When will the English grow up?

You know how when you're walking the streets you hear the greatest conversations.

The other day I was privileged enough to overhear this classic remark: "The trouble is that the English won't grow up!". How wonderful I thought.

Our workshop this week was all about creativity and how to become more creative.

Guess what. Creativity is about not growing up. It's about being silly and 'childish' and letting anything happen. And it works. At my club people were having Lightbulb Moments solving all sorts of problems by brainstorming how a washing machine could help them.

These 'childish' English people have produced some of the greatest creative thinkers in my lifetime. I've danced and cried to the Beatles singing all sorts of things, including 'Obladi Oblada' - and if that isn't 'childish' I don't know what is. I've watched Branson revolutionise air travel (and lots of other things besides) and at the same time nearly kill himself being 'childish' and now I'm sitting with my ipod designed by Jonathan Ive who certainly comes up with some child-friendly products.

I'm thrilled the English won't grow up. There's enough other nations who have - or, at least, who think they have.

See you at Life Clubs next week.

We're going to be growing up a little and designing our future by working out what we don't want. For a list of more of our topics, so you can plan your diary, look here.

Best wishes to you all,
Nina

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Do you know what your values are?

I don't very often get my own Lightbulb Moments when I'm hosting a club, but I did on Wednesday (which was very exciting!)

We were taking it in turns to read through a list of values to see which ones could be ours. I know cleanliness is one of mine... and honesty... and courage... but when we got to the word 'responsibility', that's when the penny dropped.

My home is very messy. I am messy, my husband is messy and all four of my children are phenomenally messy. A typical morning goes like this ... 'Where's my homework diary?'... 'Where's my bus pass?'... 'Where are my trainers?' and on and on and because I'm messy I don't know either.

So I started to think about that word 'responsibility' and what it means.

I know I am absolutely trustworthy. I am one hundred per cent dependable. I am really reliable, but I'm not good at duty or taking on 'roles', such as that of 'tidy mother'.

What's happened, I suddenly realised, is that because I'm not responsible, I haven't passed on 'responsibility' to my children and this is the outcome... chaos.

Gosh, values are helpful. As my diary for Wednesday said 'You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself'. Maybe I've finally grown up. Let's see how responsible I now become.

What do your values tell you?

All my best wishes for a lovely long weekend (if you're in the UK),
Nina
PS You've been wonderful about voting for us in the Barclays competition - do carry on... click here.
PPS Come along to our final day workshop - in Central London on 12th June. It's a Life Clubs Intensive in aid of Marie Curie charity and it's all about you and your wellbeing. The other two were brilliant, I'm sure this one will be too. See you there.

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Way to go!

Change was last week's Life Clubs topic and it's a huge one. We change every second of every day - whether we want to or not - and we can make changes too.

An obvious change is when you travel. These photos are of the first lovely Canadian Life Clubs Hosts in Toronto. You can see them all working hard learning what it takes to run a club. In a way being around that table in Toronto could have been being around my table in London and yet I'd changed time zone, changed temperature, changed language (up to a point) and changed families (swapping mine for Eva Marie's for the week).

At Life Clubs this week, we were talking about what can help one with change. One of my clubbers had as her Lightbulb Moment that her reaction to change was what was key. How right she was.

We can take change very badly and we can enjoy it. Often all it depends on is the frame of mind we're in when the change happens. If we're feeling good about ourselves and our lives, it can help us react positively. Conversely if everything is going wrong around us and we're feeling overwhelmed we can react negatively to yet another change. The question is how to keep your frame of mind positive so you can be open to change.

In order to enjoy Canada I spent some time on my own, showered twice a day and kept in touch with home. I also determined to stay open to my new experiences and the people I met.

What can I tell you - I loved every minute of it.

Eva-Marie, Monica, Sue, Debbie and Sonia... all I can say is 'Way to go!'

See you all for my last week of Life Clubs in 2009.
Nina
Founder Life Clubs
PS If you feel you'd like hints around change (or any of our other 50 topics), sign up to my bulletin via our website www.lifeclubs.com.

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Money - all it's cracked up to be?

I remember being at a wedding in Mexico many years ago. Everyone pinned money to the bride's dress in a very natural way. In London, where I'm based, almost no-one talks about money. Yes, we talk about the economy and the recession, but we don't have those open, honest chats about how we feel about money, how difficult we find it to save, what we want it for and what having money really means to us.

So, that's where Life Clubs comes in. Last week no-one was held at ransom or blackmailed into talking about their finances, but there were lots of lightbulb moments about what the point was of wanting always to earn more and more money. One of our clubbers - a shining example to us all - had everything financially worked out for her future and was pleased to discover that there really wasn't any need for her to strive harder and harder for a promotion - she could live the balanced life she wanted.

If you'd like to have some money hints - or hints about anything else, sign up to our bulletin. Or come along to Life Clubs - we're always pleased to see you - even if you're not wearing one of these money-laundered shirts.

Any money questions? We'll answer them here.

Best wishes,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs and author Big Book of Me and Big Book of Us

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favourites

My clubbers like to tease me when I am announcing the next week's topic that I (apparently) always say "Oh this one is my FAVOURITE!" ("They are all your favourites, Carol!")

But this time I mean it. I love the Mirror, Mirror workshop. I remember doing it for the first time and feeling really connected and started to look at myself from a new place.

You get to recognise all the cool parts of yourself that are already there, and maybe just not so crystal clear to you. And turn it around to how you see other people and recognise yourself.

It is like adding a new dimension to your regular mirror that you see your same face in every day, and discovering a secret door with all sorts of goodies in it.

What you see in other people you have in yourself. It is the "You spot it/you got it" theory. There's a lotta lightbulb moments on this topic!

I remember owning up for the fist time to being brave, to being smart and to being a hard worker -- all things I didn't know I was! And I also learned how to channel the people who had the qualities I wanted!

Learning something cool that helps me be a better me is ALWAYS one of my favourite things!
Come find out yours!

Your Glasgow Host and Development Junkie
Carol

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It's never too late

Thankfully I grew up in a late starter family.

I was god knows how old when I learnt how to walk, called 'immature' at school until I left and had my last child at the age of 44. To make matters 'worse' I had just turned 50 when I had my 'lightbulb moment' about how I could bring together all the things that I enjoy doing and turn them into a business.

Luckily our family role model was Grandma Moses.

Grandma Moses was born in 1860 in New York and started painting her primitive art pictures when she was in her mid-seventies. She had her first art show in New York when she was 79 and at the age of 95 was seen regularly on TV painting the view from her house. She died age 101 having completed 25 paintings that year.

Now do you see why I'm not worried that it took me so long to discover my life's purpose. In Grandma Moses terms, I'm a baby.

This week discover your life's purpose at Life Clubs.

Nina
Founder

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