1 day to go - can't wait!!

Hello!

Just one day to go until the challenge starts, I just can't wait to see where it all takes us, what we get up to and what comes out of consciously planning to do something that makes us smile every day. Knowing that it is about to start I have been thinking about what I am going to do for my first week, I am a planner and like to get things planned in for my week ahead!

I had a fab idea yesterday whilst going through someone's wardrobe (I am an image consultant) of how lovely would it be to go up to random people on the street and give them compliments. It's so nice when someone comes up and tells you how nice you look or comments on something you are wearing, it really gives you a little lift. I often see people and think how fabulous they look but never actually say anything to them for fear of them thinking I am slightly odd! So I think I will do that on a few of my days in the challenge.

Another I idea I have had is to send people thank you cards, this idea came from reading about this fab book 365 Days where the writer sent thank you cards to people every day for a year. Every day I do think about what I am grateful for but this is one step further and again like the compliments idea it's touching other people.

After just spending a couple of weeks in an Ashram  in India I am addicted to yoga now so making sure I do bikram yoga will be another thing this week.

And finally I am going home next weekend to see my parents so I think I might bake a chocolate cake with my mum and enjoy licking the bowl afterwards (with no guilt!).....used to love doing that when I was younger!!!

Looking forward to hearing about what you all get up to!

Louise x

It's time to sign up!

I can't believe how much the time has flown and the time is here for everyone to sign up for the Challenge! I have just spent a wonderful 5 weeks doing things I love every day in India and feel even MORE excited about the impact I know this challenge will have on all those doing it. Just consiously planning to do something that makes you smile every day really does shift your thoughts and feelings for that day.

To sign up please go to this site and donate via the paypal link. Then I will add you on to this blog so you can start contributing. Some suggested tips to get you started are:

• As soon as you recieve an email from me to say you are added to the blog write a quick post just to introduce yourself to everyone. I am sure people would be interested to get to know a bit about everyone doing the challenge and who knows you might get to know some people who can help you/ you help them etc
• Then before the challenge started on Valentines day you may like to post an idea of the kind of things you will be doing. A great exercise to create some ideas of what to do is to write a list of 50 things that make you smile, then you can start to plan to do them. They might be things you like to do now, things you haven't done for years or something you have always wanted to try.
• On Valentines please start posting what you do every day, it doesn't have to be long just a quick few lines to share ideas and experiences with everyone.
• It's perfectly ok to copy other peoples ideas!! That is one of the reasons for this blog to inspire each other.
• Above all HAVE FUN!

Once I have an idea of how many people are on the challenge I will then book a venue for the party to celebrate the end on 14th April.

Again the site to sign up is: www.createalifeyoulove.co.uk

Over the new week I will post my list of 50 things that make me smile too :-)

Thanks everyone for your support!!

Louise 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!