5 Ways to build self-worth. A contented woman stands happily in her kitchen drinking from a mug
Posted inWell-Being

5 ways to build up your self-worth

Let’s be clear from the get-go: your worth has nothing to do with how you look, your bank balance, or your material belongings.  Literally nothing to do with these things.  So if you’re here thinking that’s how you build self-worth, get ready to turn your attention elsewhere.  

As I mentioned in the self-worth month launch post, self-worth relates to how much you value yourself, regardless of these things.  And investing the time to start building a healthy sense of it is one of the wisest & most-rewarding things you’ll do in this one lifetime you get.

Personally, I know what it’s like to feel you have zero self-worth.  I’ve been there, and I lived there for a long time.  But I also know that it’s possible to ‘increase your stock’ so to speak.

As we build self-worth, the way we think & act towards ourselves naturally improves, which in turn has a knock-on positive effect on our interactions with others.  It’s a statement to the world, isn’t it…I know my worth, I treat myself with love & respect – you need to do the same.  

Here are 5 ways to build self-worth…

high trees & sunshine
Posted inWell-Being

Facing a fear: a lesson in self-acceptance.

This year I faced one of my biggest fears… heights.

We were on a family holiday & had booked the kids on to one of those tree-top aerial adventures.  My husband had been due to complete this with them, but rather inconveniently for me (maybe not so much for him) he’d hurt his ankle beforehand and was unable to take part.  

I had two choices, cancel the activity & face the look of disappointment on my kids faces or suck it up, strap on the safety-gear and make like Tarzan.  From the picture, you can guess which option I chose.  

All ready to go and face my fear of heights. Alex Grace

Taking an exceptionally deep breath, the kids & I began the climb… 

Self-acceptance starts with being content with who you are.
Posted inWell-Being

The path to Self-Acceptance: how to start accepting yourself more.

What if I offered you more freedom, more independence, more kindness, less fear of failure, improved mental health, a more positive mindset and an increased sense of self-worth?    Would you take it?

What if I said, all of this is available to you but the path to this involves self-acceptance?  Self-acceptance of the kind where you embrace everything about yourself, all your good bits and your not-so-good bits and be ok with it all?  Would you be able to do it?  

I think you could.  

This October we are focusing on self-acceptance
Posted inWell-Being

October Well-being Focus: Self-Acceptance

Crack out the pumpkins, it’s October – Time for a new well-being focus! Perhaps apt for what many agree is the spookiest month of the year, we’re focusing on an area of our well-being people often find the scariest. Having started the work to increase our self-awareness, we now need to take that understanding of ourselves, of our strengths & weaknesses, and learn to accept them…warts and all.

Yes, this October we’re focusing on Self-Acceptance.  

My Wellness Toolbox book by Alison Swift
Posted inWell-Being

My Wellness Toolbox: Building simple & effective tools to manage anxiety

Whilst at a beauty expo a few months ago, I happened to meet a very inspirational person, her name is Alison Swift.  A published author, she was at the event to promote her book ‘My Wellness Toolbox’, a self-help book to empower you to simply & effectively manage your anxiety. 

She handed me an affirmation (one of her wellness tools) and we got to chatting about her story. 

Paper affirmation reading 'I have the power to choose. Today I choose happiness. www.mywellnesstoolbox.co.uk
The affirmation I received – very apt!

The story behind ‘My Wellness Toolbox’…

In the late 90’s Alison noticeably began experiencing anxiety & panic attacks.  Over the next 8-9 years, these became increasingly worse to the point where she had such crippling anxiety she couldn’t even open her front door. 

In August 2006, Alison hit what she described as her rock bottom.  It took days for her to be convinced to leave the house to seek help from a doctor.  But thankfully she did. 

As part of her recovery, she underwent Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and was introduced to the idea of a toolbox.  A metaphorical box full of ‘tools’ to help her cope & overcome the anxiety she was experiencing. 

From her own experiences, she believed that everyone should build their own toolbox to enable themselves into a better life…

Self-awareness: A guest post by Simone Phillips
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Self Awareness: A guest post by Simone Phillips

I’m so pleased to welcome Simone from parenting blog 11 Years of Nappies.  Her blog is inspiring, impactful & designed to give hope to other mum’s out there. What a brilliant ethos!  I’m grateful to her for joining us today to discuss self-awareness in greater depth, over to you Simone…

Let’s start by defining self-awareness — it is a noun.  A conscious knowledge of one’s own character and feelings.

Let’s break that down.

Self-awareness is having a clear perception of YOUR personality, including YOUR strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions.  It allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your response to them in the moment.

Self-awareness is the foundation of your own success.  In one’s personal development, self-awareness is the first aspect you would need to look into.

Self-awareness: a guest post by Simone Phillips. Image of woman looking at her reflection

Now, that we understand exactly what self-awareness is, I am sure you can agree just how important this is.

New OYL'E Pulse Point Rollers. Image of OYL'E Rise Roller
Posted inWell-Being

Introducing the •NEW• OYL’E Aromatherapy Pulse Point Rollers

This post is a promotion in association with OYL’E London.  *Affiliate links are contained within.  Find out more here. 

In case you missed my post discussing the many positive benefits aromatherapy offers to us, let me start by saying this – through the right use of aromatherapy (the use of scents to alter our moods) we can experience a subtle yet holistic effect on our bodies and minds. 

Essential oils are a simple, but effective tool to help boost our sense of well-being.  Whether it’s helping to calm us or energise us for a productive day ahead.

So when OYL’E London let me know about their new aromatherapy Pulse Point Rollers*, I was more than happy to give them a try.    

What are OYL’E Aromatherapy Pulse Point Rollers*?

4 Tips to reduce wedding planning stress. Image of Beautiful wedding car with plate JUST MARRIED
Posted inWell-Being

4 Tips To Reduce Wedding Planning Stress: a guest post by Sunna Naseer

Please join me in welcoming my friend Sunna from lifestyle blog – Inspired in the City – to Living.Pretty.Happy today.  As part of involvement month, she’s kindly sharing some great tips on helping to reduce wedding planning stress! I sure could have done with these when I was planning my own wedding 15-years ago! Over to you, Sunna…

As a newly engaged happy couple, your head is in the clouds.  Every friend and family member wants to make plans to grab a celebratory drink together and hear about the proposal in great detail.  Every day is filled with congratulations and happiness.

So, when you finally sit down to start the real wedding planning, it can knock you back down to Earth with a bit of a thud.  Where do you even begin with an event so large and so important? How will you ever afford it? With so many difficult questions to consider, it is easy to start feeling stressed.

Having begun my own wedding planning journey earlier this year, I know first hand how stressful it can be and how many arguments it can cause.

Planning your big day will always be a challenge but there are plenty of ways to help you make the process a little less daunting and a lot more fun!

Here are four of my best tips for making wedding planning less stressful:

Feeling good for doing good: Why volunteering benefits everyone. Image of a group of females wearing grey t-shirts saying volunteer, smiling and pointing at the camera
Posted inWell-Being

Feeling good for doing good: Why volunteering benefits everyone

Volunteering was something I never particularly wanted to do.  Who has the time???  Sounds awful of me doesn’t it? I’m not alone though right?

“Would anyone like to volunteer?”.  Often meant with the best of intentions, this question has been known to have grown-adults running for the door, feigning hearing loss or just employing ninja-like skills to avoid eye contact at all costs.  Why does the notion of volunteering for something cause our stomachs to flip & make us want to throw a ‘you’re a hero’ party for the poor person who caved and raised their hand? 

Feeling good for doing good: Why volunteering benefits everyone. Image of woman raising her hand in an office environment to volunteer

I was very much of the notion that I would like to help, but that if I did, it would open a non-closable doorway through which I would always be stuck in a volunteering loop, lose any and all precious time I had to myself and make me curse the day I ever picked up a charity bucket and uttered the question, spare any change please? whilst wearing a chicken-suit.  

Of course, this is not the reality of volunteering. 

Smile! Everything you need to know (but didn't realise) about smiling. Image of a yellow balloon with a smiling face on it
Posted inWell-Being

Smile! Everything you need to know (but didn’t realise) about smiling

I was never going to be a ballerina.  It wasn’t through lack of trying, I just wasn’t built for it.  However, in any ballet exam I ever took, there was always one thing I scored well on – smiling.  I don’t know why they score you for smiling, but they did and that’s where the majority of my marks came from.  I guess I was just a natural-born smiler (who couldn’t dance very well).

The benefits of smiling. Image of a little ballerina smiling and posing

I’ve never grown out of it either.  You could say I’m that slightly crazy person who always smiles at people, even if I don’t know them.  If I catch someone’s eye my go-to response is just to smile.  I hope it lets people know that I’m friendly and approachable rather than strange, but either way I can’t help it. 

And I won’t apologise for it either.  You see in my opinion smiling is highly underrated.  Why do I think this? 

Well, allow me to let you into a little secret…smiling is a superpower.

August Well-being focus: Sense of belonging and involvement
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August well-being focus: Involvement

I’m breaking away from the previous well-being focus format a bit (where I talk about what’s coming up for the month) and instead I’m going to talk more about this month’s focus – plus share some handy tips – within this post.  So buckle up folks…

It’s August and our new focus for the month is involvement.

How to Foster A Healthy Positive Mindset (hint: no over-optimism / pessimism here) A Guest Post by All the Trinkets
Posted inWell-Being

How to Foster A Healthy Positive Mindset (hint: no over-optimism / pessimism here) A Guest Post by All the Trinkets

I’m so delighted to be joined by Kate from All the Trinkets today on Living.Pretty.Happy!  All the Trinkets is a fantastic creative lifestyle & personal growth blog (and Kate just happens to be one of my favourite bloggers).  As part of Optimism month, Kate has kindly written this thought-provoking article on fostering a healthy positive mindset, for me to share.  Over to you Kate…

Growing up, I was a cynic kid.  Like the kind who has her arms perpetually crossed and an eyebrow forever raised.  Whenever someone told me to “think positive,” I would scoff and roll my eyes and blow a raspberry to that person.  Thinking positively, my twelve-year-old self believed, was like denying reality.  To be positive meant that you’ve reframed your mind to think only of pink fluffy clouds and rainbow unicorns.

If you ask me now, I have zero idea where the heck I got that belief.  What I do know is this: Twelve-year-old Kate is wrong… and right.

Allow me to break that down.

What’s Wrong with Today’s Positive Thinking

Let's give it a go: becoming more open to new experiences. Image of couple kayaking together on a lake and smiling having fun
Posted inWell-Being

Give it a go: becoming more open to new experiences

Have you ever tried a colouring book for adults before?  I hadn’t, until one moment a few years ago, when shopping with my Sister-in-Law, she announced how she loved it and found colouring very therapeutic and calming.  I was sceptical, my eyebrows raised slightly but then thought – why the heck not, I’ll give it a go and bought it.  Colouring is now something I really enjoy and use to de-stress.  

The same can be said recently when my Aunty requested I take her to bingo.  I had never been before or felt the desire too – the thought of a bingo hall had previously made me cringe – but I love my Aunty, wanted to make her happy and as a wannabe good niece, we went.  Well, you can call me Cilla, because surprise, surprise, I had a lot of fun.  So much so, that when the Bloggers Inspired team & I were invited to Players Bingo in Camden recently, I jumped at the chance – I even won some money on that visit!

Let's give it a go: becoming more open to new experiences. Image of Abeer Says blog and Alex Grace, Living.Pretty.Happy at Player's Bingo Camden holding up their winnings
Abeer & I, celebrating our bingo win!

You can read all about our Players Bingo experience here

Quite light examples I grant you, but this sort of thing has happened (at various levels) a lot to me throughout my life so far.  Opportunities put in front of me which I’m initially sceptical of, but actually, turn out to be positive experiences when I’ve just opened my mind optimistically and given them a go.   

Why should we be open to new experiences?

July well-being focus: Optimism
Posted inWell-Being

July well-being focus: Optimism

Can you believe we're over half-way through 2019 now?  Yes, we've reached July.   A new month and a new well-being focus for Living.Pretty.Happy. For July we are focusing on optimism.  …
Maintaining the (inner) peace: 5 products to help calm & increase your well-being. Image of a young red-haired woman leaning against the wall, eyes closed and smiling looking at peace.
Posted inWell-Being

Maintaining the (inner) peace: 5 products to help calm & increase your well-being

You’re busy, I get that.

In the stack of demands that make up your life, your wellness & well-being often take a position at the back of the queue.  I get that too!

But that doesn’t make them any less critical or important.  Which is why more & more products are starting to address the well-being needs of time-stretched people, offering you easily accessible bite-sized moments of beneficial calm within each day. 

Sound good to you?

Here are 5 of my favourite products to help calm & increase your well-being daily:

benefits of a spa day and spa tips. Image of Close up of half of female face. Serene young woman is lying at wellness center with relaxation.
Posted inWell-Being Wellness

And relax… All the benefits of a spa day & how to make the most of them

Spas have been around for centuries! OK maybe not the type with the fluffy robes & flip flops but some version of them has existed – well I believe – for a fair few thousand years now.  

Given how quickly things come & go out of the public psyche nowadays, it’s surely a testament to how beneficial a spa is to our well-being that these wellness institutes have stood the test of time.  

Yes, the benefits of spending time at a spa have long been known, but in case you weren’t fully sure…

Here are the most important reasons why spas are so beneficial to our well-being:

Catastrophe to calmness: a technique to stop catastrophizing. Image of her eyes over white background
Posted inWell-Being

Catastrophe to calmness: A technique to calm your worrying thoughts

I’d like to allow you into the parallel universe that is my brain for a moment please…

My husband said he would be home at 7pm.  It’s now 7.20pm and he’s not here.  He’s obviously had an accident.  He’s probably dead (or paralysed).  Our poor kids.  How will I tell them?  How will we cope?  We won’t cope.  Our lives will be ruined.  7.21pm, he walks through the door, perfectly fine (and probably wondering why I’m over-the-moon ecstatic to see him – I mean it’s only Tuesday).

This is just one example of where my mind has been known to take me.

It’s called catastrophizing.