Kicking The Nicotine Habit - Hypnotherapy to The Rescue!

Kicking The Nicotine Habit - Hypnotherapy to The Rescue!

peace and quiet

21^st Sept 2011 is International Day of Peace. http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/  It is a peace day with an opportunity for individuals, organisations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date.

Thinking about this event I thought about the word ‘peace’. A very emotive word for some people. 

We talk about ‘wanting some peace and quiet’ in our lives. I wonder is peace an easily defined measure?   I have known people who say ‘I’m just so busy, how can I have time for peace?’ It’s a great question. It requires the questioner to re-think what their definition of ‘busy’ is. I would suggest that it takes only a small change of attitude to see something in a different light. It may be acceptance that being busy doesn’t have to mean being without peace. When you get joy from seeing your child take their first steps (and not having had more than 3 hours peace yourself) you may get a peaceful and happy feeling from seeing that wonderful moment.  

There are things you could change to create small amounts of peace in your own life. Start small is my advice.  It might be in that moment when you are about to go into a difficult meeting. You take three deep breaths to settle yourself before pushing open the door and venturing in.  You’ve given yourself time to gain composure and increased your oxygen levels. It may not be the sort of ‘peace’ that lying on a warm beach reading a book might give you, but it is a good start! You can begin to stitch together these individual and brief moments so that bit by bit, piece by piece (excuse the pun) it starts to build up a small reserve of ‘peace’ for you.  

On the 'quiet' of 'peace and quiet', I do wonder where all that ‘quiet’ has been allowed to slip away to. There’s the clutter of tangible and non-tangible things.  The sound of the TV or radio playing in the background, the noise of traffic, the hum or rattle of the fridge, the constancy and interruption of the internet and social media, the clicking of a kettle or the whirr of a fan or air conditioning. Our brains and bodies are bombarded with the clutter of the modern world.

So when you get home and usually sit huddled in front of the computer, with all the distraction and noise that prevents true ‘peace and quiet’ to restore the mind and the body, maybe you’ll instead give yourself a few moments of quiet to think about things of importance to you.  

You could start by sitting in a quiet room in your home, think back over the day and give yourself credit for what has gone well or learn what you may do differently.  Or perhaps tune in to the sound of rain on the window, observe nature outside or watch the clouds give way to blue sky.  Get the kids off to bed and run yourself a warm bath and relax till your fingers turn to prunes*. (*That’s still ‘peace’ for some people I know too!) 

I'm making some time to think about peace in the world tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it. Anything that provides a feeling of ‘peace and quiet’, however brief, is good in my book. 

the past and future in action

"We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies" ~Shirley Abbott

exercise = energy

The time it takes to go for a walk, or get to the gym, walk up the stairs or do an exercise class might seem like a big sacrifice when you are a busy parent, business person or just that there are so many other distractions.  When it comes down to it, exercise is a natural part of what our bodies expect us to do. When we don't exercise, we become sluggish of body, our joints begin to seize...and this can relate to how we feel about life too.  

When I hear the wind blowing outside, its a reminder that getting out and breathing fresh air will also blow my internal mental cobwebs away as well as get my body moving - so it's time to get out and go for a walk.  

What are you doing to stretch your body as well as your mind today?  

"Where there is exercise, there is extra energy. Making time for exercise might help you not find time for surplus illness" 

- Angie Giles

What do you do to lift your mood?

Today I was thinking, as the dark grey clouds started to move across the sky, what can you do when you want to feel better?  
I then asked my friends what do they do if they want to lift their mood. 


Below is a list of things my friends and I came up with. They all seem like great ideas to me and inspire positivity.


What else can you suggest for this list? Please let me and any future readers of this blog know too. Thank you!  
    

• Standing barefoot on lush green grass
• Doing meditation or Qi Gong
• Practising sports or exercising
•  Spending time chatting and catching up with a great friend
•  Sitting on the beach on a crisp, sunny winter’s morning, watching the sea
•  Sitting at a window seat with a mug of steaming hot tea, pillows, a blanket and watching the rain crash against the window pane
• Getting outside in the pouring rain, being soaked through makes me feel good.  It’s so refreshing!
• Having a big hug
• Helping someone in their hour of need 
•  Going swimming
•  Writing down all your worries on a notepad and come back to them later on
•  Looking up at a bright blue sky
•  Looking up at the stars on a clear night 
• Being with good company whom I share a sense of humour with, laughter is the best  medicine
•  Lazing in the sunshine
• Practice that dazzling smile 
•  A few quiet minutes reading a really good book, preferably in the sun!
• Watching the sun set
• Closing my eyes and visualising myself growing taller and stronger
•  Listening to your child singing random songs and mispronouncing things!
•  Having a good laugh whilst watching a comedy on TV
•  Getting lost in the excitement of a great film
•  Playing a computer game that totally absorbs my attention
• Enjoying the smells and colours of autumn approaching
• Making something: perhaps baking or a good crafting session
• Smelling rain after it lands on parched, summer earth

And…watching dark clouds make way for blue sky and sunshine just before sunset! (How apt!)