be like a duckI absolutely and totally disagree with this …..

“Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath”
– Michael Caine

There is this assumption that to be a real success  it has to involve sweat and pain – but I ask why? Being all serene on the surface whilst paddling like crazy below is totally bonkers. What is the point of that? Why lie? I’ve done that and it didn’t help me at all.

The picture I now always seek to achieve, is the one that looks calm and tranquil whilst feeling equally composed and relaxed. A great deal of sweating, flapping and busy-ness doesn’t mean that we are actually achieving anything of merit. I’d much prefer to manifest my potential by harnessing my natural talents.

As any good duck (or swan or even the silly old goose) will know, it is far less effort to go with the flow, to glide effortlessly using our very well designed webbed feet to push through the water with efficiency, grace and ease.

If you are struggling, you are not harnessing the natural energy around you. It doesn’t mean that you are doing anything wrong, it is just an indication that something is out of kilter. Things can be different but it often doesn’t feel like that when we are stuck in all the noise and hustle of daily life.

The solution is to change our approach but to find out how, we have to be still, silent and give ourselves and our thoughts the space to come up with simpler and more efficient ways of doing things.

We have natural talents. We are born with particular traits, aptitudes and capabilities. Life, school, family and community teach us a whole plethora of skills. Experience gives us a valuable portfolio of inside knowledge that you can only get from having ‘lived’. Love, joy, contentment as well as loss, pain, conflicts and burdens help us to develop compassion, empathy. It also invariably gives us a desire to save others from experiencing the traumas and troubles which in itself is a powerful motivator that gives us a purpose in life.

As such this natural toolkit has within it a particularly unique combination of attributes which if allowed to flow and function fully, can offer particularly unique solutions that are a perfect match for particularly unique conundrums and challenges.

Question is, what does yours look like? How can you effortlessly and gracefully make a difference in this world?

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