Welcome to my first ‘heart-felt’ post! This will be a four part series based on what I learned from the 2011 I Can Do It! conference run by Hay House, which is Louise Hay’s publishing company. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, I’d definitely be grabbing a ticket to this year’s conference. And don’t let the name scare you off – I promise you won’t all be punching the air shouting “I Can Do It!” and then hugging your neighbour! 😉

For the past 3-4 years, I have been becoming more and more interested in exploring my spiritual side and delving further into my journey of self-discovery to really find out who am I, what do I want and what is my life purpose. The biggies! Deep huh?! I feel that this is a very important stage of my life, and I know that I’m getting closer and closer to finding what I’m looking for.

For those who know me well, they will tell you that I am a fairly private person. Well, I guess that is about to change as I will be sharing some very honest and personal stories about my journey in future posts, that I hope more than a few of you can relate to!

I’d never heard of the ICDI conference before until my lovely friend, Jo, bought me a ticket as a belated birthday pressie last year. It was right up my alley and I soaked up as much info as I could! The full day conference included 4 international speakers: Louise Hay and Deepak Chopra who I was familiar with, plus Marianne Williamson and Robert Holden who I was unfamiliar with but deeply affected by! All four talks were inspiring and insightful in different ways. I will be sharing with you some of the key points I learned from each of these incredible spiritual leaders.

Louise Hay
When Louise stepped on stage, I immediately thought she must be a bit frail or ill as she had a helper supporting her as she walked (and she is 85 years old!). But once she was seated, she was quick to assure the audience in a chirpy voice that she was fine but had sprained her knee so walking was a little difficult! With her face now projected on the large screen behind her, I got to see how incredibly youthful and beautiful she is! And so elegant. She spoke fluently and articulately and was confident and radiant.

I’ve known who Louise Hay is for quite some time and was familiar with her book Heal Your Body, but it was only a few months ago that I decided to read You Can Heal Your Life. This amazing book ignited a desire to delve deeper into my own spirituality and personal development, plus a deep interest to learn more about metaphysics. For anyone unfamiliar with Louise Hay, she is considered one of the founders of the self-help movement leading the way in mind-body healing.

Louise’s talk was short, only 15 minutes, however I still got some great tips that are talked about in her latest book, You Can Create An Exceptional Life.

• How you live your day is how you live your life!
• Begin each day with an affirmation as soon as you awake. E.g. thanking your bed for letting you have a wonderful sleep; telling yourself what a great day you’re going to have.
• Even give affirmations to your closet! Don’t look in your closet and say “I have nothing to wear” as sure enough you’ll pick out the same thing over and over. However, thanking your closet and being appreciative of the clothes you have, Louise says, will open up combinations you hadn’t even thought of before!
• We need to become aware of our minds and what we are saying. Every thought is an affirmation.
• Start programming the things that you want. E.g. when you get in your car, thank your vehicle for giving you transportation and thank everyone on the road. Believe everyone is a good driver and you are safe.
• Learn to “dissolve” a habit, not “break” it into tiny pieces. This point really resonated with me! If we dissolve the habit, we really get rid of it!
• One of the highlights of the day was getting my book signed by Louise herself. She was even more beautiful up close, and when she handed my book back to me she looked into my eyes and said with such sincerity “You’re going to love this book!” And love it I did!

Stay tuned for part 2 where I share some more words of wisdom from the awe-inspiring, Marianne Williamson.

I’d love to hear from you! If you’ve also been inspired by Louise Hay or any of the other speakers from this conference in past years, please leave a comment below.