Ready to continue the journey!

Wow, a lot has happened in the past two months.

Firstly my husband was retrenched (along with 6 other guys).

That was a positive thing though in the end, because my husband finally agreed to move back to Western Australia again. (we lived there before moving to Queensland 2 yrs ago)

So we had the stressful things of finding a new house once my husband got himself a new job back in the west and then it was the BIG MOVE BACK!!!

Anyway, one week ago are househild contents were delivered to our new location and I am slowly but surely unpacking all of the boxes.

I am so happy to be back here and eager to get back into reading everyone'sa blogs, participating in Mantra Mondays and months dreamboards etc. :-)

Mantra Monday

"Believe in your dreams"

Come and view other Mantra Monday participants at Jennlui's Trinket Treasury.

A Thousand Thoughts!!

Things have been quite crazy around here lately.

We moved here from Western Australia just over 2 years and it was a move I was never happy about. Since moving here I've tried to make friends, joined various community groups etc but never settled in.

My husband surprised me and suggested we move back to Western Australia and even cold called companies and got himself an interview. Yesterday we had a medical. We are now waiting for the job offer which he was told would come in the next couple of days.

So, I have had so much going on in my head............and haven't been sleeping well because of it all!!

Everything is dependant on each other ~ can't buy house til job is certain, need settlement to coincide with moving interstate, getting removals quotes (eeekkkkk!!).

I've neglected this blog, Mantra Mondays and my Soul Coaching but come Sunday I am back into it again. (we have my husband's postponed work Christmas weekend away this weekend.)

I will, despite the craziness of decision making allocate some time to myself daily and not feel guilty about it!

Thankyou & Mantra Monday

Many thanks to all of you that commented on my January Dreamboard post yesterday. Reading your wonderful comments was such a joy and you all help to inspire and empower me!

I always love reading any comments left on my blog. This internet blogging community is full of you amazing people and I love how we all share and can inspire each other. Reading your blogs has become a daily tradition!

Even though it's late in the evening here I've still got time to squeeze in this week's Mantra Monday card; this fantastic idea of Jennlui's. She does her post on Monday evening Canadian time so check out her blog then to see what awesome creation she's come up with this week!

Life is Beautiful

January's Full Moon Dreamboard

The images and words speak for themselves on my dreamboard this month!


Jamie at Starshyne Productions is now hosting our monthly dreamboards so come and view the participants creations here.

This Year's Motto

"Less is More"

I've never had a motto/word for the year so this is another first for me!

I've chose this saying as it relates to many aspects of my life;

* less clutter, more space ~ decluttering

* less stress, more happiness

* less tension, more relaxation

* less anger, more laughter

* less procrastination, more doing

* less doubting, more confidence

* less eating foods that hurt my stomach, more eating healthier foods

* less laziness, more exercise

Day 15 ~ Soul Coaching

I can't believe it's already day 15 of this wonderful journey.

I've just returned from being away for a few days but took my Soul Coaching with me and read through days 11 to 14 and did a couple of activities.

Now, I'm back into it full swing and it's the beginning of fire week.


This is described in the book as;

"Time to awake up the spirit. To do this, move your body. All the submerged emotional baggage that got stirred up in Water Week can now shift out of your energy field with the powerful activation of fire.

This is the week of spiritual purification, facing fears, releasing anger, and taking action."

"This is also the week that many breakthroughs occur. This is also the time to begin to change old, limiting patterns and habits. Routines and habits can lock you into repeating negative cycles in life.

One of the most important ways to change your self is with action. We often hesitate to take actions because of fear - fear of success, fear of failure, or even deep subconscious fears."

Today's level 1 activity is about acknowledging fears so they have less power.

I'm afraid of;

* people laughing at me (lack of confidence)

* swimming in the ocean or in water where I can't see the bottom (imagination gets better of me!)

* noises in the night (imagination at work again)

* large birds!

I can't think of any more fears.

After repeating days' affirmation "I am safe", I definitely feel safer!

Away

I'm away for a couple of days and won't have internet access.

I'll still be working my way through the wonderful Soul Coaching book, it's already packed in my bag!


I'll be catching up on all of your inspirational blogs as soon as I can!

Energy Zappers & Juicers ~ Day 10

As stated in the Soul Coaching book

"An energy zapper is anything that lowers your energy and thus decreases your life force. Often you become so used to living with these zappers that you are not even conscious of their effect on you. Just becoming aware of them will diminish their power."

I am aware of a couple of energy zappers;

* my daughter's father ~ having to talk/deal with him (another 6 years til she's 18!)

* when I say yes instead of no to avoid upsetting someone/hurting their feelings

* doing something I dislike

* shopping (I dislike it!)

"I am moving into harmony with everyone and everything in my universe."

Today's affirmation was difficult; it just didn't ring true for the day (it would've last week when I was relaxed!).

It's well & truly water week!

Day 9 Soul Coaching

Rain gauge on my outdoor sink in our vegie garden area

It's raining, it's pouring.......and it has been since late last night!!

I love rain; it cools the air, waters our gardens, fills up my 2 rainwater tanks, tops up our pool (we lose a lot of water to evaporation in summer), helps the farmers crops and fills the dams which supply our water supplies.

I am so thankful for the rain!!


Today's affirmation from the Soul Coaching book is

"My life experiences have positive, powerful meanings."

I was to think about what meanings I gave to everything that happened to me throughout the day. I tried give positive meanings.....it's something I will continue to work on.

Due to family commitments I didn't get around to the cleaning task for the day so I will do it tomorrow along with that days tasks.

I'm off to have a shower before bed and wash away any negativity!

Turning Points in Your Life ~ Day 8 (Water)

This is the beginning of Water Week and as water traditionally represents emotions it will be interesting to see what happens throughout the week.

Today has been about examining turning/significant points in my life.

I have a few that jump into mind immediately but I'm going to stick with writing them in my journal only.

Today's affirmation in the book is

"I unconditionally accept my feelings....and what I feel is not who I am."

I must admit I haven't been very focused today.......tomorrow is a fresh start!!!

Water wise I have hand watered the garden (I prefer this to using a sprinkler as I enjoy it), swum laps in our backyard pool and washed my hair.

Tomorrow I need to wash away my negativity whilst showering!!

New Year ~ New Outlook

As 2008 ended I began reading inspiring blog posts with wonderful reflections on the year gone by and aspirations for the new year.

I used to write "New Year Resolutions" as then beat myself up mentally for not getting them done.

This new year has me looking at things differently.

I have discovered many wonderful blogs and thank you all for what you write.

This wood carving in the photo below was a Christmas present from my husband and daughter, a great surprise as I'd been admiring it in the shop for a while!!

Today when looking at it I thought of it as a door through which I'm in the process of stepping.

This year I aim to

* look on things more positively

* relax and enjoy more

* listen to my intuition

* learn to love myself &

* create with confidence

Exploring Your Soul Mission ~ Day 7

Day 7 (which was yesterday) was about beginning to explore my soul mission in life by listening for signs, coincidences and synchronicities.

I didn't notice any as I went about my day (shopping, trying to stay cool in the humidity, swimming) but I hope it will come to me as I progress through this book.

The day's affirmation was;

"Who I am is enough"

That doesn't resonate with me as I battle with my thoughts............


What an end to air week though ~ a day of heat and humidity. The air was so thick!!

Lightening Up ~ Day 6

photo taken in my garden Jan 08

"I am safe and centred no matter where I am."

Today is about letting go of internal clutter; clearing the mind.

I attempted to do this whilst hand watering the garden but no matter what I had thoughts streaming through my mind. It was not possible to try and let it float by like a cloud. I am not too bothered by this at present as I already feel such a change for me; for the past couple of days I've been more relaxed than I usually am!

In a few moments when I go to bed I shall try again to clear my mind........

Clutter - Energy Up / Energy Down ~ Day 5

I can't believe that in such a short amount of time I've noticed such a change in how I'm thinking ~ it's wonderful!!

I awoke refreshed again, ready for a new day.

I felt today's affirmation even before I read it;

"Fresh, invigorating energy fills my life."

Today's exercise was in relation to decluttering. I chose was to walk around our home and see what objects/areas bring my energy levels up, down or remain neutral.

The places where my energy levels drop are in the kitchen and dining room, both the rooms associated with food!!

I decided to declutter the piles of paper work in the dining room and again was surprised to find so many things to dispose of. I quickly filled our recycling tub which was then emptied into the large council recycling bin outside.

I plan to sort through the kitchen cupboards and pantry next!!

As stated in the book (Soul Coaching) "Clearing out unused or unloved possessions in your home can have this same invigorating effect on your spirit - it can truly be a transformational experience. Your clutter may be draining and depleting your energy."

"When you clear out the "stuff" that lowers your energy, your home becomes a sanctuary."


I am pleased to announce that I have been keeping up with the commitment I made myself and today I swam laps in our pool.

Relax & Enjoy!

After such a wonderfully relaxed day yesterday there was no doubt in my mind what today's Mantra Monday card would be about!!

Take time out,

breathe

slowly

&

deeply,

relax

&

enjoy!

You can view Jennlui's Mantra Monday post here and view the other particpants cards there too!

Where are you now in your life? ~ Day 4

"I love and accept who I am....and who I am is enough"

This morning I awoke feeling very refreshed. I wonder if it's because as I drifted off to sleep I was doing the yogic breathing exercises mentioned in the book yesterday?!

I will make a concerted effort to continue doing them :-)

Floating Petals Display inside Matahari Dept. Store, Kuta, Bali June 2008

Today was about being the Sacred Observer ~ taking notice of my thoughts and the situations around me.

There wasn't much to observe. I had a very relaxing day and for the first time in a long time I felt "at peace" with everything. For once I actually wasn't worrying about anything, I didn't become upset; I just went with the flow.

Thinking back on today now as I write this it seems like I wasn't me!?!

Of course I realise it was me, I AM ME ~ this is how I always want to be!!

Clearing Clutter in Your Bedroom/Bathroom ~ Day 3

"There is clarity within me and around me"

Today is about the bedroom as that is meant to be the metaphor for ones inner life.

The action for today was to clear out/declutter one drawer in the bedroom or bathroom and as I was excited to declutter I did got into it this morning!!

I kept repeating the affirmation "I am clearing all that I do not need out of my life" as I quickly disposed of items I'd hung on to for no apparent reason at all. They were things that had no use to me, had bad memories and took up space. Before I knew it I had thrown out a large bag of rubbish ~ it all from one draw!!

I then proceeded to clear out the remaining 7 drawers still repeating "I am clearing all that I do not need out of my life"

I actually felt empowered from throwing things away :-)

Late this afternoon my husband and I took the dogs for a walk along the beach again. I scoured the beach for interesting shells, like I always do.

We've been walking along the same beach for nearly 2 years now and even though we sometimes see Sea Eagles flying overhead we've never seen a feather. Today, for some reason, as I looked for shells I thought for the first time about finding a feather and low and behold about 20 metres further along the beach I found this beautiful one (about 34cm in length);

I am now about to add it to my altar.

Commitment to Change Your Life ~ Day 2

Today's Affirmation

"I honour my commitments to myself and others"

This affirmation is something I need to repeat to myself as often as possible as although I have no trouble honouring commitments I make to others but rarely honour ones to myself.

Today I was to become more aware of the air around me:the way it feels on my skin, the way the clouds move, and the way I feel when I breathe in and out.

I enjoyed watching the clouds drift by as I floated on my back in our swimming pool late this afternoon. As I sat on the beach earlier this afternoon I took note of the breeze blowing through my hair, salty but embracing!

I actually don't feel very comfortable when concentrating on breathing;I feel short of breathe!! (unless listening to a meditation CD of mine when I totally relax) As I do have trouble relaxing/switching off by myself I shall make more of an effort to take time out to just lie down and slowly breathe in and out............

Today's level 1 ~ Commit to Take One Empowering Action Daily

There are many more than 1 thing I'd like to do but I realised after re-reading today's writings that by committing only one empowering action I stand more of a chance of doing it, rather than trying to take on more!!!

After much deliberation the empowering action I've chosen to take on for the remainder of this book (the next 27 days) is exercising daily by either walking the dogs or swimming laps in our pool.

I actually ended up both walking along the beach with my husband and dogs AND swimming 20 laps in our pool!!

“Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the "right stuff" to turn our dreams into reality.”James Womack

Life Assesment ~ Day 1 Soul Coaching (Air)

"My evaluation of myself is not who I am"

This affirmation does make me question "who am I then?" but then again isn't that what this book is about, self discovery?!

I have worked through levels 1 and 2 today :-)

I've evaluated my life under the headings listed as follows;

* Health ~ it is OK but could be better. I need to improve my fitness, lose 8-10kg and eat healthier. My mental health is slowly but surely improving. During the next 28 days I will try to lose 1-1.5kg, drink more water and eat better.

* Relationships ~ The only relationship that I feel needs work on is the one I have with myself.....I will try not to put myself down.

* Finances ~ We are financially secure with the only debt being our mortgage which will be paid off within the next 10 yrs. I would like to have a part time job/income coming in the help contribute financially.

* Career ~ I don't have one but would like to be working where I help others. I have been looking for part time work & applying for jobs, even had one interview but no job offers.

* Creativity ~ I'd like to have more confidence and create more often.

* Spiritual Fulfillment ~ I am on a spiritual journey and enjoying learning and growing spiritually each day.


I have a few areas in my life that have large rifts;

* self esteem ~ I don't think much of myself or even like myself/my body
* worry/frustration ~ I tend to worry about most things
* resentment/bitterness ~ towards living where we do
* self motivation ~ this is greatly lacking
* my past ~ I have trouble letting go of things which then weigh me down
* job/work/career ~ this is non existent
* physical health ~ I suffer from I.B.S. and am slightly overweight.

Boy, oh boy ~ actually writing all of this down (which I have also done in a journal) is a huge thing and makes everything seem so much more REAL!!!! This is HUGE............