About 18mths ago I read the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and I have to say it had a huge impact on my life. I did his 30 day challenge back then and although I have adapted it a bit I still have my morning routine.
​In the book Hal leads you through a SAVERS approach every morning.
​Silence
Affirmations
Visualisation
Exercise
Reading
Scribe

​I did this for the 30 days and although the first few days were a bit more difficult I generally had more energy, more clarity and focus.

Silence would generally be some form of meditation. This is where you allow your mind to be quiet for a short time, without the craziness of running through your to do list. First thing in the morning is good for this as you are still a little sleepy.
​Affirmations are where you say something about yourself as if it is true now.
It generally starts as 'I am.....' followed by a way we want to be.
As an example - I am confident and kind.
​Visualisation is where you visualise your life or work as you would like it to be. Imagining you are living it now. The more detail you can visualise the better and you may find this becomes clearer each time you do it. I like to play my favourite music whilst I am visualising.
​Exercise gets your blood pumping, gets your body moving. At the time when I read the book I wasn't really able to do exercise so I would either walk or do a bit of Qi Gong which I really enjoyed.
​Reading is a great way to inspire you and pick you up, I absolutely adore reading!! I have always been a big reader and love learning new things.
​Scribe is journaling, again this is something I've done for a few years now and I find it absolutely essential for me. It was my form of expressing how I felt about things, my space to rant at the time. Journaling for me now is mainly pondering thoughts, which is still useful and journaling will develop and change over time. Sometimes I go back to the ranting :) it is totally ok to journal in which ever way you need at the time.

The routine involves each of these steps and each one is essential and has a purpose. This routine sets you up for the day ahead and getting it all done in the morning means you are able to get on with your day ahead. A change I have made is adding writing my to do list for the day and what I love and appreciate in my life, as I feel this helps me immensely, and I don't do the affirmations at the moment ether. But the great thing is although Hal guides you through his version you really can make it your own. And I'll be honest I don't get up as early as I did during the challenge, but I still have a routine and it really does work. It will help you feel better, more energised and clear as well as help you manifest your ideal life.

​Check out the book if you haven't already, you will not regret it!

It is believed by many, that we are all connected and have access to an inner knowledge. This inner knowledge or wisdom comes in the form of intuition, or connecting with our 'higher self', or just a gut feeling or a knowing. Science is now suggesting that we are all connected to each other, like we are plugged into some sort of matrix where we can access knowledge and wisdom.

To me these insights feel like ideas, inspiration, you can tell they are true and good because they feel amazing, they excite you, and your passion builds. That is of course until fear kicks in and tells you not to be silly, that its not possible, that only certain people can do those sort of things....
This is a good example of figuring out if it is inspiration or fear thats talking. If it is intuitiuon it is your 'higher self' telling you that this is something you could do, like a passion. It feels amazing and so exciting, you can actually feel the buzz run through your entire body!
Fear does not feel like this, fear feels heavy, a 'back to reality' sort of feeling. It's a voice that says "you can't". As I've mentioned in previous blogs, fear is there for a reason, and often it is the same fear that will stop you. The mind likes things to stay the same, if you start changing things in your life the mind will seriously resist, especially if it's a big change from what you normally do. The mind likes us to maintain habits. It knows it is safe when it is repeating the same things ​over and over.

So we have established the difference between fears and inspiration/insights.
​How do we access these?
The first thing we can do is stop being so busy, slow down, take some deep breaths and relax. Slowing your breath will relax your muscles and reduce your heart rate, taking you into a more relaxed state. Take even just 10 minutes for some deep breaths, go outside and take a walk. Being in nature helps to calm your mind. Or sit still and try meditating, the purpose of meditating for me is to quieten (not silence) my mind, to stop it running through the todo list for the day and causing stress. If you are still struggling to calm the mind then give it a job, focus on your breathing, repeat a mantra, look at a candle, look at a symbol and trace it with your eyes. You could also listen to some meditation music or hold a crystal.
Before you know it something will pop into your head, it may not feel exactly right straight away but give it a few minutes to sort itself out and your inspiration or insight will be there. If it doesnt, it doesnt matter. You can try again later. You have still provided an excellent service to your body and allowed it to move into a relaxed, stress free, healing state. Maybe that is all it needed at that moment in time.

But I'm too busy!
If you have a deadline, are too busy and are struggling with something, step away from what you are doing. You have become overwhelmed and need a break. You need this quiet space even more!
If deap breathing or meditating doesnt sit well with you, just do something completely different, you will be amazed how the right idea just pops into your head when you are focusing on something else.

​I hope you got somethig from this post and please share any posts that you feel help you or may help someone else.

I woke up this morning feeling strangely very well, especially considering I was back at the osteopath yesterday. I do have pain, however, I feel ok with it.

I have a feeling of a new beginning today and curious if this is a personal thing or a global thing? 

Anyway, I felt compelled to write a list of things I want to change in my life, 
kind of an 'enough is enough' sort of thing.

The list was much larger than I thought it was going to be, lots of what came up were things that I have acknowledged before but still haven't resolved. On the plus side there were things that weren't on the list that used to be.

Progress! One step at a time!

So a few things that came up for me were:
-Worrying about money
-being in pain
-feeling tired
-worrying what people think of me
-needing approval
-feeling stuck
-having a messy house (we are renovating just now - having said that I'm still a bit of a hoarder)

Now a few of these I am reading and I know they are not feeling as strong as they used to, but they are still there.

Changing your mindset is not going to happen over night, but I do believe if we can focus on the positive, it leaves less space for the negative.

Although these statements may seem very negative, its important to acknowledge them, then change them into a positive statement. If you follow the laws of the universe, you will know that it cannot distinguish between want and don't want. So we have to declare what we do want.

It's also good to understand that we don't need to be perfect, at least not perfect in the sense that we put too much pressure on ourselves to be a certain way, or beat ourselves up over silly 'flaws' that really don't matter. Only change the things that feel right to you, the things that you feel are holding you back.

My new list of personal priorities are:

I am printing this list out and popping it onto my board so I see it every day as a reminder.
What are you going to do today? I feel really strong after writing this list, it feels perfect to me. You will have your own issues to work through and come up with. This feels like a very positive step for me.
Have a fantastic friday!

I found out something totally and utterly fascinating this morning (well fascinating to me anyway!), and maybe you will find it interesting too.

It's the Psoas Muscle (pronounced so-as) in our bodies, also known as the 
'Muscle of the Soul'.
These are the large core muscles that run from our either side of our spine, around and through the pelvis to the front of our thighs, and.......... it is particularly sensitive to our emotions.

You know how sometimes when we are upset, or stressed, we automatically want to go into the foetal position? This is because these muscles contract under stress, so pull us into this position which is why we find comfort from doing this.

You know how when you are not good with heights and you take a look over a cliff side, you feel this wrench in your gut? That is your Psoas muscles contracting under stress.

Or when we get that sinking feeling that something is not right? Again we feel it in our gut, that is the Psoas muscle, 

The Muscle of the Soul.

I have very personal reasons for finding this incredibly interesting and exciting. Ever since my last pregnancy (7yrs ago) I have had a problem with my pelvis and hips. During this pregnancy I had SPD, which basically means my pubic bone split. Generally it is just that the ligaments become really loose and there is movement within the pelvis that causes pain. Normally once the baby is born and hormones return to normal all settles and the pain goes away.

Sadly for me 7 years later I still have it. I have learned to manage the pain through knowing my physical limits. I can't do sports, I can't walk too far, I have a weak back. So I have habitually learned to automatically protect my hips and pelvis this whole time. 


7 years!!

I started to see an osteopath last week, as I really have decided enough is enough. I'd tried the Dr's but they just kept saying nothing was wrong. By this stage I had also worked out that stress seemed to trigger flare ups as well.

Well yes, I'm sure you have guessed it by now but the Osteopath said my Psoas Muscle is in severe contraction. More so on the right side, so this also means my pelvis is twisted too.

I am finding the treatment it's self not too bad pain wise, but I am in a lot of pain for a few days afterwards. In fact as I write this I am 4 days since my last treatment and I am still in pain from it. I am due to go back in 2 days.

This information, however, shows me I am on the right track. It gives me the strength to carry on with the treatment.

Because I know it will work!

It all makes so much sense to me and ties in with what my Osteopath has said, and my friend who did KCR on me said too.

So for me I will continue with the treatment and the exercises I am given. But on going, I want to keep this muscle healthy. Less stress is a major factor, yoga, pilates, dance etc are all supposed to be very good for helping too.

There is a lot of information online about this as well as books on amazon. I know that I will be looking into it further x


***This is of course all just my opinion from information I have collected, so please do your own research into this subject

How many times have you felt totally stuck, like you are living a life that isn't true to you?

Signs of this can include, depression, anxiety, frustration!!

I now I have felt like this many many times, and then guilt kicks in and I feel I should just be grateful for what I have. 
I am incredibly grateful for what I have, but to feel fulfilled we usually need to grow, and continue to grow. 

But how can we grow when we don't even know ourselves what we actually want?

This is an area I have really struggled with myself. I have spent pretty much a year exploring what I want and where I want to be. I have also realised that this changes.......... often.

Over the last year I have tested many different hats, tried out different things that I think I may like.
I have felt the frustration of trying to find this 1 amazing thing that will be my purpose for the rest of my life so I can live the life of my dreams. Frustrated because I didn't know what my dream life even was! How can I possibly get to where I want to be when even I don't know where that is!

One thing that has been an incredible help for me gaining clarity is......

Journalling!!

Try it. 

See how it works for you!

I can only say that I have had amazing realisations, break throughs and understandings of myself through journalling. It has helped me in incredible ways.

So go buy yourself a beautiful journal to write in.
Pour your heart and soul into it, open yourself up.

Don't edit your thoughts, just get them down on paper (electronic journalling doesn't work..... it most definitely has to be written by hand) don't ask me why as I don't know but I have tried both.

Did anyone else here go into a panic when they were asked this? I'm now 40 and it still sends me into a state on anxiety when I feel I have to decide what I want to do. 

In fact I end up doing nothing because I love so many completely different things! If I choose one path, then I feel all other paths are closed to me forever! (It really does feel like that in my head!)

My work career so far has been so diverse it's incredible.
At school I wanted to be a vet, then because I was good at (and loved) maths and physics I decided to be an engineer, the opportunity to take part in an apprenticeship with a huge petrochemical company meant I left school a year early to train to be an electrician, 4 years later I was kept on at the company but I decided to work in the research department running tests on mini plants as an operator, then again I shifted position and retrained as an instrument technician. Whilst in this job I studied part-time BEng Electrical Engineering. So already I had  retrained 4 times! 
Yes its true. I'm a course-aholic!
I absolutely LOVE learning new skills.

Eventually, however, there were a large number of redundancies with the company. HUGE number. I was lucky and wasn't chosen to leave, however, the fact that I very quickly realised we were all just numbers didn't sit well with me. I didn't want anyone having that sort of control over my life. I didn't want to worry that if I lost my job I could be left unable to pay a mortgage. So I volunteered to take redundancy. It wasn't something I thought about for a long time, the idea came to me and 2 days later, after discussing with my husband, I spoke to my manager. It was time for me to move on.
I fell pregnant a few months later, whilst still working (had a year to wait before I actually left my job) I finished my degree, but knew I would be unlikely to ever actually use it. 

Initially, whilst pregnant, I thought I could do child minding, since I was going to have my own child anyway, but 1st baby came along and nope, I was way out my depth here, no way could I have looked after other kids too. And so my next learning opportunity came along, motherhood!! And then being a parent to 2 beautiful daughters when number 2 child was born. So so much to learn!!!

I finally started to look back into owning and running my own business again. Dabbled in a few things, selling baby items on ebay, items I was bulk buying at discount from various companies, I considered maths tuition, book keeping, eventually started working with a health food multi level marketing company. I loved this!!!! I loved the supportive culture and the learning, the health products, which I still use today, but I only lasted a couple of years before burning out. It was during this time I was told about the Law Of Attraction, I was fascinated, I was learning about something that really pulled me in and I read several books on it. When I hit burnout with this company, I pretty much stopped everything: although I still had that understanding of the Law Of Attraction.
Then I had baby number 3, my beautiful baby boy x

My next business was one I stuck with and currently still do. Tans & Lashes. Spray tanning and eyelash extensions. This quickly grew to me learning to be a teacher, then I began writing my own training courses, developing my own lash brand, distribution. As much as I have worked within this industry now for almost 6years, it has changed focus several times, I have learnt many different skills, in very different areas.

Recently I have cut this business back to clients and education only and am also pursuing my new passion. I've spent the last year getting heavily into Law Of Attraction, Self Healing, Crystals, various Universal Laws, tuning into and trusting my intuition, improving my self worth. I'm pretty sure this something that will keep me going for a very long time as there are so many things I'm passionate about here. 
For now I am listening to my body and just following what feels right to me. 
The exciting thing about having so many interests and not staying with one thing is that what I learn in one subject may help me to improve things within another subject. The overlaps can be where the magic happens! And.... I get to figure out what I love doing! (and what I don't so much like doing)

Are you like me? Have you been struggling to find your one purpose in this world? I always believe our purpose is ultimately to be happy. So whatever makes you happy is the way to go. 

"Only make choices that are loving and kind to you" 
- Christie Marie Sheldon

Watch the video below, it may help you.
Jen x

Oooohhh this has been something I have been putting off for such a long long time, so many fears, so many worries. 

Will people still like me? 
Will people think I'm having a midlife crisis? 
Will people think I'm weird? 
Will people be talking about me at the school gate?
Will people think I've gone to the dark side?

Haha truth is most people probably couldn't care less or even notice! And they won't treat me any differently to how they do now. They may be confused as to why I never mentioned it before but I'm still me, with a few new 'hobbies'!

Crystals and angels, meditating and visualising, self development and tuning into my intuition. I still love a glass or 2 (or 3 or 4) of gin and tonic, watching funny films, wearing jeans and trainers, spending time with my family & friends, speaking to clients, applying lash extensions, teaching. 
I'm still me! 
The only things I'm giving up, or at least trying to, are dramas, negativity, people pleasing, listening to that voice in my head that puts me down and a bigggie......... procrastinating!! 

Fear can stop us in our tracks, and unless we follow our true desires and peel away the barriers we put up to protect ourselves we can stay stuck forever! Think about that for a minute........ stuck forever, spending the rest of our lives wishing we had followed our heart rather than worry what other people think of us. Spending our lives the way we think others want us too, rather than how we really want to.

I have spent a long time lost and stuck, paralysed, unable to move forward because of fear. Unable to see clearly which direction I should go in. 
Today, I realised, I don't need to go in any direction, I just need to be true to me.. 

Embrace the things I love, they are all part of me and I don't need to choose one over the other. 
Today I release needing to know all the answers, needing to control things, and I make space for all I desire to come into my life.

I love & approve of myself, unconditionally.

Jen x
p.s. welcome to my new blog!