The One Course

Sometimes we don’t feel so good and that is when the real challenge to put into action all our ‘feel good’ techniques comes along!

In the last 6 weeks I’ve had two episodes of minor illnesses, nothing unusual, just a heavy cold and a horrible stomach upset, the kind of things we all get from time to time. However, it had been a long time since I’d been ill and I’d forgotten how rotten you can feel and how inconvenient it is to have to cancel arrangements and miss out on doing things you were looking forward to!

I tried to ‘accept the situation’ and to ‘relax’ into it. Acceptance definitely helps, but it didn’t come instantly! There was a fair bit of “Why now, Why me, its not fair!” going on in my head I can tell you! This was because the ‘terrible cold’ hit me during the precious week I was visiting my grandson who was only a few weeks old which meant that I saw him for less time than planned.

However these minor illness have their lessons I think. For those of us who are normally full of life it forces us to stop and to understand what it’s like to feel ill or to have less energy. I found myself thinking about my 83 year old mum and admiring how she manages to do the things she does each day. I also appreciated Tom bringing me warm drinks and being there for me, and friends and family too with kind words and offers of help. So many people don’t have these things. Finally it was just a cold! (That old chestnut perspective again playing it’s part!)

So back to our ‘feel good’ techniques! We need to know how to love ourselves in sickness as well as in health. (I think there’s a wedding vow there!) We don’t all have someone to look after us, and even if we do now, it may not always be the case. We need to know when to stop, when to rest and to learn the art of cherishing ourselves. Hot water bottles are a great aid to this and hot chocolate too! Small treats, forgiving ourselves, allowing ourselves to be less than perfect and even hibernating for a while are all healing things that we can do on our own and there are many, many more to discover I’m sure!

Scientists have estimated that each of us has in excess of 100 trillion bacteria and microbes living in our body. We have a symbiotic relationship with them. They are necessary for our health and for our survival and we are necessary for theirs.

When I was at school I was taught that ‘my body’ was just that – ‘mine’. There was just me and then the rest of the world. Research now is showing us a very different world and this is having a huge impact on how we view it. Our bodies, far from being one separate being are actually made up of millions and trillions of living beings – more of a walking community! All these microbes have important roles to play in keeping our bodies functioning properly.

It is particularly important to have a healthy population of ‘good’ bacteria in our gut as it is in the gut that most of the nutrients are extracted from our food. Even though we eat what we think is a healthy diet; if we aren’t able to absorb the nutrients from the food then we will not be as healthy as we could be. One way to improve the health and functioning of your gut is to eat ‘live’ fermented food.

A friend recently lent me a book about fermenting. She thought it might be useful as a means of preserving fresh food as we don’t have a fridge or freezer. I found it very interesting and last week made my first batch of sauerkraut which tasted fantastic!

Sauerkraut is really easy to make by rubbing salt into the chopped cabbage leaves – this breaks down the cell walls and within a short amount of time water is drawn out of the cabbage. The cabbage is then packed tightly into a jar, covered with one of the outer cabbage leaves to stop air coming into contact with it and weighted down to keep the cabbage in place under the salt-water solution. The jar is covered with a cloth and placed out of direct sunlight for anything from 4 – 10 days to ferment. Keep testing it until you get the flavour you prefer. Many different vegetables can be fermented and the best thing is that they are really good for you! They retain all their nutrients and become easier to digest too.

It is not necessary to sterilise the jars, just ensure they are clean.

Why not have a go at making your own fermented vegetables?

Being Happy with Change

Change is an inevitable part of life and living, and yet so many of us struggle to accept and embrace it. We waste our precious time and energy trying to keep everything the same! If we can learn to ‘be in the flow’ of life and to be happy with change then life will appear less ‘scary’.

I wrote this little book a couple of years ago to help people come to terms with changes that occur in their lives. You can download it for free by clicking on the link below.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/372244

At school I was always led to believe we had one brain. Later on in life I read some things claiming we had 3 brains inside our skull which was quite fascinating. There is more information about this here

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triune_brain

More recent studies have revealed another 2 brains centred on our hearts and in our gut! Sounds a bit far fetched, possibly but neurons are found in these areas of the body and humans do seem to have body memory. There is information about the brain in the heart here.

https://www.heartmath.org/our-heart-brain/

So perhaps there is something about those feelings in our heart that we should listen to.

Finally the brain in the gut is also giving us gut feeling about things.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-feelings-the-second-brain-in-our-gastrointestinal-systems-excerpt/

Five brains in one human, that’s really something!

The Prince’s Ears

Here is a little story I wrote which can be downloaded for free by clicking on the link below. It is all about listening to your heart and doing what you love in life. Pass it on to anyone who you think may enjoy it.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/408615

‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ Gandhi

It is easy to feel overwhelmed, sad and helpless in the face of so much bad news about events occurring all over the world. However we all have the power to begin with ourselves and our own lives. We can find small ways to improve the world and to bring about the world we would like to see. This may be something as simple as planting some flowers or smiling at a stranger. Start with the things you can do and opportunities may arise to do other things in time. It is better to do something and feel empowered than to do nothing and feel exhausted.