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

Photo Credit: jdurham at morguefile.com

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

How Do You Wish To Nourish Yourself?

I wish to nourish myself with love for myself, support for myself, 100% belief in myself. I wish to nourish myself with joy, laughter, self-expression, fun, dance (see the daily practice!), creativity, nature, beauty. I wish to nourish myself by caring for myself so well that I feel cradled in the arms of love. I wish to nourish myself in every way that I need nourishment…and mostly that is by backing myself 100%, trusting in me and believing that I can fly high.

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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Just in case you missed any of the daily reminders on Facebook this month, here they all are in one place (feel free to bookmark this page to come back to whenever you need a reminder to laugh!):

1. The daily practice for October is…laughter! Are you going to join me in laughing every day this month?

2. Practice laughing for no reason. Just laugh. That’s the ‘purpose’ of Laughter Yoga (find the videos on YouTube) – one of my favourite things! Big breath…and HAHAHAHAHAHA. Just to laugh.

3. “May laughter fill your home, relieve your stress, and strengthen your friendships. Do not let a day go by without laughing; it is good for your health.” – Catherine Pulsifer, from SEVEN GIFTS TO GIVE TO A FRIEND

4. Here’s a video that will help if you don’t feel like laughing…http://youtu.be/HUkPGL4zQyw

5. What’s your favourite ‘crap’ joke? Here’s mine – What do you call a sheep with no legs? A cloud. Makes me laugh EVERY time! Xxx
What do you call a fish with no eyes…. A fsh
Why does Edward Woodward have so many D’s in his name?…. Cos he doesn’t want to be called Ewar Woowar

6. October Daily Practice: Laugh. Who’s your favourite comedian? Go onto YouTube and find some clips of your favourite comedian today (let me know who you’re looking up!).

7. Laugh. The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummings So get laughing today!

8. What films make you laugh? This weekend, put on a DVD of something that makes you laugh…and get laughing!

9. Laugh. Hoorah for youtube and funny clips – this is one of my fave tv moments of all time! http://bit.ly/nzBs56

10. “Laugh. I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.” ~Woody Allen

11. What’s your favourite comedy show? For Irish humour (not for those who don’t like ‘bad language’!), check out Mrs Brown’s Boys. Funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSaWW9vuow&feature=channel_video_title

12. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. ~Kurt Vonnegut

13. YouTube is such a gift for this practice of laughter – check this out – one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen: http://www.donnaonthebeach.com/blog/2009/03/friday-fun-japan-binocular-football/

14. What’s your favourite joke of all time? Here’s mine:http://www.donnaonthebeach.com/blog/2011/10/friday-fun-gis-a-push/

15. Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. What puts man in a higher state of evolution is that he has got his laugh on the right end. ~Max Eastman

16. When was the last time you laughed until you cried? If it’s more than a week ago, that’s too long. Try harder!

17. Try this yoga laughter technique for laughing alone…let me know how you get on! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsbqDglPNsk

18. A good time to laugh is any time you can. ~Linda Ellerbee

19. October Daily Practice: Laughter. When you need to laugh quietly and alone… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvAkyoA7l4U&list=PL97C19BBBD0F7FDB5&index=3

20. Some more laughter yoga exercises – my favourite is at around 1.27 minutes – reminded me of starting my car…a good association, I can now laugh every time I start my car! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NoamivA4SY&list=PL97C19BBBD0F7FDB5&index=7

21. Laugh. A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. ~Irish Proverb

22. The sillier we are, the easier it is to laugh. Get more silly in your life, laugh more. Today, be silly.

23. Your mission today, should you choose to accept it is to laugh, cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, snort and titter. 1 point for each. 10 bonus points for doing all 10 (and you can fake it – release your inner thespian and act them all out!)

24. More laughter yoga exercises – this one is a wonderful way to start the day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZNKf7_ZJC0&list=PL97C19BBBD0F7FDB5&index=6

25. More crap jokes: What bee can’t you hear very well? A mumble bee.
What’s the name of Zippy’s wife ? Mississippi
What’s brown and sticky??
a STICK.
What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work?…..
……a stick
Did you hear about the cat who swallowed a ball of yarn? She had mittens!
What is long, brown and runs around the garden??

A fence.

26. “I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.” Audrey Hepburn

27. They have to do more of these – I’m wiping away the tears of laughter! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmsh0kRKyB4&feature=related

28. This captures the joy of booking a cheap flight perfectly! http://youtu.be/uVASZ2lCY5Y

29. “It is impossible for you to be angry and laugh at the same time. Anger and laughter are mutually exclusive and you have the power to choose either.” Wayne Dyer

30. “Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.” Red Skelton

31. It’s the last day of the daily practice for this month. Did you join in? Will you continue? Today, find any way and every way you can to laugh loud and free! And keep laughing!

With love and laugh.

Donna.x
PS Get ready for the November daily practice…it’s another fun one! Make sure you ‘like’ my facebook page to join in!

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In the spirit of the October Daily Practice of Laughter, I’ve been looking for old amusing things from the archives of my blog…and I found this little gem from August last year! Enjoy…

In Bill Ford‘s coaching newsletter this week:

One of my wife’s colleagues when she was working in the US was asked by a client in France to rush over to present at a meeting the next day. He got on a plane the same day and did not have time to pack. It was winter.

He got to the hotel in Paris with enough time to sleep. His suit was creased from the flight, so he turned on the shower and hung it in the bathroom to let the steam reduce the creases. He fell asleep. By the time he woke up the suit was sodden. So he hung it out on his balcony. He fell asleep again.

By the time he woke up, the suit was frozen. He had no choice, so he put it on and went to the meeting. As he was presenting he could tell that he was losing his audience as they seemed distracted. He asked what was going on and learned that there was steam coming off his suit. He explained what had happened, they fell about laughing, were impressed by his dedication and the MD suggested they go to lunch instead.

This made me cry with laughter and totally ruined me for doing any work until I’d sat in a corner for a bit calming down. I hope it brought you just half as much amusement. Happy Friday!

Love

Donna.x

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In honour of the October Daily Practice, here’s my favourite joke:

A man and his wife were awakened at 3 o’clock in the mnorning by a loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.
“Not a chance,” says the husband, “it is 3 in the morning!” He slams the door and returns to bed.
“Who was that?” asked his wife.
“Just some drunk guy asking for a push,” he answers.
“Did you help him?” she asks.
“No, I did not, it is 3 o’clock in the morning and it is pouring with rain out there!”
“Well, you have a short memory,” says his wife. “Can’t you remember about three months ago when we broke down, and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself!”
The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain.
He calls out into the dark, “Hello, are you still there?”
“Yes,” comes back the answer.
“Do you still need a push?” calls out the husband.
“Yes, please!” comes the reply from the dark.
“Where are you?” asks the husband.
“Over here on the swing,” replied the drunk

Utter GENIUS!

Happy Friday!

Love

Donna.x

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I heard from a friend this weekend who said she was feeling great…because she had spent 2 weeks making ‘feeling good’ her main priority. She made a real effort to make sure she was in a ‘giggly happy’ mood as much as she possibly could. I immediately decided that this was a brilliant idea and adopted it as my daily practice for September – FEELING GOOD! Do you fancy joining me?

What to do: commit to yourself that you will make it a priority to ‘feel good’ this month. For example, every day you can ask yourself: What would make this day/task more fun? What would I love to do today? What would make me feel good/better right now? Look around for something that will make you feel great. Do things you enjoy doing. Laugh a lot. Have some fun…just for one month (less than that as it’s already the 5th) make feeling good your main priority! Join me for a daily check in on facebook.

Here’s the theme tune for this month’s practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmwRQqJsegw

Love

Donna.x

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What happens to your forward momentum and enjoyment of life when you feel down? Does your low feeling suck the life out of your dreams, desires and love of life? If your answer to that is yes, you’re not unusual. Most of us have a chain reaction to feeling low – feel down, start being negative, wonder if we’ll ever get to wherever it is you want to get, have a very glum face and no energy to move forward at all. We kind of wallow in that mud of misery for a while. After some time of idling and not moving forward, we start to get some forward momentum again and slowly our mood, energy and desire reawaken.

What if you were to use disappointments, doubts and fears to fuel your forward momentum? See them as like reaching the bottom of the swimming pool, if you use the bottom to propel you upwards, you will reach the surface faster and you may even (if you get it right) appear to leap out of the water, like a fish. How? As soon as you notice that you’re feeling a bit ‘meh’, use that as a reminder to take care of yourself, or a reminder to do something that energises you, or a reminder to go have some fun, or a reminder to focus on what you want.

Rather than being ruled by your feelings, use them as cues. It’s like when you see your fuel guage on the car is low, it reminds you to go to the petrol station. As soon as you notice you are feeling empty or low or fearful or discouraged, let it remind you to refuel in whatever way feels right to you. You know yourself best, and you will intuitively know what it is right for you to do. If you’re not that in touch with your intuition, this is a cue to work on sharpening your intuitive skills (which we all have by the way – and the more you use it, the more you will hear it and the more you will understand it).

And if you’re really unsure about what to do – laughter is always the best medicine!

Love

Donna.x

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You’ll need the following:

1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
4 large brown eggs
2 cups of dried fruit
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of brown sugar
Lemon juice
Nuts
1 bottle of whisky

Sample the whisky to check for quality. Take a large bowl. Check the whisky again. To be sure it’s the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again. Make sure the whisky is still OK.

Cry another tup. Tune up the mixerer. Beat two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fired druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it goose with a drewscriver. Sample the whisky to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares?

Check the whisky. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon the sugar or something. Whatever you can find. Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees. Don’t forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window. Check the whisky again and go to bed.

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After a week back at work, I am still not really back into the swing of things! I’m still a bit slow, laid-back and relaxed about ‘getting stuff done’! It’ll still be there tomorrow. To be honest, the changing weather patterns and daylight also encourage me to chill out a bit too – I’m convinced I was a bear in a previous life and would just sleep the winter away quite happily.

Despite this, I do have some goals I want to achieve by the end of the year…which is rushing up to us with alarming speed! And to help you, if you also want to finish the year with a flourish, I have a special offer for you – 3xcoaching sessions before the end of the year for £150 (saving £30). I only have room in my diary for 4 people to do this, and one of those spaces has already gone (before I even announced it to ‘the public’, which was fun!). So, if you want some coaching to help you make the most of the rest of the year, get in touch with what you really want from life ready for next year, learn how to dance with the energy of life and where your energy is pointing you, or just get some support to finish 2010 with a HOORAH! Get in touch – simply contact me to find out more and snap up one of those spaces!

- Finish the Year with a Hoorah! -

Can you feel the year winding down already? The nights are getting darker, the weather’s getting worse and the inevitable Christmas frenzy is taking over everyone’s lives. Although I’m a big advocate of following the energy, and at the end of a year, the energy is saying to me ‘hibernation’, I also believe very strongly that this time of year is a great time to begin to reflect and to make decisions and changes which make your life better ready for 2011. It makes me laugh that at this time of year, people start talking about next year’s new year’s resolutions! There’s 6 weeks left til the end of the year – why not start making some of those changes now?

Ok, the last thing you want to do in the party season is give up alcohol and cake, but there are other changes that can be made to achieve the same ends. Let’s say your goal is to feel fabulous about your body – why not take the next 6 weeks to put in place the habit of looking in the mirror and saying to yourself “You look gorgeous!” No giving up of anything, it’s really easy, and you will sparkle at all those parties! Or, you could start doing star jumps, sit ups and push ups in the ad breaks of your favourite tv shows. I know someone who started doing this, and she really noticed the difference in the first week (she watches quite a bit of tv!)

6 weeks is a good amount of time to make some changes in your life. It’s a good amount of time to make a start, make a plan, start digging into the energy of your life and finding out what’s here for you. And if you are feeling a bit down about the fact that yet another year has passed without achieving the things you want, why not figure out what you could do easily in 6 weeks and do that? Rather than allow the year to peter out, shake it up and make it dance!

Now, as I’ve said, I am pretty much in hibernation mode so that does need to be taken into account when I’m considering how I will end the year with a flourish. Pretty much anything that cannot be done indoors and wrapped in several duvets is out. So I won’t be taking up mountain climbing, running or cycling before the end of the year. There are a few business things I’ve got up my sleeve – new websites, website updates, a new product for the new year that I’ll be telling you more about in a couple of weeks. I also have a few personal intentions – make meditating a daily habit (in winter, this is EASY, sitting still wrapped in a blanket – gorgeous!), going swimming 3 times a week, a bit of clutter clearing, laughing even more (which is always an intention at every time of year) and more.

Will I accomplish everything I want to this year? Probably not – I have a strange notion about how much one can fit into a day – I’m always astonished to find it’s 5 in the afternoon. But that doesn’t matter. There’s a cliche in sport that it’s the taking part that counts. That saying works for life too. Take part in your life – even though it’s the end of the year, even though it’s dark and cold and SAD, even though it’s easier to say ‘I’ll do it next year’. What would you like to change? And what could you do in 6 weeks to start bringing about that change? Let me qualify this a little more: what would bring more joy into your life? And what could you do in the next 6 weeks to make your life more enjoyable? Go, do it and finish 2010 with a HOORAH!

- Something to Play With -

What are you going to do in the final 6 weeks of 2010 to finish the year with a Hoorah? What can bring more fun, more joy, more love, more laughter into your life in the next 6 weeks? And of course, if I can help you finish the year with a flourish, snap up one of those 3 coaching spots before they’re gone! Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave me a comment below.

Love

Donna.x

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