In the last few posts we raised some pretty big questions about life, the universe and everything.

I’ve given you some ideas on how you might find answers to those questions.

If you’re still at a loss, or your brain is racing and full of ideas, perhaps it’s time to slow it down and gain some focus.

Meditation is a fantastic tool, not only for finding focus, but it will help you relax and can have significant positive effects on your health.

You may think that meditation is just for hippies, or spiritual types.  In fact, anyone can do it and there are a lot of resources to teach you how.

So, what is meditation? The simplest explanation is that it’s a way of emptying your brain of the constant noise of thoughts by using the rhythm of your breath as a focus.

Relaxing you brain through meditation allows it to have a rest and, with regular practice, you will improve its ability to process information and make decisions.  You will learn how to dismiss unimportant and distracting thoughts, as well as identifying what is really important to you.

Some great ways to start meditation include:

• Buying, or borrowing a book, for example “An Illustrated Guide on How to Meditate” by Matthew Johnstone;
• Buying or borrowing some CDs with guided meditation and relaxation exercises;
• Enrolling in a short course at your local community centre or TAFE;
• Practicing yoga in a group, as this often includes a meditation component.

Happy meditating!

You’re in your 30′s and single, your career is everything.

You’ve been building your skills and reputation for years now, your work may feel easy, but the passion is no longer there.

Or perhaps you feel stifled.  Your ideas feel tired, you are not excited about the new project and you are no longer interested in learning about new trends in your chosen profession.

Does that sound like you?

If it does, maybe you are asking yourself, “Am I in the right job?”, “Am I working for the right company?”, or “Am I working with the right people?”

Being dissatisfied with your career could simply mean that you need a new challenge with a new company, where you can learn new ways for doing things and meet new people.  Or perhaps you would like more responsibility and are ready for a big promotion.

On the other hand if:

• you’re constantly bored, or
• frequently sick, and
• groan at the thought of yet another day at the office,

then perhaps it’s time to re-examine your life goals and aspirations.

This doesn’t mean you have to quit your job immediately and look for an alternative career.  Especially if you’re not sure that that career might be.

Some things you can do include:

• taking a short course at your local community centre of TAFE college in a subject you are interested in,
• looking for a similar job in a different industry, or a different job in the same industry, which uses all your transferable skills, as well as giving you the opportunity to learn something new,
• make an appointment with a professional career counsellor, who can help you explore some options,
• if you have a hobby you are really passionate about, explore the possibility of making it into a full time career and a sustainable source of income.

The possibilities are endless…

For many career women, particularly single women, the big 30 kind of sneaks up on them. You are busy building your career, or exploring the world, or perhaps building your social networks (otherwise known as partying).

Before you know it, you enter your thirtieth year and something starts to happen in your mind.  Your biological clock may start ticking louder and louder, or your childhood and adolescent dreams may resurface as you ask yourself,

• “Am I really where I wanted to be?”
• “Is this how I imagined myself at 30?”
• “Have I done what I thought I would do by now?”
• “What happened to my dreams?”

It is no surprise that the book “Eat, Pray, Love” proved to be such a resounding success around the world.  Women in their late twenties and early thirties closely identified with the author as she put her life on hold and began exploring her goals and dreams.

Apparently a lot of women tend to enter some form of therapy or self-development as they reach their thirties.  They may feel a vague sense of dissatisfaction with their lives and want to explore ways of improving their lives.  Perhaps they come to a fork in the road and really need to question who they are and what they want to achieve.

So what can you?

Talk to friends about their life goals.  Try to remember your aspirations as a child or young adult.  You may want to decide on some milestones you’d like to achieve before you turn 30.

• Perhaps take that trip you’ve always dreamed of.
• Learn a new skill you’ve always wished to have.
• Start saving for a deposit for your dream home.
• Consider whether children figure in your future and how you might change your life to accommodate that commitment.

Perhaps now is the time to follow your dreams….

This week I have great pleasure in introducing to you the ever delightful, ever stylish and all round good girl, Imogen Lamport who has loads of advice to help you when clothes shopping – yayy!

1.  Being influenced by the sales assistant who is paid to get you to buy clothes (whether they suit you or not).

Retail sales staff are paid to sell you clothes.  Some are even paid extra commissions based on how much they sell. So it’s in their interest that you buy as much as possible, whether it suits you or not.  I’ve been shopping and told a client that something doesn’t suit them and they should take it off, moments later the sales assistant will pipe up and say it looks fabulous.  Who is telling the truth?

2.  Not bothering to try on the clothes

Many women are short on time and so rather than try on a garment they just pick it out in what they consider to be their ‘size’ and take it home, and justify to themselves that if it doesn’t fit they’ll return it.  But so much doesn’t get returned because they don’t get around to it.  Instead of having saved themselves time (by not trying on in the store) they’ve now wasted the time it took them to get to the store, and wasted money by not returning the unflattering garment.    Always, always, always try on garments in the store.  Yes it may look fine on the hanger, but so often, the cut is a little off, and it doesn’t work on the body.  Don’t fall into this trap.

3. Only taking 1 size into the change-room

It’s true that so many stores only allow you 5 or 6 garments in the change-room at once, so you feel you have to be really selective about what you take in.  Don’t be, take lots of clothes and lots of sizes – the sales assistant will keep all the extra clothes at the change room for you to try on if they have a numbers policy and then you can get them to bring you the other sizes and styles you want to try, rather than have to get dressed and leave the change-rooms.  Try on 20 garments at a time, not 5 and you’ll have better success.  Try on multiple sizes of clothes as even in the same store sizes vary between garments.

4. Buying on the sizing label not what fits you

I’ve seen some catastrophic purchases in people’s wardrobes because they bought a size not for fit.  Look it’s a size 12! They tell me excitedly, even though the pin-stripes on the thighs are bent and bulging.  Nobody cares what the size is, the label is on the inside not on the outside, so no one else ever needs to know what it is. If you don’t like the size, cut the label out once you’ve purchased it. You’ll look so much better when your clothes fit you well, rather than basing your purchasing decisions on a number that is completely arbitrary and varies from store to store.  You are not a number!

5.  Buying because it’s designer or a label, not because it suits you

OK, it’s easy to fall into this trap – we all love a bit of luxury and sometimes we may buy a garment not because it suits us, but because it’s a designer label.  We buy it because we want that little bit of luxury in our lives, but beware, just because it’s a label, doesn’t mean it will work for us, our lifestyle or suit our silhouette or colouring and in the end could just be a costly mistake.  Only buy designer when you understand what really works for you – then the investment can be worthwhile.

6. Buying because it’s on sale, not because you need it

Many of us love a bargain – it’s the hunter in us, out there stalking our prey, looking for the best catch.  But just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s really a bargain.  Purchasing clothes that you never wear, not matter how cheap is a waste of money if they’re just going to take up space in your wardrobe and eventually be thrown out and end up as landfill.  Make sure if you buy something on sale you’re not just purchasing emotionally, ask yourself is it really filling a gap in your wardrobe?

7. Not understanding your silhouette and what suits it

Understanding your colouring, body shape and proportions are key to what clothes you should buy.   Clothes that suit you make you look and feel great.  Clothes that are for a different body shape won’t flatter and you’ll never feel fabulous in them.   Investing in finding out what suits your unique body pays for itself time and time again as you stop wasting money on clothes that don’t suit you, plus has the added benefit of making shopping easier as you know what to try on and what to avoid.

8.  Not creating a list before you go shopping

Wardrobe after wardrobe I see has multiples of the same garments.  Their owners will often exclaim in surprise “oh I forgot I had that” as we find clothes stashed away at the backs of drawers.  So much money is wasted on buying clothes that people don’t need and that don’t add value to their wardrobes, filling the gaps and extending their outfits.  Instead their filled with wardrobe orphans and multiples of the same garments.  Before you shop, you need to do an audit of your wardrobe and work out what you really need so that you’re not going to waste another cent on something you don’t need.

9. Buying ‘different’ for the sake of different

Yes, it’s easy to get stuck in a style rut as we tend to keep buying what we feel works, or sometimes just keeping on buying the same garment in different colours, it become so boring.  So we bust out of our rut and choose something completely different, but when we get it home we never wear it because it’s really not ‘us’.  Clothing personality styles are closely related to our personality traits, if we move too far away from our personality we won’t feel great in the clothes we choose.  Try a little bit different rather than radically different and you’ll have more success.

10.  Going shopping without grooming first

Shopping for clothes means spending some time looking at ourselves in the mirror.  So before you go, make sure you do your hair and put on some light makeup – groom – then you can assess how the clothes really look rather than just thinking that you look terrible (particularly as the lighting in some changerooms is harsh and unflattering anyway – give yourself all the help you can!).

Imogen Lamport AICI CIP is one of Australia’s leading image consultants and is an author of 4 style books, sought-after speaker,  blogger and also trains people to be image consultants and personal stylists.   If you need some help getting your wardrobe under control, finding out what suits you and taking the stress out of figuring out what to wear please contact her www.bespokeimage.com.au   alternatively you can get fresh style tips from her blog www.insideoutstyleblog.com .

You’re off at work all day and there are no kids at home to mess up the house.  It’s just you and the little mess you make.  How hard can it be to clean the house?

Well, that was what you thought until you looked at it, knowing that you only have 15 minutes before that special bloke arrives.

Don’t worry.  15 minutes is plenty.  Here’s what you do.

1. Arm yourself with your tile and grout cleaner, fire away at all the areas that need it; the shower, the vanity, the kitchen sink and let it sit for a bit.

2. A dash of toilet cleaner around the bowl is next, then step away and attend to the piles of stuff; letters and bills etc that have piled up on the end of the kitchen bench. Find a spot for them. Even if it’s a box labelled “Filing” that you’ll get around to soon!

3. With the surfaces free don your dusting glove (make sure you have one of these life savers) and walk around, room by room, running your dusting hand over all the surfaces.

4. Next up is the damp cloth for wiping down dirt and grease … and if you’d like to speed the process up, and work one room at a time, put your dusting cloth in one hand and your wiping cloth in the other! This saves you going back to rooms you’ve already been through.

5. Whack the kettle on, take your bathroom armoury with you and wipe down the surfaces that you sprayed earlier. Having the spray sit on them grotty areas gives it time to do its job – and makes cleaning it much easier and quicker.

6. A quick wipe down and brush of the toilet, run a mop over the floor and a vac over the carpeted areas and you’re done … perfect timing as the kettle has just clicked off.

Easy peasy.

15 minutes down, house clean, kettle boiled and man at the door.  Perfect.

PS A friend of mine sprays Mr Sheen in the air just before her guests arrive –  house may be dusty but it smells like it’s clean! Any tricks up your sleeve?