The theme for this month is Be Kind to Yourself and I don’t think that I have started the month of doing that.

I know that Being Kind to Myself is a challenge and that is why I wanted to focus on it for the month of September.

I had all these ideas that I would-

• Go and have a facial
• Buy some new clothes for Summer
• Go to a nice place and have coffee
• Catch up with friends
• Go and learn a new dance style.

Something happened along the way I was unwell, I felt sick.

You are probably thinking and………, well I find it really hard to take a day of work and just to rest up and to recover.

Let me just say that I feel guilty, there I have said it I feel guilty about taking time off work.

Now I do work for a wonderful organisation and I do have sick days available for me to use when they are needed.

But I struggle with being unwell, I am not a very good patient.

This week has been a bit of a lesson for me in being kind to myself.

I had to let go of the pressure that I place on myself and accept that things are going to happen out of my control.

Yes there are days that I am not going to be feeling 100% and I just need to accept them.

Resting, relaxing and recovering are part of life.

So I am reminding myself to-

Be Kind to Myself

Repeat after me-

Be Kind to Yourself.

The month is not over and I still have plenty of time to Be Kind to Myself and I am going to focus on what I can do.

I also know that I do have my health and I am grateful for that.

The challenge is still on.

What have you been doing to Be Kind to Yourself?

Have you learnt anything along the way?

Will share more soon.

This month I am setting myself a challenge-

Okay for this month I am going to be kind to myself.

Mmmmh what does that look like?

What does it look like for you?

I am sure that we all have different ideas and I love that. It is also great to see what others are doing.

In my work as a Primary School Chaplain my role is a giving one. I love my job, I do it is such an amazing, diverse and rewarding experience.

Lately I have been hearing people say to me, what do you do to replenish yourself?  This is a great question. I met up with My Supervisor who encouraged me to place looking after myself as one of my priorities.

I know that if I am not looking after myself that I will not have the capacity or energy to continue what I am doing, long term.

I don’t want to burn out.

I must say that this is an area that I don’t do that well in.

So the challenge is set.

Who would like to join me?

I will be posting what I do to keep me accountable in this month.

Will share more soon.

I hope that today you have the change to Shine Lovely Shine.

Lately I have that been thinking about that saying-

If you always do things the same way then you will always get the same results.

The last month I have found the weekends to be a time of refreshing, a time to work on projects, to pray and to slow down. You see I have been having a bit of a staycation, I have been enjoying the time staying home and not having to be anywhere and to just spend some time at home. I have also been embracing the time to catch up with family and to just enjoy being with them.

Its funny how in life things can change? I never really liked spending time by myself, it was difficult and I felt very lonely.

Now I love spending time on my own, I really do. It’s important and I do need it and I need to do it well.

I feel that I have needed to have a time of resting. The last 6 months have been busy and things have happened and I have not taken the time to process events before I move onto the next project.

The other night I went to a creative night and met other creatives. I heard from other women that having the space to really focus on being creative helped with their creative ideas. It helped their creativeness to flow to develop.

At the moment I find myself in a new season of stretching of taking a dream, a project, a goal and taking the plunge into embracing it.

I have needed a reminder of why I do what I do.

Changing Ways is my focus for this month and the next month.

Changing ways will bring new experiences into my life, it will challenge me, it will motivate me and it will encourage me.

Is there something in your life that is challenging you to develop a dream or a goal?

What is one thing you can do today to take a step toward your goal?

Changing ways.

Will share more soon.

This weekend provided beautiful blue skies and letting me know that spring will soon be here.

I don’t know what it is about spring, it motivates me it encourages me.

Yesterday I was sorting through things and listening to a podcast I had, which was called INJUSTICE MOVES HER it was from Hillsong Sisterhood.

It caught my attention as I listened to the speaker I was moved, I cried and I felt angry. Injustice produces a range of emotions.

The speaker spoke about women being trafficked, about people who are slaves.

She spoke and shared one story about a woman; I won’t go into it because it was very real and quite disturbing. As she spoke she apologised and said she needed to share it so that we could pray for others that where going through a similar situation.

By this stage I had stopped what I was doing and sat on the chair and listened intently.

Injustice is huge, Injustice is all around us, and Injustice can be changed.

My prayer is that Injustice can be changed.

I believe that we can make a difference. I believe that when we feel upset about injustice when we feel confused about injustice and when we feel shocked about injustice that this would propel us into doing something.

What can we do-

• Maybe a letter to a Member of Parliament about something that is going on in your community
• Maybe helping out with an organisation that you are passionate about
• It could be volunteering your time
• It could be writing about it
• It could be joining in your local community to make a difference
• If could be stepping out of your comfort zone.

There is so much we can do. Don’t let things overwhelm you. Find a cause that you are passionate about and donate some time.

You may never know the impact that you will have or the seeds that you will sow.

I never want to be desensitised by Injustice.

When I see Injustice I want to be known as-

INJUSTICE MOVER HER

INJUSTICE MOVES ME

Will share more soon.

Be encouraged today.