Success Teams

Crossing the Threshold

| Mairead

The ferry crossing from Rosslare in Ireland to Cherbourg in France takes about 17 hours. We sailed at 8.25pm yesterday and I was in bed by 9pm! I had a plan.

IMG 2977

(That’s the sun…)

At the weekend I had noticed my weather forecasting app on the phone predicted windy weather for our sea crossing. On Monday I bought drugs (sea sickness ones) and then promptly went into denial about the weather, while hourly checking my app… On Wednesday my friend rang, the one who is a true believer in the secret of manifesting. If you don’t know about manifesting you’ll have to google it because it’s a long story. Suffice to say if you really want something to happen then first start imagining it is happening really clearly and feeling it really intensely. You might think this is naturally what people do when they want something but you’d be surprised how many people imagine really clearly and feel really intensely what they don’t want!

IMG 2984

(I love the lines and angles)

I for instance was imagining gale force winds and feeling intensely sea sick green! And, I was standing on dry land… But here was my friend imagining calm seas and feeling intensely joyful to be starting a new journey… my new journey! I was oddly resistant to letting go of my gale force winds but she sounded like she was enjoying my journey waaay more than I was so it would be rude not to join her. What harm could it do, I had the drugs. And maybe I could have 24 hours of calm seas before I got on the boat! So each time I started imagining gale force winds I stopped myself and began imagining calm seas.

IMG 2990

(Beautiful weathering…)

As we drove to Rosslare yesterday the wind buffeted the van but I had been stopping myself from imagining what I didn’t want for a good while by then and I wasn’t tempted to stop. When we arrived in Rosslare the wind had died down and when the time came to take the drugs (2 hours before sailing) I decided not to take them. I also didn’t eat anything and I didn’t drink the traditional glass of red wine. I listened as the captain told us it might be a little bumpy but he would be using the stabilisers (wonderful invention) and then I went to bed to the sound of car alarms going off in the car deck (top tip:disengage your car alarm when travelling by ferry).

IIMG 2997

(That’s a calm sea…)

I woke a few times during the night and it was bumpy, but not too bumpy and I was uncomfortable, but not too uncomfortable. I started remembering how wonderful it is to stand on dry land! And I remembered how I had been making myself sea sick on dry land! Oh dry land I will never treat you so badly, I will appreciate you and whisper kind thoughts to you as I walk on you! The thing is, dry land isn’t affected by how I think… I am! I need to be whispering kind thoughts to myself! And when I imagine, I need to imagine something I’d love!

In the meantime I am enjoying the calm seas. Yes, the sea is calm! Not bumpy, not uncomfortable, Mairead.

Imagine……

| Mairead

Blue door and window

(Blue French door…)

Right, I’ve set the dates for the next Success Team course. In fact there are two courses, one in the morning and one in the evening. The dates are Friday the 13th of April for the morning one – starting at 10am. Then for the evening one it’s Friday the 20th of April – starting at 7.30pm.

Three windows

(Blue French windows…)

So, in four weeks time a group of people will sit around the table. They may be excited or nervous or both or maybe something else entirely. One thing for sure they will be taking a brave step. It’s one of many brave steps they’ve taken on this path. The first was making a phone call, sending a text, or writing an email, I’m interested in this Success Teams, what’s it all about? And finally they make a commitment… to join the team.

Cashel Door

(Blue Irish door)

Usually one or two people admit that they very nearly drop out the night before. Some do drop out. Some never even tell me they are interested, so nothing happens. It’s very scary to think that your dreams can come true. That you could start having the life you always wanted….. That’s not normal thinking.

Imagine that… Mairead.

A Day of Rest

| Mairead

2

(Memories of French breakfast, sigh)

Yesterday I was like the Duracell bunny running around outside my comfort zone. Today I’m recharging the batteries. Usually I don’t remember to recharge and instead push myself a bit more until I’m really tired and then there’s no choice but to rest. Choice is useful so today I remembered. There was reflexology (thank you, Molly!) in the morning and now this afternoon there are scones baking in the oven.

3

(French big trees)

Later this evening the present Success Team will be attending their second meeting. Their homework for this week included writing about their ideal day. This is a first step in uncovering what they want and the more ideal the better because as past teams will remember this piece of writing can sustain you when times get rocky.

Rusty Mirror

(Rusty Mirror)

So to get me into the mood while the scones are baking I’m taking a look at what I wrote for my ideal day homework last January….. There are three pages.. so I’ll synopsise. On my ideal day I live in France and I run workshops! I have a housekeeper/cook who keeps the cupboards and freezer stocked, so I only cook when I want to. He/she doesn’t bake, I bake… and I was very specific… I bake bread, apple tarts and queen cakes. I also make crafts and write every day. And finally, I have a sense of accomplishment. Last January I didn’t write every day, I didn’t think a workshop in France was possible and I didn’t have a sense of accomplishment.

Now…. anyone know a good housekeeper/cook who’ll get the groceries too? Mairead.

Start at the end…

| Mairead

(Like a bird on the wire……)

I was reading the book Do the Work by Steven Pressfield while we were on holidays and I’ve been thinking about it again today. The part I’m remembering is the bit about Start with the End. We do something similar in Success Teams.

(Big stones turn into little ones….)

The idea is, you ask yourself what you want to be true at the end of a project. So let’s say the project was… the printing I was doing yesterday. What do I want to be true at the end? At the end I want a hand printed piece of material that could be hung on the wall. That’s the external reason. But there’s also an internal reason.

(The stream flows to the sea…..)

So I ask the question –  what’s it all about? What is it about this finished project that grabs me? What is it that makes me glow, or sparkle or shine or sing! That’s when the internal reason appears. For my printing project…… I wanted to create repeating patterns. I wanted to use paint because I love the way it starts like a blob and then flows. I love the way you can roll it onto a piece of wood and the wood becomes wet with the paint. I love that pressing the painted block onto the cotton material leaves an impression……. And then repeating it makes a pattern and I sigh…. that’s it.

(And the waves roll in and out… )

Going into this much detail with the ending makes a lasting impression on your unconscious, so that it’s almost as if the project was already done….. and it was… in the future! And that draws you towards it… compels you towards it. Imagine if the thing you wanted was drawing you towards it? It would become possible. The thing you want is possible….. how cool is that? Then, you can take the first step…..

The end,  Mairead.

Success Teams Blog

| Mairead

(Continued from yesterday… Five Lives.) The kind of story I want to be in is one where every day I’m involved in something that lifts my heart.

You see, down in the everyday “stuff” of life it’s easy to get stuck and think you’re not worthy or that your ideas are useless or that you’ll make do with a life you find boring. Because…. it takes a lot of courage to do the things that you love, to share the ideas that you have, to go for the exciting (to you) things. It takes courage to lift your voice up and say “this is what I want.” It takes courage to wonder “what do I want?”

Fortunately, it doesn’t take much courage to lift your heart. It lifts on its own every time you are involved in something you love….. in sport, art, writing, walking, cooking, riding your motorbike (he, he)…. what is it for you?

(Nice cup of tea)

When your heart is lifting….. then you can make up a new story, of a new life.

When I finished the Wishcraft book and wanted more I searched the internet and found that Barbara Sher had devised Success Teams. A team doing the exercises in order to find out what you wanted and then encouraging you to go for it….. But there wasn’t one in Ireland.

I’d have to set it up in Ireland.

Oh, my goodness the FEAR……I’m not worthy, this is a terrible idea, I’ll make do with reading the book again. But it wouldn’t go away. So bit by bit I started telling people and something about my passion for the idea grabbed them too.

They joined me in my story and now we’ve completed the eight weeks course.  Each of us has our own project to lift our hearts. Each one of us is at a different stage. Each one of us feels the fear from time to time and then we meet and the team keeps us going. Going towards what we want.

And the amazing thing to me is…. it’s not about what we want at all…. it’s all about the journey towards it.

Thank you, (in alphabetical order, women!) Ashleigh, Frieda, Julie, Marion, and Molly – my team mates, for lifting my heart when I couldn’t! And now I’m going to do it again.

(For the Wicklow team who played today – Burn the Boats but Keep the Passion!)

Want to build a team to lift your heart when you can’t? Send me an email (mairead@hennessynet.com) or ring (086 827 2332) and get on the next team!

To your soaring heart from mine, Mairead.

Come on Wicklow!

| Mairead

(Wicklow are playing hurling in Croke Park on Saturday… Yes, imagine, Wicklow made it! – Story soon about one of the players…)

About a year ago I was reading a blog, there was a reference to the book Wishcraft – How to Get What You REALLY Want. The blog was American and it seemed this book and it’s author (Barbara Sher) were famous there. I’d never heard of it or her so when I realised the book was free to read on the internet I started reading.

(Lunch…)

Very soon I was hooked. It’s the kind of book that has exercises. So, you read a bit, then you do the exercise and you read some more. I finished the first two chapters in one sitting, and went on to finish the book over the next two weeks. Then I wanted more.

(Found a voucher for the Art and Hobby shop and bought some kit…. love that shop)

I love reading non-fiction books but what I love most about them are the stories. Other people’s stories, and this book had lots of little stories about John or Mary or Kate who had a dream to do such and such but they thought they couldn’t and “look, here’s the way they filled in this exercise”. So you feel like John and Mary and Kate were going through the book with you (well, I did!)

(This is what “Come on Wicklow” sounds like when said with PASSION at a Hurling match)

So for example, one of the exercises is called….

Ok, just realised this is going to be too long and I promised shorter blogs, so I’ll continue tomorrow and I’ll tell you about the exercise. In the meantime, enjoy the sun (you know it’s up there, ALL the time, even when it’s cloudy?) and have a great weekend.

Come on Wicklow! Mairead.