Living our Best Life in Testing Times

What does living your BEST LIFE mean to you? 

I think we would all agree that the world is speeding up, beyond what is a natural pace for human evolution. The geo-political situation is getting more and more complex and so many of the things that make us despair, are out of our control. 

Many people tell me that have stopped following the news, and even more people are craving a simpler life. Many are actively slowing down. It feels like we all know, instinctively, that the best remedy to calamity is to slam on the brakes!

I am feeling this in my bones. Maybe you are too. So I have been quietly, consciously crafting my Best Life, as much as I can. 

This is my list of all the gentle changes I have made over the last few years. It is not a To Do list, more a quiet life that I have, almost unconsciously, curated in order to be at peace with my presence here, my footprint, and all that I can reasonably take responsibility for. 

These are the things that I do day in and day out to make some small difference... so that I can sleep at night and wake up feeling hopeful and engaged.  

Firstly, being outdoors. Living in North Wales is such a gift - so much sea, sky and land to explore. Every day I am walking in the lanes around Glan Conwy, meandering along the coastal paths of Anglesey or circumnavigating Llyn Geirionydd. I love love love being in the depths of nature and always have. It is my grounding and my anchor. I always have a bag in my pocket to pick up litter when I am out and about, walking Tilly (who throws MacDonalds wrappers out of the car window on a country lane?!) I can't bear to walk past rubbish, especially plastic.

At home, I always try to choose eco, natural products from small innovative companies for my cleaning, laundry, my skin, hair and clothing. I eat organic fruit and veg as much as possible. I drink healthy coffee, organic tea and am trying to up my daily water intake. I am dairy free and mix my own oat milk from powder, which is very satisfying - no more Tetrapak cartons. I don't eat red meat or pork, I do eat chicken and fish, and make bolognese out of turkey mince. I wash out my recycling and put the bins on the kerb on a Thursday night, hoping that it doesn't actually end up in landfill.

I keep the edges of my garden nice and messy so that there are cosy homes for hedgehogs. Foxes visit my garden and I am constantly feeding the birds; the Blue Tits, Goldfinches and Woodpecker are my favourites. I take my camera out with me on walks and am loving learning photography, capturing Nature in all her glory. 

I make my own soups, granola, smoothies and I cook from scratch in the evenings. I am on a mission to learn how to make my own bread over the course of this winter - not just my world-famous Banana Bread! I have been out gathering blackberries and rosehips near me and on Anglesey to make a delicious crumble and rosehip syrup - full of Vitamin C to keep the winter colds at bay. I have plans to grow some tomatoes and lettuce next year. Watch this space! 

I choose camping and AirBnBs in the UK over flying off to Europe for city breaks. Yes I would love to visit Barcelona, Paris and Vienna but I find it hard to justify. I do allow myself to fly to the Netherlands to see my son Jake once in a while. I miss him.

I have 14 solar panels on my roof but I do have a log-burner, so I burn wood, which is bad for the environment, but I am keeping it as I think it will come in handy if / when we have energy shortages in the future - at least I will be able to heat my home to some degree. 

I sign petitions for Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Avaaz and 38 Degress and Change.org and I write to my MP. 

I meditate, practise yoga and lie down with Yoga Nidra at least once a week. I rest when my menopausal body needs to. I don't always sleep well, but I have strategies in place for that. I bought an alarm clock for my bedroom, and leave my mobile in the hall when I go to bed. 

I have done heaps of inner healing work to get rid of the regrets, the blame and the ghosts from the past and am enjoying living at peace with it all now. 

I watch more sunsets and I lie on the grass and watch the clouds whizzing by. I love losing myself in a novel, as well as reading books that keep my brain cells firing. 

I know that all of this will never ever be enough to stop the world from spinning out of control, save the rainforests or stop the glaciers from melting. 

But I do it all anyway. These are the things that I can do, in order to take responsibility for my well-being and my little patch of the Earth. 

As a Yoga teacher, I bring people together for classes and retreats, which also creates community. That is important, as we found out in the covid lockdowns when we met up on Zoom and supported each other through those scary times. I am sure we have more scary times to come. 

Teaching Yoga, meditation, Yoga Nidra, helping people with Chakra balancing or Life Coaching feels a lot like that old saying: 

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." 

Sharing the toolbox of yoga, rest, Yoga Nidra and energy healing helps people to be able to manage over-wrought nervous systems, busy minds, rising anxiety, stress or burnout. My Wednesday evening yoga students say they have the best night's sleep on a Wednesday night!

PLEASE BE ASSURED: I am not an angel! I buy my office supplies from Amazon and watch Netflix. I eat chocolate and cake. I drive a diesel van. I am not saying that I have got it all worked out and because I do all of this, then you must too! This is not a sermon. But the thing is that I feel at peace with myself for taking responsibility for my own inner landscape and the little patch of the Earth that has been gifted me as it's guardian. 

If everybody took responsibility, just for their little bit of the earth, their tribe and well-being, then surely we would be a kinder, more thoughtful and gentler civilisation, and not one that is destroying the planet at such a rate, that we need 1.6 planets to fulfill the needs of the 8 billion souls living here. We only have one planet and it is the most precious jewel ever known. 

'Keep peace in your soul...'

Some things to consider if you are feeling the overwhelm of it all too... 

Consider making conscious decisions around these things:

Your energy levels, sleep and rest, food and water, the company you keep, your personal environment, your buying choices, exercise, your use of tech and your values. 

Movement is crucial. 

Rest practices are important.

Sleep is essential. 

So many people say to me, with a shrug. “I don't sleep. It's just the way it is." Sleeping is so essential for your well-being on every level.  If you're not sleeping, find a way to switch back on the mechanism that knows how to sleep - try Yoga Nidra for a start. My personal go-to is an Acupressure mat on the bed, the spiky feeling on your back takes a bit of getting used to but OMG it works like a dream. I even fall asleep on mine sometimes.

Exercise and get the body moving in some way, any way! It will increase your mood as well as your fitness. 

Clean up your diet and your environment. Think of the word CLEAN - take out processed food, saturated fats and fast foods. Take all the toxins out of your home and your life. That includes products, people, places and situations. That includes screen time and what you are consuming online. 

You are the only one in charge of your life. You hold the responsibility to make the most of every single day. Nobody else will do that for you. Take back your sovereignty and take up the reins of your life! Trust your instincts, not your Fitbit, to tell you how to live your life. 

Finally do you know what your VALUES are? If you are living, working or find yourself in situations where you are being required to abandon your values, notice how that causes a deep stress response in the body. So know your own truth and have the courage to speak it, breathe it and live it. 

Most of all, do what ever you can to keep Peace in Your Soul...

Excerpt from Desiderata... written by Max Ehrmann in 1927

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."