How to Retire in 12 Months

Last week, my husband and I shared an impromptu picnic on a grassy knoll on the cliffs of the North Bondi golf course. The ambient city lights were no match for the stars and the night air was still and quiet, except for the crashing of the waves on the rocks below.

We were celebrating 2 years since we met, and spent a few hours musing upon how lovely and magic that time has been.

Lying there in the warmth and promise of our partnership, I was awestruck at how quickly and suddenly life can change. I met a gorgeous man and my whole life changed overnight in terms of partnership, support and yummy love. I joined forces with a brilliant woman to produce a website and my whole business changed overnight, creating exciting opportunities and a passion for writing.

My little brother died suddenly and my whole family changed overnight, and through shared grief we strengthened our relationships and took new attitudes on spirituality and purpose.

I guess the conclusion I came to is that you really have no idea what is around the corner. Some of the things you get in life are things that you have aimed to achieve and some come from situations that you have no control over, and possibly wish had never happened.

Either way what is important is that you always keep the door open for amazing things to happen. Even if you can’t control the event, you can control how you react to it. I was once accused of having a ‘gummy bear attitude’, at first I was hurt and it was not for some time that I realised that there is nothing wrong with that! If I approach my life with happiness and positivity… who cares if some cynical old codger thinks I am uncool? I would choose happy over cool any day.

If you have any dark parts in your heart, where you have become cynical about the possibility of miraculously delicious things happening, sort it out and open the door again. Bitterness (and cynicism) is the enemy of opportunity, and opportunity is the juice that makes anything possible. If you let that juice dry up, you will need to do some serious brain retraining to get it back.

I embarked some of my own brain retraining recently. One of my closed doors is confidence in public speaking. I genuinely believed that I was not ever going to be able to say want I wanted to say in public without becoming a shaky, tongue tied weirdo, stuttering out grunts.

I have never taken affirmations very seriously before but I thought why not?! So I, for the last 5 months have been thinking positive affirmations almost every day on the topic of public speaking, and, to my surprise I have really noticed that something feels different, easier and more fun… Who knows, I may not be a freak after all!

Is your door open for life changing events?

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PS. I don’t promote much on this blog, but positive news magazine Happyzine is offering two great new courses and I wanted to share them with you.

1. Establishing Your Green-Dream Career

2. Marketing Your World-Changing Brand So They ‘Get It’

The courses are being presented by Happyzine founder Charlotte Squire with guest tutors, and each web based course runs for 1 month. If you would like one of these limited spots, email Charlotte for more information.