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Self-care

What does it mean to self-care? What does it involve? How do we make it an integral part of our every day routine? Do we have a self-care routine to begin with?

It could be my age and my changing circumstances that are making me think about myself more. Whatever it is, I am beginning to notice signs of stress on my body, my mind, my emotional state and my very soul. It is time to take good care of myself, as well as of the people in my life.

I have heard people say that they have a daily routine for themselves, which includes anything from meditation, exercise, singing, dancing, breath work, reading, writing, cooking, and many other things that help them ground, balance, calm down and get back into their optimum centred state.

It is a fact that our physical body changes as we gain years and count birthdays. Menopause has changed me profoundly and I am accepting that my body is in charge. It is asking me to take breaks during the day, to eat regularly, to take supplements, to meditate daily, to pay attention to my breathing, to take regular walks in fresh air, to reach out if I need support, to pace myself, to appreciate good days, good moments, to learn from life’s challenges, to keep surrendering and accepting the things that I can’t change, to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of life, to recognise blessings in the smallest things, to express how I feel freely, to check in with myself all the time, to acknowledge how I feel, to seek pleasure and so many more things.

So, I have decided to create my self-care daily routine. So far, it consists of: having three meals a day, having fresh fruit and/or vegetables daily, meditating, breathing mindfully, going for a walk, having meaningful conversations, taking small breaks when I need to, cooking, listening to music, singing and on a good day dancing. As of recently, I have been introducing a few exercises that I want to expand on. My gym membership isn’t being utilised. I have my reasons to as why, but am aware that paying for it and not using it isn’t going to last much longer. I will decide soon enough wether I am going to use the facilities or cancel it altogether.

Taking care of our needs, listening to our feelings, maintaining and improving our health, doing things that make us happy, but also allowing ourselves to just be. Constant doing is going to wear us out, so let’s take a moment to breathe, to feel the air filling up our body and sending waves of calm through our nervous system. Let’s feel the sun on our skin, notice what nature looks like around us, let’s count our blessings, feel grateful, let’s smile more, allow ourselves to drop into our Heart centre and feel everything. Let us send love out into the world. Let us send thoughts and wishes for peace in the world. Let’s care about ourselves and about each other. Because, caring is sharing. When we look after ourself, we have the love, the patience and the energy to give to the world too.

Be gentle with yourselves, take care and spread the love.

Much love to everyone,

Angela x

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Changing my mindset

It is easy to be positive when things are going well. But, when we’re in the third lockdown not knowing when we will be able to carry on with our life, it’s tough.

So, when I woke up this morning, an inspiring video by Diana Cooper on being positive came up on Youtube. I watched it and my whole world has shifted. She explains in simple terms how our thoughts, our inner dialogue, our beliefs and the words that we use influence what happens in our life.

I used to buy into destiny and I, admittedly, was of a victim mentality. But, once I started thinking in terms of energy, frequency and vibration (kudos to Nikola Tesla, who mentioned it first), it became clear to me that we attract what we emit. Basically, it is like tuning into a radio station (a bit old fashioned, but you get what I mean), you receive the exact station that you’ve tuned into.

Now, figuring something out (or getting it mentally) is one thing, but applying it into my life on a daily basis was another. We have so many programmes stored in our subconscious and active in our conscious mind that it takes a while to re-program ourselves. Shadow work, inner reflection, observing my thoughts, reactions and feelings, creating new healthier habits, clearing the old (thoughts, habits, feelings, memories, beliefs) are just some of the things that have to be done, in order to change one’s mindset.

I am not going to preach on anyone, we are all human and every single one of us on the planet has lessons to learn and unlearn. It is as simple as that. The lessons might be different, but the work that’s needed is the same. It all starts with us and ends with us. It all starts with our attitude, with a willingness to change ourselves for the better, so that we can attract better into our lives.

One crucial thing that I have to mention separately in all this is gratitude. I wrote about this recently and my client and a friend, Rosemary, is absolutely right-being grateful undeniably changes one’s life for the better. Being grateful every day basically means noticing, acknowledging the gifts and all of the good that comes into our life every single day. On some days it may be the basics, like the roof over our head and food on our table. It is, nevertheless, more than homeless have on any day. On other days, like it has been today for me, there are countless blessings that made me feel on top of the world.

So, whatever you do, dear people, be grateful and keep working on yourself. Good work is never completely done, for as long as there is war, hunger, and global crisis of any kind. It’s all a reflection of our inner world, our outdated beliefs.

We can make a difference that we want to see in the world (Mahatma Gandhi).

With love and light,

Angela.

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The secret of being happy

There is no coincidence that I wrote about gratitude and appreciation about the same time last year. That was the beginning of my discovery of how to be happy.

It is no secret that I’ve recently read The Secret (pun intended) and it has both reminded me of and focused me on being grateful.

This year, more than ever, we’ve all had doom and gloom constantly broadcasted on all kinds of media. Even to the most focused and detached people, this has been a challenge. It has been impossible to ignore empty roads and towns, people panic buying, wearing masks even in their vehicles, staying away from hugging even the people they live with. There is less and less people working at the shops and, in some cases, machines taking their place (that is how I call the self check out). Our high streets look like those places built like a prop for the movie set. But which movies are going to be made on those streets depends largely on us.

So, The Secret comes at the right time as a recommendation by one of my clients. She was adamant that this book changes lives of everyone who reads it.

Being a spiritual person and contemplating on all matters philosophical in life, I thought that I got it all covered. Until I got to the chapter that talks about being grateful, feeling grateful and showing it.

What has really surprised me was my reaction to what I was realising- it isn’t enough to know that we should be grateful, or even say it, we have to feel it and emit that energy back to the world.

Before too long, my closest family were all baffled by the change in me. They were all asking what has happened to me and why was I so nice all of a sudden. I was in shock. I honestly believed that I was a nice person always and to everyone and that it was certainly what I was emanating to them. My son basically told me to stop confusing him and to choose which person do I want to be- the loving and caring or the moody one. So, my instant reply was to carry on consciously showing my love that I was feeling all along.

Life really takes on a different meaning when you practice gratefulness every day. I now go into the smallest of details, acknowledging what I am grateful for and I really am feeling it. It all makes a difference to my day, from a beautiful sunrise that I stoped to admire for a moment, to warm water to wash myself with, a car that always takes me where I need to get to, taking my child/children to school because they still can’t drive, noticing all of the autumn colours surrounding us wherever we go, a roof over my head, money in my bank account, food in the fridge. I say a little gratefulness prayer before my every meal and I bless all the people involved in the food chain- from those that have grown it, picked it, transported it, packaged it, brought it to our shops, put it on the shelves, to me who bought it, brought it home, occasionally cooked it and is now gratefully receiving it!

I am not saying that everyone should do the same, but I enjoy this process, it makes me feel aware, present and grateful, which in turn makes me happy.

So, there you have it. This is my secret of how to be happy at any moment.

I hope that you find yours too.

Love and light,

Angela x.

 

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Counting your blessings

This morning, as on most Thursdays, I went to my child’s school cathedral assembly. It was themed or dedicated to the Harvest Thanksgiving.Children walk into the cathedral bearing gifts and we sing a thanksgiving hymn. Then a guest speaker (a founder of the local homeless charity) gave a talk. Since 2016. they haven’t missed a day to walk through the 4 main streets of town, talking to the homeless and giving out food and other essentials.

I was in tears. I felt humbled by her generosity, by her compassion and her dedication to the cause. It reminded me that, in spite of my every day worries and fears, I should be more grateful. Much more than I am.

Scientists say that a feeling of gratefulness actually re-wires our brain into a more positive mindset! You might say that it is only natural to fear for our survival, as it’s a primal emotion. It is deeply embedded into our psyche, into our DNA. However, shouldn’t we also put things into perspective and knowledge that we are here and now, doing just fine? It is thanks to our ancestors who were born survivors like us. It is also thanks to ourselves for doing our best and never giving up hope for the future. Because, homeless have nothing but hope, clinging onto it for food, shelter and an occasional glance and a word spoken to them.

Hope and gratefulness should never leave us. They should always be there to balance things inside of us, so that when fear and worry come creeping in, we can say to them:’No, thank you. I am just fine.’

Some crystals that promote feelings of gratitude and appreciation are: Apatite, Tiger’s Eye, Pink Sapphire and Rose Quartz.

 

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