Follow your dreams

I’m a great believer in that you should always following your dreams. I try to live by this myself, but sometimes in order to follow your dreams you might have to take a detour off the path. One of my dreams is to build my own yoga studio. To be able to do this, I have to make more money, so to do this I need to get a job. I have applied for jobs and with no luck, probably due to the fact  that I don’t have any computer skills on paper. Now, I can find myself around a computer, but with no formal training. So I decided to take my husband’s advice about enrolling in an office course. Which he has been telling me about for the past 10-12 years, but better late than never (which is in fact one of my favourite quotes). But at that time I wasn’t ready to go down that route, but now I am.  In fact some office skills can come in handy down the line when I finally have my yoga studio. So hopefully by doing this course it will lead to a job.

Sometimes things don’t go the way you would expect it to go, like in my way, but building up a yoga business take times, and by doing this I’m one step on the way to make my dream come true. Sometimes obstacles along the way will happen, but these will always teach us something. For me nothing has never come easy, I have always had to work hard to get things, and there have always been loads of obstacle along the way. But looking back, I’m grateful for these now, even if I wasn’t at the time. It’s always easier to look back in retrospect, but these are the very things, that made me who I am and made me fight for what I believe in, and to never give up, or to let other people’s comments or opinions stop me. But ok, once in a while it would be nice, if things went a bit smoothly though. The thing is to never give up, keep working hard and the rewards will come. If not it wasn’t meant to be!

I’m going to work hard at achieving my dream, and in the meantime I will learn some new skills, that will come in handy down the line. During this time I’m  still following one of my dreams, which is; being a yoga teacher., which I love! Having a dream book is a good thing, where you can keep track of your dreams. Write your dreams down and including dates in it, also try to decide within which timeframe you want to get things completed, as its more likely to happen. Keep on dreaming!!! And dream big!!!

Wild kids!!!

After being in Sweden for 2 months with my 3 kids, 6 weeks on my own. The whole family spent the first 2 weeks together, my patience is running on reserve 😉 No actually, I’m surprised how well it has gone, kids have been, well kids…..good at times, bad at times, but that’s how kids should be, isn’t it?? Even though I would love, if they were good all the time and never did anything bold. Or would I? It would be quite boring, the kids doing their “kiddy” things make it  more exciting, you’re always on edge going throw a shop with loads of breakable things. Going out for dinner with relatives, you tell them before what to do and what not to do, its always the not to do, that stick most. Then you send them out to buy an ice cream, because the lunch restaurant, don’t have a 99, which the kids want (ok spoilt alert, but actually its to get a few min. peace). Which they know, they have to sit outside to eat, only for them to pick the closest possible place to the canal they can get. With me sitting in the restaurant, looking out the window to keep an eye on kids and at the same time trying to have a conversation with my mother. I then see the middle child Alvin 11 years, taking his older sister Leah 13 years, handbag and dangling it over the water, with the iPhone, wallet and God knows what in her bag. I’m ready to jump up and knock as hard as I can on the window to get their attention, but realise I’m in the restaurant and it wouldn’t look too good, and I would look totally crazy. I stay on alert ready to run out if needs be, and praying for him not to drop the bag. Luckily he placed the bag down, and it now hangs safely on her shoulder. Instead of lying on the ground, inviting her brother to take advantage. I already plan the speech they’re going to get when we get out. But saying that, these things are, maybe not at the time but after they happen, the things that makes it more fun in the end.

Thankfully I have yoga and mediation, to help me from turning into a crazy nut case! Which I sometimes still do, when the pressure is too much and kids are fighting and so on, but hey, that’s normal, isn’t it??  That is the very thing that shows me how good yoga and mediation is for me. The other day I let the boys cycle on their own, in Sweden were I’m from, we have cycling paths almost everywhere so its very safe and all drivers are aware of this and always look out for cyclist crossing the roads. I told Alvin to go behind his younger brother Emil etc. I decided to go after them in the car, to have a look without them knowing, and it was quite amusing! At first I saw Emil and couldn’t see Alvin so I thought at first he had gone ahead, despite what I told him, as I thought this thought, I saw Alvin coming down some steps, and of all places it was at the church. But hey, why cycle on the smooth path, when you can go down bumpy steps instead…after this he let go of the handle bars, cycling with his arms along his sides for ages. I drove up beside him and rolled down the window, only to get a big grin when he saw it was me. What can I say he is an 11 year old boy, and I have done it myself, maybe not the bumpy steps, but cycling without holding on to the handlebars. At least he has a helmet, when I was young we didn’t have them. I was smiling in the car as I saw him doing this and at least he hadn’t gone ahead of his brother.

Being in Sweden so long on my own has been hard, but also fun. I have more time to enjoy the kids and have fun with them, and of course I get to meet my old time friends and family which I miss very much! Look forward to coming home to Ireland and to my hubby!! As they say, ” absence makes the heart grow fonder” !!

Detoxifing your life….

How do we avoid people that bring us down, or minimise our exposure to these people in our life. This can be very hard, especially if the toxic people are family or long time friends. But the thing is, if they bring you down, you have to minimize the time you spend with these people. There is no other way, you can’t change other people. You can only change yourself, or in this case how you react to other people. We all have these people around us, maybe some lucky few don’t. But that is more likely due to, that they have cut these people out of their lives, or minimize the time spent with them. Some of us might even be one of these people, maybe not all the time, but at times. I know I have, when things in my life been though, and I seem to focus on the negative instead of the positive. Luckily I snap out of it fairly quick, and of course it’s hard to do. But some people are like this all the time and they can’t see it themselves. These people are very hard to be around, as they drain you. When you have been around these people you just feel tired and emotionally drained and sometimes even in a bad mood.
So would it be selfish to cut these people out of our lives? Not at all!! We have to, especially if we want to stay happy, it’s very hard to stay happy with people around you, dragging you down. So be ruthless, in this case you have to think about yourself first. If they bring you down, maybe try to talk to them. Maybe they don’t know they are like this, and maybe they don’t want to be like that. So by telling them how they make you feel, they have a chance to change. But not all people like to hear this, and some people well never change, but at least you have made an effort. If it doesn’t work and it’s a family member or someone, who you just can’t completely cut out of your life. Then minimize the time you spend with them to the bare minimum. Try to stay positive when you are around them, and when you leave, try not to let their negativity stay with you. Take a deep breath and think something positive or count your blessings, say thank you for being able to stay positive and happy.

It’s usually these people too, that try to stop you from dreaming big. Don’t let them stop you from achieving your dreams. A lot of the time, people try to stop you, because they never went after their dreams. This makes them, not want you to either. Sometimes it makes these people feel better, if you don’t go after your dreams. Then they can feel better about themselves. Always encourage people to follow their dreams, it might seem farfetched to you, but not for them. Follow your heart it never lies!! You just have to learn how to listen to it. Most things I have done in my life, I have had people trying to talk me out of it, but this only made me more determined. But a lot of people might just give up, and regret it later in life. I do truly believe that you can love, what your working with. But the road there, might be full of hard work, and doing things, you don’t like that much, just to get you to your goals!

Dream big!!!

“Aim for the moon…even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars.”

                                                                                  – unknown

Does makeup & trendy clothes make you fun…???

Someone told me, that my friend’s sister was more fun than her sisters, as she wears makeup and dress trendy. This made me think, is this how people think, it also made me sad. In this particular case, the girl just have a fun personality, but the thing is that it’s so shallow that people would think someone is more fun just because they wear makeup and trendy clothes. Personally I love nice clothes, I don’t really mind the brand as long as they’re nice, I buy clothes in Penney’s and I buy expensive clothes when I can afford it, but not because they are a particular brand but because I like the look. Off course more expensive clothes usually sit better and last longer.

I don’t wear makeup often, only because I don’t really have the time in the morning and probably because I’m a bit lazy, and to be honest it’s hard to fit it in with going up early, for yoga and mediation practice which I do favour more than having time to put on makeup. But don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against people wearing makeup, I think wearing makeup is great if that’s what you like.  So maybe I’m not the most fun person but wearing makeup and trendy clothes wouldn’t make me more fun and if people’s opinion about you is based on your looks its indeed a very sad place we live in! Sometimes I wish I had the energy to put it on!! Having a teenage daughter I want to teach her that it’s the inside that counts not how you look, and as you can imagine this is not working so good at the moment, but maybe and hopefully I have planted that seed, and it’s start growing in the back of her mind to one day blossom. If not I’ll be there to quickly remind her. But like I said I might not be the most fun person in the world, but I have other qualities like being caring and considerate to other people and if someone need a hand Im happy to help to mention a few things, off course I have plenty of bad ones too, like a short temper and impatient etc but I do work on these.Edit

I think being fun is like art “its in the eye of the beholder”! It’s the same about people that don’t drink much, like myself, I very rarely drink, but this does not make me boring, but sadly a lot of people think so. I have heard on numerous occasions that “Your so boring that won’t drink” and “come on just have one glass of wine” and we’re trying to teach our kids to not fall for peer pressure and we or rather some adults are pressuring other adults to drink, ok I know we’re adults and should stand up for it, but not everyone is strong enough and by pressuring other adults be basically tell are kids that this is ok, we all know they do what we do, not what we tell them to do. People just assume if you don’t drink that equals boring, I actually enjoy not drinking more then drinking, because the day after with 3 kids it’s not a fun day. Among the reason I don’t drink much anymore is the night after regrets, laying in bed remembering the embarrassing things I said or did, and the more you think the more you remember, oh no did I say that…and you just want to crawl further and further down under the duvet, I absolutely hate this and I don’t like this guilt the day after, I love waking up with a clear head and no regrets, and this is just one reason why I don’t drink, another is I do like a good glass of red wine, but to be honest I rather drink a good cappuccino, soya off course in the coffee shop than going to the pub.

As I’m talking about what other people’s opinions about things are, I might as well bring up about being vegan and the usual comments about this. Some people always seem to have an opinion about this when you decide to change the way you eat, especially if your reason is for animal rights and environment. But whatever the reason the thing is, if someone is having you over for dinner or coffee they usually say and what are we going to give you, or what do you eat? Ok I don’t expect anyone to go out of their way to make something or even have anything, I can always eat potato/pasta/rice and veggies or a salad. What I don’t like is that some people think that my choice of being vegan is such a hassle for them, ok they might have to put some more spuds on. Off course not everyone is like this far from it, but the one’s that are tend to be very loud 😉 Sometimes I even hear, wouldn’t it be easier to go back being a vegetarian, yes maybe it would be, but the thing is I feel great so why should I give this up, just to be less hassle.

So if you don’t want to wear makeup, drink or eat meat/dairy or whichever it is, do it for yourself and don’t let anyone else change you!!! 😃

Things don’t always turn out the way we want…

Today was the first International Day of Yoga, as I’m on my holiday I couldn’t teach a yoga class, but I had planned to join in with fellow Iyengar yoga practioneers and do the sequence Geeta Iyengar had designed as a tribute to Guruij B.K.S Iyengar.

But the universe had other plans, as I started to get a migraine headache in the early evening yesterday, which was getting worse and kept waking me up. Now I have to say I do get mild migraines and I usually only get them once every year or so and haven’t had one in the  last two years. I do get sensitive to light but not to bad. I had promised my sons to go crab fishing and my husband to show him the west coast. When I went to bed last night with a pounding headache I knew it was no way I’ll be doing yoga in the morning and I said to myself, maybe I can do it later on.

When I woke up again with a pounding headache I finally got up to get some headache tablets and a cold, wet face cloth to soothe my head. I thought to myself it’s no way I can do the yoga sequence I was suppose to do, and how was I going to be able to drive the whole  one hour and 20 min drive to the coast, I told my husband we’ll be going as I knew how dissapointed the lads would me, he offered to drive even though we drive on the right side in Sweden and he has never done it. After a while I did get up and my head felt a bit better. Then after another hour, I was almost back to my own self. 

We hit the road and got there, pain killers safely in my bags (don’t really like to take them, but when you get these headaches you just know they won’t go away easy ), after a walk on the boardwalk we got to the place to fish for the crabs, but couldn’t get any mussels, so me and Alvin walked back to see if we could buy some, I could feel the pounding headache slowly making itself noticeable. Finally back armed with €6-7 worth of mussels, I had to get some more tablets for my head. Which helped again, I even managed to get a few yoga asanas in so at least I joined in the celebrations of the first International Day of Yoga, even if it wasn’t what I had planned.

Driving home I could feel the pounding start again and it’s finally almost gone, so looking forward to wake up with no headache tomorrow… 

   

  

One of those days….

Its one of those days, when I feel fed up and tired of picking up after others (kids and husband). I’m sure you know what I mean, and the endless mum, mum, where is this where is that…..a lot of the days I don’t really mind just answering where everything is and how is it that we always know, well at least 9 out of 10 times where things are…..

Our head is like one big organizer, we have to know who is doing what when, when to have the right clothes washed and dried for the right occasion to just mention a few, and again mum,mum where are my football socks, have you seen my jumper and the list goes on. Does our kids/husbands just take the easy option and ask us first before they look, or when they ask where is the “measuring cup”, I say in the cupboard beside the dishwasher, hubby opens the door look in and say where I can’t see it, my answer is as always behind something and wow there it was yet again 😉

I suppose this is just the way it is, but some days its just more tiring than others, and what is the story with men and their tea, every time they walk into the kitchen they flick the kettle on at least a few times….when drinking tea out and about, it has to be hot, hot otherwise it ruins their tea time 😉 I do admit I’m not the best person making tea which my husband has told me a few times, or rather that I don’t put my heart in it and this is probably true as I come from a nation of coffee drinkers, but in fairness he is right, I have made him tea, boiling the kettle just to be occupied with something else and then go back and make him his tea and to his disgust its lukewarm (an Irishman’s nightmare) or when I put the teabag in without giving it a good stir, even my 8 year old prefer his Dad’s tea making. I have also made tea in the teapot on two or more occasions and forgotten to put the very important teabag in the pot (again I was distracted) when we have had guests over, so my husband is right I don’t put my heart in it, but I am getting better 🙂