All posts tagged: inspiration

4 Easy Ways to Feel More Positive

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Positive emotions such as joy, love, amusement, gratitude and pride are the foundations of a flourishing life. Experiencing positive emotions not only makes us feel good but encourages creativity and social interaction. Positive emotions also broaden our perspective. Think about a time when you last felt inspired – did anything seem possible? Or a time when you felt deep awe – did your personal problems fade away with the realisation of something far greater? How can we cultivate positive emotions and experience more of them? Boosting both our health and happiness. According to Positive Psychologist Dr. Barbara Fredrickson – who has spent over 20 years studying positive emotions, there are four steps to increasing our positivity ratio. To be clear, the idea isn’t to avoid negative emotions – we need those in order to grow and flourish too – but instead, to counteract the negativity by boosting our ratio of positive emotions. The four steps are: Allow yourself to go back and re-experience positive emotions on a regular basis. Remembering what different positive emotions feel like allows us …

Poetry Friday

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When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I should’t feel that way you are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, then you have failed me, strange as it may seem. Listen! All I asked was that you listen, not talk or do-just hear me. And I can do for myself; i’m not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless. When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness. But when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational. then I can stop trying to convince you and get on with the business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling. And when that’s clear the answers are …

12 Ways to Nourish Yourself

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A reoccurring theme I hear throughout my coaching sessions, is an ongoing struggle with nourishment and clients who just don’t know how to nourish themselves. Some clients see it as an indulgence, some don’t even know what it means or where to start. More often than not, it’s the first thing to fall by the wayside when we’re busy or feeling stressed out. Instead we opt for the easy, go-to solutions of comfort food, alcohol, switching off for hours in front of the tv, withdrawing from social engagements and the killer, procrastination. So in an effort to help you reduce your stress levels, boost your happiness and improve self-esteem, here are my top 12 ways to nourish yourself. Aim for at least one a day: Switch off all technology (and I mean completely switch it off, don’t just put it on silent!) for an hour Put your comfies on, snuggle up and read a book you love Meditate Do a pilates or yoga class (there are plenty of great ones on YouTube – a very mindful way to use technology btw!) Light some candles, lie down and think about loving …

A to Zen of Life by The Dalai Lama

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A to Zen of Life, By The Dalai Lama  A – Avoid negative sources, people, places, things and habits B – Believe in yourself and succeed C – Consider things from every angle D – Don’t give up and don’t give in E – Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come F – Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches G – Give more than you planned to H – Hang onto your dreams I –  If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door J – Just do it K – Keep trying no matter how hard it seems L – Love yourself M – Make it happen N – Never lie, steal or cheat. Always strike a fair deal O – Open your eyes and see things as they really are P –  Practice makes perfect Q – Quality not quantity in anything you do R-  Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer S – Stop procrastinating T – Take control of your own destiny …

25 reasons it’s better to give than receive

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During this over-indulgent, opulent time of year it’s important we take stock and remind ourselves that Christmas isn’t all about the parties and presents, but the season of good will and peace to all men! So if you were ever in doubt, the Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar is here to prove that giving is far more satisfying than receiving. Subscribe to their mailing list and receive 25 daily acts of kindness sent straight to your inbox. A different challenge is set each day – phone an old friend, leave a kind note, give to the needy – in the hope that we can re-educate ourselves and really feel the positive difference going out of our way to be more giving can make. Sign up now and see how many random acts of kindness you can carry out this Christmas. Sign up here.

Poetry Friday

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The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life. Love after Love, Derek Walcott

eat food. mostly plants. not too much.

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It’s widely acknowledged that a healthy body equals a healthy mind, but in modern society we are all bombarded with contradictory dietary advice on a daily basis; coffee, wine and fish being the main culprits. Also confusing, is from which nutritional group the largest proportion of our diets should come from. High protein? High carb? Low fat? Low Carb? In a media full of mixed messages, whose rules should we follow? Michael Pollen, international bestselling author, has written a book called FOOD RULES: AN EATER’S MANUAL in which he provides 64 rules designed to help you stop worrying, improve your relationship with food and truly enjoy eating without the guilt. Researched from a collection of folk wisdom, grandmothers, science and common sense, this book is all you need to maintain a healthy relationship with food, dine happily and live well. It’s broken down into three parts – what to eat, what kind of food to eat and how to eat it. You can read it in a couple of hours but it will forever change how you think …

Find what you love

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Steve Jobs co-founder of Apple Inc and Pixar Animations, was responsible for revolutionising four major industries in his relatively short life; computing, music, movies and mobile telephones. He was a visionary who transformed our day-to-day lives through his passion for technology and drive for perfection. But something few people know about Steve Jobs is he was an incredibly spiritual man with a deep interest in Zen Buddhism. It began in high school when he started experimenting with fasting and rigid vegan diets. Then during his only semester at Reed College, Steve continued to explore his spirituality by creating his own reading list, including the following titles – Be Here Now by Richard Alpert, Cosmic Consciousness by Richard Maurice Bucke, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa, Meditation in Action by Chögyam Trungpa, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Once Steve dropped out of College, he continued to sleep on friends’ floors and drop in on lectures which took his fancy. Meanwhile he would travel seven miles across town to the local Hare Krishna temple once a week for a good meal. In the Summer of 1974 he …