Helping Families In Our Community

I'm a person who is naturally attracted to ways of helping others. I've done lots of studies on various modalities, one in particluar I really like is NVC or Non-violent communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg. I have put some of the tools into practice in a classroom where I was a relieving teacher a little while ago. It worked well. There was an altercation in a sewing class involving 2 children about 14 yrs of age. One of them lashed out at the other. It ended up in tears, as you would expect. I took them both aside in the room and dug a bit deeper into what may have caused the problem. The outcome was that the offending student had lost her brother earlier in the year from an accident and the other, a boy from another culture, had lost a young brother several years ago. Obviously there was underlying incompleted sadness on both sides and through the process I was able to demonstrate the opportunity for greater understanding and empathy for each of them.

I found this exercise very satisfying and was able to use it with a whole class again at a later date when there was another incident between 2 boys.

Whenever I see young children suffering or not being treated in a way that supports and enriches them, I feel great pain for them. They are so vulnerable and trusting of adults around them. After all, children are not small adults - they are fragile, young souls craving love, acknowledgement and nourishment, both the nutritional type and importantly, the emotional type. They need training on how to cope with life and if parents do not do this at an appropriate level they will grow up with difficulties in being effective adults. In observing how children and adults relate in my community, I see that very often they are not given suitable explanations about why things are as they are, for example. If you explain to children, simply and in language they can understand, they will be able to understand better and perhaps work things out for themselves at a later time.

Suffice to say then that if anything crosses my path that provides a way for people to relate and communicate better I am interested in learning about it.

I have studied The Spalding Method (www.spalding.org) when I was living in Australia recently and that is a wonderful way to teach children how to read, write and spell in a way that empowers them to help themselves. I now teach 2 students using this approach.

More recently I have come across something else which I know will have huge repercussions on families in general.

The mission of FamilyIQ is to empower individuals and parents to improve their personal, partnering, and parenting skills in order to build stronger and more effective families. Their Vision is to change the world one family at a time. FamilyIQ is a values-driven company. They believe that values which are nurtured, promoted and upheld can motivate positive behavior and foster unity. They aim to promote and protect the culture of values within the context of entrepreneurialism. Our core values are multi-faceted: meaning that they apply to us as individuals, families and as an organization.

The Values of the Company are simply:

1. Family
They believe that the Family is the foundation of all great societies. Families come in various sizes and styles and each one has the capacity for love, respect and appreciation. The organization is a family and every member is needed and important. We aim to sponsor a culture of unity with our employees, members, and customers.

2. Trust
Trust is the foundation of all healthy relationships. In families and in business, we strive to foster relationships based on earning trust with each other. This is done in part by keeping commitments, respecting one another and living with integrity. FamilyIQ will work tirelessly to not only earn but always keep the trust of our families, business partners, members, employees and customers.

3. Loyalty.
They believe that trust leads to loyalty. They believe that loyalty is the key to profitability and growth in a business and in relationships. Our goal is to foster loyalty with our families, business partners, members, employees and customers.

4. Growth.
Growth is a by-product of treating others like family, earning and keeping their trust and nurturing lifelong loyal relationships. Growth is inevitable as we live our values. We believe that FamilyIQ will grow to be a world-wide organization as we live our values and provide our products to those like minded individuals who share our values.

It's a programme that, amongst other things, has developed a revolutionary assessment test designed to produce awareness, knowledge and skills in nine critical areas of healthy family functioning.

I think you'll agree with me here that this company will be seriously contributing to the health of our communities in the near and distant future.

If you'd like more information on the products and the business model please first visit the website then contact me on nzglobalsolutions@gmail.com

Take Action - Create Miracles

Some bold suggestions to get some action happening in your business this week.

These steps must be done first every day before everything else!

1. Choose one dedicated hour first thing in your day

2. Choose only 3 actions that will move you forward... write them down on a piece of paper, eg 1/4 A4 page.
3. Choose only actions that advance your dream
4. Each action must easily be accomplished in 5-30 minutes maximum
5. Eliminate ALL distractions during this hour
6. Choose bold actions and be bold!

This action has the power to shift our life and create miracles!

So choose different actions x 5 days per week, = 15 actions, x 4 wks/mnth = 60 actions x 12 months = 780 actions per year.

'If I knew I'd get a YES to my question, what would my bold step BE?

All it takes is to re-arrange your priorities so that you put your business first in your day!

I would love to hear if you undertake this programme and what kind of results you get. I am starting this on Thursday this week Sept 1, 2011. Let's keep ourselves accountable.

www.FollowYourStar.co.nz

How to Make a Decision - Easily

Do you find it difficult to make a decision - any decision ?

How do you make a choice when you’re stuck at a fork in the road?
www.followyourstar.co.nz

How can you decide when two or more possibilities seem equally good?

I’ve been learning (but haven’t mastered) the principles of Effortless Decision-Making. It’s a way of making decisions where you can flow through the constant stream of decisions we must make every day of our lives, without getting stuck, without being paralyzed by fear. We choose, and flow, and we let go of worry.

What follows is a very brief guide to making effortless decisions.

Let go of perfection. We’ll never make perfect decisions, and wanting to make the perfect choice keeps us paralyzed.

Get more information. Don’t let this hold you up, but if you’re stuck it’s often because you don’t have the necessary info. What info do you need? Can you easily get it? Get it now if you can, but don’t be held up by the lack of info. www.followyourstar.co.nz

Try and err. If you don’t have enough info — and that’s usually the case — just choose. It doesn’t really matter what you choose, just make a choice and let go of the idea of making the right choice. Now live with that choice for a bit, and see what happens. This is called trial and error, and it’s often the best way to get information. We try something, and see how it works out — and then we have more information to make better decisions in the future. When you look at it this way, decisions are just a series of trial and error experiments, and it doesn’t matter what the outcomes are, because any outcome is good information.

Try intuition. If you’re stuck and don’t have enough info, let go of worry and just make a choice. How do you make a choice? You could flip a coin, but you could also just go with your gut reaction. What does your intuition say? Start listening to it — often it’s an unconscious decision based on lots of factors that we can’t consciously process, so a part of our unconscious brain processes it and comes up with a split-second decision. Intuition can be wrong, but that’s still OK: we’re going to learn from the results no matter what. So just learn to hear your intuition, and go with it.

Let go of worry. If you learn the above principles, it’s easy to see that there’s nothing to worry about. You don’t need to be perfect, and a decision is very rarely the end of the world (at least, no decision has led to the end of the world yet). Sure, history is littered with the corpses of those who made bad decisions, but there are a million times more decisions that were made without any really bad consequences. You won’t die, you’ll just learn. So don’t worry — just choose.

Practice, and flow. You’ll get better at this with practice, as you learn to let go of perfection and worry and see decisions as experiments. You’ll learn to do it better, faster, with more intuition. Soon you’ll flow through your daily decisions with ease. Do it consciously at first, keeping in mind all of the above principles, but it gets easier as you go.

Making decisions is something we do all day long, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. We build certain decisions up in our minds because we think they’re incredibly important, but in truth they’re rarely that big a deal. This isn’t the Cuban Missile Crisis — we’re not deciding the fate of a nation. See choice as an opportunity to learn, and you’ll be happy for every single effortless decision that comes your way.

Thanks to Leo Babauta at http://zenhabits.net/ A really good Blog :)

Which is Better - Yoga or Exercise ?

There is no shortage of evidence that yoga is good for you. The evidence is there in the scientific and medical journals as well as the myriad yoga classes that are available somewhere on most streets these days. Certainly the “West” has embraced parts of the Eastern yogic practice with enthusiasm but is it just another way to keep fit that could equally be accomplished by regular walks and gym sessions? A new study has provided the answer to that question.

The study surveyed participants aged 18 to 65 years from yoga classes and fitness clubs across the Washington D.C. area in the United States. The people surveyed were assessed for general health, psychological wellbeing, anxiety, depression, coping abilities, mindfulness, and perceived stress.

The findings showed that regular yoga practitioners and habitual exercisers were similar when it came to self-reported anxiety and depression.

However, the yoga practitioners were ahead in many other regards. They reported less joint pain and less headaches than those who engaged in aerobic exercise and weight training. The yoga folk also had higher scores for mindfulness and coping skills but lower scores for perceived stress than those who were regular exercisers.

The researchers emphasised that mindfulness and a consequent stress reduction was central to the greater benefit offered by yoga. So it seems there’s nothing wrong with exercise but yoga does give that little bit more.


I remember one of the first yoga classes I went to. I walked to the location and afterwards felt so light that I could have floated home. I like to walk early in the morning as it warms me up for the day and I feel alert and ready for work. If I climbed out of bed and went straight to work I wouldn't feel nearly so good - still bleary eyed and my mental state not so awake. After a short yoga 'stretch' my body feels painless and flexible so in that way it is good. I work at home and sit down at the computer/desk for several hours at a time and my lower back does hurt most days, except when I do my stretches first. So in summary I like both as they do different things for my body and mind. A combination of both would be ideal on a daily basis.

I seem to be able to concentrate better earlier in the day and of course, as I said above, my mind is way more alert, so like to do my work as soon as possible in the morning after my exercise then I have the rest of the afternoon to do the other things I need to.

How about you - what sets you up best for the day - Yoga or exercise?

If you are interested in what I do you can get a taste at the website here www.retireearly.co.nz

What is YOUR North Star ?

As you journey toward your inner compass you will be faced with a multitude of life choices along the way - choices that will either draw you nearer to finding your True North or pull you further away from this amazing inner light.

When you acknowledge and honour your True North you are saying that you believe that within you lie the answers that will give you greater happiness and higher potential, ignite your passions and allow you to live your dreams - in short, the answers to living the life you were born to live, a life in which you 'Compromise Up' and stop selling yourself short.

There may be times when you feel utterly alone - lost and even without hope. But when you discover your True North you will soon locate and then unleash a powerful life tool to call upon when you need it most - a dependable and accurate compass that you can count on to always bring you back to that fixed point of who you really are; your authentic self, among the ever evolving constellations of your life. If you are to discover your True North, you must 'Compromise Up' and willingly accept into your life the best that life has to offer.

By 'Compromising Up' I mean that you need to raise your standards to a higher level so that you can create the healthiest emotional and physical environment in which you can thrive, be your best self and live your best life. You need to know that standing up for yourself and wanting better, not settling for less, but expecting the magnificent rather than the mediocre, the greater rather than the good - is not selfish by any means. Rather, expecting the best for yourself is an extension of your self-worth and the level of esteem in which you hold yourself.

It also is a reflection of the standards by which you live your life and the things in life that you feel you are worthy of receiving. 'Compromising Up' is simply treating yourself with greater respect and living by higher standards to show the world that you respect yourself and that you deserve more, not less, in your life. It also speaks to the value that you place on your time and energy.

Two of the most valuable resources we possess as human beings are our time and our energy. How you honour these two precious resources is a direct reflection on the kind of people and circumstances that you allow into your life or the choices you make.

When you 'Compromise Up' you gain the respect and admiration of others and you attract the best that life can offer because you think enough of yourself not to just accept the mediocre that life dishes out.

To find out if you are settling for less, think about what you hear yourself saying or doing in didfferent situations in life, for example: "I don't like to make a scene", "I stayed in a job I hated because I didn't have enough faith in myself to go look for something where I was using my talents", "I prefer not to rock the boat", "I never send food back in a restaurant, no matter how badly it is served up" Why do we say these things ? Maybe it's becuase we are taught to put the needs of others ahead of our own. Why do we allow certain people to treat us badly or with no respect? Whenever we do, and accept what is, instead of what could be, we are making choices that further distance us from our True North and the life we deserve.

So, clearly, the lesson here is to choose Abundance over Self Deprivation. When you speak up for yourself, demonstrate your confidence, ask for what you deserve, act with conviction, expect more rather than less and take a stand for something, you will automatically be choosing a life of greater abundance. You will be compromisng up and moving on a path that gravitates closer to your internal True North.

Extracted from "Discover True North" by Anne Bruce
Buy a copy here: http://www.thenile.co.nz/books/Anne-Burce/Discover-True-North-A-Program-to-Ignite-Your-Passion-and/9780071403009/

If you liked this article I would greatly appreciate your popping over to my Biz page and 'liking' it here: www.facebook.com/Followyourstar thanks so much.

Are You Leading With Passion ?

An excerpt from Leading With Passion -by John Murphy


Are you a disciple of action? When it comes to walking your talk, do you walk with responsibility and accountability? Do you execute your intentions with attention?

Leading with discipline requires motivation and effort. It is easy to say we are going to do something. It is quite another to let our actions speak for themselves. It is common to dream. It is less common to turn those dreams into something beneficial, something truly inspiring.

Leading with discipline requires initiative, action and stewardship. This means taking the required steps, doing the homework, working with others, committing to service and following through. It means accepting a certain degree of risk and sacrifice to challenge oneself and raise the bar.

Discipline means showing up early, staying late and doing whatever is ethically necessary to get the job done well and on time. Discipline means saying "no" to negative thinking and disempowering actions and saying "yes" to getting involved and being part of the solution. Discipline means going the extra mile, where there is typically less traffic.

When we act with discipline, we demonstrate care, concern and dependability. We account for ourselves, our teammates and our results.

Leading with discipline requires setting goals and establishing measurement. With effective goals and metrics, we set expectations, assess performance and make adjustments as needed. Without access to the score, we lose the means to accurately measure performance against standards and evaluate progress.

Setting goals and keeping score is motivating. Consider any sport as an example. Without clear goals and score-keeping, the sport can quickly lose momentum and enthusiasm. Often, it becomes boring. However, when a scoreboard lights up and the clock is ticking, the same physical requirements take on new meaning. Something within us lights up. We want to perform well. We want to set a new record. We want to do better than we did before. The simple act of setting goals and measuring performance is a powerful strategy for leading with passion and discipline. It triggers the heart as well as the mind.

Within every passionate leader is a deep sense of conviction. Goals are set to drive focus and accountability. Metrics are in place to assess balance and performance. Heartfelt commitment is embodied to fuel courage, initiative and action. There is a keen sense of discernment, responsibility and decisiveness. Work gets done on time. Good habits are formed. Bad habits are broken. Balance is maintained within and among tasks, activities and relationships, resulting in a sense of harmony and oneness. Think of this like conducting an orchestra. Without discipline, each functional unit could play at will, resulting in a great deal of noise. The passionate leader teaches the value of discipline, timing, practice, participation, patience, teamwork, measurement, and balance. Together, we can make beautiful music, but it does require discipline as an essential habit.

Take a moment now - a moment of discipline - to evaluate your own habits and tendencies. What do they tell you about your sense of passion and leadership? Are you actions inspiring? Do you finish what you start? Do you set clear, specific, measurable goals? Do you keep score, and if so what specifically do you track? Are you holding yourself and your team accountable for performance? Are you stretching yourself and your team to rise to new heights? Are you identifying obstacles to peak performance and removing them? Are you pulling the weeds?

The Journey to RAW

Here you will find a great article from the well known guru of raw food in the UK, Karen Knowler. It's mostly for people who have already begun the RAW journey but will help anyone in their search for more vitality, energy, clarity of mind and many other benefits.


Take it to a TEN!

Fed up with salads but don't want to become a raw food snack bar junkie either? Just a few key tweaks in your diet is all you need to take "OK" to great - I promise - and in this week's article I'm going to show you how!

One of the potential risks of going raw is that you buy into someone else's philosophy rather than evolving your own. Of course, it's oh-so-easy to do, especially when you're new to the subject and don't know where on earth to start, but beyond the short term it's like anything in life - if what you're doing is someone else's story, then you're simply not living and enjoying your own.

So while it's definitely important to make sure you know what raw food is and isn't about and how to get a well-rounded nutritionally sound raw diet, I would argue that it's just as important that you know what you like, nay LOVE, and bring as much of that into your diet as you'll allow yourself to.

Over the years I have come into contact with thousands of people at all stages of the raw food journey. One of the most common issues that everyone seems to encounter at one stage or another is boredom, especially when salads don't seem to hit the spot ALL the time. Sure, most of the time a good decent multi-dimensional salad with a great dressing can feel and taste perfect, and it's these that are one of the everyday keys to looking and feeling great, but what about those times where you just want something to get your teeth into, or something that feels really naughty or something that just tastes DIFFERENT? It's at these times that "know thyself" and "honour thyself" absolutely has to come into play. What follows is not a how-to article as usual, but a series of questions. Each of these will help you start the journey towards creating the perfect raw diet for you. There are certainly more questions to be asked, but these will help you get started in figuring out what's been missing for you and what you can begin to do about it.

So if you're ready, grab a pen and paper and prepare to excavate your foodie soul!


1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfying do you currently find your raw food diet?

2) If your score is less than 10, what would need to be true for you to bring it up to a 10? (TIP: Take some time with this, really get what it is for you).

3) What do you typically eat and drink in a day right now?

4) Next to each food or drink on your list, give it a score of 1 to 10, and highlight those items that you truly LOVE, noting down next to them exactly why. Next to those that scored really low, do the same thing, answering why.

5) Prior to the way you eat today, what did you used to eat or drink that you LOVED and sometimes/often miss?

6) What can you bring into your current menu that brings back or even improves on what you loved from the past, but in a more or all-raw form? (TIP: Don't just go on what you know is possible but also what you hope is possible - it probably is!)

7) What is your food personality or style? (e.g. fast or slow, does it have to look beautiful on the plate or does it just have to be good to go? Do you like some meals super quick and others much more fancy? Are you a sensual eater or a "just fill me up" eater?)

8) What elements do you think are missing from your menu? (TIP: Listen out for the first few words that spring to mind. They might be things like "warmth", "spice", "texture", "excitement", "crunch" etc.)

9) Anything else that is coming up for you as you work your way through these questions?

Finally - the fun bit - when you know what exactly it is you're missing, you can go looking for it! This means finding recipes or ingredients that you may never have tried before that fit your criteria perfectly, and the good news is, chances are you only need 5-10 new things in your life to make this true for you and they'll be so easy to find now that you know what they look like!

This step really is as simple as taking your raw food recipe book and/or your favourite online recipe resources and then selecting the recipes that meet your criteria. What fun you are going to have now, rather than flicking admiringly through a book never actually making anything! (Yes, I know who you are!)

Once you have your missing pieces of the puzzle, print them off and file them in a ring binder, ideally slipping them into a clear plastic file before doing so to protect them from spills. Give your binder a groovy name or cover it with mouth-watering pictures and you're all set for a whole new raw food reality!

The final step is, of course, trying the recipes...

I recommend you make a pact with yourself to try at least one new recipe per week, depending on your schedule. Literally block the time needed into your diary so you're committed and make sure you add the required ingredients to your shopping list.

Follow this formula and in no time at all you'll have a fully-rounded, whole-person-happy raw food diet that you LOVE. Just make sure you're 100% honest about what you enjoy and don't and how can this not be true for you?

This is how you take it to a ten.

© 2011 Karen Knowler WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com.


Watch Karen Here: http://youtu.be/K23EPBAmSYo Watch Karen show you how to make a delicious raw chocolate smoothie