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Cassan Ferguson

Christmas shopping tips

Cassan Ferguson
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Christmas shopping tips

Incase you’ve missed it, or have been living under a rock – Christmas is approaching . The shops have been basically advertising since July, and little Christmas reminders are everywhere you turn online. Plus, it’s November – which means just one more month to go until Christmas!

Some of us may be wise little shoppers, and buy little gifts throughout the year and hide them on your secret gift shelf until Christmas. Whilst others like myself, may do either the sentimental personal home-made gift, or shop at the very last-minute like the rest of the world does. Making it feel like you’re competing on a survivor meets amazing race kind of show – am I right?

Well, I may have some ideas to help ensure that we don’t do the last-minute hustle, that is Christmas shopping.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TIPS

  • Know your budget.
  • Write a list of names of the people you are buying for.
  • Have some sort of vague idea as to what gift you want to buy for each person.
  • Ask yourself if the gifts you are wanting to buy are sentimental, and if it is something that the receiver will love or need.
  • Ask yourself if these gifts could be bought either online and will it deliver on time, or can these gifts be bought at the same mall – which in turn will save time.
  • Choose the perfect shopping day and time. For example I tend to find that weekdays, either first thing in the morning or in the evening just before the shops close, is always quiet!
  • Delegate with your spouse – let them shop for half of the gifts, whilst you shop for the other half.
  • Check out local markets for locally made products.
  • Look out for shops that have Christmas specials.

Happy Christmas planning and Christmas shopping, and remember it’s not so much about the gift. It’s the heart, thought and love behind the gift giving that truly matters the most.

End of year blues

Cassan Ferguson
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End of year blues

As the year winds down, some of us may find ourselves in holiday mode, whilst the rest of us feel this anxious pull to keep up with the hustle. Deadlines seem never-ending, then there’s end of year functions, birthdays, weddings, school concerts, then festive season prepping – it’s a lot to juggle, and it often seems impossible and overwhelming. Then we start to live our lives feeling constantly overwhelmed and emotionally down.

Sometimes, the reality is that we can’t just drop everything and pretend like it’s not there. We just need to have a strong game plan when tackling all the crazy that is life. Having a wise game plan will help you to feel more organized, more emotionally stable, and mentally prepared when tackling everything.

AVOID END OF YEAR BLUES

If you are wanting to thrive and not just merely survive the end year hustle, then maybe keep the following in mind :

  • Pace yourself.
  • Know your limits and boundaries.
  • Stay focused on one task at a time.
  • Write it down – use a calendar or reminds in your phone.
  • Take moments to rest, unwind and recharge.
  • Stay present, and try not to focus on your never-ending to-do list. Focus on each day, and each to-do task.
  • Use your time wisely.
  • Talk to someone when you feel anxious and overwhelmed.
  • Invest in laugh moments.
  • Know where your source of strength and joy comes from.

In-between the hustle, it is so important to be wise with your time and with your health. Your health will carry and sustain in you the long run. Make sure that you are supporting and nurturing yourself mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed and anxious, I remind myself of the following verse ; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” – Philippians 4:13. I love this verse because it reminds me to lean on God as my source of strength and rest, especially during busy, ongoing times. Lean on God, and let Him strengthen you and support you as you near the end of the year. You can do it, we are cheering you on!

Introverts VS Extroverts

Cassan Ferguson
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Introverts VS Extroverts

I think it’s really important to know and note the differences between introverts and extroverts. Reason being is because maybe we find ourselves in a relationship with someone who is the total opposite to us, whether it be at work, home, or just in general. It’s always good to stay informed, as a means of knowing how to work with others well. Often we may feel offended by the way others behave, maybe because we expect them to behave in a way that we are familiar with.

Often we may even feel disappointed or misunderstood when our significant others don’t always see eye to eye with us. I often find myself saying to my husband “In some ways we are so similar, but in other ways we are polar opposites”. At the beginning of our relationship, we used to feel misunderstood by each other because of our different behaviour and personalities. We had to fully understand who we were, and understand how different we were, from how we choose to relax, socialize, through to communicating, showing love and supporting one another. Understanding those overlooked details helped to strengthen our relationship, and it has given us greater perspective when it comes to friendships, working relations, as well as communicating with extended family members.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INTROVERTS AND EXTROVERTS

EXTROVERTS

  • Extroverts love to talk.
  • Extroverts feel energized by other people.
  • Extroverts love group activities, and working with a team.
  • Extroverts find alone time to be a bit lonely and isolated.
  • Extroverts make friends very easily, and they tend to enjoy having lots of friends.
  • Extroverts are normally seen as the life of the party, as they tend to be loud, outgoing and full of fun.

INTROVERTS

  • Introverts tend to feel drained after being around people.
  • Introverts need consistent alone time to feel more refreshed.
  • Introverts tend to feel things more intensely.
  • Introverts love to reflect, and ponder on things.
  • Introverts work better by themselves.
  • Introverts struggle with small talk, but thrive on one on one talks.
  • Introverts tend to avoid calls, or mentally prepare themselves for phone calls.
  • Introverts express themselves better in written words.
  • Introverts prefer having a handful of really close friends. They will still be friendly with others, but will only open up on a personal level with a handful of friends.

INTROVERTS VS EXTROVERTS

Introverts and extroverts often feel misunderstood by the other. Whilst extroverts may love going out and socializing more, introverts would prefer to be alone or have a quieter night in. Extroverts may assume that introverted people are a bit rude, shy, insecure or seem to  be bit boring because they’re not as outgoing. Introverts may be more private in some ways, but they can still be confident and hold their own.

If you have a working relationship or are in a relationship or friendship with someone who is the opposite to you, then try to understand them and see how you can find common ground and meet each other half way. Getting to know their personality traits and what makes them tick, will help you to understand them better, and it will improve your relationship. As you will both feel understood, respected, and supported regardless of who you are.

What’s in your hands?

Cassan Ferguson
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What’s in your hands?

Do you ever overlook or dismiss whatever is currently in your hands or in your care? Maybe you don’t think that what is in your hands isn’t really very important, or particularly significant, when in actual fact it is.

MIRACLES IN THE MUNDANE

In the bible there is moment between God and Moses, where Moses finds himself in an overwhelming and challenging season, and feels a bit helpless. God then says to Moses “What is your hands Moses?” to which he responded “a staff”. Moses was holding onto his walking staff, something he overlooked at the time, which ended up playing a rather significant role in the leading of Gods people out of Egypt. God asked him multiple times to lay his staff down in order for it to be used to perform miracles.

PURPOSE IN OUR HANDS

Imagine if we spent more time acknowledging the different elements that we carry and how significant they are. I bet we would be more intentional with how we use what is in our hands. When we live with intention, we consequently feel more motivated because we have a greater sense of purpose. If we spent more time focusing on what is in our hands we would be more content, and we would feel more present, not wanting to wish the time away or wanting something that someone else has. Imagine if we lay down whatever is in our hands as a means of serving and helping others, imagine what miracles we would see through our serving of others.

WHAT IS IN YOUR HANDS?

If you had to look at your life, and note all of the different areas, qualities, gifting’s and responsibilities, how could you be more intentional about growing those areas, until you see miracles flow from them? Start today by acknowledging all of things that you carry, your natural giftings and talents and be more intentional about using them wisely to make a more effective impact on others and on yourself.

Are your friendships toxic?

Cassan Ferguson
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Are your friendships toxic?

Without us realizing it at times, we find ourselves in unhealthy toxic friendships. Sometimes, these unhealthy friendships take us by surprise, or catch us off guard, and they often leave us feeling disappointed and hurt. Sometimes, we stay friends with toxic people because we fear their response or rejection, or we think it’s normal to have unhealthy people in our lives.

Or sometimes we expect everyone to be a perfect friend, and dismiss them if they make the slightest mistake without trying to put in a bit of work into the friendship. Healthy friendships are a constant give and take relationship, which means we need to put in a bit of work from time to time in order to see it grow from strength to strength.

A GOOD FRIEND

  • A good friend will love you at all times.
  • A good friend will encourage you from season to season.
  • A good friend will be open and honest with you.
  • A good friend will challenge you in love.
  • A good friend will respect you and your feelings.
  • A good friend will listen and have those hard conversations with you and learn to move past offense.
  • A good friend will remain loyal to you.
  • A good friend will always speak highly of you, and not gossip about you.
  • A good friend will remind and encourage you to pursue your dreams.
  • A good friend looks past insecurities, and does not compete or compare themselves with you.

AUTHENTIC FLOURISHING FRIENDSHIPS

I think it’s also very important to note that friends are people with flaws. There is no such thing as a perfect friend, but there is such a thing as an authentic friend. If friendships are constantly stealing from you, and doing more harm than good then maybe slowly transition out of those unhealthy relationships. If however you have certain friendships that are awesome, but need work from time to time then hold onto those and invest in them.

Friends are meant to grow together, that means putting in the work together. That will mean laughing together, crying together, having those tough honest conversations, then go about being intentional about working on weak areas in order to grow a solid healthy friendship.

If you had to pause and think about your current friendships, ask yourself if they are healthy and if they are growing and adding to both your lives, or are they unhealthy and do they constantly steal from you? Then thirdly, ask yourself if you are a being a good friend to others, if not then maybe it’s time to revamp that section of your life. Here’s to more happy, healthy, flourishing friendships.

Change your perspective by adjusting your focus

Cassan Ferguson
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Change your perspective by adjusting your focus

Have you ever taken a photo on your phone or on your camera and it was completely out of focus and looked a bit blurry? Then you retake the photo, by adjusting your settings or by adjusting your lens and focusing the camera lens until you get the right shot , the clear shot, the money-making shot.

Let’s be honest ‘out of focus’ shots aren’t that great, and you won’t exactly print or frame it, or use it as a profile picture for social media! Hence we make sure that all the settings on our cameras are right, with the right lighting, right angles, through to the right lenses.

This got me thinking; often we go through things in life that aren’t always that pleasant. These things often end up distorting our perceptions. We just see the mess, and automatically feel defeated and overwhelmed by it. The way we look at our situation is clouded and out of focus. We may even find ourselves just focusing on our mess, without seeking to find the good in and amongst the mess.

ADJUST YOUR FOCUS

Changing our perspective , by adjusting our focus may mean : 

BIGGER PICTURE

  • Start to look at your situation with a bigger eye’s view. Start to see the bigger picture, knowing that this moment will move on into the next one. Every season, good or bad eventually moves into the next. Instead of focusing on the problem, focus on what it is that you need to learn and overcome in this current situation. Know the vision and bigger picture for your life, and let that motivate you to keep on pressing forward.

CHOOSE JOY

  • Look for, and point out, the good in and amongst the mess. Choose joy and hope for what good is still to come. Choosing joy lifts our burdened hearts, and keeps our gaze up and forward. Joy overrides fear and it gives us that extra strength and fresh perspective to keep pushing on.

GRATITUDE

  • When we feel stuck and overwhelmed by our situations or seasons we start to focus solely on the bad. Focusing on all the bad will cause us to feel defeated. However, when we focus on the good, even if it’s something small and we acknowledge its goodness and blessing in our lives, it starts to cultivate gratitude in our hearts. Which in turn lifts our spirits, revives our hope, and leaves us feeling encouraged regardless of the season we find ourselves in.

PRAYER

  • I firmly believe that if we call out to God and ask Him to comfort us, lead us, carry us , speak to us, refresh us , restore us , love us , and heal our brokenness, that He will. He will never leave us or abandon us. In fact, he is waiting for us to call out to Him. When we call out to him, we release the need to control and we then surrender every burden over to Him. This, in turn, releases us from feeling emotionally bound and defeated. Surrendering our cares to God stirs our faith, and it encourages us to face every season courageously.

Never underestimate the power of prayer. Why not start today by calling out to God and laying your cares and burdens on Him. Let Him carry the weight of your burdens, let Him comfort and carry you through this season.

Manage your time like Beyonce

Cassan Ferguson
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Manage your time like Beyonce

Whenever I am feeling overwhelmed by deadlines, or growing to-do lists, and start to panic at the thought of not having enough time to get to it all, I always stop and read this quote:

“You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce.”

I love this quote! Reason being (a) I love Beyonce, (b) because in essence what that quote is saying is that we all have the same amount of hours in a day, but how we choose to balance it and benefit from it is another thing.

Now, we all know that Beyonce is a performer, who has to write, record vocals, then spend hours in rehearsals for tours, then go on lengthy tours, then make public appearances at events, and then be a mom and a wife, and, and, and, and, she somehow does it all! Just like many others out there, she needs to obviously manage her time well in order to get to it all, and do it all well. That comes from being more disciplined and wise when it comes to the balancing out of responsibilities and the daily to-do’s.

As the end of the year draws to a close everything for some unknown reason starts to pick up. Last minute projects pop up, endless to-do lists start to mount , and the deadlines seem almost nearly impossible! It’s either sink or swim, and I don’t know about you, but I want to swim through it all and make it out alive and in one piece.

Here are a few quick tips to help you own your time wisely :

QUICK TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS

  • Have a weekly plan of to-do’s that need to be done for the week ahead.
  • Break done your weekly to-do’s into daily to-do’s.
  • Use a calendar or  Google calendar for reminders.
  • Know dates for your deadlines, be intentional about working towards them.
  • Allocate time and have a time limit for each to-do where you can focus on completing it.
  • Spread out bigger tasks and projects into smaller daily doses, as to avoid trying to complete a massive project the day before. In that way it is not rushed, and it has been given spaced out time and attention.
  • Batch similar smaller mundane tasks together and finish them in one go.
  • Prioritize projects, tasks and to-do’s, ranging from most important – through to less important.
  • Delegate where possible.
  • Learn to say no, especially if it means taking on more that is unnecessary.
  • Block out distractions and focus when working. (No Facebook catch up’s or You-tubing,  or any social media for that matter)

Take the pressure off

Cassan Ferguson
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Take the pressure off

Has anyone ever told you ; “just take the pressure off of yourself?” and you give them ‘the eye’ and think; “um, what does that even mean?” Then you politely agree with them, and continue to over work and exhaust yourself.

If you’re like me, then you too may find it hard when it comes to drawing the line in the sand and creating healthy boundaries that help you stay sane and emotionally stable. There is a side of me that likes to do everything, help everyone, and then I find myself creating unnecessary work for myself to do. Crazy right? Yes, yes it is!

“Why do we struggle to relax, and prioritize rest? Why do we overcomplicate things? Why do we run around stressing about things that we can’t control? Why do we feel the constant need and burden to do it all and overcomplicate it when it should be simple? “

I find myself asking those questions all the time, especially when I am overcomplicating things and giving myself extra unnecessary work to do. Too be honest with you, it’s actually really exhausting, and it isn’t fair on anyone involved.

JUST TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF

Are you tired of feeling overly tired, stressed out, burnt out, and exhausted with all the craziness that you are trying so hard to juggle? I know I am!

That’s why I have become more intentional with the following, and it has taken the pressure off me immensely. I can honestly say that I am enjoying what I am doing so much more, and feel much better for it.

Why not give the following a go, and see it helps you take off any unnecessary pressure:

  • Be wise with your time.
  • Learn to say no.
  • Instill healthy boundaries.
  • Let go of the need to control everything.
  • Keep it simple, yet significant.
  • Do something fun, something refreshing.
  • Exercise more often.
  • Have moments where you can just be still in God’s presence, and let Him lovingly refresh you and give you the wisdom that you need when it comes to making wise decisions that will impact your day-to-day.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. – James 1 : 5

Life is meant to be enjoyed, not merely endured. Of course we can’t fake happiness or force happiness, but we can try our best to find a healthy and wise balance when it comes to juggling all facets of life. 

The importance of playtime for children

Cassan Ferguson
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The importance of playtime for children

As a parent and as a drama teacher, I have noticed how unscheduled play has taken a bit of a backseat. Children are expected to sit still for longer periods of time at school, and have shorter out-door playtime.

Then at home, families have very busy, and demanding schedules so parents often just let their children watch T.V. or play on iPads and the like. Now, I am by no means judging any parent, I am a parent myself and I can relate to the stress of trying to juggle work and family responsibilities.  I know first hand that it isn’t always easy.

Over the weekend we went to a kids party that was held outdoors. This venue was surrounded by trees, large stretches of grass, a water play area, and loads of jungle gyms. Our children were running around, laughing, splashing in the water, climbing on the jungle gyms and having an absolute blast. It was actually so moving to see how alive they become when they could play endlessly without being forced to sit still, or be quiet. It was pure fun, pure imaginative and engaging fun!

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYTIME

When we are mindful of letting people have moments where they can play creatively, we are actually encouraging the following :

1 . Cognitive development – Active playing allows the brain to rest, recharge, whilst at the same time developing problem solving skills, and it encourages better concentration.

2 . Social development – It encourages friendship with peers. It also encourages communication skills and team work, through to problem solving, as well as idea building with others.

3 . Physical development – Playing outdoors from running around, through to climbing, crawling, jumping during play strengthens their muscles and it keeps them fit.

4 . Creative development – Role playing allows children to imagine and create new characters along with fun fantasy worlds. Creative role-playing teaches them to emphasize with others, and it allows them to express themselves freely, which in turn encourages confidence and communication skills.

5 . Emotional development – It allows children to decompress, let frustrations out, and express themselves freely and emphasize with others via role-playing.

ENCOURAGE FREE PLAYTIME

Trust me when I say that I completely understand that sometimes we can’t always take our children outdoors. Maybe due to weather conditions, crazy work schedules or the location where you live.

However, we can create moments and space where we can encourage our children to play more creatively. This could mean taking a “less is more” approach, by having fewer toys, reading more books, painting, playing with play dough, through to dressing up in fun character costumes.

As a parent I know that we can’t do everything, but we can do something. If that means changing things up a bit by making and encouraging small changes that will have a positive impact on our little ones, then let’s do that. After all we are raising future world changers!

In his perfect timing

Cassan Ferguson
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In his perfect timing

We live in a very digital – tech driven age where everything moves at a lightening speed. We have become so accustomed to fast paced living, that it has become our norm. Therefore when life , situations, circumstances require us to wait patiently, we end up feeling frustrated, annoyed, impatient, and we start to lose hope.

I found this for myself to be true, if I had to be honest with you. Sometimes when things don’t go my way in the time frame that I would like, I start to feel impatient and frustrated. I even start to feel disappointed in God, and I start to doubt whether he even cares for me. Which in turn weighs on me and negatively affects how I go about doing things.

And just when I want to throw in the towel all together, and give up, that’s usually when God shows up and does only what he can. Which ends up being perfect, because his response and timing is always perfect. However, in those moments when we feel at the end of our tether, that’s where God swoops in and reveals to us just how amazing and just how awesome he truly is. His presence, His goodness takes our breath away, it allows us to rest in Him, and it recharges our faith in Him.

IT’S ALL IN THE WAITING

Next time you find yourself waiting, just remember:

  • In the waiting, we learn to humble ourselves before God.
  • In the waiting, we learn to surrender the need to control.
  • In the waiting, we learn to trust in God and in his perfect timing.
  • In the waiting, who we are becomes refined.
  • In the waiting, we prepare for the arrival for whatever it is we are waiting for.

HIS TIMING IS PERFECT

He has made everything beautiful in its time. – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Never underestimate or overlook what it is that God is doing behind the scenes in your season of waiting. Trust in Him and in His perfect timing and perfect will for your life.

If you would like to know more about being in a relationship with God, then may I encourage to click on the link below.

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