This is one my favourite times of the year when the world around us shakes off the dormancy of Winter and embraces the dynamic, ever changing Spring with the profusion of beautiful flowers that remind us of the fact that the world is still very much in technicolour.

So tell me?  What’s your passion? What are you passionate about? What brings you so much joy that you can spend hours upon hours doing? Passion I believe is something you can while away your day with and not realize that the time is passing by. I love books, reading and getting stuck into them – I also love spending time with people I love, I get so in the moment with them, I don’t check my watch. This can be quite stressful when I realize that I should actually be leaving to be somewhere else, like taking my daughter to her calisthenics class or my son to his basketball game.

Cooking on the other hand is definitely not my passion! I just can’t see the sense in spending hours in the kitchen cooking up a storm and then eat it all within much less time and to finish off having to clean the kitchen up. Plus I often forget ingredients or go off into another room and forget about the cooking…. (my family has many stories about my cooking skills!). Okay, okay, I hear the loud protests from all the master chefs as they read this.
 
Late last year I had the privilege of connecting with a 25-fold (perhaps even more) internationally published author - Horst Blaich. He regularly publishes family newsletters and is in the midst of writing his and his wife’s life story. He happens to be a friend’s father, so every time I see Horst, we get talking about our writing experiences. He told me about how his decades-old archive of writing materials, photographs and more that went up in smoke a little while back, which was devastating not to say the least. He has since been in the painstaking process of salvaging the remains and re-organizing it.

What does all this have to do with passion? Whilst Horst was talking to me, I noticed all of a sudden (especially when he showed me his books and the room where he keeps everything), that his voice changed. I notice how his eyes lit up. He was so excited and animated – I realized that he was very, very passionate about his writing. This was a very profound discovery for me, as I sometimes doubt my passions. He told me that he often wakes up in the middle of the night to spend his time writing. In fact I believe he spends most of his time writing, researching, formatting and everything that goes with it. Simply pure passion, that is at times seen as an obsession by outsiders.
 
A lot of his writing is about family, family history. Your passion is closely aligned with your values in life. So for Horst, one of his top values would be ‘family’. What are you passionate about? What are your values? How are they aligned?  You should discover similarities between your passions and values.
 
I’d love to know what you are passionate about – and if they are aligned to your values….. If you don’t know how to discover your passions or aren’t sure what you absolutely love doing (some people aren’t sure), let me know. I can point you in the right direction. In fact, I talk more extensively about passions and how to figure them out in my book, 'From Misery to Mastery – Journey to Freedom and Empowerment.’
 
For now, I would like to wish you time to stop and smell the roses (quite literally) and joy in embracing the possibilities that are the embodiment of this beautiful season.  Use this time of changing seasons to spark some positive changes in your life and give you the courage to follow those passions.
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Are you a SuperMum with school-aged children and dread the school holidays? You don’t know what to do with them unless you go on an action-packed holiday like the Theme Parks or Disney Land?
Do you love having your children at home for the school break, because you can sleep in! Yes, they drive you up the wall with sayings like ‘Mum, I’m bored!’ or ‘Mum, ‘so-and-so broke my Barbie’s arm!!!’
Do you run out of ideas of what to do with your lovely bunch even though you have the best ideas but in the heat of the moment you forget all the things you had planned and wished that you had access to a list of activities that are fun and cost-effective at the same time?
I hear you Girlfriend! As a mum of 3 I have seen many seasons of school holidays and run out of ideas time and again of what to do with them on the holidays. 
Every school holidays (boy do they come round quickly) I rack my busy mum’s brains to keep my children’s holidays eventful, before the dreaded b- word (‘Mum, I’m bored’) even forms on their lips. ‘101 Super Cool Ways to make your Child’s Holidays Magical!’ sprang to mind because a close friend of mine Karen, our children and I lovingly and jokingly invented ‘Manners 101’ when we were having an absolute fun time on Phillip Island in Australia a few years ago. From there it spiralled to fun and hilarious activities (spur of the moment ones, mind you!), such as ‘back to front’ and ‘opposite’ day’. ‘Back chat days’ were an all time favourite.
The list of ‘101 Super Cool Ways to make your Child’s Holidays Magical!’ is by no means exhausted. There are hundreds more ways to make your child’s holidays magical and memorial. The ideas range from free to low through to medium or higher cost per activity. The list is simply thought-provoking and I hope that it will inspire you and your children to create your own magical activities. Not all these ideas originate from me of course. Several mums in my ‘tribe’ have contributed their favourites, for which I am thankful. I’d love you to share your ideas with me – let me know which ones worked and which ones didn’t. Share which ones you adapted or which new ones you created with your gorgeous children. With your permission, I’d include them in any future resource along this line.
So without further ado, please look through them and create your own jar with activities. Be creative in how you choose which activities to do when.Your child/children might take it in turns to choose each day. You might want to
choose a few for the whole week. It’s your choice! :) Above all, enjoy and create memories and perhaps even rituals with your children, no matter how old they are.
On a more serious note, feel free to share this resource of ‘101 Super Cool Ways to make your Child’s Holidays Magical!’ with your friends as a whole, bearing in mind that the content is copyright. Thanks for your understanding!

I am super excited and privileged to say that the 101-list has been snapped up by http://www.mydeal.com.au/blog/post/summer-activities-to-do-with-the-kids and will also be submitted to mumsdelivery.com.au. Be one of thousands to access these activities. Get your children away from technology and give them the chance to create memories this summer (or winter, depending on which part of the world you are!). 
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Remember to share your favourite activities - the ones you love from this 101-list and/or ones that you have discovered for yourself. Look forward to hearing from you!

Much Love,
Ruth

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