Work Is Love

I am lucky enough to have experienced work that I love. Teaching mindfulness and yoga to children encourages them to build better relationships with themselves, their friends and family, and the world around them. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than that.

But it wasn’t always that way. I’ve worked many a long hour in jobs I disliked just to earn some money and because it’s what ‘everyone else did.’

Maybe you love cooking, music or design? Maybe you’re passionate about the environment or making a difference in the lives of others, but feel you can’t make money following your passions?

We are so conditioned to work ‘for the other man’ in order to get ahead, often working long hours for very little in return. Worse still, we dislike the work we do.

Today, I encourage you to consider a different paradigm.

What would your life look like if you were getting paid to do what you love? What steps can you take to make your vision a reality?

Is it going to take grit, determination and perseverance? Yes. Do you have what it takes? Yes!!! Believe you can.

Work is love made visible.

– Kahlil Gibran

This photos was snapped spontaneously by one of the students from school as the kids played with my hair and goofed around 🤪

I think she’s captured perfectly the joy I receive from working with children and being in their company…

🌼 They remind me not to take life too seriously

🌼 I love the way they are in complete awe and wonder of the magic of life

🌼 Children are full of enthusiasm, even about the smallest of things

🌼 They say what’s on their mind! Zero filter 🙈 ..this can be scary, but it can also be so beautiful and pure that my heart melts every time 😌

And that folks, are just a few of the reasons I friggen love my work ❤️🌈

Do you love what you do? If yes, or if no, why? I’d love to know if your work aligns with your heart’s values…

Love always,

Hayley xx

Life Goals

A New Year often ignites new dreams, new goals and fresh intentions. 365 days to play with; 52 weeks to explore and enjoy. And of course, as always “This year will be THE year when I achieve all of my goals.”

But what if your only goal was to be happy? What if this year, you made a commitment to feel GOOD VIBES ONLY, regardless of your circumstances?

Yes, we can promise to lose fifteen pounds, to get ‘the job’ or meet that special someone, but all of that will be short lived without the key element: feeling good from the inside. Losing weight is hard without self love and acceptance; obtaining that job may bring a sense of achievement and success, but pouring love into what you do, regardless of your title, position or paypacket is far more fulfilling long term.

Work is love made visible.

– Kahlil Gibran.

As for meeting that special someone? Life feels much sweeter when we have someone to love and someone who loves us back; but without the presence of SELFLOVE, our relationships may suffer further down the track. Loving ourselves allows all of our relationships to thrive, including the relationship we have with ourSELF.

To love oneself is that start of a lifelong romance.

– Oscar Wilde

This year, make a commitment to yourself to feel good vibes only. Allow your highest energy to flow. Witness how you become a powerful attractor when you are aligned with the love of the Universe.

Love always,

Hayley xx

Love What You Do

As I sit here with gratitude overflowing, I couldn’t agree more with Katharine Graham’s statement. Today, I taught eighty-one kindergartens how to meditate and do yoga. Their smiling, peaceful faces were a picture of innocence and love. Afterwards, we silly danced to the Beach Boys Surfin USA as we played and laughed and giggled. As the children left, I was gifted with spontaneous hugs and ‘thank you’s’ for teaching them mindfulness. But the truth is, each day they are the ones teaching me. When in the company of children, how can we be anything but in the moment? And this is my daily work. I am so blessed and thankful to love what I do. How can anything else be more fun?

It wasn’t always this way. For a long time I was unfulfilled with my work. I felt it lacked purpose and meaning. But there is a quote by Kahlil Gibran which reminds us that it’s not necessarily what we do, but how we do it.

Work is love made visible.

– Kahlil Gibran

Although it certainly helps, we needn’t love what we do. But we do need to do it with love. When we work from a place of love, whatever our work may be, we breathe life into our work. Which in turn breathes life and meaning into what we do. When we operate from a place of grace and gratitude, we attract more abundance into our lives. Doors begin to open where before, there appeared to be none.

So today, have fun. Whether you are cooking, eating, gardening, cleaning, working, living, loving, laughing! – make each moment matter, and do it with love. Because ‘to love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything else be more fun?’

In love and light,

Hayley xx

Fade Away

While we’re living
The dreams we have as children.
Fade away

-Oasis

Yesterday I embarked on my first workout of Spring. The sun was high and the birds were chirping merrily. I decided to play an old Oasis album, since I was thinking of my family back home in Manchester. As I sang along to Fade Away, it got me wondering – How many of us have allowed our dreams to simply fade away? The song’s opening verse sings:

When I was young
I thought I had my own key
I knew exactly what I wanted to be
Now I’m sure
You’ve boarded up every door

What childhood dreams have you disowned as a result of ‘life’ getting in the way? I must repair that leaky tap; clear out the garage; tend to the garden; get on top of my paperwork; paint the fence; take the kids to after school club, visit my mother-in-law… The list is endless.

It seems that as we move through the system, the creative vision we once held as children gradually becomes lost: Yes – it would be great to be an astronaut, dear… But what about a real job? When I was a child, whenever asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I responded without hesitation; an author and an illustrator. I adored Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake and wanted to spend my days immersed in the world of books. As it goes, my vision of becoming an author was soon replaced by logic and the need to get my grades and find a ‘real job’, just like everyone else. Like many, my childhood dreams soon lay dormant in favour of following the status quo. It wasn’t until my thirties that I allowed myself to tap into that realm of imagination and creativity again. Coincidentally, that’s when life, for me, began to flow.

What dreams have you boarded up behind closed doors? Today I invite you to dust off the key, open up those doors and allow your dreams to run wild and free.