My QTR - My Quality Time Remaining

January 25, 2025 Melanie Hawken

This year has been the year where I heard and adopted the phrase “MY QTR” - My quality time remaining. There comes a moment in life when we realize the clock is ticking - not in a way that feels rushed or urgent, but in a way that whispers of the preciousness of the time we have remaining. It’s a sobering and clarifying truth: life is finite. And in that realization lies a profound opportunity to live with greater intention, vitality, and joy.

Your Inner Guidance System!

May 26, 2024 Melanie Hawken

When last did you spend time in the company of little children? I’m talking about little people between the ages of 1 and 2 years old. This past week, this is exactly what I did. I was invited by a friend to join her on a trip to her house in Ponta d’Ouro, Mozambique and we were joined by her daughter and her two young sons, while their husbands were away on a business trip.

People Pleaser Alert!

February 25, 2024 Melanie Hawken

Having just returned from a two-week breakaway of rest and peace, I’ve been asking myself this question, “if I could do 2023 over again, what would I change?” The question hasn’t come about in order to berate myself for what I didn’t do, but to get clear on what I might like to do in 2024 that I didn’t get to do in 2023. On my morning walk today what I realized was I actually achieved a lot more than I set out to and that came as a bit of a surprise since up until a few short years ago, I often wanted the new year to be better than the previous year until I understood something fundamentally important and it’s this: “My reality exists in my own mind and not in the world.”

The Inner GPS navigation system built into every person

January 13, 2024 Melanie Hawken

As a Transformational Life Coach, I’m in the privileged position of listening to people every day and hearing about what troubles them the most. What I’ve noticed is that when there are feelings of overwhelm and obligation, stress is the order of the day.

Wild Spaces in Africa

October 7, 2023 Melanie Hawken

As I write this, I’m sitting overlooking a river in a wild space in Africa. Each year my husband and go on an adventure to a new place and explore an area we haven’t experienced before. Deciding to take a full 23 days off mid-year has become a regular thing for us for the past few years and it’s enriched my life in too many ways to explain.

Smashing the Myth of How Life Works

September 30, 2023 Melanie Hawken

There’s a common belief that happiness is something you have to look for. I used to believe that too. Eventually after exhausting myself with my affirmations, meditations, journal writing, juicing, fasting, exercising and so on and so on…….. believing that I had to tick all the boxes that the experts told me I had to achieve or else I would be unhappy.

Expression not suppression is the path to peace

December 22, 2022 Melanie Hawken

At the time of writing this blog, I had recently experienced my 64th birthday. I say experienced because it really wasn’t a celebration. My attention and focus were on making myself available for my niece and her family to enjoy her time in South Africa while celebrating her 50th birthday and the very important task of sifting through her late mother’s belongings (my sister). My sister passed 2.5 years ago and Covid prevented her daughter from attending the memorial service or visiting to complete the difficult task of deciding what to do with her belongings. Therefore, my birthday was just another day and all my energy was around holding space for my family.

Look for a Good Feeling

November 20, 2022 Melanie Hawken

I feel so happy sharing this blog with you. For a while I have been involved with the 3 Principle community on a global scale and have been involved in getting the 3P Africa interest going. I wrote this blog post for the 3P Africa website, which will be published very soon but I couldn’t wait to share it with you. I would love to hear from you with a message of what you got from this blog. As a part-time writer, I’m still exploring my voice and wondering how things are ‘heard’ by those that read my blog post. So please let me know at sharon@sharoncastle.co.za – I truly love receiving your messages and read every one.

Making change – that most difficult yet essential thing

September 20, 2020 Melanie Hawken

It’s been a month since I had the energy or the motivation to write this blog. Normally I love writing and sharing with my audience but it’s been a time of challenges and some things just weren’t my priority.

Are you making movies?

July 11, 2020 Melanie Hawken

June was a very full and busy time in my coaching practice. Online programs, interviews and workshops, plus many hours of coaching, and one dominant theme has emerged: most people make Oscar-winning movies in their heads and then get themselves into a whole heap of trouble when they live as if these made-up movies are real!

STOP doing these 3 things if you want more peace and success

June 12, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Today I’m feeling particularly troubled about the amount of people who are feeling stressed and anxious in this current lockdown situation. In spite of all the info and positive advice out there I find most people are still allowing themselves to be exposed to the kinds of things they just don’t need to.

Experience: that most brutal of teachers

May 29, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Just over two weeks ago, my sister of 72 died suddenly and in moments my life changed. Receiving a call from my niece (my sister’s only child) who lives in Australia, early on Friday morning the 10th of April, which was also Good Friday in the Christian calendar, was the alarm bell ringing that something was wrong. She called to let me know that my sister, who lived in a Care Community about an hour from where I live, was unconscious. It was 6.30am and I was still relaxing in bed with my husband enjoying our morning coffee.

Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletters for Africa's women entrepreneurs.