May 2014

Blooming May…

So gorgeous May is upon us just inviting us to get outside and enjoy nature! I’m excited to be heading off to some inspiring gatherings over the next few months which I’m keen to share with you. Check out the links below to get more detailed info. …

 

• I’m running 2 fabulous workshops, Time to Thrive:Inspirations & Values and Visioning your Future in Somerset, 13th-15th June. Held at the wonderfully nourishing This Earth Gathering, a gathering for 150 women full of workshops, dancing, discussions & downtime….yippee. Let your girlfriends know as its rare in this country to have such a space to share.

• I’ll be offering Coaching sessions & Massage at Glastonbury Festival 2014, June 25th-29th. If you’re crazy/ lucky enough to have a ticket then sessions are donation based so a real bargain. You can pre-book me before the event by calling me, or come and say hello to me in the Healing Field. Look for the largest Communal tent…. I look forward to saying ‘Helloooooooooo’ in person!

• I’m highly recommending & heading to the Green Earth Awakening in July. Its combining craftwork, social change and ecology workshops….Created by the wonderful Buddhfield to give us a spiritual context to empower us to change.

 

 

I’m wishing you all a wonderful month ahead embracing life outside….

Daisy x

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April 2014

When the steam runs out…

Its April…the sun is shining outside… all of natures glory is budding & blooming away outside your doorstep… Everyones doing wonderfully well [apart from you maybe]… So what to do if you have run out of steam!!!

Having coached many clients around this area and being a solopreneur myself  I know this terrain well and have learnt a few tricks along the way which I’d like to share with you. The reason I’m talking about this now even though its probably gorgeous outside compared to the depths of winter is if you can relate to this sense of running out of steam, you will know this… When the ‘suckies strike’ it doesn’t matter if its beautiful outside or not as its all your internal journey!! But the good news is there are some key things you can do to look after yourself and come back to a greater sense of self and wellbeing. Lets get some key words in here right now… COMPASSION & SELF-NOURISHMENT for yourself.

Here’s some top practices to get you flowing again…

• Give yourself a weather forecast… Whatever you are feeling today as you interact with the day, I encourage you to give yourself a weather forecast right now. For example if I was feeling positive and open to the day I could describe myself as “open blue sky & bright sunshine”. On the other hand, If I was feeling sad and heavy in body I could describe myself as  ”drizzle and cold breeze or heavy grey clouds with rain due”. Give it a go now… This is a wonderful mindful practice taught by the wonderful Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, which encourages us to not get too attached and engulfed by our moods and physical feelings. You might practice this throughout the day to help you notice over time that actually YES! your mood/ energy does change and you do evolve and shift just like the weather all around us daily. Doing this practice gives us a sense of perspective and hope that things do change.

• Inspiration Journal… If you can’t  see the wood through the trees or can’t seem to get motivated about a project you started but can’t finish lets get back to basics. Buy a simple blank notebook and start the practice of writing down anything that inspires you over the week. It could be something very simple: a tune, a person, a project you came across, something beautiful, an idea, a  film you watched, a friend, a stranger….you name it! If it raised a heartbeat in you and got you starting to think and feel inspired get it in there. Personally I give a page to each week and then add to it here and there over the week very quickly. Are there any actions you can take forward to continue the mind opening to new ideas? I promise you , when you get to scan back over the weeks all those inspired fresh ideas that jogged you initially will kick into your neuron pathways again and make you feel alive again..Try it and see!

• Get in your body… If you feel the ‘Suckies have struck’ do something to get out of the head and into your body…I’m talking STEPPING AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER & PHONE.  Walk round the block – do a 5 minute disco dance to your favourite music full blast – having a stretch – go sit outside and listening to nature – smell flowers – look at your vision board – do a 5 point appreciation list – eat some fruit. These are just some of my ideas & actions which I find really useful but make up your own list…get it on paper to refer to.  I’ve photo’d mine onto my mobile to refer to visually when out and about. Don’t forget also as we push into vibrant springtime the body often feels sluggish after the winter over-eating months. Give it a helping hand by eating spring greens, drinking nettle tea and eating a little more lightly.

All these practices are so quick and easy to do and most of all really beneficial for retraining your neuron pathways and helping fire off new positive pathways in the brain, especially if you are familiar with old patterns of the steam running out. I wish you a wonderful month ahead and have fun with the reprogramming.

With bright spring wishes to you all…

Daisy x

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March 2014

 

Creating your Life
‘The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time’…Abraham Lincoln

 

Hello there…I’m focusing this month on tips & tools to kickstart your dreams and plans into life. I’ve met so many people recently who feel ‘overwhelmed’ & ‘running on catch up’. A few years ago I often felt exactly the same way but using these tools I share below has really helped me feel on top of the situation and actually creating my life ahead…which feels GREAT! I hope they support you as much as they have me….

Its not surprising that after the winter months we often feel sluggish in mind & body and the creeping feeling its all a bit too much! As spring flowers bud their beauty and birds get busy looking happy, sometimes we can feel overwhelmed and under pressure from the pile up of ‘to do lists and things that you’ve earmarked as important but can’t get on top of. Here’s my 3 top tips to get those ideas out of clogging up your head and into your life….

1. Make everything actionable

2. If it feels too hard, chop it down into smaller more do-able chunks

3. Schedule it in – get it in the diary! Make your own deadlines to take action.

Lets break that down….

Step 1: Just the act of getting clear what your end goal is and working out what tasks or actions you need to do to get that rolling, can be tremendously liberating. A fun way to start that process is do a mind map – get it all on paper & out of your brain!  For example, If I want to create a flower garden this spring as my end goal, after mind mapping it I can think of a few actions in no particular order….eg: decide area in garden, clear beds, put new compost in, buy seeds, call friend to help me on the day, read gardening books for ideas, create time to do it. All these actions add up to create the greater picture.

Step 2: If an action feels overwhelming and difficult, make it easy for yourself. ‘Put new compost in’ already feels a biggy to me and daunting!!! To break it into actions I feel able to do I might… ask a friend advice on soil types + enquire amongst friends who might have spare compost + make time to go to the garden centre. Thats making it far more realistic for me and actionable.

Step 3: Nothing ever happens if you don’t make time for it to happen! Literally get your diary out, and BE REALISTIC and comfortable with your own deadline. A helpful question to ask is ‘When’s the latest I’d like this to happen?’. The great thing is you don’t have to push yourself to achieve your goal under pressure. YOU are the boss here…How important is your end goal to you? If its not flashing up important on your radar..please ditch it now and spend your valuable time aiming actions towards something you really want to manifest and create in your valuable life. Hopefully your original goal excites you and feels good in the heart..follow your heart on this.

Sometimes I create a monthly wall chart for myself with the 4 columns… Goal – Tasks to achieve it – Deadline for each  task – Completed Y/N. I know it sounds weird but actually its been such a useful referral to glance at a few times a week to keep me on track with the bigger picture in my life.Next month I’ll be looking at what to do when the steam runs out!

With bright wishes,  Daisy x

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February 2014

February Intentions
‘True life is lived when tiny changes occur’… Leo Tolstoy

I hope this meets you well and warm, amongst the gales and wet weather of daily life!February is a great time to get clear on seeds of ideas you want to grow over the coming spring months of 2014 and into the rest of the year. If you’re lucky you may have spotted the beautiful snowdrop flower emerging above ground recently but many, many seeds and buds are still in incubation time – a bit like us maybe with this wild weather forcing us inside more! Just as these hibernating buds and bulbs will emerge over the later spring & summer months into full bloom in a glory of colour and smell, its really just the same with any idea you may have of something you want to manifest in your life if you give it a chance to grow.So NOW is a fantastic time to reflect and set intentions for what you want to metaphorically grow in your life.It could be to do with any aspect of your life…Maybe more balance between work & free time? Maybe an exciting work project which keeps drifting by your brain? Maybe simply a proper nourishing holiday in the sun this year! Only you know, but whatever it is remember setting a clear INTENTION really is the important part of taking the first step towards the goal. There is a great saying I heard a while back..”Whatever you can CONCEIVE, and BELIEVE, you can ACHIEVE”. It all starts with that seed of an idea.  SO HOW DO YOU DO THAT!!!
Well here’s a few quick ideas to get your juices going…
1. Take a 5 /10 minute slot of time, without phone, people and computer disturbance, just to close your eyes and breathe deeply. Get comfy, keep your spine tall and chest & belly open, BREATHE nice & long & slow. Ask yourself ‘What would I like to grow over the next year?’ See what arises..2. Do a fun quick mind-map. Its a great way to access your subconscious. If you don’t know what a mind map is check this out…www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map3. Do a Vision Board either at home or guided at my next workshop in March        With any seed planting, don’t forget you need to water your idea regularly through taking actions and steps towards your goal, but try to also have an element of TRUST also. Think about it like a real seed .You wouldn’t want to keep digging it up and replanting it, poking and prodding it in real life or abandoning it! Set the intention, plant the seed through actions, don’t forget to trust the process.

 

With all best wishes, Daisy x

 

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October 2013

I saw the wonderfully inspiring Satish Kumar last week talking about Soil, Soul & Social justice and I came away deeply touched and remotivated being self-employed.

Satish set up the fantastic Resurgence Magazine as well as Schumacher College, Dartington.  If you don’t know of either please do check out them out.  They both aim to influence a better, more soulful society through their work and their work is fast gaining more and more fans across society.

He reminded me that when we share our gifts and skills with the world, it is out true vocation in the world.  To be self-employed, or setting up a new project, you are like the poets or artists of society, dreaming your gifts into manifested form.   This takes courage and belief, and its good to remember every society needs this to stimulate new ways of thinking and to help revolutionise outdated ways.

Satish was talking about how people who start small scale initiatives ‘bring a change of new hope to the world  ”through their ideas and projects”.  Projects especially that are socially just, focused on community renewal and spiritually fulfilling, have the ability to create a grassroots ‘power to the people’ and their affect spirals upwards into society…enabling change on many levels of the environment and community.

He reminded me…”We are all co-creators in this life.  We are all continually creating every day…Creation is not just a past history…Every day we take part in evolution”.

You can see his full talk here…I highly recommend getting yourself a good cup of tea, sitting back and soaking up this wonderful elders wisdom….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INEZiM5ADUw

With bright wishes, Daisy x