Power of Alice

Alice is 106 and still living out her passion, her element....her flow.

She glows and it is incredibly inspiring.

For her, "Music is G-d....in difficult times you feel it especially - when you are suffering."

Needing a bit of inspiration? Take the time to watch this video by clicking HERE

Power of a "Gift"

This just brought tears to my eyes.

What a gift it is.

Power of Security

We live in a society that depends on "security". Our “permanent" jobs and contracts give us the feeling of security and stability...but I argue that what we feel isn't real. They are figures of our imagination. Our sense of security is false, at best.

On the train back from Newcastle this week, I ended up sitting across from a lovely man. In his presumably late 40's, he told me all about his job working with insurance. He spoke of a lot of success and prosperity - many years of loving his work and achieving his ambitions. However, later in our journey, he dove into how he was impacted by the recession.

He lost his job.

After years of laying off others, being in control and "secure", he was made redundant. Shocked, horrified and unstable...he was forced to start over and look for work.

Six months later - he is back on it - meeting me on the train home from a day working in York.

Even on that very train, I watched people sit in other peoples seats even when they were CLEARLY marked RESERVED. You see, that’s just it, nothing is reserved.

Nothing is unchangeable and completely stable – that’s the beauty of the world.

This also means it’s all in our heads…and THAT, my friend, we do have control over.

Power of Taxi Drivers and the “good’ thing

How much do you love taxi drivers? On a scale of 1-10…I would probably have given them a 6 (or even lower in Toronto).....

However, my view of taxi drivers changed last year when I was moving back to Toronto and stressed about leaving London. I was sad, confused and tired. Then I met Nadin. I told him about how I was feeling and he said, “After two minutes of being in my taxi, I promise, you will feel better”. Reluctant, I got in. Minutes later I felt like myself again.

We had a great conversation about life, happiness, sadness and all the trials and tribulations, but one thing he said will always stay with me.

He said, “The good about the good thing is that its good and you can enjoy it. The good thing about the bad thing is that sooner or later, it will end and it will turn into a good thing.”

Power of Human Detour

Recently I was asked by an old friend, Jamie Slavin, to be apart of the Human Detour website! What a great initiative. If you go to the Health and Wellness section and click "heal" you can check out some great videos by several doctors, coaches and myself.

Also, Jamie is featured in the "nourish" area as she is a nutritionist!

Either way, this site has the potential to be incredibly powerful. ENJOY!

Power of Unmasking

Everyone is weird.

I suppose ‘uniquely different’ would be a better way of describing it, but the reality is, no matter how different they are, they all hide their weirdness.

Often people wear 'masks' and pretend to be something very different from what they actually are.

I clearly remember as a child people coming up to me saying, “you’re weird” and at that time, I wasn’t quite sure whether I was being praised or ridiculed.

Either way, I shrugged it off and stayed the same.

Later I began to understand the word - defined as "of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange".

So people thought I was crazy and wacky… so what? Yet I couldn't figure out why their faces were always shocked as they told me.

At the age of 8 I put on my first (and last) mask. I thought I had to be just as cool as the cool kids…so no matter what they said, I agreed. No matter what they did, I followed.

I was a complete ‘loser’ until the day I realized it was exhausting to wear a mask, so I took it off and suddenly my “I don’t care” attitude granted me the status of being “cool”.

I have been wearing the 'cool' mask – also known as the “I don’t give a sh#$” attitude - for as long as I can remember. I present myself as confident, and am therefore treated in the same way.

So, why don’t you try taking off your mask?

You may like your new one a whole lot more.

Power of the ‘Systems’

Recently I read a book called ‘Don’t Waste your Talent’ written by Bob McDonald and Don E. Hutchinson which takes the reader on a journey towards creating their ‘Personal Vision’.

The most poignant message of the book was about how deeply our ‘systems’ affect us and our life choices. They use the word ‘system’ to describe the many social groups we are a part of, like our family, our school, our place of work, the city we live in and so on.

Often we get so caught up in assuming the role our ‘systems’ want or need us to be that we forget to look inside ourselves to ask , “Who do I want to be?” or “What is the role I choose?”

These social systems become structures which heavily influence and in as sense, determine our actions. We don’t want to disrupt the social world by acting in a way that threatens the structure ….right?

Wrong!

I say….

Why not push the boundaries?

Why not step out of our comfort zone?

Why not change the system or the structure everyone else seems to follow?
Sometimes it feels like society writes us a script, and we simply read from it. So are we just followers of everyone else?

Through my work as a coach I see the affect that our ‘systems’ can have, if we let them. It feels like people are programmed by their systems to always take the right “next step” – from going to university after high school to having children after getting married. But is that what we TRULY want?

Perhaps your answer is yes….but don’t just assume it to be YES. Ask yourself. Question the system. Don’t just be a follower.

Take control of your life and get what YOU want out of it.