Tag: freedom

Another day in paradise

Posted on by philipdodson

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Day two in Bali, a place that many would consider as paradise, but what is paradise?

Well, the dictionary would tell you it’s an idyllic place or state.

For the visitors to Bali, it may well be that, however, for some of the local Indonesians, it could be, and is, the very opposite as they work surrounded by the wealthy tourists.

The trick in life is to build a life that is ideal, not just for a few days or weeks when we jet off somewhere, but all the time. However, you need a certain amount of freedom to be able to do that.

In addition, it is to strive to add our bit back to the community and others, so that everyone may be able to have something, not just a tiny elite.

If the handful of top just 60-70 uber wealthy people, who have the same equivalent wealth as 1/2 of the world’s population (3.8 billion), were to share, then it could be paradise for many, many more. If we stopped that tiny 1% hoarding all the wealth, power and resources, paradise could be extended to all.

Paradise does not have to be big cars, fancy houses, and trinkets. Paradise for many in the world would be freedom from economic slavery, freedom from poverty, and choice as to how they live theirs lives.

We all need to do our bit to help create an alternative world, a paradise for all, in other words, freedom for all to choose how to live and not as slaves to someone else’s paradise.

Trying too hard

Posted on by philipdodson

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Sometimes in life, we try too hard to make something happen.

We get so fixed on achieving a particular outcome and in doing so, we end up trying to control things that we can’t.

The only thing that we have control of is ourselves. We control our thoughts, our beliefs, our actions, everything to do with us.

Beyond that, everything else is controlled by others. Others that we can inspire or influence, but ultimately they will decide, not us.

None of us like to be controlled by others, or feel that others are trying to manipulate us. We do however respond to something inspiring, something that reaches out to our values, that matches our feelings.

When we listen to a person who is talking genuinely about something, with passion, and that person is not selling something, but instead sharing their thoughts, their story and without an agenda, then that is when we feel we have chosen, we have the freedom.

So in business, it is more important to communicate your message and then make it easy for people to buy, rather than trying to control others through manipulation. Essentially marketing rather than selling. Sharing rather than coercing. Giving instead of taking.

The harder we try, the more we have to control and the more we control, the more we erode the freedom of others and push them away.