life Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Embrace The Ick

January 28, 2015 inspiringmax

Think of something that truly repulses you. Hold that thought until your skin squirms. Now, write a glowing puff piece about its amazing merits.

Fortunately for me I don’t have anything that truly repulses me. The closest I come to is anything requiring or pertaining to surgery. I am a mental health nurse not a general nurse, so anything greater than a bit of blood or a few stitches required, needs to be managed quickly. Then I hand the problem over to someone who knows what they are doing quickly and watch. Medical shows on television are usually always on at my dinner time and they are the worst— as for some reason, they like to show the gory details. I am brave however, and force myself to watch so I can learn something.

When I do need to deal with something icky, I breathe deeply and l keep in the present moment. By being mindful, I get the job done quickly. I put on my professional hat and even if it is at home, I use the experience to improve my knowledge and embrace the ick—even if the knowledge I want to improve is a fascinating icky story to tell at a later date around a camp fire.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/embrace-the-ick/

Create Yourself

January 23, 2015 inspiringmax

It is now more than half way through the first month of 2015. How are your New Years resolutions or goals going? One way to help them happen is to take control and create a plan.

The more one understands and is guided by the above George Bernard Shaw quote, the easier success will be. Let’s look at difference between the two key words—find and create.

According to dictionary.com Find means

to come upon by chance
to locate or recover
to discover or perceive after consideration

Create however means

to cause to come into being
to cause to happen to evolve from one’s thought or imagination as in a work of art or invention

The way I see it, using the word create infers that you are empowered, taking control and ensuring your New Year’s resolution or goal happens. The word find has a more hit and miss feel. While the result may be the same, I believe the more direction one puts into achieving goals—the greater the chance of success.

For me—I plan 2015 to be the year I complete my dream of becoming a published author. To achieve this goal I decided to follow George Bernard Shaw’s advice. I created opportunities to write. I also created opportunities:

to find my voice
to learn my craft
to connect with others writers
to receive feedback
to understand the process

It is both exciting and scary to see the creation of my dream come together. Are your currently finding or creating yourself? How is it working for you? If it’s not working for you, change the steps you are taking and make your dream happen.

Information Overload

January 12, 2015 inspiringmax

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” — Gertrude Stein
Do you agree?

From my experience never a truer statement has been said. I am pretty good at processing information and controlling my chaos however, occasionally it takes over. During these times it is usually obvious to everyone by the mess around me. My desk reflects the state of my brain. And suddenly, I don’t make sense. I say and do stupid things. My natural calm disposition has melted away along with my common sense—I don’t think I am alone here either.

So, what do I do?

When I am suffering from information overload, I recognise it quickly. I don’t feel in control. I take myself to a quiet place—even the toilet ill do, stand tall and make big circles with my hands. This centres me and works well. I attribute it to the science behind Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk—Your body language shapes who you are. I love that fact that our mind gives us ways to control information overload—if we let it. Next time you find yourself suffering from information overload —give it a try.

https://www.inspiringmax.com/change-your-body-position-change-your-life/

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/overload-alert/

Life Plan

January 11, 2015 inspiringmax

Take the first sentence from your favorite book and make it the first sentence of your post.

“What are you supposed to be doing with your life?”

And the answer is?

It’s your choice. Nobody can tell us what we should be doing with our life. I also believe that the goal posts are constantly changes—there is no right or wrong answer.

Decide what you want and make a plan for your life. Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle—a blank canvas that slowly and with consideration comes together.

Start by focusing on one or two areas. Every positive change makes a difference. Over time you can look back on your journey and notice how far you have come. At times, you may choose the wrong pieces to go together. Don’t beat yourself up. Take out the wrong piece, make another choice and keep going. Every choice empowers you.

Completing a jigsaw puzzle, like planning your life can be frustrating. There is no quick fix and even the simple ones take time. The more complicated the puzzle or life plan, the more time it takes. Your options when completing your puzzle are:

The more you focus on the job, the quicker it comes together.

There is a greater chance of someone or something messing up your work when you are not focusing on it.

If you leave it and get distracted, nothing changes.

It is important to remember that the more people who help you complete your puzzle or support your journey—the quicker and with less frustration, it is completed.

Photo Credit: Google Images

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/call-me-ishmael/

F.I.R.S.T.

January 5, 2015 inspiringmax

Tell us about your first day at something — your first day of school, first day of work, first day living on your own, first day blogging, first day as a parent, whatever.

There is always a first time to do something. The problem is, often none of these are as simple as they seem. Starting a new job, having a baby or beginning blogging, they all need a strategy.

To help us with this mission, I have made an acronym of FIRST.

F: Fear

I: Inspiration

R: Resolve

S: Stategy

T: Test

All new things have a fear attached to them. Use this fear to develop inspiration as to why you want to overcome this fear. Then resolve to make a strategy to ensure your success and finally test it out.

Don’t let fear get the better of you. Make a plan to overcome it and make lots of firsts. They keep your life exciting.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/first/

Weekly Photo Challenge: New

January 4, 2015 inspiringmax

Possibility. Opportunity. Potential. As another year gets underway, let’s celebrate the new.

Today we had our serious day of winter weather. The first day of real snow in our 5 weeks in Canada. Whilst on the odd occasion it has snowed before never was it like this. When we left our motel this morning the streets were clear. By the time we returned home there was 15 cm of snow. It was awesome. Fine powdery snow that was fun to walk in, although I am sure I found muscles I didn’t know I had. I have never not seen the streets not cleared before, so it was difficult at times to tell where the footpath ended and the road started.

Winter Fun in Ottawa

I am hoping it continues to snow tomorrow as the prospect of freezing rain, another new experience actually doesn’t excitement me. But que sera sera, whatever will be will be. It’s all part of understanding what it is like to live in Canada, which is why we traveled from Australia in the first place.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/new/

Someone Else’s Skin

January 2, 2015 inspiringmax

If you could spend the next year as someone radically different from the current “you” — a member of a different species, someone from a different gender or generation, etc. — who would you choose to be?

The idea of living in someone else’s skin has never occurred to me before as I am quite happy in my own despite its flaws. However, given the opportunity I would live as someone I could learn from and gain new experiences to consolidate my want to be a full-time writer.

At present my book is non-fiction, based on my years of experience working with people with eating disorders. My future goal is to write fiction in the adventure romance genre. Janet Evanovich is my favourite author in this genre and I have all 21 of her Stephanie Plum series as well as her Plum series and Wicked series and several of her co-authored books.

Janet lives in New Jersey, outside New York, a city I would love to live and work in for a limited time. It has many things I have dreamt of experiencing as well as being a centre of excellence for writing.

Other reasons I choose to live in Janet’s skin are:

She spent many years learning the art of writing dialogue, which is one area I am only just beginning to learn.

She Is a New York Times Best Seller author something I aspire to be.

She started out as a mum with no expectations, grateful for what she achieved and her success grew from there.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/new-skin/

Tears of Joy

January 1, 2015 inspiringmax

We cry for lots of reasons: sadness, pain, fear . . . and happiness. When was the last time you shed tears of joy?

Psychologists now believe the purpose of tears of joy may be for the body to “restore emotional equilibrium”. This possibly explains why you can never stop tears coming, they are just there like an overflowing bath.

I am a sensitive person and I cry easily. Both tears of joy and sadness. I am more likely to cry tears of joy as I respond to other people’s statements, personal memories or connect with something. When people tell me happy things I get teary because I am happy for them. As I am a nurse and counselor, this is sometimes initially a surprise to the other person. The chances of me crying are doubled if the person I am listening to is describing how something I suggested to them worked out well. For this reason I have to watch the mascara I use or I live my life with panda eyes.

Photo Credit: Google Images

The last time I cried tears of joy was today, New Years eve in Canada. My husband showed me video of Sydney’s New Year’s eve fireworks. This took me back to my usual New Years eve in Sydney with family. We have a nice family dinner at home and when it is time for the fireworks, we go for a short walk to a position from which we can see some of the high fireworks from the Sydney harbour bridge live and several other fireworks displays going off all over Sydney. It is exciting. On our return home, we watch the television version to see the lower fireworks that we missed.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2015 bring you all great joy.

http://youtu.be/etij8MBThHYhttps://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/happy-happy-joy-joy/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth

December 31, 2014 inspiringmax

This week, let’s keep things nice and cozy.

We have traveled for thousands of kilometres from sunny Australia to have a Northern Hemisphere winter. Whilst we have been disappointed to not have snow we have kept warm in many ways. The most successful one being eating chocolate and drinking hot chocolate. The following photos are from our favourite – Newfoundland Chocolate Shop. The ceiling had pretend melting chocolate dripping from it and a train track. It was awesome and there were free sample. Yum!

Chocolate definitely makes me feel good inside and out.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/warmth/

Two In The Bush

December 28, 2014 inspiringmax

Clichés become clichés for a reason. Tell us about the last time a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush for you.

Personally, this is not a phrase I use. However, it is a phrase I heard often growing-up. It is a cliché that means giving up something guaranteed for the possibility of something better in the future.

Sometimes, we all need to make decisions. When making them, if we are not careful, it is easy to over look the bird in our hand. Sometimes, it is either something or someone we have known for a long time e.g. friends, jobs or houses that we leave behind as we go looking for something better. The secret here, I believe is to keep the bird in our hand until we find another one that suits us better. Many people decide to take the bigger risk and give up the bird in their hand, to go wholeheartedly after the new bird, without success.

For me, I like security. I take calculated risks however I won’t give up my bird in the hand until I have found the new ones and they are in my hand. Being a nurse if I want or need to leave a job I have always been able to find another one even if it only casual. On the odd occasion years ago was I have been caught by this as staff freezes have stopped me obtaining work when I want it.

Today, when making changes I consider all the risks and where possible will keep a bird in the hand . Over the next few years, I hope my job description will change from nurse to full-time writer. I will however be staging these changes. I will balance my life by changing from nursing full-time to part-time nursing/part-time writer and finally completing the journey by becoming a full-time writer after I have caught my second bird.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/clich%C3%A9/