I have been practising singing my original songs before I head up to the recording studio in January to record my very first EP and I am soooooooooooo excited.
Just thought I would share with you some video footage from this, which I am calling my very own “Living Room Gig”, so welcome, I hope you enjoy. I have still got a long way to go before it’s perfect but as they say practice makes perfect and I am certainly doing that.
I have been in S. F.A.M lately, what does that mean?
It means, Super Focused Action Mode.
I feel everything right now is in alignment with where I am going i.e. my mental, emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing is matching what I am becoming and what I am achieving in life.
I can honestly say I haven’t felt as super strong as this for a while, probably in about 5 years, maybe even longer, I don’t know. I feel excited, enthusiastic, passionate, super focused, super creative, full of energy and full of action. I have definitely taken things to a new level and when I really think about it, I am not even sure if I have ever been on this level before and I can honestly say I am LOVING IT.
Can you feel my passion, can you feel my excitement because if I could, I would bottle it and gladly give it out for free. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I do hope this post has inspired YOU into S.F.A.M.
It is with great pleasure that I introduce this next Guest Blogger to you. Her name is Debbie Hollingsworth and she is a wonderful friend of mine and Strategic Business Partner. Debbie is an outstanding Executive Coach and Leadership/Management Trainer but she also has a special talent for writing poetry, which I only fairly recently found out.
Debbie Hollingsworth, Business Mentor and Professional Coach
Here is a little more about Debbie (extract from her Website):
What should I know about you?
I have been a professional coach since June 2006. I work with executives, business owners and their teams. I also work with private coach clients in aspects of their personal lives.
What did you do before you were a coach?
I ran my own travel business, before that I managed other peoples and before that I travelled the globe as a sales executive and trainer.
How did you become a professional coach?
The story how I found out about the coaching world is a little long to tell here, but if you want to know I will share that with you sometime!
I have been a professional coach and trainer since 2006. I trained with a global business coaching franchise and also as a life coach. I left the franchise in 2009 to focus on developing my own business and products.
Why are you a coach?
Being a coach is my way of making a difference in the world. I have never experienced job satisfaction in anything I have ever done to the same extent that I get from coaching people. Nobody ever came up to me when I sold holidays and said “Debbie, that trip to Barbados changed my life”. But they do say that about the work I do with my clients now.
What life experiences have you had?
I have been impacted by adoption, been married, divorced and remarried, faced infertility
issues, failed IVF, started two businesses and coped with more changes in my life than most before the age of 40!
What is your mission?
When working with anyone, whether it is 1-1 clients or groups, it is vital to me that change happens and there are positive results.
Not all results are tangible, as some are behavioural changes that must happen first of all. I have a mission, that as many people that I can influence, awaken to themselves and all that they are capable of being, doing and having.
To help people take full ownership of their lives and responsibility for their outcomes. That we focus only on what we can influence, not on what we cannot. That we realise that anything is possible.
My role is to help others to become aware of their obstacles so that they may be worked with and around, not always taken away but sometimes so.
As I said above, Debbie also writes beautiful poetry and below is one of these poems:
Debbie and her Dog, Sam
The Girl With Cornwall Hair
Who is she? Her over there, running free, running wild
Who is she? That girl in the flowing skirt, with roses in her hair
Who is she? She runs with the wind, without any care
Who is she? Sand between her toes, a smile, a laugh, a giggle
Who is she? Spinning like a wooden top, time standing still for her
Who is she? Her long, curly locks billowing behind her in the cool breeze
She is me, though I rarely feel her, see her, know her or be her
She is the girl with Cornwall hair.
Copyright Debbie Hollingsworth, 2013
Thank You
I would like to personally thank Debbie for sharing her wonderful creative talents with us here on this Clarabelle Blog, I am delighted she wanted to share her work with us.
If you wish to contact Debbie, you can do so, as detailed below:
If you would like to be a Guest Blogger on this Clarabelle Blog then please do let me know on the comments below and we will discuss it further. I look forward to hearing from you.
The video below shares with you the poem that inspired the “Clarabelle” logo with the blue butterfly and the Scottish tartan background. For those of you who are not familiar with the Clarabelle logo, here it is below:
It was created by my friend Jennifer, who is a fabulous Graphic Designer, after we had a deep and meaningful discussion about what I wanted.
I wanted to keep the logo quite simple with the following:
The “Clarabelle” name,
A butterfly, representing change/transformation and free spirit,
The colour “azure blue” which I really love and was so drawn to at the time (this is also the colour of my car) and which I didn’t know at the time, this is the colour for the communicationchakra…..how apt.
I also wanted a connection to my Scottishroots, I think that was Jennifer’s idea and I really liked it.
At the time of our initial discussions Jennifer handed me a piece of paper and asked me to sign the “Clarabelle” name, I then went back to her with some other ideas about the butterfly having a heart (I later decided not to use this), and she did the rest, and what an amazing job she did.
Jennifer originally provided me with the following wonderful examples for the Clarabelle Logo:
Feedback
I then used the above sample designs, to ask people I know and work with which was their favorite logo and why, this was to help me make the final decision on which logo I finally went with. I must say that the white/hearts butterfly logo above, came a very very close second. 🙂
Thanks again to Jennifer for creating this logo, every time I see it I think of this poem that inspired it.
I do hope you enjoy this video poem below, “I Wish I Was A Butterfly” that inspired the logo:
I Wish I Was A Butterfly
I wish I was a butterfly, dancing in the air,
Sparking in the sunshine, so wonderful and rare.
The beauty is in the detail, the colours so bright,
I watch you fluttering, in the magical sunlight.
You are on a journey, now you are free,
To move in the moment, like a honeybee.
Fragile in my hands, strong in the mind,
I’m mesmerised by your life, it’s one of a kind.
Sweet, sweet, butterfly, where do you go?
A soft breeze under your wings, only you do know.
You’ve awakened my soul, the world is your own,
You’ve come through the stages, developed and grown.
I look in the mirror and to my surprise,
A butterfly is on my shoulder, I can’t believe my eyes.
You represent free spirit, inside of me,
You whisper the truth, of what I’ve always wanted to be.
Today I am here, with my dreams in my heart,
The suitcase is ready, waiting to depart.
The destination is exciting, I’ve waited so long,
Now I am ready, I know where I belong.
Patience was a virtue, so evident and true,
Babysteps forward, from the back of the queue.
I’m next in line, a new chapter awaits,
As I close the door behind me and enter new gates.
This is a follow on post from the previous posts which related to the Clarabelle Blog core values, purpose and vision. Today I share with you the Mission Statement for the Clarabelle Blog. I will do another post further down the line where I pull it altogether in the one post for you i.e. core values, purpose, vision and mission statement of the Clarabelle blog. There will also be a separate page on the Blog dedicated to these. I want to build this Blog into something really amazing for you and I feel working on the core values, purpose, vision and mission statement will set strong foundations for going forward. It may also me something you wish to do for your own blog, business or even self for that matter, so maybe my posts will encourage, support and give you direction with that. Below is the Clarabelle Blog Mission Statement:
The stronger I become on the inside and the more I develop and grow the better this blog will become and therefore YOU will deeply benefit also.
Thank you so much for being part of this blog, I really do welcome your comments, likes, follows, reblogs and meaningful contribution in guest posts. Thank YOU 🙂 Clarabelle
I have been working on the core values for the Clarabelle blog. Values are really important to me and I believe they hold the foundations together and are the glue for any business, organisation or company to grow on. In my other business, Murray People Executive Coaching I work with Company Directors and Senior Executives in helping them define their own core values and the values for their business, it can be quite an enlightening experience for them.
Below is an image I created today of the 8 connected core values which the Clarabelle blog lives by, these are:
LOVE-LIFE
DREAM-DO
GIVE-GRATITUDE
HEALTH-HAPPINESS.
What is most important though is not necessarily the words, it is the meaning behind each of these words which add purpose and passion to each value. I will be doing another blog post in the near future explaining what each of these values mean.
I love this chart above, it was passed to me by one of my clients who has been working with an expert on leading change. I love it so much that I carry this little chart about with me everywhere now, I often look at it to measure where my mood is at. Earlier today, I had identified my mood as being -1 Impatient, Frustrated, I know why, I was putting too much energy and focus on a situation that did not serve me well, I changed focus and it then gradually moved up to +6 Resourceful and in this moment in time I am at +8 Wise, Insightful. Try it for yourself, print off the chart, cut it out and put it in your wallet/purse and test yourself throughout the day in terms of where your mood is at, it is very enlightening and will help you to reflect on where your current focus is – Is it serving you well or not?
Have fun with it, work on increasing your mood and I then reckon much more positive actions will come from this.
Thank you for reading this post – ah now I am +9 Grateful, THANK YOU, Clarabelle.
The stronger I become on the inside and the more I develop and grow the better this blog will become and therefore YOU will deeply benefit also.
Clarabelle 