‘When you’re happy like a fool, let it take you over When everything is out you gotta take it in Oh, this has gotta be the good life’
– One Republic, Good Life –
As I sit here typing an email to confirm the details for the bank account that my partner and I are opening for our new conscious clothing company, Katkin, I’m listening to Good Life by One Republic. And its a very simple message that I want to share with you today and that is about appreciating the good life.
Life is always going to throw us curve balls. People are sometimes going to act out of turn and blindside you. People might get sick. You may have disappointments or things that make you confused or sad. However, with every down there is an up. Without the sour we can’t enjoy the sweet. And this is the magical and varied tapestry of the thing we call life. And no matter what happens, essentially we are here to enjoy the ride and the journey.
So, whatever goes on in your life. Feel it, experience it, observe it, and ultimately aim to enjoy it and make the most of it, because this is the opportunity that we have in every moment that we are alive in these beautiful bodies living upon this exquisite planet.
So, this blog post is dedicated to enjoying the good life. And whenever life is giving you lemons, you always have the opportunity to turn them into lemonade. It just takes a little sugar and water. 🙂
“Yeah she’s got light in her face, she don’t need no rescuing she’s okay. Yeah, she’s got life in her veins, she don’t need no rescuing she’s okay No S.O.S. needed, no rescuing, she’s fine out there.”
– Yuna, Rescue –
Today has been super awesome so far. I really do feel as though I have light in my face and life in my veins. And the highlight at this point? The most wonderful Restorative Hatha Yoga class today with my lovely teacher Kylie, who has the voice of an angel and blesses us with her beautiful singing voice throughout the class. Followed by a very delicious swim in the sea. Yum!
We set a strong intention to let go of something in class today, and for me, it was the negative stories that don’t serve me. And we also set the intention to let more of something into our lives? For me, this was more joy and more self-love. And I am really, really feeling that right now as I type, and it is being infused in the words that I type.
And as I jumped into the shower after my mini adventure in the sea, I listened to this incredibly uplifting and inspiring song by Yuna. And the words really did resonate with me. I don’t need rescuing anymore by anyone. I’m all good. And in fact, I’m all there. I’m there for myself 100%. I don’t need anyone outside of me to love me or care for me or support me, I can provide that for myself. Fulfilling all of my needs 100%. Creating an opportunity for everyone else in my life to be their own awesome selves, 100%. It’s all good.
And as she sings in the song,
‘That girl is you yeah and that girl is me, that girl is stronger than the raging sea.’
Here’s to having light in our faces and life in our veins.
‘Some days you just need to jump into the vortex and let the Universe do its job’
– Abraham-Hicks –
So, Abraham channelled by Esther Hicks has been coming into my life a fair amount recently, so it only seems fitting to mention him/them in another blog post to you all 🙂
Abraham, through Esther asks ‘Are you a co-operative component to whats in your vortex?
If you’re angry, the answer is no. If you’re aggravated, overwhelmed, frustrated, fearful, blameful, guilty, the answer is no. If you’re joyful, frisky, optimistic, if you’re playful, if you’re interested, the answer is yes. If you’re loving, if you feel appreciation, you’re tuned into this vortex of creation. And when you tune to it, and you tune to it often, what happens is the vibrational distance between you and you becomes less and less, because you practice the in the vortex vibration. ‘
To me, it means being in effortless flow. It means being present. It means following your heart and following your truth. Doing the things that you love. Being with the people who you love. Being in the places that you love. Everything in the vortex is fun and light, effortless and easy. Everything outside of the vortex is the opposite.
And it is my intention from this day forward to spend as much time in the vortex as possible. And if I get spat out, that’s fine. Just an opportunity to focus on getting back into it. 🙂
‘I want to stop being responsible in order to be happy.’
– Abraham Hicks, channelled by Esther Hicks –
When talking with a very good friend of mine yesterday about why some slightly tricky things are happening in my life related to people who I love, she gave me a very interesting piece of advice. That piece of advice was ‘Stop being responsible Kat’.
This was a curious observation and reflection for me and illuminated something that had clearly become a blind spot. And despite the fact that I wrote a blog post to this effect just a couple of days ago, I had obviously understood the concept intellectually, but the Universe was now giving me an opportunity to actually embody this and properly experience the advice I was giving, for myself.
. . . It’s not been easy. In fact, it’s been really, really hard for me. I’m sure people on the outside think that I just woke up one day with a cool idea, painted some designs, threw them on a website and then invited people to contribute, but it has taken so much more than that. . . . .
It has taken me, letting go of the image that most people have of me, ‘academic Kat’, ‘intellectual Kat’, ‘clever Kat’, so that I could allow the more ‘creative Kat’ to come in. The way that I am on this planet to truly express myself. Through writing, or singing or painting or designing. It’s been hard, however, my desire to do that which I love and let go of the ‘notself’ has been incredibly liberating, and I feel as though this is just the beginning.
And so, to conclude. Whatever you feel in your heart to do, do it. Whatever you wanted to do when you were little, and never got to do, do it now. There is no time like the present, and anything is possible.
If you always wanted to be a vet, and you’re 40, there’s still time to study and become a vet. If you always wanted to dance, then dance. If you always wanted to write a book, write a book. If you always wanted to start your own business, f*ck it, start your own business goddammit! If you’ve been running a project on the side of your day job and you’d like to start making money out of it, because that is what you would love to do, then do it! You don’t need permission from anyone other than yourself. Life is too short. And just because your choices were taken away from you by someone else earlier in your life, doesn’t mean to say that you can’t make different ones now. You’re too wonderful and too precious and too gifted.
If you feel in your heart to do something, from a place of love, for yourself, for your life, your happiness then do it. I promise you that you won’t regret it. Carpe-the-mother-funking -Diem!
If you would like to have a Numerology reading and learn what your Life Path and Expression numbers are (among many other things), feel free to drop me a line at kat@thoughtcloudcollective.com and I will talk you through your entire Numerological Chart and let you know what the coming year has in store for you. A 60 minute reading with me is $150 AUD.
And if you would like to buy a Katkin t-shirt or tote bag, feel free to skip over to our crowd funding page on Indiegogo.
. . . All of the things that I loved to do as a child, I was bringing back into my life now, and it made me feel happy . . .
One of the things I started to do was paint t-shirt and bag designs, and it was only when I started to share them with people did they start to tell me how much they liked them and that I should do something with them. The problem was I had no confidence in my creativity, and I couldn’t actually believe that anyone would think that something I had painted was any good.
My boyfriend kept asking me when I was going to sell them. Every time I told him, that I wasn’t ready and that I wasn’t really sure whether they were any good. I had been told over and over again, that I wasn’t that creative and that I should study ‘academic’ subjects, so that was all I knew. What gave me the right to start a company designing t-shirts and tote bags?
The thing was, I loved painting and designing them. It got to the point where the designs were flying out of me. I had painted tonnes and tonnes of them and I had come up with hundreds of designs that were just flowing out of me effortlessly and easily. The problem? I didn’t think I was good enough.
My boyfriend (Darren) offered to put money into the business to start it, I refused. My boyfriend continuously asked me, when are you going to do something with Katkin (which was the name I gave to the project)? To which I answered, I don’t know. It got to the point where it had been nearly a year since I had painted my first design and still nothing much had happened.
I just didn’t have the confidence. I just didn’t see myself as someone creative enough to start a clothing company using my own designs.
But Darren never gave up, he kept asking me and asking me. “Come on Kat, when are you going to do this? What needs to happen next?”
Bit, by, bit I inched closer. I took a shortlist of about 8 designs and asked friends to vote via Facebook on their top 4. Then once they were selected, we took some photos of the t-shirts and us in them. Then I plucked up the courage to make a video. And we finally put together a crowd funding campaign to start the business, because the only thing holding us back was capital.
And so, here we are a month or so later and we have raised nearly $2000 so we can get our first run of tees and totes, set up a website and start selling our beautiful designs.
It’s not been easy. In fact, it’s been really, really hard for me. I’m sure people on the outside think that I just woke up one day with a cool idea, painted some designs, threw them on a website and then invited people to contribute, but it has taken so much more than that. . . . .
To find out what else it has taken, tune in tomorrow for the third and last part of this 3 part blog series.
“As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.”
– Marianne Williamson –
It was about this time last year that Numerology was starting to really interest me.
As well as realising that I am a 22/4 life path, it became apparent to me that I am Expression/Destiny 3. And in numerology a 3 represents creativity, optimism and positivity amongst many other things.
In numerology, while your life path is like the plot or theme of your life (if it were a book or a movie or a play), your Expression/Destiny number is the character that you play while you walk your life path. So while the 22/4 represents the Master Builder who (if they are vibrating at the 22 frequency) has the ability to make the seemingly impossible, possible, some one with a 3 Expression would be expressing themselves in a very creative way.
And this time last year, and pretty much the entirety of my adult life, I had not been doing that. Interestingly when I was younger, I was very creative and loved to be creative. I loved to sing, I loved to paint, I loved to write, to take photos, the list is endless. However, when it came to choosing subjects to study at school for my GCSEs and A-Levels I was told that I should take those which were ‘academic’.
Even though in my heart I really wanted to study art and music, theatre and design, I ended up taking French and German and Geography and Sociology and Business. Now, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy those subjects, nor did I not succeed at them. However, I was sad that I didn’t get to study the creative subjects, just to see where they would have taken me in life . . . .
I have no regrets now, because the things that I have done up until now in my career have got me to where I am today. However, one of the things that my numerologist said to me last February when I had a proper reading was that as a 3 Expression I really needed to be expressing myself in as creative a way as possible in life, because that was my destiny. And by doing so, the Universe would support me.
As a result, I started writing this beautiful blog. I also started writing a book. I started to sing more and I started to paint. All of the things that I loved to do as a child, I was bringing back into my life now, and it made me feel happy . . .
To learn about what happened next, tune in tomorrow for Part 2.
‘Rather than condemning yourself for your mistakes and failures, you can use the experience of suffering to soften your heart.’
– Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion –
Affirmation of the day – I LOVE AND ACCEPT MYSELF EXACTLY AS I AM.
So, the one and only gift that I decided to buy this year was a book, for myself, entitled, Self-Compassion. It was recommended to me, by a very beautiful friend, considering the slightly tricky time that I have been going through recently. So I decided to take his advice.
The opening quote in the book goes like this:
“This kind of compulsive concern with, ‘I, me, and mine’ isn’t the same as loving ourselves. Loving ourselves points us to capacities of resilience, compassion and understanding within that are simply part of being alive.” – Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness
And I have a feeling that the theme of self-compassion is going to be something that will run through my blog posts over the next couple of weeks as I read the book, share my thoughts, feelings and learnings with you and really start to love myself, truly and deeply.
2013 has been an interesting one. I can’t complain, especially considering that at the beginning of the year I set the intention to improve my relationship with money and get a better handle on my finances.
Little did I know that the Universe had a pretty monumental way of teaching me the things that I needed to learn, coming in the form of me not earning anything from my business for the best part of 7 months, and me needing to allow my beautiful boyfriend to financially support me for the duration of that time.
However, I wouldn’t change a thing, as I feel as though I have learnt an incredible amount with regards to money and my relationship with it, and despite the fact that it will take me a little while to pay off my debt and get myself back on to an even keel, I’m much better off than where I started the year.
So, why the importance of self-compassion? I have definitely heard the voices in my head quite recently wanting to beat myself up for the fact that my business was a financial failure for the predominance of the year. And that same voice has been wanting to kick the sh1t out of me for having to be financially supported by my boyfriend, which has also left him in a less than ideal financial position. The voice that wants to blame me, that wishes I’d never had to ask for help. The voice that tells me that I’m weak and unsuccessful. The voice, that in actual fact, not really telling the truth.
Because the truth of the matter is, everything happens for a reason. And also, I asked for this. I wanted to improve my relationship with money, therefore I needed to be open to whichever way the lessons I needed to learn would show up. This is how the Universe works.
If I’m wanting to live a life of true abundance, I’m not going to be able to manifest things, money, people, businesses, customers, clients, opportunities etc. if I’m not open to receiving them, or if I don’t know what to do with them, once I have them.
So, now is not the time to beat myself up internally or berate myself. Now is the time to be kind and compassionate to myself. To be unconditionally loving and allow whatever feelings and emotions to come up that need to surface. To feel any pain, disappointment or sadness that I need to feel. But then not to be mean to myself because I’m feeling these things. Instead choose to comfort myself, just as I would a friend who would be going through the same thing. In short, to be the best friend that I could possibly be to myself.
In her book Self Compassion, Kristin Neff starts the book by clearly stating how we can be more compassionate to ourselves,
‘To stop judging and evaluating ourselves altogether. To stop trying to label ourselves as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and simply accept ourselves with an open heart. To treat ourselves with the same kindness, caring and compassion we would show a good friend, or even a stranger for that matter. Sadly, however, there’s almost no one whom we treat as badly as ourselves.’
And it is my mission and promise to myself to treat myself with the same level of love, kindness and compassion that I show to all of the beautiful people in my life. And I have a feeling that this will become the theme for 2014 for me. SELF COMPASSION and time to really start loving myself, truly, madly and deeply.
If you’d like to start this too, I can highly recommend writing a love letter to yourself. I did this yesterday, and it was definitely a very lovely experience. I also came across this beautiful video on finerminds.com this morning and it really inspired me and compliments the sentiment of my post today perfectly.
It’s rare that we sit down and write a letter to ourselves outlining all of the things that we love about ourselves, but I feel as though now is as good a time as any. There isn’t really anything to lose.
I’m really looking forward to seeing through the last remaining days of 2013, savouring every last one and preparing myself for an even bigger and better 2014. One filled with unconditional love for myself and others, and a life of effortless flow filled with abundance in all areas, business, relationships, love, health, finances, emotions and spirituality.
“Where there is great love, there are always great miracles.”
– Willa Cather –
I’m going to keep this short and sweet today, as it is Christmas.
I wanted to share a heartwarming video in this blog post, and managed to stumble across something that is perfect from our trusted friend, You Tube.
Despite the fact that it is video promoting American airline, Westjet, it is also a beautiful example of the kinds of miracles that are possible when we think a little differently, attempt to do something slightly out of the ordinary and unexpected, and when people all pull together to do something nice for others. It’s had nearly 33 million hits, so a few people must have liked it. 🙂
I hope you all have had, are having or will have a very Happy Christmas Day filled with peace, joy and love.
And may everything that you wish for come true in 2014.
Sending you love and light,
Kat x x x
P.S.
If you would like to help Darren and I create a miracle in 2014 and raise $10k to start our new conscious clothing company, Katkin, skip over to our crowd funding page to learn more and buy an awesome hand painted bamboo t-shirt or an organic tote bag.
“Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever”
– Ernest Becker –
Just something to think on today.
A beautiful friend of mine shared this video with me via Facebook the other day and I knew it would make it into a blog post shortly afterwards.
It perfectly sums up how I’m feeling about the world today, and I have a feeling that it will resonate with whichever beautiful souls are reading this post today.
To hold on, or to let go. That is the question? Or in fact, screw there being only one answer to the question. Perhaps it’s both.
Kat Kinnie's Blog 