What are you leaving behind in last year?

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2015. 

It's an exciting time, with many changes happening in the world around us (and in the UK, if you are interested, it's a general election year). It's a time for new opportunities and I think  'personal choice' about our wellbeing fits into that view.  If you want to make a few changes or improve on what you already have, its a great time to get focused on that idea. All good intentions start with an idea..  If over Christmas you've faced relationship or family challenges, put on a few pounds, been hibernating or getting over an illness, it may be time to spend a bit of time looking after your body and your mind. 

Sometimes it's a challenge to get motivated to begin afresh. With spring around the corner (I say with all good intention) it's a good time for us to take care of personal maintenance routines. It's why you often see people at the gym as they set out to lose weight and get fit. 
I personally prefer not to set 'resolutions' as they can seem so set in stone and are quite scary. Things change, so I think choices and goals need to have some flexibility. Sure, go to the gym and gradually increase what you do rather than going 'full tilt' on the running machine. Your body will thank you for building up exercise gradually. 

Setting an intermediate goal with small steps towards a bigger plan gives you a chance to celebrate achievements along the way.  Even taking one small step towards a target can give you a boost of motivation 'I did it!' you say, so you keep going. The ability to see changes and feel them happening through those small steps enables you to keep moving forward and not give up with changes to lifestyle. 

Of course, I believe in the power of the mind in supporting transformation. If you want to know more about the boost that hypnotherapy, counselling, coaching or weight management (Hypnoshape ®) can give, just get in touch.  Here's to the best year ever!

See:
angiegiles.co.uk
Twitter: angie_therapist
Facebook: Angie Giles Hypnotherapy

About the Author: Angie works as a hypnotherapist, counsellor and coach at the Norfolk Clinic Complementary Healthcare Clinic, 38-40 Magdalen Road, Norwich. 

Call Norfolk Clinic reception on 01603 660792 or Angie directly on 07773 610816. She loves helping other people achieve their potential at work ,life and find greater happiness using a range of therapeutic techniques.

The self development dilemma

I hope that your end of year celebrations were enjoyable and that the new year bells rang in positively on another new year.  

Self development for health and work:

I like to work on my self development professionally throughout the year and I do strive to have time to maintain my health too, so keeping my mind and body in (mostly) good shape. Unfortunately I do get the occasional migraine, usually preceded by flashing kaleidoscopic lights that swirl in my line of vision. Later I notice gaps in my vision which are usually followed by a pounding headache or 'heaviness' above the eyes. Even these occasional migraines have developed their 'pattern' over the years. The light disturbances were black and white for many years until a few years ago and now are tinged with colour, almost like old style 3D film without the glasses!

This year I am aiming to become aware of any patterns of behaviour or food triggers for these migraines so I can do my best to avoid the likelihood of getting one.  If I have too many late nights, spend long hours at the computer or am at a certain point in the month, it seems to make the likelihood increase. I therefore am taking steps to manage this and it means managing myself and my time better! I aim to be better at reducing the potential for migraines in 2014.  

How I manage myself has a direct impact on my work and therefore on my clients. I'm aiming to be the best I can be at all times, not just at the New year.  Why not join me in making this your year to be the best you can be too? 

Wishing you all a very happy and extremely healthy 2014! 

From Angie

See:

angiegiles.co.uk
Twitter: angie_therapist
Facebook: Angie Giles Hypnotherapy

About the Author: Angie works as a hypnotherapist, counsellor and coach at the Norfolk Clinic Complementary Healthcare Clinic, 38-40 Magdalen Road, Norwich. Norfolk Clinic reception on 01603 660792 or directly on 07773 610816. She loves helping other people achieve their potential at work and in life and achieving happiness using a range of therapeutic techniques.

Its the second New Year this year!

Whether intrigued by Horoscopes or not, there are various kinds that exist throughout the world. Today is the start of the Chinese New Year (in China's time zone it would seem), it is the year of the Dragon.

The details of what this means in full I will leave to the experts in their field (the internet is full of explanations too).  It is said that depending on year, month, day and time of birth, you are born under the sign of either a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. In China many of these are traditionally considered powerful and important creatures. Within the horoscopes each has a particular character and quality relating to the five elements.

I think all of us have qualities and characteristics that we sometimes forget to cherish. Particularly when times are hard and if we look for other people to remind us how great we are. In the wonderful sterile world of social networking we tend to look outside of ourselves and think that other people have got it made, they are the happy ones, they are the lucky ones. 

This Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon, signifies luck. How lucky do you feel at the moment, how thankful too?

Right now, yes now in this very moment, I am feeling lucky. At this moment I have a lot to be feel lucky for and to be thankful for. I have somewhere to live. I have a roof over my head. I eat regular meals and can be warm. I am just about feeling lucky that my messy desk needs sorting out, and lucky that I have accounting to be done. I feel very lucky that I have client preparation to do. I'm lucky and thankful for the noisy birds that are outside my window too.  I am lucky that I can do things that make me feel happy. I'm lucky I can write this blog article. Even making a cup of tea just the way I like it makes me feel lucky. 

I questioned in my mind what luck was sometime ago. Looking at luck in a different way. It hasn't changed me completely, I'm still me. I still read the horoscopes, I still quite enjoy them. According to my Chinese Horoscope 2012 is a very positive year for me. Funny that, I was feeling it in my bones, before I had even read the horoscope.    

PS, I found this image of a cake toppper item on Etsy and I thought it very pretty so shared it with you!