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.