Reflect Upon Your Blessings

…Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some… – Charles Dickens

Do you spend more time reflecting on what a shame it is for you that you don’t have this or that, or on how lucky you are to have plentiful, running water; to have enough food to live; to have so many possessions you desperately need to clear clutter; to have access to any kind of education at all; to be able to express your opinion without being in fear of your life; for the air you breathe; for the sunshine; for spring flowers?

I could go on forever. Of course life is not perfect, but it’s a heck of a lot better than we sometimes give it credit for! It is easy to focus on the ‘what is missing’ from life, and sometimes it can be helpful – when you can see what’s missing, you can sort it out. But when it becomes an endless litany of why your life sucks, that’s no fun! (and doesn’t help you change anything) For today at least, take your attention off the misfortune in your life and reflect more on your blessings, and Happy Dance because your life is so filled with fortune!

Love

Donna.x

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Every Moment is a Choice

How many choice points do you think you have in your life? Do you only see the “big” choice points – this job or that job, this relationship or a single life, buy a house or go to Australia. What would you think if I told you that this moment is a choice point?

And this one?

And this one?

And this moment right here?

What choices can you make in this moment?

Here’s a couple of ideas:

Do I do the most self-loving thing for myself now or not?

Do I look for the silver lining or not?

Do I do my best in this moment or do I just give in to apathy?

Do I choose to LIVE my life or do I wait for life to start?

Do I choose to raise my energy in this moment and do what I can to feel good or not?

Do I choose to smile or frown in this moment?

So what choices are you making? In every moment, you have the choice to change or not. There is no right or wrong in this by the way – no judgement, no blame. Just choice. So if you were to choose to do the most self-loving thing you could for yourself in this moment, what would happen? I understand that you may be at work and unable to have a long hot bath, but given the constraints you have, what would be the most self-loving thing to do?

How about if you chose to see the silver lining? What might change? Chose to do your best in this moment? Chose to LIVE? Chose to raise your energy? Chose to smile? (maybe even BEAM, chuckle, laugh, guffaw?!) You may choose to do the opposite of all of these – to see the worst, to do your worst, to exist apathetically, to lower your energy (we’re very good at that), to frown…but that’s your choice! So if that’s what you’ve chosen, I hope you’re enjoying it. (Once you get to a certain level of positivity, having a bad day can be fun too!)

What are you choosing in this moment? Let me know – leave a comment.

Love

Donna.x

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What Is Your Deepest Wish

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

What Is Your Deepest Wish?

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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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 – Revealing the Sculpture

Michelangelo said that a sculptor just chipped away at a stone to reveal the beauty within. This got me thinking – isn’t this what we all do with our lives? We hold a vision of the life we want and start chipping away to reveal that life…by getting the education we want, the job, the partner, the dog, the f’ing big television…and so on. But then somehow we lose sight of what it is we’re creating, or we forget that we are creating something, or we get discouraged and put down the chisel.

Then we sit looking at the unfinished block of marble that is our life, and we complain that it’s ugly and incomplete, missing key elements. We forget that there is a work of art hiding inside that incompleteness, and more importantly, we forget that we are the sculptor. Ok, let me just move metaphor aside for a moment and ask you a question. Are you consciously creating your life? Hmm…make that 2 questions. Do you have a vision you are working towards?

When we are young, naïve and foolish, we have dreams and ambitions we have no idea how to fulfil, and no fear about fulfilling them. A few setbacks, some discouragement and an amount of time later and we give up on our dreams, telling ourselves that we were young, naïve and foolish to think we could create a masterpiece in the first place. Well, I say BRING BACK youth, naivite and foolishness!

You don’t necessarily have to bring back your original dreams – speaking for myself, I no longer want the same kind of life I wanted when I was 18! The life I am now chipping away to reveal is very different from the one I initially envisioned. In fact, I had to get a new block of marble and start again with my life sculpture because the first attempt was just too darn small. You can pick up the chisel again any time you like…and much of the fun of sculpture is the process of creation – once you get the finished article, you’re off to the next after a moment of admiration.

Much like life. You have a vision of what you want, you stop to admire it for 30 seconds (maybe) and then you’re off to create the next work of art. Only in life, we often don’t stop to appreciate that creation process, or the initial design process. We don’t always keep an eye on whether our original vision has changed and whether we need a bigger chisel. The exciting thing is that whether you are aware of it or not, you are the artist, and your life is hiding in that block of marble, just waiting to be revealed.

Something to play with
What is the vision you have for your life? Don’t worry if it’s a bit unclear at the moment – the design process is delicious! Whatever stage you’re at – visualising your design, ready to pick up the chisel, half-way through chipping away – today resolve to remember that you are the creator of your life, and wield that chisel with pride and joy!

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

Love

Donna.x

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OnTheBeach – Follow The Energy

When I am sending my weekly article to my list, I now decide what article to send you by picking a ‘Beach Card’ and expanding on that – either with a previous article or something new…and this week the card picked is spooky for 2 reasons – one, it’s exactly what I was doing yesterday – following the (lack of) energy straight to the bath – with a good book and bubbles up to my nose! And secondly because this article was first published a year ago. Maybe there’s something in the energy of this time of year?! Let me know if this article is particularly relevant to you right now.

- Follow the Energy -

I was on a group call last night with the fabulous Joel Young about NPA – a lovely method for freeing and allowing energy. Joel was talking about following the animation – the things that have energy. You know how your energy changes and goes down when you are, say, moaning about the weather? And how it changes and goes up when you are talking about something you love to do – like holidays, gigs, nights out with friends etc. Well that positive animation is what we’re talking about.

Joel likened it to surfing a wave – following that energy. When we are trying to ‘make’ ourselves do something…we are trying to surf on a millpond! That’s why sometimes it is so difficult to get something done…and on another day, you will fly through the same task. So where is the animation for you today? Where is the energy? What are you interested in and engaged by? Not what you ‘should’ be doing, but where the energy is building with a wave ready for you to surf.

If this is something you are not used to doing, it might sound a little hard…but it just takes a bit of practice. So start to notice – where is the animation? Where is the interest? What has a a wave of energy? Go do that – follow the energy and see where it takes you. I have found that following the energy makes life 1000 times easier. When I am trying to make the energy flow, life is harder, stuff takes longer, I am constantly getting stuck and it feels bad.

Take writing a blog post for example, if I try to write when there is no energy to write, I could sit at the laptop for a week without writing anything useful! But today, now, the energy is flowing…and this has taken 10 minutes so far. What a difference! Now there are times when you’ve just got to do it, and at those times, you can build the energy – for example, to get my accounts done, I put on some loud music and raise my energy so I can ‘get it done’.

But it’s becoming rare that I will try to force myself to go where the energy is not these days. And when I do, I remember it is a very inefficient way of living! As you start to follow the energy, you will notice that just by following what wants to be done, that naturally raises your energy for other tasks so you don’t have to artificially boost the energy. Tap into that energy of life that is all around you and just watch your life get easier as you ride that wave.

- Something to Play With -

Notice where the energy and animation is and follow it, notice how life gets easier when you ride the wave of energy (or if there is no energy, you rest!). Want to share your thoughts on this article? Please leave a comment below. Or pop over to my facebook page and leave a comment there.

- Beach Card of the week -

“Where is the energy leading you today? What wants to be done? Follow the energy – it feels good.”

Love

Donna.x

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What Do You Wish to Immerse Yourself In?

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

What Do You Wish to Immerse Yourself In?

Ooh, this is a delicious wish prompt isn’t it? The picture Jamie has used on her website is gorgeous too, which prompted me to go and find a gorgeous picture to represent this idea too. So what do I wish to immerse myself in? Beauty, joy, life, nature, creativity, wonder. I wish to immerse myself in the wonder, the beauty, the joy of this life. I wish to immerse myself in life – to live fully, completely, joyously. I wish to immerse myself in the magnificence, beauty and wonder and joy of the natural world that surrounds us, the universe even. Yum, utterly delicious!

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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What Door Do You Wish To Open?

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

What Door Do You Wish To Open?

I wish to open the door to greater success, greater abundance, greater service to others, greater joy, greater love, greater energy. I wish to open the door to more life. I wish to open the door to my dreams. I wish to open the door to the adventure and experience that is mine to live. I wish to open the door to all the good that life has to offer me.

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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Oblivious to Criticism

“All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to Criticism.”

I absolutely love this quote…and ain’t it the truth?! We brits love to discuss (moan) about the weather…but it takes absolutely no notice. Just carries on doing it’s own thing. Being cold in summertime, raining all the blasted time, being way too hot in the states.

But imagine having the weather’s attitude. You are oblivious to what ‘other people’ might say or think, you just carry on doing your own thing… How might you have lived your life differently? How could you live life differently now? It’s your life, are you the one living it? Or are you allowing criticism (whether real or imagined) to change your mind about how you live your life?

Love

Donna.x

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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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