Archive for life purpose
Can You Do It?
Of course you can!
Very recently, I discovered that the Hay House team will be coming ‘down under’ again to spread love and light.
They’ll be coming to Australia for the ‘I Can Do It’ conference, two days jam-packed with inspiration, education, enlightenment and fun.
I didn’t go to last year’s event because I had a prior commitment, so I would love to go this year, but I have already booked that weekend for time with friends – I’m waiting to hear back on whether our friends can reschedule, and if they can, I’ll be there!
After being inspired by Louise Hay over the years, including loving her book You Can Heal Your Life, I’d love to meet her in person:
Louise Hay
Co-presenting will be life coach extraordinaire Cheryl Richardson – I love her book The Art of Extreme Self-Care (see my review of it here), and I’d love to see her energy sparkle ‘live’!
Cheryl Richardson
An another of my favourite people will be presenting: financial expert Suze Orman. I own several of Suse’s books – she’s a straight-talking dynamo!
Suze Orman
There are actually seven presenters over a weekend, and the conference will be held in Sydney and Melbourne. If you live in Australia and would love a shot of inspiration, learning from women and men who are here to lead, educate and transform, then make your way to one of these conferences.
I’m sure it will be no problem for my friends to reschedule, but if they can’t, then I will make a note in my diary for NEXT year! Let me know if you’re going, OK?
Letters to Mothers
That special day is coming up very soon.
The day in which we honour mothers around the world! (I’m looking forward to my special breakfast in bed, and lots of cuddles and handmade-with-love gifts and cards.)
If you’re a mum (or mom), or you have a mum, or you know a mum, you’ll want to check out a very, very special book called Mother Letters: Sharing the Mess and Glory.
It’s a compilation of letters from mothers, to other mothers.
I’m one of the contributors, so if you’re curious to see what I’ve written, you’ll need to grab yourself a copy! It’s an ebook, so you can instantly download it and start reading… and laughing, and crying.
And the story behind the book is also beautiful – check out ’Our Story’ over at the information page.
This book truly is a work of art, as is motherhood. Just look at this beautiful trailer:
So, if you know someone who would love this ebook, why not gift it as a gift this Mother’s Day? I know I will be. You can also download a gift card to add to a copy of a confirmation email. (And for a limited time, this amazing book is only US$6.99!)
Where Do I Start?
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or are a subscriber to my ezine, it’s quite likely that you’re an advancing person. That is, you’re always moving towards ‘more life’ in everything you do.
You want to live the richest, fullest, happiest, most deeply satisfying life you can imagine.
You have beautiful, life-expanding dreams for yourself, and you want those dreams to come true.
But it’s also possible that you’re feeling SO overwhelmed by everything that you want to do. In fact, you’re not even sure where to start… so you don’t. (Start, that is.)
So, would you like a little coaching advice about where to start?
Well, my first piece of advice is to listen to your intuition. Give yourself a good half-hour to clear your mind, and then sit and think, and FEEL. Consider your preferences and then listen to what your ‘gut’ tells you. Having a pencil and large notepad with you is a very good idea.
But if you’re overworked, stressed, tired and foggy headed (or feel as though you’re going around the bend from ‘overthinking’), it could be that even doing the above seems too difficult.
In which case, I’d recommend carving out some PROPER time in your diary – like a whole day, at the least – to devote fully to getting crystal clear on what you want, to brainstorm ideas, to prioritise, and to create an action plan.
You can do this yourself, but doing it with the help of a trusted friend or a coach can give you much-needed perspective and encouragement. I’ll soon be making myself available for VIP Days, where I’ll help you get clear on what it is that you really want, start eliminating limiting beliefs, and create a very do-able, exciting action plan to start bringing those dreams of yours into the real world.
(To be one of the first to know about these amazing VIP Days, head here and leave your details. And, listen – I know goal-setting can be a big turn-off for some people because the process can feel forced and very ‘masculine’, but in our day together it’s all about YOU and what YOU want out of life, not what society or your peers or family say you should want. You’ll have time to think, and breeeaaathe, and dream, and create a plan that’s perfect for you…)
Then, you can start going through a conscious creation process, starting with visualisation – if you’d love help with this, check out the beautiful Your House of Abundance process.
However, if you’re feeling too exhausted (and perhaps even sick) to contemplate lofty or even not-so-lofty dreams, then I advise that your first focus be your health.
Fabulous health is at the core of a great life. It underpins everything. And we often don’t realise how valuable our health is until we become unwell or injured.
So if that’s you – make your health an absolute priority. You’ll then be able to think clearly, and will have the energy to take action on your other dreams.
By the way, sometimes people get ‘put off’ the idea of becoming healthier, because they think it takes a lot of money to do so. If you’re switching from eating cheap processed food to buying organic fruits and veggies, and supplements, then, yes, it can cost a bit more than you’re now paying for food. And if you join a gym then there are fees, and personal health coaching can be a substantial investment.
But if money is tight for you right now, and you know getting healthy is a top priority so that you can start heading for your dreams, you can make free or low-cost health changes now.
These include:
- going for walks (even if just around your back garden, or briskly around your house);
- planting a few organic vegetable seeds;
- purchasing (and using!) a book such as Raw Foods on a Budget;
- generally cutting back on unhealthy foods (even if they’re cheap); and
- asking an ‘advancing’ friend to be your ‘accountability buddy’ when it comes to simple health goals you set for yourself.
Once your health starts to improve, you’ll have more energy to create the money you want, which means you can then invest more in organics and superfoods, personal trainers or coaches, if that feels right for you.
So you now have some guidance as to ‘where to start’. But you know deep in your soul what’s needed. I just hope my advice has helped clear some of the fog, and has helped put you on the road towards creating and living a life you truly, truly love.
When You WISH…
We women are a pretty powerful bunch, even if we sometimes don’t think so.
In celebration of International Women’s Day this month, Tera Warner has put together 40 phenomenal people to speak to women – for 40 days.
It’s a free celebration of women and our lives, with inspirational guest speakers such as Bruce Lipton, SARK, Nadine Artemis, Gary Zukav, Donna Gates, Shakaya Leone and many, many more. Topics run the gamut from relationships to health and money to spirituality.
This is the third year that Tera has run WISH, and this year’s line-up of content is just as fabulous as in recent years.
The calls have already started, but once you register, you can download any of the calls and listen to them whenever you like! (And remember, they’re free – it’s not often you can access high-quality content like this at no cost.)
I urge you to head over to WISH to register, and prepare to be illuminated and inspired by these amazing interviews.
The Search for Sanity in a Crazy World
This month’s article has been written by success strategist Dr Philip Humbert. I’ve been following Philip’s emailed TIPS newsletter for, like, FOREVER, and I love receiving his weekly dose of wisdom and wit. When I read this article in his newsletter a couple of weeks ago, I just knew that I wanted to share it with you (thanks for allowing me to do so, Philip!). To subscribe to the TIPS newsletter, head here.
“This week, I’ve worried about violence in Syria, inflation, deflation, unemployment, President Obama’s actions, my credit score, and an earthquake in some country I don’t recall. And that’s only a few of the worries that come to mind at the moment!
Perhaps I’ve been watching too much “news.”
But if I turn off the news, then I have to monitor my Smart Phone, run a half-dozen apps per day, listen to my iPod, take care of 150 emails and deal with an average of 17 phone calls. Not to mention pay bills, fix dinner, and run a few errands. It’s all too much!
Or, I could sit on my deck with a good book and a good cigar, listen to the birds and watch the clouds float past.
And to me, that sounds more like the “good life” than anxiously monitoring the stock market all day long.
How did life get this way? Wasn’t technology supposed to help us? Wasn’t a small world with instant communication going to make us more efficient, more productive and less stressed?
Or, maybe I’m confused about that.
When I look around, I see folks with wires hanging from their ears. I see folks staring at tiny computer screens in their hands. I see folks scurrying about, but I don’t see much eye contact. I don’t see too many smiles. I don’t even see many handshakes or hear much laughter!
My point is that maybe we are slowly going crazy.
Are we living as well as we could? Are we making the most of our lives? Are we doing smart things in intelligent ways? Do we maximize our joy, and our quality of life?
My fear is that many of us are doing what we “should do” and aren’t very happy about it. I suspect we’re “majoring in minor things.” We’re “caught in the thick of thin things.”
Some of us remind me of Sisyphus, the character from Greek mythology who was condemned to push a rock up-hill, only to have it roll back down, over and over, forever. We’re always running, but never catching up.
The dilemma, of course, is that we dare not fall behind. We want to be in contact, to be involved, to be “connected.” We want to text our friends, monitor their Facebook pages, and make money. We want the benefits and rarely stop to count the cost.
We are the richest, most sophisticated and most productive people in history. This is good!
But I also remember that my Grandparents had time for dinner. They had a garden, they actually went to church to worship, talk with friends, and enjoy their community. They had the gift of time! (What a concept!)
I’m pleading for that elusive thing called “Balance.” Money is good! I want all I can get, but not at the cost of peace of mind, a loving family, and time to rest. I want new toys, new technology and a nice car, but not at the cost of frustration and high blood pressure. I want the benefits of modern life, but sometimes the cost is too high.
In the end, it’s about CHOICE. We are blessed in that we can have virtually any type of life we choose. We can live anywhere we choose. We can work as hard as we want. We can become famous or rich or powerful. We can have friends all over the world. And, we can play chess, read to our kids, or enjoy a long walk on a sunny winter day. But we cannot do all of it, at least not all at once.
We must choose. The Good Life and Success are about defining the life you want and consistently behaving in ways that are most likely to achieve it. I fear too many of us are neglecting the hard work of thinking about our priorities, then making the choices and enforcing the boundaries to achieve them.
In the end, we have a few years of 24-hour days and what we do with them is the most profound choice we will ever face.
To me, one of the great tragedies of modern life is to find, at the end of life, that we failed to live the life we intended. Don’t do that!
Think carefully about your values. Choose priorities that are consistent with your values. And live accordingly.”
Copyright (c) Dr Philip Humbert, 2012, all rights reserved.
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1529-059X
Dr Philip Humbert is a success strategist, author and popular speaker, and he writes an awesome weekly newsletter called TIPS. I’d highly encourage you to check out Philip’s work, and his newsletter, at http://www.philiphumbert.com/ (or you can email him at Coach@philiphumbert.com). Many thanks again to Philip for sharing this article!
A Beautiful Tribute to a Beautiful Person
I just wanted to share this moving tribute with you – given such short notice, Jennifer Hudson did an amazing job with this song.
When someone moves into the next realm it’s always sad for those of us left behind, but when someone leaves as amazing a legacy as did Whitney Houston – affecting millions with the power of her beautiful voice – the sadness around the world is palpable.
Thank you for using and sharing your gifts, Whitney. And thank you, Jennifer, for yours. Both of you remind us to do the same with our own gifts, to make this world an even better place.
Do You Love What You Do?
Love is in the air this month because of that special, somewhat schmaltzy, celebration known as Valentine’s Day.
I LOVE that there’s a day dedicated just to love. Do you, too?
Here’s a thought! Why don’t we use the Valentine month as a reminder? Not just about the importance of loving people, but of loving what we do in this world?
Do YOU love what you do? Really?
Do you love your work? The food you eat? The places you go? The sports you play? The hobbies you have?
Or are you just going through the motions, doing activities that you may once have loved, but now leave you feeling a little flat?
I probably don’t need to tell you that the universe responds to our vibration, and when our vibration is high (that is, we’re doing what we love and we therefore feel great), we receive experiences that match that vibration.
Maybe you could use this beautiful month of love to check in with yourself? To question how you feel about the activities that make up your days?
How do you feel about your job, for instance? Is it still fun? (Or was it ever fun?) Do you feel that you’re using your talents, and the skills that come easily to you?
I had an office job in my early 20s, and after the initial fun of starting something new, I began to feel as though I was dying on the inside. I was drifting, having deferred a university journalism degree. I thought that this job, which was in the finance industry, might be interesting and secure (and well paid).
Boy, was I wrong. I tried all sorts of things to gain a promotion (well, not EVERYTHING), but it just never happened. My colleagues were heaps of fun, but the work itself was sapping the life out of me.
I’d been planning to take a year off to go overseas with my then-boyfriend (now husband) Darren, and to come back to that job when we returned. But I remember the day when I decided that, instead, I’d go back to university after our trip. I remember sitting at my desk and feeling absolutely elated, and with such a sense of purpose, clarity and certainty. I knew I was back on the right path, and that I’d be studying something that I loved.
Thank goodness I didn’t ever receive a promotion in that office job, because otherwise I might never have taken the time to think about what I LOVED. Now I get to do work that I love, every day!
I still keep letting myself be pulled towards things that I love. I believe that our intuition – that ‘knowing feeling’ – guides us beautifully. If we listen to it.
Look, it’s OK to outgrow something. You don’t need to love the same job, food or places your entire life. Don’t hang on to an activity just because you’ve ‘always done it’.
Letting go leaves room for the things you really want to do.
So, on 14 February, why not instigate a new Valentine’s ritual, and do a ruthless ‘love review’ of your life’s activities?
This could just be a Valentine’s you’ll never forget…
PS I’d love for you to tell me what you’d love to do! Leave a comment below, or email me at joanne@richradiantreal.com. Just putting it ‘out there’ will show the universe you’re serious about doing what you love.
The Best Thing That Ever Happened…
You know how sometimes you look back at something disappointing – or potentially devastating – that happened in your life, and you now think ‘that was the best thing that ever happened to me’? (Ya gotta love hindsight!)
Today I’d like to share the words of Dr Wayne Dyer with you, in this brief clip – Wayne reassures us that if something unexpected or unwanted happens, just know that it’s the Universe’s way of helping take you to a better place.
Has something like this happened to you? If you’d like to share a story about this with us, I’d love for you to leave a comment below.
Big hugs to you!
How to Bring Back Your ‘Bubbly’!
You know, sometimes life can seem pretty darn hard.
Everything can be going along swimmingly, and then you realise you feel completely overwhelmed. Or you have a few disappointments, and you start spiralling down into a real slump, finding it hugely difficult to summon the energy and enthusiasm to get back on track.
So, how can you bring back your ‘bubbly’? Your sparkle, your fizz, your joie de vivre?
Just wait it out and hope things will get better? Or summon up the strength to start taking positive action?
Well, you can bet that I’d recommend taking action! Yep, waiting has its virtues, but taking action will make things happen waaay faster.
Here are three powerful ideas to help you ‘course correct’, and start an upward spiral that puts you back on track. These have helped me, and I hope they help you, too.
1. Start with your health.
Often, we get stuck in a rut because we’re exhausted and overwhelmed (this has happened for me more times than I care to remember). All we really need is more sleep, more water, fewer junk foods and a bit of a breather from the number of activities or obligations we’ve taken on. So, let’s do that!
To avoid feeling that implementing healthier, empowering habits is going to add to your overwhelm, try a ‘just for seven days’ commitment – do one small, positive ‘thing’ for your health for just seven days. Believe me, you’ll notice the difference, and you may well be ‘on a roll’ and want to continue with this fabulous, healthy new habit.
2. Become all ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ and think of tomorrow as a brand new day. (Because it is.)
You don’t need to live a ‘groundhog day’ type of existence. Every day has the potential to be fantastic, even if, from where you are now, you can’t even imagine that.
Tomorrow, as soon as you open your eyes, smile and think to yourself: ‘today is going to be a good day, and I’m going to look for evidence of that!’.
Oh, a word of warning. When you do this, you may well notice that your usual ‘programming’ pops up to sabotage you. After all, your subconscious mind wants to keep you safe, and if you’re trying to implement change (even if it’s positive), it may be fiercely resistant. Just thank your subconscious for protecting you, but swallow hard and keep acting as though you absolutely expect positive results.
3. Gain a fresh perspective.
This is so effective. I even find that this technique works when I’m struggling to go to sleep (I’m a ‘night owl’ by nature, so if I haven’t done sufficient winding down before bedtime, I find it difficult to get to sleep). I sometimes notice that I’m lying on one side of my body, going over and over the things I want to remember, analysing situations… it’s exhausting, and keeps my mind spinning!
So, when that happens, I remind myself that I can change perspective and break the loop. I roll over onto my other side, jot down notes that I want to remember, and let myself recognise that I’ve chosen to break the cycle. Lying on this new side, I can start afresh and choose to start relaxing my body and mind.
When it comes to getting back your ‘bubbly’ and feeling positive about life, what if you went for a drive in the country? What if you lay down on the floor (or sat on a hill, surveying what’s below you) and thought about your life from that perspective? What if you did your grocery shopping in a different store? Or started your day with a slightly different routine?
My friend, it’s going to take a bit of a ‘push’ to get over a hump. Be gentle with yourself, but very firm. Your happiness depends on it!
If you’ve been stuck in a slump, I hope that just one of these ideas propels you back along the track to ‘bubbly’!
Note: if you try all of the above and still can’t bring yourself to a state of positivity, you might well need the help of a counsellor or psychologist. Or if you’re utterly, physically exhausted and can’t seem to regain your energy, take yourself off for a health check – see a doctor, or a natural health practitioner (such as Dr Ritamarie Loscalzo, at www.drritamarie.com).
Your Personal Environment – It Matters!
If a seed is grown in optimal conditions, it will grow to its full potential, and flourish. A sight to behold!
Now, imagine that you are a seed. If you plant yourself in suboptimal conditions, you simply won’t reach the potential that is latent within you.
And that would be a shame.
We may not have been responsible for the conditions in which we were raised (when we were ‘seedlings’, so to speak!), but as adults we are now responsible for our personal environment and for our growth. Completely and utterly.
This is liberating and empowering, but it’s potentially scary, too.
So, what’s your environment like? Are you nurturing yourself and your dreams? Is your environment set up to support you?
Or do you feel overwhelmed and negative a lot of the time?
You don’t need me to tell you that in order for the law of attraction to bring wonderful stuff into your life, you need to be sending out a positive vibration. Honey, it’s universal law.
So, if your personal environment could do with a little love, here are five fabulous ways to create a nurturing environment that supports and inspires you.
Read
Become a sponge for personal development information. Have life-transforming books as your bedside reading. (Catch a glimpse of some of my recent bedtime reading here.)
Affirm
Listen to affirmations audios while you exercise or do jobs around the house (by the way, I’m in the process of creating a fabulous audio of rich, radiant, real affirmations – keep an eye on your inbox for details!). Also, write down your favourite affirmations and have them in easy view throughout your day. Let’s build fresh neural pathways that affirm beliefs we’d like to have!
Go Mobile
Create a mobile personal development library by playing positive audios and CDs in your car (why not load Rich Radiant Real teleseminars onto your MP3 player, and connect it to your car’s stereo?).
Get Coached
Even if you aren’t yet ready to invest in personal, one-on-one coaching, I’d advise being part of a group-coaching program. Get yourself coached in any way that you can, but remember that you’ll get the very best from coaching when you invest money in it – if you receive free coaching, you’re not as likely to give it all that you’ve got. Sometimes you’ve just got to invest, in order to reap the harvest.
Connect with Your Tribe
Your family and current friends don’t understand why you’re changing or why you’re trying to ‘think positive’ all the time? Then shore yourself up by connecting regularly with people who share your values and beliefs. You can do this in many ways, but a highly accessible way is to participate in online forums with positive people – for example, see my recent blog post about Jack Canfield’s Inner Circle membership club, where you can connect with like-minded people in the club’s forum.
So, there you have it. Five high-quality ways to support yourself in creating a life you love!
Remember, we all have the chance to ‘bloom where we’re planted’. As an adult, you get to choose your thoughts, your beliefs and the influences you allow into your life.
Are you going to allow yourself to bloom into your full magnificence? (I believe in you. I know you can do it, with the right environment!)
Joanne's coaching was exactly what I needed to help me focus my precious time and money on finding work and making money! What I like most about Joanne’s coaching is that it's gentle, supportive and empathetic, rather than pushy and 'ra-ra-ra'”
...if there’s something that you’ve been putting off doing, because it’s so big and overwhelming, then by coaching with Joanne you'll definitely find a way to do it, to finally reach your goal.”
Radiant