Little Loving Challenge # 1

#littlelovingchallenges is a weekly feature on Sweat. Nourish. Inspire, designed to inspire you to step out of your comfort zone, test your abilities and grow into the person you want to be. At the beginning of each week a little loving challenge will be put forward to you and what I ask is that you be open to the challenge and feel free to share any struggles or aha moments that come up for you during the week darling! 

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#littlelovingchallenges: No complaining

Complaining is a creative act. The more you complain, the more you attract things to complain about! 

Look at it this way, if you are complaining about something then you must know that there is better out there but you are unwilling to take the risk of creating it. 

In the Success Principles, Jack Canfield says "The circumstances you complain about are, by their very nature, situations you can change- but you have chosen not to."

So how do you stop?

Replace complaining by making requests + taking action steps towards your dreams.

When you find yourself in a situation you don't like, either work to make it better or leave.

Take a risk - find a new job, ask for a pay rise, work on your relationship etc...

So what have you been complaining about lately? And how are you giving up your complaints?

Let me know in the comments, darling.

Want more? Get FREE updates on the Little Loving Challenges here....

Nourish + Inspire: Your blank canvas part 2

Me watching the most beautiful sunrise from the Hollywood Hills.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to do a little research on the perfect morning person, this is part two of my research, but you can read part one here.

The morning's seem to be getting better and better, with all the great habits I've been implementing: juicing + meditating + using my favourite body wash (Bodyshop's Hemp) and practicing gratitude, I am turning into a pro morning person(well almost). Kudos to me ;)

Early risers aren't just nicer to be around in the morning, they're also happier, healthier and more self-satisfied.

What I've learnt is that morning habits shouldn't be about the things that you have to do they should be about the things that you want to do. They should be the things that that you enjoy doing and that are meaningful to you. Polly Noble does a coffee enema first thing in the more before moving onto yoga as she says it's a brilliant tool in helping her stay as healthy as possible. Other successful women I know spend time talking to God, expressing gratitude, asking for guidance or even going for a walk with their dogs. Practiced often these habits can help you feel more in tune, more in flow, and more aligned with where you are going and with who you want to be.

Evenings should be peaceful and relaxing. The moment to switch off the T.V, put away the laptop and connect with your family and children. This is a perfect time for reading and writing and letting your brain relax. Watching T.V. or surfing on the interwebz stimulates your brain and makes it over excited leading you to lie in bed counting sheep and wonder why you aren't falling asleep?! And as you know these annoying nights can lead to a very grumpy you in the morning.

So basically the thing you need to realise is that if you make over your morning you can literally make over your life! 

Encouragement for today

Trip down memory lane

I love, love, love photos! I'm never shy to pose for photos and my reasoning is that even though you just may look hideous in the picture at least you'll have that moment saved for ever and a life time to giggle about how terrible your hair/outfit was or cry over how skinny your were (see pick below...thinspiration I tell you!).

Last week my sister and I were in complete stitches, we had tears of laughter streaming down our face over some of the below snaps....

I don't know why there are only 3 of these bowls + cups when there were 4 of us? But anyway when we were good we used to get a little bit of coke in the cup and nuts + biltong in the bowls. What a treat! 

Countless hours in the car + countless hours of fun with this bad boy. We even had a Nintendo Gameboy, one between four of us and I never remember us fighting about it! What good kids we were! 

My brothers teddy bears, I reckon these guys are almost as old as me maybe even older! 

Thinspiration I tell you! I'm glad I got a bit of meat on me! (Sorry for the picture quality)

My sister starting early, ha, ha! 

Ready to pop creativity

Pictures from my first nappy cake attempt.....

E Voila the final creation

All aboard the emotional roller coaster

The last couple of weeks have been one crazy emotional roller coaster ride loaded with stress (urgh how I despise you stress!). I think my boyfriend and I are feeding off each others stress making it tens times worse but the funny thing is the more we bicker the more I'm falling in love with him <3. I know now how much he cares about me and how much we are willing to do for each other. These moments are the ones testing our relationship and making it more special. So with that stress I secretly love you too! (love hate relationship)

I've got plenty of time on my hands and I think the funniest thing is that when you've got time on your hands you can't think of a thing to do and when you've got a full time job you can think of a million and one things to do! Always the way!

Anyway I've decided that as I have time on my hands I will be posting everyday even if it's just a picture or a saying but hopefully more because I really have no excuses!

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On Monday night we went to visit one of my boyfriends friends in Hilton (awesome place + even more awesome couple!) and while laying the table I spied some very very stunning place mats. Let me tell you I'm no Afrikaaner but these place mats were just too school for cool! I was surprised to realise how many Afrikaans saying I actually knew and remembered! Things like 'n boer maak 'n plan + More is nog 'n dag... + nog a laaste dans...
Anyway I did some google (gotta love it) research and found that these amazing place mats were made from 'Modertaal op Materiaal' (mother tongue on material) and even better it the material comes in several different colours. Me thinks a creative project will be coming along when we finally settle into our new house (5 days and counting down).

Another super cool finding yesterday was The Designery Blog by Adri Marais' (that's where I found Modertaal op Materiaal). Adri blogs about home grown South African design talent, something I am passionate about. I love her work and look forward to many guilty pleasure days of reading her blog. Thanks Adri! 

Motivation for today

I love number one, so true! What you fear most you need to do most!