The Real 12 Days of Christmas

Part of our Christmas tradition is to listen to Frank Kelly’s version of 12 days of Christmas – it never fails to make me laugh, and my dad cry…with laughter. ENJOY this video!

Wishing you the Merriest of Merry Christmas’s!

Love, light and laughter

Donna.x

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Celebrate 2011

Are you feeling festive yet? I am finding myself getting less and less inclined to do any work…which is a problem, because I’ve got a lot of exciting stuff happening in 2012…and I’ve got a LOT of work to do to get it all ready! So, I’m trying to honour my self-care, get into the festive spirit and still get a lot done, without putting any pressure on myself. Because pressure ain’t gonna help…and ultimately everything will get done somehow. I hope.

For one of the new projects I am launching in the New Year, I need your help. I will be doing a video series to help you move your dreams into reality, and what I want to know is: What question would you like me answer about moving your dreams into reality? Do you struggle getting clear about what you want? Have you hit an obstacle that is stopping you? Are you not sure what to do to make it happen? What would really help you to move your dream into reality? Please e-mail me now and I will answer your question in the New Year. Thank you!

- Celebrate 2011 -

If I were to ask you what you have accomplished in 2011, what would you say? Would you proudly list all your achievements, large and small? Would you need to think for a moment, then give a few big things that you have accomplished. Or would you instantly say ‘nothing’? Many people will say ‘nothing’. They think they have achieved ‘nothing’ all year. Now firstly, this is impossible. You cannot get through an entire year without accomplishing something. Ok, you may not have become CEO or President or earned your first billion or become a best-selling author or taken over from Simon Cowell on the X Factor. But there are many achievements that you have probably breezed past.

Most people do this, they save their celebrations for ‘big’ occasions and achievements only (if at all) and miss out on the opportunity for daily celebration. Last year I was coached by Sandy Grason and celebration is a big part of her coaching program – and I loved it so much, I make it a big part of my coaching program now too. I am consistently amazed at how difficult people find it to celebrate themselves and their achievements. We are so stingy with our praise of ourselves. With our friends and family, we will be able to see all the things that we could raise a glass to them for – their courage, their dedication, that they have worked hard, because they are a great friend/parent, but ourselves, well somehow we’re ‘not good enough’ and don’t deserive to be celebrated.

We’re just not used to celebrating our lives, our small achievements, sometimes even our big achievements. Earlier this year one of my clients reached a major goal. When I asked what they’d be doing to celebrate, they answered in all seriousness “Working toward the next goal”. Hmm. Well, there is always another mountain to climb, another goal to reach for, another problem to sort out. And the bad news? There always will be! Life will never be ‘perfect’ because we will always want ‘more’ – there will be something new and shiny to reach for because that’s what we do, that’s life. The good news is that this means you might as well celebrate every small (and big) achievement – then you get to celebrate a lot, have a lot of fun and enjoy each of your accomplishments.

As the year draws to a close, look back over the past year and look at what you have achieved – small stuff as well as ‘big’ stuff. Maybe you completed a big project at work, maybe you made a new friend, wrote a blog, paid off a debt, did a course, learnt a new skill, treated yourself to something you’ve always wanted to do (yes, you get to celebrate treating yourself too – it’s a double whammy!), helped a friend, overcame a difficulty, made progress on a goal…there are hundreds of ‘small’ achievements that just go by completely unremarked upon, and dozens of ‘big’ achievements that we mean to celebrate, but forget because the next task/goal/stage is calling. So take the time to celebrate your life. And if you really cannot think of anything you ‘achieved’ this year, then just celebrate another year of being you – beautiful, unique, fabulous, wonderful YOU. Well worth a celebration!

- Something to Play With -

What are you going to do to celebrate 2011 before the end of the year? what are you going to celebrate yourself for? Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave me a comment below.

Love

Donna.x

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What Is Your Deepest Wish

It’s Wishcasting Wednesday. There is power in wishing – putting your wishes out there sets mighty forces into action…

What Is Your Deepest Wish?

My deepest wish is that I am able to express my gifts in the most fulfilling and powerful way possible every day – my gifts of joy, laughter, life, friendship, love, passion as well as my ‘saleable’ gifts of writing, coaching, mentoring, inspiring, believing. My deepest wish is that I am able to live full out in every aspect of my life, never fearing to be fully who I am, never fearing that my needs will not be met as I do so, never worrying about money, never worrying about ‘success’, just enjoying being completely in love with my life, fulfilling my purpose, following my passion and having fun!

Get involved on Jamie’s blog, or leave a comment here about YOUR deepest wish. As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Love

Donna.x

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Full Moon Dreamboard – Birthday Dreamboard

As regular readers of this blog will know, I often participate in a practice called ‘Wishcasting’ with Jamie Ridler of Jamie Ridler Studios. Jamie is a fabulous creativity coach, and thanks to her this year, I have been blogging my wishes, created a practice of doing the Morning Pages every day (3 pages of free writing as prescribed by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way) and doing a collage journal page for my daily practice (to see pictures of these, go to my facebook page).

Jamie also encourages a ‘Full moon dreamboard’…and while I’ve been considering joining in with this for a while, it took the full moon landing on my birthday (happy birthday to me!) for me to make the time to actually create a dreamboard. And here it is:

I didn’t read the actual instructions for this month, I just used the images and words that caught my eye…and somehow it just seems right, and was a fun, nourishing practice for my birthday. Thanks Jamie!

Love

Donna.x

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Silly Season

How stressful has Christmas become?! Since November I have heard people everywhere saying ‘oh god, it’s nearly Christmas…are you ready? I’m not ready, I haven’t even started. Aaaaaaaargh!’ Now Christmas really is nearly hear, the stress is reaching a crescendo…just look at the joyful (not!) faces in the shops.

Magazines and newspapers are full of articles on ‘surviving’ Christmas – like it’s some kind of disastrous event! What happened to ’tis the season to be jolly’?! Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate that Christmas can be stressful – there’s the financial strain, the consequences of getting the ‘wrong’ present, the enforced family time, the cooking, the endless parties…

However, it’s a national HOLIDAY! A time to enjoy yourself. And get pressies. This year, why not give yourself the best pressie of all and design your Christmas so you look forward to it, enjoy it and ‘survive’ with effortless ease?! I am very lucky, because my Christmas is always the same – mass, breakfast, pub, dinner, pressies, tv, sleep. Hoorah!

A few of my favourite things in one day. So, you’ve got 2 weeks (stop panicking!) – what can you do to minimise the things you hate, and maximise the things you love this year? Tip: if you join in with the December Daily Practice of Self-care, this will help immensely!

- Something to Play With -

A. What do you love about Christmas? B. What do you hate about Christmas? C. How can you make sure you get more of A and less of B in this festive season?

Love

Donna.x

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Wishcasting – What do you wish to celebrate?

It’s Wishcasting Wednesday. There is power in wishing – putting your wishes out there sets mighty forces into action…

What do you wish to celebrate?
Firstly, Happy Birthday to Jamie (the originator of Wishcasting Wednesday)! And on the subject of Birthdays, I wish to celebrate my birthday on Saturday! Then I wish to celebrate my car passing the MOT with flying colours; I wish to celebrate my friendships – I am very blessed with my lovely friends; I wish to celebrate the progress my business and life have made this year (so far!); I wish to celebrate the new direction I’ll be going in in January (to find out more, make sure you’re keeping in touch with me!) with the business; I wish to celebrate the new ventures I’ll be involved in next year (podcasts, Ask Donna videos, new programs – exciting times!).

I wish to celebrate the December daily practice of self-care, which has encouraged me to get up and dance today, to snooze on Monday, to finish work early yesterday, to enjoy painting my toenails sparkly blue (in work time no less!) and much more in the week it’s been going; I wish to celebrate that I have done the morning pages almost every day for the last 6 months; I wish to celebrate my health, which despite an unwelcome diagnosis last year, seems to be better than ever; I wish to celebrate my wonderful life (not my perfect life, cos I still have room to expand and enjoy EVEN more), but I wish to celebrate my life with all its imperfections, problems, questions, quandary’s and concerns! I wish to celebrate my life just as it is.

Get involved on Jamie’s blog, or leave a comment here. As you wish for yourself, I wish for you also.

Love

Donna.x

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A Light In The Heart

“Beauty is not in the face – beauty is a light in the heart.” Kahlil Gibran

When the light in your heart is lit, you are beautiful. When you realise just how magnificent you are, you are beautiful. When you accept your genius, your talents, your gifts (yes, you who doesn’t think you have any!), you are beautiful. When you laugh, you are beautiful. When you understand the wonder of you, you are beautiful.

Never mind the creams, the potions, the surgical procedures that produce a pale imitation of beauty. When there is a light shining behind your eyes, you are beautiful. How do you illuminate that light in your heart? Fall in love with yourself, fall in love with your life, fall in love with the world. Just as you are, flaws and all. Just as your life is, flaws and all. Just as the world is, flaws and all!

With love and light to you beautiful one.

Donna.x

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December Daily Practice: Self-care

Happy December to you! Woohoo! I love December – despite the fact that I despise the cold and dark, December contains my birthday, Christmas, pressies galore, sparkly lights, holidays and crap tv. Hazah! Hope you are delighted to see the beginning of December too! So, a new month, and it’s time for a new daily practice for this month. After a couple of fun ones (laughter, dancing), this month is a more caring one. Self-care to be precise. December is one of those months where there is a lot of stress – financial stress, time stress, work stress, pressie stress, shopping stress, cooking stress, family stress, friend stress.

Added to all that, in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s bloody cold. And with all the stress, it’s a prime time for colds and flus, exhaustion and depression. Which is when we need self-care the most, and for many of us, the time we care for ourselves the least – that’s why we get sick, over-stressed, wound up and agitated. So this month, our daily practice is self-care. To join in this practice, all you need to do is take a moment every day to check how cared for you feel on a scale of 1-10 (where one is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘cradled in the arms of love’). If your level of self-care is less than a 7, you need to do something to take care of yourself.

I know time is scarce in the busy holiday month, but your self-care is very important. You will enjoy the holiday season much more if you take care of you. You will enjoy your LIFE much more if you take care of you. And it can be done with much less time than you think. 10 minutes a day, 5 minutes, even 30 seconds of self-care will make a difference to how cared for you feel. And as for it being ‘selfish’ to put yourself first – who benefits most when you are healthy, happy, joyful, fun to be around, rested, and filled up so that you have more than enough to give? Your family and friends.

When you are depleted, sick, angry, agitated, exhausted and have nothing to give, your closest friends and family suffer. Because you have nothing left for them. So it is LESS selfish to take care of yourself! So are you in? Are you going to make self-care your daily practice for December? For daily reminders, join me on Facebook. And keep an eye on the blog this month for articles and ideas to help you take your self-care seriously!

Love

Donna.x

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