Are you living the life of your dreams? Image of Your dream life starts here & Dream Life Journal
Posted inGiveaway Well-Being

Are you living the life of your dreams?

Anyone who has sat in my home office (or accompanied me on a shopping trip), is aware of my love for Kikki.K, a beautiful stationery brand designed to inspire & empower you to live your best life every day.  What’s not to love about that?

This year I was fortunate to attend a well-being event where Kristina Karlsson (the brand’s founder) held a talk on living your dream life. 

  • Are you living the life of your dreams?
  • Are you living the life of your dreams?

It was pretty inspiring stuff! 

Kristina started her business (which is now a global empire) from some simple dreams she wrote down on a humble notepad.  She wanted to love her Monday morning commute to work, she wanted to have a connection to her native Sweden, she wanted to be in charge of her own business and bring in $500 per week – little did she know how big and wonderful these relatively unassuming dreams would become.

However, her dreams didn’t happen just as a consequence of writing them down…

They happened because she worked to make them happen.  In the words of John .C. Maxwell, Dreams don’t work unless you do.

I’m new here:  10 ways to feel more confident in new situations. Image of woman hiding her face partially in her yellow jumper against an orange background
Posted inWell-Being

I’m new here:  10 ways to feel more confident in new situations

In our quest to connect, learn, earn & grow we often have to throw ourselves into new situations.  This can lead to us feeling anxious and worried about being the new person.

Hands up, does anyone really like to be the ‘newbie’?  Nope, didn’t think so. 

I’ve done it so many times now – new jobs, relocation to new areas, marrying into a family, joining parent & baby groups or even just starting a new exercise class – I have been the new girl a lot. 

Over the years I’ve developed loads of techniques (well about 10, actually) that have helped me to feel more confident in these new situations. 

So if you’re feeling nervous or worry is stopping you from going for some golden opportunities, I hope these tips will help you too! 

How to feel more confident in new situations

Understanding yourself: How EMDR Therapy helped me develop as a person. Image of a keyboard, glasses, coffee cup and saucer, plant and pen with a pair of scissors cutting through the word I Can't to become I can on a pink background
Posted inWell-Being

Understanding yourself: How EMDR therapy helped me develop as a person

Earlier this year, I finished a course of EMDR therapy, which stands for eye movement desensitisation & reprocessing. 

What follows is my perspective & experience of the EMDR therapy I received.  

Understanding yourself: How EMDR Therapy helped me develop as a person. Black and White image of Alex Grace

Last year I had everything I wanted & needed – I was in a place where I should have felt on top of the world.  But often I would still feel tormented inside.  Strange thoughts of this happiness won’t last forever, something terrible is going to happen and sometimes even the wish to no longer be here.

Which was completely in contrast to the life I was living and who I am as a person. 

What was going on inside, made no sense to me at all.  Why couldn’t I just be happy?  I was tired of this battle going on inside my head.  And I refused to live any more of my life being controlled by these thoughts and feelings.  So I got assessed and was referred to Laura.

Laura is a Clinical Psychologist specialising in EMDR therapy – She helped me to realise that despite my positive outlook on life, inwardly I held a lot of negative beliefs about myself that sprung from a series of un-dealt-with past traumas.  The wounds these traumas had caused were blocking me from experiencing my life in the way I wanted to experience it. 

EMDR therapy was going to be my opportunity to re-write the script. 

A Thousand Thanks: Why practising gratitude increases your happiness. Image of Thank You card in an envelope
Posted inWell-Being

A thousand thanks! Why practising gratitude increases your happiness

Firstly, thank you!

Thank you for being here.  Thank you for reading.  Thank you if you choose to like this post, or share it or decide to stick around and subscribe to further posts – or not, still, thank you!  Your time is precious and I’m grateful that you choose to share it with me.   

Why all the thank you’s?

Well, that’s what I want to talk to you about today.  Practising gratitude (through giving thanks) is a powerful tool for improving your life satisfaction. 

Alongside focusing on well-being and adopting a positive mindset, for me, gratitude is a key ingredient to feeling happy. 

How does practising gratitude increase your happiness? 

A Thousand Thanks: Why practising gratitude increases your happiness. Image of smiling woman holding happy emoji balloon
Give the gift of well-being this Mother's Day: Perfect well-being gifts for Mum. Illustration of a pair of hands holding a heart on a white background
Posted inWell-Being

Give the gift of well-being this Mother’s Day: Perfect well-being gifts for mum

If you’re here, it’s because you’re blessed to have a mum or gran or a mother-figure in your life who you wish to celebrate.

Someone who has nurtured, loved and supported you.  Who has made your well-being their top priority.

Wouldn’t it be lovely to find a gift this Mother’s Day, that in some small way offers the same in return to this amazing woman in your life?

Well, allow me to step in here and help!  I have collated some beautiful well-being gifts where happiness, nurture, and appreciation will be offered to the recipient for as long as they choose to use it.

With the countdown well and truly on, here are 10 of the best well-being gifts for Mother’s Day…(I hope my kids are paying attention to this!)

Sleep well: How to win at sleeping! (and why you should want to). How to get a good night's sleep. Image of young woman waking up, stretching out her arms, facing a floor to ceiling window with light pouring in
Posted inWell-Being Wellness

Sleep well:  How to win at sleeping! (and why you should want to)

Sleep has long been heralded as one of the 3 pillars of wellness alongside diet and exercise.   Counting the Zzz’s is as essential to our well-being as breathing, food and water.  But for so many of us, it’s one of the first things we’re likely to forfeit. 

The importance of getting a good night’s sleep has been reinforced into us since birth (although maybe that was more for our parent’s sanity rather than our increased well-being).   However, until we’re suffering the apparent effects of lack of it, we rarely seem to make it a priority.   

When it comes to our sleep habits, if we’re not putting in the right amount of attention and effort, we’re actually causing ourselves harm.  Far beyond being a bit snappy and sporting some puffy under eye bags, we’re damaging our physical and mental health. 

The benefits of sleep… (aside from the obvious)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you visit a link and buy something on my recommendation. Purchasing via an affiliate link is at no extra cost to you, but does help towards the running costs of this site.  All opinions expressed within are my own. For more details see my disclaimer here.  

The Sunshine Bloggers Award. Image of Close-up of word BLOG on a typewriter sheet
Posted inWell-Being

The Sunshine Blogger Award

You know how they say you wait ages for a bus and then two come along at once?  Well whilst this has nothing to do with buses,  I have actually been really honoured to receive two nominations for the Sunshine Blogger Award this week!  You can imagine the sunshine-y, grateful, smiley, happy dance I’ve been performing! 

And by two of my blogging favourites no less! Kerry from Kerry, Life & Loves and Lisa from  Glowology! Both of these inspiring ladies run their own awesome blogs, which I highly recommend you check out if you’re looking for some more positive inspiration in your lives (and let’s face it, we could all do with more of that now couldn’t we!)

So what is this Sunshine Blogger Award? 

Sunshine Blogger Award - Living.Pretty.Happy

5 Useful ways mindfulness helps in your everyday life. Image of a Relaxed woman practicing meditation at home, she is sitting in the lotus position on the office desk, mindfulness concept
Posted inWell-Being

5 Useful ways mindfulness helps in your everyday life

Mindfulness, and in particular, mindfulness meditation has increasingly been touted and implemented as a way of improving our mental well-being. 

Its focus on connecting our body and mind to become more self-aware and present has been evidenced to help reduce our everyday stress and anxiety. 

RELATED: Being Mindful – Is mindfulness for you?

But mindfulness stretches in its helpfulness far beyond reducing stress and anxiety.  In short it’s a really powerful tool that can help you in multiple ways every single day.  All  gained from very short but regular practices.  Plus to top it all off – it’s quick and completely free!

Yes we can all benefit from practising mindfulness in everyday life and here are just 5 of the useful ways it can help…

Blooming lovely: the positive power of flowers. Image of a bloom blossom bouquet
Posted inWell-Being

Blooming Lovely: How to Easily Unlock the Positive Power of Flowers

There is one gift – regardless of the occasion – that rarely fails to delight.  From birth through to our final moments – flowers have been there.  They are a speechless gift that says so much.  Flowers let people know they are thought of, loved, appreciated, celebrated, missed, and supported.  They have a unique ability to provide a moment of happiness in the darkest of times.  That is the true power of flowers.

This is a sponsored post. Please be assured all words & opinions are my own. Read my disclaimer for further details.

Blooming Lovely the Positive Power of Flowers
BloomLocal Thinking of You Bouquet

Flowers always make me happy, and they don’t have to be the type you buy in a bunch – just appreciating the ones growing in my garden is often enough.  

I absolutely love sending flowers, just as much as I love receiving them.  Knowing someone I cherish is going to feel even just a bit of the happiness they’ve provided to me is a massive mood boost.

Why do flowers make you happy?

5 Ways exercise can make you happy. Image of cheerful woman lying on an exercise mat
Posted inWell-Being Wellness

5 Ways exercise makes you happy

Before anyone starts eye-rolling at the mere mention of the word exercise hear me out…

Exercise – in my humble opinion -is one of the biggest contributors to unlocking a healthy body & happy mind lifestyle.  

It ticks plenty of boxes on the well-being scale (read: Improving well-being: the key to being happy?) and through continued commitment to it (even in bite-size chunks) you will reap happy results.

Sceptical? Thought you might be.

Allow me to explain 5 ways exercise makes you happy…

Improving well-being: The key to being happy? Image of a cheerful young couple jumping together and celebrating success isolated over gray
Posted inWell-Being

Improving well-being: the key to being happy?

Improving well-being!  Just a few short years ago I wasn’t even aware of well-being and now improving it is at the centre of nearly every personal decision I make.  Why?  Because when I became aware of the concept of well-being I realised how much power I held over my own sense of happiness, my own level of opportunity, my own destiny (cheesy I grant you, but we’ll go with it). 

This ‘improving well-being’ movement has been gaining momentum and is now far more mainstream.  Which is great news!  Once we all become fully aware of our well-being and begin to work on improving it, we all stand to experience multiple benefits.

But how many of us firstly really understand what well-being even is? And secondly, why improving it will lead to us to feeling happier?  

So let’s start by taking a look at the meaning of well-being…

What to do when you make a mistake (in any area of your life) Beautiful African American woman holding a cup of coffee at home cover mouth with hand shocked with shame for mistake, expression of fear, scared in silence, secret concept (image description taken from Adobe Stock)
Posted inWell-Being

What to do when you make a mistake (in any area of your life) 

I’ve titled this article, ‘what to do when you make a mistake’ not ‘if you make a mistake’ because let’s face it, no matter how optimistic or perfect you try to be – you will make mistakes.  These can be small barely noticeable faux-pas’ to full-blown want the ground to swallow you up misjudgements.  

But here’s 3 things you need to know about mistakes…

  1. Everybody makes them – you don’t have a monopoly on this – they are universal
  2. Every one you make can have a positive outcome
  3. If you’ve never made one you’re not fully living

Your key focus here should be your reaction to the mistake.  If you’re anything like me your go-to response (until now) would have been panic and assume the ostrich position.  However, taking responsibility to deal with our slip-ups in the best way we can frees us to turn – what currently seems like – the worst thing ever into a positive opportunity for personal growth.  

With this in mind, here’s what to do when you make a mistake (in any area of your life)

Confessions of a control-freak: How to manage a fear of losing control. Enthusiastic young friends riding amusement park ride
Posted inWell-Being

Confessions of a control-freak – How to manage a fear of losing control

I would love to love rollercoasters.  Despite my numerous attempts (and if you would like some evidence, read: 48 hours in Abu Dhabi), we’ve just never clicked.  Why?   Those high-speed wagons of torture (too strong!?) expose me to one of  my greatest fears – my fear of losing control.  For me, rollercoasters are pitiless beasts who offer you no power other than the power not to get on one in the first place.  So when you’re someone who needs to feel in control – rollercoasters aren’t necessarily the epitome of fun.

Wanting to feel in control is completely natural…

A balanced level of control is essential to realise the best that life has to offer.  However, when the control-scales tip in favour of needing to be in control of absolutely everything – the underlying causes should be explored, addressed and then managed (practical tips coming up).

My need to be in control actually stemmed from my childhood.  It was peppered with instability and instances of unexpected trauma.  It created a fear in me that bad things could happen at anytime.  That upset could come from any direction without warning.  I sought comfort by finding refuge in what I could control.  Control gave me certainty.  Control was a shield.