Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Me
Sometimes it’s good to have a little shakeup.
To do things a little differently, and write from a different perspective. I was recently invited to join a fabulous group of bloggers and webpreneurs in the Sprout Mastermind Group which brings together a bunch of amazing women in a group where we can bounce ideas off each other, give feedback on business ideas, and see the back end of how other people run their business. Win/win I say!
Our first assignment (in getting to know the 30 some odd women that are in our group, and there are some amazing women in there let me tell you!) is to write a post of the 20 things you didn’t know about me (as I am a descriptive writer when it comes to these things, I thought I’d take it down to 10!).
There is a good mix on this blog of people who are near and dear to me, and those of you who share your good vibes with us here in cyberspace, of whom I have not had the privilege of meeting in the flesh. Hopefully I will make you laugh, and you’ll maybe learn a thing or two, have a giggle, and maybe even try writing this list yourself or how about sharing “5″ things I didn’t know about you down in the comments below??
At first I thought this idea didn’t vibe with my brand, and then I realized I needed this post as I a lot of my recent postings have been quite serious, and truth be told, I actually really like to have fun!!! So in the spirit of fun, I’m going to throw some random confessions in between.
Time to refresh, recharge, and relax.
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Me
1) I grew up in a house full of kids AND senior citizens. We had Norman, John (he liked to nude up from time to time….nuff’ said!), Walter, Henry (he wanted to take me to California in my green Lada), and Victor to name a few. These people were living in our home and under the care of my mother. I could write a book solely about our life with 6 kids and these people. But instead I’ll leave you with Victor’s favorite chant…
Picture a man in a flaming red track suit, with a very strong British accent, and a serious case of Parkinson’s Disease (bless his heart). Oh, and he carried a big stick when he went walking, and my Dad used to have to go and find him when he didn’t return for ages. He would usually find him in a ditch somewhere with the stick and legs flailing. True Story. That man was not going to let Parkinson’s beat him, so the ditch it was!
“How do you like your carrots? Raw, Raw, Raw…..How do you like your cabbage? Slaw, Slaw, Slaw? How do you like the other team? They’re fooooooor the biiiiiirds!!!!” (sung in a high pitched tune).
Great start to life I say.
Random Confession: I used to really get annoyed that we had all these elderly people in our house. One day I came home from school with a friend to find one of them naked sitting in a chair in the front hall. Kids used to ask me if the guy in the flaming red track suit flailing around my yard was my Dad when I got off the school bus.
Total embarrassment….
2) I moved to Saudi Arabia to work in a hospital when I was 23 years old. While I was there I also worked with Saudi Princesses teaching them fitness classes. I also worked with royalty yet again in Bahrain doing the same job working in a private gym. No joke, and yet again, another book for the collection!! So many stories…
Random Confession: At one of the Bahraini weddings I sat with another personal trainer. There was bling everywhere. We decided to case the joint for the chance of finding even ONE random earring. That could’ve set us up for life…..lol!
Mission was unsuccessful by the way!
3) I have this strange annoyance with certain things related to my feet. The other day I went ballistic when my daughter rammed her scooter into the back of ankles and I ended up throwing the scooter halfway across the room. Seriously, I am as cool as a cucumber, as long as you don’t step on my feet, get my feet wet, or ram me up the back of my ankles. Ask my husband, he knows all about it!!
Random Confession: I have never been known to be skinny, always been a voluptuous, athletic, or curvy girl. My ankles are the skinniest part of my body and I really like them. Not because they are slim, but just because…
4) A few years ago, someone challenged me to something I never thought I would ever do. In June 2008, I stepped in the boxing ring in front of 800 people and fought in a White Collar Boxing Match. I was Steph, “The Hammer” Hamilton. I fought “The Bomber” (no joke)…I trained HARD. I have always had a fear of getting hit. I got hit. But…I walked through that crowd (imagine people dressed in their finest…tuxes, Louboutins, bright lights, dry ice pumped through the air, cameras everywhere, chicks in hot pants in the ring, bottles of champagne, wine, and Jack Daniels spilling out from every corner), got in that ring, faced my fears, and fought HARD. One of the best experiences of my life. OH, and boy was I fit!!!
Random Confession: If there is a box of chocolates, I will always sneak and go to the bottom row. I will grab as many as I can and then cover up the box as if I’ve only taken one. Not that this has anything to do with boxing, except for the fact that I gave up sugar while I was training. Oh, and because I feel like some now…
5) I was born in Canada but my “soul” home is in the desert. In the Middle East, I have lived in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai to date. I currently call Dubai home and always feel a real sense of peace when I’m here (contrary to what the media would have you believe about the Middle East being a dangerous place). I love the mystery, vastness and beauty of the desert. I got engaged in the middle of a huge sand dune in the middle of nowhere (2 weeks after meeting my husband), and we’ve been together many lifetimes in this area of the world in the past. So in a sense, Canada is where I was born, but my soul feels most at ease when I’m in the Middle East. This is HOME.
Random Confession: I didn’t actually like my husband when I first met him. Thought he was a womanizer. Totally uninterested (although secretly I did think he was hot), and laughed when my Irish friend said “Oh, haven’t ye met James Hamilton?? He’s the bachelor of the moment!!!” Seriously?? Who talks like that!? Only the Irish can get away with something like that….makes me laugh to this day, and it’s funny how the Universe conspires to bring soul mates together!
6) I used to work in a Medical lab in the hospital, but now consider myself an “alchemist” and channel for healing. I have now gone down the alternative route and work with color (Aura Soma Color Practitioner), crystal, and plant energies. I am now exploring the power of sound waves to heal in combination with color and light, mainly using tuning forks, crystal singing bowls, and the power of voice and the breath.
It is a very exciting to be working in a field that influences not only my daily life, but has also helped foster my creativity and allowed my authentic self to re-surface. I have had some very powerful breakthrough’s with my clients. Most of them have had massive shifts and transformation within only one session of seeing me. I am a channel, and have the ability to connect to other realms (mainly work with Angelic Realms and Ascended Masters, but occasionally get contacted by other “beings” if it is of benefit to my client), as well as having very sharp intuitive and clairvoyant skills.
I help people to clear their “chakra’s” (energy centers) and can intuitively feel their blockages within my physical body whether in their presence, or they are halfway around the world. It often manifests itself as physical discomfort in my body and then I am able to ask them questions related to this and get guidance on “shifting” the energy block out of their bodies. Children are like magnets to the work I do. My daughters have already experienced huge benefits from the work I do which makes me really proud. I am really fortunate to have a beautiful healing room that I have created in my home, that I can share with clients, friends, and family.
Random Confession: I have been a healer for many, many lifetimes. I’ve been hung as a witch in one life, but let’s not focus on that. They might find out I’m doing it again and throw me into a volcano!!!!
7) I have a dream to sit opposite Oprah on Super Soul Sundays. I have always been a great fan (ok, um, who isn’t though, right??) and always had this voice in me saying that I would be on her show. For years I couldn’t figure out the “how” or “why”, until recently when I published my first book “Hungry”-Feed Your Soul, I realized that this was how it was meant to happen. Over a year ago I was guided to write this book and was shown that it would reach far across the world and be read by millions of people. I always knew I’d write a book (well, I’m sure it will be many!), but thought it would be more like a novel. Instead, I was guided to use my images, stop procrastinating and create a “soul feast” to share my experiences and connect with something everyone can relate to. I followed my instincts, and doors started opening. I initially was only going to self publish through Blurb.com, then was encouraged by a small publisher to publish through them (they nominated the book for 2 awards straight away), and weeks later received a call from the Hay House family who my book is now published under as well. The book is doing really well, and I know divine timing will get it where it needs to be.
BTW, my brother lives in Chicago about 20 mins from Harpo Studios so he has been in there a few times trying to catch sight of Oprah for me. Love it!
Random Confession: Sometimes I go and try on different pairs of designer shoes imagining that I’m getting ready to fly to Chicago and meet Oprah (oh, and see my brother, he lives there too!). The other day I found some nice Manolo’s….they would do quite nicely thanks!!!
(Hmmm, dirty Havainas, or sparkly Manolo????)
8) I used to almost LIVE in the kitchen and have a great love of food and all things culinary (is peanut butter considered gourmet??).
As perfectionism was something (and still is at times) I struggled with intensely for years, this was one of my ways of manifesting it. My friend used to call me “Martha” every time she came over for dinner, or to sample some baked goodies!
I’ve pushed my creativity into other areas like photography and writing now and have adopted the phrase “Imperfection is Perfection” which has now become a hallmark and theme of my brand Nektar. Accept things as they are and love the flaws, imperfections, and lessons that come with them!
Random Confession: I used to shove bits of my lunch down my leotards (some people call them tights, you know…..the things that keep your legs warm with feet attached!) and then go to the bathroom and flush the food down the toilet when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Not sure how I didn’t think my Mom would find out when there were bread crumbs and bits of mayonnaise smeared inside them when I took them off! Or maybe it was the floating bread crust in the toilet…..hmmmm.
Not very “Martha” is it??
9) I have been lucky in my adult life to have travelled all over the world, and consider my top travel experiences to be the ones where I’ve given something back. A trip to Ethiopia last year with 5 girlfriends was an experience to remember. Handing out clothing and supplies from the back of a 4 x 4 and seeing this beautiful country was a dream come true. You can read about it here. I was also fortunate to get to Vietnam earlier this year with our family and collected money for my 40th birthday to help out a Special Needs Homeless Shelter by buying a new wheelchair for them and boxes of crayons and coloring paper. As my daughter Ruby has Down Syndrome, this was near and dear to my heart and I have since gone on to design 5 Limited Edition Cushions, using my photographic images to donate proceeds back to this amazing organization.
This is something I’m really passionate about, I believe that everyone has the ability to give something back every time they travel and make a point of teaching my kids that when you travel you will gain so much more by leaving the country feeling like you’ve improved someone’s life, even if it’s just a little.
For me giving FEELS REALLY GOOD…..
Random Confession: I used to worry about posting stuff like this thinking that people would think I was trying to hide something. Weird programming….old stuff……just something I grew up with that said that if you were doing something really good, then you must be up to something really bad in reality, which was passed from my mother from her grandmother, and so on, and so on. It is my nature to live in a glass half full mentality, but there was a lot of pessimism in my childhoodI( not sure if that was just the 70′s and 80′s in general?). I say balance is good, I learned from both. And by the way, I won’t tell you the bad things I’m up to behind closed doors!! lol
10) I have done a complete 360 in how I view life after living for New Zealand (my husband’s native land) for 3 years. New Zealand is a beautiful, wild, and wonderful place. I did some of the hardest times in my life when I lived there, in that I experienced some of the biggest spiritual shifts and difficult times, yet it was the biggest gift I could ever receive (outside having my girls of course!). I developed an insane appreciation for the “little things” in life, and for the detail that nature displays when you stop and take notice. I channeled most of my book in the notes section of my iPhone over the course of a few months walking to a deserted, but very sacred piece of land in New Zealand, and I believe the energy had to come from that place to make it happen .
This blog was conceived and born in New Zealand, and took me through the experimentation of making washing powder, having my own beehives, getting raw milk in an illegal milk ring (for real), while I found my true soul centre and realized where I was meant to be heading.
I am forever grateful for my time in NZ, and will always have ties to this amazing place…
Random Confession:I also did a complete 360 in my exercise regime as sessions of intense exercise changed to baking (eating!!) cakes and eating copious amounts of really good food. New Zealand has a reputation for some of the world’s best food and wine, and some of the best baking recipes in the world. When in Rome!
Well that’s it! I could write another 20 points about me, but then that wouldn’t leave any room for mystery, would it? I look forward to reading your comments below and “5 things you didn’t know about me”. Please go ahead and share! I love reading about people and their stories, it’s what makes the world an interesting place to live!
