The Power of a Good Pair of Shoes

You’re having the day from hell… your kids are sick, your husband is away, work is busier than ever, you just found out your mother-in-law is coming to town and you were on hold with the telephone company for 45 minutes before they accidentally cut you off. Sound familiar?

Any fashion loving woman knows that good old retail therapy can cure the most miserable of days, but shopping for clothing has its limitations… what if you’re having a ‘fat day’? You know the one… no-one else can see a shred of difference, because to the naked eye you look exactly the same as every other day, but you feel like you must have somehow gained 20 pounds overnight. (Of course, this could just as easily be followed by a ‘skinny day’ where you’re wondering why no-one else can tell how much weight you must have dropped since yesterday, but that’s another story…)

There’s really only one cure for these days, and that’s a fantastic pair of shoes! Whether you’re keen to shop for a new pair, or to bring out the favorites from your wardrobe, a good pair of shoes can do wonders for lifting the spirit. They can add pizzazz to the most basic of outfits, and have you walking down the street like you’re on a catwalk.

If you don’t already own a pair of shoes like this, give yourself a special gift and go shopping for them. They’re not your average, comfortable, practical, go-with-anything shoes. These are the pair that you might look at longingly in the window, but decide that they’re a little too wild for you or that you don’t have anything to wear with them. That’s the magic pair you need to own!

When I need a pick me up, I wear a basic black dress, and throw on my 4” red patent leather pumps, because they always make me feel like a million dollars, regardless of how my body may be feeling. The best part is, because I’m radiating so much positivity and self esteem, people ALWAYS notice. I get compliments all the time when I’m wearing these beautiful shoes, and whilst they are definitely fabulous, I believe its moreso because I’m walking with such confidence. If I was walking down the street with my head down and my shoulders forward, I’m certain they wouldn’t have this effect.

So next time you’re having one of ‘those’ days, get out your favorite pair of shoes, and strut down the street with your hips swinging and your head held high… I guarantee you won’t be able to help but to feel great!

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick note today to say a huge

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

As an Australian woman living in the USA, this is my first ever Thanksgiving, and I'm really honoured to be part of such a warm tradition. Another time honoured tradition I will be partaking of today is to eat turkey, pumpkin pie and generally far too much food. Then we are following that up with tickets to the ice hockey - also a new adventure!

Most importantly today however, I would like to do what thanksgiving is really all about... giving thanks. This is a day to express gratitude for all of life's blessings, so here goes:

I am so very grateful for...

- The most amazing husband in the world
- A warm, wonderful, loving family
- The opportunity to live abroad in a fabulous country
- A strong, healthy body
- The freedom to follow my heart's desires
- The trees, birds and squirrels I am fortunate enough to see outside my window every day
- Enough wealth (not just money) to allow me so many choices in life
- The opportunities to travel all over this amazing country and the rest of the world
- Great friends to share adventures, happy days, sad days and a good bottle of wine with
- So much love in my heart that sometimes I just want to explode with excitement

And so many more blessings I experience in every moment that I can't even begin to list.

May we always take the time to look at what we do have, not at what we don't.

So... What are you grateful for?

Create a beautiful day

Katrina xo

Where Are Your Thoughts Taking You?

Have you ever counted how many times in a day the words “I don’t want” or “I can’t” come out of your well glossed lips?

Most people can tell you very quickly what’s wrong with their workplace, what they want to change on their body and what they don’t want in a partner… very few can tell you what they DO want.

This is a simple habit you can begin today and don’t be surprised at the changes you experience almost immediately (I don’t want to suggest that you can consciously create your dream life like this). Become the silent observer of your language both internally (in your own mind) and externally (speaking to others) and whenever you notice yourself expressing what you don’t want, change your language. Ask yourself… what do I want instead? Be descriptive, be specific and use positive words.

If I say to you “don’t think about the way you’re sitting right now”… what do you think about? But I told you NOT to think about it!!! The mind does not recognize negatives, it only processes the words with visuals attached and… what the mind can conceive, you can achieve. Each time you think about what you don’t want, you’re attracting exactly that. So… dream big, there are no limitations except those we place on ourselves. What do you want to be, do and have?

Self Esteem for Women

“Would you consider yourself someone with high self esteem, or low self esteem?” The natural reaction when asked a question like this may well be “high self esteem of course!”, but the truth may paint a very different picture.

Self esteem for women, especially, seems to be generally lower than it should be, and unfortunately far too often accompanied by poor body image. Why then are so many women subject to this deprecating state of mind? Perhaps it comes back to the natural laws of femininity. You see, a woman in her natural, feminine state has an in-built desire to radiate beauty. It’s the very reason that we women wear make-up, shave our legs, wax our eyebrows, love to shop, etc.

If that desire for beauty extended to finding that which we already have, it would be an absolute blessing. Unfortunately however, the unhealthy side of that desire for beauty, is in seeking it externally and creating unhealthy comparisons to others.

This damaging act of comparison is concerning enough in its own right, but consider who we are really comparing ourselves against. Whether consciously or not, we are most certainly using the media images that we’re constantly bombarded with as a benchmark for what is the ‘right’ size, body shape or look.

The problem with that is this; the women in the media - actresses, singers, models, etc – are in front of the camera for a living! Their livelihood revolves around how good they look with their faces and bodies featured up close and personal on giant screens around the world. I’m certain just about anyone in the same position would make it an absolute priority to ensure there isn’t a scrap of fat to be seen, or a single hair out of place. They have the money, the resources and, most importantly, extreme motivation to ensure that this standard is always maintained – and all too often at the cost of their health.

The other problem with using the media as a benchmark can be found in the simple act of picking up a magazine. It only takes a quick flip through the pages of any women’s fashion magazine to make even a woman with great self esteem feel like a fat pig! Between the scarily thin catwalk models, and the lighting, make up, good photography, and of course airbrushing and photoshop techniques, the end result is that we find ourselves envying a picture of a woman who isn’t even real.

In fact, for a wonderful example of what’s involved in creating the finished look of a model in a print advertisement, I highly encourage you to watch the video that Dove put together as part of their Campaign for Real Beauty.

Naturally none of this is to say that we shouldn’t care about our appearance, or enjoy making ourselves look and feel beautiful, but simply that if we must peg ourselves against a benchmark, perhaps we should consider someone more realistic.

It’s so important to keep ourselves healthy from the inside out, and that includes our mind… Don’t let these unrealistic images of beauty fool you into thinking you’re not good enough the way you are.

My tip for this is to make a list of everything you like about yourself from the inside out. In fact, one exercise I did was to go through my body parts one by one and write down why I loved them. I can assure you that when I got to my thighs, I found it a little challenging, but I managed to come up with how much I love that they are strong and carry me wherever I want to go!

Don’t let the negative thoughts creep in, they are like a cancer for your mind… find reasons to love everything about who you are, in all your fabulous individuality!

Personal Power - The Greatest Love of All?

This is an article written by my life coach sister, Sabrina Holmes

As I’m sitting down to write this article Whitney Houston is crooning about “The Greatest Love of All” (I want to say it’s the radio but sadly, I’m playing her Greatest Hits CD... I’m a sucker for a feel good song) and it’s triggered some thoughts for me. Whitney is specifically referring to the love we have for ourselves as the greatest love of all, but what does that mean exactly? We’ve all heard the old adage “you can’t really love others until you love yourself” and yet most of us struggle, in real life terms, with being comfortable saying (out loud) “I love me!”

In The Secret Bob Proctor portrays the idea of loving yourself by enthusiastically kissing his own hand! What does it feel like to be THAT sure of who you are? I can tell you right now... it feels fabulous! It’s been a crazy journey to get to where I am today but I can honestly tell you that I love who I am, I’m proud of the woman I’ve become and I’ve earned this feeling. It came through blood sweat and MANY tears. But it is SO worth it. I wouldn’t change one single part of that journey. I am truly alive everyday of my life.

Katrina (Wilton – Co-Founder of Glow Health & Wellness) and I attended a Leadership workshop in 2002 where we took part in an exercise about discovering your ‘personal power’, it was challenging and frightening and it went something like this... One by one we took turns at standing up in front of the entire group and we had to yell as loudly and strongly as possible a phrase starting with ‘I am’. It had to be something relevant for us and we had to stick with that word and keep yelling until such time as the group unanimously clapped us to sit down. If even one of them wasn’t convinced then we had to keep going. How did they measure they’re conviction? Goosebumps. Yep that’s right... goosebumps. When you come from your true place of personal power, you can really feel it and, so can those around you.

Why do I tell you this story? To invite you to step up to your own personal power. Too often I see people living luke warm lives and believing that’s all there is to it. They stop expecting things to be different because they don’t know HOW to change them. We don’t always have the answers, we don’t always know the ‘how’ (honestly, we RARELY know the answers), but that’s the joy of life! Go out there and find the answers. Don’t do your best – DO WHATEVER IT TAKES. Being happy is worth it.

TV or Not TV? - That is the Question

With all the modern technologies we have today, life has never been busier. In the 21st Century, we take on so much more, and are expected to achieve so much more with our day. Women especially are kept increasingly busy with a wide variety of tasks that can range from looking after the kids, climbing the corporate ladder, running a home based business, keeping fit and healthy, and the other million things we women know that we do.

So the question then is; how are you spending your quality time? If you really want to learn and grow, and live the life of your dreams, you need to devote some time and energy to focusing on what it is that you want, and cherishing your time with you. Sometimes that sounds impossible, but if it's important enough to you, you need to make the time for it. Here is one tip to regaining some lost time

Turn off the television! Nothing will sap your precious time more than this horrible box. In fact, here are some scary statistics for you:

- The average home now has more television sets than people, at 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and only 2.55 people
- The average person watches four hours, 35 minutes of television each day.
- In the average home, a television set is turned on for more than a third of the day — eight hours, 14 minutes (if you consider 8 hours sleep, and 8 hours work, this statistic is even more disturbing!)

This doesn't even count the hours spent on the computer, or surfing the internet!

So instead of turning the TV on, like so many people do on auto pilot, set some time aside for you. Write in your journal, call the friend you've been meaning to but haven't had the time, listen to your favourite album, look through some photo albums, give yourself a candlelit bath, create a vision board, meditate on your goals. Whatever it is, take some quality time for you... you deserve it!

Us & Them - Why You Should Always Dare to Dream

I remember as a child looking at the big houses and shiny, new cars in the street thinking “Wow! Those people are so lucky!”. As I grew up, I observed how much it seemed so normal to separate “us” – the middle class, from “them” – the wealthy. It never really occurred to me as a teenager to question this, but as an adult chasing my big, grandiose dreams, I have found myself eternally perplexed by the self separation that seems to happen amongst humans.

Why do so many people seem to ‘wish’ for the abundance of wealth that life offers, yet never truly believe that it’s in any way possible for them? My question is… Why not? The only way that wealth is ever going to happen is to first believe it is possible. The crazy thing is, it is SO MUCH MORE POSSIBLE than most people ever really know!!

I came from a middle class family, and we often (I mean really often!) struggled with money, but we always kept the dream alive. My father always had an entrepreneurial spirit and started many new business ventures, even though, unfortunately, the financial jackpot always eluded us. We had a better kind of wealth though – love and encouragement. You see, our parents always encouraged my sister and I with strong words like “You can be anything you want to be, if you want it bad enough”.

So now, at 31, I own a multi-million dollar property portfolio, I quit my job several years ago for a life of freedom, I’ve married the man of my dreams, I live abroad and I frequently travel the world. So what’s the difference between me and the other middle class people who didn’t realize their dreams? Only a belief that it was possible.

For instance, I would walk into a store and try on the most expensive pair of shoes I could find, even though I knew I didn’t have the money to buy them. I wanted to be comfortable with that kind of wealth, and I was also very aware of keeping my language, internal and external, positive and aligned with my dreams. Instead of looking at the shoes and immediately saying “I can’t afford those!”, I would say “I choose not to buy them, today”. Being wealthy starts with feeling wealthy. Consider all the people who didn’t feel wealthy and won the lottery… most of them squandered it all away, because even though they really wanted it, they never really felt worthy of having it.

So take the time to reflect on what you’re thinking, feeling and saying (both to yourself and out loud), and decide if it’s aligned with your goals and dreams. If not, consider finding a new approach… and be sure remove the phrase “I can’t afford it” from your vocabulary!

As for me, I’ve still got a long way to go, and I never want to stop growing and striving for more, (does that journey ever stop?), but these days I can see a $40 Million dollar mansion, or 180 ft Super yacht and comfortably say “that’s for me”, and know for sure that it is.

On a Day Like This...

Have you ever wondered why sometimes everything in your life just flows beautifully, and sometimes, no matter what you do, nothing seems to fall into place? It can seem as if there's absolutley no rhyme or reason to it, but you have to trust that at some level, there is something happening for your greater good that will reveal itself to you in good time. The time spent waiting, whilst it can be SO frustrating, is when we are tested on our ability to have faith. Deep down we know that eventually things turn out well, as life always does, but in the moment when life throws us our greatest challenges, is when that faith is really tested.

So if your life at the moment is flowing beautifully, be so grateful for every moment of it. If, however, you're having some challenges and frustrations, just remember that one day you will be looking back at this time thinking "if I only knew what wonderful suprises were waiting for me, just around the corner, I would have relaxed more".

So, what's the lesson in all this? Never take a single wonderful moment for granted, and in times of trouble remember that "this too shall pass". Life is cyclical and nothing, good or bad, is forever.

Enjoy each magical moment of this week.

My Personal Story - an Introduction

How many times have you looked in the mirror and seen something you don’t like? It happens to the best of us, we get caught up in what we ‘should’ look like. Thighs are too big, hair is too straight, too many freckles, breasts are too small… the list could go on, and for many of us it does. The question is, are you loving who you are and keen to further improve yourself, or are you getting caught in the old “I’ll be happy when…”? “I’ll be happy when I weigh only X kg”, “I’ll be happy when I get a boob job”, I’ll be happy when I have this or that done”.

The truth is that happiness isn’t a place, person, operation, destination or weight goal. Happiness is a feeling, and it’s entirely within our control as to if, and when, we feel it or not. The challenge many of us face is that we’re always searching for something externally to make us feel good rather than finding it within.

I know this, because I spent most of my life not liking what I saw in the mirror. I was Bulimic for 8 years and ALWAYS thought I was too fat. It wasn’t until I was looking back in hindsight, that I realised my problems never had anything to do with my weight. I’m 5’2” and at my very heaviest I was only 55kg (121lb), but I thought I was a huge, hideous monster. I was never happy unless I was down to 48kg (106lb), which – funnily enough – only seemed to happen when I was even more depressed, or on the ‘break up diet’ when I’d split with a partner. Most of the time I was never more than about 50kg (110lb) yet I absolutely believed that I would only be happy when these last 2kg (4.4lb) had dropped.

2kg? How could 2 measly kilograms really dictate whether or not I was happy? From the outside in, it was easy to see that I had a problem unrelated to my weight, but as the person experiencing this, it was all I could think about. In fact ‘think’ is too mild a word. I was obsessed. I would starve myself for days, only to binge on huge amounts of food which I would then purge, several times a day. This was a destructive, cyclic pattern and it was ruining my life, my relationships and my health. Even now, years later, my digestive system doesn’t function properly and I have irrepairable damage to my teeth from all the purging.

I tried everything I could think of to make the changes I knew I needed. I went to counselors, support groups, psychiatrists, nutritionists, everything… you name it, I tried it. What I hadn’t tried at that point, is to truly understand that I needed to fall in love with me, just the way I was. When I was 26, I started working one on one with Nina, a very intuitive life coach who helped me search inside myself to find the answers I was looking for.

There were many months of tears, frustration and soul searching… but eventually there was peace. I was able to understand why I was using food as an emotional crutch and what the real cause of my behaviour was. You see, the eating disorder was simply a vehicle for dealing with the real issues, and once I knew what they were, I was able to address them directly.

Today I am happy, healthy and loving who I am. I’m still human, I still have bad days, and I still have an ‘ideal weight’ that I’d like to get to… but it doesn’t dictate my life and I love myself regardless… squishy bits and all.