Health & Wellbeing

Meditations in nature: the delights of a winter walk

After days of grey, the winter blue sky and icy air call me outside for a day’s walking. My resolution to reduce my carbon footprint means that I am staying relatively close to home, walking along field margins and along the banks of the Stour. With my binoculars and camera slung over my shoulder, I couldn’t be happier. A large flock of songbirds, including corn buntings, greenfinch, chaffinch, linnets and yellow hammers, fly along the sunlit hedgerows, tantalizingly keeping me at a distance; their winter plumage iridescent in the bright light. Nearing the river, silvery flickers in the sky alert me to a deceit of lapwings flashing dark and white against the blue as they swirl and curl to defeat the sparrowhawk that has raised them from their feeding ground. It is so pleasing to see lapwing here, as they have become

a rare sight. Strolling on, I contemplate their sad decline. Down by the waterside, there are three cormorants, regally perched on top of a brook alder with their wings outstretched like pterodactyls. I love these iconic water birds. They sit with their wings open like this in order to dry out their feathers, which are not as water repellent as most birds, thus allowing them to dive deeper for longer. At first glance, they are not the prettiest of creatures, but close up, they are exquisite, with emerald-green eyes, a white throat, and a yellow bill. Coincidentally, cormorants have one of the longest fossil records of all birds and have existed for 100 million years. They are closely related to gannets, pelicans and frigate birds. But for me, our cormorants represent both land and sea, and perhaps 01258 450019 that is why 14 East Street, they are Blandford Forum DT11 7DR the famous Liverpool

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Google Reviews looking out to the ocean and the other facing inland. Once only a coastal species, the development of fish stocked lakes and reservoirs, canals and inland waterways, coupled with a depletion of coastal fish stocks, have drawn them into our countryside. For thousands of years, fisherman in China, Japan and Europe, used cormorants to catch fish for them, then these same birds were wrongly persecuted in Britain to preserve fish stocks. Fortunately, they are now protected, as we are an important staging post for Europe’s’ wintering stock. Heading for home as the sun sets, I feel so uplifted having seen so many beautiful birds on this local winter walk.

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Health & Wellbeing

Change your life with a New Year resolution

It’s a tradition to make promises/pledges at the beginning of a New Year. We often tell ourselves and others that we are going to make changes in our lifestyle to improve our health – but in doing this most people are referring to their physical, not psychological, wellbeing. We need to realise that looking after and improving our mental health is as important as our physical health, because they are intrinsically linked and both have a huge influence on the other. Very often we try to change the external things in our life; rather than look at what’s going on internally. Unfortunately, we’ve come to believe that a ‘quick fix’ is what’s needed; when actually altering our beliefs, perceptions and things about our personalities and characters will probably be far more beneficial and rewarding. If we are honest, most of us have things we don’t like about ourselves. We might be too impatient, rigid, selfish, critical, judgemental, controlling, intolerant, jealous, prejudice or we might lack confidence, be insecure, suffer from anxiety, have a track record of unhappy relationships and/ or difficult family dynamics etc. Likewise, many people can just feel overwhelmed by the pace of life, or may feel their life has no meaning, direction or purpose. Throughout our lives we take in masses of information; whether it be from our parents, teachers, family members, friends and others we encounter or situations we’ve found ourselves in. We all have different experiences and events in life; some are pleasant; others not so. To a greater or lesser extent, most of us will have some trauma to deal with during our lifetime which can result in hurt, fear, disappointments, anger, sorrow etc - all of which can manifest themselves in a myriad of mental health problems. Some can be severe, others not so much. By ourselves it’s often difficult to know what we need to change and how to go about it; plus it’s a lot harder doing it on one’s own. For some, just talking can be a relief and dramatically reduce stress and symptoms, whereas others may need more in-depth professional support. Facing our fears and healing our emotional pain allows us to grow and can be incredibly empowering; as can identifying the things that don’t serve us well and learning new ways to cope with everyday life. To most of us, life is a precious gift. There is so much to understand and explore about ourselves and one another, that being in a rut and not developing cognitively, emotionally and behaviourally is a massive waste of an opportunity. Life is for living and to be enjoyed but usually we are the ones that make it arduous and complicated; however with a little guidance and a will to change we can reap some great rewards from our brief existence on this incredible planet. So I challenge you to make a new year’s resolution to work on your Mental Health in 2022 if you really want to live a more fulfilling and prosperous life?! Contentment, peace and love are certainly attainable, but they nearly always come from within.

David Stanton is a Senior

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Health & Wellbeing

Why do we resist change so much?

January is when we are encouraged to embrace change, create new habits and new versions of our lives. I have views on the wisdom of attempting this now but all I will say here is if you are attempting to create new ways of living through new year resolutions, make them small changes. Sustainable, absorbable, manageable changes. And quite frankly if you are still sticking with your new year’s resolutions at this stage of January, take a very big bow! We know we are creatures of habit. We like our routines and what we are familiar with which is why we often find change on any level unwelcome. Why? Our brains respond to repeated stimuli by forming a neurological pathway and each time we repeat that action, whatever it is, the pathway becomes reinforced and stronger. It becomes the pathway of least resistance to the point of becoming our unconscious response. When change comes along we have to make the superhuman effort to create a new pathway and start all over again, in unknown territory. Change takes us to the fear of the unknown and that is governed largely by our imagination. Here’s where we can help ourselves when faced with change in any part of our lives. Acknowledging the inevitable response outlined above is the first step but then consciously being more open to change, with a more positive and ‘let’s see how this goes’ attitude, a willingness to give the new way a go will immediately make the transition easier. Not worrying about what might happen, how it might be different but going into this new ‘thing’ - whatever it is, with an open mind, without expectations. Dealing with the result as it happens rather than worrying about it before it exists. Before you know it, the new will be the familiar and then, in time, it will be the reinforced pathway in our brains. As I said at the beginning, we are more likely to succeed in making a change to our lives if that change is small, absorbable and manageable. So, if you are faced with a big change – let’s say leaving home – break it down into small parts rather than one big challenge. Make each aspect of carrying out that change in your life more easily achieved. More on this next time.

Alice Johnsen is a life coach based near Sherborne. 07961 080513 alicejohnsen.co.uk