A mother’s love – Part 3

Hello again fellow journeyer.

As I start my writing today, I find myself wondering how you are, as you meet me on this page and how my words may land with you today.

I am currently sat in my back garden, having constructed a cobbled together laptop shade from my laundry basket, so I can sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, the bountiful green, and the birdsong as I put fingers to keyboard to tell this next part of my story.

I feel, as I am reaching the end of my forty-sixth year on this amazing earth, that although my life is far from being uncomplicated and stress free, I have a much better understanding of myself these days and am able to direct for myself a life that I feel is worth living; well, as much as any of us can.  And me taking time to set up a temporary garden office is a version of me recognising and meeting my own needs.  I am always much calmer and able to think more clearly when I am held by the earth and the sky.   I’m not perfect, but neither do I strive to be.  I have grown to like and really appreciate some messiness in life, it keeps things interesting and keeps me from stagnating, but I try where I can to offer myself something different to what I was accustomed to in my earlier life. Read more

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A mother’s love – part 2

So, last month it felt like I left you very abruptly.

I want to apologise if this caused you any discomfort or frustration.  It was not my intention to end in what felt like the middle of my story, and neither was it my design to leave you on a cliff hanger.

What I realised though, as I was writing and writing, and writing some more and the word count just kept climbing, was that I seemed to have opened up a bit of a flood gate and that the words were pouring out of me at a rate which might end up as a whole book if I didn’t find a place to stop and take a pause. Read more

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A mother’s love

***Trigger warning!!! This post may pose a challenging read for anyone who has experienced abuse, emotional neglect, or more generally experienced a negative relationship with a parent (particularly a mother).

I’m not going to beat about the bush here…

I’m just going to get it out here right away…

This may sound nuts, but these are the words that set me free: Read more

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A Year From the Bin

It’s early, early morning on the 19th March.

I step out of the patio doors at the back of the house and into a frost encrusted garden.  The sun, which is rising to the front of my home, is tinting the world a gentle ochre hue.  It makes my garden look like a scene from a 1980’s photograph.  The sun’s elevation is not quite high enough yet to set the frost a-sparkle, so it gives the garden a slightly faded look which adds to the retro vibe.

I’d like to say that the stillness and quiet is absolute, but I can hear the sounds of the city thrumming away, even at this pre 6am hour, I do live in the suburbs after all.  I haven’t realised my dream of living at the foot of a mountain, yet.  And with this flicker of realisation a little spiral of grief and yearning knot together in my chest.  It is quieter than through the day though, and the sounds of the natural world reach my ears with less interference.  I breathe. The feeling passes. Read more

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Tossing and turning is bad for your health

It is World Sleep Day this Friday, and as sleep is often a highly underestimated factor in maintaining good health, I thought it might be useful to jump on here and have a chat about it.

In this fast paced society that we live in, where we are encouraged to be permanently switched on and productive, it is common for sleep to take a bit of a back seat when it comes to priorities. What we don’t necessarily realise though, is that by doing this, we are training ourselves out of the habit of sleeping well and this can significantly impact our health.

We still don’t know enough about sleep and the role it plays in keeping us well, but what we are learning is that it plays a massive role in helping us to maintain healthy function in all sorts of biological systems, and is not just about getting a little rest to recharge our batteries.

For the purposes of this post though, there is evidence to suggest that it plays a pivotal role in helping us maintain good mental and emotional health, heart health and immune function, so I reckon it’s not to be underestimated.. Read more

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Watch where you step

Mindfulness has been a bit of a buzz word in the health and healing sector for many years now.  People have attributed all sorts of spectacular effects to having a regular practice.

Often when people get introduced to the concept of mindfulness, they are thrust straight into a world of meditation and usually come to believe that this is what mindfulness is.  In actual fact, mindfulness is the practice bringing your awareness into the present moment, rather than ten steps in the past or a dozen steps in the future, and this can be done in a number of ways which don’t involve traditional meditation.

I personally love mindful movement in many of its guises, and mindful walking is one of most favourite ways to bring myself into the here and now.  It’s a fabulous way to sharpen my attention on what is currently going on, and get some much-needed movement and nature immersion at the same time.

So, in honour of mindfulness day (12th September 2024), I thought I would share 4 different ways to enjoy mindful walking so that you can give it a try for yourself. Read more

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Greeting the darkness

It’s time to greet the darkness again.

The wheel of the year is turning.  A chill has sneaked into our morning air and August sunshine and carefree summer days will soon be a distant memory.  We are officially heading into the dark half of the year.

This time of year is odd, if you think about it.  If you follow the standard calendar, we are officially three quarters of the way through the year when we reach mid to late September, and yet in our modern lives we also find ourselves on a threshold, at a time of ending and a time of beginning.

Our long, light, busy, adventurous, lazy, hazy summer days are fading behind us. Some of us will grieve their passing.  For me, they are here too short a time so I will be among those numbers.

And, our attention is being called towards our work, and our education; we are being asked to bring new vigour to these spheres of life, whilst at the same time facing a world which is fading into darkness. We are being asked to do something which is largely at odds with the season’s call.

I like to take autumn inspiration from our glorious cousins the trees, the original standing people (we are actually related on an evolutionary scale, we just took a different path in a time so long ago that none of us can remember). Read more

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What even does self-care look like?

Let’s talk self-care…

Self-care has been a hot topic for me, for quite some time now. It’s prominent for me personally and is deeply embedded in my work. Allowing time and space for self care is probably the biggest obstacle the majority of my clients face in getting to where they want to be.

It’s important and often difficult sh*t!

When we embrace a life that involves recognising that we are as important as any other person on the planet, and that we might need to do some looking after ourselves too, our experiences generally change – for the better!

It could just be the way that I have trained the various algorithms to provide me with material I am interested in but, the world at large also seems to be a bit obsessed self-care too.  Everywhere I look in the media, there is some expert or other telling me I should move a certain way, eat a certain way, breathe a certain way, or generally exist in a certain way in order to avoid some terrible fate which is heading towards me unless I change my unhealthy ways and start ‘living my best life’ in the particular way that they suggest.

But, the vast array of information out there is overwhelming and full of conflicting information. One person will tell you the key to happiness is in cold water therapy, another will contradict this by being certain that you need to embrace hygge and life should be all about being warm and cosy. Read more

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Beating the February Fizzle

January rolls around every year and we see a barrage of year end reflections and new year, new me proclamations appearing in our social media feeds.

We all know the drill, make a new year’s resolution or an intention for the year, give it the best you’ve got in January (which is often very little, because we are mammals, in the depths of winter and we tend to not have a lot of energy going spare at this time of year), and fizzle out by the time that February rolls around.

It’s a bit depressing really when you think about it, and yet so many people go through this process every single year.

So, what can you do about it?  Read more

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It’s the most wonderless time of the year

Sing it with me now…

It’s the most wonderless time of the year!

Please tell me you sung that in your head to the tune of that really famous Christmas ditty?!?

Now, I know what you’re thinking – “Rachel, where is your festive spirit?”

I’m going to own it, I’m not a fan!

Christmas can actually be really stressful and, to be quite frank, a little bit sh*te for many different reasons. And I have found over the years that this is not often a popular point of view with the mass British public.

I want to share a little bit of my experience with you though, just in case you are one of the people who struggles with this particular festival for whatever reason. Because do you know what? – I think there needs to be space for people who have a difference in experience or a different opinion without them being labelled a scrooge and being shamed for not getting on board with the popular narrative.

So, if you’re someone who finds this time of year tough, read on… Read more

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