This is the first entry in my Positively You™ blogg!

Welcome to new readers who have come to find out what Positively You™ is all about. Positively You™ is a website focused on helping people like you figure out what you want in life and how you can best get this. Some of how I aim do this is via my blogg - so that I can share with you my thoughts and experiences and hear about your thoughts and experiences as well.

When I think about “getting what you want in life”, I think about all the different areas this can involve, such as managing stress, building our self esteem, using daily affirming messages, planning and setting goals for ourself, managing other people’s expectations as well as our own….the list goes on.

 What you will find as you browse through Positively You™ is a whole host of ideas and shopping opportunities that offer you tools and strategies to work on all of these areas in your life. To get started, why not enrol in my Free mini e-course “Create the Life You Want”, a six week course that steps you through how to do just that - create the life you want!

So, join in my blog as often as as much as you want. The more thoughts and ideas we can share here, the more each of us learn and become enabled to be who we are and get what we want.

Cheers, Lesley

 How often have I heard comments like “we must do better; we have to change; we must become more effective, achieve more, do more……”

These comments have plenty of focus on what has yet to be done but very little energy spent on appreciating what exists right now. You know, we all have so many qualities, skills and gifts to offer ourselves and other people, but with the fast pace of life in the communities we live in, it is far too easy to lose sight of these extraordinary qualities and keep expecting more, better things.

Have you stopped for long enough lately to fully realise and therefore appreciate what you have in your own life and what you offer other people’s lives? It’s an exercise I believe we should all do on a regular basis; otherwise, we lose enjoyment of the moment.

I wonder occasionally if this is why I find myself in conflict with significant others in my life - because I really do want to enjoy the moment, and yet others seem to be aiming for a future state all the time and pulling me along with that thinking. Certainly planning for the future is an important part of life, but for that planning to be successful, one of the best things you can do is plan based on what exists now and what you want to take into the future with you.

So, if you want to live for today and appreciate what you have in front of and available to you right now, then that is more than okay. The message here is to use this appreciation and realisation of what is working well, then decide how you can transfer this into your future. The life you want to create is already playing out in the here and now; you just need to fully realise this and do something with it.

So here are some of my ideas for how to enjoy the moment. Following this, I will also suggest ways you can consider using these ideas to build that future life you want.

Enjoy the moment by:

• When you find yourself sharing a moment of good solid laughter with a group of friends or work colleagues, consciously acknowledge how much you enjoy laughing, how good it makes you feel. Don’t let it pass by as just a fleeting occurrence
• Instead of always thinking about inviting friends around for a meal but never doing it, organise it! Too often I have dwelled on the negative attitude of “it’s someone-else’s turn; why should I always be the one to organise these things!” You can end up resentful instead of enjoying yourself and your friends’ company
• Appreciating the special time you have with your partner at the end of the day, catching up with each other
• Luxuriating in the aroma and taste of that first cup of coffee
• Really tune in to the sense of calm and the quiet peace that surrounds you as you spend some time in your favourite relaxing place
• Hearing the birdsong as a new day begins

I’m serious here. These examples may seem like ordinary, everyday events. But they are so valuable in adding enrichment to our lives and they are so easy to take for granted. No wonder the phrase “life just seems to rush by these days” has become common place.

Okay, so how can you use these to build the future you want? The way I see it, any experience we have that gives us a sense of well-being and enjoyment contributes to how we feel and therefore have the capacity to think about and plan for the future.

Listening to the birds doesn’t give us a clear idea of the goals we want to achieve; but the sense of self you can gain by appreciating this one small part of the larger world around you can put you in a frame of mind to really want to think about the direction you want to go in.

Here is a more concrete example.

Think about a relationship you have with another person where you communicate well with each other, where you trust and respect each other, a relationship you appreciate and see as a crucial part of your life.

What words would you use to describe this relationship for yourself? What do you bring to that relationship? What does the other person bring to it?

Alright, now, how are you going to ensure that that relationship continues and is part of your future? What do you have to do to make this a reality?

Take the good things into the future with you. Sure, all relationships have their ups and downs. But if you focus on and intentionally work on the good aspects, the things that work to make that positive relationship, you also plan and decide to keep those positive aspects - they will then naturally be part of your future.

There are plenty of examples we could cover here. Maybe you would like to explore this topic further for yourself. So, appreciate and enjoy the moment. There is always tomorrow or even later on that day to spend some time planning ahead.