Stay True To Yourself

Stay True To Yourself

“There are some values that you should never compromise on to stay true to yourself; you should be brave to stand up for what you truly believe in, even if you stand alone.”
Roy T. Bennett

A conversation I had yesterday morning with mini me over breakfast about staying true to yourself prompted me to think back to one of the most instrumental a-ha monuments in my life.

Three years ago yesterday, I was driving back from college, reflecting back on the feedback I’d received from my peers.

After a few co-coaching sessions over the entire weekend, the feedback from the said peers was unanimous! I knew very clearly what my values were.

“But doesn’t EVERYONE know what their values are?” I asked as we came together as a group

Later that evening, I’m in the car driving back after a weekend of new learnings and insights and suddenly… Ping! I sense a penny drop moment!

“That’s the reason I dislike work so much! I’m ‘having to’ operate outside of my core values EVERY single day!” I said to myself.

And I realised at that moment that my life choices, although thought of and indeed encouraged as ‘normal’ by our society, had been hindering my happiness, fulfilment, growth.

The clarity I gained on the drive home that night was a major catalyst for change.

Perhaps, that’s the reason core values and the benefit of knowing what yours are, are a major discussion point at the ‘VIP’ seminars.

Knowing your core values will prompt you to invest in your self-care and live a life of ease and harmony because the choices you make provide you with clarity of direction.

✨When you live your life according to your core values, you live your truth. You’re unapologetic about showing up as you are and making a stand for what matters to you.

❓Are you living according to your core values?
❓Do you even know what they are?
❓How do you sense your life changing for the better when you begin to live life congruently to your core values?

🌱Curious to explore your core values? Drop me a message 👇🏼

Love & strong coffee

The Power Of Regret

The Power Of Regret

What’s your relationship with the word ‘regret’?

I’ve been enjoying reading and reflecting on Dan Pink’s new book ‘The Power of Regret’ in the last week. The title had me intrigued and as I’d enjoyed books by Dan Pink previously, I delved in whilst wondering if I would put the words ‘power’ and ‘regret’ in the same sentence…

Don’t get me wrong! There are PLENTY of ‘things’ I would have loved to do differently, (notice how I can’t bring myself to use the ‘R’ word) but hindsight is… well exactly that! Hindsight!

And although I look back often, I don’t view my mistakes as regrets, but instead, look at them in terms of lessons learned.

I suspect it’s because the word ‘regret’ has always held a negative connotation for me. ‘My story’ is that without having made ‘those’ mistakes, I wouldn’t be who I am and neither would I be here, and I clearly love being ‘here’, having created my current reality that was once a dream!

Dan put ‘regrets’ in four different categories, one of which is ‘boldness’ regrets. He writes, boldness regrets are often about exploration. According to the responses he had to the surveys he conducted, some of the most significant explorations are ‘inward’.

He asserts furthermore, that AUTHENTICITY requires BOLDNESS and when authenticity is supported, so is GROWTH.

The most telling demonstration of this point came from several dozen people from all over the world who described their regret, their failure to be bold, with the same five words…

“NOT BEING TRUE TO MYSELF” he writes!

I found it most interesting to read that people who asserted their identity, rarely regretted it EVEN when those identities went counter to the dominant culture! People who suppressed their identity talked about denying themselves of the potential to live fully…

This body of work is so close to my heart and a huge part of the work I do with individuals and seminar participants.

Raising your awareness of your values and identity creates the desire to live a more authentic life where you are motivated to create a new forward direction in reaching your outcomes. This is a point that’s raised by almost every participant to my ‘VIP’ Seminar.

Without motivation and clarity of direction, one is likely to go round and round the same circle, ‘wishing’ life was different instead of ‘knowing’ what the next steps are. Does that resonate with you?

One big takeaway from this book was that…

PEOPLE HAVE MORE REGRETS ABOUT THE THINGS THEY DIDN’T DO THAN THE THINGS THEY DID DO!

Reading this book has changed my relationship with the word regret. It’s also reiterated the power of having the boldness, the courage to stand for who we are and what we love doing and perusing it unapologetically. EVEN when it’s counter to the dominant culture and environment we exist within. Afterall, we’re more likely to regret the actions we didn’t take, than the ones we did!

If you would like to explore your values, your Identity and your Purpose so you live a more fulfilled life, get in touch with me. The next VIP seminar is on Saturday, April 2nd and it’s almost at full capacity.

Let’s connect when you’re ready to step into your authenticity.

You only get one life. You so deserve to get the life you wish for.

Love & Strong Coffee

Vafa

What’s The Fuss About Personal Development?

What’s The Fuss About Personal Development?

RIP Bob Proctor, the author of ‘You Were Born Rich’

You may have wondered what the fuss about personal development is at some point or another, especially if it’s not something you’re inclined to invest in.

As a lover of personal development, I was saddened to read about the passing of this legend and thought I’d give a brief account of his journey with the intention of inspiring those who may be intrigued about personal development.

One of the attendees to my last Saturday’s ’VIP’ seminar who is new to personal development commented at the end of the day ‘I now know what the fuss is about”. But that’s a story for another time…

Bob Proctor is one of the best known personal development ‘gurus’ and content creators of our time. Growing up, Proctor had a poor self-image and was a college drop out with no great future ambitions.

And then…

He met someone who introduced him to Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think And Grow Rich’. This was reported to be the first book he ever read! As first books go, he couldn’t have read a better one, as most of the personal development lovers would acknowledge!

And from there on, his life took a turn for the better and he went on to accomplish what might have seemed like an unachievable dream to an ordinary person. To many, he became extraordinary.

He wrote a New York Times best-selling book, became an influencer and contributed to the film ‘The Secret’. He believed that a positive self-image & programming was critical in obtaining success.

The point of this ‘story’ is to highlight the importance and the impact that ongoing personal development has on our lives.

All of us have the capacity to become extraordinary. The difference between those who achieve their dreams and those who don’t, is the ‘beliefs’ people have about their own abilities, the intentions they set and the lengths they go to, to give their ideas a tangible form.

Next time you’re wondering if ‘you can’, pay attention to ‘the story’ you’re telling yourself…

As Proctor said , thoughts become things. If you see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hands.

Are you ready to start your personal development journey? Drop me a message if so and watch out for the next ‘VIP’ seminar, coming soon.

Let’s connect when you’re ready to invest in your personal development.

You only get one life. You so deserve to get the life you wish for.

Love & Strong Coffee

Vafa

Have You Found Your Tribe?

“Tell your story. Shout it. Write it. Whisper it if you have to, but tell it. Some won’t understand it. Some will outright reject it, but many will thank you for it. And then the most magical thing will happen. One by one, voices will start whispering, ‘Me, too’! And your tribe will gather and you will never feel alone again”. L.R. Knost

My story today, on Monday June 1st is that I did the first school run in 10 weeks as mini me decided to return to school.

Also, I felt judged today, but decided not to let it in! And instead, I’m sharing my thoughts and seeking yours.

I don’t profess to be social media savvy; in fact, in truth, I didn’t particularly have a huge digital footprint because I had led quite a private life online till before lockdown.

Networking for me, was about meeting and getting to know people on a deep human level, and deciding who was to be a part of “my tribe”. That’s how I found my clients, my favourite networkers and even friends.

With lockdown, I had to think outside the box and started talking about my passion and purpose, storytelling and connecting on video. It was an experiment, but one I’m happy I conducted. Because as mini me says, “practice makes permanent, not perfect; because there’s no such thing as perfect!”

And I found my online tribe. I’m not polished, but I speak from the heart.

I’m curious, have you found your tribe? Do you put more value on how professional a vlog is or on the content it delivers?

Let me know your thoughts…

Love and strong coffee

Vafa

“Life Is An Evolution”

“Life is an evolution, isn’t it mum” asked mini me on one of those bygone days when we used to travel to school.

Yes. Life is indeed an evolution. We are the product of the environments we grew up in. The people we grew up with. The beliefs and values we adopted. The sense of connection and belonging we felt and still feel at every step of the way.

Every new experience and interaction helps shape our reality and the lens we see the world through. For some people, evolution is a slow process.

For some of us however, certain circumstances arise in our life at the most unexpected time. They force us to re-evaluate our lives.

Mine came when I suffered with burnout when I was juggling far too many balls in the air at the same time. The overwhelm I felt paralysed my logical left thinking brain I so faithfully relied upon until then.

I clearly remember articulating this as “my amygdala having hijacked my brain” to a friend. I had averaged 3 hours of sleep each night for the previous 5 months and I was simply incapable of making even the simplest of decisions.

That’s when I was forced to take time out and rethink the path I wanted to travel on. As difficult as it was to go through that period, it was a blessing in disguise. It may have seemed like a huge “failure” to have lost the ability to be the old resilient me and keep on ploughing forward regardless. But it afforded me a great opportunity to get to know myself. To allow myself to get vulnerable and share “my story”. That’s when I discovered that I wasn’t the only one who felt like that.

That’s when the real transformation began for me. To allow myself to believe my own truth. To start the process of change which wasn’t a walk in the park, but so worth the pain and the discomfort.

Perhaps the period of discomfort we’re experiencing now is also a blessing in disguise. Not that many would recognise it as that YET!

You see, with change comes growth if you allow the vulnerability out of the box. And with growth, transformation into an individual who lives a fulfilled life. A life that’s congruent with one’s core values. I’m not suggesting it will be a fairytale “happily ever after” life, but a life on your terms.

It’s only then that you feel a certain amount of peace and gratitude you didn’t know existed when you lived your old life. And hence, a newfound resilience and resolve which helps you deal with the unhappy times with a different kind of mindset.

And this is what I take my beautiful coachees through. I encourage them to find themselves and what makes them tick. What’s truly important to them. Their truths, and how to reach for them unapologetically. They learn to evaluate how they communicate their desires to their community.

The realise what they’ve been tolerating. The learn how to embrace and emanate their values in every communication they conduct. I give them the tools to become attractive to themselves first and foremost, and to the people they cross paths with.

Trying to master the unknown we have faced for the last few weeks is yet another unexpected event where many of us have been forced to think and act differently from the time of life we called “normal”.

Isn’t this a brilliant time to redefine that “normal” as you knew it. Why not make it what you want it to be? To examine who you are, what you stand for and what you’ve tolerated unquestioningly during the time of life you used to call “normal”.

At this time of national lockdown and media frenzy, various stimuli are embedded in our subconscious on daily basis. Be it the stories we tell ourselves or the propaganda and the scaremongering the media portray.

Why not take a conscious effort to be different? This is the perfect opportunity to switch the negativity off and put your creative, big blue sky thinking hats on and look at life differently.

Let’s admit it… Many of us haven’t had time to get creative since we were kids; some of us had even forgotten what it was like to be creative till isolation happened.

Many people have lost their vocation, but admit openly how proud and fulfilled (as described by their social media feed) they feel in their new roles as healthcare assistants, supermarket employees and delivery ninjas.

Some business owners have had to think differently and take their businesses online. Families have had to get creative with budgeting as they’ve faced financial challenges. Look how many different recipes of bread are going around and the vast population who have attempted to make bread on fancy skillets to keep busy and sane.

I bet there have been many moments of laughter and pure joy as families have succeeded in making bread that’s half edible. Who had time to bake bread pre CV19? That’s such a great example of getting creative and living differently by many.

If I was to encourage you to see this period as an opportunity to grow into a better version of you, what would you say?

Would it be a good time to evolve and reinvent yourself, even a little bit?

Why not make a list of all the things you’ve been tolerating in your pre CV19 life as a first step? Look for what you could eliminate from your new life? Don’t forget to involve your loved ones and take them on this wonderful journey with you, so you can grow as a family and thrive together.

And please get in touch if you’d like any further exercises in the quest to start your wonderful and exciting personal revolution journey.

Stay connected and stay safe.

Love and strong coffee

Vafa

How Do You Define Yourself?

“Identity cannot be found or fabricated, but emerges from within when one has the courage to let go” Doug Cooper

Today’s vlog is on the topic of identity. Who are you and how do you define yourself? Do you define yourself by the job you have, the role/roles you play? Or do you define yourself by who you are in your core, the values you hold dear, and what your bigger purpose is? Can you honestly say that you created your identity?

I often come across clients who are living life according to the values they’ve learnt to abide by. These values are shaped by the upbringing they had and how their physical and emotional needs were met by their care givers. How they were influenced by teachers, peer groups, work environments, religious leaders, and even the sports they played and sport’s teams they supported.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve spoken to so many people who feel lost, overwhelmed and angry. Because they feel out of control, they’ve lost their jobs or have been furloughed and simply don’t know what to do. Their identity was so intertwined with the job title they had, that without the job, they have lost their identity!

If this resonates with you, have you considered using this time to your best advantage and getting to know the real you?

When was the last time you thought about your values, and whether or not they’re congruent with your identity and your lifestyle?

As a first step, consider what your answer will be next time someone asks you “what do you do’? Remember… You are waaay more than your job title.

I’d love to hear from you and how you’re making the most of a bad situation? I’m happy to have a conversation if you’d like to make sense of your story.

Love and strong coffee

Vafa

“There are some values that you should never compromise on to stay true to yourself; you should be brave to stand up for what you truly believe in, even if you stand alone.” Roy T. Bennett

“NOT BEING TRUE TO MYSELF” he writes!

PEOPLE HAVE MORE REGRETS ABOUT THE THINGS THEY DIDN’T DO THAN THE THINGS THEY DID DO!

And then…

“There are some values that you should never compromise on to stay true to yourself; you should be brave to stand up for what you truly believe in, even if you stand alone.”
Roy T. Bennett