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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Enjoying the Win

Last week, I was at a client’s offices and in the meeting room they had a picture titled “Face each problem with a will to win” with a picture of athletes in agony (marathon runners by the look of them). I admire the sentiment. Determination, tenacity and will gets you far.

BUT.

It’s the agony bit that bothers me! Yes, ok, winning is all good, getting to your goal is a magnificent thing…but in business and in life these days it is all too often at the expense of your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health…and I can’t see that as good no matter which way up I look at it! I mean, what’s the point of getting to your goal if at the end of it you are mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually depleted? It’s different if the thing you want to do pushes you to your limits (marathons, mountain climbs etc), but in your normal life? In your business day? I don’t think so.

This poster seemed to be from the ‘nose to the grindstone’ school of workplace motivation. And having been self-employed for the last 7 years, I can tell you what a crock of sh** that particular ‘motivation’ is! It is ineffective, demotivating and ultimately, pointless. So I had a think to come up with something that I think is a bit more inspiring. How about “Face each problem with curiosity, a sense of humour, a joyful smile and a determination to have a laugh while finding a solution”? With a picture of smiling, happy people?

Obviously this will never catch on in the workplace while we insist on being sober, serious, sensible and having our noses to the grindstone for 40 hours a week…but I live in hope that one by one we will wake up and realise life is for enjoying (even when at ‘work’!) What would the inspirational poster on your wall say?

Love

Donna.x

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Dare to Risk Greatness

Today I read this e-mail from Neale Donald Walsch, and I just had to share it with you:

On this day of your life, Donna, I believe God wants you to know…

…that perfection is not required of you
– only perfect_effort.

Not to even try because you don’t think you can would be terribly sad. You’ll be amazed at what you can do if you simply step into it.

Life awaits you on the other side of Risk. What can you lose? Face? Dignity? Who cares about those when greatness is possible? Who cares about those when fairy tales are at hand?

What risks are you going to take today? What might you try? Your fairy tales are at hand! And if you need someone to walk the path with you for a little while, there are just 2 coaching spots left on my end of year special (£150 for 3 sessions before the end of the year, saving £30) – contact me now to reserve a space.

Love

Donna.x

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Find A Way

I watched this video this morning and I love this.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid49309401001?bctid=610255164001

Many of us have people around us who want to keep us safe and not disappointed by life so they tell us how hard things are, how unlikely it is we’ll succeed, how we should just stop, not try and stay safe.  They’re trying to help.  But that’s no reason to listen!  FIND A WAY.  If you want to do something, find a way.  Most people who succeed are just like you and me, with the same insecurities and fears, they just kept going, kept trying to FIND A WAY.  Discouragement happens, but just keep going and find a way!

Love

Donna.x

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What Did You Do Right Today?

If I asked you at the end of the day what you did wrong, or what you ‘should’ have done that you didn’t do, how many answers would you have for me? (just a rough guess, you don’t need to count exactly!)

My guess is that you could think of 10-20 things quite easily.

Now, what if I were to ask you what you did RIGHT today? What are you pleased with? What are you proud of? Can you get 10-20 again?

Again, my guess is that you would find this more difficult! Why is it so easy to criticise ourselves but so hard to praise ourselves? Which is more motivating? Constant criticism or constant praise? Which do you do to yourself?

Just for today, notice what you got RIGHT. Then, you could maybe do it again tomorrow…and the next day…and the next day.

I wonder how much happier you’d be if you did this every day?

Love

Donna.x

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