I had some professional portfolio photographs taken last month in Glasgow City Centre. Below is a little preview of some of them, I think the photographer did really great, what do you think? Keep smiling through the storms my friends, for soon a beautiful rainbow will appear. Much love to you, Clarabelle.
Gratitude Exercise
I want to tell you about one of the gratitude exercises I have been carrying out over the last few weeks from my new eBook, “It’s All About Gratitude”. The gratitude exercise is called “Gratitude Penny Jar”. The eBook explains the full process on how to do this, but basically, in summary, when you have carried out this daily gratitude exercise you will have a full jar of “Gratitude Pennies” at the end of it to give away.
Gratitude Pennies
I was so excited the other evening because my Gratitude Penny Jar was full to the brim and I knew exactly who I was giving the Gratitude Pennies to. So I enthusiastically emptied the jar onto my living room floor and counted out the Gratitude Pennies. Here are some photos below:
402 Things That I Was Grateful For
All in all I had collected 402 Gratitude Pennies, I felt so good because that equated to 402 things that I was grateful for in my life over the last few weeks and now I was going to give these Gratitude Pennies away to someone who needed them more than me.
At the beginning of this Gratitude Exercise I already knew who I would give my pennies to because I often passed this homeless lady on the streets of Glasgow City Centre, no matter what the weather, selling “The Big Issue” Magazine, which is sold by people who are homeless. I counted out exactly £8.50 in one pence and five pence coins and I bagged them up all nicely and noted the amount on the outside, see photo below:
The Gratitude Walk
I was so excited the next day as I headed into Glasgow City Centre for work, as I really wanted to give the older homeless lady the Gratitude Pennies. As I turned the corner towards the Street she normally sits, I could see her about 100 metres ahead….this was the best feeling ever and I am now going to call this experience here “The Gratitude Walk”. I honestly felt like I had a million pounds in my bag to give the lady and even though it was only £8.50, these were special pennies, because these were “Gratitude Pennies” and every gratitude thought was from me with always her in my mind.
Thank You Lady
I smiled as I approached the lady and I handed her the white bag with the pennies in it, she looked at me in surprise, opened the bag and…..well let’s just say I’ll never forget the look on her face, she was so happy, so grateful and so loving with it all. “Thank you lady, thank you lady”, she said, to which I gave her the biggest smile, touched her on the shoulder and wished her a good day. I immediately filled up with tears because I know that little amount of money would have made a big difference to that lady and the expression on her face said it all.
Best Day
I had the best day that day, I felt so good and I paid my “Gratitude Pennies” forward to someone who needed them more than me……..there are no words to describe the feeling I felt……no words at all.
I want you to experience “The Gratitude Walk”, just like I did, and pay your “Gratitude Pennies” forward – not only will you feel amazing but the person you give them to will also feel so good.
It’s All About Gratitude
You can find out more about this Gratitude Exercise and other gratitude exercises, affirmations, poetry and quotations in my new eBook, “It’s All About Gratitude” which was published yesterday evening. Please click on the image below to access.
Please click on the link below or the eBook image above, if you are interested in purchasing the eBook. You will notice that the price of it is £8.50 – exactly the amount that was collected in my first “Gratitude Penny Jar” – yes, I’ve already started my next one!!
Wishing you a beautiful day today, Clarabelle
Happy and Excited
Yesterday my best friend Donna and I went to the Carrick Spa at Cameron House Hotel in Loch Lomond, this was a 40th birthday gift given to me by my great friends Gina and John. We had one of the BEST days ever and even though it didn’t all go plain sailing, we were so happy and excited about going, nothing was going to dampen our spirits. Here is a little taster of our journey from yesterday.
59 Seconds
We both decided that we would get the train in so we could have a few celebratory glasses of bubbly as part of our day. Unfortunately we missed our train by 59 seconds (to be precise) which was going to leave us 30 minutes late for our spa treatment, a rasul mud massage. I telephoned the Spa to let them know we were going to be late and was very nicely advised that because they were fully booked that day, we would probably not get our treatment but we could still spend the rest of the time using all the other spa facilities. Instead of us being angry, annoyed or disappointed, we just laughed off the situation because we were still very grateful for this day.
What a Real Gentleman
Thank you to the gentleman working at Queen Street Station in Glasgow City Centre, who came over to us to offer his help and he spent at least 20 minutes trying to help us look at alternative trains so we could get there on time. What a real gentleman he was and we had such a laugh talking to him and telling him about our wonderful day ahead at the Spa. After looking at the other options, we accepted the fact that we were going to have to be 30 minutes late and therefore miss our rasul massage treatment but hey, we were still really looking forward to using all the facilities at the 5 Star Spa. I said earlier, we were in such a good mood, nothing was going to spoil our excitement. 🙂
Elated
We arrived at the very stunning Carrick Spa in Loch Lomond and sincerely apologised for our lateness. To our wonderful surprise, someone had just phoned and cancelled their 1pm appointment for that day for the rasul massage treatment and yippee we were given that appointment, woo hoo, we were elated to say the least. 🙂
We spent almost 5 hours in the Spa that day including receiving our rasul mud therapy treatment, it was truly wonderful and below are some of the photographs (some funny mud ones too) from our day:
“Me Time”
We had such a great day and it was so good for Donna and I to have special quality “me time” together. We had a brilliant experience at the Carrick Spa, it is such a stunning place, hidden amongst the beauty of natural surroundings.
YOU Deserve It!!
A little bit of “Me Time” really does you the world of good, go on, treat yourself today to some special “Me Time”, it doesn’t need to be a day out at the Spa (although I would fully recommend it), it could just be taking 30 minutes of alone time to read a book, go for a walk, play your favorite music, whatever it is, enjoy it to the fullest because YOU really to deserve it and it will make you feel so good.
Thank You
Thank you again to my great friends John and Gina for this special 40th birthday gift, it is an experience we will never forget, thank you.
Thank you Donna for the most amazing company yesterday, it was such a fabulous day.
Thanks also to YOU for reading this blog post, I am so glad to have you here, I like sharing the stories of my life with you and I do hope you have some special “Me Time” today.
Much love to you as always, Clarabelle.
True Story
I would like to share a true story of mine with you today.
When I was 16 years old, my first full-time job was as an Office Assistant in a Solicitor’s Office in Glasgow City Centre. I really loved that job, mainly because I really loved the people I worked with, it was really fun at times and I learned so much with it being my first permanent job.
Escape
Unfortunately, I was in two serious car crashes when I was 18 years old and was in crutches for a year and half and sadly, my position at the Solicitor’s Office had to be terminated because there was no real indication when I would make a full recovery and was likely to return. So there I was at the age of 18, in crutches for 18 months, no job and no real indication from the Doctors at the hospital when I would get fully better. I could have been really depressed about being in that situation, but I wasn’t. I decided to use the extra time I had to read lots of books from the library on subjects I was interested in at the time, it helped me escape from my current reality.
A Christmas Gift
There is a significance to me telling you this story and that is because of a Christmas gift that was given to me when I was 16 years old from the staff when I was working in the Solicitor’s office. They very kindly got me this lovely mug, that I totally treasured, it had my name on it “Claire” and a short poem about the meaning of name. Here is the little poem:
CLAIRE
MEANING: LIGHT
You’re quick to solve puzzles
Without hints or clues
And shed light on situations
Known to confuse.
The inner glow you have
Because of your name
Makes your life a lighthearted,
Whimsical game.
You’ll always know happiness,
Love and delight,
For you follow a lifelong path
Cheerful and bright.
It was my job to make the coffee and tea for everyone throughout the day in the office and every time I made myself a quick cuppa, I would read the little poem and smile with delight, I really loved it so much.
However, when my employment got terminated at the office I never seen my treasured little mug again….until 15 years later, yes my little mug came back to me and here is a photo of it below:
So how did it find its way back to me? This next true story is fascinating.
My younger sister, Leanne met her husband to be Cameron when she was 22 years old and Cameron was 18 at the time. My sister and I had both decided to spontaneously go out the evening she met Cameron, they instantly fell in love with each other and are now very happily married with three beautiful children. The interesting fact here is that Cameron had lived in Cape Town, South Africa all his life and him and his family emigrated to Scotland to live, the year Leanne and him met.
Our Claire
A few years after they met, Leanne and Cameron got married and it was a very beautiful wedding. Shortly after the wedding, Cameron’s mum, Joan, who works in an Accountant’s office, was showing her friends in work the wedding photographs, she then also showed the ladies in the office downstairs the wedding photographs. Whilst looking through the photographs, one of the ladies said, “Who is that bridesmade girl?”, and Joan said it was Leanne’s sister, Claire, they said that’s “Our Claire”, “She worked here when was 16 years old…..we kept her mug, please give her mug back to her and tell her we are asking for her”. WOW, Joan had been working in the Accountant’s office upstairs from the Solicitor’s office I worked in when I was 16 years old and none of us knew.
Joan, surprised me one day, she turned up with the mug for me and told me the whole story, what a truly wonderful surprise it was….after 15 years, they kept the mug and it was returned to me.
I still find this story very fascinating and especially that the mug has poetry on it…..which for me as you know, poetry, if part of my life, it is part of who I am.
24 Years Later
I have visited the staff in the office since then, some of the original staff who worked there when I was 16 are still working there, almost 24 years later. They have also allowed me the use of their offices to hold coaching sessions in…this time I am not the receptionist, I am the business owner meeting with my own clients…..I feel I have come along way since those days as an Office Assistant.
True Love
I am not exactly sure what the moral of the story is here, I think you will have your own take away from it. All I know is that, my “Claire mug” was meant to come back to me and it took a family to emigrate to Scotland from Cape Town, South Africa and a real love story to make its way back to me…..how lovely indeed. I really treasure this “Claire mug” with all my heart, I believe, true love brought it back to me and now I share this story with you today.
If you have an uplifting true story you would like to share, I would really love to here it, why don’t you share it on my blog, I would be happy to dedicate a blog post to it for you.
Lots of love to you today, Clarabelle
Re-invent Yourself
I met with a wonderfully inspirational man on Sunday afternoon for coffee in Glasgow City Centre, he is a Film Maker and creative writer. We met for about 2 hours and within that space of time I felt so inspired by his words. He is a “go-getter”, living his dream, he wakes up every morning feeling excited, he just loves life and you can feel the power of his light shining from within. He spoke about “Chasing Happiness” and what that meant to him….I was truly blown away!! There is one other phrase he said that particularly stuck with me and that was “re-invent yourself”…..I loved that, because in my mind it opens up a whole new world and “I am”. This next poem is inspired by that meeting, I do hope you are inspired by it too, love Clarabelle.
Chasing Happiness
Chasing happiness, What does it mean?
A fulfilling life, living the dream.
Waking up excited, every day,
Smiling in each moment, happiness is the way.
It all starts with you, and what you believe,
Baby steps together, will help you achieve.
No goal is too big, no challenge to high,
Chasing happiness forever, go beyond the sky.
poemsbyclarabelle, 23 April 2013
The Goodness of a Person
There is this quote on my Vision Wall which I absolutely love, here it is below:
“The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person ‘spreads in all direction’. (Chanakya Philospher)
Sharing the Story
I am currently training to become a Mental Health First Aider and at the start of the training yesterday morning, each attendee was asked to select an object from their bag and explain to the whole group why it was interesting or important to you. I brought out a little keyring that was given to me a few weeks ago – let me share the story about it…..
A Lovely Gesture
A client and good friend of mine were having lunch in the newly opened Zizzi’s Restaurant, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow City Centre. After our main meal we ordered deserts which took a very long time to arrive. The waitress very kindly and sincerely apologised to us for the long delay and told us that there would be no charge for the deserts – we thought that’s a lovely gesture. About 10 minutes later the Manager of the Restaurant came up to our table and he handed my friend and I a little keyring each. He apologised again for the delay with the deserts and said that the keyring he had given us would give us free deserts for LIFE when buying a main meal in the restaurant anytime in the future. We thought WOW, now that seriously is a lovely LOVELY gesture and we truly thanked him for this, we certainly did not expect this kindness!!
The goodness of this person has now indeed spread, as I continue to share this story of kindness with others. If this situation was handled in the opposite way of this, it could have been a whole different story. The power of kindness is very empowering. Have you ever had a kind experience like this? If so, please share it in the comments section below.
May your kindness abundantly flow from your heart today. Clarabelle
Clarabelle 