Our time is the most precious thing we have next to life. It is the true currency we have to spend in this world and the one currency that we can never get back once we have spent it.

The choices that we make in this lifetime will determine what we leave behind for our loved ones. There comes a point in our lives when we must look at what we need to do rather than what we want to do. Unfortunately, many of us do not realise this until we are much older and wiser. Some of us possess the quality to notice the fact at an early age and it is almost natural to act in a sensible manner. Those who do realise will surely reap the fruits of that seed much earlier in life rather than one who fails to take heed of the simple idea. Necessities before luxuries. Dare to let go of your wants and look deeper at what you truly need. Most of the time, if we are honest, we actually need to let go of ideas, memories, baggage and even material possessions at times so that we can be free to move forward and away from what is holding us back.

Time is so important. When we are young children we have no concept of time itself and move throughout each day almost fulfilled. As we grow and become tied to our duties and schedules we are drawn into a whole new concept of time and generally the idea is that we do not have enough of it. We begin to realise as we grow into adults, usually into our later adult years, how short life really is considering the average life expectancy. We begin to change in seeing that what we once held as important is now not so much. Goalposts and morals adapt as we age and look back, reflecting on the choices we made, the opportunities we seized and missed and the goals we failed to achieve and those targets we reached. Reflection on how we have spent our time is very important if we are to make the rest of our lives better and for our loved ones around us also.

How are you managing your time today? Have you allocated enough time to your necessities for them to take priority over your luxuries?

We each have the choice at any given moment as to whether we want to be in darkness or in light. It doesn't mean that when we are in a dark place and we then choose to move towards the light that our circumstances will change instantly but it does mean that once we set our compass to head towards what it is that we want we are then moving away from the darkness. It seems to be easy to just accept that we are where we don't want to be but that's just the way it is so we put up with what we don't want in life. It may seem easy but it is not. The pain, the emotional turbulence and the mental torture of being in a place we don't want to be will soon become unbearable. Many of us just simply keep on trudging through life, struggling, and not knowing how we can change or move towards the things we want in life.

We have to be willing to let go of our pain and not hold on to it as tightly as we do. We see our pain as something that clings to us, or something that has happened to us that makes us feel this way and rarely ever recognise the fact that we hold onto this pain ourselves. We are responsible for relieving ourselves of it. Things happen to us which are out of our control; accidents, painful experiences, traumatic incidents, but it is only us who can heal ourselves from the pain of this trauma. When we have finally had enough of feeling the sickness we say 'I can't do this anymore, it's time to let go.' Of course, in some instances we need outside help, but ultimately it is us who chooses so seek help so it is our choice to heal ourselves in the first place. Until we decide that we want to let go of our pain we can never begin to heal.

So, whether we want to be in darkness or light, pain or pleasure, is a choice which is made internally and then later reflects on the outside world once we take action and choose one or the other. Remember that consistency will move you towards your target so be realistic. Some things will change instantly and others will take time depending on how far you are from your expectations.

Your search for spiritual truth is your own. Your pathway is unique to only you. You are the one who can fuel the fire to create your dreams. Yes indeed the road does get tough along the way. We can lose hope at times but learning to be consistent will pull us back onto the track where we are supposed to be.

One of the greatest illusions is the idea of how we think life should be in our heads. When it doesn't turn out the way we had hoped we become frustrated and feel let down that life has wronged us. This expectation is the seed of hurt and pain. There is nothing wrong with having goals and plans but the expectation that they will appear in front of us without any hurdles along the way is unrealistic. Be fluid like water and flow with whatever life brings so that you can adjust through the seasonal change of what manifests in life.

One of your greatest assets is your ability to change and adapt to the surrounding conditions of things as they arise. Change is inevitable. Be the creator of your own destiny and learn to believe in yourself. No one will believe in you until you believe in yourself and when you begin to project that belief onto the world you will become a leader whom others will start to follow. A positive mindset will bring about a positive life only if followed by consistent action towards the same idea. The search for spiritual truth is not easy at times but certainly worth it, for the more we search, the wiser we become and the more we are able to teach our children and loved ones. Passing along our wisdom is the true wealth that we should aspire to gain and duplicate.

One of the greatest forms of freedom is freedom from ourselves. Not being held hostage by our own misconceptions or our own failures. Acceptance.

To understand and remind ourselves that we are human at the end of the day and we all make mistakes is a great step forward from what we see as failure. They are certainly not mistakes if we learn from them. The purpose of life is to find our purpose and this can take a lifetime to come to know so give yourself a break and begin to enjoy the ride along the way. Loosen up a little and enjoy the environment rather than always trying to get to somewhere else. We can get caught up in the chase, unknowingly, the chase itself can become what drives us rather than what we set out to achieve in the beginning... Happiness. We always seek to what we will think will make us happier but it is easy to forget what we started something for in the first place.

Our freedom comes at a price. If we want to have luxuries, or even necessities, then we have to pay for the cost of running a home or a car for example. That cost is not only paid for with money but more importantly, with our time, so one way or another we are not truly free because all of the things we need and want come with a certain price to pay. It all really depends on what we're willing to invest of ourselves in a particular thing and that depends on how much it means to us. What we give meaning to depends upon our value system and what we hold in the world as important. Of course, what one person sees as important could be irrelevant for the next person so we are all free to choose our own level of freedom. You can live in the world with material values and still be happy and free provided you are not attached to them. You can see how much attachment you have to a particular thing when you lose it. If you lose some expensive jewellery but are not phased by the loss then clearly you are not driven by needing it to be happy. Things merely come and go and this is they way life is. If it has sentimental value and you are upset with the loss then again, you can see your level of attachment by the level of meaning that it has for you. There's nothing wrong with having attachments although when you cannot get over the loss of something and it begins to cost your mental health and emotional balance then it's time to review the idea and start to cultivate acceptance if you want to be free from yourself.

​Freedom only comes when you choose to no longer pay the cost for whatever it is you are holding on to.

You have to believe in yourself. This is where the magic begins. It's easy to just simply give up at the first few hurdles we come across, so we think, but it's even harder to live every day knowing that we gave up on our dreams. The guilt will eventually consume us. Belief in yourself is the highway to Heaven for when we have that faith we cut away all alternatives to failure and are rocketed forward towards our goals. Faith is a kind of determination not to let anything stop us on the path we are heading to reach our destination and to have faith in oneself is the best and most effective friendship one can cultivate.

When we tell someone that we believe in them or what they are trying to achieve, look how it gives them strength to carry on. Just because we do not get the feedback we had hoped for in the world from the people around us it doesn't mean that our ambitions are meaningless, we simply need to boost ourselves at these times when there is no one else around and tell ourselves that we are good enough and remind ourselves that we are going to make it regardless. We are not always going to be lifted by people and more often than not people are likely to put us down or try to steer us away from our course so staying focused and having faith in what we are doing is imperative for success to appear. Through all of the rain and the pain if we can still keep knocking on the door of success it will eventually open. The door only stays closed to those who stop knocking.

First give yourself the appreciation that you need before you seek it in others. By searching for validation in other people first you will more than likely fall short but if you find the strength in your own belief that you are good enough you will always stand tall. Of course, you will have days where you don't feel like you are making any progress but you will not be searching for other people to give you strength. There will be times in your life when no one will be there to offer that strength so you need to learn how to cultivate this from within and then pick and choose who you take advice from, good or bad. This way when someone puts you down in the world you have your own strength to fall back on rather than collapsing because you don't feel worthy enough of someone else's ideals.

When the world seems to have you in a tight hold and you have nowhere to to move, it's time to let go of what is holding you hostage. 

Most of the things that hold us hostage are our own ideas of imprisonment. Whether that's not being enough, feeling trapped, a failure or seeing the world as a hopeless place, it's always an inside job. The lock holding these chains around us is our own mind and this is where the idea stems from. After a while our thoughts become our beliefs and what we believe becomes our reality so in order for us to break free from whatever is holding us back we need to remove the belief system that's keeping us stuck in the same place. Many of these beliefs have been have been instilled within us and are running in our heads as programs since our early years and we are not even aware that they are running. All of them we pick up along they way through social programming. The naive person believes what they see or hear to be true in the first instance without question and picks up these destructive thought patterns and utilises them everyday without even knowing they are at play. This is carried forward throughout the years and opportunities slip away without even noticing because of the mental barriers that have been erected.

All you have to do is simply take stock of your personality. Whether that be on paper or asking another person for genuine feedback. Asking a friend to tell you honestly about your good and bad traits is a good start, or even someone from your family. Once you have this feedback you're able to make a start at working on both the good and bad points. If someone tells you that you have a short temper at times, you may want to look at was of diffusing your anger before it gets to the point of no return or simply for better ways to handle problems. You may even look for counselling for help with the matter. Either way, by honestly acting upon the feedback given, you will be able to remove these blocks, one-at-a-time, and break away the chains of your own imprisonment. How you see the world usually dictates how you will react so if you see the world as a frustrating place then anger would more than likely be a common response. Once you learn how to dissolve that anger as it arises rather than react you will no longer be responding to the circumstances in the world and will be in control of yourself rather than the world being in control of you.

Let's not forget to work on your positive traits; they are the seeds for growth in this world. It is easy enough to point out where we are going wrong, to be hard on ourselves but this will not help if we are to move forward. How long should we beat ourselves up for not reaching the mark or for making mistakes? The more you place your focus on your solution rather than your problem then the quicker you will reach the result you wish to achieve.