A Walk on the beach
Natalie O'Sullivan • August 16, 2020
This was written in lock down about a simple walk on the beach.
Yesterday I met a friend and we went for a walk on the promenade. It was nice to get out for a walk and a natter. We stopped off in some shade and I casually mentioned how refreshing the tide pools looked. I had not intended to go for a dip and had not brought with me a towel or water or clean socks, so it was just an observation. The next thing I know he is racing off to the pool.
Now I have not been paddling in ages! But taking my shoes and socks off and jumping in that tide pool took me back to my childhood.
Suddenly this simple walk I had been on had turned into something more, and that got me thinking. As I waded through the pools and over the ridged sand, I started thinking how this was turning into so much more.
If we re-frame our thoughts on life we open to so much more. This is what was really happening:
• I was stretching and moving my legs
• The sand was exfoliating my feet
• The ridges of the sand were stretching my flat arches (helping with posture and plantar fasciitis)
• The instability of the sand was working my ankles and hips (building stability and muscle growth)
• The sun was giving me a much-needed dose of Vitamin D
• Memories of childhood and the enjoyment of being there in that moment splashing around in puddles were giving me a healthy dose of serotonin and dopamine (happy hormones).
• The conversation was thought provoking and interesting (engaging my mind)
• The laughter and fun were releasing Endorphins which are great for boosting the immune system.
• And the fresh sea air was clearing my lungs and making me relaxed.
All of this from a walk on the beach.
Now imagine if we adapt this way of thinking to life in general. Regardless of the situation (good, bad, or boring) how much more we would take/learn/improve from those situations.
Now do not get me wrong, it would be impractical, and irresponsible for me to tell you to only see the good in a situation, particularly a bad one. But what if, after that situation is over, we look at it differently, if we were not successful what did we learn, what did we get out of that situation. What can we learn from it and how will that impact us next time? Even if the only outcome you can think of was “I survived” then great, you now know you can survive that situation, and come out stronger.
And if it is a good experience, don’t downplay* the positive impacts, shout them out loud. I could have said I just went for a walk; it was nice. What happened was so much more and both my mental and physical health are so much better because of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed paddling in those pools, the water was cool, and I really did not want to leave, but next time, and there will be a next time! I will remember to take a towel and a bottle of water to wash my feet off before going home. So, what did you get/achieve from the last thing you did?
*please remove the phrase “it was only…..” from your vocabulary, I’ll explain why in another post.
“No pain no gain!” Stop it! Just Stop it!
So recently I have been doing a bit of research, I am seeing more and more people promoting supplements (especially celebrities), and it got me thinking. For me I think one thing that really gets at my craw (and its similar for physical illnesses) is that if we have an issue, we go to the Doctors for a quick fix. We very rarely want to do the work to figure out how to identify and address the causes of the issue. How many times have clients said to me they have been to the doctors over a problem and been sent away and given painkillers? This does not solve the underlying issue; it just covers up the symptoms. I see it time and time again, and as a society we have got really good at it.
Continuing on from my previous post I am going to start with looking at environmental factors affecting sleep. so grab a pen and paper, curl up on the sofa and have a read and make some notes.
Recently I’ve been doing a lot of research into improving my sleep patterns, and thought I’d write down my research into this blog. Its going to be a long one so grab a brew, get comfy and have a read. It’s worth prefacing this blog by saying that this is not medical advice to solve insomnia. If you have long term sleep issues you need to speak to a medical professional. These positive habits will help ONLY if you have no underlying medical issues preventing sleep. You may or may not have heard the term Sleep Hygiene. It was first introduced in 1939 by Nathaniel Kleitman, an American physiologist and sleep researcher and the concept was refined within the context of modern sleep patterns and published in 1977 by psychologist Peter Hauri in the book The Sleep Disorders.
What a year 2020 has been?! I wanted to take this opportunity to take stock off all the experiences I had in 2020 and what I learnt from them. I find this time of year in between Christmas and new year (when nobody knows what day it is), to really take stock of what has happened and make some goals for the coming year.
This blog is likely to annoy quite a few people but it’s been something that’s been bugging me for a while and it needs saying. This is not me taking a pop at anyone with a side hustle trying to earn extra cash, this is a warning to everyone to be careful who you take advice from. There has been an explosion since COVID, of people selling MLM products, which is great and good for them for trying to make some extra money. However, I know from experience (as I also sell an MLM brand) that most of these people are given very little training on sales techniques and non on health conditions.
I was first introduced to Thai massage back in 2013, I had never had one before, and like many of you before your first time, I was a bit apprehensive.
Here are my thoughts on the face shield, having used several different styles. It has been mandated by the government that we wear one, as our main PPE. There is no mandate to wear a mask. When i first opened back up, this is the regulation i was working with, since then I've decided that I need to wear a mask as well. Wearing a mask and a shield has proved quite tricky and so it's been a bit of trial and error to find the right combination of mask and shield. In this blog i'm going to analyse the different shields.
I’m going to be talking about the sex industry, I know as a qualified and legitimate massage therapist it’s a bit of a taboo subject, but I want to get this out there, because believe it or not it does impact me. I, like many of my friends and colleagues have had to deal with phone calls, enquiries, and jokes about happy endings and other rather demeaning requests, from men looking for prostitutes. This is part and parcel of being a massage therapist. We even had a whole session on it and how to handle inappropriate clients when I was training, But here’s the thing, we shouldn’t have to put up with it.
As I’m writing this we are coming to the end of week 10 of lock down, I still have at least 5 more weeks before I am allowed back to work, but think this is going to be relevant long after lock down is ended as well as now. I keep hearing the phrase, “we’re all in the same boat” with regards to this lock down, and I have to say I’m sorry but it’s rubbish. I prefer the saying: “We’re all in the same storm, but we’re not in the same boat”
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