WHY YOU CAN’T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER I fully believe that we are presented with learning opportunities every single day of our lives, and recently I have experienced an abundance of lessons! The biggest lesson has been about Integrity. Integrity is one of my most important core values, and it took a loving and courageous friend to show me where I was not fully honouring it. I was not practicing what I preach to everyone willing to listen about being kind to yourself, and allowing your unique and precious light to shine! Which brings me to the topic of…
Many years ago, when our children were quite young, my husband was a smoker. 
No matter how tight money was, he needed (and got) his cigarettes every day. It was a non-negotiable, accepted fact that feeding his habit was a priority. And nobody thought it was weird, or selfish.
Apart from the health implications, nobody mentioned what his tobacco addiction cost the family because it was embraced as part of who he was.
Just like insisting on decent toilet paper is part of who I am!
The amazing thing is, that our budget always stretched to accommodate the cigarettes (and the good toilet paper).
Thankfully, he doesn’t smoke anymore but it got me thinking about what is non-negotiable in my life – besides good quality toilet paper.
Where will I not compromise?
Or, more importantly, where am I settling for less?
Try it for yourself.
Your weekly groceries can be very revealing!
Is there even one item on your shopping list that is non-negotiable?
Do you prioritise yourself even once a week?
What’s the worst that could happen if you gave yourself permission to splash out and buy the nice coffee, or the good chocolate, or the soft toilet paper?
Life is one big experiment. 
Every day, I take myself and the dog along the same 20-minute route, and every day I see something different because it is the nature of our world to continuously change, adapt and transform.
And yet, human beings doggedly hold on to the illusion that we are in control. Modern civilisation has been built on our desire to control and our belief that we, as the most highly evolved sophisticated, educated, creative and intelligent beings, can make the world dance to our tune.
What is untamed frightened us.
We kill, cage, or domesticate wild animals.
Push or Pull?
One of the advantages of getting older is that you find out more and more about what motivates you. The downside of this is that it gets increasingly difficult to lie to yourself.
For example, I now know that I need to make a public commitment in order to be able to stick to an exercise program. At the moment, I am taking part in 100 Days of Walking. It’s been relatively easy so far to stay on track, because the weather has been reasonable for the last 3 weeks.
However, I know myself well enough to be aware that I am going to need a little extra motivation to keep going when those miserable, sideways rain days we get in the west of Ireland inevitably dawn soon.
‘Imagine’ is a magic word!
It opens up all sorts of possibilities and encourages us to broaden our minds and allow our thoughts to roam free.
It encourages us to look in all directions and dimensions.
We can imagine what life will be like in five, ten, twenty years time.
We can imagine how it feels to be that bird in the tree, or that cow in the field.
We can imagine flying to the moon and visiting the stars.
And we can imagine what it must be like to experience a different life.
In fact, we can imagine just about anything – there are no limits.
My mantra for most of my life was ‘Blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.’ I expected nothing and that’s exactly what I got! Sometimes, life was very good to me and surprised me with wonderful blessings in spite of my neutral attitude. Most of the time, I coasted along, making do, getting by and surrounded by mediocrity. Everything was alright. But very little was WONDERFUL I was going through life on my parking lights. Very occasionally, I might self-consciously switch on my headlights for a short time. But I’d quickly turn them off again…
How often do we get stuck focused on the Obstacles in our path to a goal? We know where we want to go.We know what steps we need to take to get there.Maybe we even create a plan!We feel positive and motivated and energised. Then … all the Obstacles are activated. They invade our thoughts. They impair our actions. They grow and multiply and cripple us. They overwhelm us. They fool us into believing that our goal is impossible. It’s not worth the effort and the hassle. We’ll be better off abandoning the idea and staying small. What Happened? Our focus…
The Empowerment Effect is a lifelong process of becoming the best possible version of the unique creation that is YOU, with the added intention of guiding others to do the same as we all live, learn, grow and transform from the inside out.
What would our world be like if every person recognised that they have the potential to make a positive difference simply by being the best possible version of themselves?
What if each one of us was determined to make life better for even one other person, creating a ripple effect of transformation and empowerment?