Total Mind and Body Wellness

  WE all know that it is really flipping hot right now, and has been for quite a few weeks. I visited my Mum this week and she has no grass left, just a dead brown patch, we have a little here as we have had some rain, but it's really looking like summer out there eh? IT'S not everyone's favourite season, I like the heat, you can feel the vitamin D seeping into you, making you well, but it's not the best for being stuck in hot cars or offices, and if you work outside in it all day, it gets really tiring. SO today I thought I would share some hints and tips with you on how to deal with the niggly bits that summer brings with it! THE HEAT - Keep curtains closed and windows open at home if it's safe to do so. - Wear a hat!  - Use freezer packs in cars, offices, lunch bags! Ice packs will be your best friend, and if you put them behind a fan you can guarantee a cold breeze rather than warm air being blown about. - Wrist-cooling is far more efficient at bringing your cor...

 THIS week has brought about yet more personal insights, as life often does. I am leaving some of the other topics from the social weekend I had for another time, it needs more pondering over so as not to cause offence to anyone that may read it! You have to be so careful! ON Saturday I am off with my husband to 'Edfest!' WE are going to be seing Iron Maiden as headliners, with Airborne, The Hu, The Almighty and The Darkness all playing too. It should be one epic musical treat! I'VE been planning our trip because it's at Knebworth, over 4 hours drive away and we are staying overnight in the camper. I've been sorting and cleaning the van for us, planning food, what I will wear and this is where the weird reality hit me that I was finally an adult. I looked at the weather forecast to see what I would need to pack and wear!  LET'S go back to 16 -year old me, going to Monsters of Rock at Castle Donnington, to see AC/DC and Metallica plus others. I put on a t shirt a...

  I have had an interesting weekend just gone, a lot happened to make me think, contemplate and re-affirm myself in my little world. I was fairly spoilt for choice for blog subjects after just one day of the weekend, let alone both, but I have chosen a subject today that has been bugging me for a while, and it's a little less full on than the other thing I was going to write about. There's plenty of time for that one! THIS subject has been bugging me, ever since my menopause qualification and subsequent online guide release. THIS is the cover of the guide that I wrote, me just sat there in the sand dunes at Instow beach, looking out wistfully into the air, feeling wonderful about ditching my menopause symptoms through exercise, nutrition, sleep and mindfulness! NOT a single whiff of HRT in sight! I thought that this miracle guide would be epic, it's fully comprehensive, although we know there are hundreds of signs and symptoms of menopause, and they differ for everyone, but...

  THIS week I am writing about a sad event that happened just five years ago this week. ONE of my good friends took his own life on the evening of the 23rd June 2021, I tried to prevent what he did, but really, he was always going to do it, no matter how hard I tried to prevent it. And I suppose, sometimes, you just have to let people go, if that is ultimately what they want to do? The photo I have used today is one that David sent me, only a matter of months before he left us. It had walked in to his office and he decided to share the experience with me. He didn't really have any other friends, and he wasn't one for sharing things like this particularly, but it was the strange time of COVID lockdowns and he was quite isolated. I met David at the touring park campsite which he managed. I would stay there sometimes for a bit of a chillout weekend and do some writing. We made friends, and then I would occasionally work there for him as a gardener, doing weeding, pruning and pesti...

 When I lived in my little pixie house in Totnes, I had a kitchen chalk board for my shopping list, I also had one for 'Happy Thoughts!' I used to write on my board weekly, with something that I was looking forward to, no matter how small or insignificant it would seem to others, that thing was special to me and kept me looking forward to something. Sometimes it may be as small as having something special for tea one day, I would write down trips away, running events, and even on quiet weeks, I would write down what I was going to watch on tv or read that week. I don't have one of these boards in my house now as we rent, and I have to admit that I want to find a way of doing it, because that daily visual would make me smile and help me get through the day if I wasn't having the best of times.  Do you do something like this? Do you plan things to make you smile every week? It's all very well having a big event like a holiday to look forward to, but sometimes you need...

 THIS Friday 12th June 2026, I am celebrating 2,000 days without alcohol, and I'm feeling good! 'Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know? Butterflies all havin' fun, you know what I mean. Sleep in peace when the day is done, that's what I mean. And this old world, is a new world and a bold world for me.' I love the song, 'Feeling good' from Nina Simone, and I have to say I really love Muse's version, because I love Muse. But whoever sings it, look at the words, they are amazing. Being out in the world, enjoying all the moments that come your way, all the experiences of life lived fully without the haze of drink getting in the way. Sleep improves, and you can sleep better without the nagging doubt of the damage that your drinking behaviour has caused. No shame, no worry and no ill-after effects or hangovers to keep you down. And I can tell you absolutely 100% that the world will be new for you, you will feel bold, you will be abl...