Jodene is the co-founder of:
and founder of:
Published May 25th, 2011
It’s one of those days I didn’t dream about and that’s what makes it all the more incredible.
It was my first interview as a blogger! Okay, casting my mind back, I’m pretty certain that it was my first interview … period! Well a face to face one with that little dictaphone and a journalist asking me questions that the world wants to know the answers to. Well, my world at least.
One of the questions that Lindsey Kin of Media Update asked me was, how do I decide what to blog about each day?
It’s the significant moments. The ones that jump out as a time when I’ve had to go into ‘project me’ mode and either tell my truth, face my reality, laugh at the moment or be conscious and grateful.
With that in mind, my day was filled with two of those moments.
The morning was abuzz with ‘project body’ phone calls and emails. I had to call my friend, The Gossip Guy for a little pep talk on actually telling the world that I’m fabulous because he knows the difference between confidence and arrogance. That done, I finally got brave and damn well called the personal trainer that I contacted just after I was given clearance to get back to gym … In MARCH! I though I would have to re-introduce myself to him, but instead he picked up the call and said, “Hi Jode, where have you been? Not in my water aerobics class, I see!”
Yes, yes … I hate gym! Well, actually … I’m scared of it! It’s because I have no idea what moderation is and usually end up breaking my body when unsupervised. After hearing my idea for ‘project body’, he’s keen to sponsor me with a few personal training session in the pool (because my back is safest exercising in water) and monitoring my weight loss and body fat, measurements … blah, blah! I’m even more excited that Niel from Slimlab is joining me in potential sponsor’s meeting and has proven to be an unbelievable support along a very scary road.
Now I”m on a mission to get a little more media exposure and Niel was a great help there too … even though he told me that all he had to do was Google. Hey, if I don’t have a PA yet, a little damsel in distress can be faked once in a while.
Driving to the interview was fun, considering I had to break it to Greggie that I double booked Monday morning because my diary is on the Blackberry and I’m scared to sync it with the laptop because things get triple booked … so when I’m on the phone I don’t know what’s happening in the dairy and … well … do you think I’m kidding about the PA?
I loved the interview questions, but we never escape the voice of the low esteem that has to be mean at the most crucial moments. Mine always says the same thing: “You talk too much!” I never give myself a hard time about talking nonsense or making no sense. I’m always mean to me when I think I could have said all of that in half the time. I said it anyway and in true Jodene style, even had a moment to shed a tear.
I love knowing that what I do is unique enough to not be able to pull 10 questions out a hat, but do know that one questions is always going to come up: “What do I do in my spare time?”
Cook!
I swear … I could think of nothing else but spending time with my friends and family and cooking … a lot of cooking! Do I need to get a life? Do I need to tell the low esteem to shut up and go into all the little details of what I do like … oh wait, I also said listen to country music. Does that count against me? Only a smattering of followers in the US will be thrilled about that answer, but most of SA will roll their eyes. Don’t make me take up knitting or sky diving. The other option is that word will spread that my stand answer will be, “I cook!” and all future journalists will know to avoid that one … damn I hope so!
Of course, the question does make me lonely! Don’t get me wrong … I love living with mom, the 2 kitties and the parrot. I would, however, love to say that my spare time was spent with a special man driving around SA and seeing all the incredible places our Country has to offer. That was my dad’s dream and we used to laugh at him. He wanted to buy a caravan and drive the whole of Africa … it never sounded tempting until after he was gone and we didn’t have the luxury of seeing the Africa through his beautiful stories and memories.
Well on that very exciting note and with a huge thank you to the team at Newsclip for finding my ‘project me’ journey newsworthy … I’m off to cook for friends! Another defining day with priceless ‘project me’ blogging moments and a great reason to blog!
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published May 3rd, 2011
I can’t believe it! I never imagined that my daily blog and mission to live my life with absolute goallesness and total purpose has grown into a part of my life that I could no longer live without. From where I’m standing I have a daily blog that doesn’t seem to have a beginning or an end but when I tell people that I’m heading to 500 days of blogging every single day … well those moments get me to stop and take a moment.
Of course it’s been a damn slog at times. I have been through months of being bed-ridden after a back injury but the commitment kept me going. I have had my heart broken and I kept that commitment to sharing the pain with the world. People have died. People have been born. Friends have come and gone and I have shared it despite the fear and pain that I could have chosen to stand in my way.
It seems like a lifetime ago that I started and all of a sudden I am organising a day 500 party in celebration of my journey and to give thanks to my friends, sponsors, readers and supports who have fueled me forward on days when I thought I must be nuts.
To make this day even more special, I have set the Facebook challenge of having 500 fans by day 500 … which is a mere 12 days away and I would love your help.
If you aren’t already a fan, I would be so grateful if you would like my Jodene – Life Achievement Facilitator fan page. If you could share it along I would be even more grateful. Because the internet is about sharing the love, please send your Fan Page to me as a comment on my blog and I will do the same in return.
500 days of blogging … who does such a crazy thing? 
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published March 23rd, 2011
If I could pick an easier route at times, I think I would jump at the opportunity. That moment always ends up being fleeting when I realise how much I would have missed out on had I changed one moment of my life.
It’s been 15 months of blogging but it’s been 7 years since I started my personal ‘project me’ … but before that it was Jodene living very unconsciously. I remember sitting with my ‘spiritual’ teacher and telling her that I wished I had unlearned all that she had taught me. My family home and business had just burned down, family issues had be ripped open like a can of worms and I looked at myself in the mirror for the first time in years only to see the damage I had done to myself. Over the last few days I have felt like that again … wishing I could shove the lid back on the journey I have consciously chosen to live.
While I was flying down to Cape Town last week, I sat next to a gentleman who had done the same metaphysics course as I did many years ago. It clearly didn’t serve him very well because he was proving how the ‘law of attraction’ doesn’t work. He said that if it did I should be a very rich lady by now and clearly I wasn’t. Similarly, yesterday I was asked why I only had 16 people at my talk in Cape Town if I believed so much in the power of social networking.
At time when my life is literally in turmoil and my family is going through the hardest thing next to my father’s passing, I have been faced with some interesting additional challenges. Surely by now life should be running smoothly? Isn’t that the impression of manifestation? That because I teach about manifestation I should be manifesting left, right and center? If I teach about sex then I should be sexually fulfilled every spare moment I have (and still finding time to sneak out for a shag between meetings)? If I teach about self worth and self esteem that I should have lost all the weight and been married with a perfect little life by now?
Is that who the world chooses to listen to? Those who make it all sound so easy and show you the pretty picture at the end of the long and winding yellow brick road that they have traveled?
Has anyone wondered why Charlie Sheen is getting the attention he is currently getting? Has anyone stopped to watch what the world is craving? Maybe it’s just me, but there are more people out there who are struggling to manifest those realities than those who have done an affirmation and ‘whoop there it is’! People are lapping up the madness and the chaos. So many of us live in chaos that if we can have confirmation that someone else is so much more far removed from reality, that we will be ok! I remember wanting a friend of mine to do one of my courses and he told me that only those who write the books on self help get rich and they only got rich because they wrote the book. I’m not agreeing with him, but I am agreeing that we all stare outwards to find the answers.
In my chaos, do you not think that I have tried to turn to every outside source I possibly could? I wish I could show you a glimmer of the frustration of waking up in the morning with the promise to have a healthy eating day and then ending it in chaos because I have no idea what healthy means to me. Should I shut down this blog and retract myself from the role of teacher because I am still amidst the chaos?
My answer is no! My realisation is that anyone who is striving to live life without the chaos has this journey very wrong. Of course there are issues that I want so badly to put to rest, but I don’t know how much I have to learn about myself before I get there. I don’t know my greatness but I know I’m great and if I need to hit rock bottom (with the whole world watching) then that is what I have chosen to do.
This space isn’t rosy right now! I have cried so much in the last few days that I can’t even put my contact lenses in my eyes. I have to sell stuff to buy a bed for my new home that I am still sharing with my mother.
Have I failed at manifestation??? Hell no!!!!
There is not one moment of this journey that I would have given up on. There is no part of me that doubts my ability and my success. I have never felt as though I have stepped off the magical journey of my yellow brick road and there has NEVER been a part of me that has wanted to quit … alright, Saturday was a bit of a quitting day, but bowl of popcorn, a cup of tea and a precious mother pulled me through.
The more I experience of ‘project me’ and the more I wonder to myself what great lessons I need to share with the world, the more I realise that I just have to keep telling the truth. I don’t have to plan seminars or wait for my first book to be published or have a Ferrari in my driveway to be the voice of manifestation.
There is no quick fix! There is no single right way! There is no formula but the one you create for yourself! There is no escaping the magical chaos of life and there is no punishment in that chaos either.
I might lose a sponsor today because I haven’t managed to keep up the positivity movement. I have fallen off the wagon, but I am still on the yellow brick road. I do enough beating up of myself and choose not to face the wrath of anyone else’s judgement, but I also understand that if the world is driven by positive results and constant success without the allowance of the odd stumble off the wagon, that I might not be able to sustain the ride. Sadly, I believe in the very thing that might be taken away from me (or I might give up) but I also realise that I don’t have the ability to do things the way they are being asked of me right now and that’s not fair of me. Right now, if I don’t allow myself to be kind to myself and if I put on rose coloured glasses, I will do more damage than good. Half of the self help books in the world might disagree with me right now … but only I know me.
I know this has been a long post, but I have so needed to hear myself say this and I thank you for listening and sharing my journey with me.
Today I am packing up my dad’s office! Of all the spaces in the house, this one is the most heart wrenching. I don’t know what it’s going to do today but chances are that I will choose to end it with an overly indulgent meal that I will cook for some very special people in my life and I will shed another few tears along the way.
In all these thousands of words, this is what I’m trying to say about living a ‘project me’ life: No matter what, I get up every single day and I tell myself the truth. I honour my emotions, I speak my fears and I watch myself do a little damage with food or hold out for the wrong guy to call me. Every single day I still do one little thing that scares me and sometimes those little things are as small as saying ‘no’ to an arrangement that I choose not to attend. No excuses and no lies! Every single day I am grateful for all that I have and all that I have the ability to have … but most of all … every single day, I take responsibility for exactly where I am and what I do or don’t have!
For that, I am most proud and I thank each and every one of you for sticking with me when I walk tall and when I fall down. It is an honour to have your yellow brick road right beside mine!
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published March 18th, 2011
It’s no secret that this girl loves to social network in the comfort of my own little space in my cyber world and it’s undeniable that my plan is working fabulously and that social networking and I are very cozy bosom buddies. It’s also a no-brainer that something had to shift if the magical fairies of manifestation are going to turn my dreams into a reality. That’s always the one part of manifestation that I trip over, stub my toes and burst out crying over … the do something different/face your fears part. Trust me, I’ve tried to invoke a miracle and defy the laws of attraction, but here I sit with a failed yet grateful for my failure story to tell.
I always say it: Throw me in front of a crowd and I am all confidence and not faking a single moment of me. Send me out into the world alone and I become the little girl, Jodene, who I don’t remember as being very brave at all. I mean, really, take away all of the cuteness (oh good, you can see it too) and I don’t see much oozy confidence in that little girl face.
At Lifeology we recommend that you do one thing each day that scares you. One thing … not days on end with scary, out of comfort zone events. Well that’s been my last few days. Traveling alone totally scares me. Horrid clouds that shake a plane silly, hopelessly scares me. Talking to strange men on non-escapable airplanes intimidates me a little (or a little more than a little). Being stranded in an airport not knowing why the plane isn’t in the sky is up there with things that unsettle me. Do I sound like a woos right about now?
Lucky for me, the things that usually freak people out is the stuff that doesn’t freak me at all. Now that I’ve given myself and my ego that little save, I can mention one more thing that I absolutely HATE doing on my own. Drum roll please … I HATE arriving at places on my own. I can go to a movie by myself and shop for ages all alone and even take myself out to dinner, but don’t make me arrive at a function all by myself. Yuk! Yes … I said Yuk!!
So after returning from Cape Town after being stranded in the airport and then thrown around the sky wall sitting next to a strange man who was offering to buy me wine … I had a ladies networking event to attend. This would be easy … phone a friend and don’t go alone. The one bit of bravery thing was done hours ago and I expected the rest of the day to go my way. I can picture the manifestation fairies chuckling at me, constantly.
It was supposed to be easy … call Hustler Girl. Right, she was busy. Beg little sis who looked hagged after a seriously hard day’s work (I tried not to care, trust me). Beg mother … ok, that was going nowhere. Sulk for 10 minutes that you business partner and best friend (same person) is a male. A cute male would look great in drag, but still a no-can-do for the networking event.
Sulk for another 5 minutes. I tried to convince myself that the airport and airplane saga was too much for me, but we all know I’m not much of a quitter … so I put on the war-paint and my big girl panties and headed to the networking event.
If you say I told you so, (not mentioning any names … Greg Arthur or a certain Robbie) you shall consider yourself unspoken to for at least 24 hours.
I will let The Venus Networks introduce itself: An on-going collaboration between brands and a group of carefully selected women, designed to ensure that the products and brands that women buy, and the information they receive, fit into their world, not the other way around.
It’s undeniable, I’m a Venus Girl and pretty damn thrilled at myself for facing the dozenth fear for the day and attending the networking function on my own. I always say that The Universe rewards bravery and my reward was being surrounded by an unbelievable crowd of inspirational women. We all had the same goal in mind … FUN of course! It was great to just be girls … girls with ideas, dreams, aspirations, visions and very big plans. You need three things when women network … food, champagne and a pen. In this era of technology don’t think any of us whipped out our Blackberry’s or find them for that matter. Thank heavens for the good old fashioned business card and some very smart Venus ideas that are only conjured up by networking women.
They say it only takes one and this was it. The one! The one moment that broke a little more shackles that tie me to the world of online networking and throws me out into the world for another very powerful form of social networking. A ‘project me’ moment of great self pride and the reward of meeting new and reconnection with familiar empowering women who are all The Venus Networks.
A special thank you to the ladies of the diligo online fashion shop for a great night, an instant connection, immediate social plans and a great concept!
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published March 5th, 2011
I had a particularly off day. It was a combination of different frustrations. Some emotional, some financial, some logistical and some spiritual. Yet, as I checked the clock, I kept getting a fair amount done.
I let my mind flow over all the things I had to do and stuck to the ones that didn’t take making phone calls or writing with too much emotion. Both of those were a little too draining for a day that was laced with uncertainty that all stemmed from poor communication on other people’s parts. That’s not a statement that lays blame on anyone because every situation turns back to me and what I intend to do about it anyway. Maybe the contemplating on how to handle each situation made my mental to-do list shuffle the things into the order that they fell.
I can confirm that I spent most of my hours fighting with supplier, threatening other suppliers, letting special people off the hook, forcing others to communicate and commit and learning to keep my big mouth shut. Yet, the work carried on.
Then, out of the blue, I got a private message into my Twitter account. It was from a stranger who follows me, but I don’t seem to be following her in return. It read “Hi Jodene, just out of interest, do you keep a daily to-do list?” If that was an automated message then it was a very odd one. If it was a personal message then it was equally odd. Either way, I lived by my principles of good social networking and responded with the following reply.
“Hi! I don’t but have the occasional meeting with my business partner. The rest is all on a very functional list in my head, if that counts? ”
That’s an incredible change for me. It’s a huge benchmark for how much change this journey of “project me” has bought about in my life. It’s not to say that to-do lists are evil or don’t have their place but it shows me how my mind has settled down enough to remember important things.
Years ago I did a course with an incredibly brash teacher who used shock statements and way out negative observations as a way of liberating her students into truth. At some moments I hated her, but later I realised her tactic. One of the ways she used to nail the workaholics to the wall was to explain how you only need a to do list when your brain is so filled with crap that it can’t focus one what needs to be done. At that time I was making to-do lists to remember which to-do list to do.
In the time that I’ve owned Lifeology I can remember manic to-do lists and having one in writing and one on my laptop. There are excel spread sheets as well as other lists in the outlook calendar. I can’t even pinpoint when it stopped, but it has. Out of the blue, an odd question (that was never responsed to by the Twitterer, by the way) sparked a great reason to be extremely proud of my progress.
If you ask a friend, family member or colleague how often they ask me if I have done something and the answer is ‘no’, it will be very seldom. Usually the things that I don’t get around to are still on the mind but it’s issues of fear or truth that i have to grapple with first. For all the rest, the work is done. The correct groceries are purchased. Actually, the events for the upcoming weeks are programmed up there too.
The irony is that the very to-do list and calendar that are all stored up in my head is the thing that is frustrating and exciting me simultaneously.
How human is that? Don’t wish for it because then what happens when you get it? All of a sudden the next few weeks are so busy and it’s all opportunity do what I love, make money, be happy and thrive.
The only thing is … it’s also the one time I’m moving house, need to pack, want to spend alone time with someone special and have finally fallen into a routine of daily gym.
DRATS!!!!!
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published February 22nd, 2011
Today I feel speechless. I don’t know what to say about myself except WTF?? I’m wondering why I didn’t get the little girl dream of getting married and having kids by the age of 24. Not that I haven’t seen that be an incredible dream for so many. But for some reasons, when I was sketching my dream life I had other crazy idea. Other mad, big and totally magical ideas that would suit my personality down to a T. That doesn’t mean I’m not entitled to curse myself for some of the best ideas I’ve had.
I always cast my mind to an interview I watched with Robbie Williams. I watched in awe as one of the greatest music icons of the world spoke about how absolutely petrified he is of his own success. How freaked out he gets before he records a song, sings a song, releases a song, performs a song. He has performed in front of record breaking crowds and felt like a total failure. Imagine thinking that millions of people (who are screaming and cheering your name) all think you suck. Yet Robbie doesn’t know how to do anything else. He can’t be who he isn’t and he would have no purpose if he didn’t wake up and do what his soul is yelling out for him to do.
I totally get your Robbie.
I know my friends sometimes don’t understand my panic or that you can shove me on a stage in front of hundreds of people and I’ll be fine, but send me to a meeting alone and I want to cry. I get what it does to me … but I do it anyway.
So, I’ve had some brilliant ideas! You are reading one of them. There are much more where those came from and I am working with my heart and soul to breathe more and more life into them. That doesn’t mean I don’t curse myself during Lifeology meetings. Usually Greggie smirks and then it hits me … “holy crap … now that’s gonna take bravery and confidence! $%#& more bravery and more confidence!!!”
The bolder the idea, the more Greg hoses himself and the more pale I turn but there’s nothing else on this earth I would be doing.
Last night I shared some of my big scared crybaby fears with a friend who told me to get over myself. He said it endearingly but he also made me realise something. This girl ain’t changing. If I were anyone else beside the girl with the big ideas who got freaked out by those very plans that spilled forth, I would have no driving force.
My power is my very own ability to bring to life those very things that scare the living hell out of me. It doesn’t matter whether it’s as small as making a phone call to as big as …. don’t let me say how big because that might just spark another crazy idea. Let’s just say that what’s on my plate is big enough … it’s JODENE enough and it scares the living bajeebers out of me.
The Robbie interview:
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published February 5th, 2011
Yes, it’s one of those odd expressions that need a little explaining and then it seems to catch on and move through the crowds. Greggie picked it up from somewhere and then passed it onto me and now it’s become the emergency cry for help.
Jumping off the coffee table is a serious cry for help. It’s also very indicative of the energy with which I have learned that I (am most of my friends) handle drama and chaos. One of my greatest messages to the world is that there is a reason to laugh at everything and I know I have been shot down many times for that. I have suffered loss and tragedy many times over, yet there has always been something out there to make me laugh. I have giggled hysterically at grave sights with mothers who are burying their children and I have certainly nearly peed in my pants laughing at my own drama.
I know I will survive anything and I know these moments are fleeting (or at least I hope) but I can’t say I’m in the best space right now.
I have chosen to something very bold and unusual with my life. I don’t have a product to sell … I have me to sell. Therefore I have to rely on why I am different from everyone else on the planet and right now I feel as though everyone feels the same as me, therefore how different am I anyway?
It’s all money related … I can’t go on doing what I’m doing without seeing the financial rewards, yet if you told me I had to do anything else with my life I would seriously contemplate jumping off the coffee table. This IS what I want to do! I know I am doing exactly what is my life purpose! Now how do I make money out of it????
That’s what is floating through my head every moment of every day lately.
I had the most beautiful dinner with friends last night but I literally had to drag myself there. I just wanted to lie on the couch and contemplate my entire life. I never do though … I have never given in to those moments of self pity and I am always so relieved that I didn’t.
We all have a saving grace though and mine is my ‘project me’ moment of reminding myself to do anything. Just do something! Don’t lie around and do nothing.
Firstly, I ate like a pig … so that’s still got work! But then I got my butt off the couch and I started working on sorting out my Organic Orgasm blog. It’s been sitting idle for far too long and I have been putting it off because it’s seemed too tedious. What do you know? In my horrid state of mind I got the entire thing sorted. Okay, so there’s some old archived content to add an a broken button on the top (that I will need My Knight for) but besides that … I did wonders yesterday.
I metaphorically climb onto the coffee table often. I have chosen the path less traveled and have far too much passion and wisdom to give up on my dreams. I get lost in the hows and haven’t manifested financial stability even though I teach it. But that’s what drives me … that’s why I blog every day of my life. Because one day I will turn back to this post and remember when I was more on the coffee table than off and I will have more than just a success story to tell … I will have proof of the darkness and the fear that comes with finding out that I am that powerful!
WE ALL ARE!
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published January 18th, 2011
Dear diary
It’s very seldom that I don’t feel like blogging for the world to see and allowing everyone into my head and my heart.
There is a fortune going on between the notification that we have to be out of the house by July and little sis’s wedding in about 25 days time. The events are all very exciting but issues of money are tampering with the esteem and the outlook on the momentous occasions.
Wasn’t yesterday great? With all the planning for the growth of the blog and how damn confident am I of what I want and deserve? Then do you have any idea why I got home and after hitting that crazy wave of exhaustion, I hit a complete downer?
It’s annoying me that I have to tell everyone that I had a nice binge eat to cope with the wavering esteem. Well I could focus on the better part of the esteem and say I shoveled healthy(er) crackers down my throat instead of half a dozen slices of bread.
I don’t mind sharing that I’m dealing with the elevator phobia! That’s a good distraction and a nice boost for the esteem. But then again I have only really adjusted to the one at Twinkletoe’s apartment and I can’t spend my life only visiting him.
That was huge for the esteem actually. Usually I only share the madness of my mind and the shame that plagues me with Greggie and my mom. I know I’m getting better at blogging about it, but I haven’t really let another friend in to hear some of the madness that goes on. It was great to let Twinkletoes in, even though I had a few moments of ‘pass me the wine’ to get through the truths. There was the low freak out esteem part of only owning a fridge at my age. I mean really, I’m the girl who know that value and worth is not material and my esteem is high in the clouds when knowing what I can manifest. A fridge today and all I can dream of tomorrow. Maybe it’s not so bad to let everyone see how irrational the esteem can be, after all, that is what I want to share as a teacher, right?
One of the things I pride myself in is not only showing the world the well put together, positive affirmations, all is rosy girl! That’s super high esteem as it is.
Not forgetting that I stuck to a huge ‘project me’ promise and invited my dearest friends to Lammas,the first Pagan festival,of the year. No hesitations! No regrets! Just a great pride in my beliefs and an excitement that I’m sticking to my ‘project me’ promises and that my path is so beautiful and very me. That’s not to say that I won’t mess with the esteem as it gets closer to the time considering I shall be showing my alter and a simple version of some pagan gratitude to mother earth and a few gods and goddesses. Huge esteem Jodene, well done you!!
Why then, with all the positivity, exciting things to look forward to and glimmers of greatness, don’t I feel like blogging at all? Not that I’m not gonna … right? This is me!! The girl who sees the glass half full! So enough hiding from the world, but thanks for being there for me to rant a little and build up that esteem until I felt ready enough to blog … which is now!
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published January 3rd, 2011
Years ago I would have an asthma attack every time I got scared or stressed out. You can’t being to imagine how many attacks that used to be. After losing a fortune of weight and calming my life down to a mild panic, I managed to get the asthma under control and haven’t used a pump in years. All is not perfect though, because I still wake up coughing and don’t seem to be able to shake the cough if I’m very stressed or scared. Right now … I’m scared, to say the least. Continue reading
With courage, consciousness & a sense of humour
Published July 31st, 2010
Nominate project me for the cosmo blog awards
