Virtual Vision Boards

I stumbled across a virtual vision board creation tool the other night when an email came through from my yoga studio. The director had made up a virtual vision board of all the cool stuff we'll be enjoying next year, from salt therapy to workshops and early morning classes. She'd then stuck the picture in the newsletter.

Aha! What a fab idea - much as I love the physical creation, I wanted something "quick and dirty" to pop up at home - aka I want it now, so I'm making a virtual board right this second! Instant gratification is a dangerous thing, but here's what I plan to work on in 2014:

Basically, 2014 will be the year that I slow down and take more time for myself, after the crazy whirlwind of 2013 has left the building. 

2013 has been a year of immense personal growth, professional growth and figuring out what I need from life, with a side of knowing very well now what I don't want from life. 

Needs and wants are different - I need peace and quiet, I want a happy life. I need to avoid drama and evil pond scum. I want to have nice, happy, positive people around me. I need to let go of all the baggage of 2013 and I want to grab 2014 and give it a giant hug.

Wants and needs aside, I have managed to keep Harold the happy houseplant alive and kicking for several weeks, along with the aloe vera and the green plant with spines and a red throat. I also bought another five succulents which are still alive too. The cat is still kicking after eight years and I've still not put back on a single kilo of the weight I've spent five years leaving behind.

Despite it's immense highs and lows, up and downs, inside outs and back to fronts, 2013 hasn't been too bad a year. I'll reflect a little further on New Year's Eve, but for now I'm happy just being me, right here, right now. 

Just be there...

One of the greatest lessons I've learnt from enjoying nearly 40 yoga classes in the past few months is to "just be there". Okay, so that line comes from a previous Yoga Teacher, Tom. But this very concept still applies three years later and, quite frankly, it always will. 

Life changes in an instant. One second you're on top of the world, the next minute you're underneath it as it rolls over the top of you, flattening you like a pancake. You can choose to "lie back and think of England", or you can choose to roll up and get back on with life. 

Life is about choices. I choose to roll up.

I choose to enjoy every day. I choose to be happy. I choose to do something each and every day to move myself closer to my goals. I choose calm and peace. I choose to be a free-spirited, sandal-wearing, chai-drinking, semi-vegetarian, organic-selecting, recycling bouncy person who lives to inspire and encourage others. 

I choose to no longer allow anyone to squash my spirit, trash my dreams or silence my inner voice. I choose to be the best me that I can possibly be, in public and in private. I choose to achieve my goals and find something every single day to be grateful for. I choose to live in the moment, to be present, to cherish others and to cherish myself. 

I choose life, with all of its inside-outs and back-to-fronts and upside-downs. 

Wringing out your digestive organs

I woke up at 4am today in a bit of a flap and I could not get back to sleep. I wasn't feeling too flash (for those of you not of Kiwi or Aussie extraction, this means I felt "like death warmed up in a microwave") and I wanted to curl up into a little ball and rock back and forth. 

You all know about my evil FODMAP intolerance. Well, I thought I'd have a couple of former favourite items for dinner last night and in the words of Eliza Dolittle, "it's my belief they done the old woman in". You just never know exactly what is in a dish that doesn't have an ingredients list and that you haven't cooked yourself, until you eat it and it comes back to haunt and torture you a few hours later. 

I read some articles on Elephant Journal, tossed and turned, watched a couple of internet videos, tossed and turned some more and then at 7am I was horribly unwell. I was really, really struggling and thought I might actually have to forget going to yoga. I did manage to pull my little socks up and get on with it though - I had a nap, then a lukewarm shower, smashed down half a chai and took a slow walk to the studio. I survived the class and felt much better afterwards - like I knew I would!

Sometimes when you least want to drag your carcass out of bed and get on your mat, that's when you need yoga the most. 

The thought of not attending a class I was otherwise perfectly capable of doing just wasn't palatable. I know I have a love/hate relationship with the Warrior series poses but the idea of missing them today really got to me. I don't normally do the Saturday class but I'm well and truly hooked on yoga so whenever the opportunity arises, I'm on the mat, hanging out upside down (and occasionally, feeling like I am inside out while I'm back to front).

I did the Saturday class last week because the Sunday studio class was cancelled for a charity event. I did it today because I had to skip Tuesday night's class for a work function. I can't go to the Saturday class next week because I'm off to the Lego expo and then I'm having my hair done. I think Saturday will be an optional extra class for the time being - or at least until the 21 day yoga challenge I've joined starts! 

So after wringing out my digestive organs with yoga poses, I think I've found the cure to practically anything. It's called yoga and I love it!

I'm a Certified NLP Practitioner!

I had some fabulous news this week - I've passed my final assessment workbook and I am now officially a Certified NLP Practitioner! 

My journey with Neuro Linguistic Programming (or NLP) started in 2008, when I was forced onto a course at work that, at the time, felt a bit like some sort of witchcraft. I was there with one other girl and a bunch of guys, we were all part of the same team but had totally different jobs. They were supervisors of 15-20 people each, I supervised two people and 250 pieces of technology. I wasn't sure why I'd been sent on this course when I only managed mobile computers that didn't talk back...well, not too often.

The course covered NLP, Neuro Semantics (NS), coaching and leadership skills and a few other things. Turns out it was a fantastic way to spend three days - I'm still using precision questioning to this day! We didn't get certified, so when I found out that you could get certified in NLP, I was a little more interested. Anything with a final outcome involving a qualification to me is something worth pursuing - or at least it was when I was rolling in the corporate world.

Fast forward five years and I was trawling Groupon Malaysia one night in May this year, looking for deals for my adventure holiday, when I spotted the certification course I've just completed. I checked it out, it seemed good - online, study when you want, download the material to your iPod, very thorough, etc. I looked at comparable qualifications in Australia, they involved a lot of money and taking days off work that I didn't have available due to my upcoming Malaysian trip. My adventure had to come first, so I decided to spend the couple of hundred Malaysian Ringgit and buy the coupon to enrol in the course.

I enrolled in mid-May, got stuck in, took a break while on holiday and when I came back I slowly plugged away at the hours and hours of audio and the assessment workbook. I used the techniques to sort out a few things I had personally needed to resolve. I used them with other people. I tried to use them with the cat when she was all stressed out and scared of the sound of my keys, but got a curious range of stares in return. Come to think of it, perhaps they were they famous covert "you're an imbecile" looks that Siamese cats do so well!

I've used the NLP techniques to cure my heights and flying phobias, to set goals, to overcome my final issues with food and to get rid of a bunch of negative home movies I had stored in my head that were "doing my own head in".  I feel better able to communicate with people, I don't dwell on stuff like I used to and I feel more in control of my mind and my life. If there's something holding you back, let me know and if I can help you, I will.