What would it take to Put Yourself first?

All too often I see women not putting themselves or their health and wellbeing first. And the truth is I USED to be the same. Oftentimes I hear smart, intelligent, even successful women say they're too busy, too tired, don't have the time, or the money or __________________________ (insert any reason or EXCUSE you choose). Yet at the same time they strive to be all things to all people, taking perfect and devoted care of everything and everyone but themselves.
Does any of this sound familiar?
I'm here to gently remind you that you can choose to do both. But you've got to put yourself first.
That way you can be the very best you can be both for yourself, your loved ones, your businesses, work, and life, whatever. Taking amazing care of your SELF will change your life and the lives of your nearest and dearest. And you might even notice a shift from just coping, managing and surviving to Loving your life and thriving.
How does it get any better?
Love & Gratitude
Linda xx

**NEW Healing & Transformation at Access Consciousness London Community

Access Consciousness London Community meetup opens this month www.AccessConsciousnessLondon.com The intention is to offer a monthly Access Bars Shares and invite guest teachers, speakers and facilitators to bring you the very best in Access Consciousness tools and teachings. Bars is a form of energy work developed by Gary Douglas, founder of Access Consciousness. It is a gentle hands-on techinique of lightly touching the head, energizing certain points which activate stored information. There are 32 bars of energy that run through and around your head. They store the electromagnetic component of all the thoughts, ideas, attitudes, decisions and beliefs that you have ever had about anything. For example; for every thought you have ever had about money that you considered important, the energy of that thought is stored in the Bar called "money." There are Bars for healing, body, control, awareness, creativity, power, aging, sex and money, just to name a few. Each thought, idea, attitude, decision or belief that you have fixed in place solidifies the energy and limits your capacity to be generative in that area and to have something different show up in your life with ease. A Bars session releases areas where the energy is blocked and opens you up to receiving more of what you want in your life. Touch one Bar and you begin to clear away the energy locked up in that area or aspect of your life. Touch another Bar and you not only get the "issues" from the first Bar, you also begin clearing the "issues" stored in that second Bar. Also, you clear all the points of view about those two Bars in relation to each other, allowing for exponential change. Just by gently touching the Bars you can effectively erase everything you have ever stored there. Just five minutes can erase 5,000 to 10,000 years of stored points of view. What is the value of erasing this bank of data you have stored throughout this lifetime, and every lifetime?When you are functioning from preconceived points of view about what is possible or not possible in life and have a rigidly defined perspective of how the world works, you cannot be aware of anything that does not match that. Each thought, idea, attitude, decision or belief that you have fixed in place solidifies the energy and limits your capacity to change anything in that area. When you change the energy, you change how that part of your life shows up. Bars is an extremely relaxing session which can take you into deep states of stillness, and release limitations from all areas of your life. Bars sessions usually take about one hour and can be repeated as often as you wish. Connect locally with like-minded people, learn and share your experiences in a loving environment where EVERYONE is welcome.  Who should join? Join if, you'd like to find out more about Access Bars/Access Consciousness you are ready to make positive changes in any area of your life you are a holistic therapist, healer or health practitioner you are and access bars practitioner or facilitator  What else is possible?

Learn more and join this group at http://www.meetup.com/AccessConsciousnessLondon/.

STOP HIDING & GET VISIBLE! Why I Think That EVERYONE Should Get Shot!

When I went for my photo shoot last week with Grahame Green of Shot Photography, I was stepping right out of (I prefer expanding) my comfort zone by being in front of the camera in front of a stranger who also happened to be male. Grahame who had impressively done his research on me, immediately pointed out the importance of my shoot since my work involves supporting women to be confident and comfortable in their own skin. Of course!
What I learned in the process - which turned out to be a hugely enjoyable experience facilitated by a really cool guy - was that it was in the moments that I was able to simply relax and just be myself that the most powerful shots emerged.
Really difficult to put into words, but from making the decision to stop hiding and get visible, to arriving at the converted studio on a farm in the idyllic surroundings of the Kent countryside through the process of being Shot and receiving my amazing photos on CD just a couple of days later, there was something positively transformative about the whole experience. 
All the ingredients that made up my shoot and the resulting images that were captured by Grahame ultimately enabled me to really "see myself" in a way that I hadn't previously considered.
Loved the shoot, LOVE the photos, loved Grahame (watch out for his book), and I'll be recommending him to all my clients. Well worth the visit. 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shot-Photography/157414301037349
Linda
PS. I forgot to mention, one of the heavily pregnant cows on the farm just a few metres from the studio was expected to give birth that night too. How exciting!

Linda Stewart - The healthy living coach
www.accesshealing.net

 

 
 

A Cool (and Fast) Process to Help Keep You Grounded up to 98% More of the Time

I learnt this cool process that I want to share with you called "Who does this belong to?" All you have to do is ask this seemingly simple but surprisingly powerful question whenever drama, or any kind of negative emotion rears its ugly head and threatens to knock you off balance. Before you allow yourself to react or get caught up in the negativity (by being upset, annoyed, angry, anxious, guilty, panicked, afraid, sad, unhappy or _______________ (you fill in the blank), you simply ask "Who does this belong to?" Try it and watch the energy of the offending feelings quite literally disappear into thin air. 

When I heard that around 98% of our thoughts, feelings and emotions don't belong to us, I decided to get good at asking this question.

So nowadays, whenever drama comes up, I just ask myself "Who does this belong to?" And almost nine out of ten times the answer is, "not me!" lol - then all I do is simply return to sender. Easy!

Getting my buttons pressed - miraculously - seems to be a distant memory. Who'd have thought? Wowee!  

I'd love it if you tried it too and shared your results with me. 

Seriously, what else is possible?

Linda xx

Are You Ready Willing & Able to Receive?

I've recently been enjoying being completely open to receiving.

What do I mean by that? 


Well if I'm completely honest, I've been guilty in the past of not being able to accept a compliment with grace. It wasn't that I was being rude, it was simply that I didn't believe it and therefore wasn't ready to receive it. 

I can easily trace this back to events from my childhood which seriously affected my self esteem and self confidence for way too many years afterwards. Looking back, I can see that because these aspects of myself were – let’s say bruised - it meant I either didn't hear compliments or I would shrug them off and dismiss them as untrue. I couldn't help it. I was just closed to receiving.

When I first became truly aware that I was doing this I monitored my reactions whenever I received a compliment. I noticed that almost every single time someone said something nice to me or paid me a compliment, I used to swiftly change the subject in some sort of reflex reaction - quite literally in the blink of an eye. 


This would instantly negate the generous compliment and probably left the giver of the compliment completely miffed. Awkward.

It's said that awareness is the first step to change and I'm pleased to say that I've healed my chronic can't-hear-a-compliment-itis now, so I've enjoyed hearing, feeling and appreciating all the gratitude and appreciation that comes my way.

Because I'm now more schooled in the art of receiving, I've recently heard from my beautiful friends, colleagues clients and family members that I'm so grounded, a great friend, have good energy, am very kind, am a superwoman (lol is that a compliment?), am insightful, intuitive, honest, that I've lived and live an amazing and inspiring life, am good to talk to and have an infectious smile :-)...  Who me??!!!

What I came to learn was that even if you don't feel great about yourself or maybe you're just having a bad moment, you should listen to the people around you for some clues to how special you really are.
And if you're someone who always gives gives gives, you might actually be missing out on receiving.

So what if you could stop doing doing doing and giving giving giving and take some valuable time out to remember just how to receive? Start by trying out my listening-out-for-gratitude-and-appreciation experiment. Note the compliments you receive, accept them with grace (a simple smile and thank you will do). Then own and appreciate as you consider that they might actually be true.

Access Bars

Access Bars is a beautiful hands on treatment that is all about receiving and learning how to receive in all areas of your life. At worst you will feel like you just had the best massage of your life. At best your whole life can change into something greater with ease and grace. Check out sessions and events to book a Bars session with me and experience it for yourself.

Ease, joy & glory

Linda xx

What You Have to Change (or not change) to FEEL GOOD

Hello beautiful friends!

Woweee! Is it really almost the end of January already!!!

I LOVE the way 2012 is unfolding. As we approach the end of January, my reflection is that it has been an elegant, effortless, exciting, busy and fun start to the year. So many positives:

• I am motivated to do the things I want to do. 
• I've been going to the gym regularly, seeing a personal trainer & eating healthily. 
• I'm loving my counselling studies and meeting amazing new people.
• Plans for my exciting new business venture are taking shape.
• I stepped out of my comfort zone and took part in a professional photo shoot
• I've made time to meet up with old and new friends. Fun fun fun.
• I've danced, I've slept. I've listened to my body and given it what I instinctively know it needs. 
• I have packed in even more than usual with relative ease. 
• I feel energised and life feels the most balanced that it's been for a long while. 

Superwoman? lol maybe! 

Seriously, I'm not sharing this to say look at me, aren't I good but more because not so long ago I was stressed and depressed and lethargic but still kept trying to 'do it all'. Most of the time I felt like I was on a non-stop treadmill, always trying to get to my eternally elusive destination while juggling several balls all at once - and beating myself up for it. Harsh! Well not any more. 

Being-ness

So what's changed? Me! I'm really simply accepting and enjoying 'BEING' me. OK, I'm still 'doing' lots but it's all so effortless and I'm doing it from a place of being-ness. I'm practising extreme self-care, have made my important daily rituals NON-NEGOTIABLE and I'm focussing on what I want, while allowing and appreciating all the wonderful things I already have in my life. I'm no longer worrying what people will think, no longer trying to fit in places where I've no business. The pay off is that my new attitude comes accompanied with a new energy and excitement and fun. And what seems to have disappeared - I almost want to whisper it... Is fear. There just isn't any room for it any more. Woohoo!


I wonder what else is possible?


Linda xx

2012 Baby! My Personal Intentions for my 2012

New Years Resolutions are so over rated. I love the idea of setting intentions instead. So that's what I did. Here are just a few of my top intentions for 2012.
-To TRUST IN MYSELF TRUST MY INTUITION & FOLLOW MY HEART 
-To live a life of POSSIBILITY
-To LOVE MYSELF To just "BE" 
-To take EXCELLENT care of me, my body
-To practice GRATITUDE every day
-To CELEBRATE the love that I'm blessed to have in my life every day.
-To GIVE to others, to make an impact
-To work with BRILLIANT GORGEOUS TALENTED FABULOUS COURAGEOUS WOMEN
-To BE INSPIRED seek out inspiration from people, places, experiences, myself
-To TAKE CHARGE I set the rules, the pace. MY LIFE MY TERMS
-To take risks, be a risk taker. Don't play it tooooo safe!!!!!
-To STOP HIDING & GET VISIBLE
-To see life as a big adventure
-To be an action-taker, a decision-maker
-To make decisions based on love, and not fear
-To LIVE LIFE NOW! VALUE TIME
-To continue to expand, and to learn and to grow and to be an inspiration to the people in my life. 
What else is possible?
Linda xx
www.accesshealing.net
www.healthylivingcoach.net
www.twitter.com/Wellbeingexpert
Created Sunday January 1st 2012