Happy New Year!

I always feel a little melancholy on New Years Day. I think it’s because I love Christmas so much and it signals the end of the festive season. I hate packing away my decorations, I actually thank them all and say “see you soon” - I know I’m slightly bonkers but I am just so sentimental!! I collect them from all over the world plus I have special ones which have been given by friends and family and I know where each one came from. BUT - I do like to think of exciting new projects and times I will have in the new year and that makes me happy.

I’m not one for saying last year was rubbish or I can’t wait to see the back of it. Yes we had some awful times, some sad times and some downright depressing times but we got through it. As a family we pulled together and pushed forwards. We did also have some amazing times and made wonderful memories. I’m not sure the bad times made the good times better, that always seems a bit of a daft thing to say. I think the good times were good because we made them so.

I don’t believe in making big announcements about new years resolutions. I will continue to just be myself and I am happy with that. Yes I’d love to lose weight, get fit and be healthier but I know if I give myself stipulations, I will feel pressure and I will procrastinate as to why I can’t do it and then feel guilty - a cycle I am not prepared to enter into and one I am very aware of. So, I am going to just implement some new teeny little changes when I feel like it.

Something I firmly believe is that we are all a work in progress - I say this everyday to my clients - yes you can have a goal in mind but you need to live NOW - not in 2 or 3 months time!! Enjoy the you that you are today.

I wish you ALL wonderful times in 2019. Keep moving forwards, no matter how small the steps are. Try to smile a lot and be kind to yourself and those around you, it costs nothing!

Happy New Year

Love H xx

Turn That Frown Upside Down!

“Turn that frown upside down”

How many times have you heard that and thought, “b*%$er off, I don’t feel like it”. 

Well, sometimes it is necessary to smile to change our state.  Smiling can actually make us feel better and in turn help improve not just our day but the day of those around you.  It’s so contagious.  Try it, walk up to a friend smiling and they will automatically smile back.  Even better, smile at a stranger as they might not have a friend to smile with.  

When we smile, we are exercising some fabulous muscles (*with even more fabulous names) which fire signals to the brain and stimulate our reward system which increase our happy hormones.  

I have been putting this to the test and have found that if I am procrastinating about doing something, if I smile a lot it changes my state from unwilling and I am able to throw myself into the job I have been putting off.  You can change your own state by smiling!  Give it a go, try smiling whilst reading the last bit of this blog.  

A perfect example - exercising - If you are trying to get fit and haven’t got yourself into an exercise regime or you simply can’t be bothered but know you really should - take a little walk around smiling.  If it feels weird then lock yourself in the bathroom for a bit and smile all by yourself.  Just a few minutes will change your state of mind and then watch how much you can achieve. 

So, lets spread the word and get smiling and increasing all those happy hormones :) 

Big Smile To You All - have a fabulous day. 

Helen xx

* fantastic face muscles - zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi muscle

I Started!

Hmmmmm where to start to write this blog?  

I’ve wanted to write one for ages but I always seem to get my best ideas at around 2am.  An idea will pop into my head, with my eyes closed I will be the perfect author, teacher, diplomat - basically whatever I imagine I am word perfect and it’s all so easy.

I’m too tired to wake properly and actually write the idea down, so I will go over and over it in my head, planning every intricate detail so I don’t forget anything.  Then the next thing I know, the alarm goes off and I have a vague idea that I did think about doing something incredible but I can’t remember what it was! 

Then my day starts and I jump on the rollercoaster of life and the idea is totally forgotten or procrastinated about.  Too busy being busy as most people are.  Busy at being a wife, mother, daughter, therapist, friend etc etc.  But, don’t get me wrong I love it all and I wouldn’t change a single thing - apart from the fact that it just goes by so quickly. 

I have what I think is the best job in the whole world, I love helping people, watching them achieve their goals, overcome their fears, feel clear headed.  Whatever it is, I love every minute of it and I am always thinking of the next creative thing I could do which will hopefully inspire someone, even just one person.  That’s why I wake at 2am and over think wonderful ideas.  

The reason I am writing this is to let you know that although I can’t remember all my 2am excellent ideas I have decided I won’t let it stop me from just getting started.  I put pen to paper this morning (or rather finger to keyboard) and you are now reading it.  I STARTED!  

So, if you are like me, procrastinating about getting started with something, just do it.  It’s not as bad as it seems and you might actually enjoy it! 

Helen xx  

PS whilst attempting to write this, Karl is listening very loudly to comedy sketches on his phone, Jess wants to talk to me about what university courses I think she should apply for next year and Emily has gone into a long description about a dress she is designing out of recycled products with her friends at school for a Trashion Show (Eco week) plus Frank the dog has the most terrible wind and it's ever so distracting - so it’s taken me three trillion times longer to write this than it should have but I WILL NOT stop because - I HAVE STARTED woooohoooo!