For too long I strayed from the universe. I decided in some ways to sabotage my own existence. I allowed fears, regrets and a whole pile of backward thinking to prevent me from taking the important forward steps. I was baffled by my own thinking and behaviour and to a certain extent was just sick of it. It took a few tears and a good old fashioned ‘tanty’ to wake up and see what I was doing.

Think of the times in your own life that you wanted to do something but seemed to find no luck in getting there. If you stop and think about all the circumstances around you at the time that prevented you from taking positive action- you were probably at the centre of the most negative ones. Remember that every action has a reaction. So if you have set off a chain of events that cause a negative outcome, do not expect that life will give you exactly what you want. However, it will give you what you need. If a swift talking to is necessary for you to get back on track, it is likely that the Universe will provide this for you in some way. It could be a falling out with a friend, an unexpected bill or fine, or it could manifest itself in the form of illness (this is very common).

A very wise man told me that illness cannot exist in a body where the mind is well. I believe this is so true. Sure it is natural to get a bug every now and then, but if it is consistent or long lasting; perhaps you are mentally not living in a healthy way. I have discovered for myself that this is very much a reality as I was really knocked about by a bug recently. Once I confronted my thinking I was able to recover from my illness very quickly and get back on with life.

The long and the short of it is that if you consider life as energy simply moving, transferring and reacting  to other energies; then we have a lot more control over the results we achieve in life than we may have previously thought. We just have to create a positive energy so that we get a positive energy coming back. Your energy starts with your thinking. Create a positive change in your head space and take action based on that. If you do this, the energy you start to receive back from the universe is going to be far more beneficial to you than any negative energy you have previously submitted.

Remember; the most successful people in the world do not complain. They see obstacles as opportunity. They see all experiences no matter how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as positive because they learn from them; and they choose to create happiness in their lives.

You can do it too.

I am a goal setter and a goal achiever. If there is something I want to do, I just get on and do it. So when it dawned on me that I was capable of new and exciting things, I made a pact with myself to not just TRY those things, but DO those things with everything I have.

So what are these things you ask? Well, to begin with, being a small female barely meeting the height of the average models rib cage; modeling was something I had been interested in but never thought I could do anything with. Yes I have had photos taken, but mainly in conjunction with projects I have been involved with like Musicals, Stage shows or Music groups. However I bit the bullet recently saying to myself that I do not have to be six feet tall or ‘traditionally’ beautiful to have a successful career in modeling.

I have booked several shoots with photographers recently and the entire experience so far has been amazing. It is an unusual experience learning that what you portray is not always what the camera captures and that there is a degree of difficulty to the industry I had not respected prior. But it is thrilling when the shot is captured just right, or when you dare yourself to do things you have never done before. I for one was shaking inside recently at the thought of being bare in front of a man I really didn’t know, in order to create a form of art. But what I discovered was, that like all challenges, if you rise to the occasion and mentally over-ride childish fears the experience can be liberating and character building.

Walking away from that experience I feel a connection with my body I had lost sometime earlier. I am aware of my shape and am beginning to learn how to use it. I am learning what gives me an edge and what facets I need to work on, and the whole thing has been a blissful emotional roller-coaster. I cannot wait to learn more and reach new heights of success in this field.

My modeling page: http://www.istudio.com/flicmanning

On other fronts I am days away from sitting down with Warren Henningsen, a well respected Author and Motivational Speaker to talk about the future path for myself and Diesel Laws in relation to some of our goals in the areas of positive thinking and writing. This marks a turning point in this path and I am poised like a sponge ready to soak up any information I get!

I auditioned to be the Choreographer for a short festival film too and was recently told I had been picked, which is so exciting. Soon I will be sitting down to work out story boards, create movements and flows for characters and watch my ideas on screen. It is a very interesting process that is to come and I can’t wait to get started.

I have also decided now is the time to make a leap and see what a Talent Agent can do for me and what I can do for them. A well respected and recommended agency is having a meeting with me next week to talk about my “future opportunities” and this in itself marks an achievement for me. To consider myself worthy of this as well as pursue it is an expression of my growth and my ability to harness my ‘inner identity’ and be all that I can be.

See what the past month has taught me, is that I have multiple abilities, and rather than be fearful of them, or overwhelmed by them; I choose to embrace them. I enjoy being everything I can be and as long as I remain open to opportunity- who knows where all these things will take me.

Whatever happens, I am on an amazing life journey; I am experience rich and happy. Thanks for being part of it with me.

Have you ever heard the term “sleep on it”? I am beginning to agree with this statement- just not in the same context in which it is generally applied. If you go to sleep in a bad mood, stressed and frustrated, I find that you wake up the following morning with that same attitude anyway. For me, sleeping on anger just equals a fretful sleep followed by lethargy and a lazy and negative attitude. I have tried this too many time to count, so I am speaking with experience!

However if you go to bed happy, having had a productive day; things just seem…better. It is much more logical to me to see mentality in such a black and white fashion like this. At the end of the day we determine our own thinking. As such it is our responsibility to realise that going to sleep (for example) is not necessarily going to change our entire attitude, nor will it determine our overall success. But our decisions do determine those things.

Today has been a day filled with trying new things, taking steps forward in many ways and generally having a ’smile on my dial’. For me to be happy I have to pursue and live a multi-facted life. Not “today is cleaning day, and tomorrow is creativity day” where I simply focus on just one thing at a time. I went to bed with a positive focus and I woke the same way. So I attribute much of todays’ success with my connection to this thinking.

Sometimes it’s nice to re-write the meaning of a phrase and I think in the last 24 hours that is something I have done for myself.

So there you have it. That’s what I have been thinking about- hope it makes you think too.

Enjoy!

Flic