identifying at least 5 actionable goals that we can work towards. You can do more than 5 actionable goals but the thing is we come across a lot of information so I feel that for 1 set of information coming up with a large set of actionable goals would be inundating and confusing. Let’s try to be realistic, honest and also allowing ourselves some room to breathe (very important).

With those 5 actionable goals we shall create action plans. An action plan is where we break it down and be more specific by identifying the what, how and when of our actionable goals. The action plan is exactly what should help us ensure that we are putting information and inspiration into action. What is important in this case is that we put that action plan into some serious action which like many other things in life is not always easy as it sounds.

Occasionally we should revisit those action plans and see if we are achieving it, probably we can go read or watch that same material again and remind ourselves or have our excitement renewed again. These actionable goals doesn’t necessarily have to be huge things, it all starts with small actions and the accumulation of all these small actions contribute to a bigger and more significant impact. I like what Rhonda Rousey says “I am not a Do Nothing Bit##”, and that’s something that we should never do with great information and inspiration – doing nothing with it. We are not just absorbing information but also letting out, turning information into ideas, ideas into action plans and action plans into something of value. We should make sure that all Information’s and Inspirations adds values to our lives and others lives as well.

I am interested to hear how you ensure that all the information and inspiration you come across doesn’t go to waste?

Fresh & Fabulous After Fifty - Part 2

This post is a continuation from last week’s post (obviously) which I felt ended slightly abruptly. Well the thing is I wanted to do this lovely title some justice which I felt I wasn’t giving it while writing last week and I just told myself; “hold up right there, let’s form some coherent thought on this subject and come up with a part 2.” I went ahead with posting part 1 because I have been trying to achieve consistency and the personal goal is for me to post at least 1 blog post every week which I have proudly done for 2 weeks now. For now I am trying to find my blogging voice and become more comfortable in sharing my thoughts to the world through this blog, it’s kind of like exercising, building blogging muscle and strength.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way I shall move on to the main subject which is looking at the inspirational lives of people above the age of 50 who are fresh and fabulous starting with the famous home cook who still glows on screen at the age of 56 - the oh so lovely Nigella Lawson. I love the domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, and she was one the main inspiration, kind of like the seedlings that produced this fascination and appreciation of wisdom shared by people above the age of 50. Nigella is beautiful in a way that is timeless which is the kind of beauty that lasts long, simply as I do often advocate for – a beauty that is both inside and out. She has this aura that is both natural and goddess like. She preaches to the world about comfort through cooking and eating food and she naturally gives this very comforting feeling to audiences through her personality.

There is so many things I believe we can learn from Nigella. She is like a force of nature that is not intimidating or restricting but is harmonious. Looking at her life and career it can be said that she is someone who has always done what she wanted to do because it feels good and not because she is aspiring to some great goal of accomplishment. She aligns herself with life situations and continues to progress forward in a very natural way.
Nigella’s life story is a complicated mix of both tragedy and privilege. She was born to a wealthy household; her father Nigel Lawson was a prominent politician in Margaret Thatcher’s ( the iron lady of Britain) government and her mother Vanessa was a well known socialite. Her quite wealthy family background is not really what propelled Nigella to become who she is known to the world for because she also had to endure some very painful circumstances in life with her parents divorce, her difficult relationship with her mother, the death of her mother, sister and 1st husband to cancer in the early years of her life and the most recent infamous divorce from ex-husband Charles Saatchi. It is her strength and talent that naturally made her become the most beloved author and television personality internationally and also making her an immovable elegant force of nature. She is a reminder of how unpredictable life is, we never know what’s coming next and all we can do is to always come back from set backs in top form and to never get beaten down by anything in life. Another lesson we can learn from her life story is that being privileged is never an excuse to do nothing but instead we should all be striving to do something we can be proud, something that we love. Vinaka Nigella Lawson – that’s Fijian for ‘thank you Nigella’. I am thanking her just in case some miracle happens and she reads this post. I know silly me but I would really like her to know how much I appreciate her for being a superwoman.

From Britain moving onto America, I have got to talk about Oprah Winfrey. Oprah is Oprah, the big O who is just an extraordinary human being. She is super successful no question about that, Oprah Winfrey is rich. She is not only rich and fulfilled materially but also spiritually too. Oprah is a greatest example and also a preacher of a purpose driven life; seeking that purpose, trusting that purpose and fulfilling that purpose. I love how connected she is to her inner being and how spiritually aware she is. Oprah years ago ended her most successful Television career just to launch into an even bigger career which is starting OWN Network. That is what this post is about which is as long as we have that breath of life  to continue to strive towards exciting adventures and bigger things regardless of how old or how young we are. With Oprah and likewise all of the people I have discussed so far, the key is authenticity and just being our best selves.

Then there is the lady who will soon be running the world - Hillary Clinton. Running for President at that age gives me so much motivation and strength. I admire her stamina and I want her stamina. Just recently, despite suffering from Pneumonia she continued on her campaigning events just to be taken to hospital during one of those events and there is footage showing her collapsing into her car.  The other proof of her stamina was when she was scrutinized in the Benghazi trial for 11 hours. Another aspect of Hillary Clinton is ‘courage’, - she has shown tremendous courage while facing up to all that she  faced in her life and that is the courage I would like to posses. I am certainly looking forward to seeing America’s first female president taking office.

It’s been such a long post isn’t it. As you can see I am very enthusiastic about this subject, it’s kind like me taking time out to think of the very long term which I am very excited about. By looking at these peoples examples I am getting to set myself long term goals. There is so much we can learn from older people out there and as young people we should take a time out and learn. If you are reading this I would like to hear from you; Do you have any people over 50 who inspire you? How do they inspire you? Please do share.

Till the next post please take care and keep on dreaming.

Fresh and fabulous over fifty - Part 1

This week I am excited to share how I have been getting inspired by remarkable people aged 50 and above who are proving that there is a great life to look forward to during our middle age and beyond. These are people who are living life to the fullest and show no signs of ever slowing down anytime soon. They look great as ever and even with lines and wrinkles here and there - which they embrace and never try to get rid of. Its their youthful spirit that just shines through overshadowing every other thing that might be of concern to other people who don't embrace old age yet they just float through elegantly. A good sense of humour, playfulness and a continued yearning for adventure is what makes people remain fresh and fabulous after the age of 50.

For us young people its important that we look to older people for inspiration because they have lived it longer and they sure do have much wisdom that we can use as we progress on our journey in life. There is so many things that they have figured out and maybe by listening to them we may get to realise what are the most important things in life that we should be focused on.

There is so many people aged 50 and above out there who are rocking it fresh and fabulous and we can even find them in our very own communities and its important that we go out and find them, have a cup of tea or coffee with them and just talk about life. For this post however my list of fresh and fabulous people after 50 consists of mostly internationally well known people who I am a fan of and who’s approach towards ageing I admire and also setting great examples of how life is to be lived. Information about them is abundantly available on the internet so maybe the next time you search for what Jenifer Lawrence is doing you can also look Hellen Miren up.

Some of those that I find inspirational above the age of 50 are Nigella Lawson, Oprah Winfrey, Wendy Williams, Julianne Moore, Dame Judie Dench, Helen Miren and Oprah Winfrey.

First let's talk about the beloved Helen Miren. I love Helen Miren!! Have you seen the trailer for ‘Collateral Beauty’? Oh my gosh she looked absolutely stunning. In an interview with The Guardian she talks about growing old and she says “The reality is, you either die young or you get old. There is nothing in between.” She futher adds on that the best thing about the 2nd option which I personally prefer is that “...The longer your life, the more you have to remember, and.. have amazing memories.” For Helen Miren at that age it’s a well known fact that she has a steel grip on her career, I love the strong characters she continues to play and if you read up on her interviews you will notice that she has a good command on her life. It is her honest opinions, authenticity and sense of humour that I find endearing about her. She is not afraid to voice out her opinions and is comfortable to express herself. She is not pretentious and she just serves it up as she sees it and as it is. When asked if she felt beautiful she gave an answer that I found very comforting; “I hate that word (beautiful) Kate Moss is beautiful, so is David Beckham, and I can appreciate a beautiful girl walking down the street. Young is beautiful. But the majority of us are something else, and I wish there was another word for it." But does she feel that she looks better now than she ever was “Oh no, I definitely don’t look better now than when I was young. Definitely not. Of course I looked better then. The great thing that happens as you age is that you don’t really give a flying fuck. I don’t look so good, but I don’t care.” That’s definitely a very comfortable attitude to have and it requires inner confidence like Helen Miren to say "You take me with my attitude or don’t have me."

Another L’Oréal Ambassador and actress who’s approach towards life I love is Julianne Moore. In this very globalised world that we are in we young people are conditioned to strive to be as successful and accomplished as early as possible in life. I myself feel this internal pressure as if I am racing against time. I set myself lofty goals to achieve before I turn 25 and all my life plans are due by the time I turn 30 whereby I shouldve accomplished all my goals. So reading about people like Julianne Moore who are slowly but steadily enjoying success and accomplishment is heart warming. "I don’t think that early success really serves anybody. What are you going to do for the rest of your life? What do you aspire to? It’s all about doing work because you like doing it. That’s what will sustain you, rather than doing it for fame or recognition." Those were her words in an interview with The Telegraph and it really changed my perspective, like I get to loosen the strings a bit and allow myself some room to properly breathe and live more mindfully with much contentment too. To take life each day as it comes. She goes on further saying "I’ve learnt that you have to appreciate every minute. Don’t wish your life away. Be present..If you’re 50 you’re never going to be 50 ever again so enjoy being 50.”

To be continued next week....

*Sorry but I'll see you next week friend, I got to go now but I really would like to talk more about this properly. Coming up next week I'll be discussing the Domestic godess Nigella Lawson, beloved Dame Judie Dench and the big O, Oprah. See you at this very space same time next week. 😊 Please feel free to give your opinion as to how we can prepare for a fresh and fabulous life after 50 or maybe you can share people who inspire you.

Okay than byeeieee, take care and all the best in whatever you get to do.