The Healthy Lifestyle Way

Can you possibly imagine what it would be like if you were living at 100% of your potential all of the time? Do you want to jump out of bed in the morning full of energy, and excited about the day ahead, knowing you will be performing at your best throughout the day?  If you were already doing this right now, how different would your life be, your career, your health, your personal life and your relationships.? Where would you be right now if you had control of your life, not under the negative effects of stress, having a passion for everything that you do?  “If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” George F. Burns quotes My interest in stress is very personal. This blog is part of my journey to bring the tools that I had once been taught to rescue me, to help others, and show them ways to manage stress in their life, as well as enabling them to create healthy lifestyles. I wanted to share this knowledge with everyone. Over my lifetime I have discovered information that when used will improve ones physical and mental condition. I really wanted to share this with others in a similar situation. I saw and heard of so many people in the same situation that I had been in - lacking the correct information, having no understanding of their situation, with no know-how of how to improve their mind, body or soul, just suffering to the debilitating effects of stress. The success of your life depends very much on how well you deal with stress. The beauty of this is that you once you learn how to deal better with stress things in all areas of your life can improve dramatically. Getting healthier and staying in control of stress is not rocket science! You can do things right now to help yourself. It comes from being given the right information that you can understand and apply for yourself. Do you have stress problems? How are you coping with stress in your life? Do you want to be free of stress once and for all? If the answer of all these questions is “Yes”, I intend creating a blog that can help you.  I enjoy teaching people about stress, healthy lifestyle living and personal development, through my speaking, coaching and writing. I want to help as many people cope with stress as I can. I have already helped many… may you now be one of them! Over time, I will be using this blog to share knowledge, experiences, reviews, quotes, links and reflections relating to stress management and healthy lifestyle living. You will find many tips and articles, which can help you overcome the stress in your life. Read inspiring quotes. Read success stories of others handling stress. You will discover many techniques and tools to help you deal with stress. If you have problems with stress at work, in your home, family or anywhere else, you will find information you can understand and use them for to help yourself.  Ultimately the information you find here will help you take back control of your health and your life. Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog. I hope you will find it of help in your quest to achieve and maintain a healthy, stress free life.

THE LONGEST JOURNEY STARTS WITH THE FIRST STEP  

I just wonder if you’ve ever experienced the following situation. That when your morning starts badly for you, everything seems to go downhill from there. You end up being in a negative frame of mind most of the day, you lose control of your healthy eating intentions and end up eating more food and making wrong choices, and the whole day feels like a losing battle. Just because you had a bad start to the day. So is this something you’ve experienced. If not, congratulations, you’re pretty unique. But if you have, isn’t it time you took control of your day.

Facts are, if your morning starts well, the rest of the day will follow through with a positive outlook. So what can you do about it?  The first action is simple. No more lying in bed in the morning, fighting off your alarm, grabbing those extra few minutes in dream land, and then rushing around like a headless chicken, trying to get everything done before you fly out the door. Let me make this extremely clear. Even if I know I’m sounding more like my mother every day. Waking up tired to the sound of an annoying alarm clock, hitting that snooze button multiple times, and then rushing out the door without even having time to fuel your body, that’s the purpose of breakfast, you are creating the problems that will now face you for the rest of the day.  

So what am I suggesting instead. I want you to create for yourself a happy, relaxed, productive day, where you have a positive mind and an energised body right from the start.  The magic is to programme yourself to get up one hour early. Yes that right, one extra hour in the morning can and will make such a significant difference to your day ahead, as well as your life.Getting up an hour earlier than you normally do. Now don’t pull that face! I don’t know you but I do know what your initial reaction is. You are questioning my sanity! You’re about to give up reading my blog, because I’m suggesting something so impossible! But am I, or perhaps am I giving you the key to unlock your potential, to now be able to achieve so much more than you ever have before. Am I not giving you an uninterrupted one hour ‘MY’ time! At this time of day you will have your own private time.  This is the time of the day that is truly your own private time ‘Me Time’.

You will now have one hour, every day, to programme yourself for success.   You have to make it a priority in your life. A great start to the day will make a huge difference to you. Eliminate any excuses, give it a go, and get started creating your perfect morning each morning. I call it my Morning Power up Session. Give it a try and see the difference it can make to your day  

OK SO I’M UP, WHAT DO I DO NOW?  Your overall health improves when you treat your body to habits that stave off stress and support a balanced lifestyle. Here I give to you the first step of my morning power up session:   GET INTO CENTRE – Tune in your mind and body. It’s like pressing the starter motor of a car. Within five minutes of waking, you will have gone from the early morning brain fog, to an alert, powerful fully functioning brain, with a strong and powerful body. You’re going to feel like you can walk through a wall, internally in an excited voice you’re going to say ‘come on, bring the day on!’  

BREATHE – Breathing correctly will flush out the bad energies and inhale fresh and positive energy. Every cell and organ will benefit from you breathing in fresh oxygen and removing all that nasty stuff. Concentrate on your breathing. You have to breathe to live. When was the last time you noticed, how you breathe? Breathe in deep through your nose, exhale it completely out through your mouth, Bring it in and out from your diaphragm.  

MOVE – Get your muscles and joints fully oiled. Give them a stretch. Neck, arms, shoulders, chest, back, move down to your butt and your legs. . Now how about getting out and do a power walk, or go out on your bike, maybe even pull out your exercise machine in your garage. Get your heart and lungs pumping. Move your body. Purposely, with power. You’re now a winner no more slouching, no more ambling.   

GRATITUDE - The act of focusing with gratitude on everything you have in your life. and then using those positive thoughts to create a happy, productive day will calm your mind and create energy for your day ahead. Cut out the negativity, we can all find troubles in our lives, things not going as they should. We’re the best at seeing these. But now find the good things. You found one a minute ago. Your breathing, so you’re alive. Now start to live, make each and every day better than the one before.  

AFFIRMATIONS - use positive affirmations. Tell yourself positive things, such as “I am a winner’, ‘I am a great person’ whatever words that will highly charge you, motivate you, that will get you into a confident and positive state.Please don’t tell me you like telling yourself, how you can’t do this or that, how you weren’t meant to …, how you’ll never … Stop! That’s no longer you! Get positive, compliment yourself, be who you want to be.  

VISUALISATION – Get a mental picture of you achieving your GOALS. See the day ahead working out brilliantly for you. Hey, your choice, morning television, yawn, or watch a video in your own head of your new wonderful successful life. Welcome to the big screen. Step on and watch yourself go.  

MULTIVITAMIN - Nutritional supplementation is a good source to ensure you receive all the vitamins and minerals you need for a correct daily allowance.   

DRINK WATER - Your body needs to re-hydrate, especially after being without fluids all night. And just tell yourself you love the taste of water, keep telling yourself and eventually you will. How do I know you don’t. Because as a fitness trainer I’ve heard it 1000’s of times, and once upon a time, I thought wrongly that I didn’t like it either. Your body needs water right through the day. So get started.  That’s all there is to it. So achievable in 30 minutes, an hour if you want. What a difference it will make to your life. .I spend 30 minutes doing that, then I still have time to do three more things before I start my ‘normal day’ 

“The tipping point is defined as the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point. It is the point when everyday things reach epidemic proportions“ —Malcolm Gladwell

So as you can see from my previous article, stress is not essentially bad. Stress is a healthy and necessary part of all of our lives, giving us motivation, excitement, purpose and efficiency. “Without stress, there would be no life.” Hans Selye. At the right level stress can be a great motivator. We all have a level of supportable stress, a personal stress threshold.

When we go past this point we become worn out, frail and weak, entering a dangerously overwhelming level, often incapable of carrying on with your normal every day life. With too much stress (distress), we reach overload. Our ability to cope becomes limited, and we feel burned out. At this point it is essential you take action, before you experience health problems.

While everyone has, and needs, a certain level of stress in their lives, when that stress reaches a point that it begins to negatively effect aspects of our lives, it ceases to be healthy. Everyone reacts to stress differently and with a different threshold of distress, but common clues to distress include feelings of being constantly overwhelmed, alienation of family and friends, poor academic achievement, lack of interest or performance in extra-curricular activities and/or changes in sleeping patterns and appetite.

There is no single level of stress that is optimal for all people. What one person may find distressing, another may find quite enjoyable, and even if two individuals were to agree on a stressful event, their physiological and emotional responses to it would be quite different. As such, it is not the events or circumstances themselves, but rather our unique perceptions, thoughts and reactions toward them that make them stressful. Every individual has his or her own “stress threshold”

Stress can easily become distress as it begins to affect our lives negatively, reducing our motivation, negatively affecting our relationships and performance, and poses significant health risks!

The relationship between pressure and performance is demonstrated by the Yerkes-Dodson Principle. This shows that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, up to a certain point. When we pass this point, and the level of pressure becomes too high, performance diminishes.

The above inverted U-shaped curve illustrates how performance increases, and then decreases with increasing levels of arousal.

At the beginning part of the curve, where your stress levels are low, you will see that your performance is also low because you are not being challenged and could be bored, under stimulated, lacking concentration and motivation. (Astress).
The upward part of the inverted U is the stimulating effect of arousal. This is the zone of best performance called “optimal stress.” Within this zone, you are aroused to the level that gives a high quality performance, at the same time as not being over-stressed or discontented. So as pressure increases, you enter the “area of best performance”. There is enough pressure on you to focus your attention completely on the tasks at hand, whilst finding yourself energized and performing at your best, but not so much that it disrupts your performance. This is a powerful, creative, and rewarding state of mind. (Eustress)
The downward part is the negative effects of arousal or stress. Where stress is too high, lasts too long, occurs too often, or is too severe, your performance can suffer and you experience many of the negative symptoms of stress, reaching stress overload. (Distress).

What this is showing, is that as stress increases, so does performance, up to a point which is the top of the curve, but once it passes this optimal point, the stress becomes chronic, and performance decreases.

You can conclude from this, that:

When you aren’t experiencing sufficient stress, your performance dips because you find yourself unmotivated, and bored with your life.
To a certain point, a specific amount of stress is healthy, useful, and even beneficial, in that it can increase performance.
When stress exceeds one’s ability to cope, this overload contributes to diminished performance, inefficiency, and even health problems.

If stress is beginning to have a negative impact on any aspect of your life, reducing the level of stress in your life and/or improving your ability to manage it will help you to be productive in and your enjoy your everyday activities.

The goal should therefore be to control our level of stress and establish a good balance in our lives, rather than striving to eliminate stress entirely.

When anything causes a shift in your mental stability & pushes you to a form of unrest or discomfort this constitutes pressure. Pressure can help you to reach your full potential, or it can make you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.

When most areas of your life are running efficiently then the pressure from one single event or area of your life can often be managed without trouble. Yet the exact same event can be overpowering for an individual who is dealing with lots of different situations in their lives, which are already placing them under a great deal of pressure. This final event, is like the last straw that breaks the camels back.

In these modern times in which we live the pressures that we have to deal with are often unrelenting. Frequently this constant barrage of pressure around an individual becomes overwhelming, leads to stress which then can become potentially damaging. As the level of pressure becomes too much, stress ultimately exceeds our ability to deal with it in a positive manner. Clearly when we are under to much pressure, or the pressure upon us is long-lasting, the negative effects of stress start to show up in our life affecting both our mental and physical functioning. As this pressure becomes too much, then the fear of failure and not coping add even more pressure.

Too often the demands placed on you mean that on a daily basis you are having to deal with more and more stressful situations. Your stress response is constantly activated, and this takes a heavy toil on you eventually resulting in various common physical symptoms of severe stress which if left unattended, will eventually affect your overall health in a negative way.

These negative effects of stress are seen physically, mentally and emotionally. Everyone responds in a different way to the pressure to which they are exposed, but when this pressure reaches excessive levels for them, it can have the consequence of various
physical and mental symptoms.

These symptoms differ extremely for each person, but may include: headaches, stomach disorders, sleeplessness, irritability, backache, neckache, muscle tension, anxiety, nausea. Unless dealt with can lead to major health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, depression, digestive problems and sleep disorders.

So have you reached the point of burn out, where you are stressed to high heaven, and find yourself at your wits end? Are you like an over-inflated balloon, where the slightest pinprick cause you to burst?
Is the pressure you are under making you act in ways that you are not proud of but find yourself justifying this behaviour by blaming it on your situation or someone else that you blame?

If you answered yes to the above, you are obviously lacking effective ways to challenge and beat the stresses that are wearing you down. You are certainly not alone. With the growing pressures every one faces including work pressures, family commitments, financial pressures including mortgages, credit card payments, utility biils, rates and your other financial obligations, and the lack of time needed by all the demands on you, stressful situations appear to wait for you at every turn, even those small daily hassles—like rush hour traffic, queuing at the supermarket, and so many more. All these pressures and demands prove too great for many people to handle.

With the way modern day living is, the sad facts are that nobody lives without stress. The constant pressure associated with living in a fast-paced world has created an environment where nearly everyone feels the effects of stress. And our stress load keeps increasing.

There is no one definite, significant moment when you reach the unhealthy level of stress. In fact it is normally an accumulation of small stressful situations that gradually balloon and get out of control.

It is my wish to bring to you practical solutions to deal with stress and help you to minimize the stress you encounter, helping you deal with stress in an effective way. I will offer you solutions and provide you with the tools in your arsenal against the ravaging effects of stress.

One very important point I bring to your attention, that knowing will help you in your stress management, is that it is not the external events or situations that do harm to you, but your response to these events. It is your emotional reaction that is the source of your stress, not the event itself. Your emotions and your feelings have a powerful impact on you. Negative feelings are stressful and damaging to your health. Positive feelings bring about health and well being, as well as boost your performance.

Much of the pressure you feel is caused by the thoughts you hold in your mind. The way you talk to yourself, the way you talk about yourself, plays a major part in how you feel. You have to improve your ability to handle pressure. You must let go of the things you cannot control.

Let me offer you a solution that you can adopt right now. To step out of the constant cycle of stress, you must direct your mental focus away from your problems (things you don’t want), and on creating positive solutions instead (things you do want).

Here are some simple steps that you need to take.

1. Decide to be positive from now on, no longer allowing your negative self talk to lead your mind.

2. Know what you want, the results you are after. Get 100% clear on what it is you want and be in no doubt whatsoever that you will receive it!

3. Know why you want it, the compelling Purpose that gives you the drive to follow through. This creates a laser-like focus within you, arousing your desire and commitment to achieve your goal.

4. See a mental image of the life you want. Design and embrace a mental image of the life you want, fill this with emotion, and excitement.

5. Design an Action Plan that will get you there.

6. Break your action-plan into the smallest possible daily steps

7. Begin to take action — one step at a time.

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure” ~ Peter Marshall

When we talk about stress, generally we are referring to something that we deem to be negative. Many of the articles you will read simply focus in on it from a harmful perspective. Yet in fact stress can actually be helpful to us as well as motivating. Life would be dull and boring without challenges to push you along. If you never faced changes in your life you would find life mind-numbing. You need new and exciting experiences to stimulate you. Imagine nothing new happening in your life. Day to day everything stays the same. This may be alright for a short time, but not for long.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” ~ John F. Kennedy

The challenges and changes we face in our lives provide opportunities for us to learn and grow, presenting us with momentum in our lives. I remember as a Kid when I learnt to ride a bicycle. I kept falling of, got battered and bruised, but my Dad told me to keep going, remember the outcome I wanted, and know soon I would achieve it. It was probably the first major challenge I faced, and of course I succeeded. The most important lesson from this was, that no matter how difficult the challenge, if I kept the end in mind, I would find a solution, every time.

The right balance of pressure leads to a productive and healthy life. Too little pressure leads to boredom and lethargy; too much pressure leads to physical and emotional breakdown.

Having a little pressure in our lives actually is beneficial to us. It helps us to grow. It gives us that push we sometimes need to keep going, and to excel. It keeps us alert and on our toes. So in this respect pressure is good for us. We need some stress to get us up in the morning, without it why would we leave the comfort and warmth of that lovely bed. Also it is essential to have some pressure to get us motivated to take action to make something out of our life day by day. It gives us the drive we need to make effective use of our time. It helps us to be our very best.

Our body’s stress response increases our ability to perform efficiently under pressure, it creates that buzz to get things done. We use it as fuel for peak performance.

In fact we have been created to be able to use pressure to our benefit. Our automatic stress response is the fight-or-flight reaction our bodies produce in reaction to threat, insecurity or change—it has evolved to help us survive. This stress response can energise us, revving up our systems to enable us to deal with everything we need.

This is positive stress, and is known as Eustress, and it provides us with extra physical and emotional resources when it is triggered, and enables us to perform at higher levels when needed.

Eustress as defined by Dr Hans Selye as stress that is healthy, or providing a sense of fulfilment or other positive feelings. It is the positive, pleasing stress that makes life exciting serving to motivate and enthuse us. Good stress comes from events such as going to university, beginning a new job, getting married, studying for exams, buying a house, or having a baby. Although these are happy, positive events, they still bring with them stress.

When our brain perceives physical or psychological stress, it results in our heart beating faster, our blood pressure increases, our senses sharpen, and we experience a rise in blood glucose, all which goes to invigorate us and gives us a burst of energy. It stimulates us. Its our inbuilt red bull, lucozade, and powerade. Our performance is often at its best when we are under pressure.

Stress can actually increase our performance. When we have the right mentality we can use stress as an impetus to achieve success, and not wilt under the constant pressures.

There are innumerable instances of athletes rising to the challenge of stress and achieving the unachievable by pushing themselves to the limit. Let them be the demonstration to you, that stress doesn’t have to necessarily be bad.

The peak stress level is the physical state that athlete’s perform at their best. Top performers reach a peak state in response to pressure which they see as a challenge and brings out their best intensity of performance. When they come under pressure they go into a focused, positive mental/emotional state.

So for you to achieve peak performance in your life, you do have to overcome adversity and difficulties, and use stress to raise the quality of your life. You can thrive under pressure. Let it make you sharp and ready for action.

Let me offer you one solution that you can adopt right now. To step out of the constant cycle of stress bringing a negative impact to your life, you must direct your mental focus away from your problems (things you don’t want), and on creating positive solutions instead (things you do want).

See any difficult situation you face as just a positive challenge which needs to be overcome. Use the pressure to motivate you, and get you to focus on solutions for the challenge you face. Let this pressure be your driving force. This is a vital element to living the healthy lifestyle way.

We all have the ability to change and improve ourselves and our lives. I started this blog so that I could contribute my knowledge on healthy lifestyles, playing my small part in offering people the information to make their world a better place,

Moving from an average to a brilliant life will require you put in a load of effort. It isn’t easy. But it’s possible. You have to change your mindset, your behaviour, actions an habits. To be brilliant you have to take responsibility for your own life, thoughts, behaviours and actions. But many people run away from their personal responsibility, by using one very popular word… EXCUSES.

The only thing that can stop us adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is ourselves. The main way we will do that is to make excuses why we can’t. So what does this very well used word mean.
According to the Oxford Dictionary… ‘A reason, either true or invented, that you give to explain or defend your behaviour’. In Collins Essential English Dictionary definition of excuse as a Noun - an explanation offered to justify an action which has been criticized or as a reason for not fulfilling an obligation.As a Verb:1. to put forward a reason or justification for (an action, fault, or offending person) 2. to pardon (a person) or overlook (a fault) 3. to free (someone) from having to carry out a task, obligation, etc.: a doctor’s letter excusing him from games at school 4. to allow to leave

We often use excuses to hide from our fear that we can’t really change or that our life can’t be any different. Our excuses can often prevent us from achieving brilliance. Making excuses is a bad habit that keeps you from being as successful as you can be.

We have been making excuses right from the beginning of the bible. When God asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree he was commanded not to, Adam went into excuse mode, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:12) And when God asked Eve what she had done, she also gave an excuse, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:13)

I found a great poem by Alanis Morissette -Excuses lyrics: Why no one will help me I am too dumb I am too smart They’ll not understand me I am lonely They’ll hate me And there is not enough time It’s too hard to help me And god wants me to work No resting no lazy These excuses how they served me so well They’ve kept me safe They’ve kept me stoic They’ve kept me locked in my own cell I’m too far from home It takes far too much energy And I cannot afford to No one will ever see me These excuses how they served me so well They’ve kept me safe They’ve kept me stoic They’ve kept me locked inside my cell These excuses how they’re so familiar They’ve kept me small They’ve kept me blocked They’ve kept me safe inside my shell Bringing this into the light Shakes their foundation And it clears my side Now my imagination Is the only thing that limits The bar that is raised to the heights No one can have it all see I have to they want me to And I can’t let them down I’ll never be happy These excuses how they served me so well They’ve kept me safe They’ve kept me small They’ve kept me locked inside my cell These excuses how they’re so familiar They’ve kept me small They’ve kept me stoic They’ve kept me locked inside my cell

The definition of stoic in the Collins Essential English Dictionary is one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain. Excuse-making is a huge barrier to self-improvement.

We often use excuses that prevent us from doing something that in truth could be easily accomplished. Eradicating excuses can set you on the path to accomplishing nearly anything you want.

Having worked in the fitness industry for many years, you can bet I’ve heard nearly every excuse for not getting started on introducing exercise into somebody’s lifestyle. Here are some of the excuses that I’d liked to have received £1 each time I’ve heard it. I would of amassed a fortune by now. “I hate the idea of exercise.” “I’m too tired to exercise.” “A person my age would look ridiculous Working out.” “I feel fine, I don’t need to exercise.” “I’m too heavy to exercise.” “I don’t have time.” “Exercise will make me hungrier. I’ll eat more and put on weight, not lose it.” Often these “so called” obstacles are really excuses to validate the fact that they can’t be bothered making the effort to get into shape. Also where the pleasure of the results that would be gained is still less than the pain in their minds of exercising. As well as many are afraid of failing at any attempt to improve their health and fitness so they blame something else for their lack of trying as the easy way out. I’m not being critical here, or offensive. I love exercising, as much as I love the benefits, and the greatest pleasure to me is when a client succeeds by achieving results from following through. The greatest frustration to me is those I can’t help, because they won’t make that first step.

Here are some great quotes:
An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded. Alexander Pope
Every vice has its excuse ready. Publilius Syrus
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Benjamin Franklin
An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded. Alexander Pope
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. Don Wilder
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself.Henry Ward Beecher
Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible. Francois De La Rochefoucauld
The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses. Napoleon Hill
I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse. Florence Nightingale
People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses. Dr. Laura Schlessinger

When you make excuses, blame other people, complain, or criticize, you give your power away. You turn over control of your emotions to the people and situations you are blaming or complaining about.

We all can find excuses as to why we can’t do something. Making up excuses takes a lot of energy and time. Instead of focusing on what we can’t do, lets focus on what we can do. Instead of coming up with all kinds of excuses why it won’t work, lets focus on why it can work. Recognize when you are making excuses and propel yourself toward action, toward accomplishing all the things you want to do, and ultimately, toward self-realization and happiness, and living with a healthy lifestyle.

When you accept complete responsibility for your life, you will no longer make excuses or blame others for anything in your life that you’re not happy about. You would refuse to criticize others for any reason. You refuse to complain about your situation or about what has happened in the past. You eliminate all your if-onlys and what-ifs and buts, focusing instead on what you really want and where you are going.

So make the decision to accept complete responsibility for yourself, your life, and your results, with no excuses. From this moment forward, no matter what occurs, say to yourself, “I am responsible, 100% responsible for what is happening in my life “. Understand that you are the only person responsible for your current circumstances. You realize that you are where you are and what you are because of your own choices and decisions in the past, and since you made those choices and decisions, only you are responsible.

You will now refuse to make excuses or to blame anyone else. You see yourself as the primary creative force in your own present and your own future. Realize that your success or failure depends on you. It depends on the choices you make. It depends on your attitude. Resolve to start accepting responsibility today. Don’t find an excuse, find a way. Don’t make excuses, make good. Remember what Winston Churchill said, “Responsibility is the price of greatness.”
Get real with yourself - stop making excuses. Don’t any longer let your excuses get in the way of you adopting a healthier lifestyle. Commit yourself to getting the most out of life by overcoming your excuses. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

The mark of brilliant people is that they refuse to make excuses, blame others, or complain about their situations. Instead, they say, over and over, “I am responsible!” Whenever something goes wrong, resist the temptation to become angry, blame others, or make excuses. Instead, ask questions like, “What’s the solution? What do we do now? What is the next step? How do we solve this problem? How do we limit the damage? How can we prevent this from happening again? Where do we go from here?”

I know this is a difficult subject to deal with. I know that its often automatic response to make an excuse. Often we’ve opened our mouth and made it, before we have even thought things through. It’s an area that I take very personally. Why? As a coach it has to often been the greatest barrier I’ve met when working with others. And, a very dear, close friend has allowed her life to be stuck in a time warp, where she can’t move forward, and won’t allow herself to find happiness, joy, peace or success. Everything that happens in her life, everything that does happen in her life, she finds someone or something to blame. She has all the talents, abilities and is passionate about helping others, and the day she sees her excuse mentality, and removes it, she will move forward in leap and bounds. So will you, if you eliminate excuses from your life. Take action, start now!

So, if I don’t have writers block, get abducted by martians, forget how to turn on my computer, or can’t get my daughter off the computer, I will be back within a week.

It’s a busy life for most of us. And keeping ourselves healthy is all too rarely near the top of our list of ‘things to do’. Convenience often wins - we are all so busy that convenience is at a premium.

It is so important to make ‘keeping healthy’ a part of our day-to-day living habits. Your health depends on what you do throughout the day, everyday. A healthy lifestyle is absolutely vital.

Eating Healthily – the right nutrition is necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. Your body requires a well balanced diet every day in order to maintain the adequate amounts of vitamins, nutrients and minerals needed to maintain a healthy body.

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” - La Rochefoucauld

An Active lifestyle - you will need to include fitness as part of your life. Physical fitness keeps your weight in check, helps you sleep better at night, prevents heart attacks and strokes and other health problems, and generally prolongs your life. Basically there are so many benefits of exercising that you really can’t live a full life without it.

‘Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness’. ~Edward Stanley

Stress Management - Emotional stress plays an important role in many illnesses, both directly and indirectly. People are also more likely to smoke, overeat, drink too much, work too hard, argue with others and so on, when they are feeling stressed. Thus, stress management is an important part of your new lifestyle, and meditation and relaxation techniques are truly a key part of living a healthy lifestyle.

‘Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body’. ~ Cicero

Make friends with yourself - Loving yourself is a key to a healthy, happy lifestyle. Self-esteem is all about how much people value themselves; the pride they feel in themselves, and how worthwhile they feel. Self-esteem is important because feeling good about yourself can affect how you act.

“The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around…. Throughout history, “tender loving care” has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing”. ~Larry Dossey

Powering up your Mind and Body - programme your mind for total success. Develop a vision, a compelling future that excites and inspires you, and focus on it daily. Don’t let anything knock you of course, or make you question its possibility. I promise you, by taking control of your thoughts, you will improve your life in a big way.

‘In minds crammed with thoughts, organs clogged with toxins, and bodies stiffened with neglect, there is just no space for anything else’. ~Alison Rose Levy

Life Balance - If you want to achieve a healthy lifestyle you must take steps to ensure you maintain a certain level of balance… spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, mentally and financially. You need to balance work and family, and all the other areas of your life without spreading yourself too thin and having a guilt trip when you do one thing, but think you should be doing another. All of the key areas of our lives overlap and interlink, effecting each other. Unless we create for ourselves satisfaction in each and every part of our life, we can never truly be fulfilled, or live a contented, happy and healthy life.

“No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home.” —Benjamin Disraeli

In the fifteen years I have been working actively in the fitness industry I have never ceased to be amazed by the things I have seen and heard in relation to lifestyles that people come to accept as the norm when, in fact, their quality of life is far less than they deserve or should expect, no matter how it has been occasioned.

Too often people who have been diagnosed with such conditions as arthritis, rheumatism, diabetes, depression, back problems or stress, seem to immediately start their descent down an imaginary slippery slope. They see, feel and believe their life to be on a descending spiral.

 To see a 40 year old man diagnosed with diabetes, age 20 years overnight is a shocking thing to witness.

 To see a fit 50 year old successful businessman, with an active social life, a mortgage-free perfect home, two wonderful children succeeding in their own lives, being diagnosed as clinically depressed, losing his way overnight, and his entire body posture and state of mind crumble, is an exasperating sight.

My passions have led me to take everything I have learned and experienced and use it to start providing information and coaching, as a formula to provide people with both the tools and behaviours necessary for healthy, happy living.

Drawing on my fitness, diet and personal development knowledge, the bedrock of a healthy lifestyle is a healthy eating plan, together with a weekly exercise programme, both being personalised for the needs of each individual. Neither of these requires very much financial outlay, certainly not a plethora of magic tonics and potions, nor expensive ‘state of the art’ equipment.

The two key elements of fitness and diet must be supported by tools which help people be prepared for, and deal with, the normal stresses and pressures of everyday life. Bringing both relaxation techniques and meditation into everyday living ensures people have the way of calming their minds and relaxing their bodies.

Another lifestyle element is based around one function of the body which without we could not survive, breathing. For something so important, it is truly amazing how few people can breathe properly..

In life we have to grow, and strive to be more than we ‘originally seem to be’. So setting goals and making them an every day call to action is another key.

Our minds are so powerful, yet fragile, resulting in many people being overcome by negativity and a loss of self esteem that work against us. So having a positive mental attitude and practicing personal development is paramount to having the right lifestyle.

Understanding the keys to personal development, and the need to control thoughts, make decisions, visualising a brilliant future, and take actions will, holistically, make the difference to how people live.

Through all my communications I will provide the knowledge, skills, tools and systems to make life more fulfilling, rewarding, fun and enjoyable.

Through the internet I will provide tools and information, feeding my readers with positive messages and ongoing support and advice.

Can you possibly imagine what it would be like if you were living at 100% of your potential all of the time?

Do you want to jump out of bed in the morning full of energy, and excited about the day ahead, knowing you will be performing at your best throughout the day?

If you were already doing this right now, how different would your life be, your career, your health, your personal life and your relationships.

Where would you be right now if you had control of your life, not under the negative effects of stress, having a passion for everything that you do? “If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” George F. Burns quotes

My interest in stress is very personal. This blog is part of my journey to bring the tools that I had once been taught to rescue me, to help others, and show them ways to manage stress in their life, as well as enabling them to create healthy lifestyles. I wanted to share this knowledge with everyone.

Over my lifetime I have discovered information that when used will improve ones physical and mental condition. I really wanted to share this with others in a similar situation. I saw and heard of so many people in the same situation that I had been in - lacking the correct information, having no understanding of their situation, with no know-how of how to improve their mind, body or soul, just suffering to the debilitating effects of stress.

The success of your life depends very much on how well you deal with stress. The beauty of this is that you once you learn how to deal better with stress things in all areas of your life can improve dramatically.

Getting healthier and staying in control of stress is not rocket science! You can do things right now to help yourself. It comes from being given the right information that you can understand and apply for yourself.

Do you have stress problems? How are you coping with stress in your life? Do you want to be free of stress once and for all? If the answer of all these questions is “Yes”, I intend creating a blog that can help you.

I enjoy teaching people about stress, healthy lifestyle living and personal development, through my speaking, coaching and writing.

I want to help as many people cope with stress as I can. I have already helped many… may you now be one of them!

Over time, I will be using this blog to share knowledge, experiences, reviews, quotes, links and reflections relating to stress management and healthy lifestyle living. You will find many tips and articles, which can help you overcome the stress in your life. Read inspiring quotes. Read success stories of others handling stress. You will discover many techniques and tools to help you deal with stress. If you have problems with stress at work, in your home, family or anywhere else, you will find information you can understand and use them for to help yourself.

Ultimately the information you find here will help you take back control of your health and your life.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog. I hope that over time you will find it of help in your quest to achieve and maintain a healthy, stress free life, through the healthy lifestyle way.

For a long time I had been interested in personal development, fitness and weight loss. I had attended seminars, listened to audio cd’s, and read hundreds of books. In the field of exercise, my mentor was Bill Philips described recently by Outside magazine as “the most successful fitness author of all time,” author of the bestseller Body-for-LIFE which has sold in excess of 6 million copies.In the field of personal development Anthony Robbins or Tony Robbins an American self-help writer and professional speaker. I even did his fire walking exercise. He was the author of Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement, and Awaken the Giant Within.

One day I was sitting and contemplating my life. I have been blessed with many good things in my life. But I have also experienced many knocks that life could throw at us. Having helped hundreds if not thousands of people in my capacity as a fitness and diet coach, I found that I myself had committed the cardinal sin. I was forgetting to look after myself. I had lost control of my body, and had turned my back on my goals.

It was at this time, that I owe a debt of thanks to my sister, Su, who introduced me to The Secret by Rhonda Byrne a book that changed my life. A beautifully written and published book, with a simple message that one’s positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness.

I set about creating the health, vitality, energy, fitness, endurance and body that I deserved, and badly wanted! I had to free the true potential within me, by being committed to taking ownership of my life, believing in myself and creating my dreams to bring a focus to my life. I was determined to at last take pleasure in the journey that is my life.

Creating a healthy lifestyle through exercise, nutrition and relaxation techniques had always been one of my primary interests. I have been involved in fitness almost all of my life. For many years I was in peak physical condition, with healthy eating and exercise a prominent part of my life. But with a sporting injury resulting in both my hamstrings severely tearing, and then overdoing it during my early days of rehabilitation leading to me tearing my right oblique muscle, leaving me incapacitated, I proceeded to gain a lot of weight, and instead of having a muscular lean body, I found myself laden with to much body fat.

Rather than letting these circumstances take control of my life, I set out to rebuild my body by designing a programme to rebuild myself and regain my self esteem and zest for life. Fit at 40 something was my quest, and now its my desire for you, no matter how old you are. I want to help make the difference in your life.

This blog will carry my thoughts, ideas and knowledge to help you make changes in your life… the healthy lifestyle way