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.