Simon Says

“This above all: to thine own self be true , And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." ~ William Shakespeare I spoke with Pru Corrigan this week for the inaugural Dreamers Caravan podcast .  Exciting! About Pru ~  Pru juggles business with being a mum and a wife and everything that goes with that and still appears to be quite sane! Not sure how she does it really, except that I do... There's a method to staying sane while going after life with both hands.  Pru takes life by the scruff of the neck. It can be a bit scary, really! :D But life for her has not always been this way. She went from wondering whether she even deserved to be in PR, to creating a thriving business, being highly sought after and crucially I think, loving it!   Takeaways from the interview ~   * Change your thinking.   Pru shared her experience of feeling lost as an entrepreneur when she became a mother. She...

Do you get a bad feeling, with Christmas coming up? I used to feel that way & went to work at making it better each year. Now it's something to look forward to. I realise using the 'C' word anything less than two or three weeks out, is already for some, too much! Christmas can bring up a lot of stuff for people. That might be you or it might be the family & friends you'll share it with. Either way, it will help to do a little thinking and plan ahead. Christmas doesn't have to be a mess and there's a lot we can do to make it bearable, something we look forward to & dare I say it, even fun! It's a celebration! If that's already the case for you, Merry Christmas! If not read on... :) Here's a great place to start! Put aside the SHOULDS - all you 'should' have, be and do this time of year. We can tend to think Christmas should look or be a certain way. A feeble attempt at perfection. Take the pressure off! None of us are pe...

The Journey The journey starts whenever you want it to. You can stay as you are. It will be ok, but nothing will change. If you’re ok with that, stop reading. So you’re still reading. You know what that means don’t you? Something’s got to change! That’s pretty exciting. Let me encourage you. :) My journey began in 2012, I think. Lets say it was then. As my father likes to say, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” I was pretty unhappy that year, so I called up my family and called off Christmas. No joke! I didn’t know what I wanted from life anymore. I felt I was spinning my wheels, on a treadmill, surviving, stuck paying the bills; without ever feeling like I was getting anywhere. You know how it is. My family are great and understood, or said they did. Either way it was pretty cool of them. They still had Christmas of course, but I needed some time out. Not knowing what to do with myself, I took my dog down to the ‘off the leash’ dog park overlook...

What about when things get rough? It won't always feel like this, but there's an opportunity in dark times to experience God. I'm not talking about religion. The opportunity is beyond all that... into personal experience. The best quote I ever heard about this was from a guy called Brent Rue who said, "Religion is like an innoculation; just enough of something to stop you from getting the real thing." So what's the real thing? That's for you to discover I guess, if you want to. 7. Pray When you're losing it and before that, try it. The Lord's prayer has got your back! There's also the Serenity prayer used in 12 step programs. I've found it to bring peace no matter what I've been going through. It gets you back in the game. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference." Hang in there!

Difficult times are what they are... There are certain things I miss about the worst of mine. The focus, the clarity, the sense of feeling amazingly close to God. That being said, not having the tools in the midst of them can be excruciating! Here are a few more pointers for the bread basket - 4. Separate what's necessary, from what's not. My counselor used to tell a wonderful story as an example of this. He called it the two sniff test. In hard times, when he picked up his young kid's clothes left on the floor, if they passed the two sniff test they went back in the draw! Always makes me smile this one. It speaks directly to what's necessary and what's not. 5. Everyone gets their needs met. Needs and wants are very different ball games. Meeting needs and meeting wants can be the difference between sanity and losing it. Keep your sanity and meet needs, not wants. If there's room for a few wants later on, sure, go for it but knowing the difference is a g...

If you are going through hard times, you won't be the first. That really doesn't help though does it?! What on earth has other people's pain got to do with one's own experience? No comfort really... Unless they had a few pointers that might help to get you through. In my most difficult years, I learned a few things that really help. Here's three to get started. 1. Start with Gratitude. It may sound absurd when you are struggling, but it really helps to set your mind on good things when times are tough. Anything good, anything at all - the smell of hot chips, the sun on your face. The little things really add up when you notice and appreciate them. 2. Live one day at a time. So it can sound like a cliche, but it is sanely good advice! Letting go of what might happen tomorrow and focusing on today. And make it a good day! Include at least one thing you enjoy, as you go about all that must be done. 3. Find someone to help worse off than you & help the...

New beginnings are awesome. A new space, a new life, whatever that looks like... it's the juice of life! We need them. But what do you do when the gloss wears off and they're not like new any more? I love old pairs of jeans. You can buy them like that, but they're even better when you wear them in. You treasure them, because of the process - You invested in them. Slow days can be good days when you can see down the track. When you have a vision and purpose,  the mundane everyday's of life don't have to be dull. You can take a break for a moment & enjoy life a little. "Without a vision, the people perish" wrote the wisest of men in history. What is it you want? Where is it you're headed? Life is good when you can answer these questions :)