Your Delicious Life

by Alison Nancye
Want to discover 10 simple and easy ways to create a happy and healthy Mind, Body & Spirit in 2009? Why not make a list of 10 things that would make you feel good on a regular basis. If you need help getting started, here's 10 suggestions...

1. READ A BOOK... instead of turning on the television. For an effortless and positive read, check out Recipes for Everyday Life by Alison Nancye, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne or The Magician's Way by William Whitecloud.
2. TAKE A WALK... before breakfast, lunch or dinner. Just walking around your neighbourhood and checking out new sites, homes and nature spots is a healthy way to live in body and soul.
3. BE GRATEFUL... for where you are right now in your life and every new good thing that comes your way.
4. MEDITATE... a little investment for huge rewards. If you are not doing this on a regular basis, please get started in 2009.
5. FOOD IS YOUR FUEL... eat food that makes you feel good. Good food produces good thoughts and good feelings, it's simple science really.
6. CLEANSE AND LET GO... swim in the ocean, have warm salt water baths and regularly let go of toxins consuming your body and mind.
7. DO WHAT YOU LOVE... pursue work that feeds your soul and if you can't get a job you love straight away, take up a hobby you love.
8. SLEEP... get enough zzz's each day. Bed before 11pm is a great rule to live by.
9. SMILE... smiling more each day makes you feel happier in body, mind and spirit. Try a 3 Minute Meditation Smile each day (that's smiling in your meditation ritual) - it feels really good.
10. TRY SOMETHING NEW... it's great to have something new to look forward to and work towards. It's a brand new year what are you waiting for.

by Alison Nancye
Here’s a simple and fun way to plan your dreams & goals for the year ahead.

1. Think of the categories of your life in segments like you would on a menu – so instead of starters, entrée, main, desserts, and sides. Put Lifestyle, Work, Relationships, Money, Health & Wellbeing, Hobbies, Education etc (whatever categories are meaningful to you).
2. Underneath each of those categories. Write what you’d love to create for the year ahead. For example Lifestyle might be Yoga class twice a week, 2 mini breaks throughout the year and one big holiday vacation. Work might be 15% salary increase, bringing more of my passions in to my workplace, Wellbeing might be doing a meditation course, and so forth.
3. Place your Life Menu for 2009 in pride of place (mine sits in the heart of my kitchen). You can also do a Vision Board to visually represent what this new look life might look like for the year ahead. Display your Life Menu with all your heart and all your glory.
4. Take Action and start ordering off your own menu. For example, if it’s Yoga, Gardening or a Cooking class you’d love to do, jump online, ask around and check out your local directories, book in to your course and enjoy!
5. When you’re really clear about what you’d love, it’s much easier to ask for it and take steps towards it. Keep ordering off your Life Menu and before you know it, you will be one satisfied customer of your own life.
6. Finally, remember to have fun, enjoy the journey, ask like-minded people to dine with you and share in your success and life. Celebrate along the way, as well as the end of the year.

TIP
If you’re stuck on getting clear about what you’d love, try the Dream Life recipe as a starting point... it’s a great way to visualise and meditate on your dreams come true.

by Alison Nancye
If you were to live true Work/Life Balance, you would spend 1/3 of your day 'working', 1/3 of your day 'living', and 1/3 of your day 'sleeping'.

By 'work' I mean paid and unpaid work (running errands, cleaning the house, etc as well as your paid gigs). With hours at our paid jobs on the increase, the extra time 'working' eats in to your time 'living' and 'sleeping'. But it doesn't have to eat up all your time.

Get Enough Sleep

One of the tried and tested methods to create a more balanced life is to 'get enough sleep'. Your optimum sleeping hours are between 11pm – 4am. So if you really want to feel rested and energised for the day ahead, beat Cinderella to the post, and get to bed at least one hour before midnight each day.

In addition to getting a good night's sleep, making time to honour your mind, body and spirit each day will speak volumes in the 'balance' department.

How to Create More Work Life Balance

Do this easy exercise below to help you discover your way to enjoy a healthier Mind, Body & Spirit and create more Work Life Balance each day.

1. On a blank piece of paper, create three columns or sections with the headings 1. Mind, 2. Body, 3. Spirit.
2. Underneath each heading, list three ways (or more) you could create a healthier mind, body and spirit. Include things you can let go of or add to the mix. For example, turning your computer off by at least 10pm each night will allow you to let go and have a good hour to unwind if you want to get to bed before 11pm. Adding lavender drops to your evening shower or on your pillow will help chill your mind. Body - would be things like eating foods that make you feel good (be real you know what agrees with you and what doesn’t), and exercising in a way that you enjoy (even dancing to a song each day is a great way to unwind and get exercise). Spirit is whatever it means to you - things that you make your heart sing, feed your soul and make you feel good.
   
3. Put a circle around one item in each of the Mind, Body, Spirit categories that you would like to start this week or month.
4. Now get started! Remember the only person who can give you permission to spend your time the way you would love is YOU. You create your schedule, so it’s you who creates your own Work Life Balance.
   

by Alison Nancye
If you spend about 1/3 of your life at work, then it’s kind of important don’t you think to love what you do, even just a little bit!

One of the great ways you can carve a career for yourself that you genuinely enjoy is to use your inherent nature (also known as your 'Purpose' and 'Greatness') to guide you.

If you can get really clear about your Purpose, meaning 'what' you do in the world, and your Greatness, meaning the 'way' you do it, as use that outcome as a guide to job seeking, career planning and choosing courses that feed your soul, you will be leaps and bounds ahead on the career and lifestyle path.

So how do you discover the ‘thing’ that makes you sing?

Take this quick quiz to give you more clarity about your Purpose and Greatness. Keep writing until you feel complete.

1. On a fresh piece of paper, write THINGS I LIKE DOING (Purpose).
2. Underneath that heading, make a list of all the things you genuinely enjoy doing (being honest here is really key to this exercise). List everything from cooking, to socialising, to writing, to number crunching - whatever turns YOU on.
4. On a new blank page, write THE WAY I LIKE DOING THINGS (Greatness).
5. Now make a list of your 'style' - your unique way of doing things. It could be anything from being nurturing and encouraging, to working from home.
7. Whatever it is remember this is your way and that's a good thing. Keep making the list until you feel complete.
8. Guess what! You now have two complete pages (or more) of utter download of your 'inherent nature'. Have a really good read over this new career criteria and use it when making career, hobby and further education choices. Share it with your boss, at your annual review or at your next job interview.

Remember THIS is your precious life RIGHT NOW. If you don't love what you do for a living, then it sounds like a change for the better would do you the world of good.

Have fun cooking up your career dreams and aspirations.