MishMash: Musings on books and personal development

This year I started a business, and I'll be the first to admit I had no clue what I was doing. Now, just three months after starting the business, I am the remarkably odd position of choosing deliberately not to advertise my business, and deliberately keeping a low profile so I don't get more work than I can handle. Before the year is out I will likely have to start employing and training staff. Now I don't share this story as a result of my business brilliance. Trust me - I'm not brilliant, and I certainly don't know everything, but oddly enough that is what has contributed to my success. Normally I am the kind of person who likes to read every book on the subject. I read and I read, and I make plans to put into action, but never actually end up actioning the plan because I am so fearful of all the stuff I don't yet know. I was like this even a few months ago. But now I realise I could wait my whole life and I would still never know all there is to know.

This is a question people sometimes ask me when they hear my story, and it is an important one. I hope to give it justice with the answer I write here. Before I answer though I need to put out a disclaimer: although I smile and laugh and always have in spite of what I have been through, I have also cried. LOTS. I have been depressed, and I have been suicidal, and I do not want to discount how hard those places are to be in. If anyone reading this is in those places right now, please know my heart goes out to you with the maximum amount of love. So how do I smile, how do I laugh? Because smiling and laughing are symptoms of the only true healing medicine in the world: love. And no matter how much evil I have experienced, and seen, I have always known that love wins, that love is bigger, that love can always be found, even in the darkest place. Every time you choose to live, you are choosing love, and when you choose love the universe will respond with more love. At first it

Last night at our flat we were bored and we got a little crazy. We pulled back the furniture, plugged in the Xbox Kinnect and played some crazy sports-based games as a form of flat bonding. And it was great! So much fun! Yet, dare I say it, it is the kind of thing I normally avoid. Just like dance, just like writing fiction. It feels too risky, it feels too much like hard work, and way out of my comfort zone. Part of the problem is I like doing things well. And these things do not come naturally to me. So more often than out I choose not to partake. Even last night my flatmate had to coerce and drag me to give it a go. I was content to watch, and cheerlead and laugh on the sidelines, but do it myself? Oh no! However eventually I gave it a go, and I had so much fun. Of course at the beginning I felt so awkward, but slowly that awkwardness was overtaken with a sense of freedom and wild abandon, things my carefully controlled and structured self rarely feel. In that moment the free

So I have a confession to make: I am something of a lone ranger. Always have been, probably always will be. I grew up effectively as an only child, as my older brother was placed in permanent foster care from the time he was born. My home environment was very abusive and dysfunctional and how I dealt with this was by retreating into my own internal space, the bubble of my soul where my organic self could find freedom, calm and protection. To make matters worse, I am an off-the-charts introvert, despite having a big heart and loving the people around me. There are obviously many benefits to being this way. (Check out Susan Cain's talk 'The Power of Introverts' if you need a reminder of what some of these are). However there are some obvious downfalls too. I can be too serious, too self-absorbed, and I can forget the power and gift my presence can be in the lives of others around me. Check out the following case in point: My friend's birthday party So a friend of

Two nights ago I had the privilege of attending a public lecture given by a woman named Eva, the very last remaining Schindler's List survivor. She spoke of living in a Jewish ghetto in Poland, being in concentration camps including Auschwitz as a little girl (she was 2 when the war started), near escapes from being killed, and witnessing horrible, despicable things. Being grateful for life itself Overall the theme of what she said though was "I am a child of miracles". What an amazing statement. Here is a woman who has seen the very worst of life, but was still grateful for life itself. Here was someone who had every reason to see herself as a victim, but instead chose to see herself as a survivor. Here was someone who could have very well chosen to close herself off from life and others, but instead was being open and vulnerable and letting us all see her pain. That got me thinking! The power of affirmations You see recently I have been listening to Loui

I have tried to lose weight for years, and recently I discovered my own personal answer to why I couldn't lose weight: I had Hashimoto's Disease. (Now not all of you will have Hashimoto's Disease of course, but what my condition has taught me contains great wisdom that can help YOU finally get your weight under control - keep reading). So for years I kept putting on weight or being unable to lose weight and getting frustrated with myself thinking it was all my fault. I had messages running through my head like "You're so fat and lazy, Michelle. You're undisciplined, and unmotivated", all this despite the fact that I didn't eat very much and I worked out frequently. Here's the deal - it wasn't my fault, and it isn't yours either! Let me explain. Now that I have learnt that I have Hashimoto's Disease I have learnt that in order to reverse my symptoms I need to eat completely gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free to stay healthy. And i

"A state of being in which the individual exudes energetic enthusiasm, contagious levels of positivity, and takes it upon oneself to create and engender a successful, excited, and constructive environment in those around them." -Definition as provided by Urban Dictionary Don't you just love discovering new words? I do.  Which brings me to a question: how can I be most constructive to you? Is there anything you would like me to write a post on? Leave a message in the comments and let me know.