What was the day about?  In a physical sense it was a bunch of tweeting Irish business people getting together to put faces to usernames and network off line.

In reality I think it was so much more.

It was a uniting of common interests, of similar paths, comparable hurdles and will do attitudes; a coming together of like minded individuals who have found not only business connections online but also an emotional support network of fellow travellers on the road to business success.  People who are not looking for others to do the work in their businesses for them, for freebies or an easy road to the top but who notice a raising of their own inner strength and resilience as they chat to others who are in the same place and going in the same direction.

They are business owners who want to do it themselves because they are passionate about how they have chosen to ‘make a living’.  They are passionate about Ireland moving forward and passionate about them being a part of the mechanism which will drive that movement.

What struck me from the very beginning of the day [apart from the fact that people were turning up early  ] was that everyone was exceptionally welcoming and eager to network and introduce each other – gosh, even I was going up to people I had never talked to before!  There was hugging .. and lots of it … I think we naturally ‘got’ what everyone else is going through and that in many ways broke the ice with everyone.  People travelled from all corners of the country to be part of something that was almost instinctively felt as a coming together of good energy; a start of the next chapter in the #SMEcommunity story.

The positive energy created during the day didn’t just stay in the room.  It moved online later in the evening as people arrived back to their homes.  I’m sure in the coming weeks every one that was there will feel a terrific buzz within themselves and that will naturally go into their respective businesses.

There is something really amazing happening here … a truly heartfelt approach to business support where by helping and supporting others emotionally we gain strength within ourselves.  For what was essentially a business networking event there was something unheard of in the room …. love … not mushy kissy kissy love but a heartfelt caring that comes from giving back with out asking for anything in return.

Well done all who participated in such a wonderful event

Other posts you might like to read:

• SMEcommunity – mindful business at work
• keep calm.. it’s my new mindfulness poster
• Can you feel the hug?

Mindfulness isn’t just about sitting still and listening to our breath. It’s also about applying that connection to what we do in our daily lives, it’s the practice of actively guiding our consciousness to the present moment in whatever we do.

Through being mindful and making decisions that are mindful of others lives we can not only enjoy our own life more but connect with others and help them so they may enjoy theirs too.

Maya Hanley, @mayahanley, who was one of my very early Twitter friends, is going to add much to the lives of others up in Co Sligo on June 25 and at the same time fully embrace a very unique moment in her own life.

She is participating in the Dip in the Nip, an event which was started by Maire Garvey @mairesligo after she went to see a psychic who told her she saw her naked in the ocean with a load of other women!  Maya is part of a fundraising effort which would like to raise 100 000 euros to help cancer charities and, more specifically, to buy two head cooling devices to help minimise the loss of hair during chemotherapy.  Maya has posted about it here on her own blog The Sound of the night

This year it is hoped 500 women will show up and share the of Dip in the Nip moment

Through being mindful we begin to understand that each moment is precious and useful and there to be lived to the full by immersing ourselves in it.  We become mindful of our decisions and how they can impact others.  We realise we are at one with all and what we do touches in some way everyone else – as does what they do.

As Maya strips off and heads to the water, she, and the €500 she would like to raise, touches the lives of others.  By her actions she is connecting with people she may never meet but will be forever connected to in a unique non material way.

I asked Maya a few questions about the up coming event:

How do you feel about the Dip in the Nip? It is liberating to get naked with a load of other women, no matter what size you are.  I felt, in some way, doing this might liberate me from my attitude towards my body.

Why did you choose this way of helping others? It is a way of being part of something that gets attention in Ireland because public nudity is still actually illegal and we are very shy about being naked in front of each other here and perhaps this is a way of saying ‘look how lovely we are as humans, regardless of our age or size or shape or whether we’ve lost breasts to cancer or other body parts’ etc etc

How will being mindful add to the event? The mindfulness aspect of it is that by going through the ritual of preparing for the Dip, going to the beach wearing bathrobes with nothing underneath, perhaps sporting feather boas and pink wigs (my sister has got us blow up pink flamingos to tote into the water with us, as well as pink garlands) and being acutely conscious of the woman beside you who’s also about to strip off AND knowing that it’s all going to be OK.   You have to be mindfully in the moment to make this something that rocks your soul and makes you feel part of something much bigger than yourself.

I am mindfully aware of the impact I can have on another person’s wellbeing by raising money to help; mindfully aware of body issues, mindfully aware of the power of women when we get our mojo on and make something happen and mindfully aware that we are all beautiful.

…

As Maya braves the Sligo waters on June 25 she, and hopefully 499 other women, will experience what it feels like to be enveloped by the ocean in all their glory.  Casting off all that society has placed on them; not only from a material point of view but also from a social one.  By stripping off to a natural state they free more than ‘their bits’…they free that part which is so often cloaked in behaviour that has been learnt or adopted.  They become free from their past and their future and totally at one with their present moment as they Dip in the Nip.  So it’s a way of not only raising eyebrows , but also awareness and money for people who work healing and helping people with cancer.

Like to help? …here’s how

1. You can donate to Maya’s fundraising at mycharity.ie , even €1 will help.  The act of giving does as much as the amount you give.  In this moment as you read here you can make your next moment help someone.  You can connect with Maya by donating and also connect with those who will benefit from your thoughtful donation.
2. If you are inspired by the thought of letting it all hang out and helping raise money then you can sign up to join Maya and Maire at dipinthenip.eu

Maya’s final thoughts about getting all up and neked [sic] in front of other women are summed up in a bit by Lissa Rankin:

‘let your freak flag fly’!

To help raise some funds for Dip in the Nip 15% from every pink B@1 poster sold before June 25 will be donated to Dip in the Nip…. and because buying one is helping others I will also give 15% off to you too.  So you get the poster for 17 euro and you donate [in a round about way] another 3 euro to help fight cancer – win win!

Just  use the code pDCLQ here in the shop

Some other postings:

Life is in the doing not the having

what ripples do you make on the pond of life?

*cue round of virtual applause*

Last week the lovely Olga over at Self Expression passed onto me the Versatile Blogger Award – thanks O

It is a real feel good award as I am now here to pay it forward and let you all know of some of the other bloggers I think are great as well.

There are a few rules when accepting the award:

• Thank the person [well that is just manners isn’t it?]

• Share 7 things about yourself [err..am I not notoriously known for being mysterious?]

• Pass it onto 15 other bloggers [ for those who regularly read my blog you will already know I am also known for simplicity and keeping things concise so I shall pass it on to only five]

• let the other bloggers know you have chosen them [will do]

Seven things about me:

1. I have completed 55 out of my 100 lifetime goals

2. In my first year of studying philosophy at uni the teacher spoke so far above all of our heads that after a few weeks a few of us felt we had to speak up and say that we didn’t understand what she was talking about …to which she answered ‘what do any of us understand?’ and continued to teach as usual

3. When I go to a restaurant I will always order something that I haven’t eaten before or will try a local dish where possible.  My favourite food: seafood and cheese.

4. My great great great grandfather was a Scottish sea captain who had 21 children by three wives.  He was widowed twice and I am descended from wife number 2.

5. I have eaten frog legs in Scotland and snails in Paris

6. My favourite movie is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off….all time favourite bit is when they cut to the graffiti on the school bus  at the end of the movie which reads… ‘Rooney eats it’   It gets me everytime

7. Until I was twenty years old I thought everyone drank tea out of a tea cup and coffee out of a mug!!

I’ve picked five terrific blogs to pass the award onto that I personally like reading and find useful.  There is no pressure for any of the recipients to do anything with the award except receive it in the spirit of gratitude in which it was given.

Beyond Karma – great thoughts and great comments too

Jungle of Life - Lance always has a great story to tell that is amusing and enlightening

The Happiness Business – Hilda’s thought of the week is always good

Productivity Bits – great practical tips on improving productivity

The Moonskin Journals – heartfelt thoughts with lovely artwork

Be mindful and enjoy

Some of my other posts you might like to have a look at:

Are you utilising this moment?

1:55 minutes of reconnection

Being productive and mindful – 20 one minute to dos

you can check this poster and all the others out in my e-shop

We are living in extraordinary times.

We have a chance to change things for a more unified future

where all things integrate homogeneously.

Where we each play a unique note in the universe’s tune

- a tune which is not complete if we do not add our own part

~

We are as much a part of the world as anything else

we are each equally important

- as is our contribution, our song

~

We know the song we each need to sing, we just have to admit it to our selves

pretty soon,

as more people begin to live their own song, their own vibration

a harmony will begin.

All our unique songs will band together in unison

like a dawn chorus.

Wonderful in variety yet beautiful in the way each compliments all others

~

Enjoy

Those who wish to sing always find a song ~ Swedish proverb

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photo by: minicooper93402

Other postings you might like to read:

Delight in all the turns of your life

Simplicity Thursday – 5 things to do whilst boiling the kettle

In the silence are all the answers you seek

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life should be a journey

it should not be rushed

one should flow through it like water in a stream…trickling

gently moving with no haste

slowing at times almost to a pause but never gushing by the moment so quickly

that no connection is noticed between you both

~

take in all that surrounds you

glide through your journey

respecting each you meet is on their own

for they too have as much right as anyone else to have their own path and flow at their own pace

~

serenity is a state of being

~

absorb the flavours of the moment, of the day, of the week, month and season

light in all it’s forms flowing onto the body is a gift, delight in all its shades

Enjoy

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photo credit: US National Archives [The Commons]

Other postings you might like reading:

Are you are participant in your life or a bystander?
Are you living your true self 24 hours a day?

It’s true, things come and go.  We do, possessions do and so do other people and experiences; it’s all part of life.  The part of our life that resides in the physical world.  Grasping onto something or someone in the hope that it will always be the same can cause much sadness and upset.  Yet, at the same time understanding that things come and go also offers relief in the realisation that something we do not enjoy going through will eventually pass.

The essence of who we truly are is at the centre of all that goes on around us but is not governed by time or form.  It doesn’t come and go, it just is – eternally.  When we understand that this is who we really are and that everything is interconnected we realise we can never really have or loose anything, because it is already part of us.

All our physical bodies go through, whether we feel it is good or bad, pleasurable or not will ultimately pass.  Another possession or experience will come and take its place and the sequence will begin all over again.  It may not be the same as the one before or even similar but it will be replaced none the less.  This is the case because life in the formed world is always evolving, changing.

Heraclitus said ‘you can never step in the same river twice’

No two moments are the same even if we are standing still in an empty room and certainly not if we are experiencing life.  Sometimes it is hard for us to be at ease with change, especially big change.  As humans, we must feel a certain sense of control within our life/situation or stress levels can rise.  However, by coming to terms with how the world and events are continually changing we can ‘roll with the punches’ or ‘go with the flow’ more easily.  That doesn’t mean we don’t grieve or feel happy at things it just means we get that it is an external process.

Realising that everything is always in a state of movement ironically helps us deal with it.  Helps us understand that when something happens (especially stuff we don’t feel the best about) we can look at it from a much larger perspective.  From a point bigger than our physical self and see that we are part of something much larger.  That we don’t ‘take it personally’ for it is …..the way it is.

Enjoy

Photo by : CmdrGravy

Other postings you might like to read:

Find your common denominator

Some of life’s rhythms

Pick your thoughts like you pick your apples

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Last week I did a post called What you spot, you’ve got and this one follows on from that theme.  I have been giving the whole topic of learning and wisdom a lot of thought these last few weeks and about a fortnight ago I tweeted the quote

When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru ~ Ram Dass

That was the initial impetus for these two posts as it really got me thinking about all the wisdom that is out there amongst people we come into contact with every day.  From small bits which help us or enhance our lives to great insight, it’s all there for the offering.  It costs neither recipient nor giver anything of a monetary nature and often there is no or little cost of time save for a few moments to absorb the knowledge.  Of course, more time is needed to put that knowledge into practice if that is the type of learning it is – like adopting a new habit or consciously doing something a certain way until it becomes habitual.

Knowledge that we can use both internally and externally is available – from noticing how another does something more efficiently or simply to gaining a deeper insight into oneself from what another said, did or our reaction to it.

This knowledge may not be directed to us but if we endeavour to go through our days open to all the wisdom that is around us; live mindfully so we are ready to receive and learn from all we meet and do, then everyone becomes a teacher, our teacher (including ourselves).  When we decide to become eternal students willing to learn and deepen our own wisdom in every step of our journey, then all who we meet become our inspiration and guru.  All experiences we go through offer us learning and an opportunity to deepen of our self awareness.  So look for the guru in all you meet.   Ultimately, though we are our own guru as all knowledge lies within us.  However, sometimes it is in others that we notice something more easily than we can notice in our self and by being mindful we can realise it.

Enjoy

Image by Anosmia

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Other posting you might like:

Our choices make our life

Take at least a small step each day

Where is the energy taking you?

Simplicity can be simple

During the course of our day we encounter many people.  All are on a journey of their own, following a path that is unique to them.  Whilst their path may be similar it is not the same; we each have a journey of our own to make.  As we meet and interact with others we find some who we have a deeper connection with, possibly because we sense an underlying sameness – a similar stage in the journey or a sense of mutual learning on offer.  However, for those we don’t connect with as much it is important to respect that they are on their own path, they are moving at their own pace and must make their own choices.

Yet often it is those who confront our thoughts and sense of self that we can learn alot from. Offering us the chance to learn where we still need to grow and what we need to discard from our own belief system.  They make something stir within us, a feeling or thought that has been hidden come to the surface; we judge them and their way of living and the choices they are making.  Some are present in our lives for a short while (co workers, fellow students), others fleetingly (fellow train travellers etc) and some we see all the time (family and friends).

By looking at what we think is not satisfactory with their life, we miss our own learning.  Everyday we are offered opportunities to grow and deepen our understanding of self and the world.  When we come in contact with another who ruffles our feathers, we should look deeper and at our own attitudes.  For  it is our path we must deal with – our own beliefs and feelings.

As a dear friend of mine says…”what you spot; you’ve got”

Enjoy

image by Anthena’s Pix

other posts you might enjoy reading:

…and the universe said to me ‘you complete me’

Allow your inner voice to speak

Why living the life of your dreams is not being selfish

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There is a rhythm to nature as we all know.  What we sometimes fail to remember is that we are all part of that natural world and likewise our lives have a rhythm to them.  We must sleep, eat, take in fluids etc regularly so our basic functions can be realised daily.  Like all other things in nature we have more to do than just our own basic requirements; we must fulfil that which others rely on to complete their basic requirements.  If plants did not grow no one could eat them; if bees did not pollinate some flowers there would not be certain fruits.  Similarly if there was no one who felt compelled to write we would have no idea what else is going on in the world, if no one wanted to be a scientist nothing new would be discovered.

When each of us is listening to our ‘natural voice’ we are guided to fulfil our own personal path for being here.  Each one of us has a slightly different role to fulfil during our lifetime and it is important to everything that we fulfil it to the best of our abilities.  We are part of the eco system of the world and just like any other living creature/thing (no matter how microscopic) we must all do what we are meant to do in order for everything to operate smoothly.

We are ourselves, yet at the same time we are part of a vastness that stretches beyond what we can imagine.  Through this connection we become vast; we become more than our physical self.  We are important.  Without each of us in the world, the universe is not complete.

Enjoy

Beautiful photo courtesy of Mary B

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Other postings you might like:

You don’t have to save the world

Do you live a quantity or quality life?

Honouring your core values

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It is important to remember over the Christmas period to slow down often; take it easy and understand that others may also be under stress or pressure themselves and may say or do something that they would normally not – especially when a bit of alcohol is involved.

Whilst the Christmas holiday season is a wonderful time to relax and celebrate getting together with friends and family, it is only a short time during the year and even a shorter time during a lifetime.  Be and act consciously during this time and remember what and who is important to you.

Enjoy

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Other postings you might like:

Our choices make our life

Do you want a quality or quantity life

Are you living your true self 24 hours a day?

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