GRATITUDE + CONSCIOUS LIVING Page 18 of 26

Happy birthday to me! (PLUS week of giveaways coming up!)

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Beth & Heather

Me and my BFF Heather heading off on my hen do a few weeks back (more on that coming soon!)

Hello 36! It’s my birthday today, and I am celebrating with my bestest buddy and our two fellas. We were born on the same day (honestly!) and used to always celebrate together, but this will be the first time in several years we have got together on our joint birthday and I cannot wait.

The weather forecast is for glorious sunshine, and the sea is calling. I am hoping today will be full of laughter and fun as we enter into our ‘late thirties’.

A year ago today my man proposed, and ever since this last year has been such a huge one in my life (sabbatical on the other side of the world, wedding, honeymoon and all sorts of other adventures). But as so much of that is coming up on the blog in the next few weeks instead, today I am just going to say this:

(1) I feel happier in my life right now at 36 than I ever have

(2) I am grateful for so much – family, friends, shiny new husband, adventures, business, YOU and more

(3) I want you to celebrate with me, so all this week I am doing some crazy giveaways here on the blog. Here’s what’s coming up:

WEDNESDAY: Giving away a free place on Part A of Make Art That Sells with Lilla Rogers! (plus a fab interview with Lilla that you don’t want to miss!)

THURSDAY: Giving away a free copy of Tara Leaver’s new book ‘Creative Spark: (re)igniting your creativity with everyday wisdom’ (and I share a great interview with Tara too)

These giveaways will be open from the time they are posted until 12 noon GMT on Saturday 11 May 2013, so be sure to check in every day and enter! You can enter as many of them as you like. GOOD LUCK and happy birthday me!

Gardening / procrastinating

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Gardening

You know when you have been away from something for a while, and things have piled up, and somehow you need to attack the mountain but just can’t bring yourself to do it? That’s what it feels like with blogging right now. I have SO much to share with you after an incredible few weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon – we were showered with love and I don’t know enough ways to say thank you to so many different people. But somehow it is hard to know where to begin!

So I am going to ease myself in gently with this little musing about gardening, and tell myself that I’m not really procrastinating about sharing everything else…

Last summer brought so much rain to the North of England that our garden became an explosion of green. The black bamboo has gone wild and shoots way up into the sky. The wisteria has climbed thick across the canopy which hangs over our little sunken table. And there are lots of (pretty) weeds around. So we decided to do some gardening – starting with getting rid of the old water feature put in by the previous owners of the house, and replacing it by a sawn-off beer barrel filled with pink and white pansies.

Gardening / procrastinating 2013 02 16 15.01.16

Doing physical work in the garden felt so good – I loved picking away at the earthy compost with radio tunes wafting through the air. I felt like I had earned my achy back, and the cups of tea tasted even better outside.

I think the thing I liked the best was the fact that my head pretty much emptied of anything while I was working with the soil. My head is normally a very busy place, so it was a kind of meditation to me.

I have to confess I know very little about gardening, but I would love to learn more. Our neighbours are fantastic, dedicated gardeners who spend hours and hours plucking and trimming, sweeping and nurturing, and their garden looks gorgeous as a result. Maybe this can be a new hobby for me in the years ahead? Anything that wears the body but relaxes the brain sounds like a good tonic to me.

Are you green fingered? What is it you love about gardening? Any top tips for a novice like me?

Honoured to be awarded a place in the ‘Top 42 under 42’ entrepreneurs in Yorkshire!

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'Top 42 under 42' entrepreneurs in Yorkshire

Just found out I have been awarded a place in the ‘Top 42 under 42′ entrepreneurs in Yorkshire! This is a real honour in a region buzzing with start ups and exciting new businesses. These awards recognise ‘rising stars of business’ in the region, so I am looking forward to meeting all the other winners soon!

Thanks to my awesome collaborators Kelly Rae Roberts, Rachael Taylor and Lilla Rogers for their part in Do What You Love’s explosive growth, which has allowed us to help thousands of women all over the world to do what they love!

Love letter to you

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Love heart Rachael Taylor

‘Love’ by one of my talented business partners Rachael Taylor

I have never really made a big thing of Valentine’s day but this year… well I’m getting married in a few weeks’ time, people! So love is very much in the air, and I am feeling grateful and loved and excited and hopeful and all the good things that come with being about to embark on the rest of my life with someone amazing.

But I also feel the same about my dear business, Do What You Love. One of my treasured business partners Kelly Rae Roberts and I often talk about how our businesses are living breathing things, just like we are, and that we should care for them like people, talk to them, nurture them, champion them, love them. And that is something I am really feeling right now. I want to reach out and give mine a big hug.

There are so many awesome opportunities flying our way, new projects unfolding, spring cleaning of older projects, and on and on. In part that is due to the awesome collaborations I am truly grateful for – with Kelly Rae, with Rachael, with Lilla, and with others we haven’t announced yet (you know who you are!) – I love that I get to work with women like this (and our fab team!) day in day out.

But I want to take a moment to recognise that actually, the fact that I get to do what I love is largely because of YOU. Without your enthusiasm and support, your wholehearted participation in our classes, the stories you share about how they have changed things for you, and your being here, reading this, there would be no Do What You Love.

So this is a love letter to you.

Thank you for being here, for sharing this crazy wonderful business and life journey, and for your courage to follow your dreams.

May this day, and all your days, be filled with love

Beth

The blessing of storage – and why it is worth making time for a clear out

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Painting

In the process of painting everywhere white to start afresh

When we went to live abroad for a few months last year we had to clear out our house for the tenants. We decided to put everything in storage, although ended up getting rid of a huge pile of things in the process (especially out of the big black hole that is the attic!) Now we are back we have unpacked our luggage, put away everything in the boxes we shipped (mainly books, stationery and more books) and repainted.  We have taken a few things out of storage, but more than 70% of what we stored is still in there, and I have hardly noticed. Compared to before our house seems much emptier, but in a really good way. It is lighter, more airy, more us.

Having culled my wardrobe and given many things to charity shops when we went away, most of what has been stored is beautiful, useful or precious to us. But I have come to realise that we don’t need to have all of it on display, or within reach, all the time.

From time to time I pine for some of my books packed away at the back of the unit, or for my easel, tucked away behind some chairs, or for this jumper or that skirt. But mostly, I like having a whole lot less stuff around me. It is easier to make things look beautiful when there is less clutter. It is easier to think when there is less to distract you. And it is easier to clean when there is less to move around! Not to mention that paying for a small storage unit is cheaper than getting an apartment or flat big enough to have everything on display. A blessing on many fronts.

The beginning of the year is as good a time as any to declutter your house, your creative space and your mind.

Why not try it?

Make space for new good things.

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Have you decluttered recently? What difference did it make?

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PS If you want to think more about this topic you might like to check out the blogs ‘Unclutterer‘ or ‘Zen Habits’

Just gotta laugh – what I learnt from bad customer service

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Just gotta laugh - what I learnt from bad customer service DWYL BLOG TUNEINCHILLOUT 650X250PX LR

Warning:  short uncharacteristic rant coming up (there is a point I promise).

5 months ago we bought a brand new oven. It was really expensive, and our tenants broke it. When we got back from Japan we called the company and they sent round an engineer to check it out. Apparently it needed two new parts. That was nearly three months ago. We have been waiting for the replacement parts ever since. I have called the company at least 15 times but every time I get fobbed off with ‘the part is still on order’ etc etc. This went on all through Christmas (yes it meant that we didn’t get to have Christmas dinner at home).

Last week I called and they said the parts had at last been dispatched to the engineer who would call me within 48 hours. That was five days ago. When I called today they said the parts had at last been dispatched to the engineer who would call me within 48 hours. So the woman I spoke to last week told me a blatant lie. No wonder the engineer never called.

Our oven is still broken, but that’s not the point.

The point is that by call number 15 (a total of about 4 hours on the phone listening to a holding message telling me how they pride themselves on product quality and customer service) I was understandably quite frustrated. I had been really polite every time, but by now I just wanted to scream in frustration (and have someone turn up on my doorstep with a shiny new oven).

And then, something brilliant happened. My man came in to my office, took me by the hand and led me to the middle of the room. He made me jump up and down, shake my arms around, and shout really loud. And he did it too. We looked like a pair of crazy people. And you can imagine that by the end of that we collapsed in laughter. And I felt a whole lot better about it. It’s bad enough having a broken oven. I don’t need a stress headache too.

As they say, you can’t control what happens to you, but you can control the way you let it affect you.

Lesson learnt.

Hello 2013!

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DWYL declaration

(The Do What You Love declaration and a sneak peek at our new branding, all to unveiled very shortly with a brand new website!)

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I have a very good feeling about this year.

Apart from the fact that I am getting married(!!) there is so much to look forward to. And there is something in the air that makes it feel like a year full of possibility.

I know there are some big changes coming, but I am excited about them all.

How about you? What are you hoping for in the year ahead?

Whatever it is, I hope you spend 2013 doing what you love!

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PS Do What You Love is getting a major overhaul for the new year – stay tuned for a brand new website later this month, with heaps of fresh resources to help you make 2013 the year you finally start doing what you love, for life!

Farewell 2012

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A cup of celebratory gold-leaf tea

A cup of celebratory gold-leaf tea for you

2012 was always going to be a big year. It had a circle round it in the ten year calendar of my mind ever since London won the right to host the Olympics back in 2005. And for many years I was involved in that monumental build up… but then I changed track, and ended up here, with a very different 2012 from that which I had imagined. It has been a sparkling, eye opening, special year, so I thought I would write it a letter.

Dear 2012,

You were extraordinary.

You made me slow down, speak up, laugh every day.

You made me move half way round the world, and back again.

You taught me how to make beautiful paper with my own two hands.

You showed me sunrises and sunsets, mountains, sand dunes, ocean, sky.

You introduced me to some amazing new people, and saw me get engaged to my true love.

You were full of adventures, you made me learn and grow, you pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could do.

You surprised me, uplifted me, delighted me.

And you have brought me here to the cusp of 2013, where I have no idea what is going to happen next year, except that I am going to get married, go on a honeymoon, start a new chapter and choose love.

I am grateful for so many of the things, people, experiences, opportunities you presented – please have a word with 2013 so they keep on coming!

Thank you 2012. For everything. I will miss you

Beth

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Wherever you are in the world, whatever year lies behind you, and whatever year lies ahead of you, I wish you a moment of stillness to be thankful, and to choose to make 2013 the year that YOU do what you love.