How to work on self-worth and find self-value, after life has knocked you down.

This post encouraging you to keep working at your self-worth, is inspired by a photo I chose to post on Instagram for ‘International Women’s Day’ – a photo including the suggestion of me wearing a crown on my head, just like the statue next to me. (You’ll know from my instagram @helens_journey that posing with statues all over the world is just one of my things! lol) I chose this photo simply because the notion of wearing a crown reminded me of my worth and it has been such an important part of my healing journey and personal growth these past few years. So I wanted to do a post to remind everyone about their own crown and an encouragement to straighten it and strengthen it! I hope it is as much as an encouragement to you, as it has been for me…

We forget that we are amazing, even if we aren’t always treated like we are. We nurture, and care but we also command. We ooze kindness, love, support and guidance. We give all we have in effort, sweat, tears and blood. We endure and we survive. We get bruised, broken and scarred. Yet our war wounds can become our reminders of all we survived and give us a source of strength to continue forward. So never forget you deserve to wear that crown, you are worthy of its placement on your head! So this encouragement is for all.

An encouragement for self-worth, to remind you to straighten and strengthen your crown, after life and others have knocked it off!

Advertisement

Never underestimate the strength of a single light in a dark place! Day 5 of my 12 Days of Christmas Life Reflections

Today mark’s 5 days until Christmas, so time for Day 5 of my 12 days of Christmas short Life Reflection posts. Each daily post is inspired by a Christmas photograph I have taken myself.

Today’s post was triggered by one of my Christmas photographs of an alternative type of Christmas Tree, a sculpted tree made out of gold wire swirls with a star on the top and Christmas lights wrapped around it. To some, it may not look special, but to me, it is super special as it was my Nan’s ornament and this Christmas will be the first without her here.

However, the thing that inspired me the most about this specific photo was how much the little lights show up in the darkness and also just how pretty they look. It was a reminder to me that no matter how dark a situation seems, a single flicker of light can bring the brightness you need, to stir up a fresh perspective and a reminder of hope.

“Self Care Isn’t Selfish!” Understanding the importance of looking after ourselves, as we celebrate ‘Self Care Week’

Did you know that this week 18th – 24th November is ‘Self Care Week’ here in the UK?

“Self Care Week is an annual national awareness week that focuses on embedding support for self care across communities, families and generations.”

Quote from ‘Self Care Week’ official website www.selfcareforum.org

Self love is not selfish – you can look after others better, when you remember to look after yourself too!

Some people view self love as selfish. To me that is just fake guilt that other people or the world want to put on you. If you aren’t happy or looked after, then it is harder for you to look after others to your full ability and bring the happiness you are missing into your daily life with others. I love the saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup” as it brings this message home that you have to look after yourself to be able to best look after others.

JULY MOTIVATION & ENCOURAGEMENT to make the second half of the year ahead, even better than the first half!

And just like that, June is over and July is once again here, marking the beginning of the second half of the year! This post is one full of motivation, encouragement and inspiration to make this second half of the year ahead, even better than the first half of the year that’s past…

• 

The Importance of making Peace with the Past…

Spring: How to enjoy a season of renewed hope, new possibilities and a fresh perspective

So here we are, it is officially Springtime. Although Spring doesn’t start until March, I had been noticing little signs of Spring throughout the last part of February with more sunshine, fresh shoots springing up from the ground and buds appearing on plants and trees.

• 

Just look at the photo above, there is such a stark juxtaposition between Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. We have the hard, cold, solid soil – representing the harsh cold winter we have just got through. Then we see the flowers that were still able to grow and push through this soil with perseverance and determination to push upwards towards the light.

We are those daffodil bulbs that were buried in the cold, harsh winter months – maybe hibernating in the warm or suffering from the Winter blues. Yet, seeing those fresh daffodil shoots appear from empty looking soil, is a reminder that no matter how hard life has got, there is always a renewal of hope for better.

A dose of Love, Advice and Perspective for Singles on Valentine’s Day!

February: a month for LOVE not only Valentine’s Day romantic love for couples only, but other types of love for singles too!

– Helen’s Journey Blog

February can be a tough month if you are single, simply because Valentine’s Day seems to make everything around us this month seem to be about love, romance and relationships.

However, this post is to reassure singles that February can be a month of love for us too! Learn about the four Greek words for the different types of love we can have in life, as well as me sharing my strategies and advice for being single. Let this post change your perspective from lonely, to loved!

The dangers of Tunnel Vision and how to break down the walls to widen your perspective in life, to see solutions not just the problem!

Sometimes in life when we feel overwhelmed by it all, we can have tunnel vision because the thing that is overwhelming us, is all we can think about & see ahead… 🚇 However, if we learnt how to look outside the tunnel, then we could see the bigger picture!

How to change your perspective in life!

Don’t get stuck with ‘Tunnel Vision’ in life which restricts your perspective to only seeing the problem and not the solutions!

Just like in the photo I snapped used for this post’s images below; by not having tunnel vision, we also get to see the bigger picture surrounding the tunnel not just the limited views from inside the tunnel.

Survival Tips for when life feels overwhelming!

Life at times can seem to be in a whirlwind with so many things happening all at once. When life is like this it is no wonder we can feel swept off our feet and spinning like we are in the tornado with Dorothy and Toto in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. However, my following survival guide for getting through these times of severe weather suggests: to take the journey step by step, get things done bit by bit and get through what is ahead day by day!

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. “

Bible Verse: Matthew 6: verse 34 (NIV NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION)

WHY IS WELLBEING SO VITAL TO OUR HEALTH & HAPPINESS? How being a Wellbeing niche blogger is inspiring & my top Wellbeing posts of encouragement!

Why is our ‘Wellbeing’ so vital to our health and happiness?

WELLBEING definition:

The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.

synonyms:

welfare, health, good health, happiness, comfort, security, safety, protection, prosperity, profit, good, success, fortune, good fortune, advantage, interest,  ponderousness, successfulness

“CHRISTMAS CHEER” A Christmas Acrostic Poem encapsulating the Christmas Season.

Encapsulating the beauty of the Christmas Season and all its traditions in a poem

Happy Christmas to all my readers!

I decided to write a poem to encapsulate the beautiful atmosphere of Christmas time and all the things that work together to make it a special time of year. So, I chose the word ‘CHRISTMAS CHEER’ to use in an acrostic poem – enjoy…

The Power of THANKFULNESS! Top Tips for logging GRATITUDE, to bring more happiness & inner peace into your life, through the joy of gratefulness! (Including a FREE Printable: WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY!)

The Power of THANKFULNESS & Top Tips for logging GRATITUDE.

Including a WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY free printable, as my gratitude gift for my readers!

Here we are again, it’s that time of year full of events that make everyone stop in their tracks and actually think about what they are thankful for. Nearly everyone enjoys Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day & New Year’s Eve and not just for the food and festivities! Whether you know it or not, it’s also because of the high that thankfulness and acknowledging gratitude, can bring during this time of year too.

Let’s discover more about this together and then at the end of the blog, I will give you tips and tricks on how you can incorporate the ‘power of thankfulness‘ into your everyday life not just on specific days like Thanksgiving and Christmas Time. I will also give each reader A FREE PRINTABLE ‘WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY’ SHEETas my gratitude gift just for you!! 😉

Life Lessons that the Season of Autumn/Fall can bring for us all and how to stay positive through seasonal changes.

Life lessons the season of Autumn / Fall can bring to all… and how to stay positive through seasonal changes.

Like most things in life, how we experience the change of season and weather, is down to our personal perspective. This post is all about purposely choosing a positive perspective as we transition into a new season…

Believe me, as someone with a chronic illness that is worsened in the colder weather I know oh too well the amount of dread the colder weather months can be met with and the effect of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) depression that seasonally comes in the dark Autumn and Winter months.

However, learning to see the beautiful life lessons of the season helped me to embrace the change instead of dreading it – as it can’t be changed through dread or worry, so instead might as well be enjoyed for its positives even though it brings along negatives too. ‘Balance’ and ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ come to mind.

“What possible lessons could the Autumn / Fall give me?” I hear you ask. Let me explain…

A quote to help with difficult life changes

This post is for the ‘3 Day Quote Challenge’ This is Day 2 of sharing a quote to live by and the reasons why I chose it.

So just what is the ‘3 Day Quote Challenge’? I hear you ask… well it’s when each day you choose a quote to share and explain your reasons for choosing it – I’m always up for fun with words! 😉

So here is my quote for Day 2 and why I chose it…

Facing Your Giants! Encouragement for how to be as confident & as bold as David, in defeating your life’s Goliath.

Everyone has giants to face at different times in life, some bigger than others. However, this blog post will reassure you that no matter the size of the giant, they all give you the chance to prove to yourself, just how strong you really are!

“TIME, REST, BREATH” The important need to simply stop, rest, just be & breath!

“TIME, REST, BREATH”

A slogan to remind us esp when we are stressed out or having a manic time, that we also need to take time to stop, de-stress and calm our minds and bodies down!

Sometimes your body gives you NO choice in just stopping and needing to rest or just be still.

I learnt this the hard way in my early 20’s when I got ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ & later on the debilitating health condition ‘Fibromyalgia’ (read all about my story of getting ill by clicking HERE to open a new tab blog post all about it).

For others it’s when they are pregnant, ill, fatigued, recovering from an operation or medical treatment etc – that they discover the concept of having no choice but to listen to their body and STOP! Along with that, is the discovery of the need for resting and the importance of just being still to aid recovery.

Give yourself time to just be and not do!

“You are…” a SELF-LOVE AFFIRMATION to remind us how AMAZING we are & encouragement for speaking positively about ourselves.

“You are…” AFFIRMATION:

“NOTE TO SELF, Remember that you are AMAZING, PERFECT, EXCEPTIONAL. BRILLIANT, MAGNIFICENT, AWESOME and MAGICAL… Just by being who you are!” 

The importance of how we speak to ourselves and how we speak about ourselves:

Children show us how powerful words spoken over them are, eg: Self Fulfilling Prophecy and Self-Defeating Prophecy. Both being true in adulthood also.

“In other words, a positive or negative prophecy, strongly held belief, or delusion—declared as truth when it is actually false—may sufficiently influence people so that their reactions ultimately fulfil the once-false prophecy.” (Quote from Wikipedia explaining Self Fulfilling Prophecy – click here for more information)

If you tell yourself over and over that you are useless, incapable, unlovable etc enough times – then eventually you will believe it & that is how you constantly see yourself.

HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK when life makes you HARD ON YOURSELF! A free printable Affirmation, to encourage Self-Love, Forgiveness & Letting Go.

This post also includes a free printable affirmation, to encourage self-love, forgiveness & letting go…

How negativity affects your health and mental health:

Being too hard on ourselves has damaging effects, not only on our mental health but also our physical health too. It is scientifically proven that negative thinking and negative thoughts worsen a person’s health, lowers immunity and affects the brain’s function. Chronic stress, worry and negative emotions can unbalance our hormones and the brain needs a certain level of specific hormones to create the feeling of ‘happiness’.

That is why ‘self-love’ or ‘being kind to yourself’ is sooooooooo important in life, esp when you are already in ill-health or struggle mentally with issues of self or low mood.

Remembering the REASON for the SEASON! A short Christmas Day Reflection to remember the life lessons the nativity story can bring to all.

This post is a Christmas Day reflection, to remember the life lessons that the nativity story can bring to all, believers as well as non-believers.

The big day is finally here; CHRISTMAS DAY! The photo I took that inspired today’s post is one inside my childhood Church St Boniface. As you can see, I perfectly positioned the camera to get the altar and the cross wall hanging in the photo, along with the Christmas Tree. For me, it is the perfect reminder of the reason we even celebrate Christmas! Although not the official date of Jesus’ birth (Yeshua (ישוע) in original Hebrew text) and also pagan origins of using evergreen fir trees that aren’t linked to this – it is what Christmas Time and the symbol of a Christmas Tree has meant for the generations of people alive today.

“Keep OLD Traditions but don’t forget to make NEW ones!” A Christmas Time Reflection and a Life Lesson for every day of the year.

Welcome to another of my ‘Christmas Reflections’, inspired by my own Christmas Photographs.

The countdown is on until we wake up on Christmas Morning. Yes only days of preparation to go! This excitement is a lift for some who sail high on the Christmas Spirit, yet a drag for others who have so much to do they wish it was two weeks left before the big day not two days!

However it makes you feel, I invite you to join me each day this Christmas season, as I share daily Christmas Reflections and of course one of my accompanying Christmas Photos that helped inspire the reflections! (I just love taking photos & sharing pictures.)

Today’s image brings the Christmas reflection of keeping old traditions but not forgetting to make new ones! As it shows my old angel and my new one.

Now we all have our own Christmas Traditions when the Christmas season is here once again. Whether it’s the decorations, what’s on the dinner menu, or whose job it is to wake the grandparents up from their naps as we are impatiently waiting for them to wake up so we can open up our presents 😉

“Remember the small stuff” CHRISTMAS TIME REFLECTION and a LIFE LESSON for every day of the year!

So today’s countdown is 6 days until we wave in Christmas Day. For some, half of the fun is counting down the days. Then in contrast, others may find counting down the days really isn’t a fun activity as it brings on anxiety or stress. However it makes you feel, I invite you to join me each of the 12 days till Christmas, as I share daily Christmas Reflections to bring some life perspective – and of course an accompanying Christmas image! (I just love taking photos & sharing pictures so it’s only right each post is inspired by own own photos.)

Today’s chosen image is of a giant Ferrero Rocher I saw when Christmas shopping, although I’m not sure the photo does it justice? It really was super sized! But the question it raises for this post is “IS BIGGER ALWAYS BETTER?”