Premio Meme Award

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his or her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day.

and

The PREMIO DARDO is designed to recognize unique voices and visions on the Web as well as to promote fraternization amongst bloggers of all sorts.

I was given this award by the beautiful Marie from Art from my Heart

I am going to tell you now 7 facts about myself (the rules).

Fact no: 1
I am a great wife

Fact no: 2
I often find it difficult to promote my own business

Fact no: 3
I know why this is and am working on it

Fact no: 4
I love my husband more than anything else in this world and he knows it

Fact no: 5
I sometimes learn the best lessons from my clients and that is why I enjoy the job of coaching

Fact no: 6
I have to have routine and structure to my life or else I am truly overwhelmed

Fact no: 7
I think I'm a little bit in love with everyone...people warm my heart and I always see their goodness

The number of blogs you’re expected to pass along the award to is variously given as 5, 10, 12, and 15 but like Marie I just want you to know that I read and enjoy your blogs regularly. I therefore don't expect that everyone has the time to post and pass on.....

http://zentofitness.com

http://beedrunken.blogspot.com

http://circlingmyhead.blogspot.com

http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com

http://womaninawindow.blogspot.com

http://blog.totalbalance.com.au

So there you have it!

Conversations

Today's Quote:

"A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study." ~Chinese Proverb

Today's Question:

What wise person can you learn from in your life?

If that person has gone what did you learn from them? Do you keep the knowledge inside?


About me:

I don't have all the answers. A lot of people ask me for my wise words and I can dish them out but sometimes I feel like shouting...."I don't know, who does? Does anyone really have stuff figured out?" I have learnt a lot on my journey in life so far....there is still so much out there it scares me with it's vastness sometimes. I want to know it all and yet I don't want to know any of it.
A single conversation with a wise man is all very well but what about several conversations with several wise men or women? Would that be better than ten years of study?
I am getting back into a routine here in New Zealand and part of it is surrounding myself with people who are wisdomful, people I can learn and grow from just as my clients learn and grow with coaching.
I am beginning to contact these people and meeting them for chats over coffees......

Change it!

Today's Quote:

"If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree." ~Jim Rohn

Today's question:

What can you change?
What aspects of your life are no longer serving you?

About Me:

There are many things which I was not comfortable with about the move to New Zealand and then I read a comment on my Safe Space Coaching blog by a friend over at Quiet Mind Meditation.
Going through a similar period in her life she said we are like artists at our new clean 'life' canvas. We can change anything we want. It's our life right??
I am changing the time I get up at. It was getting later and later as I felt like I was on holiday (living at the in-laws, normally is holiday). I am re-establishing my routine as you may have seen from my other blog and I can change anything I choose....mmmmm what next I wonder....

H-A-P-P-Y

Today's quote:

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham Lincoln

Today's question:

What can you make up your mind to be happy about today?

About me:
I have had my ups and downs about allowing myself to be happy lately. I am deciding on how to run my business from a new country. How to 'be' around my in-laws (as we are now sharing a home). How to be in a relationship which has totally changed due to the fact that my husband is now a full time student. Out of my comfort zone? You bet!
How can I make up my mind to be happy today? Well, I can begin with putting a smile on my face and a skip in my step and realising that this change could be just what I need right now....

Rough Draft

Today's quote:

"Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece." ~Author Unknown

Today's question:

If you got to do one dry run or make a first draft of something in your life before the final masterpiece, which area would you pick or have picked?

About me:
I guess I would have to pick my business. If I had a go at trying to run a business and it didn't matter if it was successful, if I could have had a dry run first, I could go though all the what if's and try new things to see if it could be perfect before I put any money into it. If it all went wrong then I would know what to include in the final masterpiece and what could be taken away.

Note: Just found the quote amusing!

Different Facets

Today's quote:

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ~E.L. Doctorow (click here for more on E.L. Doctorow)

Today's question:

What can you do to access different facets of yourself?




About me:
We each have many self's. We wear many masks.
I wore different masks for many years and still wear some today. I journal and meditate to find different aspects of myself so I guess that would be writing! Our daily interactions with those around us can highlight facets too (more on this in later posts).
Whenever I find a different part of myself it assists me in growing as a person. It makes me exist in a world which then seems like a playground.

Yoga Quote

My favourite pose of all time....Bakasana




Today's quote:

"Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are." ~Jason Crandell, quoted in Yoga Journal

Question:

What other opportunity's might present themselves for you to be curious about who YOU are?

About me:
I finish off every daily workout with a few Yoga poses. I find it centers me and makes me curious about my body and what it can twist itself into. It brings me back to myself and realigns my day. There are many opportunities which can allow me to become curious but Yoga and meditation are up there, high on the list.

Heart Play

Today I am sharing with you a little something that I came up with....

"Find a moment in every day. where you let your mind wander and let your heart play." Yvonne Anderson

Today's question:


Where can you bring more heart play into your day?

What would it take for you to find a special moment in your day?

About me:
I now make a point of bringing at least one moment into everyday where I allow myself the time to heart play. We are often so much in our heads and not in our hearts. Freedom to play gives us time to wander away from the tasks we feel we should do, to daydream about the possibilities of what we could.

LOVE

Today's quote:

"You can't see the angels, you can't see the air. You can't see my love but it's everywhere." Anonymous

Today's question:

What can't you see but know is present in your life?

What gifts are all around you if you choose to look?

About me:

It recently became clear to me that I have so much love inside me to share with everyone. There is a song which I love by a band called Love. It's called Alone Again Or. One of the lines goes like this "Yeah.... heard a funny thing, somebody said to me...you know that I could be in love with almost everyone. I think that people are the greatest fun." See video below.

When, like myself, you have true self-acceptance, you can actually view the world with non-judgmental eyes and see that yes, people may be different but we are all carrying around baggage. When we can dump it....Wow, that's authentic living.
This is why I coach people. I want everyone I love to feel this way.

Believe me though...it took a long time for me to be this open to change but when I was.....again WOW- anything is possible!!

Go look for the gifts....

Worry Not

Today's quote:

"Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday." ~Author Unknown


Today's questions:

What is worrying you?
What can you do about it today?
What would be available to you if worry was no longer a concern?

A little about me:

I used to be the world's worst worrier. I worried when I wasn't worried about something. There must be something wrong with me. You have to worry about something...right? Wrong- when we worry, we take ourselves to a place of fear and stress. Once I learned to let go of the worry, so many new avenues came up for me to explore. Explore I did and what I found has changed my life...literally changed it. I have true self-acceptance and I think it is when we come to this place that even more opens up for us. What we worry about hardly ever materializes anyway!

Surrender and life is yours for the taking.....

Enough Time

Today's quote:

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein." ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Today's question:

What have you been telling yourself you just don't have time for?

What might that be costing you?

About me:
I have had plenty of time the past year to do what I needed to do. I studied a lot last year and was working on my coaching business. I would go so far as to saying that I sometimes had too much time on my hands! I hear some of you gasp, but it's true. I have no children and I am in charge of the hours I work.
When my clients talk to me about the time issue- I feel guilty almost, that I have this as a luxury. Hearing their stories makes me feel so blessed for the time I do have.
Recently, I can relate a lot more to them, seeing my husband struggle with little time and my sister who told me the other day that she barely has her bottom rested on a seat all day long!
It can cost a lot though, my sister's health is suffering as a consequence and I shared with her that without her health, she won't be able to look after her children so she could start thinking of ways to have restful periods during her day!

Had to share this with you....someone sent it to me and it made me laugh. Good way to spend some time on a flight.....let it all come in before playing

Accidental

I was recently reminded of one of my favourite authors Maggie O'Farrell.

Woman in a window reminded me of her with her wonderful words.

So here is a piece of writing I love from Maggie...

" Black hair, plastered upright into spikes with rain, the shoulders of his jacket dark with water. An empty, crumb-studded plate sits on his table. A rucksack, battered and ancient, is propped on the floor next to him. He doesn't look like the kind of person this town usually attracts. He stands out. His clothes aren't right. Too impractical. They're not tweed or Gore-tex or wool. They smack too much of the city. He looks like an urbanite, Stella decides, looks like he's landed here by accident."

Today's question:

Where have you landed by accident?
What gifts has your journey provided you with so far?


More on Maggie O'Farrell

About me:
I can honestly say that I have never landed anywhere by accident. I am too much of a planner.
I sometimes wish (romantically) that I had arrived somewhere quite by accident. The closest I can think of is when I first came to Australia on my own when I was barely 20. A young, naive, unsure girl with big plans and high hopes. I thought I would be fine but I cried when I got off the plane in a strange place with no support whatsoever!
I was all wrong for Australia until I made myself right for anywhere....

Patience

Today's quote:

"Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off." ~Author Unknown

Question:

Whether it is counting down or taking a big old deep breath....what can you do to calm yourself so you can avoid blasting off?

What does patience mean to you?

About me:

I used to have a very short temper. I mean very short. Over the past few years I have mellowed...a lot.
Things that used to frustrate me just don't seem to anymore.
I worked with a coach whilst I was studying to become one and I can honestly say she has assisted in the change of the old me to a new and improved version...the best person I can be.
I use meditation...a very short space to collect my thoughts and ask myself in a deep down place "what can I do in this moment to stay calm and avoid any negativity?" I then imagine my body as a beacon of pure light and I can avoid the blast off that would have stepped into it's place before....now it's your turn....

Beauty

Today's quote:

"If one really loves nature, one can find beauty everywhere." Vincent van Gogh


Question:

What will it take to open your eyes and find the beauty surrounding you?

A bit about me:

I really am a nature lover. I love nothing more than taking walks amongst tall trees and listening to all the sounds of nature- it fills me to the brim.
Lately I have not been seeing the beauty that surrounds me as I am going through a lot of change which is quite emotional.
I need to remind myself that what we look for is what we get. As I have been ignoring all the beautiful things, I have been feeling low. This quote reminds me that yes, we can have our down times but we need only look outside, even to our own backyards to find beauty again which ultimately uplifts (well at least for me)....

The hill

Today's quote:

"If life is a race to a hill then that's not living." Yvonne Anderson

Today's question:

Are you racing towards something only to be running past the beauty of your life?



My thoughts:

I always thought that you needed to be going towards a hill. Some people have big hills that they can go towards and some people have small hills. Some get in a helicopter and go straight there but me...I like to walk through the village, talk to the people, take a detour or two and get caught up in the beauty of life around me. The hill is a metaphor for a place you want to be...a career you wish to have....an end goal.
Some people need to get there super fast but I'm slowly learning that this just isn't me. I like to see the hill yes, but if i never get there then so be it. The hill isn't everything. You may get there and realise that it wasn't all you made it out to be.
Take time to enjoy the journey of this beautiful life....