lifestyle

How to be a Fear Freedom Fighter!

~ Stephanie Powell Wellbeing ~ Leave a comment

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‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’ … right?

… If you’re brave enough, strong enough, desperate enough, then perhaps.

But what if the consequences of ‘doing it anyway’ seem so insurmountable that it’s like asking you to pop on your walking boots and climb to Everest base camp, better still the summit.
For those who say ‘it’ll be fine’ or ‘just do it’ or ‘what have you got to lose’ have never walked your path, worn your shoes or if they have, they’re using their own cognitive processes to rationalise it. 

My mantra used to be, and still is to an extent, ‘Just do it!’ – Nikes tag line. For me it was a great motivator in many aspects of my life … ‘should I’, ‘shouldn’t I’ scenarios where often categorically concluded with the ‘Just do it’ voice in my head. But that was when the agonizing was over stuff that wasn’t defined as life changing or significantly pain staking in any way.

A client of mine has just ‘felt the fear and done it anyway’. A big, fat, scary fear with significant consequences and possible far reaching effects … I’m very proud of that person. Fear represents a wide range of emotional issues. They themselves didn’t define it as fear, they saw it as an infliction on another, a compassionate curbing on consequences yet it still came down to fear. Fear of hurting another, fear of insecurity … fear of the unknown and fear of losing control. Continue reading →

How would you like your peas & pear?

~ Stephanie Powell Wellbeing ~ 2 Comments

Late last year I was diagnosed with the early symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis … for anyone this is a major blow. For me it felt greater. My whole belief system and work orientation is the mind / body connection and how mental and emotional responses affect the physical state and therefore disease. Rheumatoid is considered an ‘autoimmune’ condition – medically, your own immune system attacks your own body … self-rejection came to mind and this I could not or would not accept.

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So I asked the heavens … actually I screamed “If this is real and I am attacking my own body then fine, I’ve got some issues to deal with. BUT, if it’s not real and there’s a different theory TELL ME … SHOW ME so I can go and figure it out!!”

The next day I was shopping for a book for a friend’s birthday. I walked out of the shop without her birthday pressie and instead with a book called the ‘Medical Medium’. I’d walked in, picked it up and bought it within a minute … usually I’m a slow motion book browser!

Reading this book showed me that the context of the condition wasn’t necessarily as I’d thought or how the Medical establishment currently assume it to be – rightly or wrongly. I won’t go into the details of the book because basically if you have a chronic condition then you really should read it. This book is however beginning to change many people’s lives. There’s some revelationary info on the underlying causes of some of the most common diseases and a reinforced message on how to completely overhaul your immune system. It gave me hope that there wasn’t a line written underneath this condition which labelled a life of pain, limitation and frustration.

My Mum has suffered with a variation of this disease since she was in her early 40’s – my age. It took a long time to diagnose and I’ve seen that her once, very active life shrink around her with pain, suffering and fear. Her life became a series of medicinal concoctions with adverse side effects and a slowly fading belief that she could overcome it – she believed she would be THE medical marvel that defied this disease. She has made significant progress due to diet and lifestyle changes but sadly this disease has defined her for many years. So if she wasn’t going to be a medical marvel then I’ve decided I will!

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The roar of the primal pack …

~ Stephanie Powell Wellbeing ~ Leave a comment

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I’m currently en route to Surrey for the Easter weekend to spend some quality time with family. A time to relax and laugh. I take in some deep breaths as my shoulders drop and my mind wanders wistfully into the surrounding countryside …

Now my children are a little older and less dependant, long journeys can be a opportunity to process a mental back log of thoughts, emotions and all the associated information that comes with them.

This week has been a most challenging week, challenges which will not conclude because it’s Friday or the Easter Weekend.

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Feeling a little confused? Try 7 STEPS to Successful Meditation …

~ Stephanie Powell Wellbeing ~ Leave a comment

I’ve had some ‘head versus heart’ stuff going on recently. A conversation that I almost don’t feel quite part of yet caught in the middle of. The quiet, unassuming wisdom of my heart versus the forthright and determined tantrum of my head. Presently I feel like a back seat driver, passively mediating a conversation between the two and allowing each their full expression before I cast the final call.

My heart is the passively assertive director nudging its way into my world. I am aware that it will take no prisoners should it not be heard. My head however will scream and shout and tell the internal world that it’s ‘this way or the highway’.

At the moment I’m not sure how to mediate a resolution between the two but I do know that they each have viable requirements. I trust my heart, it’s voice, it’s wisdom and sincerity in that it always knows what right for me. My head is a little less reliable but always comes up with a good argument for the defence! It’s just that right now I’m unsure of the compromise to be made and neither want to back down.

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So I’m bringing my recently lapsed meditation practise back in to the game with a disciplined attendance. I am hoping that amongst the quiet yet assertive echoes of my heart and the dogmatic and formidable force of my head, I may just come up with a solution!

Often when I am facing a minor indecision or a need to become clear on something, I sit quiet, push the issue to one side and focus on my body. I get centred, I concentrate on my breathing and I become mindful. I stay with this for about 10 minutes. When I return to my issue, 8 times out of 10 the answer is clear.

I’ve been teaching and guiding people through the practise of meditation and deep relaxation for a few years now which prompted my development into Hypnotherapy.
One thing people often say in the beginning is ‘I don’t know where to start’, ‘It’s so hard’ or ‘I just can’t do it!’. If you’ve been busy or had a stimulating day, then you’re going to be hard pushed to sit down at the end of it and physically or mentally just ‘let go’. You’ve got to come off the boil – simmer down, collect your thoughts then centre and focus. That takes time, commitment and lots of discipline!

The greatest pitfall in establishing an effective meditation practice, especially in the early stages is not understanding or appreciating that it is a DISCIPLINE.

Discipline as defined by the Oxford dictionary – ‘training that produces orderliness, obedience, self control …’

That just about sums it up!

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Do I need a prescription with that? (the wine lovers guide to moderation)

~ Stephanie Powell Wellbeing ~ Leave a comment

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As I pack up my bags at the office, a quick look at my watch tells me its late; it’s been a long day but it’s been a good day  …

Lovely sessions with great clients, positive results and amazing progress.

I take a minute to reflect on how much satisfaction I get from the work I do.

I’m feeling good and I also realise I’m cream crackered!

My mind wanders to dinner and I throw around the options of the fridge contents into possible scenarios of speed, satiation and what needs using up. I then remember it’s taken care of this evening by hubby … good stuff. My contribution – wine.

It’s a couple of weeks into January and although I don’t do the ‘drink detox’ just hours into the New Year, I have the intention of reducing my quaffing quite considerably. In a house with both adults thoroughly enjoying the red stuff … and white for that matter, it can be quite a challenge to get both of us in the right frame of mind on exactly the same day.

It usually ends up with me instructing “no wine for me this week!”. By Wednesday hubby is throwing the idea of a bottle of fizz into the ‘will she, won’t she’ scenario and testing my resolve!

Generally, it breaks on Thursdays which is a day I work long and late hours. By then hubby is over his midweek hump and isn’t so bothered. It’s a pattern that’s been going on for some years now.

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Are you wearing the right shoes …?

~ Stephanie Powell Wellbeing ~ Leave a comment

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I’m sharing this with you today because it feels so relevant …

… and the video at the end is a beautiful and stark depiction of how so many of us feel in our lives right now … pressured!

We feel pressure to be remarkable, to do everything, to give our all, to have it all … yet also to be strong and capable and knowing.

No longer does it feel OK to just ‘be’ in this world. There are ambitions, goals, comparisons, and objectives … Home, work, family, relationships – a right and a wrong way to have them. Measured by so many that know so little.

If we are not achieving we are relinquishing – relinquishing our responsibilites, capabilities, gifts, strengths and desires. We feel that we are opting out and not grasping at the elixir of life if we dare to step away from the threshold of what modern society offers.

Society however appears to have become a dictatorship – clinical in its mood and sterile its tone; we as a culture have become responsive to its call.

Life has become more competitive as we each feel a need to justify our seat in the arena of achievement. Yet the juxta pose of this becomes ‘Who am I to …’, a prefix of so much of our daily thinking … ‘go part time, follow my dreams, leave this relationship, change my career, tell my children ‘NO’ … wear that dress’ … etc etc.

Who are we to sit back and just be content in all that today has to offer?

Yet today offers us pressure. If we can project forward to the ‘What if’s’ or even backwards in time, we allow oursleves an alternate reality, one that isn’t here and that isn’t now. We can create a scene or situation that’s more appealing, beautiful and fulfilling … a place without stress or pressure. A place to wish, hope, believe and dream …

Generally speaking, we are not content in what today is offering or tomorrow or next week either. Why? Because we are living as society dictates, in a ‘one shoe fits all’ life that doesn’t represent us as individuals or our own unique abilities. I feel modern, state education is beginning to reflect this now more than ever. It proves very difficult to follow your own tributary to the source of all happiness!

So what is the Source of all happiness?

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