Guest Post: Create an Encouragement Box by Jamie Ridler

When I saw this post from Jamie, I just HAD to share it with you guys – I have an encouragement book but I forget to dip into it when I need it…but this encouragement BOX idea is FABULOUS! It’s right here by my desk twinkling at me! Let me know if you try it, and feel free to send me (and Jamie!) some encouragement to fill our encouragement boxes!!

Jamie Ridler is a creative living coach and the director of Jamie Ridler Studios. From the Creative Living with Jamie podcast to the Sparkles creativity e-course, Jamie’s work helps women find the confidence and courage to discover and express their creative selves so they can be the star they are.

BIG love and thanks to Jamie who is one of my favourite people on the planet right now! Jamie, thank you for letting me share this wonderful practice. xx

Love

Donna.x

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OnTheBeach – Taking Inspired Action

When you are working towards a goal (say, having a life full of purpose, passion and joy for example!), what sort of action do you take? Do you take the next logical step, even when every fibre of your being is screaming at you to do something illogical and seemingly unrelated? Or do you follow your inspiration? Taking your whims and fleeting random thoughts as instructions to do something utterly fabulous? For most of us, it is the former. The logical steps. The ‘next’ steps. And there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that! Next steps will get you there…

But there are shortcuts to where we want to go. Little cut-throughs that we tend to ignore because we can’t see where they go. Have you ever seen one of these when out for a walk? A path that leads…somewhere. But because you can’t see where it goes, you stay with the path you’re on. I have never been good at ‘staying on the beaten track’. Whenever I see a path that goes…somewhere, or a road I’ve never been down, or a door I’ve never opened, I want to go that way and find out what’s down there. In the car, this has usually meant one of two things – I either get lost, or I find a shortcut. And I like a shortcut, a rat run, a different (sometimes quicker, sometimes easier) way of getting from A to B. I also don’t mind being lost. After all, I’ve had plenty of practice!

And I am the same in life. I listen to my intuitive nudges, my inspiration, the little whispers that tell me to do something seemingly unrelated to what I’m working on. And sometimes, I admit, I do get a bit lost or distracted. But many times that little inspiration takes me somewhere utterly fabulous. By following the inspired actions, I have found resources, people and fun stuff that I would never have seen if I’d stayed on the beaten path. And the more I take inspired action, the more I recognise the inspiration, the more I see the little lightbulb go on, and the more I move forward into the fabulous life I am creating.

Inspired action is the whisper from the universe to help you get what you want from life, but sometimes it looks like a distraction. Take the case of Chris, who was looking for a job, and got a nagging thought to call an old friend who just happened to have started a new company and needed staff. Coincidence? No, inspiration. The universe is always trying to help us along, but we think we know better and just ignore those whispers. And sure, sometimes the whispers seem to lead nowhere…but I am a big believer that no inspired action is EVER wasted. Sometimes it is just what you need in that moment. The other day I got a whisper to go to a local reservoir to watch the sun set. It was just what my soul needed, irrespective of what I was ‘working on’ right then.

How do you recognise inspired action? Notice that I said ‘recognise’ – this is something that is already there within you, whispering. It is not action that ‘seems like a good idea’. It is not action that you ‘thought’ would be a logical next step. It is not action that always makes sense! In fact, sometimes it is difficuld to explain to someone else why it is something you need to do! It is inspired, coming from your intuition, sometimes enormously illogical, but you know it’s ‘right’. I know you have experienced this before, we all have. And we all have the ability to tap into this inspiration more and more – unfortunately many of us are too used to going down the logical path. But logic was only invented to justify our intuitive decisions!!! So listen to your inspirations…and TAKE ACTION!

Love

Donna.x

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Call On Your Inner Actor

Last night I went to see Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford. As ever, the actors are incredibly convincing – you can feel their joy, their pain, and their madness. This morning I woke up a little tired, and as so often when tired, I fell into the well worn groove of the character in me that is impatient, wants life to happen faster, better, bigger, sooner, NOW! I play this character well because of how often I have played that part. And then it struck me. Just as the Shakespearian actor can ‘get into character’, so can we.

And we can ‘get out of character’ too. To be honest, impatient Donna doesn’t really help me get to where I want to be. She is not that helpful. Not only is it an uncomfortable part to play, it does not add any value to my life. No audience is paying to watch me become this character. So I decided to get into a different character – a different me, a more relaxed, positive, supportive me. My body language changed, I relaxed, I felt lots better…and from this character, I can be more creative, have more fun (and remembering our September daily practice of feeling good, I felt better!)

What characters do you easily slip into when you are tired and depleted? It could be the irritable mom, the thunder-faced boss, the negative pessimistic person, the victim (the whole world is conspiring against you), the whiner (‘it’s a bloody shame for me!’), the short-tempered person or many more. Are they characters you enjoy being? Are they characters who are helping you live with purpose, passion and joy? Are they characters who will take you all the way to fabulous? Or are they characters who are no fun to play, or to be around, and no help to your wonderful life at all?

Call on your inner actor, the thespian lurking within you and get into a different character – a feel good character, an optimisic, positive, encouraging, vibrant, joyful, fun, easy-going, relaxed, laid-back, supportive character who dances her way through life with a big smile and a cheeky wink! Instead of channeling your inner Lady Macbeth, channel your inner Tigger!

Leave me a comment to let me know what character you don’t want to play and which one you will step into instead.

Love

Donna.x

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You Are A Catalyst

Imagine this – you are a person who affects hundreds of people every day. Your thoughts and ideas are highly sought after. You are looked up to by people around you. You are a catalyst for other people – you may be a muse for someone, a launch pad, a sounding board, the wing beneath someone’s wings. Sound good? Sound true?

It should, because it is – every single day YOU have the capacity to affect the lives of many others – people you work with, live with, travel alongside, interact with in shops and bars, phone, e-mail, text, friends, family, acquaintances, strangers. Don’t believe me? Have you ever had this experience – you are having a rough day, you are fed up, scared, tired, worried – and a complete stranger does you a kindness. And suddenly the world doesn’t seem so bad after all.

That kindness could be letting you out in traffic, beaming at you for no apparent reason, being polite (surprisingly effective), cracking a joke, doing something very random (kids waving at me from the back seat of a car always entertains me on the motorway). You may never see this person again, but they may have had a profound impact on your life, or just brightened your day.

You have the potential to have that profound impact on someone today. And every day. We do not live in an isolated society (even though it feels like it sometimes!) – we are all affected by those around us. And my question is, are you using your impact in the way you want to? Or are you careless with your words and actions, completely oblivious to how you are impacting someone else’s day?

Not just with strangers, with everyone – your family, friends and colleagues – do you have a positive impact on them? Do you encourage them to shine? What’s in it for you? It feels great to do something good for someone else – to encourage, to nurture, to be kind and loving. There is no feeling quite like knowing that you have positively affected someone else’s life AND you attract the same back.

- Something to Play With -

This week, make an effort to encourage others – be interested in your loved ones dreams, be optimistic about new ideas, and best of all, live your life to the full and inspire those around you. Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave a comment below.

- Beach Card of the week -

Well, it’s just the perfect card to go with this article!! “Help someone else – give them something – a smile, a gift, a blessing, your love.” Ain’t that spooky?

If you like the ‘Beach Card’, come and join me on Facebook where I share a daily Beach Card.

Love

Donna.x

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Guest post: Stuck in a Rut? A Simple Solution

My friend Sam shared this on her blog last week and I loved it so much I asked if I could share it with you guys – enjoy!

“I am an avid watcher of TED talks. I love the people they draw, the ideas they have, the inspiration they bring to my life.

Today I wanted to share a very short (3 min 27 sec) talk from a TED conference held in February of this year. The speaker’s idea for getting out of a rut and creating change in your life is incredibly simple and therefore easy to implement.

The Dakini Grace philosophy is one of creating sustainable change in people’s lives. It’s not about waiting and hoping for a different lifestyle. It’s not about putting off life changes until you’ve had the next baby, bought the next house or retired from your job.

It’s about starting now by starting simply.

We don’t need to know how we’re going to deal with every turn in the road before we take the first step. We simply need to be willing to actually take that step. And then to step again. And again.

As we build momentum, personal growth comes from taking the time to notice the joy, the satisfaction that is always available when you choose to be fully present in your life. As we step into that, the goal becomes less significant and the journey everything. For it’s the journey which teaches us; which changes us. Read more

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OnTheBeach – Celebrate Good Times

How much do you celebrate your life? Do you wait for birthdays, weddings and christenings to come around or do you celebrate more often? Do you celebrate when you reach a milestone, like paying off a debt? Do you celebrate the little things in life, the everyday joys and achievements? Most of you, sadly, do not celebrate on a daily basis.

Most people don’t, they save their celebrations for ‘big’ occasions only 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. And it never ceases to amaze me that it is something that most of my clients find ‘difficult’ to remember.

We’re just not used to celebrating our lives, our small achievements, sometimes even our big achievements. One of my clients recently 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 the purpose of life is to grow…and why grow if life is perfect? There will always 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.

Whether it is completing a blog post, paying off a debt, getting a promotion, finishing the housework, doing the exercise you said you’d do, celebrate everything. Find reasons to celebrate you. Frankly, I think you could celebrate you just for your smile, or your loving heart, or your unique wonderful-ness, but I’m guessing most of you won’t. So find something to celebrate this week – maybe something you’ve done this year and never did celebrate – and big or small, celebrate.

The reason this was on my mind today is that I paid off my credit card debt, finally! Woohoo!!!! I am now officially debt free. All my money is my own, I don’t have to give a big chunk of it to my credit card company. Hap hap HAZAH! You can tell I’m happy, right?! Anyway, to celebrate, I am going to the theatre to see the Jungle Book in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait! I hope your celebration is as much fun. Oh, and your celebration can be a chocolate biscuit, an episode of your favourite tv program or a bubble bath and a magazine…it doesn’t have to be lavish and expensive, it just has to be a celebration.

Something to play with

Find something to celebrate this week and find a way to celebrate it. Once you’ve done one celebration, find something else to celebrate and celebrate that! And don’t forget to leave me a comment to tell me what you’re going to celebrate.

Love

Donna.x

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The Diamond in the Rough

This morning I read this lovely article, and it got me thinking – how many of us are hiding the diamond within us? How many of us aren’t fully owning our magnificence? How many of us are standing on the sidelines, just watching life go by around us, thinking we can’t make a difference?

The truth is that you are a wonderful, brilliant, creative, special human being. And if you can’t see that, you need to find people who can show you who you really are. You are capable of so much more than you think, and it is a criminal waste for you to hide that diamond. There are many ways to uncover and polish that precious diamond, including connecting to your source, coaching, playing to your strengths, reading/watching inspirational material, looking in the mirror and seeing the diamond looking back at you.

The main thing you need is a willingness to mine that diamond. I promise you, it is there just waiting to be found. Please, please mine for it, polish it and start shining – the world needs you.

Love

Donna.x

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Nothing Holding You Back

What is holding you back from having a joyous life? What is holding you back from falling in love with life? What is holding you back from doing what you want to do? You may have answered ‘money’, ‘time’, ‘not knowing how or what to do’, maybe it is a person or people, the government, that you are not confident enough, that you have not got the knowledge or the skill or the motivation or the right shoes (!). What is it that holds you back in your life? Identify it all…

Now imagine that there is NOTHING holding you back. There is nothing in your way. You have all the resources, time, intelligence, creativity, support, ideas, motivation, energy that you need to enjoy your life, to fall in love with your life, to do whatever you want to do. Just imagine it for a moment. What would that be like? How would that change things for you? What could you do if there was nothing holding you back? What first step would you take? Why not take that first step right now?

Move towards enjoying your life, falling in love with your life, doing what you want to do…even though there are things holding you back, move forward anyway. Many of the things holding you back will just fall away under the glow of your inspiration and determination…and those that don’t will become more of an inconvenience than a brake on your dreams. Move forward anyway. Do it now, as if there is nothing holding you back. Leave a comment and tell me what you’d do if nothing were holding you back…and then go do it!

Love

Donna.xxxx

PS Put a comment below to tell me what it is that’s holding you back and in a future blog, I’ll address that particular thing more specifically. Trust me, you won’t be alone in whatever it is you feel is holding you back!

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Dance, Dance, Wherever You May Be

It doesn’t matter how many times I see this video, it cracks me up every single time. Enjoy!

Happy Friday!

Love

Donna.x

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What Do I Wish for My Home?

Wishcasting Wednesday is here again.

What do I wish for my home?

My immediate, and slightly flippant (although still heartfelt) answer to this was: I wish my home to be in a beautiful climate with a west facing sea view. That is my ultimate wish! But then I read a few other wishcaster’s wishes and I got a bit more ‘present’. I wish for my home to be full of love, beauty, joy and inspiration. I wish my home to support me in enjoying my life to the full. I wish my home to be a place of flowing, positive energy. I wish my home to be beautifully simplistic (a challenge for a hoarder!). I feel a spring clean coming on!

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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