Palm trees and margaritas
(empowered living)

Hi there. You probably can’t tell from there, but I’m older now. I turned 42 this month, even though my 10 year old son assures me I only look 32! (gee I love that boy). My birthday always makes me feel reflective and that in turn makes me feel old because young people tend to want to celebrate their birthdays. I seem more focussed on ‘marking’ mine, as you would an historic event. Tragic isn’t it?

If you’re a March baby as well, happy birthday to you and best wishes for a wonderful palm trees and margarita-filled year to all of us.

‘Palm trees and margaritas’, the newsletter, is about life, the universe and what really matters. None of us knows how our life will unfold so as much as we are in control, empowered living means making sure there is time in our lives for palm trees and margaritas*, however we define them.

It aims to give you five minutes of reflective reading time on the last Friday of each month. How was your month?

*** Life can’t be all palm trees and margaritas, but there are worse game plans.

Karen Morath
karen@mpowercct.com
www.palmtreesandmargaritas.com
March 2007

TIPS

1. Lower your standards. For almost everything, good enough is good enough. Seriously. With so much to do everyday, whose super powers do we think we have?

2. A quarter of the year is over. If you haven’t had a holiday or booked one, do it now.

3. Compliment someone. You’ll feel great, and so will they.

4. Give the book/s you read over summer to someone you think will enjoy it/them.

5. Planning and goal setting is great. It is only by imagining that we can become. But plans that have been around too long – festering or being polished – can be limiting. Equally, plans that look too far into the future can be non-plans. If you don’t plan to start something new in the next six months, you don’t need to start to plan for it. Hop into what you already have to do.

6. When you’re feeling flat or have been spending too much time alone, get on the phone to someone you know well, admire or who can be relied upon to be feeling ‘up’. The buzz can fuel you for the rest of the day.

7. My favourite dinner party starter conversation (or with dessert for the raunchier, drunken version) is going around the table asking who everyone’s ‘pin up’ is. Try it. Or on a similar theme, ask who they would choose to play themselves in the movie of the story of their life. Or which famous person people tell them they look like….

Here are a couple of additions to our ‘to enjoy’ list.

1. I thoroughly recommend Joan Didion’s book The year of magical thinking, a glorious piece of writing and a perspective on grief that truly celebrates life.

2. I made these the other day, having not made them for ages.  My Great Aunty Mavis’ scone recipe is truly something special:
     3 cups of self raising flour
     ¼ cup of cream
     ¾ cup of milk
Do all the usual things and pop them into a hot oven. No kneading, no butter on your fingers and you needed to buy the cream to jam and cream them anyway.

I invite you to contribute to the 'to enjoy' list by emailing me and I will continue to publish tips on things we can all enjoy.

STORIES

1. There are less than 10 foods my 12 year old daughter will eat. It’s limiting, to say the least. For most of her school life she has had peanut butter sandwiches in her lunch box but there was a while there that she was having fresh chicken. We had some leftover chicken after dinner one night so as she had had her standard peanut butter for the best part of a year, the next day I used the chicken when I made her lunch. She was unimpressed when she got home. Shocked, I said ‘but you like chicken.’ She responded ‘but I don’t like change.’ Is variety really the spice of life? Not for everyone, clearly.

2. One of Oprah’s trademark questions is ‘are you living your best life?’ Judy’s story suggests someone else was living hers for her. She explained to me why she resigned from her high profile university job – “I was paying someone to clean my house, look after my kids, deliver my groceries, walk my dog and when it got to paying someone to ride my horse, I knew things needed reviewing and I quit.” Well apart from the horse, I have been there too. Have you?

READER STORIES

A quick thank you to the women of the City of Glein Eira who hosted a palm trees and margaritas talk on International Women's Day this month. I really enjoyed meeting Palm trees and margaritas readers and talking to them about the various tips, stories and reflections that they connected with the most. It was a rare thrill to speak with a blow up palm tree in front of the lectern and a room full of women drinking soft drink out of plastic margarita glasses. Truly a palm trees and margaritas moment for me.

REFLECTIONS

1. Shirley Valentine said “I’ve fallen in love with the idea of living.” Have you?

2. From Alan Alda’s autobiography ‘Never have your dog stuffed: and other things I've learned’, something to think about… “More than ever, I have the feeling that all of what we do that counts is just love and work and play. And, for me, because it makes the other two even better, the best of these is play. At least, that’s how it seems today, here in the shade of this palm tree.”

Karen Morath is a consultant, speaker and writer. Her company M Power works with individuals and organisations to devise communication strategies that empower themselves and their organisations. Visit www.communicationempowers.com

To book Karen to speak on ‘Life can’t be all palm trees and margaritas, but there are worse game plans’ at your next event, you can email her at karen@mpowercct.com or telephone in Australia 03 9817 4111.

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