Why Ghost instead of Wordpress

As a follow-on from yesterday's post, You wouldn't believe what I've gone through, I thought it would be a nice idea to outline exactly why I've thrown away Wordpress after almost 10 years of using it, and why I'm now using the Ghost blogging platform.



The biggest reason for using Ghost - it's fast. Really fast.

Where Wordpress was taking 10 seconds to load a page - and longer if more people were visiting - Ghost takes only a second or two. As the popoularity of my blog increases, what I didn't want to see was the responsiveness and availability of my blog decrease.

The next big reason was that there's just too much 'bloat' in Wordpress.

Too many features, too many functions, and too much of a reliance on a database for my liking. Wordpress is a Content Management System (CMS), and it performs admirably to 'manage content'. As long as you don't care about the slowness, or about managing databases, or about managing plugins and themes and other aspects of Wordpress administration, and maintaining the security of one of the most hacked systems in the world. It's a great content management platform, but no longer is it a great blogging platform.

Don't get me wrong. I'm good at managing Wordpress, but for my personal blog I don't want to manage Wordpress - I just want to write for my blog and not have to worry too much about anything else.

The final biggest reason for Ghost instead of Wordpress is that Ghost is simple.

Once it's set up there's nothing to manage other than the posts you write. There's two sections to Ghost, side by side, and that's it.

The first section is your 'content management' section:



In the left section is an infinitely-scrolling list of all the posts that you've written, and in the right section is a preview of the selected post. At the top right of the preview is an edit button. When you select that, you get the following:



In the left section of this screen is the content that you're editing, and the right section has a constantly updated preview of what the content looks as a web page.

You get the same view when you click on +New Post and start writing.

And finally, it's so much easier to just write your blog posts in Ghost.

In Wordpress there's an editing section (amongst many complicated sections) which shows you how your content looks on a website (under a 'visual' tab), and there's also a 'text' tab that shows you the HTML. If something isn't working how you want it to, or you just want to make some tweaks to it, then you can go into the HTML tab and make your changes there. But that requires you to be able to work with HTML, the coding language behind the web pages.

Ghost uses a simpler method, something called Markdown Language, and it allows you to simply focus on the content that you want to write.

When you're writing, the standard keyboard shortcuts you're used to in other writing tools like Microsoft Word, etc, still work (so does HTML, if you want to use it), but the resulting 'code' is a lot simpler to understand and use. At any time you can also click on the question mark in the top right of the editing section and get a view of the common Markdown codes:



There's all the formatting information you're likely to need.

It's awesome. Simple, easy, and fast. Just what you want when you want to focus on writing without having to manage content systems.

Let me know if you want me to help you set up your own for you. :)

Pros and Cons of Dating a Programmer

I found this image on koding.com and loved it. It's me! Even though I'm not a programmer, I think it's obvious I'd be a good programmer, 'cause I'm already doing this with everything else on my computer. Maybe you can relate too.

You wouldn't believe what I've gone through

Yesterday I made a decision to change my blog over to a new platform. Instead of Wordpress I decided I was going to implement Ghost - a new blogging platform that was much faster than Wordpress, but also much more complicated. Oh, the horrors I was to experience...



A recent blog post that I wrote, Can I earn money from what I love, talked about my love for software technology. But that did nothing to prepare me for what was about to happen.

Before I continue with my tale, you should know it all worked out ok. The very fact you're reading this on a completely differently designed blog tells the story that no matter what my trials and tribulations were, I won. And that's what's important at the end of the day, that this blog is still alive.

But you should also be aware this is going to be a very technical tale, and if you're not that interested in such things, you should probably stop reading now.

So, when did it all start... Ah, that's right. It all started a couple months ago when Ghost was released to the public. I played around with it a little on a Linux VPS (Virtual Private Server), but couldn't get it to work properly. I decided this was because I didn't know enough about how to make it work on a Linux/Unix server, and I was just having too much trouble configuring the server and the internet domain settings to get it to work, so I left it behind.

However, a few days ago things started moving forward again, when I realised that due to an increase in traffic from sources interested in my writings on anti-feminism, my blog was really slowing down. The 'bloat' was causing too many problems when there was more than a few people visiting it at the same time.

So I tried implementing some plugins that would tidy up the blog and make it faster, but they didn't really do much.

So I started playing with Ghost again, and managed to get it working as a test build, but wasn't convinced it could be a good enough replacement for Wordpress, because it had NONE of the functionality that I'd implemented into Wordpress. It was difficult to consider moving away from it.

But then yesterday morning I tested the loading speeds of my blog compared to Ghost. I imported all my blog content into the test Ghost build and then compared the speeds. The Wordpress site took an average of 10 seconds to load the front page, while the Ghost site took about 2 seconds.

I was convinced. I decided to make the change.

I tried to install Ghost onto my domain server using a software installer called Softaculous, but into a test subdirectory - I wanted to make sure everything worked first before transferring it into the base directory and replacing the current blog. But that's when I ran into my first problem.

Ghost didn't want to be installed into a subdirectory - it was to be the home directory or not at all.

So I backed up my Wordpress blog (always make backups!) and then proceeded to completely delete it from the server, so that it would be free to install Ghost instead. But that was ok - I had a backup of the Wordpress blog should something go wrong, and I also had all the content in a file that could be imported into the new Ghost blog, which I had tested and confirmed would work.

Even with these safeguards in place, it was somewhat nervewracking to delete my blog.

Finally it was removed and I proceeded to install Ghost into the home directory, but that's when I got the second problem.

There were errors with the installation that made no sense to me. I deleted it and then tried installing again. Same thing. So I Googled the errors, and after some research I found out that I had a third problem. Installing Ghost via Softaculous onto an Apache server was beset with problems, and unless you had direct admin access to the Apache server to do some really complicated things, it wasn't going to happen. (I didn't have that access.) Ghost really needed to be installed on a Unix/Linux server.

Ok, no problem, I thought. Since I can't install Ghost onto the same server that I'd installed Wordpress, then I'll just restore Wordpress and explore other options later. And that's when I ran into the fourthproblem.

The Wordpress backup had corrupted and the blog could not be restored.

At this point I was saying, "You what?!" Well, there were a few other words included in there, but I can't repeat them for fear of corrupting minors. Corrupting Wordpress was enough for one day, I don't want to include minors as well!

Rest in peace, my dear blog. I knew you well.

So... There I was, with a Wordpress blog that couldn't be restored - gone completely - and a Ghost blogging platform that couldn't be installed. I had no blog.

That's when necessity kicked in, and things started changing drastically.

Since I couldn't restore the blog and I couldn't install Ghost, I had no more use for that domain server. I had to use the Linux/Unix server I'd already had a working copy of Ghost on.

This meant I needed to change some of the backend configuration of my domain to point to a different server.

You see, the domain of www.alansjourney.com sits on a server which has an IP (Internet Protocol) address, and the two entities are linked to allow you to access it. If I'm moving the domain to a different server, I have to re-associate the different IP address to the domain, changing the DNS (Domain Name System) settings.

So I did this, going through the backend administration of changing servers - essentially becoming my own host provider instead of using a commercial host provider - while also trying to configure the working Ghost installation that was originally a test, and make it into a 'production' version.

While the backend DNS changes were spreading out across the internet, from America and outwards to all the countries of the world, my blog was essentially unavailable. Because the change in server address was yet to reach various countries, they would find my blog as seemingly offline, since I'd deleted it. And I was having my fifth problem, which in the grand scheme of things, wasn't very minor compared to most of the other problems.

Because the DNS changes hadn't reached Australia, I was having to do all the configuration of my blog using its IP address instead of its domain (eg. 189.10.11.200 instead of www.alansjourney.com). It wasn't a big issue, it was just annoying.

So I managed to get the Ghost setup working with all my content from the old blog. I managed to find a theme that I really liked. I managed to work out how to modify that theme using text-editing via a Terminal that I was using to access the VPS and the blog config files. I managed to get all the important 'sidebar' links integrated into the theme/blog (you can see them to the left by clicking on the icon at top left), as well as the integration of Disqus for commenting, and do it so that all the old comments from the blog were still active on the new one. After all that, I managed to get everything working exactly as I wanted it to work.

In the space of 24 hours, I've had to cope with deleting a blog and finding it couldn't be restored, to becoming my own hosting provider and quickly learning how to change the DNS settings to a new server, to learning how to use the Linux server to deploy and manage my own self-hosted Linux-based blog. Successfully.

I finally had a happy Ghost blog!



I'd say that the past 24 hours has been both horrendously stressful and awesomely exciting, and that's why I love playing with and exploring software technology. It's awesome fun!

This blog theme is based on Medium.com, a new website for writers. (Thanks to the creator of this theme,http://ghostium.oswaldoacauan.com/)

I really like how the Medium.com website works, but they don't allow integration into your own domain, so at least this theme allows my blog to look and act somewhat similarly.

Today has been a good day!

(I'll be posting this tomorrow however, so when you read this, all this will have happened yesterday for you. :) I've already got today's blog post going out to email subscribers, and I want to try and keep the emails down to a single post per day. So until the Ghost developers implement scheduling, I'll have to do this manually with saving as a draft and then publishing it when I'm ready...)

An update on writing 1000 words every day

Writing 1000 words a day has been, to put it mildly, a struggle. It's because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist; I know I can't be PERFECT with my writing, but I always try to make it the best I think it can be. As a result, I spend more time on it than maybe I should, or I find it difficult to even find something interesting to write about in the first place.

I don't want it to be a stream of rubbish that has nothing of interest to anyone reading it, because ultimately, every bit of writing on this site is a reflection of me. I know that I'm going to be judged by whichever post a visitor happens to be reading. Whether it's about being anti-feminist, or about travel, politics, technology or just about life - it's sharing to the reader what my thoughts, feelings and beliefs are about those topics, and every article or post on this site is a window into my soul, into the very essence of who I am.

All readers will judge me on what they read. They'll judge me as knowing what I'm talking about, or not knowing. They'll judge me as being insightful or ignorant. They'll find interest in my writing, or they'll want to move on as fast as they can, to find something else more worthwhile for them.

One of my goals with writing is to become better. I WANT to be judged, but I also want feedback. I want people to tell me what they liked or didn't like about what they read; I want them to tell me what they want to see more of, or what they don't want to see. I want to know what part of my writing inspires people to do something more with their lives, or whether it just depresses or irritates them.

Writing 1000 words a day is part of that journey I'm on, to improve my ability to write, and to improve the content that I write.

But it's still a struggle. I know it's supposed to be. I know that if I burn through the struggle, it will become easier, and what I write will become more and more compelling over time. And that's what I'm counting on.

But in the meantime, I don't want to force you to navigate through all the rubbish of my mind, like this poor fellow:



Writing 1000 words a day is going to result in some of it being complete and utter rubbish. It won't make any sense, it won't be compelling, and it won't be interesting. Readers will read it and think to themselves, 'What the hell was he thinking?'

I'm not even sure I know how to let myself be happy with rubbish coming out of my fingers and onto the keyboard, into your mind. I'm not comfortable with you, the reader, receiving rubbish from me, the writer. I'm not comfortable with your judgements being negative, even though I know I can't please everyone all the time, so there's no point trying.

But still, I try.

506 words - that's how many I've written just now. I've reached the halfway point. Must keep going....

I didn't know when I started down this path of writing 1000 words a day what that actually meant. I found out after a week of doing it that 1000 words is actually 4 A4 pages of handwriting. Every day, I write 4-page essay about something.

Many people that try to do this, end up failing. End up giving up, or even shortening it. I did some research today about the different lengths of daily writing that people do, and that people recommend, and there's no real hard rules about it. Different people have different opinions about how much you should write every day.

Stephen King advocates 2000 words a day, but then he would - he doesn't do anything else with his time other than write.

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. - Stephen King

Hmmm... Maybe that's the point. You see, I do other things with my time during the day, and then struggle with 1000 words. Maybe if I did nothing else but write, then it would be a lot easier for me.

That's probably true with anything, don't you think? If you could focus on it all day and every day, then it would very quickly become something easier to do.

So part of my own struggle is in finding the discipline within myself to not only write 1000 words a day, but to also make sure I spend all day doing it.

When I was doing something similar last year - but without the 1000 word minimum - I was forcing myself to write any number of words every day, but on a single topic. Doing this without any breaks was difficult, and got boring. It wasn't interesting enough, and I couldn't think up how to write about the same topic day after day, in different ways.

At least with different topics, I can find some variety, mix it up occasionally, and keep things somewhat interesting.

Which leads me to the 1000 words....

One of the things I'm acutely aware of is that most readers don't have the time or the interest in reading four pages of content on a daily basis, especially if some of the topics are of little interest, or even offensive.

Yes, I know that some of what I write is offensive to some people, but I'd like to refer you back to my earlier comment about not trying to please everyone all the time!

So I'm thinking of dropping the word limit. Instead of 1000 words a day, I'm thinking that I should make it only 500 words a day as the minimum, with no maximum limit. So if I feel like writing 1000 words - or even 2000 words if they come easily enough - then I can. But otherwise, I'm just going to focus on a minimum of 500 words.

The reason? Simply to assist with my motivation.

I had a break yesterday, where I didn't publish anything overnight. I just felt like having a break. I didn't want to stress myself into writing 1000 words because I absolutely didn't feel like it. So I took a break, and got back into it again today.

So that's my update on writing 1000 words. I hope you enjoyed it, and understanding a bit more of the thinking behind my journey with this.

Also, if you have any tips that you would like to recommend, please don't hesitate in leaving a comment. I'm completely open to any tips you'd feel happy to give me!

Perpetual travelling while disabled

Back in March this year I wrote about why I want to be a perpetual traveller. I still want it, but since I wrote that post I've learned a lot about what's likely to be involved with perpetual travelling, in the context of my own capabilities. It's been an eye-opening period of research and understanding for me.

Because my back gives me problems, I can't walk for more than 5-10 minutes before I need to sit down and rest. Considering a lot of travellers end up walking for quite long distances, I need to take into account when planning my travels. I essentially need to drive everywhere, or be able to take some form of transport to my destinations.

That rules out a lot of different locations around the world. Places that the only way I can see them is if I walk to them. So I'm going to have to just enjoy seeing other people's photos of them instead.

But there's still a lot of places I can travel to, as long as I plan to avoid walking.

Shanghai, China



Back in 2011 I spent a couple weeks in Shanghai, China (I took the photo above). That was fantastic, I loved it. I saw a lot of the city without too much of a problem, day and night. It was hot, and I had to rest a lot, but we got around in taxis all the time, and a couple times on the subway. Having Fanfan as my partner, guide and translator really helped, that's for sure!

But the great thing is that I was able to travel around while disabled.

I want to see a lot more of China - Hong Kong, Beijing, and more of Shanghai. I want to see Guangzhou (Fanfan's home town), and Shenzhen. I want to see Japan too, and Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms. I want to see Thailand, Fiji, and Singapore. I want to see Canada and its forests and mountains and snow. I want to travel around Europe and see its various cultures and history and scenery.

I can do all this - as long as I don't walk everywhere!

But ensuring I cater to my back also means ensuring I cater to my back - not just with walking, but with accommodation too.

Over the Christmas and New Year period almost a year ago, I did a camping holiday for a couple weeks, seeing a lot of locations in Victoria and South Australia that I've always wanted to see (or see again).

The Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia



Isn't that a beautiful photo? Yes, but it was even more beautiful to be there, taking that photo. It's that kind of beauty that inspires me to go travelling around the country, and around the world.



For that holiday I did months worth of planning and preparation, researching the best way to go travelling and camping in a way that I thought I could handle. I ensured that I had an easy camping setup, with a tent that would be easy for my back, so that it wouldn't be a problem. I bought a '3 second tent' that would take just a few seconds to setup, and a few seconds to pack up when finished.

It was a lot of fun, as you can probably imagine from this picture.



Now, even though it was fun, and I really did love it - I didn't love how my back felt during the process.

See, the tent took 3 seconds to setup, but what they didn't talk about in the reviews was the process of attaching the lines from the tent to the pegs, and then hammering them into the ground.

It required me to crouch down or get on my knees to whack away at the pegs, and then get back up again to do the same to the next peg. After 5 minutes of doing this, my back was killing me!

Packing up the next morning wasn't too bad, but still, with my back and its weakness, it was still a pain in the ass that left it feeling sore.

And then there was the time we tried to find a camp site in the Coorong National Park. We went to a number of sites, but the sites were either too exposed to the wind and sand, or the ground was hard as a rock and covered with ants.

No sooner had I laid the groundsheet and walked back to the truck to get the tent, the groundsheet was absolutely covered in ants. Regardless of location. After spending a couple of hours trying to find a suitable site, I was over it.

From that point on, my body was telling me that I NEEDED to stay in hotels that didn't require me to kill my back on a daily basis.

So in the future, as I plan my holidays and my travels, I'm going to need to make sure that hotel accommodation is included in the plans. As much as I love camping, it's too much of a pain in the ass for me.

Of course, there are other options. Like pulling a long a caravan behind us as we travel around, dump it somewhere as a 'base camp', and then go off-roading nearby, knowing that there's a campsite to return to that doesn't need to kill my back with setting up a tent, etc.

But being able to afford a caravan is a long way away yet.

Something like this would be nice enough:



There are ways of becoming a perpetual traveller around Australia, with offroad vehicle and caravan, but they involve either having lots of money, or being able to earn money while travelling.

Since I don't have lots of money, my choice is to earn money while travelling.

So the caravan will need an internet connection. It's achievable with mobile phone connections acting as a data and wifi hotspot, but obviously not out in the middle of the outback.

It'd be a nice adventure though, and something to look forward to. Travelling around Australia, seeing the beautiful countryside, camping in a caravan that would be better for my back and our outback lifestyle than camping in a tent, and earning money along the way.

Maybe from writing about the adventure and taking photos of it.

A question for you

Would you pay a reasonable monthly subscription to receive updates of my travels and photos of the country? Including the occasional travels around the world?

I'm considering all kinds of options to help me travel, and having you, the interested reader, assist me by paying me for my writing is just one of those ways.

There'd be lots more articles like this, that's for sure. And lots less articles about feminism and other things that are meaningless in the context of life and the wonderful experiences it offers.

I'm excited just thinking about it. And that's why I want to do more than just think about it.

How to eliminate jealousy from relationships

Many people in relationships, both men and women, have huge issues with their partner having friendships with the opposite sex, often experiencing jealousy at the thought. If you're someone who often finds yourself suspicious or jealous about your partner's opposite-sex friends, then you might find this article helpful.

What do I mean by 'opposite-sex friends'? Well, if you're a man then you'd be jealous or suspicious of your partner spending time with other men, and if you're a woman then you'd be jealous of your partner spending time with other women.

This is because you know that intimate temptations can often arise from platonic friendships, and your own insecurity about yourself and the strength of your relationship will cause you to fear losing your partner to someone who you're afraid might be better than you. Even if you don't lose them, you fear they will cheat on you behind your back.

These fears can be incredibly debilitating. They can drive you insane! You can have so much fear and jealousy inside of you that it can make you do things which really screw up the relationship in ways you never really thought about.

So how you get around that?

For a start, you need to know you do not have the right to dictate who your partner can or can’t see.

It doesn't matter if you're a man telling your girlfriend or wife who they can or can't see, or a woman telling your boyfriend or husband the same. It's completely and absolutely wrong, and will only end up completely and absolutely destroying the relationship you have with them. Do you really think they're going to love and respect you when you treat them like a slave, and order them around?

Freedom is of utmost importance.

Your jealousy is based on insecurity, and your insecurity inspires you to try and create security through control. If you’re trying to defeat your jealousy by controlling your partner, then your relationship is headed for disaster.

Men and women who are insecure and jealous need to understand a very basic fact: attempting to control your relationship with another person only creates resentment in them towards you. This will lead to them leaving you, often to run away and be with the very person that you're jealous about, but only because your jealousy was pushing them away in the first place.

You see, being afraid of this happening often makes it happen, because your jealousy inspires you to control them, which only inspires them to run away.

In order to ensure your partner stays with you, you have to be willing to let them go.

Yes, it’s almost a paradox. How can you let someone go that you want to stay with you more than anything?

You can do this by understanding that you’re not in control, and you never should be, and that your partner has the right to leave you any time they choose, just like you have that same right to leave them.

It all depends on how satisfying the relationship is that they're having with you. If you're giving your partner everything they needs and want, then they're not going to look for someone else to give them what you're already giving. If you're denying them anything that they need or want, however, then they will look for them somewhere else.

Freedom is the absolute foundation of what you must give the person you love and care about.

If you give your wife the freedom to have friendships with other men, and you satisfy her in all the ways that are important to her, then she’s not going to want to stray across any boundaries. How can she stray across boundaries when the boundaries don’t exist? Why would she look for happiness elsewhere, when you're already making her happy?



If you give your husband the freedom to have friendships with other women, and you satisfy him in all the ways that are important to him, then he's not going to stray either. He'll know a good thing when he's got it, and he won't do anything to harm that.

Remember what I wrote above: your partner has the right to leave you any time they choose.

This is really important, because it helps you understand that they can leave you at any time. Stopping your girlfriend or wife from being friends with other men is only going to make her want to leave sooner. And stopping him from being friends with other women only makes it obvious to him that you are jealous, insecure, weak, and a control freak. Do you want your partner to end up disliking everything you stand for?

Your jealousy, insecurity and control issues are your issues, not your partners. And if you don’t get leave those issues behind, then your partner will get leave you behind.

You need to understand that you will keep your relationship longer if you are the best that you can be, whether you're a man or a woman. Don’t be the worst you can be - be the best.

And if you're a woman, don't think that attitudes of entitlement will get you what you want. You have to give him what he wants, for him to give you what you want. If you don't, he's going to decide to go find another woman who will.

Treat each other with respect, love and understanding, and expect the same thing in return. Treat your loved partner as you want to be treated by them, and make sure they understands this, so that they know what your own expectations are about the relationship.

You need to communicate with each other what your thoughts are about your life, and your relationship, about yourself and about him or her. Communicate the freedom you’re giving. Get them to talk with you about anything. Don’t make your partner afraid or cautious to discuss things with you, because you react badly when they do. Let them have the safety and reassurance that no matter what, you're there in this world with each other and you will support each other. Let them understand that you know you can’t be everything for them, but if there’s anything that they feel is lacking in the relationship, reassure them that they can talk about it with you.

Having your partner feel comfortable to talk about relationship issues with you only helps you see where and how you can improve your attitudes towards them and the relationship. If she feels the desire to be friends with other men, let her. If he has friendships with other women, don’t even ask about them, just let him share his life and friends with you as he sees fit. Be appreciative that there are people in your partner's life that are helping give them happiness, which is happiness you can share in. You can’t be everything to your partner, so stop trying, and stop demanding they try.

You have to trust your partner, and trust that they're not going to screw up a good thing by playing around with others behind your back. You have to trust that they're going to treat you as you want to be treated, and you have to show that by first treating them the same way.

Give the person you love the freedom to live the life that they wants to live, to share with you what they want to share, and to have the friends – of any gender – that they want to have. Appreciate a life shared, with someone who loves you, and who is loved by you.



If there are any men in her life acting like ‘predators’, she’ll reject them if she has your trust, understanding and acceptance. Any man who tells her they’re better than you, that she should be with them instead of you, are only going to be told where to go! How can they be better than you - or even a good man in the first place - when they’re trying to destroy her current relationship? They prove themselves to be assholes. You have to trust that she’ll make the right choice.

If there's any women in your man's life acting like sluts, he'll reject them if he has your trust, understanding and acceptance. Any woman who tells him they're better than you will get dropped from his social circles faster than you can imagine. There's no way he'll want to screw over his wonderful, loving relationship with you for some 'skanky ho' that proves she's a bitch by not respecting the relationship he has with you.

And if your partner doesn’t, then that’s also their choice, even if you think it’s the wrong one. If they decide to sleep with someone else and betray your trust, then they're telling you that they're not worthy of your trust. They're helping you develop a greater understanding about who they are, and you can make better choices as a result.

Giving them freedom is about letting them do what they feel they need to do, even if it’s to leave you or betray you. And if you’ve understood that they have the right to make these choices at any time, then you’ll let them go. You can move on with your life, thankful that you're not wasting your time with someone that doesn't deserve you.

Sure, you’ll be incredibly heartbroken, especially if you feel your trust and your love was betrayed, but you can’t be any better than the best that you can be, and if that’s just not enough, then they're not the right one for you.

Look for the person who will love you, respect you and appreciate the freedom and trust you give them, and who gives you the same in return. You can’t do any better than that.

How to achieve what you want in life

What holds most of us back from achieving our goals and dreams in our lives is fear. Fear of the unknown, of failure, of rejection, and even of success itself, because of a fear of the responsibilities that success would bring. Even though we might do our very best to bring about the things that we really want, we never get them. Why not? Because of our fears.

Here's some tips to help you recognize your fears and then get them out of the way, so that they can stop interfering with what you really want.

Understanding the whole package

First, imagine that what you want to have in your life is already in your life. Instead of thinking about it happening in the future, imagine that you're currently living it. Take a few minutes to imagine it and make it as real as possible.

If your intention is to have a nice house, then imagine living in it, right now. How does it feel? What are you doing in your new house? What are people saying to you now that you've got your new house? Take a few minutes to make this as real as possible. Imagine the smells, the colours, and the feelings.

Now consider the side effects of having your 'dream house'. How will it affect your health, finances, relationships, career and spiritual practices? How do others treat you now that you have it? In what ways does having it change you or those around you? Everything that changes causes changes around it, so try to imagine how having your new house causes change around you and even within you.

Don't make it idealistic, as that defeats the purpose of this exercise. Instead, imagine the most realistic scenarios you possibly can. Include what you know of the people around you, your health, your career, your finances, etc. How will you having your new house impact upon them? Everything we want to have in our life carries with it a lot of side effects, which we often fail to take into account.

If you spend at least 10 minutes doing this exercise, you'll quickly understand what else may result from achieving your desires. If the side effects of actually achieving your desires are unrealistic, then your intentions will fail, because deep down you know they're not going to happen.

To achieve our intentions in life, we need to understand and accept everything about them.

Discovering the fears that sabotage our intentions

When you start considering the side effects of your intentions, you'll notice some resistance. Some parts of what you visualise will seem fantastic, while others will be less than desirable. As an example, if your intention is to manifest that new house of your dreams even though you know that your spouse hates the kind of house you want, then you're going to feel some resistance about achieving it. This is because you want the house, but you don't want the side effects.

Anything undesirable that comes up in your considerations is a pointer to your fears. That's what you need to look at.

Using the example of a spouse that won't like your dream house, we can see that it's a fear of how you think they might react that could hold you back from achieving it. Even though you want the house with all your heart and soul, in the back of your mind might be the fear that your spouse is just going to hate it, and the consequences of that would be undesirable for you.

It's the fear of undesirable consequences that holds you back from achieving your desires, creating an internal conflict that results in you achieving nothing.

As you mentally explore the possible side effects of achieving your desires, make sure you note down those side effects that you resist, or which cause negative feelings in you. Anything that comes up as a possible negative aspect of achieving what you want in your life should be written down in a list. Write it down! This is so you have something substantial that you can work with over time, and which you won't forget.

It only needs one fear to keep you from achieving your intentions and your goals. Understanding what your fears are is an important step in moving past them and actually making achievements in your life.

Learning acceptance

In order to achieve the desires we have, we need to eliminate the fears that conflict with intentions behind the desires. When those fears are gone, the intentions will have nothing stopping them from being achieved. But if you don't address the fears, then it doesn't matter how much visualization you do or strength of will you have, you simply won't be able to achieve what you want.

One of the simplest ways of addressing your fears is to accept your fears. Turn the fears into a consequence and accept them as part of your life.

For example, if you accept that your spouse isn't going to like the house of your dreams, but at least it's much better than what you have now, then you've turned the fear into a consequence. The consequence of you living in your dream house is that it will be better than what you're in now, and your wife will probably appreciate (eventually?) that it's better than what you have.

A fear is an outcome you resist, while a consequence is an outcome you accept.

When you fear some of the side effects or consequences of actually achieving a desire, then you are effectively resisting the desire. There is a subconscious intention for you to to NOT achieve the desire, but if you can turn your fear into an acceptance instead, then that can allow you to actually achieve your desire and finally have it in your life.

If you aren't ready to accept those consequences, then you aren't ready to achieve those desires.

Work on each of your fears one by one, by acknowledging them as fears and then accepting them as consequences. Make a list and slowly work through that list, one by one. They might not be consequences that actually occur in your life, but if you accept them instead of resisting them, then you can create positive attitudes about them that will replace the fear.

The process of doing this does require a lot of very deep self-analysis, which might take some time. Don't expect overnight results. However, in order to move past those fears which are holding you back from achieving your desires, you do need to engage in these exercises.

Achieve what you want in your life by dealing with your fears. You'll never regret it.