Regular readers will know I always have August off in the UK.   And I use it for zapping tolerations.   I notice from a blog post from mid July last year, that my holiday To Do List had 21 items on it.   This year’s is somewhat shorter which is gratifying in itself. I wonder if there’s a direct correlation between how stressed one is and how long one’s To Do List?   Discuss.

I’ve stolen a march on August this year and started to zap tolerations during July – ha ha!   I’ve already booked my annual oven clean and replaced the oven trays and tea-towels. I replaced a light bulb over the weekend (I’ll do the lot in August) and I’ve had the garden tidied already. There’s the dental hygienist to slot in but she’s appointed, the vet (for the cat not me), repairs throughout the flat, a cull in the filing cabinet, two sets of accounts, more clutter-clearing with a vengeance as I really mean to downshift this summer. Then there’s car cleaning and insurance renewal, a family party on 15th, preparing my workshop for Alternatives in November and holding the fort at T1ME as both Janet & Yvonne take well-deserved time off with their families.

But you can see its a shorter list this year, can’t you, Gentle Reader?   I wonder what that means?    I assume it reflects that I am finally taking some of my own medicine and working less. Goody.

Three Things I am Grateful For:

1. A shorter August holiday To Do List
2. The best summer weather I can ever remember, every day in a sleeveless T-shirt, even in today’s rain
3. Thirty one glorious days to lie in, look after myself and sort out my world – bliss!

Three Things I Intend to Manifest:

1. A fabulous family party on 15th August with dear friends too
2. A clutter-free existence, lighter and less
3. Plenty of free time to do the things I love like reading and writing and snoozing

My favourite books on this topic are Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort & Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach and Simplicity: Easy Ways to Simplify & Enrich Your Life by Elaine St James.   I’ve lent out my copy of the latter and dont think I can bear to be parted yet from my copy of the former, even in the great book cull of 2010!

After a very long, tiring and emotionally exhausting day on Friday, again I got up at 8 a.m. to go to a workshop, making it the second 6-day week on the trot.   Remind me to do less, Gentle Reader, please – I’m a fool to myself.

Although I have owned her book, I have never done Byron Katie’s work before but always knew that one day would be The Day, and Saturday was that day.   I spent the morning hot, uncomfortable, exhausted, dehydrated, a bit grumpy and wishing I was at home in bed, wondering why on earth I had signed up to spend the day underground with no natural daylight.  

But as the morning wore on, Katie despatched in short shrift a man who had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (she’s tough love, alright) and things perked up a tad with a Nurofen. 

Then we had lunch – tuna salad, fruit salad, and a frappucino and I began to feel human again.   I was able to play with my friends during the lunch break and catch up with Sue and get Marie to join us and then the afternoon session began, kerpow – no more whinging, we were into the meat.   Gripping, compelling, edge of seat stuff, applauding and loving the brave people on the stage and their moving stories they surrendered to become healthy again.

Katie worked with a man who had been “thrown out of his father’s house” and not forgiven him and created an impressive turnaround.  Then she worked with an awesome woman who had perhaps THE most dreadful childhood imaginable.   And again, magic was done before our very eyes and an audience of 900 people – at times you could have heard a pin drop, as we sat forward so as not to miss a moment and watched the magic unfold in Katie’s skillful hands.   Not a dry eye in the house, standing room only, each volunteer could have been any one of us.

At some point I realised that I would be running a workshop for Alternatives in November, and although I do not anticipate an audience of 900 or a standing ovation or even that they know who I am before I go on (!), I am excited that I can do good work which will make a difference to peoples’ lives, something Bill Cumming had reminded me the previous Saturday is a core requirement for all of us.

Just another inspirational Saturday, but one in which simple skills were acquired which can be put to profound personal use.   We all need a bit (or even quite a lot) of Byron Katie in our lives.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

1. Loving What Is
2. The opportunity to ponder who I would be without my story, even to drop it
3. Alternatives – toptastic work you guys and it just goes on and on.

Three Things I Intend To Manifest:

1. The best workshop I can possibly deliver for Alternatives
2. More great Mondays and Saturdays spent with all their personal development giants – Srikumar Rao next in September
3. A fun posse to go with, enhancing the day and keeping me in the game when I could have been home in bed!

Read more about Byron Katie at TheWork.com

Last Autumn, I had one of my now customary “brilliant” ideas to set up a group. A Woo Woo group.   I partnered with Bianca, we threw up a website courtesy of Steve and we invited all those we knew who were good at Woo Woo or who might get better at it, given a community in which to practise and thrive.  

And thus, TheCreationExperiment was born.   And now we are at the end of our first academic year, which we celebrated with a party in my garden on top of the three ley lines which are reputed to run beneath Streatham Hill.   Members have come and gone but the core who survive are – alphabetically – Antoinette, Bianca, Carole, Gill, Jakki, Jane, Judith, Karen, Kate, Marie, Marina & Sharon, a delicious dozen. And that seemed reason enough to celebrate.

We started the day doing what we normally do – coffee then lunch round our kitchen table meeting place at Perfect Blend in Clapham. Then at 2.45 we drove in convoy back to my place and had tea and cake and drew up an agenda to pack it all in: BBQ-ing a meaty supper, drinking Pimms, a talk by Sharon, discussing re-shaping our future as a group, an invited expert Jane Puckett of DreamKnowing.com who told us how to use our own dreams as a sort of divine sat nav, and a Blessingway in my Abundance Shed.

It was a fun, entertaining, enlightening and loving afternoon and evening, can’t wait for the next one!   In the middle of the afternoon, my builder appeared who had been re-decorating my Nunhead BTL and the carpet man wanted to quote me and get me to commit. This knock-on stress threatened my equilibrium as people made salads and vodka smoothies in my kitchen.

But trust a bunch of competent women to make short work of the food preparation and washing up – it was still 11.30 by the time I fell exhausted into bed, grateful for a wonderful al fresco evening, grateful for a community of good and loving friends.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:

1. The love and inspiration of a dozen good and Woo Woo women
2. My Abundance Shed and beautiful, large, lush garden which encourages parties al fresco
3. All the things I’ve learned working alongside these women

Three Things I Intend to Manifest:

1. For my part, another great year where TCE grows and grows in the things we learn and create and manifest
2. That we become so abundant that we are able to turn our attention to others and pay it forward
3. Another stonking party this time next year, perhaps in a surprising location, say a seaside hotel anyone?

I’m proud to report there’s a waiting list to be in TheCreationExperiment and I send love to all those who joined and left, thus creating a space for another, or those who were invited and had to refuse because of reasons of focus, geography, or business.   You have all been missed and loved and thought of often. Big Abundant Kisses to you all, in some small way you helped to shape what we have become.

Another wonderful, unique day in the life of an Everyday Entrepreneur. The weather conditions today were blissful for working in the Abundance Shed – sunny and yet breezy. I found myself reflecting often throughout the day and even exclaiming out loud or really seriously delving into the concept and feelings of how lucky I am to work at home, al fresco.

Today was a day of two halves.   It began and ended with coaching – Antonietta, Ntathu, Andre & Mary Ann, one of whom was a no-show so I kept on working anyway.

The other half of the day – Wednesday – was property options day with Ben.   Today we worked on helping two ladies in Leeds make a deal.   Gave Ben three books to take away as part of Project De-Bag (he got the Millennium Trilogy, lucky man, can’t tell you how much I envy him being at the beginning of THAT journey!).   Ben was also very excited that the Pakistani cricket team had got the Aussies out for 88 – did I remember that right?

And a client took away a goodly bunch on her bicycle.   Am really loving seeing these precious books go to good homes.   But I found two I had to keep in her choice – one I borrowed from someone else and must return or get permission to pass on, and the other on running great workshops because I have to do that in November at Alternatives!

Three Things I am grateful for tonight:

1. That all my books are going to good homes, those of book-lovers who will derive pleasure from reading them
2. That I work in The Abundance Shed at the bottom of my garden with the fairies
3. That the good ladies of TheCreationExperiment are going to perform a Blessingway in the aforementioned shed on Friday as part of our summer party in my garden in Streatham Hill on the ley lines

Three things I intend to manifest:

1. A clutter-free life
2. A meadowy garden
3. Peace

At 8 a.m. today, my friend, colleague & client Jane and I set out to visit our properties on the South Coast. Despite buying the first one in 2005, we had neither of us seen any of them.   We were able only to inspect from the outside in St Leonards on Sea, Worthing & Littlehampton and I am happy to report we found them somewhat more pleasing than we had expected.   We rounded the whole day off with a cracking lunch at the seafront East Beach Cafe. If you find yourself in the vicinity, make sure to have the Cherry Eaton Mess.  Yum.

I am anticipating inspecting all three internally over the next three months as each becomes vacant in turn and debating whether one would turn into a nice weekend retreat at the seaside, or whether to option all three becoming a mortgagor for someone who has a deposit account and can demonstrate they are saving for their own home but cannot get a mortgage right now. If that sounds like you, do please get in touch.

Three Things I am grateful for tonight:

1. A day where I only had to think about one thing – the property audit
2. The companionship of a good pal
3. A project planned, undertaken and successfully completed – albeit 5+ years overdue

Three Things I intend to Manifest:

1. To continue to make nice homes available to those who need them where that is within my power
2. An ever-increasingly peaceful life and a long one at that
3. Lots of fun days out with a goal, with laughter and with thoughtful conversation

Three things I am grateful for tonight:

1. The opportunity to re-connect with Angie & Angus after more than a decade
2. Getting rid of a handful of books, beginning the outflow
3. Oddly, receiving a new book – but should be able to recycle it by Friday!

Three things I intend to manifest:

1. A wonderful day tomorrow, doing only one thing – travelling to St Leonards, Worthing & Littlehampton with a lovely friend/client to look at our properties down there, topped off by a reward lunch on the beach.
2. A beautifully tidy garden by the time I return from the seaside run.
3. An affordable quote for new carpets at my Nunhead BTL – they are measuring up tomorrow while I am on the road.

I promise you that today I didn’t work as hard as I often do. Nevertheless, here is a list of what I did do. I list this as part of my preparation for the de-baggaging project, about which more later.   First I begin with awareness. If I know what I am up to, I can elect to do less of it.

Began the week with our usual T1ME team meeting with Janet & Yvonne on DimDim (new, cheaper web conferencing service we are testing out as an alternative to Instant Teleseminar) which makes us all feel rather dim dim as we havent cracked it yet.   Sent out the weekly ezine reminding members of a community call at 8 a.m. tomorrow and a focus day at 2 p.m. on Thursday, talk to Sandra re two new web pages called What’s On and Audio Library.

Paid a couple of bills online and cancelled a duplicate service with Sage Pay which is no longer required (been meaning to do that one for ages), £23.50 pcm saved + one more bank entry saved each month and the toleration busted.

Sent more money to Cyprus online for the syndicate I am managing which invests in gold.  Talked to at least three investors who want to invest more and two friends who I dont want to miss out, confirmed an appointment to meet someone on Thursday to discuss his getting in on it too, talked to one of my IFAs who had a brilliant idea how he can use it with his contacts.   I didn’t understand where he was coming from, it seemed to me he wanted to complicate something which is blissfully simple, however I can connect him to one of the team behind it when the second chap returns from holiday on 27/7.   It was too hot to bend my mind to trying to understand his concept though.

Dealt with responses via Facebook & Twitter to my plans to divest myself of all my books and was obliged to allow a spontaneous visit from two local pals who were clients in my old accounting days. They love books and wanted first dibs. Although it was a hectic day, I allowed this because the husband has been rather poorly and books will cheer him up. I know he and I share a taste for whodunnits and I had a few of those he fell upon. Their visit was short as he tires easily.   But the outflow of clutter has begun, hallelujah.

I receive and reply and allow comment on yesterday’s blog post about my new plans, both encouraging, one setting up a dialogue which runs throughout the afternoon on email.

I connected very briefly with Marion of the OnlineBusinessGym about the shape of my new blogsite to reflect this change of direction, despite the fact that we have an appointment to do this on Thursday; I cannot wait and M is patient with me and it is but a few moments on Skype.

Worked with a coaching client in Riyadh for an hour, also on Skype.

Talk on email throughout the day with Sharon re Project De-Bag as it is now called, about which more later.   Sharon agrees to help me work out ebay so I can sell three old laptops, one of which is tiny but pristine. Sales proceeds should fund purchase of ipad.

I support Andre by tweeting and RT’ing his promotional tweets for his telesummit which begins today. If you are a health professional who could use a fuller practice, check this out.

Received an email from Jack, the lovely chap who waters my garden, he popped up at lunchtime and gave it a good soaking. Also negotiated with Nick, the gardener, to come and do some weeding tomorrow so the garden looks glam for the Creation Experiment Summer party here on Friday afternoon this week.   Just remembered, I promised to pay Jack online, I will go and do that now.   Done.

Sent out 3 tweets, strange… that felt like more.   Kept abreast of what was going on on Facebook. Thinking this latter one is probably a waste of my time and may get the chop in the upcoming Project De-Bag.

Receive a new book in the post, read the first 81 pages of it – some by lying down on the sofa mid-afternoon. It’s called Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields, as recommended to me by Nicola Cairncross during her visit to me last Thursday.

Went to order some new clothes online in response to the summer sale brochure from Lands End which arrived in the lunchtime post until I realised that I am trying to get rid of stuff not acquire more, so cancelled order before completing.

In the same spirit, I modified online my order for my ipad by deleting some of the desired accessories. Still havent placed my order on the Apple Store but have stored it for future spend. Checked with computer man when he’s getting married to ensure its not in the middle of my intended delivery/initiation; also dealing with a handheld device malfunction with him and liaising between him and Sandra on my web email address which seems to have stopped working when we moved servers weeks back.   If you have emailed and not received a reply, please accept my apologies, that’s the reason and it ain’t fixed yet.

Contemplated going paperless with banks and service providers. Accountants like a nice invoice to file but all this outmoded filing of paper and lever arch files has to cease if I am to be truly free and de-baggaged.

Made some final-ish tweaking plans with Bianca for the Creation Experiment summer party on Friday. We have two lovely women on our Waiting List now to become members of our monthly Woo Woo group.

Made an egg sandwich for lunch.   Devoured same in The Abundance Shed whilst continuing to work.

Hooked up with someone called Paul Kemp, who I like the look of; he does squeeze pages and marketing via mobile telephones. He’s a Brit and fresh and new to me and I like his marketing but non-sales-y approach. We exchange emails and Skype names and agree to speak.

I connect online with two renewed contacts, courtesy of Tom Evans as he follows up on our meeting of Friday: Chantal Cornelius of Passion for the Planet re my desire to have my own internet radio show/station on T1ME, and Christine Miller of Resource magazine in connection with our proposed publishing arm.   Set up 3-way Skype meeting on 5th August with Tom and Janet to get going on writing our first T1ME book. Things move fast when you work with Tom Evans.

Coach a handful of clients by email, a couple of them specifically on property issues, the rest on celebrating unexpected and delightful synchronicities, those everyday occurrences in the life of a coach.

Decide against holidaying in France for two weeks in September; let best friend down gently by email to somewhat distressed response.   I’ve spent two days looking for somewhere to stay with no avail and anyway September is not a good time for me to be away.   I would rather have a month off at Christmas-time.

Email my property lawyer about optioning my entire portfolio. Field a call from a potential seller in Leeds who I am helping to work with a tenant-buyer so both parties can do a deal. Invited her to call again on Wednesday when property lawyer is with me.

Picked up a handful of phone calls, receive over 180 emails and respond to about 100 of them, deleting the rest.   Must slash that by 50% in Project De-Bag. At least.

Make supper and eat while watching an elderly episode of Top Gear on iplayer, the one where James May drives his truck up the Icelandic volcano which caused so much trouble in April.

Realise that Project De-Bag will require not just the ridding of mortgages, loans, debts, properties (on options perhaps), books, photos, clutter, excess, companies, bank accounts, files, old computers but also the reduction of emails, commitments, body weight, shoes, clothes, busyness, paperworking, filing, not buying things, snail mail, URLs, whilst intending to only do one thing at once, i.e. stop multi-tasking and saying NO more.   You can see why.   And I am sure this list will grow and grow until there is literally nothing left to cull.

As I said, just another manic Monday but due to the heat, I probably was only firing on about three quarters of my cylinders, possibly even slightly less.   Am somewhat shocked that, as one of my correspondents lets me know today,  John Reese has got his baggage in the world down to one backpack and a laptop.   I am just heartbeats behind this great man – read his story of de-baggaging here.

Bill Cumming gave me his business card.   It not only contains the most precise definition of the word Namaste I have ever read, see below, but it carries with it this promise…   If I ever find myself in need of food and/or shelter, and Bill has it in his power to give me either or both, I only have to rock up at his place in Maine and they are mine.   How lovely!   How Abundant!

Bill holds everyone in high personal regard; in fact he currently holds over 6.5 million people in his heart.   What a guy. Check out The Boothby Institute for more on Bill, especially his programme “What One Person Can Do”.   He believes – as do I now – that if we each held each other in that place of unconditional love, high regard and Namaste, that the world’s problems would be over – that’s poverty, homelessness, hunger and fiscal meltdown to name but four.

Namaste a la Bill Cumming:

“I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honour the place in you of love, of light, of truth and of peace. When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.”

There’s a goal.

Bill also shared these Brahmaviharas:

• May you be safe and protected
• May you be happy and peaceful at heart
• May you be healthy and strong
• May you have ease of well being
• May you be free from suffering
• May your happiness and success always continue
• All beings happiness and suffering depends on their actions, not on my wishes for them

I was working with Tom Evans, the Bookwright, on Friday and, between us, we came up with lots of brilliant ideas or lightbulb moments as Tom calls them on his Tweet about the session.

We also came up with a new category for my blog called Three Things in which I will state three things I am grateful to have received and three things I intend to create, so that in effect I am manifesting my dream life in real time.   Tom said it would be useful if I could use the language which relates to three different chakras or “minds” i.e. I want (gut), I love (heart) and I think/believe (brain) at least I think that’s what he said!    I will use that format until he corrects me by comment below.

So, here goes with my first entry.

Three things I am grateful for tonight:

1. The chance to spend four hours with Tom on Friday, just playing Woo Woo, creating new stuff.
2. Being a guest yesterday at a talk by Bill Cumming, “Mr Unconditional Love” as Marie Taylor calls him.
3. That today I was completely alone; I love the luxury of a day to my own peaceful thoughts which I am especially enjoying right now on a gorgeous summer’s evening.   And I’d like more of those please.

And three things which I intend to manifest:

1. I want to be entirely debt free both, both good and bad, by 31st March 2011.
2. I’d love to have one million pounds cash in the bank by 31st July 2011.
3. I believe I know how I’m going to do both of those and I will let you watch me do it here, in real time,  as it happens.

The story doesn’t end there.

Inspired by some work I’ve been doing with one of my clients, Sharon, on her own property business, on creating the banking arm of TheMillionEntrepreneurs and other matters arising, I received this thought in an email from Sharon dated 16th July passing on a concept from Stuart Wilde, one of her favoured gurus: “He recommends de baggaging yourself.  Once you are free you can hear the true call.  He recommends getting rid of mortgages, loans, houses, shares, ideas, books, clutter, and not to worry about the consequences. 

Sharon goes on to say she thinks it is easier said than done. On reflection, I don’t agree. I think it will be easy to do and I propose to begin immediately.

I have been formulating thoughts ever since that email, during the session with Tom on Friday and the day with Bill & Marie yesterday and in my dreams about how to do this.   I have financial plans in train which may take up to a year to put me in a place where I have tiny overheads and they are all met by income from my property portfolio.

So that would clear out all my mortgages, loans, credit cards and a lot of financial transactions.

I believe I can streamline my five UK limited companies into just one IBC (international business corporation).    The number of transactions, the number of bank accounts and requirement for accounting will accordingly be cut by about 80%, ditto paperwork.

Any financial worries or concerns will completely disappear – actually they have already started to dissipate big time.

Those who know me will also know that I am minimalist, I dont believe in clutter. Yet even I could get rid of more of Stuart Wilde’s “baggage” in the form of books, photos, files of old paperwork and a couple of crates of work materials.  My new ipad will completely replace the need for books or bookshelves for me, scanning can probably take account of all the rest of the storage.

So creating a new life of less and total freedom to just get up every day and serve is my new focus.   Over the coming weeks I will be re-vamping this blog to reflect my new way of operating in the world.

Today I was looking forward to having lunch al fresco with a few property chums.   B, my property lawyer, appeared as usual except unusually – uniquely – he was on his bike!   S appeared waving some strawberries and delicious yoghurt.   So I bundled them in the car and took them off to Starbucks for the first part of our meeting.

We made it home for 12 noon and I set them to work preparing lunch for our special guest.   We laughed as S hulled the strawberries and B chopped the salad that this is our work, making lunch for other property investing chums.

Our guest of honour turned up with a bottle of Piper Heidsieck, the ever-abundant Peter Stanley, and I realise as I write this I forgot to tell him I had toured the Piper Heidsieck champagne house in Rheims once.   So we put the bottle on ice while we got ourselves organised for lunch.

We had a 3.5 hour catch up, discussing deals, swapping property ideas. S is thinking of selling/optioning her entire portfolio, as am I, and Peter is acquiring more. B was advising us all.   Fabulous, even though we had to take evasive action from the rain, over coffee, and flee indoors.   We toughed it out for as long as we could.

A second Peter W, my builder, appeared in time to join us for coffee and he and I drove over to Nunhead, dropping Peter S at Brixton tube station en route, to where E, my tenant for four years (FOUR YEARS!), was vacating today.   E now has two babies and has qualified for council housing nearby at half the cost of my 1.5 bed flat.   She is chuffed as she can keep her children in the same good local school and also with  the same child-minder.  

She’s spent the four years studying and is going to University to become a social worker.    I really couldn’t be happier for her (and quite proud, if I’m honest) and at the same time I was also keen to get my hands on the flat as I know it needs some TLC.

Peter is now going to re-decorate it so a new tenant can move in.   I had already spoken earlier to my third Peter of the day, Perky Pete, my keen-as-mustard estate agent, and he’s lining up a couple of people he thinks might like the flat once Peter has worked his magic on the place which was looking a bit sad, to be honest.   E and I parted as chums; she has been a good and loyal tenant and she expressed that felt the same way about me as a landlady.   Aah.

And then I shocked Peter by popping into the carpet shop on the way home at 5 p.m. and ordering a man to measure up on Tuesday with a view to laying a week on Monday just in time for a happy new tenant to enjoy a happy new home, all fresh and new.   No point in letting the grass grow.

That’s one of the unexpected joys of being a landady and I know many won’t agree with me.   But it’s making a lovely peaceful new home/sanctuary available to someone who needs one.  

So, I have advanced £500 tonight online for building materials and a new era begins for my first ever BTL.