Braving the Spring Westerly's

We have just returned from a five day break in Filey Bay.  The westerly's were blowing off the cliff tops, blowing away the cobwebs in our heads and the sun was shining.  We had five days with nothing to do but collect pebbles, walk, read and spend quality time together.
 

The view from our cabin was inspiring. The colours, so uplifting.  Blue skies with puffy white clouds and greens, blues and sandy seas so calming.  When the wind dropped, we walked on the cliffs towards Bempton with seagulls dancing in the thermals above us.  It was cold for the time of year but no rain for four days, so who can complain?  The masses of Gorse bushes had blossomed and the almond scent was intoxicating as we wound our way around them.

The following day the wind returned so we ventured from the cliff tops down some woodland steps to Cayton Bay.  Five steps down it was still.  We could hear the wind above us blowing overhead but we were down in our little micro climate descending into a magical wood with wild pink and deep yellow primroses everywhere.  It was so peaceful.   Not another soul did we pass.  We could hear the ocean grow louder as we followed the winding path through the undergrowth.  Then out of the bushes, there was the bay.  A huge expanse of smooth yellow sand fringed with coloured pebbles and shells.  I collected small pieces of drift wood and clambered over the rocks at the crescent of the bay to discover rich amber cliffs of stone holding back the sea.  I found a small giant’s causeway to step across to take me back to the sands.

Being with nature and having the time to spend exploring and discovering new places together makes me realise just how blessed I am. The world is a wonderful place if only we take the time out to see it.

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.

Eating with the Seasons - April

As the flavours of foods seem sadly lacking in my supermarket trolley, I have recently been drawn more and more to my local farm shops.  The misshapen cabbages and suede’s are full of flavour and takes me back to my farming roots.

Seasonal food is fresher and therefore tastier and more nutritious. If you want to enjoy food at its best, every bite bursting with flavour, there's no doubt eating seasonally is the way to go.

Eating more local seasonal food makes sense.  It costs less, as it has less distance to travel, which in turn reduces energy costs and the associated CO2 emissions.  It also supports the local economy, but most of all it helps us to reconnect with nature’s cycles and the passing of time.

Among the UK foods at their best in April are:

Vegetables: broccoli (purple sprouting), cabbages, cauliflower, spring greens, lettuce, radishes, sea kale, sorrel, watercress.

Fruit: rhubarb.

Wild greens and herbs: alexanders, chickweed, chives, wild chervil, dandelions, fat hen, hogweed shoots, hop shoots, meadowsweet, nettles, sea kale, sea spinach, sorrel, watercress, wild garlic, wild rocket.

Fungi and nuts: morels, St George's mushrooms.

Fish and shellfish: cockles, crab, pollack, salmon, sea trout.

Game: wood pigeon.

Meat: spring lamb, rabbit.

Poultry: chicken.

At this time of year, free-range eggs also taste better.  As the hours of daylight lengthen, hens naturally start laying again.  As the earth begins to warm new shoots appear and insects emerge, the chickens forage and enjoy their new diverse natural diet giving their eggs a particularly good flavour.  The beta carotene in the new grass gives the yolks that lovely deep golden colour.  And this of course gives the bird itself more flavour.

Whenever a particular UK-produced food goes out of season, you can guarantee that another delicious one has come back into season to tempt us all. Ultimately, eating seasonal food is about enjoyment.  By being aware of when foods are at their best can help us enjoy eating a naturally better quality diet.

Having a good healthy well balanced diet is one of the finest things we can do for our emotional and physical health and wellbeing.

There are some great recipes for this month’s seasonal foods.  Take a look at the following sites for ideas and move away from that winter stodge Delicious Magazine.   The BBC site has a good seasonal recipe section on bbc.co.uk  so be inspired, add some new ingredients to your shopping list and bring fresh excitement to your spring cooking.

Where ever you live in this world of ours, it’s worth finding out about which seasonal foods are on offer in your locality.

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.

Personal Growth and Tree Rings

With every season that passes the trees rings grow larger.  The tree’s biggest spurt of growth comes in the spring when it rehydrates, drawing moisture and nutrients through its softer outer tissues, to allow the buds to burst into leaf and its branches to expand.

Each season as the tree grows in height the dark dense hard centre core grows stronger to carry the new weight and withstand the weather.

At whatever age we are, humankind has a compulsion to learn and grow.  We need to stretch ourselves to feel fulfilled as we go through the different stages of our lives.  Often this means moving outside our comfort zones.

Trying new things and new ways of doing things can be scary.  Have you ever tried something new and really frightened yourself into feeling that you will never, ever put yourself through that again?  Most of us have.  You most likely took a huge leap into the unknown pushing yourself way outside your comfort zone and it made you feel so bad you vowed never to try it again.

If we try to change a little at a time, each time going out of our comfort zone by the same small amount then eventually that new place becomes the place that we are comfortable in.  Our comfort zone has expanded and we have grown gradually like the ring of the tree.

Because of our compelling need to see rapid results, we expect too much of ourselves too soon.

If we try to change and grow a little at a time, we become more confident as we widen our circle, enabling us to have a richer fuller life.

Spring encourages new growth but taking it slow and steady is the way.  Small steps done on a regular basis always brings great results.

To build and strengthen our inner core, to withstand the trials and challenges of life, is why personal growth is vital to us all.

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.

 

How do we Relate to Each Other?

Sometimes it takes stormy weather to bring us together.
 

This weekend it snowed and snowed, and the winds whipped it up into deep drifts, then the digging began.  It is such a nuisance when the roads are blocked, it’s dangerous for the elderly and I know it stops the wheels of industry and commerce turning but for some of us, being forced to stop in our tracks makes us see things from a completely different perspective.

After a long winter of being huddled in our homes hardly venturing out we suddenly find ourselves digging our paths and taking time to talk to our neighbours.  Everyone complains at first, but after an hour or so when the realisation sets in that no one is going anywhere, the frustration falls away and a feeling of comradeship takes over.  It’s a bit like a little battle where we all pull together against the common enemy.

Love they neighbour is what we were taught, but most of us avoid each other whenever possible, rarely saying more than simply passing the time of day because we are all so busy.  A’ snow day’ brings us together, it is a leveller.  We all look the same in our gloves, hats and wellies. 

Then there’s the humour.  The typically British sense of humour that only seems to surface in a crisis, it is so refreshing.  I didn’t know that Maureen four doors down was so funny.  As the digging continues that holiday feeling rises.  We discover each other’s forgotten personalities as we gather in the lane, then someone brings out mugs of coffee and we rest for a while, watching the children delight in their transformed surroundings.   We get mutual satisfaction from pushing the first car out of the cul-de-sac and up the lane.  It feels good to help our neighbours.

As soon as the pressure of time is taken away from us we become different people, likeable, helpful, fun-loving and caring.  We find ourselves talking to and helping perfect strangers, as if we’ve known them all our lives. We communicate and relate to our fellow man as we battle with the elements together and find that helping others gives us that warm glow inside.

Few things these days bring people closer together, but a really heavy snowfall does!

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.

Instant Spring

After a long hard winter we grow restless after spending too much time indoors.  Never more so than the gardeners among us who are eager to get out there and plant our seeds, get them going, and bring them on.

These days we have become accustomed to having things happen instantly by man’s ingenious innovations.  We become impatient with the computer if it takes a few seconds longer than usual to boot up.  We expect things to work instantly.  We have instant coffee, instant lighting, instant TV and instant access to the web (well some do).  Most of the time we are working in the fast zone where we make instant decisions and instant purchases.  It can be very exciting working at full speed on an adrenalin rush.  We do get through such a lot in a day, then we collapse exhausted into a chair and stare at the TV watching others running round like headless chickens. We lose the balance.

Take a moment to think about what we miss.

Scientists have spent the last decade studying the human brain and which parts we use for coming up with creative insight. They are now able to see inside your brain using MRI scanners and witness the spark as it happens and what they have discovered is that you and every one of us can become more creative.

Most of our waking hours we use our left logical side of the brain where the brain waves are fast and furiously coming up with logical solutions to life’s problems.  However, in order to allow the right brain to begin its work we need to slow down, relax and be patient.

Nothing in nature is instant.  Everything takes its time.  The only reason we get to see snowdrops pushing through the snow is that the shoots have evolved and developed thick waxy short structures that can withstand the freezing temperatures.  Most other plants have to wait.

I know we can trick seedlings into growing in propagators early, but if we plant them outside too early before the soil has had chance to warm up, they will die.  We can’t fool nature.  She wins every time.

If we want to get the best out of ourselves and our lives then we need to make some time for it.

Why miss out on those wonderful eureka moments when sudden flashes of inspiration jump into our conscious minds, when all we need to do is relax and be patient.

Oxford English Dictionary definition

‘Patience'  – Calm endurance of hardship, provocation, pain and delay.  Tolerance, perseverance or forbearance.  The capacity for calm self-possessed waiting.

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.

 

Finding Alpha Level in Spring

I have just returned from a lovely break in the countryside.  Having had that essential connection with nature, my spirits are raised and my soul is centred again.  I feel invigorated with new ideas and a new resolve to build more relaxation into my daily routine this springtime.

It is the pace of life that we struggle with in these modern times.  Our minds race through at Beta level as we busily juggle our lives.  When we are in a relaxed state our brain waves slow down to Alpha level creating a wakeful relaxed feeling enabling us to make connections with our subconscious mind to help us find solutions to the challenges life brings.

You may find during restful sleep in the night, you wake up with an idea or a solution to a problem that has been with you for some time.  Solutions to life’s problems often come to us while we are on holiday in a relaxed state for the same reason.  When our body and our mind are fully relaxed we allow the genius within us to emerge.

Keeping busy until bedtime every day and working hard on the To Do list, ticking off the boxes and ignoring the need for relaxation, leads to our general health paying the price.  We become mentally and physically exhausted.

Choosing not to build any proper relaxation time into our busy schedules on a regular basis means we are depriving ourselves of our natural resources that lie within us.

Relaxation if as vital as exercise in helping us to keep the balance of our emotional and physical selves centred.

Many of us are not lucky enough to have the countryside on our doorstep but a simple walk round the block will give us fresh air and some precious present moments to enjoy the emerging signs of spring and clear our heads.  If walking is not an option then simply find a quiet place, close your eyes, take deep breaths and focus on each area of your body until it is completely relaxed.  Then allow your mind to relax.

Building healthy relaxation into our lives will help us to grow and flourish, as we were meant to.

There is a saying that ‘If March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb.’  For us here, it began with biting winds and snow showers, and so it bodes well then that we shall see some lambs and warmer days very soon.  It’s all in front of us!

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.

 

 

March on to Better Health

The word March comes from the Roman word ‘Martius’ named after Mars the god of war. In those times March was the first month of the calendar year when the start of the Mediterranean spring made it possible for the imperial armies to get back to fighting after the winter break.

These days we use the Gregorian calendar, also called the Western calendar and the Christian calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582.

March and the season of spring now symbolises the beginnings of new life not death.

When I was little, spring marked the beginning of our school ‘nature walks’ that I loved so much.  We would skip across the fields and Miss would point out all the swollen buds on the trees and primroses in the grass. We collected pussy willow branches with their soft silvery tufts and yellow Willow Catkins that bobbed up and down like lambs tails.  Miss would arrange them in a vase on our return to the classroom to study and draw. The magic of those little buds and flowers formed my lifelong fascination for things that grow.

Nature knows when it has its best chance of success and that’s not the beginning of January.  All through the winter the trees have been resting, the soil around the roots has been broken up by the frost and the autumn leaves have decomposed and washed back into it by the rain for nourishment. 

Early spring is a great time to ease our way into building new patterns of healthy exercise into our daily routine and getting back to nature.  Try and use the two extra hours of daylight we now have to give you that extra incentive to get outdoors.  Just walking for half an hour a day is a great way to begin exercising and being aware of the beauty that is awakening all around us in our environment as the new season emerges.

If the Romans New Year’s resolutions were made in March then why not make yours now too?

A fresh season and a fresh start, this is the perfect time.

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.