Motivation

Well, the sun came out today and so did I. Armed with my nordic walking sticks that make me look like a skier out of snow, I did my favourite short walk to West Shore and up the Orme, along Invalids Walk and through the Haulfre Gardens, where I stopped at the Cafe for a good hot coffee, with sugar I'm afraid, but I only have one per day.

These sticks are great for working the upper body as well and do help to get up some speed. I asked a very nice man to take this pic, to prove that I'm getting some exercise!
This could almost be mistaken for the Med, maybe!

So, I'm working on MOTIVATION... and that's the really tricky part of achieving anything.
My goals are simple... WORK OFF FAT AND GET FIT!

My Plan of Action is to eat less and exercise more... simple!  Current advice is to eat 6 small meals a day, though that does seem like snacking to me. The trick is to only eat small amounts at any time. That can be a problem when you like food, as I do and I hate leaving anything...  a residue from my childhood... "Eat everything on your plate... think of the starving children in Africa!" If only I could have sent it to them!!
I've heard that the Queen has only tiny helpings when she has the tedious duty of sitting through long, multi-course banquets, so I'll remember to follow her example.

Motivation has to engage the emotions, so on my Action Plan I'm putting a current pic of myself in all my fatness, which engages all my negative emotions... alongside an earlier pic without it, which makes me feel that anything is possible.

Well, I'll never be 60 again!

EFT is the most effective way of combating cravings, so whenever I'm tempted to buy the dreaded sweet C things... Cakes or Chocolate... I know I can catch the feeling and tap it away... as long as I keep my GOAL in sight!

Any issues can be tapped on, such as... 'Even though Mum said I have to eat everything on my plate... I accept that was her perception, influenced by food shortages and rationing... and that was so long ago... I really don't have to believe that now... at my age... I can now make my own decisions... to only eat what's appropriate for me right NOW!'

Watch this Space...

patricia-wynne.co.uk

Another New Year

Another New Year and most of us are probably thinking about improving our lot in one way or another.
There are many inspiring books out now, as well as motivational newsletters and offers of coaching on the net and I've subscribed to many of them over the last year or so. This is great, but I've begun to feel overloaded with all this information on the Law of Attraction and offers that promise to teach me how to achieve better health, my ideal figure, success and great wealth. It seems that so many people are in the business of self-help and they are simply recycling variations of basic psychological ideas and coaching techniques. Of course these can help, but I'm so put off by the self-promotion and  money making frenzy, that I've unsubscibed from most of them, except those that feel more congruent and don't hassle me.

Now I have no desire to jump on the bandwagon, but I think by now that most of us know what's good for us and what isn't! We know that what we take into our bodies affects our health and how we look... and what we take into our minds informs our attitudes and behaviour. We know that we have to eat less to lose weight and exercise more to keep our bodies healthy. All the information is there, but if we don't take action, we don't get anywhere. It's all too easy to 'know-it-all' and say it doesn't work because... and that's the problem for many of us who can't find the motivation to carry it through.

I have to admit thatI am one of those who have all the 'How to' books, love the ideas and want to promote them. And I do practise what I preach... some of the time! I am lucky to be blessed with good health... BUT... I know I'm heavier than I want to be and when I see pictures of myself, especially from the back, I'm appalled at how I look! So how to find the motivation to do something about it?

Making resolutions is obviously the first step and writing down goals is the first thing a coach will advise. However, most resolutions and goal-setting only last so long because its so easy to fall back into the same old habits.
So I'm putting these thoughts into this blog as one way to get me motivated, yet again, to feel better about myself.
All comments welcome!

Happy New Year to you all
patricia-wynne.co.uk

Snow and Ice

I don't know why it's been a couple of months since I last blogged! Maybe I've been winding down with the year and getting into the doldrums of inactivity.... watching too much tele... not to mention too much eating and drinking!  I suppose that when I'm not travelling, with the excitement of new experiences and challenges, its all too easy to settle into a comfortable rut, although I quite like hibernating in my cosy room, like an old bear, as the days shorten and the temperature drops.

 The weather, meanwhile, has overcome us all, as you no doubt know and this picture was taken yesterday (Sat) on Llandudno Promenade.  Here by the sea, we never have it as bad as elsewhere and whatever snow falls rarely hangs around for long. However, this time it's stuck and frozen, as it has everywhere. Another Ice Age?

Lovely to look at but a pain to live with... sound like a relationship! Nevertheless, it does transform the landscape and affords beautiful pictures.

In training

I've been introduced to hospital radio by my new friend Marie and now I'm in training for one hour a week, learning how to use the controls and find the music on their computer system! This is voluntary and I'm loving it... writing my script, which includes subtle sugestions for reframing attitudes and playing old favourites... Sinatra, Ella, Nat King Cole and other jazz greats.

 This was my introduction, being interviewed by Marie last month. As yet we've had no feedback from the wards so I do hope someone is listening. Most patients now spend the minimum of time in hospital so its unlikely that the same people will be listening from one week to another.

Anyway... I trust its doing some good as I'm surreptitiously introducing the concepts of relaxation and EFT.

Autumn leaves

 A beautiful day out... visiting Bodnant Gardens... that's the famous Pin Mill and water lily pond.















Trees are beginning to put on their vibrant colours before the leaves fall... which reminds me of the poem by Jenny Joseph...

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
Witha red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

 I shall sit down on thepavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick al;ong the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens
And learn to spit.
 ............................................................
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Love that!

The view from the top of the Sychnant Pass looking down to the Menai Straits... quite spectacular.

Revisiting memories in the Lakes

I've been very lackadaisical about keeping up this blog, although I always enjoy writing about my experiences, so here's a recent update. At the beginning of the month I joined my lovely sister on our annual holiday and enjoyed the last few days of an Indian Summer (without going to India!) in Cumbria... otherwise known as the Lake District.


It's many years since either of us visited here, but as Lancashire lassies, we have wonderful memories of trips to the Lakes with our parents, so this was a nostalgic revisiting of many familiar places... Keswick, Ambleside and Borrowdale, where we found the Bowder Stone, balanced on edge, where I'm sure we used to be able to shake hands from each side at the base... but not now!

We had some lovely sunny days, but as always, some cloud and rain, which only adds to the particular quality of this mountainous county.

We were based near Keswick, which has its own charm. The Museum is exactly as I remember it, with the amazing musical instrument of Slate keys, which the inventor played before Queen Victoria. When I spent my first honeymoon here, the ancient curator played it for us, which inspired my musical husband.
The week flew by but it was a holiday to treasure, as we realised how much we appreciated our parents' love of the countryside and enthusiasm for walking and exploring by bus and train, as in those days we had no car. Not such a bad upbringing.

Summertime... and the weather is... WET

Well, it rained on Saint Swithin's Day and true to form it's hardly stopped raining since. We did manage a Birthday picnic for Julie and Rich and the sun even made a brief appearance. So a good time was had by all!

I feel for the many families who choose to holiday in this country and recall camping experiences with my own young family so many years ago!

Caught in a sudden squall on the cliff-top camping site above Whitby, we all had to hang onto our frame tent to stop being blown away, which happened to other unoccupied tents.And Julie, who was wet, experienced a mild shock when she touched the metal pole.

On another memorable holiday with family and friends in bonnie Scotland we were literally blown out of Glen Coe at 10.0'clock at night, when a sudden wind riccoche'd (?) around the surrounding mountains. Sitting in our converted ambulance nursing a seriously sprained an ankle, (which happened while taking a short walk) I watched as the large frame tent, in which the young men and boys were bedding down for the night, suddenly disappeared, leaving a couple of young men standing in their underpants and the younger ones struggling in their sleeping bags, wondering what had happened!  The tent was recovered, but as night descended there was nothing for it but to bundle everything and everyone into the two vans and head south, braving the fierce gale that was bringing down branches from the trees. We stopped once, in eerily deserted Glasgow, to use public toilets, but as dawn broke over the Lake District, magically the sun broke through and we completed our holiday with tent repaired, in brilliant weather!

And the moral of this story? (There always has to be some moral for me.) So how about this one? Behind every cloud is a silver lining.
It gave us all a memorable experience and something to chuckle about ever since!

Memories are the glue that hold friends and families together and shared stories form strong emotional bonds; whether loving and joyful or unhappy and fearful.
My work in helping those with emotional issues is often through re-forming those memories and and releasing the bonds that have held them back and this is more easily achieved with EFT... the Tapping solution.
See www.patricia-wynne.co.uk for more information.