First things first – I have had some pretty big challenges to live through this year.

And like all the other difficult, painful and, let’s face it, frankly unwanted experiences of my life, they have been a reason for further development in myself. A deepening of understanding. An increase in trust. New insights and more uncovering of those old beliefs and embedded stories that kept me trapped in ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Don’t get me wrong – I’d rather not have had to walk on the coals – but there are benefits,

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In Part 1 we explored the underlying belief needed that you are worthy of, or deserve to receive, self-care.

Then in Part 2 we looked at how to spot that our resources are running out and need replenishing, and the tricky question of how to do that; in particular, what we would like to add in to our lives.

• I wonder how you’ve been getting on with that?
• Have you used any of the ideas from the table?

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You may have already heard the often-used metaphor of the oxygen mask in the aeroplane. We are instructed to put on our own before we help anyone else, including children in our care. This is for the obvious reason that if we pass out, we are no longer of any use to anyone.

In our daily lives, if we keep on giving too much and receiving too little, this ‘passing out’ can look like many things: exhaustion, chronic ill health, migraines,

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I have been thinking a lot about self-care lately.

It’s quite a buzz-word, but what does it really mean, both in terms of practical implementation in daily life, but also in an inner sense of what you believe and feel about yourself?

Many of us are very good at looking after others, and may expend a great deal of love, energy and time in doing so, caring for children, partners, parents, other family members and friends, as well as working in caring professions such as teaching,

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I’ve been thinking about resistance quite a bit this week.

Try this little experiment with me:
Think about something in your life that’s painful. It might be physical, a thought or an emotion.
Now make a fist… keep it clenched.
Now notice what’s happened to your breathing.

Chances are you’re holding your breath and there’s probably some other tension. When we feel discomfort of any kind, we brace ourselves, we contract around it. We resist.

Make that fist again.

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We are, as a species it seems, predisposed to focus on the negative, and on what we perceive as stressful.

I suppose from an evolutionary perspective this makes sense. It’s pretty important that we pay sharp attention to whatever does us harm, and then strive to avoid such situations in the future. So staying alert to danger, and acting accordingly when it arises is a life-saving behaviour.

I like to think of this as my ‘meerkat’ – up on its hind legs,

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