What You Eat Today, Walks and Talks Tomorrow!!

I remember seeing this sign, many years ago on a school excursion where we had to complete a treasure map questionnaire as we travel around Sydney.
I believe it was an outside wall of a smallgoods manufacturer just near Redfern station, so all train passengers could easily see the sign.
Great advertisement, though I wish over the past 40+ years I had followed their advice.
As a former CFO of a publicly listed company who worked, ate and drunk way too much, I could have ever so easily coped with my busy lifestyle just by being a more mindful and conscious about what I consumed.Ok, I know that sounds weird, though when you are in a high-pressure job, you literally eat what is easy and convenient, whilst at the same time, working and multi-tasking.
So today I thought I’d share my tips regarding being a Mindful Eater and about being Conscious about what you consume each day.

Mindfulness Eating

Building a healthy relationship with your Food / Drink is called Mindfulness Eating.
Mindfulness eating helps you to create a relationship to food and your mind, body and soul.
Many people (like me in my CFO role) eat whilst distracted—but don’t consider themselves mindless eaters, because they are aware that they are eating while engaging in another activity, such as watching television or on their computer.
Scientists divided people into one of two groups. The Distracted group ate lunch while playing a computer game of solitaire. The Non-distracted group ate the same type of lunch, but without the distraction conditions.
The study’s findings showed that distraction made a significant impact on the eating experience, both qualitative and quantitative. When compared to the Non-distracted group, the distracted people:
• Ate faster
• Couldn’t remember what they ate
• Ate more snacks
• Reported feeling significantly less full

​The research also showed that distraction during a meal influenced meal size later in the day.

Conscious Eating

To achieve a satisfying eating experience, you’re required to be mentally present whilst eating.
Each meal should be eaten at a table with you consciously eating and chewing every mouthful.
The slower you eat and the more you chew, the quicker you will be sustained and therefore you will eat less food.
When you are consciously eating each mouthful your food choices will be healthier.
Another great way for you to become conscious about what you are consuming, is to keep a diary, tracking these three things at each meal time:

  1. How you feel emotionally and physically before consuming all food and drink.
  2. Write down all food and drink consumed. Remember to eat & drink as per normal. Do not judge what you are consuming.
  3. How you feel emotionally and physically after consuming all food and drink.

For each day, potentially you could have up to 21 entries – 3 entries for breakfast, lunch and dinner and all snacks in between.
This is a great awareness and insightful exercise.
I trust these tips will help you to see the many benefits from living by the adage, “What you eat today walks and talks tomorrow.”

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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It’s Easier Than You Think, to 10X the Good and Nix the Bad in Your Life!!

Imagine jumping out of bed every day, eager for what the day will bring.

You look into the mirror and love who stares back at you.

Your eyes are sparkling.

You look great, no wonder you feel so amazing.

You start your morning routine, knowing this prepares you mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually for every possible event, every scenario that may come your way.

You have tools and strategies so at the end of the day you’ll still be just as energised and capable of tap dancing home!!

You go into the kitchen and greet the family. Everyone is happy and organised and just as eager as you are. Just as aware, prepared and energised.

Your home life runs like clock-work and everything flows effortlessly.

Everyone take responsibility for themselves and are ready to go their separate ways at the scheduled time and just as grateful for the day ahead.

When you arrive at work, everyone is just as empowered, healthy, passionate about their work and are positive in their outlook; an example for others to follow.

They take responsibility for themselves and their work, they know that together we make a difference, they easily come up with innovative new ways to do things, that they are the ones making the magic happen and that they are here to serve.

No wonder profits are soaring!!

You take command, you have intention in everything you do and own your day. No wonder you have amazing relationships with everyone in your life,

Does this sound like your life?

An unobtainable dream life or a scene from bizarro world?

You know this is all possible (for everyone) the problem is that we are all too busy “doing life” for us to actually take a breath and find the answer to the age-old question;

“Surely, there must be an easier way to achieve at this high level?”

Well, all this is possible and easier than you realise, especially when you have someone who has done it, holding your hand and guiding your every step of the way.

Read on, as I’m about to share with you how you can make it a reality.

Being forced to find the answer
Not long ago, I would have thought the scenario above was a scene from bizarro world (thank you Seinfeld for that phrase!!).

When I was a C.F.O. of a publicly listed company, my busy lifestyle, saw me often go to work tired, worn out and depressed. Always feeling over-worked, and under-appreciated.

Sound familiar?

The constant effort of juggling work, family, the big house and cars, and the stress created by all that was taking its toll on me, even before tragedy struck when Dan, one of my amazing sons, died at a young age.

You know, I bought into the myth that the only way to get ahead in life is to work hard, to keep reaching for the holy grail and it will be yours and the sacrifices will all be rewarded.

Well I’m here to tell you, I was wrong and a lot of times I was unconsciously incompetent.

That is, we don’t know what we don’t know.

After Dan passed, I went straight back to work, eating more, drinking more and definitely working even more.

This of course was not good and thankfully about 15 months later I was made redundant (laid-off).

My redundancy gave me time to take my breath, you know the one, where you breathe slowly deep, deep, deep into your belly and you slowly breathe out.

You can feel the life coming back into your body. You start to have a knowing, that things should have been different and that the financial freedom we all seek does not have to come at the expense of other areas of our lives.

I had to be honest in seeing how I have arrived where I was at that time.

I was drawn to find a way to take command of my life, to reconnect to my authentic self, to find my passion and purpose, my creativity and my joy.

And thankfully over the past four years I have been on a successful quest, travelling through life’s university, recognising that the challenges and disappointments were given to me to serve me, so I could examine my life, accept its imperfections, and learn from them.

All so, I could show you how to create a better way, a smarter way, a happier way, a less stressful way, an easier way and a more higher achieving way, to do life.

There are no quick fixes, but there are easy to implement strategies you can use to achieve everything you desire and manage your entire “life” more effectively, more happily whilst improving every relationship in your life.

That is why I created a webinar “How to Easily 10X Your Life” And because I have lived your crazy mixed up life, the webinar is free.
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Let’s, together easily 10 times (10X) the good in your life and nix the bad.

Looking forward to showing you how easily it is to bring the things you love to do, though don’t have time for, back into your life.

With Gratitude
Karen

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Changing The Perspective Lens

The more I venture into self-discovery the more I realise that most people, events and things are not how they first appear and I begin to feel that maybe life is just an optical illusion.
This statement reminds me of the many pictures (like the chalice above) that you can gaze at forever and see only one thing. Then when you relax your eyes for just a moment, another picture magically appears (a man and a woman staring at each other).
The funny thing with that kind of visual trick is that it’s really hard to go back to seeing the original picture once you’ve seen the new one.
One thing I know for sure is that most people have a different perspective on other people, events and things. I guess this totally makes sense when you start to reflect that who you are today stems from lifelong, personal experiences and lessons learned. No wonder we all see things differently.
From this perspective, we begin to realise that nothing is really wrong or right it is just different. We can listen to a point of view, to understand, step in their shoes to see as they do, without judgement or trying to justify the opposite or another viewpoint.

By living a life of seeking to understand, you create an easier, stress less way to live your own life. You also get to meet all sorts of people as you move beyond preconceived ideas.

Imagine if we all lived this way, relaxing our eyes so magically another picture appears.

Are you ready to see things from a different perspective? Then reach out.

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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There is Always a Blessing in All Your Life’s Lessons

Today is the 6th Anniversary of Dan’s (one of my amazing sons) passing. As much as I miss him being here physically, I am eternally grateful for everything he has taught me from the other side.

Dan, shows me signs every day that he is travelling with me. Constantly guiding me to create different things. I say guiding, as I have free will, as to whether I want to create the things. Though I have to say, that once I take the action and create whatever it is, I am always grateful, as the creation is perfect and comes so easily.
Thank you Dan, I’m so grateful for everything. For my newfound awareness, the many ideas, books, gratitude journals, courses both the ones, I’ve taken and the ones I’ve created. For the many people you have brought into my life. Thank you for being my biggest fan and for always being by my side.
For giving my life a purpose, a way I can give to others.

When Dan passed 6 years ago, I was a CFO of a publicly listed company. I perceived myself to be very successful and important, therefore I had no time to be a grieving mother, so I went straight back to work after his funeral. I worked even more, drank even more and ate even more.
This of course was not good, as the Universe had a different plan for me, as Dan’s passing was meant to be my wake up call.
Thankfully, about 15 months later, I was made redundant (laid-off).

I say thankfully, because, my perception about my life and how to live it successfully was all wrong.
Yep, I bought into the myth that the only way to get ahead was to work hard, to keep reaching for the holy grail (a joyous happy life) and it will be yours and the sacrifices will all be rewarded.
And thankfully over the past four years I have been on a successful quest, travelling through life’s university, recognising that the challenges and disappointments were given to me to serve me, so I could examine my life, accept its imperfections, and learn from them.
I have moved beyond my worst nightmare, all so, I could create (with Dan’s guidance) a better way, a smarter way, a happier way, a less stressful way and a more higher achieving way, to do life.
I now know that my unconsciously incompetent life, happened so I could share my newfound awareness with others.
So I could stand here and say, I have lived your crazy mixed up life and it does not work, it may for a while, though eventually it will all come tumbling down, either the career, the relationships and/or your health.Could be one of these, a couple or all of these.
Great news is that, I’d love to show you how easy and fun it is to create your dream life, through adopting my strategies, where we balance all areas of your life.
There is no quick fix, but there are strategies you can use to achieve everything you desire whilst managing your entire “life” more effectively, more happily all whilst improving every relationship in your life, especially the one with yourself.

Don’t be the person who works hard to get to the top of the ladder to then realise that you’re on the wrong ladder or even worse that it’s been at the cost of your health, relationships and general well-being.

It’s time for you to become consciously competent in all that you do – The STAR of YOUR LIFE!!

If you’re ready to reconnect to your passion, purpose, creativity and joy, in other words to get your wings now, then let’s chat.​

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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Meditate not Medicate

“You yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” ~ Buddha

So many times, we turn to alcohol and drugs (prescription and illegal) in order to make us feel better or to numb ourselves. Meditation is another great daily ritual that you may like to consider performing either before or after your daily Gratitude practice.

Through meditation we can feel more connected to ourselves, others and the Universe. Always remember that we’re “spiritual beings having an earthly experience” and as we are the only person we spend 24/7 and our entire life with, it’s important to connect to ourselves as well as looking after our needs first.
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Here are some health benefits of meditation:

  • Better Focus: When we meditate, we focus and this assists us to focus on things when we’re not meditating.
  • Less Anxiety: Meditation helps us look at things more rationally, therefore creating less anxiety.
  • More Creativity: During meditation, we quiet our mind, which allows the creative juices to flow.
  • More Compassion: Empathy and compassion are higher in people who meditate.
  • Better Memory: Rapid memory recall is linked to meditation.
  • Less Stress: Meditating lessens stress and can build up our brains and guard against information overload.
  • More Grey Matter: People who mediate have more grey matter in their brains, which can lead to more positive emotions, longer-lasting emotional stability and heightened focus during daily life.

It’s good to understand that meditation you can meditate anywhere and that it isn’t about stopping our thoughts or trying to empty our mind – both approaches only create stress and noisier internal chatter. We can’t stop or control our thoughts, but we can decide how much attention to give them.

Although we can’t impose quiet on our mind, through meditation we can find the quiet that already exists in the space between our thoughts. Sometimes referred to as “the gap,” this space between thoughts is pure consciousness, pure silence, and pure peace.

When we meditate, we use an object of attention, such as our breath, an image, or a mantra, which allows our mind to relax into this silent stream of awareness. When thoughts arise, as they inevitably will, we don’t need to judge them or try to push them away. Instead, we gently return our attention to our object of attention. In every meditation, there are moments, even if only microseconds, when the mind dips into the gap and experiences the refreshment of pure awareness.

As you meditate on a regular basis, you will spend increasingly more time in this state of expanded awareness and silence.

Be assured that even if it feels like you have been thinking throughout your entire meditation, you are still receiving the benefits of your practice. You haven’t failed or wasted your time.
Starting to feel that meditating will be beneficial for you, though not sure where to start?

Then check out some of the free resources on this website.
Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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Gratitude and Appreciation

Once you forgive, it’s only a short step to gratitude and appreciation.

Writing daily in a gratitude journal was one of the rituals I created that assisted me to heal after Dan’s passing. I can honestly say today, I am in love in gratitude in relation to Dan’s passing as I love the person I have become and I would never have woken from my ground-hog daze without Dan passing and having his guidance from another realm.

I believe that there are a lot of reasons to write in a gratitude journal.  Study after study has shown the importance of gratitude, and it’s essential, positive impact on our social, physical, psychological and emotional well-being.  These modern scientific results are merely a capstone on the echoes of age-old wisdom which has been whispering about the importance of an attitude of gratitude, since the beginning.

There are many ways and reasons that gratitude is inherent to our basic happiness. Practicing gratitude is one of the best methods for improving over-all satisfaction with life, and other feelings of appreciation, optimism and joy. Gratitude lowers anxiety and decreases, even eliminates depression. It strengthens our immune system, and encourages us to be more health conscious, all while fueling us to take better care of ourselves. Gratitude is the key to deep relaxation and better sleep.

Gratitude promotes a spirit of forgiveness, peace and cooperation – even in difficult, stressed, or strained relationships. Gratitude directly relates to our resilience, and increases our levels of commitment, tolerance and ability to connect with our friends and family.

After years of writing in a beautiful covered journal that had lined pages inside, I started to want more and after not finding what I wanted, I was guided (probably by Dan) to create my Elements Collection Gratitude Journals: four uniquely designed journals (Water, Air, Fire and Earth) that are a novice’s guide to gratitude and mindfulness.

Are you ready to start practicing gratitude?

Not sure where to start?

Then check out some of the resources on this website.

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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From Blame to Forgiveness

Moving from blame to forgiveness can at times be very difficult.
As humans, we like to be right.
We like to let others know that we were hard done by, that we were the innocent victim in the situation. Though, the funny thing about living a life of constantly blaming someone else or a particular situation for where we are in life is that we are the only one suffering, we are stuck and not growing and creating a better life.
Yes, that is right. The other person has moved on and more than likely have stopped even thinking about the event as they have justified to themselves that they did the right thing. You on the other hand are constantly talking and thinking about the event, continually creating ill feelings in your body, which may in turn create sickness and disease in your body.
The purpose of our life is to live in ease.
The more we create a life of ease the more we manifest a prosperous and joyous life. Our language once again, tells us how to live. When we are not in EASE we are in DIS-EASE and that is what our body attracts.
The quickest way to live in ease is to forgive any perceived wrong doings that have happened in your life. Yes, forgive the perpetrator. Even if you feel this is impossible, do it for yourself. By constantly bringing it up and not forgiving, the wrong doing is being done repeatedly to you and every single cell in your body is being affected.
Sometimes in life we have our heart set on something and it never eventuates.
In this situation, there was not a perpetrator for us to blame, it is just something we really want though for some reason, it is not happening for example, wanting a baby and not being able to conceive. In this situation, the person to forgive is yourself and /or your partner. Then start looking at your life and you will see that you have exactly what you have wanted it’s just in another form. Be it to a god child, niece, and nephew or maybe at work you are helping your co-workers or employees giving them the guidance they require to fulfill all their dreams and desires.
Yes, forgiveness is as much about us forgiving ourselves as it is about others. We may have, in hindsight, foolishly trusted when we should have been wary, that does not mean that we should never trust again, learn the lesson and live a life of love and joy instead of anger, fear and regret.

Are you ready to stop the blame game and come into love and forgiveness?

Not sure where to start?

Then check out some of the resources on this website.

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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The Importance of Looking For the Lesson

When you’re experiencing a loss (of any sort) the pain and devastation of your loss can feel overwhelming.
Every individual will process grief in their own unique way. My husband, Andrew (Dan’s father), and I coped with our son’s passing completely differently.
There is no “right” or “wrong” way to grieve. Some of the immediate emotions in grief are shock, numbness, denial, confusion and disbelief—all of which can act as a cushion against the full impact of your loss.

As time passes, some of these early emotions may begin to wear off as others emerge including guilt, anger, loneliness, despair, sadness and regret. Because of the intensity of all the emotions you are feeling, you may not be able to fully comprehend all that you are experiencing. These feelings and emotions are all a normal and natural response to the passing of someone you love or the one thing you truly had your heart set upon having.
Some will express their pain easily and openly, while others will keep their feelings locked inside.
One thing I know for sure is that there is a lesson for you in every situation. Be it either a perceived negative or positive, there is a lesson. And to be honest, there is really just a situation or event, neither negative nor positive as the classifications will be classed differently by each and every one of us.
Looking for the lesson is a way for us to heal quickly. So much so, that the word actually tells us that as soon as we get the lesson, there will be “less on” us.
How cool is our language?
Look for the lesson, you’ll heal and have less on you – less angst, less regrets, less of everything.
Love, love, love it.
Though to be honest, I do understand that sometimes you require a different perspective for you to sort through things to find the lesson in a timely manner.Not sure where to start?

Then check out some of the resources on this website.

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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You Get to Choose

“The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day.” Thomas S Monson.

Everything in life is a choice. We get to choose how we react to every single event or situation. We can live a life of the blame game or we can consciously choose to look for the good in any situation.

Ok, someone may not have acted, how they would have if they had been in a better space or true to their higher self, though that does not mean you should follow suit. You have a choice to stop the blame, stretch and move beyond, find some forgiveness and find a higher frequency to live each day.
Find a better feeling thought. It is not easy to move from depression to love in one go though you can move from depression to revenge then to hatred then to anger then to frustration and before you know it you will be feeling a whole lot better as you will have released those negative feelings /outlook and move into the “life experience teaches” way of looking at everything that occurs in your life.
I’ve never understood why we are not taught the Laws of the Universe at school.  They are a great way to look at life and during these times it’s helpful to remember the Law of Relativity, the ninth of the 12 Laws of the Universe, when you are grieving and thinking “Why me? Poor me!”
As described in Norma Milanovich and Shirley McCunes’ book The Light Shall Set You Free(1998), this law states that:
“each person will receive a series of problems (Tests of Initiation) for the purpose of strengthening the Light within. We must consider each of these tests to be a challenge and remain connected to our hearts when proceeding to solve the problems. This law also teaches us to compare our problems to others’ problems and put everything into its proper perspective. No matter how bad we perceive our situation to be, there is always someone who is in a worse position. It is all relative.”

Are you ready to choose WISDOM and a different perspective for the way you look at your life?
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Not sure where to start?

Then check out some of the resources on this website.

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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Moving Beyond Your Worst Nightmare

In order to live a fulfilled, rounded and successful life we require contrast in our life, otherwise how would we be able to distinguish the great from the not so great?
My life has been full of much contrast and I now know that it has been through these perceived negative times that I have had my most growth. These times have stretched me to find the inner strength, the beautiful heart and soul that I’ve always had, though kept hidden for way too long and now I see her ever so clearly each time I look into my amazing eyes – the window to them both.

When my son Dan passed away unexpectedly just over five years ago, I was a Chief Financial Officer of a publicly listed company. I had no time to be a grieving mother, so I went straight back to work, working even longer hours and definitely eating and drinking way too much.

About fifteen months later, I was made redundant and within two days I knew that this was going to be the best thing that could happen to me. I like to refer to this time as me waking up from my “ground-hog day daze” to take the first of many deep life conscious loving breaths.

You know the one, where you slowly breathe deep into your belly, allowing your Buddha Belly to rise, visualising white cleansing smoke coming into your body as you breathe in and dark toxins being released from your body as you breathe out.

From the time of taking these breaths, I began to birth the person I am today. One that is aware, so so very aware, that we came to earth to experience contrast and to have expansion. We are here to serve others and to leave the world better than how we found it.

That is my reason for writing my books. My intention is to share with you the many tools and rituals, that I have created over the past four years that have opened my eyes, heart and soul to see that we have a choice in any situation to either grow and expand or to live a bitter ‘blame game” life.

These tools will assist you to heal from your worst nightmare, as for most of us these will be different events, be it a death of a child, loved one, a redundancy, a divorce, financial loss, a promotion or even a loss of knowing that you may never experience being a parent.

Not sure where to start?
Then check out the many resources on this website.

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.
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