This has been one I've been thinking over for a while. The recent 'selfies' for cancer research has prompted much thinking - much of it, here at my little HQ anyway, around prevention. Unless we're off to get full body scans on an annual basis (which isn't without risks itself), many of us could develop all sorts of things we are unaware of. My sister's brother in law discovered he had pancreatic cancer and 19 days later moved on to whatever comes after our time in this body. Or doesn't. But that's not the point here. What I'm trying to say is there's not always time to use these amazing cures that are being developed. And, yes, I do believe, with a friend who is an oncology professor, that some great things are being worked on.

But what if instead we took ourselves to a point where we were unlikely to need them. Where the 'cancer epidemic' that's predicted to explode into our lives just didn't. What if you could discover things to avoid the predicted statistics for yourself or your loved ones?

So I really, really am not saying not to donate. Donate to whatever you want to donate to. Whatever you believe in. I donate around 5 hours a month to actively supporting people going through their cancer journeys at the moment. And probably will donate 10 inches of my hair in the next few months to a charity which provides wigs for children going through chemo.  The system is there, it's doing what it does, but why not look up and outside it too? Research, read, discover, enquire. Because if we keep doing what we always have done, the chances are we'll end up where we always have. And at the moment with our current state of global western health, that's not all that appealing.

I'm not using this as any kind of platform, I don't think I'm above anyone else, not using it as any kind of vehicle for anything. Just a girl sharing some thoughts on some things. That's it.

But if you'd like to look at a different outlook, have a read of The China Study, Forks over Knives, Neal Bernard's work along with The Rainbow Diet, the Gerson's books, look into clearing toxic substances out of your life (I did type love there instead of life which I guess is relevant too). And do it from a place of love. So much of big pharma operates from a place of fear. I'm not saying it's not hard to watch people go through illness but let's shift the focus from fear to love a little. Love ourselves and take care of ourselves because we are made from love. Work with love at whatever we do. Life changes around us when we are able to whole heartedly be present.

And just to finish... from my facebook 'selfie' a few other tips from practitioners were forthcoming:

Homeopath Mary Aspinwall says 'I drink a 1/2 pint plus of organic home made green juice daily ... I go for a daily half hour silent walk meditating as I go. I do www.thework.com worksheets on my stressful thoughts. Over to Sarah Johnston-Knight for her tips'... Homeopath and Bowen practitioner Sarah Johnston-Knight says 'Clean up your body, head and heart...Juices of all colours here; carrot, apple and ginger still being one of my favourite. .... Byron Katie's questions are never far from my mind when I hit a glitch in my thoughts which cause me any distress. EFT to bring me back to ground instantly. A good Homeopath....and regular Bowen.'

Wishing you good health, with love x

And yet not really sure why. I've had a strange week of people not coming at the arranged time, coming late or rearranging appointments and all sorts of shenanigans that don't usually go on. 

Maybe it's retrograde Mercury doing it's mischief. Who knows. And yet I feel incredibly blessed, lucky and so filled with love for the world my little heart could burst.  Maybe that's the gift from The Gentle Art of Blessing. Again who knows.

The moving of appointments and freeing of time has allowed for reading, sewing, clearing and running. All of which have felt like absolute gifts and I feel very happy to have been allowed room for them all after what's been two really busy weeks.

Today it really hit me just how much I love my work (to be honest I do feel that a lot but today was maybe the most recent time. Well tonight I guess but that's just splitting hairs now)... and I do. I really do.

I loved the talk I gave tonight. I love that people are approaching me to give talks to groups more and more. I love that I'm meeting some fantastic people, making wonderful contacts and spreading the word about homeopathy and healthy eating further out into the world.

I loved seeing the clients I've seen this week and am looking forward to seeing more over the next 3 days.

Well, I think that's all I wanted to say. Thanks for listening.

With love x

Of course, I'm not saying that I'm not ;) But I've been pondering the freedom that might come with not needing to be right on everything. Or even anything. Maybe we should eat meat comes to mind. I'm not sure there's an argument that could persuade me of that anymore. But maybe, just maybe I'm not right. There is a certain liberation with not needing to fight, to resist or to defend. I believe Byron Katie says that the first act of war is defence. And I can see the point now, finally.

I can choose my path but don't have to choose anyone else's for them. And if I did choose theirs then surely that would be my path they'd be walking. They can choose to join me, or not. And I can choose to be free in that knowledge. To be as honest and true to myself as I can be.  I guess I feel the need to point out that I'm not saying I'm disinterested in speaking my truth. I feel more and more convinced that there is no other way. But to shout it and drown out other's opinions? They can be right too, for them.  And whilst their path may not be for me, mine may well not be for them.

To question, be curious and look at the world through fresh, new eyes feels good to me. And to walk my path with integrity and love. For people, the animals and the planet.

With love x

Within a relatively short space of time, two posts had come to my attention highlighting the naked body.  One, a beautiful collection of images of yoga poses, done completely naked, and the other, a blog offering 5 reasons to get naked everyday.

For me, the most beautiful sentence in the blog, or at least the most thought provoking was:
'When was the last time you looked at your body in all its naked glory? I mean really looked at it. No squeaming at chubby thighs or grimacing at lanky arms. Just looking at, understanding, and accepting your body in all its perfectly imperfect brilliance'

How many of us think 'I'd like my body if...' I'm definitely not immune to it, although aspire often enough to elevating myself beyond this place. Elevating may be the wrong word - total acceptance of my body in all it's perfect imperfection is, I suppose what I'd like to aim for. And I have no doubt I'll get there. It's been a lifetime's work so far, and from a place of fairly intense food restriction to gain control in an uncontrollable part of my life story nearly 20 years ago, I've come a long way.

What saddens me though is how young this judgement starts. I hear my 7 year old tell me that 'friends' have told her she's fat and ugly. She's neither, but that's not really the issue here. What are we thinking that these gorgeous beings are calling each other these names? And, more importantly, how do we strengthen their inner knowledge that they too are, imperfectly perfect. People will, at various points, or at least may, knock our confidence in ourselves, in our bodies, in our beliefs. I just wasn't aware that the training starts so young.

For me, mindfulness comes in, self confidence in ourselves, taking time to get to know our bodies, accepting and giving thanks for the beauty that is within and without.  Not to be ashamed of our own bodies in front of our daughters and sons and to work on our own stuff with the hope of releasing them from a similar place.  I feel lucky I grew up in a house where we could all wander around in with nothing on (not that we often did - it wasn't quite that sort of house...) but there was no judgement - and still I fell into a self loathing trap of telling myself I was fat daily so I would have the resolve to restrict my food (and probably covered up more so no one was aware of my journey at that point).  Beating myself up to get results didn't lead to happiness - although I suppose it did lead to an unhealthy level of weight loss at the time. And so now I see the BBC news around obesity suggesting that they use terrorising tactics and light stigma to assist in our obesity crisis.

I don't doubt the crisis - I would call it a health crisis, an overabundance of processed food crisis, and probably a shocking lack of foresight in people who are in government handing out watered down information in the hope that people could achieve it instead of trusting our intelligence and giving real, true information crisis.

Damn I've done it again. My blog was about the beauty of the naked body and it's becoming a food rant. But hear me out, there's a point to it all. If we eat well, we feel well. If we feel good about ourselves we are inspired to eat well and look after ourselves. Making people feel bad - whether it be in the playground, in the workplace, in the consultation space or even just sat at home watching an advert doling out some 'light stigma' tactics is unlikely to lead to an enhanced sense of wellbeing and ambition to give our bodies life enhancing foods.

Let's learn to love. Ourselves, others, our bodies. Our glorious naked bodies which do so much for us and get so little thanks.  Today I stood in front of a mirror and thanked mine for being what it is. Doing what it does and helping me everyday.

So let's go naked now and again. Even if that's only naked, unprocessed food to start with. Imagine funding for subsidised fruits and vegetables (or even just buying more ourselves) and a campaign on TV for juicing, upping fruits and veggies, starting every meal with a large salad, increasing the greens, learning to love greens.  And ourselves. Loving us for being imperfectly perfect. Just the way we are.