Late summer sees the start of blackberry season! I have trained my boys to be expert pickers – they have far more patience than I do and, even allowing for the purple faces that return to my kitchen, it’s easy to have plenty of berries left after harvest munching to make delicious blackberry puddings. One of my favourites is blackberry ice cream. And this one is sugar free – as well as delicious. Want to know how?
[Read more…] about [Sugar Free] Blackberry Ice Cream Recipe
Forget New Year’s Resolutions! Change Your Life With A Gratitude Jar, Instead.
I want to share with you one of the simplest – and yet most profound – New Year Resolutions you could make today.
Forget about the whole gym / giving up chocolate / never swearing again stuff. Sure, it’s helpful, but it’s really only twiddling with the outside.
If you want to make real, life-long shifts in your life this year, go for Gratitude instead.
And a gratitude jar is the simplest way to do it
Just imagine training your brain to think of happy thoughts and things you are grateful for, instead of pointing out everything that’s going wrong!
Just imagine saying goodbye to feeling glum and fed up, when things don’t go the way you had wanted!
Just imagine discovering that you can create the life you have been dreaming of, without having to jump through all the hoops that the manifesting books tell you are essential – the complex routines that make life feel like a game of Twister!
It only takes five minutes a day to train your mind to look for the positives and to feel gratitude for what is good in your life.
That’s why I’m talking so much about gratitude these days, to help you along the way.
And to get you off to a flying start, here’s one of my favourite Gratitude Projects that you could start tonight and then let the magic happen:
How To Make A Gratitude Jar
- Grab a jar – you can decorate it, if you like. Make it a big one!
- Each day, aim to write a short note to put in the jar with a few words on it about something you feel grateful for. It doesn’t have to be anything big – whatever comes to mind.
- Whenever you’re having a bad day, dive into the jar and remind yourself how many things you have been feeling good about, over the year.
- When December 31st comes around, put some time aside to read through the messages in your jar and to experience what a wonderful year it has been.
- Then start another jar, next year. You could put the old one in a special place, to keep for future generations of ‘you’!
Ninja tip:
If you want to do this with kids, remember you don’t have to write in it. You can get them drawing pictures or snipping photos out of magazines or adding a pebble or other small memento.
The key is to make it fun.
Creativity (getting out of your logical left brain) ROCKS when it comes to experimenting with gratitude!
If you want to take things to the next level, perhaps you’d like to find out for yourself how super-simple gratitude practices can change your life – in just a minute a day?
My gratitude journal – A Year Full of Gratitude – turns itself into a year-long, interactive online course if you join the readers’ club that comes as part of the book.
Plus it comes with weekly videos and a podcast to teach you – in easy steps – how to turn your inner critic into your biggest cheerleader. AND there’s a private forum where you can share your experiences with like-minded souls and get answers to your gratitude questions.
Want to join us? You can grab your copy of the book here and make sure you use the link in the first few pages to join the readers’ club. I would LOVE to share this journey with you.
Wishing you a very full Gratitude Jar by the end of the year!
Namaste,
Time To Stop ‘Pretending’ To Breathe? Turn Things Around With A 3 Minute Belly-Breathing Meditation
Most of us are just ‘pretending’ to breathe. We have trained ourselves to do just enough to survive. But most of us aren’t breathing properly. We’re denying our bodies the oxygen-rich fuel they crave, which has implications for our health – physically, mentally and emotionally.
Fortunately all you need to do, to turn things around, is to take 10 deep breaths.
Why Are We So Scared Of Silence?
You get home from work and almost before your coat is off and the keys are hung up, the radio is on.
You go to a friend’s for coffee and the TV is on in the background.
You sit in your car and give in to an almost physical need to tune in to your favourite station or listen to some music.
What’s going on? [Read more…] about Why Are We So Scared Of Silence?
Are You Trying Too Hard To Meditate?
Who do you believe: those who tell you that meditation should be enormously hard work? Or those who tell you it should be effortless?
Discover the secret problem that most beginner meditators encounter and how you can fix it – right now – easily. [Read more…] about Are You Trying Too Hard To Meditate?
5 Minute Mindful Breathing Meditation
Mindful breathing
Here’s a really simple mindful breathing meditation that you can do whenever you’re feeling tense and stressed.
- Stop whatever you are doing and take a deep breath in to your belly. Breathe out with an ‘ahhhh’ sound, as you relax your body and mind. Do this 3 times.
- Now allow your breathing to settle into a natural rhythm.
- Bring all of your focus to your breathing. Allow your mind to rest, watching, listening to and feeling the physical sensations of your breath.
- As you breathe in, you might like to mentally say something like, “I breathe in.”
- As you breathe out, you might like to mentally say something like, “I breathe out.”
- If you are feeling particularly stressed, you might choose phrases such as “I breathe in relaxation; I breathe out stress and worry.”
- If your mind wanders, that’s ok. Gently bring it back to following your breath.
- Repeat this for at least 10 breaths. Do it in a relaxed way, with a gentle smile on your face.
This technique is a wonderful, fast de-stressing tool, as well as being useful mindfulness practice.
Even if you’re not feeling stressed, you can still benefit hugely from regular practise of mindful breathing throughout your day. It can help you move into the present moment much more easily. And the more you practise, the easier it gets. It has a subtle, yet profound, impact on all aspects of your experience of life. 🙂
If you’d like to find out more about meditation and mindfulness, you might enjoy taking part in the 28 Day Meditation Challenge and my book – 52 Mindful Moments – contains simple mindfulness exercises you can do in under a minute, to go from stressed to smiling.
Do you have your own favourite mindfulness-based or other types of de-stressing techniques? We’d love to hear from you, via the comments box!
x Clare