The Optimist’s Creed – Video

I have just loved this poem so much, that I wanted to record it on video so as well as reading it, you could listen to it. I am reading it to myself every day, and doing my best to keep these promises – they’re a great recipe for a good life!

The Optimist’s Creed by Christian D Larson.

Enjoy!

Love

Donna.x

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OnTheBeach – Start As You Mean To Go On

Start As You Mean to Go On

I woke up this year optimistic, feeling that life is brimming with possibilities, looking forward to the future and bubbling with ideas. I am looking forward to 2009. Louise Hay (see this month’s recommendation) says that we should make the decision every year that THIS year will be the best year of our lives. And for the last 10 years, I have been working up to that decision. Before that, I would look at the year gone by and weakly hope that this next year would somehow magically improve.

Bizarrely enough, until I actually started to make some changes and make decisions about what I wanted from life, life didn’t magically change. It took a decision that I wouldn’t live that way any more, that I would ‘do something’ to make life different. So I threw out the old ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ and started to plan my life, set intentions for my life, let myself dream about how life could be.

I’ve often had to work at feeling optimistic as I’d spent at least 15 years turning myself into a dyed in the wool pessimist, but this year the optimism bubbled through with the dawning of a New Year. I had started how I fully intend to continue the year. Did your year start as you would like it to continue? Or do you want to make a decision now to make this the best year of your life so far, and take action today to start as you mean to go on in 2009?

On New Year’s Day, I put a poem on the blog – I Promise Myself by Christian D Larsen – go and read it if you haven’t already. Copy and paste the text, print it out and put it up on your wall. I have. It says everything about how I want to spend this year. For today, I will just pull out the one line “To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.” As my optimism was there waiting for me on the 1^st, I think I owe it to do my best to make it come true.

You may not be feeling the joys of a New Year, after all it’s cold, it’s dark (in my hemisphere anyway), you may be broke after Christmas. But you do have a whole New Year stretching out ahead of you, where you can either weakly hope that someone will wave a magic wand over your life, or you can grab hold of that wand and cast a spell over your own life. Start 2009 as you mean to continue it – and I wish you all the love, luck and laughter you deserve this year.

Something to play with

Every moment is a chance to begin something new – if you were to start this year as you mean to go on, what will you do today to make your life amazing?

Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave me a comment below.

A note from Donna

I hope you guys had a lovely holiday, and are feeling refreshed and ready for a New Year. I have, of course, had far too much to eat, watched far too much TV and although my brain is raring to go, my body is still in hibernation mode. Maybe I’ll fool it this time next year with a trip to Sydney for the New Year fireworks? Anyway, I wish you all the joy you can pack into this year, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you’re up to in the coming months and sharing what I am up to.

One thing I have decided is that the Christmas 20% off offer will continue until the end of this week, so if you have been thinking about getting coaching with me, now’s the time! Go to http://www.donnaonthebeach.com/blog/index.php/2008/12/18/festive-coaching-offer/ for more details.

And lastly, you can now follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/donnaonthebeach – I am trying to get my head around tweeting, so fellow Tweeters come and find me and show me round. Thanks a million!

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OnTheBeach – Life Happens For You, Not To You

A note from Donna

Apologies for the late delivery of this week’s newsletter – you’ll understand when you read today’s article. I hope you will also understand that I am too shattered to put much of a note in this week!

Life Happens For You, Not To You

In one of those “couldn’t make it up” moments, the friend I was visiting and I went back to his apartment to pick up my suitcase to go to the airport…and couldn’t get in!! By the time the locksmith arrived, it was far too late to get my flight. Now you may think that an extra day in Barcelona is no hardship (and you would be right, I spent the next 24 hours either on the beach or in a restaurant – 2 of my favourite things!), but frankly it was a bit inconvenient!

Not only the one way flight which was twice the cost of my original return fare, but I had things to do, people to see and places to go (all of which I have had to pack into today…boy am I ready for a siesta!) But, we said, there must be a reason for this to happen. As it turned out, I came up with 5 reasons – the most important of which being that Saturday was windy, and as you know, I am a bit of a scaredy cat about flying – I wasn’t looking forward to being in a smarties tube in a gale!

Shit happens. On a fairly regular basis. And if you can get your head around the idea that life happens FOR you, not TO you, you will always be able to find a bright side (or at least trust that there is a bright side!) Ok, being forced to stay in Barcelona is not the worst thing that could happen to a person, but how would you have dealt with it? Would you have been worried about the cost, cross about the inconvenience and complaining? Or would you have consciously looked for that silver lining?

The time that I shouldn’t have been in Barcelona was actually the best of the time I spent there – maybe because I was searching for reasons that this was a good thing. And I found them, many of them. Each of those reasons were worth the cost and inconvenience (and from a business perspective, may turn out to be priceless!). I found it quite interesting that because I was actively seeking the silver lining, knowing that life is for me, I was aware of just how great it was to get an extra day!

Even when something not so good happens, you can train yourself to see it as a positive step, just by expecting every event to somehow bring good things to you. How often have you heard of stories where something ‘bad’ has happened, which turned out to be really good for the person it happened to? With just a little change of attitude, your life can start happening for you, not to you. Bring it on!

Something to play with

Look for the silver lining in every cloud. Start training yourself to see that life is happening for you.

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