Know who YOU are with these 25 Questions (Day 6)

By: Kel Amstutz
Keywords: Know You, Who are you, self discovery, 25 questions, day 6, the road less traveled, YOU, WHO. 

KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU'RE ALL ABOUT

You all know how much I love little questions. I think that they are great prompts to help you (and me) on this little road to self-discovery that we have embarked upon. 

I hope you all are finding out fun things about yourself and embracing your purposes by now and as always, please SHARE! ;)


Without further ado...


To know and understand WHO we are is something that we should discover early on in our lives. 

You all have heard it, the saying about loving yourself before you can love anyone else?  

Do you think this is true?  

I do. 

But, in the same token, knowing yourself is the same.  Before you know anything, you have to KNOW YOURSELF. 




Unfortunately, it is not quite as easy and straightforward as you would have hoped. 

This is because the beauty of people is learning and change.  You will constantly learn new things about yourself throughout your lifetime.  This is a LIFE LONG PROCESS, and that is a good thing. 

The second reason knowing yourself isn't as easy as it might sound is because we are unsure of where to begin.  This is why these questions are so helpful. It will serve as a sort of starting point that you can take further. 



Think of getting to know yourself kind of like a research project. 




I know this might seem weird, but think of this like you were researching an object. You want to know everything you can about it.  Then, you know exactly how to develop it, care for it, grow it, and use it in the most effective and efficient way possible. 






So, I want to ask ya'll: 

HOW WOULD YOU ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS?

1. What does your ideal day look like? 
2. What did you want to be when you were younger?
3. Who are you most inspired by? Why?
4. Who would you love to meet? What would you ask?
5. What habit would you most like to break? What habit would you most like to start?
6. Think of a person you truly admire. What qualities do you like about that person?
7. How do you like to relax?
8. When was the last time you did something you were afraid of?
9. What are you most proud of?
10. What are you most afraid of?
11. If life stopped today, what would you regret not doing?
12. Who would you like to connect (or reconnect) with? Why?
13. What qualities do you admire in others?
14. What practical skills do you wish you had?
15. Imagine you're in your 90's.  What memories would you like to have? What stories do you want to tell?
16. What is your favorite book/movie/song? Why?
17. If you could make one change in the world, what would it be?
18. What do you love to do, or give to others? (don't think of an object- think of something from YOU personally)
19. What excites you?
20. What do you wish you did more of?
21. Pretend money is no object. What would you do? 
22. What area of your life, right now, makes you feel the best?  Which area makes you feel the worst?
23. Let's jump forward a year. What would you like to have achieved in the past year?
24. What piece of advice would you give to five year old you?  Sixteen year old you?  Twenty-one year old you? Right now?
25. How do you want to be remembered in life?

How to turn your Purpose into Business (day 5)

By: Kel Amstutz
Keywords: Purpose, Business, Journey of Self Discovery

Hi Ya'll.  

For some of us, being able to make a living from what we feel called to do is the ultimate dream. Ya'll know that this is true for me, as you have watched and read my articles about living a free life! 


The thing is...this can be hard to know where to even begin...and it often stays just a dream. 

TO TURN THAT DREAM INTO SOMETHING REAL...YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WHAT IT IS THAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE (your purpose), WHAT YOU CAN EASILY DO (your skills) AND HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO IT (your interests and ideas). 

I have a little exercise below that will give you a simple and clear PLAN of how you can turn your purpose into a business.  

When you create your PLAN you can either implement it (if it's a low risk and easily validated business), or use this PLAN to carry out further research (if it's a business with a higher risk).  And this plan here is super simple- just four steps. 

So, let's get going! 

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1. Write down your purpose

Grab a sheet of paper or open up a new document, and at the top, write your purpose. We’re assuming you already know what your purpose is, and if you do - perfect. Write it down. If not, you’ll need to spend some time figuring out exactly what it is.

CLICK HERE to FIND your Purpose

This is a whole other topic, but some quick points to remember: your purpose isn’t a job or an occupation, and it isn’t your passion/s. Your can bring your purpose to life through your job or passion, but they’re not the purpose itself. Your purpose is like your ultimate life goal. It’s what will gently steer the direction of your life, along any path you choose. There is no one way to bring a purpose to life, but a business is a great way to live your purpose on your terms.  

2. List your skills, commitments and interests 

Under your purpose, add three sections: skills, prior commitments and interests 

• Under skills, you’re going to write down every skill you have; the official ones, the life ones, and the secret skills that no one even knows you have. This includes any qualifications, musical or fitness skills, work skills, people skills. Absolutely everything you can think of.  
• Under prior commitments, list all the bigger commitments and responsibilities you have in your life. This includes your partner, your family, your job, your mortgage, your bills, any roles you hold in your community. This is really important. We all have things in our life that we need to take into account when making big life decisions. And you want to be sure you’re bringing your purpose to life in a way that actually fits where your life is now, so that it doesn’t stay an unattainable dream. Once you have your list, and mark a little cross by any you won’t take into consideration, and a tick by those you will.
• Finally, list all of your interests. Anything from hobbies to lifelong passions and just things you love. You might have an overlap on your skills list, like graphic design or photography. This is fine.

3. Get Creative

Brainstorm everything you can do that takes into account the skills you have (keep in mind you can up-skill or outsource), the prior commitments you want to keep, or the responsibilities you need to take into account, and your interests. Remember there is no one way to bring your purpose to life, so jot down every idea you can think of.

4. Plan and Prioritize

From these ideas, create your plan. You’ll decide what you’ll offer, and in what order. You’ll decide how you’ll reach people - online (1:1, private groups or communities or on a completely open platform), in person through a physical space; like a store or a class - or a combination of these.

And that’s it! Simple, right? To make it clearer, let’s look at some examples.

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The Breakdown:

Let’s say your purpose is to teach children about the importance of nutrition and health. Your skills are strongest in teaching, speaking and cooking. Your prior commitments are that you have a home with a mortgage, but you could rent out your house if you wanted to. And your interests are food, health, business, writing and nature.

Here are a few ways you could turn your purpose into a business:

• Write children’s books
• Write children’s cookbooks
• Speak in schools
• Implement a program around healthy eating in schools
• Create a kids food and cooking channel on YouTube
• Run local school holiday programs
• Host kid friendly cooking/gardening/health lessons
• Write books aimed at parents, teachers and caregivers
• Write a blog or create a website to sell your own and affiliate products

Expand on this as much as you can. What else can you offer that people would be happy to pay you for? EBooks? Videos? Classes? Classroom workbooks?

Now you can narrow your list, prioritize ideas and plan how you’re going to reach people. So you might start off with a blog and website, and local school holiday programs. Eventually, you’ll be doing speaking tours in schools and creating a classroom workbook. Then you’ll create your own eBook packages (for parents and kids) to sell on your website.

Let’s try another example.

Maybe your purpose is to help new MOMS to reconnect, relax and rejuvenate through yoga. Your skills are graphic design, basic web design, and yoga, obviously! Your prior commitments are your partner and two kids, your family home and small portfolio of local websites you update and maintain. Your interests are yoga, spirituality, health, and personal development.

You could turn your purpose into a business by:

• Hosting local yoga classes
• Selling yoga videos online
• Develop a program or class that you license to other yoga instructors
• Creating an eBook
• Creating a website and blog to host your products and others to sell
• Developing a line of products such as clothing, yoga mats and equipment
• Creating a membership site where people can follow along online - each class is live for 24 hours
• Create a 1:1 service for new mums that’s part yoga, part health coaching, part meditation
• Or, offer the same yoga/health coaching/meditation service in small, exclusive groups

So you might decide that you’d prefer to go primarily online, as that would fit around your day-to-day life. Again, you might start off with a website and blog, but your main priorities are to get videos up and an eBook together. 

You might also decide to up-skill by studying as a coach to increase what you can offer to new moms.

And as a final example, let’s say your purpose is a little more open ended.

Maybe your purpose is to bring a little fun, magic and whimsy to people’s lives. 

How do you make a business out of that?  Again, focus on your skills and interests to come up with potential plans. Let’s say your skills and interests are around food and cooking, everyday magic and making people smile. Maybe you turn your purpose into a beautiful boutique baking business. 

You could build and expand this business by:

• Baking to order from a commercial kitchen
• Having a physical bakery
• Hosting baking classes
• Making online videos to promote your work
• Creating a published cookbook
• Creating a self-published eBook

The priority here is a kitchen - whether you use a private one or open up a physical store. A web presence is always a good idea, but rather than focusing on a blog, you might have a simple website and put your focus toward Instagram and Pinterest.

So after you go through this exercise, you’ll have a clear plan of what you want to do, and how you’re going to do it. It takes into account your prior commitments and responsibilities, and the skills you already have (or are excited to acquire!). And it’s in line with your interests - it’s easier to stay motivated when you’re actually interested in what it is you’re doing.

And this is perfect...From here you can move into the phase of research and putting your plan into action.  

How To Know If You're Ignoring Your Intuition (day 4)

By: Kel Amstutz
Keywords: Intuition, Gypsy, Spirit lead, instincts, downtime, healthy risks, grace, my story, life at gray gables, journey of self discovery

I feel very connected to my gypsy roots, like I can relate and have been handed down the gifts of the people who are my ancestors.  I can trust my instincts, for the most part with little doubt, as they are typically right, even when I don't chose to follow.  I can predict a phone call when someone is on my mind and I can read a hell of a tarot deck and I don't practice.  How is this?  I feel things and when I get rid of the voice that says I am just crazy or the doubt that beckons, I find that the instincts happen. Coincidence...I think NOT. 


I seem to be able to better grasp past, present and even future things, than most I walk among.  I seem to be the sought after person for events that are taking place to help ground and navigate friends and family.  But, every human possesses a sixth sense...and no we are not talking about the movie here.  Our sixth sense becomes stronger when we pay more attention it and and even act on its advice. 

The things is though, most people simply ignore their intuition.  I wanted to be able to share with you some signs that maybe you, too, are ignoring your sixth sense, but also offer some recognition on what and how you can begin connecting from here on out!

1. YOU OFTEN WISH YOU HAD FOLLOWED YOUR INSTINCTS.

Did a little voice in your head tell you that the phone would ring....and then it did?  Or maybe it was a thought that you should grab your umbrella even though the sun was shining?  Maybe you ignored your intuition and then you ended up soaked when it suddenly started to rain.  Honestly, this is a small thing that I am referencing, it's not like ignoring an intuitive  nudge to change careers, towns or a partner.   But, small intuitive hits are an excellent place to practice honoring your intuition and to begin creating new habits.  This way when the BIG intuitive insights come, you are more likely to take notice. 

2. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY DOWNTIME.

Are you rushing around, from here to here, from home to work, from work to the kids practice?  You really need to make time every day, even if for 15 minutes, to sit down and write in either a journal, a blog, some outlet to let you mind go blank, clear, reset.  You can also take a walk by yourself to quietly reflect upon your day and think about any intuitive insights that you experienced, like synchronicities, ah-ha moments, inspired advice from friends that resonated deep, symbolic dreams, or just plain gut instincts.  Busy people are those who want to get the most out of their lives, but if you aren't in touch with your intuition, you honestly can't live at your highest potential.  

3. YOU THINK INTUITION IS A BUNCH OF NONSENSE.

Naturally, we all fall at different spots on the intuition spectrum.  Some hear voices, see images in the mind's eye, have feeling sensations and strong intuitive knowings that can tell us names, places, events, etc.  Some are able to grasp the bigger insights like traumas that are being held back and what opportunities are in the future.  It's alright to be a skeptic.  I think that if you are, it's time to educate yourself about intuition.  Read a book, listen to a podcast, or better yet, schedule an appointment with a professional intuitive.  Once you begin to understand the power of intuition, you can start tapping into your own, and growing.

4. YOU AVOID TAKING HEALTHY RISKS.

Our sixth sense tells us when it is time to take healthy risks- usually a little before our ego feels ready.  If you have repeatedly felt the nudge to try something new- like taking a class, looking into a new career, beginning an overwhelming project, even dating- but you don't need to go at it on a hunch, you're not just ignoring your intuition but your doubting yourself.  Maybe this new venture/idea/person won't work out the way that you hope, but if your intuition is telling you to go for it then it knows you will benefit somehow from the experience as a whole. 

5. YOU FEEL UN-GROUNDED.

It is completely normal to feel lost or scared when you enter certain periods of your life.  Times of transition, significant relationships beginning or ending, and career or spiritual growth spurts are all excellent examples.  But, when you are in touch with your intuition, you are grounded within your soul- something eternal and infinitely more stable than changing life circumstances.  Your intuition can also provide you with practical next steps or help you put a certain situation into perspective so that you can understand how it fits into the bigger picture of your life.  When you make time to meditate, consult tarot cards, watch for signs from the universe, and journal or write, you can feel grounded even when the future can look and feel uncertain. 

6. YOU SEEN TO BE CUT OFF FROM GRACE.

I need to ask you, do you feel like nothing has worked out lately?  Do you feel like you can't catch a break?  It might be that you are not paying attention to intuitive guidance that signals grace opportunities.  Grace is when things just come together...as if by magic.  Grace is when your intuition whispers, "That diet you heard about could help your headaches," or "that book your friend recommended will give you a new perspective on cooking."  Grace opportunities are available to everyone but ONLY if you tune into your intuition and follow its guidance. 

My Own Story

I wanted to take a minute, as we close, to let you in on my own personal experiences.  I mentioned tarot cards.  I have been fascinated with wicca since a very young age.  It has been almost an obsession, one that caused me to dream of crystal balls and spell books and love Halloween and the like.  I have a few magical books that I have kept over the years, covered in dust taking up space in our attic.  

I also played with the OUIJA board. I don't recommend...nor condone this, as it was terrifying.  I felt my gift through these sessions, as a teenager in a dark basement...or worse, in my own childhood room where a spirit was summons with a full name, and not one the I recognized at the time. I also have this equal obsession with history, which led me to find that the name that was spelled out on the evil of the board was also a person who once lived in my childhood house, to guide me to the attic where pictures would be found...and yes, they were. Pictures of our dining room as a funeral showing, caskets splayed out for visitation purposes.  This is something that I feel I have not thought of in years.  

The thing about this is, was there really a spirit or was my intuition guiding me? Thereafter, I was gifted a set of tarot cards and so began my growing interest in the art.  I would read all my family members and friends and it seemed as if my reading of the cards was usually spot on.  How could this even be?  I honestly knew very little about the cards themselves.  It was not until eleven years ago, this year, I gave them up.  I closed that chapter of my life due to having a reading that predicted the end for my dear Grandpa.  I did not want to touch them again as I read the spread and the fate, the core was death, that change that we all were prepared for but not truly ready.  

Since those days, I have tapped into my instincts in other ways, trusting my intuition when I can and allow my own spirit guides to lead.  I find this fascinating to this day and as intuition awakens in my own children I feel that I am still learning to both listen and trust. 

Reminder: