It’s so easy to go around and round in circles when we look outside ourselves for answers. We can spend hours searching online, consulting the opinions of various friends or loved ones, looking for advice or reassurance, and yet end up more confused than ever. Everybody else will give you an opinion that’s based on their own individual life experience. Everybody else will be looking through their own lens, with their own hopes and fears. Of course at times we’ll want to ask for the opinion of someone we value or respect. We’ll really appreciate their wisdom, or take on …Continue reading»
Creatively envisioning your life
What do you imagine for your life? Do you have a vision? Are there things you dream of, that you haven’t yet achieved? What do you think is possible? What will you allow yourself to believe is possible? There’s a theory of motivation in psychology called the Theory of Possible Selves. This theory tells us that there are all kinds of possible selves that we can imagine, both desired and feared. The idea is that working towards a desired possible self can be very motivating. Yet sometimes we’re limited by our imaginations. We may not believe it’s possible to get …Continue reading»
Life is happening now
Life is short. Life is precious. Life is here for the taking. It could be over for any one of us, at any time. Which can be a morbid thought, but also an opportunity to make sure we’re really awake. Life is happening now. So we have to live now. We can be so busy making plans and trying to get somewhere, that we forget to live in the moment. We take things so seriously, and forget to laugh. We hesitate to grab opportunities that come our way, with both hands. We forget to be as enthusiastic, or grateful as …Continue reading»
Celebrating the woman you are
Happy International Women’s Day! This is a great opportunity to celebrate all of the women that we love and admire. It’s a great chance to be thankful for them and for ourselves, and for the lives that we’ve got. Which women do you love and admire? And why? Tell them. Which women inspire you? What is it about them? How can you channel more of that, and bring more of it into your own life? Seeing them rock it shows that it’s possible for you too. And how can you celebrate yourself more? What is great about you, that perhaps you …Continue reading»
If it isn’t fun, don’t do it
Back in December I was chatting to a friend about joy. Something that these days I always try to keep at the forefront of my mind, but that after a busy couple of weeks had slipped out of my awareness. Joy, oh yes joy! My body felt relieved at the prospect. And I was reminded of something else I often think to: ‘If it isn’t fun, don’t do it!’ So I invite you to consider whether the things that you’re doing feel like fun. If it isn’t fun, don’t do it! Or if you can’t get out of it, how …Continue reading»
Staying connected to yourself
I started a Masters in Psychology recently and I’m hoping I’ll have plenty more to share about this in future blog posts. Meanwhile life is busier than it’s been for a while and I’m settling into a new routine. It’s been brilliant to have a new focus, to meet new people and to broaden my horizons. That energy of something new. Inspiration. Possibility. Joy. Something sparked. An energy of openness and excitement. Optimism. Contentment. It’s also got me thinking about everything I’ve learnt over the last 9 years and how to bring that in to what I’m doing now. I’ve …Continue reading»
When in doubt come back to your centre
We all have a centre within us. Whenever we feel lost or unsure of something we can lose contact with that centre. We become externally focussed and can end up drifting around and feeling like we’re being pulled from pillar to post, or in several different directions. We can feel scattered, panicky or adrift in the mental plane. But the heart can be a great resting place for the mind. Whenever we feel lost or unsure of anything we can drop down from our heads into our hearts. We can ground and centre. This can be one of the most …Continue reading»
Time to shake things up
Sometimes we feel the urge to shake things up. Sometimes we need to shake things up so that we don’t stagnate. We can be wise to follow whatever makes us feel the most free. How many things do we do because we think we should or because we have to? How many things do we put pressure on ourselves to do, even though nobody is forcing us to? It can be really good to take a look at all of the things like this in our lives, and to look at any changes we want to make. It can be …Continue reading»
The safe choice isn’t always the right choice
The safe choice isn’t always the right choice. Sometimes the right choice is the thing we fear the most. Avoiding unhappiness isn’t the route to happiness. Often we make choices out of fear. We think we’re keeping ourselves safe by choosing the safe option. But sometimes we’re actually closing ourselves off from life, and from true joy. We try to protect ourselves, which can be helpful and is a natural instinct. But when is this a good thing and when does it go too far? Sometimes we try so hard to protect ourselves that we end up causing ourselves more …Continue reading»
What do you really want?
Sounds like a simple question, right? But often we don’t take the time to get really clear on what it is we do want. We can be so busy working, ploughing full steam ahead or taking care of other people’s needs that we don’t stop to ask this question. Sometimes we are scared to. We don’t think it’s realistic or don’t believe we deserve what we really want. But it’s a great thing to ask and to tune into. So often we limit ourselves by what we think is possible. Fear holds us back. But what would you do if you weren’t …Continue reading»