October 2016 – Nicole Reichert

Affirmations on Steriods

A goal is a like a seed. If the seed is given the right environment it may turn into a stunning flower or a tree that will bear fruit for years to come. Though in order for that seed to sprout it will need to find its way in the dark, it will become undone and the seed will completely change.

Affirmations set the scene and are like the environment for the seed. They create the conditions so that the seed or in this case the goal will be able to come to flourish. Affirmations are positive statements into which your goals can be incorporated. I love affirmations and they have had an enormous impact in my life.

We all get those not so good days in life. It is almost like you get out of bed and from that point things start to fall over. This effect feels like a chain reaction. Once things start to fall over you generally wonder whether it would have been smarter to stay in bed. To see whether affirmations actually work why not do an experiment on one of those days. Start telling yourself “it is an awesome day and everything flows easily and effortlessly” and see what happens.

Last weekend I learned about AfFORMations by reading Noah St John’s book (The Afformation Book). In his book he recognises that often when we start using affirmations we might not believe what we are actually saying. This is called the belief gap. For example if you are using the statement “I am rich” that little voice in your head might go “Seriously? Have you seen the balance in your bank account?” Do you know that little voice in your head? That little voice that is not exactly most encouraging and supportive. Sometimes you wonder whether you could just give this voice a serious beating to take down its volume. However there is a strategy that might be able to help.

The author proposes to transform your affirmations into questions. When you ask yourself a question you will find that your brain is searching for an answer even if you do not know the answer yet. Your brain assumes that the statement made within the question is already true! This makes the use of afFORMations much more powerful.

Here are the steps so that you can start using afformations today:

Transform your affirmations into afformations. It is important to start the question with why. For example for the affirmation “I am rich” you could use the afformation “Why did I become rich so easily?”
For each afformation list three actions that you can do today and of course start taking action. For afformations to work you still need to take action. Do not worry whether it is the perfect action but just do something that will move you closer to your goals.
Use your afformations daily. You can say them out loud, you can do your own recordings, you can write them out and you can read them. And even better, do all of the above.

If you implement the above steps then please share your experiences in the comments below.

A Different Way of Goal Setting

A few years back my husband and I decided to go hot air ballooning for our birthdays. We went to the Avon Valley in Western Australia and it was truly am experience. The hard part was that we had to get up in the middle of the night but it was well worth it.

Once our guides had located the right starting position, the hot air balloon was prepared and we were on our way. The views were breath taking especially as the sun rose. Beneath us we would hear sheep especially as we slowly started descending. I was very surprised but the landing was rather smooth. Apparently it can get rough depending on the weather and the first point of contact.

A few weeks after the experience my husband and I were chatting along when he pointed to the Vision Board I had made a few years ago. Back then I had put a picture of a hot air balloon on and the interesting thing was that it looked exactly the same as the one we flew in. Some might say coincidence but there were two balloons the morning we took our flight so we also could have ended up in the other balloon that looked nothing like the one on the Vision Board I had created.

So you might wonder what a Vision Board is. In order to make a Vision Board you need to find pictures of what you would like in life and your goals, cut them out and stick or pin them on a background. You can print pictures or even cut them out of magazines. Once you have finished your Board you need to hang it up in a spot where you will be able to see of every single day on multiples occasions. For example I hung mine up in the bedroom.

Many say that Vision Posters are more powerful than traditional goal setting as they work on a subconscious level and therefore go much deeper.

So if you are a visual person like I am then you might prefer this strategy to traditional goal setting. Please share you Vision Board experiences below, I would love to hear about them.

Vision Board Tips

Pin up pictures on a board. The board can then evolve and develop over time.
Get together with your best friends to create your Board; it’s even more fun that way.

Below is a picture of an example of a Vision Board.

Fear of Failure

Sometimes fear of failure paralises us. We are no longer able to move. We are no longer able to take action and move into the direction of our dreams. The important thing to realise is that we all have fears and worries. Some of us are able to put these aside easier than others and still take action. Fear stands for false evidense appearing real.

When we are babies we are unware of what failure is. When we begin to walk we all fall over occassionally. Yet we still get up again and have another go. When we are that young we don’t care of what others think. Every time we fall over we get up again.
I find that often my fears are worse in my head than in reality. The funny thing is once we start listening to our thoughts and start questioning them something changes. We are slowly peeling away the layers. A bit like an onion we peel away the layers and slowly get closer to our core. We realise the things that are really important. We might find our true why as to why we have a certain dream. Once you find your why it will continue to drive you and you will be able to take a step at a time to get closer to that goal.

I believe that it is better to have failed and given something that you are patient about a real go. Otherwise you might wonder one day what if….

Ancient Grain Cookies fresh from the oven…

Sunday afternoon. The house is filled with the warm and rich smell of Italian cookies baking in the oven. One of those magical moments. There is something special about sharing nourishing and comforting foods with the people you love and are close with. A good cup of tea and lots of laughs are a fun way to end the week.

I love using the Young Living einkorn flour in my baking. Einkorn is an ancient grain and is the only wheat that has never been hybridized. Einkorn remains unaltered for thousands of years. Einkorn also contains roughly 30% more protein than modern wheat. Due to einkorn’s low gluten content it is easier to digest than modern wheat. Better digestion often translates into better nutrient absorption.

So get out your baking utensils and let’s get baking!

Ingredients

1/2 cup rapadura sugar
270g einkorn flour
pinch of baking powder
1/2 tsp fine Himalayan sea salt
6 tbsp organic olive oil
6 tbsp dry white wine

On a small plate set aside 1 tbsp of the sugar.
Mix sugar, einkorn flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Add the olive oil to the flour mix and stir with a fork until the content goes clumpy.
Add the wine and continue mixing until the dough absorbs the liquid.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
Place bowl in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
Once the 30 minutes are up shape the cookies into your desired shape.
Sprinkle a little sugar over them.
Bake for just over 20 minutes in the oven.
Leave to cool completely.
Enjoy with your favourite cup of tea!

This is certainly one of my favourite recipes from Carla Bartolucci’s cookbook “Einkorn – Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat”. In this cookbook you can find lots of recipes to bake breads, sweets and savoury goodies with your favourite Einkorn Flour.

My Journey with Anxiety

I remember about 3 months ago when I was in a management meeting on the forth floor and it felt like the floor was going to collapse under me. I wasn’t in the impacts of a natural disaster or a building structure failure. Rather I was feeling the impacts that anxiety can have. Daily fears and worries on the high end of the scale were part of my day. I found it very hard to switch off or even relax. My mind was constantly going and when I think back the thoughts I had were silly. Only under rare circumstances would the floor underneath give in. I was struggling with this daily. I never used to be like that and I definetely didn’t recognise myself. Mental disorders never used to make sense to me. I also never thought it would happen to me.

About a bit over 2 months ago I came across a video on YouTube where this super inspirational lady shared her path and how she recovered. In short she discovered meditation. She made it a daily practice. I didn’t have much to loose and I certainly wanted a break from all those worries. I started off small with 10 to 15 minutes a day. Gradually I increased it where I now do 30 minutes every single morning before I go to work. And yes I do get up at 5am in order to get this me time but the benefits have been worth it. I feel much calmer and I bounce back much quicker from stressful situations. I have also noticed that my work has become much better.

I hope that by sharing my experience it might inspire someone that suffers from the daily struggles of anxiety to look into and try meditation. In future posts I will be sharing some of my favourite techniques with you so make sure to subscribe so that you will not miss out.