Cate Mackenzie's Blog

Cate's New Year message - How to make wishes

2012-01-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

Mind, Body, Spirit Festival, November 2011

2012-01-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

Love Fairy Gig, Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

Interview with Simononthesofa

2012-01-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

http://simononthesofa.com/10/2011/cate-mackenzie/

My friend's blogs

2011-11-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

http://charlottecolwell.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/being-a-love-fairy-with-cate-makenzie/

http://simononthesofa.com/portfolio/cate-mackenzie/

Cate on simononthesofa.com

2011-10-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

My TV clips

2011-09-22T07:21:00.001-07:00

The magical power of Romantic Love By Cate Mackenzie

2011-09-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

The eternal quest for romantic love moves through humans like a river longs for the ocean. Effervescent, ever present and unfathomable, when romantic love finds you and embraces you it can feel like a romantic film: amazing, difficult, overwhelming. To be touched deeply by another brings the sweetest sensations of care, memories of love and fears of being left, taken over or demanded upon. Romantic love can be a gateway to spirit, where you are given direct communion to your God/Goddess self. You are also given the opportunity to clear any patterns of shame and unworthiness or ways you have been hiding from the world. Partnering with another being consciously helps to incarnate you on the earth plane and supports you to embody your truth and purpose. When you join heart, mind, body and soul with another it is one of the deepest therapies you can engage with. You can emerge lighter, more grounded, freer and living in your truth.

I believe that if anyone truly wants romantic love they can have it. First try asking yourself these questions: Are you willing to stand naked in the face of love and witness your true power? Are you ready to go on a journey to know yourself and come into your truth and creativity? Are you able to open and let go? If you can allow this state of active receptivity you will receive what comes your way - magnetising all that you want towards you, including a soulmate. This is a mastery of tuning in, following the flow and stepping into creation.

As you align your path with love in this way, you emanate a state of being in love. You are so vibrant that the walls between realities become thinner and your soul mate, playmate or lover may show up in a surprising way. Remember that a deep connection between two lovers brings a huge charge of light, opening each person up and testing serenity as core issues are brought up. At this point it can be tempting to push your partner away. Some people may not know how to communicate well about all these new feelings. Many relationships can stay stuck in deadness or drama where feelings are shut down and suppressed or anger and aggression is dumped onto the other.

The way through this flux of passionate attraction and emotional turbulence is choosing a loving committed path. This will support you to grow through relationship and to bust any feelings of shame. As you treat your mate with care and consideration, you live in a way that mirrors trust and love for yourself. The world is now a friendly place and it’s seen that you and your mate deserve kindness, peace and joy. The magic of this choice is that you start to appreciate and become more loving to each other. You may be amazed how much love you now receive from your partner and how your ways of being are complementary. One partner, for example, may have a beautiful way of trusting in the moment and looking at the clouds and the trees, and the other may encourage dreaming and planning. This journey can bring you into oneness, truth and the deepest sense of being fully loved and free.

Treat this person as The One. For today they are The One, and if they are not the energy will disappear and you will find another. While the energy is there, commit completely to love and to loving this person, be in the moment as much as you can and try not to project too much into the future. We never know whether we have someone for a day, a month or a life time, so appreciate them and their love for you. You are a whole universe and your mate is too, and it takes time to get to know each other. As you come into knowing your love and loving them you arrive in the presence of love. This is the place you dreamed of but never dared to believe in and it heals you and all around you.

Tips

1 Work out what you want and request it.

2 Talk about important issues face to face.

3 Create agreements around things like money, space and boundaries.

4 Agree to keep talking until things are clear. Remember the bumps are part of getting to know each other.

5 Don't talk about work or heavy issues if you can late at night or in bed.

6 Praise your partner a lot.

7 If you are in a stalemate, hold the idea that there is a solution between you, even if you do not know what it is.

8 There is only love or fear. What we give we receive.

9 If you or your partner is being attacking or defensive, come back to love. Stroke their face or tummy and affirm their beauty.

10 You do not have to sort everything out now - allow the process to unfold.

11 If you are pushing for something stop for a moment and pull back - spaciousness shifts problems.

12 Be with your partner silently - gaze into each others eyes or hold each other.

Cate Mackenzie is a Love Coach, Workshop Leader and Artist specialising in helping people to open their hearts to love. She has been working with people since 1993 and works in Chelsea in London. Her heart paintings are being sold in 72 countries through IKEA and she has a CD out to “Open Your Heart”. Her web site is www.catemackenzie.com.

The art of Loving in business with me and Tamsin Fox Davies

2011-07-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Who are you Wooing? The Art of Loving Your Customers with Tamsin Fox-Davies and Cate Mackenzie from Tamsin Fox-Davies on Vimeo.

I am love (author unknown) affirmation

2011-07-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

I am a magnet for love

Love is above me
Love is below me
Love is around me
Love is within me

I am a magnet for love
I am a magnet for love
I am a magnet for love

Affirmation to release limits or blocks from Damian Nola

2011-07-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

By Divine Decree and through God/Goddess and my own mighty I am Presence under the laws of Grace, Karma, love, Oneness, Liberty, forgiveness and Divinity. I now break across all space time dimension any agreements, contracts or oaths I may have made not to receive light of my higher consciousness within embodiment.

I break all agreements that I may have made that I am not divine and that I am seperate in any way from the whole of life.

I break all agreements I may have made to deny in any way the love and the light and the holy power that lives in my heart and to hold this bound or closed in any way.

I break any agreements that it is not possible to fully embody and experience and express my holy communion with God here.

I break all agreements I may have made across all space time dimensions that to live embodied I must reject God or my feelings and that I must pretend and mask who I am.

An affirmation to bring in a wonderful partner (author unknown)

2011-07-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

The wish for a wonderful partner (this is a magical affirmation say it with meaning and watch it come true)

I am now open and ready to let a
deep and fulfilling love into my life.

I create space and time in my life so my wonderful partner will feel welcome.

At this very moment, my partner is just as willing as me to enter into a wonderful relationship.

With the power of my thoughts I am drawing a soul mate towards me.

Our ways will cross with the same inevitability as night follows day.

I will stop searching because I am deeply certain that the energies of my cosmic order will manifest themselves at this very moment.

Everything is prepared and ready in a most wonderful way.
I know that the right partner for me exists and will enter into my life.

I know that my partner is not perfect but he is perfect for me. He will help me to recognise my own limitations, to explore my faults and work on them.

Through him I will get closer to myself, day after day, week after week, year after year.

Through him I will get closer to myself than would have been possible without him/her.

Through him I get in touch with my wonderful deep self as well as with my unloved parts.

Because I am loving I am ready to show myself in the way I really am. My partner, too, is allowed to be him/herself.

Love is the driving and supporting power in this relationship.

Because of my partner I grow and mature and become great and I am able to show this.

I show all my patience, my determination, my loyalty, my fears and fearless.

I am ready to allow and tolerate closeness. I am open and free enough to accept the power of love.

I let go everything that might restrict this inner freedom.

I let go of the idea of myself as a single person and already consider myself a partner in a fulfilling relationship.

My partner is in my life already.
He is here and I sense his/her presence.

You are wholeheartedly welcome in my life.

Soulmates

2011-07-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Soulmates

You were born as pure love and you are pure consciousness. In fact you are one with everything and with all around you. Before you came onto this earth plane you agreed to discover separation and be born into a body. In this body you have discovered an “I” and being a person which has caused you to believe that you can be isolated and apart from other people. The truth is that your body is a portal for consciousness and that consciousness is moving through you and wants to move through you right now. As you allow consciousness to move through you, and you open to what is possible, that is when you allow soul mates or creative projects or magic wishes to happen and come true.

The idea is that we are either in contraction or expansion, fear or love. When we are contracted it is difficult for consciousness to move through us but when we open and allow then anything could happen at any time. There is nothing amazing you need to do for this to happen. All you need to realise; is that you can wake up right now to who you are and realise this is your film, and you are creating everything that is happening good and bad. In fact there is no good or bad there is only love and consciousness.

Soulmates, as you probably know, are people who come close to us in this particular life time. They could be a family member or friend and they can bring up difficult learnings or easy support. Whoever they are they are important mirrors of you to support you to come out of isolation and to know love and connection. Some of the biggest soulmate connections can be the most difficult but they can be very important because they help you to “Wake Up”. This journey is ultimately a beautiful awakening to love, to oneness, to realising that you are one with everything. It does not matter whether you are single or with a partner, what matters is to know you are love to to awaken to this. Then we realise that we are all connected all the time and there is no separation. All journeys lead us to this non-duality to oneness and there are no mistakes and you are always all right. Creativity, love making, birthing a child and being, all connect us to being channels. Being you you leads you into knowing you are love.

Sexual or romantic soulmates can also give wonderful experiences as they help us to incarnate on this earth plane, arrive and come into our bodies and plan and create our “gardens” here. When two people come together in a sacred union, abundance can happen and they build more than they might as one person. When there is a flourishing connection people grow and strengthen as people and they plan and create together. The important thing is not to make this all about the other. This is your journey and your film. One of the biggest parts of a sexually intimate loving soulmate is that with love there is a great charge that happens between two people and a huge amount of healing can happen. In this charge a lot of light gets downloaded and whatever your stories are about “not love” or separation can come up. So it is at this point that you can feel strongly your needs, jealousy, fear of abandonment, engulfment or overwhelm. If you remember that it will help you when the issues come up. In other words the other person is there to help you feel your vulnerability and go deeper into love, they are not abandoning you, their presence is helping you to feel the parts of you that feel abandoned. Remember too we are lent people whether it is for a day or a life time and to treat them with kindness and respect.

So when people ask “how may I meet my soul mate” I ask “are you ready to?”. For the key here is not do they exist for everything you can imagine exists right now (because you created it anyway) the key is can you keep your heart open enough to allow this person in and feel the pain and ecstasy of love and not love. Can you allow your own essence to meld with another and still come back to you and being present in your own life and can you dare be true in the face of such fire. Are you ready for love and nakedness and to reveal your depths with another and know that you are always in union with the divine all the time?

If you are then call your lover in, they have waited for you a long time. Call them in and tell them you are ready for them and are prepared to meet them. Practice opening your heart, surrender and let go to love and allow, allow, allow. They will turn up,

The key to all this is you. It is like being a runner in a marathon. You start with running for 5 minutes a day, then 20 then half an hour then an hour. So it is with your heart and staying open, it is a practice and developing a capacity for love. Put your hands on your heart every day and allow a connection with your heart to build. Meditate on your heart and your essence and on love and coming into love. You can have anything you want check in with whether you are ready and have the heart capacity to receive it. Then say the affirmation below with full intention and meaning and watch for the signs.

Below is an affirmation I was given with love, I do not know the author

I am now open and ready to let a

deep and fulfilling love into my life.

I create space and time in my life so my wonderful partner will feel welcome.

At this very moment, my partner is just as willing as me to enter into a wonderful relationship.

With the power of my thoughts I am drawing a soul mate towards me.

Our ways will cross with the same inevitability as night follows day.

I will stop searching because I am deeply certain that the energies of my cosmic order will manifest themselves at this very moment.

Everything is prepared and ready in a most wonderful way.

I know that the right partner for me exists and will enter into my life.

I know that my partner is not perfect but he/she is perfect for me. He will help me to recognise my own limitations, to explore my faults and work on them.

relationship.

My partner is in my life already.

He/she is here and I sense his/her presence.

You are wholeheartedly welcome in my life.

MBS Festival

2011-06-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

Inspiral video

2011-05-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

Love Changes Everything - Cate Mackenzie

2011-03-22T13:50:00.001-07:00

Cate Mackenzie's article in Lightworker magazine

2010-12-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Branding lesson by Peter York

2010-11-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

Cate and Love Faries

2010-11-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Cate Mackenzie & Love Fairies, inSpiral Cafe from Cate Mackenzie on Vimeo.

Me in teaching in Cortijo Romero in Spain July 2010

2010-07-21T16:00:00.001-07:00

We had a beautiful time in the sun in Spain in Las Alpujarras "Letting Love in"!

A wonderful photo by www.sampelly.com of me

2010-07-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

Me teaching at The East End WI July 2010

2010-07-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

This is me with the fabulous women of the East End WI, teaching them to Open their hearts to their life purpose. I had so much fun.

Royal Television Society's Celebration Lunch of Dennis Norden interviewed by Barry Cryer

2010-05-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

I went to a fabulous lunch by The Royal Television Society for Dennis Norden being interviewed by Barry Cryer. Dennis was brilliant and funny and it was a joy to be part of British Television history. Dennis was joint Chairman of the Writer's Guild with my Gran Hazel Adair in the 1960's and they called a 6 week strike which meant that afterwards British writer's got royalties and minimum pay. Dennis wrote one of my most favourite comedy series "The Glums".Me and Barry Cryer

Peter York, me and Dennis Norden.

Me and Gul at The London Festival of Tantra

2010-04-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Linda from my Drama Group in a Viking hat

2010-04-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Me at the Royal Academy visting Van Gogh with my friend Becki

2010-04-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

My friend Becki's honouring Dog Mandala

2010-04-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is a gorgeous dog Cone painting by http://beckiflackpaintings.blogspot.com/

Me in Manchester Spirituality Talks

2010-04-08T16:42:00.001-07:00

Hi Cate I enjoyed your session in Manchester this evening It was good to have a high energy, fun, evening.

I thought some more about wishing and wanting on the way home... Wishing also seems more of a heart energy than wanting, to me. Wanting seems to have more of a head feel.... what I think I want to make me happy, rather than what my heart wishes for. Perhaps that's why some people find it "wishy washy"... Head people tend to

feel that way about heart energy, don't they.

Ed Warne Beta Healing Group Manchester

Hi Cate

Thank you so much from us all at Manchester Spirituality Talks for the wonderful talk you gave last night. It was a really enjoyable evening and I for one loved being around you're energy! You lifted my spirits and made me feel alive and I thank you for this good feeling. You gave a lot of great information and guidance and we are all so grateful to you for helping us on the road to meet The Beloved. My very best wishes to you for continued success and fulfillment. Yes, you're only love,

Lynda x Lynda@manchesterspiritualitytalks.co.uk

Message from my niece Natasha

2010-04-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to Draw a picture for you but i'v just come home from school and i'v just done a puppet shoe

love Natasha

Me teaching at The Grange by the sea with Sarah Warwick Christmas 09

2010-01-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

"Cate, thank you very much for your warm facilitation at The Grange I enjoyed it very much."Ann

We had a wonderful time at http://www.thegrangebythesea.com/ on Isle of Wight dancing, singing, connecting to our hearts, clearing blocks and making intentions for 2010.

Angel of Love by Lucy Loveheart and Heart Doll by Becki Flack inspired by me!

2010-01-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

This lovely heart doll was made for me by Becki Flack http://beckiflackpaintings.blogspot.com/ . It is meant to be me and I love it!

This is a beautiful painting painted by http://www.lucyloveheart.com/ and which she said is inspired by me! This is very exciting for me! Thank you dear Lucy! This doll and this painting realy remind me to connect with and share the love and I feel totally warm and loved by receiving both of these! I hope you enjoy them too!

Cate Mackenzie as a baby

2009-12-30T02:19:00.000-08:00

Video of me as a Baby from Cate Mackenzie on Vimeo.

Christmas at the Bromley By Bow Centre 09

2009-12-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Me with a lovely tree! Sharon, Norma, Jo, Mandy and Alison below and Champa below them!

Christmas at my Dad's

2009-12-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

My sister Tara and her husband Rupert still very inlove!
Me my sisters Tara and Georgia and my step sisters Kate and Helen! And below me and my Dad!

Beautiful Book "Flower in the desert" by Neil del Strother who came on my "Letting Love in" retreat in Spain

2009-12-15T16:11:00.000-08:00

This is the beautiful heart opening book by Neil del Strother who came on my "Letting Love in" course at Cortijo Romero a few years ago. I could not put this book down, it had such a beautiful and simple message about love and the heart. You can buy it from http://www.theflowerinthedesert.com/.

Me and my friend Bernadette Vallely Chair of Women's Environmental Network!

2009-12-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

Bernadette my dear friend is away in Copenhagen talking about women and Climate Change and how Climate Change affects women and what we need to do to save the earth!

My Open Your Heart Workshop 13th Dec 09!

2009-12-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

This is my fantastic Open Your Heart workshop where we dance, look at what we want, what might be blocking us and how you can create the life you want!

"I loved the way you used the music and the dance as part of the coaching making the experience so holistic! You won't find this on many workshops!" Gary Winer Goal Power Coach

"I thought today was lovely and gave a great affirmation of love and hope! I hope you enjoyed it too"

Fleur x, actress

"It was exactly what it says on the tin, it opens your heart! You get lost and you can't find your heart and the only way to find it is by letting love in!"

Maribel trainee teacher

My lovely Bromley By Bow dance group Dec 09

2009-12-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

Me in recording studio with Astaphan recording meditationsDec 09!

2009-12-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

Gary and Amanda who met after she worked with me!

2009-12-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

Went and had a lovely supper with friends and family tonight

2009-12-08T17:39:00.000-08:00

Dancing at the Bromley By Bow Centre! East London!

2009-12-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Antill Road Men's group, my lovely dancing men's group

2009-12-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

My group in Barons Court

2009-12-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

On my Birthday 6th December I went to Steve Nobel and Ursula Barbieri's Brilliant workshop dream your 2010 into being!

2009-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Me in pink

2009-12-03T16:57:00.001-08:00

I met the wonderful feminist journalist Suzanne Moore!

2009-12-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Me in Pink ready to go to Peter York's lecture on Fashionistas at London School of Fashion!

2009-12-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

Me with a Darlek at Avalon

2009-12-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

Pink Shoes Club

2009-11-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

I have just been to the House of Lords to the Pink Shoes Club for Women Entrepreneurs and it was totally inspiring and exciting!

Me at The House of Lords for the Pink Shoes Entrepreneur Day Today!

2009-11-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Me at the Mind Body Spirit Show in Victoria talking about coming home to your heart!

2009-11-15T03:32:00.000-08:00

My Dad and Step Mother Linda

2009-11-14T17:55:00.001-08:00

This is my Dad and his lovely wife my Step Mother Linda. They are so happy together and it is lovely to be around them!

Dancing at the Bromley By Bow Centre. Every week I teach Heart Dancing in East London where we dance and build our confidence!

2009-11-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

The Creative Feminine and my Gran Hazel Adair

2009-11-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Jonquil Anthony (who created "Mrs Dale's Diary" with my Gran Hazel Adair, one of the original writers on it and who devised many programmes including "Compact", "Champion House" and "Crossroads")

This is an important time to birth yourself and your dreams and allow yourself to really open up to the great mystery of who you are and what you can be. This is a photo of my Gran Hazel Adair who dared to write and became a powerful woman in the beginning of television. She wrote about human stories and fought to include stories of black and white relationships, gay relationships, illegitimate babies, stories from all classes and all cultures (including writing the first main black characters in soap operas and the first disabled character). She was ahead of her time and it was a radical thing to do but she believed in telling people's stories and she felt it was important to do this. As a result she was very successful! If you follow your passion you may find that you find a flow within you that leads you to do many things you may never even have thought of!

Victory the miracle baby! My friend Jennie, her partner Graeme and their longed for baby Victory!

2009-11-14T17:37:00.000-08:00

This is a divine photo of Victory with his parents Jennie and Graeme! He was born on 7th November 09. Jennie longed for a baby and a few years ago was interviewed in a Sunday magazine looking for a co-parent who would also like a baby. While interviewing suitable men, her good friend Graeme said he would like to co-parent and they started spending time together to talk about it and fell inlove! They moved to New York a couple of years ago and have just had baby Victory last weekend. You see you are not given a wish without the possibility to make it come true, you may have to work for it however (message from Richard Bach the writer)!

BBC Television centre Nov 09! I went to watch the 6pm News being made and to learn about the new developments in News Broadcasting! Fascinating!

2009-11-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Me and my sisters Tara and Georgia, getting together in London!

2009-10-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

Cate at Cortijo Romero 09 with my lovely group on our last session! We had a lot of fun letting love in!

2009-10-20T08:18:00.001-07:00

Cate at the House of Commons with Jo Berry and Pat Magee of the forgiveness project and Simon Hughes MP

2009-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

This was an incredible evening at the House of Commons with the all party committee on conflict resolution! Jo Berry's father Sir Anthony Berry was killed by IRA member Pat Magee in the 1984 Brighton bombing and they now work together towards conflict resolution and helping people to build bridges.

More Tips to Open Your Heart!

2009-08-01T17:07:00.001-07:00

1 Truth- Follow Your truth- what do you really feel? What do you want? The gift of your truth is always a gift to others. It frees us all. If you trust your truth and follow what feels right you are also trusting that if you cannot do something that someone else will or that it is not meant to happen. And this allows for you to follow what you really want to create!

2 Grace- be soft allow others to go before you in a queue or in different situations. Remember Gratitude, joy and excitement it will help in all kinds of situations.

3 Beloved- treat each person as a Beloved! Each person is a mirror of love see if you can treat them with love and respect no matter who they are. See if you can allow them to be who they are no matter what that is. We don't know who the angels are, he could be the homeless man on the street!

4 Presence- take time each day to BE HERE NOW! And in this place slow down, breathe and be gentle with yourself!

5 Love, feel into your heart, feel around you, connect with the love that is always there. Imagine you are walking with love and that every action and movement you make sends love out into the world. You are love. As you make an intention of love then love can flow more freely from you. Imagine that you walk with love, sleep with love, pray with love, eat with love, go on the bus with love, read with love, even pee with love. Thank your day for this life. Thank your bed for sleep, your Mum for your birth. Loving is boundless and endless! You are love!

Wording it! The Key to self branding!

2009-08-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wording It! The key to Self Branding!

In order to create what you want in the world you need to become really clear about who you are and what you want to give and what your personal "brand" is that you are offering. As you become clear and put into words and feelings what it is you want and what you want to feel then you begin to magically create your world. I prayed and asked to work around the world last September and this year I have been asked to work in Kuwait, Greece, Spain, France, The USA and when I came back last week Portugal. I came back to an email asking me to work in Estoril. I found this deeply touching as my Great Grandfather was born in Estoril and I have never been to Portugal. The combination is about clearly wording what you want, feeling it and clearing any blocks that are in the way and then really connecting all of this in your body. As you feel it so you can be it! If you have difficulties why not book a coaching session to look at this! As you word your vision make sure you express how you feel in the vision and remember that there is a right time for things to happen! I wanted to work at Skyros for many years but this year I was actually ready to do it. You can check with yourself whether you are ready by feeling and seeing how you feel! For me it is the inner which mirrors the outer so as you open your vision from within and learn how to receive then you may be able to allow magical things into your life!

1 It's all about You and your Mission!

Who are you? How do you want to be seen? What do you want to give the world? If you had absolutely no fear what would you do? What is your Mission?

Each of us has a unique and amazing gift to give the world. No person has the same gift. As you discover yours and start to give it you have started the journey of self branding. This means you have started to connect with your own sense of purpose and all you need is the drive to make it happen. It is also important that your brand has authenticity. It is very difficult for a brand to last or be believed in that does not have some roots or truth. Most businesses cannot survive without someone behind it who has the passion and drive to see it through.

What is special and different about you and what do you have to give. Often people long to give something they deeply want themselves or something they need to learn. I wanted to give the world my heart images, my Open Your Heart Workshops and my coaching. I wanted to encourage others to allow themselves to be open and vulnerable and connect to Love. This is because I knew that I needed to learn about love and how to open my own heart and I wanted to help others to do the same.

2 What is your vision?

What would your brand look like or be like if you could describe it simply?

Mine was to put love around the world in images, workshops, words and coaching nine years ago and now I am working Internationally running workshops all around the world and my hearts are going into IKEA stores world wide as posters from this October for three years. Now I am revisioning what my vision is and I want to work with the mainstream and politics helping people to connect with their hearts and I want to promote love and awareness of love through writing , TV and radio. Posh Spice wanted to be as famous as Persil. I wanted to be a world renowned Love Angel. What do you want?

3 Strategy!

Write your vision down! Oscar Wilde said anything written will come to pass! And write daily targets which will help you reach your goals. Visualise and imagine what you want happening and look out for the signs. I want to connect with Politicians and Corporates because I want to talk about the importance of love and the heart with those in power so I am going to talks and networking events. Think about what you want and create the strategy for achieving this. Keep it simple and take action!

Stay open to different people and different audiences and try not to judge, you never know who might create an important connection or opportunity for you!

4 Timing!

Be prepared for opportunities to meet the right people and when you do seize the moment! Clock the signs and recognise what is an important moment! It can seem that people have an overnight success (like Anthony Hopkins at 50 years old) but in fact they have been working away at their craft for years creating more and more moments and opportunities till they are ready to fully blossom. Gerald Mcmorrow (Director) said this is often a twelve year overnight success. If you don't give up your moment will come and all the growth you have done will make you ready for the success.
There is always a join up if you can allow it. You have a need, someone has a vision, someone else has the link to put these together.

5 Congruency!

You need to be aware of what you are saying with words and with your body. You need to show full commitment with your body and your language and your presence or people will not take you seriously. Many people do not realise how important it is to BE FULLY what you want to express in the world! As you become the expression of what you want to be you become believable. I am an exponent of Love so I am continually learning about love, beauty and creativity and intending to put this into the world. Because this is my desire and my interest I draw people who ask me about this, I get asked to do talks and workshops on this and as I do this I grow more and more knowing about love. So as I live I learn and I become more of who I want to be. You do not have to already be there to start to become who you want to be. You have to have the intention of becoming and start to act as if you are there. If you want a soul path and a soul mate you need to connect with and commit to your soul!

6 Communication with Grace and Charm

Many at the top of their tree is a master at communication, grace and charm. It may be in their own unique way but they will know how to talk to the man on the street or the King. This openness and availability is an enormous sense of power and charisma. These people can light up a room with a word or a look and are connectors. Watch them at work and you can learn how to move like them and have no barriers to the work you put in the world. Competency, excellence, negotiation skills and highly developed relationship skills are important to develop and keep in mind. If people give you feedback listen to it even if it is negative because you may get a useful hint about how to develop yourself. Also watch other people who are masters of their craft and really notice how they interact with others, how they speak and how they move. Luck is often seen as a mixture of preparation and opportunity. Many masterful beings will have spent much time preparing themselves for the work they want to do or the people they want to meet. Bill Clinton asks for a mini biography on each person at a dinner party he is invited to which means he can make the most of the evening knowing how to connect with the people there.

7 Commitment

Bodily and verbally commit to what you want. The journey to full mastery and self branding is to be who you are and be who you want to be with full, total and utter conviction. Take a look at the Alhambra Building in Granada- that could only have been made with total faith anything less than that would not have allowed it to have been constructed. You have to get beyond your doubts and fears in to the realm of belief and trust.

8 Be Open

Create the vision but be open as to how it may manifest. Learn to detach and let go of outcomes and you may find things happen on a bigger scale than you could have imagined.

9 Take Risks

Be Bold. Give Give Give. Give talks, give to your community, give what you have to give (the word will spread and you will become experienced at what you do). Paulo Coelho is a massively successful writer and sells millions of books but he also puts his books online for people to download for free. When you give you let go and you allow a flow. As you give so shall you receive. If you do voluntary work in an area you love you may then get spotted and paid. It's like the rule "Those that have get given more" - if you are working you will be given more work, if you have lots of love more love will come to you, start the process by doing what you want to do.

10 Support

Find mentors and groups and great people you admire they will open you up and expand your energy and by being around them you may grow more than you could ever do on your own. Recognise the divine hidden process in everything. Ultimately everything is connected and we are all one and if you realise this then you can do anything and meet anyone. You are the divine being, know this, come into peace and call in the beautiful gifts for you to work with.

I have many mentors including Peter York who has encouraged me to grow and expand beyond my own limitations. He is generous with his time but he also is very clear what time he has to give. He may have 2 minutes but he will give brilliant answers and feedback in those 2 minutes.

I have a supervisor/coach for my work and a therapist/coach for myself as well as doing regular continual development like Rosen Bodywork therapy. I have found that committing to my own levels of support has grown my life. My commitment to my own growth has grown me and grown my work, as I commit to me I do more. Also I have realised that change is a slow process and that I need to stay committed to be able to move through my resistance and make a more expanded life. Realising this I ask my clients to really commit to their process of coaching with me and to commit to coming regularly in order to achieve what they want to achieve. The commitment is very important it somehow creates the change and before you know it magic has happened!
As I grow I need more and more support and networks, this allows me to worry less grow more and vision more. I am now visioning a team of 5 people who work for me and support my business and I am part of global networks where I can help the world . For me I can allow myself to grow as long as I do this with good heart.

Cate's talk on OYH

2009-07-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

Cate and Peter at Jeremy Paxman's Celebration Dinner at the Media Society

2009-07-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Cate back in London after Skyros

2009-07-06T09:22:00.001-07:00

2009-07-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

Summer of Love

2009-07-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hello dear One
Are you feeling the love? My wonderful cousin Duncan Cheatle has set up a beautifully loving web site www.thanksto.com where you can join for free and thank those people who have made a difference in your life. So far I have thanked my Mum, my Grandmother, Duncan and Countess Esther Benckendorff who encouraged me to dance every day and gave me unconditional love from when I was 4 years old. I think it is so much fun and will carry on. Do have a look if you get a chance! Here in the UK the sun is shining and many people are smiling and happy to be out and about. I do love all the seasons and all the weather changes here, including the rain, as long as I can sort my wardrobe and get the right clothes to wear I’m happy. The only time I really struggle with is the freezing cold and that is because all I want to do is wrap up like a ball and have many layers and I feel that I lose all sense of style. Maybe I need to ask a stylist on tips for the cold season! I am, in fact, working with a style coach at the moment called Julia Knight and it has made a big difference to how I look at dressing and what I wear. She has helped me to focus on how I put things together and what I am wearing for different occasions. It has given me a sense of becoming more of a woman and more mature in my clothing choices. In the Summer I would always wear bright colourful cotton dresses and although they are fine they are also quite girly and I am now choosing more stylish patterns and cuts to suit a more mature me. This then helps me feel more mature in my work and in socialising. Also once we have talked through what clothes and images I want she always says “You know the clothes will turn up now don’t you”! And they do, it’s extraordinary but they do every time. I live near the most wonderful set of charity shops and after I have decided I would like- some designer flowery feminine clothing, some Issa or Etro or Whistles then I pop into my shops and they are there. Ask and you shall receive as they say. It’s wonderful!

Receiving Life as it
by Cate Mackenzie
I am having some wonderful lessons as the moment about receiving life just as it is and accepting the energy that is there and then continuing to receive and noticing what happens.

I was teaching a dance class on Friday to people with disabilities and their carers. The energy seemed lower than usual and I felt that I needed to respect this and let everyone get connected to each other before getting them moving. So I asked the care staff to work with a disabled partner and very slowly and gently massage each arm. The point was to help the carer really connect with the disabled person and to help the disabled person feel their body and also feel connected with the carer. After some time there was a noticeable feeling of connection in the room and I started us all dancing gently and slowly. After a while we built a great energy in the room and we were all moving quite a bit, and even the disabled people who do not move that much normally moved a great amount. It really struck me that it was about accepting and being with the initial energy that allowed a new energy to come out. Then it made me think about life and how there are always things in life that are good, things that are difficult, things I may want to happen and things I may not want to happen and yet I somehow need to be equanimous with all of it. I can get caught up in worrying about the friend I may have upset and wondering how I can make it better or wanting certain work things to happen when I need to wait and see and allow things to be. And what if I can accept it all the good, the difficult, the easy and stay in the moment? What if I could accept it all just as it is! Then maybe there is a chance, or a moment of change, maybe the energy can come back again! Who knows! For I have noticed that it can be just as hard to receive the good as receiving the bad. When things are really good I can get worried and stressed and wonder if I should be any different than I am and as soon as I do that I have shut down the energy. When things are difficult I can also close in and this contraction will create a block so that nothing can move. I feel that really people see therapists, coaches and alternative practitioners to help re-open these blocks and shift the energy and that is a good thing to do when you need it. And, of course, it can make a big difference when you need it! But what if you realised how magnificent you really are and that you can breathe into any situation and start to melt your fears and blocks that you can practice staying open. What if you could really realise who you are in your heart and hold the magnificence of who you really are so that you can be in your truth and be in communion with all that is right now in this moment.

The reality is that you are a beautiful being of light and you can realise this right now in this moment. And as you realise this you can begin to allow all that you want to allow to be true. You do not need to “make” anything happen but from a beautiful open space you can call in what is true and right for you with no judgements and with total acceptance of yourself and what is.

For me I can go into this space when I dance, when I dance I feel totally connected and at one and at peace with myself and the world around me. In this space I can settle into myself and into my body and from this I can call in and attract what I need. So last night I went 5 rhythms dancing and I went into a calm and beautiful space and I asked that the right men came to dance with me (the men that were right for me to dance with) and that I would just stay in my space and they would turn up. So I stayed in my space and enjoyed my dancing and sure enough different men at different times turned up and danced with me and it was great. In fact it made me realise that we have to be ready to engage with our wishes as commitments and deep decisions because if you are centred, calm and clear and you call something in you may well receive it and then you have to be ready for that.

You can check in with yourself whether you are ready to really receive the gifts of your wishes by asking your body and slowing down enough to hear what your body says. Then see what magic happens in your life!

"Letting Love in" 26 Sep-3 Oct
This is a week to take a personal journey back to yourself, finding out who you are and what really mattes to you. This is an opportunity to have time to rest, heal and create in a beautiful, magical place in the Las Alpujarras mountains near Malaga in Spain. During the day you will have time to swim, rest and sunbathe and watch the stars at night and you will be guided on a loving creative journey with much dance, talking, coaching and visualisation. There will also be some art and writing exercises. The journey is to have time for yourself, to play, to laugh and to re-group. From this place you can see what you want for yourself and for your life and make a plan to create this. Cost: £510

cortijo-romero.co.uk

Open your heart Tips:

1 Grattitude- being grateful in every moment for the gift of life

2 Praise- praise the Divine in your life, praise love, praise others when you can

3 Smile, whenever you can smile it helps you and others around you

4 Feel your feelings and be honest about them, as soon as you own what is going on you come into connection with yourself and others

5 Love, feel into your heart, feel around you, connect with the love that is always there. Imagine you are walking with love and that every action and movement you make sends love out into the world. You are love. As you make an intention of love then love can flow more freely from you.

How about going for some elite love coaching. Six to twelve sessions to connect to your authentic self, to feel more confident, more loving and to create the life of your dreams. First twenty minutes free. Then £60 per session.

Cate's warmth and Smile was so welcoming and made me feel relaxed and comfortable. Opening your Heart was a new experience for me and helped me to improve my Self-esteem, Power and Confidence to move forward in life with ease. My Life gets more Fabulous every day, I feel Happy, and am Grateful for my life. Cate's Creative Process connecting with Dance and Art has opened up my awareness to Loving within.

Anna Demetriou, Barclay's Wealth

NEXT WORKSHOP DATES:

19 Jul catemackenzie.com £70 "Open Your Heart" Workshop

This is a workshop to find out how your heart is what has happened to your heart and how you can learn to open it again. You will be encouraged to find your strength and your boundaries and will be taught a method of Pulsation which is how to open and close in a flowing manner. This is a journey to help and encourage you to create a life you really want.
This workshop can now be booked online on my website.

Latest Cate's interview will be published soon

2009-06-12T05:47:00.001-07:00

Tips to Open Your Heart

2009-06-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Open your heart Tips:

1 Grattitude- being grateful in every moment for the gift of life

2 Praise- praise the Divine in your life, praise love, praise others when you can

3 Smile, whenever you can smile it helps you and others around you

4 Feel your feelings and be honest about them, as soon as you own what is going on you come into connection with yourself and others

5 Love, feel into your heart, feel around you, connect with the love that is always there. Imagine you are walking with love and that every action and movement you make sends love out into the world. You are love. As you make an intention of love then love can flow more freely from you.

Thank you dot com

2009-06-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

Are you feeling the love? My wonderful cousin Duncan Cheatle has set up a beautifully loving web site www.thanksto.com where you can join for free and thank those people who have made a difference in your life. So far I have thanked my Mum, my Grandmother, Duncan and Countess Esther Benckendorff who encouraged me to dance every day and gave me unconditional love from when I was 4 years old. I think it is so much fun and will carry on. Do have a look if you get a chance! Here in the UK the sun is shining and many people are smiling and happy to be out and about. I do love all the seasons and all the weather changes here, including the rain, as long as I can sort my wardrobe and get the right clothes to wear I’m happy. The only time I really struggle with is the freezing cold and that is because all I want to do is wrap up like a ball and have many layers and I feel that I lose all sense of style. Maybe I need to ask a stylist on tips for the cold season! I am, in fact, working with a style coach at the moment called Julia Knight and it has made a big difference to how I look at dressing and what I wear. She has helped me to focus on how I put things together and what I am wearing for different occasions. It has given me a sense of becoming more of a woman and more mature in my clothing choices. In the Summer I would always wear bright colourful cotton dresses and although they are fine they are also quite girly and I am now choosing more stylish patterns and cuts to suit a more mature me. This then helps me feel more mature in my work and in socialising. Also once we have talked through what clothes and images I want she always says “You know the clothes will turn up now don’t you”! And they do, it’s extraordinary but they do every time. I live near the most wonderful set of charity shops and after I have decided I would like- some designer flowery feminine clothing, some Issa or Etro or Whistles then I pop into my shops and they are there. Ask and you shall receive as they say. It’s wonderful!

Receiving Life as it
by Cate Mackenzie
I am having some wonderful lessons as the moment about receiving life just as it is and accepting the energy that is there and then continuing to receive and noticing what happens.

I was teaching a dance class on Friday to people with disabilities and their carers. The energy seemed lower than usual and I felt that I needed to respect this and let everyone get connected to each other before getting them moving. So I asked the care staff to work with a disabled partner and very slowly and gently massage each arm. The point was to help the carer really connect with the disabled person and to help the disabled person feel their body and also feel connected with the carer. After some time there was a noticeable feeling of connection in the room and I started us all dancing gently and slowly. After a while we built a great energy in the room and we were all moving quite a bit, and even the disabled people who do not move that much normally moved a great amount. It really struck me that it was about accepting and being with the initial energy that allowed a new energy to come out. Then it made me think about life and how there are always things in life that are good, things that are difficult, things I may want to happen and things I may not want to happen and yet I somehow need to be equanimous with all of it. I can get caught up in worrying about the friend I may have upset and wondering how I can make it better or wanting certain work things to happen when I need to wait and see and allow things to be. And what if I can accept it all the good, the difficult, the easy and stay in the moment? What if I could accept it all just as it is! Then maybe there is a chance, or a moment of change, maybe the energy can come back again! Who knows! For I have noticed that it can be just as hard to receive the good as receiving the bad. When things are really good I can get worried and stressed and wonder if I should be any different than I am and as soon as I do that I have shut down the energy. When things are difficult I can also close in and this contraction will create a block so that nothing can move. I feel that really people see therapists, coaches and alternative practitioners to help re-open these blocks and shift the energy and that is a good thing to do when you need it. And, of course, it can make a big difference when you need it! But what if you realised how magnificent you really are and that you can breathe into any situation and start to melt your fears and blocks that you can practice staying open. What if you could really realise who you are in your heart and hold the magnificence of who you really are so that you can be in your truth and be in communion with all that is right now in this moment.

The reality is that you are a beautiful being of light and you can realise this right now in this moment. And as you realise this you can begin to allow all that you want to allow to be true. You do not need to “make” anything happen but from a beautiful open space you can call in what is true and right for you with no judgements and with total acceptance of yourself and what is.

For me I can go into this space when I dance, when I dance I feel totally connected and at one and at peace with myself and the world around me. In this space I can settle into myself and into my body and from this I can call in and attract what I need. So last night I went 5 rhythms dancing and I went into a calm and beautiful space and I asked that the right men came to dance with me (the men that were right for me to dance with) and that I would just stay in my space and they would turn up. So I stayed in my space and enjoyed my dancing and sure enough different men at different times turned up and danced with me and it was great. In fact it made me realise that we have to be ready to engage with our wishes as commitments and deep decisions because if you are centred, calm and clear and you call something in you may well receive it and then you have to be ready for that.

You can check in with yourself whether you are ready to really receive the gifts of your wishes by asking your body and slowing down enough to hear what your body says. Then see what magic happens in your life!

Peter York and Cate Mackenzie talking about The Isle of Wight Retreat

2009-06-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Cate at Carole Stone's Salon with Tina Mackenzie and Duncan Cheatle

2009-06-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Cate and Sarah at Mind Body Spirit Festival 09

2009-05-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Cate and Peter York

2009-05-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Cate's talk at 44 Portland Place

2009-05-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Heart Coaching

2009-05-12T10:06:00.001-07:00

I am a Life Coach who coaches people into their hearts.

Living a good life is about Living from the Heart and being in your truth and in the absolute centre of who you are. When you live in your heart you know your purpose and your truth and you are connected to your own inner voice and intuition which guides you and leads you to where you need to go. If you could allow yourself to move into your heart and your truth you can move into a place of deep joy and peace and it is from this place that you are able to create a beautiful life. For when you are in your heart you are living from who you really are. The heart has great intelligence and will give you wonderful guidance about who to be and how to be. Working with the heart means becoming aware of and releasing blocks in your heart. It means learning to love yourself and starting to treat yourself well and from here starting to create the life of your dreams. When you are in your heart, much more seems possible and it seems as if you can make things come true which you can. It’s a bit like when the aerial on your TV works well and you get a good picture. When you are clear and centred in your heart you can also create a clear and good picture in your life. This is really the quality of manifestation, when we are really clear about what we are and what we want (in a heart and feeling sense) then what is true, relevant and needed has a tendency of turning up.

Benefits of Life Coaching

Having a relationship with yourself

Being centred in yourself

Being connected to your life purpose

Being able to attract a partner

Improving your relationships

Focus and achieve your career goals

Create a work/life balance

De-cluttering

Improve your health, wellbeing and presentation skills

Hints on supporting yourself to create your work

2009-05-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hints on visioning your work and supporting yourself to create it

1 Think about what your gifts are.

What is special and particular to you? If you can start to acknowledge yourself and your gifts it can make a big difference to how you feel and how you are in the world. If you can start to own who you are and feel that in a bodily sense (not just in your head but all they way through your body) it can make a big difference with connecting to your purpose. Breath in and feel into your body with your breath and start to acknowledge yourself with your breath as you breathe in and out. Right now you are great and perfect just as you are. Think about people you admire for they can help you with mirroring who you really are. What you see in others is very often in you it just may be more unconscious or hidden but with some work it can come out. How would that make you feel? Who do you admire and what do you admire about them. If you could be them for a day what would you do? What have you been doing with your life so far and what new things would you like to bring to your vision? A vision is often quite simple and made up of simple components. Feel into what you would really love your working life to feel and look like. For example nine years ago I talked with two people about my dream for my work and I was an International Workshop leader and Life Coach with books and art about the heart. Very simple and because it is so simple it is something which I can work on and create the steps to get there. The feeling I wanted was to be able to give love and visit people around the world in a creative and constructive way.

2 Create a Goals Group.

Find one or more people who you can talk about your dreams and wishes and agree certain weekly or monthly goals- you can do this with friends or colleagues. As you talk about your goals more and more ideas will come, you could be amazed.

3 Keep a goals book

Keep a little book of all your goals. On the first page write your top goals. Then each night write a list for the next day of how you are connecting and continuing with these goals. So on my first page I have a list of my top goals

1 Book

2 Coaching

3 Workshops

4 Health

5 Film

Then each day I make a list of how I can connect to these goals even in a small way. So today I am writing my book and my blog, I have had a little walk and done some coaching and I am seeing my supervisor who I will talk to about my goals for my work.

4Give Give Give

Engage in allowing yourself to be loving to others. What people may not realise is that when you are not charming you can often seem not friendly or even rude. I encourage people a lot to engage in being charming in giving compliments and even gifts. It is very important to learn to engage with others. If you ever have an opportunity to observe someone who is has developed themselves and is comfortable in their skin you may notice how they can gracefully engage with anyone and they will dare take the steps towards them and with genuine grace connect with them in a very gentle and humane way. Also give what you can without expectation, you may find I amazing how this helps you connect and to create the business you want. I am always giving away information on events and things to do and even when I give my business card away it is often received well because the card has a lovely heart on it. So think if you can make your information about yourself something lovely to receive. Also if you make yourself as lovely as you can with how you are and how you look then you also make yourself very pleasant for others. Also as you probably know as you give so shall you receive so if you do voluntary work in the area you are interested in working in then you are quite likely to meet people you can impress with your talents and get work. If you give to charities or people you are drawn to giving to you allow money to flow in your your life and it will flow back to you. (Part of this is the giving helps you to trust and let go and this enables you to become more open as a person).

5 Find out what you are scared to do and do it

Often what you are scared of is actually sacred for you. Something you are scared of holds energy for you and is what you actually need in some way to integrate in yourself. I think that that relates to all areas in life including phobias (phobias are obviously a lot deeper but if you could look into what the thing you are afraid of). If you look at the symbolism of the thing you are afraid of then you could look at integrating the energy of what you need. The snake is symbolic of sexuality, spiders are symbolic of creativity and control (weaving a web), wasps and bees having a powerful sting.

6 Clearing Resistance, getting focussed

Get really clear about what you want. If you can get so clear that you are like a clear television set and you can see the picture of what you want as clearly as that then you will be able to bring it in. If you start to imagine what you want and you can feel resistance or a blurring or a distance with the image then you are blocked in some way and you need to do some work around this. A good friend or a good coach or psychotherapist can help you with resistance. To start with you need to understand that you are resistant and why you might be resistant. Do you feel that someone owes you a living or are you hoping to be rescued in some way? Are you finding that things that you wanted are not coming your way? If you think about it are there any difficult feelings? Though there some situations where it is right and clear that they should not happen and later on in retrospect you can see why things should not have worked out. But for many situations the reason why they are not happening may well be your own internal blocks and it is worth finding out what they are and seeing if you are ready to clear them and move to your next level.

Get someone to help you see your subconscious resistances and start to work to release them. I have been talking to my Supervisor about my resistance and we have been talking about looking at the opposite of resistance and asking for for more (money, work, opportunities, growth) and moving out of being in a tight emotional space and opening more. How would you feel to really open and really grow? What would you really like if you could imagine your perfect life?

7 Getting Support

Anyone successful will have an enormous amount of help. Sometimes I think it is difficult for people to realise or take this on board but it is worth getting yourself very supported in all the areas that you need. I have a therapist, a supervisor, a homeopath, an acupuncturist and and training and groups I go to as well as family and friends. I also have various mentors and support people and time that I give myself to meditate and connect with myself and know what I need.

8 Are you ready to go to the power of 10

How would you feel about expansion? How would you feel about growing further, really focussing and achieving more? We are often growing at a certain pace in our lives but we sometimes need to check- Could I go further? Am I ready to go further? My friend Clemens Brennan calls this going to the power of 10. This is when we really can reach and energise ourselves more. Some people may never want to do this and some people are raring to go and some people just need a little help or tweak to help them make the shift. My friend asked me whether I would like to speak to an audience of 900 people and I said that I would. I surprised myself with that answer but it may me realise that I am ready to grow to another level. I have been going to see amazing speakers recently and it has been an astounding experience for me to see the great art of some of these people. But it can be really great to see people you admire doing there thing and it can help you to make an energetic shift and start to see your next level of growth as you integrate the lessons.

Images from 44 Portland Place

2009-05-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Thursday 7th May “How to expand your business” with Cate Mackenzie 6.30pm, free,
www.44portlandplace.org.uk, info@44portlandplace.org.uk, 020 7079 2855. A talk on how to build your confidence and create an expanded vision of your working life. If you had no fear what would you like your working life to look like? What is the best you could imagine?

Get your own cartoon at: Bluebeancartoons

2009-05-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

What is Coaching from the heart?

2009-05-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

Coaching from the Heart with Cate Mackenzie
Helping you to make your dreams come true through opening into love

Living a good life is about Living from the Heart and being in your truth and in the absolute centre of who you are. When you live in your heart you know your purpose and your truth and you are connected to your own inner voice and intuition which guides you and leads you to where you need to go. If you could allow yourself to move into your heart and your truth you can move into a place of deep joy and peace and it is from this place that you are able to create a beautiful life. For when you are in your heart you are living from who you really are. The heart has great intelligence and will give you wonderful guidance about who to be and how to be. Working with the heart means becoming aware of and releasing blocks in your heart. It means learning to love yourself and starting to treat yourself well and from here starting to create the life of your dreams. When you are in your heart, much more seems possible and it seems as if you can make things come true which you can. It’s a bit like when the aerial on your TV works well and you get a good picture. When you are clear and centred in your heart you can also create a clear and good picture in your life. This is really the quality of manifestation, when we are really clear about what we are and what we want (in a heart and feeling sense) then what is true, relevant and needed has a tendency of turning up.

Are there areas of your life that you feel are not working or could do with a shift or change. Have you let go of dreams that you would like to bring to life? Are you single when you would really like a partner or do you feel your life is out of balance in some way?
Whether you want to feel more confident or whether you want to achieve a certain goal life coaching can really make a big difference in anyone’s life. I believe passionately that anyone can achieve what they really want in their lives and start to live the life of their wildest dreams. Much of the time it is about really appreciating who you are, recognising your gifts and talents and moving beyond the fear into a place of trust and love.
With the right Life Coach you can be supported to make the shifts you want to make looking at where you want to be and how you are going to get there. With Life Coaching you work through your negative beliefs, while acknowledging your abilities and making steps towards your personal action plan. Once you genuinely commit to your path you may be surprised how simple it can be to turn wishes into realities. Coaching helps you focus and build your confidence.
Benefits of Life Coaching
Dating and having a partner
Improving your relationship
Finding out what you want to do and doing it
Fulfilling your career goals
Earn a living through your creativity
Achieve a work/life balance
De-cluttering
Balancing your life and your health

Contact details for Coaching
info@catemackenzie.com
Telephone 08708747123 (national rate)

What are Open Your Heart workshops like?

2009-05-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Open your Heart Workshops are run as day workshops, weekend and week long retreats as well as shorter workshops and talks. The theme is always a journey into the heart to see where the heart needs to be healed and where someone could open and expand their energy more.

The day workshops involve meditation, a lot of dance, much connecting in partnerships, boundary work involving becoming really clear about saying Yes and No and acting these out with a partner, visualisation, sometimes writing and sometimes art depending on the group and the situation.

The day will start with an easy ice breaker of choosing objects from a selection of trinkets placed on the floor. Each person will then introduce themselves through talking about why they chose their objects. There will also be some partner work to connect with why they are here, to talk through how their heart is, what they want and what is blocking them. I may then do a meditation to connect them with their heart if appropriate to the group. I engage them in a lot of creative dance which is fun and sensual and gets them into their bodies and into their hearts. I choose music which are mainly classic tracks from different eras which connect to love and the body and they provide instant keys for people to feel their heart. We also work strongly with boundaries working on Yes and No and seeing where people are blocked around these and if they are blocked in their bodies. Many people struggle with Yes or No or both which is why they cannot open to their next level of growth.

After Lunch we may engage with more partner work perhaps looking at sadness, shame or anger, some visualization, some visioning about the perfect life for each person and what that would look like and what they need to include in their lives now in order to make their current life connect to this perfect vision. There may be some writing and/or drawing, there can be more dancing but it depends as I follow the energy of the group (it is always different).

The closing ceremony involves everyone giving a gift in the middle of the circle, lighting a candle and making an intention. Each person receives a present from the middle and this is often an amazing process as people receive relevant and surprising presents (it happens every time, amazing but true).

People go home mainly in a beautiful, open and loving state and I get many emails and feedback about how they feel bathed in a sea of love. In this place many things are possible and many clients have made great changes from engaging in new work, meeting a partner or changing an attitude towards themselves.

The weekend or week long retreats also have a similar theme but there is more time to engage deeper with different issues and exercises. We may do more art, writing, deeper work, more dancing, ceremonial things. So it can be very helpful for people although I believe that if is the right time a person can make a shift in 2 minutes or half an hour it is a lot to do with the willing and readiness.

The effect on people is very deep and profound many people have told me they have never felt such love, that they have longed for love and now they know what it is. Many people have dared to start new businesses, get themselves art studios or dare to do something they have genuinely longed to do. Many people have met a new partner or have had deep healing with the current one or have dared to leave a bad relationship. Some people have re-found a deep sexual connection with their partner (where it had closed down). Most come away with a new sense of love, beauty and light and what is possible for them.

The people who come are a massive mix from actors, teachers, coaches, therapists, stylists, journalists, designers to political activists and people who work in corporations. The age I have mainly 2 thirds women to 1 third men but it can be all women too. I have had teenagers and people in their sixties, very rich and very poor. I have mainly white people but also have a good amount of black and asian people coming. On the day workshops it can range from 8 to 22 people though I have run workshops with 60 and with 100.

Day workshops cost £70, though I often work for other organizations where they can charge different prices.

The workshops are aimed at everyone and I have ambitions to take them around the world and also into The Houses of Parliament and get some Lords and MPs dancing.

Hints to take away

1 Practising saying Yes and No
2 Visioning your perfect future and bringing that into your current reality
3 Feeling confident and beautiful (practicing this at home to music)
4 Knowing your really feel good self (once you know something you can always return to it even if you lose it)
5 Many emotional tools to look at your fear, your blocks and your faith
6 Being more in tune with your heart and with love

Manifesting Your Dreams

2009-04-26T15:01:00.001-07:00

I would like to let you in to a secret, a secret which deep down you already know, a secret which if you really allowed yourself to realise would absolutely change your life!

This is the secret:
YOU CAN HAVE WHAT YOU TRULLY WANT YOU JUST MAY NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT IS STOPPING OR BLOCKING YOU AND LEARN HOW TO RECEIVE!

Does this sound simple? Well it is and it isn’t. It is simple because there is a way to have your true love or the work of your dreams but you may have to do some work on yourself and take responsibility for how you are currently sabotaging yourself and that can take some work to become really conscious of your feelings and thought patterns.

Ultimately this is about moving out of being a victim in whatever way you might be doing this (it can be subtle or blatent) and taking your authority and power and believing in yourself. The universe is totally abundant and limitless and the possibilities are endless but it can be hard to give up a feeling of wanting to be rescued in some way and hard to be really honest about what you really truly want and start to go for it. This is because you can judge what you really want and in this way push it down or out. What you need to do is ask yourself “am I willing to give up my judgements (of not deserving or worrying what others will think) and start to live the life I genuinely want”. If you are willing then you can begin to take the following steps.

It can take as long as you want or as short a time as you want but when you are truly ready to allow your dreams in then your energy magically opens up and you are able to allow in that new partner or job.

How can you learn to open up and allow this love and abundance into your life?

1 Firstly think about what you really want, deep inside you. Don’t focus on a huge list really try to connect with the simple truth of what you really want. Imagine this wish in as much detail as you can coming true and feel it entering your heart. Hold this in your heart and breathe in and out imagining that you know have this wish. If you feel any resistance then keep breathing and imagine releasing the resistance.

2 Once you have your desire (eg meeting your true love, finding your soul’s purpose) then breathe into this and ask yourself “Am I truly committed to receiving this?” Notice what comes up and keep breathing. Ask yourself “What are the doubts?”

3 Keep connecting to this wish then ask yourself “If I receive this dream what would be my fear about receiving it?” Sometimes we can have an investment in keeping life the same way, perhaps we are playing a role in our family or we feel we would not be loved as much or we could make others jealous. Whatever the investment it is important to find out what is our inner “deal” and why are we not allowing ourselves to receive our greatest wish. Are you putting it off till a later date for some reason? Why is that?

4 Ask yourself if you are attached to being unhappy or single in any way? Some people want a relationship but they are afraid of losing their freedom, in this case why not bring in a relationship which respects your freedom.

5 Once you have found the reason that is holding you back ask yourself if you are willing or ready to release this. Often blocks have served a purpose and been used to protect us in the past but perhaps you are able to protect yourself anyway and you do not need the block to do this. Can you imagine being freed of this block. Try out “I now release this block to my highest good” and see how you feel. What you may need to do is to take the next level of responsibility and form your wish adding in your needs. For example if deep down you are afraid of losing your freedom and that is why you are not married then you need to take the next step in forming your sense of yourself. You need to decide that you will have marriage and freedom and know that you will be able to honour both in yourself then you will be able to hold this with your husband or wife.

6 Now affirm your wish and see how that feels.
For example try saying and breathing in “I am open to pure abundant, gorgeous love” or “I am open to a committed relationship” or “I am living my soul’s purpose”. Choose a phrase or make one up that suits you breathe it in and see how it feels.

7 The more you can truly connect with being able to imagine deeply having what you want the more likely it is that you will be able to bring it in. All you need to do is feel the feelings and the resistance that comes up and allow it to transform while committing to the truth of your dream.

8 The only difference between those who got what they want and those who didn’t or don’t is that those who got what they wanted never gave up. I would like to encourage you to never give up and to realise you deserve everything you truly want you just may need to clear your blocks to it.

Once you have cleared and felt the blocks you will see how things turn up in your life. Keep imagining exactly what you want and feel and see it coming in

Love and blessings Cate Mackenzie www.catemackenzie.com

Visioning your work

2009-04-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Your Sacred Heart, Your Sacred Vision

I thought I would write to you today of visioning your dreams. You may be doing this regularly or it may have been some time since you have done this but it can be very helpful to look at where you are at and whether your life and your visions are matching what you want.

My experience of visioning has been very strong though sometimes I have had doubts because it can take time but I have found that if I don’t give up then many of them come true.

Process of visioning

Start to think or feel what you would really like your life to be or feel like. Pick an aspect of your life and work with this.

So for example work how would you like your working life to look like or feel like? What would be the best picture or feeling you could have of your working life? If you had no fear what would it be like?

Eight years ago I wrote a vision of how I wanted my life to be and I shared this vision with two other people. At the time my vision was to be an International Workshop Leader and Life Coach with my heart images around the world, books on the heart and TV shows on love and the heart. I wanted a way to connect with my purpose and take this out to the world. For me my purpose was about encouraging people to connect with love and a universal sense of love and connection where we are all linked. I wanted my hearts and my workshops to help people and remind them that it is safe to be who they are and that they can be vulnerable. What I wanted to feel was that I was connected to love, to my purpose, to who I am and all I can possibly be and am sharing this love and sense of purpose with others to help them to dare to see who they really are.

It is important to focus on what the feelings are around your vision, how do you want to feel? What do you want to give the world or others and what do you want others to feel from what you give? The feeling of the vision is the most important part. If you focus on holding the feeling that you want that is the key.

Now this year I am working in Kuwait, Greece, Spain, France, all around the UK and have been invited to work also in the US. My hearts are going as posters into IKEA from this October which will be worldwide. I have had my own radio show and have been on little bits of TV so although sometimes I have felt frustrated and as if my dreams may not happen I can see that they are happening and they are probably happening in the right time and the right way for me to feel I am able to do them. For I am learning so much as I go along and perhaps if certain dreams had happened too quickly then it might not have felt right for me or that I was confident enough to do them.

Unblocking

But there can be great resistance to ones own dreams for different reasons. For me, for example, I have written a lot which is in my computor but for some reason I have not managed to finish some of it in order to show someone and edit it. But after my Vipassana I have realised that I need to treat my writing as a meditation and take myself to a café or my office and sit and write consistently till I have written what I want- which at the moment is to finish and complete chapter one and the synopsis of my chapters in order that I can show someone. I love writing and I love being immersed in the process of it. For me it is a very intimate relationship and way of being with yourself and I am happy that I am committing to it at the moment.

I had a chat with my supervisor yesterday about why I might be so blocked and I discovered that I was putting pressure on myself to achieve before allowing something to emerge, I was also judging myself and the writing before allowing it to flourish. Somehow giving myself a retreat has given me the detachment and the space to try again and just allow and see what can happen.

Charity Work

If you are really suffering with fear and a lack of self belief then sometimes it can really help to connect with others and give back in some way. I know for me that my community work makes a big difference to my life and how I feel about life. If I work with others and give something back (hopefully from a good place, a place of joy to do so and not a begrudging place) then I also feel so much better. So one way of shifting and allaying fear can be to find a charity or a concern that you believe in and start to give to them through time, money or service. Find a charity or a concern which is close to your heart and see what you can do for them. It is amazing what doing this can do.

Being Whole in yourself and being Whole in the World

2009-03-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

I feel that loving yourself or accepting yourself has a huge impact on the world around you and in turn in the larger world. If I feel accepting and loving to myself I am much more likely to be able to be compassionate towards others in the world. When I feel loving and calm towards myself the reality is that I feel more peaceful and when I am on public transport I have more room in myself to be peaceful towards others. When I am angry and distressed I can also feel angry and distressed with the person who bumps into me or rushes past me but when I am loving and peaceful I have room enough to be able to think that they may be in a hurry to get somewhere or that I may not know what is happening for them that day. When I am loving and peaceful I do not need to judge myself or others.

When I don't judge myself or others then in one sense I am not split as a person. In a sense I am whole, I am one person. I am not a person thinking that I would be better if this or that was different. If I am at peace with myself then I take that sense of peace into the world and my peace can then affect anyone I am in contact with. If I am peaceful then I can be considerate towards others, I can be productive and I can be a giver. This does not mean that I do not have different feelings, of course I do, but it may mean that I have a core of inner peace that I can draw on. And this means that if you think that everything is made of energy then the energy that I take into the world is one of peace.

But how to come into this place of peace? For me this is about slowing down and creating a simple life. I use the mantra "My life is simple" and I let this simplicity flow into my life. I also meditate and go to a spa to help me slow down. Today I looked after my seven month old neice and it was such a beautiful experience of total love, commitment and calm. She is pure love and pure open heartedness and just to be near her is to be brought straight into love and into being totally present. There is an African theory that if a childless woman would like to be pregnant then she needs to spend some time holding a baby. I can really understand this theory because when you hold a baby there is something very magical that seems to happen which brings you into the presence of love and being and relaxation. I imagine that this is because a baby can only "BE", there is no job for the baby to do except be, play, eat, grow and be loved. And yet the baby is doing so much at the same time, at the same time the baby is learning and growing and stretching and becoming.

I feel that when one is more peaceful actually there is more room for a person to grow. It sounds bizarre in a way but when I am peaceful then there is room for new ideas and new expansion. I can get way too busy with ideas and meetings but when I actually slow down then I often achieve more.

In this way I feel that when one becomes more whole and more loving then there is more room to open up to other ideas and perhaps ideas about what we can do for others.

Of course loving yourself, being peaceful with yourself, giving to others and thinking warmly of yourself and others are big areas of discussion. The key is love, the key is to start to think lovingly of yourself. I believe that someone is beautiful when they are centred in themselves. They are centred in themselves when they feel peaceful, they feel peaceful when they do things that help them feel good.

Perhaps this is all about thinking about what makes you slow down, feel good, feel peaceful and feel loving. I believe that coming into this place brings you into a potential place for being whole in yourself and this whole self you can bring into the world.

The Heart of Power

2009-03-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

The Heart of Power

How do you want to be in your life? If you could go beyond your limitations and fear what would you be doing? What would you look like and how would you want to be? The reality is that you are already perfect just as you are, you are already as beautiful as you should be and that everything you need and want is right here and right now, The key is to realising this and to being here in the moment which as you know brings you into eternity and your power. Purely and simply when you fully enter the now, this moment and your being and presence you are the beautiful one and you already are who you are meant to be. Once you can release any judgements of yourself about who you are or what you should do or be doing you will see what I mean. The seeds of you are always with you and have always been with you. Your purpose is written in your heart. In order to allow this all to flourish you need to go within and be with you, honour who you are beyond all doubt and know that you are the one. You are the one and you are the beloved. Also know that others are also the one and also the beloved for we are all one and we are all the beloved. In this sense you are perfect right now and if you let go and be here now you will be able to allow such incredible flourishing and this you can allow your power. Being powerful is being in a place of allowing your true nature to flourish and expand. Being in your power allows for a range of emotions and feelings. It means that you nuture yourself daily. It means that you give for the joy of giving and receive for the joy of receiving and you can allow yourself to be strong and assertive, vulnerable and soft or a whole range of emotions. Being powerful has flexibility, strength, maturity and truth. It can move like the wind and be as humble as a mouse. When you know you are THE ONE, when you know that you are love then you can be ONE with love and love others and the world with freedom.

Picture taken after the interview with Peter York

2009-03-01T13:35:00.001-08:00

Love coach interview with Cate Mackenzie

2009-03-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Compassion

2009-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

Today I wanted to write to you about Compassion. Compassion is such an important part of loving. I imagine that it means with passion. And of course when one has compassion one feels love or passion again for someone. But if I judge someone or see them as different or wrong I am suddenly separated from them and the oneness of life and I feel cut off and can feel alone and also judging of myself. But when I can love someone as they are and see that they may need to behave as they are behaving for reasons I may not know or not understand then I can also love myself and my ways of being and my quirky ways. When I judge I also judge myself-it is always two way. Discernment is also important, if I know that someone has difficulty doing something then there is no point expecting or wanting them to do that. But I can still have compassion for them and still love them however or whatever they are.

I feel that I learned compassion from my darling Mum who, as anyone who knows her will tell you, is the epitome of egoless compassion. When I grew up she volunteered tirelessly for Amnesty International, writing letters and fundraising. We had a big house and she welcomed all kinds of people who needed help a refuge and often a bed. We were brought up as Catholics but she got my sisters and me to deliver the newsletters for the local Anglican Church. We were a little confused as to why we were doing this at the time but now I can see that she was teaching us that we are all connected, we are all one, one heart, one love (in the words of Bob Marley) and I thank her deeply for that. As teenagers she drove a bus for the homeless and we helped give out food and soup. Like I said sometimes I did not understand why we were welcoming so many different people into our lives but now I have work that takes me to meet so many people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. And I love it, and love the diversity and I do feel it was growing up like this that has helped me to be open to different individuals. I love being in a mixed society and would not want it any other way. Of course I can have judgements and I can be rigid but when I work with my groups my judgements are melted away for when you come to know someone in a connected way then all there is your humanity and their humanity.

A beautiful group I have worked with for many years is my dance group at the Bromley By Bow Centre in East London www.bbbc.org.uk
In this group I have young and old, disabled and non disabled, black and white, Indian and Bangladeshi, African and Jamaican, working class and middle class, men and women, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian, workers and volunteers and each week we dance share the love and pray that others in the world may be looked after in their hour of need and feel the love they need. In this group we have difference and yet we find also our commonality and our connection and oneness. It feels like it is a great model of the possibility of peace in the world. We also have a beautiful cafe at Bromley By Bow which is open 9am to 2.30pm Monday to Friday so if you want to come and visit a wonderful arts community centre please do.

Wishing you love and joy in your heart and courage to be you

Letting go of the Form of Love

2009-02-24T07:19:00.000-08:00

The Formlessness of love

I wanted to write to you today about letting go of the ideas of love. I wanted to write about the idea of welcoming love in but focussing of welcoming the feeling in rather than specifying exactly a list of what love should look like.

What I mean by this is that I have people on my workshops sometimes who would like to meet Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie as a partner. Apart from the fact that they are not free to be anyone else’s partner, the idea of being so specific about who the love partner should be automatically sets up a block to love. For what a person has done is define love as Brad Pitt. Love is so much bigger and wider than that. People do it with other things and other people too when they decide that an unavailable person is the only possible love partner for them or a particular job that has not taken them on is also the only job for them in the world.

If for a moment you could see the bigger picture you might see that love or God has so much more to offer you than you could possibly imagine and to limit it by putting so many blocks on it is to reject love.

The key is to learn how to receive love and be open to unconditional love. When people say love happens when you let go what I feel is really meant is that love happens when you stop judging and declaring what love should look like. If you focus instead on learning how to give and receive unconditional love and what you actually want to feel in your love relationship or job or family or wherever you want to bring love in.

Allow yourself to contemplate the quality of what you want to feel. Would you like to feel an authentic soul connection, with faithfulness and commitment, humour, delight and service in a loving partnership? Think about what you might really like as a true desire in love and in life and focus on the feeling-that is the key.

I wanted some specific help with my web site and my work a while ago and when thinking about it I knew that I wanted someone who would work with me and my ideas and help me to build a web site where I could be at their side and part of the decision making process. I also wanted help on other areas of my work and I prayed for these but in a way that was person centred and constructive for me. And amazingly 4 different people have come into my life to help and support me in the way I wanted and needed.

The key was not just the wish but the quality of the feeling around the wish. You may want a kind soulmate but how do you want to feel around them?

If you start to become open to love, to the expansion and light of love, to beauty to kindness and to compassion then you will also go on a journey where you come across and find out what is blocking you. This is so good because as you find out what blocks you, you can also start to clear it and keep opening more and more to love. As you feel the pain and the heart ache it can actually start to melt and to clear. If you suppress it and avoid it it stays stuck. It is the way it is.

The beauty of this journey to opening to love and unconditional love is that you learn to love and you learn to love yourself. As you learn to love yourself you become love and you become the ONE in your life and you become whole and complete as you become whole and complete the ONE whoever they are can subtly and oh so beautifully come into your life (like attracts like) and you may not even notice as they may be no drama and they may have been there all along all the time but you only just noticed them as you came into love.

Thank you for the wonderful workshop. I have no words to describe how I felt, it was wonderful, inspiring, I felt bathed into the ocean of love. Your loving words dived straight into my heart, melting it away. It was indeed one of the happiest days in my life: for a long time I had wanted to feel much much love like I had never felt before and you made that happen, I put the wish out to the universe and you turned up! that must confirm to you that you deserve the title of Love Goddess.
Everybody's heart was so open and pouring out its beautiful beams onto everybody else. I used to think that I was the only one to need love so much, well I am glad to have realised that the whole humanity probably does, some are just more aware than others.
It was lovely to meet you, I am so grateful that I did, and you will see me again, that's for sure. Thanks for being a love beam in this world, you are very special and very blessed. Keep doing the wonderful precious work that you do, you are contributing enormously to making this world a much more 'awaken' and loving place and I want to thank you for that. Claudia Carlet after the workshop at The London College of Spirituality

Living from the Heart

2009-02-17T06:28:00.000-08:00

For me Living from the Heart is about doing what I love and one of the things I love is running my community arts workshops. One of these groups is a homeless and mental health group I run at www.baronscourtproject.org.
I teach drama, dance and coach people there regularly and have being doing so for the last 5 years. I have a few people who have regularly come for the whole time I have been there and I really value their commitment to coming and to trying new things out. Sometimes I have wondered whether I can make a real difference to people when the goals might not be about getting a job but might be more about feeling steady in your life or doing a creative project or even having a weekend away (which can be a very brave thing to do for some) or learning how to speak up for yourself. But I have learned so much from this lovely group of people that I can make a difference and I have learned about the importance of love, commitment and consistency. It has felt, to me, that if people have a safe place to go or be when they feel vulnerable then they can have an opportunity to get some steadiness and from this place they can grow their wings however small or big. And it does not matter how big the wings are. What matters is that people are loved and accepted and have a safe place where they can feel this.

I feel that we all need a safe place to go and that safe place is ultimately coming inside ourselves and into relationship with ourselves. So what is it that helps you feel safe enough to come inside yourself?

I know for me that my workshops and connections with others are very important, my community arts grounds me and takes me straight into a feeling of soul love but I also need Turkish baths, I need to melt in the heat of a sauna and really let go, I need to dance and feel the flow of the divine and I need to see the sea and my beloved Welsh Mountains in South Wales where I spent my childhood holidays with my Welsh family. For me the key is to know what grounds you and keeps you safe and connected, to make sure you do this regularly and then from here to allow your dreams to flourish.

The Barons Court Project is one of these safe havens for people. It is a lovely house in West Kensington and has the feeling of coming into a home. People can come have a delicious meal, sit in the garden, shower, wash their clothes, get medical advice and attention, learn computors, watch television, talk to other people and the fantastic staff.

Email me if you have any questions.

Wishing you love in your hearts, communion with your dreams, ability to share your gifts and opportunities to share who you are

How to Open Your Heart

2009-02-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Gladys Knight, of Gladys Knight and the Pips, put it so beautifully when she said "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me". For the reality is that YOU are the best thing that has ever happened to you. You are the one who can heal your heart and open your heart and allow new experiences into your life. No one else can open your heart for you and if you do not wish to open your heart then it will remain firmly shut. This does not mean, of course, that it is not extremely helpful to have friends, allies and assistants to help with opening your heart it just means that ultimately it is your choice and your decision as to whether you open it or not.

Many people have suffered with different issues in their lives and have closed their hearts down (perhaps without even realising it) with very good reason. Somewhere along the line a decision was made, maybe unconsciously, to close down the centre of emotions and never allow the person to be hurt again. The reality is that a closed heart is a heart in pain, it is actually no protection at all. It may be in trauma, sadness or shock but once you have closed it off it can be difficult to let people in, to receive from others and to be aware of your deep truth, desire and passion. A closed heart is also closed to the person who's heart it is and that is no use at all. What is more desirable is to have a sense of possibiliy of having an open heart and access to your heart's feelings and sensations but with the choice of boundaries.

This is really about becoming more of an adult, being able to be open with awareness and sensibility of where and how to be open, what is safe what is appropriate and picking and choosing from this place.

But let's say that your heart is closed in anger, protection, heart break or fear. Where would you begin to heal your heart or even start to open your heart?

The starting point is always with what you love. What you love will help you soften and open almost immediately and if you do more of what you love more often it will help to soften even more. So for me if I am stressed if I take myself to the Turkish baths and have a steam and sauna I find myself restored back to love and softness. Equally if I am near a Waterstones bookshop I can take myself to the New Age section and I am immediately calmed by the effect of looking at the books and the titles (and perhaps reading a few wisdoms). Also when I run workshops in community settings I am always given a big "Hello" and after we have danced together I feel loved, grounded, centred and connected to love and life. For my work with others I am deeply grateful.

Each person will have different ways that will help them come into a softer more loving place, for one it may be meditation another walking, for another it may be being with animals. What is important is what is the key for you? What helps you come back or return to a state of love.

Once you can recognise what are your special keys and what helps you centre in love then you can always come back into love and opening your heart, no matter how lost or far away you may feel. Find your keys and you can come back home.

Aligning with Love

2009-02-03T08:26:00.001-08:00

Also I have been thinking a lot about the concept of aligning with love and what that means. For me when I am aligned with love I feel happy and in the flow with life, I have intuitions and I follow them with ease, things seem to come towards me and are offered to me and even when things do not come my way I can find it easier to have perspective and to be soft and allowing of what happens knowing that what is for me. I realise recently that I am completely passionate about putting on my Heart workshops. Somehow I have no doubt that I should be doing these workshops and I follow my passion to do them. And, of course, as I do them I grow and mature and I hope I help others to do the same. For me, when we are aligned with love we are connected with our truth and we know how to follow it. It make take some time and some practice (and some great people to bounce ideas and thoughts off) but as you follow your truth and your heart you will be lead on a wonderful path of love and abundance.

Some people come to me and say that they do not know their truth or their next step in life and what can they do to find it. I feel that your truth and your knowing is with you all the time you just may need to find ways to soften and listen to your heart. This is often about slowing down and taking time to go within. For me I love to sit in a cafe and write my thoughts, or go to the Sauna and Steam and thoroughly and totally melt and relax. Whatever helps you relax and soften and go within is what also what will help you listen to your heart and help to heal your heart. If your heart is very closed you may need to do a few things to help it soften and melt and you may need to have someone who can help ask you the questions about what you truly deeply want. You can also do this for yourself and ask yourself what you really want. Once you get there to a place of softness and love, in this place you can begin to trust and to know life is good and that you are beautiful within and without.

If you would like assistance with coming into this state of love why not come on a workshop and see if it can help.

Also I love telling manifestation stories. I have a wish and a dream to put hearts into the world so that they can put smiles on people's faces and spread the idea that it is safe to open your heart and love others. I have exhibited in many places and have recently had greetings cards made (if you are interested in some email me) for friends and shops who would like them (like Alchemy) and a big organisation has asked me today for two images to make into posters which will go all around the country. How excited am I! So keep making your wishes and prayers! If you ask you may be answered!

Happy St Valentines

2009-01-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hello one and all,

I am writing to say Happy St Valentines and to encourage you to tell those you love that you love them and also to think of sharing loving deeds and thoughts with others. I really feel that Valentines can be a reminder not just of romantic love but of love of others and that we are all connected all the time.

In my family Valentine’s day has not just been for romance and has always been a time to tell each other how much we love each other and we have sent each other cards. I have received cards each year from my Great Aunty Edna, my Dad, my Aunt Jose, Uncle Dick , my Mum and sisters and there has been a lovely warm sense of being cared for. So as I have grown up I have often sent many cards to my nearest and dearest and now I practice telling those I love that I love them. So even if you do not have a romantic partner (or even if you do) why not tell those you love that you love them and make this Valentine’s one to remember. Love is for everyone and it is great to remember more people over this period. There may be many people you can make a big difference to if you tell them how much you care for them.
Or why not tell someone what you appreciate about them and how they make your life easier or better in some way. It can be easy to assume that people realise that they are important but it can make such a big difference to tell them and tell them specifically in what ways they are important!
So I too want to say thank you to all you who help and support me, who read this newsletter, who come to my events and who help me in my life especially my family and friends and people I work with. I really appreciate your love and care and your thoughts. Love and blessings to you.

Also are you still making your prayers and wishes? This is a lovely time at the beginning of the year to take some time to reflect on how you want your life to be. Imagine a lovely picture of you feeling completely happy and notice what is in the picture and how you feel. If you can allow yourself to imagine as much as you can like your dream home, or perfect job or divine family life. Even if at this point you can’t quite see how it could happen just see if you can dare to imagine a wonderful picture for your life. Find somewhere like a lovely tree or a quiet café or somewhere you feel really comfortable and write your wishes down. Take some time to think it through and write something lovely for yourself.

I’ll give you an example of how magical things can be. A couple of years ago I wanted to do some comedy and when I thought about it I realised that what I really wanted was to have a part in a comedy series on TV. So I said a prayer that I may do some comedy on TV. Shortly afterwards I was invited to a party at Chinawhite's and I met a Casting Director. I told her I was a Life Coach and Workshop Leader and we swapped cards. About six weeks later she rang me and asked me if I wanted to be in a comedy called Sensitive Skin with Joanna Lumley (a comedy on BBC2) because Joanna was going on a workshop and she thought I would suit the part. I had some lines to say and I was given my own trailor to sit in with three others and I felt that I had totally arrived! I was so excited and I realised that the universe works in such mysterious ways and given me more than I could have imagined. So I do believe our prayers are answered and in so much better way! I am now imagining a house in Chelsea of course! Who knows how these things come about? I feel my job is to stay open to the beautiful process and flow of life and say yes to my wishes coming true!

I wish you love and I wish your loved ones love

Cate

Cate in Kuwait

2009-01-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

Hello I am writing to say that I am currently in Kuwait running an Open Your Heart workshop and having a wonderful time. I have fallen in love with Kuwait and the Kuwaiti women I am working with and feel such a love for the Arabic values and family life. It really feels as if the West and the East could learn so much from each other and maybe they will and maybe they are and I certainly am. In fact I feel at peace being here with these warm and loving people. Love is so good for the soul.

love Cate

Opening Your Heart and learning to risk

2008-12-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hello my name is Cate Mackenzie and I am a life coach and I help people to open their hearts. This can mean a lot of different things to many people so I thought I would write about what it means to me.

My experience has told me that many people have closed down their hearts in order to protect themselves or keep themselves “safe” in some way. They have suffered from loss, disappointment or perhaps a betrayal and in order to survive these experiences they have shut their hearts down. With this retraction of their heart also comes a fear of life and of living their dreams. And after a certain time some people have no idea how they would begin to open their heart and do not even know what their dreams or wishes are. It can become so bad for some that they feel totally at a loss and feel that they are a victim to life. If, in this situation, someone would then like to attract a partner into their lives this can be potentially difficult. For in order to attract a relationship, that you would truly want, you need to have a relationship with yourself. This means connecting with yourself and your heart and beginning to understand who you are and what you want.

Sometimes I may have someone come on a workshop who has come because they want to meet a partner but while on the workshop they discover the their deep desire to have their own art studio or go horse riding. The revelations can be helpful inspiring and empowering. Someone may discover that they cannot say “No” clearly and simply and that though they may have wanted a partner they were never going let one in because they could not trust anyone (including themselves) to stand up and look after themselves. Once they can say “No”, however, it does begin a new journey and they can hope that they can emotionally grow in trust and beginning to allow someone into their lives.

The workshops are all about realising that anything is possible, connecting to your deep truth, strengthening your boundaries so that you feel safe enough to be open to receiving love and taking that next step. In reality it is a very simple workshop full of creativity and play but what it does is help you reconnect to your “feelgood” place and put your vibration back on track. In short in helps you get back into your flow or feeling your “mojo”. And of course when you are feeling good you know deep inside that anything at all is possible. Not only this when you are feeling good you have often “let go” of expectations and the judgements you had around yourself and life and will allow yourself to go places, meet people or do things that you would not necessarily have done before. Like a child you are more heart-centred and in this way the partner that you might meet or the adventure you might could be a more heart centred one. Many people who met their partners soon after the workshop told me that they were not the kind of partner they would normally go for but now having gone for them they would not go back. They were relating from their heart and from an inner relationship with themselves and this reflected back to them the kind of partner they were meeting.

So really my workshops are a place to create a relationship with yourself and from this place to open up to all the possibilities of who you are. Personally I find the journey endlessly interesting. What I find helps me is to regularly slow down and connect with myself which I am doing right now and then I can connect with another layer and another part of this fascinating journey of life and find what I want to do next. At this moment it is to write this blog and to really express what I am doing with my work.

Some people have wanted to say that I am helping people to find a partner and yes sometimes some people do find partners but what I really feel I am doing is to help people find themselves and heal their hearts. Once someone has found themselves and knows more about who they are and what they want then they are already beginning to live a more exciting life.

Also for me if I am loving life and what I am doing in life then I am also much more likely to love others. Am I surrounded by love? Yes I would say so. My work in different community centres is incredible and it feels golden to my soul to do that work. I love my parents and my step Mum dearly and all my sisters (I have five) and I have an amazing extended family. Did I always feel like this? No, because my heart was half closed because of all the grief, disappointment and betrayal I felt I had received but once I started to be creative and live the life that I wanted to live (plus a lot of therapy) I felt that I could start to open my heart and live a full life. Also my work in community arts also really changed my life and opened me up too.

The funny thing for me is that I thought I wanted certain things for my life, but what I have ended up with is a varied and extraordinary career which has lead me to do all kinds of things I would have actually wished for. I now teach and coach internationally and I have amazing friendships with my friends and my family. I still have wishes and dreams and I allow myself to work out how to make them come true. Currently I am writing a book on opening the heart to love. And I am daring to write and show up at the page and see what happens.

What I hope to do is help others with is this sense of who they are with what gifts they have been born with an with the encouragement to take a risk. I was speaking to my cousin who is a successful business owner and I asked him what gave him the confidence to do what he does and he told me that he felt that his confidence grows as his business grows and the real gift that he has is to keep taking risks. He feels that that is the main difference for him. So I hope to keep taking risks myself, to encourage others to take risks and to become a channel for love.