Monday Muse: Seven Inspirations for the Week

Simple Solutions, Kayaking on the Dordogne, Attitude is Key and the Buddha Code

1/ The book I’ve been reading this week:

I have found that often in life the solution is very simple. We sometimes expect things to be a lot more complicated than they actually are.

I was rereading a chapter in one of my favourite books this week. The Body Speaks The Mind by Deb Shapiro.

It’s Chapter 5, Healing Through The Mind. It starts by saying:

“The power of the mind is enormous. The same power that can undermine or weaken our health can also bring strength and healing.”

Since I became a mother over 32 years ago, a lot of my thinking and energy has gone into keeping my family healthy. I’ve learned about nutrition and natural medicine which has resulted in healthy eating for my family and using alternative remedies, if and when, they got sick.

It’s only in more recent years though, that I have learned about the power of the mind. What I discovered is that no matter how healthy I eat and how much I use natural remedies, it’s not nearly as powerful as having the right mindset and controlling the thoughts in my head.

In this Chapter Shapiro talks about the importance of Mindful Attention, “Becoming aware of ourselves as we are is the beginning of accepting ourselves.” To do this we have to pay attention, watch and listen. Becoming aware of our inner pain and accepting it.

The Chapter goes on to talk about the importance and usefulness of Breathing Therapy. How we can change our state by just breathing correctly.

Something I use a lot is Affirmations and Creative Visualisation. These along with Meditation are powerful techniques that help us to control our minds, our thoughts, instead of just letting them wander and control us.

Of everything I have learned over the years, it’s learning about the power of my mind and thus my thoughts, that has had the biggest impact on me and my life.

2/ What I’m grateful for this week:

I think this week I am just grateful for life itself. For the life I have created for myself.

If you are a regular reader you will know my story and how almost two years ago, my world as I knew it ended.

I’ve always had a very good imagination, but even I found it hard to imagine what I have now. It’s better than I imagined it would be.

And I’m so very grateful for that.

This week my family came to visit, my sister, brother-in-law and two nephews. On Saturday, along with my youngest daughter, we all went kayaking on the Dordogne River.

It’s a very dramatic and impressive river, especially when you are on it. It’s lined with chateaux and sheer rock faces. We came around a bend in the river and up on the clifftop was a beautiful chateau with turrets and ramparts, sitting there under a perfect blue sky

Kayaking on the Dordogne River in France

I looked around me at my family in their different kayaks, and I realised how lucky I was to be right there at that moment with those people. We were making beautiful memories, laughing, chatting and just enjoying the beauty of our surroundings and being with each other.

Nothing was more important to me at that moment than remembering how it felt.

It’s at times like that, when I stop and notice how rich my life is, that I am the most grateful.

I’ve accomplished a huge amount in the last couple of years, personally and professionally, but the times I’ve spent with my family and my friends seem like the biggest achievements, they bring me the most joy.

Dordogne River at Limeuil France

La Roque Gageac France

3/ My favourite quote this week:

“Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.”

Vernon Howard

At first, this may not seem like a very inspiring quote, maybe even a little negative. But just read it again, “Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.”

To me, this speaks of focus and determination. Of having definite plans and goals. And also of knowing and loving myself well enough to know what is best for me.

It could be that we need to walk away from a plan that we thought would work out, but have found that it really isn’t the way to get closer to our goal. Are we too stubborn to walk away, admit failure, and start again?

Do we stay in situations, relationships, that just pull us down instead of lifting us up?

If we can walk away from something that no longer serves us, we are walking closer to what is meant for us, and getting nearer and nearer to our goal.

If we have our goal in mind at all times, in everything we do, it becomes easier to discard along the way, what isn’t going to get us closer to it.

4/ My healthy tip of the week:

Something I’ve used ever since I was a child is Homeopathy. It was developed in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, a German doctor, and is based on the principle of like curing like.

This is the opposite of allopathic medicine which is based on the principle of curing through opposites.

Homeopathy’s idea is that the symptom is the body’s way of healing itself and that should be supported.

So using natural substances that in large doses produce the same effects as the symptoms, but in this case, given in such small doses that no ill effects are felt.

The remedies are taken in such minute doses that they work energetically to stimulate mental, emotional and physical healing.

Remedies are not just prescribed for the symptom but take into account the whole person, their body type and their personality.

I’ve always found it to be a fascinating study and very effective for a wide range of ailments from headaches, coughs and colds, bruises, nausea, so much.

If you’d like to read more I can recommend a fabulous book called The Family Guide to Homeopathy by Andrew Lockie.

5/ This is what I’ve been studying this week:

In life, whether we succeed or fail, whether we are happy or miserable, healthy or sick, rich or poor, it all comes down to one very simple thing - Our Attitude!

As Henry Ford said, 'Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.'

We don’t actually get out of life what we put in, we get out of life what we send out.

Think about that. What are you sending out? What sort of energy? Because it’s a constant flow. We send out good or bad energy and the same is reflected back to us.

It’s not magic, it just is. It’s one of the laws of the universe. The law of vibration.

We don’t become what we think about, we become what we feel. We can dream of success, whether it be materially or wanting to meet someone and fall in love, but if we don’t believe it deep down, if we aren’t in the right vibration, it will never happen.

Attitude is the key to everything we are ever going to achieve. Our attitude determines where we go in life.

Viktor Frankl said it all when he said that our ability to choose our thoughts and feelings are the last of the human freedoms. No one can take that away from us. We always have the ability to chose what we think.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

The right attitude is everything. No matter how great our skills or abilities without the correct attitude we won’t get far.

6/ This is what I’ve been listening to on repeat:

I’ve actually been listening to the whole album on my Apple Music playlist. The album is called Dreams and I’ve been using it to help me focus while I practice yoga this week. I think this is my favourite though.

7/ My favourite meditation this week:

Would you like some help and motivation to develop a regular meditation practice? Do you find yourself doing it one day and then forgetting or letting other things get in the way?

I’ve created this meditation to help with just that.

Meditation only becomes valuable when it’s done regularly as a habit and when it becomes a habit it brings a wonderful stillness and mindfulness to your days. I can say this with conviction as that is what I have done in my own life.

It was once I made it a daily practice, that I started to see the benefits.

Please make sure to use at least one of the journal prompts each time after meditation. It really does make a difference.

You are worthy of putting in this short time each day!

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What did you think of this week’s Monday Muse?! I hope you’ve found something here that is inspiring to you.

I only share what has helped me and what I find inspiring, so please let me know in the comments whether it has helped you too and which of the 7 you liked most.

See you next week!

Love Georgia xx

I love sharing with you what has helped me!

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P.S. Don’t miss Chapter 8 of my book The Synergy Game on Thursday!

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