Daily Prompt Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Connecting With Naure

January 20, 2015 inspiringmax

Tell us about the last experience you had that left you feeling fresh, energized, and rejuvenated. What was it that had such a positive effect on you?

I love spending time with nature. It energises me, makes me forget my troubles and grounds me. Nature is everywhere. Living in the city doesn’t mean I can’t connect. There are many ways within 15 minutes from my house or work place I can connect with nature. These include:

Walking barefoot on green grass anywhere
Enjoying the flowers in a local park
Sydney Harbour
Wetlands
Swimming in the harbour beaches and pools
Parramatta river
Mindfully walk around the neighbourhood looking and listening for wildlife

If I wanted a day out I could travel to the beach, bush or the mountains. Both of these are favourites of mine and I enjoy both in all seasons. In one of my early posts I discuss getting back to the beach for the first time in many years in late autumn.

Other ways I like to energise myself is to get amongst mother nature herself. I love watching sunrises and sunsets, playing in the rain, watching thunder storms particularly over the ocean and recently in Ottawa walking in the snow storms. So when I feel I need for a little or big pick me up, I connect with nature, energise myself and get on with the day.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/re-springing-your-step/

Hand Brain Connection

January 18, 2015September 20, 2015 inspiringmax

When was the last time you wrote something substantive — a letter, a story, a journal entry, etc. — by hand? Could you ever imagine returning to a pre-keyboard era?

I hand write my first draft of just about everything. I find it helps my flow and connects better with my thinking. When I was editing my book, I would rewrite sections from scratch to help my clarity. From this exercise, I discovered I would often write the same information twice—without realising it. I would use the same words, in the same order and in the same place in the paragraph. This confirmed to me they were correct. I have attempted this same exercise typing it instead of writing the second time and I get stuck. I didn’t know what I want to say. For me there definitely is a hand brain connect.

As a Toastmaster, I hand write my speeches—both initially and as a way to learn them. Once again this helps with my flow, but I think in this case it also helps me—write like I speak. Once I am happy with my hand written first draft, I type my speech and make any necessary changes. After I have my completed my speech, I learn it by writing it out by hand several times. It works for me. This process helps me to remember the main points in the correct order.

Today I learnt why this is so. In our brain is a collection of cells called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). They act as a link between our sub conscious and conscious mind. The RAS’s job is to filter all the information the world has to give us on a second by second basis, only drawing our attention to what we want to focus on. By writing things down we trigger the RAS into action. It begins to focus on the topic we are writing about. This definitely helps to explain why for me hand writing before I type gets the job done much quicker than staring at the computer screen.

Personally, I would never want to go back to a pre-keyboard era. Today with the keyboard comes many new options like the internet and self-publishing. But I am not voting hand writing off the island any time soon either. Variety is the spice of life—I’m using both to get the best result.

http://youtu.be/QCnfAzAIhVw

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/pens-and-pencils/

Take The Test

January 16, 2015 inspiringmax

Thanks to Priceless Joy for the idea to run a fun quiz to see where everyone is at in the left brain/ right brain mix. These are the qualities/skills I posted on Using My Brain this morning. I always knew I was more right brain than left although I was still surprised when I had 30% left brain skills in my tool box. I had 19 right brain and 7 left brain. I would love to know everyone else mix as I think it gives great insight into the person. The more we understand each other the easier, it is to connect and work together. So just for fun—leave a comment below indicating your left brain /right brain mix and if you were surprised by the results.

Left Side Brain	Right Side Brain
Analytical	Believes
Classic Music	Big Picture
Control	Can Be Absentminded
Critical Thinking	Cat Lovers
Details Oriented	Colour
Dog Lovers	Creative Storyteller
Facts	Creativity
Language	Dreamer
Logic	Emotions
Mathematics	Fantasy & Mystery
Order	Good at Arts
Organised	Good at Sports
Past & Present	Images
Patterns	Imagination
Perception	Intuition
Practical	Listen to Music /TV While Studying
Prefers Verbal Instructions	Passion
Rarely Absentminded	Prefers Visual Instructions
Rational	Present & Future
Reason	Recognises Faces
Safe	Risk Taking
Science	Rock Music
Study In Silence	Spatial Awareness
Structure	Spontaneous & Unpredictable
Write Non-Fiction	Thinks Better Lying Down
	Write Fiction

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/brain-power/

Using My Brain

January 16, 2015 inspiringmax

Let’s assume we do, in fact, use only 10% of our brain. If you could unlock the remaining 90%, what would you do with it?

I am unsure I could cope with using 100% of my brain, although I do believe I use more than 10%. I have images of it constantly going and not giving me time to catch up. My brain sometimes seems full now, so how would using more of it change my life. Irrespective, I am up for the challenge and would like to further develop skills using the left and right sides of my brain as they are responsible for different things.

Left Side Brain	Right Side Brain
Analytical	Believes
Classic Music	Big Picture
Control	Can Be Absentminded
Critical Thinking	Cat Lovers
Details Oriented	Colour
Dog Lovers	Creative Storyteller
Facts	Creativity
Language	Dreamer
Logic	Emotions
Mathematics	Fantasy & Mystery
Order	Good at Arts
Organised	Good at Sports
Past & Present	Images
Patterns	Imagination
Perception	Intuition
Practical	Listen to Music /TV While Studying
Prefers Verbal Instructions	Passion
Rarely Absentminded	Prefers Visual Instructions
Rational	Present & Future
Reason	Recognises Faces
Safe	Risk Taking
Science	Rock Music
Study In Silence	Spatial Awareness
Structure	Spontaneous & Unpredictable
Write Non-Fiction	Thinks Better Lying Down
	Write Fiction

Going through these lists, makes me realise I do use both sides of my brain. I am mostly a right brain person however, I use more of my left than I first thought. My goal is to develop my current skills further and see where they takes me. Afterall,

“Who knows, but you have to be in it to win it.”

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/brain-power/

Information Overload

January 12, 2015 inspiringmax

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” — Gertrude Stein
Do you agree?

From my experience never a truer statement has been said. I am pretty good at processing information and controlling my chaos however, occasionally it takes over. During these times it is usually obvious to everyone by the mess around me. My desk reflects the state of my brain. And suddenly, I don’t make sense. I say and do stupid things. My natural calm disposition has melted away along with my common sense—I don’t think I am alone here either.

So, what do I do?

When I am suffering from information overload, I recognise it quickly. I don’t feel in control. I take myself to a quiet place—even the toilet ill do, stand tall and make big circles with my hands. This centres me and works well. I attribute it to the science behind Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk—Your body language shapes who you are. I love that fact that our mind gives us ways to control information overload—if we let it. Next time you find yourself suffering from information overload —give it a try.

https://www.inspiringmax.com/change-your-body-position-change-your-life/

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/overload-alert/

Life Plan

January 11, 2015 inspiringmax

Take the first sentence from your favorite book and make it the first sentence of your post.

“What are you supposed to be doing with your life?”

And the answer is?

It’s your choice. Nobody can tell us what we should be doing with our life. I also believe that the goal posts are constantly changes—there is no right or wrong answer.

Decide what you want and make a plan for your life. Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle—a blank canvas that slowly and with consideration comes together.

Start by focusing on one or two areas. Every positive change makes a difference. Over time you can look back on your journey and notice how far you have come. At times, you may choose the wrong pieces to go together. Don’t beat yourself up. Take out the wrong piece, make another choice and keep going. Every choice empowers you.

Completing a jigsaw puzzle, like planning your life can be frustrating. There is no quick fix and even the simple ones take time. The more complicated the puzzle or life plan, the more time it takes. Your options when completing your puzzle are:

The more you focus on the job, the quicker it comes together.

There is a greater chance of someone or something messing up your work when you are not focusing on it.

If you leave it and get distracted, nothing changes.

It is important to remember that the more people who help you complete your puzzle or support your journey—the quicker and with less frustration, it is completed.

Photo Credit: Google Images

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/call-me-ishmael/

Danger

January 6, 2015 inspiringmax

Tell us about the time you rescued someone else (person or animal) from a dangerous situation. What happened? How did you prevail?

When someone or something needs to be rescued, deal with stress or is in a dangerous situation, everyone has 3 alternatives. Depending on the choices made, our body responds differently allowing us to do what we required them to do.

Fight – Attack or do what is necessary to rescue
Flight – Run away
Fright – Stop and shut down

Fortunately, in my personal life I have never employed any of these options. In my professional life, as a mental health nurse, I have often triggered my fight response. Each time having a positive outcome. I love that by trusting our bodies they give us the ability to do what we need, without us thinking about it.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/daring-do/

F.I.R.S.T.

January 5, 2015 inspiringmax

Tell us about your first day at something — your first day of school, first day of work, first day living on your own, first day blogging, first day as a parent, whatever.

There is always a first time to do something. The problem is, often none of these are as simple as they seem. Starting a new job, having a baby or beginning blogging, they all need a strategy.

To help us with this mission, I have made an acronym of FIRST.

F: Fear

I: Inspiration

R: Resolve

S: Stategy

T: Test

All new things have a fear attached to them. Use this fear to develop inspiration as to why you want to overcome this fear. Then resolve to make a strategy to ensure your success and finally test it out.

Don’t let fear get the better of you. Make a plan to overcome it and make lots of firsts. They keep your life exciting.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/first/

Inspiring Hope

January 3, 2015 inspiringmax

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

I believe the way you look at the world changes your outcomes, and I always focus on the positives in any situation. Developing a spark of hope into a fire that warms you and lights your path is my goal. Life is too short not to make the most of what we have.

The above quote is from my About page and shows the purpose of my blog. Working in mental health I encourage others to see that there can be an alternative way to look at situations. We may not be able to change our past but we can choose to change the impact it has on our future.

Where possible I like to find a unique angle for my blog posts that inspires people to think outside the square or gain a new experience. I use my double rainbow as my brand to help keep me focused on hope.

The double rainbow is a rare and beautiful thing that inspires even more hope. It reminds us that after the storm there can be a beautiful ending. At the time I took this photo from Melbourne Aquatic Centre in 2011, life wasn’t necessarily easy but by focusing on the positive, gold was eventually found at the end of the rainbow, in the most surprising places.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/be-the-change/

Someone Else’s Skin

January 2, 2015 inspiringmax

If you could spend the next year as someone radically different from the current “you” — a member of a different species, someone from a different gender or generation, etc. — who would you choose to be?

The idea of living in someone else’s skin has never occurred to me before as I am quite happy in my own despite its flaws. However, given the opportunity I would live as someone I could learn from and gain new experiences to consolidate my want to be a full-time writer.

At present my book is non-fiction, based on my years of experience working with people with eating disorders. My future goal is to write fiction in the adventure romance genre. Janet Evanovich is my favourite author in this genre and I have all 21 of her Stephanie Plum series as well as her Plum series and Wicked series and several of her co-authored books.

Janet lives in New Jersey, outside New York, a city I would love to live and work in for a limited time. It has many things I have dreamt of experiencing as well as being a centre of excellence for writing.

Other reasons I choose to live in Janet’s skin are: