Gratitude

One of my intentions for this year is to be more grateful. Late last year, Kikki-K had a sale on their journals and I purchased the set of the old design (Happiness, Goals, Wellness, Gratitude) as I don't really like the new design. On New Year's Day, I opened the Gratitude journal and started a process that I've so far kept going for 12 days. Every day I will write three things I'm grateful for and why.

There's only about 77 pages in the existing journal, so at some point I'll have to suck it up and buy the new style journal, but until then I'm rocking the old design. It's so nice to be able to reflect on the little things, big things and awesome things that happen each day.

And on that note, I also started another daily process of collecting all the great things that have happened each day and sticking them on a post-it note, then into my 2014 Great Things jar that I received for completing a three-day yoga intensive from 29-31 December. My yoga teacher Emily gave us each a jar, which I promptly came home and pimped out with a banging jar tag. 

Yoga has certainly reignited my creative fire and I've done a lot of crafty stuff so far this year. 

Long may it continue. 

Creative Expression

One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday is work on craft projects. I also like making stuff, pimping stuff and spending time making extra stuff special. I love putting a part of me into each project and it helps me stay busy, grounded and balanced. Some yin to all the yang activities I do each day, etc, etc and so on and so forth.

My yoga studio has it's first birthday this week so I spent (literally) hours hand pimping a 3D birthday card to say congratulations, thanks, well done and hooray!

Here it is.

The gold edging on each page alone took three hours. This was a real test of and exercise in patience. I just cranked up the yogi tunes and got it done. I wanted something that looked hand made, was totally hand decorated and is an outward expression of gratitude for all the hours of love and kindness that Emily has put into creating and developing our yoga studio and yoga family.

Having a creative outlet is important to me, as it gives me time on my own to just make stuff. I don't get to do anything too creative at work (other than draw on the chalkboard / inspiration wall once or twice a month), so craft stuff gives me a sense of balance and helps me defrag my brain. Plus, with the fiscal resources required to live out my dreams and achieve my goals this year, it also keeps me occupied on weekends so that I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by choosing to stay home and save every last cent that I can!

Great things ahead for 2014

It's a whole fresh, new, shiny year tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. 

I'm starting the year with my usual blasting of and boogie along to U2's epic anthem "New Year's Day". Then I'll heading off to a hot disco yoga class, followed by lunch - hopefully Malaysian food. I was going to do a movie but couldn't find any session times so I guess everything is closed. Weird. If this was NZ, everything would be open!

2014 will be the year of ME. I've spent 36.5 years busily taking care of and worrying about everyone else and it's high time I gave myself some airtime. I have the following stuff planned:

• Yoga retreat and holiday in Malaysia in April (Langkawi, KL and maybe a bit of Johor Bahru with a side trip to a couple of our gyms in Singapore). I won't be visiting during Ramadan, which will be interesting, as all the 24hr food courts will be 24hrs again. Makan, makan, makan (Malay for eat) - walk, walk, walk.

• Yoga Teacher Training in Bali in July/August, combined with a couple of days holiday either side. I'll do a couple of days in Bali either side with a couple of days in KL on the way home, since I'll be flying Air Asia.

• I'd like to get a little more ink. I have four tattoos that represent other people and it's time to get one or three just for me. 

• I will learn Malay, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian and French. Seven languages should be enough, including English. Malay can be used a bit in Indonesia so that will help with communicating in Bali. Oh yes, I need to learn more Sanskrit too. That makes it eight, not including my exceptional command of English, with a side of Tibetan. 

• I kinda think I'll actually get to ride the roller coasters at Berjaya Times Square in KL this time. And maybe, just maybe, i'll have time to visit Melaka. 

• I need to cross off at least five things on my 100 things list. A couple will be pretty easy, the rest not so much, but that's all good!

• I need more fun. I need to try new things and to stop being so boring and predictable. That will have to wait until I get back from Malaysia and Bali though.  The various required resources are a little stretched at present!

• I also intend to be kinder to myself, more grateful, happier, more content and more present. 

• I will change the lounge/office around to give myself a larger, dedicated yoga space for home practice. 

I am pleased to announce that I have just completed my final assessment workbook for my Life Coaching and Wellness Coaching certifications, so in two weeks' time I will get the fantastic news that I've pass and graduated. 

What do you have planned for 2014?

2013 - the best of the year that is almost over

2013 has certainly been an interesting year, full of twists and turns, upside downs, insides out, back to fronts and everything in between.

Rather than spend hours over-analysing the year in gory detail, then vomiting that information onto this blog post, I've decided to celebrate the good stuff that came with 2013.  Here goes.

• I had a fabulous adventure holiday all over Malaysia and Singapore, riding cable cars, observation wheels, roller coasters, planes, trains, buses and taxis.
• I re-discovered yoga, this time falling in love with it (and not in hate with it). 
• I celebrated the gym's first birthday in grand style and having given up so much sweat and so many tears in the process of surviving and thriving during the first year, I gave up some blood in the form of getting a tattoo to celebrate. 
• I got a tattoo to celebrate the life of my beloved Uncle Aldo, who passed away in 2002.
• I fit into size small pants at Lorna Jane and size 8 pants at Lululemon.
• I completed my Certification as an NLP Practitioner
• I will have completed and submitted my Certified Professional Coach, Certified LIfe Coach and Certified Wellness Coach coursework and exams for conferral of these qualifications by 7pm New Year's Eve.
• I discovered I love and adore Langkawi and think Kuching is cute. 
• I didn't fall in love with Penang, Johor needs another visit, Singapore did my head in, Ipoh also needs more exploration and I've finally made peace with and learnt to like KL for what it is - total overload cray cray on a satay skewer.
• I grew a spine and a set of lady balls and I'm not afraid to use them or stick up for myself.
• I stuck up for myself and triumphed in the process. 
• I decided that enough is enough with some people - I will not be pushed around or treated like dirt anymore, by anyone. 

I've spent most of today setting and writing my sankalpa (yogic resolutions, as they are officially known, but I prefer to call them intentions) for 2014.

I'll get to those on Wednesday night, but for now, let's just say that intentions bend and flow, while resolutions can break.

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. 

My achilles heel

I've done something to my left heel. I don't really know what. I don't really know when. I don't even really know how. What I do know is that it bloody well hurts and it's annoying.

I went to the podiatrist, he told me to go to the physio. I went to the physio, he stuck dry needles in it and told me to avoid pretty much everything exercise-wise except yoga, spin bike with no climbing and  stretching. I am banned from almost everything else and only allowed to do absolutely strictly necessary amounts of walking.

Far out.

If I behave myself, it could be right by Christmas. It may take longer, it may need more treatments and it may need tests. But I'm just trying to stay off it, do what the physio says and be kinder to it.

I had a really down day today. I wanted to just go to sleep, wake up and find it was back to normal.

But injuries don't work like that. I'm finding that they are the body's way of telling you to slow the hell down, take time to photograph those roses you usually walk past, chill out and just be there!

I have a few things I need to go and do this weekend, but beyond that, I'm staying off my feet. Or on them, in yoga class. The more down dogs, the better. Even chair is supposed to be good for it.

Better go and get to yoga. Seems it really is the cure-all activity!

Making decisions that will alter the course of your life

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to decide on a yoga teacher training course, a location for the course and the school I'm going to train with. Seems like an easy decision, but it is in fact one that will alter the course of the rest of my life. 

There are so many options, but so few viable choices, as I had a few list-whittling challenges:

• Can't take time off work during the week as it would be a logistical nightmare. 
• Don't want to give up my weekends (and need them free in case of work).
• Don't have $7000 lying around and won't be taking out a loan. 
• I won't be giving up my day job. I love it too much.
• I need time free to work with my coaching clients to pay for the course fees!
• Needs to be either close to home (already impossible) or an inexpensive overseas destination where I can combine it with a holiday.
• Dates need to synchronise with my schedule.
• I can't really do a whole whopping great length of time away from work at once.

I need a qualification from a widely respected school that is affordable in terms of time and money, fits my schedule and will produce the desired outcome. It's not about getting a fast result, it's about making this fit with my already pretty awesome life.  

So, I narrowed it down to two possible options - Santosha or Byron Yoga. 

Santosha do a month in Bali or a full distance learning option. It's at Canggu, where I could also learn to surf. But, I'd still have to finish the course in Australia.

Byron does 12 days intensive in Bali with the rest of the hours as distance learning. It's in Ubud and I could still go to Canggu and learn to surf.  

Byron is a very highly respected yoga school and is the longest established school in Australia. That's quite the pedigree!

I spoke with my yoga teachers and the director of my studio and did lots of research. I finally decided on Byron Yoga. 

Doing the YTT200 through Byron means I get two weeks in Bali, at half the cost of doing the course in Australia. I can do the remaining 80 hours in Australia and get to enjoy a few days either side of the course in Bali to chill out. I have plenty of time to save up and airfares to Bali are dirt cheap (cheaper than flying to NZ return, in fact). 

Yoga teacher training is just one more feather in my cap, as my Granny would say. It fits nicely with the coaching practice, fits nicely with my day job and will enable me to help more people. 

It will still take me around 12 months to complete the YTT 200hr certification, but I get to combine it with a holiday and develop my own practice further between now and the end of July 2014.

Winning.

No means NO!

Today I had a particularly ugly situation to resolve.  Someone on the fringes of my life got a little over-amourous, then got very possessive, then jealous, then nasty and then started to exhibit violent behaviours towards me. I decided that enough was enough two weeks ago and started the process of having their behaviour quashed legally.

Let me make my thoughts on the subject of violence absolutely crystal clear.  I believe that violence of any kind towards another human being is never, ever okay. Furthermore, violence towards women is extremely abhorrent and this person needed to learn that in Australia, their behaviour is illegal, intolerable and inappropriate. 

Bullying, harassing, intimidating, menacing, threatening and stalking behaviour is NOT OKAY!

This person was asked nicely by several people to leave me alone - including by me, five times. They chose not to heed the warning and today they found out what happens when I am threatened - you get an unpaid day off, in court, accompanied by a rather dimwitted lawyer. 

This sojourn to court was quite possibly the most stressful five hours of my life. Worse than the two breast cancer scares I've had. Worse than knee and shoulder surgeries. Not as bad as having shingles, glandular fever AND recovering from knee surgery at the same time - but it was definitely up there. 

I kept as calm as possible. I read yoga magazines. I breathed deeply. I chanted mantras in my head. I shuffled the 87 pages of evidence I'd taken with me to court. I couldn't find my headphones and nearly had a category five meltdown over that before leaving for court, so music was out, but I got chatting to other applicants and then met a nice Court Support Network lady who supported me for the whole process. 

To cut a long story short, good triumphed over evil, despite the respondent and his equally dimwitted lawyer trying to screw me over on a condition that I had very kindly compromised over. No way was I going to let that happen, so I let them have it, via the Magistrate. 

The Magistrate was in no mood for the respondent's trackpants and runners outfit (he got the thrice over, I nearly peed my pants -seriously, how disrespectful turning up to court looking like a bum off the street) the repeated disrespectful and nasty looks in my direction and his constant interruption shenanigans, so he let the respondent know in no uncertain terms that if he plays up, he's in big trouble.  

The respondent now can't try anything stupid or commit any of his previous behaviours towards me or have anyone else try it either. If he does, he gets arrested, goes back to court and gets a filthy great fine, possible jail time and a criminal record. Good job I say. 

I got a nice thick wad of papers and a 12-month reprieve from the respondent's blatant stupidity. The respondent may finally get a clue, or perhaps not, but seriously - I really hope they learn the lessons I tried to teach them. Society at large should now be a better place because this person needed to learn that this behaviour IS NOT OKAY!

Just because carrying on like a rancid pork chop towards women is deemed acceptable by some people in the lower levels of society, it doesn't mean it's okay in general or that it will be accepted, tolerated or approved of by the majority of society. There are serious crimes against women every single day in some countries, like acid attacks, dowry murders, gang rapes, murders, severe beatings, setting fire to your wife, etc. I didn't want to end up another crime statistic. 

I hope this person leans how to behave properly and learns that the word no, means NO! I hope they learn that when they are asked or told to leave someone alone, that it means that you stop calling, texting, visiting, starting, stalking, harassing, intimidating, following and otherwise annoying that person. 

I went through this so that this person could learn how to behave properly, to protect myself and to protect other women from being subjected to the blatant stupidity of actions and words that I suffered for almost four months thanks to the uneducated, unwise and foolish behaviours of this person. 

If you've got an over-amourous admirer, be careful. There's a fine line between good and evil, don't let them cross it. 

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!