This is the time to reflect and to take stock of what we have in our lives. Many people simply just go shopping and spend money on gifts to show love. Remember the love languages? Well some people show love through gifts and others require words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch and quality time. If gifts hit your button then this time of the year is perfect for you and you will feel loved all over. Just remember your loved ones may need one of the other love languages to feel loved and wanted so remember that nothing beats quality time with someone you really care for. Sharing is part of this time of the year too, celebrating your successes and milestones. Acknowledge this and know that you are attracting more good things into your life. On a personal level, 2009 has been a wonderful year, one of my best, what can I say it marked the year of being a parent and well I am still on a high. Professionally I can be doing more, I guess that is my expectation, yet being a car...

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The ability to be courageous is a very important attribute to have in life. To be victorious and successful in life we need courage. It allows us to go beyond our fears and take necessary action. Courage is the act of doing what is necessary despite the presence of negative mental obstacles i.e. fear, doubt, worry etc. Without courage we remain stuck in our lives. We can’t see a way past the ‘brick walls’. Progress in life is built on the back of courage. By being courageous we: break through our comfort zones and experience personal growth; persist when confronted with challenges; ask for help; remain true to ourselves and others; and achieve our goals and dreams. We are often confronted with circumstances that require us to do things that we prefer not to do because they may be difficult, scary, uncomfortable, awkward etc. We have all been in those situations. The critical choice that we have to make during these situations is whether ...

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Do you ever feel like you start a million projects at once and then end up overwhelmed at the enormity of the task you have set up for yourself? Yes I can, I am living this at the present moment, my to do list seems to stretch out for miles and all I can manage are the basics, domestics, taking care of our 9 month old and then sporadic emails between her nap time or whilst she plays at my feet. I want to do more much more in my day; I want to balance this out with creativity, writing contributing to others and focusing on my online business. Yet this is not meant to be, well not in the last few weeks. I pride myself in completing tasks; this gives me so much satisfaction and a sense of completion. So when I find myself with some precious time, I start 5 things instead of one and then run myself ragged at trying to finish them all, what a chaotic way of being. Totally counter-productive. I know I can do so much more and I need to feel the flow, yet somehow the flow is lost, buried de...

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During my usual Thursday night yoga class I was inspired. Paul the teacher gives a great class and often has many words of wisdom, this night he spoke about the spaces between words, which:  gives the meaning as otherwise words would just ramble one after the other without pause. How can the space have meaning? I thought. Well for me this has more than a literal meaning as with anything that touches me these days I see a deeper perspective. When we pause we are, we are still in that moment and we learn. If we do not take that pause/break/space then we just do and what is the meaning or purpose for doing that? Surely the space gives us reflection Perspective Time to absorb To ask WHY? To reason and ponder To collect our thoughts and appreciate the now So for me the space is vital in everyday living, to really be in that moment whatever that is and to engage 100 percent in that activity. The space also allows us to feel liberated as we are not cluttered in our thoughts and i...

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I was reading the Sunday paper, it’s our ritual on a lazy Sunday morning, and I came across an article that really highlighted some areas that many of my clients have issues with and to be completely honest with you we too to some degree.  People who horde stuff everywhere in their home and in some chronic cases they have surrounded themselves with stuff that they only see the passage to the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Amazing to even phantom such a state! Well we are not alone, according to a report by the Australian Institute entitled Stuff Happens: Unused Things Cluttering Up our Homes, 88 per cent of Australian homes have at least one room full of trash-slash-treasure. And also interesting is that four out of ten Australians find themselves feeling anxious, guilty or depressed about the amount of disorder in their homes sometimes going to extraordinary lengths to deal with it. Like moving house, adding rooms, even purchasing more stuff like storage containers to accommodate...

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How you respond to undesirable events and situations in your life will greatly influence the direction that it takes. The Oxford Dictionary defines response as a ‘feeling, movement or change caused by a stimulus or influence’. So, how is your life feeling, moving or being changed by stimulus or influences?  What direction are your responses taking you? Your responses to events in your life are critical in shaping your future. Many times in life we encounter situations that we have little or no control over. However, one thing that we do have total control over is our response to these situations. It is important to realise that you do have a choice as to how you respond. How you choose to respond is totally up to you. You can choose to respond in a way that serves you or hurts you. The fact that you can choose your response allows you to take charge and stay in control. Isn’t that great to know? No longer do you have to feel that you have no control. You do!! When you ...

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Do you find yourself reacting at life? You know things just happen and you just do. You need to organize the meals, shopping, activities for the family, plus you have work you need to bring home plus organize holidays, prepare meals in advance. You are just operating at what life throws you, and you wonder how you will find the time to get some down time. Having down time means you can recharge and breathe in the minute. Well life may give you 30 minutes to yourself it is just that you need to get up ultra early to receive your reward. Welcome to modern living and so many of us are running this exact program.   Only today I was chasing my tail, my little baby is now almost 8 months and for us this means she takes less naps, and she wants more attention and structured play time. Whilst running a business from home and organizing healthy snacks and lunch plus the continual laundry (why did I opt to use cloth nappies, what was I thinking?) Life will never be the same again. And ...

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I was reading the body & soul section in the Sunday Telegraph and read an article on beating depression naturally. This inspired me to write our own 10 Tips on beating the blues. It is easy to feel down and lethargic during times when things are not going to our plan. Life has a way of throwing unexpected turns and no matter how much we want control we just need to let go. Simple things can become huge in our minds and we become self-absorbed and stuck. Here are some tips on beating this state of mind.   1.   Stress Management: Studies have linked stress to multiple conditions and if you are feeling down, then minimize your stress levels. Hormones we excrete during periods of stress interfere with our brain chemistry and lead to sleep disturbance. So address this area(s) in your life to improve your state of mind. Work smarter not harder, this will help you reduce your stress and achieve more balance in your life.   2.   Exercise: When we exercis...

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This book landed on my lap for some reason, so I read it and absorbed the learnings. So now it is about putting into practice. If something falls on your lap, learn to stop and get the learnings and not just brush it off. As I have learnt through the years, often these are the moments to stop, assess what is going on and do something different. So enjoy my review on this new take on willpower.  It is told in an interesting easy to follow story line main characters are Billy and Beth and their quest to attain inspiring goals, they resemble many couples in today’s society (minus the skinny nature!) as they go through the mental and physical challenges. As I have personally discovered obstacles are there because you are moving forward, to the sooner they come the quicker you can be on your way.   In essence you will learn the following 15 lessons:   1. Be sure you are totally committed. 2. Prepare yourself for a difficult journey. 3. Prepare for your challenge ...

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Watching the MasterChef series on TV, I became more aware of how cooks need to do many tasks at the same time. Doing sauce reductions, sautéing onions, cooking vegetables preparing desserts whilst having a dish in the oven. They would have multiple pots and pans on heat, and juggling priorities so they could complete their challenge on time. To a lesser extent we also work in the same fashion, we have many tasks on the go, we are heating one dish and reading the recipe of another and hoping the one coming out of the oven is cooked and delicious. We have high expectations of ourselves and expect to perform every time, no excuses. Wherever we are in a corporate job, self-employed or in home duties we push ourselves and seek that inner-madness. The day is just too short especially if we need to ‘out-do’ our performance from the day before. We are forever raising the bar and each day we start from the starting-block ready to out perform, to marvel and excite and to create that perfect day...

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