Thursday, August 20, 2015

New YouTube channel!!!

I did it!  I worked through the frustration and got the result that I wanted!  I moved my videos onto my new youtube channel.  Now I've got all of the fiddly business out of the way, I can get back to vlogging and video editing.   Yay me!

Da da da daaaaaa.....  click on the link below, and please subscribe to my channel if you like it!

https://www.youtube.com/c/AnnetteLove


Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Madness!!! And Power!!!! And Vlogging!!!

I thought I'd take my blog to the next level and try vlogging.  Hahahaha!  I am going slightly bonkers!  

Am I the only one that goes around in circles with Google?  I was trying to set up a new channel which took me to setting up a Google plus account and somehow I managed to make several of those!  Trying to figure out which G+ account was the right one to link to the You Tube channel sent me around in circles again.  I felt like I was in one of those mazes that has too many dead ends and you feel like you'll never get out!  I think that 'Google Circles' is supposed to be like groups of friends or something.  But secretly, I think it refers to the madness of the way that it's set up!

I thought I had it all figured out.  I got my YT channel active but then I realised there's another YT channel in there somehow.  The other one is linked to my email address, and the one that I've been posting on is linked to this blog address.  I couldn't change the current YT url to something simple like 'AnnetteLove' to help people find it and it was stuck on YTQR3684PE9E or something equally impossible to remember.  Trying to change the url had me going around in circles again and I kept hitting the same dead end that told me that I couldn't change my url until I had 500 subscribers.

I joined a lovely little Facebook group for people growing an online business and a lovely lady there suggested that I delete the existing channel and start again.  I just started a new channel, and was automatically given a url with my name in it.  I don't know how that happened as I didn't even have any videos on it, or a single subscriber.  sigh.

After all of this, making the actually videos is the easy part!  I actually feel comfortable chatting away in front of the camera now.  I'm still very new at doing this.  Before I start the camera, I have a theme in mind and honestly, I don't always know what is going to come out.  I just get my mind out of the way, and let my heart lead.  I don't want to be one of those "rah rah...you have to live life exactly how I say...eat what I say...workout like me...rah rah" type.  I like to tell a little story, and inspire others by what has worked for me, with tools and tips that I have learned and used in 50 years of life experience.

It's been a huge area of growth for me as I get to see myself up close on camera.  Recently I was doing a video overlooking a beautiful...no, an absolutely magnificent area of the coast.  My words weren't flowing and I realised that my mind was too involved and I needed to get that out of the way.  Once I did, the topic of that day was totally different to what I had planned.  I thought that what I said was awesome, the background was amazing....but when I got to editing, all I could see was my wrinkles and my aged skin.  I got so down on myself, thinking that youtube is a young person's place, that I should just keep my old self hidden in the safety of blogland.

Then I saw this on Facebook, posted by one of my friends:  "Today, I embrace my body. Focusing on what I love about myself I create a confidence that permeates my aura. When I feel good about me, it gives you permission to feel good about you. And so, I practice this. When I look in the mirror I say thank you and put down the critical self harm. I say this affirmative prayer with gratitude. Amen."

And I realised that I had to get back in front of the camera.  It is a part of my message to talk to people about getting bolder (not just getting older!).  I will not hide my wrinkles or freckles!  I will present myself in my Power!  My message will attract the people that it is meant to.  My focus is to have fun, to talk about the kind of stuff that I talk about on here, but deeper, and exploring the shadows and the strengths and the corners and the cobwebs and the fucking craziness of this life! (I know that I rarely swear, but sometimes, it just feels right to do so!)  I want to talk about parenting, children, homeschooling, connection, love, health, relationships, truth, energy, Spirit, living simply and deeply and all that crunchy kind of stuff!

I'm slow getting into it because life happens you know?!  There's people to feed, and places to go and I'm not always in the mood to make a video.  My family will always be my priority.  I refuse to make a video every day for x amount of days, because that doesn't feel authentic to me.  I'll make one when I feel like I have something that I really want to say...and I have a fair bit to say lately!!  I totally understand why people do those challenges, but my focus isn't on creating a 'following', or making a ton of money from YT.  My focus is on sharing my story in the hope that it inspires or helps others.  Along the way, I learn more about myself.

Everything that I do has to come from my heart.  After years of people pleasing, and suppressing my Power and my voice, I have a lot to chat about, but I won't force it.

I have to reload the three current videos (I told you I was having a slow start, and besides, it's quality, not quantity from me...yeah, that's what I'll tell myself!) to my new channel, then I'll post the new channel link here.  This might take a while as it's sooooooo slooooowwww to upload videos here in Backwater 'Straya (that's Aussie-speak for Australia!).

I've been having fun learning lots of tips on video editing, setting up channel art and youtube thumbnails (picmonkey is totes amazeballs!)....'scuse the kid-speak, I've been learning from watching too many videos from 8-15 year old youtube superstars!  I'm enjoying the creativity of this whole experience, getting to know more about myself, going deeper and getting clearer on what my Truth is.  It really is totes amazeballs!

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

What do I want?

I feel like I am on the right path.  I feel grounded and more sure of myself...stronger and more determined.  However, I can't say for sure exactly where I'm going.  I just know that I'm getting to where I'm supposed to be, in the way that I'm supposed to.

Some people may find that statement very vague.  Others will totally get it.  It's okay either way, because I am feeling peaceful and grateful to be where I am right now.

I've not really been one for setting materialistic goals.  My goals have come from instrinsic motivation by the feelings that I want to achieve.   My priority has always been harmony, love, joy, balance and peace within myself.  Why would I ever want external 'things', if I didn't have the deeper things that give this life meaning?    

A house doesn't mean anything to me...it's the people and the connection they have within it.  I'm not impressed with fancy clothes or jewellery or cars or degrees.  That's just not my focus.

In the past, I've tried 'goal setting' in the usual way...listing the material things that I wanted in 1 year, 5, 10, etc.    I wasn't very good at it, as those 'things' didn't really mean anything to me.  

My focus is on the feelings.  The external has changed so many times, often as a reflection of what is happening within me.  Maybe that's why I can adapt to change so easily, because I'm not attached to the physical. ... "Move to the USA - sure, why not!... Move to Las Vegas - sounds like fun!....Move back to Australia...yeah!"

I have a strong feeling now that 'Something Wonderful is about to happen!'

I want to get clear on my feelings and the direction that I feel called to go.  So I was thinking "what do I want?".   To get clearer, I quickly wrote the first five feelings that came to me:

Love
Connection
Peace
Joy
Compassion


What are the most important ways for me to express these:

Family - my own, my extended family, my friends, all living beings on Earth (that last one kind of surprised me when it came out, but okay).

Interacting, Connecting with Love, Peace, Joy and Compassion.

I would like to help the world return to Love, away from fear and conflict.





How can I achieve those more deeply?  Again, the first few things that came to me:

By doing the things that maintain harmony within my body and mind (fitness, rest, nutrition, sunshine, friends and feeding my mind with inspiring reading, videos, conversation or contemplation every single day)

By focusing on Being the Change that I wish to see in the World.  There is SO much unrest, it would be easy to get into a conflict mindset.  But that does not feel authentic to me.  I need to maintain a place of peace.  We cannot fight for peace...we can only BE Peace to create Peace.  It seems huge and unlikely....maybe that's what Gandhi thought as well.  

By remembering to be Grateful for everything even the "not good" things that come my way.  It's all part of the journey and has a reason.  

By Trusting that I will continue to be guided to the right people and places and information.

By Watching my thoughts to ensure that they remain in alignment with my main focus, aiming to avoid judgement of myself and others.  

By Reminding myself of all of this!

This feels so good to me!