Every experience is valid….Lockdown life

Every experience is valid…..

Life is not going according to plan right now….for anyone. That’s just the way that it is and we have very little choice but to surrender to new restrictions, new ways of working, new ways of being.

I am seeing and reading and hearing a lot about how we “should” be using this time and what we “should and shouldn’t” be doing. Some of this information is important because it will keep you alive and safe. However some of it is just people’s opinions.

Some are sharing worst case scenarios, some are focusing only on the positive. This is one of those times where perspective is everything and the only thing you truly have a choice about is your own experience.

Every experience is valid. What you are going through right now might be wildly different or almost the same as what is happening for me. Either way it is your experience and you are doing it exactly right for you.

Please don’t let yourself feel inadequate in anyway for the things you haven’t ticked off your “to do” list and by the same token let yourself enjoy the satisfaction that comes from actually completing something during such and emotionally and physically challenging time.

Its okay to feel afraid about the future and its okay to be enjoying the quiet that comes from narrowing your focus and staying at home.

There is no recipe for lockdown done “right” except that you need to stay home to keep everyone safe!

For me this time feels strangely familiar in some ways. Its not the first time that life as I know it has come to a grinding halt overnight. There has been earthquakes and the loss of my beloved spouse.

I take comfort in the resilience these previous changes have given me to draw from at the moment and I’d like to share some of the things that are supporting me to feel safe and calm and happy during this lockdown.

I am sharing them not because I think you “should” do them to but just in case you might find them comforting for you too.

You are still here…… life may look radically different right now and it might be impossible to imagine how it can ever feel okay again but you are still here. Remind yourself of that. Breathe, ask yourself what you need, ask yourself what you have energy for and do that.

For me this can look different from one day to the next. Some days its all action and online workouts. Other days its quiet walks with my dog and early nights with a book. I have learnt that there is real value in pausing to check in with myself. To feel my own presence and to inquire what it is I need. This is self nurture and living intuitively. It leaves me feeling less alone, healthier and stronger. I know and trust that someone will respond to my needs and that someone is me.

You are still here, what do you need? what do you have energy for?  Give yourself that.

Completion is important…. at a time when we feel we have very little control over what happens around us finding a project you can see through to completion will give you a sense of achievement and purpose. It doesn’t matter how big or small the project is. It might be trimming the hedge or cleaning out the garage or a project you can work on in your work from home life. Controlling what you can control and completing even the smallest project will help you find balance and give some meaning to your experience.

Find certainty in routine….. As humans we don’t do well with uncertainty. When life is unpredictable we can find it hard to rein in the panic and projection in our mind. It helps to create some certainty for you brain to hold on to. Certainty in uncertain times looks like small daily routines that provide a solid framework from day to day. It might be regular mealtimes, waking up and going to bed times. It might be a regular phone call with a friend at the same day/time each week. It might be advance meal planning so you have certainty about what you will eat. It could be daily meditation or writing time. Routine and structure supports us to feel secure and safe.

Reflection time….. I have learnt that these life disruptions provide a perfect platform for a little reflection. An opportunity to check in with yourself and your significant others about what is working for you in your daily life and what is no longer what you want. I like to look at the various aspects of life, work, friendships, relationships, finances, health and fitness etc and explore what feels lacking, check in with my heart in terms of what I desire more of or less of. The changes don’t need to be made in an instant. Just knowing that you want change and what you desire more of, will lead you to say yes to opportunities as they arise. I have used this process at times when all my plans and dreams have been torn away and it works equally well for helping guide new plans and dreaming new dreams.

Above all, be gentle with yourself, trust yourself, resist the urge to compare yourself with your social media connections, reach out for support if you need it and know that I am thinking of you and sending you a little lockdown love  from a safe distance.<3

Did you know I am currently offering free support in my facebook community? click here to join. I also offer a few free 30min Intuitive insight sessions each month where we can talk about whats happening for you and unravel your experiences together. You can book your free spot here

 

6 Years….

I have thought long and hard today about whether to share this letter from my journal I wrote this morning. Its a very personal outpouring of my feelings on the 6th Anniversary of my husband Ande’s passing. I am sharing this in the hope that its exactly what someone else needs to read…..Take a moment today to forget how annoying your partner is and just appreciate them for who they are and who they are not….do that for me xx

Dear Ande,

When I saw how beautiful it was this morning as I walked on to the beach with my coffee I cried. I cried becuase we never took enough time to share this kind of normal every day beauty together.

My life is not empty without you. My life was emptier without me. I have consciously worked on it these last 6 years, on building my relationship with myself, because ultimately even though you are missing in my life and I miss you, you werent my missing peice. I was.

Even if you were still here, this inner journey would have had to take place, for me to survive, for us to survive.

So much of who I am is a work in progress. Parts of me always will be.

I imagine I will always have this desire to stretch and to grow past the edges of myself and in lots of ways this is your legacy. Who I am is your legacy.

6 years ago I decided that. To make my life a tribute to you. To all they days you didnt get and to all the times you didnt share yourself, let yourself be seen, or recieve the love and respect others had for you.

You were special, your life was special, my life with you was special. I hope that you know that now. I hope that you know just how much you were loved.

I dont always get it right this legacy building. I have days when I choose to stay stuck rather than take the next step or to feel my feelings, or to stretch into my growth.

I dont always do the things I know I need to do. I am learning to show myself compassion in those times, to know that there is for me a tomorrow to try again.

I am learning to let my grief rise and fall like the tide as it needs too, my grief for you and for myself. They hold hands as they walk along the beach together.

I will never not miss you in my life. I am grateful for the way you still show up, in a dream, in a feeling or in something someone said.

I now know that missing you doesnt mean I cant have love and joy and happiness. Sometimes those things come because of missing you. The human heart, my heart, has the capacity to hold love and sadness in equal measure.

Our capacity to fill our lives with joy is only limited by the capacity with which we are prepared to be who we are. Thank you for showing me that.

In your absence you have taught me many things. The belief that you had in me has become the belief I have in myself. The love, trust and understanding you showed me have become the love, trust and understanding I show myself.

Losing you has opened within me a capacity to open to myself and to help others to open to themselves too.

Your life has blessed mine in ways neither of us could ever have imagined. Every person I help, every time I have the honor of leading someone home to the truth of who they are, you have that honor too. In honoring my clients I am honoring you.

Today I sit with sadness and beauty and loss and love and gratitude and pain and delight living in my heart in equal measure.

Thank you for walking by my side. Thank you for reminding me every day to be a little more me. We were each others rocks and you are my rock still.

Today is for you and today is beautiful

Love always

Paula xx

 

The Power of Letting go…..

For those of you who follow the “astrological” weather you will know that we have had quite a significant eclipse over the weekend. For me and many of you, this eclipse and the weeks leading up it has been all about letting go.

Letting go of patterns of behaviour that don’t serve you

Letting go of out dated ideas and ways of being

Letting go of self judgement

Letting go of controlling people and situations

Letting go of needing to know how it will all turn out.

Letting go of people, places and things that are no longer right for you

Letting go of defining yourself by your past

I’m sure if you are reading this then you will relate to at least one if not all of the above.

True change comes when we are really able to let go of what no longer serves us. To do this we must not only know and understand what it is that is holding us back but also what it is costing us to continue to think and act from this place.

We also have to get really comfortable with what life feels like without our old way of being, thinking and doing. Our limiting ideas, behaviours and beliefs can feel a lot like a small childs “blankie” there is comfort in the familiarity of what we know, even if we also know it’s not right for us.

Letting go can feel initially exposing. Like you are standing naked in front of a room full of people.  There is an opening between what we have let go and the new way of being that will replace it. This can feel scary but it is also your golden opportunity to embrace what it is you really want.

For me the letting go has been about releasing all of the ways Ihold myself back from life, love and creating what I want in my business.  In the opening between the letting go and what is next I have felt my heart expand with self compassion, self-love and self-care. I no longer feel the need to judge my results against those of other people or other people’s expectations.

The letting go has gifted me a new level of clarity that I hadn’t expected. I feel clearer about they ways in which I have limited myself. I feel less tangled in the web of my life and much more like I am guiding the ship.

I can see from this vantage point that my life to this point has been very much about love. Being loved, giving love, loving myself, supporting others to feel loved and to offer themselves love and compassion for their experience.

When I work with my clients I am guiding them back to their own hearts, supporting them to uncover what it is they hold deep inside. Allowing healing and lovingly witnessing that which needs to be healed.

I have heard said more than once that grief is the price of love and in my own life I know this to be true. However what this idea doesn’t offer is that grief is also the gift that opens you up to more love. Whenever we lose that which is important to us we have the opportunity to expand. To know that our heart has the capacity to not only heal but to also grow from the experience of loss. The truth is that loss never really leaves us, it remains in our hearts as a reminder of what we have healed and how much we have expanded our capacity to love.

In letting go we can experience this too. We can experience more love, more life and a greater sense of purpose.

Ultimately what I am trying to say here is don’t hold on too tightly to that which you need to let go. Dont let loss, fear or self judgement be the defining experiences in your life. Allow yourself to expand beyond that which has hurt you whether it is a physical experience or a self-limiting belief.

I promise that on the other side of letting go is more freedom and more love than you ever believed you can experience.

Let the power of letting go work its magic in your life.

Paula xx

Are you struggling to let go of what you know is holding you back? I offer a few free 30min Intuitive insight sessions each month where we can talk about whats happening for you and unravel your experiences together. You can book your free spot here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When your soul is calling you…

It has struck me recently how ill-equipped we are as humans to resolve the struggle between our human nature and our soul nature. We live in a human world yet within us all resides a higher guiding power that is our soul.

For some of us it’s entirely satisfactory to live a human life without ever exploring the deeper soul self but for me and the majority of my coaching clients the call of the soul becomes, at some point, impossible to ignore.

To know your self at a soul level is truly a gift and its through the expression of who we are at this deepest of levels that creates a life lived deeply.  The path of soul exploration is not easy and I know many great minds have written, probably in a much greater detail and understanding of this part of our nature, than I will. However lately I have witnessed so many of my clients struggling with how to honor the soul after many years of an entirely human existence, I feel it important to share what I know of this journey. When the soul comes calling, the struggle between the ego, personality and the souls desires fall into conflict. The internal turmoil that ensues can feel relentless, emotional and inexplicably difficult.

My experience of my souls desire to express fully in my life spans more than 20 years and began as a fascination with all things “woo woo”. The logical, analytical, judgmental perfectionist that was my ego self fought hard to contain this curiosity within me. I felt ashamed of who I was and held for a time a huge fear that I was going to have to become a crystal ball reading gypsy to really fulfil my potential. In truth what has  unfolded is a desire to be everything that I am and to live my life at the deepest of levels. I crave connection to this “soul self” and meet her in my writing, my meditation and in the joyful and loving moments in my life.

My work has only been enhanced by the recognition of my Souls desire to express itself. Trusting this core part of who I am, is what allows me to be present for my clients, to hold space for them and to be a clear channel for what is needed to intuitively guide them back to themselves.

I feel blessed to work in this way, to feel my soul’s gentle presence in my life and to support and guide others who find themselves on this pathway.

This way of being, this type of growth is not taught in schools or tertiary institutions. Its life that guides us to this place within. I don’t know why the soul’s call, for some of us, is so strong, yet for others it doesn’t exist, but what I do know is that recognising what is happening can help to reduce the stress and impact on your life

So how do you recognise When your soul is calling you?

• People, places, relationships and friendships that you once loved and relied on suddenly don’t feel right any more. You feel like a fish out of water. Sometimes it is described as a sense that you are watching your life occur around you but you dont feel connected to it. You might begin to choose to be alone rather than hanging out with your friends. Your social interests suddenly seem less interesting.
• You feel the urge to change jobs or to move house. There is a desire to “find your Purpose” and to feel “at home” This creates within us a need to change where we are currently to something that feels more aligned even if we don’t know what that is.
• You have a hard time controlling your emotions. You cry at inopportune moments, you feel overwhelmed with sadness and grief or get angry when you would normally remain calm, you experience rage at situations that normally wouldn’t bother you. Your nearest and dearest tell you tht you are “too sensitve”
• You might begin to indulge in everything you know is not good for you. You numb the uncomfortable feelings inside with food or alcohol or drugs or sex. Or conversely you go hard out with healthy living, exploring radical changes in diet and exercise.
• You feel like a failure and struggle to get anything off the ground in your business.
• Your financial situation changes radically
• You feel ike you have no control over what is changing in your life. You feel bewildered

The good news is, there is so much you can do to support yourself through this soul journey and you are not alone. My best advice is to get support from someone who understands, who has walked that path that you are on and who can help to guide you in the right direction.

It might also help to…

• explore the new age section in your local library. Choose any books that capture your attention and read.
• Buy a journal and start recording your experiences. This will go a long way towards helping you make sense of what is occurring. It may also be where you hear your souls voice the loudest. You can even invite your soul into a conversation with you by asking questions and writing what comes as an answer without censoring it.
• Give yourself the gift of time….time away from the world to just be… time to decide what is right for you before you change jobs, cities and relationships.
• Talk about your experiences and be open to those around you who will ‘get you’ the miracle of this experience is that you will find kindred spirits in the most unlikely of places
• Practice being in your heart. consciously moving your awareness from your head to your heart. Allowing yourself to feel all that you are holding there. Let your heart lead you…check in with what your heart desires….
• explore spiritual practices, forums and groups that appeal to you. meditation, yoga, crystals, different types of healing. Each one of us is different and finding out what makes your soul sing can be just the adventure that you need.

If you had told me 20 years ago that I would be writing this for you and working in the way that I do, I would not have believed you. I would have run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. But today I feel blessed to have heard the call of my soul and to have answered. I feel grateful for all the experiences I have had finding my way back to myself and I feel honored to be able to work in the way that I do and to share my souls voice with the world.

AND I know that sometime in the future you will too

Paula xx

Do you have questions? Would you like a little more support to connect with your soul self? Did you know that I offer a few free 30min Intuitive insight sessions each month where we can talk about whats happening for you and unravel your experiences together. You can book your free spot here

 

 

What Love teaches you

Breakfast Blog#3 This blog post was written over a Salmon Bene Breakfast at Gentle Giant in Ferry Road Christchurch.

Love and Marriage……

Last weekend the world witnessed Harry marry Meghan.

In this day and age such a formal ceremony seems out of place and almost comical. But what doesn’t change is the unerring fact that we humans are driven in one way or another to find love, to couple and to commit. Love has changed but the desire to know we have at least one other human who will stand beside us and be on our team has not.

Some of us are more successful at this than others and I wonder how well Harry and Meghan’s bond will stand up against the pressures of public life.

At 48 and ½ I am not without my love scars. I married my first love at 23 and divorced him at 27. I spent a large part of my early thirties celibate by choice, love jaded, dazed and confused. I married again the week I turned 40 to my best friend and the man I believed I would grow old with, by 43 I was a widow.

The last couple of years has seen me dive once again into the world of romance and internet dating (I’m not sure that those two go together in a sentence!) and I have learnt that older does not necessarily make you wiser when it comes to love.  Why do we keep doing it? Why not give up on love altogether? Because deep down in my soul I know I am not meant to navigate this life solo and I suspect many of you feel the same.

AND I learn more about myself in relationships than in any other single part of my life.  All my most important life lessons have come from being in a relationship. Maybe my love life lessons can save you some pain!

Relationships have taught me….

• It’s the things that really annoy you about your partner that you will miss the most when they are gone. This is the greatest truth I can share with you. It will break your heart that no one leaves wet towels on the floor or squeezes the toothpaste in the middle when it is over. This truth is amplified tenfold if your love passes away. My advice learn to let this stuff go. It eats away at the bond you have with your love and in the big scheme of things its so not important!
• Its possible to love with a broken heart. Often we shie away from new relationships when we have been hurt or our lover has died. We think that it will be too painful, we are afraid to risk the hurt again. By holding yourself back from love because of painful experiences you lose the opportunity to know that your heart can expand and heal and hold both painful and joyful experiences side by side. You lose the opportunity to build resilience and you may also be missing out on something really really special
• Triggers are your roadmap to your own soul. When you fall in love, your partner will trigger you something shocking. You will feel that they don’t care enough, or that they don’t show you affection enough or that they just don’t understand you. You will likely use these ideas as an excuse to start a fight or even to end something that has the potential to be really lifechanging. When your partner triggers all your fears and neediness this is your soul calling you to take care of yourself. I didn’t really understand this until recently. I had experienced it a number of times and had begun to believe that I just needed too much from a relationship. But when I allowed myself to stand back from the situation I was able to see that it was a part of me that needed my attention. It was not my partner withholding or not giving. I needed myself, I needed something only I could give me.
• Letting yourself receive will bring you unexpected joy. Relationships are about giving and receiving. In a perfect world we would get this in balance, sometimes giving sometimes receiving but the reality is some of us tend to overgive and/or deflect rather than receive. We can also fall prey to the habit of putting conditions on what we are prepared to receive. Our partner can give us all the hugs in the world but if we really want them to tell us how they feel or to help around the house those hugs will feel empty and probably make you angry. You have some choices here…. Articulate your needs, let your partner know what you want from them and then give them space to step forward. Allow yourself to receive what your partner wants to give. If we are always in the space of why doesn’t He/she do this or that….. we don’t get to experience the way our partner loves. Know that the conditions you are putting on your partner are actually that parts of yourself that need your own attention and allow yourself to receive what your partner is giving to you.
• Never make a rash decision in the heat of the moment you might regret later. Its normal to have arguments or to feel frustrated with your partner from time to time. This does not mean your relationships needs to end. Take the time you need to really understand what is going on for both of you before you make any decisions you cant change.

So with the nuptials over Harry and Meghan will now have to navigate the waters of married life. My they have smooth seas and just enough storms to teach them how to love each other really well.

And if the recent wedding fever in the media has called you to question whether its time to reconsider your single status then my advice is to be brave and boldly step back into the love game. You have everything to gain and probably like me still lots to learn!

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return ~Eden Ahbez

Paula xx

Do you have questions? Would you like a little more support as you navigate your relationships? Did you know that I offer a few free 30min Intuitive insight sessions each month where we can talk about whats happening for you and unravel your experiences together. You can book your free spot here

 

Hello, this is your growth calling…..

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves” Viktor Frankl

There is a part of me who has for 48 years (my whole life) been searching. I have lived with curiosity and a desire to know more. Maybe you have too….

I seek a deep experience of life, of love, of my own human-ness and I enjoy exploring my own nature. I look at the way I respond to the world and the results I get, to try to understand my relationships, my feelings and what they mean for me and those I interact with.

I have named this my “call to growth”

I am called to grow in every way possible and as much as I have the capacity to do so I answer that call. Those who know me often say that I am strong but I know that in actual fact I am no stronger than anyone else. The difference is this deep desire to understand, make peace with and to grow through life’s experiences. The good, the bad and the heart breakingly difficult. I am a deep thinker, a deep feeler and in more recent times have come to know myself as intuitive and empathic.

I know that I am not alone in this. I know that many of you share my need to know more and that some of you out there reading this will be seeing your self in my words. You are recognising the part of you who seeks more of yourself, the part that desires a deep connection in your most important relationships, in your work and with life itself.

I suspect that your journey and process is somewhat similar to my own

• You have likely been through events and relationships that cause you to feel that in some way you were inherently lacking, unworthy and not good enough to do, be and have the things that you desire.
• You sometimes still feel that lack of worth and it’s quite likely that it is holding you back from doing the things you want to do.
• You give more than you receive. The way this occurs may look different on the outside but in the end it’s all the same. Some of us give outwardly, always doing things for others first, some of us give ourselves to our jobs, overworking and burning out. Others over give in relationships, putting our own needs aside for our partners. We can often do that to such an extent that we lose our sense of identity to the relationship.
• You may also have an interest in all things spiritual and you seek new ways of understanding yourself and the world. You feel energy in places and in people and in experiences.
• You probably cry at movies or find it hard to watch the news
• You also have times where all you can do is sit on the couch no matter how hard you will yourself to do all those things you “should” be doing
• You love people and places and variety just as much as you love silence and alone time and routine.

I am writing this blog today because I want to celebrate the beauty and diversity of all of you. All of the seekers out there who are just like me, or just a little like me but are looking, questioning, feeling and embracing what life puts in front of them.

I want you to know that I walk alongside you and I see your struggles, I see your beauty and your deep feeling heart. I know what it is to be in a crowded room but to feel utterly alone. You are not foreign to me or alien or strange. You fit right in and I celebrate each and every moment you are embracing the call to grow. I am cheering you on from the sidelines and knowing that even in your darkest places the light eventually shines.

What I have learnt from my own callings is

• That the world is full of people just like you and me. Allow yourself to open up to that and you will find yourself drawing them to you
• Your personal care is a priority. Recognise when you need to stop working, giving, engaging and let yourself fill up on alone time to process your experiences and reflect on your growth
• There are things you can do that support your call, like meditation, writing, walking, creating, and being in nature. Find the things that work for you and make them a regular part of your routine.
• You are worthy beyond measure, more valuable than you can comprehend and there is magic in your existence. Never forget that, no matter how hard it is.
• You are always doing way better than you think you are!

My curiosity, desire for growth has already lead me to many great self discoveries, along with some magical experiences and some very special relationships and I know there will be more to come. I also know there will be more dark days and more internal struggles. I surrender to that now, knowing deep within that there will once again be days when the sun shines and the water sparkles.

I feel blessed to be who I am and to have in my experience the desire to grow, to expand, to challenge my own thinking, to know more, to be more. To me this is the essence of what life is all about. This is my search for meaning.

Do you have questions? Would you like a little more support as you navigate your growth? Did you know that I offer a few free 30min Intuitive insight sessions each month where we can talk about whats happening for you and unravel your experiences together. You can book your free spot here

 

 

Feeling the call…….an invitation to action

I wrote today’s blog post on Sunday 23rd July, just over 30 days ago. Although at the time I wrote this post I did not publish it I did follow my own invitation to solitude. What has unfolded for me over the last 30 days has been an amazing illustration of the benefits of exactly what i wrote about in this post. I have greater clarity, I have followed my own guidance to refresh my branding and make small but important changes in my business. As a result I am happier, more engaged with my work and working and plying with a new sense of Joy and energy. I invite you to join me……………..

 

Lately I’ve been feeling the call. Soul Whispers, internal urges, that lingering sensation that it is time.

Being a widow with no children, I have a love /hate relationships with my alone-ness. As much as I crave company I also crave solitude. You would think that a person in my situation would have alone-time sorted but true solitude is not just about being the only person in the room.

It asks us to be present with whatever we are holding inside, good or bad.

For the past few weeks I have had house guests and i have allowed them to become my convenient excuse. My excuse to not meditate and to deny myself true moments of solitude.

I become aware again of my perfectionism….my need for the perfect set of circumstances to align before I set aside my Busy-ness (even when alone) and settle into some moments with myself.

What I find there in my solitude is a chance to fill up on myself, to feel the presence of my soul self and to reconnect with all that is within and around me.

It is in this place that i can draw from when I am stuck or confused or in need of some clarity. It is in this place that my intuition, desires and heart reside.

I ask myself why I avoid deep drinks from the well of solitude and my answer is a rising tangle of fear and excitement. I am afraid of the power of what lies within me, of the depth of my own presence and what it asks me to bring forward.

This age old oscillation of fear/intuition/power/darkness/light and ego is present within all of us and can manifest visibly in procrastination, resistance and putting everyone else before we give to ourselves.

This reluctance to truly own the power of our presence, keep us small, dims our light, dampens our creativity and stands in the way of our success.

Today I take a stand and say “No More” no more dulling our magnificence!

Join me in a commitment to the self and all that reveals

Join me in a conscious movement closer to yourself, your heart, your power.

Join me in action by taking steps on what is revealed

join me in walking in the face of fear and discomfort.

Join me in finding more joy, more clarity and inspiration in solitude.

Join me in the magic of rediscovering yourself!

21 Days of Solitude

Join me each day for the next 21 days as I carve out moments of solitude and share the experience on Instagram using #21daysofsolitude 

Where are you today?

How are you feeling? Whats happening in your life and in your business? How big is your week this week?

Do you even have time to contemplate answering these questions? Are you overwhelmed by how much needs completing or are you madly scrambling to find more clients/contracts/jobs to pay the bills?

Why do I ask……

We are now 8 weeks into 2017. We have reached that point where it seems both a long way from the centredness and relaxation of the summer break and equally as far from the next opportunity to take more than the weekend off (if you are even managing to do that) This is where we can lose ourselves to the momentum, the busyness,the rush and hustle.

This week I’d like to encourage your to draw breath, to create space regardless of how busy or not busy you are. Find a way to inject a gap into your week just for you. It can be as little and an hour or even 20 minutes a day or if you really want to amp things up gift yourself a day.

Step off the treadmill for a moment and gather your thoughts, let go of busyness, pressure and hurry. Connect with yourself and feel where you are at, feel the reason you are here doing this, feel the part of this that “is you” and not your business.

When we create regular gaps in our schedule to reconnect with ourselves and what we are creating it becomes easier to stay on track, we accomplish more and it is easier to find the energy for the doing.

We step into flow, we find satisfaction and contentment or we identify what is not flow and not satisfaction and it becomes easier to make the necessary adjustments, to self-correct, to feel re-inspired towards our goals, mission and purpose.

Whenever you are feeling tired, overwhelmed, too busy or not busy enough in your business its time to take a step back, to turn to yourself and ask the question “where am I in this?’ “where am I and what do I need?”

To be able to show up consistently and to create something you love in the long term – that sustains you financially, emotionally, spiritually, professionally and personally, staying connected to yourself is the key.

Dont wait for someone else to notice and to give it to you….

Dont wait until you are burnt out and just dont love it any more

Dont wait until its too late to change course and make the necessary adjustments

Take that time today, this week. Gift it to yourself, you deserve it. You are more worthy of your own time and attention than you can ever imagine.

I’d love to hear your experiences of giving yourself time in your business, feel free to share int he comments below. If you feel like you’d like some more support with this feel free to schedule a free clarity call with me here or visit my website here

2015’s Last Post…

Its pretty standard at this time of the year to reflect on the past 12 months and to begin to anticipate what lies ahead as we turn the page to a fresh New year. I’m sure many of you having been doing this over the last few days, some of you looking forward to the year being over, others madly setting goals for what 2016 will be.

As I have been formulating this blog post over the last few days I too have been reviewing my year and the gifts and challenges it delivered. I have felt called to review my writing and in particular a blog post I wrote just over a year ago  “No more cardboard moments”  This blog post was about what makes life memorable and how easy it can be to live on the surface of life, not really engaging with your experience. At the time I wrote it I felt a strong desire to be fully present, to soak up every second and to make sure my moments were memorable. I can certainly say the 2015 has delivered on this front. I have felt more connected, more alive and happier than ever before.

My personal theme for 2015 was “going deeper” I wanted a deeper connection to myself, to my work, to spirit, to the people in my life and to life itself and to be deeply present with what life delivered.

I have discovered a new level of enjoyment and satisfaction in my work. I have had time to notice those urges and ideas that flit through my brain on a regular basis. A new level of connection with what I do and what I desire has emerged.

Deepening into the present moment has bought the added joy of increasing and deepening my friendships and has drawn new relationships into my life. I have more people in my life that I can be completely real with than ever before. I have also experienced subtle shifts with complete strangers. More people on the street offering a good morning when I am out for my walk and after years of weekly airplane travel where I would put my head down and actively discourage communication from those around me, I have been treated to fascinating travel companions keen to share their story. Even the checkout operator at the supermarket has had a kind smile and a more genuine enquiry of my day.

All this makes me wonder about that way the world works. I have a quote written on my hallway mirror ” change the way you view things and the things you view will change” This has proven to be true in my life over and over. When we shift our perspective we are rewarded with greater understanding, a deeper experience of all that life has to offer but the outside appearance of our life is still exactly the same.

Instead of waiting for things to change, bemoaning that which isn’t there is a constant invitation to shift your experience, to weave a richer fabric from your everyday. 2015 has presented me with many opportunities to do just that.This year has delivered me some truly magic moments some of them in the simplest of circumstances.

I have also been challenged to step outside my comfort zone, to confront my fears full on. I have had to accept that I can and often do isolate myself. I actively lessen my ability to experience the life I desire because it scares me. It is easier for me to stay safely secluded in my own world than it is to venture out into the richer, deeper life I desire.  Going deeper asks us to be more real, to own our feelings and to ask for what we truly want. I have had to take steps forward, to be honest with myself and others and to confront the terror of having what I really want.

Desire is an interesting animal. While we are without the object of our desire we have it as our sole focus, it distracts us from “what is” with what “could be”. When we get what we want we no longer have that distraction and it can be very disarming to fully immerse yourself in enjoying what its like to have that thing, to be present with it. We can almost become so addicted to wanting that we prefer that experience over deepening into having what it is we have wanted for so long.

I can safely say there have been no “cardboard moments” in 2015. I have lived life deep and in full colour. I have found true rewards in taking the risk to go confidently in the direction of my dreams. I am filled with gratitude for what this year has delivered me…the pleasure, the pain, the joy, the fear, the love, the grief, the frustration, the peace and the contentment. As I turn my thoughts to 2016 I know I want more of the same.

I invite 2016 to deliver me more deep experiences and connections, more love, more growth, more conscious creation and more space, time and freedom to enjoy it!

Bring on 2016!

What gifts did 2015 bring you? what are you inviting from 2016? I’d love to read about it in the comments below

Navigating your inner terrain…..

How much do you know of your inside? The core of you…What is really at the bottom of all the beliefs you hold about yourself?….all your preconceived ideas of the world and who you are in it…the choices you have made based on your conditioned experiences?

This is your inner landscape, the terrain of your heart, the place where your soul resides….do you know what it looks like?

I have been called to explore my own inner terrain this week, to climb my interior Mt Everest. This call came in the most innocuous and unexpected way. It wasn’t outstanding or miraculous, I was simply faced with one disappointment too many. I reached my tipping point!

Initially I was devastated and devastated in a way that was far more cavernous than the size of the actual disappointment which in the big scheme of things was entirely unremarkable. This small disappointment set of an avalanche of frustration, grief, sadness and despair that I had been totally unaware was waiting inside me on a hair-trigger. Waiting for just the right moment to go off. I was in pain. I was heartbroken. I cried and cried until my face ached.

And then suddenly I was empty

I was completely empty and not in a lonely I don’t know what to do with my exhausted and disappointed self way but in a peaceful, quiet, calm, you have reached the bottom of yourself way.

I have sat in this beautiful calm emptiness now for several days. I have been empty and laughing. I have been empty and joyful, empty and loving, empty and determined, empty and experiencing deep clarity and wonder. I am exploring the geography of my emptiness.

You see I am a passionate, driven, achieving, striving person. This is my modus operandi. This is what I have believed will get me what I want. I pour myself into people and projects and tasks and goals and relationships. This is who I have been all of my adult life. What happened a few days ago when I reached my tipping point was that I poured myself into one project too many and when it didn’t come off their was nothing of me left. I had run out of striving and achieving. I had run out of passion for all of the things that I used to think were important, of value and what I most desired.

If you have read this far I suspect you are wondering where this is going….to be honest I am not really sure but what I do know is that finding my empty has been liberating, possibly as liberating as reaching the summit of that mountain you have wanted to climb your whole life. I am no longer constrained by all the ideals and ideas I once thought important, defining and pivotal. I am free of the values my conditioning and experiences where holding me to.

My inside, my inner terrain feels spacious, new and yet to be discovered. I feel I can let go of expectations for myself and from others. This is where I leave behind all that I was and discover who it is I am and what I want to bring forward. Nothing is holding me back or weighing me down yet I feel no demands to rush forward.

I am enjoying this inner sanctuary, my personal mountain top. When I think about what might be ahead I feel no fear or apprehension. I feel a smile open on my face. Striving has been replaced with allowing. Action has been replaced with exploration. Fear becomes a deep trust in the internal restructuring that is occurring. I am not who I once was and I am not who I will ultimately become. It just is how it is….and its lovely.

Time to explore the hills and valleys, the mountains and rivers and oceans of myself. I am my own adventurer, pouring myself into myself.

Have you explored your inner landscape? Feel free to share in the comments below