I went to a Business Chicks breakfast recently and the speaker was Anne McKevitt. If you don’t know of Anne, here is a short summary of her story.As a 15 year old, Anne left working class Scotland to become hair stylist to the stars in London. After surviving a horrific car accident she was told she wouldn’t walk again, that is, until Linda & Paul McCartnery sponsored alternative rehab and she made a full recovery. She then began a globally, successful interior design, property development and homewares business which included TV series, books, and lifestyle products (think a UK version of Martha Stewart, without the time in jail!). She now heads up 22 businesses, is on Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative, and leads a number of social and humanitarian projects. You can read more of her story here.

She is a success by anyone’s yardstick. So how did she do it? The answer is simpler than you might think - She believed she could.

Anne asked two important questions of her audience at the breakfast. The first question was, Where is your line between possible and impossible? Most people, she said, have a line. Unlike most people, Anne does not. She believes the impossible is possible. Where do you draw your line? How do you hold yourself back? Can you achieve more than you think?

Anne’s second important question was, When was the last time you tried something new? Most of us take the same route to work, have our coffee the same way every morning, and brush our teeth the same way every night before bed. We are creatures of habit. Rituals and regularity are, of course, beneficial. Without them, life can be chaotic. But sometimes we need to extend beyond our comfort zone by pushing and challenging ourselves to try something new.

So this month, we challenge you to try something new. Order a chai latte instead of a cappuccino. Get on your bike instead of driving to work. Start yoga, pilates, scrap booking, mosaics, Taekundo, archery - anything! And see what it feels like to do something new.

Dance as though no one is watching you,
Love as though you have never been hurt before,
Sing as though no one can hear you,
Love as though heaven is on earth.

Souza

I have this on a fridge magnet at home and it seems to me that this is a good philosophy for parents to follow.

Our children need us to be able to spontaneously join in their imaginative play, to be able to sing and dance without embarrassment and to love them unconditionally.

At playgroup we always finish with a group song time and it is clear that singing is no longer part of the Australian culture - we have become observers or listeners to professionals, but we don’t feel comfortable singing in public.

Children love to hear their parents’ voices close to them, singing a lullaby or having fun singing a silly song.
They learn how to use their voices in different ways and increase their vocabulary.
Songs can tell a story, calm a child, move a child from one experience to another, make children want to get up and dance and encourage counting.

But best of all they can be fun and a shared family experience - so sing as though no one can hear you.

Judyth Roberts
Seaton Central