Who Said That?

From the old wives tales that our grandparents taught us, to a business mantra that is tossed around the boardroom, we all know one or two quotes that have inspired us.


For me, a motivational quote can be used to boost my own self esteem, or passed on to one of my holistic clients.  Enhancing well-being and inspiring someone to succeed can be as simple as passing on a brief sentence.

We all know that words can harm or heal, I choose to live my life on the healing path and as such I pass on the inspirational quotes and mantras that I've collected over the years.

How To Live a Life Full of Motivation

Life can swerve in a different direction at any point, sometimes you are ready for it but more often than not it flings you unceremoniously from a moving vehicle.

This is what happened to me, but as I look back I see that it wasn't a sudden swerve, more of a winding road that I didn't realise I could get off.

Getting back on track took a huge amount of patience and dedication but with the support of my family I did it. 
For seven years I was trapped in an emotionally and physically abusive marriage.  I was overweight, exhausted and miserable.  In 2004 I found the courage to leave, packing my two, three and five year old children in the car and driving away.

Could You Do The Water Challenge?

During a normal working day I say 'drink more water' a hundred times over.  As a reflexologist it is plainly evident when a client is suffering from dehydration, however, many people are still unaware of just how beneficial drinking water can be.

I remember reading an article in the Daily Mail back in 2013.  Sarah Smith, a 42 year old mother, had taken on a challenge to increase her water intake for four weeks and written up her findings.  The article was eye-opening - you can read it here.

The before and after photographs were what initially attracted me to the article, I had to check she hadn't been photo shopped! I was intrigued to discover how she had succeeded. 

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.

What's Your Glastonbury Song?

We all have a favourite band, and more importantly we all have that one song that resonates with whatever is going on in our life.  For me it's 'Gold' by Spandau Ballet (1983).  The words always fill me with a sense of pride at what I've overcome and give me the strength to carry on and be 'indestructible'.

This weekend the UK celebrates the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, with acts including the sensational Dolly Parton, The Black Keys, Lily Allen, Metallica, Blondie, Sam Smith and many, many more. 

Tickets to the Glastonbury Festival have a tendency to sell out within hours of being released so I thought I'd use this post to celebrate the history of Glastonbury Festival and point you in the direction of finding your own unique song or recognising a favourite band.

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.

 

 

Trek to the Top Challenge

All my friends appear to be taking part in a fitness regime these days.  The hugely popular Facebook craze '30 Day Abs Challenge', created by mum of eight, Robyn Mendenhall Gardner, has changed my sedentary pals into crunchers, plankers and leg lifters.  If I knew how to crunch I may have joined them!

Not to be outdone by my toned up, trimmed down friends, I decided that action needed to be taken if I wanted to get the beach fit body I craved.

I may have hung up my running shoes after completing my half marathon back in 2012, but there is nothing stopping me from dusting them off and putting them to good use once more.  Running is out of the question as my knees creak louder than my floorboards these days, so I wanted to keep it simple-ish!

Walking up stairs/steps is a wonderful way to tone your bum and legs but instead of looking at my flight of stairs as just a means to get to the first floor, I'm going to turn it into a challenge of lofty proportions!

7 Year Life Cycles And Where You Fit In

Celebrating a birthday is supposed to be a joyous affair, but as I hit forty-two a couple of weeks ago, all I could think about was how dry my hair was lately and why it was getting so damn hard to shift the pesky pounds around my stomach.


Then I realised I had just entered my seventh life cycle.  Confused?  Stay with me...

Many of us have heard the old saying that all the cells in our body change over a period of seven years, this is in fact tosh as our cells are dying and being replaced all the time.  For example; our red blood cells replace after four months, white blood cells after a year.  Sperm cells last just three days and our brain cells die off but are never replaced. 

So my urgent need to purchase uber-moisturising shampoo and a pair of spanx had nothing to do with my body chemistry.

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.

What a Difference a Year Can Make

When I started this blog I had a clear objective, to record the highs and lows of the fifty-two challenges I set myself on New Year's Eve in 2012.


Lose weight, get fit, be happy, do something new...the list was as varied as it was long.

It was a personal journey of self discovery but I felt it important enough to share with anyone who may be interested.  365 days later and the blog had received over 15,000 visits, two blogger award nominations and was attracting followers from across the globe.

The year came to an end but my journey continued, in fact it picked up speed!

Seventeen months later I am now able to take the next big step towards achieving my goals and ticking off another very big item on my to-do list. 

From 'blog' to 'book', the story of how my year of challenges changed my life is out now as e-book and paperback.

Everyone is Raving About Rave Reviews Book Club

Gimme an 'R'

Gimme an 'A'

Gimme a 'V'

Gimme an 'E'

 

 

I am a member of quite a few clubs, but none shake their pom poms quite like Rave Review Book Club!

 

It was through the power of twitter that I first connected with Nonnie, author of Daydream's Daughter, Nightmare's Friend.  She mentioned her aim to start a review club and I was happy to add my name, and debut book, to the list.

 

That member list is now 400+ strong, with new recruits joining daily - that's a lot of pom poms!

 

The RRBC is not a place to park your latest novel, sit back and wait for reviews and sales to roll in.  It's a proactive club, members retweet members, they buy and review each others books on Amazon, Goodreads and other platforms.  They support each other like no other club does via twitter and Facebook.

A Change of Pace - Flash Fiction by Shelley Wilson

With the launch of my latest non-fiction book on the horizon, together with my recent debut as a motivational speaker, I realised my fiction writing had ground to a halt as I concentrated on my non-fiction projects.

To add balance to my writing life I thought I would share one of my flash fiction stories with you.  I do hope you like the change of pace...although it may be a bit gruesome!


Broken by Shelley Wilson

People don’t mean to pass me by, they all lead such busy lives and just don’t notice what’s right under their noses.  I don’t mind, not anymore.  It did bother me at first, I had been brought up to care, be polite and keep smiling, ‘a smile costs nothing’ my mum would say, so I’d smile, care and watch my p’s and q’s.  Dad had other ideas and would often stagger home from the ‘Dog and Duck’ and happily wipe the smile from my face.