Thinking of making changes? To help with motivation try to picture your life in 6 months, 1 year...even 5 years time. Time passes anyway... Thank you, Daniel G Amen, MD.

Just be. Just be you. Just be you with your talents, gifts and flaws - like us all.

Are you feeling brave? Looking at counselling websites could be seen as brave...as a start...for wanting change. That doesn't seem comfortable or easy to me, hence being brave. Dipping your toe into the world of therapy can be life changing - exciting, revealing, sometimes painful, honest. A way forward...

“Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson It’s so important to empty our minds before we go to sleep - to release all our thoughts, plans, worries and concerns so that we can have a deep and restorative sleep. This guided meditation is meant to help you achieve just that. Whether you are prone to insomnia, sleep problems or not, this restful guided meditation will help you experience the beauty and wonder of the sea as you drift off, so that you can have a peaceful, relaxing and refreshing sleep.

An absolutely fascinating clip of two monkeys being rewarded with either cucumber or grapes. What happens when cucumber monkey sees s/he is not getting the same as grape monkey? After spending much of my life working with children and hearing the refrain "it's not fair!" this certainly resonates and has got me thinking about how us adults accept inequality...or do we challenge it and how?

Ever wondered why it is so hard to break an addiction? Having just recently attended a fascinating training event on Sex Addiction run by Paula Hall, I was very impressed with her explanation of how our brains work aka the neuroscience of addiction. February may be the time people think of romance but I thought I'd share her mind map for sex and porn addiction particularly now opportunity can be regarded as a key factor in addiction. I also think the road to Brighton metaphor works well for other addictions too.

A fabulous GIF for you, created by BreatheAware and featured on the wonderful Blurt Foundation's website. I find these really help to steady breathing when feeling anxious. It gives us something positive to focus on too when our thoughts are hurting us.

Watch this beautiful scene from Luc Besson's Angel-A. How does it make you feel? What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you concentrate on your faults or the kindness in your eyes? What would your Angel say to you? Pull your shoulders back, raise your chin and smile. Is that different to how you normally stand? Be proud. You've made it this far.

Sadly the celebrated poet, playwright, professor, memoirist, historian, director, screenwriter, activist and actress, Maya Angelou, died last Wednesday May 28 aged 86. Although particularly well-known for her poetry and memoir books, her fifty year plus career in a number of creative disciplines explains her wide influence today. Born Marguerite Johnson in 1928 in St. Louis, an unsettled childhood moved her between Missouri, Arkansas and eventually to San Francisco. Here during the 1950s as a dancer, singer and actress she changed her name to Maya Angelou. Her life up to age 17 is described in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" her first book from 1969. By the time she wrote "I Know Why" she had already led a full life that included having met and been friends with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, James Baldwin and Billie Holiday. Among her achievements and countless awards, she was also Bill Clinton's inaugural poet in 1993 - the first poet to recite at a presidential inauguration since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's in 1961. She was indeed a phenomenal woman. She may no longer be with us in body but her words, wisdom and inspiration will stay. How blessed are we to have such people in our lives?

After an extremely stressful week and a particularly horrible day I need to self soothe. My mind is racing and I'm struggling to quieten it so I'm going to focus on some art... I love the way mandalas seem to grow out of the page - from the seed. The music here is especially peaceful. I intend to let my mind wander and create what it feels like doing:-)

Time to Change is doing so much to reduce the stigma of mental illness. Even that term 'illness' jars with me. Sometimes it is our body’s reaction or defence mechanism to life events, what the wonderful Irvin Yalom calls 'life's givens' that causes us to shut down or self soothe in a potentially harmful way. Whatever, it is time to talk. Get the support you need and remember that most people will experience some form of mental health problem during their lifetime. Fight that stigma! 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem each year. (Mental Health Statistics, 2001)

I read this one dreary morning when it was a little difficult to be positive. Ahhh, we all make an impact on the world around us so make it a kind one.