Wise Words of Stephen Hawking

For those of you who watched the opening ceremony last night for the Para-Olympics, we can sit in awe and admiration for every single one of the athletes and performers who put their heart and souls into making it truly special and unique.

The wise words of Stephen Hawking are still ringing in my ears . . .

"Look up at the stars, and not down at your feet.

        Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist.

                Be curious . . ."

We should all learn to be grateful for whatever life brings us and seek to live our lives to the fullest possible. It is so easy sometimes to simply take things for granted, so take a moment each day over the Para-Olympics to do something positive and be inspired by others.

Good luck Team GB we salute you!

Mind Body Wellbeing - Hypnotherapy Northants: Testimonials

Mind Body Wellbeing - Hypnotherapy Northants: Testimonials

Great client feedback and success stories are reminders of the important life changing work we do within Cognitive Hypnotherapy.
It is so liberating and freeing to let go of the things that weigh you down or keep you stuck somewhere . . . to move on fears and find yourself being able to live a more fulfilling life.

What success stories would you also like to share . . . ?

Eating Mindfully

If "we are what we eat", as the saying goes, then we should be mindful of how we view ourselves too.
It's not just about the food, but how we feel about the person we're mindfully or mindlessly filling.

If we like ourselves and take care about ourselves, then we are more likely to nourish ourselves well with healthier options. The opposite is also often very true . . . that if we think little of ourselves and disregard ourselves, then we're more likely to not care so much about our choices of foods that we put in our mouths and therefore feed ourselves poorly or with less nutritious meals . . . or too much.

So try this for one full day of liking yourself, looking after yourself, nurturing yourself and think about every choice you make around what you feed yourself with . . . to when and how you feed yourself. . .
Is it in a rush and hurried, because you haven't got time? . . . Are you even aware of how fast you eat?
To start practising being more mindful around yourself and what you eat, the first step is to slow right down . . . to practise chewing your food well, at least 20 times every mouthful . . . to practise putting your knife and fork down inbetween mouthfuls so you can focus on chewing what's actually in your mouth and enjoy the taste, the texture, the food (before you start preparing the next fork full!). . . all of this can help aid your digestion, as your natural saliva in the mouth helps break the food down as the first stage of digestion, even before we swallow the food. By breaking the food down correctly, it helps the stomach digest the food better, helping us to reduce bloating and over-eating and helping us to have healthier internal organs.
By chewing each mouthful slowly and correctly, it also means we can learn to listen to the body better and stop eating if it tastes awful, we don't like it or the body starts to let you know your full.
It is okay to enjoy your food, and by slowing down and savouring the flavour, you enjoy it even more, and more importantly you discover you feel satisfied with what you have eaten, to the point that you begin to feel content when you've had enough. Which means you stop looking for more.

http://www.mindbodywellbeing.co.uk

Chuckle muscles!

Peter Kay Channel 4 Thursday 16^th of August  

I watched Peter Kay last night on the TV and thoroughly enjoyed two hours of watching  Edd my husband literally “cry laughing”, I have to confess that being a native of Ashford, Middlesex, I do not necessarily understand “Northern humour” although married to a northerner (Edd does attempt to educate me from time to time on the finer points of Northern humour). I do however understand the beneficial effects of a really good laugh and the change in mood that this can bring about.  

Lots of studies have shown how laughter can help reduce stress and generally help to improve your life, here are just a few examples: ~

·      Laughter helps you to relax and reduce muscle tension which can make you calmer and give a sense of overall wellbeing. 

·      Laughter helps to boost your immune system, infection fighting antibodies are released and your stress levels can decrease.

·      Laughter can help to reduce chronic pain, some medical studies have shown it can have a beneficial effect of up to 2 hours.

·      Laughter improves overall levels of creativity, a good laugh puts challenges into perspective and can lead to more creative problem solving.

The benefits of a good laugh are many, bringing a greater sense of wellbeing, an improved outlook on life, both physically and mentally.

It is actually very easy to trick the brain into releasing the beneficial chemicals that we all produce naturally for a really great “feel good fix” (you may want to make sure no one is around unless that is you want them to have a really good laugh at your expense)

Here goes . . . First of all you need to find a mirror, any mirror will do, (if you do use your mirror in the car I would advise that you are stationary first).

Calibrate your mood on a scale of 1-10 on how good you feel, 1 perhaps being not too good and 10 being absolutely marvellous.   

Looking into the mirror give yourself the biggest cheesy grin ever, bigger than the Cheshire cat, as if you can literally create a smile which smiles from ear to ear showing all of your teeth, grit your teeth and say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, really quickly 4 or 5 times.

Then re calibrate how you feel, I will guarantee that you will have improved your mood, repeat as necessary.                      

Smiling is good fun . . . smile loads today!        

Well the Olympics Are over . . . .

Well the Olympics are over, the memories of super Saturday are just about beginning to fade and my voice has just about recovered from hollering at the TV set as Mo Farrah successfully gained the 10,000 metres Gold medal and then did the double with the 5 thousand meters a week later amazing.

The media are now back to reporting the “usual” days events having spent the last few weeks trying to  out compete  each other for superlatives to describe the magnificent feats of team GB.

Well there have been some very interesting articles in the media in particular one which caught my attention in the Times Opinion written by Matt Parker director of marginal gains for the GB cycling team on the 28^th of July entitled

“Sweaty shorts can be the key to sporting glory”

www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion

(Not the most attractive of titles if like me you have a highly visual imagination)   however in essence the article goes on to describe 

“Pay attention to the tiny details and they can add up to big breakthroughs that can make sport so compelling”.

The theory being that a big break though in sporting improvement only happens rarely, on the other hand by paying attention to and identifying the many small percentage gains that can be made in a number of areas they combine overall to give an even bigger gain. A nice theory which has at the end of the games been backed up in practice by the GB cycling team having the most successful Olympics ever!    

 Thinking about the mechanics of this, is this not true of our clients? I am sure many of us can relate to this when working with clients in therapy?

The big breakthroughs are often infrequent however by identifying the many parts that contribute to the overall issue / problem this can frequently lead to a lasting and effective intervention and a gold medal solution.