I’ve just indulged in the wonderful Marie Forleo interview with Arianna Huffington. 

I’m sure anyone who’s seen it will agree that these two highly influential women were both inspirational and heartfelt. Arianna’s new book “Thrive” invites us to redefine success on our own terms so as to create a life filled with wellbeing, wisdom and wonder. When she emphasised sleep, time and wonder as focus areas for improvement, a little spark leapt from within igniting my fires of passion, for this topic reaches deep into my heart.

It’s clear that inner success is a more attractive option than its external counterpart, which leads to exhaustion through the undermining of our health. Enter sleep as the regenerative solution. Now before I address this issue, I’m going to tell you a little story that will throw a new light on the understanding of sleep.

Children possess wild and free imaginations. Make believe is their reality and wonder is their constant companion. They are also extremely intuitive because they are still connected to their inner guiding spirits, which gives them an innate sense of wisdom and knowing. Their supreme powers of regeneration and healing derive from this connection to their inner power source bringing light to their radiant tissue. All these qualities paint a picture of purity, innocence, wonder and radiant joy, which are accompanied by a brain wave pattern called Delta (D). Children’s predominant brain wave pattern is delta, which signifies the patterns of youth…intuition, imagination and regeneration that express through the creative right brain. Children are creative little butterflies.

Unfortunately with the onset of reasoning and the development of the left-brain, children’s delta wave patterns progressively diminish, being replaced by a new pattern called beta waves. By adolescence, the delta waves have all but disappeared as the endearing little child moves into adulthood. Now, as you can imagine, with the loss of delta comes the loss of their inner powers of intuition, imagination and regeneration, and therefore the loss of youth. External influences instead provide them with tuition, reasoning and their sense of identity. But what has become of those wondrous inner powers that once guided and nurtured them? All is not lost…because they’re simply hiding.

If we take a little trip into the land of nod we find those delta waves tucked up snuggly awaiting our nightly vigil into deep sleep. This is where we plug back into our source of inspiration and top up our energy supplies. We party with our inner spirit of make believe in the playground of our imagination that we call dreamland.  Those amazing ideas and intuitive flashes we have upon waking after a wonderful night’s dreaming have been drawn from this deep well of inspiration. Delta is on night duty along with our inner child spirit of purity, innocence, wonder and joy…much to her chagrin. Although she loves our nightly visits…she’d prefer to always be with us as she used to be…once upon a time!

Delta is the spirit of creation in every sense of the word. She bears the creativity of the open imagination and she renews our body tissue in constant cycles of re-creation. (recreation – play!) The playful ease of delta radiates the essence of attraction that lights up the eyes like sparkles of magic. Delta is magnetic and…

…magnetism creates success.

“… creativity comes from the depths. So when we allow ourselves to tap into that wisdom, that intuition, we come up with our best ideas.” (Arianna Huffington)

In our left-brained world of external influences where patterns of dis-ease undermine our health, we rely heavily upon sleep to rejuvenate and re-inspire us. We are living batteries, periodically plugging back into source to re-energize. The connection that science shows between sleep and disease is simply reiteration that we are ill at ease because we have disconnected from our inner power source, our true spirit of creation, and find respite only in sleep where it now resides. Our measure of required sleep corresponds directly to the measure of dis-ease that we allow ourselves to suffer from external influences throughout our day. Increased dis-ease requires increased sleep. And so our life becomes the life of a battery that doesn’t quite regenerate fully each night, but slips cumulatively into the slow deterioration that we call age. Even sleep can’t stop youth slipping through our fingers.

But…

…and it’s a big one!

We have a more attractive option…Inner Success. Remember that, during the day, our inner creative spirit is only hiding. Why? Because she’s scared. She’s been bullied by those very same external influences that drive us to exhaustion, sending her cowering into the deep dark recesses of our being. There she sits, a still small voice, waiting for us to once again shine the light of day upon her creative world of make believe. Each time we venture within and take guidance from our feelings, the sliver of light brightens and the voice of inspiration finds clarity. Our power of self-belief reconnects us with our beautiful inner spirit of purity, innocence, wonder and joy, as we re-ignite our intuition, imagination and regeneration. Our radiant light of creation pours forth with unique and inspirational offerings and a youthful glow rests gently upon our body tissue. Delta has returned with all her magnetic essence.

Oh how attractive we become when we infuse the magnetic spirit of play into all our creations. Our work takes on a lightness that touches hearts with the sparkle of a child’s magic wand. When we don the magnetic allure of our child’s essence, everyone wants to join us in our playground. Success is easier from the inside out.

So although Arianna Huffington’s tongue in cheek advice to “Sleep our way to the top” is highly advisable, and indeed a necessity when we operate in a world of success that is defined by external influences, when we turn inward, a new mantra emerges…

“Imagine your way to the top”

Make creation your business by entering the magical world of make believe.

Belief truly is the key… self-belief. When finally we come to believe whole-heartedly in ourselves, and our dreams, we realise that all our inspiration lay within.

BELIEF = BE + LIEF = BE + LOVE = BE LOVE

High self-belief creates high self-love, which immerses our body in the highest vibrations. In so doing, we open our radiant heart…our pure, innocent, sweet heart. Self-belief rides on the high vibes of unconditional love. When we believe that we can do anything our heart desires, we focus this joyful beam into all our creative endeavors with magnetic results. Any dreamy seed we sow will manifest in radiance when nurtured and loved.

Time was another aspect addressed by Arianna Huffington. She emphasised the importance of prioritising and introduced an unexpected and fresh approach to time management by suggesting that we…

“Complete a project by dropping it.”

That’s a relief. I can feel my inner spirit already jumping for joy. Writing our ‘to do’ lists seems crucial in this fast paced, high-pressure world that is oriented toward external success. But how refreshing it is to give oneself permission to revisit and diminish the power of these two little words that carry the heavy burden of future. When we step into the new moment of present, asking our inner guidance how it really feels about this task, and the realisation dawns that there’s no fun in this for me, without hesitation we can cross it off the list. The value of the immediate is clear. In the immediate we are not concerned about what happened in the past in relation to this task or what will happen in the future if we cross it off our list. The heavy burden of pressure that we call time does not exist in the immediate. Our sense of joy does. And joy is attractive. The immediate assists us in drawing our dream experiences and people to us with ease and grace.

When we value our inner spirit instead of time (the burdens of past and future), we become a magnet joyfully creating all our dreams and desires instantaneously. Only do what comes from your heart. Imagination lives in your heart, so when you open your imagination you open your heart and radiate your unique creative essence. The child that lives in your heart is wild and free and simply wants to play. Break all the rules! Don’t do anything until you visit your child in her inner playground to ensure that it’s fun and will uplift her spirits. Recreation is the re-creation of joy over and over again. The radiance of delta takes centre stage in the immediate. Time dissolves.

Rules are limitations. They’re not free. They don’t come from our imagination, our heart. They dim our light and render us less attractive, thus diminishing our power of magnetism. We tire, and therefore must sleep. Rules create living batteries out of us.

GO WITHIN and FEEL. What does your inner spirit say? You’ll feel the inspiration immediately, along with a renewed sense of wonder. In Arianna Huffington’s own words…

“Don’t miss the moment.”

Wonder dwells in the moment. When you feel that little voice inside you asking, “I wonder…?” in relation to your current creative endeavor, don’t doubt it. Listen with focused attention, for a little seed of inspiration is about to blossom into a unique expression of…you. Radiantly wonderful.

WONDER = 1 D = D = DELTA

No surprises there. The more frequently we visit our inner spirit of creation, the higher is our frequency of radiance…wonder, joy, imagination, intuition, regeneration…youth. I wonder if Arianna knew the power of her words? Her mother would tell her to “change the channel, darling” when she dwelt upon a bothersome experience (from the external). No doubt she wanted her daughter to move to a higher frequency that radiated joy so she would feel better. We can all learn from this little lesson. Whenever our creative endeavours are shrouded in bother, “change the channel, darling”… from within.

Arianna also applauded the act of giving. With a gentle twist, it was expressed through the practice of acknowledging everyone with equal kindness. As we give of ourselves in kindness, everyone benefits. Not surprisingly the spirit of kindness, once again, comes from within. How powerful is our inner spirit, as she sits and waits for us to acknowledge her.

KINDNESS = KINDER –ness = CHILD SPIRIT = DELTA

Our beautiful inner spirit is indeed our greatest asset, for it is here that life and business coincide in the glorious radiance of our uniqueness. We are already filled with wisdom, wonder and wellbeing. All we need do is turn the key of self-belief and unlock our true creative essence.

Arianna’s message clearly suggests that we must create a life on our own terms. With the guidance of our radiant inner spirit, how can we not “Thrive”.