Inspiring Your Authentic Week

2008

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 04:02 AM CST

2007 seems to have been a tough year for many people. Relationship challenges, wellness challenges and financial challenges have been abundant.

It has been a hard year for us too, we made a big move in relocating to Spain, it has been stressful and has dominated 2007 for us. Although this may seem like a very different challenge and entirely self inflicted it is not so different in some ways.

Challenges always give us the opportunity to choose between transcendence and succumbing - in fact the closer we get to succumbing the more we learn and the greater the progress, as long as we manage to transcend. Transcendence from these challenges shifts us to a new level of being, of awareness and of possibility, if we let it.

If you have experienced challenges in 2007, relationships, wellness, financial or others, you can begin to see these as opportunities. The challenges force us to ask questions and seek solutions that we may never have explored without being challenged. The payoff is that we have learned valuable lessons and made important changes that will be helpful to us in the future.

Our payoff is that we get to live and work in an inspirational and beautiful place with a supportive and engaged community around us. What is the payoff that you will get from your challenge?

On New Year's Eve every year we sit down with whoever we are sharing New Year's Eve with to draw our plans for the coming year. We each get a sheet of A4 paper and a bunch of crayons and we illustrate our objectives for the year.

This will be the fourth year that we have done this exercise and it has turned out to be a powerful way to exert influence over the direction our lives are taking. Not everything we have drawn has happened as we might have hoped or imagined, but certainly the majority have. I put my drawing up on the wall by my desk to serve as a regular reminder of my intention and focus and at the end of the year I can see what has been accomplished.

You can see my 2007 drawing on this weeks blog page here. My big intentions for 2007 were:

To move to Mallorca finding a house with a guest house in the mountains in the west of the island, and sell our UK house for a good price which we did.

To do more cycling and get down to 76 kgs (my ideal cycling weight) - I did OK in the first half of the year completing my fastest 100 mile event, but the second half of the year was entirely dominated by moving. I didn't make 76 kgs.

To progress the Authentic Education project - which has happened, but again the move has slowed things down.

To make a good income from my work with businesses, events and private clients - again the first half of the year was good with the second half being dominated by the move.

To speak Spanish - much improved, but I could not yet claim to speak Spanish - I will carry this one over to 2008.
To get more sleep and manage my time better - this has certainly happened - life is much calmer now than it was a year ago.

To go out walking with the whole family - although Casper is only 2 we do manage this and it is really great fun, even if Casper needs to be carried quite a bit still.

To make TV shows - actually it turns out that these are videos that appear on the web site and on You Tube - but it has happened.

To have a regular column somewhere - this has not happened, but I have a feeling it will in 2008.

To deepen the loving relationships within our little family - this has definitely happened and is very wonderful.

To evolve my own level of consciousness and spirituality this has happened too and I can see 2008 being a major leap forward in this context.

What is your plan for 2008? What challenges do you want to resolve? Where do you want to be by the end of the year?

I have a feeling that after all of the challenges in 2007, 2008 will be a year of amazing progress for individuals. I think that the global political situation will continue to be a huge challenge for those who insist on outdated ways of communicating and resolving issues.

There is still time to come to the Total Potential Retreat on the 7th of January. The Total Potential Retreat will help you clarify your potential in five key areas - work/money, love/relationships, lifestyle, fitness/wellness, spirituality/meaning - and achieve all of them. Other dates available in early 2008 are the 7th of February and 7th of March.

There are also still spaces at the Authentic Transformation Advance both in Mallorca and California - come and join us to define your own way to inspire others to their authentic potential.

More personal support is also available over the phone with a local rate phone number from the UK or by using Skype or iChat video calls free from anywhere in the world - e-mail to arrange a first free chat just to find out how it works.

Very much looking forward to collaborating with you in some way in 2008.

with love

nx

PS - please feel free to send me your year plan for 2008 if you like.

neil crofts - coach, consultant, facilitator
Authentic Transformation - join the evolution
talk - 07775 658534
write - neil@authentictransformation.co.uk
act - www.authentictransformation.co.uk

Enjoying yourself involves being where you want to be, with the people you want to be with, doing what you want to be doing as much of the time as possible. I do not believe that this can be achieved without planning.

Neil Crofts - Authentic - How to Make a Living by Being Yourself - published by Capstone October 2003