I've had the 'flu and been sick for t he past five days, so here I am a day late with the podcast.

It was so lovely to wake up this morning and feel that my sparkle is back!

Yesterday I tried to convince myself that I 'HAD' to put out an episode, and pretty quickly turned from that critical, demanding, unreasonable voice towards a more self-compassionate, understanding one which said, 'Tomorrow you'll feel better, you can do it then.'

I've been practising self compassion for some time now, and these are the fruits of my labour.

Contrary to popular opinion, being self compassionate does not turn me into a complacent, self-satisfied layabout.

It actually encourages me to show up, be visible and share my gifts with the world.

In self-criticism land, there are no gifts.

So I hope the podcast today encourages you to make this delicious shift in your inner talk so you can become the encouraging ally of your inner world.

I've recoorded a special self compassion meditation which you can access here 

I'm just back from five weeks in France where I had an amazing holiday, and offered a bespoke adventure retreat to one of my clients.

We walked in the hills, swam in the Mediterranean and saw unbelievable ancient monuments like the Roman Pont Du Gard and the Templar city of La Couvertoirade in the Cevennes.

It's been a while since I've ventured overseas on retreat, and this is my first experience of hosting in France, a country where I lived for a year and fell in love with the language and culture.

My usual retreat venue is Bali, I've been going there since I was fourteen and love the people, culture and environment. I'm excited to announce a Bali retreat fro September of this year and hope to meet you on retreat soon.

How good are you at receiving?

Giving seems to be a lot more comfortable for most women, yet we need to allow things in if we are to truly thrive.

Today I'm exploring a world view that goes with allowing your good to flow to you, it may be different from the world view you hold.

There is an experiential exercise in allowing which will start you on your journey of expanding, breathing in and more consciously receiving.

Let me know how you get on!

Check out my free meditation library here.

What drives our behaviour?

Sometimes we live according to unconscious beliefs which we took on board very early in life.

Today I'm exploring this Gestalt concept of introjection, and how it can work against us until we develop the power of awareness.

When introjects become conscious we have options to choose, but when they are operating out of awareness, they can have a powerful negative effect on thinking and behaviour.

Here I offer a journalling technique to support you to bring the introjects into consciousness where you can start to work with them.

Check out my free meditation library here.

Do you know what you need at any given time?

Often our needs can become so buried away that we have no idea what we really need.

There re two big reasons for this that I see,

First, women are often conditioned out of attending to our own needs in favour of caring for the needs of others.

Second, a need-shame cycle has been set up in early childhood.

This second concept is what I'm discussing here today, the way unmet needs become linked to shame and the buried even further out of awareness.

To support you on your awareness journey I have a free gift for you.

Check out my free meditation library here.

Third in the series, I'm exploring the consept of presence.

This is when you are relaxed, alert and ready for whatever is about to arise. An energetic availability in the present moment.

This again involves dropping over-identification with the mind and its endless repetitive thoughts and accessing a deeper sense of self, usually situated somewhere in the body, though the actual site shifts constantly.

Cultivating presence is a cornerstone of mental wellbeing.

Check out my free meditation library here.

Second in the key concepts series, awareness is the life blood of Gestalt psychotherapy.

Unlike psychoanalysis, Gestalt seeks to build awareness within the client, and within the client/therapist dyad. This deeper knowing of the self is available to all of us but sometimes needs a little help to quiet the mind, process emotions, and acheive.

Like mindfulness, awareness creates space. Space to be, to reflect and to replenish.

Unlike mindfulness, awareness is a whole body experinece, not a mental activity.

When the mind becomes quiet and awareness is available, we become powerful and purposeful in our lives.

Check out my free meditation library here.

The first in my mini cast series about key concepts in wellbeing and mental health.

How satisfying is the contact you make with the world? Sometimes it can be intensely satisfying and sometimes not. The key is how much of you is available at the contact boundary.

We limit our availability when we get caught in the mind. So developing the abilty to step beyond thinking, and witness our own mind is how to develop your capacity for contact.

Mental overdrive is so common currently.

How do you quiet your mind so you can make deeper contact with yourself and the world around you? 

Meditation, yoga, exercise, prayer.

These are some of the ways to allow deeper contact to arise.

Check out my free meditation library here.

You can start making choices today that will positively affect your mental health, and none of them require a personality transplant!

I hope you find something in todays episode to add into your daily habits to help you make that 1% change which leads to a lighter, more contented life.

Let me know!

If you would like some support with setting up a healthy daily routine, heres the link to my free gift.

Do you find that life has become predictable? You know exactly how things will turn out before they even happen?

It can make for a monotone life where novelty and spontaneity have gone overboard.

There's a reason for this, and today I'm exploring a little around how to shift from reactive to creative thinking.

If, as we often hear, our inner world creates our outer world, it's easy to see how the pattern begins with us.

Changing from reactive to creative thinking can revolutionise your experience.

Here's the link to the meditation library.