Archive for August, 2007

Thank you everyone for all your responses to our ‘warm-up’ Big Peace emails. And I was delighted to discover that many of you are gratuitous sleep sluts too.

But my goodness, how competitive you all are…..I barely mention a napping competition and I’m getting a flurry of emails from you all saying how you’re going to win…?!

All I can say is….I don’t think so! I am nap queen supreme.

Actually, thinking of it…. my whole Big Leap (the previous chapter of my Big Peace journey) experience started with a nap. (On a shoulder of a stranger…on New Year’s Eve….when I fell asleep on him on a train having slept through my stop having drunk far too many glasses of wine) The shame!

Anyway, I digress. How about we start a weekly napometer? You’ll have to be honest. Every week, we’ll give a prize to the person who has the most naps….????

I do find this funny. Most self-development programmes promise to ‘awaken’ us.

I want to send you to sleep.

Sweet dreams,
Suzy x

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I interviewed the wonderful Lea Woodward yesterday who lives what she calls a ‘lip life’.

Lea and her husband Jonathon travel the world, with their lap tops, running their businesses via phone and internet.

A LIP is a Location Independent Professional – ie someone who travels the world, works at they go and lives their dreams – every day.

What I love about Lea’s philosophy is that she is a ‘big leaper’ at heart (ie left the corporate world/rat race….to create the life she really wants) and she’s creating a life by her rules,doing it her own way.

"Who made up the rules – that say you have to work really hard, to make lots of money so you can buy a house with a big mortgage that you can then have to work even harder to pay off, until you can finally retired with a nice little nice egg pension…and finally start enjoying your life. Pleasure delayers! There’s nothing wrong with that at all – if that’s what you want. But we didn’t. And we realised that we don’t have to," says Lea. " LIP living is all about helping others who don’t want to play by the rules."

What excited me so much about Lea and her company and website was this idea that she’s not waiting ’til she is rich/created a nest egg to live the life she really wants to live. She’s not doing living in the future setting ‘I’ll be happy when…."goals.

Lea is living every day, creating it as she goes a long. Be it in Grenada or Italy. She’s figured out a way to get a better quality lifestyle for less work and less money. And she’s determined to live her life now….not waiting for a golden future. "Life is for living. Right this minute – not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. But right now."

Now there’s a Big Peace sentiment if ever I heard one.

Check Lea out on www.lipliving.com

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So the husband bought another motorbike. And he’s hidden his old one in his shed. (Does he really think I won’t notice?)

What’s interesting is how upset I got again…(I foamed at the mouth when he bought his first one in May – thinking it would take him away from the family/how dare he spend all that money on just himself/yada, yada, yada…..)

So I got over myself and came to the conclusion that he can do what he wants with his money/his life/his time…and would just focus on my own enjoyment (Ok, I was slightly flouncy about it but I was doing my best)

He’s now bought the 2nd motorbike and I am still foaming at the mouth so something’s bothering me….

So I did get out Byron Katie’s worksheets (Time magazine calls her ‘spiritual innovator for 21st Century www.thework.com)

I used the 4 question model that she uses to really get to the crux of my motorcycle angst.
So Byron gets you to name the thought that is bothering you….and I’m ashamed to say…..that my thought was:

He should have spent the money on me! (me? a princess? what do you mean?)
So let’s get to work. Byron challenges you to follow a 4 question enquiry into your stressful thoughts:

Question 1: Is that true?
(should my husband spend his money on me?)
Yes, sometimes, why not? (my arms are folded defiantly)

Question 2: Can you be absolutely certain that it is true?
YOu know what? no. Why on earth should he spend his money on me?

Question 3: How do you react when you think that thought? (he should spend the money on me…)
I feel resentful, angry, hard-done-by, like a victim.

Question 3a. Can you think of a stress-free reason to keep that thought? Er, no.

Question 4: Who would I be without that thought?
Calm, excited for him, excited that I  have a husband whose interesting enough to buy a motorbike, hell, two motorbikes.

As ever, when I do this four question enquiry, I find myself in 180 degree place from where I started.

It’s a brilliant tool for finding the missing peace when you’ve lost the plot.

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