Love Yourself First!

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Patti Clark

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.”

– Lucille Ball

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams”

– Oprah Winfrey

Think about Oprah’s quote –

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams”

So what is stopping you? As women we usually take care of everyone else first. Especially over the holidays, everyone else’s needs came first. Self-care and self-love are often difficult concepts for women.

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.”

So how would that look? . . . to love yourself first. Well here’s an idea . . .

How about an exciting and inspirational retreat!

In my last blog entry, I wrote about my intentions for 2015.

One of the most exciting goals/intentions I have is related to my work with Figjam Workshops. We are planning a Fuel for Inspiration Retreat in Bali!

I thought I would share a bit about the retreat with all of you. Who knows, maybe one of you reading this blog post might be interested in a Relaxing, Rejuvenating Retreat with a Creative Twist!

What a great way to practice some self-care and show yourself some love!

Bali Spa Retreat with a Creative Twist

Imagine yourself escaping winter, lounging in the sun in tropical paradise with a small group of women, sipping a cocktail by the pool.

This is a retreat with a difference. You won’t find a mung bean for miles – instead, you’ll find creativity, rejuvenating fun, connection to self and fabulous food.

We’ll indulge at the boutique Sama’s Cottages in the heart of Ubud, the cultural centre of Bali. We’ve reserved the whole gorgeous space – including a swimming pool, gardens and a private cottage with ensuite for each participant – for ultimate privacy and relaxation. It’s easy walking distance to Ubud’s vibrant markets yet blissfully peaceful.

Your Bali retreat package includes:

Fuel for Inspiration workshops plus high-quality art materials (ADD LINK)
Arrival dinner at world famous Casa Luna restaurant and departure dinner at award-winning Rondjji restaurant
All breakfasts, morning teas and lunches
7 nights accommodation in a private cottage (fan-cooled or air-conditioned)
3 spa treatments of your choice
Visit to the Blanco Museum and Gallery and a tour of a local temple
Return Airfare (Auckland – Bali) and transfers to and from accommodation (Conditions apply.)

Our leisurely schedule blends hands-on creative sessions with time to relax and unwind.

Register

Reserve your getaway today.

Dates

12 – 19 June 2015
(Depart Auckland 12 June; Depart Bali 19 June)

Costs

We are thrilled to be able to offer this amazing package for NZD $2799 to $2999. Contact us for specifics.
Space is limited to only 10 women.

Reserve your rejuvenating getaway today.

Retraining the Brain – Shifting Focus

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Patti Clark

“The world is full of a lot of fear and a lot of negativity, and a lot of judgment. I just think people need to start shifting their focus onto joy and happiness. As corny as it sounds, we need to make a shift.”

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133182.html#cRzVZOHjpM8tGpjB.99

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_alone.html#lVJ7IiJ5eJRKEuuL.99

– Ellen DeGeneres

Continuing the posts on Neuroplasticity and getting rid of bad habits. Now on to steps two and three:

2. Observe what the old habit or pathway is doing in your life.

3. Shift your focus.

Habits are hard to break, we all know that, but one thing that helps immensely is observing, really paying attention to how destructive the habit is. Whether it’s spending more money than I can really afford; biting the cuticles around my nails; or drinking more alcohol than I want to. By observing and really paying attention to the consequences, I can start to realign my focus.

The way I do this is by firstly focusing really hard on the bad habit, I shine a spot light on it, brutally. I know this sounds counter-intuitive but hear me out. By writing down and clearing out all the negative stuff that is part of the bad habit, it helps make room for positive change. Recent research published in the journal Psychology Today shows that writing down negative thoughts and negative past experiences and then ripping them up and throwing them away actually helps to change those thoughts and habits.

In Figjam Workshops Creative Empowerment Workshop, participants consistently say that doing this exercise has a remarkably healing effect. Try it! Take a big sheet of paper and write down all the negative effects associated with the bad habit, everything you can think of. And when you feel like you have gotten everything out, rip it up. Stamp on it! Scream NO at it! Burn it! You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel.

Then, Shift the Focus. To create a new neural pathway, you need to focus on what it is you want. Start focusing on all the positives associated with not having that habit. For example, healthy cuticles or healthy nails. When I wanted to stop biting my cuticle, I rubbed lotion into my cuticles several times a day. I kept my nails shaped, and focused on how much better my hands looked. Yes, I know it sounds really simplistic, but in a way it is. This is how neuroplasticity works. It’s just about getting new neural pathways started. Remember what Dr. Rick Hanson says about self-directed neuroplasticity – it is ongoing. Our brains are changing all the time. We can choose what we focus on and what new neural pathways are being created!

I want to close with a fascinating TED talk by neuroscientist and inventor Christopher deCharms. A wonderful look inside the brain.

I’d love to hear about any bad habits you’ve broken, and how you changed the behavior. And if you do use the ‘Write and Rip’ technique – how it worked for you. And as always, thank you for taking the time to visit. I appreciate it.

Paying Attention to the Coincidences

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Patti Clark

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133182.html#cRzVZOHjpM8tGpjB.99

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_alone.html#lVJ7IiJ5eJRKEuuL.99

– Alice Walker

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous! (God, Goddess, The Source, Higher Power – use whatever word evokes power for you.) It’s my connection to that higher self or higher power that helps me when, as Alice Walker reminds me, I start thinking I don’t have any power.

One of the ways I know I’m connected to that power is when I am paying attention to the coincidences. And one of those lovely coincidences has been happening in the last few days.

On Saturday, I got together with my friends to do a fun, informal goal setting night where we had a lovely dinner and discussed what we anticipated our lives would be like in 2019. During the evening, one of the things we talked about was finding new streams of money through Social Entrepreneurship, or creative fund raising.

On Sunday, I attended an amazing event in Auckland called The Auckland Writers Festival (Thank you Trudi!) During one of the events, I heard four amazing women speak: Eleanor Catton, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Sandi Toksvig and Jessica Jackley. As Jackley spoke, I got chills as she elaborated on Social Entrepreneurship and what great ‘givers’ New Zealanders are. I sat up and paid attention. And then on Monday morning, while reading the NZ Herald online, an article jumped out at me, again about New Zealanders and their generosity, with a link to an incredible website called Give a Little.

Givealittle is the free, safe and easy way to receive online donations for charities of all types and sizes.

In three days I had heard about the amazing generosity of many people in New Zealand and the wonderful giving being done, often anonymously, through various ways of giving, micro-financing, social entrepreneurship, etc. I was paying attention.

So on Tuesday, I went to our office at Figjam Workshops and my business partner and I set up an account at Give a Little. We published the information on our page on Facebook, and we are getting the information out there.

When I pay attention to the little coincidences around me, and when I remember to act on those little nudges, then I am connected to my power.

Although I enjoyed every aspect of the Auckland Writers Festival, the highlight for me was hearing Alice Walker. What an amazing woman!

So I’d like to finish with a video clip of Alice Walker speaking at Google. Please take the time to watch and be inspired!

Please let me know what you thought of the video. And I’d love to hear of any ‘coincidences’ that you’ve experienced lately. And as always, thank you for taking the time to visit. I appreciate it.

What motivates us at work?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Patti Clark

“It seems that most of us thrive by feeling a sense of purpose. ”

– Dan Ariely

What motivates us at work? What is it that drives us? Many people believe it is how much money you make. But that didn’t make sense to me, there are too many other factors involved. Then I saw this quote by Dan Ariely – It seems that most of us thrive by feeling a sense of purpose. And I thought – yes that’s it.

And an experience last week at my work – Figjam Workshops – illustrated that beautifully. Last week, my business partner Deb and I finished facilitating a 5 week Creative Empowerment Workshop for a group. And during the closing circle, one of the participants said that during the workshop he had an epiphany, and that the workshop had changed his life! Needless to say, Deb and I were in tears, and we looked at each other and both felt it – This is why we do this work!

It’s not for the money! Working for a charitable trust will never make us rich, as a matter of fact, by the end of the year when funding has run out, we usually find ourselves working several weeks for no pay at all. We do the work because we love it. And we love it because we feel an incredible sense of purpose.

Dan Ariely, professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, has this to say about motivation at work:

“So when we think about labor, we usually think about motivation and payment as the same thing, but the reality is that we should probably add all kinds of things to it — meaning, creation, challenges, ownership, identity, pride, etc. And the good news is that if we added all of those components and thought about them, how do we create our own meaning, pride, motivation, and how do we do it in our workplace and for the employees, I think we could get people to both be more productive and happier.”

In this stimulating and entertaining talk, Dan Ariely explains What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?

I’d love to hear about what makes you feel good about your work. And as always, thank you for visiting, I appreciate it.

The Power of Music

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Patti Clark

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

– Aldous Huxley

My friend Tam sent me a beautiful video recently about the power of music. It brought tears to my eyes. I was thinking about it yesterday during a Creative Empowerment Workshop that Deb and I were running – I looked around watching the participants do their art, all listening to music. Many were listening to the music that we supply, softly playing in the background; a few others had their own music playing on their ipods, but everywhere I looked people were immersed in some sort of music. Near the end of the workshop, one participant said: “I really like the music you play during the workshop, I feel calm when I listen to it.”

Friedrich Nietzsche once said: “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Too harsh perhaps? But reading this article in one of my favorite blogs, Daily Good, I am moved to see Nietzsche point. The article describes music “bridging life and death.” It is an interview with the woman who founded The Threshold Choir, Kate Munger. In the article Munger describes the beginning of The Threshold Choir.

“In November of 1990 I was invited to spend a day with a friend of mine who was dying of HIV Aids. He was comatose, but very agitated. I sat down by his bedside and didn’t know what to do. I waited and waited. All I knew to do, to calm myself, was to sing. So I sang one song and I sang it for two hours. I sang it over and over again. I watched his breathing slow, and he got much calmer. And I got much calmer, because it was a song that was really soothing to me personally. So as I got comfortable, he got comfortable and at the end of the experience I felt like I’d touched something very deep.”

Attached is the video that Tam emailed to me. A lovely representation of the power of music.

Please let me know your thoughts on this video, and I’d love to hear any stories you have about the Power of Music in your life.

And as always thank you for taking the time to visit, I appreciate it.

Moving toward Authentic Self

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Patti Clark

“Our sadness is an energy we discharge in order to heal . . . Sadness is painful. We try to avoid it. Actually discharging sadness releases the energy involved in our emotional pain. To hold it in is to freeze the pain within us.”

– John Bradshaw

I’m incredibly fortunate in that I get to work with my best friend. We run workshops together through a charitable trust called Figjam Workshops. I love my work!

http://www.figjamworkshops.co.nz/home

Part of what I really enjoy, aside from the facilitation which is wonderful, are the long drives to and from the workshops, where Deb and I drink coffee and have long, deep conversations. On Friday, on the way home from a workshop, Deb and I were talking about Authentic Self; about healing old wounds, about dealing with old, deep trauma and abuse – about doing the deep work – the work to move from being stuck to finding one’s Authentic Self. We both agree that doing one’s personal growth work is essential to one’s well-being.

And because Deb is a good friend and we trust each other, she felt safe enough to challenge me a bit, and I felt safe enough to listen. She asked me about some of my posts on this blog. She said that I make it sound like “being happy” is the answer, that all one has to do is decide to be happy and everything will be better. She said in her opinion it sounded like I was saying just act happy, maybe journal a bit and everything will be OK. And after looking over some of my past posts, I see she is right and I don’t feel like I am honoring Authentic Self. I want to state here and now that I believe that any of us with past emotional scaring, trauma, or abuse need to acknowledge it and do the work. Staying stuck, staying in denial and pretending that everything is just wonderful is not helpful. Pasting on a smile and saying I will just be positive when the pain inside is unbearable does not work.

In my previous post, Who Was Your Teacher:

https://patticlark.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/who-was-your-teacher/

I talked about finally getting to the point where partying and alcohol were no longer enough to numb the pain. I was lucky enough to have a sister who cared enough to talk to me about her path and pass on a transformational book called Creative Visualization. Yes I did read that book, and yes it did help me begin my journey. But it is important to say that then I spent many years doing my own work. I went to one on one counselling, I did psychodrama groups, I did group counselling and I went to more personal growth workshops than I can count. I did deep, deep work. Most of it was not fun and a lot of the work was very painful, but all of it helped move me forward on my path. I was and still am committed to growing and not staying stuck.

In order to make changes in the present and not stay stuck, we have to look at the past and understand what led us to our current situation. We need to work through and move through our feelings of pain and loss in order to move on. Please understand I am absolutely and positively a believer in Positive Psychology and finding happiness. But it must be Authentic Happiness. And in my opinion Authentic Happiness can only be obtained when we have done our work and touched our Authentic Self.

A great teacher and author who helped me move through a lot of my own past feelings of pain and loss is John Bradshaw. I have included a video here of John Bradshaw on the Oprah Show.