Welcome to my first communication to you for 2012! Welcome also to my first newsletter in quite some time! I think it's important only to contact people when I feel I have something of value to share, so you can rest assured that I will never bombard you with hundreds of emails trying sell to you or that contact useless information (at least I hope it's not useless!)

This Newsletter, probably unsurprisingly given the time of year, is very much focused on goals and aims and creating the life that you want. I hope that you find what I've shared useful - but if you haven't feel free to email me to let me know why.

You will probably here lots throughout this year of different theories about what might happen during 2012: The world will end; The world won't end; The world will change completely; The world will stay the same; Aliens will take over; Aliens will beam us off, and so on. I won't bore you with my own particular theories, but I will say this: 2012, just like all the years before it, will be whatever you want it to be. Whatever you wish to create and experience in your life is completely possible. The question is: what do you want to create and experience?

So on that note, I will leave you with the rest of my newsletter. May it bring you clarity, focus, and a smile or two.

With love and blessings always
Alun Illumine

Articles in this Newsletter:

- New Year Resolutions
- What Do You Want?
- Raising Your Energy And Vibration
- EFT For Setting Goals And Aims

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New Year Resolutions

New Year Resolutions - do you make them? Did you make them this year? If you did, are you one of those, many, who start with well meaning intentions but after about 4-6 weeks find yourself slipping? Or are you one of the few who actually manage to keep them up? There is no judgement here - just observation.

The problem with resolutions is that many people feel they "should" be making them rather than actually wanting to. The other thing is, many try to give something up or start doing something that they feel they "should". There's a huge amount of peer pressure about resolutions - lots of people asking "so what have you given up then?" It's almost like deciding once a year to get a really heavy brick and drop it on your foot "because that's what you do once a year at this time of the year"! Aaaargh!

Now I'm not saying DON'T make resolutions - I'm saying, decide what you really want to do and then be focused about it. And by that I mean - decide what you really want. For example, if you want to give up smoking - think about why you want to give it up. Are they your own reasons or reasons that other people have given you? Do you want to give it up for yourself or for other people? Whilst it's good to listen to and take in other people's opinions about these things, value and honour your own feelings and wishes.

So... rather than making resolutions... why not set yourself goals and aims instead... Do you really have to give something up completely or can it be a phased goal? For example, if you want to give up eating chocolate do you need to give it completely and why should you? Why not just cut down from, say, 5 bars a week to 3.

Give yourself goals and aims and make them clear. Ask yourself these questions:
How will I know when I've achieved it? (What will I see, feel, and hear)
What are the milestones along the way?
By when do I want to achieve it? (and is that date realistic and does it feel good?)
What support will I need along the way and from whom?
How will I reward and motivate myself as I progress?
What am I doing or what I have I done in the past that has helped me achieve this?
What am I doing or what have I done in the past that has hindered me achieving this?
What's the first thing I will do, right now, to start myself along the path of change?

Remember, goals don't just have to be about giving something up, losing weight, or getting a new job. They can also be about removing fears and phobias, dissolving blocks that are holding you back, or increasing self confidence. Importantly, they can also be about fun things too - like places to visit, things you want to experience, things you've always wanted to try. Allow yourself to dream about all the things you've wanted to do or try and think about how you could incorporate them into your aims for the year.

Of course, it's good to work with a coach when setting your goals and aims for the year (or whatever other time period works for you). If you need help thinking about where you are now, where you want to be, and how you're going to get there.... Please contact me. You don't have to try and get through life alone. By working with me you will benefit from having someone from the outside supporting and encouraging you, giving you an honest and objective viewpoint, and the benefit of my (cough) 20 years' of experience of helping people set and achieve their aims. Plus I'll be happy to chivvy you along when you need a bit of a gentle nudge! (In a supportive way of course!).

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What Do You Want?

In relation to the article above about setting Goals
and Aims for
the year, I wanted to go into a bit more depth about what you want, why you want it, and why it's worth thinking about.

One of the ways to really know what you want is understanding why you want it. Is it a lover you want or to feel loved? Is it losing weight that you really want or just to feel good about yourself and how you look? Is it a promotion you really want or to feel like you're going up in the world? Do you see? Often it's not the actual "thing" that we want, it's the feeling behind it. Can you honestly say that the onlyway to feel loved is by having a lover? What about self love? Love from friends? Love from family? Love from the Universe/God? Love from your pets? There are so many kinds of love and the most important one of all - is self love. When you love yourself, you love everyone else too and vice versa. Why? Because nothing is really separate. Separation is an illusion. So the more you love yourself, the more you'll experience love in your life. So, is it really a lover you still want, or ways to help you love yourself more completely and unconditionally? The wonderful irony is... when you love yourself completely, your lover will turn up even more quickly! Makes you think doesn't it ;-)

Changing the focus slightly, let's talk about the Universe/God and how it works. The Universe will always respond to what you're focusing upon and how you're feeling about it. So when you focus upon thinking about all the things you want to experience, create, and manifest the Universe is getting clear instructions and guidance on what to send you. If you're all wishy washy and unclear then that's totally what you'll get back from life. This is why thinking about and focusing upon your goals and aims is such a helpful and positive thing. It gives the Universe clear instructions on what to bring you. It gives you excitement and pleasure about knowing it's on it's way so that you can enjoy the journey to receive it. It gives your life purpose and meaning, especially in those times when we get a bit lost or confused - we can go back to our list of goals and aims to refocus.

Of course, as we progress throughout the year, our focus, and our goals and aims, may well change. What you thought you wanted at the beginning of the year may no longer be relevant halfway through. Or you may have achieved it. Or you may decide you want something slightly different. And you know what? That's OK! Regular review of where you feel you're going and what you feel you want is a helpful way of enjoying an interesting, varied, and pleasurable life. There's no point keep working towards a goal that you no longer want. It's not failure to let go of a goal or to change it. In fact, it shows great success that you're completely in touch with who you really are and what you really want.

To finish, let me ask you again... What do you want, and why do you want it? What are the feelings that you want and what are the ways that you can achieve them right now? Enjoy!

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Raising Your Energy And Vibration

As we go through life, there are times when it feels easier and times when it feels more challenging, difficult, and, to be blunt, downright sh*tty! The latter are those times when our energy and vibration is so far down the emotional scale that it's much as we can do to get out of bed, let alone smile and be nice to someone (or even ourselves!).

Life gets easier the better we feel. That's it. That's the secret of life: Feel good. When you feel good, you raise your vibration and you really get into the flow of who you really are. And who are you? You are Source Energy having a physical experience.

There's nothing wrong per se with having days when you're feeling angry or depressed or stressed. We are here, after all, to experience all that life has to offer. However there comes a time when it's time to move on from having the same old experiences over and over again - especially when they're the ones that don't feel good. We've experienced them - time to move on.

I admit that it's not always easy to get one's self out of the doldrums or the rut we've created for ourselves. However, if we take small steps back up the vibrational scale we'll be buzzing before we know it! To that end, here are some ways get your energy buzzing, flowing, and practically zinging along!

Put on some music that makes you feel good! (Personally I like a bit of 80s to get my feet tapping and put a smile on my face!)
Put some music on and dance around the house to it
Read a book that makes you feel good
Watch a film that makes you laugh
Watch a film that makes you feel good
Have a good sing - doesn't matter whether you think you can sing well, just go for it and enjoy yourself
Get out into nature, or at least to a park if the countryside is not close. By the sea is also a great place to be (even if it's just sitting or standing in your own small garden)
Go for a walk into the daylight - natural daylight is so good for helping us produce happy chemicals in our brain
Call a friend who you enjoy chatting to
Sit stroking your pet (cat, dog, rabbit, etc) (if you have one). It's amazing at how good that can make you feel
Clear out a room in your home that needs sorting
Repeat some affirmations of positive thoughts
Sit quietly and just do some deep breathing
Do some EFT tapping to help release fears, phobias, and limiting beliefs
Find thoughts that feel slightly better than where you are right now
Grab a vibrational essence or two such as the Bach Flower Remedies or Essences of Illumination (shameless plug there!)

There you go for starters... 15 quite easy, simple, and in-expensive ways of starting to shift your vibration and feel good. I'm sure you can think of more, easy-to-do things that help you feel good. You have a choice - you can choose to sit and wallow for ages and ages, or you can choose to do things and find thoughts that make you feel better. No one's forcing you one way or another. But remember: the better you feel, the less resistance you have, the higher your vibration, the easier your life becomes.

I've made my choice... now where did I put those 80s Cds?!!!!

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EFT For Setting Goals And Aims

You know that I'm an advocate of EFT and how brilliant it can be in helping people change their life to be more of what they want it to be. In light of that, I thought I'd share with you a bit of EFT tapping which is very much related to the theme of this Newsletter "Creating the life that you want".

The articles above are related to deciding what want, why you want it, and how to create it. Having said all that, I know how tough and challenging it can be just getting yourself started and motivated to think about what you want and write down your goals and aims. So here's some tapping to help shift your vibration from feeling overwhelmed by it all, to feeling good.

Tapping on Karate Chop Point:

Even though I just cannot be bothered to even think about goals and aims, I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself anyway
Even though I feel so overwhelmed by the whole affair of deciding what I want in my life, I'm just going to honour myself and all my feelings anyway
Even though it's just too much effort that's required, and just don't have the energy to focus on what I really want in life, I choose to allow myself to do it anyway

Tapping through the points (EB - Eyebrow, SE - Side of Eye, UE - Under Eye, UN - Under Nose, CP - Chin Point, CB - Collarbone, UA - Under Arm, TH - Top of Head)

EB I just can't be bothered to set these goals
SE I can't even be bothered to think about it
UE Why should I?!
UN I don't want to
CP It's goo much hard work
CB It's too much to do
UA I've got too many other things I need to be doing
TH What's the point of writing them, they never happen anyway
EB I refuse to write my goals and aims
SE Who am I to even have goals and aims
UE Goals and aims are for successful people
UN And I'm not successful
CP Nope - not going to do it
CB Don't want to do it
UA I only do it to make others happy anyway
TH And anyway, it's such a waste of my time and energy

Karate Chop Point:
Even though I still have all this angst and fear and frustration about setting goals and aims, I choose to let it go now
Even though I feel pressured to write goals and aims, I know that I don't have to do anything I don't want to
Even though I don't even know where to start on writing my goals and aims, I choose at least think about things that I would like in my life

Tapping through the points:

EB Nope I still don't want to have to write them down
SE I wonder if there's a way to focus on my goals and aims that's more fun?
UE There might be
UN Not sure what it is though
CP Maybe there's a way
CB Maybe there isn't
UA But there could be a way
TH This is a universe of infinite possibility, so it is possible I could find a way
EB I still refuse to be bullied into writing down my goals and aims
SE Am I being bullied?
UE Really?
UN Who's pressuring me?
CP No one really
CB It's totally my choice whether to do it or not
UA So I could choose to do it because I want to, not because I have to
TH Maybe I could have a go

Karate Chop Point:

Even though I still have these remaining blocks and fears about goals, I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself
Even though I still think it's going to be a lot of hard work, I choose to find ways of making it more fun and enjoyable
Even though I'm still not sure exactly what I want, I completely honour where I am and all my thoughts about this

EB I still don't think I can do it
SE What if I do them wrong?
UE What if other people don't approve of them?
UN Hell, who am I writing them for?! Me or someone else?!
CP Well me of course!
CB So I can write down whatever I want
UA And I know the Universe will always support me in achieving them
TH So maybe I could have a go and write down just one or two
EB My goals and aims are for me - not for anyone else
SE I don't even need to show anyone else what they are!
UE I choose to let go of all this pressure about goals and aims and sharing them
UN I can feel the relief already that I can choose to do what I like
CP Hell I can even have an aim of not having any aims!
UA I'm feeling a lot better about thinking about what I want
TH I am enough, and I get to choose whatever I want in my
life - and that feels good!

These are quite generic routines, and you may notice as you work through them that related/other issues or blocks come up for you. That's OK. Write them down, and then do some tapping on those particular issues. The more you clear down all this stuff that's holding you back, the easier it will be for you to create the life you want.

If you need help with any of this... you know where I am! In the meantime... happy manifesting!