Christmas Cake Recipe

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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Finish the Year with a HOORAH!

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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It’s My Favourite!

Do you remember when you were a kid and everything was your favourite? Mr Whippy ice cream? My favourite! Chips? My favourite! Lego? My favourite! Adam and the Ants? My favourite! The funny thing about this is that when you have everything as your favourite, it gives you a surge of enthusiasm for your life. Life? My favourite! Today, for some obscure reason, as I was driving away from the petrol station, the thought ran through my head “A full tank of fuel. My favourite!” It made me laugh aloud.

So I decided to keep it going. Swimming? My favourite! Bacon sandwich for lunch? My favourite! Writing a blog post? My favourite! It might sound a bit daft, but it really does remind you to enjoy your life. When you do something that is your favourite, you savour it, you enjoy the moment more and therefore you enjoy it more. Enjoying life? My absolute, 100% FAVOURITE! Now for you – what’s your favourite?

Love

Donna.x

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A Bit of Monday Fun: Random Thoughts

I saw this over the weekend and it made me laugh a lot so thought I’d share it with you:

Today’s Random Thoughts (not mine, but funny just the same!)

1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.

13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this — EVER!!!

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day, “Mom, what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?

19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

20. And finally…Have you ever wondered if that dollar-bill you’re holding has ever been in a stripper’s butt crack? You are now…

Really want to keep number 20 out of my head! But it made me laugh!

Love

Donna.x

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Ooh, That Was Fun!

Yesterday I happened to be stuck in traffic on the M6. I was hot, I was hungry and I was moving at about 3 miles an hour. Plenty of reason to be peeved, eh? But then I looked across at a very angry chap in the outside lane who practically had steam coming out of his ears. He was obviously having a terrible time, and here’s the thing: we couldn’t change it. Being pissed off was not going to make it any easier (quite the opposite in fact), or get rid of the jam any faster. In his case, I suspect it took him closer to a coronary.

In my case, seeing his misery and anger jolted me out of my own irritation. I thought to myself “Right, I’m here. There’s nothing I can do about it, no helicopter is going to rescue me, so let’s make the most of this shall we?” I rolled down the windows, beamed at the blue sky and lovely hot sun, turned up the music and started to car dance. I like to think I cheered some people up – they were laughing at me anyway. I certainly had more fun than if I’d sat there fuming. And then I intensified the game, upped the ante, compounded the enjoyment.

How? I cheered wildly everytime I got into 3rd gear (twice). I beamed at the lovely sky, grinned at other cars, told myself I was in the fastest lane (and a lot of the time, I was – I went past the cross man 17 times), found things to appreciate, danced more and more, sang a little (I do have a bit of a sense of shame!), thanked God that my car doesn’t overheat, and thoroughly enjoyed myself in every way I could think of. And then, when I went past the police cars and ambulance I had a rampage of appreciation that I was safe and well.

Because those people in that car were having a way worse time than we were. I’d take stuck in a traffic jam over an appointment with Casualty any day. The moral of this story of course is that sometimes things happen that are not great, sometimes we’re stuck in a situation we don’t want to be in, but we have a choice as to how we deal with that. We can sit and fume, OR we can make it fun. And do you know what? In a bizarre way, I really enjoyed that trip home. Not so much that I’d want to do it again today, but ooh, that was fun!

Love

Donna.x

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I Get Knocked Down…

…But I get up again. Nothing like a bit of chumbawumba on a wednesday! Lol. Much as I detest the song, I like the sentiment. I get knocked down, but I get up again. A Japanese proverb says it best “Fall down 100 times, get up 101″. This last week I have been being knocked down, getting up, knocked down, getting up, and so on and so on. Some weeks are just like that! (Usually weeks where I’m not sleeping – I’m harder to knock down when I’m not knackered!)

Anyway, if you’re getting knocked down at the moment, just get back up again. And if you are finding it hard to get up alone, make sure you are surrounded by people who help to pick you up. This can be friends and family, but it can just as easily be strangers who have uplifting things to say. Get an idea of who are your ‘go to’ people when you’re knocked down, or your action plan for getting back up (which may not involve people you know).

I’m lucky to be part of several online communities of like-minded people, and they are unfailingly helpful every time. But my top tip for getting ‘up’ again (and this can be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually ‘up’) is to have a laugh. A couple of times over the past week when I’ve been knocked down, I’ve gone to trusty You Tube and found some stuff that makes me laugh – it’s the quickest ‘up’ there is!

Love

Donna.x

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If You Could Do It All Again

You may have seen this poem, it does the rounds on e-mail occasionally. This week, a friend sent it to me and I read it again and once again realised how wonderful a philosophy it is:

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER

I’d dare to make more mistakes next time.
I’d relax, I would limber up.
I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.
I would take more chances.

I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans.
I would perhaps have more actual troubles,
but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I’m one of those people who live
sensibly and sanely hour after hour,
day after day.

Oh, I’ve had my moments,
And if I had it to do over again,
I’d have more of them.
In fact, I’d try to have nothing else.
Just moments, one after another,
instead of living so many years ahead of each day.

I’ve been one of those people who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat
and a parachute.
If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over,
I would start barefoot earlier in the spring
and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies.

Nadine Stair,
85 years old.

Nadine Stair is attributed to have written this at age 85. Whatever age you are, look back and ask yourself – if you could do it all again, what would you do more?

I would laugh more, and worry less
I would not take notice of what ‘they’ may think, and instead notice what I think
I would enjoy all of it – the ‘bad’ times and the good
I would celebrate that I am doing my best in every moment

I would know that everything worked out in the end, even when it didn’t look like it was going to
I would live MY life, not try to fit in with the herd
I would do what I was passionate about
I would follow my intuition

I would enjoy my life anyway, even when business wasn’t good
Even when I was skint, even when the nights were long and the weather cold
Even when everything looked bleak, I would have some fun anyway
I would look in my own eyes more and say “You are WONDERFUL”

I would stay out of other people’s business and stay in my own
I would encourage more, cheerlead more, cheer up more – myself and others
I would endeavour to show the best of me at all times
And I would let myself off the hook when I failed dismally!

Wait. I can (and try to) do all these things now. And so can you. What would you do? Once you know, replace would with ‘will’ or am! For example “I will laugh more and worry less” or ” I am laughing more and worrying less”. Then live to YOUR own blueprint for life. My guess is that before we got here to earth, this is what we intended to do – laugh, enjoy, smell the flowers, dance…and then somehow we forgot! So don’t wait til ‘next time’. Do it now.

Love

Donna.x

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Living Life With Passion

When you think of Loving Life, what comes to mind?

When you think of Living Passionately, what comes to mind?

When you think of Living Joyfully, what comes to mind?

It is my humble opinion that life is to be lived and loved, passionately, fully, joyfully. For too many of us, we don’t. Love of life, passion and joy are things we don’t even think about. Well, this weekend I have a mission for you – start falling in love with life, living passionately and joyously. How? As ever, one step at a time. Answer the questions above – what comes to mind…and what can you do this weekend to start falling in love with life, living passionately and/or living joyfully?

I see you having a weekend full of love, passion, joy and laughter.

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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What Are You Leaving Behind?

Think about the last 24 hours of your life – where have you been? What did you leave behind? For example, I visited my yoga teacher and left behind a bag of damsons (which was a good thing!). I met friends in the pub and left laughter (because I was so tired I thought someone’s t-shirt said “bee taster”…it was actually “beer taster” D’oh!). I went to the shop and left money and a smile.

I think I have mostly left every part of my world better because I was in it this last 24 hours. That’s not always the case. Sometimes I can leave behind sarcasm, irritation, mess! But if I think about it, I’d rather leave the world a better place behind me than a trashed, insulted, shouted at and hurt. How about you?

Love

Donna.x

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