I've been pretty impressed by the changes in our lives this year since I commenced my 'Holistic Life Coaching' diploma with Life Coach Associates. Barry hasn't had much paid employment since selling his business in September 2008, and despite applying for many jobs hadn't been getting anywhere. I've been talking about leaving midwifery for years, and having given up a senior post and returned to 'the shop floor' in 2010, have been investigating other opportunities.
Well 'the law of attraction' has certainly been working for us, and I've heard and seen other peoples experiences too, both positive and negative. Basically, what you give energy to grows and expands, so if you think you're going to have a bad day, guess what? You're right! Obviously the converse is also true - at the end of the day the choice is yours.
Life for us is pretty special right now, and we'd like to share with you some of the reasons why:
- I started a business hiring TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machines out to pregnant women for their use in labour - the electrical waves via four pads on the back distract the nerve endings and prevent pain impulses from giving the brain a negative message. I have eight units now and have had some amazing results from women who have managed to proudly labour with no other interventions than the TENS which is drug free. How awesome is that? Of course once I've recouped the money I've laid out I will earn a small income as well, but for me the beauty is empowering women to have more control.
- We rent our house out through Holiday Homes, and have successfully done so twice so far this year. This weekend coming it's rented for three nights, and we've spent the past couple of weeks de-cluttering and cleaning in preparation - it's certainly not money for nothing, but it does mean we've Feng Shui'd our home;
- My life coaching is going well, having experienced the power of being coached myself as an integral part of the course, and I'm now working on my 100 hours of client case study hours. I'm loving the challenge of embracing and learning the skills which will lead to a successful, future career, and the clients I've worked with to date are making some significant and powerful changes in their lives which, in turn, brings more clarity and focus to mine;
- After much sustained effort changing my eating (bad) habits and exercising more, I've lost 5.5kg since we were in Queenstown - that's almost a stone for those still working in old fashioned measurements, and I feel so much happier with myself. When I thought about it the other day I realised that 5.5kg is more than the weight of most babies - and I know how heavy they are as I often cuddle one for a few hours when I'm on night duty to give their mum a rest (a good excuse!). Isn't it amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it?;
- The midwife I've been mentoring since January is doing a great job and gaining in confidence each time we meet; she'll soon be able to drop the title 'New Graduate' as she'll have achieved everything she set out to do in her first year of practice;
- Best of all, my eldest daughter and her husband adopted a little boy called Leon on Monday 10 October. I have never, in all my time as a midwife, seen two happier, more deserving parents. It's been a long, unexpected and often painful journey for them, and it's so heart-warming to see them so fulfilled at last. Of course it means that Barry and I are now grandparents, and we introduced ourselves to Leon on Skype on Wednesday - Grandma and Grandad kiwi! We can't wait to see him in person in March 2012;
- Barry, having advertised for his photography two-day workshops, had given up hope when no-one had registered for the first course in September, and by last week no-one had expressed much interest at all in the other two. Then suddenly, late last week, he got an influx of texts and emails and now has six people registered for his November workshops, and two for February;
- He's also gained employment as a manager of one of the polling stations in the general election in November - not a great earner, but something different and some extra pocket money;
- The other huge piece of news, is that on Thursday, after weeks of pontificating and putting it out there, Barry signed a lease for a shop in Gisborne to commence selling home brew kits and other things such as cheese making kits. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where it's legal to make your own spirits, and we supply many other countries with spirit 'flavourings' due to it's popularity. Of course there's beer, wine and cider to delight the appetite too. Barry made a very lovely Pinot Grigio recently in around five days - it would be difficult to tell the difference between this and a bottle from a winery (unless you're a serious wine buff of course!), and the cider I can verify is extremely drinkable. Everyone he's spoken to in the past few weeks have had a tale to tell about what they want to make, from our dentist with his abundance of limes wanting to make a type of lemoncello (is that how it's spelt?), to the landlord who said he's always wanted to brew his own beer so could be the first customer! We reckon it's going to be a huge success - and by the law of attraction if we think it is then of course we'll be right!
Away from our influence is the other amazing and exciting event to come this weekend - the Rugby World Cup Final! You can feel the pride and joy of a nation everywhere as those magnificent All Blacks saw off our biggest rivals the Australians last weekend - and didn't they play well? They have such a presence on the field and the Haka sends shivers down my spine every time, they also have what most other teams don't have - an awesome team spirit. Richie McCaw is one of the best leaders I know; he's pretty gorgeous too (and Barry knows I think that so it must be ok, lol!). We'll be watching the game at the Waiohika Estate Winery for Gisborne's Food and Wine Festival, and the weather seems to have just turned into summer so it promises to be a fabulous day. Just in case the French win, I've put a $20 bet on them to win so that I shall be happy either way - problem is that I foolishly left it too late. Earlier in the week the odds on them winning were 26:1, today they're only 6:1 - I should've grasped the opportunity when it arose, another lesson learnt.
Ah well, GO THE ALL BLACKS!! It will be priceless if they win, and there'll be a few photos of the celebrations on the next blog ...
