Monthly Archives: July 2015

Worry Warriors

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by in Advice, Attitude, Moods, Positivity

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Why are some people worriers?
There are many reasons for being a more worried person than the person sitting opposite you on the bus (well, he doesn’t look too worried anyway)
Genetics plays a large role – yes, blame it on your mother!
Personality is a big thing too – if you are a more serious, perfectionist type of person, then you are going to worry more about things than somebody who has a more casual attitude towards their life.
Another factor is intelligence.
The more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to worry.  If you are intelligent, you are probably analytical and if you are analytical then you worry about a lot of things, and often you worry about things that you have absolutely no control over.  You tend to over-interpret things and generally make mountains out of molehills.
Sounding familiar yet?
The more you worry about things, the more likely you are to get stressed, to have constant neck tension, headaches, stomach aches, changes in appetite, changes in mood (especially irritability) and difficulty sleeping.
Sounding more familiar?
Worrying can make you sick.
That’s the bad news….

Now for the good news….
If you are going to be a worrier, then you might as well be a warrior!
If you are going to use your intelligence and your mighty and (stubborn) personality, you might as well use it for good instead of  focusing on stress.
You might as well use your brilliance to focus on your strengths and take on the world rather than focusing on your weakness and letting the world take you on!

Worry doesn’t just go away – it is real and it is big and it is definitely there.
Yet  I have absolute faith in your ability to be warrior.
You have the ability to be amazing and strong and courageous but you have to believe it too.

Try and complete this sentence:
I am a warrior because….
And start becoming a worrier warrior.

Kindness on Mandela Day

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by in Attitude, Positivity, Projects

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This week is the late Nelson Mandela’s birthday and his birthday has become Mandela Day – a day for giving back.
http://www.mandeladay.com/
In honour of such a great man, we commit time to serve our community in his memory.
I love random acts of kindness given to unsuspecting strangers and I will definitely be doing some of that on Mandela Day.
I will also be joining in a sandwich making mission – the aim is to make 67 000 sandwiches to feed and nourish the hungry.
Please use the opportunity (even if you are not South African) to donate some time, money or skill to somebody or an organisation that really needs it.

I love Mandela Day because of the wonderful spirit of kindness, care and positivity that surrounds us for a day.
But I definitely don’t think that we should wait for one day a year to be kind.
Even more importantly, I don’t think that we should be spreading kindness, or expecting kindness from others, until we learn to be kind to ourselves.

Thanks to Brave Girls Club for this:
I want to remember that I must be the example to others of how I want to be treated… meaning that if I want to be treated with kindness and respect, I must treat myself with kindness and respect.  If I want to be treated with love and patience, I must treat myself with love and patience.  I teach other people how to treat me.

Mandela really believed in forgiveness – so please forgive yourself.  Be kind and gentle to yourself.  Respect yourself.
Stop waiting for, and having huge expectations that somebody is going to change the way that they treat you so that you can be happier.
The only person responsible for your happiness is you.
Take that responsibility today!
You never know how great you can become!

be kind 2

You ARE wonderful!

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by in Attitude, Positivity, self esteem

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A friend of mine has been feeling down because her high school reunion is coming up and when she looks at what everyone else is doing with their lives, it makes what she is doing seem insignificant.
Personally I think that she is an absolute superhero – she is an amazing and creative mother who has had some huge changes in her life that she gracefully survives.
But that doesn’t seem to be as great as the “super successful” people that she went to school with.

When my school reunion came up, I refused to go because my past is exactly that – the past!  And if I was really interested in people that I went to school with, I would still be in touch with them.  We moved in different directions and I was quite ok to let them go. (Let’s not even speak about the fact that I was in total denial that it had been 25 years since I left school)

We are totally surrounded by information all the time that tells us that we are not good enough.  Whether it is through social media where people have a need to tell everyone how wonderful they are or even if we are exposed to messages in mainstream media that tell us that our hair is not shiny enough (if I am to believe every single advert that gets blasted at me whenever I watch a video on YouTube), we don’t drive the right car, of course we bank with the wrong bank, eat the wrong food and go to the wrong places.  And the powers that be want us to come over to their (obviously) good side.
How are you meant to keep your self esteem in tact after all of that?

How about letting go of all of the negative messages?
Why not stop comparing yourself to other people?
You are perfectly amazing just the way you are and you have value to give. You are special and talented in your own way.
You have your own unique story to tell and it is worth telling!

“Your life is a story…. Make yours a best seller!”

Dance in the rain

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

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Let me just put this out there:
I hate driving!
I know lots of people who love driving but I am not one of them.  At all!
And now, to make matters much, much worse, my route to work is fraught with danger.  OK, I exaggerate a bit… my route to work is filled with construction, closed lanes, holes in the road, slippery surfaces and impatient drivers.  Actually it may be fraught with danger after all.
What I do know is that as much as I hate driving and as much as my drive to work can make me miserable, I am so grateful to have a warm car to drive on a freezing cold morning.  Because I see commuters and pedestrians who are probably a lot more unhappy than I am who don’t have a car to keep out the chill with good music playing to accompany the journey.

The people that I really feel sorry for though are the construction workers.  Not the guys who are digging or getting to push their noisy machines.  I feel most sorry for the people (and usually they are women) who spend their day waving a red flag to caution drivers about obstacles ahead.  I could not think of many jobs that are more boring and unstimulating (not to mention dangerous).
Or so I thought until something happened the other day.
It absolutely made my day too.
The construction workers were dancing instead of just standing still and waving their flags.  It was really wonderful to see and while it definitely put a smile on my face, I think that the people most affected by their dance were the construction workers themselves.  They made their jobs more fun and more stimulating.

Why shouldn’t we dance?
Life is serious and difficult.  But we also choose to make it that way.  Because we dance less and we sing less.
We laugh less and worry too much.
We take life more seriously than we should.

I challenge you to do your daily chores with a spring in your step, smile more and wave at people – I promise you it will make a difference.

dance in the rain