Have more fun

I made a decision back in Joe Pane's Personal Power funshop at the end of May. I decided to have more fun in my life, as I've spent the last 15 years being boring and serious.

The major source of fun for the next two months will be my upcoming adventure to Malaysia and Singapore.

Let me be clear that this is not a holiday. Holidays to me are for people who just want to sit on their butts on a beach somewhere with a nice cocktail and baste themselves in coconut oil while developing a tan that later in life may cause them health issues. Or, holidays to me are for people who just want to sit on their butts on a deck chair on a cruise ship while eating far too much at the all-you-can-eat buffet and then come back 5kg heavier. This is my map of the world - yours may of course be very different.

Holidays are not for me.  If I wanted to laze around and be bored out of my skull, I can do that at home. Or in my sleep!

I do adventures - I want to get out and see the world, experience new things, try new foods (that may or may not make me sick), take part in another culture and LIVE like there's no tomorrow. I want sun, sea, sand, rain, thunderstorms, heat, humidity, cool sea breezes, puddles, mud, bus rides, train rides, public transport, overcrowding, noise, smells, tan lines, heat, air conditioning, plane flights and everything else that comes with 22 days in Malaysia and Singapore.

In terms of the FUN I'm going to have, well, there's Legoland, Universal Studios, Lost World of Tambun, Adventure Cove Water Park, Go Green Segway Tours, Indoor Archery, Boeing 737 Flight Simulator, river cruises, cultural performances, day trips to ancient cities and holy shrines, orchid gardens, giant slides, towers, photos, lakes, hot springs, breakfast with Orang-utans, special white coffee, black pepper chicken, layer cake, batik painting, elephant rides, headhunters and a whole lot more!

It's a lot to pack in to 22 days but I've planned it to death and it's going to be EPIC!  I've scheduled time to rest, meditate, run, do yoga, sleep, eat, shower and pack bags between the cities I'm visiting, which are:

• Langkawi
• Penang
• Kuching
• Johor Bahru
• Singapore
• Kuala Lumpur
• Ipoh
• Malacca

Yes, that's 8 cities in 22 days. Yes, I am a little crazy. Yes, there are 8 flights, three big bus rides and a pair of big train rides in there. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way!

I'm taking myself right out of my comfort zone as although I've done three of these eight cities before, it was six years ago and I'm doing a bunch of new places and staying in different accommodation to last time! And did I mention I'm going by myself?

There's also a few massage and beauty treatments booked in and my needs for certainty and variety are being met with a great packed yet organised schedule with lots of new things to try.

Jealous yet?  Don't be - just decide to have more fun yourself and then book yourself an adventure somewhere awesome!

Get a new strategy

Every Sunday I set a few goals for the upcoming week - i.e. things that I want to be done that will move me closer to my goals. 

Last week I got a little lofty with my goals, so I wanted to:

• Complete modules 5-8 of my coaching course
• Attend Enrique Salomao's Flava Brazil Zumba Masterclass
• Meditate every day 
• Finalise my holiday itinerary
• Watch State of Origin Game 2
• Complete Personal Power II

I managed to fully complete three of these six items. I think I bit off more than I could chew, as I threw in a couple of extra goals last week in running 2km non-stop and them 3km non-stop.

So what have I completed from that list? It was all about the fun goals!

• Finalise my holiday itinerary
• Watch State of Origin Game 2
• Attend Enrique Salomao's Flava Brazil Zumba Masterclass
• Run 2km non-stop
• Run 3km non-stop

Clearly I had a need for more fun last week!  I'm pleased about that, as it has been ages since I had some fun and clearly I needed more of it!

Enrique's masterclass was fantastic - I took two members from my club along and we had a blast. They hadn't tried Zumba classes before and I hadn't been to a class since the last one I covered back in February. I love Samba but I'm not great at it, so I saw this as a chance to improve!

On the action list for the next few weeks, since I haven't completed Personal Power II yet, I haven't exactly meditated every day and I'm still on module 7 of my coaching course, I need to maybe try and complete three things a week, not six.  This is not a fail - I just need a better strategy!

Do you bite off more than you can chew, set sky high expectations for yourself or just try and get too much done?  It's time to prioritise!

Stay tuned.

Pain is weakness leaving the body

I'm in a whole world of pain today, so I will be keeping this post kinda short as I can't type very well!

I was sore on waking yesterday after Vinyasa Yoga class, but I felt I had a little more emotion still to deal with so I strapped on some boxing gloves last night and took out the remaining negative states and emotions (left over from Friday night and that I was experiencing over the weekend) on a pair of focus pads held by my new Personal Trainer.  

It felt great to be able to box again, but my goodness I am so sore today that I can barely hold a pen, let alone control a mouse or type! I am pleased and proud that I lasted as long as I did and that my shoulder barely hurts.

I'm looking at the physical pain I'm feeling today as weakness leaving the body. Those negative states and emotions are leaving my body in the form of black smoke that I am visualising as I breathe out consciously today - and will not be returning. I had a very quick meltdown with a few tears on Sunday night for the length of half a verse of a U2 song, but for the most part I'm pretty much over it.

I also visited Maggie (my medium) today, who nearly had me in stitches when a few of the tarot cards came out of the pack. Cards appearing like intuition, worthiness and meditation were just priceless.  Maggie is always spot on and so are the cards. I have lots of great ideas that I need to channel into actions and I need to meditate, remind myself that I am a strong fierce warrior and trust my intuition because it's spot on. I am worthy, I am strong, I am fierce and I am worth it!

Everything I have been hearing and reading in NLP, Tony Robbins and my coaching courses came out of those cards today. Talk about appearance to mind! 

I'm on day 7 today of meditating every day for at least 5-10 minutes first thing in the morning, whether that be through guided meditations, Buddhist meditations, affirmations, chanted meditation or listening to music and focusing on the breath. Only 358 days to go!

I am feeling calmer, more focussed and a great sense of clarity as a result of meditating. I am also feeling more centred, grounded and balanced. The "hour of power" concept that I learnt from Tony Robbins years ago and from my coaching module last week is paying off. 

I am also proud to say that I ran 2km non-stop last night after all that boxing, for the first time in over two years (since blowing out the shoulder). I was just going to do 1km, then it was 1.5km, then I decided to stop at 2km. I probably could have kept going but that's okay, I just wanted to see what 2km felt like now that I'm tiny again!

I am now researching yoga and meditation classes in Malaysia and Singapore while I'm there for three weeks, as well as running trails and I have already bought lots of groupons for massages and facial/beauty treatments while I'm away.  Three weeks to go - getting excited now!

My question for you today is, what do you have to look forward to?

Vinyasa and movies - the perfect Sunday

Sometimes it's good to break your routine in favour of creating a new one. This morning I braved the (literally) freezing cold and walked down to the local yoga studio for Vinyasa yoga. The studio opened about six months ago and this was the first time I have made the effort to get back on the mat since blowing out my shoulder two years ago.  I wanted to go last week but slept in on purpose and didn't get  there. I promised myself I'd go today instead. And I did!

My physio told me a few weeks ago to get back into yoga for strength and flexibility and boxing for power, coordination and strength, so I've now got my yoga back on and will be actioning the boxing hopefully tomorrow night.  

Vinyasa is a style of yoga that I hadn't done before. I've done Hatha and and Iyengar before, but I'm thinking that I like the flowing style of Vinyasa. I'm sure my muscles will hate my guts tomorrow (I can feel my quads already, although my hammies are nice and loose) but that's just too bad. Lots of stretching, lots of movement, lots of breathing, a bit of Om chanting and some blankie time at the end - 1hr 15mins later I was struggling to get my shoes on because I was so darn relaxed!

I trotted home from class listening to Tibetan singing bowl recordings and then headed off to the movies.  I've been wanting to see a couple of movies that were released recently so today I saw The Hangover Part 3. It was a good way to lose a couple of hours with a few laughs at the sheer ridiculousness of the situations the characters find themselves in.  Resourceful drama, as Joe Pane would say. 

I have now decided that as part of my "have more fun" pledge to myself, I will go to the movies once a month. I think I've seen four or five movies since moving to Australia three years ago - two were events courtesy of workplaces - so this needs to change. 

I've also decided that I need more yoga, so I will be doing the studio's unlimited monthly membership so that I can do Vinyasa on Thursday nights, Saturday and Sunday mornings, as well as a beginner's class straight after Saturday morning Vinyasa. I need the practice for my body, mind and spirit - it's been a hard seven months at work and it's time I started looking after myself properly with good things to focus on.

The unresourceful state I've been in since Friday night's events seems to be lifting and although I've still got some work to do around this space, making a list of all the stuff I have to organise and book for my upcoming holiday has reminded me that looking forward to stuff is far better than looking back. Why spend all my time looking in the rear view mirror when I need to be watching the speedo and the road ahead? I will be writing a list tomorrow during my hour of power of all the things I have to look forward to - believe me, there's lots of them!

Additionally, I will be encouraging a potential client to do the same this week. He is going through a marriage break up and is very wired up at the moment. I believe he needs resourceful things to channel his energies into or his mind will eat him alive. 

I'm up to module 7 of my coaching course and nearly halfway through the certified professional coach portion. I'd like to get it done before I go to Malaysia on holiday for three weeks and I dearly need to get the NLP side of things up to date also. I have downloaded all the remaining audio sessions for NLP and need to find some some NET (no extra time) to listen to it. 

I also need to find some coaching clients to work with.  Better make that a priority this week! 

I must away...work to do!

Living by your Values - the key to a happy life

I recently spent a Friday night hanging out with Tony Robbins. Well, okay then - not literally. I have all of his audio programs and love nothing more than spending time listening to his amped up over-enthusiasm and passion for life. I was funshopping my values and beliefs, the good and the less than ideal.

I came up with a list of values and a list of beliefs to live by. I'll share the values a little later in this post.  The beliefs need their own post!

Four days ago, I was walking to work listening to Tony Robbins' sessions about the six human needs and I heard him say:

"People will violate their values to meet their needs."

This was such a profound revelation (aka a Eureka! or BFO ("blinding flash of the obvious") that I had to pull out my phone and whack it in as a note on the spot. Normally this would go straight into my inspiration journal or success journal, but I was two steps from a railway crossing and not about to pull out my success journal in the middle of the street.

Let me say it again:

"People will violate their values to meet their needs."

I am still processing the events of last night and I do believe on my post last night that I alluded to my refusal to violate my values for anyone or anything. I don't like living in internal conflict, so my values are non-negotiable. They are my map of the world, my compass, my road map if you will.

My values, in no particular order, include:

• Success in achieving my goals and dreams
• Fun, adventures, new experiences - which give me variety, uncertainty, confidence, happiness and positivity. 
• Knowledge and learning (CAN-I or constant and never ending improvement)
• Health and fitness
• Helping others
• Trust, honesty, loyalty, reliability, friendship
• Order, control, organisation and planning - which give me certainty
• Relaxation and chill out time to recharge my emotional, spiritual, physical and mental batteries
• Time to myself, for myself, to be present with myself and work on developing myself, my talents, my abilities, my knowledge and my strengths
• Love and connection

The situation that I cryptically alluded to last night was ultimately going to violate quite a few of my values if it had gone the way I thought I wanted it to. 

I don't think I could successfully function in my life and achieve everything on my 101 things list with that kind of internal conflict going on. I know myself too well - it's not worth the drama. 

I am fiercely loyal to those people and things in my life that I love. For example, my family, my friends and my love of the NSW Blues State of Origin team. I will never, ever support QLD. 

I also value honesty and hate being led up the garden path. I prefer to be straight with people and expect the same courtesy from them. Obviously everyone's map is different and I know that - but two maps at polar opposites are just not going to mesh well. It will all end in tears. 

I need lots of certainty or I feel mentally out of control; but at the same time I need some uncertainty / variety to keep a balance. I can plan most things down to the minute but most times I pull back and just go with the flow. I just can't function with too much flow!  

I just cannot live by someone else's map. 

Have you had times where you've violated your own values and tried to live by another person's values instead? 

How did that make you feel?

Was it successful?

Just make a decision!

About a month ago I attended a personal development weekend funshop (note the distinction of "Funshop", as opposed to "Workshop") called "Personal Power", facilitated by the amazing Joe Pane and held at The Coaching Institute in Albert Park. It was the best weekend I've had in ages - possibly even years!

At the funshop, I made some pretty significant decisions. I took action on some of them immediately, and have been reaping the rewards. I took action on another one tonight, something that has been bugging me for months. I decided that enough was enough, I needed answers and I needed them now.

And I got answers.

Not the answers I actually wanted, but at least now I have clarity and information and a desire to move forward with the knowledge that nothing ventured really does mean nothing gained. Apologies for being a little cryptic here, but this is the public domain of the interweb and let's face it, I may be a coach in training but that doesn't mean that my whole entire life is (or indeed needs to be) an open book!

Now there's a whole lot of "should-ing" on myself going on. I should have done this months ago. I should have presupposed the outcome, I should have known that this would be exactly how it went. I should have known that things would turn out the way they did. I should have given up weeks ago. I should have...blah blah blah.

As Anthony Robbins said, "before you know it, you've just should all over yourself!"

And then there's the could haves, would haves and all the rest of the mind games going on in my head. "It could have turned out differently if only I would have...". Where will this get me? Well, it won't help me GET OVER MYSELF!!!

I am disappointed that I didn't get the result that I wanted from this taking action on this decision. Would it have been nice to have things go my way? Of course. But that's not what happened and even though a tiny wee part of myself is annoyed with myself because things didn't turn out how I wanted them to, I am proud that I had the lady balls to GET OVER MYSELF and give it a red hot crack.

I am also proud that I haven't compromised my values.

I regret nothing.   Neither does this random spinning disco chicken.