“Darn those sticky labels!”

I recently bought a villa in Cyprus. She’s beautiful; three bedrooms, three bathrooms, large plot with a lush green, tropical garden and a large pool. Cost somewhere in the region of $500 000 (worth a nice fat wedge more now though!).

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever bought property 'off plan' but the notable problem I’d overlooked was when I took delivery, I’d forgotten that it had to be furnished! For some reason, I had it in my head that we’d arrive and everything would be laid out and perfect – it was, apart from the contents!

I bought the tea but forget the cups and sugar; I bought the sugar but forgot the bowl … and so it went on…

My long suffering family and I spent the first three weeks of our initial visit out there buying furniture and all the essentials … hell of a job but someone’s got to do it!

Now the Cypriots have this habit whereby, if there’s a space for it, they put a label on it!

They’re bloody everywhere and stick like shit to a blanket – they not only put them on the packaging but on every item in the box also; if you’ve got six cups, you’ll get six labels.

So there we were, in our new villa, unpacking all our new stuff, moaning about the ubiquitous ‘Sticky Labels’, which were an absolute bugger to get off. “Goddamn wretched things, why do they have to bang these on everything we unpack? … not another one!!! More labels??? Frig me, there’s even one on every fork … bloody sticky labels!”

I was moaning to my wife for all I was worth … Then it hit me – Look where you are Mr Money King, look at what you’re doing! Sat in a place most people only dream about and still having a winge!!!

So you see, the thing about trying to achieve perfect harmony is that you can’t, it’s an unnatural state - you’re never truly content. Situations change and life gets better, but we’re only human and now matter how much you achieve, you still experience the ups and downs life throws at you.

The good thing is, that the things that bug you, sticky labels on everything in a villa full of new furnishings, are not in the same league as “how am I going to feed my family next week?” And if you stay grounded, you remain the same person you were when you started out on your journey towards Total Personal and Financial Freedom.

Incidentally, it’s Tuesday at the new villa (a normal working day for most!), 9.30 in the morning and the kids are to be heard laughing in the pool. I’m sat writing this in bed on the laptop having just had a nice cuppa tea brought to me by the missus. I’m looking out the patio doors over the clear blue sea which forms ‘Golden Bay’; I’m watching the fishing boats chug by as they make their way up the coast towards Aphrodite’s rocks – the place legend has it where she emerged from the surf. Just beyond the foothills sweep up to the amazing pine forests of the Troudos Mountains.

If I turn round and look out of the window behind me there’s the wild and untouched Akamas National Park.

In a short while, when I feel like it, I’ll wander down the Turkish marble stairs and have breakfast by the pool, and when I feel like it, I’ll jump into the cool, clear water for my morning swim … later I’ll pop to the beach taverna (on the beach just a few hundred yards away) for a cool beer. On the way I’ll look over the Akamas trying to search out an ideal plot for the new larger villa I intend to build … when I find the perfect spot that is!

I returned to my main home a few days later where I'm updated this section to the web. My wife has just walked in from a shopping trip loaded with a new wardrobe of shorts, shoes and T-shirts for me to replace the bagfuls I took out and left at the villa paid for with Internet cash!

What are you doing?

And that’s not a “look at me Mr Big Shot Guru” comment; it’s designed to point out what you are doing and establish what you’d like to be doing. It’s also designed to show you what life you’re working towards.

Free? Pretty much!

Happy? Yep!

Still got things to moan about? Of course!

Of course it’s easy to convince yourself that you’re happy with your lot ... anyone can settle for mediocrity - that’s effortless!

Nothing is out of reach ... nothing!

Do not let any doctrine, lecture, mentor, peer or religion tell you different.

Yes, it's bloody depressing when things go wrong - it's a chemical safeguard to stop us doing wrong things over and over - but don't confuse it with a safeguard for not failing at anything ever again! ... just don't keep making the same mistakes!!!

You can have anything you desire if you set your mind to it.

If you are religious, which the majority are, then think about this: Many of the world’s richest people believe in a God or Gods, therefore, how do they come to terms with breaking those deadly sins on a daily basis?

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Wrath is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Anger.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

I truly believe it is impossible to cultivate success and not indulge in a little lust, envy or greed. From my limited education I believe that most religions teach some form of denial along the lines of 'achievement is a sin'.

I suppose the ubiquitous answer to transgressing and attaining wealth is that "God works in mysterious ways!!!"

I don't apologize for my cynicism, these are my opinions - read them - make your own judgments - but don't ever judge me.

I have always been against religions as you know, partly (maybe naively) because from what I've seen, most leaders preach that it is 'the right thing' to have very little in personal possessions, to be subservient and be humble; to do as ordered, without question and that "if I say you've sinned, you've darn well sinned" regardless of whether your very life is endangered by obeying. (reference to contraception and HIV). All whilst the preachers live very comfortably, thank you very much ... have you seen inside Vatican City lately?

See through the smoke and mirrors and embrace your new religion. Omniscience teaches that it is a wholly good thing to have Pride in one's own abilities.

It is fine to look at others possessions and want the same for yourself.

There is nothing wrong in consumption - after all, if you go back to basics, man only 'requires' food, water and a bed!!! So why are all the places of worship so extraordinarily extravagant?

Enjoying the 'pleasures of the body' is bloody lovely!

And get angry, it's the fuel of ambition ... and the 'desire for material wealth' is the whole point isn't it!

And do not, under any circumstances, confuse sloth with the freedom to do what you want, whenever you desire.

HYPROCOSY is the greatest sin of all.

I read the ‘Little Green Book’ by Wallace D. Wattles, a bible for an impressive list of breathtakingly wealthy, self-made people. Mr Wattles has a pretty open mind when it comes to understanding his faith and what is required from him to stay in good favor - I have noticed that people interpret their bibles in many different ways - The Khoran being a case in point in this modern world and the Christian bible has been twisted to justify a whole host of thoroughly despicable causes.

Wallace goes on to say: 'Do not covert another man’s possessions for you can have anything you want for yourself.

Get rid of the idea that God wants you to sacrifice yourself for others, that you can secure his favor by doing so. God requires nothing of the kind.

What he wants is that you should make the most of yourself - for yourself and for others.

And, you can help others more by making the most of yourself than in any other way.

You can make the most of yourself only by getting rich. Thus, it is right and praiseworthy that you should give your first and best thought to the work of acquiring wealth.’

Now that’s the kind of religious talk I like!

Not the double standards dished out by millionaire prophets: "Yes, give up yourself and all your worldly belongings to my God and as a thank you he’ll not throw you in a pit of hellfire, dammed for all eternity when you die."

There is nothing quite like living in poverty when those who preach it and leach off others, live as kings. I have yet to see a vicar living on the breadline on the 12th floor of a tenement block. Vicarages are, on the whole, pretty desirable properties.

If there is a God, I promise, he would be more than happy for you to get rich. Wealth, drive and ambition are not sins and anyway how many worldly possessions do you have to have before you’re considered greedy?

Is there a specific dividing line between where avarice (my translation for which is ambition) begins and wanting to be comfortable ends?

As far back as I can remember I have carried with me a very vivid picture, it’s a dread that spurred me on to become a high achiever. Maybe if you are in a rut, if an ever-decreasing comfort zone is still strangling you, think about this:

During a study of old folk ‘waiting for God’ a question was put to them:

"Is there anything you regret doing in your life?"

99% of them answered: ‘No!’

Then, delving a little deeper it emerged the pensioners, without exception conceded:

It was not the things they had done that tormented them ... it was the things they HADN’T done!

The vision that I carried with me during my former years and what propelled me into action was this:

I could see myself several decades in the future waiting to die. I would be sat in front of a small fire, in a not too comfortable room, in a not too desirable house, feeling not too contented.

The grandchildren would be gathered close by and as I drew on my old pipe one of them asked: "Tell us the story of your life, Grandpa" …

Silence – nothing!

I had no stories, no adventures, and no escapades to share. Not a single great moment to tell. The children looked up expectantly as a tear welled in my eye ... PHHHUUUUUURRRRRRRR!!!

Get that thought out of my head now!

And that’s it!

That vision scared the pants off me. It haunted me for years, and even explained a re-occurring nightmare I had as a child. I would be screaming intensely, dwarfed in a large cave as fluid boulders floated all around.

The feeling of pure, cold panic that accompanied the dream, I later discovered, was the fear of being a nobody, of never being noticed, of not achieving a thing.

I have made damn certain that in several decades time, when the grandchildren gather in my comfortable room, in my comfortable house; when I’m feeling full of beans and I pipe up: "OK, who wants to hear about my adventures?", those kids are going to groan: "Blimey Grandpa, not another one - give us some peace?"

I am going to fight with every cell that is me, with every joule of energy I possess. I am going to ensure that I have the best life I can carve; the best life I can achieve. I am going to look back in years to come and smile to myself content in the knowledge that my only one regret is, that I couldn't pack more in!

If I could ask you to do just one thing in your life, just one, it would be this:

Please, please, please ensure you do the one thing you most want to do.

Just do it, and do it as soon as you can!

No excuses, no procrastination, just do that one thing you have always wanted to do, for tomorrow you could be wiped from the face of this beautiful place … life is so short and how sad it would be if you never did that one single thing.

Once it’s achieved, everything else afterwards is a bonus.

I had done most of the crazy, wild things I wanted to do by the time I was 25.

Everything I do now is a bonus.

I have seen the mountains, the deserts, and the oceans. Once you’ve seen a perfect beach, jaded water lapping upon mother of pearl sand, framed by emerald palms, beaches don’t get any better - just different.

A beautiful lake, is a beautiful lake, is a beautiful lake!

Once you’ve bathed in one and enjoyed its magnificence, all the others are a bonus. Once you’ve swum with whales and dolphins, the next time is just a bonus. Once you seen a West End show the others are a bonus. Once you’ve had a great relationship the rest aren’t any better - just different.

But ensure you do it first time round; do the one thing you most desire today and you’ll have no regrets tomorrow.

"When I have loads of money I’ll..."

How many times have you said or heard that? ... What if you fall ill before you become rich?

How many times have you seen or have known of someone working a whole life, planning and waiting for the day they retire, only to keel over the day before they were due to collect their pension?

Please, if you truly want to be free, commit to it with body and soul now, today, for tomorrow may never come.

Yes, we are building a future where happiness is a constant companion - we are most definitely not sacrificing the present to do so.

Would you work a formula which promotes that if you work your fingers to the bone and remain poor and miserable for ten years you'll attain ten years of happiness?

The rub is that there is no guarantee that you'll survive the twenty years!

Would you?

The Machine’s formula is more like: Be miserable for 50 years and enjoy 10 (if you’re lucky!!!)

And then there's the life plan subscribed to by millions: Be poor and humble for a lifetime and you'll be rewarded when you die (maybe, only the dead know!!!)

Be happy with your God if you have one but don't get sucked in by all the worldly bullshit that mortals contaminate that solace with.

Work for a lifetime contributing to the good of the nation and whichever policy happens to be pulling in the votes; work for a lifetime living just above the poverty line. Work for forty years ravaged with discontentment, and as a reward you will be able to live happily ever after on a state pension (which even this they are trying to take away!)

Stay in the job if you need the income … for the short term.

But use it as a stepping-stone. Look upon it as a short-term solution to a much bigger, vivid, extensive picture.

There is no excuse for underachievement.

No one is stuck in a rut, because ruts have walls.
It’s up to the individual to choose when to climb out!

Achieve freedom and only 'relative'
happiness can surely follow.

Deadly Weapons