The Shack

Was just browsing through this blog and can’t believe I haven’t written anything about this book!

I read this book during the Christmas break and on 4th January found myself in Waterstones buying several copies for friends and family PLUS the audio for when I’m in the car!! To say that The Shack had a profound effect on me would be an understatement and I really don’t want to go into too much detail here just in case you haven’t read it and I would hate you to miss out on the experience because I spoiled it for you.   However…

Wherever you are in your life, religious or not, male or female, you cannot fail to be touched in some way by this book and you most certainly cannot close it for the final time and not have a new perspective!   Enjoy it and please come back and share your comments – whatever they are!

A Prayer for Haiti

It has now been a week since the longest and most devastating 90 seconds in history for the people of Haiti.  I really don’t know what kind of person you would have to be not to be touched by their suffering, their daily struggles and, of course, their bravery in the face of such tragic and terrifying circumstances.

On Sunday my daughter and I were talking about the children of Haiti and how they must be feeling and the effects on their everyday life.  It’s truly amazing how a 7yr old can look at the same thing yet see a completely different picture.  My daughter completely understood what happened in Haiti and how it has changed the lives of every person that was either on the island that day or had someone on the island that day.  Yet she also sees how working together is helping to save the lives of people who have been trapped for days, much of the World is also involved in ensuring that the Haitians are nursed, fed and watered and she recognises all of that.  However, this was the killer question…

“If you, Mummy, and all the other adults in the world knew that Haiti was a poor country why did God have to have an earthquake before anybody helped them?”

Now, I don’t know about you, but that question bought tears to my eyes for so many reasons because what she was saying was right.  That night we both prayed for Haiti but I also prayed for an even more open and giving spirit.  A spirit that does not need to wait for a TV appeal before giving, a spirit that is forgiving and even more mindful that even in our worst of the worst God does not leave us and continues to love us in the same way and also a spirit that is willing and open to learning from a 7yr old.

Welcome to Holland!

Over the past several weeks, I have been attending an Alpha Course at my regular church where we have been exploring the meaning of life, Christianity and God.  This week, the penultimate week, we focussed on the question “Does God Heal Today?”  Now for those that are unaware, Alpha is a course for everybody Christian or not, believer or not and, therefore, poses many thought provoking questions about the existence of God and how He may exist for some of  us in today’s world.  I tell you what, we have some deep debates on a Monday night and a gourmet two-course meal!!!  It’s a great way to start the week!

Now this topic of healing really touched me today not because I am in any obvious physical pain or suffering but because I know from personal experience how God has shown up in my life both before and after becoming a Christian and the physical and emotional healing that I have experienced.  However, like all Christians, I am also human and often succumb to my ‘humaness’ in whatever form that takes and recently have not been looking after myself too well, both emotionally and physically (typical, physician heal thyself type scenario!).  Anyhow after listening to tonight’s talk and participating in the subsequent group discussion, I’ve really found some peace in being reminded that God (and it may not be God for you but another Higher Power whom you believe in) provides both his healing and his ‘physicians’ in many different forms and can often surprise you.

The following tale was told by this evening’s session leader and though it focusses on the challenge of raising a disabled child, it could really be applied to any kind of challenge that we are facing and has a wonderful sentiment which has certainly given me some comfort in trusting that things happen just the way they are supposed to.   However, the most comforting and reassuring learning that has come out of this session, for me, is that healing most often begins with acceptance.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

What I Learned from my Earrings!!!

Now this is a funny story – not necessarily “funny ha ha”, but more “funny -hmmmmm”.  Anyhow, not so long ago I fell in love with an absolutely gorgeous pair of earrings and they were an ideal match for several necklaces and pendants that I had already had so I did what any self respecting diva would do and bought them!  I don’t know if any one else does this but whenever I buy something that I love then I have to wear it at the first opportunity and with jewellery … well, I just wear it and wear it and wear it until my natural tendency for change and variety kicks in.

So as I’m still in the initial flushes with these particular earrings, I put them on yesterday morning – as usual – and went off on the school run (can I just add at this point that I did have on other items of clothing as well!).  After admiringly watching my 7yr old daughter walk up the school path with her friends, I was shunted back into reality with the dreaded words “Morning, love, hasn’t she grown up? … by the way did you know YOU’VE ONLY GOT ON ONE EARRING??!!!”  Nooooooooo it can’t be true!!

In spite of the frantic grabbing of my earring-less earlobe, on several occasions, just in case she had made a mistake (or even worse, it was her idea of a joke!) and the earring was in situe all along and also my slab by slab pavement search and the shimmy like shaking of my clothes, I had to accept that there was a possibility that I could have lost it!  Back in the car and again a laser like scan and search – nothing!  The driveway – nothing. Retraced my footsteps from bedroom to car, several times, and then finally another few quick grabs of the earlobe – still nothing!   I had to accept the awful truth – the ones you love always leave you!  Random I know, but that was the thought!  Amazing how in times of stress, some of those old beliefs start to resurface.

I did realise pretty quickly, however, that I couldn’t spend my entire day lamenting over a pair of earrings – no matter how nice they were – and also reminded myself that the ones you love don’t always leave you, sometimes circumstances mean that they have to go and in the long run it will be for the best so I just had to accept that they are no more and move on.  Maybe even buy a new pair! :0

Can you imagine how I felt when, some hours later, I took off my scarf (which I had already done several times during the day for one reason or another!) and there hanging onto one of the fringes was my beloved earring??  But, I was not gonna get too excited as I had to be sure so again back to the earlobe and – ouch!! I had forgotten that I had moved the other earring to the originally empty ear (due to hair styling!!) but it was true, the wayward earring was back!! And what was the automatic thought that popped into my head??  If it is truly yours, then it will come back.

Strange, I know but my experience with my earrings reminded me of what I advise my clients to do –  to be more trusting and to believe that I am exactly in the right place at the right time because what is for me, will not pass me by whether it be earrings, people or opportunities!

I am sooooo not a morning person – or so I thought!!!

Isn’t it amazing what we tell ourselves?  The  thing is if we tell ourselves something for long enough then we not only start to believe it but we also act as if it is the absolute truth and that is exactly how it was for me and mornings!

For years, I told myself that I wasn’t a morning person and for years I behaved exactly like that – always working late,  last one to leave a party, no meetings before at least 10am, - I figured that if I had to be up, out and functioning at that time then the least I deserved was a good shot of caffeine in as relaxed an environment as possible beforehand.  I lived like this for years – ok, the parties became less frequent and were replaced by night feeds but the sentiment remained the same in that no matter what time the alarm went off in the morning, it was always still too early!

So what happened to not only get me up at the crack of dawn but also to have me bouncing around with a spring in my step??  I discovered morning exercise!!!   I can hardly believe it myself !!!     It  all started a few months ago when I really wanted to challenge myself to do something different.  I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “if you do the same thing you’re always gonna get the same results“, I wanted different results in my life so figured that a big change would be to get up earlier.  You know what it’s like, you make a decision to do something and then, God (in my case) starts to conspire to make it all happen.  The next thing I know, I’m getting up at 5.15AM at least twice a week – sometimes 3 times – and going off to a local fitness studio to do circuit training until 6.45AM! It’s now been nearly 3 months and counting

And what has been the side effect of all of this – aside from a few lost inches?

• I get more done in my day, in a more productive way
• My beliefs about who I am and what I can do have changed and continue to change
• Opportunities have opened up for me in areas that I hadn’t even thought about before
• I love mornings!!!!

So this is only a snippet of the benefits I feel as a result of changing things up a bit and doing things differently.  I wonder what your benefits would be if you challenged yourself.  In fact, what do you currently believe about yourself which may not actually be true????

Imagine a Woman In Love With Herself

A beautiful, beautiful book – a must for any woman on the journey of self love and acceptance.

Inspired on International Women’s Inspiration Day? I should think so too!

Well today – Wed 18th November – is International Women’s Inspiration Day and if you can’t be inspired today then when can  you be???  I certainly was!

Went along to the 2009 Every Woman National Conference today and was totally blown away not only by the many lovely women that I met and the great workshops that I attended, but also by the organisation of it all!  It was such a phenomenal event and it was organised beautifully – especially that lunch!!!

Learned lots of new information about tekkie stuff today – hence the reinstatement of this blog!! – but was also reminded about some great things such as being bold and never being afraid to be myself and fly the flag for my business (not that I’ve ever had any real trouble in that department!).  However, the highlight for me was listening to Allegra McEvedy’s keynote speech – OMG, how entertaining and inspiring she was!!!  If ever there was an advert for being true to yourself and the success will find  you then she is definitely it!

All in all a fab – and very inspiring – day!!

We Do Not Walk Alone

Yet again have been reminded that I am truly not alone….

One night, a man dream that he walked along a shore

with the God of all things,  and as they walked

scenes from his life flashed across the sky above them.

Most of the time, he saw two sets of footprints in the sand for each scene,

but many times along the path there was only one set of footprints, often at the very

darkest and saddest times, and the man was greatly troubled.

He turned to the figure beside him and said, “I looked for you and tried to serve

you all my days.  I thought that you would care for me in return, yet

now I see that during the most difficult time of my life, I was alone.

I don’t understand why you would leave me when I needed you most.”

God replied, “My precious child, you are always in my heart,

and I would not desert you in your times of trial and difficulty.  When you saw

only one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you”

- Mary Stevenson -

It’s been a really ‘funny’ time recently… not quite “ha ha” type funny but more “mmmmmmm” type funny, if you get my drift!! 

 I’ve noticed really just how much I’ve tried to hold on to things when they had already expired their time…the great learning here is that the time for letting go comes whether you’re ready or not! 

Recently, I’ve had to face up to the reality that the growth and development of my core business means that I cannot always get involved with all the business opportunities that come my way.  This is fantastic for me – the fun and determination that I’ve had along the way is paying off.  This is also fantastic for the opportunities that I’ve had to walk away from as they will also now  be able to grow and develop with the right person alongside them.

I’ve been reminded that things happen the way they are supposed to happen. I don’t have to understand it but just trust that its right and so far so good!

Juicing…

Am really getting into this.  A friend of mine recommended a book to me called “7lbs in 7 days” and I was about to dismiss it as yet another diet book and definitely not one that I would be interested in.  However, it is actually about juicing rather than weight loss and was written by Jason “The Juicemaster” Vale - brilliant! 

To be honest, I wasn’t very good at eating lots of vegetables however, over the past few days I’ve been juicing carrots, apples, pineapples, beetroots, courgettes even spinach, kale and parsley. …and OMG…I love wheatgrass and spirulina!!!   All the juices in Jason’s book have tasted divine – bar one, which I will leave for you to discover yourself just like I did! – and the difference in my energy levels both mentally and physically in such a short space of time is remarkable.   I love it and will certainly continue juicing for the foreseeable future.   Let me know if you have any good juice or smoothie recipes.