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On Easter Bank Holiday Monday, I was interviewed on BBC London radio by Vanessa Feltz about my book ‘Instant Motivation‘.

Vanessa wanted to talk about stress and anxiety in the workplace and what helps us to deal with the everyday demands that life presents. It was a great conversation and we covered a lot of ground in a short space of time including; overwhelm and stress and the nature of habits and conditioned ways of thinking.

You can hear the radio show above and there’s also a link to the book if you want to learn more about the true nature of motivation.

Last week, Suzanne Redford and her co-host Jo McKibben interviewed  me about my book Instant Motivation on their radio show, Voices of Diversity on Dubai Eye radio.  I really enjoyed our conversation. We really delved into the nature of motivation and thought in our lives in terms of wellbeing and performance at work.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Want to feel instantly happier at work? Wish that people would stop being so irritating? Fed up of putting on your ‘game face’?

There are thousands of books dedicated to showing us how to be happy or fulfilled. But what if our obsession with happiness is what stops us from feeling happy? What if there’s a much easier way to feel great and do our best work?  click here to read the full article 

If you believe it’s external factors that alter how you feel at work, you should think again.

At the World Economic Forum this year, there were a record number of sessions about mental wellbeing. But despite our good intentions, there is a fundamental and widespread misperception about state of mind and its place in the work environment. Unfortunately, this generates a multitude of myths, which, when exposed and understood, will automatically clear up most of the problems and issues we face at work. Here are three of them.  To read the full article, click here

Bringing you my latest articles or news based on my  new book Instant Motivation.

Website:  ​Eventbrite blog

Article:  ​ ‘What’s Holding You Back? The Top 6 Motivation Myths’

A little taste from the article: 

“​It’s the start of a brand new year – time to kick-start those resolutions and make things happen! Maybe you need some motivation-boosting tips and tricks to get you started? Wrong! According to Chantal Burns, you already have everything you need to feel inspired and motivated. It’s just about a change in mindset.“​  Click here to read the whole article……

On the 2nd of January 2015 my book ‘Instant Motivation’ was published and I was thrilled when it was selected as WHSmith’s Non-Fiction Book of the Month. Then last week, after interviewing me about the book, The Irish Times published a piece in their Business Innovation section and I was glad to read the following:-

The market for self-help books aimed at those wishing to improve their performance and motivation at work is a crowded one. Those looking for quick-fix techniques are likely to be disappointed by one of the latest contributions to this genre by UK author Chantal Burns.

Click here to read the full article.  And I would love to know what you think so please post your comments below.

People often hunger for new and unfamiliar experiences.

Do you think you get bored easily or crave exciting or different things?

Do you want more variety or ever describe yourself as having a low boredom threshold?

The experience of new that most people crave or desire is a feeling and all feelings come from the same place – from our own thinking and the perceptions that thought creates. Thoughts of boredom create feelings of boredom.  Thoughts of wonder, create feelings of wonder.

And while it seems like the situation (something ‘out there’) is creating our thoughts and feelings of boredom, it isn’t.

I remember standing looking up at the beautiful and imposing sight of my local Abbey. I’ve admired this place many times. But on this particular day, it felt as if I was seeing it for the first time. I had what felt like a new sense of wonder and awe.

In that moment by the Abbey, I realised with absolute clarity that we are always creating the experience of new from the inside, via our own minds. And then it occurred to me that we are also creating the experience of old in the same way. And this has some fantastically helpful implications – especially if you’re a ‘newness’ junky.

Here are a few of them…

1) If the experience of ‘boring’ is purely a matter of perception and perspective, this means that something you’ve been perceiving as stale or boring can become fresh and interesting in a heartbeat. This includes your partner, colleagues, job or hobbies. Yes really!

When you notice how the mind is the architect of your perceptions and perspective, this recognition alone is enough to pull you into the present moment. And in the present moment, there is no old or new because old and new are ideas that we make up. That’s why you can feel bored in a situation that you’ve never encountered before and feel excited or interested in a situation you’ve encountered many times.

For example, have you ever watched the same film many times or read the same book more than once and still enjoyed it? Or perhaps you’ve visited the same place more than once and still found it fresh and exciting?

2) Things you may have written off as ‘past their sell by date’ may actually have plenty of life left in them after all. This includes your own ideas, a job, hobbies, places or people. There is always the potential to see something with new eyes or hear with new ears.

3) We can choose to give up the sometimes relentless and often exhausting pursuit of the next new and exciting thing. Instead, you can continue to enjoy what you have right now. Every moment is fresh and new – only our thinking makes it old.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t seek a thrill or try new things. I’m as partial to wanting new and exciting experiences as the next person. I’m just offering an alternative way to understand where the experience and feelings of new really comes from, so that you can have more of that feeling NOW without having to do anything different – i.e.,without changing your partner, job, furniture or hobbies.

Now wouldn’t that be a new experience?!

The pursuit of happiness is big business. There are thousands of books on how to be happy or stay happy. Even previous UK Prime Ministers have taken interest in measuring the happiness or wellbeing of UK citizens – taking inspiration from Bhutan where in 1972 they began to measure GNH – gross national happiness. Although their success in following through on this remains to be seen!

The intention of focusing on happiness and wellbeing is a good one. Everyone wants to feel good within themselves. We want to feel happy and know that those we love and care for are also happy or content. But there’s a downside to what is often a relentless pursuit of happiness so here is my take on it.

1) Life is a journey of bumpy roads, sharp corners and blind spots. That’s what makes it interesting and exciting. And as human beings, we are designed to experience a rich variety of feeling states. We can have a period of sadness that we may even find nourishing. For example the loss of a loved one and the feelings of appreciation for having them in our lives. At the same time, we may still consider ourselves to live in a general state of happiness or wellbeing.

2) The relentless quest to experience feelings of happiness or contentment can get in the way of being in the flow of life. We end up creating more of the feelings we don’t want simply by resisting the feelings we have in any moment. It’s our discomfort with our discomfort that keeps us stuck. The very act of resistance takes energy. It requires more thinking which creates more feelings. Can you see the Catch22 nature of this?

Having some insight into the nature of thought – recognising how all feelings are expressions of our thinking – allows us to move through all feeling states with more grace and ease. We can begin to have a different relationship with our emotions. We can see them for what they are. Insecurity isn’t a thing. It’s a thought which we turn into a thing.

3) As soon as we start to question how happy or content we are, we take ourselves out of the flow of life. The very act of checking and self monitoring moves us out of the moment and out of any nourishing feelings that we may be experiencing.

4) Happiness isn’t about more, different, better, easier, faster or slower. It’s not about accomplishments, status and other material things.
Happiness (as the ancient philosophers have been saying for millennia) is an inside job. It’s a state of mind that we can each experience effortlessly as we gain more understanding of the role and nature of thought.

Happiness and contentment are literally one thought away in any given moment. We innocently take ourselves out of our natural state of wellbeing when we innocently buy into thoughts that we’re not enough or that we need to be more or have more.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to have peace of mind and feel content within themselves.

Many books and teachings will have us believe that peace of mind or contentment are something we must strive for – that they are somehow the result of doing and achieving.

They are portrayed as rewards for accomplishing results in the world.

We grow up being taught that feelings like contentment, peace of mind and happiness are outside of us.

For many years, I believed that doing well at work, being successful and being a nice person would bring me contentment and peace of mind.

Every time I set my goals, I innocently attached my happiness and self worth to my achievement of them.

I subsequently spent years wondering why I never felt quite ’good enough’ or ’happy enough’. And for many years, I tried various personal development approaches to help me find that elusive ‘inner peace’ and contentment and then a few years ago, I had the realisation that all the feelings we yearn for, are much closer than we think.

Peace of mind isn’t a by-product of adding, achieving or accomplishing anything. It’s a process of deleting, of reducing the noise, of taking away what gets in the way and ignoring what isn’t relevant. And what gets in the way is our own thinking.

Contentment with ourselves and with life, is what’s already there inside you when you stop thinking that you’re not enough or that you need to be more, have more or achieve more.

Peace of mind is what’s always there behind those thoughts of inadequacy and self doubt.

The ability to feel peaceful, happy or content is effortless. It’s simply a matter of seeing all the thinking we engage with and the ideas about ourselves that we’ve innocently been holding on to that keep us from feeling great and enjoying life unconditionally.

And the best thing is that we don’t have to engage with our conditioned and habitual ways of thinking. We don’t have to listen to the insecurity and self doubt. It’s just passing weather and behind it is pure blue sky. That blue sky is your natural wellbeing and whilst we are constantly being told otherwise, it isn’t dependent on any accomplishments or achievements. It travels with you and it provides everything you need to achieve optimal success and fulfilment at work and at home.