How happy are you? Welcome to May 2014 Newsletter Contents:
How Happy are You?
You are what you Eat
Inspirational Thought for the Month -
How Happy are You?
I don't know about you, but I just loved that song in the charts a few months ago by Pharrell Williams called "Happy" - every time I hear it, it does lift my spirits and makes me feel happy.
However, being happy isn't always easy! It can be one of the greatest challenges that we face, and can sometimes ironically take all our determination, persistence and self discipline to feel it! Being happy is not just a state that comes from outside influences, we can actually take responsibility for our own happiness by choosing what we focus on and by concentrating on what we have got rather than what we haven't.
How happy are you right this moment? It's often a tough one to judge isn't it. But we are in control of our own happiness, because we decide the thoughts we think. No-one else puts thoughts into our mind. To be happy we need to concentrate on happy thoughts (just like when we feel sad or anxious we discover that we are concentrating on sad and anxious thoughts!) Yet how often do we focus on the negative: someone pays us a compliment and yet we dismiss that, but spend ages ruminating over the unkind words that someone has said to us.Most people remember compliments for a few seconds and insults for for years!
So just for today, no matter what is happening, make up your mind to be happy. Start right now, focus on all that is good, positive, and precious in your life and stop thinking about all the negatives.
one way to help you remember to do this is by keeping a "happy journal". At the end of the day, write down 10 (yes 10!) nice, positive, happy things about your day. I know from doing this myself during tough periods in my life, how challenging this can be, but also how uplifting it can be to change my focus. Sometimes it will be really small positive things that you have noticed, like:
- someone smiled at me in the supermarket today or
- I noticed the daffodils coming up in my garden.
Other times it will be really precious things like:
- my son told me he loved me
- my friend rang to see how I was.
Sometimes it will be big things like:
- I had a day by the sea in the sunshine
- I had an amazing night out with my partner in London.
But big or small try to find 10 each night. When you look back on these, you will see how much reason you have to feel happy!
p.s. Here is the link to the Pharrell Williams song I was telling you about: HAPPY (If this doesn't work, just google Pharrell Williams and it will pop up!)
You are what you eat!
It is a good idea to support yourself with good nutrition as much as you can, but if you are feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed by life, then it is even more important. At times of stress, there is often the urge to turn to food and drink as a sort of "self medication" or "comfort" and certainly for most of us, if that comfort food also includes sugar or fat it can feel very much like a treat or "goody" for the first few minutes that it enters our mouths. Also for many of us that "instant gratification" feeling can very quickly turn to feelings of guilt, irritation and negative self talk. It is not surprising that a lot of the clients that I see for weight loss are often putting on weight and over eating due to the amount of anxiety or stress they are dealing with on a day to day basis in their lives.
Although this desire to indulge in sugary or fatty, salty snacks, when feeling stressed, is understandable, it does actually create a huge problem for the body. It causes a lot of toxic waste in the body, which ironically makes us feel even more "down" and low in energy. This in turn leads to us reaching for more "treats" - just one more chocolate or another packet of crisps.
If we do this just very occasionally the effects on the body won't be too bad, but if this is becoming a regular part of your diet and life, then this is an issue. You will not be getting what the body needs to produce feelings of health and well-being.
In times of stress, it can be difficult to try and focus on healthy eating, because we are "too busy" "too tired" or "too pre-occupied" with our stresses to plan meals, shop healthily or cook dinners from scratch. However, just remembering a few basics like ensuring you have fruit to hand (maybe treat yourself with a nice luxurious tub of ready prepared fruit even!), making sure you drink plenty of water (keep a bottle with you in your bag) and ensuring you eat regularly throughout the day will help you and your body to function better.
Inspirational Thought for the Month
"Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee." Job 22. 28
What you say is what you get. Carrying on the theme of "happiness" I thought I would share this with you for the month. Our thoughts affect our circumstances, so do the words we say. Our words build our attitude and show what we are focusing on and they therefore determine what we will attract and experience.
What would happen if we monitored our own dialogue: the words we speak to others and to ourselves? How many negative, criticizing and complaining words do you speak or think in one day? Just choose a day this week and notice how many times you complain about something in your life, talk negatively about yourself or someone else - you may be shocked.
Now choose another day and decide that no matter what challenges you are facing in life right now, no matter how hard life is this very minute, no matter how frustrated you are with yourself - see if you can open your mouth only when you have something positive and constructive to say and just be curious about what difference that may make.
This is not about pretending that life is perfect or that everything in life is rosy and wonderful all the time, but part of realising that you will find it harder to feel good about yourself and about life in general, if you are griping and complaining about yourself, your family, your job, your friends, your money etc all the time.
I am going to try this myself to see what a difference this makes, so join me and let me know how you get on. Wishing you a "happy" May and enjoy the "happy song of your life!"
With warm wishes
Maria
Maria Furtek
Hypnotherapist, IEMT Practitioner and NLP Master Practitioner, working with you to: “Take the Weight off Your Mind!”
0208 395 5471
