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Welcome to this week's issue of the Life Gym. In this newsletter I aim to give you tips and valuable information to help you get More Time and More Life with Less Stress. We grow through your recommendation. Please forward this newsletter to a few friends and colleagues. Do also get in touch if you have feedback or comments to make, which we can include in future newsletters. Please click here to subscribe to future newsletters. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s still early 2006 and how many of us are already daunted at all the things we have to do? The world is moving at a seemingly faster and faster pace, but can humans keep up with all this technology? 1. More haste, less speed It is truly amazing to think of the progress that has been made in the last 40 years. I grew up in the sixties and, as a child, I remember coming home from a school on Wednesday, which was my Mum’s washday. She had a twin tub, which was pretty labour intensive, so spent the entire day doing the washing, hanging it out to dry and then doing the next load. Due to all this hard work it meant we got liver and bacon for dinner as it was one of the quickest things to cook: boy how I disliked Wednesdays! Today she can put the washing in her machine and go down the shops and it is all ready to be hung out when she gets back (she hasn’t quite got her head around the concept of a washer/drier). When you think about the fact that in her childhood everything was washed by hand and washing machines did not exist, can you imagine how luxurious a washing machine must have been for her when she got married? Of course today we have lots of “time saving“ gadgets: steam irons, microwaves, freezers, mixers, lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, etc. etc. I was flabbergasted to see on the news last week that early trials of sending TV programmes to mobile ‘phones was proving very popular as people can watch it on the train home. The really surprising factor was the O2 man saying that those trialling TV to mobile were very pleased, with over 20% opting to view TV programmes on their mobile WHILE IN THEIR OWN HOME!! I remember, when I used to commute up to But what is this technology costing us? 2. Less is more I have spoken before about how the changes in technology has created more stress as people feel obliged to react more quickly. Most new products are promoted as “time savers“, but what are we saving the time for? Is it just to catch up with that backlog of work emails? When we are constantly on the go our brains don’t have time to just chill out, relax and let ideas flow in and out, which could make our home and work lives much easier. So what can we do? Well, we can do less! There are many ways of doing that. When I had ‘flu over Christmas I didn’t have the energy to read one of the seven books that were waiting for me. So, over the last two weeks I have watched less television and read three books.(see “Up Close and Personal“ for what I have been reading). As a result I have felt much more chilled out and full of ideas. You may remember I wrote about my friends Suzanne and Simon Stay in “The Importance of Being Urgent“ newsletter. Well they did complete the gite and the three apartments and they look absolutely fabulous, though I am not sure Suzanne wants to lay another floor tile any time soon! After months of hard work on the business, plus doing her translation work, Suzanne decided that this year she was going to “do less“ and turn down some of her translation work, even if she doesn’t know where the next piece may come from, in order to get more balance in her life. Suzanne decided that instead of being a slave to her computer, she would aim to go cross-country skiing once a week. If you fancy doing something like that, or just chilling out in beautiful surroundings, check out their apartments in the The benefits to Suzanne of doing this has been that she feels better, both mentally and physically for making these changes and, she knows she always has a choice. THE POWER QUESTION Do you always look for ways to do more? There is so much pressure on us these days to do more, that we forget the benefits of doing less. Taking time out to relax and think can have huge benefits to our well-being. Try it and see what happens! 3. Up Close and Personal Paddy had his fifth treatment on Friday and now has antibiotics to take as the cream burns away the sarcoids. It is a case of monitoring him to ensure nothing nasty is going on. He has not been very impressed but has behaved very well with the vet so I have been very pleased with him. I said I would tell you about the books I read over the past couple of weeks: First was Lisa Jewell and “A Friend of the Family“ about 3 brothers who are brought back together for their Mum’s Birthday and find how life isn’t the same as it was when you were a kid. Intriguing plot and entertaining characters. Next was M.R. Lovric and “The Floating Book“ Set in 15th Century Venice, this is a fantastic tale of love, lust and how superstitions can affect both. Took me a while to get into it, but it was worth it! Julie Highmore’s “Pure Fiction“ is about a reading group and how the lives of the participants become intertwined in some unconventional and surprising ways. A good fun read. I have also begun the biography of Clementine Churchill which is a great book to dip in and out of and gives a fabulous insight into her life before she married Winston and of course afterwards.
Until next time! Ann ann@dreamcatcher-lifecoaching.co.uk http://www.dreamcatcher-lifecoaching.co.uk/ The Life Gym is written by Ann Brosnan. Ann is a coach who specialises in helping people get More Time and More Life with Less Stress. We will never pass your name on to any other organisation. If you wish to Unsubscribe from this newsletter please click here. | ||||||||||||
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