Reflections and Resolutions

What a great idea to ask for blog contributions for Advent. Here's my contribution to Alison Chisnell's advent blog on 'reflections and resolutions'.

I love decorating my Christmas tree and as I do I share reflections and resolutions that it brings to mind.

The Tree - I love buying a real rather than artificial Christmas tree just for the smell alone - although I could do without all the needles getting everywhere! This year my biggest, hardest and yet most liberating learning has been to 'just be me and know I am enough'. To know that the artificial tree's 'perfection' comes from outside itself and therefore is a poor imitation of the real thing. To know that each real tree is unique because of where it was planted and the growing experiences it has encountered as a result. To finally know, and accept, that being a true reflection of all that I can be, in all my uniqueness, is real perfection.

The Tree Base - a Christmas tree is nothing without a firm base. Last Christmas I got it horribly wrong and my fully decorated tree fell over smashing a number of baubles as the base wasn't secure enough. Perhaps I should have realised it was foretelling the problem I was to have throughout the year with my 'arthritic' knees. It's interesting that things started to come together once I'd taken steps to enable my knees to get their strength and stability back. Steps that included interventions for mind, body, heart & soul.

The Lights represent the path I have followed - each bulb a step forward. Each year a little different in quantity of lights and their brightness. Although there's always the odd blown bulb waiting to be replaced if only I knew where the spare bulbs were. Perhaps buying an extra 400 lights last week reflects my resolution to be the light in 2013 as Marianne Williamson encourages us to in her wonderful piece 'our deepest fear'.

The Tinsel is a sparkly and constant thread throughout my life representing the friends, family, colleagues and tweeple who support me on my journey. Each offering inspiration, support, laughter, love, acceptance, suggestions and/or feedback - all gratefully accepted. The highlight this year was a girlie weekend away for my 50th - the first time in too long where I spent time with friends sharing happy memories, laughter & our hopes and dreams for the future. Something there will certainly be more of in 2013.

The Baubles each reflect the insights gathered over a life time - each chosen to co-ordinate with the rest of the decorations. With the occasional bauble that's there despite the incongruousness of its colour and design. This year I notice the kookaburra bought in the blue mountains in Australia, purchased as a reminder to accept my laugh. Yes it can be too loud and too often but is something that others find infectious and it is often complimented upon even in the strangest of places!

The Angel on the top of the tree represents my emerging belief in my intuition and small voice inside that guides my decisions. I spent a week in Findhorn in October to celebrate their 50th and was yet again reminded of the accuracy of my intuition. I continue to be challenged daily by the conflict between wanting to know why and the absence of that why when intuited to do or say something. Practice practice practice!

The Gift Wrapped Presents under the tree represent the gifts I have still to offer the world. A reminder perhaps, as I said in a blog at the time, that life begins at 50 and there is no time like the present to get out there and just be me.

Festive greetings
Wishing you an abundant 2013

Alison Smith The Purchasing Coach   And for those really observant amongst you yes I did use the same metaphor for what good practice purchasing looks like earlier in the month for my Supply Management blog :-)

Our Deepest Fear

Over recent weeks I've referred to this a lot so thought I'd share it here too:

Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous”.
Actually, who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.
And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a "Course in Miracles"

Don't go cold turkey this Christmas

I don't want you to go cold turkey this Christmas but I would like to you to consider your addictions and the impact they have on your life and how you may wean yourself off them. After all what benefits might there be in 2013 if your behaviour was no longer determined by your next fix of: tweeting, blogging, reading emails, compliments, attention, news, chocolate, wheat, sugar, caffeine or what ever else you might be addicted to.

As you can see by addictions I'm not looking at those I have no qualifications and experience in ie addiction to illegal or prescription drugs, alcohol etc. I'm looking at the addiction we have to all the other things we say "I couldn't live without it for a day - I'd die". Perhaps a little extreme a reaction but I would like you to notice your reaction to you considering going 3 days without each of the following:

• Access to emails
• Access to the Internet
• Eating chocolate or sweets
• Drinking Caffeine in its many forms
• Bread and other wheat products (pasta to name one)
• Your favourite TV programme or Game (you know the one you watch or play repeatedly) 
• Reading or watching the news

Now what about your reaction to going 3 days without:

• Eating your favourite fruit or vegetable
• Drinking water (by drinking other fluids instead)
• Talking to a friend 
• Writing to a colleague
• Reading a book
• Listening to music
• Going to the library to use a reference book

If you're an addict then your reaction to going 3 days without anything on the first list is likely to be a lot different to your reaction to the second list. Although I know I am making an assumption about the unlikeliness of you being addicted to anything in the second list.

Of course some addictions hide and we're in denial about the impact they have on our lives. We only realise the strength of the addiction when we try going 3 days without something - although we do need to go 28 days to really get it out of our system.

As I've shared in blogs over the last few months I've been having problems with my knees. The doctor suggested a new knee and I thought I'd look at what else might be impacting the pain I was having. This blog isn't about the link between wheat and my pain it's a blog about how addicted I was to wheat without knowing it.

In the past, for a variety of reasons, I've tried many different exclusion diets - meat, alchol, dairy, nightshades (pots & toms) and had very few problems with doing so for up to 28 days or more in some cases. Although that first jacket potato with cheese and beans after the nightshade exclusion was pure bliss. It was a totally different story when I tried to give up wheat. A reaction that I can only put down to being addicted to wheat because it included:

• Saying "It's impossible to have a meal without wheat"
• Looking in my very full fridge and having no clue what I could make 
• Being told, 4 weeks in, I was becoming boring because it was all I talked about
• It was all I thought about too
• Moodiness
• Grumpy too

All I can say is if I had a healthy relationship with wheat and went without it for a time it shoudn't be noticeable to me or you. It certainly shouldn't consume my every waking moment. It certainly shouldn't stop my ability to see alternatives that exist in the situation.

What would consume your every waking moment if you gave it up and what steps will you take to easily release the hold of this addiction?

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring change inside and out

Cold turkey picture source: anothercreation.blogspot.co.uk via Alison on Pinterest