What a difference a year makes!

Looking back over the year 2013 I am bewondered by all the amazingness that has happened in my life and in the lives of the ones I have been blesssingly connected with - either personally or professionally.

Although, having said that, the professional connections in so many ways are personal, too - it kinda comes with the work that I love so much and feel so truly blessed being able to conduct full-time.

You are all my people.

Yeah, it seems 'blessed' is a red thread through my year...

But life was and is ALWAYS a blessing - even when it comes in great disguises as challenges and hardship. As long as there is life - there is hope for the dreams we visualise in our mind's eye.

So what happened in 2013?

Hm. Where to begin...

• This is the first full year of running Laughter Yoga Teacher Training and I love it, I love the impact this amazing way of being has on everyone it touches
• Dr. Madan Kataria agreed to be summoned for the 2014 Laughter Festival which includes an Advanced Training Day for Laughter Yoga Professionals around the UK and beyond
• Unfolding business relationships and development of great new courses - a great year for laughter
• It was also a challenging year as it has been for many small businesses but as a true laughter spirit no challenge is too big and UnitedMind pulled through thanks to lots of enthusiasm and will power plus action and great support
• Radio, TV and news press mentions and appearances
• Mummy Mikkelsen came to visit
• Friends are the wonderful base for any life in both directions
• Two of my besties got married
• The year my little girl turned 18
• And with 18 came a drivers licence and a car
• My little girl, now 18 years old, received two university offers and one interview for early 2014
• 30th March was the official first date and love flourished into free flowing life
• 25th December - engaged - with a ring and a wonderful man!

So the year is not just about bling and growing business - all the things that come from putting your life at stake and make a stand for what you believe and what you dream are just things, but the true blessing and the true magic lies in the feelings, the sensations, the emotions all of this creates in you and in the people who are touched by your miracle of being.

On that note I wish you a very happy New Year with great health, love - and all of it in abundance!

A secondhand dream

Dreaming begins...

The strange dream wasn't mine - it was Dodo and the Dodos'...

But it made me think a lot of thoughts about dreams we all have. Sometimes they make sense and sometimes...they just seem like a load of nonsense and we think and think and think and try to work out what is the meaning. Yeah, I've had those dreams. I still have those dreams.

Sometimes dreams are like ripples and reflections - and that is what they cause, reflection. And what is it to reflect? Relection is as a mirror you look into where the mirror looks back at you checking you got what it was all about - isn't that what we do when we reflect? Checking our lessons and checking the mirror for any escaped wisdom.

Another dream?

We bare ourselves for ourselves. Wisdom happens when we let go and look at the nakedness of ourselves.

Often we put things in boxes and try to make reality of unreal events and miracles instead of letting the magic unfold and become from the thoughts and ideas of a million lifetimes, lessons we forgot about letting be, teachings of mindfulness and a loving stateful peace or a peaceful loving state.

Yet another dream

Reminding me of the undying words from Michael Jackson, 'if you wanna make this world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change'.

A dream come true

Shedding all pretence and seeing what's there without the dramas and added stories and meaning we often apply to situations in order to make them fit into our reality. Imagine being free of all this and just be who we are. Imagine, if we could see each other just like that, see each other for who we are when no one looks - for anything else (just another paraphrased thought from Dodo).

We all dream when we sleep but we don't all remember our dreams and we don't remember all our dreams either.

Another beautiful dream come true!

Another reason it is important to dream when we are awake - and dream big!

Dream big - and even if only a fraction of the dream comes true, then it is still a dream that's been lived.

I had a strange dream, my head was a square.

19:56.

Where to start when life just flows as a natural stream?

It doesn't matter who says what or who does what or who is what - what matters is that everything is perfect the way it is.

This time of year frustrations and stress seem to be thrown about as if it was a matter of life and death getting those exact presents of getting somewhere or perhaps the turkey is too small...

Well, if you are a believer of Baby Jesus then he arrived at the exact time he arrived and it didn't really matter if it was too early or too late plus the latest games and gadgets were merely wrapped in fragrance and soothing oils for people to invent thousands of years later.

If you don't believe in the story of the Christ that's perfectly so, because this is not about religion but about being in the flow instead of forcing our way upstream.

The past few years have been a mix of challenge and flow and it is amazing to look back and review all the times where the challenges have forced their way to the surface and it has in fact been because of trying too hard. But what IS 'trying too hard'?

When you are passionate and compassionate about life, laughter and love then there should be no 'trying too hard' - it is all about sharing it all and not forcing it onto people.

I love what I do and sometimes it may seem that it is just too much but isn't that just because we all carry our own stuff around that cause us to react to certain stimuli in certain ways and sometimes it is contrary to our conditioning and our sense of 'over the top'.

OTT!

Cheers to Over The Top and sort-of-apologies if you feel I am too much but I really don't think I can help it much. Not because I don't care but because I do care about people, about you, about life, about love and about Laughter Yoga!

That took up up to 20:06.
Wishing you a great rest of Monday.

The Seven Giant Dwarfs of Indulgence and Spenditure

Garbage, Rubbish, Junk, Litter, Debris, Waste and Scrap.

Re-Cycling (courtesy of someone else)

Today's blogpost is a little moan and a sigh...

Who on Earth teaches children to throw their food wrappings, cigaret packaging, drink bottles and other stuff in the street instead of in a bin?

Trash!

Where did people pick up that habit of infesting our world with filth instead of being mindful and holding onto their junk until the nearest bin appears and it can go in there instead of out of it? Well, they didn't pick it up in the bin because that is seemingly foreign ground...

Even so, it seems the bin in many cases has been within reach and yet the garbage is littered just few feet away. It really hurts my eyes and my heart that there is so little consensus for using bins instead of the big space around them.

When did we agree on this meaningless wasteland of rubbish to be the standard learning environment for young people, grown-ups, adults, seniors?

A little thought and thinking here, please.

With pleasure comes mindfulness - when we enjoy we also contribute. Or have I got it all wrong?

I don't think so.
It is a shame and the shame is on us in our society and our communities.

Binned Water???

I grieve for the Earth as I pick up one piece after another on my 5-minute walk from Sainsburys to home, the road is littered with McDonalds packaging, cigaret packs, chocolate wrappings and other items that should be in the bin. As I extend a regretful glance toward the retail park I sigh and dig my hand full of other people's junk into the bin - and... let it go.

Even if I picked it all up the road would be the same tomorrow. BUT this is where we start - with our own consciousness, for me - I start with myself!

So that was my little heartfelt moan.

On the other hand, the day was beautiful, the grass was green, and we have Litter Heroes amidst the trash!

Burumbubumbum...

Peace on Earth - can it be...

On the 1st day of December I was listening to Michael Bubble sharing his favourite Christmas songs. You don't have to like Christmas songs or even Christmas - and you can do all you want in your own way to avoid feeling December.

However, it is practically impossible!

With all the street displays, TV shows, radio programmes, smiling strangers, stressed people, overcrowded parking lots... well, how do you plan on avoiding it all?

It may not be to everyone's liking but if people would only let go of the 'stuff' that prevents them from experiencing the December-feeling then we are one step closer.

And I am not being disrespectful to anyone who is going through some of the challenges in life where Christmas may be the time of year it gets a little big tougher. All I'm saying is to keep an open mind and there is love in all hearts - especially useful if we have to dig a bit deeper past the shopping-stress and planning-panick because that is probably when it is most needed.

Seemingly impossible to avoid and if that really is true just make sure you extend your December goodwill - a smile really can create a bridge between a bad day and a good day.

Be gentle with the shopcrew - they are doing their best and tackling all possible situations with a smile even when it is sometimes a stiffened one. Smile on the phone, smile in the car, smile with other people, smile, smile smile...

Even if Christmas is not your celebration, have patience with everyone else who is amindst the seasonfrenzy of food, outfits and whatever else we focus on.

So, live a little peace on Earth and share some goodwill to men and women, animals and plants.

We are in it together - Christmas or no-Christmas.

Wishing you a wonderful December!