A beautiful day

I'm struggling to post recipes in a major way at the moment.... i have inspiration coming at me and out of me at all angles with so many recipes ready and waiting and so many more i want to cook up, but I don't seem to be able to channel any of it into blog posts as my time gets so caught up with my coaching courses, product development for the Real Food Source and pushing Wholeplus forward.

It's getting closer and closer to Christmas and I have so many ideas I still want to explore, ideas that have been bouncing away in the back of my mind for about a year but I haven't had the confidence to materialise.

So, i'm gonna do it!!! (even if it kills me!)

Now its time to put myself out there. It doesn't matter if i'm not perfect and it doesn't matter that I won't know everything. What does matter it that I know enough to help and inspire some people... even I can open the minds of a few to explore and think outside the box then I will be a very happy girl indeed. 

So, i'm finally writing an e-book and simultaneously crafting a seminar on the same theme. The ebook will be released in January; whilst personal wellness and health motivation is at the forefront of everyones mind. It will be based on 'fit-food' a collection of simple recipes for active people, with some old and some recipes never seen before on the blog, I will also include all my tips and tricks for speeding up the processes, simple heathy subs for all recipes and words of motivation thrown in for good measure. It will also be full of photography as most of you will already have seen that's a big deal for me on my blog.

Anyway, I digress, more on all that very soon as things begin to take shape!  But back to the title of this post.....

A beautiful day.

I have now tentatively begun my practice coaching sessions as part of my courses and  as part of that practice I am working with a friend to elevate her health and wellness and ultimately her self confidence. It's all about little steps and this first week had seen her achieve the goals she set out to do. Im so proud of her.

Part of my role has been to help keep her accountable to go for a run first thing every other morning.  On Friday, i'd had a late night the night before but knew i had to set my alarm early to text her before she left the house as we'd agreed. I didn't want too let her down.

Bleary eyed, I picked up my phone upon hearing the alarm sound and spent a few moments collating my thoughts. 

"it's going to be a beautiful day"

It was a moment of epiphany for me, that fully woke me out of my semi-slumber (that's my excuse for the rubbish typo in the message!). IT WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO BE A BEAUTIFUL DAY.....THE DAY COULD BE ANYTHING I WANTED IT TO BE. IT WAS DOWN TO ME TO CHOOSE THAT IT SHOULD BE BEAUTIFUL!

Sorry i just shouted that at you, it was just such a huge revelation for me since the first few moment on waking were filled with a chaos of mind chatter... how little sleep i'd had, how much I had to do, how was I going to fit it all in, berating myself for not writing blog posts..... blah blah bah. You know the score. We all do it from time to time. 

But as soon as I typed those all important words, my world was silenced and I knew they could be true. 

If it hadn't been for my friend, and her run and my accountability then I would never have had that opportunity to be grateful for that moment. Then to see her positivity come back at me just 30 minutes later simply sealed the deal.

I hope you choose to have a beautiful day too.

P.s i promise I have some awesome recipes lined up for you next week.... please bear with me! Also if you are cool with the more 'motivation' and 'thought' related posts of late please let me know as I am conscious my blog is settling into a groove that is less focussed solely on the recipes than in months past and I'd love to know what people genuinely felt about that?

I'm going to be a Health and Personal Development Coach!!

NOTE: after writing the first few paragraphs I realised how much I was waffling before getting to the point of this intro post...jump down to 'so why coaching' if you prefer'!

I mentioned it briefly before in this post, but I am now officially a student again.... watching lectures and taking notes, writing assignments and hitting deadlines...

I would never have imagined that happening after graduation from University with a degree in Interior Design over 8 years ago. I had no plans to continue further study at that point, not least in a whole new direction!

How things change.

I never imagined a career in food, nutrition or holistic wellness. It seems a far cry from drawing boxes on a computer screen!

But the one thing that has remained throughout, the one thing that has carried through and been nurtured since childhood and the one thing I imagine will continue until the day I die..

My curiosity for creativity.

...I literally cannot stop thinking and creating, a physical manifestation of the ideas that continue to pop up my head. Whether it be through painting and drawing (i used to do both pretty well during my school years), photography (still love it), dance choreography (I am also pole fitness instructor on the side), writing and poetry (i dabble) and now...recipe development.

My drive to create and inspire others creativity will never cease. That much I do know.

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So why coaching?  

I never really asked myself that question, I kind of just grew into it and it became an obvious scenario. 

At the end of last year I went on a two day mini life coaching course with The Coaching Academy
I loved it and i felt totally in my element. I felt as though I had something to give, I learnt from the people in front of me and in the process I learnt so much about myself. I felt such a buzz in that positive atmosphere full of people wanting to grow and develop.

At the same time I had been also keeping a close eye on the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, I had their weekly emails pop up in my inbox and my curiosity grew, it sounded right up my street! But location made me stall in my decision making, the course was based in the USA and was all online with no 'people time' whereas the Life and Personal Performance Coaching course with The Coaching Acadmcy was based in the UK with 'fast track weekends' in each module that were centred on all students meeting up for practice coaching and live lectures, similar to the weekend i first went on that so inspired me.  

I was torn. Life Coaching or Health Coaching?   

In the end I came to a different conclusion. I would do both courses. Simultaneously.  

There will be overlaps, but I feel the two courses together will help set me up in the best possible way. I had already applied to the IIN when I contacted TCA and was informed I could apply for a scholarship. I applied with an essay centred around what I would give back to the community upon qualifying, and if accepted I would receive finding in return for offering pro-bono sessions to the community.

I won the scholarship!! It's going to be a busy year ahead!

So, over the coming weeks and months as both courses get well underway I will add a few notes whenever I have something of interest to say. The posts will always feature the banner at the top, so if you only hang around these parts for the recipes then that's cool as you'll know to skip the update posts with my ramblings ...but I hope some of you will stay for the ride! 

P.s I've added a tab at the top under wellness for an archive of these posts. 

A mantra...for life!

Ok so it's been a busy few days.... my Mantra for Monday didn't make it beyond my head but believe me I did have a lot of 'mantra's going on up there!

I've been making a few decisions! You know what....that's such a huge weight off my shoulders, crazy how indecisiveness can really weigh so heavy- I had no idea!

There is no going back now. Look to the future.  The future is bright.

In the last week I've enrolled with the Institute if Integrative Nutrition to study their Health Coaching course and on top of that I have been awarded a scholarship to study with The Coaching Academy (back here in London) to become a Life and Personal Performance coach.

I have had both courses at the back of my mind for at least a year but simply couldn't decide which to go for...so in the end I went for both. What made me decide?  I came to realise one morning that if I had made those decisions when i first became inspired then I would have been qualified by now....

 Life doesn't wait around you know!

I'll be back with more recipes later this week- I have a huge stock pile all photographed and ready to go so i'm eager to share them with you! For know here is today's Mantra- a day late (forgive me). It was inspired by the words of the founder of IIN, Joshua Rosenthal, who in his opening lecture talked of creating a ripple effect in the world. It was particularly fitting that I remembered some years back I had taken a photo of a stone I threw in a lake....

Lastly a little something else I wanted to share.... the Circle of Life. 

As one of the first pre-course assignments, we were encouraged to review out circle of life and map out positive areas with a dot towards the outside and areas needing more work with a closer to the centre...once joined up you can get a sense of where imbalances lie. Mmmmm...I have some work to do! The joy aspect may see low compared to how I come across on my blog, but I have big highs and lows (mostly due to overwhelm and self-doubt) and am working on building consistency and controlling my emotions and self belief. Seeing it on paper gives a much clearer sense of perspective.

What would your circle look like? 

Last note for today...sorry i waffled (just feel like i haven't taked to you properly in ages!) I will be sharing more 'holistic' 'life' and 'nutritional philosphy' kind of stuff on here over the next few months as I delve deeper into my courses. I promise there wil still be at least a couple of recipes each week.... just hope you stick round for the ride and enjoy a few more thoughts thrown in the mix.  

That ok?

As ever I love to hear your thoughts. You lot make this whole deal all the more worth while. :-)