What is the colour of your grass

With a new year, we often make new resolutions for change, but at the same time should we not count our blessings and step back to view the positive aspects of our lives-- instead of focusing on only the negative ones.


As we begin 2011, a lot of us make resolutions for change in our lives and yes, change is good, yet at the same time- to play the devil s advocate here- we have to reflect on what things we really genuinely should change in our lives.

To elaborate here,do you seriously believe that all the grass in your life is yellow. Something we sometimes simply have to come to terms with is that there is no perfect life, job, spouse, relationship, child or parent.

In other words, there is always going to be yellow and brown spots in our grass. This is something that we must take into account when making a major decision in our lives- be it personal, spiritual or career.

Yes, we all have heard of people who have made a drastic change in their lives—thinking that the grass is green over there only to find out that the grass was just as yellow over there. We often have used filters that coloured our experiences making the grass brown or yellow and so much more delectable on the other side... these filters often make us colour blind to the fact that our current grass is actually quite green exactly where we are. The filters have distorted the true picture for us thereby making us sometimes foolishly ponder a drastic and unwarranted change in our lives.

An epiphany is experienced when you realize that the grass is greener where you water it—in other words-- that only you and you alone are responsible for your life satisfaction and happiness. So sometimes you have to take out that hypothetical( spiritual) watering hose (vessel) and pour more efforts into your life to make that part of it green again.

We can look to others for inspiration and motivation in our watering efforts and how our water vessel is created. We also can journal to explore some of the issues that may be responsible for our yellow and brown spots. Depending on the situation, we can have conversations with loved ones, colleagues, coworkers, our life,spiritual, and work advisors to get a deeper perspective on some of these issues.

With a more mature, seasoned perspective with the help of mentors,spiritual and otherwise, we can now look at our grass with as few of these filters as realistically possible.

Along with these efforts , we can with a little more initiative and patience ,slowly and purposefully, turn the grass green under our feet once again.

If we go through this contemplative and reflective process, better career and life decisions can be made if we embrace and accept the reality that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

Journalling and the year 2011

As we begin a new year, I thought it might be nice to revisit the benefits of journalling in my life and in others.. Journalling is a wonderful way of seeing your life- both spiritually and personally- in a different light.

So here again are the main benefits of journalling

-getting clarity re: what you want in your life.

-Creating and setting boundaries.

-Ferreting out life goals.

-Beginning a journey to walking your own pathway.

-Tapping into your intrapersonal/ retrospective side by means of reflection.

-Helping you take yourself and others through the experiential learning cycle.


-Finding hidden talents and abilities within your authentic self

-Finding the positive strengths in yourself and others, and building on them

For a great guidebook on journalling, you can check out my journalling workbook at " A Year in Serendipity: A Journalling
Workbook"http://tinyurl.com/serendipityjournal .

All the best for 2011

Ways to nurture peace within ourselves and in our lives

Ways to nurture peace within and in your professional and personal life

 Count your blessings—state the most simple first and work from there
 Practice tolerance and use patience—acknowledge that you cannot change some situations but you can change your attitude to them. Practice the prayer of serenity. Accept with serenity the different opinions, practices, and attitudes of others. You may not be able to change them so try to keep an open mind – be empathetic , be respectful. Honour the diversity.
 Communicate positively and with compassion--Your words are swords or svae for other people. Words can heal wounds or alienate.. so take a few minutes in reflection before speaking. The power of the word can be a positive force.
 Practice organic communication with emphatic listening—pay full attention to the speaker and try to enter the world of his or her thoughts. Do not interrupt . Such techniques builds acceptance, and understanding for cultivating stronger workplace relationships as well as reducing stress and confusion.
 Respect yourself and others. Recognizing, honouring, trusting and believing in your own worth, you then do not need to look outside for validation. Judgement of others then loses power over you.
 Live by your own values—your inner core ones and follow your own pathway.
 Treat others as you would like to be treated.
 Forgive yourself and others. The best gift you can give yourself and other is that of forgiveness. You have to let go of grudges and move forward.



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The Autograph Book - a timeless classic of dreams

The Autograph Book- A timeless Classic of memories and dreams



Many people throughout their lives start an autograph book—possibly begun in high school when our classmates wrote in the school yearbook the sayings of comic or thoughtful prose. In time, this book may have become a scrapbook of sorts—containing all our dreams, wishes,---a hidden childhood treasure trove..
For some, the autograph book evolved into a leather bond engraved book with the prestigious title Autographs in gold leaf script on the padded cover with heavy styled, expensively bond and scented paper within its folds.

Through the years, we became more selective about whom we would let write in our book of dreams, and wishes... only the kindred spirits of our hearts were allowed to enter this sacred world.

Other times we might if they were our kindred spirit- one whom as Anne of Green Gables would say- share our inner most secrets to the depths of our soul with—they could draw an image, script a verse of prose or write a few lyrics of a song that resonated with them and ourselves.

Other people might have even allowed their pets to stamp their paws on these pages of their lives. A furry creatures paw print that could speak more than words would be created and revered for all time.


Written motivational messages from family of years gone by, such as grandparents could be stored within this treasure of memories.. Such message would be a living vibrant testament of our heritance and of the paths they took to help create the current one we now walk before us..

So I now ask where is your Autograph Book now and how are you using it.

As a writer of a one-of-a-kind journaling workbook “ A Year in Serendipity” http://
tinyurl.com/serendipityjournal -written to help people in their life and career goal
attainment, I have come to experience first-hand some of the unique insights
regarding how to use scrapbooking in both my professional and spiritual life.

There are some very wonderful and inspiring practical reasons for scrapbooking.

Yes, indeed, it can be a multifaceted technique/approach to career and life management and planning. For example, it can be applied in journalling, in autobiographies, diaries and even as a professional career portfolio/webfolio/ blog.

Scrapbooking, in a life skills sense, can be employed to focus on motivating and
inspiring moments , and even to retrace a journey to life transforming/ life –changing moment(s). For instance, you can immortalize a pictorial of a significant historical event you were involved in , or an episode of spiritual enlightenment and of personal achievement that changed your life forever.



Scrapbooking can be one way to figure out who you used to be, how you got to be who you are today, while at the same , rediscovering the journey of the spirit that got you there. You can also reflect on the synchronicity of the journey and your Serendipity quotient development through this activity.

The possibilities for its uses and benefits for your spiritual development are limitless.

The Evensong of Thanksgiving.

The Evensong of Thanksgiving


A song of the early evening.

A song of joy and of sorrow.

A song of peace and serenity.

A song from the heart and the spirit within.

A song of Thanksgiving and blessings.

Spiritual Advisory Panel and Mastermind Group

How many of us have an advisory panel-- mastermind group-- that you can access for feedback to evaluate your spiritual and life plan and goal setting.

Such persons can guide and mentor us... But choose wisely-- try to choose people whose strengths are your weaknesses and come from very diverse backgrounds.