So what is with the hibiscus logo

Two things that are really important to me are colour and nature. I love bright colours that uplift the spirit and energise space and people. Likewise the ability to experience, see, touch and smell nature is essential to my wellbeing. Growing up in Tropical North Queensland probably gave me that connection with the sun, hot humid weather, and being outside all the time. 

More recently I spent 9 weeks living in Ubud, Bali as a volunteer English teacher at a youth centre. The Balinese use flowers to decorate everything, particularly their sacred statues and places and as part of the offerings to the Gods. Hibiscus and frangipani are collected everyday and placed reverently on statues of Ganesha: remover of obstacles.

Flowers were also placed behind the ear of both males and females after making an offering at the temple. I loved this aspect of living with local families and sharing their daily rituals. Even the most mundane item was made more beautiful by the flowers. 

So in creating Happy Healthy Groovy I wanted a symbol of what I want reflected in my practice. 

I want you to embrace your divine beauty, to let your inner goddess glow, and to tap into your intuitive knowledge of how to look after your body and mind. 

The hibiscus also represents, to me, summertime - the time of heat and energy and growth.

And that is what's with the hibiscus.

Stay happy, healthy and groovy

The groovy goddess

Relaxing into uncertainty

Learning to relax into uncertainty must be one of the most difficult things for most people living in modern western society. I know it is for me.

 

Uncertainty means we don’t have control over the outcomes, uncertainty means we can’t plan the details, and uncertainty means we have to have faith that all will be okay.

 

On the flipside, uncertainty provides opportunity for new moments, new discoveries, and serendipitous possibilities. Uncertainty can be exciting!!

 

Life, whether we like it or not, is a series of uncertain moments. We don’t know if we will be successful at the job interview; we don’t know if our relationship will last forever; we don’t know whether our loved ones will behere tomorrow; we don’t know if it is going to rain on Saturday.

 

So the more we can relax into uncertainty the less stressful life can be.

 

And this, my friends is something I am not doing very well at the moment. I feel overwhelmed with the uncertainty in my life, which is leading to indecision and a lack of trust. The thing I am most annoyed about is that, in reality all the change is just ripe with luscious opportunity and excitement. But I am stuck in worry because I don’t know what the exact outcome will be, and am therefore stuck in indecision. Indecision gives power to others – who WILL make decisions for you.

 

The first step is to acknowledge that it is okay to feel overwhelmed, everyone does sometimes and I have an awful lot going on right now. I think many people get very good at pretending they are okay by avoiding, ignoring, pushing down how they really feel. Most of us don’t like others to know that we are not doing anything but ‘super’. We won’t even admit it to ourselves.

 

Then really just ‘sit’ in the overwhelm/anxiety/fear….feel it. Where do you feel it in your body? Your stomach? Your shoulders? Don’t fight it or negate it or it will just get stronger or come back later.  What is it you are really feeling? For example, sometimes what we think is anger is actually fear. This is an uncomfortable step, and that is okay.

 

But then you must take action. Some of the uncertainty can be removed by making a decision…listen to you gut and just make a decision. It might be right, it might be wrong, but if you don’t make a decision someone else will and then they have your power, not you.

 

As for that which you have no control over…let it go, have faith that sometimes we don’t actually know what is best for us. There is a bigger picture unfolding that is as yet unknown and we cannot foresee.

 

Engage in some selfcare – take a bath, get a massage, walk outdoors and hug a tree, buy a new dress, whatever puts a smile on your face.

 

If life was certain, how boring would it be.

 

So today I choose to relax into uncertainty.

 

Tomorrow? Is another day 

 

Stay Groovy!

 

 www.happyhealthygroovy.com.au

Lose the guilt....lose the weight

Are you or do you know someone who says " I just have to look at cheesecake and I put on weight". Well that just might be true!

How the body digests and assimilates food is significantly effected by the levels of stress being experienced. Stress is the body's response to any real or imagined threat. In evolutionary terms the threat was probably always real but in modern life a lot of the stress is created not from physical threat to our survival but by fears, change, worry, anxiety or negative self talk ( I am too fat, I am not good enough).

A threat kicks off an amazing physiological stress response in the body to allow us to flee or fight the threat. Blood flow is directed away from non- essential functions like the digestive system and sent to the major muscles and the brain. When stress is turned on... Digestion is turned off.

Cortisol surges through the body to put us on high alert and peak performance. Cortisol has strong associations with weight gain, especially around the stomach. 

Insulin levels increase so as to metabolise glucose for energy. One of insulin's main roles is modulating the storage of glucose as fat. When there is too much glucose being consumed insulin increases and shuttles the glucose into fat cells for use later. Chronic stress means chronic high production of insulin which the body evenutally becomes resistant to....a precursor for diabetes and weight gain.

So you can see why stressing out about what you are eating, feeling guilty about what you are eating, or even the stress associated with sticking to an overly restrictive, low calorie, low fat diet can actually contribute to weight gain independent of the amount of calories you are consuming.

Conversely a potent and free metabolic enhancer is pleasure. Pleasure actually activates the same part of the brain that stimulates digestion and shuts down appetite. That's right, the same chemical that is triggered by satisfying levels of fat and protein in a meal also stimulates enzyme production to increase digestion and sends a message to the brain that we are satisfied....stop eating now.

Now the point I am trying to make is not to stuff yourself with ice cream or hot chips, but for you to think about how you stress about food. Being on diet can put us into a pleasure-denying mentality where we not only physically deprive ourselves of calories and good fats but where we don't allow ourselves to enjoy food....food becomes the enemy.

This no-pleasure, high stress approach almost guarantees failure. So this weekend rather than focusing on calories, focus on eating what makes you feel good (most often that is healthy nutritious food) but if you choose that to be ice cream, make it the best, creamiest, most fabulous ice cream you can get. And eat it slowly, enjoy it, and don't be guilty.

Don't ruin the pleasure you feel with lashings of guilt.....because guilt is fattening!

Have a groovy guilt free weekend.

Kim

Happy Healthy Groovy

Contact Kim

Pleasure

Are you or do you know someone who says " I just have to look at cheesecake and I put on weight". Well that just might be true!

How the body digests and assimilates food is significantly effected by the levels of stress being experienced. Stress is the body's response to any real or imagined threat. In evolutionary terms the threat was probably always real but in modern life a lot of the stress is created not from physical threat to our survival but by fears, change, worry, anxiety or negative self talk ( I am too fat, I am not good enough).

A threat kicks off an amazing physiological stress response in the body to allow us to flee or fight the threat. Blood flow is directed away from non- essential functions like the digestive system and sent to the major muscles and the brain. When stress is turned on... Digestion is turned off.

Cortisol surges through the body to put us on high alert and peak performance. Cortisol has strong associations with weight gain, especially around the stomach. 

Insulin levels increase so as to metabolise glucose for energy. One of insulin's main roles is modulating the storage of glucose as fat. When there is too much glucose being consumed insulin increases and shuttles the glucose into fat cells for use later. Chronic stress means chronic high production of insulin which the body evenutally becomes resistant to....a precursor for diabetes and weight gain.

So you can see why stressing out about what you are eating, feeling guilty about what you are eating, or even the stress associated with sticking to an overly restrictive, low calorie, low fat diet can actually contribute to weight gain independent of the amount of calories you are consuming.

Conversely a potent and free metabolic enhancer is pleasure. Pleasure actually activates the same part of the brain that stimulates digestion and shuts down appetite. That's right, the same chemical that is triggered by satisfying levels of fat and protein in a meal also stimulates enzyme production to increase digestion and sends a message to the brain that we are satisfied....stop eating now.

Now the point I am trying to make is not to stuff yourself with ice cream or hot chips, but for you to think about how you stress about food. Being on diet can put us into a pleasure-denying mentality where we not only physically deprive ourselves of calories and good fats but where we don't allow ourselves to enjoy food....food becomes the enemy.

This no-pleasure, high stress approach almost guarantees failure. So this weekend rather than focusing on calories, focus on eating what makes you feel good (most often that is healthy nutritious food) but if you choose that to be ice cream, make it the best, creamiest, most fabulous ice cream you can get. And eat it slowly, enjoy it, and don't be guilty.

Don't ruin the pleasure you feel with lashings of guilt.....because guilt is fattening!

Have a groovy guilt free weekend.

Kim

Midweek self care

Just a quick midweek blog on self care, taking the time to look after yourself, be that physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. 

Many of us are juggling multiple things and fail to take the time to recharge the batteries. This recharge doesn't have to be huge but can be something simple that you enjoy. Maybe you feel it is self-indulgent to have a massage, get a manicure, or lay on the couch reading a trashy romance novel. 

Maybe you feel that you simply don't have the time. Rubbish! There is always time. It is a matter of prioritising your needs. A bit like the airline safety talk - 'please fit your oxygen mask before helping children or others'. Taking 30 min or 2 hours out of your week, to stop, recharge, regroup and relax is not a waste of time but will allow you to perform better and have a fresh outlook.

Tonight I knew I needed something to relax so as soon as I walked in the door I started a hot bath running and put on some chill out music. Of course I fed the cats first....cat people will understand this is the number one priority. 

I used wonderful ingredients from http://www.n-essentials.com.au/?Click=2760 to make a nourishing relaxing bath with Epsom salts and Ylang Ylang essential oils. Epsom salts provides magnesium...great for relaxing tight muscles and promoting sleep. Ylang Ylang is also relaxing and is a luxurious and sensuous fragrance and softens the skin. 

Much better 

Sleep well and stay groovy

To Push or Not to Push

Good morning groovy people!
What a beautiful morning on this public holiday in Queensland.

And no, this is not a post about natural childbirth vs caesarean birth.

I woke up at some ridiculously early hour with multiple decisions floating around in my head. I will be sharing consulting space at a local pilates studio (Akala Active, Coorparoo) starting in a couple of weeks so need to get the marketing machine going. So many decisions that need to be made to support my goals and I am unsure which way to go. 

I am trying to balance my belief in synchronicity and a universal flow with my task oriented, goal setting mentality. On the one hand I truly believe that life events seem to connect in a magical way that that has meaning. Coincidence....I think not.

On the other had I believe in setting goals, making decisions, pushing your cause, being focused, steering your own course. I like to be in control and forge ahead with my plans. I like to take action, not just wait for things to happen. 

For example, I had been trying to find office space in one suburb but having no luck and hitting brick walls at every turn, then I happened upon an advertisement for space at Akala in a suburb that I had not previously considered. Virginia answered my call at first ring, was available the next day, turns out she used to work for the same organisation that I currently work for, has similar colour scheme to her business that I have, etc, etc. 

Another example was last week when I was struggling with my natural introversion and the need for me to start putting myself out there, telling people about my business and spruiking my wares. It terrifies me and I had the perfect opportunity twice in one day at social events with women who could be my target clients. And what did I do... smiled sweetly and said nothing. I was so annoyed at myself.

So the very next day I was walking along and the owner of a beauty salon randomly spoke to me through her doorway so I went in for a chat and found she was just starting her new business so said 'me to' and told her about what I do. Not only did she react positively but offered to take some flyers and suggested the possibility of consulting space in a room she doesn't use. WOW! I came out of there feeling so confident. It was like the universe provided a situation to show me that yes, I can put myself out of my comfort zone and I never know what might happen. 

I am trying to make decisions that balance 

• my will vs letting go
• forcing vs trusting
• goal orientation vs spontaneity
• personal desire vs the cosmic plan
• pushing vs relaxing
• intuition vs logic
• being vs doing

How do you balance these? 

How do you know when a blockage is to be pushed through or a sign that maybe that is just a sign that you need to stop, breath and wait?

Stay groovy.

Kim

You will only achieve what you expect...so aim high!

What are your goals? What do you expect you can achieve?

Earlier this week I was engaging in some negative thinking about a future event that I expected would just bring difficulty and negative outcomes.

Some of you many have a similar psychic ability where you can see the future in detail, where the outcome is bad, where the people involved act to ruin your perfect world, where everything that could go wrong goes wrong, where you fail. Psychologists call it 'catastrophic thinking'....I call it 'having a tea party in my head'.

During one of these 'tea parties' I happened to look at a tweet that simply said...'don't see how you will feel, plan how you will think', and this really resonated with me.

I was allowing myself to be at the whim of my emotions that were being fuelled by my expectations about how other people will behave and how I would react. I don't have a magical ability to predict how a situation will turn out or how a person to behave, so where do these expectations come from?

Our past life experiences and interactions with people subconsciously create our belief system that determines how we expect others will behave and how we expect we will respond. Our interactions with parents, with teachers, with friends, with lovers, teach us what to expect. Sometimes this is a helpful learning experience that prepares us for the future; but equally this can lead us to behave in ways that actually hold us back from achieving or from engaging positively with people or situations.

For example, being told through your school years that 'sports just isn't your thing' and being picked last on any sports team, can lead to an expectation that you should not even try to get involved in exercise or fitness ...you are not sporty! You will fail, or at the very least you will embarrass yourself. But is that belief or expectation about yourself serving you positively now you are an adult? Is it real?

Having an expectation that you can't do sports reduces your expectation of any success if you try. Your concept of what you can achieve is unrealistically low. Your expectation of failure or embarrassment is like a wall that stops you trying. There is no way you are going to try a gym class because you just know you have no sense of timing. You can't possibly try yoga because you know people will think you are fat and hopeless.

I think most people set their goals too low due to their low expectations based on old experiences. As a health coach I don't want to analysis and dissect your childhood searching for reasons for your beliefs. I want to work with you to examine where you are now, what you are doing now that is holding you back, and how can you work forward into the future with new expectations and new ways to approach life so you can aim high and get there.

I expect that you will succeed, so should you.

Stay groovy

Kim

Not drowning just spinning

Are you one of those people that covers indecisiveness, procrastination, or fear of failure through embarking on a wild flurry of activity?     I am.

Are you being incredibly busy, jumping from task to task, generating new ideas in a flurry of energy - but not really getting anywhere?   I am.

Busy does not mean achieving. I am sure we have all worked with that person who constantly runs around proclaiming how busy (read, how important) they are but everyone knows they don't really achieve anything.

Well that is how I am feeling right now. After a couple of busy and productive months creating and developing my business concept I am now at the point where the rubber hits the road. Securing office space, advertising , selling myself etc.  But in an effort to avoid what is really the crunch of commiting my time to office hours, signing a lease, risking the chance of rejection, I have now started busying myself with a host of random tasks and signing up for courses including a seven day juice fast (what the ?) and am amassing more information than I know what to do with.

Deep breath 

Is this a pattern I am repeating? Yes. As soon as things get too hard, too overwhelming, too risky, I do the unthinkable and take more on in order to avoid what I don't want to face. But those times when I have been truly passionate and focused on a clear goal....wow I have achieved!

So the way forward is really about making sure I have clear articulated goals, planning the detail on how to achieve these goals and most, most importantly - taking action.

This I believe is also a fundamental process for achieving weightloss. Fear of failure and procrastination lead to indecision and lack of action. Intellectually you want to lose weight, you have a general understanding of what you need to do, you have paid money for gym membership, new training gear etc but never move from the planning phase to the action phase. 

This is where goal setting and action planning become important. It is also where having a coach (a friend or a professional) who challenges your negative thinking, who challenges your excuses, who helps you identify strategies to overcome hurdles, who holds you accountable, can make a big difference between thinking and doing.

I did a goal setting activity last night and already I feel like I am getting back on track and moving forward - not spinning in circles.

I will talk more about the goal setting process next time. 

Stay groovy 

Food is not the enemy

If I was to say 'Joe' has a negative unhealthy relationship with food what do imagine Joe is like. Someone who eats junk food. Someone who is overweight. Someone who has no willpower or control over what they eat. Certainly overeating is one type of unhealthy relationship with food, but what about the flipside?

Those who have an over controlling approach to food whereby their weight is strictly monitored, their food intake is strictly controlled and and any deviation is considered a failure. People who take such a restrictive approach to nutrition are no less obsessed with food than the overeater. Every minute can be consumed with thoughts of planning or monitoring food intake and/or punishing oneself for not following the diet plan. From the outside they look like very healthy people as their body weight and food choices seem to be healthy. But on the inside it is just a world of anxiety as the need for constant control and fear of losing control can be emotionally exhausting. Food becomes the enemy!

Learning to connect with intuitive eating and at mindful eating approach to food such as that shared in the Am I Hungry? (R)  mindful eating workshops can help develop a more positive relationship with food through helping the person connect with their body and their thoughts and beliefs about food. Food is not the enemy!

Health coaching is a solutions-focused approach to achieving your health and wellness goals; to achieving an optimal physical and mental state that allows you to live a happy energy-filled life. Health coaching is not just for people who want to lose weight, but can help anyone overcome negative lifestyle patterns, habits or beliefs that at getting in the way of being happy, healthy, and groovy.

Find your groove

Website launch and being vulnerable

LA big announcement this morning - my website happyhealthygroovy.com.au is up and running!

The funny thing is it has been up since Tuesday but I just couldn't bring myself to let people know about it. Everyday I would intend to get the message out via this blog or Facebook but I just avoided doing it. What is this about? 

So I have spent some time meditating and writing in my journal and it is simple .......I am feeling very vulnerable right now and for someone who has pretty much avoided vulnerability her whole life this is pretty scary. 

Now don't get me wrong, I have never avoided taking a risk, taking a chance, doing things slightly left of centre, but somehow managing to never really expose my underbelly.

So here I am blogging and putting my feelings, thoughts, opinions on the net for the world to see. And launching my own coaching business that isn't selling widgets but selling my skills. My God, what if I am not good enough, what if no one likes me, or heaven forbid what if no-one calls ... Ever! How embarrassing.

So I have decided

- I am good enough

- I don't have to be perfect

- I don't need to know everything in order to help people

- I have a lot to offer

- and this is not all about me ( now this one is still a little difficult to swallow)

But most of all I am so excited, I simply can't not do this....so lets get this show on the road!

A big thanks to Grace from gndesigns for doing my fabulous business card and website and for putting up with my total incompetence with anything IT related. And a big thanks to my daughter who believes in me and to my Gorgeous Guy who never fails in his patience and support.

Connecting the dots and finding my passion

What a beautiful spring day in Brisbane. Off to the Manly Farmers Markets and a coffee down at the waterfront. It was nice to relax, its been a busy week of finalising the Happy Healthy Groovy website design and content (it will be up and running this week), researching phone and internet plans, researching advertising options, trying to find a consultation room that I can lease one or two days a week, helping my daughter move and then to top it off my Ragdoll cat Milo had a paralysis tick yesterday and needed veterinary care. He is doing very well but has been shaved all over and looks hilarious. Poor boy.

Anyway this afternoon I got to reminiscing about my time living in Ubud Bali earlier this year where I was volunteer English teaching teenagers. I needed to get away and re-evaluate where I was going work wise and figured I should do something useful while taking time out. I spent a lot of time on my own, getting to connect back in with my dreams, my passion, my inner strength. I spent time meeting people from all over the world that were involved in raw foods, or yoga, or developing sustainable industries, and most importantly I spent time with local Balinese people and seeing behind the tourism glitz.

After five weeks I still had no clue what I wanted to do career wise and was starting to think that I just needed to get real and get on with my normal job which paid very well thank you...how ungrateful was I being wanting to live my passion when I was surrounded by people who had barely anything and were happy. Besides, what the hell was my passion??

It was while teaching food nouns one day when the lesson evolved from a boring lesson about nouns to a lively discussion about nutrition. What a great discussion, the class was really engaged, asking lots of questions, talking about their own concerns about how their traditional food is being replaced by processed food, talking about how they have heard too much sugar is bad but how can you not eat it when it is so yummy.

Well I lit up! Up until then the teaching was reasonably enjoyable, I loved the interaction with the kids but had realised that teaching English was not going to be my sea change. The class went for 45 minutes over time and I brought information on nutrition the next day for them.

It was later that night that dots started to connect. My lifelong involvement in yoga, my psychology training, my avid reading of all things nutrition and fitness based, my interest in organic skincare, my own digestive challenges etc etc.

I was talking to my Gorgeous Guy (he wanted a catchy name if I was going to be Groovy Goddess) on the phone from Ubud and said you know....everything just starts working out when you are feeling healthy, are eating well, are relaxed, feel comfortable in your own skin, feel connected with nature, feel connected with love....people just need to find their groove, because when you are in your groove their isn't anywhere else you need to be. I want to help people find their groove!

And that is how the seed for Happy Healthy Groovy started growing. So look out for my website and signup for the free e-book I have been writing and regular newsletters.

Groovy Goddess

Change

Well this is my first posting on my blog. Spending the day working on setting up my new business Happy Healthy Groovy health and wellness coaching and supervising my adult daughter packing up her stuff in preparation for moving out into the big world. She has done that before but returned when life went a little sour for a while. Now she has blossomed even more and I am very proud of the young women she has become. So it is a mixture of 'woo hoo house to myself, now I can run naked from bathroom to bedroom' and 'oh, who is going to keep me upbeat when I am low, I will miss her'.

So between her moving, me starting a business and me deciding to sell my house so I can be with my gorgeous man, there is a lot of change happening in my life. Most of the time the energy and excitement of change is exhilarating but sometimes it feels like a weight, a weight of decisions that need to be made. Making decisions is very tiring. But as I was reminded by Clair Obeid and her Wellness Project blog, I was getting caught up in the outcome, putting pressure on the end point and what I want it to look like. Now that is tiring. It is so much easier to let those agendas, those outcomes, go and just be in  the flow. This does not mean not doing anything, not having tasks or activities or things to do, it just means letting go of the effort, the internally generated need for something to happen at a certain time, in a certain way. That just scrunches your energy up in a big knot and believe me innovation, intuition, energy, creativity and joy really struggle to be felt when your energy is so scrunched up and determined to achieve something.

This letting go of an outcome is really about trust and vulnerability....a topic that I will talk about in depth soon.

Keep groovin'
Kim