Create Opportunities

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” Bruce Lee

I love this quote. I heard it and it resonated so deeply I had to share it!

When you start dreaming about a better future, hold onto that dream; make it bigger, better and brighter and walk towards it.

Don’t look for excuses to stop making progress and blame circumstances when the going gets tough. YES! Change isn’t easy, but well worth the discomfort in the long run.

Your unconscious mind is constantly looking for evidence to support your thoughts, your words and your feelings. It wants to ‘keep you safe’ by getting you to repeat the same unresourceful behaviour, and instead, it’s sabotaging your growth.

Your words become your world, and your thoughts become your actions. So, be mindful of creating excuses that are responsible for YOU standing in your own way of success, happiness and fulfilment.

When thinking about a better future, look for opportunities, not obstacles and laugh in the face of fear to keep the momentum going.

Does this quote resonate with anyone else? What’s your story?

This is a picture of me looking for opportunities of growth in every conversation.

Call me when you wish to create more opportunities

Love and strong coffee

Vafa

Getting Curious…

“Somewhere beyond right and wrong, there’s a garden. I will meet you there” Rumi

In loving memory of CH RIP 💔🖤💔

What’s one of the best pieces of advice you have ever been given?

Mine was to find my Ikigai when I was in the process of redefining my path and kept experimenting with new business ideas.

For years, I had a deep-rooted belief that all I could do for work was the profession I was trained to do. I had invested 25 years of my life in it after-all.

So I decided to become an explorer during which time I met a lot of people from different backgrounds. I became a curious student again and asked lots of good questions. I listened to the stories of many business owners at different stages of their journey. Some were start ups, and others seasoned entrepreneurs. Every single one had a viewpoint and a perspective worth listening to.

The new insights led to the doors of wonder being opened up in my mind where my logical left brain had dominated my outcomes up until that point. It was time to allow the creative right brain to get a turn in determining my future path. It was time to think differently.

I started to question my current limiting beliefs. It was like putting new colour shades on which changed the way the world appeared! I wondered what any of those people would do if they were in my shoes?

I compiled a list of strengths and the traits others valued in me. The activities I enjoyed taking part in. I wrote a list of tasks that motivated me. To take an audit of the things I would gladly do all day every day even if I wasn’t being paid was a useful first step for sure.

I was determined to find something that made my heart sing. And that’s what I now inspire and help my clients to achieve.

I present them with three questions to open the doors of wonder:

What would you do if you had all the time, money and resources in the world?
How would you choose to live if you knew you had a few months to live?
Who could you approach to seek different perspectives from?

I lost a dear friend yesterday. She championed me to the end and was an inspiration. She made everyday count because she knew the end was near. What would you do differently if you knew the end was near?

Let’s remember. You only get one life. Why not live it on your terms. How can you get the life you wish for?

Reach out and let’s have a chat

How Do You Colour?

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

Albert Einstein

When was the last time you coloured outside the lines? I mean, when was the last time you pushed outside of your comfortable boundaries?

I’ve been colouring outside the lines for a number of years now. It all started when I began to challenge my beliefs and values that were deeply ingrained.

And when lockdown was imposed, I wanted to stay connected with my network. So I decided to become visible on social media and started doing videos. Something I had shied away from, partly because of my limiting beliefs of not being able to do a good enough job!

Not only I’ve grown used to sharing my views on video, I’ve been able to help many people who contacted me. I’ve also been invited on fb and IG lives to share insights. So, I’d say that I’ve fulfilled my purpose of providing a safe space for my audience to talk and make sense of their stories. It just goes to show that good stuff happen when you step outside your comfort zone.

I often challenge my clients on their limiting beliefs by asking them to “imagine” how they would be if they were less afraid? It’s only by exploring different experiences that we build new habits. Who knows what great opportunities you may stumble upon if you chose to be different!

So I’m curious; how are you building new habits during these times?

What have you done differently that you couldn’t imagine doing before lockdown, and how have you felt about your new experiences?

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