Roseleen Mc Nally

Newsletter March 2009 
WWW.ROSELEENMCNALLY.COM 
086 889 8433 

Simple Pleasures in Life 

As human beings we all want to have fun and joy in our lives. 
However, as adults we may unconsciously consider childish activites
as being juvenile.  When was the last time you  did something that
you truly enjoyed?  Everytime I visit a relative in Donegal I look
out at their garden and remember rolling down it doing 'head over
heels' in the summer.  I can hear the laughter as we got dizzer and
dizzer from all the rolling and as we tried to be first to the
bottom of the field.  Granted, I haven't gone rolling down that
hill in a long time but I truly enjoy heading off on a walk a few
times a week - a walk where I just leave the house and see where I
end up, a walk with no time limit.  Just some time for me to go
wandering and taking in the sight around me.  So, now lets see how
you can have more joy in the simple pleasures of life...  

Mindfulness is a word that I keep seeing everywhere I look - on the
internet, in magazines, books and from people I talk to.  I am not
going to write about 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle as it is
currently sitting on my book shelf to be read (it may form part of
a later Newsletter).  However, I am going to write about how we can
become more present in our own daily lives.  I believe that we put
the things that give us the greatest joy on the long finger so I
would like you to use this newsletter to bring a little bit of fun
and happiness back into your day.    
 
So let's look at how much time you spend doing things that you
truly enjoy.  I mean TRULY enjoy and not feel you 'should' enjoy!
The following headings are just a guide and you can add more if you
want.  Under each of the headings write down two/three activities
that you enjoy. Make them as specific as you can.  For example,
under clothes you might put down enjoying the feeling of wearing
your big warm coat on a walk around the park or even wearing your
partner's jumper whilst snuggled up beside the fire.  Under
relaxing you might put down have a bath with all the works (bubble
bath, candles and music) or you might just write sitting with a cup
of tea in your favour tea/cake shop.  Make it as specific and
personal to you.  If you find it hard to think of something, you
may be thinking too much.  The activity does not have to be 'earth
shattering' or life changing, just something that you get great joy
from e.g. playing with your children in the back yard.  We often
find happiness in the simple pleasures of life like that first cup
of tea/coffee in the morning, meeting your partner for lunch or
running around the park with your kids. Think of the small moments
of pleasure that are unrecognised.  It is the small things in life
that we take for granted and we let pass by without a moment of
recognition or truly being in the moment. 
 
The categories are:
 -Relationships (friends and partners); 
 -Family, parents and children; 
 -Recreation (sports, hobbies and entertainment); 
 -The arts - music, concerts, TV, film and theatre; 
 -Business success and career; 
 -Community/Home environment;  
 -Relaxing (whatever means relaxation to you); 
 -Food, eating in, eating out and cooking; 
 -Giving and receiving gifts; 
 -Clothes (and for girls - shoes!); and  
 -Religious/spiritual activity.

Now, write beside each item the last time you did an activity that
you enjoyed. Did you do it once, a few times or several times in
the last month? 
 
So how often do you do the things that you truly enjoy? Is there
room for improvement? Is there any particular area in your life
that you have 'paused'? If so, ask yourself why? Are you happy with
this area being paused? What can you do to increase the areas which
you are not doing as much as you want? 
 
Now look over the list and pick the ones that you are not doing as
much as you like. How can you make room in your life for these? How
can you fit it into your week? What would it be like to have more
of these enjoyable moments in your life?  Make a commitment to
yourself to do at more of these activities in the next week.  Set
yourself a target - you could plan to do two items that you have
not done in a long time.  Once you start introducing or increasing
these activites into your life you will find that they will become
habit as you will be getting so much joy from them.  You can
revisit this list and think of new thinkgs you would like to do
that can increase the joy and fun in your life. 

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Special Offers
 
Life Coaching & NLP 
 
Offer 1
 
2 sessions for the price of 1 - valid until 31 May 2009
You can use the 2 sessions for yourself or 
You can give one as a gift to a friend.
You can use the 2 for 1 for Life Coaching, Career Coaching,
Redundancy Coaching or NLP.  So whether you want to see if Life
Coaching is for you or want to address a specific issue then
contact me.
 
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Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from
this, feel free to forward it to them! 

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Until next time!
Roseleen Mc Nally
Dublin Holistic Centre, 16 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2 

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