Yesterday over on Jamie Ridler's website, Jamie announced a give-away, and to enter, you need share your best tip for “living a remarkable life in a conventional world” in the comments. As I started to write my best tip, I realised there is a whole blog post in it! To live a remarkable life in a conventional world, be fully, authentically, remarkably you! Be the whole of you – the best bits you hide, the worst bits you’re ashamed of, just fall in love with all of you. When you do, not only will you find that other people do too (and if they don’t, who cares, you know how utterly awesome you are anyway!), also you will find that the world is NOT conventional…it is remarkable, wonderful and filled with special, wonderful people JUST LIKE YOU. I know it looks like a conventional world. A world where people get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, and get up the next day and do it all again. But when you make the commitment to really, fully, embrace WHO YOU ARE, the world becomes a place of wonder and joy. The mundane world of day to day drudge becomes an adventure where you get to discover what moves you, what brings you joy, what lights you up, what inspires you, what you get enthusiastic about, what you love, what energises you, what is YOU. When you discover the brilliance of you, you get to live the brilliance of you. When you discover what lights you up, you get to do it. When you discover what brings you joy, you get to do it. When you discover your deepest, darkest, most shameful places, and you love yourself anyway, you are set free. Imagine it. Imagine being fully, authentically, unashamedly you. Imagine owning your foibles, and quirks, and weirdnesses, and oddities, and loving them! Imagine having so much fun just being you, living YOUR life, in love with you and in love with your life that you really don't care what anyone else thinks of it. YOU were born. You weren't born to be a shadow of someone else, a copy, a distant echo. You were born to be fully, magnificently, wonderfully, uniquely you. Not just a collection of perfect qualities (do you know anyone like that? No, me neither because they don't exist), but a collection of unique and wonderful qualities - desirable, and sometimes undesirable. You know what, I am kind, creative, cheerful, generous, intelligent, positive and a great listener. I am also impatient, sarcastic, short-tempered, a chatterbox, can be a bit unsociable at times, direct to the point of bluntness, and I am completely incapable of hiding the expression on my face if I think you're an idiot! ALL of those things make me who I am. If I wasn't impatient and blunt, my friends wouldn't know me. If I was only the good qualities on the list, I wouldn't be real, I wouldn't be me. Ok, I would LOVE a little more patience...but being impatient makes me take action - both to make things happen and to slow myself down...contradictory? Oh yes, but aren't we all? That is the beauty of the human experience. You scratch the surface of ANYONE and you will find a mass of wonderful contradictions, you'll find some wonderful qualities, you'll find some barmy personal quirks, and some 'less than perfect' qualities. All of which will make that person the glorious, unique human being that they are. If they fully express that, we get to share in it - we get to see them as they are...and love them more for their authenticity. Authenticity is not just a buzz word - it's something you can see and feel when someone really has it. We can feel and see it when we have it. And when we do allow our authentic selves to shine through, the world changes around us. When we are owning who we are, when we are living the fullest expression we are currently capable of (it takes practice by the way!), we see the world differently. We see other people differently. Instead of trying to 'fit in' or 'stand out', we just fall in love with life and realise that the conventional world is an illusion - it's like the matrix! The 'real' world is messy and funny and joyous and sad and beautiful and ugly and glorious and painful. And we get to experience it all! Conventional world? Not at all - a remarkable life in a remarkable world is our birthright. May you experience the fullness, the gloriousness of life all your life. Love Donna.x