1. Make A List

Before going to bed, make a list of what you need to do the next day. Write everything down that comes to your mind and just in case you get more ideas, keep pen and paper beside your bed so you can easily them when you remember an additional task.

Writing down things that are going on in your head gives your brain the signal that it no longer needs to think about those tasks, which will help to slow or even stop the mental merry-go-round.

2. Avoid TV Before Retiring

The impact of news, thrillers or emotional movies are as  intense as underestimated. While your conscious mind seems to turn off while watching TV, the unconscious is working unremittingly, trying to make sense of the impressions it gets.

It does not distinguish between ‘reality’ and ‘movie’ – to the unconscious mind it’s mind it’s all the same. Here lies its power and its ‘weakness’.

Leave some time between the end of a movie and retiring and certainly do not fall asleep with the TV on.

3. Fill Your Mind With Inspiration

The best way to end the day is to do so on a positive note, so that you will be drifting off with uplifting thoughts.

Reading inspirational, motivational, empowering self-growth books and material for at least 30 minutes prior to bed will help to avoid falling asleep with the stressful thoughts like most people do.

4. Darkness

The darker your room the better your sleep. When it is dark, your body produces an enzyme that supports deep sleep and the reparation process of your body.

If you are afraid of the dark, put a light on a timer, so that it will turn off at a certain time or use a tea candle.

5. Avoid Electronic Pollution

Make sure to turn off all electronic devices in your bedroom or even better – ban everything that requires electricity from your bedroom and switch off your outlets . Every electronic impulse is a disturbance for the body, which in its essence is pure energy.

If you need an alarm clock to wake up in time, choose one that is or can be battery-operated.

6. Early Dinner

The purpose of sleep is to allow time for body and mind to heal and to repair. When there is undigested food in the stomach, the body is forced to focus on digestion instead of healing.

To avoid that, have your last meal at least 3 hours before going to bed and resist the temptation of late snacks. The body was designed to digest food best while moving – not while laying down.

A saying suggests to ‘have breakfast like an emperor, lunch like a king and dinner like a beggar’.

7. Quality Sleep

In Ayurvedic medicine it’s believed that there are cycles that are the most conducive for certain activities. Generally, going to bed at 10:00 pm and arising at 6:00 am appears to allow the body to rest the deepest, rejuvenate the most, and gives the person the most energy throughout the day.

However, some people need a bit more, some may need less sleep. Keeping it within 10pm to 6am (if you can), find out which time frame gives you the best quality sleep.

8. Drug Free Sleeping

Don’t take drugs that are supposed to help you sleep (unless required by your physician). Most are designed to simply deaden your senses. However, the goal of ‘sleep’ is to give your body the time and means to repair itself and prepare for the coming day.

When you drug yourself to sleep, every system in your body is slowed down, including all those systems that are responsible for repairing you.

If you really need support falling asleep, talk to your homoeopath, who will be able to assess your situation and recommend a natural remedy that considers your personal conditions or try aroma therapy.

9. Fresh Air

Make sure that there’s a fresh air supply in the room. The air indoors is said to be some of the most toxic air around. When you sleep, you’re only able to breath in the air that surrounds you in your enclosed bedroom. Try opening a window (if it’s cold outside then just open the window a crack).

The fresh air that comes in while you sleep will help your body repair itself because you’ll have access to cleaner, more oxygenated air.

10.Exercise

During the day, do 60 minutes of mild exercise. If you don’t have time to do 60 minutes in a row, then break it up into 2 – 30 minute sessions, or 3 – 20 minute session, or 6 – 10 minute sessions – just get a full 60 minutes in. The best exercise when talking about general health and preparing your body for a great night’s sleep is “walking”.

Tai Chi Workshop

Tai Chi has proven to be a very effective ‘exercise program’ to reduce stress and increase your energy.

Tai Chi increases flexibility and strength in your joints. It leads to a very good, upright body posture. Tai Chi eliminates blockages in your main and sub-meridians (energy lines) and encourages a balanced flow of Yin-Yang energy throughout the whole body.

The subtleness and complexity of Tai Chi initiates a never-ending process. Once starting this journey, Tai Chi practitioners experience a vivid connection with energy. Like rarely any other form of exercise, Tai Chi leads to harmony and flexibility for body, mind & spirit.

This ‘Tai Chi for ‘Health’ program will start you with the basic moves (forms) for beginners. The program is based on the modified ‘Sun and Yang’ styles of Tai Chi.

Also included are safe warm up exercises and a basic Qi Gong breathing exercise to help you relax.

With ongoing classes and continued practice, you should develop better balance, improve blood circulation, notice some relief from joint pain and feel a reduction in stress levels as well as become aware of improved concentration levels, clarity and focus.

Overall, Tai Chi aims to achieve an improvement in health and well being.

Join us on

29th of September 2011 at 9.30am

for the first of 6 Tai Chi classes.

Cost is only $50, payable on registration via EFTPOS or cash.

Places are strictly limited to 12 participants and only another 11 places are left, so register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Registrations are taken via the form here, per email or phone (0439 265 230).

We look forward to meeting you there for a great time with like-minded people.

If it is important that you absorb information quickly or that you do a task efficiently and without mistakes you want to be able to concentrate, to focus your attention and your energy on one specific thing.

Step 1 – Improve The Basics

Stress of any kind is a major influence on our ability to concentrate, so the main aim when it comes to improving our concentration is to take away some of the stresses that prevent it.

Some easy to control factors are:

• Sleep – make sure you get enough (not too little, but neither too much)
• Breaks – allow yourself short breaks between tasks where you sit and think of nothing, at least not of the task you just finished or the one you are about to start
• Balance – in your leisure time, establish activities that are of different dynamics and energy than your main work. Balance a stressful work environment with activities that are calming and a quiet, very structured and repetitive workplace with playful and adventurous endeavours.
• Nourishment – Nutritious food, a healthy amount of  water at room temperature and exercise are essential to supply body and brain with the energy to concentrate, so are fresh air and natural light

Additionally you might consider, if possible, what time of the day you do the tasks that require your focus. Some people work best in the early morning, some prefer late nights and sometimes that may change too. Observe yourself, listen within and get familiar with your own needs and strengths.

Be careful with the consumption of coffein as a stimulant. It may give you a quick kick, but eventually causes dehydration, which your brain won’t like as it needs a healthy fluid balance in order to concentrate.

Step 2 – Have A Break

Some people have a tendency to push themselves hard and to go without a break until the job is finished. Sitting back and taking a nice deep breath is regarded as the reward that comes at the end of the task (if it comes at all).

However, having regular and refreshing breaks is essential in order to enable concentrated working. If you keep on pushing, the effect will be contrariwise: you will be too exhausted to keep going and over time your body and mind will develop unconscious strategies to avoid being under such stress again. Procrastination anyone?

So give yourself a regular break, where you intentionally and mindfully relax. This means that you are not filling it with an activity that again requires your attention, like reading or watching TV. Instead, literally smell the roses, sit down to listen to some music, do a breathing exercise or take a short walk in fresh air.

Take your breaks before you feel the signs of exhaustion. That way your break can provide more recovery quality and you will reload quicker than when you are already running on empty. Remind yourself with a timer that you set on 45-60 minutes and allow at least 5 minutes to reload your energy.

Step 3 – Create A Supportive Environment

The environment we live or work in has also a big impact on our ability to concentrate. Feng Shui is an ancient art and science that deals with the mutual effect of  Chi (energy) and environment and gives suggestions how to improve the flow of energy in internal and external spaces.

But you don’t have to be an expert in Feng Shui to create space that supports your concentration. Here are some simple to implement ideas:

Phone/Mobile – turn it off! It’s that simple

Sign -Let the people around you know that you don’t want to be interrupted with a ‘Do not disturb’ sign. And shut your door!

Declutter – put away everything from your desk that is not related to your work and that has the potential to take away your attention from your task. A clean desk leads to a focused mind.

Move -create some space for movement. Ideally, have a mat handy for a quick Yoga posture, a breathing exercise or some stretches.

Reduce – remove every picture or furniture that you don’t need in your room and keep it clean and tidy. As with your desk, the less there is to take your attention away, the easier it is to concentrate.

Music – turn it off if it distracts you or try whether some nice background music is supporting your concentration. If you prefer to have some background sounds, choose from a CD or put your own collection together.

If you work for a company, you might have to ask permission to change things around. However, if you explain to your employer that you would like to make a few (appropriate!) changes in order to increase your concentration – and therefore your performance -  it is very like that your boss will happily agree.

Step 4 – Find Your Stressors

After finding out what supports your concentration, have a look what may trouble you. There are some factors that you won’t be able to influence. You’ll simply have to find a way to live with them. However, there are a few measures you can take to deal with potential stress factors.

External Factors

There are quite a few factors that – once recognised – can be eliminated. They are again very individual. What bothers one, another may not even take notice of.

Noises -from traffic, people in the streets, loud music, voices, machinery or similar can easily distract us and disturb our concentration. Train yourself to get accustomed to external noises without losing focus. Alternatively, try earplugs. You may feel funny to do so in the beginning, but you will soon get over it.

Other People – Colleagues, children or other family members can become real concentration killers, for example if you don’t have your own office where you can shut the door. If possible try to have the house for yourself during the times when you really need to concentrate, find a bit of room in a part of the house that is not so much frequented, try to arrange something with a friend or simply go back to earplugs.

Odours – Even odours can derange us. These are hard to avoid and to make it worse they are very powerful. You can try to fight them with your own set of  fragrances from incense sticks or burning your favourite oils. Go for the woody essential oils, like Bergamotte, Cypress or Sandalwood. Their fragrance does not only more easily overpower annoying odours, they are also supportive for your concentration.

Other Stressors – If you start to focus on things that catch your attention, you might be surprised how little things can suddenly be annoying, like a shrill colour, the busy-ness of a picture, a pattern, a dripping appliance, a sound that can’t be located…Many of those can be eliminated, once we have finally become aware what the problem is.

Internal Factors

Internal factors, like a merry-go-round of thoughts in our head, worries, high expectations or critical self-talk can easily throw us off balance.

It is hard to concentrate if your thoughts easily wonder off or you constantly worry about things, even more so when you start to feel guilty about not being able to concentrate. A downward spiral into a place where concentration feels impossible seems inevitable.

A simple exercise may help to break the viscous cycle: Write your thoughts down.

1. When you find your thoughts spinning in your head and you just can´t turn them off, get yourself a piece of paper, a pen and a stop watch that you set on a 3-5 minute countdown.
2. Start to write down everything that comes into your mind without stopping until your set time is over or your paper is full.
3. Imagine that by writing your thoughts down, they actually get sucked out of your head onto the paper – a bit like Dumbledore does it with his wand in the Harry Potter books.
4. Put your paper aside and notice how your head feels lighter

This exercise has a few positive effects:

• You allow your thoughts to come up and be heard
• You pay attention to the things that bother you, which is part of becoming more aligned with yourself
• You can more easily let go of the thoughts, because you have written them down, hence your unconscious mind recognises that they won´t be forgotten and will therefore allow you to calm down

Step 5 – Train Yourself

Our ability to concentrate can decrease over time, if we are exposed to many or continuing stresses for a while. The good news is, it can also be improved if we train ourselves to do so.

If you choose to train yourself, remember to have fun with it. This will ensure that you’ll have better results than if you’d look at the exercises as another thing you don’t want to do. If you don’t want to do them, don’t do them!

However if you would like to train yourself to improve your concentration, here are a few ideas to get you going.

The Watch-Watcher

Level 1

1. Grab a watch with a second hand.
2. For two minutes, observe the second hand as if there was nothing else important in the world
3. If you loose track because your thoughts wandered off, start again for two minutes

Level 2

Once you have mastered level 1, lift the bar:

1. Put the watch on your TV or very close, while there is an interesting movie or program going on.
2. Only watch the second hand and don’t allow the TV to take your attention away

Level 3

Now we’re talking!

1. While watching the second hand for two minutes, continue to recite the following number pattern:

               2 4 6 8 10 8 6 4 2 4 6

As soon as you find yourself drifting off, start again. Keep going for at least two minutes.

Mandala

Colouring in Mandalas is a fun way to improve your concentration.

1. Find yourself one that you like and that has lots of little  different segments to colour in
2. Decide on a pattern how you are going to colour it in. Stick to that pattern
3. Start colouring in, using either one colour first until you coloured every pattern with that one colour before moving on to the next or complete one set of segments in different colours, then the next. Choose the option that is more challenging in terms of concentration

Word/Letter Puzzle

Option 1

1. Find yourself a puzzle where you have a number of given words that you are supposed to find in a field of letters (up, down, diagonal, forwards, backwards, upside down…)

Option 2

1. Create your own puzzle:
2. Make a few copies of a paragraph of text from a newsletter or magazine with around 1000 words. Hint: up to here you have around 1700 words in this article)
3. Choose a letter that usually appears quite often, like A or E or N
4. Circle each letter of your choice in the text of one of the copies and count them
5. Check again with another copy. Do you have the same number?

Memory

Memory is a great game that is also particularly good for children to help them improve their concentration.

Choose a memory game with pictures that are appealing to you or make your own.

1. Place all the cards face down either in an ordered structure of rows and lines or randomly all over the place
2. There is always a pair of the same picture that you have to find by turning two and remembering where they are
3. If you turn two that are the same, you may take them and have another go, otherwise it’s the next player’s turn
4. Keep going until all cards have been taken
5. Then go again.

You will find that once you have played the game three times in a row, it gets more and more challenging to remember where a card is placed.

Have a break after three games.

Step 6 – Monitor Your Progress

Like with every exercise that you do, it is a good idea to monitor your progress.

Get yourself a little notebook where you put down your main stress factors/concentration killers, what you did to eliminate or reduce them or how you chose to cope with them. After a while check in how your concentration has changed as a result of your efforts, what worked and what didn’t.

Remember to give yourself a little reward when you notice some improvement!

 Step  7 – Establish Cross References Through Anchoring

This is a technique from NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming. With it you can program yourself to better concentration – literally by ‘pressing a button’.

1. Decide where you want to set your ‘anchor’, preferably at a place that is easy to access, but won’t be touched by others than yourself; knuckle valleys are ideal.
2. Remember a time when you were extremely focused and concentrated, when nothing could take away your attention. Let the image of this specific event become bright in colours, intensive with sounds and most importantly, connect to the feeling of being totally focused and concentrated.
3. When you find yourself at the peak of intensity for being concentrated, press your anchor for a few seconds, just as long as you are at the peak. Let go when the intensity drops.
4. Repeat with another event where you felt totally focused, absolutely concentrated.
5. Now think of something different, like what you had for lunch yesterday
6. Then test your anchor by pressing your knuckle or wherever you set your anchor. Do you feel how you suddenly start to recall the state of being totally concentrated?
7. ‘Stack’ your anchor. Whenever you are in a deep state of concentration, press your anchor to intensify it. That way your anchor is getting stronger over time.

How often have you heard it or even thought or said it yourself today?

We may use other words, but the statement is the same. We experience a lot of stress from the moment we get out of bed until we – often exhausted – fall back into it and even beyond.

Constant stress is one of the most serious causes for un-resourceful behaviour that initiates even more stress.

But is stress really our enemy?

In fact, stress is a very important factor when it comes to survival, because it helps the body to prepare for fight or flight.

The purpose of stress is to enable us to react to a stressor (stress factor), allowing us to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.

Stress also supports our development, because every effort and solution requires a certain amount of stress energy. It brings out the best in us. Top performances wouldn’t be possible without it, as they require a controlled amount of stress.

Like with many things it is the ‘too much’ that is harmful for body, mind and soul. Stress can only be useful, when it is controlled, managed, and dealt with resourcefully.

But how do we do that?

There are three starting points for stress management:

1. Stressors – changing your environment

Knowing what stresses you is a good place to start with. Once you know that, you can then work on ways to either eliminate, reduce or even avoid your stress factors.

For example you could

• turn off the phone or radio during a break, meeting or when you want to have some ‘me-time’ (eliminate)
• turn down the volume of phone, radio or other devices or shut the door to reduce noise when you need to work concentrated (reduce)or
• take another route to work, start earlier or later or even switch your way of transportation completely to public transport if you want to avoid the rush hour or road rage

2. ‘Self-Management’ – managing your stress response

Managing your stress response means learning how to create long-term health and wellbeing strategies and a resourceful attitude to

• cultivate or increase resistance (through active relaxation
• develop skills for an optimistic, positive mindset
• change the perception of the situation

3. ‘Agitation management’ – finding ways for an immediate response adjustment

In an acute stress situation it is useful to be able to refer back to more resourceful short-term techniques to influence your immediate response in order to avoid agitation peaks or the build-up of (negative) spiralling effects.

Short term health and wellbeing strategy options to reduce, cope with or prevent stress include

• Spontaneous relaxation
• Perception channelling
• Positive self-talk
• Venting -release from immediate pressure

Great natural and non-invasive alternatives to drugs, alcohol, medication, smoking or other health compromising choices are systematic muscle relaxation, autogenic training or breathing techniques, asking yourself power-questions or learning how to use self-suggestions or affirmations effectively.

In the long run, prevention is better than cure and dealing with the effects of stress is essential. Stress is always individual and usually home made, which means it is a learned behaviour or results from impractical habits.

The good thing is that every learned behaviour or behavioural pattern can also be unlearned, replaced or changed.

Stress can impact your body, mind and spirit on four levels:

1. Cognitive level – all mental processes – thoughts and senses
2. Emotional level – all feelings and sensitivities
3. Vegetal-hormonal level – all reactions of the autonomous nervous system and the connected organ processes that are normally not consciously controlled, like hormones
4. Muscular level – reactions of the muscular skeleton system, those that can be controlled consciously

This means that different stressors require different stress responses. How you experience stress mainly will give you a good indicator how to best deal with it.

For long-term health and wellbeing you may want to consider a strategy that involves relaxation (regular massages, meditation in motion…) or intentional exercises to calm the mind and strengthen the body, creating a supportive network or attending personal development workshops or seminars that teach self-management and life leadership skills.

Chi is the Chinese term for vital energy or life energy, also called Ki in Japanese, Sen in Thai or Prana in Ayurvedic (Indian) tradition.

The belief in those and other cultures is that Chi/Ki/Sen/Prana… runs through energy lines in the body that are not visible, but which can be sensed by trained practitioners and even the aware individual.

People who experience a lot of stress, grief, anger, frustration or other strong emotions without finding a balancing counterpart or learning a resourceful way to deal with these emotions, over time develop blockages in their energy lines which are called meridians (Chinese and Japanese), Sen lines (Thai) or Nadis (Ayurveda).

Those blockages are experienced as tensions and are often the first symptoms that something is not quite as it should be. If no attention is given to those signals, the body uses a more intense language to express the need for Chi, which can’t pass the blockages in the energy line. This is when dis-comfort starts to turn into dis-ease, which will become serious or chronic illnesses if only the symptom, but not the real cause is treated.

A blockage in an energy line causes the Chi flow to slow down or even to stagnate. As a result you feel tired, exhausted, weary… Your body starts to go in recovery mode, winds down to safe energy or to get in a state where it thinks it can regain some vigour. It is your body´s way to say it needs time to repair itself.

The stronger the flow of Chi, the quicker is your recovery time and the easier it is for your body to initiate whichever healing process is necessary, which means it is a vital prerequisite to provide your system with high quality and quantity Chi.

There are a few simple ways to do that:

1.      Breathe – Breathing deeply into your belly helps to take in lots of oxygen and Chi, provided it is fresh air. Avoid closed, all day air conditioned rooms, search for a place close to a tree, garden or natural water.

2.      Eat – Nutritious food like organic fruit and vegetables are great carriers of Chi. It may not be suitable for everyone to eat vegetables raw, but if your constitution allows, go for it.

3.      Drink – Choose pH neutral, if possible mineral rich water and drink it at room temperature. Ice cold or very chilled drinks make it hard for the spleen to bring intakes to a temperature where their nutritional components can be split and sent to the relevant systems and a lot of the value gets lost.

4.      Exercise gentle and thoughtful moves – While Qi Gong is referred to as the art of generating Chi, Tai Chi is the modality that helps to manage it. Yoga focuses on breathing, heating the body and keeping or ideally increasing its flexibility. Pilates exercises strengthen and stabilise the core, movements based on the Feldenkrais method may release memories that are stored in body tissue and increases body awareness.

5.      Relax – Meditation and deep relaxation quieten and bring focus to your mind and spirit.

The ChiBall Method™ is a body-mind exercise program that is build on the above principles and also considers Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and seasons known from TCM – traditional Chinese medicine.

A ChiBall™ is a ball the size of a honey melon, available in six different colours, each with a specific fragrance, utilising the therapeutical powers of aromas and colours while performing a choreographed routine to specifically composed music.

A typical ChiBall™ class is gently balancing, energising, activating Chi and relaxing and can be adapted to suit older adults, children, high achievers, mums-to-be,  athletes or mixed classes. To learn more about The ChiBall Method ™ go to the website www.chiball.com or www.chiyujveda.com

Find classes in Townsville

A personalized 4-step guide to looking and feeling great from the inside out

If you want to make an informed decision how to eat healthy, move better and as a result increase your fitness and overall health, you may find this the book you have been waiting for.

The four steps in Paul Chek‘s guide cover

1. Questionnaire to self-assess the area of your health that needs most of the initial attention. The results help you to choose the chapter you want to read next:

2. Nutrition – Explained is the “No-diet” Diet, the scientific foundations the eating suggestions are built on and a graphic that helps you to choose the food that will nurture your body and deliver the energy it is asking for. For the one interested in facts and scientific backgrounds of food, this book offers may offer some interesting surprises.

There are no recipes on offer, which might be a bit disappointing for those who like to follow suggestions. This guide is not suitable for you if you prefer to be told what to do and what not, but offers enough information to make better choices when choosing what you eat (and when you eat).

The consideration of ‘Biochemical Individuality’ and ‘Metabolic Typing’ will give you reference and encouragement how to create a diet that suits your personal needs.

3. Exercise – Described the different types of movement, which is regarded as ‘the path to optimal health’.

Considered are exercises to increase flexibility and energy and conditioning your core, as well as ‘FUN-ctional exercises’, all beautifully documented with step-by-step explanations and visually supported with self-explaining pictures.

Chek mentions special considerations and how to put it all together to make it your personal exercise program that you can easily incorporate in your daily life and adjust to your level of fitness and commitment.

4. Relaxation – Explains how stress, lack of or too much sleep, cutting calories can affect your health and – in a really funny way – the causes and effects of poor digestion and what to do about it.

Overall a wonderful holistic look at living healthy, highly recommendable.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Simplification is a skill that needs commitment, practice and a plan.

Elaine St. James‘ book Simplify Your Life suggest ’100 Ways to Slow Down And Enjoy The Things That Really Matter’.  From household via lifestlye, finances, and job to special issues for women, Simplify Your Life covers the basic areas of life that are often particularly effected by stress.

It is a great ‘beginners guide’ for those who are just getting warm with the idea of making small changes in their lives and are looking for suggestions what to do and how to do it.

A great tool to start any physical or mental de-cluttering process.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. – John F. Kennedy

How is Gratitude related to the relief, management or prevention of stress?

It has been a big challenge for me to be grateful when I was younger and when things happened that either made no sense at that time, that confused me or that I did not like/want to be an experience in my life.

When I was challenged I tended to get upset either with myself, others or the situation. Blame was my good friend.

As you can imagine neither of this was very effective in terms of moving on. The worst experience was when I found out that my (then) husband had an affair with my best friend. That moment I felt like drawn into a black hole, spiraling downwards.

I went through the whole spectrum of negative emotions: anger, sadness, frustration, self-pity, fear, grief, aggression and once through started all over again. Only a few friends who really cared about me dared to be physically and mentally close when the ‘fire horse’ in me came out and the volcano was braking loose.

Today I have the deepest respect for these friends – I really wasn’t a pleasure to be around.

Fast forward 10 years. A few months ago I reconnected with ‘the adulteress’. To be honest, I was very surprised myself when I felt the need to get in contact with her. Even more as she tried to apologise for what happened (back then) and there was no way I would have even listened.

It feels really odd now to use the word adulteress, because this is not how I see her any more. Today I can see the pain that she went through herself. I no longer feel any kind of stress calling her name, while before I almost felt physical pain when I even only thought of her.

Besides time of course, there is one virtue that helped me to see this event differently now:

Gratitude

By practicing Nuad Thai – Traditional Thai Massage and studying its roots in Buddhist tradition as well as becoming a life coach I learned to take responsibility for my actions and my non-actions.

Instead of blaming others, I rather look for the gift in the situation and ask myself better questions:

What can I learn to avoid/do better next time?
How does this help me to grow?
How can I use this to become a better person?

By establishing some resources like a trusted source, a coach I can share insights with, journaling and meditation it is now easy and almost effortless to tap onto the power of Gratitude.

A heartfelt Thank-You to whoever you pray to invites harmony and instant relief to your life. The answer is often a knowing deep inside, that once you have accepted the gift of the situation as an opportunity for learning and growth, it will no longer cause any physical or mental stress.

How to practice Gratitude

Practicing Gratitude is very easy. To start with, ask yourself a simple question:

What happened today that you could choose to be grateful for?

Maybe you got a smile from a stranger, someone picked up your bag when it fell down, you got a nice call from a friend…

Even the simplest things can be a great source to experience Gratitude: the song of a bird, the beauty of a tree, the blue of the sky, a raindrop on a leaf…

Once you get in the habit of practicing Gratitude for the small things, you will find it easier to see the hidden presents in a situation that is more challenging.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. – Albert Schweitzer

Every person has a story and we are all connected.

The story of ‘The Little Soul And The Sun‘ by Neale Donald Walsh gives an insight of how each of us is a shining light and why sometimes the ones that bring us the biggest pain are those we need to show our deepest appreciation. (A review and summary will be available soon).

The Gift Of Gratitude

By practicing Gratitude you will connect with your higher spirit. This is one of the most powerful resources to increase the balance of your body, mind & spirit and will help you to stay much more relaxed when the road of life gets a bit bumpy and challenging.

I would like to share my gratitude for the organiser of the eco fiesta and lifestyle expo, who put together a wonderful event that enabled me to connect with new prospective and re-connect with existing friends.

My deepest appreciation goes to my husband Thomas and my youngest son Noah, who support me unconditionally in everything that I do and who enrich my life beyond words.

Each of my older children, Aaron, David and Lukas, gave my life a twist which was extremely valuable and I am grateful for their strong personalities and enriching characters.

To all my existing clients: your appreciation for my work makes my days. You are all precious to me and I cherish our relationship no matter how often or seldom we see each other.

Without the people who read this, I would just be talking to myself, so my Gratitude includes you as well.

And before this starts to sound like the acknowledgements in the foreword of a book, I stop here – curious to hear what you are grateful for today, tomorrow and the day after. Please share your thoughts and insights below. Thank you.

Lots of stalls where present who showed ideas, strategies or products that support a healthy lifestyle and at the same time live in tune with nature, reduce or avoid waste and overall be more sustainable.

Transition Guidance was represented through the Nuad Thai Academy – providing FREE Foot Massage during the whole duration of the festival.

Almost 100 people put their name down to get in the draw and win the Introductory Offer, the signature Package that gives an overview and an impression of the Nuad Thai Academy‘s specialty:

Nuad Thai – Traditional Thai Yoga Massage
Head Over Heels - Hand, Feet and Head Massage
Nuad Thai Aroma Oil Massage and a
Personal Energy Assessment

All together 2 hours of relaxation and balance, valued at $125!

The lucky winner is announced here.

My personal lessons almost always come in three. Yesterday my lesson was about Respect.

First I was reminded how important it is to Respect our body. Visiting a client in a nursing home brought memories back when my Grandmother had a stroke and needed care. Living in the same little village, my mother saw her three times a day to do the daily tasks like washing and feeding her, cleaning the house, giving her comfort and company.

We lived across the road from my Grandma’s place, but having three little children at that time and studying Architecture, I did not always find or take the time to visit her. However, when my mother needed a break, I took over her duties.

Grandma always loved gardening. Before she moved to the village where my Mum lived and I grew up, she had her own house with a garden that was huge (at least that’s what it seemed to me as a child). It was big enough to be almost self-sustainable, anyway with fruit and vegetables.

I owe my Grandma many wonderful memories of us together in the garden, eating fresh carrots, just simply wiping off the dirt or raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, apricots, directly from bush or tree to mouth and standing in the kitchen cooking the world’s best vegetable soups.

She always had those rosy cheeks and the strong and healthy body that you would expect from a woman who has survived a war and managed an immaculate garden, which she loved keeping in perfect shape and knew everything about how to do it.

Seeing how my Grandma’s body changed made me appreciate even more that I was healthy and fit and that I could do the things I love to do like dance, work out, go for a walk…

My client and ‘Anna-Oma’ (that’s how I called Grandma) reminded me how important it is to

Respect Your BODY

Respect the signs your body is giving you. Typically, your body will tell you what you need to do.

If you are tired, rest and find out why you are tired.
Have you eaten too much food that does not deliver enough energy? Did you drink enough? Did you have enough sleep? Does your body get enough exercise to feel refreshed? Do you get enough fresh air? Do you breath deeply to get lots of oxygen in your system to sustain your brain and other organ to function at their best?

Respect your MIND

If you experience symptoms of discomfort or dis-ease, where do you feel them in your body?
Every body part is related to a topic in life. For example the throat, thyroids and shoulder area is related to truth and communication. A hoarse voice, a tenacious cough or a cold could be a sign that it is time to speak up, to speak your own truth or to find your truth, to learn how to communicate what bothers you or what would make you happy.

It also works the other way around: if your mind (conscious and unconscious) feels neglected, ignored or misunderstood, it will cause blockages in your body. If you are not congruent living your values, your mind will find ways to avoid those situations.

For example when someone highly values Health and works in a fast food restaurant (where they get paid to provide the customers with food they would not eat themselves), the value system would ‘go nuts’. Everything inside would be screaming “This is WRONG!” In order to avoid the situation the mind would cause blockages in the body that causes the person to feel sick, get heavy headaches, feel ill in the stomach – just about anything that will do the trick to avoid going back to work.

By knowing and respecting your values, you can take a lot of stress out of work. They will find ways to make you uncomfortable until you do anyway. For peace of mind it would be a great idea to get clear on your values (or virtues) and align them with work that is meaningful to you.

I am reading The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
again (the original from Irving Stone from 1963!), one of my favourite artists from the Renaissance. At the moment I am at the part where he is conducting dissections to explore and get an understanding how the body works, how muscles and bones are connected.

He respected the human body so much that he was even prepared to carry the burden and guilt of desecrating the dead in order to be able to honour the beauty of the ones alive.

Respect the Moment

The second reminder for Respect came through a documentary about a chef who explores the preparation of food and creation of dishes in the kitchens of Asia. On his journey he focuses rather on the ‘basic’ meals than the haute cuisine. Meals prepared from the people who prepare the food they grow locally or catch fresh.

In the sequel yesterday he was in Bali, where he spoke to a Swiss immigrant who explained why he would never ever leave the island again. He said what fascinates him most there is that the Bali people ‘live in the moment’.

“Look at them, they come from a fishing trip and may have caught five fish, but they are happy because it is enough for today. A young man had a bad car accident, broke his leg – but he is alive. That’s reason enough to be happy, because ‘it could have been worse’.”

He also said that the people are very respectful and very friendly towards visitors of their country. They look at other without judgment, take them as they come. They respect that you may have another religion, another skin colour or other interests.

A very typical scene in Bali is to see someone pray for guidance and protection and the sacrifice of food. Every feast will start with a ‘Thank You’ to the Gods in form of a plate of food that is brought to a shrine. The Respect for their Gods and their traditions is part of daily life in Bali.

From this respect for the moment, for others and for traditions comes a deep sense of calmness and peace.

Communities support each other, they fish together and share their catch, they live in big families while still respecting each other’s space (a family may share the same property and live close to each other, but each generation might have a separate ‘building’ and just share the amenities and the (outdoor) kitchen).

There would hardly be any reason for stress, because in Bali the elements that cause stress in a typical Western country are turned around into resources for a mind that is at peace with itself, with the community and with nature.

Respect your SPIRIT

And thirdly I shouldn’t have been surprised when I looked at my calendar and found this quote from Wayne Dyer:

Respect your oneness, and resist any pressure to be a conformist – be the being you came here to be.

You are unique and special and it is my personal belief that we are all here to serve a purpose. We come from one light and we are the light.

When we are out of alignment with ourselves, that’s when we feel overwhelmed or bored, but when we respect that we have a purpose and are willing to fulfill it, when we surrender to our purpose, that’s when true magic happens.

Respect your Purpose

Living on and with purpose and taking your life in your own hands can be challenging, because not everybody will be supportive if you step up to live to that standard. It may even be your own ego that is sabotaging you to find what you are meant to do and who you are meant to be in the first place.

From my own experience I would like to share that despite (or maybe even more because) of all the challenges, living an authentic life is extremely rewarding.

It is simple to change your life and sometimes it’s not easy. That’s why it is my aim to help you live the life you were born to live, to live on and with purpose, to show you how you can take your life back in your own hands and to offer you guidance during that transition.

Do you already live on and with purpose?

Please share your insights:

How did you find what you are meant to do? What did it take to become who you are meant to be? What is your mission to the world?

I’d love to hear your story. And if you think yours is nothing special, remember Amanda Marshall’s song: ‘Everybody’s Got A Story‘ and it may be yours that is inspiring another person who reads this.