New home

My new home is here... please come by and visit!

Thanks it's been great, but I'm looking forward to a fresh start.

Closing

I'm thinking of closing this blog and integrating my thoughts into the things that I do. This blog has been a fantastic way for me to catalogue and observe my thoughts and my journey, but now i feel like the journey is part of who I am right now. I have another blog where I take photos of the things I make and what we do as a family, and I think I might make a fresh start with both of them!

Blogging has become such a habit for me that I don't want to stop, I enjoy looking back at what I've done, and (very occasionally) someone comments! But mostly I really just do this for myself!

Feel free to comment if you have an opinion on this, I'd love some feedback.

Notice....

Love this which is from the Buy My Bikes shop in San Juan Capistrano.

Worn out?

This bear looks like I feel. I'm worn out! How can I make all this slow down for a while? I seriously don't want to let the team down, but I need to make some changes. Any suggestions??

8 ways to stay on track till Christmas....

Monday is a good day to take stock. It's good to take a moment, and look at what you are acheiving and see if you are on track. The week before last I had the audit and last week I was busy finishing off the tasks for that. This week I come back to my incredibly messy desk (when did that happen again?) and ask myself... am I losing my way?

Here are some of my thoughts....

1. It is quite challenging to stay focussed when you are running on empty! find a way to replenish the energy tank. there is no point is completely running out of steam.
2. Focus on the most important things with the end time line in view. Some things are important, but now could be left till after Christmas. Now is absolutely the time to prioritise.
3. Keep your work environment tidy and simple.
4. Do one task at a time.
5. Write everything down.
6. Schedule stuff if your diary. This is important.
7. Don't forget to have some fun with your co-workers. The end of the year is an opportunity to lighten up a little!
8. Remember the pleasureable end result... there are holidays coming, you will enjoy them all if there are not a whole lot of things clamouring for attention.

No Fear

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/323215/No_Fear

Thought for the day...

“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another”

Truth....

I was talking to Mike yesterday doing this process, and he was saying how that maybe for me the theme for next year is to be living the "Zen" way and I just want to focus on a few things rather than be spread too thin. So I said, well I'm sure that we can find a christian version of that! by which I meant, that although I agreed with what he was saying, I want it to line up with my christian faith. I was thinking about what Rob Bell says, that all truth is God's truth (have you read Velvet Elvis yet? if not why not!) and so I looked up what Zen means and it basically means to medidate. I think that it means "focus" to most people. And to focus is something that we can all do.

Jesus said, "What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? Luke 9:40-42

Yes, we can have zen in our lives! we can live focussed on God, who is the Source of all Truth, we can meditate on His ways and His plans for our lives. I absolutely sign up for that!

Miracles do happen...

Look at this beautiful girl! I prayed for a girl after we had Reuben, but that prayer wasn't answered, I thought, but God's timing is so different to ours. Opening our hearts to this baby has been a real opportunity for David and I to be open to the possibilities of what another new life will bring to our family. Yes it wasn't on our agenda any more, but this baby has already done more for us and our relationship, than any other of our children. She is so precious to us already and we have hopes and dreams that she will let us love her and get to know her.

Grow strong little one... your family is waiting to meet you!

2009

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,

Having an Audit

"Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames." 1 Corinthians 3: 12-15



Yesterday I had an auditor come and go through all my systems with a fine tooth combed. It was great - I loved the fact that she would ask for something and I could find it easily - I'm sure she didn't realise what an amazing achievement this is! Anyway we almost passed, I've got about 6-8 minor things to fix and then we get Bronze, Silver and Gold.

I can't tell you how happy I am, I've been working towards this for months and months. I'm also completely tired out, even my toenails are tired! But its so worth it. I get the day off today and come Monday I'll be ready to nail this thing shut.

I had a call from Mike yesterday about a different sort of audit. He's doing end of year sessions and setting goals for next year. It's funny how the end of a year makes us do this. November seems very early Mike but I guess you must have a plan!

Hmm next year... oh yes top of the list, Have a BABY in April - lol.

The Secret

There is a lot of talk everywhere about "The Secret". Apparently you can attract good things to yourself just by wanting them. It's absolute rubbish. Where does that leave the families of the school children whose school collapsed on them last week, or poor little Nia who was put in the dryer? No just wanting it does not work.

This does though.....

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 6-7

Decision Making....

I was talking to Mike the other day and he was telling me about how he had developed a tool to help people make decisions that incorporate awareness into why they are making decisions.

I think one of the greatest barriers to making choices is the fact that we are not aware of why we do them. All the stuff that we just have done over and over for what ever reason sort of propells us forward, like plodding down a well-worn path, you don't even notice where you are going!

One of the amazing things about having done (lots) of coaching, is that is makes you aware of why you are making choices, and sometimes even that you are making choices! it's like suddenly spotting a stile in the side of the path and through you go and there is a whole new view to go.

Empty Sections...

On a busy street in Christchurch there is a large empty section (not this one in the picture!). The property developer went bust and so the land is lying fallow. But I have noticed over the last few months that weeds and flowers have grown over the piles of dirt and it is starting to look quite pretty.



I've been reading The Shack. It's amazing. Anyway there is a piece in the book where they are weeding this part of the garden which looks really pretty but they pull out the flowers because they are going to plant something else. And as I have been driving back and forwards down Brougham Street looking at the pretty weeds, I've been thinking about the things in my life that just fill up the space. They are just there because there was some space and so they could grow. One of the amazing things about finding myself pregnant is that it is really focussing my mind. I'm looking at all the things in my life and asking myself and God, do I really need this, is this really important? What should I be focussed on. And some perfectly good and lovely things are being uprooted and moved on. It's a really interesting space to be in.

Waiting room wisdom...

This morning I spent two hours at the CWH Outpatients. Having a glucose tolerance test. Three blood tests and two hours waiting... oh yes and 75ml of evil green (why green?) glucose syrup. Anyway I used my time wisely by reading the lastest Next magazine (not the one in this picture) the November one. There has been a life coach writing all year I think and every now and then in a doctor's waiting room I read what she writes. It's good. Anyway she must have finished and instead they printed letters that people had written in about how the program had changed their lives. Here's a couple of great quotes....

"When who we are are aligns with what we do, life becomes extraordinary."

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

See? amazing!

A wise man once said...

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

Confucius

Don't worry..

Having done all - stand!

It feels weird to start a week and know that I'm not going to talk to Mike at all. It feels weird to be just accountable to myself in what I acheive. It feels weird to have the trainer wheels taken off. I can choose to sit by the road and think about it or I can hop on my shiny new bike (so to speak) and wobble off down the road.

I think I can, I think I can!

Going on by oneself...

Character is what you do when no one else is looking.

Dr. Laura

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Today I'm having my last coaching session for a while. Maybe quite a while. We'll see. Having a coach is amazing. Sometimes it is amazingly hard, other times it's fantastic, but all the time you keep on making more progress than you would ever have made by yourself. Mike doesn't read this, but I just want to acknowledge that he has been such a fantastic support in the last twelve months as I have made many many changes in my life. Sometimes it is the things he doesn't say, or the things he just slips in (Mike does A LOT of talking) that make all the difference.

So Mike here are some things I've remembered, that have made a difference, things you probably didn't even notice saying...

When I said "I'm scared" and you said "I know" it gave me courage to be brave. Thanks.

When you said "It's still a horrible situation" it made me realise I had the power to change it. Thank you.

When you said... "Choose, I'll support you either way", then I made a choice. Thanks for not making it right/wrong/better than/less than/good/bad. (By the way that is my all time favourite thing that you say - right/wrong/better than/less than/good/bad! )

When you said "Which bit of the roller coaster are you on?" it made me see it wouldn't last for ever. it was a trip, not a journey. Thanks for the perspective.

When you said "I like David' it made me see him through your eyes. Thank you.

When you said "Take a deep breath" it made me realise how uptight I was and acknowledge I needed to make changes. Thank you.

When you said "Deb what if you created a monster yourself" it made me take responsibility.

When you said "Well my dear" it opened the possibility that I might be able to be liked.

Thanks Mike. Thanks for being the best Coach that I could possibly have had. You will probably never know how grateful I am that you showed me the life that was waiting for me all along.