September Dreams

The above is of where I am writing this as we speak - how gorgeous is this office??!

Unfortunately, the holiday I was envisioning for the Swiss experience has been hijacked with the preparation of the birthday celebrations! Its been fun still, but the days have been filled with doing rubbish trips, shopping missions, cleaning the house, organising everything and assembling IKEA furniture... We've still been trying to do it with grace and gratitude and thanks that we are in this lovely environment, but I've not really given myself the opportunity to sit, dream and plan!

But I have put time aside to look at my September dreams. A few will be carried over from August, but I am also realistically prepared to carry some over to October as September is looking a very busy month with returning to Sydney on the 16th, finishing work and all that entails for the 24th while celebrating farewells and Steering Committee meetings and a few other things in my first week back in Aussie land. Regardless here is September!

1. Celebrate Mum and Dad's birthdays (6th and 7th Sept) and enjoy the time with all the guests coming.
2. Enjoy family trip to Germany for the 10-yearly Passion Play in Oberamergao.
3. Organise and finalise Christmas trip dates.
4. Celebrate one year anniversary with the Man on the 19th Sept!!!
5. Organise and finalise living arrangements in Sydney
6. Steering Committee Meetings and organising online SC
7. Prepare thank yous and farewells to Staff and Students
8. Start looking at potential business set up with home building
9. Give and facilitate women's talk on finance at work on my last day!
10. Work out a personal routine for new work/life set up.
11. Start Transition plans to 10thousandgirl
12. Set up amazing home work space
13. Continue the Success Principles.

So, looking back at my August dreams, I was perhaps being overly ambitious with a few, especially in regards to my dreams associated with home as I was away and busy with work! So what did I achieve?

1. Enjoy weekly date night and quality time with The Man; DONE!
2. Get started on Jack Canfield's The Success Principles: How to get from where you are to where you want to be. Read and implement at least 1 per week; DOING,I'VE DONE MORE READING THAN IMPLEMENTING
3. Organise, facilitate and enjoy the 10thousandgirl Steering Committee Monthly meetings; DONE FOR THE SYDNEY COMMITTEE
4. Experience and celebrate Melissa and Julian's wedding and festivities in Perth; DONE!
5. Savour family and friends time in Perth; DONE!
6. Plan for, pack and set intentions for Dad's Birthday Europe trip (leaving 27th August 2010) DONE!
7. Create and buy Dad's birthday presents; IN PROGRESS
8. Start handing over job responsibilites to Successor at work; DONE
9. Regularly Journal and Blog my experiences; I'M GETTING BETTER AT THIS
10. Start transition to 10thousandgirl with plans and personal set up; NOT YET
11. Organise a fabulous wardrobe space; NOT YET
12. Set up amazing home work space; NOT YET
13. Set up workable personal routine; NOT YET
14. Ensure I'm spending enough quality time with myself... TRYING TO!

Swiss Arrival

Being in a foreign country can be like being in a land of magic. You tend to look at everything new with awe and wonder. If only we could be more like this in our everyday.

I’ve just looked at the outside thermometer and it is showing 2 degrees centigrade as the rising sun has just peeked over the alps to the left of me. Im sitting on the balcony of our Chalet Edelweiss, hearing the somewhat unflattering sounds of construction in this otherwise tranquil setting.

What a wonderful office to be working in, looking into the valley, seeing the old traditional Swiss Chalets and gazing upwards at the beautiful mountain range called the Dents du Midi (another somewhat unromantic name, translating to Teeth of the South!).

So, a recap of my Swiss Sojourne so far…

• Pretending that I understood everything the customs officer was saying to me after seeing I have a german passport…
• Arriving in Zurich and realising my mobile is not working. So attempting to call the family on a credit card payphone (which I haven’t used in years; when was the last time you used a payphone?!) to let them know I’ve arrived and that I would be catching the next train (then checking my bank statement to realise that the 3 minute conversation cost me $34AUD).
• Catching the 9.43am train instead of the 9.13 train and having to make up my connections as I went – so it ended up that I had to lug all my baggage on 4 different trains to get to Aigle train station where the family picked me up.
• What a wonderful thing European train rides are. And what picturesque country side Switzerland has. My train experience gave me:
• The gorgeous sight of vineyards by the lakeside
• Stretches of glorious green grass and lakeside abodes with Swiss flags on the embankments
• Christmas trees planted everywhere with impressive buildings on hilltops
• Red flowers in flowerpots on every balcony and window
• Everyone on a bike looking like they are competing in the Tour de France
• A man in a suit fishing by the lake. They sure dress differently en Suisse for a fishing trip!
• Swiss Cows
• Speaking in numerous languages in my head, preparing myself to ask the conductor a question in either French or German if he didn’t speak English
• Eavesdropping on conversations around me, piecing together a probably more riveting conversation than is actually going on
• Driving straight from the train station to do some food shopping. I’d forgotten how fantastic the cheese range here is. There is so much more than just Cheddar in the refrigerated departments!
• Then finally arriving at our true home, Chalet Edelweiss and knowing the my30 year old towel linen bed was waiting for me…

Awww, what a pleasure it is to be here!

Dreams in August

Well...It's already half way through August, but I thought I'd still post my August Dreams.

I've written these dreams out on a piece of paper and put them in my organiser so I can refer to them often and see what my over-arching priorities for the month are, which then guide my daily activities.

1. Enjoy weekly date night and quality time with The Man;
2. Get started on Jack Canfield's The Success Principles: How to get from where you are to where you want to be. Read and implement at least 1 per week;
3. Organise, facilitate and enjoy the 10thousandgirl Steering Committee Monthly meetings;
4. Experience and celebrate Melissa and Julian's wedding and festivities in Perth;
5. Savour family and friends time in Perth;
   
6. Plan for, pack and set intentions for Dad's Birthday Europe trip (leaving 27th August 2010)
7. Create and buy Dad's birthday presents;
8. Start handing over job responsibilites to Successor at work;
9. Regularly Journal and Blog my experiences;
10. Start transition to 10thousandgirl with plans and personal set up;
11. Organise a fabulous wardrobe space;
12. Set up amazing home work space;
13. Set up workable personal routine;
14. Ensure I'm spending enough quality time with myself...

So those are my August dreams! I am excited about doing them all!
Wow, I have to say that looking at life in this way does focus my attention. It also seems a little exhausting but so many of them are incredibly rewarding and important tasks. And I think it is okay for me to say I am feeling a little tired and that some rewards are definitely warranted for myself (though, I did spoil myself already today with a session at the beautician - pleasure and pain with waxing, a facial and an amazing massage thanks to Jamilla at Advanced Beauty Leichhardt)...

Photo Credit

I love this Blog

One of the only blogs I currently follow (and have followed for a few years now) is Kimberly Wilson's musings at her Tranquility du Jour blog

I can't describe how much she lifts me up. When I am feeling down or stagnant I read one of her posts and it gets me out of myself and focussed on something often wonderful.

She has a wonderful way of looking back and reflecting on her accomplishments, of looking forward at her myriad of tasks and events and infusing tranquility into her now. I really want to take a leaf out of her book and try to do this in my crazy life.

I know I often crash my way through my week, trying to be organised and trying to hit all my targets but I really rarely sit down and allow myself to see what i've actually done.

I also really love planning my week, but rarely stick to the priorities or refer back to the plan! How crazy is that?!

There are definitely small changes that can be made that will drastically increase my effectiveness.

So this week I am going to start focussing on a few things:

• Daily journalling - first thing in the morning (Hello Morning Pages! Remember me?!)
  
• More regular sharing - every couple of days
  
• Plan, then take action from that plan - refer to it every morning and evening to plan priorities and check things off. Ensure I am making time for things I love rather than all the things I feel obligated to do (reminder to self! do not overcommit self!!!)
  
• Make time to look back at what I've accomplished, big and small, fabulous and mundane. - make time on Sunday morning to look back on the week and look forward to next week
  
• Keep reading Stephanie Dowrick's Choosing Happiness: Life & Soul Essentials. - I'm putting it my handbag and grabbing snippets when I can

Let's see how I go!

I have to make it as I design!
x

There was a Hiaitus...

Well, there was certainly a hiaitus of me posting here. I guess I was allowing my life to take over and I was allowing myself to be dragged backwards and forwards, left and right without taking action with the things that truly matter to me.

I guess that is a challenge for all of us. Trying to keep focussed on what we want while existing in a world that tries to distract us with the short term good and not so good.

So I've started making the time to journal again and creating the time to get inspired and creating the space to do the things I enjoy.

So I'm back... I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't blog every day, though I'm going to try to make it a habit. Journalling is very personal but I think there are things that are powerful if shared. No one might read this...but at least I'm getting it out there. And maybe one day this blog will be read and I might share my exciting, my mundane, my insights, my celebrations and my occasional humour. I guess its not PC but I do laugh at myself and with myself sometimes...