I honestly did think about NOT sharing this article with you but then I thought, “it’s my online magazine and I want to be true and authentic to myself”, so that is why I am sharing it.
I would say that I am more of spiritual person these days than deeply religious but I do love to pray everyday. I know prayer isn’t for everyone but I really do believe in the power of prayer. I have the deepest faith and belief that all my prayers are answered, I really do believe that and I have strong evidence of that since I was a child.
God Mother
My God Mother, Bella, who passed away many years ago, always had the deepest faith in the power of prayer and I guess she passed that on to me, it is only now when I am reflecting on it, I really believe she did, in such a positive way.
I remember when I was a child my Aunt Bella gave me this prayer to read at night, it was a prayer to give me the strength and confidence to do well in my education and studies, I remember I said that prayer every night for years and years, never a night went by without me saying that prayer – I know that prayer helped me do really well at School and University.
New Prayer
I created a new prayer this evening, I was doing my housework earlier and listening to some inspirational videos on YouTube and I just thought to myself, “I want to create a meaningful and heartfelt prayer to say everyday”. This prayer is quite personal to me and I know this prayer will definitely be answered, maybe you will want to say it too, or indeed make up your own special personal prayer.
Prayer In My Heart
So I share this prayer with you today, I feel this prayer in my heart, I feel it. I hope you connect with it in some way and if you are supportive of the power of prayer then please feel free to use it and share it with others.
PS. I love you Aunt Bella and I miss your laugh and happy spirit and I know my Mum does too.
Best Ever Self Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for listening to me and thank you for answering this prayer.
I have deep faith in the positive changes that are currently happening to me.
I have true belief in the power of this prayer and the knowing that I am achieving everything that my heart desires.
Thank you for helping me to stay strong, patient, confident, creative, powerful, happy and forever abundant.
Thank you for my heart’s beauty, perfect health, amazing wealth and for giving me the happiest spirit and soul.
I feel very blessed and so grateful for all that I am and for all that I am becoming.
I say this prayer to you today, to offer you my deepest gratitude for helping me to truly help myself turn my life around for the better and for me becoming my Best Ever Self.
Thank you Dear God for answering my prayer today and always.
This is a blog post from an old blog of mine, I wrote this post in April 2010, 2 years prior to me starting this poetry blog. I thought I would share this with you because it is amazing how life evolves as we grow and develop. If someone had told me back then that I would now have a poetry blog and was so commited and passionate about it, I would never have believed them…..my creative writing desires are stronger than ever. We are all on a journey of personal evolution, much of this will be invisible for you right now, who knows what great things you will be part of in a few years from now. Much love to you today. Clarabelle
Personal Evolution
Below is that original post from April 2010:
I absolutely LOVE my job but it wasn’t an easy job getting here—it took me 36 years of learning, being, doing, hoping, having, not having, feeling and experiencing the highs and lows of real life and work. It is only now that I feel wise enough and knowledgeable enough to share this experiential learning.
When I Grow UP I want to be…..
From the age of 5—15 years I went through different phases of wanting to be a Mum, Air Steward, Dancer, Model, Nun, Song Writer (I had a real desire to write the winning Eurovision song – still do!!), Primary School Teacher, Nursery Nurse and a Secretary. So where did my early career ideas come from, maybe………
Mum: Watching my mum lovingly support and care for our family; wanting to be just like my mum and also being the proud owner of various dolls such as (in its day) the famous ’Tiny Tears’.
Air Steward: Wanting a ‘glamorous’ lifestyle (perceived) and the opportunity to travel all over the world, maybe even marry a pilot!! I also think the popular TV advert for Caledonian Airlines had a big influence….I remember wanting to be a ‘Caledonian Girl’.
Dancer: I was a massive fan of the hit TV Programme ’Fame’ and loved dancing from an early age – still do 🙂
Model: Watching Miss World on TV and aspiring to be like one of these beautiful woman. I wanted to wear that crown!!!
Nun: There was a real religious influence here from my childhood days, in particular at Primary School and I went through a really ’holy’ stage—that was until I discovered my like for boys!!
Songwriter: I used to lock myself in my bedroom for hours and make up songs, I would practice and practice them all day long and never got bored of it—this was a perfect escapism for me at such a young age. To this very day I still remember the songs and so do my closet friends. We often burst into these songs after a few wines!!
Primary School Teacher: I used to babysit for my next door neighbour when I was in my early teens—I loved watching their 3 kids, probably because I could be a ‘big kid’ myself. This inspired me to want to teach young children to learn and develop—I then found out that I would need to study for a further 5 years after Secondary School and this sadly (at the time) put me off.
Nursery Nurse: Again my love for children and helping them to learn and have fun. My Guidance Teacher at Secondary School totally put me off the idea “that’s not the career for you he said, that’s not a good job”. How easily influenced I was as a teenager.
Secretary: Well I figured I would go with the safe bet and be a secretary, after all I was good at typing, passed all my Secretarial Studies exams with flying colours and oh yes my mum did that when she left school and she told me fabulous stories about her career in this field. That was it at the age of 15 I aspired to be a secretary. Well there was nothing else, was there……???
My Career Path
So I finally had come to the idea that I would be a Secretary. So I went to typing College to learn how to touch-type—this proved to be a very worthwhile skill to have during all my future jobs. What where they? Well, my career experience consists of:
Shop assistant, sales representative, hotel waitress, 20 years of various office type jobs from receptionist through to human resource management. A couple of these jobs which I liked and some others I have quite closely hated.
An Independent Decision
Then at the age of 34 I decided to think very carefully about my future career and where it was heading. Why then? Well lots of reasons I believe, but I think coming out of some personal turmoil combined with some major achievements made me a much stronger person with a really determined ‘can do’ attitude.
This included personal triumphs and goals such as Graduating from University in 2005 in Personnel Practice, running the New York marathon in 2007 (I then later did the London Marathon in 2010) and Graduating again from University in 2008 in Human Resource Management. It was in 2006/7 when I seriously reflected on my future and felt much more equipped to correctly answer the following question…….
So what do I really want to do when I grow up?
To answer this, I identified my core values and what they meant to me, I looked at what job activities I particularly enjoyed doing, I thought about what are my strengths, what was I truly passionate about doing, what excites me in life, where did I want to see myself 5-20 years from now and the ultimate question: How was I going to get there?
I had a real belief and confidence in myself and I knew I wanted to have the freedom to explore new territories, learn new things and meet new people. I knew that I wanted to help other people achieve their dreams, goals and aspirations in life. I wanted to coach and mentor people to do just that, I got excited about the thought of it and felt strongly passionate about it. I was truly ready for this and felt fully motivated and inspired to do so.
What did I do?
I researched into Coaching, I wrote to no less then 200 practicing coaches in America asking for their advice, I then went to New York and met some of those coaches, left my full-time job as Human Resource Manager, studied for a further year and achieved a Diploma in Coaching at Distinction level (94%), started up my own business at the end of 2008 and that’s where I am at the moment. I have BIG plans for the business and I know that I will only achieve this through hard work and commitment. To be honest, at times it feels like starting all over again—to what it was like over 20 years ago.
What have been the best parts of my job so far?
Most definitely supporting and empowering other people to achieve their dreams, goals and aspirations in life. Almost 90% of my work to date has been career/business/leadership goals related and with my Human Resource Management background and sound coaching and mentoring experience—it works very well and benefits my clients greatly.
Also being my own boss and having the freedom to use my creativity and innovation to lead the business into great things that will inspire others to achieve great things for themselves.
Personal Learning
I have learned so much over the last 17 months of my business (to date almost 5 years!!) and I feel very proud to say that I have video blogged my real time journey all along the way. My vision is that one day it will be professionally edited and shared with you at home in the format of a short film/documentary.
But………what about being a Songwriter?
Hey, I can still do that, my career ain’t over yet, it is just at the beginning—the true beginning.
******
On 29 March 2013 – Clarabelle says:
I have now had my business for almost 5 years and I still continue to love it…….I am also planning another business which is indirectly linked. I must say however that nothing at the moment, beats the feeling of writing for this blog and getting messages from other bloggers and readers out there……you are magnificent in every sense of the word and my heart and soul is touched everyday with your responses. I see my future in this blog and I do hope you join me on the journey.
Thank you for reading this post today, lots of love Clarabelle.
Below is a post taken from an older blog of mine…..I don’t use this blog any more however I feel some of the more empowering posts from it would be really good to share on here. This post was originally written in 2009, I hope it makes you think a little differently. Go for your goals today. Love Clarabelle.
Success Leaves Clues
Today, I was at the beach watching a little girl chase her father’s remote controlled car around in circles. She kept jumping forward and falling on her knees in an effort to catch the car as it skidded by. She did this 31 times and failed. But on attempt number 32, she caught the car. [Makes Me Think (MMT), Marc and Angel]
Clarabelle’s thoughts…..
If only as adults we were sometimes as brave and determined as that young child and then maybe our fear of failure would not inhibit us from our most greatest life successes. How many times have we as adults only have had to fail once and then we never try or do again? What made that little girl not give up after the first time? I think for sure she was enjoying the journey of her learning experience and having lots of fun, fun, fun with her father. I also think she did not care about what anybody else thought. She had no negative thoughts in her mind preventing her from continuing and no limiting beliefs blocking her path. She sounded excited, happy and free to never give up—even after 31 times.
What have you prevented yourself from doing after falling at the first hurdle?
What would it mean for you to get back up, stand tall, be confident and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead?
Surely in every failure there is a lesson to be learned and by applying the lessons second or third time around maybe, just maybe, your outcome would be different every time, and every time I bet you would get closer to your goal.(Claire Murray)
“It only takes one person to change your life—YOU” [Ruth Casey]
This is a post I wrote for another business blog in 2011, I came across it today and thought I would share it with you, there may be some value in it for you and please feel free to share away. I wish you a day filled with opportunities for the taking, it’s your life, go get it!! Clarabelle.
Change is Opportunity Now
An Exciting Challenge
I was on the phone to my business partner Debbie and we were talking about ‘change’, for me ‘change is opportunity’. Why do I say this? Well as much as some of us might dread the thought of change, I absolutely love it and find it an exciting challenge. I don’t want to sit in my ‘comfort zone’ all my life, it is important for me to get out there, embrace new challenges and live life. If I fail, well I feel I have only learned some great lessons that will strengthen me as a person.
I was sent this wonderful quote last night by my friend Stephen, “if we never fail at anything we are not being adventurous enough” by Peter Huntley, MD of Go North East buses, what a truly wonderful quote that is. I would rather try and fail 1000 times than not try at all. Determination, persistence, passion, consistency, self-discipline and never giving up is the qualities that I feel will get me everywhere. We all know the famous saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ so I would also throw in some ‘love and patience’ to this amazing mix of ingredients.
What I would say however is that to make change happen you need to know exactly your answers to the following questions:
Where you are going?
What do you specifically want to achieve?
What is your life’s purpose?
What do you need to be, do and have to get there?
What activities can you take action on NOW that will have the greatest impact on moving you forward towards your change goal?
Change is a choice and once you make that full commitment to change anything in your life you must take ‘MASSIVE ACTION’ to initiate the process. When you start taking meaningful action towards your change goal you will get more and more motivated by the results you start to see – the fruits of your labour.
To change effectively and for the long term you must start at the core, with the root “the roots determine the fruits”. That means change the way you think, which will change the way you feel and ultimately this will change your behaviours and it is in what you do that will help you get real results.
So make that decision today, challenge yourself, be open, flexible and adaptable to change, welcome it with open arms and express who you really are because the only constant in life is change and if you stand still, I believe you are actually going backwards, as others make changes to drive ahead they will most definitely overtake you – so don’t be left for dust, change is opportunity NOW!!
Challenges are a blessing, they make us stronger from within, although at the time it doesn’t really feel that way. Courage will always find you, please have faith and know in your heart of hearts that set backs make us dig deeper and a new opportunity awaits for you. May you create the right opportunity for you in your life today. Much love to you Clarabelle.
courage will always find you
Courage Will Always Find You
Have patience my dear, for all is well;
I see it for your future, I hear its jingle bell.
For just around the corner, is a beautiful light;
Waiting for the darkness, so it can shine on you so bright.
Challenges are a blessing, they make us who we are;
Welcome them with open arms, jump upon the star.
Courage will always find you, be brave and carry on;
Just because you cannot see it, doesn’t mean all hope has gone.
Trust in your heart, have faith in all that’s here;
This path that you are on, is quite simply crystal clear.
This encouraging little message, is especially for you;
It brings peace and loving thoughts, to make you stronger through and through.
My brother was made redundant from his job the other day and with my Human Resources background I have been offering him some very much needed support. I know that he doesn’t feel like being positive about the situation right now, and I fully understand it, but I hope, through time, he will realise the opportunities that he can now create for himself. I am now reminded of this quote, “When one door closes another one opens; but we often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” (Alexander Graham Bell). This next poem is inspired by this situation and I hope that it instills some hope and encouragement for you and anyone you know who is going through a similar experience. Raise your thinking to a higher level and build up your courage and confidence to help you achieve what you want in life. Lots of love Clarabelle
Clarabelle 