Elizabeth's For the Love of Life Blog

Attracting Divine Love into your life...

Valentines day has probably sparked thoughts of romance for many of you, even if you've chosen, like Mike and myself, to opt out of the frivolous consumer hype.

So this year I wanted to connect you, via the interview below, with a wonderful friend of mine whose work and life in the field of love and bliss is an inspiration to us all.

Susanne Meis is the author or Kinetikus, the story of a divine lover and founder of Orangelily She has some thoughts to share with us on love and romance that will hopefully cause us to think more profoundly once the roses have wilted and the shop shelves have been cleared in readiness for the coming of Easter eggs.

Susanne, could you describe for us what your work at Orangelily is all about?
Orangelily's vision is to help bring women and men together in divine love and for both sexes to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of feminine energy.

What was it that drew you to work in the area of holistic health in the first place?
After overcoming a marital crisis I experienced a spiritual awakening whilst jogging one day. I felt a previously unknown level of energy and love for myself and others, and a deep connection with everything around me including the trees and the wind. Shortly afterwards I was introduced to Homeopathy by a friend and was so intrigued by it that I decided to study Energy Medicine. I have since qualified in a number of therapies and highly recommend any form of natural healing.
I was delighted to have a "guest speaker" for my February Newsletter. A wonderful friend and colleague in the holistic arts who is the perfect choice for Valentines. It was such a lovely interview I wanted to post it on the blog too.

What inspired you to write your book Kinetikus?
Three years before writing Kinetikus I had just gone through a painful divorce and was living as a single mum wondering where it had all gone wrong. But after a period of pain and feeling lonely, I instinctively went through a process which I now understand to be a universal manifestation process (you can read the complete process on my website for free www.orangelily.net). Only 6 months later, I met my new husband. "Kinetikus - The Story of a Divine Lover" was born out of the desire to share a deeply honest, intimate and female account of divine love, to help us align with its vibration and draw this love into our own experience.


How would you describe Divine Love?
Divine Love can mean unconditional levels of love for our self, others and also the connection we feel with our spiritual source. However, when I speak of divine love in the physical world, I am referring to our highest expression and experience of Love with our true spiritual and romantic partner or twin soul - which is more commonly known as our soulmate. This love can feel quite different to the dramatic, heart stopping, and often painful love we can experience when we are infatuated or have attracted a partner from a place of neediness. It is a recognition on the deepest level of the soul of being one with another. It is a sense of coming home to our self.


What is it that you believe is truly important about each of us finding Divine Love?
We do not need to worry so much about "finding" Divine Love. In truly remembering ourselves as an expression of Divine Love, we will automatically draw our twin soul to us. I believe all relationships are mirrors. They reflect back to us who we are in many different ways. What we least like about others are the aspects that we have least accepted within our self, and what we like most about others are the aspects that we would like to have more of. I am a hopeless romantic. However, I have come to understand that the purpose of any relationship, and especially in a twin soul relationship, is to help us grow and evolve as human beings on all levels: mentally, emotionally and spiritually. But there is still space for plenty of romance.

What, in your experience, gets in the way of us experiencing Divine Love?
There is only one root cause for any kind of lack in our lives. A sense of unworthiness or lack of self-esteem. When we don't value our self we attract people and situations which confirm to us that we are unworthy of love. This then can turn into a cycle of Focussing on our fears. Where attention goes, energy flows. So we want to put our conscious focus on What We Want. But if we don't feel worthy we sometimes don't even allow our self to find out or ask for what we truly desire.


If there was one thing that we as men and women could do on a daily basis to bring us closer to the experience of Divine Love, What might it be?
To attract Divine Love or create it in an existing relationship, we want to truly experience our self as an expression of it. Whilst it can seem hard to TRY to love our self, the great news is that we don't have to. All we need to do is to remember that we already DO! We were born with love for our self. And the evidence is in every good thing in our life. Every good thing that happens - no matter how small, is proof that we already love our self. Each time we recognize this, feeling the warm flow of love within, we open our blocks to self-love a little further. Each time we raise our vibration. And as like attracts like, love will attract love.


Is there a thought you would like to leave us with for Valentines day and beyond?
I believe it was Einstein who said that one of the most important decisions we will all have to make in our lives, is whether we live in a friendly or a hostile universe. He understood that what we focus on will be our reality. It took me over 30 years to realize that I live in a friendly universe, that we already are the very love we desire, and therefore can never be undeserving of it. I have never looked back since.

If you would like to get a feel for Kinetikus and read the first chapter of Susannes book, then email me with Kinetikus in the subject line, for your free p.d.f copy with Susanne's blessing, and mine.

For further information about Susanne's work I can highly recommend getting in touch via her website, there are a host of great articles to read on there too.

Coming soon an interview with Joanne Sumner, about her healing and personal development work with Bach Flower Remedies.

Wishing you a romantic and blissful valentines wherever you are and whatever you're doing today

Putting It Off... More help for the procrastinators amongst us

We all have examples I'm sure of things we put off doing, here's some fairly common ones:

Tackling the ironing pile, doing expenses, exercising, washing the car, sweeping the leaves, visiting the dentist, opticians, giving up smoking, loosing weight, clearing out cupboards/shed.

Here's one possible 10 point plan for getting some of your key things out of the way early on this year.

1. List
Get all those things you are putting off out of your head and onto a list. If you have multiple "must get round to doing" lists already, consolidate them.

2. Time
Take a minute to guestimate the time it would take you to complete each one from start to finish and write that down next to it on your list.

3. Prioritise
Taking into account your guestimate, prioritise your top 3 to achieve before Christmas. Bearing in mind all the other Christmas preparations be realistic, it's important not to get de-motivated by setting impractical targets. How you prioritise is a matter of personal choice.

4. Benefits
List at least 11 benefits of completing each of your 3 tasks. Consider all the good things doing that task will enable you to feel. What else will it mean you can do when it's out of the way? Who else will benefit? What else is important to you about achieving this? Etc. etc.

5. Schedule and commit
In line with the wise words of William Hutchinson Murray, until one is committed, it's easy to not do or give up. Find a way to commit yourself. Choose when you will take your first action and write it in your diary, in pen! Give yourself a good start and schedule a time when you won't be distracted and your energy levels are high.

6. TATTs
Break down your goal into tiny achievebale tickable tasks, that's manageable bite sized pieces. Especially if it's a longer term one. I personally don't make any TATT longer than 20 minutes as it helps to keep my energy and motivation up. (Thanks to hubby Mike for this little gem!).

7. Apply the Expectation Principle

8. Get Started
Don't wait until the time you have scheduled to get started Take one immediate action step now to start the ball rolling. e.g. get the ironing board out ready. We are much more likely to complete tasks that have been started, for me its a bit like leaving a bath running in our brain.

9. Remind
Find a way to set a reminder. Use your outlook, phone, get a friend to remind you, post its, a countdown in your diary. Consider an online reminder service.  Associate starting the task with something else that is happening that day so it prompts you. Be creative, anything goes.

10. Reward
Plan your reward, make it a good one and only take it when the task is complete. If it's a long term task, reward yourself for every few steps.
For inspiration check out buyagift.co.uk. There might even be some ideas for Mothers day.

Are you sticky - a word about networking messages

I was delighted that the sun was shining on my Amovita Netwalk yesterday and our small band of eager networkers took to the luscious paths of Richmond Park with vigour.
After an opening icebreaker and giving the participants a chance to circulate and share histories and interests I broached the subject of stickiness with them. It’s something that I’ve long been fascinated with from my time in sales, marketing and PR and it crosses over into everyday networking.

Stickiness is a phrase I borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell, I read his book “The Tipping Point” some years ago on a flight to Lisbon (I’m a quick reader). I was travelling to facilitate at a conference for a large organisation, more specifically their global sales and marketing teams. What Gladwell writes pulled together a few years worth of musings and reading into one of those delightful ‘a-ha’ moments for me, so much so that I made it the content of my keynote speech at the end of that conference.

Stickiness refers not only to how memorable your message is but how effective it is at spurring people to action. For those of us who network regularly both virtually and in reality, perhaps you wonder, as I do, what people actually remember about your conversations.
How would you like to influence more often what parts of your message get across and which parts stick?!

In our netwalking session yesterday some of us were surprised when given feedback on which bits of the message stuck out and stuck in the most. What people remembered I noticed was governed mainly by two things. They are what I like to call the Passion bug and the WIIFT rating.

The passion bug is simply your congruence and the passion while delivering your message and how infectious that is.  If we are outwardly passionate and enthusiastic about our message and it comes from the heart then it has a level of congruence and integrity that exudes and becomes sticky. That state is readily infectious. Gladwell uses the term “senders” coined by psychologists in the past, to describe those people with special personalities.  He notes that those of us who are good at expressing our emotions and feelings are far more emotionally contagious than others. How would it be if your passion and enthusiasm and love of what you do could be “caught” by others? How much more powerful would that make your business, if you had all those extra sales people walking around?
I experienced catching someone else’s passion bug on Thursday. I was on a call with Karen Skidmore of CanDoCanBe and she was talking about the virtues of auto-responders, not something I would normally think to get excited about. She’s mad about them (in a good way) and was eager to share her enthusiasm and I’ve got to admit I can see, and feel, what she means. I’m now hooked on the virtues of them for my business.

The WIIFT rating is something I’m sure you’ve all come across in one guise or another. Simply put it’s What’s In It For Them, your customers? People connect with a message at the point of value for them. In the context of our walk we were talking about our lives up until that point, and that’s a whole lot to cover and remember. We all noticed that those points that stuck in people’s hearts and minds were those elements that they could relate to, or were interested in from personal experience or had some additional value to them.

Just think of the phenomenal effect if the WIIFT part of your message is passionate and highly contagious.

Now I consider myself to be hugely blessed, being passionate about what I do comes easily to me because I LOVE IT and I’ve noticed how powerful being able to say that is to people. I love the process and most of all I love the benefits it brings and the way it touches people I work with. If you cannot say passionately and congruently I LOVE WHAT I DO then you might like to consider what needs to change so that you can.

Wishing you a wonderfully passionate day!

Just for today - a thought about worry

As I sit looking out over London on another misty morning (I’m lucky that my office affords me spectacular views across town), I am contemplating my To-do list and how I will accomplish the usual time distortion in order to achieve it all.

In this pregnant stillness of London before she wakes I am reminded of something that brings me much clarity, comfort and focus.
As a Reiki Master, who has been practicing for some years now I am often asked about the way in which I use this powerful energy and teachings in my everyday life.
One of the many ways is by applying the hugely pivotal and sometimes neglected teachings of Dr Mikao Usui that he gave in the form of his 5 principles. Dr Usui, for those not familiar, was a Buddhist priest and teacher in Japan (1865 – 1926) who had a powerful enlightening experience with the Universal Energy that is Rei (Universal) Ki (Life force energy). As a result he developed and passed on the traditional Reiki healing system that we refer to today.

Dr Usui’s 5 principles are beautiful spoken in Japanese and even more soothing when chanted.
Kyo dake wa:
Okuruna:   
Shinpai; suna;   
Kansha shite;   
Goo hage me;   
Hito ni shinsetsu ni.

I work with them as:

Just for today, I will not anger
Just for today, I will not worry
Today, I show gratitude and count my many blessings
Today, I will do my work honestly
Today, I will show compassion to myself and every living thing

The key piece of the principles for me is “Kyo dake wa” - Just for today.
They remind us to be ever present. They remind us that we don’t have to sort out the problems of tomorrow today, they invite us to manage ourselves and the important things in life on a daily basis. Step by step, moment by moment.
There is a beautiful Sanskrit poem which is on our bathroom mirror, that re-affirms Usuis message:

Look to this day
For it is life
The very life of life
In it’s brief course lie all
The realities and truths of existence
The joy of growth
The splendour of action
The glory of power
For yesterday is but a memory
And tomorrow
Is only a vision
But today well lived
Makes every yesterday and memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope
Look well therefore to this day!

It is my belief that worry and anger in particular bring disease. With a to-do list as long as your arm and the pressures that running a company can bring (never mind everything else outside of it), it can be very easy to allow negative thoughts to spiral. Worry and anger lower out personal vibration weaken our physical bodies and sap our vital energy.
Thank fully for me I am very gently reminded by the principles which hang above my desk of a way to banish those feelings and come back to myself. Gratitude and compassion are immensely powerful. The realisation that to be sitting here typing this, warm, fed, rested having enjoyed a safe and comfortable sleep in my own home, with a good education behind me and money in the bank, puts me in the top 2% of the most privileged people on this planet.
Pondering on that for a moment, as it’s a wonderful feeling. I think of my husband, my friends, my family, the work that I’m able to do, the books that surround me in my office and feed my mind, the car that starts first time, my good health, my freedom of speech, my ability to enjoy music, the red wine I can enjoy, the fact that I can type, the sun is shining, my tea is hot, my shower works, my loo flushes….the list of daily blessings is endless.

Just spending a moment on these thoughts raises my energy (and my zest for the to-do list) like you wouldn’t believe. It also sends out a wave, a powerful restorative healing wave of energy that touches all those in its path. By allowing myself compassion it takes the pressure off. I get done what I get done and I’m doing my work honestly and to the best of my ability. Today is a new day, as tomorrow will be. By allowing myself compassion it also puts me in a space to receive love, support and compassion from others, without which life would be infinitely harder. By extending compassion to every other living thing, I am able to pass on a gift acceptance and love that is one of the most powerful forces in our Universe.

As I reflect on Dr Usuis teachings it occurs to me that I don’t use Reiki, Reiki uses me, and that is the greatest blessing of all.

The Expectation Principle

This weekend my office was blighted by a technology meltdown of sorts, ok so I have a propensity to exaggerate slightly. The "meltdown" manifested as: no broadband and no email. So my usual Monday morning task of posting this blog was put back while I cleared some of the backlog of mails and error messages this morning.

What's this got to do with motivation you say?

Well I realised that, while I have a fairly strong internal drive to get most things done, I also have a fairly short window in which to do them before motivation wanes. This blog is an example, I very nearly didn't take the time to write it. Firstly because I hadn't even sketched out the usual Sunday night draft as Mike and I were over at friends of ours for dinner. Secondly, due to being out with said friends, there is a little more alcohol in my Monday morning bloodstream this morning, than usual. Lastly as I knew it would take some time and I was already playing catch up.

Well you're reading the evidence of the motivational strategy that was applied and it's what I like to call "The Expectation Principle". It's very simple, I knew that someone was expecting to see this blog this morning, I also knew that they were expecting to see it at 9.30. I hold this particular person in high esteem which also led me to be motivated meet their expectations.

When we don't have the internal motivation, having someone else hold your feet to the fire to achieve certain tasks can be very useful. There is a difference, however, between The Expectation Principle and the kind of stick motivation that you get when someone nags you to get something done. The Expectation Principle is a positive feeling, a pull towards meeting high expectations, a desire to please if you like, with a little something extra.

So if you know you have things to accomplish today or this week, that might slip off the radar, engage someone to help you with your motivation.

There are a number of ways to set in motion the expectation principle, here's one process:
•  Find someone you respect or admire who's opinion of you matters, but perhaps you don't know too well yet.
•  Have a chat with them, explain why you're aiming to achieve your particular task, get excited about the benefits of doing that.
•  Allow them to be curious and genuinely interested in your desired outcome, take on board their suggestions, thoughts and comments.
•  Be specific about the day and time that you will achieve this task by.
•  When the time comes to do your task, remind yourself of their expectation. I have an image of this person in my head and can hear their words of encouragement, but whatever way you remind yourself will work just as well.
•  If the time passes without you having achieved your task, allow them to remind you about the benefits of your outcome (you might need to ask them to do this for you in advance).

If you need a buddy to help you get fired up about that task that's been bugging you then drop me a line, I'll be delighted to help.
Wishing you a thoroughly motivated Monday!
Elizabeth Cairns
Amovita Limited
"Inspiring you to achieve what you never thought possible"
www.amovita.co.uk

MMM - Monday morning motivation

Mike, my husband, and I spent a lovely evening with two great friends of ours over the weekend. Both very creative passionate people who’s company we thoroughly enjoy. We got to talking, as we usually do, about our work.
By the end of the conversation we were geared up for a great week ahead, reaffirmed in our commitment to the work that we do and overflowing with enthusiasm, helped a little by the mulled wine.

On reflection this morning I started to unpick the process that we went through, in a fairly fundamental way, to gain a deeper understanding of how that seamless and elegant process worked. I thought I’d share my initial thoughts in the hope that it may provide some Monday morning Motivation for you.

If you were a donkey, which I’m not suggesting you are of course, would you be more motivated by the carrot or the stick? If you were an athlete, would you be a sprinter, or a long distance runner? The Tortoise or the Hare? Sheep or Shepherd?

It’s fair to say, I think, that we are all slightly different in our motivation.

In Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) the patterns that I’m fascinated by in relation to motivation, amongst other things, are known as Meta Programmes. In straight forward terms, these are patterns in our way of thinking that we use to form our view of the world, preferences if you like that determine the filters we apply to the information we receive. It’s important to note that each Meta Programme or pattern is highly variable according to the situation.

As an example the carrot / stick analogy might be used to describe the Meta Programme of Towards – Away From. Does a person move towards pleasure, or away from pain in that particular situation?  In my work, I’m very much pulled by the carrot, the stick just irritates me. When I’m moved to do the ironing, it’s because I can’t get in the room before climbing Shirt Everest! (Away From).
In the context of motivating my friend towards her work, the Towards also applies. The prospect of bringing to fulfilment creative, artistic, profound projects inspires her more than the need to pay the bills. I’ve also noticed this trait in a number of my friends and fellow networkers who have entrepreneurial tendencies.

So if we know the carrot motivates us, how can we use that?
I noticed, during our conversation, that we were loosely following a process that I often engage with when coaching, that may be useful if you’ve not considered this before.
Lets imagine being a donkey again, if there was a carrot round the next corner, but you couldn’t see it, it might edge you forwards for a while, but you would likely soon get bored and give up. It might not be as motivating for you as if it was hanging on a string, just out of reach of your nose. In order to be motivated by it, the carrot needs to be visible.

My friend is an artist, a really god one and she likes to work big. As we were talking I could see her imagining herself engaged in her work on these giant canvasses, painting and screen printing to her hearts desire. She could see the process and the end result including the delighted look on her clients faces when they hang their piece with pride. The more she saw, the more excited she became. When we added dialogue to the images in her mind and rehearsed those successful conversations she would have with her clients, it became even more real.

The process is a simple one that you can apply today. Create a simple vision for your work, ask yourself
“What’s the big picture here? Why am I doing this? What will it achieve for me? What’s the value of what I do for my clients?” All these things, start to make you feel good about what it is that you’re doing.
Then see yourself doing it with great success. Make the images big, colourful and real for you. To make it even more compelling use as many senses as you can. Add a soundtrack that reinforces it for you. Add the smells, make them really specific, for aromatherapists out there imagine that perfect top, middle, base note blend that works wonders on the mind body and soul, if you’re a chef, add the sizzle, the aroma, the taste! Make your vision as real as possible. Then dangle it in front of your nose….! Keep it in front of you when you need a lift or a spurt of motivation, remind yourself of why you’re slogging through your to do list, writing your blog, using market place, updating your status, making that call you might not want to make. Spend a minute of your precious time to paint a picture in your mind and re-motivate yourself.

“Vision without action is a daydream, Action without vision is a nightmare” Japanese Proverb

I’ve only scratched the surface of meta programmes, mental rehearsal and the wealth of tools and techniques that are related to this fascinating field of motivation. Watch this space for future MmM’s or message me if I’ve inspired curiosity and you want to find out more.

“Motivation is like bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.”

Peak Experiences

Following on from an earlier blog on combating the symptoms of SAD I thought I’d remind us as the end of the week (and my Netwalk) is coming up about the benefits of getting out in nature. Those in “the scientific know” have finally caught up with what us nature lovers have been raving on about for a fair while now.

Although I’m rarely surprised, it still always pains me to hear of the number of my clients, who work corporately in particular, that don’t take a lunch break. Either they don’t have time, or worse still don’t see it as important. As winter draws closer, the likelihood that many of us will be travelling to and from work in the dark increases. Would you stick your favourite pet in a dark box all day? As I encouraged you to do in my earlier blog (sorry for sounding like a scratched record) Get out and take a break in the sunlight – even if it’s not a blazing sunny day, the natural light will make a difference to your mood. If you can combine it with time in a green space all the better as this has even further beneficial effects.

In a report by Dr William Bird, A GP and Strategic Health Advisor to Natural England, entitled “Natural Thinking” published June this year he clearly states that “access to green space can also help alleviate a range of mental health problems. Contact with nature reduces stress within minutes, increases the elderly’s satisfaction and with where they live and improves children’s concentration and self-discipline, including the symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Scandinavian studies indicate that playing in nature has a positive impact on children's social play, concentration and motor ability (Bang et al, 1989; Grahn, 1991; Fjortoft, 1995, 1998, 1999; Grahn et al ,1997).

A recent American study confirmed that green play settings improved children's concentration: children with Attention Deficit Disorder were found to function better than usual after activities in green settings (Faber Taylor et al, 2001).

As highlighted last year by John Davis, Ph.D.of Naropa University nature is also a trigger for what Maslow describes as Peak Experiences. (Experiences of optimal mental health, comparable to intense spiritual experiences or mystical experiences. Maslow also talked about plateau experiences characterized more by a sense of tranquillity and serenity, lower intensity, and often, longer duration.)

Some of the most profound experiences in my life have been in natural settings. Earlier this year I was moved to tears and had astounding personal revelations, while I watched the natural wonder of dawn breaking over the completely cloudless peak of Mount Kenya.
Davis goes on to say that: Anecdotal evidence suggests that many spiritual leaders had key mystical experiences in wilderness settings, e.g., Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Black Elk, et al. Of course, many people have used nature experiences as paradigmatic examples of spiritual or transpersonal experiences. In a psychological context, the integral theorist, Ken Wilber, is notable for referring to "nature mysticism" in describing transpersonal experience. Survey results on frequency and triggers for peak experiences (Davis, Lockwood, & Wright) shows that nature is the most common trigger for peak experiences
I adore England not least because of the spectacular diversity that it’s natural environment abounds.
Here’s some of my favourite spots around England and Wales (I haven’t spent enough time in Scotland yet!), if you fancy planning a natural peak this weekend.

Forests
New Forest – Knightwood Oak
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6a5kvg
Burnham Beeches
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/05/fall/beeches.shtml

Rivers
New Forest – Adventures on Beaulieu River
http://www.newforestactivities.co.uk/beaulieumain.htm

Seaside
Beachy Head
http://www.beachyhead.org.uk/about_the_area.html

Isle of Purbeck
http://www.isleofpurbeck.com/corfe.html

Hills & Mountains
Snowdonia National Park
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/1098/Eryri.html

Scafell
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/webcams/scafell.shtml

South Downs
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Southdowns/index.asp

Sunshine on SAD days

I was chatting with a lovely lady in my network the other day, Sue Atkins, The Parent Coach, and we were noting the change of season and musing about the virtues of light boxes, particularly those ones that simulate the sunrise. Autumn is one of my favourite seasons and I don’t know about you but if I wake up to glorious sunrise streaming through the curtains it usually entices me out of bed a great deal quicker than murky grey mist!

The changing seasons I’m sure affects all of us, from the little old lady down the hall who’s rheumatism flares up in the damp, to the young lad who will soon be walking home from school in the dark. Seasonal Affective Disorder S.A.D is something that’s been on my radar for some time.
According to the SAD Association it affects an estimated half a million people every winter (Source www.sada.org.uk).

Some of the symptoms they list also crop up fairly regularly in my clients and colleagues, and I’ve noticed them in myself too. There is some debate as to whether SAD exists but leaving that aside for the moment I think it is fair to say that the symptoms are experienced by many. So what can we do to actively prepare ourselves for the retreat into winter?
How can we continue the vitality and vibrancy of energy that we need to maintain thriving businesses and happy lives?’

Well a light box may well be a viable solution and there are a wealth on the market. I haven’t road tested them all so can’t make a personal recommendation, but I’ve listed a few sources in case it’s helpful. If you have and you can, do get in touch.
www.outsidein.co.uk
www.BriteBox.co.uk
www.sadbox.co.uk

Equally there are some very simple lifestyle changes that we can make that will raise our general vitality.

Make the most of the little sunshine we have.
If you go to work in the dark and travel home in the dark, take time out during the daylight hours to get out in the fresh air. There’s no real excise not to take ½ an hour out for lunch is there?
Build in walks in green spaces at the weekend, rain or shine it will do wonders for your natural vitality. After all there’s no such thing as bad weather…only the wrong clothing.

Get the right Vit’s.
Common sense for most of us I know but when comfort food beckons it can be really easy to loose sight of a healthy balanced diet. Try to stick to Vegetables in season.
If you’re lucky enough to have a weekly farmers market on your doorstep like us then great, but for those who have a little less time and may not be sure what’s in season or not perhaps consider getting it delivered.
Abel & Cole or Farmers choice are just two companies that have been recommended to me and reach most UK areas.
www.abel-cole.co.uk
www.farmerschoice.net/organic

    
Have a good stretch.
Those of us that enjoy yoga, tai chi or similar can rave about the numerous benefits. If you aren’t that way inclined, don’t have time to get to a class then a good top to toe stretch when you get out of bed in the morning, gives your meridians, muscles, energetic flows and aura a good surge of energy to get you going. It doesn’t have to be those fancy lycra coated stretches you might see in a London park. Reaching to touch the ceiling and bending to touch your toes in your fluffy pjs works just as well.

For those more interested in learning more about energy work and getting the subtle energetic flows working even more effectively you might like to try a simple 5 minute daily energy routine.
I thoroughly recommend Donna Eden’s Energy Medicine work and of course my own Amovita Vitality Workshops. The next one is 26th April 10.30 - 12.30 at Earth Life in Kew.

Talk, write, scream, paint.
Symptoms of depression can be cripple ling to the most creative, extrovert and lively individuals and families. When low mood hits it can have a tendency to “domino” and effect our whole lives. As soon as you notice a change in mood, do something about it before it spirals. For some people a chat with a friend, coach or counsellor may help. For others a good scream in the privacy of your own car parked in a remote field can be liberating, The tried and tested “write and rip” technique for when your mind is cluttered with negative thoughts or worries works wonders. Write it all down in a stream of consciousness, don’t re-read it just rip it up, burn it or bury it. Painting for some can be creative and cathartic especially on a huge canvas so it become a whole body experience. Dancing, singing, walking, crying ….the list goes on as far as your imagination will let it.

Be around happy people!
We all know joyful vibrant people in our lives, I’m so blessed that so many of my friends and family are a joy to be with. Spend time with those people, release those natural endorphins and have a good laugh!

Do something for someone you love
A colleague of mine once said to me there’s no such thing as altruism, which is an interesting thought (for another blog I think). I think it is fair to say that doing something for someone else can make you feel good. Even the little things, a smile, a kind word or a hug given with unconditional love has a butterfly effect that we can only try and imagine.

If this blog has opened your eyes to something new then great and if it has simply been a reminder of truths you already knew, fantastic, if it has provoked curiosity, argument or a thought about your own lifestyle then my work here is done.

Wishing you a sunny day
Elizabeth

It goes without saying that if you feel you are suffering from serious S.A.D symptoms then a trip to your GP or alternative health practitioner is also recommended.