Knowing something is good for you is not always enough to form a habit. However, through experience and exploration, you can get a deeper understanding of the physiological and emotional benefits and begin to integrate that knowledge into your body. 

Stress is a natural state we are designed to move through although our capacity to ride the waves of life can fluctuate. With modern life a mishmash of emotions and distractions it’s easy to detach from how we are feeling. Learning how to lower your cortisol levels and improve your mood is how you can turn a healthy habit into a mindful lifestyle.

I’m not one for New Year's Resolutions, instead, I tune into how I want to feel and the person I want to be, and I use those intentions as stepping stones to guide me towards my aspirations and goals. These are the two most important things to focus on if you want to stick to new habits, achieve your goals, and create the change you wish to see in your life…

Your health is your most important priority. Your health is the foundation of your life and tending to it daily is the key to living your best and most fulfilling life. You are the most important project you will ever work on. Today I share a concept to inspire ONE small change that will have a ripple effect on your life…

Where you place your awareness is where you place your energy. If you are in pain where are you placing your attention? On your pain.

When you focus on the pain you are feeling, the feeling of pain gets amplified.

This can be exhausting and suddenly your pain is not only physical, it’s emotional too.

Journaling for me is a release; my thoughts become words on a page that are no longer swirling around in my head. Our thoughts cross the bridge into our bodies, reminding us that body-mind is one and the same. If you can learn to change your thoughts you can change how we are feeling, but first, you need to recognise how your thoughts are impacting your well-being.

Making time for yourself isn't easy, even though you know you need to. Let’s be honest, knowing what you need and when you need it can be a challenge. It’s easy to keep pushing on when things need to get done and get swept up in the fear of not having enough time. With all that you are doing, where are you giving yourself space to be restored, feel energised, uplifted and reconnected?

It’s the Autumn Equinox, (in the Northern Hemisphere) the time of year when we sense the shift in the seasons, our moods and our lifestyles… It’s when plants and trees are slowing down as sunlight decreases to get ready for the colder season ahead. We too are being called to slow down and turn inward but how we choose to do that nowadays is somewhat confusing in today’s hectic modern world.

September is when I start to reflect on what I wanted from and for myself this year, it's a time when I renew my intentions and have a deep desire to make these next few weeks and months really count! If you feel the same it’s easy to see how easily you can get caught up in the hustling energy and become impatient. It’s when we allow ourselves to get swept up in the doing that we lose a sense of why we’re doing it in the first place.

It’s possibly the thing I love most about nature; the visual reminders that things change and the realisation that nothing natural is meant to stay the same… I often wonder when we let go of the idea that we get to change and be seasonal too?

Self-confidence is an emotion that influences you on all levels because your emotions are a bridge between what you think in your head and how you physically feel in your body. It’s no wonder then that confidence is so interwoven with your wellbeing. Confidence isn’t skin-deep, it’s soul-deep and cultivating more of it is a practice of self-love.

Grounding has become a daily practice and one of the most important things I do to support myself when feeling flustered, anxious or overwhelmed, whether I am worried about an experience or an event in the future it is a simple practice self-care that works by bringing me back into the present and helping to reconnect to my body.

How to find focus and consistency with your health and wellness intentions.
Do you have the best intentions only to lose interest within the first few days or weeks of starting something new? Are you initially enthusiastic about making changes to your lifestyle yet life seems to get in the way, and nothing seems to stick? Have you ever found something you loved yet fallen out of practice? Have you lost your rhythm, or perhaps, never really found it? When it comes to your health and wellbeing we all have the best intentions but how can we keep ourselves focused and consistent?

Your mind is highly intelligent and incredibly creative. You experience over 6,000 thoughts throughout the day paying attention to only a few which are often either the most unhelpful ones or the all-singing, all-dancing ones. We humans like to play to extremes. Notice I said, ‘experience’…
It’s important to consider a mental thought as something you experience, observing your thoughts and being witness to them rather than allowing your negative thinking to run the show!

Let me tell you a story… About 5 years ago I started practising mindfulness, in a small way every day because I needed something to focus my mind on and help cultivate more positive thoughts. My internal chatter had become pretty challenging and it was hard to silence the negative self-talk especially at night, I was unhappy but didn’t think I had any justification for feeling the way I did.

Big Love is about creating a positive change in how people think, speak and feel about mental health, their own and other people's well-being. The word Movement relates not only to the movement of the physical body but within society; a shift in perspective, a change in how we see things as a collective and a way to challenge the stigma around mental health. This is a mission and a life’s work and it started as a page in a journal…

‘I want to build a community where I can create a positive change for people’s wellbeing.’

Mindfulness supports you by helping you cope better with stress by drawing you back into the present, slowing things down and quietening the internal worry; the mind-chatter.

When you learn to slow things down, even for a short while, you’ll find you have more focus, what you’re focusing on will flow better and everything you do will get a little kickstart!

The language we use and how we use it has a huge impact on our mental health. Whether you look at how you talk to yourself; the thoughts you have and the words you use when thinking them, or whether you reflect on how you speak to the people around you, you'll start to notice those words create an emotional response in them and in you, and often a physical one too.

You’re mental,

I’m mental

We’re all mental because we all have MENTAL health

The purpose of these prompts is to allow you the headspace to process what you’ve done, achieved, experienced and felt over the last 5-7 days. They invite self-inquiry so a chance to tune in to how you are feeling on all levels; physically, emotionally, mentally. Every week will likely to spark different answers and with them comes a fresh perspective!

Feeling calm can be fleeting, I am a firm believer that although it may feel counterproductive to stop what you’re doing, pausing to rebalance is the very best thing we can do when we find ourselves easily distracted, feeling overwhelmed or have lost focus on what we are doing in the first place.

Today I’ve pulled together three of the simplest and self-empowering ways I know to be effective in helping you find a sense of calm and re-connect you to yourself in the here and now.

Here’s some food for thought; what does connection mean to you?

I’ll lead with a quote from the inspirational Brené Brown who appears to have nailed the ultimate definition; “I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they can give and receive without judgement; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”