I was speaking with a lovely lady a little while ago and she was wondering if it was all going to be worth it, if she ditched her job and landed herself with the dream.
She said one of her fears was stepping out, making a big move overseas and then facing 'the same old sh*t.'
Honestly? The answer is - no. And yes.
Read MoreAs we see terror attacks and tragedies, it starts to make even the most optimistic among us question: What is the answer?
The Dalai Lama said: "The world will be saved by the Western woman." I like to translate this to: "The world will be saved by woman, and Western women are positioned to do this easily at this time."
Read MoreImage my own.
In the last few weeks, I've felt a momentous TIDE of change.
I've moved in to a new home, a beautiful apartment here in Devon. This has been a huge lesson in trust for me - receiving my desires manifested physically and I'm so excited to support myself in a gorgeous new environment with more space and new energy.
I've spent a refreshing few days at my 'other' home in Vicenza, Italy, feeling into what my relationship with Italy looks in the future, reconnecting with my friends, letting myself speak the language more easily than I had done before and enjoying some yummy coffee and going on a midnight hunt for an gelateria that was still open....
I'm back to Italy this week!
It's the route that's become familiar to me now - BA flight then train to Vicenza, where I lived last year. I have pizza with my housemate planned, then a trip to see the girls at the spa and beauty salon I go to in town, probably a little shopping trip with one of my friends and at least a couple of mornings sipping coffee in the main piazza or people watching with a gelato.
What do you do with a chronic condition that stops you from feeling your most alive?
It may not be anything big. A twinge you have, that you realised has become constant. An ache.
Oh, you say, I have this weird pain in my [enter body part].
Image by Benjamin Coombs. Used under a creative commons zero licence.
When we step away from the established path, or usual ways of behaviour, (or European Unions) we open ourselves up for something new.
In choosing change we give ourselves opportunity for growth. And growth requires this funny kind of stretching. (Stretching in an upwards direction).
Read MoreImage by Nicholas Swanson. Used under a creative commons zero licence.
I've been having so much fun meeting some of you IN PERSON - firstly at the Escape the Rat Race meetup a couple of weeks ago and for my workshop on Saturday.
After my talk, one of the audience members shared that after hearing a story of someone else's journey or going to an event like the meetup, she felt really inspired. But then the feeling of inspiration faded and she would get stuck again.
She wanted to know how to create the consistency of feeling energised and excited.
I’ve spent time over the last week and a half interviewing women around leadership: how they identify as leader, what’s important as a leader and what challenges they find or have found in being leader.
The most prevalent answer or theme that KEPT coming back was about integrity.
Read MoreThis week I thought I would do something a little different....as it's nearly the end of the year (and Christmas!)
On Thursday morning it's market day here in Vicenza...so I put together a little video so you can see a little of a winter morning for me in Italy looks like...
So how do you feel about money? Is it driving your decision to stay where you are?
Are you staying stuck because you're afraid that making a change will mean you somehow 'misspend' your money or even lose it all?
Image by Rodion Kutsaev. Used under a creative commons zero licence.
It’s about what your heart is saying to you.
Whispering, maybe. Faint maybe.
In a cupboard under the stairs, locked away, hidden, bruised, hurting, in pain, longing, whatever state it’s in.
Where your heart lies, there your treasure is.
Read MoreImage by Jordan Sanchez. Used under a creative commons zero licence.
I started this journey, thinking it was just about finding a job that I loved.
I quit the graduate training scheme I was on (having sat the exams and leaving my job before even finding out the results) because I had decided that following my dreams and trying to make myself happy was more important than what the company needed (and because I spent tea breaks crying in the toilets).
Read MoreImage by Lechon Kirb. Used under a creative commons zero licence.
We all have those days when everything just goes a bit haywire and we find ourselves in a spin.
What do you do when you're feeling confused about what's happening and slightly crazy?
Here's my top three practices to getting myself back on track, with perspective and feeling myself again.
Read MoreImage my own.
La dolce vita took a little rain check one day this week.
The apartment I’m staying in at the moment dates from 1937. That makes it pretty old.
And the guy who runs it (and lives here) knocked on my door on Wednesday evening, just as I was about to Skype in with my accountability group.
Read MoreImage my own.
It makes it easier to part with possessions when you know that you have to carry them up four floors because the Italian apartment you’re staying in has no lift. I’d shed more since I arrived in Italy, giving away what I knew I didn’t need. Carrying books around for 3 months, on numerous train journeys does beg the internal question: How much do I really want these?
Read MoreImage by Jeff Sheldon
This time last year, whilst still in my job, I realised how much my home environment had an effect on how I felt. I lived in a beautiful, spacious flat in one of the most desirable areas of London, but my ‘stuff' was closing in on me.
Have you ever wanted to be Mary Poppins: just click your fingers and it all go away?
Read MoreWho is on your Christmas gift list?
In amongst the wrapping and unwrapping, the eating and drinking and singing, I encourage you to ask yourself what you really want to give yourself as a gift as we near the end of 2014.
Read MoreYou may be finding your current work a big challenge right now but there are lots of opportunities to use this time to position yourself best for when you do leave. Not only is it a great way to feel better about the current situation which may be driving you crazy, but learning to think in this way, viewing where you are now as an opportunity rather than a problem, will stand you in good stead once you make the leap from your current work to your new life.
Read MoreWhat is power?
A surging force that pushes its way through time and space.
A raging storm, wind whistling and rain hurtling itself against a window. Thunder growling through the district.
Angry, salty waves and wind, fighting for attention, their white tips foaming at the mouth as the sea’s great game with itself unfolds.
Read MoreWhat is this very moment - the one we're in right now - like for you?
In his book, The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle describes how we are not truly present when we are thinking about the future. We are not being, we ARE not when we are thinking about 'what’s happened' or 'what’s going to happen'. We cannot be present, and we are missing life; it’s passing us by.
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