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Gym lightweight

Place: the gym

Poison: water

Favourite things: podcasts

Here I am at the gym.

I am lightweight baby…

It is a struggle to get out of my car, I zone out and watch tv on the treadmill to make the time go faster, I people watch and think about anything but the pain awaiting.

My husband is a personal trainer, he competed at the world championships for body building and all his hero’s are athletes. Go figure!

Even though it’s a effort, exercising everyday is a huge part of my inspiration effort.

This month of June I have given up watching tv and day one I walk in and am surrounded by tvs…my coping mechanism in this house of torture has been ripped from underneath me.

Step up to the plate.

A thought crossed my mind, go on plug your earphones in, no one will know…

The thing is this lie is not impacting anyone else except me.

My tv fast, is not about tv. My tv fast is not about you…

It’s all about me finding new spaces to engage my mind in fresh places that are normally filled with the news, soapies, morning television and generally just white noise.

So I pulled out my iPhone, loaded up a podcast and settled in for a fresh awakening.

What places in your life are you lightweight baby?

Is it reading?
Is it listening?
Is it cleaning out clutter?
Is it exercise?
Is it eating?

We all have places where excuses replace common sense, we all have secrets that try to ensnare our hearts, we all have traps that tempt us.

Face your places of debt.

Face your moments of fear.

Doesn’t matter if your lightweight baby, pick up your earphones, confront that weakness with truth and create a new path today.

A

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151 days

Place: Bed

Poison: toothpaste

Favourite things: hearing the lullabies play in my sons room.

Tonight after 151 posts, 151 days, two seasons summer and autumn, today I have a little writers block.

Finding something unique to say after 151 posts seems tonight a little difficult but the truth is the more we write, the more we find.

The more we speak, the easier it is. The more we produce the quicker it unveils, the more we create the easier the flow…

Creativity and inspiration definitely thrives in the healthy space of everyday.

Going to the gym is actually easier when you go everyday.

Eating healthy is so much easier when it is a part of your everyday.

Journaling and reading is so much more fulfilling when it happens everyday.

A habit is formed when you do something everyday.

Tomorrow is the first day of winter, it’s the first day of June, it’s the first day of a month…

Why don’t you start something for everyday in June or for a season?

A habit is formed everyday.

As of tomorrow for the month of June I am not watching television.

It sounds pretty simple if you are working full time and out of the house alot.

However with a newborn, who sleeps a lot, who needs to be warm and cosy in this winter season, being at home often is a necessity.

Being at home a lot, means the big black rectangle in our lounge room keeps me company, but fills my mind and my inspiration space with lots of bubble gum for my mind.

It chews up space, but gives me no nourishment or sustenance.

So tomorrow morning at 5am when I am feeding my son, I am going to put music on, light a candle, do anything except flick on the tv and I’m not sure I can do it.

But it just takes one day…that shifts into another day…that moves into that day…that becomes everyday.

My everyday blog commitment is now 151, 215 to go…

A habit is formed by the everyday!

A

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leadership confessions

Place: my desk

Poison: Apple and french earl grey tea

Favourite Things: finishing off creative presents for friends

Today was a little milestone.

A simple one, yet inspiring.

I listened to a podcast for the first time in a couple of years.

Yes, this is my leadership confession.

I believe in the power of education, I believe whole heartedly in learning and the internet has provided a plethora of information for us to digest.

The problem is a few years ago I stood in front of a chasm and I struggled to jump over it.

There were quite a few leaders in my world who started to falter. I watched friends fall down, I questioned acquaintances and their ugly ambition…I was rocked to my core.

Back then I was a John Maxwell groupie, I had the books, went to the conference and brought the t shirt. I listened to every podcast available, I brought the study guide and I wore the long jacket.

Only problem was I was surrounded by fakes. More fakes than a Kuala Lumpur chinatown market. People who said the right things, yet lived a life that showed a shadow life and I found myself walking in their footsteps,

I stood at that chasm and I questioned God. I stood at that chasm and I saw many prayers not being answered. I stood at that chasm and did not throw out my maker but threw away all types of formula.

From my daily routines, my book reading, my false preaching, my long coat wearing, my journal filling. I stopped, took a deep breath for a while and God took me on a humbling journey.

A journey that taught me formula does not equal fulfilment.

A journey that showed me pride definitely comes before a fall.

A journey that implored me to live beyond the three point sermon and to find a new dialogue, a new way.

So I said goodbye to the props I relied upon and went freestylin with my Main Man.

Today my free styling took me back to my iTunes account and my friends the podcasts were found again…I downloaded some wisdom and I listened to a great message and its refreshment for my new season was palpable.

My leadership confession maybe a instigator to remind you to mix up your rhythm or you may want to download a couple of sermons and see what inspires.

No matter your flavour, I think the key lesson learnt is to pursue truth. Don’t rely upon other peoples revelation but seek your own.Podcasts, books, blogs, journals, life coaching, all have their place. Yet they will never replace a fresh, daily journey with a God that meets specifically and uniquely with every single individual.

The question is, Where are you at today?

A

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My Peace cathedral

Place: outside

Poison: French earl grey

Favourite things: this moment

Tonight I just took a photo with my phone and it represents the beauty of my day.

I decided a pj day was in order. Seeking peace through good music, reading and generally just lounging around.

We seek for peace in many places, but often it is right on our doorstep awaiting discovery.

Is it the quiet of your house at lunch on a break?

Is it a park that beacons yet we ignore it’s pull?

Is it the ocean a few steps away that is glistening as the sunsets over its shores?

There are moments of peace that can be awakened.

Where is your cathedral?

There are cathedrals in moments, there are sacred spaces awaiting discovery.

Deep breath, run outside, take a moment and be grateful.

Gratitude awakens this cathedral, peace dwells in its folds.

Watch a bird fly over your moment, focus in on an insect on the floor, peace beacons your attention.

Not everything needs to be hurried.

We don’t all need to rush through life.

Peace is awakened in the present, even as you wash the dishes and reflect on the warmth of the water.

Where is your cathedral?

It’s not made of bricks and mortar…it’s the everyday moments awaiting discovery.

Your cathedral can be in the midst of a cacophony, peace dwells there.

Peace abundant.

Peace

A

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one thousand gifts

Place: my desk

Poison: Water

Favourite Things: Peter Alexander Slippers

I have started reading a new book on my kindle. I happened to fall across it’s existence, whilst sashaying across the web and read a review. It was one of those books that jumped out at me and screamed, you need to read me. Although my bedroom is layered with many books that are on my to do list. This book has jumped right to the top of the pile.

Oh, and how much I needed to read it. It is all about loving the little, everyday moments in your now.

This season has come upon me slowly and I have tried so hard to transition it well. No matter how much effort and time I have put into this new season of novice motherhood, little things sneak up on me and I find my thoughts wandering to a time gone by…

A time when I could go out to dinner and coffee on a whim.

A time when I rushed off in my lunch hour to eat japanese and chat with a friend.

A time when eating out at breakfast was a part of my job and a necessity.

A time when getting dressed was an art and I had no need for a pair of tracksuit pants.

A time when my back grew tight and sore from pumping out emails and project proposals on my computer.

A time when my passport began to grow thin…

It is easy for my mind to remember the exciting times and erase the stress and complexity.

It is easy for me to belittle the care and compassion in my little victories with my 12 week old son.

I am the most content and happy I have ever been in my life, yet I find my heart and mind wandering towards the future asking what next?

This book is challenging me to seek God in my now. Not to try and skip the season I am in and to learn the lesson of gratitude in the minute.

You have thousands of gifts in your everyday, yet in the pursuit of happiness we often skip them completely.

What is a gift in your today?

A long bath with bubbles?

A quiet moment on the couch as everyone in your house slumbers

A coffee made with love at the awakening of dawn

The sound of classical music in your sons room as he sleeps

The smell of a child freshly showered

The moment when a new checkout opens as you wait patiently in line

Comfy slippers worn in my nightly feeds

A hot casserole cooked by someone else on a winter evening

A single candle flickering in the midnight hour

The sound of waves crashing on a seaweed free beach

An extended hug from your little man when he feels slightly under the weather

A simple piece of wisdom from your 87 year old grandmother

The awakening of a new idea for an upcoming project

The smile and knowing look of parents as they peer over his cot

The knock of a crochet hook as a creative present begins to appear

The sense of satisfaction when you see something you have made be worn

Pressing stop on the treadmill after 30 mins and thinking I could go another 5

Cinnamon dusting on the top of my flat white

A piece of fresh bread with butter snuck whilst waiting for dinner

Fresh sheets shared

Flicking through a magazine of colour and putting it back on the shelf

Savouring a good book in comfy pyjamas

My list goes on and on…

What is a gift in your today that you are overlooking in desperation to find out the tone of tomorrow?

God, give me the serenity to stay content in today, but have the capacity to still dream for tomorrow and to celebrate the little things that make the journey full of peace.

A