2014 – It’s been a good year!

If you had to grade your year, what would it get?

I’ve been pretty pleased with 2014.

My health has been good (slight issue with plantar fasciitis, but nothing in the grand scheme of things)

My blog has grown considerably – Thank you guys – your support is amazing and I love you all.

My business turnover has doubled (not a big ask considering where it started from, but I’m still very pleased)

My partner and I have spent some great time with each other (including a fantastic meal or 5 along the way)

Our dog is getting old, but we have been lucky enough to enjoy her for another year.

I have learned new things (creating websites, seo, hypnotic language patterns, marketing strategies, working with Parkinson’s Disease and much much more)

I have overcome obstacles.

I’ve held parties.

I’ve laughed with friends.

I’ve eaten more than is good for me 😦 but really enjoyed it 🙂

I want to have a great year in 2015 too.

I want to set goals so that I have things to achieve, but I also don’t want to set too many expectations as part of the joy of living is going where the wind takes you…so here goes

1. I want to improve my fitness – maybe start pilates.

2. I want to double my turnover for the business again.

3. I want to have over 1000 followers on my blog.

4. I want to enjoy spending time with my partner, my dog and my friends.

5. I want to learn a new skill that will help someone else.

6. I want to change one thing each month that will improve mine or someone else’s life.

I’d love to know how your year has been and what plans you have for next year – and if I can help in any way – let me know!

Thank you 2014, you’ve been great.

It’s all about balance

Christmas is not known as a season of balance. It tends to be about excess, decadence and over indulgence.

Personally I think that’s OK.

Being balanced all the time can get a bit bland – and maybe a bit of unbalance is sometimes required in a balanced life in order to balance things even more….

But here’s the thing about excess – you have to stop it before it starts to become normal.

I hope you’ve eaten, drunk and been Merry, but it’s time to thinks about redressing the balance.

I have a few friends who are going to be dryathletes in January – They’ve taken the pledge to steer clear of alcohol for a month. This is a great way of supporting your body and mind returning to a more healthy routine. Whether you have a problem with it or not, alcohol is a poison. You really do yourself a favour by keeping clear of it.

I don’t drink much as it is so going dry for January is fairly non eventful for me. I’m going to try to redress the balance of eating too much meat and sugar over Christmas. January is going to be about fruits and vegetables. Soups, stews and salads for me! I have to say I’m rather looking forward to it.

Have a think about what you may have been overindulging in and what you can do in January to help find your balance.

What will you give yourself this Christmas?

Christmas is a time of giving – so what will you give yourself?

A break?

A hard time?

A laugh?

A lot of stress?

Love and appreciation?

Criticism?

It’s not just about being nice to other people – be nice to yourself too.

Have a lovely Christmas – You deserve it 🙂

How to not stress out this Christmas

I’m reading a lot at the moment about how to ‘survive the holidays’ or how to ‘Cope at Christmas’.

This seems a little sad to me.

Aren’t the holidays about happiness, fun, enjoyment and togetherness?

Where are all the survival and coping skills needed? This is a day to celebrate and eat nice food – it’s not a war zone!

Here are a few simple guidelines to help you enjoy the holidays – after all they are meant to be a nice time.

1. Prepare

Write a list, go shopping (early or late if you can to avoid the crowds) and don’t get too hung up on anything on the list. If the shop hasn’t got the particular type of potato you want, get another one – I bet no-one notices! If they have run out of turkey, get chicken – it tastes better anyway.

2. Prepare some more

Cook dishes that you can cook in advance and heat up on the day. The more you have done before the celebration, the more time you have to enjoy it.

Wrap presents – check that you have batteries if you need them.

If you have people coming round, make sure you have enough chairs, plates, cutlery etc.

3. Delegate

You don’t own the holiday. Get people to help you. Yes it would be nice if they just did stuff without asking, but they’re not mind readers and they just need to be asked. Emphasis on the ask – asking will get you everywhere, telling will get you problems.

4. If you’re on your own and are likely to feel lonely, decide in advance what you are going to be doing.

Don’t sit and be sad – do stuff. Read a book, watch TV, go for a walk, redecorate a room, start your spring cleaning – do something!

Also appreciate the fact that you have this time to do exactly what you want. There will be someone in a crowded room, with frayed nerves and a headache who would give their left arm to be you right now.

5. If you’ve got people coming round and you think you’ll feel overwhelmed, plan in down time.

Too many people can be a bit much sometimes, so find a way to get some space – take a nap, go for a walk, hide in a bedroom for a bit whilst you get everyone else to clear away….

Also take some time out to appreciate the people you are with. These should be people you care about – Love even – so make sure you realise that you are lucky to have them with you.

6. Don’t expect it to be perfect.

Christmas is NEVER perfect except in films.

Things don’t always go to plan, people have arguments, kids get tired and whiny, people forget gifts, people don’t like gifts, food gets burned, people go to sleep – whatever happens, it’s OK.

Whatever type of celebration you have, enjoy it. It’s just one day, so make the most of it.

If you really can’t do that, then at least you know that it’s all going to be over soon, and you won’t have to think about it for another year!

Sunday Poem – Twas the Night before Christmas

As you may know by now, I like to post a poem on a Sunday, preferably one that I have enjoyed since I was a child.

Well, with it being the last Sunday before Crimbo, what else could I possibly choose?

Quick Challenge before you begin reading – can you name all the reindeer (clue – Rudolph is not one of them!)

Twas the night before Christmas

”Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Clement Clarke Moore 1779-1863

If I don’t see you before – Have a great Christmas x

It’ll be OK – I promise

Be nice to yourself.

I was with a client yesterday who told me that they were annoyed with themselves for not having done hypnotherapy earlier.

It’s something I hear quite a lot.

I felt the same way when I gave up smoking.

I was incredibly pleased with what I had done, but then became annoyed that I had smoked for 17 years.

Personally I believe the skills hypnotherapy teaches should be taught at school.

But they’re not.

Don’t focus on what you’ve struggled with before, be happy how easy it will be in the future.

Have a great day.

🙂

Show ’em you love ’em

If there is someone you love, tell them.

If there is someone you miss, call them.

If there is something you want to do, do it.

If there is something you need, go and get it.

If there is something you want people to understand, explain it.

If there is someone you want to meet up with, invite them.

If there is something you don’t get, ask.

No drama, no fuss.

K.I.S.S.

(Keep It Simple Stupid)

Stop Changing things!

One of my favourite bloggers is Optimistic Kid. I like the cut of his jib!

In a recent post called I Hate Change he expressed his dislike of the new wordpress updates.

I kind of know what he means.

Whenever we are faced with something new, we have a tendency to get frustrated and wish things had just stayed the same. I mean, we used to know how things worked – we got it. Then it all gets turned upside down, we can’t find the thing we are looking for, we feel stupid, that makes us annoyed and then we decide that we hate the new way of doing things.

It’s fairly natural.

But here’s the thing.

Change is inevitable. Change is often (very often) good. Things cannot be improved without change.

My best advice is to throw yourself into the new way of working. Be the first to master it so that you can help all those who insist on using the old version until it’s taken away for good. Choose change, don’t be forced into it.

The amount of comments he received on this post proved he was not alone about how he felt, and he even helped out a few people with navigating the new pages (which I’m guessing felt kind of good), so this is clearly a common issue.

What I find interesting is that the people who say they hate this new version will be begging to keep it in a year or two when it’s time to change again.

Let’s face it, even to the most ardent of bloggers a wordpress facelift isn’t going to have a massive impact on our lives, but sometimes change can. My advice still stands. Accept it, embrace it and maybe, given time, you’ll learn to love it!

Be happy and roll with the punches.

🙂

The Hollow Men, QI, a 90’s rock band and Franz Schubert – a strange journey into my mind.

I have always liked poems and songs working together.

I think a lot of song lyrics are the most beautiful prose and  lot of poems could be made more powerful with music, but what I’m really talking about here is when someone uses a line or two from a poem or play in their music, either to preface it, as a quote or to sum it up.

I was reminded of this the other day when I was listening to a TV program and the host said, “not with a boom but a whimper…” I thought – where’s that from? – It definitely rings a bell, so I hit google.

I quickly found the quote, ‘not with a bang but a whimper’ from T.S. Elliot’s The Hollow Men – a great poem, but not one I had been familiar with. When I got to the last verse it read…

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

There was that bell again, but this time it was the repetition of This is the way the world ends. Where did I know it from. A bit more searching and I found my answer.

There was a band in the 90’s called EMF. They released an album in 1991 called Schubert Dip, which included a track called Longtime. I was a fan at the time, but I probably hadn’t listened to this particular track for over 20 years. Yet here, sparked by a misquote of a poem, I had been drawn back to EMF who had themselves misquoted the poem at the start of one of their tracks. Their quote went

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a band…

Here is the song itself in case you’re interested…

Have a wonderful day, with your wonderful brain, making connections, remembering long forgotten things and generally following your thoughts 🙂