Monday 28 November 2011

What Puts A Smile On Your Face?

So I’ve started thinking about answering some of the questions in the resources I’ve found.  However, when I compiled a list of all the questions it looks pretty hard.  I don’t really know where to start and I definitely think I will need some help in answering some of the questions.

I’m not going to answer the questions in any particular order, but rather whatever grabs my fancy at the time.  This one seemed a good place to start.  I won’t think too much about my answers, but just list down whatever pops in my head.  I’ll start to analyse my answers at a later time.

What puts a smile on your face?  Is there an event or topic that makes your whole face light up?
  • Being organised and having a plan.  It sounds a bit lame, but I have a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction if I’m organised.
  • Reading a really good book that I can’t put down and then talking about it with someone.
  • Eating crinkle cut hot chips with heavy chicken salt and vinegarJ.  Not sure how this will help me find my passion, but definitely puts a smile on my face!
  • Surprisingly the thing that is really making me happy at the moment and putting a smile on my dial, is writing this blog.  
  • Thinking about different ways to solve a problem.  This could be a problem at work or home.
  • Talking about different ideas and possibilities.  Sharing my ideas (and advice) with other people.
  • Reading about new ideas.
  • Thinking of different ways to make money.
Well these are some of the things that put a smile on my face, I can’t really think of any more at the moment, but I may come back at a later time and add more….

I thought I’d finish off with a few quotes I found about smiling:

“A smile is like tight underwear - it makes your cheeks go up”.  ~Author Unknown

“You're never fully dressed without a smile”.  ~Martin Charnin

“It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown”.  ~Author Unknown

“If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it”.  ~Andy Rooney

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing”.  ~Mother Teresa

WHAT PUTS A SMILE ON YOUR FACE?

Thursday 24 November 2011

Is It Possible To Find True Happiness?

How do we find happiness and fulfilment?  What is the purpose of life?  Mmmm quite BIG questions, but according to Stephen he believes the ultimate questions of my blog.  He even sent me a list of quotes relating to these questions.  Many of the quotes talk about finding the happiness within and it’s not a matter of events or circumstances. 

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about happiness and how it links in with exploring my other path.  I would say that they probably go hand in hand.  In the last couple of months I have actually been feeling really happy and well within myself.  I think this change came about from a course I attended at work.  One of the modules talked about Emotional Intelligence and Positive Self Talk.  I realised that I don’t have very positive self-talk.  Since then, I’ve really made a conscious effort to be more positive with my self-talk and in turn I feel happy J. 

I talked with Stephen about this change in thinking and explained that because I feel happier I am thinking more about where I’m at in my life and thus why I want to explore my other path.  Stephen thinks it’s a bit weird that I’ve started this blog, but I’m finding it quite therapeutic.

Now for those of you out there who may also be in search of happiness, fulfilment or whatever it is you want to call it, I’ve found a couple of resources that may help you.

Gretchen Rubin spent time sifting through different studies and theories on happiness.  As a result of this she produced a book titled ‘The Happiness Project’.  To extend this concept further she has also started the 2011 Happiness Challenge.  Each month this year she has picked a theme and then each week she sets a resolution to do with happiness and the theme to try and achieve.  It’s not too late to have a go!

This is a list of 101 ways to help you feel happy.  There are things on the list as simple as “smile”.  Maybe I’ll give some of the things on the list a go….

WHAT’S 1 THING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

Wednesday 23 November 2011

1 More Resource To Help Find Your Passion

I just found a blog post titled: 100 Useful Web Tools to Help You Find Your Passion, Calling or Career.  This looks rather interesting and I will explore some of the resources further.  However, I did notice there was a link to an address by Steve Jobs (Apple).  I found his address quite inspiring and thought you might like to have a read too – You’ve Got To Find What You Love.

5 Resources To Help You Find Your Passion

I have been scouring the internet for some potential resources to help direct me in finding my passion.  This has been quite a task as there is so much out there, as I’m sure you’re all aware with the internet.  However, I have narrowed it down to a few that may be useful.

This website asks 7 questions to help work out what your passion is.  Some of the questions look easier to answer than others, maybe a good place to start!

This blog entry is similar to the abovementioned site.  Annabel discusses the 7 steps to help you work out what your dream could be.  I think it will be best to combine the ideas from both of these websites.

This article looks at finding your passion in a slightly different way.  The author, James Clear, believes that “passions are born out of experiences” and that this is so for work and life in general.  He goes on to mention that if you are not finding your passion in what you’re currently doing then you may need to put yourself out there and maybe try new things and create new experiences. 

This is a 4 minute video by Randy Komisar (virtual CEO and professor) discussing a “portfolio of passions”, rather than just the one passion.  He then goes on to talk about how to match these passions with the opportunities available to you.  This video makes me think that I’ve been looking at finding my passion in a way that could never be achieved.  “What’s in the foreground and how do they sync up with my passions that I have today”, definitely something to ponder further.

I quite like this article.  The author again lists some questions to answer to help discover your passion, but I also like the way that he provides a brief synopsis of his journey and how he answered the questions.  Again I will incorporate these questions in my own list of questions to answer.

Over the coming weeks and blog posts I will explore some of these resources further and begin to answer some of the questions.




This post was written for the cash giveaway by Successful Blogging and RocketFuel who connect brands with bloggers.

Monday 21 November 2011

Inspirational

Does anyone out there have an inspirational person in their life?  Maybe someone that motivated you to try something different or to change or to follow your dream or maybe just someone you went ‘wow’ to.  I have such a person, and unknowingly to this person, she has inspired me to look for something more.

My person had a complete upheaval of her life.  One minute she was working away at her job in Perth, then the next she relocated all the way to Iceland.  I am still amazed at the complete turn around and dedication that it must have taken to sell up everything, leave family and friends and move to a completely foreign location.  To me, this person is such a positive role model and it really makes me believe that it’s not entirely impossible to find and follow a passion.

I think the next step will be to do some hard work to actually determine what my passion could be…..

But I would also like to know, who inspires you and why?

Sunday 20 November 2011

Introducing

I thought that maybe as I will be writing about exploring my other path and will be talking about the key people in my life I should introduce them.  So introducing:

The husband – aka Stephen.  This photo really sums up Stephen – he loves the water.


The daughter – aka Emily.  Emily is now 16months and can do no wrong in Grandma and Grandpa’s eyes (first grandchild).



The dog – aka Buffy.  For Buffy, it’s all about playing and chasing her toys.



The sisters – aka Shell Bell, Manda and Netts.  Probably my best friends!

A bit of a golden oldy, can you tell who is who??

Mum and Dad – aka Grandma and Grandpa.  It’s all about Emily now and if you ask my sis Manda she’ll probably tell you that if Emily is in the room no one else exists ;-))

Mum didn't want me to use her photo, so I found this one instead ;-))

Me - aka Mel and Mum, and trying to find what it is I want out of life.


Tuesday 15 November 2011

Perseverance

So I don’t really know much about blogging (maybe that’s obvious to you so far ;-)).  I thought I should do a bit of research to see what makes a good blog.  As usual with the internet I looked at so many things and got taken to many different blogs and advice.  But I did happen to come across this blog post and thought it somewhat appropriate to my journey, click here.

Annabel discusses 10 ways to get the life you want.  There is also a link to a blog post about finding your dream (or as I like to call it, my passion).  One of the ideas that resonated with me was ‘staying focused’ and that it could take a long time to achieve your goals.  Now I have had a lengthy discussion with Stephen on this very topic.  When I mentioned I wanted to start a blog to write about this journey he spoke to me about perseverance.  And that if I was going to do something like this it takes work and I need to commit to it and will need to persevere with this.  Mmmmm is this my husband trying to burst my bubble….or does he know what I’m like.  I must admit, I do like having a new project and a new idea and I do get bored easily.  But, is this any reason not to try to follow a passion?  Maybe I just haven’t found my passion yet and thus why I am always looking for a new project.

Monday 14 November 2011

Do you have a passion?

I decided to broach this crossroad subject and feeling with my sisters; surely they would have an opinion.  Now to give you a little bit of background about ‘the sisters’, they’re never short of an opinion or of sharing this.  Now don’t get me wrong…I’m exactly the same J.  Another piece of information about the ‘sisters’ is that we’re not real deep.  When I talked about crossroads, is this it, finding a different path, I kind of got a weird look and was promptly told “geez that’s a bit deep isn’t it”?

When my big sis (Shell Bell) asked me a bit more about my thinking, I mainly spoke about wanting to be doing something I was more passionate about.  I want to be inspired and engaged in what I’m doing.  And not asking too much, I want this in my personal life and my work life.  Her response, “but you love your job”.  I ponder this statement now as I’m writing….At the time I said ‘yes’ I do and thinking about it now I do really like my job.  But is this enough?  We spend so much of our adult life working, why can’t I have passion and be inspired with my work?  When talking on this topic with my husband (Stephen) he is very much of the view that ‘we work to live’, it’s all about what we do outside of work.  But I really love immersing myself into my work; it’s a huge part of my life.  I want to be passionate about my work and be inspired by what I’m doing. 

So my question to you; is anyone out there really passionate about what they’re doing, are you inspired???  I would love to hear about your passion!

Friday 11 November 2011

Is this it?

Okay so here it is…..I woke up a few weeks ago with this real sense of “is this it”, “should I be doing something more”?  I don’t know why I had this feeling, is it because I turned 35 this year; maybe I’m starting my mid-life crisis early.  Or maybe having a baby has made me re-evaluate where I’m at in my life.  One thing I definitely know is that I feel as if I’m at a crossroad in my life.  I can continue on the current path I’m on, or I can look at exploring another path for myself. 

So….this is what this blog is about.  It’s a way of sharing my journey with you; and I hope you can share with me any advice, thoughts or experiences.  I don’t know where this is going or if I will take the other path, but one thing I do know is that I want to see what else is out there for me.