Tag: Blog

Coffee Catch-Up #13

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am looking forward to my first shift at my new hospital on Monday. It’s been 8 years since I have worked as a nurse on the floor helping patients and I didn’t realize how much I had missed this special contact.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I meet with the collaborator of my book last Monday for the first time in 3 months. I was pleased she loved the changes that I had made because it gives me confidence that my thoughts on the book progress are true. Although, it feels like the end is getting closer, I know there is still a lot of work to be done. However, I am still aiming to finish my part by end of this year.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I had a fun time at the supermarket this morning seeing if I could guess the amount of sugar in the foods I normally eat. I was pretty accurate so I think I will be able limit my sugar intake to 24 grams daily most of the time. If you are confused by this statement you can catch up here https://www.inspiringmax.com/the-power-of-sugar/ Today is day 3 and I am feeling good this morning as I slept so much better last night.

If we were having coffee I would tell you this week I that to insert my drawings into my book this week I discovered that I need to draw them in Microsoft’s Paint program. I have never used it before but as I get better at using it, this program will leave me with a more professional drawings, which will be good. I would also ask if you have used Paint and have any tips for me. Just for fun I’ll show you my first very basic drawing on Paint.

Mountains

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I won my Toastmasters Club Table Topics competition last week. This is an impromptu speaking contest where you are giving the topics literally seconds before you speak to it. I think my blogging experience helped me and now I move to the Area competition at the end of September.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.

Profound Relationship

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Profound

How is your most important relationship? No, I don’t mean the one with you partner or kids, I mean your relationship with yourself. I like Shirley Maclaine believe that this is your most profound relationship and its depth mirrors the depth of your relationship with others. It’s easy to please others or blame ourselves but neither of these behaviours allow us to get close to others. To let people into your life, you need to be friends with yourself first. To know what you like, your passions, your strengths and weaknesses and be ready to stand up for them if necessary.

When life doesn’t go according to plan, can you set aside the emotion for a minute and look at your role in the situation before making a plan to move on? There are always two sides to every story. And although being open and honest with ourselves can be very difficult to do, it is important for our mental health. The more we understand ourselves and take responsibility for our actions, the more we grow as a person. From this growth we learn any lessons necessary to make sure our future relationships are profound and we enjoy a better quality of life.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/249091/

Admire

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It’s very easy to criticize yourself and others. But it’s not helpful. Instead learn to admire and be grateful for the things you and others do well. By focusing on the positive, we set goals, move forward and become the best possible version of ourselves. So let’s take the ADMIRE challenge.

Acknowledge what you and others do well

Discover the ways you can continue to grow

Master the oppurtunities

Insight is important

Recognise, respect and take responsibility for your abilities

Encourage yourself and develop confidence as you communicate with others

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/admire/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Narrow

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The Narrows is the only entrance to St John’s Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada. The Narrows  has a rugged natural beauty seen above from many angles over many days. At it’s narrowest point it is only 61 metres across, which has proven to be a great natural defense over the centuries. In the 1600’s, the harbour’s narrow entrance has provided the city with protection from pirates and later from enemy ships during war time.

When I first visited the Narrows, I remember my joy at seeing the mighty Atlantic Ocean for the first time—it felt different to the Pacific, I can’t explain why it just did.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/narrow/

Crisis

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Crisis

Working in mental health, for me crisis management, big and small, can be a daily occurrence. And while helping someone or even myself through a crisis is a good feeling, I don’t believe it is the best part of the experience. Like Marilyn Monroe in the above quote, “Within crisis, are the seeds of opportunity,” I agree that the opportunities that arise after the event are. They create personal growth within us that transforms our lives. We are a changed person, older and wiser. due to the lessons we have learnt or have been forced to deal with due to the crisis.

For more information on my inspiration to get through a crisis stop by my earlier post below.

Getting Through Tough Times

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/crisis/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Details

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These more intense detailed photos were taken on our mother and daughter photography excursion to Bare Island, La Perouse, Sydney, Australia. It was on this island that the French explorer compte de Laperouse landed in 1788 only days after The First Fleet landed at Frenchman’s Beach, La Perouse just around the corner. These historic rock formations were fascinating and so varied for such a small island. If you are ever in the area, it is definitely worth a look. You can discover more about the discover of Australia in the La Perouse museum situation between these two historic sites.

From memory, the view over the entrance to Sydney Harbour was also spectacular.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/details/

 

Left Behind

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Change is inevitable and with it something or someone is always left behind. It’s not a bad thing but part of the circle of life. Ironically, we often don’t know the impact someone or something has on our lives until we leave it behind.

Currently our world is full of change. (See Coffee Catch-Up #9 for details.) You see, I believe it’s the new experiences and reinvention because someone or something is left behind that are exciting. For example, at present while my husband and I are considering which pieces of furniture to leave behind, our daughter is planning what she would like left behind and how she and her friends will change the house to make it more practical for them—a WIN WIN for everyone. It’s a modern day example of the reading at our wedding or popular song from the 1960’s if you are musically inclined.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 King James Version (KJV)

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/discover-challenges/the-things-we-leave-behind/

Unpredictable

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Life is unpredictable and that is what makes it great. If everything we did was the same everyday, yes it would be safe but also boring. One of the things I love about mental health nursing is that no day is ever the same. It’s the interactions with people that make the difference and change the course of the day.  I see being unpredictable as adding the following to my life:

Uniqueness

Never boring

Passion

Richness

Enjoyment

Daring

Individuality

Change

Trust

Adventure

Brilliance

Learning

Experience

Unpredictability makes life more exciting, like the difference between riding the rapids or a calm stream. A mixture of both allows us to use all of our skills.

 

Lower Tonangiro River

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/unpredictable/

Share Your World 2016 – Week 26

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What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane flight?

On our way home from Guangzhou in 2013 we were upgraded to Premium Economy. The staff didn’t tell us of our upgrade, so image our surprise when suddenly we had more room and extra features we weren’t expecting. Nowadays, when we are traveling somewhere we always look at the price difference and if it is at all possible to pay the difference however we haven’t yet been able to justify it.

How many bones, if any, have you broken?

Fortunately, I have only had 3 broken bones and as doctors are now describing my bones as super bones, I hope to not have a problem with broken bones due to osteoporosis in my later years. My first broken bone, a greenstick fracture of my right arm, happened when I was 15.  I thought I was so cool skateboarding down a hill when I hit a stone on the pathway. Oh well. at least the plaster cast helped my cool image.

My second broken bone, my right little toe, somehow occurred during the Newcastle earthquake. I didn’t find out what was causing my pain initially as when we went to the hospital they were evacuating it and we suddenly realised my pain wasn’t the priority.

My third and hopefully last broken bone occurred in my 40’s when I was helping set up a gymnastics competition. Several men were carrying a balance beam when they dropped it onto the middle of my left foot. You could hear me yell for miles I think. It hurt and definitely wasn’t cool.

Photo Credit: Google Images

Photo Credit: Google Images

 

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? (guest can be dead, alive, famous or someone you just know)

Walt Disney: Founder of Disneyland and Disney World and creator of Mickey Mouse

Paul Ramsay: Founder of Ramsay Healthcare

Florence Nightingale: Founder of modern nursing

Make a Currently List: What are you reading, watching, listening to, eating, needing, wanting, and missing right now?

Reading — The Winner’s Bible — Dr Kerry Spackman

Watching — Ally McBeal

Needing — My tenants to find a suitable property for them to move to early so we can begin our move

Wanting — More boxes to pack our belongings into when we can finally move

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week I was grateful to be able to  be able to focus on being a full-time writer and totally rearrange the order of my book. This task, while not yet completed does seem to have increased the flow between the chapters which was my goal.

In the coming week I am looking forward to going to Newcastle and seeing my family. It will be weird going back for the first time since I know I will be moving back in the next few months.

Share Your World – 2016 Week 26

Weekly Photo Challenge: Look Up

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IMG_8748

During our trip to Canada my husband and I spent what felt like hours studying and taking photos of flags. Their history interested us greatly and it was so different to our Australian flags. Our biggest problem was getting the wind right to get one flag to fly perfectly. So image our surprise when we looked up and saw these four flags perfectly aligned in the Old Port, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/look-up/