Lifenergy Blog

Diary of an Entrepreneurial Mum

“Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever.” Nancy Lopez

As a full-time mum with a part-time job and growing my entrepreneurial business 'Lifenergy', I find it all too easy to either doubt myself or judge the decisions I make. This self-doubt creeps in every now and again when I feel uncertain about the 'right' next steps to take, especially when growing my business.

Listening to what I call my 'wise inner voice' and really hearing what it has to say, doesn't have to take a lot of effort (as I discovered recently). In my current lifestyle pattern, meditating for 20 minutes or even 10 minutes for that matter, doesn't work for me. I think it's really about finding those moments of stillness amongst all the noise of my busy life to hear and know what's right for me. To know that deep down I am making the right choices all the time.

I grab these moments of stillness wherever I can, for example:
The pause after parking the car.
Walking to pick up my daughter.
Breaking off from emails to look out of the window.

All this listening is definitely helping me stay focused on what I need to do for the future. My vision is clear and exciting. I have lots of ideas and the energy is flowing effortlessly. Big smiles :)

Happy listening!
Zoe

Diary of an Entrepreneurial Mum

“No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” Source Unknown

I love this quote because it reminds me of the saying 'it's never too late'. This comes in handy when on the odd occasion I start to think to myself "Oh, if I'd done things different", or "if I'd started certain things sooner" blah, blah, blah.

I'm up for constantly starting from now and making fantastic brand new endings. Sometimes the bit in between is the more challenging part. I know where I am right now and how that feels and I know where I want to be. But how can I use positive statements/thinking to get from one to the other? I'll use money as an example. If I'm currently feeling there's a lack around money and I want to move to a place of abundance, saying right now "I am abundant" might not feel realistic or attainable. I find using the words "I'm becoming ..." helps me experience a positive shift towards my goal and it feels realistic. So I would prefer to say "I'm becoming rich" or "I'm becoming wealthy". Some other examples are:

I'm becoming abundant.
I'm becoming healthier.
I'm becoming more relaxed.
I'm becoming fitter.

I also want to thank Teri Thomas for helping me make a positive shift in this area. Her wisdom, clarity and support is priceless!

Happy becoming!
Zoe

Energy Bites

“Nothing is worth more than this day. You cannot relive yesterday. Tomorrow is still beyond your reach.”  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Warmest Wishes,
Zoe

Energy Boost - Walking Your Walk

In April my wonderful buddy Tracey and I set ourselves the goal of raising money for the Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC) by walking The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, a 23.1 mile hike up some pretty big mountains (well big enough to scare me and make me wonder if physically I could actually finish the challenge, let alone do it in under 12 hours!).

Two weeks beforehand, as part of our training, we completed the Baildon Boundary 13 mile walk (in approx 3 hrs 37 mins). However after this walk I ached a lot and it took me a couple of days to recover. I seriously doubted whether I could do 23 miles in total.

The day before the Three Peaks it hit me full force what I had let myself in for and all the uncertainty and doubts came flooding in. Every time I thought about the challenge ahead I became very nervous and fearful. I was worried about the unknown, my focus was on the 'what ifs' instead of 'wow I wonder how I'll do?' and 'what an adventure'! Things didn't improve on the morning of the walk, my nerves increased when we were handed a map and told if we didn't make the 2nd checkpoint by 4pm we wouldn't be allowed to continue for safety reasons.

I rose to the challenge within a challenge and kept a good pace. I kept pushing myself, determined to not be beaten by the heat (apparently the best weather they'd had in 8 years!) and not knowing what lay ahead of me. Keeping myself hydrated and fuelled obviously helped tremendously. To cut a long story short we got to the 2nd checkpoint by 3.30pm, phew! From then on the pressure was off and I really enjoyed the climb to the top of the last peak.

The high of completing this challenge was immense and I not only experienced a huge energy boost mentally when we got to the end with a time of 11 hours, but also emotionally and physically. I really 'got' how the more I stretched myself the bigger the high afterwards. And although physically I was sore and tired I still felt a massive boost just knowing that my body actually did it.

Between us we have raised our £500 target, which has meant a lot to us because not only did we challenge ourselves physically but also in the amount we wanted to raise. A huge thanks to everyone for their generosity and messages of support. For those of you who would like to donate, the sponsorship page is still open at www.justgiving.com/traceycowell3.

Coach’s Challenge – If you haven’t done this for a while, give yourself a well deserved energy boost and challenge yourself to do something that will stretch you out of your comfort zone. Imagine you’re an elastic band, do you know how far you can stretch yet?

Warmest Wishes,
Zoe

Diary of an Entrepreneurial Mum

Just found out recently that our daughter has got into our first choice for primary school. Such a mixture of emotions. Really happy that she's going to a school she's spent the past year getting to know through her pre-school activities, love the fact it's in walking distance from our home and I'm happy that, based on current circumstances, she will have some kind of stability in going to the same place for the next 7 years. It's another step up on her journey and another practice at 'letting go' on mine.

Warmest Wishes,
Zoe

Diary Of An Entrepreneurial Mum

Looking forward to getting back into the flow of running again. After my recent focus on walking, which has been a pivotal moment for me so far this year, I'm looking forward to moving my body differently. I love the freedom I feel when I run and being outside is always an energy boost for me. The light evenings are a joy and I get to really appreciate the beautiful countryside around me.

Warmest Wishes,
Zoe

Energy Bites

“To be authentic is literally to be your own author …, to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.” Warren G. Bennis

Warmest Wishes,
Zoe

Hail, Sun, Wind and Rain!

Isn't the energy around us amazing? I went for a 13 mile run the other day with my energising running buddy Tracey and we experienced all of the above. I must admit it made me feel very alive to be out in the 'elements' surrounded by stunning scenery. A massive energy boost.

This running is part of my goal to be fit enough to complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in April to raise money for the Arthritis Research Campaign. Details about the walk are at http://www.justgiving.com/traceycowell3. So far so good even though I had the flu recently.

Living, Laughing and Loving LIFE!

Zoe

Woo Hoo! Celebrating!

It's been a while, but although things have been quiet on the blogging front I have been busy-bee being behind the scenes creating. Yesterday I launched my very first teleclass called 'Finding the me in time'. I'm so excited because I got the opportunity to share some of my favourite tips and exercises for creating more quality me-time. It went so well that I'll be running these free teleclasses every month. Woo Hoo!

Time to celebrate I think. It's been a dream of mine for a while to create some juicy material in the form of a teleclass and there's nothing more wonderful than when dreams come true. So I'm going to take a leaf out of my book and treat myself to some quality me-time with a bit of pampering. Um, can't wait.

For those of you interested just send me an email (zoe@lifenergy.net) with the word TELECLASS in the header and I'll send you all the necessary information. Best gift you can give yourself is some zingy time out for YOU!

Living, Laughing and Loving LIFE!

Zoe

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love ..." (Burt Bacharach)

"It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love, or how you love, it matters only that you love."  John Lennon

As it's now February the pink and red and chocolate boxed fluff of Valentine's Day is standing out wherever I go! I can't help but notice the cards and pressies all waiting to be selected and in a week's time given to the loved recipient. But what about sending a good bit of love your way. I'm a great believer in the individual valuing themselves as well as others. If that's something you believe in too, then what do you do to celebrate you (apart from birthdays)?

Well this month I've decided to make sure that every day, in some big or little way, I will send myself some Valentine's love. As a busy working mum a bit of self-care and self-love wouldn't go amiss! I'm going to take note of any minutes or hours I can grab and create my own 'Love Me' list. Just out of interest to see how much love I can give myself during February. It's a bit of fun but also, as the old adage goes 'if you can't love yourself, how can you expect others to love you?'

Warmest wishes,
Zoe