Play The Hand You’re Dealt

This last week in the UK, we’ve been getting all politically excited with the election, the hung parliament, and the deals being done. Of course, I too have a political opinion. But mostly, I’m just going to play the hand I’m dealt. Whoever ‘got in’ as Prime Minister. Whoever has control of the government, I’ll just play the hand they deal me. This does not mean I am politically apathetic, but I am realistic.

This is all we CAN do. And I intend to play the game to the best of my ability with the cards they give me. Why the card metaphor? Well, many of you know that what cards you get is a matter of luck/fate/random chance, but the way you play is down to you. And putting this back into politics – the country have voted which deck to play, now we get to see what cards this deck will deal. And whatever cards they deal, we get to play our game.

This doesn’t just apply to politics, it applies to all life. I’ll be honest, health-wise, I’ve been dealt a hand that sucks right now…but I have every intention of flipping that diagnosis and playing a winning hand even with cards that suck. I’m going to play the game the best way I know how – and I intend to get better at the game so that I give myself a better chance of winning!

Health wise, this means changing some of my habits, bringing in some new habits and learning how to take better care of this body. That’s the serious side of it. But the card metaphor has another side – the fun side! It’s a game. I asked on my Facebook page last week “what if I was doing this just for fun?” What if we were ‘doing life’ just for fun? What if the whole purpose of life was to have a laugh?

Would that change how you played the game? Would it change your measures of success and importance? Would it change how you looked at your cards? Let’s face it, sometimes life does deal us a hand that appears to suck. For example, I’m finding it hard to see the positive side of my diagnosis (put it this way, I don’t have Chronic Fatigue). But if it’s just for fun, this diagnosis is just a card I have to play the best way I can…while having fun.

And this is just one of the cards I’m holding – the fact that I am completely fabulous might just make up for this one shit card! Lol. So what about you? Why not try this metaphor on for size? Don’t bemoan the hand you’re dealt, just play it. Play it with intelligence, learn the rules of the game, learn the cheats , and HAVE FUN!

Love

Donna.x

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Energy First, Action Second

While I’ve been tingling, I’ve noticed more than usual that when my energy is really low it takes me 100 times longer to do things…and often the things I do manage to do are not usable. For example, despite the 2 week break in blogs, I did actually write a few blog posts. Sadly they were utter rubbish! My energy was so low that my creativity just disappeared. And instead of inspiring, fun, interesting posts that will help you live a joyful life…they were the very opposite.

It’s not always practical to not do something until your energy is high and happy – life doesn’t stop just because you’re not feeling tip-top…but if you make your energy level a priority, you will reap the rewards – as will your friends, family, employers, clients. Here’s the scale I work by: 1 is flat, apathetic, can’t be arsed energy; 10 is WOOHOO, life’s amazing, bouncing around energy.

Where is your energy right now on a scale of flat to woohoo? (or 1-10) My assertion is that if my energy is less than a 7, it is an utter waste of time me doing any work because it’s rubbish! As I say, sometimes this isn’t practical, but many times something can be done to raise your energy level – self care, having a laugh, fresh air, exercise, music, focusing on the life you want, time with friends who raise your energy, sleep, star jumps (my old house mate used to do this, I thought she was nuts at the time, but I’m coming round to her way of thinking!)…and many more.

So, if your energy is less than a 7 right now, what can you do to raise that energy? Today. Leave me a comment and tell me what energy-raisers you have used and how your energy is right now.

Love

Donna.x

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Playing the Game

The Game of Life.

How are you playing? Are you fighting over ever throw of the dice, taking it all personally, giving up after a few throws, deciding that you will never win so why play, getting pissed off with other players for getting the wins that you wanted, sulking, taking it very seriously or being enormously competitive?

In other words, are you forgetting that it’s a game? Life (in my humble opinion) is FUN! We get to do some really cool stuff on this planet – dancing, laughing, horizontal exercise , bouncing, loving, being with friends, watching crap tv, seeing the sunrise and set, watching the seasons turn and the kids grow.

When you remember that its a game to be played and enjoyed, you can change your experience of it. Instead of it being hard and stressful, it becomes easy and fun…and you get to learn to play better rather than making the same mistakes over again. And the best thing about this game? There are no losers. You can only win the game of life.

Love

Donna.x

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Life Is A Song

Life is a song – sing it
Life is a game – play it
Life is a challenge – meet it
Life is a dream – realise it
Life is a sacrifice – offer it
Life is love – enjoy it
– Sai Baba

This week sing, play and enjoy life to your full capacity.

Love

Donna.x

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Video: Playtime!

When was the last time you went out to play? When was the last time you laughed so hard that your cheeks and sides hurt? Could playtime move up your priority list, just a little?

http://www.youtube.com/donnaonthebeach

Love and Laughter

Donna.x

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What Does Your Inner Child Need Today?

What does your inner child need from you today? Mine is always asking for more playtime, more fun, more laughter…and more sweets. She’s a lot wiser than me, I do need more playtime, more fun, more laughter…but maybe not more sweets! Ask your inner child what she needs from you today, and make sure you give it to her.

Love

Donna.x

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OnTheBeach – Coming To Play?

Something to play with

For everything you are doing this week, tell yourself or your partner that you are ‘going out to play’, and see how much of a difference this makes to each task.

Coming to play?

I read something brilliant recently about a little girl who says to her auntie ‘I’m going to play’ when she’s on her way to school. Isn’t that just a fabulous attitude to have? Picture it: Monday morning 8am ‘I am going to play’. I am guessing that this is not what you normally say or think on a Monday morning?

So I thought, I wonder what difference this attitude would make to my life. Bearing in mind that I already largely love what I do…except the accounts…and the admin… It was a revelation. It reminded me of being on holiday – you know when you are excited about everything you are going to do, from shopping to lounging on the beach to sight-seeing.

It was like that. For the tasks that I enjoy, it gave me an even greater sense of pleasure to realise that this was play – what I do is FUN! And for the tasks I don’t enjoy, it gave me a different framework…and made the tasks more fun. Yes, even my accounts took on a whole new light.

I said to myself, ‘for the next hour I’m going to play with my accounts’ – and I really did play and enjoy the time I spent on it. Then I said to myself ‘for as long as it takes, I’m going to play with my filing’, cranked up the stereo and thoroughly enjoyed myself for the next 45 minutes. Both things would normally take twice as long as I moaned my way through them!

You may be looking at me with a bit of scepticism right now, but before you dismiss me as a crank, give it a go. You will find that just approaching something from such a radically different angle will make it a different experience. Now, I’m off to play…anyone going to join me?

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

A note from Donna

Well, it doesn’t take long to get back into the swing of things does it? Christmas now seems like a dim and distant dream. As does summer at the moment – my desire for warm weather and sunshine is sky-high. For a winter baby, I really don’t like winter! Anyone know a good sundance I can try?

My theme for 2009 is service, so I’ve been asking how I can help you guys more – one idea that I have really liked is ‘access to coaching when I have no time or money’! I can sympathise with that. So, for January only, I am offering a week of e-mail coaching for just £25 – you can do this when you have spare time in your day rather than booking a session, it’s easier for those of you in different time zones, and it is a low cost way to get some quality coaching. To find out more, get in touch here.

And if you have any other ideas about how I can help you, get in touch to let me know what I can do to serve.

Love

Donna.x

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Stop Looking At What You Ain’t Got

I had a vague thought in the back of my mind to write something about thankfulness and gratitude today, as it’s Thanksgiving in the States. Even though we don’t have that celebration here, I feel like I do…because I read lots of newsletters and blogs from folks in the states! So I’m absorbing Thanksgiving by osmosis. I also think it’s a cool idea for a day – “eat loads of food and say thank you for stuff” as one of my American friends describes it. Sounds like my kind of day!

Anyway, on the radio today T.I featuring Rhianna “Live your Life” has been playing, which starts “Stop looking at what you ain’t got and start being thankful for what you do got.” Which gives me the perfect message really doesn’t it? Especially in tough times, it’s a really great practice to stop complaining about what we don’t have, and be thankful for what we do have. It reminds me of a Lenny Henry sketch in which he talks about a tribe who greet one another with ‘how are you? And your wife and family? And your goat?’ – and that’s it because that’s all they have.

Imagine if someone were to greet you with ‘How are you? And your husband and family? And your car? And your wardrobe full of clothes? And your 25 pairs of shoes? And your widescreen television? And your electric power shower? And your tinted moisturiser? And your laptop? And your 200 CD’s? And your fridge with it’s own ice-maker? And your 43 saucepans? And…’ You’d be there for HOURS! Days, even.

So for today, even if you’re not in a place that celebrates Thanksgiving, give thanks anyway for all that you have – not just the material possessions, but the love and friendship and joy that surrounds you. And I want to thank you for reading, and for giving me an audience to play to!

Love

Donna.x

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OnTheBeach – Playtime

A note from Donna

As you read this, I am probably getting insanely excited about going to see David Tennant and Patrick Stewart in Hamlet in Stratford tonight. I saw King Lear last year with Ian McKellan and it was spell-binding, so I have high expectations of this one. I love to have a nice varied social calendar – from a music festival, to a day at the beach, to pizza and pictures, to Shakespeare. Marvellous!

Playtime

My home page for the internet is Louise Hay’s Affirmation page, so everytime I go online I have a nice affirmation there waiting for me. Today it was “I balance my life between work, rest and play. They all get equal time.” Hmmmm. How true is this statement in your life? Do you balance work rest and play? I realised (somewhat to my horror!) that play does not get equal time at all.

In fact, playtime pretty much comes in only if I’ve ‘booked’ time to play – like my day at the beach last week, or Hamlet in Stratford tonight – or if I have time ‘left over’ to play after I’ve worked and rested! The upshot is that playtime is getting about 20% of my time at most. RUBBISH! No more. It’s time to bump playtime up the priority list! I’ve got into bad habits lately, I’ve been busy and working quite a lot…and because I am good at self care, resting a lot too…but at the expense of playtime! Shocking.

And even worse, I know that I am better at this balance than most people I know. Many of them are very unbalanced (in terms of work, rest and play, not mentally unbalanced!), and the big missing ingredient is playtime. It’s heart-breaking to see, because playtime makes you come alive, playtime is fun, playtime is vital to you having a happy life – let’s face it, how much better do you feel when you’ve been on holiday? And why?

Because you’ve had uninterrupted playtime! Holidays are all about recharging your batteries and devoting yourself to having some fun…and then we come home and forget to play for another 11 months and 2 weeks. It’s foolish to neglect your fun muscles – if they get flabby you’ll get miserable. I’m sure I don’t really need to extol the virtues of play – you know yourself that when you take part in activities that you enjoy, you feel better.

So when was the last time you deliberately took part in an activity you enjoy and made a conscious choice to savour that playtime? Why not start tonight? Instead of sitting numbly in front of the idiot box, make an effort to do something playful and fun (if that’s tv for you, ok…but as long as you’re actively enjoying it, not just wobbed out in front of it!). You see people, it’s time to take playtime seriously!

Something to play with

Part 1: What is the balance of work, rest and play in your life? 60/30/10? 40/40/20? Have a guess at the proportions – your best guess will be quite accurate! What can you do TODAY to start restoring the balance (especially the playtime bit!)? Part 2: What do you do to play? Aim to get a list of 100 things (it might take time, but you can do it!). Part 3: Do something off that list DAILY.

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OnTheBeach – 6 Years Old Again

- 6 years old again -

So after my speech about letting out the inner child on Tuesday, a couple of people were wondering…well, how? I make it look so easy (but yes, I did feel like an idiot), but when you’re used to acting like a grown up, how do you start being a kid again? Some of the boys at Toastmasters had NO trouble at all…but it’s easy enough in a safe space when you’ve been given permission. How do you bring ‘childishness’ into your real life??

The good news is, you don’t have to throw a tantrum, take drugs or make an utter fool of yourself to do it. You don’t have to do it in front of anyone (yet) – you can dance around like a loon to your favourite music, jump up and down with excitement about ice cream, play hopscotch, watch a cartoon (Jungle Book is my favourite!), get some colouring pens and a colouring book (or paint by numbers if you want to pretend to be an adult), read a kids book (Mr Men!), clap excitedly when Heroes is on telly, play dress up, climb a tree, make a daisy chain…all without involving anyone else!!!

If you’ve got kids it’s even easier, because you can play with their toys and get involved in their games and everyone just thinks you are a good parent! But if not, don’t despair. Childishness is just around the corner… For example, I was in Sainsburys the other day and I happened to notice in the garden section a bubble gun! YES! A toy gun that you attach bubble mixture to and when you pull the trigger, bubbles come out. BRILLIANT!

Except…it doesn’t work. Rubbish. So I got to do the sulky child bit too because I couldn’t get it to work properly. Now I have to involve someone else if I want to get the stupid thing working. Anyway, my point is that no one in the shop knew I bought it for me…and if I decide the shame is too much to admit I bought it, no one but you ever needs to know (promise you won’t tell – cross your heart?!).

I have to say though, I’ve found that most people are quite open to a bit of silliness and play. Why do you think we like little kids so much? It’s not their scintillating conversation, it’s the fact that they are open-hearted, curious, they laugh easily, they make us laugh and we get to play…just to play. When was the last time you played, just to play? Not because you had to, or because someone made you?

Seriously, if you want to behave like a child again, find ways to do it that feel comfortable – don’t wait til you have the courage or the confidence or you won’t feel like an idiot (that will never happen!) or the moon in Sagitarius – just do it when no one is looking. Soon, you will be involving those people in your life who also have an active inner child…and before you know it, you’ll be embarrassing everyone else on holiday by running whooping into the sea!!!! And I’ll be right there beside you, bucket and spade in hand.

- Something To Play With -

What did you love to do when you were a little kid? What would you love to do now? If no one was watching, would you go on the swings or slide, would you play musical statues or musical bumps, would you spin round until you were dizzy, would you read The Faraway Tree (I read it again last year – it’s ACE!), would you get out the lego…Hmm, if you’ll excuse me, I’m sure I have got some lego somewhere… Why are you still sat there? Go and play! Want to share how you are going to play??? Leave me a comment below!

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