Theme of the Blog
‘Things I Love’ is a Life-Coaching blog.
Its underlying themes are happiness, self-awareness, and fostering an independent mindset.
In a world inundated by uncertainty, fear, ambiguity, an urgency to overachieve and fit in, we are often left reeling from mental exhaustion and feeling insignificant or excluded just because we do not fit the mould. Therefore, it is imperative to find ways in which we can be our true selves and feel good about it.
‘Things I Love’ is about searching for answers to our fears and doubts from within, by the self-observation of mind, body and spirit. It is about finding drive and creating your own happiness-reality, no matter the conditions you are in
‘Things I love’ is about understanding and appreciating our uniqueness. It is about the ability to live consciously (being present and aware of our thoughts & emotions) and deliberately (intentionally guiding our thoughts & emotions).
‘Things I love’ is knowing that we have a choice of response to everything in life, and that our reactions and behaviour in certain situations should not be influenced or programmed. It is about the ability to live consciously through the ordinary little bits and pieces of our lives that warm the heart and make us smile. It is about focusing on feeling good about being us.
Be Still
I tried different tactics to feel good about being me… like being a people pleaser or part of the popular pack. However, none of these things brought me the true joy I sought and happiness seemed elusive.
An autoimmune disease diagnosis 14 years ago, shocked me into stillness. It laid bare the fickleness of life. In the quietness, I listened to and heard the world around me and myself much more. I paid more attention to what my mind focuses on and what I talk about. I made happiness a priority.
From this introspection and Life Coaching, I found that I had spent most of my life waiting for something else to happen, wishing I were somewhere else, or doing something different. This discovery alarmed me. To help me put my life into perspective, I re-read Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot.
The thought that I could spend the rest of my life WAITING for something that I knew not and which may never arrive to be happy, scared me. I promised myself to start enjoying ‘the here and now for tomorrow might be too late’. I made a vow to stop postponing happiness.
Consciously and deliberately, I began to pay attention to the small, mundane and ordinary things in my daily life that I had taken for granted. When my attitude towards these little things shifted to one of appreciation, my general feeling was uplifted and characterized by happiness.
Acknowledging and openly expressing this, has given me a feeling of well being. Writing about it is an added bonus of self-expression. The writing space affords me the opportunity to explore, create and make my mistakes.
‘Things I Love’
Through ‘Things I love’, I will share a variety of ordinary and simple things that help me tap into my positive energy. I will show you how they link to my emotions through memories of past experiences and awareness of the present day. There is always a story behind the story.
These ordinary things have been the directional compasses in my journey of self-searching, finding me, and making peace with me. I will show you how these things help me to reflect, learn life lessons, and break self-imposed barriers. Through these ordinary things, I have come to appreciate the symbiotic coexistence of the positives & negatives in my life that is central to a balanced life!
I will be open about my experiences so that you may find inspiration to start or continue on your journey of happiness.
I hope that by reading my stories, you will be encouraged to find the space for reflection so that you too can attain inner calmness and a more balanced perspective of life, no matter your circumstances.
“Change the way you look at things & the things you look at will change”
-Bill Burridge (New Insights Africa)