This week, I’d like to blog about what makes each of us, as individual, unique. We are all different and we all have our uniqueness.
I believe that by embracing our individuality and our uniqueness, we can all make a powerful difference in this world.
I was thinking of the term to describe this and thought of a common expression, a French one, used to describe such a thing: Je ne sais quoi.
Literally ‘I don’t know what’ (ʒə nə sɛ ˈkwɑ), defined as “indescribable attractive attribute or quality; a certain something”.
So, what’s yours?
To guide you, I have put together a series of mini videos (all under 45s), to get you thinking about your “Je ne sais quoi”! Have a look at my video series, Your inner pumpkin…! P.U.M.P.K.I.N, and start transforming yours today!!!
I’d love to hear your “Je ne sais quoi”, please share.
On that note and till next time!
Let your inner pumpkin shine,
Frederique
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Frederique Murphy Simply Transformed
This week I’d like to share with you one of my beliefs, whereby, I strongly believe that you can achieve anything you set your mind to and to prove that, here is a story!
Dublin, Ireland, is the annual host city of the biggest all women’s event of its kind in the world. Every year, on the June bank holiday weekend, over 40,000 women take part in the Women’s Mini Marathon, a 10k race, raising millions for charities, where women can run, jog, walk and even crawl!
I have been doing that race for a few years now, in the walking category. Back in November 2008, I challenged myself and decided to run it in 2009. Now, to paint you a picture, I was not a runner and had never ran before and would actually be out of breath when running for a few meters.
I did not let that affect me…! I set my mind to running the 2009 event and then I started training. I must admit, it was a challenge and I loved it!!! I clearly remember how focused I was and proud of my first 1km! Then 3km, then 5km (woohoo!), then 7km, then 9km and then on a glorious day on a Sunday morning, my first 10km, I was completely thrilled. I had done it. Still though, the race was in a few weeks time, so I kept on practicing.
And, last week, on June 1st 2009, I am delighted to report that I officially did it!!! I run my first 10km race and within the qualifying time to be placed next year, in front of the walkers!
And, that is “Can do Attitude!”.
This was a Vitality & Fitness challenge, but the same spirit can be applied to all areas of your life.
There are many ways to set a goal, the most important steps are to actually set and write your goal down You will all have heard about the SMART mnemonic before:
S Specific M Measurable A Attainable R Relevant T Time-bound
Think about these 5 criteria when writing your goals down.
And, one final note, when you achieve your goal, and you will, as remember, you can and will achieve anything you set your mind to, do celebrate!!!
I’d love to hear about your goals and your achievements, please share and comment.
On that note and till next time!
Let your inner pumpkin shine,
Frederique
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Frederique Murphy Simply Transformed
Wow! First of all, thank you so much for all the feedback and comments I got as I entered the blogging world last week!
Zen Attitude
This week, I’d like to write about Communications I know, wide topic, isn’t it?
I’d like to particularly focus on the non-verbal one, defined as “The process of sending and receiving wordless messages by means of facial expressions, gaze, gestures, postures, and tones of voice.”
Firstly, a few stats on non-verbal communication:
• 1872, Charles Darwin, wrote “The expression of the emotions in Man and Animals” and said that all mammals show emotions in their faces
• 1970, Ray Birdwhistell, wrote “Kinesics and context: Essays on body motion communication” and estimated that the average person speaks words for a total of 10/11 minutes a day (I guess being in the talking business, I am not considered as “average”!) and he also estimated that we make and recognise about 250,000 facial expressions per day; he determined that the verbal component of a face-to-face conversation is less than 35% and that more than 65% of communication is done non-verbally
• 1971, Albert Mehrabian, wrote “Silent messages” and referenced his communication model for the effectiveness of spoken communications by saying that only 7% of a message is verbally communicated, while 93% is transmitted non-verbally (55% body language and 38% tone of voice); read here for more details to ensure that these stats are not taken out of context!
To sum up, non-verbal communication can account for as much as 80% of communication!!!
So, let’s take a moment to think and realise what this really means…!
It is not what you say, but how you say it that makes the most impact. Knowing this, think of all the things you can do right now to improve or enhance your interpersonal relationships. Become aware of the way you communicate non-verbally; pay attention to your body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, posture…
This makes a lot of sense to me!!! When I was growing up, people around me would say 2 things, over and over again: “I can read you like a book” and “That’s a killer look”! Ahaha! I have now become aware of both, and even though I have not necessarily changed anything, particularly for the face, as I like to be as genuine as possible, knowing this, has helped me become more in control on how I come across and being able to close the book in some situations!
So, for the next few days (and onwards!), how about we all pay extra attention to our non-verbal communication? And ensure that the signals we are sending do match the words we are saying, as this will create powerful and congruent messages!
I look forward to hearing from you, your comments and feedback are appreciated! Remember, if you’d like to see a particular change topic discussed in here, let me know.
On that note and till next time!
Let your inner pumpkin shine,
Frederique
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Frederique Murphy Simply Transformed
