How to set and keep the good vibes until Summer

One of my Spring intentions is to have more adventures. So here I am last week on the Great Ocean road, in 90K winds, having a bloody good time. The Twelve Apostles were so invigorating, we could hardly walk and most certainly held onto the railing, in fear (but couldn’t stop laughing) of being blown over the side.

This week I’m refreshed and back to work, with a full week of lovely clients and study ahead. Taking a break to rest, instead of keeping going until you get ill or near mental breakdown (which has happened in the past), can be what you need to have a new spring in your step.

While you have the space to reflect, get out your notepad and jot down things what you have in your life, relationships, work, house, hobbies, exercise, diet, possessions. Then next to it put a tick or a cross. A tick means you’re happy with how it’s going and in a year’s time you’d be just fine and dandy if it stayed the same. A cross shows you that an adjustment can be made. Whether it’s a little tweak so a relationship is more fulfilling, or I exercise, but it could be more consistent with clearer goals, or this is not working and I need to cut it out of my life. Then write next to it the action you need to take to reach that year time’s goal.

This action of getting it out of your head and onto the paper, can be enough to kick start you into setting good intentions for yourself. Give yourself a week’s time limit to start, drinking one glass of water more, exercising 5 minutes more than you usually do, spending time talking or being with a friend. Not big things, but huge impact on your self-esteem and will give you more energy.

I have a whole load of tips on dealing with the big things and toxic people. I’ve been working with some fabulous heart centred clients on how they can manage and thrive in this situation with Personal Success Sessions and having great results.

My next adventure is to Vietnam next month. I’ll be on holiday from 7th for two weeks until 21st October, so taking booking around those dates for your Massages and Success sessions.

One last thing, I’ve brought back the loyalty reward scheme. Where you pay for 7 treatments and get the 8th for half price. As I have lots of lovely loyal clients, it’s nice to say thank you. When you come in for your next treatment, I’ll give you a new card (remind me if I forget 🙂

I’d love to hear about your spring intentions and next adventures.

Warm smiles

Karen

Therapist – Author – Adventurer

t: 0414 973394

w: www.kasona.com.au

e: kasonamassage@gmail.com

You may have heard of the phrase “sharing is caring”. We use that in our house a lot. Usually in a joke about sharing germs if one of us has a cold,

The other day I had a good chat over the garden fence with my lovely neighbour. Even though we live next door, we don’t see each other often. So when we’re both out doing a bit of gardening, it’s nice to take a few moments to catch up. We also did a bit of produce swapping. I’ll see your Aloe vera and lemon grass and raise it to fresh eggs and cherry tomatoes.

What is it about freshly harvested food that tastes so much better? Well, the quicker from the harvest to the plate (or mouth in my case) the more nutrients and vitamins are in the food. Long travel and storage diminishes the vitamins in the produce. That’s why a farmer’s market is much better than supermarket bought “fresh” food, as it could have been in storage facilities for months and sprayed with chemical to keep it looking good.

These opportunistic interactions have a positive effect on our health too. Connection with others whether human or a pet, stimulates your Oxytocin which is important for wellbeing. It helps to strengthen your immune system and keeps you happy and healthy.

Research has shown the social interactions we have don’t have to be lengthy, they just have to be meaningful. For example, finding out the name of your local coffee shop worker and asking how they are. Learning a bit of information about them and asking about it the next time you see them and them doing to same to you. If you get regular post, find out your postie’s name and waving each time you see them. Doing a regular walk around your community and saying hello to whoever you meet. It not only does you good, but improves the lives of people around you too.

Good thoughts, become good deeds, become good lives.

When I see clients, we work on the circle of care. Asking yourself what have a done for myself today? What have a done for my family or friends? Then what have I done for my community? The community part can be putting some water of food out for the birds. Smiling and saying hello to someone you don’t know. Picking up a bit of litter while out walking or volunteering at an animal shelter or homeless charity.

Extending yourself and making a difference to lives around you can give your life more purpose and stop you obsessing about your life being less than perfect. It gives you meaning and enjoyment seeing someone else smile and thanking you for your efforts or kind words.

Much love

Karen
Therapist – Artist – Author – Conscious Connecter
www.kasona.com.au

“When we get caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with each other and ourselves” – Jack Kornfield

A couple of months ago I had a lovely break away over on the East coast with some girlfriends. We enjoyed long walks and chats, tasty meals and pottering around. We visited a market in Byron bay, full of craft stalls, wood wittlers and kaftans. Amongst other things, I bought a face cloth that removes makeup without soap or solutions. It did draw me in too as was purple!!
Ofcourse I left leave it behind, hanging up in my friend’s shower, which she kindly posted onto me.

It felt good to meet the maker, buy local and support a local business. So when I got home, I thought I’d buy some more. I checked the label to see if I could track down the smiley lady I bought it from. Only to find it was made in China and 100% polyester, not micro fibre like I’d believed.
It took the shine right out of it. Not only was it not authentic and made with her fair hands, it was shipped from China and probably made unethically.

Although I’ll still use it, as wasting goes against my Yorkshire ethics of “don’t waste anything”, I will in future check the label and make sure I’m supporting a local business.
As you can tell I’m disappointed and a little outraged, so much so I wrote a blog about it 🙂

Sometimes, things aren’t what they seem. You could be sold what you think is a golden goose, but really is a chicken with glitter on.

What’s important, is not that you made a mistake or was led down a path by someone pretending to be something they weren’t. It’s how you show up for yourself when you realise it. Blame and shame for doing the “wrong” thing or being deceived keeps us trapped in the cycle. Acknowledging things aren’t as they were or not serving us anymore and setting clearer boundaries for ourselves can be the key to feeling empowered and better about ourselves.

It might just be a cloth, but it did spark memory of when someone deceived me into believing something that wasn’t real, but it was just a smoke screen. I had to remove myself, as speaking up wasn’t an option at the time. Sometimes we can communicate and compromise, but other times we have to know our worth and move on.

Know your truth and your worth.

Much peace

Karen