Thea Westra www.forwardstepsblog.com

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Positive Life Lessons And Self Improvement Expert

Thea Westra Quick Facts

Main Areas: Positive Life Lessons and Self Improvement
Best Sellers: http://www.forwardstepsblog.com/forward-steps-self-improvement-products
Career Focus: personal development author at Forward Steps

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=> For FREE Self Growth eBook Gift! GO TO... 179 Forward Steps eBook

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Hi! I’m Thea Westra, the author of Time For My Life: 365 Stepping Stones and creator of the 365 Forward Steps Notes.

I live in Perth, Western Australia with my husband Greg.

My age is late fifties, however I only ever publish this photo of me taken at age 49. It has now become a kind of recognizable logo, so I’ll not be changing that.

By sharing positive, thought-provoking content, my aim is to help you discover and step closer towards, what you really want.

My mission is to add wings to each of our unique life journeys.

Here’s a little about my background…

Born on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, I spent my childhood in Holland, and eventually moved to Australia, where I now live and publish lots of positive, upbeat content to empower people to do what I did…

Like most people, I lead a “typical” life that included studying hard in school, working as a teacher for 23 years, socializing with friends and dating, and buying my own house.

At the age of 41, however, I came to a stark realization that I was living a life which seemed like it had been designed FOR me and not wholly BY me. Can you relate?

Most of us have dreams in life to do great things, but those dreams get put aside as we deal with the daily chores of everyday life. I’m here to tell you that you can create the life you want—you can choose where and how to live a life that’s fulfilling to you! I know this to be true, because I did it, and you can too.

In my early 40s, I did something most people wish they could do—I quit my job, sold my home, and moved across the country on my own. The one question I wanted to answer—I needed to answer—was this: “Who am I without the house, the career, and the labels bestowed by society?”

One of the greatest realizations I learned on my personal journey is this—there are thousands of possible ways to experience our life and we really do get to pick! Was I going to just let life play out anyway it wanted to, or was I going to start making my own dreams reality?

Taking action, I decided to try out the notion of living any life I chose without the chains of a mortgage and a secure career shackling me. What I wanted for the rest of my life had to be tested.

Before You Read On… Collect Your FREE “179 Forward Steps” eBook HERE

Shortly after moving to Perth, Western Australia, I met Greg, who is now my husband. Sharing life with Greg has definitely been a real, positive change in my life. Meanwhile, I started painting, managing a gallery space, and even selling my own paintings for a good price. While I enjoyed painting, the challenge of managing 150 artists and organizing regular exhibitions at the gallery became a little less fun for me. So, I decided to set up my own solo business.

Throughout my lifetime, people would often approach me for advice when they felt a bit stuck in their lives. I had always had an interest in self-improvement information and reading “how to” books and articles related to personal transformation, in addition to participating in many years of personal growth training programs.

My knowledge and experience of helping others with their lives turned into a new career. I became a life coach and built my own business using the power of the internet to connect with many people around the world.

Proving that you’re never too old to learn something new, I started writing a blog, delivering a newsletter online, and designing websites in an effort to present ideas and inspiration to empower people.

By sharing positive, thought-provoking content, my aim is to help people like you discover and move toward what you really want, rather than feeling stuck, trapped or in a rut.

The reason I call my main website “Forward Steps” is because I believe that we can choose to make our vision tangibly real by taking consistent action and by taking incremental forward steps towards our desired direction. A favorite saying of mine is this: “Whatever you focus on WILL expand”.

In order to grow, expand and develop as people, we need to challenge ourselves, even just a little each day, and open up fresh perspectives on life. New experiences are vital to life. A shift in our habits can literally transform our lives.

I wanted to be able to find a place on the internet where I’d get daily inspiration, yet was never satisfied with what I found. So, I created my own powerful content to “power up my thinking” on a daily basis and give myself specific actions to take on days I might feel a bit directionless.

That content is something I share with you through email, online posts, articles, and books. I like to get people thinking about their life, offering them life power tips (short, simple messages with a focus point), as well as questions, affirmations, quotations, challenges and actions to take.

I realize that I don’t have “all the answers” to life and I am certainly no ‘guru’. Therefore, I’m pleased to simply share online resources where we can explore motivational messages, recommended books, movie/video suggestions, inspiring music and humorous stuff for a laugh.

Namasté,
Thea

P.S. If you have any questions or comments, just reply to any Forward Steps email you receive from me and let me know your thoughts. I read and answer all my emails personally.

Connect with me at a few of the following social profiles:

– Join me on Facebook
– Connect with me on Twitter
– Get in touch at Google+
– Check my profile in LinkedIn
– Watch my videos on YouTube
– Enjoy my images at Pinterest
– Visit my Forward Steps Blog

Other Programs & Highlights

Enjoy a great collection of positive quote images here

If you have an article you'd like to publish at my guest blog, go here

Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Thea Westra

Rightness: Long ago, a brilliant psychologist proved that if you present a rat with 3 tunnels, only one of which has some cheese in it, the rat would explore all the avenues until he finds the cheese. And, after reinforcement, he will ignore all non-cheese tunnels, and go down only the one with the payoff. Then, if you take away the cheese, he will soon learn that it’s gone, and will begin to explore all tunnels again, looking for the reward. Human beings, in stark contrast, will go up a tunnel looking for whatever 'cheese' the situation is, never get any, but they proceed to go up that same tunnel for a lifetime. And what’s driving them is reasonableness, or rightness. That is, they get to say to themselves, quite logically: 'I saw cheese go up that tunnel. It’s got to be up there. I’ll find it, goddam it, if it takes me a lifetime.' So they get to spend a lifetime without cheese, but always being able to explain (to wives, friends, acquaintances—anyone who will listen) that they’re up a very reasonable tunnel. And they find people to agree that the cheese really belongs up that tunnel. (Those people are called really close friends!) If you’re running your life up a tunnel (or a series of them) with no 'cheese' for you; you’re beginning to get what I’m driving at: that running your life being right is pointless and I don't mean that what you’re doing is wrong; I simply mean it doesn't work, and that should be the main criterion…From EST: Playing The Game The New Way written by Carl Frederick in 1972

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Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny…Mahatma Gandhi

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Life is a bunch of accidents that happen to you and somehow you survive them by taking advantage of them and then something magical happens and violá - you have the beginning of your dream. But the accidents are the result of an intention - an intention created from a dream you are passionate about. So passionate, so strong is your passion that the energy of it fuels your intention. And when it becomes so strong that not even the Universe can deny it, that's when the 'accidents' take place. The double-edged sword, the element that makes it all happen - that binds it all together - YOU HAVE TO BE OKAY IF IT DOESN'T HAPPEN!! It's the excitment of the possibility of the adventure of the nothingness. You must be willing to trade what you have, that may look great but FEELS wrong for this nothing that could be something. It's the excitement of having the courage to leave behind what you have for the possibility of what could be. You must be able to let go of what you have. You must not need it or let it define who you are. You must be okay without it AND you must be okay if the nothing turns into that - just nothing. You become okay with the decision simply because you made the decision! It's the act of leaving what isn't supporting you for the possibility of something better that makes you like yourself more for simply making this decision. WHAT'S MY DREAM?? How do you recognize your true dream from all the other wants and desires in your life? IF YOU ENJOY THE PROCESS - IT'S YOUR DREAM! If you are enduring the process, desperate for the result - it's SOMEBODY ELSE'S DREAM!!…Salma Hayek

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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us. It is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others….Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love