What is it about Sendai?

It was both an easy decision, and a difficult one to decide to move here.

I knew I’d be leaving my friends, job, and beautiful room back in Tokyo, as well as distancing myself further from my wonderful family back in sunny old England.

Remix Camp

A few weeks ago I went on Lifehouse’s Remix Youth Camp, with people from Tokyo and Miyagi.

It was awesome! We went to Nagano, right up into the mountains. I’m a city girl so it was kind of a new experience for me.

I met old friends

Met new ones, Got freaked out by insects, and had a crazy great time.

It was a great chance to connect, meet new people and get great advice and love from our leaders.

I’m amazed by the great hearts of the people.

What was your best summer memory?

An Invitation

Easter is coming!

It’s the biggest event of the Christian yearly calender and there is no way you should miss it!

What does it involve?

Chocolate, friends, church and the most inspiring story you’ve ever heard in your life!

If you want to know about what Easter is really about, please click on the link below, and find your nearest Jesus Lifehouse!

And even better news…

If you can’t come, you can watch it on-line!

Whatever you do, don’t miss out on the biggest celebration of the year.

What does Easter mean to you?

It’s a New Day

It’s a New Life!

These are the opening words to one of my favourite songs.

I have been unable to post for a little while (sorry about that) but now I am back up and running!

Ok, the big news…

I moved to Sendai!

It’s a beautiful city with a wonderful heart. The people here are great, and I want to explore the whole town!

So the topic today?

Seize the Day

There are so many opportunities that come our way. It’s hard to just really figure out what to do. Do we turn left, right, go straight, make a U-turn… one thing is for sure, without making any decisions, we are just parked (Or, if like me you can’t drive, then standing still).

When someone gives you an opportunity, make a decision! whether it’s yes or no, make it not just a choice but a direction that you want to go in.

It could be a job opportunity, a date or just an invitation to a party, but think about where this decision will take you.

Do you want this type of job? will it take you to the career you truly want?

Do you like this person? Do you see yourself getting any further than just dating?

Is this party with people you like? Will it be a great opportunity to meet like-minded people?

If the answer to any of these questions is “No“, then of course the choice is obvious.

But when the answer is “Yes“, then don’t be afraid to grab hold of the opportunity and follow it to wherever it takes you.

What choices will you make today? Where will they take you?

Perfect Vision

What is your vision type?

There are 3 types of “vision” that I’m aware of.

A personal vision.

This is where you have a goal for yourself. It will help you, make you better skilled, and it’s something you love. And it’s all for you alone.

Others oriented vision.

This is something you want to do for someone else. Either you decided to do it for them, or they requested it of you. It has very little to do with personal vision.

A bigger picture vision.

This is a vision that incorporates your talents, gifts and a love of other people. It is one in which you seek to change yourself for the better, help others and make a difference in the world.

None of the three types of vision are bad, but which one are you aiming for?

What’s your vision?

The Right Balance

I grew up in an amazing family, and no matter what mistakes I made, they loved me. They also loved me enough to tell me off!

A good balance is essential to a good upbringing. Discipline corrects you when you are wrong and love constantly surrounds you.

My surrogate sister here in Japan, She always tells me when I need to change my attitude!

It’s not only the same for raising children, but for any good relationship.

With friends, colleagues, your partner or anyone with whom you have regular contact, we need to be strong enough to tell each other what we feel and what is right, whether it’s “I love you”, “I want to hang out”, “What are you doing after work?” or ( at the other end) “Please don’t gossip”,  “Take it easy”, or “You didn’t send that fax yesterday”.

What attitude do you have?

Is it an attitude of thinking of other people?

Or one of thinking of how you want them to be for your own sake?

This book on having a great attitude is available to buy, click on this link!

Lights… Camera… Action!

Why is it so easy to sit back and do nothing when what we should be doing is obvious.

Everyone has something they want to do in their lives, whether for an immediate goal or for a long-term future plan. But not everyone is taking the action that they need to in order to achieve that goal.

Your goal may be to get your dream job, to find a partner, to have children, to do more with your life, or even something more general like get into a routine at home.

Whatever you want to do, sitting at home on the sofa is not going to help you achieve it. Unless your goal is to gain weight while vegetating, in which case I’ll say congratualtions. As for the rest of us, we need to get ourselves into gear.

You want a job? Get ready for it by getting educated, or reading up on it, or volunteering in an area related to it. Employers like people who are pro-active.

If you want a partner, well then you need to start talking to members of the opposite sex, or spending more time with the person you like. Sitting back and watching from afar only means waiting for another persons love story to unfold in front of your eyes.

If you want children, then spend some time with kids, get ready for when you do become a parent.

The idea isn’t to do some big drastic gesture, it’s just to take one small step off the starting block, followed by another, and hopefully another.

What action do you need to take next?

Confidence

Why is it so easy to focus on what we can’t do, instead of focusing on what we can.

growing more confident everyday

I’ve recently realized that in things that I have confidence in, there is no question, worry or doubt. But the things I don’t have confidence in tend to stop me from taking action.

Recently I’ve been taking action in areas that I used to hold back a lot, and finding that even if there isn’t success, there is reward!

I love red, it’s a great color, but I used to never have the confidence to wear anything but black. Now I’m good with wearing any color of the rainbow! (except yellow or orange, I just don’t like to wear those).

What are you holding back from?

The gifts we give.

How to be gifted;

Very few people on this world are born with a talent that will exceed everybody else. But everyone has the ability to become amazingly gifted in something.

Here are some tips;

1. Find your passion
What do you love, could you spend all day doing it?
I love so many things. How could I possibly narrow that down?

2. Bring your passion into your current skill set.
What are you naturally gifted at?
– write it down.
I can write well (I hope you agree if you’re reading this) and teach well.

What could you be paid for?
Well, I’m already paid for teaching… Yay!
But not yet for writing.

Where those three areas overlap is where we find how to achieve our vision for the future.

But here’s the catch:
We can make our plans we can’t determine our path in life.
Plans change. We need to make sure that we are listening to the right people and choosing to listen to the right advice.

Still, we can’t plan every step of our future.

What is your passion and vision?

…Try, Try Again!

If at first you don’t succeed… try, try again!

It’s the same for things you don’t like! I sometime get way to set in my ways, but I’ve been helped to realize many times recently that I shouldn’t be so hung up!

Three examples.

1. Vinegar. Once I realized that the taste made me feel sick, I just avoided all dressings, sauces and anything that might possibly have vinegar. Recently I had a great salad with Thai dressing, it had a lot of vinegar in it but after trying it, I loved it. I decided to try things with vinegar in from then on.

2. Coffee. This week I tried coffee twice.  The first time was very strong black Italian coffee, I didn’t hate it as I usually do, but it was way too strong and bitter for me. And tonight I tried vanilla caffè latte (I think). And I loved it! Even my mum and sister were surprised after I posted on Facebook and Twitter about it.

   

3. Church. My whole life I was prejudiced against it.

   Thinking it was boring and quiet and only strange people who shout at you in the street go there. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I found Jesus Lifehouse so surprisingly active, loud and full of bright people who actually listened to what I had to say. I was so overwhelmed that I’d decided never to go back. Eventually I did, my prejudice was overcome, and now I love going!

So what are you being too stubborn to try again?
Relationships?
Church?
Coffee?