#BookReview Moon Wisdom by Heather Roan Robbins #Astrology

#BookReview Moon Wisdom by Heather Roan Robbins

Author: Heather Roan Robbins
Category: Mind, Body, Spirit/Astrology

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Review:

For the past couple of years, I have convinced myself that my emotions and overall mood has been linked to the moon cycle. After being diagnosed with severe depression last year I monitor my state of mind on a regular basis and try not to overwhelm myself with too many activities. I noticed that there were certain times of the month when I felt much lower than other times.

I decided to investigate this further and found Heather Roan Robbins’ book, Moon Wisdom, about transforming your life using the moon’s signs and cycles.

Heather explains how the moon sets the tone of the day and that it changes signs every two and a third days. By knowing where the moon is on any given day, you get a snapshot of the mood and general attitude for any particular day.

Interview with Peter Jones, author of How To Do Everything And Be Happy.

Last week I spoke about using self-help tools to heal yourself, and in particular the use of motivational and inspirational books.

On occasion you will come across a book that has the potential to change your life.  I have a shelf full of self-help books, but there are the odd one or two that I recommend to everyone I know.  Why?  Because these books changed me at my core and made me think about how I live and what I can do to improve my environment/life/career.

Today I am joined by Peter Jones, author of How To Do Everything And Be Happy - one of the outstanding books that changed my life.

5 Days of Mayhem

Have you ever had one of those weeks where all your best laid plans get thrown out of the window due to something out of your control?  Welcome to my week!

I am an uber organised individual, I live by the mantra 'if it isn't in the diary, it doesn't happen'.  Then one week comes along that throws life into a spin that would put any tornado to shame, however, if I've learnt anything from this week, it's to go with the flow!

Day 1

Great start to the week as I took part in twitter's #indiebooksbeseen promotion.  All indie authors were given the opportunity to post a photograph of themselves holding a poster of their book/s (or a copy of their book). 

The promotion was very well attended and retweets were phenomenal.  It was so lovely to see such a great variety of indie authors taking part and it was a perfect opportunity to connect with such a supportive community.

Read it? Loved it? Then Review It!

The support and feedback I've received this week for the release of my new book How I Changed My Life in a Year has been sensational.  My twitter feed, Facebook page and email account have been inundated with positive comments.

As I basked in my five minutes of fame, I thanked everyone for taking the time to get in touch and let me know how much they enjoyed it, I then asked if they had posted their comments on Amazon.

I was met with a host of glazed expressions, 'what do you mean by post a comment on Amazon?'

Reviews are an authors life line.  We crave the golden stars and words of encouragement as much as a child craves ice-cream.  I was surprised at how many of the people I spoke to didn't know about the importance of reviews.

If you buy a new camera or other expensive piece of equipment, invariably you will log on to 'Which' to find out what other purchasers thought of the product and then you can make your informed choice - books are just the same.

From Tiny Acorns...

It's been an exciting time for me recently as my new book, 'How I Changed My Life in a Year' is now out as an e-book and paperback.

 

 

How To Stay Motivated

With the recent launch of my latest book and the success of my Motivate Me Workshops for Women, I have been asked the same question over the past couple of weeks, 'How do you fit it all it?'

The honest answer is, 'It just happens!'

I have always been able to multi-task, I think this is the Gemini side of my personality, and having multiple projects on the go keeps my mind active and (hopefully) keeps me young!  This question did make me think hard about how I manage to motivate myself, and I wanted to share my findings in the hope it may help you to stay motivated.

First of all I revisited my story on the Female Entrepreneur Association website.  This was an interview about how I motivated myself to start my own business, 'Body & Soul Holistics'.  I was so proud of this feature and received some amazing feedback.  You can read that interview here.

My Writing Process - Blog Tour

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week I received an invitation from the very talented Jane Wilby-Palmer, to take part in the My Writing Process Blog Tour.  You can check out Jane's blog post here.
After Jane's glowing introduction at the end of her post I have to say, I was feeling the pressure!  Looking back along the tour route I found an army of multi-talented authors and I was about to add myself to this very exclusive list *gulp*. 

So I decided to pull up my big girl pants and get stuck in...enjoy!

Q.  What am I working on?

Blimey, where do I begin?  I have multiple projects on the go and in true Gemini style, I flit between them depending on my mood and the moon cycle (!!)  I can jump between a non-fiction book about meditation to a YA fantasy, this can cause all kinds of problems when I end up with a demon or two in my meditation books.

Feel That Fear - Then Step Forward

How many opportunities have you passed up because you were too fearful to try?  I've done this more times than I care to remember and in a way, writing my blog became my unique way of feeling that fear and then taking the next step.

freedigitalphotos.net

I committed to journaling my story as I took on fifty-two challenges last year and knowing I had an audience who would laugh and cry along with me, made facing those fears less overwhelming.

One of my favourite self-help authors, Peter Jones, put fear in to perspective for me very neatly in his book 'How to do Everything and Be Happy.'  He said that if we have those funny, tummy turning feelings then it means something in our life is about to change - it's your choice if you want to step forward and accept that change.  This was all I needed to hear to understand that I was reasonably normal and it was okay to 'feel the fear.'  After reading his book, I began to take more of those forward steps.

Confessions of a Dryathlete

As I write this post I am nine days away from completing my first challenge of 2014.  On January 1st I began my alcohol free month as part of Cancer Research UK's Dryathalon.

In April last year I successfully completed another alcohol free month, however I found that particular month to be one of my toughest challenges.  I realised then that I was in a bad 'wine o'clock' habit, opening a bottle of Chardonnay at 6pm on a Friday without a passing thought.  It took all my strength to commit to that challenge and last the month - so how would I cope this time as a Dryathlete?

NaNoWriMo - Mission Completed.

What a month it's been.  When I started out on my Resolution Challenge journey, November was the month I was looking forward to the most but also secretly frightened of.  Why I hear you ask?  Four simple words - National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) - a competition to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days.

On the 1st November I sat at my laptop, opened up a fresh document and set about writing a young adult fantasy story.  Nine days later I hit 50,296 words and celebrated with a pepperoni pizza and a bottle of wine!  I threw myself at this challenge with everything I had in me, I blocked out chunks of time in my diary, freed up my weekends and showed the kids how to work the white blob (microwave) and the silver blob (dishwasher).

Compliments and Confidence

Paying someone a compliment is such a natural thing to do, you have the ability to make somebody's day.  Why then do we squirm when we are on the receiving end of a compliment?



Image courtesy of emergencycompliment.com

Picture the scene - you have just bumped into an old friend who you haven't seen for a few months and they've lost four stone in weight.  It is an automatic reaction to say...

'Oh Doris, you look amazing!'

Your initial reaction is to pay them a compliment because you are genuinely happy for them and they DO look amazing.

Now let's look at the flip side - you are wearing a new coat that took five months to save for and you bump into a friend, they say...

15 Top Tips for a Balanced Life

Working as a holistic health practitioner means I am privileged to be a part of someone's life journey - that could be a road to better health, much needed relaxation or an understanding ear and support.

I am very vocal about my own life and don't hide the highs and lows I have experienced, in fact I use these experiences to help me be a better practitioner.  I left a physically and emotionally abusive marriage with three children under the age of 5, to say I had hit rock bottom would be an understatement, but I did it, I dragged myself kicking and screaming back into reality.

As I recovered and tried to find myself I learnt how to laugh and smile again, I learnt from others how to interact, trust and love again.  It's quite incredible how much we do learn from those people that surround us on a daily basis.

New Beginnings - Learn a new skill from home with E-Learning

I love September.  Not only because the air is crisp and the leaves turn a beautiful colour, not because I can dig out my big jumpers and hide the excess flesh which has been on show all summer, but because the air is full of new beginnings.

Kid's return or start school, college or university and the shops are full of gorgeous stationery to accommodate their needs - my idea of heaven.

My challenge for this month is 'To Learn Something New' and there really is no better month to start this in.  I have a bucket list the length of my arm of what I would love to learn; photography, Italian, painting, knitting...the list if endless.

Holiday Blog Tour #5 - A Girl's Getaway

What a busy month August has been, I am never happy when my children go back to school as they are such wonderful company, but after our hectic month's challenge I think sitting with my feet up sounds fabulous!

For the final week of August and the last Blog Tour I was able to sneak away for a couple of nights with just my daughter.  I love all my kids and we have had an amazing summer but to have some mummy-daughter time is quite precious.  I left the destination up to her and thankfully she chose the walled city of York in North Yorkshire (and not Milan or Paris as my budget may not have stretched that far!)

A girlie trip is very different to a family holiday

Holiday Blog Tour #4 - City Breaks

Who said a city break had to be for couples looking for a romantic getaway?

Don't get me wrong, as we sat on the train heading to London we were surrounded by doe eye'd lovers, but it certainly didn't deter this single mum and her band of teens.

There are plenty of cities here in the UK for us to choose from for an overnight stay, each one offering it's visitors a wealth of historical sights, attractions and hotels. 

If you are planning a trip around the UK or visiting us from afar, take a look on Wikipedia for an impressive list of cities; Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield, York, Wells...these are just a few from an extensive list which also covers Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

What Would You Do for the Quiet Life?

The big news here in the UK this week was the birth of the #RoyalBaby, unfortunately I had to miss all the coverage as my next July challenge was to go one week without my television.

Thank goodness for the Radio, Heart FM kept me up to date with everything I needed to know re baby news and I was also lucky enough to share my challenge with Ed and Rachel's Breakfast Show live on air.

It's not very often I get such a flamboyant start to my challenges but this week's did get off to a pretty impressive start.

What Have You Achieved in the Last 6 Months?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary to 'achieve' means to succeed in doing something by effort, skill, or courage.

What a lovely mantra for our daily lives.

What have YOU achieved in the last 6 months?  The reason I ask this question is because it's exactly 6 months since I began My Resolution Challenge.  Yes, it's a frightening thought but we are half way through the year!

So when I began this challenge 6 months ago, my initial aim was to complete at least one or two of the items on my New Year resolution list.  I would be happy to lose 8lb, I would be over the moon to run without the aid of an oxygen tank and I would be ecstatic to have one of my stories published. 

Can a Carnivore Survive a Meat Free Zone?

It's the final week of my 'Adopt Better Habits' challenge and I thought I would test myself to the limits - yet again - by going veggie for a week.

When I was in my thirties - many years ago - I appeared in the Spirit & Destiny magazine's Health MOT feature.  I was interviewed by a Naturopath, Personal Trainer and Nutritionist.  I discovered that as my blood type is A my body struggles to break down red meat and chicken, which can cause bowel toxicity.  I was advised to cut out all red meat and cut down on chicken as well as having fish at least three times a week and drink eight glasses of water daily.

How to Juggle Your Spuds and other Home Grown Vegetables

Last week's 'How to De Clutter in 4 Easy Steps' certainly struck a chord with my readers judging by the emails I received.  A clutter free home makes for a clutter free mind and I'm glad I was able to motivate so many people to feel better about their environments and themselves - this is my day job after all!

Still concentrating on my 'Adopt Better Habits' challenge I decided to venture outdoors.  Not such a good choice with the torrential rain we've seen here in the Midlands, however it did help with the spade work for this week's resolution, to grow my own food.

Clear Your Clutter in 4 Easy Steps

June is here and the sun is shining which helps to make everything look and feel so much brighter.  As I am still slightly traumatised by my encounter with the zip wire last week I am very pleased to note that June's resolution is so much calmer.

Adopt Better Habits.

Boring!

I came up with this challenge when I realised how I'd let my recycling slip, so this goal was a way to get back on track.  As I gave it some extra thought I came to the conclusion that recycling my rubbish was a pretty lame topic to cover and all my readers would be nodding off before I'd managed to soak the
label off an old baked bean tin.