Left foot...right foot...

No I'm not joining the army...well unless it's the army of people doing their best to follow their life purpose!

Ahem, that was a bad joke...at any rate, I watched a great YouTube clip this morning by Doreen Virtue which hit the nail on the head for me in so many ways!

So if you'd like to watch it first, then here it is...or just scroll down...



Doreen kicks off with this cracking quote from Sheldon Kopp...

I've never begun any important venture, for which I felt adequately prepared.

Booya.

This is a great segway into what in part has been hiding underneath the crab shell.

In short, I realised a couple of weeks ago that I've been a big, fat fraud! Well that's what I felt like anyway.

People would say to me 'how's study going?'...to which I'd reply 'well I'm getting there.' Which is French for 'I haven't actually opened my book or listened to a lecture since last year.'

Or they'd say 'it's so great that you're following your passion - good on you.'

And I was thinking - yep it's great. I like my job and I know where I want to go, and get super excited at the thought of it...but...

I have no idea what I'm doing!

Should I be studying? Am I doing the right course? Should I be doing more? How can I...? What if...? How do I get to...?

So instead of taking it one step at a time, I decided to stand still and wait for someone to come along with a lovely set of instructions which tell me what all of the steps are that will take me from where I am today, to fulfilling my life purpose.

I've been looking left and right for a while - but no cigar, the bus with the person on it who's giving me all of the answers in one neat little package isn't anywhere to be seen!!!

At any rate, all is definitely not lost.

While I haven't been doing any of my Cert IV this year (or Advanced Diploma, depending on how far I end up going with it!), I've been doing a world of learning in my own life!! All of which will be great for my future work.

And boy have I learnt a lot in the last couple of weeks since taking the shell off and saying 'HELP ME - I'M STUCK!!!'

In addition to some great, honest conversations with family and friends, one of the best things to happen has been my Skype session with Dr Susan Bernstein - aka a Career Reinvention Expert

(I won an hour session with her - just when I needed it! Worth over $300 just quietly!)

I asked Susan how I could move forward, and one of the first things she recommended I do was take some beautiful pens, and beautiful paper - and write down what I want to do. So that I've got it all in one place, and I can start ticking things off one at a time - starting with the easiest first!

Oh - why didn't I think of that?

I said to Susan that I've got it all written down, just in various places.

So I started by trawling through my journals and brainstorming last week...because there's more than one thing so it's not a quick excercise!

Once again, I'd definitely recommend Susan's Reinvent your Role course - it's fabulous for getting more out of your job now, and figuring out moreseo what you want.

Something that has jumped out to me from the YouTube clip as I'm typing...

Every dream can be broken down into small steps.

And I'd add that I only need to take those steps one at a time.

Something I've been forgetting about a bit of lately...yes I've definitely been showing my Generation Y'ness - I want it, and I want it all now!!!

Another bit that's jumped out...

Often people are looking for someone else to give them permission or validation to follow their purpose.

Yep, I think I've fallen into that category of late. Because I'm doing something that's "different" - so I've been on the seesaw of wanting to just fly under the radar, to being ready to explode with excitement!

So here goes...

• I give myself permission to be me...and I'm perfect just as I am!
• I give myself permission to do what feels right to me.
• I give myself permission to follow my dreams.
• I give myself permission to feel the fear...AND DO IT ANYWAY!!!
• I give myself permission to do this one step at a time...just one...then the next one.
• I give myself permission to fail.
• I give myself permission to move forward.
• I give myself permission to ask for help.
• I give myself permission to make mistakes.
• I give myself permission to be confused!
• I give myself permission to not have it all mapped out.
• I give myself permission to have faith.
• I give myself permission to succeed.
• I give myself permission to have fun with it!

Doreen's signoff, which I love...

If you're dreaming it - you can do it.

Yes I'm still a little scared, but that's not going to stop me. Woohoo - it's time to rock and roll!

It's child's play...

Tonight I jumped on the trampoline...in the dark...and it was great fun!

This came off the back of a chat with my wonderful Naturopath (not to mention a card I pulled yesterday, and one from Kylie a while back!) who suggested I do one simple thing...

Play more!!!

As I've mentioned before (and I'm pretty sure you can pick this up), I can often get caught up in the 'seriousness' of my life...and forget to go and play at recess and lunch!

So as I walked home past my primary school to my childhood home, I was thinking of all of the stuff I loved doing as a kid...

and I knew that the trambopoline was on the cards for me tonight!

If you haven't done so before, it's great fun reflecting on what you loved as a kid. It's amazing what you can remember when you get started...and how much you miss some things!

In her book 'You Are Inspired', BelindaGrace has a great activity called 'Letting your childhood dreams inspire you", which essentially goes like this...

1. Write down things you can remember loving as a child - no matter how silly they might seem.
2. Take action! Choose one thing you loved doing and find a way this week to bring the feeling back into your adult life.
3. Keep in mind - it can be in a small way! If you always wanted to climb a mountain, 
4. It's a great way to bring more meaning into your working life - as BelindaGrace says "if you can't turn your newly revived passion into a career or a business, then your existing work becomes a means to fulfilling that end."

So here's my list...as a kid, I loved...

• Melting chocolate in the microwave and eating it - thanks Jess for putting me onto that one!
• Sleep overs
• Playing UNO with 40 cards each (at least 40!)
• Christmas morning
• Netball
• Singing
• Magic
• Collecting things...soaps...stamps...
• Laughing until I cried, hiccuped or snorted Milo out of my nose!
• Climbing
• Exploring
• Coloured pens
• Using shading cloths and sandpaper to decorate
• Fags (the lollies that is)
• Jumping on the trampoline for hours
• Camping
• The Chocolate Game
• Pass the parcel
• Going to parties!
• Reading
• Dress ups
• Puzzles - particularly logic ones
• Gymnastics

I think this week, my action will be buying some pretty pens!!

Have fun writing your list! And if you're feeling brave...I invite you to share right here...

Ignore the crazy eyes - but this is me tonight in front of my trampoline!

I'm not the only one...

By the way - a quick add-on to "The plot thickens" where it suddenly dawned on me that I'd completely forgotten the most important part about affirmations...

I was listening to Hayhouse radio on the way home yesterday when the guest at the time said...

"You can't stop at an affirmation - you have to take action to change the behaviour.

 That's the step that everyone forgets.

It took me 20 years to figure that out - I was the affirmation queen!"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just laughed as I scribbled it down at the stop light - and thought yay for me, I'm so glad it didn't take me 20 years!!

Now the trick is to keep remembering!!! Well as they say - repetition always helps, so here goes...

I'm excited and inspired!

And I just wanted to share that!

It seems like my blogs for a while have been all about fixing something that's wrong or me feeling like a sad sack.

Well at the moment - I am literally buzzing with energy! 

I've had a great morning so far - yummy, healthy breakfast, yoga outside in the breeze (or winds of change I was thinking!!) and beautiful sunshine, caught the last part of a Sonia Choquette live call (I love her!), brainstormed about how I can create a better work/life balance...and it's only 11.11!

So what's inspiring me...

Change is in the air!

• My kerplunk-a-thon has brought up a bunch of stuff that I can work and change - for the better!
• And the best part is - I'm really ready to change and take action!

New beginnings are here...

• Like I said - I've been brainstorming about how best to balance work and life, and I'm looking forward to putting that into place shortly.
• I've also been brainstorming about what it is that I want to do...with my career, Live.Love.Grow., life in general - and that's so much fun! No quicker way to amp yourself up than to spend 10-15 minutes focused purely on what you love doing and things that make you happy!

I'm surrounded by fantastic support!

• Be it my ever loving and supportive husband Nathan who is always there for me and helps me no end!
• My fantastic circle of friends who are always ready and willing to listen to me ramble without judgment and offer great advice!
• The McEachen famblee who let me be me and are only a phone call / email / car trip or plane flight away!
• Hayhouse Radio - boy has it given me some great and timely advice of late!
• Not to mention Divine guidance, there's been a stack of that of late too!

I'm on the path to living my life purpose 

• I'm literally busting with ideas at the moment, and one of my goals at the moment is bringing it all together into one spot - one of the fun tasks I've got today.
• Then it's all about picking the things I want to do and taking it one exciting or challenging step at a time.
• Yes I'm a little bit afraid - but I'm also filled with excitement about putting my hand up and saying 'yep, I'm ready to do this...I'm ready to be different...make that I'm ready to be ME'!

We're making our house, our home...

• In the last week, we've pulled down the pergola and cut down a couple of trees, so it's aloha backyard and brand spanking new verandah that is coming soon (good thing we know someone who can put it up!)
• Not to mention putting the primer on the walls so it's bye bye big bird (I know you loved the yellow walls Mum, but it's time for a change - he he!!)

So it's all happiness, flowers, sunshine, butterflies, lady bugs and rainbows here!!!

I Googled rainbows and got this - pretty close I think to summing this sentiment up perfectly don't you think!

Love to you all!

The plot thickens...

Wow...what a day...what a weekend...what a fortnight!! 

The lessons and kerplunk moments are coming thick and fast for me at the moment (you know the ones when the penny doesn't just drop, they hit the ground with a thud!).

I started writing this last week, but didn't get the chance to actually hit post...could've partially been me wanting my ducks in a row before I posted it, ie wanting to be 'cured' of my chest infection entirely.

But as it turns out this lovely chesty business had a bit more to teach me than I'd first thought!

I got to a point last week when I thought - wow would you just go away.

But as I'm learning more and more, my body is a sensitive apparatus nowadays.

When I'm out of balance, be it mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually - it quickly shows itself...and doesn't go away until the imbalance is fixed, consciously or subconsciously.

Not that I jump right to it and fix things at the slightest inkling, but in cases such as this, I didn't really have the choice. It was a little too obvious for me to ignore and hoping it'd just go away wasn't working!

So finally last week I went 'right body, clearly I still haven't learnt the lesson, otherwise you would be feeling better by now - so let's have it!'

Without further ado, here's some of the things I've learn this last few weeks...I say some, because this is really only a snippet!

Despite having a lot of colour in my life...I can be a bit black and white

Which is kind of funny seeing as I'm a Collingwood supporter!

I can be very logical, cause and effect - which serves me well in a lot of instances.

But where it doesn't serve me is when I get into judgment mode - making something right or wrong and  only looking at the surface to make a fairly snap judgment rather than looking deeper, or taking a step back to see the trees and the forest.

Kind of funny seeing as I'm all about getting to the cause of things, not just treating the symptom!

Take this illness for instance...I instantly jumped to the conclusion that I'd been thinking the 'wrong' thoughts that I just need to fix and then voila, it'd be all good (a habit I'd been running with for a while, I think it's perfectionism in disguise!).

So off I went to my Mind-Body bibles - aka Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life, and Inna Segal's The Secret Language of Your Body.

I read the symptoms, went yep - I tick all those boxes (not for the first time I might add, I've had chesty goodness before!). So now I'll stick my affirmations up, fix my thoughts and it'll all be ok.

What I've only just realised though that I forgot the crucial element - affirmations don't make things happen, they make things welcome. 

So me saying the 'right' words alone wasn't going to fix it - but it did bring about the elements I needed to look at. And in turn the healing.

Oh - KERPLUNK!!!!

That's freakin' hilarious - I literally only just realised that! Ha - I almost know Louise's book back the front and I am a massive mind-body head...but I'd forgotten that key element!!!!

Affirmations and thoughts in general are the beginning - not the be all and end all!

Aaah - this is what I love about life - the unfurling and discovering new gems!

Wow. Anyway, here's a few things that have contributed to me breathing clearer and having a much lighter chest...

1. I need to rest - and that's ok! 
• Nathan had said to me a week or so prior to me getting sick that I need to just take a week off for myself, but I said I couldn't. Well apparently I could when forced to!
• While I love to be on the go and doing things, it can be detrimental to my health when there's too much go and no stop.
2. Time to simplify my life. 
• Part of the mind-body symptom for an Upper Respiratory Cold is 'Too much going on at once' and boy have I had that in spades! An ongoing lesson for me is simplifying my life rather than attempting to do seventeen things at once, and not achieving any of them. 
• Essentially I need to give up the need to be superwoman - while I do look great in a cape, I'm not so down with the knickers over tights! 
3. I had too much Kapha going on...
• I'll explain this further this week when I finally do a blog on Ayurveda and it's amazing effect on my life! But essentially, I had been eating foods and doing things that caused a build up of Kapha in my body, aka mucus. Bleurgh.
4. I needed to get [more than] a few things off of my chest...
• Something that has happened progressively these last few weeks. Feeling better for it too!

And now for my personal favourite...

It's time to let my guard down.

I was lying in bed two Tuesdays ago after listening to week 1 of Dr Susan Bernstein's Reinvent your Role online course (all about getting more out of your work or figuring out where to next - highly recommend it!).

At any rate, as part of that session, she'd spoken about describing the Sensations in your body...then getting to the Emotion...then the Thought (or getting SET for short). 

As I mentioned before, I'd been going straight to the thought and then how I can fix it - ha! So anyway, I thought I'd give this a crack, because I had a very noticeable sensation to try it out on...

I felt like I had a brick on my chest so I thought ok, what does this actually feel like.

It's tight...restrictive...heavy. It's also feels like my heart's in a cage or armour or shell of some sort. Yeah that's it, a shell. But it's soft underneath.

And a second later I almost burst out laughing (but didn't because Nathan was sleeping!)...because I'm a Cancer...so yep it's time to shed my little crabby shell!

I'll split this particular topic into a few posts over the coming weeks - otherwise this is going to be a bit of an epic.

(Ha ha - I just walked out to the kitchen as this song lyric was played 'I've got nothing to hide'! True that!)

So to finish up - here's my favourite quote I've heard of late that I think sums up this post and my last few weeks perfectly...

"Your body never lies, but your mind seldom tells the truth."

And I'd add - don't try and tell your body that it's wrong, it's just a waste of time!

Oops I did it again...

Ha ha if you now have Britney Spears in your head, but it seemed the most appropriate title!

So what have I done again? I've manifested the symptoms of a chest infection and sore throat.

And how did I manage that?

Because I've had 'too much to do and not enough time to do it'...I haven't had any time to rest...I've got so much to do and I don't know what to do next...I just want to get this done and it's taking forever, so I can't start something else...my to-do list has been weighing heavily on me...

Recognise some of these?

I'm a big believer in the mind-body connection...in fact it's the integral part of my life's work to be a healer.

At any rate, the crux of it what the mind-body connection means to me - my words and thoughts create my world.

And I've got a cracking example of that from this week!

I started feeling a bit chesty and throaty last week, to which I thought and said 'oh here we go, this always happens when I've got too much going on in my world and I get a bit overwhelmed by it'. 

I really wanted to have the day off on Friday, but didn't! 

So on Saturday, I thought nope, had enough of this and started turning my thoughts around. And instantly felt better!

But here I am on Monday, still with the symptoms...I think partly because I really wanted to have a day off! Instead of marching on with me affirmations and releasing this...I think I kept it going so I wouldn't have to go to work today!!!

Or because part of me wanted justification...'see I have had a lot going on - I'm sick because of it'

No I'm not - I'm sick because of the thoughts I've chosen to think about my last week or so! 

There's often plenty of different things going on in my life, but I'm not a walking chest infection. Hence why this is such a classic version of Dr Mona Lisa's saying 'you don't need to remove anything from your life, just your interpretation.'

I've got the bin out ready!!!

The first thing to remove is my self-fulfilling prophecies - 'I always get this when I'm tired and have too much on.' That and 'Don't worry, I'm not contagious, this is my own special brand.'

Then there's the standards I create for myself...

• I have to use all of my time "well"
• I have to get it all done
• I have to do it all now
• This is taking too long
• I should have had this done before now

Then there's the sayings...

• I'm so busy (this is a post in itself that I'll get to another day!)
• I've got too much to do, and not enough time
• There's not enough hours in the day
• I just don't feel like I'm getting anywhere

Urrrggghhh - I feel worse just reading back over all of this! 

Turning it all around now into affirmations that help to keep me healthy...

• I am happy and healthy.
• I allow my body to return to it's natural state of great health.
• I always have more than enough time to do everything I need to do.
• I'm surrounded by help and support.
• Everything happens in the perfect Divine order.
• I'm always in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing.
• I allow my mind to relax and be at peace.
• I live in the now and take life one step at a time.
• I am safe. All is well in my world.

Ahhh, that's feeling better!

I'll get on to affirmations more another day, but essentially they're based on thinking thoughts that make you feel good. 

Some people scoff at affirmations or ask why would you bother? 

I defy anyone to say that their main motivator isn't to be happy. So when I've got a choice to purposely think a thought that makes me feel good/happy, I choose that every day of the week! 

I forget sometimes that I do have that choice, but as soon as I remember, I'm on the bandwagon well and truly.

Ok, well back to rest and recovery...or should I say removal and replacement. Out with the old negative thoughts, in with the new, happy and healthy ones!

Happy Monday!

Quack, quack, quack...

Another old habit of mine that's been coming to the surface of late is what I like to call my 'ducks in a row' syndrome.

I have a tendency to want all of my ducks standing to attetnion nicely before I start something new...part a) of which is I want to know where I'll end up before kicking off!

To all of you 'fly by the seat of your panters', you'll be thinking where's the fun in that!

And I agree - often it can shut me down and make me take longer to get started on something, because I can't see what all the steps will be, or if I'll end up where I want to.

I guess it's a bit of a fear thing...of failure or success I'm not really sure.

The funny thing is, I'm actually quite good at living in the moment and just taking life as it comes.

Take last weekend for example. I spent the best part of 3 days with Ben traipsing around Sydney. And not once did I really know where I was, or what was happening next.

And I loved it!

I'm so used to being the navigator or the organiser (which is part is probably because I like being in control!), so the best thing was not having the foggiest where I was.

The other way my line of quackers manifests...needing to have enough time to finish something in full before I start it. Rather than chip away at it.

It's an interesting thing really and I'm not really sure why I do it. It causes me to put some things off for agres and in general get behind.

Again, I'm sure it's got something to do with the fear of failure/success. Oh and how could I forget perfectionism. Me and the big P - we go way back!

But again, the antidote is planning.

I'm great at keeping multiple things rolling along when I've got a plan written down. And when I've broken a big task into smaller ones.

Try and keep it all in my head and I come unglued.

I think I attempt to do it all in my head because it works for other people and therefore I 'should' be able to do that to. (Did I mention the word perfectionism, and therefore having unreachable standards for myself at times!)

And there inlies the problem. I'm not everyone else, and as Mum would rightly point out to me many times as a kid or teenager 'if your friends were going to jump off a bridge, would you?'

No. So then why do I persist in using a method that works for others and not me?!

I like planning. I like being organised. I like knowing where I'm headed. In fact I love it.

I'm the geek at work who loves the project plans complete with a gannt chart because I respond so well to anything that's visual.

And I work best when I use my magical project plans.

So the lesson for me?

Well I think there's 2 good ones here.

First is a new favourite quote from Denise Linn - it doesn't have to be done perfectly, it just has to be done. And be willing to do it badly.


And 2 - do what works best for this little black duck.