Journal Musings

I had got myself into a flat spin and then I realised there was just too much noise! Right at the beginning of Lockdown I really panicked. I was drawn into the spiralling frenzy of ‘You MUST diversify, you MUST change the way you run your business, and you MUST put everything ON LINE!!’ Right now. Do it NOW. Hurry hurry. It’s what people want. They need you to diversify. Hurry. Set up courses for art ON LINE, create meditation mp4s RIGHT NOW! People WILL buy them. It’s what t

I had no one to entertain, no hoards of visitors to feed, and no long list of presents to purchase, but it really got to me this year. Ridiculous really. I became teary, depressive, and almost agoraphobic. Gone are the days where I used to look forward to Christmas for the parties. The thought of having to purchase a new outfit fills me with dread. Thank heavens I didn’t have to! Don’t get me wrong, I love the season of Yuletide. The solstice and the bringing the outside in.

I wouldn’t say I was a particularly stressed person these days. Christmas is never a huge affair as we have no children or grandparents to buy for, so there should be no reason for panic or last minute stress. No mountains of mince pies to bake, and no pans of red cabbage bubbling in the oven. It’s all very low key, but we always want to celebrate with something different and delicious. I’m becoming much more vegetarian. Jamie Olivers Nut Roast. Delicious! This year, we have

It may not seem a big deal for many, and I have to say the run up to it was worse than the actual birthday, but becoming fifty was quite an issue for me. My husband also reminded me, that so was 30 and 40! Many people would think I was mad to be worried about it, when I should be thankful that I am here! I get that, I really do. I spend many moments of my waking day feeling gratitude for being here on this amazing planet. However, everyone is different when it comes to birthd

Last week a lightening storm gave us a momentary power cut, which in turn played havoc with the wifi. The home hub modem was running rather hot and kept switching itself to the, ‘emergency, I’m not working now’ mode. We were able to get about 10 minutes of Wifi each morning until it turned off. No 3G here let alone 4G! We live in the countryside and O2 is very selective as to where the signal will reach. Walk into the middle of a field and you may get it. Hang outside the kit

Playing on the ipad while in flight. I’m a bit slow on the use of the iPad. The intention was to start a blog post while on a flight from Bristol to Salzburg last Saturday, but I found this little colouring tool. I didn’t have a stylus, obviously, so it’s a bit rustic, and I was in flight! I tried to draw mountains but that didn’t work so well. The colouring distraction meant I could write this blog on the way back, after I had some more interesting content! Funny how things

It’s not just for one day, this Christmas lark. It should extend through the whole season of Yule. The increased shopping frenzy and the worry if we have enough cheese in the fridge is just all-consuming. No wonder people feel the stress much more at this time of year. Christmas comes every year and every year I feel the same manic panic with all my clients. It keeps me in business, but I really wish we could take charge and stop trying to please everyone all of the time. Thi

Is it time to hunker down yet? Not that I’m complaining about our lovely extended sunny days and dry weather. The trees seem to be holding on their leaves, which means just one thing – they will probably drop in one massive dump! I still have apples on my trees and no sign of the leaves changing colour just yet. I’m sure it will just take a cooler snap of weather or a couple of windy days for autumn to finally catch up. I’m not complaining mind you. It’s been a delight to sti

You can’t expect to help and heal others if you don’t look after yourself. This is a fact. However, we are all human and sometimes life can take over a little, and we forget. The ten minutes of morning yoga can easily disappear. The five minutes of mindfulness while doing the washing up just gets forgotten and the appointments you have for hair, massage and osteopath can easily get moved and delayed as you have more important things to do. Or so it seems. During the past few

We got it! A new direction for my autistic brother. Funding has been approved! We have waited years for him to get the help he so badly needed but he never scored highly enough on the social care questionnaire. Just one point off would mean he didn’t ‘qualify’ for a social worker. That one point could have been because he answered the question literally, all because the person asking the questions didn’t understand Autism. We all know that mental health is really on the botto

Everyone needs some time out from their normal routine for a de-stress. A recharge of the batteries and time to recalibrate the system. We ensure that our cars get a regular yearly service, so why not our body? Probably because we don’t realise we need some down time until it’s too late. We run on all cylinders and only notice we need a little help when things start to go wrong. Our health suffers and we develop a few ailments. How often do you hear people say, “I really need

There’s nothing like a little holiday to reboot and re-evaluate. A change is as good as a rest they say, but the rest is also very useful in allowing the body chance to re-balance and re-charge. The holiday I choose to take is skiing. Not much of a rest in many peoples eyes, but over the years I have learnt to tailor make the skiing to suit my needs, and my needs have changed as I have got older. There is no longer a  need to be up at the crack of dawn, on the first lift queu

So we nearly have 2015….. I’m never sure if the previous year should be reviewed before, during or after the 31st….1st….or just whenever we feel like it. We can review our lives at any point, but a marker in the calender always seems like a good option. I personally begin by removing, and packing away all the Christmas decorations on the 1st of January. I always have done. I just can’t wait until 12th night. Desperate to tidy up and clear out….. sorting the Christmas cards an