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