Your outside world is a direct reflection on what takes places internally; your thoughts, perception and decisions are all contributors to the kind of life that you live.

You may at some point or another, reached a stage in your life where you are no longer comfortable with your environment. The desire to shift paradigms becomes ravenous and you begin to make changes, and then suddenly, an abrupt halt. You’ve run out of steam and you’re no longer certain whether this is a journey you want to continue on, after all everyone else around you is content with settling for whatever comes their way, so why bother trying to accomplish something more?

The general theory is that you can only go as far as you can see, be it physically or mentally. If you are surrounded by dire circumstances or associate yourself with a derelict crowd, what is the probability that you will turn out like them or conform to your environment?

Belonging or having a set of people who are where you want to be or are like-minded is pertinent to having an enhanced and progressive life.

One of the greatest influences in our lives, are the people we keep close to us. Everyone needs an encourager, someone who believes in them, someone who can sharpen their tools when it’s blunt, someone who reminds you of your vision and who holds you accountable for your actions and goals.

Recount a time where you watched an athlete approaching the finishing line of a marathon. You can see they are mentally and physically tired and they start to slow down. This is a common mistake because it allows the person behind them to catch up. The spectators see this and begin to applaud, scream, cheer and encourage the 1st athlete. You can sense the energy of the people who are unified and willing that person to keep going and propelling them further to complete the race, and in most cases they do. That my friend is the power of having those that believe in you, and are like-minded take you to the finish line.

Unfortunately, we are not always blessed with having such people around us, so what we can do to change that? Well here’s one way: Books.

“You said all of that to tell me about books?” Yes I did and here’s why. When you were a toddler one of the first things that you were introduced to in order educate you, were books. Before you could even write your name, it was story books and what those books did, was launch you to a world you had not yet experienced. It formed your ideas on what the world was like or could be like. It further increased your belief and your imagination evolved. It is when you are constantly learning that you have the propensity to develop. You NEED to integrate new concepts into your life and a sure fire way of doing this is by reading.

I recently read a short book by a motivational speaker and he said something along the lines of this and I paraphrase: Think of your role model, you would want to meet them right? You would love to be in their presence and pick their brains…but have you read their books? Most successful people have written books detailing their struggles, successes and what sets them apart ,yet many people have not even bothered to read them.  A book is a gateway to that individuals mind and you don’t have to pay extortionate amounts to get to them nor did you have to hound them with various communications to get a response. You have direct access to them in written form- use it!

Until you are able to attract your tribe so to speak, cultivate a mind of one that you would want to have in a group of people. By affecting your thoughts and changing your perception, you will find yourself in environments akin to this new dimension. It will put you in the position to seek out opportunities because you are expanding your horizons, you will want to go to different places and you’ll become more willing  try things that you haven’t previously thought of, it is here that you will find those more like you.

It doesn’t have to be books alone, it can be audios or videos, the aim is to saturate yourself with repeatedly seeing and hearing the things that are in line with your aspirations, especially those that have achieved similar things that you want to. It increases your belief and realigns your focus back on your vision.  Whenever I begin to feel discouraged, I delve into a book or watch a video of someone I find inspirational or I’ll drive to an area where I’d want to own a home. You must reinforce your ideals regularly, it is one of the ways to keep going and remain revitalised especially when you don’t have people who can support you on your journey,yet.

One word, theme or sentence can lead you to a multitude of things and ultimately a transformation.

“He that loves reading has everything within his reach”

I was going to give you a list of books to read but I think this is something you should discover on your own. Happy discovering!

Oh before I go, it’s exactly one year to date since I started blogging yay me! Happy 1 year blogversary Lipstick and Black Coffee, onwards and upwards!