Sorting out your Priorities; an exercise for you

How can you clear the clutter in your mind that stops you from doing what you really want to do?

One of the biggest challenges I come across in my classes and coaching is a lack of direction. When given an opportunity to do, have or be anything you want, your mind can suddenly go blank. Take a moment to try this exercise adapted from “the Power of Focus” by Jack Canfield and company!(link).

Exercise:

Write down 30 things that you would like to have ,do or be.

How hard was that?

Now expand the list to 99 items and put a timescale next to each one eg one year , three years or five years..

You may need to take a couple of breaks before you get to the end of the list but I promise you that it is an exercise well worth doing. We are starting to work on expanding our potential by exploring our desires and possibilities.

Some of us may declare that we are quite happy as we are. Yes we may be happy but just like the rest of nature , we are here to grow and keeping our eyes half closed is denying our true nature. Many of my students have struggled with this exercise initially ,only to then reach a point where they are joyous with excitement as they let the ball of desire run away with them!

Let yourself dream and get carried away with possibilities. Dare to go a little crazy!

There is a giant asleep within every man

When the giant awakes, miracles happen

Frederick Faust (1892-1944)

This is your private list and nobody is saying that you actually have to DO anything on your list. This is a chance to really explore yourself and your own personal desires.

When you have your list and have wallowed in the sensation of “having it all”, go back through the list and apply the simple word “why?” to each item. This is your filter. This is where you

find out what you really really want!

Underneath the word ”why” write down the reasons why you want this item. It is important to physically write your answer in order to bring it from the subconscious to the conscious.

Now comes the really exciting part!

This is where you get to discover your true priorities! Not by asking a guru or a coach but by asking yourself. Many of us have spent our whole lives doing what was expected of us or what would make others happy. We actually have all the answers within us and it is now time to trust our own inner voice!

“ we come into this world alone and we leave it alone so sooner or later we need to start listening to ourselves”

Marie-Claire

Get yourself several large pieces of paper ( Flipchart size would be fabulous although I managed perfectly well with normal A4 portrait size). Taking the first sheet of paper write down the list of your priorities for the first timescale eg for the coming year. Write these down as a column to the far left of your piece of paper. Do the same for each different timescale on separate sheets of paper.

We are now going to apply the “knock out tournament” rules. Taking the first two items on one of your lists, decide which one is most important to you and write it down in a second new column. Do the same for numbers 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7and 8 etc When you have completed a second column which will contain half the number of items than the first column, repeat the process to create a third column. Keep repeating until you are left with 8 items , and then four, then two and finally your one biggest priority for that chosen timescale. Wow! Well done!

I remember being quite surprised to find that my weight was effectively my top priority. My intellect told me that there were far more important things to address but inside I knew that my weight was a reflection of my self esteem and so it was my top priority.

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius power and magic in it. Begin it now “ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Life then gets easier! By focusing on your top priority, you clear the way for new possibilities. By listening to your heart and by acting on it, you can find a way forward that enhances your overall happiness and self esteem!

It worked for me and I only ever pass on “stuff” that’s worked for me. Have a go and let me know how you get on. This simple exercise could change your life!

Or you may wish to find out more and order the book

“the Power of Focus” by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt. Just click through to it here:

Next time, Ill be sharing with you the secret I found of how to successfully lose weight and have loads more energy, focus and clarity!

So , until next time,

MC

Are you distracting yourself from your Purpose?

Hello again and Happy New Year to you !

We've just started the Chinese Year of the Rat. As its the first one of the cycle , this year is symbolically excellent for New Beginnings.

I like "New Beginnings" because they always offer the chance of a fresh start, even a new direction.
But I've also found that I love new directions. Lots of them!
Another word for them could be DISTRACTIONS

Flexible, adapting,creative , opportunistic, dynamic, interesting ...all words that can cover up an incessant desire to be distracted from our purpose. How do I know this ...Ive realised that I can be a Master of Distraction.

How do we recognise if we are distracting ourselves from our soul direction?

See if you recognise any of these for yourself...

- 1) Eating or drinking something just at the moment when we are called to action for example, to make a telephone call or complete a form

- 2) Manifesting a new brilliant business opportunity just at the moment when the next step is to commit to our dream

-3) Finding a new direction and feeling the overwheming need to share this new direction with others, in an attempt to make it more real to ourselves.

- 4) Wasting time on "to do" lists only to reach the end of a month with a lost sense of direction.

- 5) Struggling to define what we do to others in a clear and enthusiastic way.

- 6) Presenting a posistive image to others whilst backing it up internally with words such as " Pull yourself together and be positive"

When we are truly aligned to our purpose, we are naturally happy and at ease with ourselves. We know what we want and nothing can distract us. We are clear about our place in this world and how to fill it.

OK OK , I hear you gasp. We already know all of this.
What we really want to know is, how do we find our true purpose in life ? How do we get that clarity?


Well I can only talk from my own experience ...

The first thing that I did was to "set an Intention of Clarity".

I declared to myself and the Universe that my mission was not love, nor good health, nor riches ; it was INNER CLARITY

I reckoned that once I had Clarity the rest would arrive easily at my door. And in setting that intention, I put in motion this journey towards my truth.

My dream is that everyone in the world gets clear about who they are and why they are really here ,

but for now its enough for me to find my own pathway, however faint it may be to start with.

My immediate challenge is to avoid all the crossroads and roundabouts along the way that provide such compelling distractions. In the end I feel so dizzy with new directions that I need to start at base again with an exercise to help me decide what I really really want.

Ill share the exercise with you on my next blog ..I promise.

In the meantime , instead of counting sheep tonight, why not try counting the distractions in your life or the ways in which you distract yourself each day?

Id love to hear of some of your favourite distractions ...

With my love
MC xx

In the beginning....

... I hadnt really got a clue! About life, about courage and about how on earth to get a blog up and running! I still havent really got a clue but sometimes in the "doing" I find a way to do.


So I decided just to jump in the deep end and see what happens ...
..with what I write and how it turns out in the end!

No agenda. Simply a personal diary of my quest for clarity.

Cos I reckon once youre clear on what you want , who you are and what youre on this planet for
then life must be a dream!

And quite frankly Id like a more joyous life and I strongly suspect that all the power is within me to create it.
This diary tells of my journey to find my own INNER CLARITY and in joining me , I sincerely hope that you find some clarity too.


For now though , Im off in search of what I need to do next to launch a blog
- so if youre reading this - I mean, now that youre reading this , I have obviously been successful!
(and I wrote that before I found the way to be successful!)

Are you getting the hang of this already?!

Lets talk again very soon...MC xx