The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

I had my first cacao journal circle last night, and it was such a special moment for me.

I’ve facilitated events and hosted workshops through my day job and business, so I wasn’t particularly nervous about speaking or showing up. But this was different—it was the first time I created a paid event that was entirely designed around what I love, filled with all the things that bring me joy.

It was also the first time I really pushed my comfort zone with marketing, reaching out to people—some of whom I hadn’t spoken to in years—and asking if they’d be interested, or if they could share it with someone who might be.

And I’m so glad I did.

Myself and 7 other beautiful souls shared an evening of meditation, journaling, and deep conversations about the things that really matter.

We talked about the human stuff—the things we don’t often show to others because we want to look like proper adults who’ve got our sh*t together!

But in that space, we connected through our vulnerabilities while also sharing our strengths, dreams, and awesomeness exactly as we are.

I believe this is the kind of work we need to do to show up with confidence, power, and authenticity so that we are truly seen and heard.

One comment in particular moved me deeply and made me glad that as a group we agreed a ground rule that all emotions would be welcome in the space.

An attendee shared that what she loves most about where she is in her journey is that she’s found friends who love her for exactly who she is.

I cried in that moment because I looked at the faces on the screen and realized these were the people I could be my wild and weird self around. They trusted me enough to spend their evening (and money) with me, and in return, they received a deeper connection to themselves, to other incredible women, and gave me the gift of doing what I love most.

I couldn’t have asked for more.

Thank you. 💖

P.s. flowers from another gorgeous soul in my life, my partner Neil who is forever celebrating and loving my wild and weird self!

6 months ago | [YT] | 1

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

Ever planned to do something but, when the time came, you just didn’t feel like doing it? 🙄 Maybe it was a workout, a class, or a business task.

On one hand, you feel like you need the rest, so skipping it feels like an act of self-care and kindness.

On the other hand, you wonder if you're just being too easy on yourself, and maybe you should be more disciplined.

So, how do you know what’s true or what you should do?

Honestly, I don't know and I’m an overthinker, so don’t ask me! 😂

But here’s what I do when I feel this inner tension: I do SOMETHING, even if it’s not the full extent of my plan.

Today, I felt tired and didn’t want to do yoga, even though I had promised myself it was yoga day.

Instead of forcing myself into a power yoga session or something energetic to prove my willpower, I chose a short restorative class where I spent 95% of the time lying on the mat.

I adjusted the effort of the task to match what I felt capable of, but still honoured my promise to myself.

And by the way, I felt soooooooo much better and actually more energised after the yoga, plus I was super proud of myself for following through on my commitment. Instant mood boost💪💖😊

How do you balance self-discipline with kindness?

6 months ago | [YT] | 1

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

Sooooo I’m a little obsessed with making working on goals as fun as humanly possible. 🤓

Sometimes though you just have to get your head down and plough through whatever you go to do.

It’s always easier and more enjoyable when you work with a friend. But since I can’t be there physically with you to keep you motivated and on track, I’ve done the next best thing and recorded a real time work-with-me session.

It’s Pomodoro style which means we work together for a focused, no distractions 25-minute sprint, take a 5-minute break and then do a second 25-minute sprint before celebrating how awesome and productive we are.

Check out the vid below and let me know what you think!

And if you want even more ways to make working on your goals fun, then you might be interested in my 👑🔥 Fearless & Fabulous Cacao* Journal Circle.

We meditate, we journal, we have conversations that matter and drink cacao (or other drink, the intention & connection is more important than the beverage) and it’s all online so you can still be a Queen but in the comfort of your PJs. 😂Woohoo!

👉It’s 15th October 7pm UK time. Booking page in the comments below 😊

#pomodoro #productivity #accountability

7 months ago | [YT] | 0

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

I found the cure for workaholism

And it's called...

GOING ON HOLIDAY! 🏖️🩴😎🍹💃

Best week ever in France with my best ever human and I only thought about work once!

This is huge for me.

Before I left:
🤯 my to do list was constantly growing and intruding on my mind
😵‍💫 I was struggling to relax (and no collapsing on the couch because I'm too tired to do anything else DOESN'T count as relaxing!)
🥴 And I had made the cardinal mistake of equating my self worth with my productivity and achievements. This meant I was so goal focused that seemingly innocent hobbies like reading or listening to podcasts were just new opportunities to learn more about business or personal development.

I was at peak workaholism last year and have been slowly clawing my way out of that hole for the last 6 months.

And you know the most insidious thing about workaholism is that it makes you find non-work things less interesting. You are less drawn to relax or rest or do other non-productive stuff because it doesn't feel as "fun."

Do you relate?

A week away with sun, sand, sea and adventures was exactly the reset I needed to train my brain to find pleasure in the moment, not what the moment could become.

Now I'm back, I need to learn to hold onto that inner holiday state. When I feel like I need to do more, more, more I can remember to just be.

#workaholism #vacationvibes #bepresent
#enjoythemoment

7 months ago | [YT] | 5

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

💪You don't have to perfectionise your exercise (or any other habits in service of your goals).

15 minutes completed on the bike is better than an hour long workout intention that is never acted on.

We all have small snatches of time that we can use to workout, reach out, read, journal, meditate, write... Whatever it is you are trying to work on.

Let go of the fantasy of waiting for it to feel like the perfect time, or that you have enough time.

Because you'll be waiting a long time. 😂

Just do something that future you will benefit from for 15 minutes then stop and go back to your day.

Give yourself a big self-love hug.

And then do it again tomorrow.

The big stuff will come after you've mastered the little things consistently.

#dailyhabits #dailyhabitsforsuccess #discipline

8 months ago | [YT] | 0

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

🦁 The 8th of August - Lion's Gate is considered a powerful energy portal according to numerology and astrology.



Maybe it's a load of 💩🤷 but it's also a good excuse to get intentional about what you want to receive and achieve. So let's celebrate it together in this cacao* journal circle and call on the lion's courage to ask for our boldest desires. 😁

***********
What to Expect:
👋Welcome & Introductions: We'll start by creating a safe and welcoming space with ground rules and a check-in.

☕Intentions & Cacao: Set your intentions as we sip cacao* together.

🧘Meditation & Breathwork: Reconnect to yourself through a brief guided meditation and breathwork session.

✍️Solo Journaling: Dive deep into self-reflection with journal prompts focused on cultivating courage and daring desires.

🥰Sharing Insights: Share your discoveries and next steps with the group, gaining support and encouragement.

💗Closing The Circle: Conclude with a check-out, leaving you feeling heard, uplifted and inspired.

You are welcome exactly as you are.

***********
*Note: You do NOT need to have cacao to participate. Make your favourite drink and enjoy that instead. The power lies in the shared intention and connection.

👉 Comment below if you are interested in joining and I'll share the Zoom link. 🙂 And because the Lion's Gate is all about abundance, I'd love to this to you for FREEEEEEEE 💝

8 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

“You have to think about tech use, the same way you would think about an alcohol or drugs problem. If you’re pursuing a deep life, you need to get the technology monkey off your back.” 🐒 Cal Newport


This quote stopped me in my tracks earlier...

Of course, I don’t know about your relationship with your phone, but I do know about my relationship with my phone.

And I know Cal is speaking from a place of truth! 🙈

If I don’t pay attention to how I use my phone, that tech monkey creeps into my life and sabotages my brain and my day.

It looks like this:

Frequent checking, microscrolling moments, refreshing my emails, deep scrolling rabbit holes and then full on procrastination most likely at bedtime.

It’s not only the impact of the time wasted, it's also the impact it has on my attention and my mood.

And feeling good and feeling focused are actual superpowers when it comes to working on your goals.

This is ESPECIALLY important if you are your own boss, or trying to be.

You know this of course, but do you actually put your phone away when you’re working, or with loved ones? Or is it always within arms reach?

*Looks over at phone, literally in half an arm's reach*.

Relying on yourself to not look at your phone every 26.4 seconds is hard. Putting your phone away in another room so you can’t look at it is relatively easier.

In coaching, we work on habits and beliefs to change behaviour. But sometimes the easiest, most effective thing you can do is get your environment to support you.

This is an invitation for you (and me) to look at your phone, the way an alcoholic might look at a drink and to consider the impact of it being so easily accessible all the time.

1 year ago | [YT] | 2

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

Newsflash! In 99 days we will be in 2024!!! 😱

Think back to the beginning of this year where it was cold and dark and you were still nibbling the leftover Christmas cheese...

267 days have passed since then and my goodness it has flown by.

So now is a good time to take stock. 

Where are you now, versus where did you want to be?

Have you been taking action on your most important goals, or have you been coasting for longer than you wanted to?

Have you been scheduling in fun events and making memories with loved ones, or have you falled into a bit of a routine rut?

What do you want out of 2023? Who do you want to become?

What does that require you to do or do differently?

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

Breaking free from work addiction

I had a few hints from the universe before I left to go on holiday, that I might be overfocusing on work and building my business to the potential detriment of other areas in my life.

After I spent a whole week with the sun, sand and vitamin sea where I didn't work or even THINK about work, I was able to receive the message loud and clear...

📢"Alison! Stop working so much and chill the F out! 📢

I wholeheartedly believe in the power of coaching, creating and development. I find so much joy in it for 1) myself, 2) helping other people and 3) creating a business around it. But I made the mistake of "allowing my ambitions to become intertwined with myself" instead of just being myself and having my work as a part of that.

Oh, and when your business partner is also your life partner...well! Let's just say boundaries are highly necessary and SHOULD be non-negotiable.

One of my core values is freedom. Because I believe I'm only on this Earth once, it's important to me to have the autonomy to do what I want to do and live how I would like to live. Hence one reason for taking the solo holiday in the first place.

What I realised when I was away is that a strong desire for freedom can also mask a need for control. Control to the point where you are trying to re-arrange the universe to make things be how you want them to be which is not how they currently are. For me, this showed up as over-working, maybe even workaholism.

This holiday was a wake-up call for me to relax my inner control freak and let go of the tightly held grip I have on trying to force things into how I want them to be. I will of course still have my goals (personal development geek for life!✌️) but I'm going to release the intensity of my work effort, cultivate more enjoyment in other areas of my life and practice the beauty of surrendering to what is.

[Quote from "Maybe You Should Give Up" - by Byron Morrison]

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

The One Life School - Mindset & Meditations

Imagine what you could achieve, if you could turn work into play? How much more would you get done and how much more fun would it be?

Well unfortunately, we don’t have the magic wand to make that happen just yet, but we can help you with the next best thing…working with others in a fun co-working, power hour smash procrastination session!

Yassss!

If you haven’t been to a co-working session before then you can expect a friendly, informal space where you can turn up, and bring a piece of work you’ve been meaning to do but not quite got around to it - or let’s be honest have been full-on procrastinating!

First we’ll have a coffee chat and set our intentions, then we’ll work on our own projects for 50 minutes and afterwards celebrate our progress together at the end!

These sessions start from Wednesday 30th August and will run every Wednesday at 8-9pm. Comment below to get your Zoom invitation and save your spot. Everyone and all types of work are welcome!

If you have any questions let us know and we’ll look forward to seeing you there!

1 year ago | [YT] | 0