Total Mind and Body Wellness

  SUMMER is pretty much here eh? ISN'T the weather gorgeous? I went out foraging at the weekend and managed to get enough Elderflower to make a cordial, but not just any cordial, I made a sugar-free version using natural stevia and an orange. Recipe. 15 elderflower heads 1.5 tablespoons natural stevia liquid or 2 heaped teaspoons ground stevia 1 orange cut into 8  25g citric acid (you can get this from the chemist) Method. Wash and rinse the flower heads thoroughly, I soak mine for an hour in some water, shake off the insects and sieve. Put the flower heads, citric acid and stevia into a large saucepan and add 2 pints water. Squeeze the orange pieces into it and then add them to the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20-30 mins, then leave in the pan to cool. When cool, using a muslin, pour into a sterilised bottle, refrigerate and use as normal cordial. FOR years I have made this cordial, but this is the first time using stevia for a natural sugar-free alternative a...

 I was chatting to my husband last night about being alcohol-free and the wonders of it, I made a decision to never drink alcohol again, well over five years ago now, but my husband just sort of stopped over three and a half years ago, no plan to, no commitment to forever, just stopped. I asked him if there was an occasion when he would ever drink again, he thought about it, and said that maybe if something really awful happened, maybe that was a default thing in people, but he couldn't be sure. He said, knowingly to me that he knew that I would never drink again, no matter what the circumstances, and I of course agreed. My time with alcohol is done. THIS topic is something that I have thought of a lot over the years as a personal trainer, and hypnotherapist. Because a lot of people use times of trouble as an excuse to behave badly where health is concerned, but actually, times of trouble are when you need to be completely on your game.  GRIEF is not an excuse to hit the bottl...

 MY work consists of helping people, daily, with their mental health niggles. EVERY day brings it's troubles and stresses and how we deal with them makes all the difference to our physical health, alongside our mental health. WHAT I do see happening recently, a lot, is people going to the doctors and coming out with anti-depressants for things that shouldn't warrant it. They literally hand them out like sweets for the slightest change in mood.  Menopause - anti-depressants Grief - anti-depressants Moving house - anti-depressants Relationship breakup - anti-depressants Money issues - anti-depressants AND so many more daily stresses that can be sorted out with the support of friends and family. The things that can be talked out, sorted out and put into perspective, without the aid of prescription medication. I am by no means making light of any mental health issue, how we deal with any of the above issues and more is very personal, and a personal approach is needed. But that is ...

 WE are never too old to learn new things! Whether it's a new job, a new recipe, a new exercise or sport, we CAN keep learning if we have the will to do so. I LOVE learning! I am on a continuous development programme adding new wellness skills to my work all the time. When I finish one diploma, I start a new one. At school, I was okay in the subjects I enjoyed, like most of us I would say, and so music, PE, art and English I passed reasonably. But as you can see, there is a practical or creative element to all of those subjects, and that is what inspires me. LEARNING as an adult is great, because you get to choose what you learn! At school you have to do certain subjects, I remember choosing my 'options' but sadly the options were from an already chosen set of classes. But learning as an adult, you can learn what you want, when you want. Imagine that freedom eh? SO far since school, and this is not a comprehensive list, I am sure I have missed some things.... Hairdressing, ...

EACH week I wonder what topic I may pick for my little blog. SOMETIMES it's easy because of life events or thoughts that happen in the week, and this week it was easy. ONE of the things I always say to people is to be positive, the more positive you are, the more positive things happen to you. If you want something enough, focus on it and it should be yours! FOR example, the parking pixie, I may have written about this before, but whenever I go to park the van somewhere, even in a full carpark, I usually find a space, so my Mum nicknamed me the 'Parking pixie!' Nothing special in that, except that I really want a space, I focus on it, and it happens. If I was to go into that carpark saying to myself and out loud, 'we are never going to find a space' we probably wouldn't. Negativity doesn't pay off, at any point in your life. THIS week, we have been waiting to hear about adopting a rescue spaniel. I saw photos of him, convinced my husband that he would be a g...

 THE BIG question is, how long does it take YOU to learn from a problem or mistake? SOME of us only make a mistake once, learn from it and never do it again, that one time was enough.  I like to think that I am a fast learner, and when it comes to work, I do learn fast, it's unfortunate that in my personal life that I always seemed to make the same mistakes over and over again. However, I did finally learn, but it took a lot! I suppose we have to look at how important it is that we learn. Work is important to me, I suppose more important than other things in my life, particularly in my past, I had nothing else really, and so that was my focus. When I learn a new skill, add something new into my business I like it to work straight away, or at least I like to make it work straight away. When I was learning to be a radio presenter at The Voice FM, I was kicking myself constantly, I am not natural with the technology, and had to work very very hard, my concentration was at it's ma...