Get Clear for the New Year....

 "Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them." ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Devoting some time right now to get mentally and physically clear before the new year will have the knock on effect of helping you to keep on top of any new year’s resolutions you make.

The winter holidays can be manic so as you start to come through the other side start planning your life detox to kick-start afresh. The goal is to create an environment that allows your whole body to focus on renewing and relaxing. It’s a process of elimination – when you eliminate the clutter from your lifestyle, peace, creativity and healing kick in.

Detox the house.....

Start at the beginning, transfer the essentials to the new 2013 calendar throw out the old.

The fridge; throw out all of the opened odds and sods, if it didn't get eaten over the holidays it's not going to. Buy yourself a glass "lazy Susan" for future easy to reach pots and fridge condiments.

Put all of the fridge and oven shelves through the hot cycle in the dishwasher, if there are any burnt-ons left after washing; rub them off with a scrunched ball of tin foil.

Gather all of the kid’s paintings from the year, take pics of them or scan straight into a pc file, date it and consider making a photo book later in the year.

Get a file box if you don't have one, label the sections for "instructions" "household bills" "bank" "receipts"    etc. etc... as you’re clearing through the house file papers into here.

Throw out ALL of the past years magazines, stop kidding yourself that you'll pick them up again, especially for recipes, you won't, besides they all on line. Donate them to your hairdressers or a care home.

Strapped financially? This January Amazon are offering a £5 gift card when you trade in £15 worth of books, get Ebaying unwanted gifts and sell your old phone sooner rather than later.

If you are still moving the same "homeless" item around your house as this time last year, sling it or donate it.

Definitely have a sort through the wardrobes with selling, recycling and donating in mind.

A whizz around the garage and shed followed by a trip to the tip is always very satisfactory.

Finally to eliminating your body toxins, the simple most powerful course of action is the start drinking as much room temperature water as you can.

Keep it fresh, processed foods are usually packed out with chemicals that can hinder clearing out toxins from your body.

Think about adding more veg whilst cutting down on meat and dairy as they’re both difficult to digest.

Stay off refined sugar it’s hard on your body and lowers your immune system. Consider using dates or xylitol as a natural alternative.

Replacing caffeinated drinks will leave you better hydrated; at least consider starting each day with hot water and a squeeze of cleansing lemon.

Twenty minutes in a warm bath with grated ginger and sea salt sprinkled in is a wonderful detoxing agent. It’ll make you sweat and remove toxins from your skin.

Beware though….warm baths are not for everybody so check with your doc first if you have any concerns at all.

It’s a new moment, a new day, it’s a new year!! so how about getting to grips with your thoughts and emotions too? Most of us have some mental clutter blocking our positive flow in this area. Setting out your new year goals for 2013 can be an exciting process, I’ll be back with steps and ideas for these next.  Love and blessings until then.

Super Fast Stress Relief

It's cosy in here

Choose your focus

I felt inspired to write today because so many of my friends and clients are feeling despair and upset with the recent media coverage of our biased news. Many simply don't know what to think!

 Personally I don't watch the TV news and I choose not to read the drama fed out to us through the tabloids. However, it's inevitable that I'll not escape the radio news updates and of course find streams of anger and upset on social media. Having an (almost) obsessive interest  in human behaviour patterns, I find people's emotional response at times like these fascinating to observe.

I am a mum to two gorgeous boys and absolutely know where my focus needs to be right now. We could all choose to wallow in the misery of the fear fed media news AND add to the drama already at fever pitch, or we can switch our focus, be more conscious, be aware of whether our thoughts are coming from a place of love or fear because this will have a huge bearing on our actions and the example we set for our young ones.

Of course the story of the nurse choosing to kill herself and leave her children is sad (it's sad  for the other 14 people in the UK who statistically ended their life that day that the news didn't report because apparently it wasn't dramatic enough) it's sad for the family left behind and also horrendous for the radio dj's who talked to her, how could they possibly have known how fragile the person who picked up the phone would be. There was much hatred for the radio station last week but I'm pretty sure their intent wasn't to kill anyone, there was much compassion for the nurse even though she purposefully took a life and smashed a family to pieces leaving two children with out a their mum. Perhaps a different perspective.

 It's where our focus goes that interests me, perspective when coping with an event is paramount to where we place our anger and/or compassion, to whether we keep on suffering or are able to feel pain and move on. December 14th we were given the news that many young people have been shot by a young man in the US. Again, of course this is horrific and people are outraged, some want to take action to "do" something to perhaps somehow readdress some kind of balance to feeling helpless, sad or panicky partly because this is how media coverage can make us feel. It's made worse because it's the time of year when we're most family minded and thinking of others. 

You know 30,000  children died of starvation in the two days following the Connecticut massacre? and more than 900,000 babies were born? but because the media doesn't flaunt the fact at us it isn't where our awareness lies. The other events that the media chooses not to flaunt are the millions (and possibly billions if you count thoughts) of acts of kindness and love that beautiful human beings give freely every minute of every day.

 One way of "keeping your head" when all around you are losing theirs and keeping your heart coming from a place of love when there is sooo much craziness being thrown at you, is to find perspective that will keep the love flowing, dig deeper than the news paper, expand your conciousness go to www.postivenews.org and celebrate the good stuff, you are not helping ANYONE by suffering for them, send out love to them of course but you can immediately help the collective by switching your focus onto the ones you love and your community. Guide your little ones to realise their own worth, by teaching your children to serve and love themselves and others is your great influence in the world, choose to make this your focus.

Step Up

Step Forward to Step Up

Quite often (as the old saying goes) your best life really IS just outside of your comfort zone, the problem  when the giant leap seems too massive is that it can leave you frozen in fear instead of pro-actively taking action. The great news is that you very rarely have to take a giant leap! most of the time just one small achievable step is all you need commit yourself to.

 Here's a tiny example....stop procrastinating about exercising because you need the time and money to make it to the gym, you'll NEVER get there if you keep talking that talk, but you can get up 15 minutes early one day this week and stretch a bit, that's it, make a cup of tea, job done you took your first step. Next week, step 2, start wearing your gym shoes around the house, lunge a couple of times a day. In 3 weeks time it'll start becoming a habit and by week 4 I guarantee you'll be hatching a plan for an exercise routine. You possibly still won't have the gym-time or money but who cares you'll already be walking the walk.

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Thermo Auricular Therapy (de-cluttering between the ears)

The ancient art of Ear Candling is still relatively new to some people so I thought I'd write a little about the treatment and some of it's benefits....

Ear Candling is a gentle holistic therapy so following a consultation (using an otoscope so I get a good before and after impression) you can kick back and relax. The ear candles I use are a pure cotton flax tube impregnated with beeswax and infused with natural extracts and essential oils (they of excellent quality and smell divine :-) While you lay comfortably on the therapy bed, the lit candle is gently held in the outer ear canal. The slight warmth and vibration from the candle column creates a massaging function that helps surface wax to drain away and harder impacted wax can be drawn into the candle filter (if one ear carries more wax than the other you can actually see this in the filter after treatment).

 Important acupressure/meridian points are stimulated to invigorate the immune system whilst the concentrated vapour from the essential oil makes its way through the ear nose and throat for a soothing effect. This process is repeated in the other ear followed by a facial pressure point massage which will help the body to continue to drain away any mucus congestion. Here in the Medshed (at no extra cost) Candling sessions are often rounded off with a little Reiki and a cup of green tea if you so wish :-)

10 conditions  Ear Candling can be useful for 

Vertigo

Asthma

Excessive wax build-up

Regulation of pressure in the ears and head

Blocked tear-duct

Headaches

Hay fever

Sinusitis

Tinnitus

Facial neuralgia

As with all therapies there are a list of conditions where Candles cannot be used: perforated ear drum, grommets or a cochlear implant in place. Epilepsy and early pregnancy are not advised either due to some of the essential oil ingredients.

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Are You A Nutter?

USE YOUR NUT!!!

Just 3 Brazil nuts per day can help provide the antioxidant selenium that reduces your risk of colon cancer and ALSO boosts skin elasticity and slows down your biological age.

Brazil nut pesto....throw some parsley, a handful of brazils, squeeze and zest of a lemon, garlic and sea salt into the whizzer, this not only tastes fabulous but can also double up as a facemask (you might want to omit the garlic for that one!)

A good handful of walnuts will lift your heart; they've a great source of heart protective omega 3.

If you're blessed with a magic Vit-mix or similar kitchen gadget you can whizz up 3 cups of walnuts, 1 tbsp. of olive oil, pinch of sea salt and hey presto you've got yourself a nut butter. You can try this with most nuts.

Almonds have calcium, magnesium and phytochemicals which help to protect against disease. 1oz of almonds provides 35% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin E.

Almond and/or Cashew milk.... soak nuts in fresh water for 6 hours, drain water off, blend  soaked nuts with 3 cups of water, add a date or two if you need it sweetening, strain the bits out and drink, keeps for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Pure Shea butter which is the fat taken from the Shea nut has an abundance of vitamin F. It melts into a dreamy moisturizer when it makes contact with the skin. It's also wonderful for smoothing hair and nail cuticles.

Ok... coconut isn't exactly a nut but it's such a versatile fabulous gift of the earth that it would be rude not to give it a mention here. Coconut oil can be used in, baking, frying, smoothies and salads, applied all over your body or even on creaking hinges!!  The presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid in the oil means that it will help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels and boost your immunity along side a gazillion other benefits including brain function. Use it in place of other oils, including butter and olive oil.

Ps...Please ignore the above if you have a nut allergy :-)

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