With both hands!

Last month I spent the day at a seminar that has changed the way I think about life.  It was hosted by an amazing, inspirational woman, Sidra Jafri who shook me, and a room full of attendees, by the shoulders (not literally, but she might as well had) and told us to stop making excuses, break down those self imposed barriers and start opening our eyes and minds to the opportunities all around.

For a long time I've been really struggling to find some balance in my life.  There's been a whopping great imbalance between immersing myself in things that I love but that have become safe, vs those that I need WANT to do for myself, but require more work, and are all together more scary. It's left me feeling like I've lost a bit of myself, and the sense of detachment from achieving some of my goals have left me frustrated and sad at times.

After Sidra's workshop, I've felt more at ease with myself and my situation, and I've been more aware and capable of changing what I don't like. One thing that she positively branded onto my mind is this: when the Universe, God, life or what ever higher being/purpose you do or don't believe, in drops an opportunity at your feet you, you pick it up! DON'T waste it through fear or doubt.  Last week I had a great lesson in this.

My Wednesday last week turned from being a normal humpday to a good day and then great a day.  Why? Because I let it - simple.  I woke up feeling good. My plan was straighforward enough, to have a morning run (I've had runners block for nearly a year) and this was going set me up for a day of writing.   But before I had even left the house for that run, the Universe had already been conspiring to make this Wednesday into a goodun.




By chance I got an invite to an book launch that evening. Awesome right? It's not everyday I get invited to soirees such as these. Thing is, I already had plans but this event was too good to miss. I was going to pick up an award for an organisation I volunteer for and randomly, I would also get the opportunity to meet some people I have been wanting to work with.  The delicious free food and drink in addition was just the big, juicy cherry on top.  I'm not gonna lie, for while I thought about making my excuses and to sticking to my original plan, but common sense kicked in and was having none of it.  Jog round my local park accomplished, I spent the day catching up with emails before I headed out to the book launch (slight deviation from writing but hey, work in progress).

The evening was great, the nibbles were as delish as I had hoped, and my friend and I managed to have a good chinwag with the people we wanted to for the Project that we're working on together, result! But all this, wasn't the best bit of my day!
On the way home as we were walking through Charing Cross and a lady stopped us for what I was sure would be directions, it's happened to me a lot recently.  Nope, I was wrong!  This lady stopped us because she reads the blog, and recognised me! I couldn't believe it. I was in shock, of all the random things that could have happened, this I did not expect.

So to the lovely Yvette (I hope I spelt your name right), you made my great day into an awesome day! Thank you so much for your support, it's really, really touch me to the point that I'm sure I just babbled at you when we met, sorry! My blog sister Karla was equally blown away, all the way from Rio, by our serendipitous meeting when I told her later that night. Just meeting you has spurred me to write more, something I've been neglecting of late, so THANK YOU!


What did last Wednesday teach me? Start saying yes more, even if saying yes requires you to reshuffle things. Cos you never know, that reshuffle might throw you into the path of something good and if it does, grab those new opportunities with conviction and run with it!


Kanika :) xx