W.I.N.K (What I Now Know) Is To Do It Anyway!

For those of you who don't know much about me, I can tell you I am a big fan of Music, especially Country Music. I love that there are some great messages in music, that we can all take something from. This week I would like to share with you the words from a song that over the years I have found very empowering. This song is called "Anyway" and is sung by Martina McBride. I hope that it might help other's to push through difficult times, as it has helped me to believe that if I believe in something, not to give up.

You can spend your whole life building something from nothing,
One storm can come and blow it all away.
Build it anyway.
You can chase a dream, that seems so out of reach,
And you now it might not ever come your way.
Dream it anyway.
God is great, but sometimes life ain't good,
And when I pray,
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should,
But I do it anyway.
This worlds gone crazy and it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today.
Believe it anyway.
You can love someone with all your heart,
For all the right reasons,
In a moment they can choose to walk away,
Love them anyway,
You can pour your soul out singing
A song that you believe in,
That tomorrow they forget you ever sang.
Sing it anyway.
I sing it anyway
I sing; I dream; I love; I pray.

For me, this song holds many personal messages, one of which was how quickly and unexpectedly things can change in your life, and that it doesn't mean those things weren't worth creating in the first place. Learn that the reward out weigh’s the risk, and that you're never going to know if you don't try. Sometimes what we think we want may not necessarily be what we need. I am currently on my journey gaining courage with every new mile, and I'm learning to do it anyway.

Lynda Alderton
for www.unity-qld.com.au

Every Tank Needs Refueling

Have you ever felt completely drained, as if you had nothing left to give to anyone or any situation? I'm sure most of us feel like this occasionally, but for some of us it can mean that you are traveling through your life on a constantly empty tank.

I know what it's like to feel that you never get the chance to just be. Every situation and every person in your life wants something from you. I believed after battling illness for years and then struggling through years of IVF, I was completely drained. After eventually achieving success with IVF, I felt like I had nothing left to offer the child I had fought so hard to have. It has taken me some time to realize that I had simply ignored the fact that I needed to refuel.

Refueling is going to mean different things and come about in different ways for different people. Sometimes it may come about in the way of food, or doing things that enrich your soul and bring happiness to your life. It could even be as simple as taking some time for you or finding something to have a good gut-wrenching laugh about. It could be all of these things. What I am absolutely sure about is that it does need to happen.

I would like to share with you something my Mum did for me after my first child was born. Illness had reared its ugly head and I was unable physically to look after my newborn baby. I felt a lot of guilt over the fact that my baby needed me and I had nothing physically or mentally to give him. At this time my Mother gave to me the best gift I could have asked for. She would hand the baby to me when he didn't need anything from me. He had already been fed, bathed and changed, and I could simply just enjoy being with him.

Sometimes refueling yourself might actually come in the form of helping to refuel somebody else. Thank you Mum & Happy Birthday.

Lynda Alderton
For http://www.unity-qld.com.au/

What I Now Know (W.I.N.K) That Walking is Easy When The Road is Flat

What I now know, is that it is so easy to get caught up in the "Why Me"? What did I do wrong to deserve this? Why do bad things happen to good people?

I'm sure many of us have asked these questions at some point in our lives; I know I have. What I didn't know was the all-important answer. That some things just are. You might be thinking what kind of an answer is that? Well, it just is. We can spend our whole lives looking for the answers to these questions, when what we should be really looking for is the lesson.

It's not the answer, but the lesson learnt that allows us to move forward with our lives, make any necessary changes, and not to have history repeat itself. If only we could realize it at the time, that we are being challenged as a way to build our own individual characters. If we all got to walk the flat road, and never had any hills, how would we be able to build any strength of character, and deal with life's challenges? How would we know what the view was like from up there?

I know for me personally, my road has had many hills, sometimes even mountains. But I have survived every one of these by learning the lesson and putting changes in place to take a different route. It might explain though why I drive a 4WD.

Lynda Alderton
For Unity-Qld www.unity-qld.com.au

What I Now Know ('WINK')That Forgiveness is Healing.

Have you ever listened to or read one of those news stories about a crime or wrong doing being committed against someone, who was able to go on and forgive the perpetrator? I was one of those people who couldn't seem to get my head around forgiving someone who had inflicted so much pain. I felt those people were a long way off from deserving forgiveness.

Then, I found myself in this same situation. There had been people in my life that had committed crimes and some that had committed a wrong doing against me. To be perfectly honest, it was a big enough step just to admit this, let alone be able to move on from these events. Some of these people had asked for my forgiveness, and others could easily get by without it. Ultimately it was my decision.

It was a bit of a case of, "Which comes first, “the chicken or the egg"? Do I need to have "gotten over" these situations first, or can I forgive these people regardless? I guess it was a bit of a leap of faith for me, but I chose to forgive them first. I had no idea at the time the healing and the ability to move on I would experience from being able to do this. I had found out that the forgiveness I gave these people wasn’t for their benefit. It was for mine.

Through forgiveness, the healing followed. It was literally like the load I carried was now lighter. My leap had been well worth it. I hope that if you're faced with the same situation you have the faith to leap.

Lynda Alderton
for www.unity-qld.com.au

It's not what you say, but what you do.

I'm sure you've all heard the saying, "Actions speak louder than words". What I didn't realise was, as much as I loved this saying, and expected my children to live by these rules, the one person that wasn't living it was me. I thought I was, but taking a good hard look at myself I had to admit that I sadly fell short of the mark.

Twenty years ago, while suffering from different illnesses, I unknowingly handed over my power to the many Doctors and Nurses who would end up treating and caring for my wellbeing. They did care for my wellbeing; some better than others, some with more success than others. Don't get me wrong, I’m not saying that at the time I didn't need all the different treatments, surgeries, and medications. I'm saying that if I had of kept at least some of that power, I would have been able to actively participate in my health and wellbeing, rather than take each new crisis as the blow to the body that it was. If I was going to be sick anyway, I didn't have to particularly care about what I ate and how I abused my body. My body had seemingly let me down.

The proverbial saying "Straw That Broke The Camels Back" for me, happened last year, when after a feinting spell, I ended up with a fractured skull from the fall. It was a huge eye opener for me. The great thing to come out of this event is that I have now been able to bring about one of the biggest changes of my life. Through understanding that an illness or injury cannot be healed with just surgery or medicine alone, I have been able to improve my approach to my health, both physically and mentally. I'm no longer just waiting for someone else to fix me.
Now, I don't just talk about getting better. I now do better.

Lynda Alderton
For www.unity-qld.com.au

This weeks W.I.N.K. - What I now know

Is that Happiness is a Choice

I used to be the type of person who always saw my cup as half empty. I just accepted that if I felt sad about something, then it must be the way I'm "supposed" to feel. I experienced years of allowing myself to be controlled by my emotions, until it consumed me, and had a negative affect on my ability to function within my family and society.

After being in Intensive Care and having a near death experience, I wondered why I wasn’t one of those people that felt enthusiastic at being given a second chance at life. All I felt like is that I had been ripped off. I now know that I was letting my emotions lead me, instead of making a conscious decision to embrace my second chance at life.
I have now come to believe that I can, and have, taken control back. I can simply choose to see my glass as half full. The great thing about doing that, is the feelings and emotions obediently follow along.

I know it sounds too simple, but it does take effort to break those old thought patterns and let the new ones in. Of course we are not all robots on automatic pilot. Sure, we all have our own instincts and gut feelings, and we still need to allow ourselves to feel emotions like sadness, grief and anger. Allowing ourselves to feel these emotions, enables us to release them, learn from them, and let them go. We can choose not to stay within the confines of these emotions, not to get stuck, and to move past them.

In shifting the way I think about my emotions, I have changed my life for the better. I now think and feel stronger in every aspect of my life. Of course, it's still a work in progress for me, but I know now that I do have a choice, and I choose happiness.

Lynda Alderton
For Unity-Qld http://www.unity-qld.com.au

WHAT I NOW KNOW (WINK!) series.

Introducing ~ Lynda Alderton

Over the coming weeks and months, I’m hoping to share with you some of the new ways in which I’m able to experience life. Through under going ‘Life Coaching’ with Kirsty O’Callaghan, I have been able to work through some of those difficult life experiences that can sometimes be overwhelming, and can easily begin to overrun your life. I had long ago given up on having any control over the quality of my life. The great news is, I’m gradually taking that control back, and through sharing this experience with you, I hope to be able to encourage and explain, that it’s not as hopeless or as hard as you might think. I hope you find my WINK (What I Now Know) helpful and informative.

Lynda Alderton
For Unity-Qld
http://www.unity-qld.com.au/