CREATING  YOUR  OWN

REVOLUTIONARY LIFE IN 2013By  Alicia  Curtis

WANT  TO  LIVE  YOUR  MOST  REVOLUTIONARY  LIFE?

The world needs Revolutionaries to challenge the way we live and ensure a

better future. The world needs you!

Revolutionary living is about aspiring to be a better human being. It’s about

living in alignment with your values, strengths and goals. Having the courage to

move away from the external influences of the media, societal trends and

other’s needs, wants and pressures, to live a life for the benefit of humanity.

Revolutionary living is about making a contribution to the wider community,

however small. It’s about being a global citizen and acknowledging your

responsibility to contribute to our world.

This guide will help you plan your most revolutionary year yet - have fun with it.

Viva la revolution,

Alicia

www.revolutionarylives.com

“Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all have a choice to be either accomplices

in the status quo or everyday revolutionaries.

We have a choice whether to succumb to the cultural trance, eat fast food, and

race by each other in the night, or to build lives of caring, substance and healing.

So much depends on that choice.”

John Robbins, Author of Healthy at 100

Designing your Revolutionary Life

12 activities to design and create your revolutionary life!

1. Practice gratitude

2. Challenge success

3. Identify your highest self

4. Daily rituals for daily success

5. Inspirational me

6. Practice your strengths

7. Ignite your relationships

8. Wellbeing is wealth

9. Willpower to act

10. Community contributions

11. Life adventures

12. Manifesto making

1. Practice Gratitude

“Gratitude is not only an emotion, felt when receiving a benefit

gladly, but it is also a stance toward life.”Robert  Emmons,  Author  of  Thanks

Gratitude is a stance toward life! I want my gratitude for life to colour my whole

existence! Gratitude has even been scientifically proven to make you happier!

Abraham Maslow recognised that “Self-actualizing people have the wonderful capacity

to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe,

pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may have

become to others.” When you have this disposition, you see opportunities, develop

meaningful connections with others and discover what is truly possible.

Revolutionaries look for what’s good in their life and this drowns out society’s feelings

of entitlement, depression and scarcity. Instead, gratitude encourages moral behaviour

like helping others. Change your mindset this year to focus on what you can be

grateful for! Appreciate! Appreciate! Appreciate!

1. ACTIONPractice Gratitude

JOURNAL:

What were you grateful for in 2012?

What were your favourite times and achievements during 2012?

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Who has impacted your life? And when was the last time you told them?

How often to write or express what you are grateful for?

ACTIVITY:

Start a gratitude journal in 2013 and track all the wonderful things you have to be

grateful for this year. You can do it daily or weekly. It can be really small things in your

day to big achievements. You could also ponder on different aspects of your life - who

are you most grateful to have met? What do I have to be grateful for living in Australia?

What experiences am I grateful for experiencing this month? Martin Seligman

recommends a similar activity where you ask yourself “What went well day and why?”

which is a wonderful way to reflect on your day before going to bed!

Write a gratitude letter to someone who has influenced your life and if possible, meet

with that person to read out your letter to them personally. This activity is

recommended in Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness. She notes to describe in

detail what they did for you and how often you remember their efforts.

READ:

Annual  Gratitude  ActivitySoaking  up  the  Solitude

Gratitude  helps  you  see  the  world  in  all  it’s  wonder,  beauty  and  mystery.  There  is  much  to  be  grateful  for  

when  you  seek  it.  

2. Challenge Success “Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness:

which is more valuable? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is

nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”Lao-­‐tzu,  The  Tao  te  Ching

Where do you look for success and happiness? Do you look for it in material

possessions, money, fame or in others? Edward Deci in Why We Do What We Do

shares that focusing on intrinsic aspirations like personal growth, family and community

contributions makes us healthier, happier and more content.

Are you looking for success inside or outside of yourself? Make this the year where you

seek love, approval and appreciation from your own personal satisfaction. Connect with

what truly matters in life and let that guide the way!

2. ACTIONChallenge Success

JOURNAL:

What does success mean to you?

Where do you seek success?

Are your definitions of success or your goals focused on extrinsic or intrinsic values?

ACTIVITY:

When we truly challenge what success means, it can open us up to focus on the

important issues of life. The world needs Revolutionaries who focus on more than

wealth, fame, material possessions and skin-deep beauty. We need Revolutionaries

who role model a deeper sense of what’s important. Firstly assess your own goals, are

you predominately focused on extrinsic goals that keep you depressed, anxious and

feeling like it’s never enough? The best way to change focus is to think about the

question “How can I use my greatest gifts in greatest service to the world?.”

In Marc and Craig Kielburger’s book Me to We they suggest with every decision or

personal goal ask yourself “How will this choice affect me and my family? What impact

will it have on the community and the world? How will it affect future generations?.”

This is a powerful methodology for assessing what’s good to strive for!

READ:

How  you  can  have  your  most  revolutionary  year  yetLiving  Life  according  to  your  valuesMaking  the  World  a  Happier  Place

3. Connect with your highest self

“The highest goal is simply to be in this experience of connection

or truth all the time. That remains a goal, of course, because this is something you spend a lifetime working towards rather than

attaining. But your commitment motivates, inspires and guides your journey, and gives you more and more time in this

state of connection”Michael  Ray,  Author  of  The  Highest  Goal

Instead of focusing your goal-setting on what you want to do or have, reflect on the

person you want to be in 2013. What qualities do you want to be known for?

Now imagine yourself living those qualities and being driven everyday by your values,

being disciplined in all your good habits, happy, grateful and giving your strengths in

service to the world every day. Imagine this person...this is your highest self.

What’s just one thing you can practice in the new year that moves you closer to your

highest self? Go one step further and encourage others to live their highest selves too.

Encourage good habits, practice intrinsic values, be grateful and encourage others to

share their talents.

3. ACTIONConnect with your highest self

JOURNAL:

What does your highest self look like? Really clarify this for yourself.

What’s one thing you can practice in the new year to move you closer to your highest

self?

ACTIVITY:

Ok, so you’ve challenged your notion of what success really in the previous point. This

is important because this will be your biggest obstacle to living your highest self

because we are so conditioned to go for the fame, fortune, status and material wealth

that it clouds the true vision of who we can be. Take time to unplug and move away

from the craziness of the world often and connect into your true values, strengths and

goals. Then work on how you can put them into action every single day.

Sonja Lyubomirsky in The How of Happiness describes an activity called the Best

Selves Diary. Give yourself 30 minutes to imagine your ideal life in 1, 5 or 10 years time.

This activity is about visualising your life if it turned out exactly the way you wanted -

your ideal life. This activity has been shown to enhance wellbeing and optimism. It’s

also another way to tap into your highest self!

READ:

Are  you  living  the  highest  version  of  you?Giving  up  being  BusyTime  for  Deep  Thought

The  Revolutionary  in  you  is  not  discovered.  It’s  created  through  your  everyday  actions  and  

through  your  courage  to  share  your  talents  with  the  world.  

4. Daily rituals for daily success

“You will never change your life until you change something you do

daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”

John  C.  Maxwell

Think of one ritual that you could practice daily that would improve your life. It could be

exercise, kindness, meditation, gratitude, journalling or drinking more water every day.

Make it fun to pursue your daily ritual - put a calendar on the fridge that follows your

commitment, get a friend involved, blog about it - anything that keeps you committed

to your daily ritual for success.

If you get to February and you’ve dropped your ritual already - start again! Recommit

every month! Everyone fails, revolutionaries recommit to their highest goals and rituals

again and again and again.

4. ACTIONDaily rituals for daily success

JOURNAL:

What daily ritual can you practice that would impact your life the most?

How can you make your daily rituals fun to pursue?

What daily rituals could you practice that would contribute to achieving an important

goal for yourself?

ACTIVITY:

Let’s ritualise our ideal life. For many people, mornings can be the most powerful time

in the day as our self control is at it’s highest. With that in mind, what activities could

you include in a morning ritual? Instead of hitting the snooze button, racing out the

house without breakfast and grabbing a coffee before work, what could be the most

empowered way that you spend your mornings? But don’t just leave it to the mornings,

what lunch-time rituals could you set up? What about an evening ritual? This is your

ideal life - fill it with activities that bring you joy and happiness.

READ:

My  Split  with  Social  MediaLife’s  too  short  not  to  have  a  good  day20  Unconventional  Work  IdeasWake  up  -­‐  Are  your  habits  holding  you  back?

5. Inspirational me

“To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best,

night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight;

and never stop fighting.”E.E  Cummings

What inspires and energizes you? For me, it’s getting up early and working on my

creative projects. It’s enjoying different forms of exercise like an early morning walk,

dancing or yoga. It’s having a clutter free office filled with books, photos and creative

materials.

What can you do regularly to fill your inspiration reserves? The famous author, Zig Ziglar

once said “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing -

that’s why we recommend it daily”.

Think about what you allow into your mind, whether it’s the news broadcast every day

both in the morning and at night, radio programs that cater for the lowest common

denominator or even a work colleague that complains all the time. Replace a negative

influence like checking your phone first thing in the morning with an inspirational

influence like playing your favourite piece of music, listening to a TED video or reading

a book. Think of activities and influences to build your energies not sap them.

5. ACTIONInspirational me

JOURNAL:

What really and truly inspires you?

When was the last time you felt buzzed!? What were you doing?

What negative influences could you replace in your everyday life?

ACTIVITY:

Sonja Lyubomirsky in The How of Happiness shares a number of activities to live in the

present moment and savor life’s joys. Here are a couple activities to practice:

Enjoy the Mundane: Think of ways that you can relish everyday activities such as

eating, cleaning, washing or driving home after work. For example, you could set

up candles on the dinner table as you eat your meal, think of 5 things you are

grateful for when you are brushing your teeth, buy yourself a nice soap to use in

the shower or listen to a podcast on the way home from work!

Relive happy memories: Remind yourself of a happy time, memory or event that

happened in your life. Gather photos or souvenirs that will help you remember it

and spend some time reminiscing about it.

See the beauty and excellence around you: Take a moment to acknowledge the

beauty or display of talent, genius or virtue. Luxuriate in the sight, smell, sound,

taste or touch of these things.

READ:

When  you  don’t  even  have  the  motivation  to  get  motivatedTo  write  or  not  to  write,  that  is  the  question!Why  my  dog  is  my  Happiness  Guru

Living  an  inspired  life  starts  with  small  inspired  acts  everyday.

What’s  yours?  

6. Practice your Strengths

“A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a

little courage.”Sydney  Smith

Will 2013 be the year where you find the courage to share your strengths with the

world? Make it a year where you identify and regularly practice and utilise your

strengths.

A key part of living your highest self is using your strengths every day. How can you

practice your strengths deeply and deliberately? As mentioned in books such as The

Talent Code and Talent is Overrated, we need to deeply and deliberately practice our

strengths by finding mentors, moving out of our comfort zones and focusing on the

smallest improvements.

Practicing your strengths makes you feel strong and happy! Martin Seligman has proven

that those who practice their strengths regularly have greater wellbeing and life

satisfaction. So you win as well as the world by putting your strengths into action!

Make 2013 the year of deep and deliberate practice of your strengths.

6. ACTIONPractice your Strengths

JOURNAL:

Can you acknowledge your own strengths quickly and easily? If not, you have some

work to do, it’s time to give this serious thought and journalling!

How do you utilise your strengths in everyday life?

How can you develop mastery in your areas of strengths?

ACTIVITY:

You can identify your strengths in a number of ways - personal assessment or through

a strength assessment tool such as the Virtues in Action (VIA) Character Strengths test

at the Authentic Happiness website. Once you’ve identified your strengths, Martin

Seligman recommends the best thing to do is to create a new way of using your

strength. Then reflect on the activity - how did you feel, was it engaging, challenging

and did time pass quickly?

We often think that we are not amazing and we have nothing to give to the world, but

other people, wow, they are amazing. This feeling holds us back. Derek Sivers came up

with a great video that you can watch on youtube which is an outtake from his book

‘Anything You Want’. The video reminds us what is obvious to you is often amazing to

others. What are you holding back from sharing because it seems obvious to you? You

may be denying the world from your unique perspective that could influence others for

the better. Free your ideas and strengths and share them with the world!

READ:

Best  way  to  plan  for  2013

7. Ignite your Relationships “Self-actualizing people have a deep feeling of identification,

sympathy, and affection for human beings in general. They feel kinship and connection, as if all people were

members of a single family.”Abraham  Maslow,  Author  of  MoFvaFon  and  Personality

Take a moment think about the important people in your life. Who are they? How do you

appreciate them? How can you go above and beyond this year to foster and ignite the

relationships that are important to you?

* What goals do your loved ones have in 2013?

* How can you be more kind and loving?

* When was the last time you told people who you appreciate what they mean to you?

* How can you practice your listening skills?

* How can you have more fun with your loved ones?

7. ACTIONIgnite your Relationships

JOURNAL:

Which relationships mean the most to you?

How can you strengthen the relationships with loved ones and friends?

ACTIVITY:

Here are a couple of inspiring activities to try with your family and friends:

Ritualise Time: Do you have a weekly or monthly ritual to spend time with friends or

family. It could be cooking a meal for your grandparents once a month or spending the

last Friday of the month seeing a movie with friends. Set up a time and activity to have

fun with your loved ones.

Watch What you Say: John Gottman, a well known marriage researcher, found that

happy relationships can be easily spotted simply by the ratio of positive to negative

affects being 5:1. How can you increase the positive exchanges between you and your

partner or friends.

Connect to the Disconnected: How you can reach out to someone either in your

family, friends group or even the broader community? Unfortunately there are so many

people that feel alone and isolated. How can we as Revolutionaries reach out to the

disconnected and make them feel important?

Work Relationships: How can you improve the relationships in your place of work? How

can you role model good relationships with the people that you work with? Let’s get rid

of bullying, ego-talk and unnecessary negativity and make our workplaces ones of

encouragement, kindness and lifting people up to achieve their best!

READ:

Sharing  the  World  Peacefully  -­‐  We  are  all  HumanRevolution  in  Kindness

Propel  and  ignite  your  relationships  with  the  spirit  of  kindness.  

8. Wellbeing is wealth

“The more we bring our individual lives into alignment with the

whole of existence, the more we feel nourished and at peace.”Joshua  Rosenthal,  Author  of  IntegraFve  NutriFon

Wellbeing is much more than what you eat and your exercise, although they are key

too! Yet it also encompasses your mental health, your friendships, relaxation, your

hobbies and more.

Dan Buettner, in The Blue Zone explored the habits of the longest living people around

the world including the Okinawans in Japan, Sardinians in Italy and Nicoyans in Costa

Rica. Interestingly they found nine characteristics that were similar to all these

communities. These characteristics included moving naturally, relaxing, eating a plant-

based diet, putting family first and belonging to a community. Many of these

characteristics are centred around our wellbeing. What does that tell you?

Think of wellbeing as a way to re-energise, rejunevate and replenish your body and

soul. It’s compassion of the highest kind - self compassion!

8. ACTIONWellbeing is wealth

JOURNAL:

What does wellbeing mean to you?

How can 2013 be the year where you become your healthiest self?

What can you do to improve your wellbeing today?

ACTIVITY:

With the Western world leading the need for mental health services as well as dying

from obesity related diseases, as Revolutionaries it is vital, for our society as well as

our own health, self discipline and productivity, to focus on prioritising our wellbeing.

Brainstorm ways to integrate wellbeing practices into your life everyday:

• Commit to incidental exercise - take the stairs, park away from the shopping

centre (there’s always a park!), take the dog for a walk, walk with friends instead

of going for a coffee.

• Try a new recipe every week. Food blogs can be a wonderful inspiration.

• Join a new group - meditation, dance, yoga, cooking

• Treat yourself to a wellbeing retreat.

• Set a challenge for yourself - participate in a 10K run.

• Journal every night

READ:

My  Movement  PhilosophyMy  Food  PhilosophyChallenging  your  eating  assumptionsWalking  AppointmentsMy  Meditation  Metamorphosis

9. Willpower to act

“People who have better control of their attention, emotions and

actions are better off almost any way you look at it. They are happier and healthier. Their relationships are more satisfying and last longer. They make more money and go further in their

careers. They are better able to manage stress, deal with conflict and overcome adversity. They even live longer. If we want to

improve our lives, willpower is not a bad place to start.”Kelly  McGonigal

Do you control your habits or do your habits control you?

Self control, discipline, willpower - whatever you call it, Revolutionaries need it.

Anything worth achieving requires willpower and willpower is like a muscle in the body,

we need to work to strengthen it. Kelly McGonigal in her book, The Willpower Instinct,

notes a number of activities to strengthen your willpower such as meditation, slow

breathing, exercise, self compassion, reducing the variability of our behaviour everyday

and making a pre-commitment today.

Are you ready to pre-commit today to the habits that will impact your life the most in

2013? Take away all other options and give ourselves only one option to succeed! Let

2013 be the year to develop our willpower and strive to be our highest selves.

9. ACTIONWillpower to act

JOURNAL:

Could your willpower be better?

What activities are most important to you to practice and require willpower?

Are you willing to working on building your willpower?

ACTIVITY:

How do you develop the self discipline to achieve what you want in life? Kelly

McGonigal in her book, The Willpower Instinct said the two best ways to build your

willpower are:

Meditation: “Neuroscientists have discovered that when you ask the brain to

meditate, it gets better not just at meditating, but at a wide range of self control

skills including attention, focus, stress management, impulse control and self

awareness.” Kelly McGonigal goes on to say that even if you are ‘bad’ (meaning

you’re always distracted) at meditation, it’s exactly what you need to be doing as

it will help you in real life when your mind wanders from what you should be

focusing on!

Physical Exercise: “The willpower miracle is physical exercise. A 2010 analysis of

ten different students found that the biggest mood-boosting, stress-busting

effects came from five-minute doses of exercise, not hour-long sessions.

There’s a lot of potential good in committing to just a five-minute walk around the

block”. She also mentions the added benefit of green exercise where you get

outdoors.

READ:

Don’t  get  sucked  into  the  sensationalism

Take  off  the  masks  of  fear,  fitting  in  and  impressing  others  and  live  life  according  to  your  own  values.  

10. Community Contributions “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful,

honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. This is to have succeeded.”

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  

You have the power to create positive change in the world and the world needs you.

We must all “rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the

broader concerns of all of humanity’ as Martin Luthor King once said.

Start small. What’s the number one thing you would like to see improved in your local

community? Is it building a community garden, spending time with the elderly, sharing

your knowledge with a young person or volunteering at the local animal refuge. Could

you volunteer your professional skills to a community organisation?

Devote time in 2013 to helping others.

10. ACTIONCommunity Contributions

JOURNAL:

How can you serve your community?

What’s a cause bigger than yourself that means something to you?

Who can you get involved to help with you? Volunteering is a lot of fun with friends.

ACTIVITY:

There are so many ways to serve your community, here are some ideas to get you

started:

Serve your family first: Commit to your family whether it’s caring for your partner,

children, parents or grandparents. Maybe you could engage these people and do

something in the community all together!

Think Local: Share in a local community volunteering activity. There are many

organisations that can link you with worthwhile causes. Do some research and choose

something that appeals to your heart.

Think Global: Once you get involved in a local activity, perhaps it’s part of a wider,

global movement or organisation. Step up and join the state or national committee or

attend the global conference. This will give you greater insight into the cause as well as

meet other inspiring people.

READ:

10  Simple  Ways  to  make  a  differenceBeing  uncool  and  making  a  difference

11. Life Adventures

“The basic story of the hero journey involves giving up where you

are, going into the realm of adventure, coming to some kind of symbolically rendered realisation, and then returning to the field

of normal life”Joseph  Campbell,  Author  of  Pathways  to  Bliss

What’s your hero’s journey for 2013? What adventure will take you out of your comfort

zone, challenge you, then deliver you back to reality with a renewed sense of what life’s

truly about?

What adventure will stretch and challenge you in the new year? Maybe it’s learning a

new skill, creating a goals group with your friends or exploring a new place (doesn’t

even have to be far from your own house!). Life is an experiment - try new things!

You only have one life - live it well!

11. ACTIONLife Adventures

JOURNAL:

What personal adventures would you like to go on in 2013?

What would stretch you out of your comfort zone this year?

ACTIVITY:

Life adventures are not always about grand trips overseas or daring personal feats

however they can be! Although how can you make even the mundane, normal and

boring tasks that you have to do in life into great, mystical life adventures? What

adventures can you have at your local park, in your kitchen or with a loved one? Could

it be running 1500kms in 2013? Trying a new recipe once a week? Or having date night

once a week or month with your partner?

Perhaps it’s doing something you never thought you would do like trying a new hobby,

attending a new networking event or conference or contacting someone that you

admire.

Be a tourist in your own city and visit the museums, art galleries, parks and beaches.

Get out and do something! Be adventurous!

READ:

Are  you  challenging  yourself  this  year?  How  you  can  have  your  most  revolutionary  year  yet!Make  this  week  different

What’s  your  own  hero’s  journey  going  to  be?  What  dragons  will  you  slay?  What  mountains  will  you  climb?  

What  will  you  learn  about  yourself?  

12. Manifesto Making

That which transforms your life is what you practice. And what you practice constitutes your personal laws of life—not what you merely believe in, but what you practice. It’s all well and good to read books, and to attend seminars, lectures, and workshops, and to say, ‘Oh, that really resonates with me! It’s now part of my life’s philosophy.’ Your philosophy may give you a temporary state of euphoria, but if you want to be anchored in reality, it takes practice, practice, practice. We are not here to be euphoric but

to get free. Rudimentary spirituality is theory; advanced spirituality is practice.”

Michael  Beckwith,  Author  of  Spiritual  LiberaFon

From all this reflection, what are your personal laws of life? Describe and clarify this in

your own manifesto. Your manifesto is what you are committing to in 2013. What

practices do you declare are important to you, declare to practice every day and

declare that the world needs?

man·i·fes·to : a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or

views of its issuer

Your manifesto may answer some of the following questions:

• What’s most important to you? The qualities you want to embody?

• What consistent action do you need to practice?

• What does the world need?

Your manifesto will guide your year and remind you of what’s important.

some inspiration...

“Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us.

The revolution that will save the world

is ultimately a personal one. ”Marianne Williamson

THANKS  FOR  READING...

It shows great commitment to get to this end of this ebook. Well done! Now

the real journey begins when you live your most revolutionary life. If I can

assist in any way, please let me know by sending an email to

alicia@aliciacurtis.com

Want to be accountable? I would love to see your manifesto and if you would

like to share it with me, I would encourage you to email it to me to the address

above.

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Alicia Curtis

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Make your life revolutionary