Both of my English students have pulled the plug today so I get to write this blog a few hours earlier, I have decided to write an ode to my friend and anam cara Emeli Paulo. I met Emeli setting out chairs at a yoga and meditation event some years ago. Both Emeli and I are the sort of people who if they see something needs to be done we get in and do it. We introduced ourselves and I asked why she had come. Emeli said she was running a workshop that would address what stops you in your life from having what you want happen. I still have her card with Stop Running Away written on it. As always she delivered her promise.

I am reading Simon Sinek’s second book Leaders eat Last. If you don’t know who Simon is he’s the start with Why guy, here’s a link to his TED talk, the second most watched one in the history of TED ;How great Leaders inspire Action. Emeli had me stick to my Why, which I had been resisting for two and a half years: Love and Respect for All – Everyone Included.

Why, How, What, how has the world written about it over time, let’s have a look:

1. Finding it difficult to get out of bed? Have you why written on your dresser window and it will go away.

2. I’d lose that extra weight if I was motivated. Your only limit is You, Do it Now, If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. Sounds like a Tony Robbins seminar in full flight. But if underneath it all, if you have not answered Why?, words spoken and written on parchment that will make no difference: No Excuses.

3. Google has let me down, when I put in Coach Hite it brought up coach hire in Melbourne, Australia where I live, so he must remain anonymous, but it’s such a beautiful quote it deserves more.

4. I always thought David Bowie was singing: Passion , turn to the left ilo Fashion, so here it is: Fashion.

5. As kids we run around all day like this, then something happens. Time to take it back.

6. In my youth I would boast I read Nietzsche to look cool, now he writes leadership and motivational quotes. His books are not quite so accessible: Roar.

7. My birthday, is 17th July, must admit can’t remember the other. I do know where, at the Darebin Intercultural Centre one, windy, rainy day during a Melbourne winter.

8. But Mummy, The unicorn was that big. Never forget your childhood unicorns: Dark Horse.

9. In the mirror. It’s You, Yay!! Out on the streets to kick some ass.

10. Here is the man himself, Simon Sinek, something we love called passion: beautiful words and ethos: Love is Action.

11. This is what finding your Why allows you in life. Get on board, the bus is leaving now.

12. My mentor Arion always says to have a vision and essence for any project you wish to fulfill in your life. It will be there to remind you when the going gets tough. Thanks brother , for that: You and Me.

13. This is why we spend our lives finding our Why, because of the things that never were that we are meant to create, little or large,

14. I’d add one, Know your Why on a daily basis: Believe in Yourself.

15. One smile at a total stranger is enough to do this. Don’t be withholding.

I just realised you may not know what an Anam cara is? Anam Cara is the old gaelic term for “soul friend.” anam meaning soul and cara meaning friend. Anam Ċara is the title of a 1997 bestseller on “Celtic spirituality”, the first publication by Irish author and then-priest John O’Donohue. According to O’Donohue, the Irish term anam cara (lit. “soul-friend”) originates in Irish monasticism, where it was applied to a monk’s spiritual advisor.

The book was an international bestseller and catapulted the author to public notability as an author and much sought-after speaker and teacher particularly in the United States. O’Donohue left the priesthood in 2000. As O’Donohue puts it: The term is greatly misconstrued to mean “soul mate”, anam meaning soul and cara meaning friend.

What is Emeli’s Why. here is the link: Collective Potential.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.