Category Archives: Wellbeing

Working With Energy

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Reiki

After speaking to some of my readers I’ve realised that they have seen my blog posts but not the separate articles that I write. These can be found in the menu at the top of the page and also if I mention them in a blog post there will be links to the pages within the post, usually found when a highlighted word is pressed. However, followers of my site don’t appear to get notified when I publish an article. So with this is mind I thought I’d include some articles in my blog posts. These will be more informative about the subject rather than personal updates on my own journey, however I will also be including personal experiences or opinions on the subject. I will keep the content brief and if you want to know more about the subjects there will also be articles in the menu that will be easier to locate in the future as my blog posts are listed chronologically.

So with this in mind I thought I’d write a bit about Reiki as it is one of the therapies I practice and also use it in my life on a daily basis.

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It’s a Japanese technique used for stress reduction and relaxation and also promotes healing. Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. The word Reiki comes from the Japanese word (Rei) which means “Universal Life” and (Ki) which means “Energy”. Reiki practitioners channel energy in a particular pattern to heal and harmonize. Practicing or receiving Reiki will enrich your life and give you happiness and health on all levels. Reiki is Universal life force energy, that sustains life and promotes healing in all living things.

Benefits from Reiki

  • brings about deep relaxation
  • destroys energy blockages
  • detoxifies the system
  • provides new vitality in the form of healing universal life energy
  • increases the vibrational frequency of the body

It is a safe, gentle, non-invasive form of hands-on healing. Reiki energy is channelled via the practitioners hands into “dis-eased” individuals for rebalancing and to help boost the body’s natural healing process. Reiki can also be performed distantly, where the energy can be sent to an individual who isn’t physically present for them to receive at a time when they are ready.

Hands-On Treatment

A hands on treatment would involve the individual to lie down and the practitioner would either lay their hands gently on their client in a sequence of positions or work in their aura a few inches above the body. Some practitioners may first scan the aura to see if they can locate any imbalances or they may start working on the body right away, usually beginning on the head and working down the body. It doesn’t make any difference how the treatment is performed as the healing energy of Reiki will go to areas that it’s needed. The energy of Reiki heals the Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit. You and the practitioner may or may not feel various sensation during the process. Some people feel heat, tingling or pulsing and the practitioner may also pick up areas where there is pain or disease but not always. In my own experiences as a Practitioner/Master/Teacher I mostly see colours as I work and only recently have I noticed a subtle sensation in my hands. Some of my clients have also seen the same colours or feel sensations as I work. The treatment itself is a very relaxing and peaceful experience and the effects can be felt on a very subtle level or have a deeper impact. It can bring buried emotions to the surface enabling you to release them and move on with life in a more healthy way. It can help you find the motivation to make positive changes in life, give you the courage to let go of things that not good for you or inspire you to notice and act upon new possibilities etc.

Distant/Remote Reiki

This is when a practitioner will send healing to a person from another place, it could be a different room, building, town or country. They perform the treatment as if the client is with them, there a a few ways to do this:

  • Using a witness – this could be a soft toy, doll or even cushion. They do the hands on treatment on the witness as though they would with the actual person.
  • A photograph/visualisation – focusing on an image of the person or even imagining them between the palms of your hands.
  • Healing list/box – some practitioners have healing lists of people who they send Reiki to on a regular basis, sometimes they may have a special box they put the names into and hold this box whilst sending the healing.

In order to send distant healing to people it is necessary to have their permission, their names, location and condition are normally stated before the Reiki session. Sometimes an agreed time will be used but it is possible to send it out to be used when the person is ready for it. Intention is the key with Reiki. Faith or belief is not necessary to benefit from this healing system however a person who strongly disbelieves may quite possibly, consciously or unconsciously, block or reject the energy. In the case of requesting healing or sending healing to someone you can’t get permission from, maybe someone in a coma, a young child or an animal for example, healing can still be sent with the intention that it is for the highest good and will of the recipient. Reiki will not go where it isn’t wanted.

A personal story about faith

Many years ago my father in law was in hospital after having a serious stroke, the doctors were unsure at the time that he would survive. Every day I would send distant healing to him and one day I was stood by a harbour sending healing and I asked for a sign that what I was doing was actually helping, that there really were energies at work and I wasn’t wasting my time. It was a dark and rainy day and my attention was drawn to turn to the right to look over the sea, I was amazed to see that the dark clouds had separated slightly and the sun was shining through in the form of an angel. The sceptic in me first said it was a coincidence but I had asked for a sign, not an actual angel. I have never been able to find an image to resemble what I saw that day, I did see greeting cards with a similar shape of the angel in a shop shortly after and I wish I had bought one now. Maybe I will try to paint it one day.

Signs

The thing about signs is, it’s our conscious mind becoming aware of images, words or numbers, insects, birds and animals etc. possibly at times when we need guidance, reassurance or comfort, maybe even to alert us to danger. It’s as though our subconscious mind is trying to help us by drawing our attention to things that in ordinary circumstances we wouldn’t necessarily notice. Some people believe they could be messages from loved ones who have passed or guides and angels etc. whatever you believe they are there to serve you in a positive way.

Using Reiki for Personal Use

Think about what you do if you hurt yourself, the natural instinct is to put your hands on the area and hold or rub to try to relieve any pain.

Reiki is available to everyone, some people naturally use this form of healing without any training or attunements.

However it is helpful to have some kind of training and attunement to the first level of Reiki. These days you can even do this online but from personal experience I think it is very beneficial to attend a course or workshop with a Reiki Master. My training and attunements were over two days for each level. They involved lots of discussions and lessons on how to use Reiki in different ways, meditations, four attunements for each level and then practice on other students. With level two my master also asked us to provide details of our experiences sending distant healing in order to gain our certificate.

Ways to use the first level of Reiki

  • Self healing by placing your hands in various positions on you own body
  • Healing family, friends and animals
  • Holding your hands over food and drink to ensure it’s optimum goodness
  • Plants love Reiki and will thrive from receiving it
  • If you use crystals it’s possible to cleanse and charge them with Reiki

Higher Levels

If you want to practice Reiki on clients then you will need Reiki II training, this level involves the use of symbols so that you can perform Mental/Emotional healings and Remote Healing for distant healing and healing past and future events.

Master/Teacher Levels

These levels are only needed if you want to pass on attunements to others and provide workshops of your own. You may also learn other enhanced methods on this level, I learned about psychic surgery, crystal grids and other healing symbols but each master has their own ways of teaching and content of courses.

So that’s a short introduction to Reiki and hopefully you understand a bit more about it. If you want to know more about Reiki there are loads of websites and books available on the subject and I also plan to write more in-depth articles about it in the future. I would also like to run workshops and attune people to Reiki if I get enough people interested or even start my own website with online training and attunements.

I hope you found this article interesting and useful. Please take look at some of my other pages or blog posts where I talk about different therapies and my own wellbeing journey. If you’d like to see my future content then please enter your email and press subscribe below and you will be alerted when I publish anything new. Thank You for taking the time to read this. Until next time, I wish you all the very best. Janet x

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Acknowledging the Bad to Appreciate the Good

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FOCUS ON HEALING

I’m still working on my health and fitness regime which is up and down depending on my energy levels and how busy I’ve been.    For example, with the arrival of the lovely spring weather I’ve spent a lot more time working in the garden, mainly weeding but planting summer bulbs and seeds too.   However, at the end of the day I find myself wondering why I’m in so much pain.   Then I remember how I’ve been getting up and down off the floor, using my arms to help myself and my hands digging up those deep roots.  

FIBROMYALGIA – URGH!

It doesn’t take a lot of work to feel like you’ve ran a marathon when you have fibromyalgia.  I’m so determined not to identify myself with the condition that I forget that this is what causes the symptoms I get.   So I thought give you a little bit of insight into how fibromyalgia impacts my life.

PAIN

One of the main symptoms is widespread pain.   I consider myself luckier than many because I’m not in constant agonising pain and relying on pain medication to function.   However, I suffer with painful stiffness most of the time, it’s worse in the mornings after being in bed all night and in the evenings after resting, it’s like I turn to stone when I’m still for too long and I feel like a rusty tin man trying to get up and walk.   

I have problems with my knees, I struggle to get down on the floor and getting up from a chair can be agonising, I’m not sure if this is fibromyalgia or not.  The numerous times I’ve been to a doctor over the years, they examine me and say there is nothing wrong, they won’t even send me for x-rays or scans.   I’ve had physio but that didn’t help.   I know losing weight will reduce the stress put on them and that’s all part of the plan but sometime exercise is very painful.

The rest of the pain I get is more a feeling of being bruised all over, any pressure can be felt right down to my bones.   When I use the blood pressure monitor, the inflated band causes excruciating pain, as though it was a metal clamp with nails penetrating the skin.  At my worst I get random stabbing pains and any area I’ve been putting stress on through work or exercise is very painful, I get hot tingling sensations occasionally from my sacrum area up to my waist and very restless.

I don’t like taking medication and try to avoid painkillers if I can help it.   I can’t take anti-inflammatories anymore due to the heart medication I’m on so all I can take is paracetamol which I will take if its too difficult to sleep etc.   I try to manage with Epsom salt baths and homemade pain relief oils with essential oils.

The main thing I focus on is that it is only temporary, I’m not in this state constantly and I’m very grateful for that.  

EXAUSTION

I think this is the worst part of it, my energy levels are very low most of the time.  If I do feel particularly energetic, I have to be very careful not to overdo it and clean the whole house or do two hours in the gym.  It’s so tempting when you feel good to just get all those tasks out of the way but if I don’t pace myself I will crash and end up having to rest for far longer.  The frustrating thing about this is no matter how many times you tell people about your condition, they forget and don’t understand, notice or make allowances for you.   You end up feeling lazy and useless and feel that everyone thinks you are just making excuses, this can lead to trying to do more than you should so that you don’t feel judged and then end up in a worse situation having to recover from another flare up.   Anyone with an ‘invisible’ illness will understand this.

BRAIN FOG

Fibromyalgia also causes brain fog so I get very forgetful and struggle to concentrate for long periods of time.  I have to remind myself of this too when I struggle with the French language and beat myself up for not trying harder to learn it.    If I don’t make a ToDo List I sometimes get a bit disorientate not knowing what to do because I have so many things I’m trying to do it can get overwhelming.  

HYPERSENSITIVITY

I have a very sensitive sense of smell, I can’t tolerate artificial fragrances and any fowl smell is extreme, I can smell the cat’s little tray from the other side of the house.  My nose is constantly blocked but not congested, as though my airways have closed up which makes using the CPAP machine difficult.   I can’t stand very loud noises or the wind either, they make me very on edge and anxious.

TRIGGERS

There are things that make my condition worse and I try to be careful to avoid them or at least prepare myself for them, these are:

Mental/Emotional Stress:   Any form of stress puts me into a state where I find it difficult to function.   It could be having to deal with official matters, tax etc.  The vast amount of administration for the children’s education or sometimes healthcare.  Worries about financial security.  Unexpected change of plans that require me to take some form of action.

Lack of Sleep:   If I have a bad nights sleep my symptoms are quite often at their worst the following day which isn’t too bad if I don’t have plans, I just take it easy, but if I have to work, go to appointments or social engagements I find it extremely difficult.

Overwork:  Like I said earlier, too much exercise or manual labour cause a flare up.    Even though it’s essential to exercise for my heart and weight control, too much physical work can have a detrimental effect.   It’s necessary to get the right balance.  If I pace myself, I may feel bad at the end of the day but usually recover by the next day.

Negativity:  All of these setbacks can lead to spiralling negative thoughts and feelings.   Frustration leads to despair to feeling useless, feeling trapped in a cyclone of obstacles.  There have been times when I have given in to self-pity, feeling alone in my world of pain.  No matter what I try nothing improves.   The exhaustion has sometimes got to a point where I wish I could go to sleep for weeks and wake up healed.  You start to believe the judgement of medical professionals.  They all tell me to lose weight ‘eat less and move more’ as if I didn’t know that.  During my last visit to the doctor I told her how desperate I was to lose weight but that it was difficult having a family to cater for too and she simply said ‘children don’t need biscuits either’!!!!   I didn’t have the energy to explain that it wasn’t the unhealthy snacking but that sometimes I can’t even think about what to make for dinner let alone have the energy to prepare it so I let the family cater for themselves and eat whatever is easy.  I felt she would just think I was making excuses and no one will take me seriously until I lose a lot of weight.  These negative scenarios do not help me in any way, just make me want to give up.

MORE POSITIVITY

Generally, I am a very positive person though.  I am a complementary therapist, I go to healing workshops and study various other healing methods and still believe that life is good and will be even better.   But I also have a shadow side and even the most positive person can feel sorry for themselves.   I don’t always practice what I preach and have never tried to be a saint or guru etc. 

I truly believe that we have a purpose in life, or that we can create one.  My passion is Self-Healing, Therapy Work and Writing and this is what this blog is about.  

Putting myself out there and sharing my journey helps me to centre myself and get back on the right track.

HEALING

The healing methods I’m focussing on are the ones I write articles on, you can find them in the menu at the top of the page.  I’m also studying other therapies for my business that will have a positive effect on my own wellbeing too.

After recently seeing other people go through problems where I was not able to help such victims of wars, poverty and ill health, I felt very sad.   But I reflected on it for a while and decided that even though I can acknowledge these matters and help in whatever way I can like, donating money or clothing, sending healing etc.  If there is nothing else I can do, then I need to focus on the things I can control.  These things are my own personal health, finding ways to earn a better living, work in the garden, continue my studies and find time for my creative hobbies.   I am so fortunate that I have so many options no matter how I’m feeling physically.

One way to help others and myself is by reaching out to them by writing this blog and putting positive posts on social media.   When I write a post or article, I get inspired to take action myself because I feel more optimistic and enthusiastic about the subjects I’m exploring.

A healing method I’m writing about now is ‘Forgiveness’, I wont talk about it too much here because I will publish it at the same time as this post.   But it’s one of the best ways to release emotions that are locked in your body and mind enabling you to move forward.

So I’m going finish off this post by making a commitment to keep practicing gratitude, acceptance, self compassion, and overcome my self-limiting beliefs, by practicing what I preach!

I hope you found this article interesting and useful. If you like this take look at some of my other pages where I talk about different therapies. If you’d like to see my future content then please enter your email and press subscribe below and you will be alerted when I publish anything new. Also, as this is a new website I would love to hear your opinions and suggestions about what I write and you can make comments at the bottom of the page. Thank You for taking the time to read this. Until next time, I wish you all the very best. Janet x

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Being a Tortoise instead of a Hare

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Positive Little Changes

DIET

I have been making small changes in my habits that I’m hoping will become natural instincts in my daily routine. I haven’t started a ‘diet’ as such and I am reluctant to do that because I’ve done it all before and even though it works it has to be maintained for life so I really just want to change my habits.

I haven’t lost weight but I’m gradually changing my eating habits and have a healthy breakfast and lunch to start with. This doesn’t meant I eat pizza for dinner though (only occasionally) but I may still have a desert or snack afterwards. I’m incorporating more of the low calorie meals from the Pinch of Nom books and Slimming Eats websites because the whole family enjoy them.

I did go without alcohol for about five weeks and now only have it at the weekend or if we occasionally eat out for lunch.

EXERCISE

I’ve started doing a weekly Zumba workout with a friend which encourages me to do a longer sessions than I would on my own. I also manage to fit in shorter exercise sessions in between, so even if I don’t do a full workout I’m still doing more than I was before and I’m improving each time. I suffer from knee pain which makes a lot of the movements difficult but it seems to be less restrictive each time. I listen to my body and if I’ve been too still for too long I get up and move. I’ll do a short workout, take a walk or even l do some standing crunches from the Figure 8 workouts whilst cleaning my teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil etc. It’s not much yet, but every little helps.

WRITING

It’s a couple of weeks since I updated my blog but I have written a couple of articles. I’m not sure if people get alerted to them being published like they do with the blog but you can find them here:

I still have three more articles to write on the subjects that I said I would go into more detail about in my last post, these are:

I will be adding these in the next few weeks and will update this post with the links when they are published.

HOBBIES

I have a few creative hobbies that I enjoy and have a few small projects on the go. I started macramé last year and enjoyed making lots of Christmas decorations and wall hangings. Also a couple of years ago I decided to make Christmas gifts for family in the UK, I made a selection of things like tote bags, jewellery and even some homemade balms and incense etc. I also made dreamcatchers and suncatchers and enjoyed making these so much I started to make a lot more. I’m trying to add this activity to my business so that I can eventually sell them. Also I’ve been practicing making beads with polymer clay, I used to do this years ago and saw some clay for sale recently so thought I might make a bit of jewellery for myself.

Currently I’m finishing off a few embroidery projects too. I love making gifts for people but rarely finish off things I start for myself so I’ve decided I need to do this as part of a self-nurturing process. I started embroidering a Shamanic Medicine Wheel a couple of years ago and as I still attend workshops in this field I am focussing on finishing it before I start anything else. I will publish a photo of it when it’s complete.

MULTI-TASKING & NEW DISCOVERIES

I have lots of online courses, podcasts and videos that I intend to get around to when I have the time and since one of my recent articles was about time management, I realised that I didn’t talk about Multi-Tasking. I often multi-task when doing housework but I decided to do this with recreational things too, like listen to podcasts whilst walking the dog and loading up my YouTube playlists whilst doing some embroidery. The good thing about algorithms is that you discover new material in the areas of interest you have and in my recommendations were videos of ‘Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule’.

5 Second Rule

In brief the system explained in the video is simply counting down from five to one to motivate you into action. The video explains how to use it and the book that you can find in the links on the sidebar goes into more detail of how to use for different purposes. At the moment I’m using it to stop negative thoughts, as soon as I recognise my mind drifting into areas that eventually bring me down, e.g. reliving how someone may have upset me in the past, I count down 5,4,3,2,1 and stop thinking about it. Also when I suddenly lose the motivation to do something that I really want to do I count down and do it anyway. It’s quite subtle, you don’t suddenly get an overwhelming impulse to do something but it stops you spiralling and can do it anyway even if you don’t feel like it. The more I’ve been doing it the less I’ve needed to use it. For example, during times of exhaustion and more pain from the fibromyalgia, just getting up out of a chair can be a real struggle and leads me to put off doing things, so I used the 5 second rule and did it anyway. I’ve since noticed that I don’t even need to count and I’m responding naturally to getting up to go and get something or do something without the fear of pain or the voice in my head saying I’m too tired.

Spring is in the air

Daffodils in my Garden

It seems like winter is never ending, although we are at the end of March we’ve had continuous gale force winds for the last couple of weeks, I really don’t like the wind, I hate the sound of it howling around the house, it chills me to the bone. I don’t mind a gentle breeze in the summer, but the bitter cold blasts we’ve had recently I can do without. However, they seem to be dispersing and I’m hoping to get out into the garden next week to get it ready for the summer. I find gardening very therapeutic, it can be quite meditative and being in nature is very good for the soul so that is more multi-tasking I can look forward to.

You Tube

I’ve mentioned before that I have a YouTube channel, at the moment there are a few meditation videos on there with lovely musical soundtracks. I am in the process of creating my own guided meditations and I’m looking to put together some of my own background music as I’ve heard of a lot of scams where royalty free music is changed once it’s embedded into peoples video and people having to then pay a ridiculous amount for the copyright or lose any monetisation from it. I don’t want to spend ages making a video only to have to take it down and re-do it if it gets popular.

I also have a few other ideas for the channel and that is to do some demonstrations of the therapies I provide and also some instructional videos on self massage and reflexology etc.

I also thought of doing a few personal updates on my progress with health and fitness. This is something I will have to pluck up courage to do though, but eventually I hope to get there. You can see my channel by following one of the links on the side bar and when I do my personal videos I’ll link to them in future posts.

Tortoise and the Hare

As the heading of this post suggests I’m making slow and gradual progress (tortoise), in the past I’ve enthusiastically thrown myself into regimes and do really well to start with (hare) but I get distracted and don’t continue with my efforts. I hope that by taking things slow and steady, gradually introducing new habits, I can make long term changes that will produce the results I want and be able to maintain them.

Thank you for reading my article. I cover a range of subjects from my work as a complementary therapist, personal experiences and interests.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you like this article please take look at some of my other pages or blog posts where I talk about different therapies and my own wellbeing journey and if you’d like to see future posts then please enter your email address and click on the subscribe button below and you will be notified of future content. I have no plans to use your email address for any other purpose. Feel free to share my page with anyone you feel may be interested and if you have any feedback about what I write or suggestions for further articles then please use the comment box further down the page. Warmest Wishes, Janet x

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you like this article please take look at some of my other pages or blog posts where I talk about different therapies and my own wellbeing journey and if you’d like to see future posts then please enter your email address and click on the subscribe button below and you will be notified of future content. I have no plans to use your email address for any other purpose. Feel free to share my page with anyone you feel may be interested and if you have any feedback about what I write or suggestions for further articles then please use the comment box further down the page. Warmest Wishes, Janet x

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

TIME

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I started writing this about how ‘lack of time’ affects me but it was turning into a novel so I decided to just identify some common issues and reflect on ways in which people can overcome them.

Do we really lack time?

We all have the same amount of time in a day, it’s how we utilise that time that matters.   Some people have very busy lifestyles with work, family and social commitments but that is not a lack of time is it? that is how we spend our time.   Thinking of ‘not having enough time’ puts into a negative thought patterns that cause us to feel deprived and resentful in some way, leading us to feel stressed and overburdened etc.   Obviously, many of us would prefer to spend our time doing other things and may compare other people’s situations as better than ours but it doesn’t help us deal with day to day life.

Even now whilst writing this I find myself ‘wasting time’ because I keep digressing into more detail about the way we use our time, but I’m trying to keep this post short so I have to reel myself back in and try to get to the point so I’m not taking up too much of your time whilst you read it!

Time we can control

Maybe, a better way to think about our time is to firstly break down how we spend out time and see if we can make little changes to the things we have control over.  For example:

Shopping  –  Try to buy in bulk and freeze where space and finances allow.  Consider online grocery shopping and have it delivered, this not only saves time but money too as you won’t be as tempted to buy more if not actually in the store. The cost of delivery will be compensated by not having to pay for public transport or using you own car.

Cooking – when making meals like casseroles, pasta and soups etc. make larger quantities to eat another day, it takes the same amount of time and gives you free time later, just make sure to separate it before serving otherwise if you have a family like I have, they will eat all the leftovers!

Housework – do you have to have a perfectly spotless house?  It’s quite easy to do living alone but if you have a family you can be spending the whole day just trying to keep on top of it.   Delegate some tasks to other family members, don’t worry what visitors think, true friends won’t care if you have washing up in the sink or haven’t dusted and hoovered.  Think about what you’d rather be doing and do that, the world won’t come to an end.

Organising Your Time

The best way to make the most of your time is to try to organise it as best as you can, sticking to a good schedule is not always possible and if we don’t manage to keep up with it then we can fall behind, forget to do important things and feel like we are not in control. 

To-Do Lists – these are great to remind us to get things done but be careful not to put too much on there as it can be overwhelming.  Prioritising is the key, if there are urgent jobs to be done, ones you have to do but really don’t like, then do them first because once they are out of the way you will not feel stressed about them.

Do things that take the least amount of time first  – If you can only spare a few minutes before work, do things that only take a short amount of time.  E.g. paying a bill either or putting a on load of washing.

Add unplanned activities to your list – if you do something that wasn’t on your list, add it and cross it out.  This will give you a sense of accomplishment even if you didn’t manage to do everything.

Choose a happy colour pen to cross out your completed tasks.  Using a bright colour that cheers you up will highlight all your achievements and focus on the positives.

Other ways to save time

Have a core list of meals – write down all the meals you like to make that you find quick and easy and always have the ingredients in.  It’s good to have 3 or 4 options available.  Meal plans are good but we don’t always feel like eating what we planned.

Organise your wardrobe – if you work, keep all your work clothes together and have them ironed and ready to wear at the beginning of the week then you won’t need to think about what to wear in the morning.  If you do a lot of socialising then always have one of two outfits ready to wear for when an occasion arises.

Limit time on social media – social media is great for keeping in touch with friends and family, especially if you don’t see them regularly.  However, it is all too easy to become lost in reading articles, watching videos and links that pop up on news feeds and before you know it an hour or more has slipped by without even realising it.  These platforms are created to keep your attention and record everything you look at so they can put even more tempting content your way.   Allocate yourself a set amount of time to do this and set an alarm if necessary.   This can also be applied to reading and replying to emails.

Delegate  – you don’t have to do everything yourself, if you live with people they should be contributing to the upkeep of the home so get them to take on some of the workload. If people refuse then don’t do things for them such as cooking and washing. 

Have a To-Do FOR YOU list – make a list of all the things you love doing but never get around to.   It can be anything like reading a book, having a bath or spending time on a favourite hobby.   Have a variety of things that take different amount of time and try to do at least one thing a day just for you.    There is nothing selfish about doing things for yourself in fact it should be a priority because if your needs are not met then in the end you will be no good for anyone else.

Doing a bit is better than doing nothing – Break down large tasks into smaller steps so that you feel like you are progressing and the overall task isn’t too overwhelming. When it comes to leisure time, if you really don’t have time to do that hour long exercise session you planned then just do five or ten minutes, even if it’s just a brief walk at lunchtime or a few yoga stretches in the morning and evening.  If you planned on reading a chapter of a book and only manage a few pages you are still getting through the book.  Don’t give up and think it’s not worth doing because you will benefit from the smallest amount of time and effort.

Acknowledge your accomplishments – As well as crossing things off your To-Do list, make sure you add any additional things you do to it, and cross them off too. If you planned on getting on top of your filing at work but other things came up, then put those things on your list of achievements instead.   If you planned on writing a new blog post but haven’t got the time you can at least note down a few ideas of subjects you want to write so you will have a plan ready to use. By doing this you will see that even though you may not have done everything you planned to do, you did achieve a lot. Make sure you add things you do for relaxation and leisure too!

Getting the Balance right

If all your time is taken up working and doing things for others then you will eventually feel exhausted and demotivated. So it is very important to do things that make you feel good, whether it’s a form of relaxation, exercise, hobby or social event. Looking after yourself should be a priority even if you can’t control how you spend you time at work. You can control your mindset and just taking a few minutes to breath and empty your mind can help you get through a stressful day. If you try to incorporate some of the methods above you will feel in control and will hopefully have a better quality of life.

Thank you for reading my article. I cover a range of subjects from my work as a complementary therapist, personal experiences and interests.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you like this article please take look at some of my other pages or blog posts where I talk about different therapies and my own wellbeing journey and if you’d like to see future posts then please enter your email address and click on the subscribe button below and you will be notified of future content. I have no plans to use your email address for any other purpose. Feel free to share my page with anyone you feel may be interested and if you have any feedback about what I write or suggestions for further articles then please use the comment box further down the page. Warmest Wishes, Janet x

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you like this article please take look at some of my other pages or blog posts where I talk about different therapies and my own wellbeing journey and if you’d like to see future posts then please enter your email address and click on the subscribe button below and you will be notified of future content. I have no plans to use your email address for any other purpose. Feel free to share my page with anyone you feel may be interested and if you have any feedback about what I write or suggestions for further articles then please use the comment box further down the page. Warmest Wishes, Janet x

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Obstacles and Distractions

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I started this blog to share my progress on the goals I’ve set myself on overcoming physical limitations, losing weight and improving my overall wellbeing.    My intention was that by sharing with you my schedule and progression, I will be motivated to stay on track as well as inspire others to achieve their goals.

What has held me back in the past has been the inability to focus and commit to my own needs because of ‘life getting in the way’.  The distractions of unexpected events and demands on our attention and time lead us to forget the new positive habits we wanted to incorporate into our lifestyles.

Distractions

These last two weeks have been a perfect example of this; for a start it’s the school holidays and whilst my children are now teenagers and don’t want me to spend time with them like when they were younger, they still need taking to appointments, shopping trips for school books or clothes, taxiing to social events and obviously providing more meals which means, more time shopping and preparing and cleaning etc.  Another distraction has been building work at the house so lots of mess and noise.   So, I’ve been immersed in trying to keep on top of the normal day to day routines, delegate chores to reluctant teenagers, rearrange clients to fit into less chaotic noisy time frames and taking my children to school meetings and driving lessons and so on.   I’ve managed to do a few things for myself like a little bit of gardening, writing blog articles and a bit of creative work such as embroidery, macramé and wire art which I’ve tried to combine with listening to audio podcasts or relaxing watching TV etc.  

Obstacles

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I suffer from fibromyalgia and this is my major obstacle because the effect of doing too much leads me suffer from a flare up where I am in so much pain and feel so exhausted it’s a struggle to not only prepare a simple meal but also the brain fog that goes along with it means I struggle to even come up with an idea of what to make in the first place.  In an ideal world I would have lots of pre-prepared meals that can be heated up easily by any member of the family. 

There are lots of distractions and excuses that prevent us achieving what we set out to do. Unless you have a perfect work/life balance with a good support network and no financial insecurities then there will always be something that doesn’t meet our needs and desires. We also know people who seem to be able to organise their lives and be super-efficient, self-disciplined, high achievers or super-mums who make us feel like inadequate failures.   However, we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others, what you see on the surface isn’t necessarily the truth, we can’t know what other people are dealing with and what it would be like in their shoes.  We are our own worse judges and critics and beat ourselves up over our mistakes and setbacks.

Inspiration

With all this in mind I thought I’d also address the setbacks that hinder our progress and look at various ways we can deal with them to overcome some of the obstacles that get in our way. Rather than address all these issues here I’m going to break them down into individual posts.  Some of the subjects I’m planning on writing about are listed below (in no particular order), as I publish them I’ll also add a link to them, if I can work out how to do that. This is what I have in mind:

A lot of the topics will be related to my own issues and the methods I have used or intend to use on my wellbeing journey and will also complement the articles on different therapies I’m interested in.   You can find lots of self-help books and webpages on these subjects but you can also get overwhelmed with the amount of information out there so I’m going try to write brief, easy to read posts that will hopefully be useful to you.

And Finally

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I thank you for the time you have taken to read it. If you you would like to see future content then please enter your email address and press the subscribe button below, I have no intention of using you email addresses for any other purpose other than to inform you of new posts I have published.

I also welcome any feedback and suggestions you may have and I’m happy for you to share this with your friends and colleagues.

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

Excuses

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Fitness Schedule

Quick Update

Aargh! Here come my excuses:

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to try to start a new schedule just before a two week school holiday, without factoring in any unexpected events such as the roofers arriving without notice to replace the barn roof after waiting two years for them to do the work and now we have a tree surgeon noisily cutting some trees down in the garden.

Finding time to write has been difficult enough let alone stick to an exercise and fitness plan.

During the times I’ve had to myself I had lots of ideas of things I can write about and I’ve started putting a few more articles together which will be uploaded very soon. My next post is about ‘Obstacles and Distractions’ which is very relevant to my circumstances at the moment. So I’ll keep this post brief as I’ll be including personal updates in my other posts too. Thank you for reading and if you want to see my future posts please enter you email address and press subscribe below and you will be notified when I post anything new.

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

So it has been quite hectic the last few weeks. The kids have finally gone back to school today though and the work going on around the place is no excuse not to get back on plan.

I have started the day eating well and just taking my time getting my head back in the right space to continue with what I set out to do.

I did manage a zumba class last week with a friend and because I was doing it with someone else I managed to do much more than I would have alone.

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.

First Slow Step to Better Health

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We are in the first week of February already and I feel like I’ve been in a complete blur for the last month. I used to find January and February the most depressing time of year. It’s the middle of winter so the weather is usually cold and often wet and dreary. The aftermath Christmas holidays can be a bit deflating, all parties and excitement have ended and there’s nothing to look forward to except going back to work etc.

That changed for me after having my daughter in January (many years ago). I actually look forward to taking the Christmas decorations down now and instead of feeling like the place looks sparse and dull, I feel like the rooms are more airy and even a little bigger without all the tinsel, trees and various other festive decorations cluttering the place up. Within a couple of weeks the house has birthday banners, balloons and cards on display and it’s time for birthday celebrations, cake making and teenage sleepovers. It isn’t easy starting healthy habits during this time so I gave myself permission to start mid January instead of the beginning this year.

I consider the phase I’m in at the moment a ‘weaning’ stage where I ease myself into the New Year gently. It sounds like excuses I know, but by allowing myself to go slowly it takes the pressure off trying to start out with too many changes and restrictions or imposing strict exercise plans where there is a high risk of failing and giving up too soon.

So I started the year by being more mindful of what I eat, we all have left over festive foods and treats still tempting us, not to mention two birthday cakes (teenage girls deserve at least two celebrations apparently!). So I didn’t deny myself a slice of cake and glass of wine but I also didn’t eat cake with every meal or drink every night. I started my ‘dry January’ halfway through but decided I would continue it until the end of February to make up for it. I’ve founds some lovely alternative that make me feel like I’m not depriving myself. The ones in the image below are a few of my favourites, I also like herbal teas and fizzy water from my soda stream and so far I’m not really missing alcohol that much.

Diet

So that is the alcohol taken care of. Food hasn’t been as good but I am easing myself into it so I’m making some of my favourite recipes from various diets I’ve done in the past and trying to make sure I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables with the meals, also only having one portion of bread or cereal a day. One of my favourite recipes for breakfast is banana pancakes, these are delicious and don’t use up any of my bread or dairy allowances. I can’t remember where I found the recipe and I tweaked it a little anyway so I will give you the recipe here:

I’m also trying to use up the contents at the bottom of my freezer to make room for when I really get organised and start batch cooking! I’ve enjoyed making frozen cauliflower bakes and frozen mushroom soup to name a few. Tonight will be chicken stir fry with noodles. It’s best to cook from scratch rather than convenience food because you can control what ingredients you use and you can usually find great healthy alternatives. Even though I have many cookery books I often just search google for healthy versions of popular dishes.

Exercise

As I love dancing and the weather is far too cold to use the pool or the gym equipment in the unheated barn, I’ve focussed my exercise on using a Zumba DVD and I’ve also bought the online Figure 8 basic package by Body FX.

Both the Figure 8 and the Zumba are based on Latin American dances and are a lot of fun to do. They are very high energy but you can go at your own pace and build up in your own time. A lot of the focus is on hip movement and abdominal crunches but it’s a whole body workout too.

I’m enjoying the classes and can manage short routines and have to make sure I don’t try to push myself too much until I overcome some of my health obstacles.

Struggles

I have found the main problem I have is the pain in my knees during exercise. So now I’m also looking at ways to help with that as many of the dance routines use a variety of squats and lunges too. I’ve made by own pain and inflammation reducing oil using frankincense, myrrh, ginger and wintergreen essential oils, you can find many recipes on the internet to make various remedies and I’ve been collecting essential oils for years and now putting them to good use. I’ve also bought some tiny magnets that you stick on painful areas but haven’t noticed any positive results yet, I may need to look more into the correct placement of the magnets to see if I get better results.

It’s an uphill battle at the moment but, no matter how difficult, I’m optimistic that perseverance and pacing myself will eventually ease any problems as I become lighter and fitter.

Before starting these workouts I used and still intend to use workouts on YouTube by Dr. Bri who does exercise routines for Pelvic Health. While the exercises are for improving pelvic floor muscles they are really great for loosening up your hips and toning your stomach muscles. They are low impact exercises using figure 8 belly dance movements. This is a great alternative to use on days when I’m in more pain or feeling less energetic.

Sleep

One essential area I am focussing on at the moment is to improve the quality of the sleep I get because it is during the deep sleep cycle when the body repairs itself and I’ve struggled with insomnia most of my life and although I can get to sleep OK now I have developed the habit of waking up to use the toilet two or three times a night. Sometimes I can get back to sleep but not always. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea last year and I’m currently trying to adjust to using a CPAP machine, I’m finding it easier but for some reason I always seem to get a blocked nose at night so I’m woken up by the air leaking out of the mask making lovely hissing and farting noises not to mention the cold air blasting into my eyes. Luckily this doesn’t happen every night and it does seem to be improving.

I bought a new fitness watch last week and according to that I’m getting over 3 hours of deep sleep each night which compared to my old watch is at least two hours more than before (I suspect one watch is not as accurate but I’d prefer to believe the new one!)

One thing I have changed is to load my MP3 player with motivating meditations and audio books and setting it to play all night. I’m asleep before the first one finishes but I’m hoping that the words in the meditations still get through to my subconscious mind while I sleep. Have a look at my article on meditation if you’d like to know more about the subject. It’s a free tool you can use and adapt to use anywhere at anytime to help you cope with stress and negative emotions, there are many forms of meditation so you are sure to find something that works for you. Another tool is EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique and I will be posting an article about that soon so keep an eye out for it.

Summary

So the progress so far is slow, I took all my measurements two weeks ago and started exercising and eating healthier.

It’s too soon to notice any results so I haven’t measured myself since but I’ve lost two or three pounds in weight which is a positive sign as I still intend to build on the regime I have in place.

I will hopefully have before and after pictures but I’d like to wait until there is actually a noticeable ‘after’ picture to share with you. Until the next update you can click on any of the icons below to see my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram pages to see other content that you may find interesting. I have two Facebook pages; one is my business page ‘Solistic Therapies’ where you will find links to videos on self reflexology and acupressure techniques and the other page ‘Healing Myself from Fibromyalgia’ has articles that I’ve shared on the subject. My YouTube channel is quite new and only has a few meditation tracks on there at the moment but I’m working on some of my own guided meditations that will be added soon so if you’d like to try them please subscribe to my channel to see future content.

https://www.solistic.fr/

Images that I haven’t taken myself are from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pexels.com.