Welcome to my 2015 #THX2U Challenge ….

What is it and why have I created it ????… well I am glad you asked…

Lets start with WHY?

Throughout 2014 I began to notice how often EXTRAordinary daily acts of kindness, compassion and contribution went unnoticed in our fast paced world. This got me thinking about how many people in my 36years of life have entered, made a significant contribution, maybe in a short or a long period of time and didn’t even realise the massive positive change they created in my life.

Sure these day I make a focused effort to be grateful and appreciative but what about all the unnoticed acts of contribution through someone just BEing themselves that I have missed over the years, or simply not even recognised the impact until now.  The interesting part of this reflection journey was that some of the memories that came to mind were not pleasant experiences, though with the beauty of hindsight I have been able to gain an understanding that each player in my life has a role to perform in designing my masterpiece and supporting my growth and learning.

We are currently living in an instantaneous society where we HAVE and CONSUME more than ever before, and yet our depression rates are higher than in the time of the great depression and they are set to become the the leading cause of death by 2020 …

Quite simply put I think we would all agree that the way we are DOing things in the world and in our lives, no longer seems to be working and a new age revolution is upon us as we discover ways to positively CHANGE who we are BEing and our impact on the world around us. I don’t know about you but “I say enough is enough.”

What we need us more gratitude, compassion, appreciation, kindness and joy and yet what I see being “practiced, taught and learnt” is more lack mentality, negative self belief, greed, comparison, complaining, competition and bullying both from the inside, and out. 

I truly, madly, deeply believe that one of the greatest keys to happiness is gratitude. The problem with this is that over the years “gratitude” has gotten a bad rap and been packaged up with “shoulds, must do and nice to’s” and because most of us don’t like being told what to do there is a bit of resistance to simply BEing grateful. I know within myself I have memories of being told “you should be grateful many people have much less than you … etc. etc.” What this does is create an instantaneous resistance to gratitude because it feels forced and like I “have to.” In my own experience gratitude can’t be forced and can be nurtured through love of life. Its like a beautiful sunrise, as we open our hearts, minds and eyes to life it begins to grow inside of us and the more real we are with it, the more presence, energy and tie we can give it the greater it will grow and shine.

So this all got me thinking … if the world needs more happiness and we all desire more happiness, then there must be an easier way to invite gratitude to spread like wild fire … and in stepped the idea of “Thanks to you …..or #THX2U.” In that moment I closed my eyes and leaned into this idea and what arose was magical and spectacular … all of a sudden faces, some of people I hadn’t thought of in years, began to arrive in my meditation and with it the acknowledgement and appreciation of “thanks to you” I am living the life of my dreams and supporting others to do the same.

The first memory which came to me was my old boss in banking.  When I arrived back from my trip around the world I went into the city to catch up with my old team.  Once he heard that I wasn’t going to come back to the bank and that I was going to start my own energy healing and soul coaching business he decided it was his place to share his view with me which was …   “No one is going to pay for this hocus pocus stuff in the middle of the GFC when they are faced with redundancy and uncertainty and you’re crazy if you think they will.” What he didn’t realise was it was this very comment that sparked a massive burning desire inside of me to prove him wrong, and 5 years later and a lot of learning along the way I am pleased to say I am still in business and yes, people do pay for this hocus pocus, especially if you make it practical, take out the fluff and simply focus on allowing people to be themselves. OK, proving someone wrong may not be the most enlightening choice to get the fire burning in a successful business but at that stage having left a well paid career faced with my own fears and demons arising and having never worked for myself I needed any and all the flames I could to get my rocket launched.

As I moved my “thanks to you” from him to family, friends, teachers, and other random people who have crossed my path, and when I say random I mean totally random strangers some popping up out of nowhere to give me random spiritual advice from my guides, and yes this has occurred numerous times hehehe. What I notice began to happen was that my heart was opening more and more and more … of course the tears of letting go and joy were arriving at the same time. Even people I couldn’t image feeling grateful towards arrived and I was able to find a deep sense of #THX2U for them.  This experience showed me firsthand that simple authentic thanks, gratitude and appreciation can have a huge healing effect on us and I believe are the gateway to “inspiring the impossible, rewriting our story and creating our greatest life” filled with all that we desire most.

OK now WHAT is it?

So after spending about an hour in meditation and feeling how much freedom this reflection brought me I started to wonder and imagine how many neural pathways in my brain, and how much freedom in my soul, could be created if I dedicated the 365 days in 2015 to this very exciting adventure. And how great would it be to receive a “note of thanks” in the mail from someone and realise wow I matter and have made a positive difference in the world.

I toyed around with calling it a “challenge” or an “adventure” as I know its really going to be both and decided on challenge as I know there will be days my lower self or ego, tries to convince me that its ok to not write it today or that there are more important things to do and my challenge to this part of me in this moment will be to affirm “You don’t stand a chance against my LOVE.” and continue my mission for 2015. We all have this inner voice which either pushes us too hard, or tries to get us off course by being too soft on us, and our mission in these moments is to return to the stillness of our being, to find the truth in the life and world we desire to create and to return to acts of LOVE and kindness to ourself and others.

After this meditation I decided rather than speak the words I would print some proper cards and handwrite my #THX2U and send them to each and every person I could think of with a note sharing how they have contributed to my journey. I am still designing these and so going to begin with paper to get me started now and will share the images once they are done. And I have now committed (to myself and to you, accountability is key here) to writing one card a day or the next 365 days. Ideally my mission is to make this the first thing I do every morning, as this way I know the amazing energy of thanks and appreciation will continue to flow into my day, however being practical I know that over 365 days there might be a couple of days this doesn’t occur and so my 100% commitment is that my card will be written and shared by the time my head hits the pillow.

Of course as massive excitement rises in us when we receive a new idea, so does fear. And  as I chose to really commit to this, I started to imagine all the people who remembered “party girl Kyla” or “corporate Kyla” and how they might find this a little weird but thats what I LOVE about my life these days. I get to be weird, crazy and totally out there and noone can stop me and nothing anyone says or does can impact my BLISS.

Next I thought … wow if this process can make me feel so AMAZING maybe other people might like to enJOY the challenge and have some fun along the way. And here we are …

I am not certain where this journey is going to take us in 2015 but I get a feeling this experience and adventure into REAL thanks and gratitude is going to change more lives than even you or I could imagine … and should you make this small commitment to yourself, and to the world around you and choose to come with me on this ride of our lives YAY for you the time must be right, right now for EXTRAordinary positive change in your life.

Here are the steps to follow (a video and more instructions will arrive soon, but for now its the 1st day of January and the beach is calling me. I get a feeling cards that can be ordered will be arriving here and on Facebook soon too) and be sure to add your own flare, creative genius and EXTRAordinariness along the way as I know I will be and you will get to see this journey unfold right before you eyes …

1. Schedule a time each day you are going to sit down and write your #THX2U
2. Decide how you would like to do it, do you want to write the cards, create an e-card or an email, hell would you like to create a video for each one or even just choose to mix it up. I am going to choose cards but for some people get the feeling it might be easier to find them on Facebook and ask for their address or send them an e-card as its been a while since our paths crossed. You can also download and print the image above and use this.
3. You might like to create a list of people and keep adding to this along the way incase you wake up in the morning and feel a little blank for ideas or like me you might like to go with the flow and allow the visual #THX2U to arrive daily. This is your life and your choose your own adventure challenge and so enJOY it as you will
4. Be specific with your #THX2U and always 100% HONEST. If at any point you are just writing to get this task done stop, breathe, become present with your heart and allow your most vulnerable heart felt thanks to rise.
5. Now I know I probably don’t even need to say this but just to be super duper clear .. this isn’t an exercise for a nasty revenge tactics and if there is any resentment still hanging around then you might like to choose to move onto the next person and come back to them in a little while, sometimes more forgiveness needs to occur for us to be truly thankful without angst and this is totally OK. For example if an ex-boyfriend broke your heart and now a few months later you have met an amazing new partner sharing “#THX2U I met someone much better” isn’t really the thanks I am talking about. Your words need to come from LOVE and may include: how did they contribute, how has it supported you to be who you are or to be living the life that you are, what did you learn. My mission here is to really focus on the BEing of my peeps and how they have contributed to me living my EXTRAordinary. How “who they were BEing” has changed my life e.g. go back to my old boss example “#THX2U for being true to your word and sharing your views with me, which I know in my heart came from a deep place of love, concern and support for my wellbeing. All of this brought a great burring desire in me to create massive positive change in the world and to ensure I did all that I could to be successful in my entrepreneurial pursuit. For our friendship and for who you are I am forever grateful”
6. For the next 365 days, or longer should you choose, send out your #THX2U FYI if this time commitment turns you off the idea completely then instead create your own, could you do a January challenge or a 1st of the month challenge, any thanks is totally better than none. And if you have a day you miss, rather than judge or criticise yourself, pick your pen back up, dust yourself off, congratulate yourself for the days you have done, be THANKFUL for you and continue
7. Celebrate each #THX2U you complete … yay “thanks to you Kyla (add your name here) someone is going to feel your love and gratitude, thanks to you the world is shifting into more happiness, love and kindness, thanks to you your habits are changing, your life is opening up and even more joy and bliss is flowing through your brain and veins.”
8. Share you experience and even your #THX2U with us in our ILOVELIFE community with images, words, videos … so we can all celebrate with you and spread the word as we invite the whole world to begin to practice even more thanks and gratitude. Be sure to tweet, tweet, tweet our #THX2U so the energy grows and our mission for a better, kinder, more peaceful appreciative world will expand
9. If you want to follow my journey you will find each day in my BLOGs page 

Need more CONVINCING to start your own challenge …

So I could have compiled my own research around gratitude for you and then I realised instead I would send some IMMENSE gratitude and thanks to some amazing people who have already compiled the stats and facts on the health benefits of gratitude that are sure to get your heart pumping and your pen writing ..

#THX2U Amit Amin and Amy Morin I get to share your amazing blogs, research and amazing work with the world and spread the benefits of gratitude and most importantly I can also embrace my first day of 2015 by going outside and enjoying a swim at the beach rather than compiling research. For both of you I am immensely appreciative and thank you for allowing me to share your creative contribution with the world.

The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life

The Science of Gratitude 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Gratitude That Will Motivate You To Give Thanks Year-Round

& Finally #THX2U for BEing YOU xx

And my final thanks … #THX2U as a follower of this challenge and change maker in the world thanks to you the world is and will continue to BE a better place. There are many people in the world that talk about making positive change and creating positive contribution and then there are those of us, who have a desire to be EXTRAordinary and actually take positive action to create this in our lives and the world. #THX2U I am continually motivated to inspire the impossible in the world. You matter, you are so much more than enough and the world is so lucky to have you on it and in it. Peace and love to you, for just BEing YOU.