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habits Archives - Kate Emmerson

Feb 15
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When Habits are Abandoned, Dancer’s Pose is Elusive

By Coaching Tips 'n Tools, Food for thought, Insights to help you #quickshift

Fancy a laugh at my expense again? Not as much running and mad-dashing through airports this time…. more like simply too much horizontal time….

I know the power of ritual and ingrained habits. As a coach, it has been one of the cornerstones of my business and of course my own personal practice. One of my habits/rituals that serves me super-well is that of my morning ritual during the week. So  the only way I know how to do it, is that the instant my morning alarm goes off on the phone, I fumble for the screen to switch it off and I hit the floor – I am upright before I can blink and I don’t even allow myself the luxury to think about it because in that split nano-second of pondering it – well suffice it to say, I’m totally screwed.

So at 5.15 am this morning, said alarm squeaks and beeps……and I dare, for some stupid reason, to think. Not “Daring Greatly” as Brene Brown suggests, or daring to lie back for a cuddle; just daring to stop and think. It’s called negotiating with the alarm, and I have always found it both futile and daft!

But for a stupid moment this morning,  I imagine that maybe I can have just five more sweet, little minutes. 300 seconds!  But I never have a backup alarm because I don’t need it, do I? DO I??

Truth is, to put it in context,  I had been up in the middle of the night not able to fall back asleep, so I just got up and was drinking tea and working. For about 2 hours in the dead of night, I was reading all about Northern Spain and the Camino, contemplating all the wonderful walks and hikes in the Asturias for our retreat in October…so I was ”justifiably” tired when it squeaked at that ungodly hour.

It beeps at that hour because I haul my butt to Yoga – and YES, you guessed it, because I am also an early-morning-exercise-ritual-person. But the Gods were beaming down on me because a few minutes later, a much louder alarm yelled at me and then I did my usual LEAP. I looked at my phone, it was now 5.32, and I KNEW that I could still make it to yoga. Dash to pee/teeth/dress, and as I grab the keys I cannot find my red-rimmed glasses – oh well, sunglasses it is! At 5.36 in the morning on a cloudy drab day. COOL!

I hurtle to the car and feel decidedly BREEZY – only to look down and realize I am only wearing my little bra-let / tank top and no vest layered on top. Now yes, I MAY practice Bikram/ Hot Yoga, but I am not one of those scantily clad “bear-my-middle” yogibears. Damn – I dash back in to grab my vest, thinking I MUST remember to put it on at the studio. I have never had the horror of staring back at my midriff in the HUUUUGE mirrors.

Ok, let’s GO! I speed reverse and hit first gear. I did think, “wow it’s quite light this morning”, (even with clouds and my sunglasses) and then as I get onto the flat part of the road before I join Conrad Drive, I see about 20 cars ahead of me…..huh?

This is more like morning traffic that I NEVER venture into, reserved for the poor souls who have to commute out of our neighborhood. This is more like 6.45 am traffic – WTF??? My drive time to yoga is pretty carefully calculated, but this has put a spanner in my Downward Dog Dammit. No inner calm for me as I stare at the cars in front of me, bewildered!

I flip on the radio, wait for the dial to show and realize with horror, I am going to have to really hurry now as it is already 5.45 am.  Hang on,  HANG ON ….waken the brain… it’s 6.45 am!!!! SIX FORTY FIVE AM. Aaaaargh. And class, by now, is about to hit the floor after the standing series, and will soon be humming internally in Savasana. You know, the Dead Corpse Pose you revel in at the END of class. When you have BEEN to class.

All I can do is burst out laughing, knowing that Jay will just wag his tail with glee at seeing me so soon, and I will have time to grab some coffee before we hit the load shedding schedule for today.

This butt will sadly not get to do Tree, Camel, Dancer’s Pose, Tortoise or anything else remotely yoga-like today.
Oh…. if only I had realized it was not my alarm. I hadn’t quite computed that I had fallen back into a deep, delicious, dribbling sleep for another hour, only to be jolted out of it by my Argentino Valentino’s alarm. I should have just continued practicing Dead Corpse Pose all along.

So I try again tomorrow – oh no wait, it’s the weekend, where alarms are not welcome. Except that I am going Hot Air Ballooning for the first time, courtesy Argentino Valentino. So at 4.00 SHARP am my feet WILL hit that floor with a little jiggy jig.

Love Kate

#LIVELIGHTLIVELARGE

Aug 29
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When expectancy rules in your favour…

By Coaching Tips 'n Tools, Insights to help you #quickshift

There are two ways to look at expectancy – one is on a purely materialistic, foot stomping, “get your own way” kind of way to look at it. The second is the way that paves the way to miracles happening … and what I’m talking about below.

Whatever your religious persuasion or affiliation, miracles can occur in any form –  be it in gifts, unexpected pleasures, hardships being overcome, little pearls of wisdom dropping into your lap, a chance meeting with someone that somehow changes the course of your life.

Miraculous things happen in each and every moment and if you are looking out for them…a positive expectancy of finding the good and the glow in every minute, rather than the sick and the slow.

So what do you EXPECT IN YOUR LIFE?

Miracles do not have to be massive positive explosions of energy or gigantic outcomes…they can be a collection of small wondrous occurrences, that once witnessed can alter your life forever. A smile from someone who is worse off that you is a form of minute by minute miracle, a flower blossoming from mud is one too; being able to get up and survive each day no matter what is thrown at you is a miraculous testament to the strength of human spirit; an animal’s unconditional love no matter how you treat it  they will always welcome you home again – we could learn from that as humans.

So this beautiful sentence “The Atmosphere of Expectancy is the Breeding Ground for Miracles” that I heard on a TV channel really grabbed me from a life perspective!

I think it is just the reminder that we have to create the atmosphere from within….how you take and make each moment of each day determines the overall outcome of your life. If you have a positive atmosphere that you create in and around your life, you will live in that atmosphere like your own little magic bubble. Once you “map” or “match” that positive atmosphere with the concept of also constantly expecting great things to happen to you, with magic and miracles coming your way all the time, good to prevail and happiness to be possible……well then that too will be your reality. And even when the  inevitable bumps come along in the road, you will see them in perspective of the whole – and gain some insight and wisdom from the event, even when it is life threatening or heartbreaking. It’s about being able to be OK in the middle of the storm even when you want to die. The expectancy that this too shall pass, I will get through this no matter what.

What you focus on, INCREASES. That is a simple universal spiritual law. So if you focus on expecting more and more positive things to flood your way, that’s what you will get more of. Energy can move towards you because you are ready for it and welcoming it. Do you know that you can chase things away as well…..by simply having the wrong attitude, being pessimistic, negative, focussing on everything that you don’t want and having an atmosphere of negative expectancy?

Where attention goes ENERGY FLOWS!!!

So when you IMMERSE yourself in the atmosphere of POSITIVE expectancy, then ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. Live with the possibility of magic and see what happens to you.

Be open to flow in your life, be open to opportunity. Align your desires with what is for your highest goals. Have goals and outcomes but let go of attachment to the outcome. OOOOhhhhh boy that is often a hard one hey!!! If something is meant to be yours you will not be able to keep it from you, but you always have to be willing to STEP UP in your life.

 

RIGHT – THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU CAN DO NEXT TO HELP SUPPORT POSITIVE EXPECTANCY IN YOUR LIFE! Yup, RIGHT NOW!

I am so passionate about this concept of sorting out our inner life, our core, our sense of self that I created a very snappy, zappy 30 day e-mail course titled THE CAPPUCCINO CHALLENGE. Designed to take you 20 minutes a day  – just for YOU. You can check it out  WATCH HERE

This is a journey loved by thousands  –  if YOU need to put yourself back on your own priority list again, so that you can start seeing the positive in yourself, others and your environment, then this is the most streamlined way to do that..

HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL GET on the CAPPUCCINO CHALLENGE:

  • Easy to follow daily challenges, that can be implemented from anywhere – home, office or your favourite coffee shoppe
  • Combination of short videos and punchy emails that take less that 2 minutes to read!
  • Integrate the 20 minutes a day habit
  • Small Tweaks will lead to MASSIVE CHANGES
  • Create a new habit linked to your daily ritual of drinking coffee, tea or smoothies  so you will always stick to it
  • Themed challenges to focus your efforts each week
  • How to Put Yourself back on your own TO DO LIST!
  • Improve your relationship with yourself – the MOST important one
  • Challenge how you interact with your environment
  • Re-engage and communicate with others in a more effective way
  • Learn to trust what life brings your way
  • A private online community of support so you do not feel alone on your journey
  • Real support from Kate who actively supports, cajoles, guides and motivates you

I can’t wait to support the shifts you will make so that you become the breeding ground for miracles again.

LEARN MORE NOW – when you sign up you immediately get started on your journey of self awareness and new habits formed with ease. Remember, where attention goes ENERGY FLOWS!!!

With lightness,

Kate