Ask Donna: Exhausted and Discouraged

Question: I am following my big dream and it’s been really hard work. I feel exhausted and discouraged, and worst of all I don’t feel I can talk about this as everyone keeps telling me to ‘be positive’ or give up. Maria

People who are not following their big dreams sometimes don’t understand those of us who are. Ask for the support you need from your friends – be really clear with them about how they can help you. Take a break from your big dream – when you are exhausted, the best thing you can do is relax and take a couple of days off from working on your big dream so you can replenish yourself and come back clear headed and chilled out.

Here’s the link to the podcast about the 3 Pillars: http://www.donnaonthebeach.com/blog/2012/01/dreams-to-reality-podcast-the-3-pillars/ – the 3 Pillars are self-care, energy and joy. If you’re not feeling cared for, you will feel exhausted and discouraged just because your self-care is low. If your energy is low, you have less to give your big dream. If you are not enjoying life…well, that sucks!

If you have a question, leave a comment below this post.

Love

Donna.x

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Dreams To Reality Podcast: The 3 Pillars

The 3 Pillars: Self Care, energy and joy. These 3 things are the foundation of a successful life – if you feel uncared for, depleted and you’re not enjoying life, life is so much harder! And if you want to make your big dream a reality, you need to be cared for, full of energy and enjoying your life.

To listen to this week’s podcast, click here: The 3 Pillars

Homework:
EVERY DAY ask your HEART this:
How cared for am I feeling right now on a scale of 1-10, where one is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘cradled in the arms of love’. If it is less than a 7, your only task is to do something to make yourself feel more cared for – do something that nourishes you.
How energetic am I feeling right now on a scale of 1-10, where one is ‘no energy’ and 10 is ‘I feel like Tigger, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!’ If it is less than a 7, your only task is to do something to raise your energy – do something fun, get out in nature, do something you love that raises your energy.
How much am I enjoying life right now a scale of 1-10, where one is ‘I’m not’ and 10 is ‘I am totally in love with my life’. If it is less than a 7, your only task is to do something fun, something you enjoy – this is your life. ENJOY it!

You can also subscribe to this podcast on itunes here.

May all your dreams become reality.

Love

Donna.x

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Silly Season

How stressful has Christmas become?! Since November I have heard people everywhere saying ‘oh god, it’s nearly Christmas…are you ready? I’m not ready, I haven’t even started. Aaaaaaaargh!’ Now Christmas really is nearly hear, the stress is reaching a crescendo…just look at the joyful (not!) faces in the shops.

Magazines and newspapers are full of articles on ‘surviving’ Christmas – like it’s some kind of disastrous event! What happened to ’tis the season to be jolly’?! Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate that Christmas can be stressful – there’s the financial strain, the consequences of getting the ‘wrong’ present, the enforced family time, the cooking, the endless parties…

However, it’s a national HOLIDAY! A time to enjoy yourself. And get pressies. This year, why not give yourself the best pressie of all and design your Christmas so you look forward to it, enjoy it and ‘survive’ with effortless ease?! I am very lucky, because my Christmas is always the same – mass, breakfast, pub, dinner, pressies, tv, sleep. Hoorah!

A few of my favourite things in one day. So, you’ve got 2 weeks (stop panicking!) – what can you do to minimise the things you hate, and maximise the things you love this year? Tip: if you join in with the December Daily Practice of Self-care, this will help immensely!

- Something to Play With -

A. What do you love about Christmas? B. What do you hate about Christmas? C. How can you make sure you get more of A and less of B in this festive season?

Love

Donna.x

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Wishcasting – What do you wish to celebrate?

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

What do you wish to celebrate?
Firstly, Happy Birthday to Jamie (the originator of Wishcasting Wednesday)! And on the subject of Birthdays, I wish to celebrate my birthday on Saturday! Then I wish to celebrate my car passing the MOT with flying colours; I wish to celebrate my friendships – I am very blessed with my lovely friends; I wish to celebrate the progress my business and life have made this year (so far!); I wish to celebrate the new direction I’ll be going in in January (to find out more, make sure you’re keeping in touch with me!) with the business; I wish to celebrate the new ventures I’ll be involved in next year (podcasts, Ask Donna videos, new programs – exciting times!).

I wish to celebrate the December daily practice of self-care, which has encouraged me to get up and dance today, to snooze on Monday, to finish work early yesterday, to enjoy painting my toenails sparkly blue (in work time no less!) and much more in the week it’s been going; I wish to celebrate that I have done the morning pages almost every day for the last 6 months; I wish to celebrate my health, which despite an unwelcome diagnosis last year, seems to be better than ever; I wish to celebrate my wonderful life (not my perfect life, cos I still have room to expand and enjoy EVEN more), but I wish to celebrate my life with all its imperfections, problems, questions, quandary’s and concerns! I wish to celebrate my life just as it is.

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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December Daily Practice: Self-care

Happy December to you! Woohoo! I love December – despite the fact that I despise the cold and dark, December contains my birthday, Christmas, pressies galore, sparkly lights, holidays and crap tv. Hazah! Hope you are delighted to see the beginning of December too! So, a new month, and it’s time for a new daily practice for this month. After a couple of fun ones (laughter, dancing), this month is a more caring one. Self-care to be precise. December is one of those months where there is a lot of stress – financial stress, time stress, work stress, pressie stress, shopping stress, cooking stress, family stress, friend stress.

Added to all that, in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s bloody cold. And with all the stress, it’s a prime time for colds and flus, exhaustion and depression. Which is when we need self-care the most, and for many of us, the time we care for ourselves the least – that’s why we get sick, over-stressed, wound up and agitated. So this month, our daily practice is self-care. To join in this practice, all you need to do is take a moment every day to check how cared for you feel on a scale of 1-10 (where one is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘cradled in the arms of love’). If your level of self-care is less than a 7, you need to do something to take care of yourself.

I know time is scarce in the busy holiday month, but your self-care is very important. You will enjoy the holiday season much more if you take care of you. You will enjoy your LIFE much more if you take care of you. And it can be done with much less time than you think. 10 minutes a day, 5 minutes, even 30 seconds of self-care will make a difference to how cared for you feel. And as for it being ‘selfish’ to put yourself first – who benefits most when you are healthy, happy, joyful, fun to be around, rested, and filled up so that you have more than enough to give? Your family and friends.

When you are depleted, sick, angry, agitated, exhausted and have nothing to give, your closest friends and family suffer. Because you have nothing left for them. So it is LESS selfish to take care of yourself! So are you in? Are you going to make self-care your daily practice for December? For daily reminders, join me on Facebook. And keep an eye on the blog this month for articles and ideas to help you take your self-care seriously!

Love

Donna.x

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Wishcasting: How Do You Wish To Nourish Yourself?

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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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

What does your reflection in the mirror say to you? What is the first thing that springs to mind when you look at yourself in the mirror every day? Is it something along the lines of “oh my god, you look terrible – you look exhausted. And your skin? You shouldn’t eat junk, look at your spots! And you’re fat.’ Ouch! If you’re talking to yourself like this in the mirror, can I ask if you would EVER speak to someone else like this?

Of course not because that would be mean and nasty and vile and bullying and if they had any self-respect at all they would never talk to you again. And rightly so. So how do you stop yourself being mean? Well, you just replace those nasty comments with some nice ones…and before you know it you will be only saying nice things to you…most of the time! And the most fun thing about this is that other people start reflecting back to you what you are saying to yourself!

Here are some ideas: “You look radiant!” “Have you lost weight?” “You look gorgeous!” “I swear you look younger every day!” “Good morning beautiful” “I love you” “<wolf whistle> Alright sexy?!” Pick one or create one of your own and say it EVERY TIME you pass a mirror, with feeling. Have fun with it, and be your own magic mirror (seriously, this is magical!).

Love

Donna.x

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What Do You Wish To Nourish?

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

What Do You Wish To Nourish?

After the week I’ve had so far, the answer to this one is EASY! Me. I wish to nourish me. Over the last couple of days I have been working late into the night and realised last night I had brain fry! I had already decided that today would be a much ‘ease-ier’ day work-wise, but this prompt just reinforces my wish to nourish myself. I wish to nourish my body and feed it foods that give me energy (not the empty caloried sweeties I am currently chomping my way through!). I wish to nourish my creativity – Jamie has been a godsend in this regard, reminding me to exercise said creativity and giving lots of tools, tips and ideas that I now use regularly. I wish to nourish my love life. I wish to nourish me – body, mind, heart and soul.

I also wish to nourish my business, and give it the very best chance I can that we together will serve hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions (!) helping them to live with purpose, passion and joy. I wish to nourish all the ideas, articles, products and opportunities that come my way and do them justice so that through me these ideas can change someone’s life. And to do all this, I need to nourish me! It all comes back to that, it starts with nourishing me. I can do that!

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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Your Mission: Fall in Love with You

This week, your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to treat yourself as if you loved yourself beyond words. Treat yourself as you would a precious child that you want to spoil rotten! Treat yourself as if you thought you could do anything. Treat yourself as if you could do no wrong in your own eyes. Really fall in love with precious, gorgeous, wonderful you.

I love you…but it’s more important that you love you.

Love

Donna.x

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Know When To Stop

A desk piled with paper, a to-do list 12 people couldn’t complete in a month, and a racing mind.

Sound familiar?

Do you know when to switch off, or do you stock up on caffeine and adrenaline and keep going late into the evening…day after day after day?

Here’s a tip: if you need artificial stimulants to keep you going, you need to stop. Probably about 2 hours ago!

Don’t force yourself beyond your endurance. Know when it’s time to stop.

Love

Donna.x

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