Tag Archives: self care

Small Steps and A Pep Talk For Hard Days

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“Small steps may appear unimpressive, but don’t be deceived. They are the means by which perspectives are subtly altered, mountains are gradually scaled, and lives are drastically changed.” 
~  Richelle E. Goodrich

 

As most of you know, I am recovering from illness right now.

I’ve just finished two months of bed rest and am slowly easing myself back into life again. Luckily I’ve found my sweet spot. About three hours of work a day right now is all I can manage. Three hours gives me enough left in the tank for a walk on the beach, for cooking healthy meals, for meaningful connection with my loved ones and for self-care.

Any more than three hours and exhaustion creeps in. If I overdo it and go crazy at my desk I am useless for the next two or three days. Pacing myself is essential. And it is for you too, my friends.

The first six months of this year have been intense. They have required so much from us as we unstick ourselves from the mud, face what needs to be faced, heal what needs to be healed, and attend to all the things that have been holding us back. Because that’s what growth is all about. Sometimes we have to clean up the mess first before we can really start on new things on earnest. The only way you can do that is to put one foot in front of the other.

On January 1 this year I chose a tarot card as guidance for the year ahead. The card was Prince of Disks. The wisdom of this card is all about how taking small steps matters, even though small steps may seem decidedly unsexy and unimpressive when viewed in isolation. But of course, over time small steps add up to big shifts forward. (You can read more about my forecast for 2017 here. )

The energies of the second half of this year are much less intense, much more expansive and creative and allowing. But the small steps rule still applies.

You may feel like you’ve done nothing this year. Perhaps in relation to your bigger goals, dreams and projects that’s true. I can guarantee you though that you’ve been working anyway. Clearing the mess. Dealing with life’s dramas. Sorting out the priorities life has put in front of you. So don’t despair and don’t give up. Use July as your fresh start. Start over. Begin your plans again. Pick up whatever you had to put down when it all got too much. Keep making small steps. Small steps are all you will ever need. (more on July energies here)

As to pacing yourself?

If your life is so crazy that you have no time for yourself, if you are exhausted all the time, if you are resentful of any more demands being made of you – even by loved ones, then it’s time to pace yourself. Work out your sweet spot and stick to what you can manage. It’s always a diminishing return anyway once you move past happily productive and into exhaustion.

If there’s no way to slow down then seriously consider getting off that particular merry-go-round. Life is too short, and you are too precious to work yourself into an early grave for no good reason.

Above all, lovelies, be gentle with yourselves. You’re recovering from a great intensity too. Kindness and self care are magical medicines for care-worn souls.

Much love to you from my little sanctuary here at the farm, Nicole <3 xoxo

Stones, Crystals and Meditation Magic

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“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” ~ Caroline Myss

 

I have long been a meditator. In fact it has been a daily practice for me since adolescence. Even with my recent bout of ill-health I haven’t missed a day. It’s as much a part of my life as sleeping or breathing.

As I was walking along the beach on Monday morning I came upon a particular rock. It’s just a stone. But it holds the energies of the ocean and the earth. It is an anchoring stone. And it comes from Byron Bay, which is a place of great healing and transformation. As I held it in my hand I knew that I would meditate with it, and that this stone would hold those energies in a way that could be transferred to someone else.

Which gave me an idea…

I have decided to dedicate a meditation each day of the month to a chosen stone and a crystal companion. The stone becomes the Anchoring Stone, which helps us to stay grounded, clear and calm, connecting into our bodies, and to the earth and nature. The crystal becomes the Connection Stone, enabling us to connect into our intuition, Higher Self, Guides, Ancestors and the Divine.

I will use the energies of the month to support me as I meditate with intention, infusing the stones with that energy.

Here are the stones I will work with every day in July:

The energies and intention I will infuse into the Byron Bay Beach Rock will be that the holder comes to know and understand their body and how to honour and take care of it to give lasting health and wellbeing. This knowledge will also contribute to a state of inner calm and of self-care.

The energies and intention I shall infuse into the Tasmanian Quartz Crystal will be a deep connection to the user’s ancestral line, intuition, Guides, Angels, the Divine – facilitating a stronger understanding of the user’s individual talents and gifts, and those that have been passed down through their ancestral lineage. All of this will help to give clarity of life path.

My team will devise a new competition each month to enable someone from our Cauldrons and Cupcakes community to win the stones as well as a meditation recorded just for them.

All of the love and energy and intention that I pour into these stones daily will then be available for the user in their own meditation. It’s also okay if you’ve never meditated before. I’ll send you instructions!

I’m so glad that this idea found me, so that the right stones can find you.

We’ll post more details soon.

Hugs and love, Nicole ❤ xoxo

10 Simple Hacks For Creating More ‘Me’ Time

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“In truth I suspect that merely slowing down is not a very satisfying answer. What I need has less to do with my pace of life than my peace of life. At any speed, I crave a deep and lasting inner peace. And if it’s solace I’m after, I don’t need to pace myself like a turtle, change jobs or set up house on a quiet island. It is usually frenetic living, not high energy, that robs my peace of mind.”
~ Steve Goodier

 

Time for ourselves is not some airy-fairy feel good concept. Time for ourselves is as necessary as breathing. It helps us to stay tuned into to who we are and what’s important to us. Time for ourselves recharges our batteries. It fills us with nurture and new ideas. It helps soothe and heal us.

Often it isn’t that we don’t have time, it’s that we’ve become a very low priority in our own lives.

Here are ten simple hacks to reclaim some of your precious time just for you:

1. Take fifteen minutes at the beginning or end of a grocery shopping trip to have a cup of coffee and flick through a magazine at a cafe. I have girlfriends who have become speed shoppers, racing through their chores to get lovely long cafe time as their reward.

2. Sign up for a class one night a week. Not to give yourself yet one more thing to do, but to escape for a while and spend time on something you’d enjoy learning such as dancing, mosaic making, chainsaw ice-sculpture or Italian cooking. Often when we’re home we devolve into house-keeping duties or mindless screen time. Giving ourselves an outing can be refreshing and it invests time in ourselves and our development.

3. Get up half an hour earlier. Spend that time journalling, meditating, busting a few yoga moves, pulling an oracle or tarot card, or planning your day. Enjoy a cuppa, take a big breath and then let the day begin AFTER you’ve had some precious time to yourself. Not sure how to start? Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way has great instructions for Morning Pages. Why not begin there!

4. Turn off the TV tonight. Sit down and write a story. Or a poem. Or a song. Stories fire up our imagination, help us heal the past, and let us dream the future. If you enjoy the process, come back and write some more one night each week. Writing not your thing? Go take a long soak in the tub!

5. Delete or minimise your social media profiles and screen time. Use some of your time saved to go for a walk. You could ramble around the neighbourhood, drive to a park or beach, or wander through the city. You can walk in the morning, evening or even in your lunch break. Breathe. Look. Listen. And feel how your whole soul begins to unwind…

6. Delegate a chore you don’t enjoy.  It could be cleaning, gardening or shopping. You could do it once for a break, or make it a regular thing. Pay someone if you have to, use an online service or use a barter system. Give yourself that saved time. Use your few hours alone to see that movie no-one else wants to see, to go to the Gallery, or to wander through the Farmers’ Markets or the shops you love.

7. Go to bed early with a book. Books are like magical carpets that take you to other places and times.

8. Delete the games off your phones and screens.They might seem relaxing, but in truth they are a huge time suck, and don’t contribute to lowered stress levels or heightened personal satisfaction. Don’t believe me? Commit to a month without them and you’ll see what I mean.

9. Meal Plan and Batch Cook Use one day to plan and prep all the meals for the coming week. Cook large batches of food, such as soups, pasta bakes, bolognese and even vegetable and salad prep for later in the week. Or use a meal provider who can bring pre-prepared meals to your door each week. If you’re up for it, combine doing the laundry and general house-keeping chores with your cooking day to get your home ship-shape before the week ahead. This saves so much time each week! How to use the time saved? Start or recommence a craft or project. Maybe you loved embroidery as a child. Or scrapbooking. Maybe you’ve been thinking about putting a vegetable garden in the back yard, or researching the family tree. Take some time to put your materials together, and then spend a little time each week devoted to this craft or project. Let it become a kind of good medicine in your life.

10. Say NO to something you don’t want to do, and then let the time you would have spent with others be yours alone. How often have you found yourself out with work colleagues or friends, wishing instead that you were home on the couch, watching your favourite show and eating soup and toast in your pyjamas? Your time really is precious. Start saying NO when it feels like duty or hard work, and use that time on something you’d prefer to do!

Your life is precious. Don’t let it slip by without filling some of it with what you love.
You deserve to be a priority in your own life! Holding you in my thoughts, prayers and meditations,

Nicole <3 xoxo

The Healing Medicine of Kindness – Monday Oracle 29 May 2017

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“So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Hello, Lovelies!

Here’s the oracle card I have chosen this Monday, and my take on the energetic outlook for the week ahead. I use any oracle or tarot cards shown as a prompt for channelled messages and my own intuitive wisdom, so my take is sometimes quite different to the meaning found in a book. ‘Service’ is from the Chakra Wisdom Oracle Deck by Tori Hartman.

If you read my forecast for May, you’ll remember that May brings beautiful heart-nurturing energies, helping you to move towards love, forgiveness, inner peace and emotional freedom.

So, what gifts does Service bring for you this week?

Service is not about helping others from a place of duty or obligation. This week, Service reminds us that when we are kind and thoughtful with others we create opportunities for healing, growth and positive change within others and also in ourselves.

Service encourages us to live from love this week. To be kind rather than needing to be right. To forgive. To help. To share. To encourage. To support. To see. To hear.

This is an energy we can flow outward from ourselves to others.

But it is also an energy we can flow inwards to ourselves.

Go back and read that last sentence again.

In fact, it’s so important that I’ll repeat it: Service is also an energy we can flow inwards towards ourselves.

We can be kind with ourselves rather than judgemental. We can forgive ourselves. We can help ourselves. We can give to ourselves. We can encourage ourselves. We can support ourselves. We can truly see and hear ourselves. That’s a powerful gift, and a powerful place from which to create true growth and change.

This is a week for selfless giving, for creating better stories for ourselves and for asking for help – especially from our Ancestors and ‘upstairs’ crew (God, Guides, Angels and so on).

So much can come from an act of kindness or encouragement. Why not try it and see for yourself!

 

Supportive crystals this week?

Rhodonite is great for supporting us to follow our hearts. Green Chrysoprase opens our heart and helps with emotional healing and self acceptance. Amazonite gifts us courage to speak the truth and to act from truth.  Turquoise encourages empathy, compassion and kindness.

Helpful essential oils?

Young Living’s Abundance essential oil blend, or a combination (or singly!) of any of Orange, Geranium, Frankincense and Myrrh. Abundance opens us to the flow of life, helping us to act from a place of love, trust and benevolence. Just rub a drop together in the palms of your hands and then breathe in and wipe through your aura.  Dab a few drops on your wrists or over your heart – its warm, spicy aroma makes it a great perfume or cologne. A few drops in the bath are wonderful too. You may want to dilute with a drop or two of a base oil such a sweet almond or coconut before applying directly to the skin.  It’s my oil of choice in my diffuser this week. You can find all the oils here.

Holding you, as always, in my thoughts, prayers and meditations, and intending for a you a life of abundance and joy, where you are no longer limited by your doubts.

All my love,

Nicole ❤ xx

Is Work Moving You Toward Or Away From What You Want? – Monday Oracle 10 April 2017

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“I tend to be… they say ‘workaholic,’ which I just find to be ‘motivated.’ ”
~ Sarah Hay

Hello, Lovelies!

Here’s the oracle card I have chosen this Monday, and my take on the energetic outlook for the week ahead. I use any oracle or tarot cards shown as a prompt for channelled messages and my own intuitive wisdom, so my take is sometimes quite different to the meaning found in a book. ‘Workaholic’ is from the Chakra Wisdom Oracle Deck by Tori Hartman.

If you read my forecast for April, you’ll remember that April has strong energy for believing in ourselves and reclaiming our direction.

So, what gifts does Workaholic bring for you this week?

This is a week for honestly evaluating how we spend our time.

Ask anyone who truly loves what they do, and they will most likely tell you that they work long hours, that they often wake up thinking about their work, and go to bed still thinking about it too.That’s not workaholism – that’s passion. That’s total engagement with an idea or a vision. Where others might see sacrifice or lack of balance, that person sees only their calling and being in flow with that thing. They are compelled and it adds to rather than subtracts from their lives.

Have you ever lost track of time while doing something you enjoy? That’s the kind of energy I mean.

Some of us work hard because there are bills to pay. We end up working in jobs we hate to pay for things we can’t really afford. Life becomes an endless rat race.

Then there’s work as a drug. Every spare hour is filled with some kind of job. And we are the ones who fill up those hours. This goes beyond being busy. (No, this doesn’t even have to be paid work. I’m just talking busy-ness. Even retirees can experience this.) We sign up for more and more and more. In fact, many of us have grown up believing that this is the measure of a successful person, or at least what it takes to be successful. But is it? This is workaholism – a mind-numbing addiction that is just as deadly as alcohol or drugs – because it keeps us from feeling our feelings and facing whatever it is that we are avoiding. It also ramps up our stress, weakens our bodies, invites illness and destroys lives.

Sometimes we end up in that workaholism space by choice, but often it sneaks up on us. Even people who love what they do can fall into this trap, and then find themselves facing burnout and falling out of love with their dream because they forgot to make it sustainable. Workaholism creates numbness and exhaustion so that we stop asking ourselves if this is what we want, or how we want to work and live, or if we would rather choose something else.

The energy of this week supports you asking yourself that very question. Is this the life I want for myself? Is this the work I want? Is there room in my life for living and doing what I love to do? How do I want to spend my time? What matters to me?

Find some time for yourself this week, and ask yourself those questions. And if you’re not happy with the answers begin to make some changes. Look to simplify your life, to find some time for the things that matter, and for the underestimated joy of just having spare time for living.

 

Helpful essential oils? 

Young Living’s Clarity essential oil blend, or a combination (or singly!) of any of Basil, Bergamot, Cedarwood and Lavender. Clarity essential oil blend promotes focus and clear thinking, but it’s calming and uplifting at the same time. I love this oil, and it’s my oil of choice in my diffuser this week. You can find all the oils here.

Holding you, as always, in my thoughts, prayers and meditations, and intending for a you a life of abundance and joy, where you are no longer limited by your doubts.

All my love,

Nicole ❤ xx

Image from www.blazeyourown.com

Gratitude; A Way to Comfort Ourselves – Monday Oracle 27 March 2017

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“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
~ Oprah Winfrey

Hello, Lovelies!

Here’s the oracle card I have chosen this Monday, and my take on the energetic outlook for the week ahead. I use any oracle or tarot cards shown as a prompt for channelled messages and my own intuitive wisdom, so my take is sometimes quite different to the meaning found in a book. ‘Gratitude’ is from the Chakra Wisdom Oracle Deck by Tori Hartman.

If you read my forecast for March, you’ll remember that March is all about creating systems and structures which make your everyday life more supported and sustainable.

So, what gifts does Gratitude bring for you this week, and how does this fit in with March’s energies?

Let’s be honest. Life can be difficult. It can be a roller coaster. Sometimes we get a run of wonderfully memorable days. Some days it seems we are stuck in an endless cycle of days we’d rather forget.

Gratitude reminds us to keep bringing our heart back to what matters most. Not just in the good times, but the bad times too. Gratitude isn’t about having a positive attitude. It’s about finding the things that can comfort or warm us, despite what else might be happening in our lives.

What matters most to you?

Who matters most to you?

Are you giving enough time to these relationships, causes and activities in your everyday world?

If not, it’s time to rewrite the script of your life so that what matters and what makes your grateful is well represented instead of something that becomes a reward at some distant time in the future after all your to-do list tasks have finally been crossed off.

Be aware too that our vulnerabilities and old hurts, especially those old wounds from childhood, are close to the surface right now. You might find yourself just a little more teary than usual. You might need a little extra quiet time to find your way forward as you finally step away from the past. You might need to break down in order to break through.

Reach out to trustworthy friends or family. Seek help if you need it. Actively work on letting go of what no longer serves you. And of course, in the midst of it all, count your blessings and cultivate gratitude for the things that matter to you in your life.

Surround yourself with what supports you and uplifts you. Do what you can to uplift others. But never at the expense of yourself.

Be gentle with yourself this week.

Supportive crystals this week?

Tourmaline in Quartz will build courage and help you to stand by your choices and decisions. Sodalite will help you to understand and speak your truth. Green Aventurine is the perfect happiness stone, helping to elevate your mood and your sense of gratitude for the everyday. Rose Quartz if you need a boost of love, kindness and nurture.

Helpful essential oils? 

Young Living’s Joy or Believe essential oil blends, or  a combination (or singly!) of any of Bergamot, Basil, Ylang Ylang and Frankincense. The Joy blend is fabulous if you are feeling anxious or uncertain, or a bit sad or stuck. It’s reassuring and uplifting; wonderful for gently shifting depression and self-doubt. I often wear it as a perfume. Believe oil is a super stress-buster that boosts feel-good energies and self-esteem. It smells so uplifting and pretty too. It’s my oil of choice in my diffuser this week.

Holding you, as always, in my thoughts, prayers and meditations, and intending for a you a life of abundance and joy, where you are no longer limited by your doubts.

All my love,

Nicole ❤ xx

Sneaking Back to Bed

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“Laugh, even when you feel too sick or too worn out or tired.
Smile, even when you’re trying not to cry and the tears are blurring your vision.
Sing, even when people stare at you and tell you your voice is crappy.
Trust, even when your heart begs you not to.
Twirl, even when your mind makes no sense of what you see.
Frolic, even when you are made fun of. Kiss, even when others are watching. Sleep, even when you’re afraid of what the dreams might bring.
Run, even when it feels like you can’t run any more.
And, always, remember, even when the memories pinch your heart. Because the pain of all your experience is what makes you the person you are now. And without your experience—you are an empty page, a blank notebook, a missing lyric. What makes you brave is your willingness to live through your terrible life and hold your head up high the next day. So don’t live life in fear. Because you are stronger now, after all the crap has happened, than you ever were back before it started.”
~ Alysha Speer

 

I’ve had a big few days, lovelies.

A big month actually, between having intensive IV therapy to combat my superbug, and doing a load of readings and coaching for clients, and of hand-holding souls at the end of their lives, and of supporting people I care about through hard times.

This morning I woke up after a restless night, did my healing meditation for the world and all my loved ones (that includes you!) and then thought I would write my blog and get onto my avalanche of unanswered emails and messages that keeps growing while I have been busy attending to more urgent matters.

But I changed my mind.

My husband is sleeping in a dark, cool room. Harry dog has snuck up beside him.

And I am still tired.

So I am going back to bed for some more sleep and cuddles with my loved ones.

Because that’s what self-care looks like.

I hope you are looking after yourself too!

Hugs and love, Nicole <3 xx