Connection...

Happy Monday Everyone!

I am loving the new Facebook group and how we are all sharing on there, it's fab! I can only apologise for not setting one up sooner. It's amazing how we can just have a blind spot sometimes and not see something so glaringly obvious until we chat to other people, the Facebook page to make it super easy for everyone to share came out of a pub conversation with a friend last week!

I have decided this is going to be a theme for me this week with the challenge. I am going to call friends I have not spoken to in ages every day this week. I have so many friends that I have just got behind in catching up with, there is always this voice in the back of my mind thinking "I really must call x" but I just get so busy with daily life I put it off. The worst thing is I had an awful wake up call last year (a year ago next week in fact) when a friend I had been meaning to call actually died, I promised myself  I wouldn't do that again and yet hear I am. So this is the week, each day I am going to reconnect with my friends!

To add to this I am also going to make an effort to do some more networking to connect with new people, for my business, so I plan to do this at least 3 times this week.

CELEBRATION ON 14th APRIL!

To mark the end of this challenge and share with each other how we have all got on with it I have booked us a table for drinks on a fab roof terrace in central London! It is at Elysee bar and restaurant on Percy Street, nearest tube Tottenham Court Road. This is the website. I have booked the table at 7pm.

I will also be doing the prize draw for everyone entered into the challenge to win the full Create Yourself package of an image consultation, life coaching sessions and personal training.

Please let me know if you plan to attend!

Have a great week everyone

xxx

Create Yourself

The power of sharing!

One thing I love to do is to have a really great and open conversation with someone, where you are both really sharing what is going on for each of you. Something really powerful opens up when you share, you feel even more connected to that person and it changes the energy around what ever you are sharing. The more I share the more access to power I have to make my goals happen, I feel like something opens up in my heart and mind and it makes me feel alive.

I haven't always felt like this, I grew up quite shy and as an only child I am very programmed to dealing with things on my own and not needing anyone else. I remember in relationships when I was younger I was never very expressive of how I felt about people and don't think I expressed to friends how I was ever really feeling about things. I definitely never told my parents! Actually as I am writing I have just realised that the only place I used to really share was in my diary, I have written one since the age of about 10 and 3/4s.......as my earliest one states!! That must be why I love blogging so much, it's something I have always done in one way or another.

Over time though I have managed to grow my self confidence, by pushing through fears, and I have learnt how important it is to share what is going on for you with other people. Not only for you but by sharing people have the access to see things for themselves in what you are going through as well. There have been my times where I have been coaching people or just listening to others speak about what they are going through which has then resonated with me. Where I can hear my dilemmas, fears and goals through other people. From hearing someone else speak about it a new perspective opens up and you also realise you are not the only one going through such an experience.

I am talking about all of this as this week I have been privileged to meet up with some fantastic ladies at my networking group, More to Life Than Shoes, and we all really shared what is going on for us. I also had a great catch up with a good friend yesterday who I hadn't seen for ages so we had lots to share. Many people I am meeting at the moment are going through a state of change, I am not sure if it is to do with the economy or if it's something else but everyone seems to be questioning their lives and looking at making big changes.  So if you are sat in this space now please know you are not the only one!

So in the spirit of sharing, here are a few things that are going on for me right now;

1. I am now running my business 100% full time and planning to work/travel around India for 6 months in October.....this is very exciting but also I have the fear every now and then of "where is my money coming from?" Instead of paying attention to this though I am instead focusing on having a fantastic profitable business and having an amazing time in India!! Also constantly consciously bringing my mind back into the present moment, where everything is great.
2. I have a new relationship, since last year, we spent 4 great months getting to know each other and then he went back to Australia. I will see him again in June, after 6 months apart. It could be tough as there is the natural fear that we will be apart for longer than we have been together, anything could happen. As it is though I am choosing just to take each day as it comes and to enjoy carrying on getting to know him. As a result of this I actually feel like our relationship is growing stronger even though we are not together, which is really cool!
3. I really hoped for 200 people  on this challenge and am still way off achieving this, with just one month to go, I feel a little disappointed as I want to raise lots of money for Anna. This is not going to stop me though. Over the next few days I am really going to share about it and hopefully get some more people to join in the fun!
4. I am often in a rush, running around fitting everything in, feeling a sense of urgency to get things done and making myself tired. In this state of mind there just isn't any space to just be, to relax and also to really focus when speaking to people or on tasks I need to get done. So right now I am taking on "There is plenty of time, I am on time and there is space to be in the present moment".

So sharing is my focus this week for the challenge as I find it's easy to revert back to being insular and dealing with things on my own. I feel I expand so much more and feel so much more connected to people when we share with each other. Plus I feel touched and moved when someone chooses to share something with me, which is a great feeling to have!

Finally I have a little request....if you are enjoying the challenge or even just reading the blog please can you share it with your friends just incase they would like to sign up too! The more we spread the word the more people can be doing things that make them smile each day :-) The link to sign up to the challenge is create a life you love

Thank you!!

xxx

How do you like to play?

I was reading yet another interesting blog this morning that I feel really relates to our challenge; The Happiness Project. Today Gretchen Rubin is discussing how playing has a huge part in feeling happy. Thinking about our challenge of doing something we love every day and what things we are picking to do I am sure a lot of them are things we loved to do when we were younger. The things I loved to do when I was growing up are all the things that make me smile now; baking cakes, being by the sea, seeing my friends, dancing.....and even roller skating (not that I do that very often now)!


Hmm just thought of another one, I used to love making mix tapes!! Ok so that is my thing for today, I am going to create a play list (oh, how times have changed!) of all my old favourite songs from when I was 15 and under.....ooo this is going to be fun! I hope I can find Mel and Kim on Spotify!! (if you have not yet discovered Spotify it is an amazing tool for downloading free music).


Gretchen mentions a book by Stuart Brown Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul in which he lists various different "play personalities".  Going through the various options I think I must be a director, as I love to plan events/parties, and an explorer as I love going to new places and meeting new people. It helps to become present to what you are as then from there you can get ideas of things to do that will make you happy!


So I am taking on my director hat today and am booking the venue for our party on 14th April - I hope you can make it!


What is your play personality?


....and if you are stuck for things to do each day to make you smile, what would you have done when you were 8 years old?


Have fun! x

What do you "know" about Love?

As planned I had a fantastic weekend catching up with various different groups of friends. The photo on the right is of a couple of killer tigers I came across at the of an old school friend!

One thing that I consciously shifted over the weekend was the conversation I have with myself and others around money, or more specifically the lack of it! I made a decision not bring that into any discussions and instead to focus on all the plans I have ahead of me. This may sound slightly random but it left me feeling excited about my future rather than having any concerns. I realise this is not technically "doing something I love" but it did make my time with friends all the more fun and has helped create a new empowering outlook for my future.

Another thing I love to it to take photos, since May last year I have been taking a photo every day (well very nearly) to depict my life. I have set up a photo album per month on Facebook where I upload them. It's been fantastic to do as looking back at them now I can really picture what I have been doing over the past year, and friends seem to love seeing themselves in them too! The iphone Camera + app is great for taking photos then adding effects to them.....the photo below is just from a cake tin at my friends house!

I have been following a fantastic blog by Judy Clement, she is spending 2011 loving fearlessly and this week she has posted about what she has learnt about love so far. She opened the question out to her readers to find out what they know about love......so I am throwing it out to you too!

To get you started here are a few things I posted to her blog about what I know:

1. I know it gets easier the more you share it, the more I tell people I love them and what they mean to me the more open I get and easier it becomes to say it. I used to be very closed when I was growing up.
2. Romantic love can be a bit scary but beautiful.
3. The more you speak about love and tell people you love them the more you feel love.
4. Consciously planning to do something you love every day lifts your spirits and energy.
5. Love is what has supported me through making changes and decisions in my life, the love I feel from family and friends is the most important thing in my life. I know what ever happens to me I will always have the support and love of all the wonderful people in my life.
6. Finally loving yourself really is key. Treat yourself like you treat those you love.

I look forward to hearing what you know about love!

xx

Love and Connection

Hi All!

Hope you are all having fun doing things you love!

This weekend I am focusing on catching up with people I have not seen in a long time. I have been really focused on my business these past couple of weeks so I have arranged to see as many people as possible this weekend to feel that lovely sense of connection with the people I love!

One of my best friends is coming down from Liverpool today so we are going for lunch soon. Then straight from that I am going down to Sussex with an old school friend to stay with another school pal, I will be armed with Pretty Woman, Grease and Sex and The City DVDs for a proper girlie night in! Tomorrow I am catching up with another fab group of friends in The Calf pub in Clapham......love a good Sunday Pub session, yipppppeeeee!

Love and connection is one of our 6 human needs which just shows how important it is to make time for it no matter how busy you are.

Have fun weekends!

xx

Law of Attraction

The past couple of days have been spent working from home so not a huge amount to report aside from I have been trying out a new law of attraction process that a friend showed me......and it's definitely been making me smile! So I thought I would share it with you incase you'd like to give it a go!

1) Look in the mirror and tell yourself "I love you" (yes quite cringy this bit!)
2) Read out a statement with lots of energy about who you are in the world, what you are a stand for, what your purpose in life it.
3) Look at some photo's/pictures of what/who you want in your life. This is really to help anchor in what you want.
4) Put on some uplifting music and jump around reading your goal out aloud like you already have it, read this a few times, fast and loud as if you are celebrating achieving it.
5) Then read out aloud what your life is like a year on from achieving your goal, to really get present to the impact in your life the goal will have in the future
6) Jump around a bit more....even have a little dance :-)
7) Sit down and write a few things you are grateful for in your life.

I know this might sound slightly insane.....but honestly after you have done it you feel so energised and positive it just can't be a bad thing to start the day off with!

Go on.....give it a go......I dare you!

xxx

Have I gone mad?!

Today the thing I have done to make me smile is spring clean my bedroom and fill it with daffodils.....cleaning isn't usually something that fills me with joy but the after effect of having a nice clean room attracting lots of new spring energy is definitely making me happy!

Off to a candle lit yoga class this evening to finish off a lovely spring day!

xx

This is just the beginning.......

I was just sat here pondering what to do today for the challenge and realised actually with out awareness everything I have done today has been something I love doing and that I am actually totally in the middle of creating my dream life right now, it's happening all around me, it just doesn't feel quite like it just yet. Sounds a bit cryptic, let me explain.....

I started this challenge to raise money for Anna's amazing charity and event plans in November. My business is all around helping people go for what they want in their lives so it is already my passion. The week before the challenge started I found out my key stream of income, coaching and training part time with in a business, has dried up. They are cutting costs and I no longer have regular work there. Luckily for me I still have my own business and clients but it still isn't a guaranteed income. Anyway this shift has caused me to think, well maybe now is the time to radically shake up my life, I help other people do it and now it's time for me!!!

As a result of this I am currently consumed with "what's next?". It is incredibly exciting but also incredibly scary as it feels totally out of my comfort zone.  I know I have been playing a  bit small though and I think now is the time to start to play for my dream life! I may even be leaving London for a while and following my dream of spending 6 months in India. How perfect is the timing of this challenge, and I promise I had no idea this was around the corner.

I will reveal what the new plans are as soon as I have actually decided on them but in the mean time things I have been doing that I love over the past couple of days are:

• I ran my last time management course for team leaders yesterday and I received some great feedback after it, it feels amazing to have hopefully made a bit of a difference to someone's day.
• I went on a last team lunch yesterday and we ate somewhere new that I had always wanted to try, it was delicious and of course I had fab company!
• Last night I had a good cry and then enjoyed putting the world to rights over a bottle of wine with a great friend from college days.
• I was up at 6 this morning working on my new ideas, sending emails, checking social media - love all that!
• I chatted to my boyfriend who is in Australia, what a brilliant invention Skype is!
• Had a very hot and sweaty yoga class
• And now the afternoon is for blogging and learning more about my new business idea.....which actually is all about blogging and making money online.

So all in all it's a very exciting time!

xx

Beach time!

I've been having a lovely weekend down with my parents, and then catching up with a good friend I haven't seen since last summer! Below are some pics I have snapped from last nights sunset and a walk on the sand this morning.....bliss :-)

Next on the agenda is baking a chocolate cake with my mum this afternoon.....I don't think we have done that together since I was about 10!!

xxx

Send out LOVE today!

Just a little post to let you know (if you believe in this kind of thing) that today's full moon brings a focus to the heart. This mean's it's a great time to focus on those you love, send out love to everyone around and to our world and it's also a time for self love.

When I was at the ashram in India in January one thing I learnt about mediating was to slow your breath down and focus either on your heart, if you are a person of love and devotion, or if you are more of an intellectual nature then the point in between your eyebrows. (Little photo below explaining this from the hall in the ashram) A lovely mediation to do is to sit and focus on your heart sending out love to everyone you know, focusing on one person at a time and saying "I Love You" or "I send out love to you" What ever works for you. You might simply like to repeat "I am Love" over and over like a mantra.

Doing this really has a lovely effect and sends out lot of positive vibrations to those you care about.

Thank you all for joining this challenge!

Lots of love to you all

xxxxxxx

Operation beautiful!

Inspired by the AMAZING Operation Beautiful I just sneaked into my friend's (and flatmate!) room and left a note on her mirror saying she is beautiful, I love her and thanks for being such a fab friend. It feels really lovely to express how you feel about someone, especially when they least expect it, he he :-)

xx

A smile is something you can't give away.. it always comes back to you. (Anon)

Hi All,

AnnaGoAnna here, Trustee of Living Beyond Diagnosis. Thank you Louise for coming up with this great idea and thank you to everyone who takes part on two grounds. 1/ Because you'll be doing something you enjoy and something that'll make you smile every day (smiles are, of course, highly infectious!); and 2/ Because funds from this lovely challenge are going to support our first 3-day event in 17-19 November in London for anyone affected by breast cancer - and you'll be helping approx 500 smile at a time when smiling, sometimes, is a hard thing to do.

So... what am I going to do every day for the Create a Life You Love Challenge? I've had lots of ideas... although I'm concerned that they may sound more like a list of New Year resolutions and I usually only keep those up until... ooooh... about 4th January!

So, what am I to do... well I'm going to do something silly every day. By silly I mean walk down the road and avoid the cracks in the pavement. On rainy days I'm going to remember to stomp in puddles and not care that I'll get wet feet. I'm going to go up to a stranger and tell them I like their tie/shirt/dress/haircut. I'm going to call someone I've not spoken to in a while and just say 'Helloooooooo is it me your looking for' (Lionel Ritchie styley). I'm going to send a random postcard with a kind message and forget to sign it. I'm going to pay for a coffee for the person behind me in the queue.

Hmm I think you get the idea - do you think I'll get into trouble with some of the ideas? I'm quite sure in London that I'll get some odd looks and a few sidesteps.

I'm hoping my blog entries about my adventures on this challenge might make you smile too?

Good luck with your ventures and I look forward to hearing all about them.

AnnaGoAnna

PS Ooooh and thank you so much for supporting this challenge. Talk to others and encourage them to sign up too... imagine if we could make everyone on the tube smile!