The decision I made took me out of character. It went against the grain of my early life experience and clashed with how I’ve become as an adult.

This decision has left me feeling part-whole – more spirited – part scared – uncomfortable and confused. It really took me outside my comfort box.

As a child I remember people often making comments like, ‘Children should be seen and not heard.’ I remember kids I went to school with telling me I couldn’t sing. I can remember my opinion being laughed at in a classroom and family asking me to make ‘Less noise.’

As a result of all of these comments I learned to keep my mouth shut, keep my opinion to myself and live a quite almost monkish existence.

Then at 6am one morning, while out for a walk on a country lane I had an uncontrollable urge to shout.

It wasn’t that I wanted to shout anything in particular. I wasn’t angry, frustrated or fed up. I just wanted to shout, ‘Hello’, ‘Thank you’, and ‘Yes I am here.’

It felt so good. I wanted to do it again. But louder. So I did. Then I wanted to laugh. And it wasn’t just a quite laugh. It was a really good belly laugh.

As I’m writing this I understand that my spirit wanted to raise the roof and let some more of the hidden me out.

You see it’s all very well being ‘spiritual’ – meditating, understanding, being agreeable, showing empathy and all that, but it’s quite another thing to be ‘spirited.’

Being spirited might mean allowing yourself to make a little noise, letting your voice be heard, perhaps not complying to protocol – or the norm – when you don’t agree with it.

Having let out my voice I was faced with the urge to dance – the part of me that is uncomfortable was pleased I was at home by this stage and not still walking a country lane – I mean what would it be like to be caught dancing in a country lane at 6am in the middle of nowhere?

Then throughout the week I’ve had the urge to put music on – rather than sit and read or meditate – to speak at a higher volume than usual – shout thanks up to the sky when something good happens rather than bowing my head. And do you know something?

It feels more like REAL spirited living than all that quite stuff.

When someone seeks me out as their coach they are often frustrated at circumstances or looking to accelerate their growth – in other words find how they can have what they want and get rid of what they don’t want.

What I’ve found from my experience with REAL SPIRIT is that I want to live with more of the kind of spirit – shouting with glee and dancing and laughing. It made me feel more inspired and enthused.

When we’re inspired and enthused we are on the journey to having everything. It also means we digest every experience that comes our way in a more positive light.

Three things to try:

1. I dare you to shout!

2. At dinner time, throw your head back and shout thank you for the food.

3. Put some music on loud and just allow your body to do what it wants

With Love and good wishes

Neil

Most successful people are those who always try to look things from the positive point of view. They are unlikely to get stressed. They can always find solutions to their problems.

And those who are not positive enough, are likely to get stressed easily and find it hard to solve problems.

Which group would you like to be in?

I’d choose the first one, for sure. And I bet no one prefers the second one.

Here are some little known ways to be a positive person:

• Throw away all your negative thoughts

Don’t let a single second of your time is used to think of something negative. If it suddenly cross to your mind, direct your thought to something else. Even if it’s hard on the first days, later you’ll get used to it.

• Focus more on your achievements than your failure

Everyone must have had experienced success and failure. Yet, don’t focus too much on your failure. You can learn from it but don’t let it turn you down. I bet you also have had lots of success. For example, you might have been the best in class when it came to history papers. Or, you were once the best employee of the month, etc.

• Get a mantra

Even if you’re not a magician, you are allowed to have a mantra. It can be ‘I’m a great writer’ or ‘I am very good in web designing’ or ‘I am a happy person.’ When you wake up in the morning, spell your mantra at least three times and use your imagination. A simple yet useful trick!

• Grab energy from successful and positive people around you

Learn from them. You are who your friends are. So, try to be their good friends.

• Stop being judgmental to yourself and others

Yes, don’t be so hard on yourself and on others.

The German language has very different pronunciation pattern compared to English. If you have been speaking the English language since you were born, speaking in German could become quite a challenge. But this doesn’t entirely mean that learning German is impossible for an adult.

Similar to children, we can still adapt to the changes a certain language requires. Though the learning process of an adult is slower compared to a child’s ability to learn and speak a new language, the possibility is still there. A person’s adeptness to speak a foreign language, specifically the German language entirely depends on how interested and determined he is in pursuing it.

There are so many aspects of the German language one must learn. One of the many important areas of the German language which a person must be able to deal with is the pronunciation. To be able to pronounce German words properly, one needs to listen intently. Listening should be used at all times when learning German. The same rule goes with other languages of course. Although the German and English languages share some similar words, there are far more difficult words that require German accent and intonation.

Try to think about a set of Spanish words in a phrase. Notice how much you love to hear Spanish words the way it should be properly pronounced by Spanish speakers? Incorrectly saying or pronouncing the words is the last thing you want to do and the only way to do this starts by properly listening to the proper pronunciation of the words.

If you think you don’t have a reliable German speaker who can speak for you while you study German, wouldn’t it be nice if you have audio materials for German words? The good source for this is online sites. There are many online websites which has free pronunciation guide of the German language. There are even websites which offer audio samples of each German word. You can take advantage of these unlimited sources if you want to concentrate more on getting the words right.

Take your time in practicing the words properly. When you have successfully done so, you can then proceed from pronouncing German words to phrases.