Julia Matheson
Fear can be debilitating . . . if you let it be.
It’s something that’s been showing up a lot for me recently.
It’s that little voice on my shoulder, and grip on my heart that stops me in my tracks when I get too much in my head. Fear has me second guess myself. Fear has me question the future. Fear denies me of the trust I have in the universe. And more importantly, the trust I have in myself.
Do you set goals?
Yes, I said the G-word. Now I know for some that this is a bad word, but stay with me here as I once thought it was too.
I used to think ‘goal setting’ was reserved for business executives, or elite athletes – those type A personalities that charged through life pushing for bigger and better. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just couldn’t relate to it, it’s not who I am. I thought that goals were all stooped in ego, and greed and the insatiable desire to achieve.
I re-wrote my goals last week. I edited, scratched out, and stripped them right back to the core.
God, it felt so liberating!
Instead of setting multiple goals in each area of my life, I just stuck to ONE. One personal, one health, one career. The most important goal to me. The ONE goal that if I DID NOT have, all the other’s would feel empty and meaningless. [Read more…]
When I ask most clients what they want in their life, the answer is unanimous – ‘to be happy’.
I too used to say the same thing when asked this question, but now I don’t believe this is a good enough measure. It’s the first worlds dream isn’t it – ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. But is our relentless pursuit of pleasure causing us to be miserable? [Read more…]
Our words have more power than you will ever know.
There have been two specific acknowledgement exercises in my life that I will never forget – one of which happened today.
They both involve expressing gratitude and celebrating each other for who we are. I have found them so powerful and inspiring, the effects have been profound.
Both exercises have been with my wonderful teams at lululemon athletica. I wanted to share them with you in the hope that you can experience the deep sense of gratitude that comes from them. You could get together with your colleagues, friends, family or community group.
2 WAYS TO ROCK OUT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
1) The ‘Love Note’ Exercise
Create a small card for each person with the heading “I like (person X) because . . . “. Write down the reasons why you like that person (*tip – make sure it’s authentic to you!). Pass the note around the group so that everyone has input on each individual card. It can be a word or a sentence, anything that springs to mind when you think of why you like that person – big or small. Present the card to the recipient & voila! Stand back and watch the look on their face, it’s absolutely priceless.
Below is the love note I received today, something I will cherish forever –
2) The ‘Acknowledgement Circle’
Gather into small groups of 3-5 people. Pick someone to begin with, and start by going around the group and saying the following “(Person X), who you are for me is . . . ” ie/ “Dave, who you are for me is an inspiring cheerleader who always supports my growth.” Then follow this with the statement “What I wish for you is . . .”. Look into their eyes as you tell them, and share generously from your own experience of them. Once everyone has said their part, move onto the next person until everyone in the group has been acknowledged.
Now these exercises aren’t difficult, or timely, or expensive – but the result? It’s huge –
The biggest sense of sincere gratitude, love and genuine celebration of who were are.
As Mother Teresa once said –
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the beautiful words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.
There is such power in sharing our appreciation and gratitude for others. Maybe because it’s such a rare occurrence. We often think positive things about others, but rarely communicate it. Whether you are hesitant to be vulnerable, or worried about what the other person may think of you, or simply just forget to – there’s something that holds us back.
My experience has been, if I am thinking it – I should say it. Don’t be stingy with expressing your feelings for others, be a generous giver that shares without hesitation.
We are our harshest critics, and we often focus on the things we would like to change about ourselves, the parts of our personality we are dissatisfied with, we beat ourselves up over ‘bad’ decisions, our physical looks, we compare ourselves to others – when in all honesty, those around us only ever see our truest beauty.
These exercises made that so abundantly clear to me.
The people closest to us are the best witness to our soul, and it’s so important to get that outside perspective on ourselves once in a while.
This only reinforces what I am such an advocate for – TO JUST BE YOURSELF!
live your passions they have more power than you know.
Embrace your uniqueness – because trying to be anything other than the magical being you are is just futile. We all have a unique gift to offer this world, what is yours?
So accept the praise and the acknowledgement you will receive with these exercises – take the upgrade!
It’s time to celebrate who you are.
You know the days when you’re floating on cloud 9?
Everything just falls into place and your day is full of all your favourite things. You have a lightness in your heart and a smile permanently planted on your face.
I’m so grateful for those days. For me, those days are what life is all about.
Maybe they are so special because of their rarity. But have you ever stopped to think that every day could be that way?
Next time you experience a dream day ask yourself – What made today so special? What activities did I do? Who was I with? What was my frame of mind?
With this precious information, you can make the recipe for a dream day any day!
My dream day recipe
1 handful of loved ones
lashings of outdoor adventures
2 cups of contribution
1 sweet sweat session
1 sprinkling of food shared together
1 gallon of laughter.
My best days are always spent connecting with people I love, getting outside the house and into nature, doing any kind of sweat date (yoga, hiking, a bike ride, or a swim in the ocean) and wrapping up the day sharing food and laughter together.
What things do you love? What’s authentically important to you? What are the things that bring a smile to your face?
With that in mind – What do you now need to make time for? What do you need to schedule? Who do you need to enrol?
Get to planning your days, weeks and even months – full of all of these things. Start to plant the seeds for many abundant dream day harvests!
Don’t leave your happiness to chance, to the whim of others, or to circumstance.
Make your happiness a priority. Today.
What is your dream day recipe?
Use your recipe to float on cloud 9 all weekend 🙂
The following quote jumped off the page of a book I read recently –
“Live your passion. What does that mean anyway? It means that when you get up in the morning, you are pumped because you get to talk about or work with or do the thing that interests you the most in the world. You don’t live for vacations because you don’t need a break from what you’re doing – working, playing, and relaxing are one and the same. You don’t even pay attention to how many hours you’re working because to you, it’s not really work. You’re making money, but you’d do whatever it is you’re doing for free.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
What are your passions?
Are you living them?
If not, what is holding you back?
Your are made up of a unique set of passions, things that speak to your soul and light you up. Your passions make you feel truly alive, and self-expressed. You are your best version of yourself when living them.
What would your life look like if you chose to harness these passions? What if you actually got paid to do what you love? What kind of personal power and freedom would be possible for you?
Some people have the archaic belief that they will never make any money doing what they love, but in today’s world this has never been further from the truth. People all over the world today are earning a living doing exactly that. With the rise of the information society, and social media people can now monetize their passions, hobbies, and interests like never before. We spend the majority of our lives at work, why not spend it doing what you love most?
My Dad always told me ‘do what makes you happy, and you’ll be great at it’. This is something that has always resonated with me.
Do what you love. Follow your heart. Success will follow.
It’s as simple as that.
You owe it to yourself, life is too short not too.
