A grand new adventure for The Writer's Ink :)

Well good morning my lovely and dear friends. :) For almost three years I have written to you on this beloved blog. I've shared my heart, my thoughts, my fears, my joys, my dreams and hopefully I have encouraged you in your journey along the way. And now I can't believe today is my last post on this little blogger blog! It's faithfully delivered so many messages to you, straight from my heart... but today friends, today is the first day of a brand new season!

Yep that's right! It's an exciting day today for The Writer's Ink! It's website launch day :) For the past eight months I have been working on this project, getting ideas, mulling over them, and seeing them explode in bursts of creativity has been overwhelming, better than I expected. Creating is such crazy process, so fun and wild, yet so delicate. And actually seeing these tiny seeds of dreams come together into a finished project is something I am so happy to see. With the help of some VERY talented friends in Mark Peric, website designer extraordinaire (along with being fabbo at every other creative talent you could think of), and Rachel McCarthy, designer, stylist, entrepreneur and business wonder woman... (+ quite a few hours from myself I'm proud to say!)... today I am excited to launch The Writer's Ink's brand new website! 

Stay tuned for 7pm (Melb time) this evening when the site will be going live!

Sometimes when you have the initial sparks of a dream, it doesn't feel real, or seem as if it will ever happen. But as you keep sowing time into it, letting your heart lead you and inspire you, God breathes his life into it and the creativity just flows. So here we are entering a new season! I'm excited... for ALL of us. We are on a journey together, and I am cheering you on all the way. So thank you dear friends, from the bottom of my heart, for all the love and support you have shown me over the years... here's to a new season starting... today. :)

Have a beautiful weekend!

Love Nat 

xox

Dreams, dreams and sparkly friends.

Often when you're preparing to step out and do something great, things can feel a little intense. You're going against the grain and pioneering a NEW way, and sometimes it can feel like you're walking blind and you have no idea what you're doing. Thoughts of comparison and fear try and creep in and masquerade themselves as your actual thoughts (LIARS!) but as we forge ahead in our dreams, there is a gift God so generously gives us to strengthen and help us along our way.

Wonderful, amazing and sparkly friends! :)

It's 4 days until the launch of the brand new www.thewritersink.com.au. I've been working on it for six months now, it's a huge passion of mine and has been on my heart for a very long time. I can't actually believe it's happening. As with anyone believing for a dream to come to fruition, there have definitely been times I have experienced feelings of overwhelm, as well as quite a few "what the heck am I doing, is this dream too big?!" moments. :) BUT... I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a dream God has placed in my heart. He's created me to do it and he's also given me some extravagant encouragers along the way, all wrapped up in some dear and wonderful (and very sparkly!) friends :)

BIG dreamers need wonderful friends. I can say that with confidence and conviction. Best friends love you and celebrate with you when the dream is close, and they cheer you on in times when the dream feels impossible. So no matter where you are with your dreams, surround yourself with great friends because they can encourage your heart so deeply :)

Sometimes it's just chatting... 

Sometimes it's cracking up laughing...

Or it could be just walking...

Or just sharing life...

True friends always, always encourage your dreams, and your heart.

This is one of my most faaaavourite verses in the bible (Proverbs 17:22) and it's so true. How blessed are we that no matter what is going on in life, whatever we are going through, no matter how near or far our dreams may feel, spending time with friends is suchhhh a blessing. And if you find yourself needing a few more of these little blessings, just ask our great God and he will send them your way. I can tell you from experience, praying for friends absolutely works. Try it and see :)

So lovely dreamer... surround yourself with sparkly and fabulous friends this week, encourage one another and stir up the dreams because the world needs what YOU have to give! :)

Thank YOU for your encouragement in this website journey. :) 

4 sleeps to go!!

nat x

Images - 1, 2,  3, 4, 5 , 6, 7

PS... I wrote this blog on the gift of friendship a little while back... have a read if you like ;)

Hope for you today.

I love this. There is something about singing that brings great strength. I wonder, do birds ever get tired of singing? I mean, do they have days where they're like.. "I'm so not in the mood today.. I'm taking a break." I don't think so. :) When I see birds, I see creatures of resilience, of great determination, of unwavering tenacity, and of wonderful strength.

Go on, take a look at a bird today.. free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. So trusting and never fearing. I think we can learn a lot from our little feathered friends. Let us stir within us the courage to sense the dawn and begin to sing while it might still be dark. God is holding you and he wants to encourage you. There is hope for you today.

Happy Tuesday my friends :)

nat x

Image - Pinterest

Strength to keep believing.

Have you ever been on an aeroplane, about to land, when suddenly you find yourself circling above your destination, hovering and waiting and not actually moving anywhere? In one moment the anticipation of landing is overshadowed by a lonnnnnng wait. This is called a 'holding'. The primary use of a 'holding' is to "delay aircraft that have arrived at their destination but cannot land yet because of traffic congestion, poor weather, or runway unavailability. Several aircraft may fly the same holding pattern at the same time, separated vertically by 1,000 feet or more."

So if you think about it, it must be pretty frustrating. The plane has flown 15 (or more) hours in a straight, direct, efficient course... only to end up in a "holding pattern". Below is what it looks like. Although the plane is technically 'moving', it's not really moving forward or getting to it's destination.

I was thinking about this and how this 'holding pattern' is so much like us at times. I've been feeling like this in some areas of my life lately. How about you? Maybe you can relate...  just like the plane you're just waiting, waiting, waiting, unsure of when things are going to shift? 

Aeroplanes flying in circles are an "inefficient (and hence costly) usage of time and fuel, so measures are taken to limit the amount of holding necessary". (Source) Although our waiting season may seem like an inefficient waste of time, God's actually working behind the scenes, and it will all make sense soon. And you know what? With planes in their holding pattern, one thing's for sure, sooner or later, each plane WILL land. 

So in the meantime let's remember to keep declaring...

"my dreams WILL come to pass", and...

When our dreams feel like they are so far away it's easy to become discouraged. Heck, I get discouraged all the time! But in those times when it feels almost impossible to believe, God always sprinkles his supernatural hope over our hearts and our perspective changes. Hope invades like rays of bright light in darkness and gives us strength to keep believing. He brings each of us into one another's lives so we can encourage one another with hope.

So friends... let's keep one another encouraged as we wait for the things in our hearts to come to pass. Ask God to bring someone to mind and then encourage them today. :) It's is one of the most precious gifts on earth to give (and receive!) I love you guys and I am standing with you and praying for NEW STRENGTH to receive all you are believing for. Send me an email and let me know what dreams I can be praying with you for. ;)

Love Nat xoxo 

 Images - Pinterest

Can you imagine?

Hi friends Happy Monday! xoxo How was your weekend? Fun I hope :) So I was out walking with a fabulous friend of mine yesterday morning along Elwood Beach... and I asked her a question I actually ask in the first chapter of my book. I asked her, "What would you do if you had unlimited finances and you never had to work again...?"

As we took a few moments and allowed the enormity of the question to soak in, (whilst power walking super-passionately along the Brighton-Elwood coast path of course) we found ourselves launching into the most wonderful conversation. Full of imagination, and without limits, the lid was taken off. We were like excited little girls dreaming of travel, businesses, new creative ideas, blessing people extravagantly, and living in abundance.

Imagination is the key. Walt Disney saw Cinderella's Castle in his mind before building it. Look at this blueprint below, this is what he imagined. Now compare it to the first photo. Imagination brings the dream to life.  

So what about you? Can you imagine? Would you know how to answer this question? What would you do with unlimited finances and resources? We are often quick to shut down our ideas due financial limitations before our minds get a chance to begin to dream. But this week is different. This week... it's time to fly.

Give it a go! Go on... as you start this week afresh, take a moment now to realign your thinking with God's thoughts, and really ask yourself these questions:

1. What does my dream life look like?

2. What did I want to do/be when I was little?

3. What is the main thing stopping me from living your dreams?

4. Again, if I had unlimited finances and resources, what would I do? (Remember... think BIG. As in MASSIVE).

Because do you know what? Even though we are often limited by finances and time and people and resources, God is not. He has all of the above in unlimited supply... and it's fully accessible to us at any time! So, it's up to us to renew our thoughts and think with an "abundance mindset".

My book, "Anything Can Happen" talks lots about this, it's all about abundance and imagining and seeing the dream before it becomes reality. (I am in the process of editing it at the moment and I can't wait to show you!) :)  xo

So friends... this week, as we look forward at this magnificent year ahead of us, let's set aside some time (even if it's just 30 minutes) to DREAM. Whether it be in a cafe, a park, a restaurant or in your bedroom... just like with Walt Disney, things happen when we dream. So let your imagination run absolutely wild... because anything can happen. ;) 

Cheering you on as you imagine and dream this week!

Love Nat xo

xox

Images - via Pinterest

Just chase the one rabbit.

Hi friends! Who's a little bit excited it's just seventeen sleeps til Christmas! So I was thinking about what I'd like to write for today's blog, and I remembered something one of my very good friends has said to me many times (and he's German so he's very smart!) :: "if you chase two rabbits both will escape". Have you ever heard this statement made?

Well never mind two rabbits, I've felt like I've been chasing about seven rabbits of late! What about you? Maybe you've tried "multi-tasking", only to find both tasks either got done half-heartedly, or not at all? Then... all of a sudden all the rabbits you were chasing were gone!

So it's been five weeks since I've returned from New York, and I've got lots of exciting creative projects buzzing around in my mind... ready to be birthed. However, I've found that over the past few weeks I have been so focused on so many of these exciting projects, that none of them have actually progressed as far as I would have hoped! Maybe you know what I mean... You start one thing, then you think of something else, so you move onto that, then suddenly you think "oh I'll just stop that and quickly do this" and before you know it nothing is actually getting done!

So what's the answer? Well, I am not saying multi-tasking is not the way to go. For smaller, urgent things, multi-tasking is often a great option, however I think the key to successfully completing any large, important project is focus.

Focus means :: "to cause something, such as our attention, to be directed at something specific". But it also has another meaning, "to adjust our eyes, and to make an image clear". (Source) How cool is that. :) So basically, focus is HOW we see (with wisdom) and WHAT we see (with clarity). So friends... let's take a step back and help each other out with this okay? :) 

This week let's...

1. Stop, and take the pressure off ourselves.

 Creative projects are fun, but they require focus and they cant be rushed.

So take a breather and just rest.

2. Hang out with God and listen to his still small voice. 

As we are still in his presence, his peace comes. 

It's in this place of peace we know what to put our hand to.

3. Focus on 'that thing' and stick to it until it is done.

A mountain is never climbed by taking two steps forward and four steps back. 

As we stick to the path and keep moving forward, we will reach the peak! 

4. Remember if we mess up it's okay!

So don't worry, if we find ourselves overwhelmed chasing five rabbits that all 

escape, it's all good! We just skip back to number 1 and start over he he ;) xo 

5. There is plenty of time.

Sometimes it feels like we are running out of time, which is why we 

often 'chase so many rabbits'...  but God's timing is perfect and we are right 

on schedule. So let's just enjoy today hey... ;) 

Have a WONDERFUL week my precious ones! The world needs what you have to give today, so sow seeds of generosity wherever you go :)

Love Nat xoxo

Images via Pinterest 

Exciting News :: "The Writer's Ink" New Logo and Website Launch.

Hi my friends! How is your week so far? Guess what... it's only 36 sleeps til Christmas woo hoo! :) Soooo, I have some exciting news to share with you today. As you probably know by now, my heart for The Writer's Ink is to encourage you (and everyone else I can possibly find!) and to inspire you. From my very first blog posts in 2012 my vision has been to encourage you to think bigger, to follow the dreams in your heart, to flourish and thrive in all you do and to understand just how amazing you are! For the last two and a half years I have done my best to inspire you to take crazy risks, to ignore fear, to stir up your gifts, to step out in faith, to expect abundance, and truly believe that at any moment, anything can happen. :)

So just as I have been encouraging you guys to step out and believe 'anything can happen' I've also been on this journey myself. For the past three months I have been on my own 'crazy leap of faith', moving to New York for two months, and writing this book. I'll tell you about my NYC experience soon, but I'll just say that it was extravagantly more than I even imagined! A dream come true.

So after such a such an extravagant trip, I wondered, what could be next? Upon returning from my time away, I purposely asked myself "okay, what are my dreams?" As we purposely 'stir up the gifts of God within us', awakening the deep things of our hearts, God loves it and he partners with us. And when he partners with us, things actually happen. When we take the time to stop and really listen to our hearts, it's amazing what we hear :) In the last three weeks I have seen the passion for my vision for The Writers Ink and my book Anything Can Happen grow so much. :) I just love picturing you guys reading this, seeing the gold in you and encouraging you to stir it up and run after your dreams. So... that's why I have decided to step it up and create a bigger platform for me to do this. How? Scroll down for the news :) xoxo

1. Brand New Logo.

So the first exciting news is the fresh new branding of The Writer's Ink. Just before I left for America I had the pleasure of working with my very inspiring friend Rachel McCarthy at Peep Designs to design this fab new logo, and the first element we worked on was my business cards. I took them overseas with me and as it was such an amazing way to connect with people. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but as people asked about my writing, I just handed them out and the response was so lovely. :)

2. New Website and Launch.

And the second piece of exciting news is, I am upgrading this little blog to a full website! I have been working with my fab friend Mark Peric to create this little haven of encouragement, inspiration, beauty and creativity. I also have a few more surprises I am working on at the moment that will be ready for the launch. Eek so exciting. So stay tuned!

So what about you my dear friend, what's bubbling up on the inside of your heart at the moment? We still have six full weeks left of 2014 which means there is plenty of time to see one (or more!) of your dreams come true ;) I love Paul's passion when he says this... 

So let's stir up those gifts and keep them ablaze today okay! Yep, that's what we've gotta do. So be encouraged... write out this scripture and stick it to your bathroom mirror!

I love you lots and am cheering you on always :)

Love Nat xoxo

Images 2 and 6 :: via my Pinterest Page

All other images :: via Natalie Box