• recycling more
• walking more with the dogs
• eating more plant-based meals 
• planting a veggie garden
• getting your grey water onto your garden
• meeting more professional goals
• growing your brand from your heart
• sharing your creativity and vulnerablity

Choose to be an encourager this year.
Choose kindness this year.
Choose to be light in this ever-increasingly dark time.
Choose to listen to your heart's calling. 

My bullet journal has given me an outlet for my creativity, it allows me to stay organised and yet flexible and spontaneous, I can schedule in some me-time and things to look forward to and keep me going.

I track my personal habits, passion projects and write down any ideas for a poem or words that I read and love and want to keep as a reminder or for inspiration.

My life has never been very organised or structured and as a creative personality with a mind that is constantly day-dreaming and wondering, wondering, wandering.... The bullet journal system has given me a structured space to set out my days and plan them individually, and in chunks of a week and then month, year, etc.




One of my big motivations is to always be challenging myself, and learning, being open to new paths and directions. So it is also a challenge then to stick to one path, one direction for a period of time. I tend to get bored and lethargic and my creativity will stop flowing. So the bullet journal has allowed me to challenge my creativity by setting a deadline to a project and then being able to also give myself time to wander off into unexplored ideas and worlds... with the time I have cultivated through time management. There is space (as much space as you want to give) for tracking progress through bar graphs, charts or stickers to represent progress made. Having a system of keeping myself accountable, by making it easy and visual for me to see the progress and by challenging myself to not miss a day and then "break the chain" of ticks/ stickers/ blocks, etc... I have found a way that works for me in creating routine.

My bullet journal is planned yet not restrictive. I give myself enough space to still have some time for doing something unscheduled and instant, while realizing that I will never meet project deadlines or get anywhere work going without having a few hours that I make sure to get in each day.



A bullet journal will help with:

-tracking productivity
-tracking progress: fitness/ passion projects/ books read/ diets/ medication
-tracking mood, energy levels, concentration levels
-keeping you organised for easily booking appointments
-remembering what needs to be done each day
-building routine
-cultivating a sense of self-determination






For a bullet journal, simply select a blank paper notebook and follow your own heart with designs and systems.. there are so many to choose from. You can create your own that hasn't been documented online, or if you are inspired by someone else's, use theirs.. The online community of bullet journal users are super friendly and encouraging.

But remember... Planning should be the end result. You plan to DO. Planning should be the place to begin, but don't let it end there!


Having a bullet journal will help you to begin managing your time better. Don't beat yourself up about past bad habits with your management of time... Just do better now. This system is so good. It has worked miracles for me. I have been able to better schedule my days and know what needs to be done today, tomorrow, next week and begin thinking about progress in the months to come. It's also a great way to see how far you have come productivity-wise, especially if you are struggling with something that keeps you from getting things done on a regular basis.

All you need is a journal/ notebook, a pen and time. Start planning to do better and be better today. THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT!  The best decision you can make now is the decision to begin to try better. Try again. Try differently. Just keep on going!

Begin with the small things to get you going. And schedule some rewards. 
Remember that things will only work for you if you use them. There are no rules for a bullet journal, only inspirations and hints. Find ways that suit you. Make your bullet journal work for you! 

links:

Official "Bullet Journal" website
How to Bullet Journal Video: YouTube
INSTAGRAM: #bulletjournal

Listening to a podcast is a great way to multi-task and keep learning and discovering new ideas, viewpoints and perspectives on topics new and old to you. 

Some podcasts I take the time to download and play in the background of my everyday life:

• The Minimalists
• On Being with Krista Tippett
• Modern Love Podcast
• TED Radio Hour

For realizing your unique stillness and bettering your tomorrows you should remember these ideas: 

When everything seems hopeless... Make some tea. Find the stillness. Give yourself 5 minutes to re-align your head space. Try again. 

A pen and paper can be your best tools in curating your best life, today. You need to acknowledge and think about the big, important questions... often! Having them on paper in a notebook makes them easily accessible. Keep in somewhere visible.

Let your truths spill out onto the pages. Clear the words out of your heart & your head... write them out. Make a habit of writing. Make a habit of thinking the big questions. Let your answers change as you refine your ultimate truth. You will learn and you will grow on your journey to finding your stillness; you will continue to evolve and change.

The first step to any change is acknowledgement. Acknowledge your desire to know your truth. Acknowledge that any journey worth taking will require dedication and precious time. Acknowledge that your time is precious (YOUR MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE) and begin to use it with more wisdom. Write down your wisdom. Share your wisdom. Wisdom is knowing that your time is precious and should be used in the pursuit of the things that answer your big questions. Go in search of the answers; you do not have forever.



Realize and acknowledge that all you will ever have is right now. Go in the direction of your better tomorrow. Go in the direction of your truth. Starting now. Starting with a pen and paper.


With loving kindness always,
Tess. 

writing is cathartic. words have the power to express and to heal. to connect - and to destroy, as well.



I encourage you to take a moment for yourself. Switch your phone off. Get some tea.

And write. It. Down.

all those thoughts that have been floating around. get them onto paper. write one word if you need to. even if you only have one. let it be written so you can leave it on paper. and carry on.

Life goes by so quickly!

I think we tend to forget the pace of time quickens as we age. Days are so important. Time is so precious. The present moment is invaluable! Take it. Experience now. Immortalize this experience in words. Leave something of personal significance for someone to read one day. Do not let this moment be extinguished with the erosive power of forgetting.

Let today be unique.

Write down what needs to be written so that you can free yourself completely to deal with your today.

• speeds up metabolism
• helps with weight loss and fat burning
• boosts metabolism
• gives an extra kick to your coffee
• tastes great
• protects teeth from cavaties
• makes fabulous froth 
• dairy -free

Let every new morning be a second chance to move upward and onward and toward better things. Use your time today to improve tomorrow.



Be thankful for every opportunity and the time that you have now.

Work hard and you'll sleep better. Have a great rest-of-the-week.

                 The passing of time makes music beautiful. Music can only be alive when time is passing. 

Consumerism is suffocating a generation. We are bombarded daily by adverts enticing us to buy, buy, buy more. We work and we spend. Lots. Often. Endlessly. Our spaces become the collection zones for all of this stuff we were convinced in a moment that we needed. Advertisers play on our insecurities and our want to fit in, to have the thing "everyone has" to look just like the rest, so we don't stand out too much. So we can be comfortable. We think this will make us happy, so we dig into our pockets. We buy.



But the happiness remains elusive. It is just beyond the next purchase. Always the next purchase. Happiness never arrives with the last purchase you made, it someone manages to slip through our hands and wait for us, calling us from beyond the purchase next in line. The next thing we so badly must have. Now. To make us happy.

The truth is, things can never fill internal voids or emotional pain. Buying is a way of numbing existential crises, it makes us into these passive robots. Our happiness, we have been conditioned to believe, is waiting for us in a new shiny thing we do not yet own. In a better fitting pair of jeans. In the next update, or a bigger screen. These things only dumb us down. We start to believe that our happiness is out of our control.


But of course they want you to believe that. They need you unhappy. They need you to believe that your emoitonal void can and will be filled with buying things, that we must buy and buy and one day, someday far in the future, when we have made enough money to purchase the one thing that holds our ultimate happiness and contentment that all this searching will cease.



But it course it won't. Because your happiness is in your own hands. It's up to you. You and only you are capable of attaining happiness for yourself (not your wallet). Happiness stems from contentment which steams from gratitude. And gratitude is the being thankful for what you do have, not being bitter about what you do not. When you learn that your amount of material and possessions does not directionally correlate to your level of happiness, then you understand that you can be happy with nothing and you can be happy with everything. The amount of stuff, the stuff itself makes no difference. You make the difference. Your attitude makes the difference. You are in control. Don't let our consumerist society brainwash you into believing that happiness lies outside of you. That has never been true.

 The corporations need to drive that false message into the minds of the majority because the few individuals who benefit hugely from having a huge need and demand are the people furthurest from happy. They have put their worth, purpose and happiness into the hands of material possessions and let their amount of wealth dictate their levels of happiness. And that is never a good idea because money and numbers can go on forever. Their search will be endless. Unattainable.


We can decide to attain happiness by not searching for it in external possessions. We can learn that internal beliefs and ideas will give us freedom and happiness; a reason for being, a sense of purpose and direction, nurturing our need for belonging and finding people we relate to on levels far beyond anything materialistic, forming bonds with people who inspire and uplift us because they are inspired and uplifted. This type of person does not tie their happiness to the chains of consumerism. They know that happiness is freely available. Happiness grows when watered. You can never buy happiness. You can only but things.

Love people. Buy things. When you understand you cannot buy people or love, and you should not love things you will realise your need for things will sharply decrease. Happiness lies in your hands. Not in your bank account or your wallet. That's where your money is. 

Wednesdays can be the cause of the mid-week blues. Halfway through whatever needs to be accomplished this week. Maybe you've fallen behind on a lot of things. You could even be ahead- if you are.. yay! But no matter how much you've done or still need to get done, always remember to stop. And look around. And know that there is beauty to be found. If you only open your eyes. Be open to all the beauty around you - especially the everyday small beauties. If you can learn to cultivate an appreciation for the smaller things in life you'll soon realise that they it's all the small things that actually hold the most joy. Be open to the joy of small beauty.

Nobody is born with language. It's something we learn. Language is the tool we use to communicate with the external world, how we express our internal ideas, thoughts and feelings. Our hopes and our fears. We use our words to say things that need to be said and sometimes things we wish we had not said, in hindsight.


Learning the art of using your words effectively and communicating clearly is a journey. It's a skill.

Your words either inspire, uplift and encourage or they degrade, mock and hurt causing destruction and pain. They either nurture life and promote better tomorrows and cause people's eyes to sparkle, connect and come from a place of love or the opposite. Hurtful words which degrade or mock others come from a place of fear and inner unease.


Your words reflect your highest beliefs, your relationship with yourself and your mission in life. Use your words to plant seeds of love in the hearts and minds of others. Use your words to heal, not to wound. Choose to love people's successes and be happy for them out of a place of inner love, inner peace and stillness.

Speak words of affirmation, of approval, of anticipation of good, words of love not of hate. Use your voice to speak words of forgiveness, kind words. Use your voice to affect those around you positively. Enrich. Help others grow.



The words you choose to say tell speak volumes about your inner life, about the essential you, inside there. Happy inside, happy outside. Happy words, happy life.

Happy people have happy faces. Be the love and kindness so many need. Help happy live and grow in others, happy begins in you, happy words reach tired minds and warm hearts. Happy words are contagious.

What you speak, you become. Let your words be happy.

1.         HAPPY THINGS. Happy people consciously make an effort to clean their minds. They evaluate their thought processes; letting go of the heavy, negative thoughts that try to latch on, replacing them with lighter, happier thoughts. Thoughts that encourage life and do not prevent it.
2.         HOW GRATEFUL THEY ARE. The people with happy eyes have happy minds and happy hearts. The easiest way to have a happy heart is to genuinely count your blessings. Every single one. Every single day. Starting with the smallest. Gradually you will realize that you take most things for granted and you actually have many more blessings than you originally thought. And that's really good. 
3.      TOMORROW. Although happy people live in the present, they do think about and plan for tomorrow. They make healthy, life-encouraging choices. They choose to eat well for tomorrow. They choose to keep their minds keen and sharp by challenging themselves intellectually and creatively. They think about what kind of a person they want to be tomorrow and do something about it today.
4.      DEATH. We are all going to die. If you think about your own mortality more often, chances are you will start to lead a better life. Go for your dreams. You only have one life. This is it.
5.       THEMSELVES. But not in a vain or self-obsessed manner, they think about who they were yesterday, and how they can improve themselves through regular self-evaluation and a conscious effort to choose to forgive themselves for failing in the past and to focus on future successes and future contentment through dedication, awareness and resilience.
6.       THE ESSENCE OF WHAT LIFE’S ABOUT. The people who live the longest aren’t the richest. Aren’t the most famous or most hard-working. They are the ones who have had a long life of choosing to focus on their blessings, other people, service and maintaining healthy relationships. Having a long life isn’t about giving up on all material goals but instead not basing your whole life on materialistic values, placing your life’s worth on your internal happiness. Happy people are engaging, involved, interested, enthusiastic and listen to what their heart is whispering. They focus on the essence of being alive. They laugh, they see the best in others, they tell the truth, they don’t hold onto negativity. Life is all about choices. Choose to make your life a happy life. 
7.       FINDING STILLNESS. Happy people know how much they can handle. They know how to achieve balance in their lives. They know how to say “No” without saying they are sorry and when to say yes. They find stillness through putting themselves first when they need to and focusing on what’s important. They attain inner stillness by organizing a potentially chaotic outer-world through a method of introspection and figuring out what’s best for them, for their long-term goals and what’s best to get done in this moment to maintain their stillness so they do not regret today. Finding stillness is about learning to be still, quietening everything to listen to your heart. You already know how to be happy. Let yourself be still. Happiness will follow. 

Making things better starts at home. Making small changes in your environment, in the way you treat the people around you. You will know which changes to make by becoming mindful. Being mindful or becoming more mindful is easy and can be instant. It's about becoming more rooted in the moment, more in control and essentially just being more aware of just being. Mindfulness can change you life, because it changes each moment. You become more aware of the blessings in your life, your way of thinking starts to change, you become more and more grateful. Gratitude and mindfulness stem from each other, they are inter-linked. One will grow the other or strengthen the other.



This is how to be more mindful today. Here. Now.
Take yourself out of your negative thinking patterns by noticing them and then choosing to change them to a grateful thought. Over time this will soon become a habit and negative thinking will be a thing of the past. Negative thinking steals life energy and enthusiasm and joy. It takes you out of your present moment rich with possibilities and opportunities and either propels you forward or backward - into the past which you can do nothing about and must accept or into the future and growing worry there instead of planting seeds now, today, in this moment.

Seeds of joy and happiness and gratitude. This is how you save tomorrow. This is how you make your contribution to a better world. By being better and you can only be better, be happier when you begin to think better and by better I really mean more positively. Which is a choice. So much will happen when you decide to free your mind from the heaviness and the uneasiness of constant, ceaseless worry.  I know, things can be tough. Days can be long and lonely and grueling. But there is so much to be thankful for each day. Choose to focus on that.

Most happy people are happy because they are mindful and refuse to live in any place else than the present moment which we are blessed with again and again and again. Now and now. And now. Another moment. Become thankful for each new moment, every new day. Embrace the unknown and the many forms each day could take on. Where the next few steps could lead you.

Never go to bed without giving thanks. No matter how bad the day was, it was another day. So many are not granted another day each day. Gratitude starts in the morning, waking up and greeting the day joyfully and treating it as a precious gift. Your grateful attitude will be contagious. You will glow. Your thoughts will be lighter, easier to carry. Your life will begin to be a little clearer, even if you are lost. You will gain perspective. You are in control. Take control. 

Notice the plants in your garden - water them. Notice the pets in your house that love you more than you know. Notice their need for love and attention. Notice the people in your street. Your town. Your country. Notice the problems within the social constructs of today. Decide to be an agent for change, in your own way. Be mindful. Be grateful. Be the kindness you wish to see in the world.

if you've been looking for inspiration or motivation, this is it. This is going to be me telling you what you need to hear. This is the truth. Here it is:

• if you believe you can, you can
• you decide how to respond to every day 
• you are capable 
• you are more than capable

• you are enough 
• you are loved
• you are open to what's to come
• you are hopeful 
• you will not let yourself become a black-hole of negativity 
• you will choose happiness every morning