When you are turned on by living, you radiate an inner wellness that draws positive people and situations to you. You are alive and your physical, mental and spiritual energy surges.

One way of ensuring this happens is by adding fun to your life. This can be many things for different individuals, but mainly it needs to be something out of the ordinary. Don’t wait for chores to get done, simply bring in an activity that depicts fun, and however small do it daily.

This keeps the child within nurtured and alive, and in return, we are more freed-up to focus and be inspired by the mundane tasks of our lives. Not the other way around, i.e: to do the tasks day in and day out and then leave the fun for a more suitable time.

Here are a few suggestions…

• taking time out to bask in nature
• reading a book during the day that has nothing to do with work
• playing catch, running in a field somewhere green and luscious
• taking yourself to the pictures… on your own
• taking up a creative hobby
• listening to some inspiring classical music
• joining a group dance class
• organising a coffee morning, starting up a club of some kind, making sure it’s with positive members
• skip, jump, cartwheel, bike ride, fairground rides
• dressing up

Use your own creative imagination to tap onto your sense of fun. Whatever it is, it must involve you and not be too much like hard work. It must be light and easy unless of course, you take up some form of skilled learning. As long as you ENJOY it. It must not be a chore. Let go of chores.

To Rejuvenate
If your lifestyle allows it, catnapping is one of best ways to recharge and revitalise yourself. Listen to your body and commit yourself to “finding your own rhythm”. Most of us, unfortunately, are disconnected due to the demands of modern living, and from a very young age, we have been coerced to lead and push our bodies against our own inner rhythm and timing. It is hardly surprising there is an epidemic of illnesses now.

See resting periodically in the day as a tonic to the mind, body and spirit. Resting, napping, meditating and breathing all help to regulate our equilibrium. This affects our mood levels and appetite, basically our biochemistry. If it is off kilter our bodies compensate, trying constantly to adjust to the stresses of time, and overloading so that the body eventually breaks down in some way. This can manifest itself in forms of injury, accidents, spots, eczema, fibrosis and zillions of physiological ailments. Why wait for that to happen? Take charge of your own vehicle. Take responsibility for how you feel and do something about it. Get rid of guilt, pressure from others and say a big YES to yourself. Chose healthy habits. Tip the balance to well grained positive habits.

Enhance your daily life with a positive habit. However small, see it grow… Rafah Sabbagh 2000

Believing in oneself, being the best friend that you can be to yourself, will bring happiness and inner radiance of joy. It never ceases to amaze me how a simple idea like being our own best friend, looking after our own real interests, can inspire our wellbeing.

Happiness is a choice we make and take. We have complete control. Inner stillness, looking within, removing the blocks and patterns (See CHAKRA).

Not happy about your body shape? Do something about it. Ask yourself how it feels to you. What do you do not like about it? Why?

Physical exercise, as we all know by now, is the golden key to weight loss and redefinition of our body shape. Exercise strengthens the body from the inside out. But if you cannot be motivated to do to anything positive with it then learn to love your body as it is, for what it is, because true inner wealth comes from the inside. No matter how the body is shaped, if the form inside of you feels insecure, ugly, lacking in confidence, it will show up and come through.

Quick fixes, like being under the knife, are no real solution for most people because the real problem has not been dealt with. The issue underneath it is what needs to be addressed and tackled.

Take complete responsibility for reaching a goal. For example, something I’ve heard many times… “I cook and my partner wants to eat different things to me, which means I can’t eat the healthy stuff.”

• Suggest they cook their own meals
• Suggest they eat as you do – the healthier option
• Ask yourself how much do you really want to achieve your goal, say on a scale of 1-10, 10 being very, very much
• Hire a personal cook? Why not? Bored with your repertoire? Contact me for a private revamp session
• Support each other by choosing to eat well (healthily) five days of the week and then the odd indulgent meal here and there will not make a huge difference. You must be rigid though, by keeping it down to 25-20% of your weeks’ intake. (see ).

Look for solutions and not obstacles. Ask yourself How?… by doing that you open up to solutions, enabling them to enter into your sphere. The only way forward is by finding a way through. Most of all do not give up because you can DO IT.

Be unshackled by limitations and limiting beliefs. Take positive steps to achieve the lifestyle you want. You can create it. You can do this by:

• Identifying and defining your goals. Flexibility is the key here. Say your goal was to lose two stone in two-three months and you didn’t, don’t berate yourself. See the positive side of what you have achieved and gained, and simply accept the result and move the goal post along with a little. It’s the journey that counts. What did you learn/get from the experience? How do you feel now in comparison to before?
• Take immediate action. Buy trainers, book a personal trainer, change your food supply, enrol your partner to mind the kids while you go out. Whatever it takes, ACT. However small, take appropriate steps toward your goal.
• Apply daily. Enhance your life with a change of positive habit, no matter how small. If when you first start you can only bike ride or jog for five minutes, don’t think of yourself as being useless or not fit enough to get anywhere, just accept and commit yourself to improve. Time is the essence when increasing your ability. Do not push what your body isn’t ready for as it will guide you. Trust it and build on it.
• Develop a strong mind. I will do it and I can do it!
• Be your own best friend. Show compassion, kindness and generosity, all those things you would automatically be to another. If you are not, then practice kindness to others as well. It must start with you. Only when you truly learn to live and love yourself can you do that freely for another. It takes practice. We have been taught to consider others first and not to be selfish. However, this can mean that you bulldoze your way through to get what you want. Remember compassion and consideration.
• Be good to yourself. Reward yourself, give yourself treats, pat yourself on the back and tell yourself how amazing you are every day… see your inner star shine. Watch out for people who put you down, or are negative and unsupportive. Give them up like any bad habit. As you change you will find that they will naturally fall away anyway… the law of the universe: what you radiate will radiate back.
• Listen to your body. Listen listen listen. The body is wise and can guide you to know exactly what it needs and doesn’t. If you apply only this one point, your life will shift alone. Turn up the volume for the wisdom of the body, the intuition of the spirit, and see how magical life can be.
• Keep on thriving for more. Develop your skills, make another goal and stretch yourself by doing things you love but are afraid of. Keep on growing like a flower, let yourself bloom. Life is for us to truly shine and radiate.

© Rafah Sabbagh 2003

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