And so we come to the last Thought for the week of 2009. I trust you have learnt many things along the way as I have.

Thanks for being on this journey with me.

Wishing you your most successful, action filled, courageous year yet!

Love Life, Not Stuff 

We’re in love with stuff — with shopping, with acquiring, with owning, with collecting. 

Let’s lust after life instead. 

Our obsession with stuff has become unhealthy.

When we have a void in our lives, we buy things.

When we have problems, we buy things.

And these things are becoming more and more expensive, bigger, shinier … more wasteful. 

This obsession with stuff leads to owning a lot, having a lot of clutter … and yet this stuff doesn’t fill our lives with meaning. 

We buy things when we’re depressed, we buy things for others to show how much we love them …

and in this way, stuff has separated us from actually dealing with our emotions, blocked us from truly connecting with others. 

Let’s replace that lust for stuff with a lust for life. 

Some ideas:

• Rediscover a passion for life. Get outside and feel nature, appreciate the beauty of the world around you.
• Get active, do some gardening or yard work, play a sport, go for a walk, take a hike, go for a swim, ride a bike.      

     Feel the life coursing through you. Breathe it in.

• Give experiences as gifts, not stuff.

      Instead of shopping for someone come birthdays or Christmas, think of an experience you can give them instead.      

• A date with you, doing something fun, hanging out, cooking, playing, talking, exploring.      
• A fun time at a park or beach.
• Something other than everyday.

An experience is much more meaningful than an object.

• Connect with others.
• In real life. If you haven’t hung out with a friend recently, give him a call and go hang out.
•  Get your kid away from the TV or video game player and take her outside to do something.            
• Go on a date with your partner. Visit your mom or grandparents.  And be present while you’re with them — really listen, really be there.

• Deal with your emotions. If you have a need to buy things, to shop when you are having emotional issues, be more aware of this.

      Then deal with the underlying emotions, rather than using shopping as a way to forget about them.      

• If you’re depressed, or anxious, or lonely, deal with those.
• Find solutions; figure out what’s causing them.      
• Good news: experiencing life, getting active, and connecting with others all help you deal with those emotional issues.
• Disconnect your attachment to stuff. Sometimes I find myself reluctant to give something up, even if I don’t really use it.

      And that’s when I ask myself, “Why? What is holding me back from getting rid of this possession?”     

      Sometimes, the item has an emotional connection, but then I realize that it’s just an object, it’s not the emotion or the actual source of the emotion.     

      Then I’ll take a picture of the item, upload it to my computer, and get rid of the object.     

      I feel liberated, because I’ve broken an attachment to a physical object (but saved the memory).     

If you are attached to an object, figure out why — it’s not healthy in the long run.

Realize that life, not stuff, is what matters.

      Objects are just objects — if you lose them, if they get stolen or destroyed … it’s not a big deal. They’re just objects — not your life.      

Your life is the series of moments that is steaming through your consciousness right now,      

and how you use those moments and what you fill them with is what truly matters, not what you fill your home with.     

At the end of this short journey, you’ll look back and remember your experiences, the people you loved and who loved you.

I wish you a very, very happy Christmas and a truly wonder-full joy-filled New Year.

December 2009: Old year/New Year

Hi there, 

With 2009 drawing to an end, I would like to thank all my clients, old and new,

for your continued support over the past twelve months.

Here’s wishing you and your families only happiness, health and wealth in 2010! 

It has been a privilege and I consider myself deeply blessed to have worked with you.

To have been able to see you grow, change and blossom into the person you were truly meant to be.  

Some of you have grown and flown, which is wonderful and I celebrate with you.

I invite you to come back once in a while for maintenance as your body, mind and soul are always in need of de-stressing and keeping in balance. You will be able to feel relaxed, revitalized and in balance again. 

2009 has been a great year for JuShele (and me) as we have both grown in strength.

Thank you all for making this possible.  

If I haven't seen you in a while, I trust we will meet again soon.  

Travel safely and Happy Holidays!!!

Much love, Michele 

As this is the last news letter for 2009, I suggest you grab yourself a glass of wine/tea, gather your friends round (or do it on your own) and today answer the following: 

1.    What are you MOST proud of this year?

2.    What is the most powerful thing you have learnt in 2009?

3.    Complete this sentence: I will remember 2009 as the year of……..

4.    What was your big leap in 2009?

5.    Complete this sentence: For me, 2010 will be the year of…….?

6.    Set an intention: What are your big leaps for 2010?

7.    By January 1st 2011, what do you want to have created/achieved and how do you want to feel?

8.    What three baby steps do you need to take to be who you want to be in 2010?

9.    If you had to create a daily practice to keep you focused and inspired, what would it look like?

Build Quality Into Your House (Author Unknown) 

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire.

He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family.

He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. 

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.

The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work.

He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. 

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. 

"This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." 

What a shock! What a shame!

If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well. 

So it is with us.

We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less  than the best.

At important points we do not give the job our best effort. 

Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built.

If we had realized, we would have done it differently. 

Think of yourself as the carpenter.

Think of your life as the house.

Each day you hammer a nail, place a board or erect a wall, build wisely. 

It is the only life you will ever build. 

Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. 

The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project, do it to the best of your ability." 

Wishing you a future of building wisely, consciously and to the best of your ability!

You Hold the Keys to Your Happiness (© Max Stein) 

You alone have the responsibility to shape your life.
Nothing and no one can deny you greatness once you understand this.

There's no one to stop you but yourself. 

No one can cheat you out of ultimate success or happiness but you.
The power to succeed or fail is yours alone.  

More powerful then all the success slogans ever written
is the realization that everyone has but one boss.
That boss is you. 

Life will always be to a large extent what you make it. 

Wishing you a “making it” week!

Congratulations to: 

Tanya Veldman 

who has won a 30 minute Auyvedic foot massage !!! 

JuShele 

Michele Mollentz: 083 377 3780

michele@jushele.co.za

www.jushele.co.za  

To qualify for the monthly draw, you need to have received any one treatment in the previous 12 months 

Wishing you a blessed month