It’s like climbing a mountain don’t you think? Now I know a thing or two about climbing mountains and asking YOU if you care enough about yourself is a valid question.

How often do you say to yourself and others, “I wish there were more time in the day!” I know you would be lying if you didn’t think this at least once a day. Correct me if I am wrong! Time is a very precious commodity that we never get back so use it wisely.

Being a work at home mum inevitably leads to being in the same surroundings day in and day out. Getting out of the house to work for me is a real treat and something I have scheduled in more often with my mobile broadband connection.

If you work from home, you can probably identify with this. The other issues are of course that there is always something to be done around the house and if you have young children, they need attention too. So how do we find the balance and care enough about ourselves to do something about it?

Here’s a question for you and I want you to say it out loud so it really resonates with you.

“How often do I spend time on myself?”

Is it an hour a day?

An hour or more a week?

An hour or more a month?

I think you get the idea. And by this, I mean time just for you and you alone. Whether it be taking a leisurely stroll, meditating, reading a book, listening to your favorite music or maybe sitting amongst nature and listening to the birds! Whatever it is that brings you peace of mind – spend time doing it.

Do you think about the food you eat and whether it is “good” or “bad” for your body? I use those words loosely as one person’s idea of good and bad can be different to the next person.

Do you exercise and stretch your body to keep it flexible and strong? Do you do Mentalrobics for the brain to keep it active? Is this too much of a list for you?

These are basic things we can do for ourselves in the quest to caring for ourselves. I know when I hit 40 I felt fabulous… now a few more years down the track… time seems to slip by me so fast that I can’t keep up with all I need to do!

Does it show to those around you?

Do you care enough about yourself that it shows to those around you? Do your friends comment on a great hairdo or a nice outfit you are wearing? Perhaps your skin always looks great and you receive compliments about this. Or perhaps you showed compassion to another and word got around. You may find that you have more respect than before. That’s not why you would it, it would be a consequence after the fact.

Now you might be asking “What does showing compassion to another have to do with caring about yourself?” Well if you didn’t care about yourself, you wouldn’t be showing compassion. By showing compassion to another, you would have put yourself in their shoes and whatever it was that prompted you to offer them help would have been something that happened to you in the past or to someone else you know and what they went through during that time. If you didn’t care enough about yourself, then how can you care for your fellow man?

Care Enough About Yourself

Some of the things you may want to take on if you care enough about yourself are things that you are passionate about and it really could be anything you find joy in doing and linking pleasure to doing it.

If the traditional way of exercising is not for you, think about taking a dance class like Salsa or Belly Dancing for instance. You will find muscles you never thought you had in those classes, or find someone that has group exercise classes outside of a gym if it’s the gym thing that doesn’t appeal. A simple brisk walk or light jog for 20 minutes everyday may do the trick too with stretching before and after the event.

When it comes to do the grocery shopping, do it after you have had a meal so that you are not tempted to buy extras that you don’t really need. Shopping on a full stomach will lessen the chance of buying something that may not be so good for you and your body.

Grooming is another thing to take note of. Having your hair tidy, makeup done (if you wear makeup that is) and clean well kept clothes also shows if you care enough about yourself. You don’t need to have the latest fashion as the latest fashion doesn’t suit every body or personality type. Wear what you feel comfortable in and remember to check your shoes too. These are things you may not consider on a daily basis and especially if you don’t have to leave the house to commute to work. It’s easy to become nonchalant in this situation and awareness of this is important… well to me anyway.

So do you care enough about yourself? If you don’t, then who will?

While you are considering this, here’s another dance you may be interested in and I look forward to your thoughts. Watch this video… um… you could get out of your chair and follow along… perhaps!

My name’s Michaela. I am Ange’s niece, 14 years young. There’s really not much to write, mainly because I don’t really know what my auntie does on here. But I’m going to say this, Ange is the craziest aunt I have. Meaning crazy in a good way. She loves her family and friends and cares deeply about what’s going on around her. For that, I love and admirer her.

I don’t find her on the adventurous scale, and I somehow don’t think The Kakoda Trail was such a good choice of adventure for her, but I know she’ll survive it ( : I think one of the most caring things she has done in the past is ‘FREE HUGS DAY MELBOURNE’.

She has a strong mind and always has her own opinion. If you dislike well trust me, you’re missing out.

I think I’m done on here. Thanks for reading about my auntie Ange ( : Much love to all, especially the one this is about.

xxx

So here are seven random facts about me that I don’t think I have ever shared here before…

1. I come from a musical family… both my brothers have played in bands and my parents and sister all sing and play instruments too. When I was seven years old, I took up piano lessons and continued for about 12 years. Although I had all those lessons, I haven’t played for a very long time and it’s not high on the list of my priorities these days. If you follow the link to the band, there is a playlist from their last gig where I was asked to join the band on stage and play the tambourine along to the song Black Betty. Imagine!!

2. I have learned how to draw charts of stocks using candlestick bars and can read a chart and follow patterns. Interestingly enough, if you take 5 years of monthly charts of a very well established stock and lay them along side each other, you will see history repeating itself. These days I use software to look at my charts so although the drawing days have gone, the lesson came in very handy indeed.

3. You may have read that I am an adrenalin junkie and I am also addicted to chocolate and cashew nuts… can’t get enough and them and it has to be the right kind of chocolate like Cadbury’s or Lindt… yummy!

4. Unlike Diane, if you read her post, she stated that she cannot reverse park and is having lessons from her son. I on the other hand have it down pat as my driving instructor made sure I did before she would let me go and sit my driving test. Thanks Sabina (my instructor) who also taught 3 of my cousins, my mum and one of my brothers to drive.

5. My most favourite movie of all time is ET. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was about 14 years young and just could not stop crying at the end. I have always had a fascination with Aliens and believe that they are around, just watching us humans and sitting back laughing most of the time. What do you think?

6. Although I love technology, it takes me some time to nut out new software and learn how to use it. I do not like reading instructions and much prefer to go about clicking this and that until I find a way that suits my way of doing things. (Truth be told, most of the time, I can’t follow the instructions!) I do get it after a while. My iPod is great for transferring music and audiobooks or podcasts onto and I wouldn’t be without my mobile broadband to check on things if I am away from my laptop.

7. I volunteer a little of my time online for the worthy cause Invisible Youth Network. Invisible Youth is an organization endeavoring to make a difference by providing human, material and monetary resources for abused, homeless and at risk youth and related programs. Russell Hartshaw who was once homeless himself, is the Chairman and Founder of this organisation. My efforts at recruiting have been very random of late and if you are interested in helping in some way, please do… either by raising awareness of the cause or donating to it if you so desire.

Now there weren’t any rules for this so I am not going to specifically tag anyone, and if you feel like sharing some facts about yourself, link to this so it can be tracked back to the original meme and I look forward to reading up about you.

Have fun!

I have been away with my family this past week in Perth, Western Australia and not due to return home until Sunday. I managed to slip away for a while to see what was going on online and time has slipped right by me. So here is a quickie post to let you know that I haven’t slipped into oblivion.

Being away with little ones means that you have to get into their world a little and find something magical for them at times so it was timely to come across this wonderful mime Fairy (pictured above) who sprinkled them with fairy dust Those are my girls to the right of the Fairy.

Do you remember as a child whether or not you could see Fairies? I had a conversation with a friend of mine once who told me that very young children often seem to be looking at something we as adults cannot see. He described them to be like firefly’s and that children would follow them with their eyes. I know this may seem a little outrageous to some, but let me know if you have ever noticed this with your kids. I am leaving my mind open as I don’t like to discount things and would love to hear your opinions on whether or not you believe it to be true or not.

Seeing how special it was, I wanted to share some of it with you.  I put together this holiday video message for you with a special offer as my gift to you my readers.  All you need to do is leave me your contact details with an address to send the book to at no expense to you.  I will cover the costs involved and I will leave this offer is open until the 31st January, 2008.

Dedicated to Success