To be and feel strong, what does this mean to you?
Fearless?
Resilient?
Courage?
Survival through hard times?
The absence of fear, anxiety or feeling afraid?
Most of equate strength with the tough nuts and hard asses, those with a good game face and an ability to fearlessly tackle everything including the stuff that would break the best of us into a hard sweat.
But have you considered that strength has many forms? Sometimes it is being vulnerable, soft, kind, compassionate, empathic. Sometimes being strong is to feel fear or anxiety and show up anyhow, to be afraid and decide to try because something says you can do it.
I see strong people every day in my world, they have fears and anxieties and yet decide to shine their light and be seen regardless; they ‘do’ despite being afraid. They don’t feel strong and yet I see someone of amazing strength right there in front of me that inspires me to the centre of my being.
Often the weak and vulnerable person that you see in the mirror, is a pillar of strength and inspiration to those around you. Your perceptions of yourself can be so different to that of others….for a moment, can you see yourself through someone else’s eyes?
Life scares a lot of us; it is important to remember this. Its like this epic balance of being afraid,, controlling things and staying stuck and challenging yourself with new things, still being terrified but living life.
It takes strength to be true to yourself, which sometimes requires saying no. It takes strength to be a person of your word, it takes strength to make changes, it takes strength to buck the norm and live differently to what society dictates. It takes strength to be open and honest and ‘soft’. It takes strength to throw yourself in because it feels right.
Living free is kinda scary!
To me strength is the person that keeps forging forwards at their own pace into the things that ask us to be more, to grow more and that scare us a little. Every one of us has a different set point, but the fact that you keep showing up and striving to be more shows great courage and strength.
Last night my boyfriend Garron asked me did I know what the Butterfly Effect was. I said I thought I did and asked was it something to do with a small action potentially creating a great one. He nodded and went on to describe to me how something so delicate as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can create something so powerful as a hurricane on the other side of the world. Like wow.
To clarify the butterfly effect, in chaos theory is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.
The term, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the metaphorical example of the details of a tornado (the exact time of formation, the exact path taken) being influenced by minor perturbations such as the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly several weeks earlier. Lorenz discovered the effect when he observed that runs of his weather model with initial condition data that was rounded in a seemingly inconsequential manner would fail to reproduce the results of runs with the unrounded initial condition data. A very small change in initial conditions had created a significantly different outcome.
Garron then voiced his concerns about could the Microsoft data storage systems under the North Atlantic Sea change our environment through a series of small effects on the local water temperature; its very own butterfly effect. We don’t know, we are only throwing about ideas and theories but his words today resonated through my conscience as I ran in the hills. As I let my thoughts wander guided by my feet on mother earth, our recent conversation came into my thoughts.
Could something so small as the heat generated from this data storage centre (created to be environmentally helpful!) do something to change our whole pattern of climate, the directions of the wind, the currents of the ocean; could that small subtle change in the temperature of the sea have an effect on the rest of our planet?
I don’t know enough but I do know that there is a delicate balance in our world and as humans we keep pushing that beyond the point of rebalance and without a doubt in my mind my feelings are, that there will be consequences.
As I mentioned, I went running today. It was a soul run; a “called to nature” run and I went far farther than instructed by my training plan. Some days when given the nudge there is somewhere I am supposed to run, and some insights I am supposed to be given; and this was one of those days.
Wise wise words gifted to me yesterday from the sacred light space….I have amended them slightly for ease of reading.
Live
Stop being in such a rush; you are missing it; all of it: the birds, the smell of the flowers, the trees. One day you wont be able to touch them anymore.
Be wary of being too busy.
A smile.
Hello how are you?
Stop in the street; what are you rushing for?
There is a few people that will stop and give you time, and we don’t even see the ones that do. Don’t stop being the one that gives the time because there WILL be one person that notices and for them that will make all of the difference.
DON’T QUIT
Don’t quit on what you believe in. It matters. People will get it. Sometimes it’s a slow burner; Rome wasn’t built in a day. Not everyone can see you for what you can do for them; but that shouldn’t mean you quit on your dreams and calling.
Take responsibility for your pain and troubles; don’t leave it too late. Don’t run from being responsible for your worries.
People run all their lives; that’s often all we ever do: run. Run away from, and run away into things that aren’t good for us.
There is only a few people in our life that really matters and yet we place all the importance on the ones that don’t actually matter; (that) don’t actually give a shit. Worry about the ones that do give a shit, worry about what they say. Listen. Pay attention. They have advice and they know you; the rest, they couldn’t give a f*** they’re just trying to make money, bleed you dry.
GIVE PEOPLE THE TIME OF DAY.
It’s not easy to do that when people never seem to appreciate you, but for the one in 100? They do, and then one and a hundred grows to one in 99, to one in 98, and soon you reach 1 in 10 and people start to value you. But don’t let that get to your head, because people then start to put you in the “I give a shit what he thinks box” and then you can run away with yourself.
Don’t let your gift to help become the sword of ego…
Stay true, stay true to your values, stay true to the person (that) you were before everything got big. That takes work.
WE ARE SO F*****G BLIND.
We don’t see what we have, we want what the neighbour has, we don’t stop and appreciate what is our side of the fence.
And all it takes is being aware, a simple change in mindset and you have abundance, you have wealth, you have love, you have everything that you could possibly dream of. And all we give a crap about is what another person has.
STOP
Don’t let it matter anymore. Take the weight off your shoulders, live, breathe, give, no expectations, nothing needed in return, it will come. We often don’t see how; but it’s there in the universal balance: something, someone, somehow, we will be taken care of.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, don’t get lost, don’t get distracted, keep your focus on what matters. You live in a world of absolute information overwhelm, and yet there is so very little that forms the basic truth of how it all works, and what really matters.
LET THE MIRACLES UNFOLD.
The miracles will take care of themselves. Just pay attention and listen and you will know what you need to be doing in the moment to make that difference, that nudge, that kick, that push, that pull, that pause; that is all it takes from you.
And so few can hear those words, because it seems too simple and yet simple is so bloody impossible for most. Keep being the nudge, keep being the push, keep being the pull, keep being the peace, keep being the pause. It will be noticed; eventually and it will make a difference.
THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR.
Fill your heart with it while you can; it’s so precious. (I got utterly overwhelmed feeling these words. Like a sudden gush of insight into all that is so beautiful around me). Every moment, every bird, every flower, every tree and it’s gone in a flash. Breathe it in.
That’s life, that’s beauty, that’s miracles: how the Seasons return time and time again and we often don’t even notice. Be the one that notices the miracle of life, the cycle, the circle, the return.
BE THE ONE.
Be the one who feels so fragile that it’s just there in front of you and can be taken in a moment; but that will make you live, that will make you breathe every breath like your last.
Say sorry, apologize, let go of needing to be right, it doesn’t really matter.
What’s right? What’s wrong? Who decided?
The truth is a feeling, honesty is a behavior; be true, be honest, be humble, and breathe every last breath, fight every last breath.
Everyone is busy let’s face it; the world is fast, life is fast, stress is fast, thoughts are fast. And when life isn’t fast we all seem to be getting sucked into and distracted by social media. Where is the mind and soul down-time?
This is not good for us; it is not good for our mental health, our energy, our sanity or our happiness.
There is a very simple solution and that is to start developing the discipline to limit the distractions and to make time to jump on the opportunities for a peaceful space.
signpost of the day!
Impossible I hear you mutter, I don’t have time to hide myself under the stairs. Perhaps not, but I am betting that somewhere in your day you can find, perhaps more than once, the moment where you can sink into and create some peace in the storm. I dare you to prove yourself wrong and me right; it’s in your interest!
So the next step is to create the space or place for peaceful moments.
Most often the healing is right there on your doorstep, to be found in the ordinary. If you take awareness to your day a moment’s peace can be almost always carved out. I see people spend insane amounts of money on spiritual quests to foreign shores, taking them away from the lands that speak under their feet – their home turf. Not only this, the time away is very often spent listening to the guidance of another, when it is the wisdom within, and the messages of your heart, that knows you more truthfully than any other. (Hmmm I am guilty of this also, hence the lesson was learnt!).
So, where can you go to find a piece of yourself?
How can you carve out some silence in the daily tasks?
Have you read The Four Agreements by Don Miquel Ruiz? It’s a great little book; short, sweet and to the point. It certainly made me ponder many of my flaws and prompted me to work on them.
However this is always far harder in the real world, it is very easy to put ourselves in a personal growth and spiritual bubble (i.e. when we are reading the book we are in a calm, peaceful, thoughtful space) but in the fast lane of life we stumble and fumble around. This is as it should be; we are all only human after all. If it was easy, we would have little compassion for others.
One sticking point for many of us is making assumptions, which can then lead to harsh and inaccurate judgements. I see how easily we can slip into this every day.
We tend to jump headfirst in from a gut feeling, or based on someone’s behaviour, actions, or words; or even a feeling that we get about someone before we even meet them. Very few of us delve deeper to get to the core of what triggered us in the first place. Nope we go headfirst in with the assumption and some of us even crediting ourselves on our great skill in summing up someones character.
As a highly sensitive empath this is something that I have had to work VERY hard on; and still am. I am feeling people and their emotions all the time. But I cannot make an assumption on anything because I have grown to be aware that I can be sensing many things around them that can confuse and add layers to the picture I am sensing. For example, I may be around someone and they are angry, like a simmering pot. I could immediately jump to the conclusion that they are an angry person. But what if I am not sensing their anger but the anger that they have been subjected to in their lives. If I sense someone trying to control me or their environment, I could make an assumption that they are controlling but what if they are trying to cling on to the last piece of sanity in an unhappy and abusive relationship? An example for many of us that may not see deeper is the common story of being in the store and subjected to terrible customer service. We could (logically) make an assumption for ever and ever about the person and the store; but what if they just had some bad news or were worried about a loved one ill at home.
Music lifts the soul. In so many profound ways music connects us to heart, soul, memories, and emotions, people we love, have loved and lost, travel destinations, fun crazy nights out, and even more. We all have our music genre go to’s to match our moods. There is healing in music, clarity, energy, escape…..
I could go on, and what I really want to say is don’t belittle the enormity of playing that corny song that you were too cool for school to listen to as a teen…
Try it…..turn it up, be silly, and smile.
This had me smiling today in the car; a song that years ago I would have cringed at.
Walking on sunshine; because hey, it’s just one of those days here!
The past days I have been engaged in the most interesting of conversations with two of my close friends in sport, my fellow Endurance lab coaches, and my amazing boyfriend.
How are we different in how we approach a race/ competition?
What makes us perform better?
What are the driving emotions?
What strategies do we employ to get into the zone and attack a race?
I am more
than
Which is something that my coach Annchen Clarke understand and so plays to my strength and personality (and quirks).
What are our WHYs?
What matters most? The physical body, the mind and mental skills, or even determination and desire?
I am a thinker in my training(I probably drive people nuts); I really push into the gritty parts of what, why, how, and beyond. I want to toss the principles of it all around, the physiology, biochemistry, endocrinology, musculoskeletal and neurology pieces, what is happening, how can I improve and make my training time count the most, how does this apply to nutrition and health, and even more fascinating to me, how can I grow the strength of my mind; mental skills and mindset.
Sport is more than genes, more than talent, and more than just training; it seems to be this fantastic alchemy of the athlete, their body, their mind, their soul and how all of this is nurtured to be at its fittest and strongest.
I am all in to learn more.
I am into my fourth year of the journey now with triathlon and every year I feel I know and am more when it comes to not only me as a person, but me the professional supporting clients. I have learnt so many skills as a result of the goals that I have set at the start of each training year; because growth, learning, being stronger, having more discipline, consistency, curiosity, awareness and more are all on the list of my why’s for why I bother to show up every day and hit the green box in my training.
I guess you could say that training is creating my why’s and giving me no excuses for not applying them. You are either IN or you are OUT.
I know my bigger picture why’s; they are understanding people and supporting them to be all that they are. If I can understand people and the world better, and use all that I have experienced and learnt on my journey to empower you to come alive in health and vitality and happiness than I am happy.
My wish is to see my clients, friends and family, free from worry, pain, fear and all the emotions and road blocks that we set in our path blocking us from living a life that is free and flowing. If I can provide the nudge; and hand hold the first steps….imagine then…..
Today is June 26th 2018; we are in the midst of the most fantastic and glorious weather; an Irish “heatwave”.. I was up early and took the dog out for my run repeats into Annaholty bog.
There is no better place than nature to remind you of the deeper whys.
I was reminded today of the absolute privilege that it is to be healthy, to have freedom, to be fit, and to live in the most beautiful place in the world (when the sun shines!). This is my soul filled, this is my heart happy; this is me just being me.
I have linked some photos at the end.
I want you to think about your why’s.
Contemplate your why’s for sport, your why’s for health, your why’s for work, your why’s in life… sometimes we all need a nudge to reconnect to what is driving us and where we wish to arrive. It is not enough to get out of the bed and merely react all day; this will not satisfy our core being. Spend a moment to contemplate this; play around with the ideas and thoughts that come to you, observe and be curious. The energy of our whys can also differ greatly whether we are talking about work, sport/ health, or life. But remember, the strengths and skills gained in one area of our life can be pulled over and transferred into others. If you are feisty and committed in sport, why not in the corporate world and so on.
Understand that your whys also change and evolve as you grow. Where you are going is a place that feels good, it calls us, it draws us out of our fears and limiting beliefs. It asks us to be more. What are your why’s?
Get a pen to paper, or go for a walk or long run, play music, or simply sit under a tree and let your why’s unfold. Don’t try too hard.
My 800 speed track passed many confused farmers turning turf
Views across Annaholty bog
Bog tracks
Bog cotton
Annaholty bog
Horsetail
Turf
Turf
Beautiful Keeper Hill in the distance
Happy Trinity
Don’t forget that we all race our own race, ultimately.
Many athletes get stuck in the belief that MORE is better.
But we all have our own pace, distance and ways to challenge ourselves.
For some people merely getting out of bed pain free, or walking a kilometre is a miracle achievement.
Don’t measure yourself against others,
but by what you are capable of.
How we start the day tends to dictate how the rest of the day will continue; so this makes your morning routine the most important part of your day.
With your bigger picture goals in mind; take some time in the morning to start in a positive, focused, happy, and grateful mood. Build your energy with your morning routine rather than deplete it.
I want you to spend a little time pondering this. What do you do first in the morning, how does this make you feel, do you start the day reacting? Or being proactive? Do you know what you strive to achieve? Most of us have a good idea about what work, home and family stuff we must get done, but have you considered how your diet, training, and mindful space is going to be slotted in to the day?
It is good to have a rough plan; its ok to not achieve everything on the list, but having a draft in mind for what you wish to achieve, and what you must get done, means that generally it will happen at some point soon in time.
Why? Because the intention is set to achieve these things; and your subconscious is a pretty neat thing and so long as your goals are aligned with the direction that you wish to go then you will get there (sometimes the universe has its own route and schedule; this is ok too! Be open to diversions; these add substance to our whys).
I am not saying that you don’t have to put the work (action) in, as well as the planning (dreaming), but you need to know where you are going each and every day in order to get there. You also need to be aware of what habits and patterns sabotage your day.
Word of advice, don’t focus on the THERE, as much as you throw yourself in to enjoying EVERY PART OF THE PROCESS, the things that you write on your list of do’s are what build you and grow you; the foundations…. your list is the ‘life’ stuff; not the ‘have to’ stuff.
What does a perfect start to the day look like?
My day always starts best when I ignore the phone, enjoy a nice coffee, scribble my inspirations and thoughts into my journal, and write my list of the things I wish to achieve in the day. Funny, mine isn’t a to do list, it is a “what do I want to get done” list. There is a big difference; one is a chore, the other feels like a choice.
I aim to avoid social media and the news in the morning; I am only moderately successful and the avoidance of this intrusion into my morning head space is definitely linked with my mood going forwards.
I work daily to manage social media, rather than it manage me. In my observations social media creates a reactivity to my day, it scatters my brain, pushes me into an endless loop of feeling I must research xyz in relation to health, sports, and medicine as it hits me from various Twitters, LinkedIn, and Facebook posts, and basically changes my focus from what I want to achieve into a mindless scramble down a rabbit hole. It is also tiresome and frequently heavy in energy. Have you ever arrived at work pissed off just because of some argument in the invisible realm, or an endless stream of negatives on the 8am news? Generally neither directly relate to you, but you let them impact you; get it?
I WANT to be leading my day from my heart and intuition; not influenced from the outside. So although I need to know what is going on out there; I must also continue in my quest to be discerning. I believe social media to be a prime stress in our current lives. Be mindful of how much time you waste on it, how it influences your mood and how it pulls your strings.
Many peeps start the day listening to the news and reading the new-stream; how does this make you feel?
So #1 in a perfect start to my day, is ignoring my phone until I am ready to start work.
The best coffee of the day, is the first coffee. No coffee after this is the same! I enjoy my coffee, with the kitchen door open to let the day in. This happens pretty much year round; I scribble my journal, and write my day’s list. This may not happen every day; but the days I do are always the better for it.
So #2 in my perfect day is spending a moment with a pen in my hand and my thoughts in a flow.
My training is important to me, so I do this early in the day and before work; this sets me up, allows me quiet time in my mind which is crucial for me, and improves my energy for working with clients. I also sleep better when I train early.
I don’t know about you, the reader, but one gripe that I have with the ‘spiritual’ community is the use of highfalutin lingo, fancy words, posh vocabulary and frankly sometimes, boring overuse of pretentious exclusionary writing (there I did it all in one sentence!).
If you, like me, work with people, and have a heart-felt draw and ass kicked soul to be the healer, carer, supporter and leader for others, if you were gifted a good education; don’t forget who you are trying to reach: E V E R Y O N E.
Keep it simple, speak the language of the soul in simple terms, your presence and intention is truly what makes the difference. Reach everyone, the young, the old, the wealthy and the less fortunate. Soul journey knows no educational or financial boundaries.
Keep it so.
Remember, our desire to be elitist and special, is the ego a knocking to give us some more lessons. This path is full of curious and wondrous lessons; make yours reach many. If your eyes are open, you will see those that your reach must touch. How? Simply as a function of your turning up and living life. And having your eyes and heart open during the simplest of daily tasks; in the shops, on the streets, waiting at the school gates, in the coffee shop, at the checkout. GET IT?
Lead from heart, act in inspiration. Make the ordinary touch people with extraordinary.
Journeys in Healing 