The Common Theme...

Has anyone else had that 'Oh my God it's February already' moment? Well I and a few of my friends have. It seems that 2016 is racing away and so many people I know are experiencing a similar feeling in life. They have usually known what they want to do or where they want to go but not this time. For this reason, and my need to reflect and re-evaluate, I took a week and a half off work. Over the last few days I have had some holiday time, friends time and me time. It was brilliant, yet when I talked to people about the fact I was taking time to think about what I want to do in the coming years and decades they all responded with the same thing. 'For the first time ever, I don't know where I am going.' Obviously this got me thinking. That tied in with reading The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer. The question becomes do we have to know what we want to do or where we want to go? According to Michael life knows best and when you surrender life takes its natural course. When I say natural course, one does not sit waiting for things to happen, instead one dances with life. You notice the clues, you follow your inner desire to do something or learn something or even go somewhere. In a way you work symbiotically with life rather than saying 'hey life - here are the keys to my car - you drive'. It is more of a case of right 'we are in the car, where do you want to go and what do you need me to do?' Personally I like this idea, it does not mean that you hand over your power but it does stop a person controlling and forcing life. One of my friend's great sayings is row with the river rather than against it. I don't know about you, but the times I rowed against the river resulted in my biggest struggles in life. It wasn't fun and life kindly evicted me from all that did not suit me by making me redundant, removing my relationship and breaking my car - all in a day. Thank you life.

So today, and don't think I am bragging, I spent the day at a spa. I have a spa jar and put a twenty in each week for reward and luxuriating. This is the reward for completing my Ocean Callings book on audio. Anyway, as life would have it I ended up meeting some rather interesting people at the spa. It always happens and they always have a story to tell. So I mentioned the fact I was being reflective and not knowing which direction to travel in on my fresh new journey and each had some advice because all had shifted their direction.

The first lady said she knew it was time for a change when she sat at her desk and felt taken forgranted. All her passion drained out of her and in that moment she decided to re-train. She now runs her own business as a holistic healer. Lovely lady with a real spark in her eye. She said when the passion dies take it as a sign!

The second lady I talked to had worked in the shipping industry and she loved it yet she reached a plateau and did not know her way forwards. She sat at her desk and felt her passion had gone (notice the common theme) it was then she said to herself I can't do this anymore. Within a month she had handed in her notice. Three years later she is a top dog breeder and shows her dogs at Crufts dog show. She said she is the happiest she has ever been. She said the trigger point for her was when she did not know her way forward. She just had to wait until the curtain was drawn back to reveal where she was going.

The third lady also worked in corporate. She had that sense of malaise and boredom. She just kept going until she had her end of year appraisal and again she was triggered by not being valued. After twenty one years of giving it her all she was taken for granted. She was graded low, even though she had achieved great things. So when she was given her compensation review she was shocked by how little they valued her work. Please note that in her working environment she gauged how well she did by how much bonus and pay rise she received. To say that it was next to nothing was an understatement; however, the office arse-licker, who took credit for other peoples work, received five times her bonus. What made it worse was he had used her work to get that bonus... Fair? Rage? Really? So this lady handed in her notice and guess what happened? The corporation tried not to pay her miniscule bonus. That is after twenty one years of working for the institution. She had to revoke her resignation to get the money and then re-submit it. This, as I said before, was after dedicating twenty one years of her life to a company. So she is now retired, retrained as a proof reader and is doing what she loves: proof reading.

So my little rest and reflection provided some great insights. After this I had a rest and day dreamed. In that time seven new book ideas emerged into my consciousness. I have to say I am so excited and can feel the passion flowing once again. What's more, I have just completed the draft on my recent book about Money. It is so satisfying to know that you can contribute something to the world rather than take from it. I hope the above has given you some insight. Also, as I like to share writing prompts, there are a few below that may inspire you to get in touch with your unconscious.

Use the prompt and write and write until you can't write anymore.

In the next year I would love to....
In the next year I intend to work as...
In the next year I intend to make the following changes...

You can find my books at the following link: Ruby Allure books on Audible:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

 

 

 

AUDIBLE BOOK AVAILABLE HERE:

 

LINK TO BUY ON AUDIBLE:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/A-Short-Course-In-Creative-Writing-Audiobook/B012OVUKE8/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1443260320&sr=1-1

 

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A Short Course in Creative Writing
by Ms Ruby Allure
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When Do You Have Your Best Ideas?

When do your have your best ideas?

 

So let me ask you a question: where do you have your best ideas? We were asked this specific question on the dynamic problem solving, lateral thinking and strategic thinking courses. Well this question made me think about thinking…

 

What was interesting was the responses were quite varied and included:

 

·         In the bath
·         In the shower
·         At the gym
·         When I get up in the morning
·         When I go to bed
·         When I am day dreaming
·         When walking the dog
·         Whilst doing the cleaning
·         Whilst gardening
·         When doing a headstand

Do you notice anything? Hmmmmm? I think it is obvious… Okay I will let you know. No one said ‘yes well actually my best ideas come from sitting at the desk.’ Now I am not suggesting we bathe or shower at the desk or even take the dog for a walk around the office. The point is that sometimes you have to change environment to enable you to shift perspective in your thinking. Most offices have gathering areas, atriums or ‘special areas.’  If not then sometimes simply getting up and moving generates ideas too.  Please no shimmying by the coffee machine.

 

 

 

So why is it so important to consider where our ideas come from? Well many companies encourage innovative thinking and some companies have Innovation awards. Innovation is so important because it is through innovation that companies and business progress.  What we see within our business environment on a daily basis isn’t always obvious to those who are not involved. There will always be challenges and situations to fix, so surely finding an easy way to generate ideas would be useful.

 

So here are some top tips for generating ideas:

·         Change environment.
·         Get a group together. The more diverse the group the more experience can be used to idea generate problem solving ideas.
·         Set the target of ‘ridiculous’ and work backwards. By going to the outer mental limit of ridiculous you can then expand your mental boundaries.
·         Make mind maps and enable tenuous links.
·         Work on the ideal outcome. Imagine being at the perfect outcome and work backwards to the problem.
·         Take a view of the valley. This means that when we are in the problem we can’t see the wood for the trees. Attempt to shift perspectives and look at the ‘valley’ from a removed  and objective perspective.
·         Find people who have completely fresh eyes and ask them to ask questions.
·         The post it race. Set the problem, give out post its and get the ideas down in a fast and furious way. GO!
·         Finally utilise a writing prompt within a group. This is when a group of people write as fast as they can without thinking or analysing. The prompt could be:
·          The best way to solve _______________ is to _________________________.

Allow two minutes to ‘free write.’

After that try the following prompt:

A less obvious way to solve___________ is to________________________

When you have your answers each person can read out the ideas and an idea inventory can be compiled for evaluation.

 

Ruby Allure's latest release on audio:

 

  

LINK TO AUDIBLE FOR LOVE HUNT http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srTtl?qid=1442567974&sr=1-4

Come on admit it - as much as we deny it - we ladies like a good love hunt.
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.
Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their "targets" are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?

TO LISTEN TO SOME SAMPLE CHAPTERS FOR FREE - YES FREE!

 

TO LISTEN - SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/lovehunt1-sample

 

CHAPTER 1 On SOUND CLOUD http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1442774344&sr=1-2

 

CHAPTER 2 ON SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/02-lovehunt1-ch02

CHAPTER 3 ON SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/03-lovehunt1-ch03


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