My son mentioned the other day that he'd had a very frustrating conversation with a guest in his home - they were talking about politics! He felt his guest was inflexible and closed to seeing things from an alternative perspective, interrupting and not listening. He felt outraged, all that evening plus the following day - he felt he was wasting his time replaying it over and over in his head, allowing the experience to dominate his weekend. He said he then decided to let it

The fluorescent lights of the A&E corridor buzzed overhead. This wasn't how Linda had planned her evening. Another mysterious illness. Another frantic call to her mum to collect the kids. Another night sitting in a plastic chair, head spinning with questions she couldn't answer: What's causing this? What will happen to my work? Am I going to be okay? What the doctors couldn't tell her - what nobody had yet told her - was that her body was staging a protest. And it had been fo

There's a kind of exhaustion that goes beyond tiredness. It's the kind that pins you to your chair. That makes a morning feel like a mountain. That has you drifting off at 10am - mid-colouring session, grandchildren beside you - and waking to find the world has meanwhile carried on without you. That was Carol's life. And she was scared. The days had shrunk to almost nothing. Waking wasn't a relief - it was a reckoning. Five, sometimes six times a night, chronic urinary infect

I enjoyed recording this with Alison Marsden (Integrating Health) - chocolate is one of my favourite foods! Magnesium, chocolate and sleep! YouTube link https://youtu.be/IPtNPj6glm0 Photo by Vie Studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/chocolate-bar-on-white-paper-6167328/

I recently recorded this podcast with John Bullock, editor of The Light Review - fascinating stuff!

I recorded this podcast recently with Alison Marsden, all about how hydration affects our sleep. Alison helps people increase their energy levels through diet and nutrition, and has recently had her first book published (The Jigsaw Method - available on Amazon). In it she includes a whole chapter on hydration; YouTube link; how does hydration affect our sleep? https://youtu.be/cMEOjWdoqw4 Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/fluid-pouring-in-pint-glass-416528/

I had great fun recording this podcast with Alison Marsden recently - all about how the upcoming clock change affects us. Alison helps people increase their energy levels through diet and nutrition; YouTube link - How the clock change affects us https://youtu.be/H-fZO7-KaWU Photo by Evgeniya Kuzmina: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-an-alarm-clock-11162426/

I took up this challenge a few years ago and it still influences how I think today - at the time it took me months to go 21 days complaint free. Even now the experience helps remind me how important positive speech is for myself and those around me. In 2006 Reverand Will Bowen started the 21 Day Complaint Free Challenge with 250 of his congregation at a small church in Kansas City. The idea was to go 21 consecutive days without complaining. He gave each of his congregation a

'More than 80% of the interviewees have some form of daily mindfulness or meditation practice.' Tim Ferriss (my favourite podcaster) writes this in his introduction to his #1 New York Times best-selling book 'Tools of Titans', where he interviews 'world-class performers' and establishes their tactics, routines and habits. Maybe more of us should try it out ....... Photo by KoolShooters : https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-person-sitting-on-a-yoga-mat-while-medit

I love this quote from Greg McKeown (author of 'Essentialism - the Disciplined Pursuit of Less'); "If you focus on what you have, you gain what you lack. If you focus on what you lack, you lose what you have." Being grateful is a great tool - suffering can be caused by a sense of loss, a sense of receiving less, or a sense of never receiving. Once you feel grateful, the suffering disappears. Photo by Matheus Bertelli: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-tree-at-sun

"That phrase has actually changed my life", said my daughter last week. She had just bought a dress that she really liked, but it was too long, so she decided to alter it. Unfortunately, she accidentally cut it too short, so much so that it was unwearable. She rang me, quite upset, asking how she could fix it. She later told me that while she was initially beating herself up for making, in her eyes, such a silly mistake, she began to look at it as a learning experience, know

Scientific research has shown time and again that meditation and mindfulness can help relieve stress, anxiety, depression and pain.