it's nearly December!

I love December. I like the Christmas lights that people display in and around their houses. I love the Christmas break having time to rest and reflect on the year that is so nearly past.
I love making the cake and pudding and decorating the tree. I don't get caught up in the commercial side.
I love the cosy nights in and the walks in the crisp cool air.
Every season has its joys and taking time to appreciate the things that change around you is very beneficial. I really love writing in the winter, sitting indoors cosy and warm listening to the wind whistling outside as I type.
A lot of people have the chance to meet up with friends and family in December. It is also a great time of year to curl up with a good book!

Spreading our message.

There are far more good people than bad. I see evidence of this everywhere I go. When violent atrocities occur it can be difficult to remember this. I had my book launch yesterday. It was a lovely experience for me to be surrounded by wonderful friends and many bought copies of my book. One ex pupil even bought a copy to give to his English teacher on Monday!
Later in the evening my 95 year old Gran phoned to say how happy she is that I dedicated the book to her and she is getting all her Bridge friends to buy copies 👍
This has made me realise what we do and say really affects other people. We are not powerless. We all have an enormous capacity to do good and make a positive difference in the world.The small things are really the big things and love and kindness will always win through over hate and intolerance.💐

Book Launch!

I have just come back from Hythe Tea Rooms where I held my book launch for '100 Free Ways To Happier Days!' It was so lovely to see friends and colleagues there and we all had fun.
I am in the process of writing 3 more books which I am going to publish freely here on this blog.
One book will be for parents/carers, another for teenagers and the other for teachers as I would like to be able to encourage as many people to follow their dreams as possible because that is how we are meant to live!
My current book is available visa Balboa Press and amazon and some excerpts from this book have been published on this blog.
If you know anyone who you think may benefit from trying new ways to achieve happiness please encourage them to pop by and have a look at the blog. Thanks for your help!

Karl Pilkington, Greg James, Radio 1 and happiness.

I drove home listening to Greg James on Radio 1 and to my delight Karl Pilkington dropped in. He always makes me laugh and his quotes are classic.
Today's was so true, "Would you be happy if it all ended tomorrow? I think that everybody should think about that now if you are driving in your car. Are you happy? have you enjoyed your lot? If you haven't, stop whingeing and do something about it.''

Wise words indeed!

http://bbc.in/1OtIUTL

A lovely rainbow and a beautiful moon!

I saw a wonderful rainbow today. The photo doesn't do justice to it. I love rainbows. I take them as a positive sign.
I drove home from work in the dark and couldn't fail to notice a beautiful, huge moon set low in the sky.
I got home and took Ollie out for a walk and the stars were twinkling.
As I walked past the lake the birds were making all sorts of fabulous noises.
What a great day.

Everything is amazing!

Ok I know we sometimes mess things up as a species but look at the things we can do. I was driving home and was suddenly struck by how incredible the car is. For less than £1,000 I bought a car which now transports me miles every day.
I drove a bit further and my thoughts turned to roads. Our roads may have some potholes but designing, creating and maintaining the road system is quite a remarkable feat too.
 I got home, walked my dog in the dark and looked up at the sky and suddenly thought of all the rockets that have gone into space. Wow!
We can fly planes, dive deep into the ocean and can even  perform intricate operations using key-hole surgery.
We can send a text and in seconds and our message can be reached thousands of miles away.
If I want to read a Facebook message that is written in another language I hit the translate button.
There are so many incredible people who have had ideas and stuck with those ideas, never giving up until their dreams became reality.
The radio, is amazing, light-bulbs are amazing. The list is virtually endless.
Here's to all those brilliant innovative minds, the ones we know about, the ones we don't know about and those who we are yet to learn about!

back to my writing

I have my book launch for '100 Free ways To Happier Days!' on Saturday and I am really looking forward to it.
I am very happy with the positive reviews that I have been receiving and now it is time for me to sit down in earnest and get writing my next piece.
I am currently working on '100 Free ways...for parents' and '100 Free Ways for teens.'
I will be posting them on this blog and it is my aim that they are accessible to as many people as possible so I will not be charging for them.
I will be relying on my family, friends and readers of this blog to let people know of the posts if they feel that they are helpful.
Thanks to everyone for all the support and encouragement that you have given me so far!

Reflecting on the year...

I think when the nights draw in and the weather gets cold and windy my thoughts naturally turn to reflecting on the year that is passing so fast.
This year I have sold my house, sold my holiday caravan and moved into a residential caravan. I have trained as a life coach and had my book '100 Free Ways To Happier Days' published.
This has all been very exciting and has moved my life in the direction I want to go in.
The next steps will be intriguing too.
I have been lucky enough to see a lot of my family and friends this year including my 95 year old Gran who lives in USA.
In this year there have been ups and downs in my own life as well as the lives of others who I know and also the people I don't know.
Life is here to be lived, explored and made the most of.
It is a precious gift to us all.We learn as much or more from the lows as we do from the highs and while we celebrate our successes we truly learn from our mistakes.
I am grateful to be living right here right now knowing all the amazing people that I know now as well as looking forward to meeting the inspiring people I have yet to meet. :)

Step 10 Difficult people as teachers

Have you noticed that wherever you work there often seems to be at least one or two people who somehow always manage to push your buttons or trying to show you up?
From time to time I have found this and when it happens I ask myself the following question, ' What is this person teaching me?'
When someone criticises me I listen to what they are saying and consider if there may be any truth in what they are saying.
If I think they do have a point I can thank them for their feedback and learn from what they have said.
If there seems to be no truth in what they are saying I can still say,'maybe you are right.'
Challenging people do not expect this sort of reaction and it can be quite disarming.
They will often walk off and leave you alone if they do not get the reaction that they were aiming for.
Sometimes people come across as moody or bossy at first but after getting to know them properly you begin to see their good qualities.
Sometimes we clash with people because they are so different from us and sometimes we find people difficult because they are so similar.
Getting to know people we initially find difficult can be very rewarding.
It can teach us a lot about them and a lot about ourselves.


This is step 10 from my book '100 Free Ways To Happier Days!'

adjusting to sad news

The World is in shock following news of the attacks in Paris yesterday.
At the same time it is heartening that despite this, many people are asking others to show tolerance to others, particularly those who have escaped from war torn countries in search of safety and freedom.
Now it is more important than ever to show tolerance and understanding to other people.
If we can unite we can create a happier, safer world.

Step 9 Pay It forward: Random Acts of kindness

Have you heard of 'Pay It Forward?'
It is a wonderful way of doing something nice for someone else which in turn makes you feel good too.
A friend posted on Facebook that they were taking part in this and that she was looking for 5 people to send her their address so that at some point in the near future she could send them a gift when they least expected it.
She looked around until she found little gifts that she thought would be appreciated by the 5 people.
The gifts ranged from theatre tickets to a garden centre gift voucher.
In return for these gifts the 5 people did the same for another 5 people and they bought lovely gifts for 5 more.
You can see the 'snowball effect' in operation. One person does something nice for 5 people who do the same for 5 more and  before long you have a lot of happy people.
I also see Pay It Forward working in other ways. If I go out of my way to do something nice for someone expecting nothing in return it makes me feel good.
If we all do kind things for others we will see a better society.
You may have an elderly neighbour who would really appreciate you calling round to see if they need any shopping on a cold winters day or you could cheer up a work colleague who is feeling down with a pretty card, for example.
A few years ago one of my work colleagues picked up on the fact that my vacuum cleaner had packed up and at the time I had very little spare money. Without saying anything to me she had a 'whip round' at work and bought me a lovely new vacuum.
I was incredibly touched by this kind gesture.
This is how the world works best. You do what you can to help other people when you can and when you are in need other people step in to help you.
The Random Acts Of Kindness Foundation also inspires people to be kind to others and is well worth getting involved in.
Visit the sites for yourself. They are well worth a look!

www.randomactsofkindness.org

and
www.payitforwardday.com

Thankful

I am really enjoying spreading my wings in my coaching business. It is great talking to other coaches and finding out how they approach things.
I have found writing my book to be an exciting and rewarding process and have been really appreciative of all the support and encouragement I have received from friends, family and work colleagues. I have been very happy to hear that the book is being enjoyed and valued by people who read it. My aim was to find an affordable way to encourage other people to live happy lives and whenever I hear that it has helped someone I gain a real sense of satisfaction.
I believe we all owe it to ourselves to live our best lives and follow our dreams.
I believe coaching can help people to identify then focus on their dreams. It helps us to become motivated to take action to achieve our goals.
I am looking forward to my official book launch later this month.
Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me to take this step and create a business that I find so rewarding.

Step 8 The Power of Positive Thinking~ Thoughts are Things.

A lot is written about positive thinking. It works. When you think positively, you are not being asked to deny the things that are happening around you. Instead thinking positively leads you to look for the most positive outcome in any given situation.
If you have a tendency to think negatively the world can appear corrupt, unfair and damaged. If you look carefully amongst all the doom and gloom you will see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
Walking along the grey concreted streets you can see a beautiful wild flower emerging from the cracks, for example.
Whenever I make the effort to think positively I find that new and exciting opportunities come my way.
I spent years quietly assuming the worst. What if this or that happened?
Expecting the worst leads to anxiety and this can become a habit.
One day I thought, 'What if instead of assuming the worst I start to expect the best?'
I realised that worrying about things that may never happen is a complete waste of time and so now I focus my efforts on consciously expecting the best.
I don't get this right all the time but I am working on it and it is making a real difference to my life.
Why not give it a try?
Start off thinking positively for a day and then build to a week and see how much happier you feel.
Our thoughts help us to create our reality. Thoughts are things.

Every cloud has a silver lining!

Please help animals this Christmas!

I have been thinking a lot about rescue dogs, cats and other animals and would like to make a donation to some animal sanctuaries this Christmas.

I talk about the many things animals do to help us in my book. 

My plan:
I am taking my dog Ollie out for a walk next Saturday ( 14th November )
I will also be sending a donation to two animal sanctuaries.
One is Wanderers Haven (Essex) and the other is Lord Whisky in Kent.
My lovely cat Fisher came from Lord Whiskey and G's dogs Rufus and Burt came from Wanderers Haven.
I am posting this in case any of you would like to do something similar. If you do then follow these four steps:
Step 1:
Spend some time with your pet or any other animal on 14th November. You could walk a neighbours dog or go and say hello to a horse in a nearby field if you don't have an animal yourself.
Step 2:
Make a donation to a local animal sanctuary.
Step 3:
Share the idea with friends.
Step 4:
Comment here to share any photo's or promote your local sanctuary.
They will really appreciate your support!

Step 7: Achieving balance

It was only recently that I truly realised the importance of achieving balance in my life.
There are many areas of our lives that we focus on including family, work, health, wealth, spirituality etc.
If things aren't going well in one area of our lives this can have a negative knock-on effect on other areas of our lives
An example of this would be if you were unhappy at work and kept putting in long hours to try and please your boss it wouldn't be long before this had an impact on your family life.
This is why if one area of your life appears out of balance to you it is advisable to take time to look carefully at the challenges in that area of your life to see what small changes you can implement.
Taking a little action on a regular basis will soon add up to you achieving significant positive benefits.
I have found this to really help me to achieve a happier life.

Making tiny changes...step 6

Small can be very good when it comes to making changes as many of us find change scary and so if we attempt anything too big we can get cold feet and talk ourselves out of it. If we work out that there is something that we would like to achieve in our lives we can split the goal up into small and achievable steps. The first step is often the hardest but once you take it you are that bit closer to achieving your goal.
After taking that first step you feel more inclined to take another and then another until you find that you are bounding towards your goal.
When you have a difficulty or challenge that you would like to resolve it is helpful to identify exactly what the difficulty is. It may be that you are in debt, for example.
See if you can work out the things that contributed to the situation. It may be that you had a one-off problem or a series of tiny setbacks that built up into a bigger problem.
Consider what small actions you can take now to help you to resolve the problem. Taking even just a small amount of action can help you feel less stressed and then you can start to think and act more creatively.
Tiny actions and changes made over a period of time can really help to make a positive difference to your life.
If you do think you have strayed off track in your life then a series of small adjustments made now can soon put you back on course.