Thrive, not just Survive!

Thrive, not just Survive!

This is my beautiful orchid, taken on a not so cheery March day, but it brought a big smile to my face; not only is it lovely to look at but it made me think about how it got there, and what I can learn from it.

You see, had you seen it 18 months ago, you wouldn’t think it was the same plant. It was a very sad little thing, in a small pot, on another windowsill. I had had it for 3 years at that stage, and after the initial blooms had faded, I was left with just 3 leaves.  I kept watering it, hoping it would flower again for me – and I will be honest that it nearly went in the bin on more than one occasion. But for three years it just had the three leaves, and nothing else – and I can’t say the leaves looked that healthy.

I couldn’t quite give up on it though and throwing away a plant that was alive felt wrong too – as though I was saying it wasn’t worth holding on for it to bloom again. So it stayed on my window sill, tucked in a corner, just existing and not much more.

Then one day I moved everything around, and the orchid ended up on our kitchen windowsill rather than in the lounge – and amazingly it started to thrive – it grew some more leaves (although still not many) and then it started to flower. Just a few blooms the first time, then it shot out numerous new roots, outgrew its plant pot, and looked healthy and strong.

So I still watered it, gave it a new pot, space to grow and develop, plant food to help it on its way –  and then this year…. well, you can see it is a very happy plant! It’s been flowering for over a month, and there is no sign of them dying yet and some signs of new buds too.

It got me thinking about how often a change of situation, whether location, job, relationship, state of mind, whatever it might be, can suddenly make us thrive and grow. It is easy to stay in the same place or situation; sometimes it appears more comfortable than making a change, but it can stifle us, leaving us stunted and a little weary, just like my orchid was.

If we brave the change, embrace the challenge when we recognise that we are stagnant and not thriving, then we can change the place where we are situated, we can find more space to grow and develop and more food for new thought and growth. It may feel uncomfortable to start with but give it a little time and that new situation, attitude or place will become the new normal, your new place to thrive as an individual.

So don’t stay in a situation that has you fading away, unable to thrive – changing aspects of our lives can feel hard, but not changing can prevent us from really showing our true selves.

If you need help overcoming the stagnation in some aspect of your life or support in identifying the way forward for you to thrive, then reach out and we can chat and see if I can help you to grow into the person you were always intended to be.

Make sure you thrive and show off all your beauty.

New Year resolutions – how many have you set yourself in the past? And how many have you kept?

Resolutions are a really common thing to set yourself at the start of a new year – if you Google New Year Resolutions you get over 191,000,000 results so it is easy to see how many people buy into the idea.

For the New Year, many people set themselves resolutions – and as we know, so often by this time in January, many have already been abandoned or forgotten. There are a number of issues relating to resolutions:

I think another issue with resolutions is that they are often quite short term – I want to lose a stone in January” or unrealistic “I will start running every day” (hmmm, this is not mine as I am not a runner, never have been, never will!).

I used to set New Year Resolutions and then found I felt much worse when a few weeks down the line when I hadn’t made the progress that I had expected or hoped for. So I have started to set myself an intention for the year ahead instead – an intention tends to be broader, so I might decide that I am going to be healthier in 2021 – this would then allow me to work on a number of different aspects of my health over the year – I could exercise more, eat better, take vitamins, drink less and so much more, that would work towards my overall intention.

I find that this removes the unrealistic short term goals I am tempted to set myself. I am able to break down what I want to achieve into a number of smaller, more manageable steps that can be implemented over the year and I can re-focus if needed as I go through the year. So, for example, if like me, you can suffer from back pain, and my aim is to be healthier by the end of the year, I could change what I focus on to still achieve my goal, even if my back won’t allow me to do as much exercise as I would like, and so on.

Intentions don’t demand that we are perfect, but just that we try.

The other big positive (and I am big on positives at the moment) is that it allows me to really acknowledge at the end of the year all the positive steps I have taken towards my intention, rather than the failures I may have had. I can then feel I have attained something, made a difference to myself and my life and it helps me stay positive whilst still giving me a focus.

If you need more tips on setting an intention, think about the following:

So, for 2021, what is my intention, I can hear you asking?

My intention for this year is DEVELOPMENT – for my business, myself and professionally.

There’s so many steps I can take here to achieve this and I know it will move me forward and be really helpful. So, when I review my intention, in December this year, I will let you know how I’ve got on!

What intention might you set for 2021? It’s not too late to start!

Let me know by emailing me – alison@galenehypnotherapy.co.uk

 

Photo by Pablo de la Fuente on Unsplash

Finding Happy Spaces and Places

 

Sometimes just getting out and about can make me feel so much better – a trip to Chatsworth at the weekend just made me feel happy as it is so beautiful at this time of year. With everything we are having to cope with at the moment (we’re currently in the middle of Lockdown 2.0 in the UK) we need to take time to enjoy what is around us and find spaces and places that make us feel positive and joyful.