What an incredible year!

Thanks to 2015 for all the adventures.Here's to 2016 and all the opportunities you are bringing.
Please feel free to visit my blogs. I hope you find them interesting.
I am a life coach, teacher and writer. My aim is to help people find ways to live their best lives.


Please visit my Trusty Life Coaching Facebook page for further information:
https://www.facebook.com/Trusty-Life-Coaching-614780095261862/

the dogs had fun!

We took 6 dogs out for a walk today. They had a great time rushing about after a ball, rolling in mud and horse poo as well as saying hello to all the other dogs. Meanwhile I couldn't help notice it getting windier and winder and the clouds started getting darker.
Storm Frank is apparently on his way here.
My thoughts are with all the people in UK who have been affected by storm damage over the past few days.
It has been wonderful to see how communities have come together to help the people affected so badly by the storm.
It is times like this when we are reminded of the things that are really important in life.
Helping other people during difficult times is so important. People put aside their differences and pull together to make things better.

Time flies

It is hard to believe that we only have 2 more days left of 2015.
2015 has been an amazing year. I have seen a lot of my family and friends as well as making progress with my coaching and writing.
Selling my house and moving into my caravan has to be the highlight if this year. It is so wild and natural there and it is hard to believe I have only been there since April as it feels as if  I have always lived there.
Ollie is very at home there too.
2016 is waiting just around the corner. I intend focusing on my writing and travelling around UK walking the dogs and visiting friends and family as much as I can.
I am very fortunate as I am now able to afford to reduce my teaching hours which leaves me more time to write and develop my coaching.
What are your plans for 2016?
Have you enjoyed 2015?
It would be great to hear from you.
Exciting times lie ahead....

Weather

It is incredible the impact weather can have on us even in our modern times.
I have been hearing about people in The North being evacuated from their homes following a month worth of rain falling in one day.
Now our government must act to ensure our flood defences are as good as they possibly can be to minimise the affect of more rain falling in future.
All around the world we are feeling the affects of global warming. I recently watched President Obama and Bear Grylls discussing the need for every country to act to reduce emissions to minimise the impact of Global Warming on future generations.
This is something that we can all do our bit to improve. We can't afford to ignore the melting glaciers and all the other signs that global warming is affecting our planet.
Future generations are relying on us all to act now and stop putting our heads in the sand.

Merry Christmas to the lost and lonely.

I know that many of us are really enjoying ourselves spending time with our loved ones but I am also aware that this can be a particularly difficult time for some people. All the adverts featuring happy families can contrast with the reality for some people. If you are feeling lonely or sad for any reason my Christmas wish is that you find the happiness that you deserve in the coming year. Remember that the difficult times will pass as every cloud has a silver lining.

Christmas Eve 🎄

There have been a lot of songs written about the things people want for Christmas. I have everything that I could possibly want. My daughter is having a lovely time with her boyfriend and his family. My son and cute dog Ollie are here with me right now and the lovable G will be arriving with his two hairy pals around lunchtime today. I have the required amount of sprouts and other goodies stowed away in my lovely caravan and I live in one of the most remarkable places that I have ever come across. We spend so much time looking forward that we sometimes forget that we have all we need right at this moment.🎅

Christmas Eve 🎅

There have been a lot of songs about what people want for Christmas. I have everything I could possibly wish for 🌠 My daughter is having a lovely time with her boyfriend and his family. My son and my cute dog Ollie is with me and the lovable G is arriving with his two hairy pals some time after lunch today. I have the required number of sprouts and other goodies all stowed away in my wonderful caravan. We are so busy rushing about trying to achieve our goals that sometimes we forget that we have everything we need right now.🎅

Wild weather and a special visitor...

Today I will be venturing into the supermarket for sprouts. Wish me luck 🍀 After that I will be driving to Hastings with Ollie to pick up my son who will be visiting us for Christmas 🎅 As I sit in my caravan I can hear the wind howling. It has been doing this for 3 days solid. It is pretty exciting even stepping outside. Today should be quite an adventure!

E Book giveaway results!

Last night I looked at the responses to my post, the one about giving away copies of my e-book '100 Free Ways To Happier Days!' and I selected the winners. I will be contacting them by personal message via Facebook as that is where most of the responses came from.
I hope that the winners enjoy reading the book.
It would be great to hear their feedback when they have finished reading it.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Today would have been Mum's birthday. She died when I was 13. This post isn't about death though, it is all about life.
Mum has inspired me through my life with her energy and enthusiasm for things. She had her priorities right stating, 'housework will be here long after we are gone!'
I love the fact that her birthday was a day before mine and we shared the night of The Winter Solstice between us.
As a result, I have always loved this time of year, the days running up to Christmas and The New Year.
I have made sure I never spend more than I can afford at this time and I like my friends and family to do likewise. To me this time of year is not about gathering material goods. It is about sharing, giving and receiving.
I believe these winter celebrations are intended to bring twinkly lights and hope to people at a time when the nights close in early and the weather can be very damp and cold.
I have always liked the fact that lots of people are celebrating at this time of year. It means that a lot of people are happy and cheerful as I celebrate my birthday.
On the other hand, it is sad that many people find this time of year particularly difficult and my heart goes out to them.
For me this week provides the opportunity to rest, reflect and express gratitude for all the wonderful things and people that I have in my life.
Happy Birthday Mum! I will be thinking of you when I eat a little slice of home made Christmas cake later on today. You are one in a million and I wouldn't swap you for the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zzwbYyvWiU
One of Mum's favourite songs!

28,115 words and counting!

I am very excited as I have completed by (rather sketchy) first draft of:

" 100 Free Ways To Happier Days With Your Teen!"

I am at the dreaded editing stage but I am pretty happy with the content.

My aim is to get it ready to publish via this blog one day at a time starting on 1st January 2016. 

each post is intended to create a dialogue with anyone who wishes to comment or ask questions about what I have written. 

The teenage years can be exciting and scary for teenagers, parents and carers.

The more we can discuss, explore and learn about the issues raised at this time, the richer the experience for us all.

I am also in the process of writing:

"100 Free Ways To Happier Days For Teens!"

This will also be published via this blog once it is ready.

I love having time free to write. It is something that I have always wanted to do and finally I am making my dream a reality.

Happy Christmas. Would you like an e-book?

I have had such a great year. One of the highlights has been having my book published.
 '100 Free Ways To Happier Days!'
I have 5 free copies of the e-book to give away as gifts.
Please add a comment here or on my Trusty Life Coaching Facebook page if you would like a copy.
I will pick 5 people randomly on the evening of 21st December as that is the Solstice which seems like an appropriate time.
The 21st was also my mothers birthday so I think she would approve!
If you are chosen I will message you with the code you need to claim your free book.
happy holidays!

Christmas dinner.

I love Christmas dinner. we had ours at school today. I particularly love the roast potatoes.
We also had crackers.
I really enjoy Christmas dinner. I like making the cake and pudding every year.
I have one more day at work before the holiday starts.
I am celebrating by drinking a glass of wine and am looking forward to watching The Apprentice.
I am looking forward to meeting up wit friends and family but also being able to take Ollie my dog out more and to carry on with my writing.

Tim Peake

It was lovely to hear about the British astronaut has arrived at the International Space Station today!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-34985274
This is very exciting and it got me thinking. When he was little, did he always want to be an astronaut? If so whenever anyone doubted that he really could do it he must have ignored them and trusted in himself to get him where he needed to be to make his dream come true.
I showed the children at school the rocket launch and as they watched I was thinking, if you want to be someone enough, don't let anyone tell you you can't do it. You go for it!

Everything is happening exactly as it should.

I forget this sometimes.
Some days I have one of 'those days' where things appear to be going wrong or not quite the way I planned. It is easy to forget that everything is happening exactly as it should.
If things don't work out the way you planned there is a very good chance something far better is coming round the corner!

Ideas come in thick and fast when you write the first sentence.

My friend is trying to write at the moment. They are agonising over how to start and I have been telling them just start!
This may seem a simplistic thing to say but the writing process is fascinating. You can agonise for weeks over how to start the first sentence but once you physically make yourself put pen to paper or you type your first sentence everything starts to flow.
To begin with what you write can feel awkward and contrived but keep writing and things get smoother. Once I am into it the ideas start to pour out of my head and my fingers can hardly keep up!
This experience is not unique to me by any means. many writers report the same experience. It is almost as if something takes over and you stop having to think about every sentence you write.
Some say it is your higher self taking over, your true creative self.
Whatever it is I have started to trust the process. I think of an idea, write the first rather clumsy, sometimes wobbly sentence and then whoosh! Out come all the ideas.
You can always edit afterwards. In fact you will probably need to as there are bound to be some typo's at the speed you end up writing once the ideas are unleashed.
Many people, including myself, block our creativity by trying to get everything perfect in our heads before we start. That is never going to happen.
We tend to over-think things and get in our own way if we rely on this method.
If you have an idea for a book then my advice is to just start writing those first few sentences. Do it today!

100 Free Ways To Happier Days With Your Teen!

I am 3/4 of the way through my first draft. It is so good having Friday's off work leaving me time to focus on my coaching and writing. I aim to complete this draft soon and will be publishing it via this blog, one post at a time.
My aim is to make this book accessible to anyone who needs it which is why it will be free.
Teenagers are amazing. It can be incredibly rewarding working with them but challenging too. It can be even tougher bringing up your teenager particularly when they start to question and challenge the way you approach things and they start to hold views that differ from your own but when you listen to them you can learn as much from them as they can from you.
One of the great things about teenagers is that they start to take an interest in the world around them . They question things and their ideas can be refreshing, creative and unique.

So grateful

I feel so grateful to all the people who have encouraged my writing and coaching efforts this year. It was so lovely to attend the launch of my book '100 Free ways To Happier Days!' and see so many friendly faces. I am grateful to the people who went out of their way to attend. Some had real difficulty with transport getting to and from the event.
I am also very thankful to the people who have taken the trouble to review my work on amazon too.
There have been so many people who have visited by website and Facebook 'Trusty Life Coaching ' page.
When I decided to donate some money to 2 local animal shelters I was overwhelmed by the positive responses to that post.
This has been such an exciting year so far, selling my house, buying my caravan and reducing my teaching hours to part-time so I can coach and write.
I really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read my blog posts over this past year too.
Thanks you all!  :)

http://www.trustylifecoaching.co.uk/

Illusions~ the adventures of a reluctant messiah~ Richard Bach

I have just finished reading this book and it is beautiful. On the surface it is a simple story about an unusual friendship between two pilots but scratch the surface and this book reveals a wonderful guide to life. I read it very quickly, I couldn't put it down. I will definitely be reading it again soon to see if I missed anything. I definitely recommend it to anyone!

the people have the power!

People Have the Power by Patti Smith

I was very touched by The Angels Of Death Metal performing this song in Paris with U2. The words are true, we have the power and life is what we make it.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35035025

I was dreaming in my dreaming 
of an aspect bright and fair 
and my sleeping it was broken 
but my dream it lingered near 
in the form of shining valleys 
where the pure air recognized 
and my senses newly opened 
I awakened to the cry 
that the people / have the power 
to redeem / the work of fools 
upon the meek / the graces shower 
it's decreed / the people rule 

The people have the power 
The people have the power 
The people have the power 
The people have the power 

Vengeful aspects became suspect 
and bending low as if to hear 
and the armies ceased advancing 
because the people had their ear 
and the shepherds and the soldiers 
lay beneath the stars 
exchanging visions 
and laying arms 
to waste / in the dust 
in the form of / shining valleys 
where the pure air / recognized 
and my senses / newly opened 
I awakened / to the cry 

Refrain 

Where there were deserts 
I saw fountains 
like cream the waters rise 
and we strolled there together 
with none to laugh or criticize 
and the leopard 
and the lamb 
lay together truly bound 
I was hoping in my hoping 
to recall what I had found 
I was dreaming in my dreaming 
god knows / a purer view 
as I surrender to my sleeping 
I commit my dream to you 

Refrain 

The power to dream / to rule 
to wrestle the world from fools 
it's decreed the people rule 
it's decreed the people rule 
LISTEN 
I believe everything we dream 
can come to pass through our union 
we can turn the world around 
we can turn the earth's revolution 
we have the power 
People have the power ... 

My homing instinct and Ollie's antics!

This morning at silly o'clock I took Ollie out for a walk. He pulled and I let go of his lead accidentally and he dashed off full of glee.
The only thing to do when Ollie performs this particular stunt is to start the car.
Ollie loves going for a drive so he usually runs over and jumps into the car.
Sure enough he did. Phew!
I had visions of phoning work with some crazy sounding story of not being able to go in as I was chasing my dog around the country lanes.
I was very relived to be attached to the other end of his lead and we continued with our walk.
On the way home from  work I was diverted off the main road due to an accident and found myself in dark country lanes without a clue where I was. I took the decision to keep driving straight on whenever I came to a junction and fortunately found myself in a village I recognised and was able to get safely home.
My homing instinct is pretty strong.
I am so glad to be home!

Ben Fogle

I love watching the Ben Fogle programmes with people living in wild places all over the world. The current series is about people choosing to leave the 'rat-race' to live dream lives in the world. The episode I am currently watching a programme where a couple live with their eight children and Ben is being asked to sleep in a nearby shepherds hut. The countryside is beautiful and the family are sitting together eating Shepherds Pie. They drink water from a stream and the fire heats the water, provides the heating and dries the clothes. The mother gave birth to her eighth child beside the fire.
It always makes me happy to learn of people who question the norm and decide to live a life that makes them happy. We all have different dreams so each dream-life will vary but it is so important that people are happy in their lives doing things that give them purpose.
Ollie is sleeping beside me as I watch and I realise that things don't get much better than this.

Day 3 Lemon and Ginger!

I woke up early this morning excited to see what the quote was on my advent string for today. It says
'Oh thou who enters this world crying while those around you are laughing, live your life in such a way that when you leave this world and those around you are crying then you will do the laughing.' This quote was given to my sister by my Gran who was born in India and was brought up a Parsi. Her Persian teacher gave her this important lesson.
I take it to mean that if you live a good productive life people may miss you and be sad when it is your time to leave this world but you will be happy and ready for the next stage.
I am looking forward to drinking my tea tomorrow and reading the quote!

Understanding and tolerance

Now more than ever it is time to reach out to other people to listen to them, understand them and share things with them. The more we attempt to understand one another the more unity we will see in the world.
Communicating with others and making time to understand differing viewpoints is time well spent.
If we are to make a better world for our children we must realise that while we may look different on the surface underneath we are the same.
People experiencing challenges and loneliness can find their lives much brighter when people take the time to talk to them, smile at them even.
Humans are basically social creatures. We are designed to work cooperatively with one another.
Just imagine what could be achieved if all our resources were spent on providing people with what they need rather than committing money to destruction and war.
There is far more good than bad in the world and what we focus on we receive.

December 2nd is Licorice and Cinnamon.

https://theultimatevirallaunchpad.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/strive-not-to-be-a-success-but-rather-to-be-of-value-albert-einstein.jpg
Today's quote is 'Strive not to be a success but rather to be of vale.' Albert Einstein.
I am sipping my licorice and cinnamon tea which was in the day 2 pocket of the advent string my sister gave me and am thinking about how powerful this message is.
If we all focus on how we can assist people in living their best lives the result multiplied accross the world would be remarkable!

Thoughtful gifts.

I wrote a section in my book about thoughtful gifts. Gifts do not need to be expensive, it truly is the thought that counts. If you take your time to choose or make something that you believe someone will love you will find that they really appreciate your gesture.
My sister sent me a parcel recently and rather mysteriously said I could open it on 1st December.
It was exciting opening the package and trying to work out what it was.
I received a beautiful teapot and teacup along with an advent string with 24 felt pockets attached. In each pocket was a fruit teabag and attached to each one is a gift tags which has an inspirational quote written on it.
Today's quote is 'Happiness is a warm puppy.' Charles M Shultz.
I am incredibly touched by this gift.
This time of year provides us with a great opportunity to give to others and express our gratitude for the wonderful people we know.