Friday, 19 September 2014
Friday, 5 September 2014
Groovy Goddess Radio Episode: Lets Talk About Food and Anxiety
Join me for my first Groovy
Goddess Radio episode where I discuss the role of nutrition in managing
anxiety.
Anxiety is often a well kept secret for many busy professional women,
entrepreneurs and mums. Keep everything looking shiny and wonderful on the
outside, while you are barely keeping it together on the inside.
Experiencing anxiety is not a failing, it is a sign you need to step
back and take care of yourself. Ensuring you have good nutrition that supports
your emotional health is one aspect of self care.
If you are feeling overwhelmed please make sure you seek help from
either your doctor or other health care professional as well as:
remembering
to breathe deeply eating
whole non-processed foods limiting caffeine
in your diet staying
hydrated including
fermented foods in your diet (such as kombucha, kimchi, kefir) learn to
relax into uncertainty
I hope you enjoy the radio show and please send me your thoughts on
topics that you would like to hear about.
Stay Groovy
Saturday, 30 August 2014
The Key to Persistence
I am a
persistent little woodpecker. I have always been persistent and committed to achieving
whatever hare-brained idea that I have come up with. That doesn’t mean I don’t
get sidetracked and run after bright shiny things – I do. It doesn’t mean I
always fully complete a particular project – I don’t. As well as being
persistent I am naturally curious and easily distracted by the opportunity to
create new things and birth new desires.
As I
reflect on times that I have exhibited dogged determination and refusal to give
up and I compare those experiences to the myriad of half-assed schemes that I
have charged into and flippantly tossed to the scrap heap because I became
bored or because it all was too hard, I wonder what made a difference between
those dalliances and the projects that I stuck at no matter what.
The
difference was having an inner knowing that this goal was necessary, important
and unthinkable not to achieve. I persisted when my gut wouldn’t let me give
up, when I sensed the deeper importance of what I was doing. I persisted at
things I enjoyed and gained a sense of purpose from. I persisted when the
alternative was simply not an option.
If something
isn’t important to your soul and isn’t enjoyable you are unlikely to keep going
when things get tough. Achieving health and weight goals similarly must be important
to you at a deep level, not just in order to fit in the size 8 jeans you used
to wear, but important to your sense of who you are.
If the
inner you is bubbly, outgoing and loves socializing with others, then it is
important for your outer shell to reflect the inner you. Being trapped in a
body that inhibits your sparkle is heavy – physically and spiritually.
Chasing
weight loss goals through quick fix solutions doesn’t lead to inner change that
is sustainable because it is a goal that doesn’t connect with your soul.
Being
healthy should also be enjoyable, energising and positive. Weight loss that is
driven by punishment and restriction is unlikely to engender persistence.
Weight loss
that is driven by doing activities that you enjoy and make you feel alive are
much more likely to be sustained and to become a lifestyle rather than an
exercise program.
Achieving
your health goals is not achieved through sheer force of your willpower but
rather thorough persistent and consistent effort to be the best you can be, to
feel energised and vital and to have fun getting there.
Having this
persistence is not that difficult when you are focused on the right goals for
the right reasons that lift you up, not weigh you down.
Stay groovy
Kim
Monday, 25 August 2014
Courage
Courage
A self-belief
and deep trust that the step you take is right, more than right, it is
necessary. It is ordained by your higher self as the path you must take.
Courage can
sometimes feel easy, maybe the blissful unawareness of youth provides opportunities
for adventurous courage, the kind of courage that flips the bird to the world
and charges ahead refusing to see consequences. Or even when consequences are
vaguely identified there is a sense of flippancy. I mean, seriously, you have
years to fix it/pay for it/divorce it/rebuild it. So lets go!
I have made
many courageous moves in my time. Some have worked out really well and other
not so much. I have sold my house and moved interstate to a temporary job with
two kids. It worked out as I knew it would. I have headed off overseas on my
own having never been out of Australia before. I have the best time. I took two
months leave and taught English overseas at a youth centre. I adapted to being
totally out of my comfort zone and met the most amazing people whilst learning
what my next life transition was to be.
During my
younger adulthood and despite quiet introversion I had a deep confidence in my
ability to do and achieve, combined with the focus and patience to forge a path
to my golden goal. I visioned, I imagined and I manifested. Sometime with
steadfast stubbornness and self-centred pig-headedness, but I made it.
Looking
back I am a little in awe of some of the decisions I have made and achievements
I have worked hard for.
I think
that as women we have a tendency to casually dismiss our achievements for fear
of standing out, of being seen as arrogant. The tall poppy syndrome works well
too keep us small.
Take time
to contemplate the brave choices you have made or the incredible will you have
exerted to achieve goals – small or big. Fantastic success or abysmal failures
are all equally valuable. Each time you learn more about yourself and about
others. None of which you would have learnt if you didn’t have the courage to
step out of your comfort zone.
I am writing
of courage today as I am at a juncture in my life. A turning point. A fork in
the road. I need courage. I think I have courage but I am still hesitant. Why?
Is it
because I have more to lose now that I am older? When all you own are a few
bags of clothes and some furniture in a rented apartment, there really isn’t
that much to lose. These days there seems to be more at stake and a sense of
responsibility for another’s financial security.
I am
confident and I have the self-belief and I have faith that this decision is my
‘destiny’, so why the hesitation I wonder?
I have
realised it is because I feel selfish. I feel like my decision is all about me
and my desires and for the first time I care about another’s needs in a way
that makes me feel selfish to put pressure on them. Though I have to admit the
‘money thing’ worries me a little. The idea of having nothing is not appealing
in one’s 40s. I like nice things and expensive shoes.
One thing
that I do know, is that making no decision is what squashes spirit. Flailing
around in awkward indecision is a recipe for disappointment and regret. In
order for the universe to provide you with assistance you must first take
action.
I am not
quite there yet.
I have also
learnt that if I don’t make a decision then others will chart my destiny and my
power is taken from me.
I don’t
like that.
What do you
need to be courageous about?
Are you
handing your power to someone else through indecision?
May we all
step forward with confidence and trust this week.
Stay groovy
Kim
Monday, 11 August 2014
What is with the Wrinkly Knees?
In recent blogs I have talked a lot about change and more specifically
the pain that can be associated with change.
One change that can’t be avoided is ageing. We all get older whether
we like it or not and there are a number of realizations that hit a
40-something woman smack in the face.
Superficial things like not receiving looks from men when you walk
down the street. A sense of being invisible to males is a general feeling I
hear described by many women, myself included. That soft droopy bit of skin
that lays across your eyelid, smudging your eye liner into your socket.
And what the hell is going on with the wrinkly knees?
Or more soulful changes like realizing your are not living the life
you imagined, you ache for more purpose in your life, or your can’t stand the
person you have become, or even the person that is lying next to you in bed.
The things that used to make you happy seem meaningless now and there is a
yearning for more purpose, more meaning, more passion.
Sure the big-M is an undeniable side-kick of ageing but the surprising
thing for many women is the gradual, sneaky little physical and emotional
transformations that happen after you hit 40. Apparently there is a name for
the years that precede menopause – perimenopause.
I think the changes we experience shock us even more now than it did
our mothers. We are blessed (or cursed) with living in the age of celebrity and
cosmetic surgery that sets a very high bar for ageing. Jennifer Anniston, Halle
Berry, Michelle Pfeiffer. Now surely that is what ageing is all about – bring
it on!
Ah, not so much it seems. Even way before menopause hits,
perimenopause brings a shower of lovely gifts that I didn’t know about.
Hormones start to get a little unpredictable which apparently according to Doctor
is due to my eggs being old and tired. What the hell!
Tired eggs, just kicking back and sliding out of my ovaries with a
fizzle rather than with a pizazzy pop of progesterone like more youthful zesty
eggs do.
This hormonal misfiring cause a range of niggle symptoms that while
not life threatening are certainly party poopers. Body temperature
fluctuations, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, irrational thoughts, fatigue,
loss of mojo/libido, brain fog, and difficulty concentrating to name a few
common symptoms.
The problem I see is that women can go down two opposing paths at this
time: 1. They suffer in silence while their career, relationship and joy for
life falls apart or 2. They are made to feel like they have a medical problem
that needs to be fixed through prescription drugs.
Now sometimes drugs are good and this is your choice and you should
get additional medical advice in addition to my ramblings.
However, I see the basic premise that perimenopause/menopause are
medical disorders that need to be fixed as fundamentally wrong.
This is a challenging physical, emotional, psychological
transformation that needs to be openly discussed and supported through holistic
options and information that are made available to women.
There are some amazing medical doctors such as Drs Christine Northrup
and Sara Gottfried who are speaking out about hormones and women’s health from
a functional medicine perspective. A perspective looks holistically at the body
rather than focusing on treating individual symptoms. A perspective that
combines eastern and western wisdom to support women to achieve health and
vitality in a positive way rather than as if they are broken.
There are nutritional, supplemental and lifestyle changes that do make
a difference. Not to mention psycho/spiritual issues that arise during these
years.
This is an area of health that I am passionate about and interested to
share more information with you.
What is your biggest challenge you are experiencing, as you get a
little older?
Stay groovy
Kim
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