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Helen's Blog

Today is the happiest day of the year, says psychologist

Posted on: Jun 18, 2010 - 08:01 PM

According to Dr Cliff Arnall, the third Friday in June came out with the highest happiness rating due to peaking happiness factors such as warm summer evenings outdoors, seeing friends more frequently, and excitement about holidays.  I hope you’re feeling it!  Best wishes, Helen

It’s Mental Health Action Week

Posted on: Apr 06, 2010 - 12:52 PM

It’s Mental Health Action Week this week, 4th – 10th April.
This year’s Mental Health Action Week is about promoting wellbeing in a way that everyone can do.
See the 10 steps to wellbeing here:
Click here for Mental Health Foundation’s 10 steps.
Listen to the new mindfulness podcast from the Mental Health Foundation.
Click here for podcast download.

Happy Easter!

Posted on: Apr 01, 2010 - 05:20 AM

If you don’t get given an Easter Egg, why not buy yourself one.  Good quality dark chocolate is good for boosting the happy hormone serotonin.  I started yesterday!  I hope you can enjoy a lovely long bank holiday weekend and if not, try some chocolate to make you feel better.  Best wishes, Helen

It’s Mental Wellbeing Week

Posted on: Mar 09, 2010 - 11:14 AM

Did you know that 6 out of 10 Britons ‘find it difficult to cope mentally’.  That’s according to and online YouGov poll by mental health charity Together.

Hopefully statistics like these show how ‘common’ mental illness and depression are and encouraging people to seek help or talk about what they are going through.

Mental Wellbeing Week (8th-14th March) is a week organised annually by Together that promotes better mental health for all.

This year Together is highlighting how common it is for many people, regardless of their mental health ‘status’ or diagnosis, to have times in their life when they have difficulty coping mentally, whether that’s through stress, depression, anxiety or because of an upsetting life experience.

Take a look here to find out what’s going on this week in your area.  Click here.
 

How about giving up Depression for Lent?

Posted on: Feb 16, 2010 - 02:44 PM

Whilst not forgetting the religious meaning of Lent, if Lent is about giving up what is bad for us and what is hard for us to give up, how about giving up depression for Lent?  It’s bad for us and who wouldn’t welcome 47 days without it!? 
My doctor used to ask me to try to ‘Take a limited number of days in which you will not dwell upon nor mention your Depression or the cause of your Depression for the briefest moment.’  47 days is a long time but maybe along to way to Easter try that and see how you feel. 
Best wishes, Helen

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on: Feb 11, 2010 - 11:37 AM

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love and affection.  I don’t see why that shouldn’t be extended to friends, family and even your pets who love you unconditionally.  We all have someone or something special to us that warrants a celebration.  Celebrating our affections for people we care about doesn’t have to be limited to one day a year but February 14th is a good excuse to get us into the swing of it for the rest of the year.
So why not:
Call and tell someone that you care.
Cuddle up with your dog or cat (or someone else’s).
Have supper with a friend.
Go to a movie or watch a movie.
Make someone’s day by smiling at them.

Happy Valentine’s Day,
Helen

The most depressing day of the year is behind us!

Posted on: Jan 15, 2010 - 08:53 AM

According to psychologists, Tuesday 19th Jan was apparently the most depressing day of the year.
I hope that fact didn't spoil your day if you heard it. Hearing depressing news can almost bring on an inevitable downturn in your day and your mood.

BUT

Try not to let it pull you down or give into it. Very simple things can help.

Do something fun like watching a funny DVD.
Invite friends over.
Call someone you've been meaning to get in touch with.
Give yourself something to look forward to. It could be meeting up with a friend you haven't seen for a long time or a holiday or learning a new skill you've been wanting to start. With a goal to aim for it's always easier to see the brighter side of life. When you visualise yourself doing something you enjoy you will feel more positive, feel more motivated and start feeling optimistic again.

We would love to hear any positive suggestions that have helped you.

The days are getting longer, the weather can only get better and spring will soon be peeking through. Snow drops are already popping up. The promise of better days is ahead. It's a new year, full of new hope, new beginnings, new friends to be made, new fun to be had, new problems with new solutions and let's see how much trouble we can cause this year.

Thinking of you and wishing you the best most depressing day of the year yet. Helen

The worst of winter is over honestly!

Posted on: Dec 23, 2009 - 12:23 AM

With the shortest day on 22nd December behind us we are over the worst of winter.  It may not feel like it yet but the days are getting longer and spring will be here before we know it!  Let’s look forward and start visualising the first days of spring.  Start looking around you for the new shoots and looking up to see the light rather than down on the ground.  Often we have to look down in winter to avoid slipping on the snow and ice or to avoid treading in something worse that is covered by a mass of leaves!  But spring is a wonderful time to start looking up.  It’s harder to feel down when you’re looking up too. There will be some beautiful changes around us so that’s an incentive to look up isn’t it.  You don’t want to miss out!  Helen

Merry Christmas!

Posted on: Dec 16, 2009 - 04:27 PM

I hope that you’re keeping up with the countdown to Christmas.  If it seems to be approaching too quickly and there’s still so much to be done, take the pressure off by giving yourself permission to take the time to sit back and count your blessings.  Read our tips for a stress free, debt free, Merry Christmas.  http://www.depressioncanbefun.com/index.php. After all, let’s remember ‘Tis the season to be jolly’, not to be stressed out, fraught, exhausted and overwhelmed.  Let’s take time to reflect on and celebrate 2009 and look forward to 2010.  You never know what’s round the corner in 2010.  I hope it’s a good year for you with lots of good things.  Start it as you mean to go on.  Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from, Helen

It’s National Stress Awareness Day today!

Posted on: Nov 04, 2009 - 05:54 PM

I do hope that you aren’t stressed.  Just because it’s National Stress Day doesn’t mean we have to celebrate it by being stressed does it?  Mind you it would be good if all our stress could be limited to one day a year wouldn’t it?  Imagine if we could save up all our stress and deal with it and get it out of the way in ONE day.  A very good therapist once gave me a very good piece of advice about stress which I would like to share with you.  He told me “to put aside a period in which to problem-solve of one or two hours a day, rather than worry around and about whenever thoughts come into your head”.  He also told me to “become a mistress/master of your own emotions, rather than be at the beck and call of the circumstances and other people”.  I have found that piece of advice very helpful over the years and hope it can help you too.  I’m sure you’ll find more suggestions on the National Stress Awareness Day site.  http://www.isma.org.uk/national-stress-awareness-day/ Or share how you feel on our forum. http://www.depressioncanbefun.com/index.php/forums/
Wishing you all a stress free National Stress Day.  Helen

We are 1!

Posted on: Oct 22, 2009 - 07:15 PM

Dear All,
If I could blow out the candle and make a wish, it would obviously be that no-one suffered from Depression.  Unfortunately I am not a magician so my 2nd wish is that this site can reach more people and hopefully help more people affected by depression.  We now have over 10,000 unique visits to the site every month.

It’s been a busy year for the site and we’ve been lucky enough to have some great publicity and exposure including:

• Website of the Week in the You supplement of the Mail on Sunday
• Stella supplement in the Sunday Telegraph
• Easy Living Magazine feature on Helpful Websites
• Martin Lewis’s http://www.moneysavingexpert.com website
• National and local TV and Radio
• International radio and press
• NHS World Mental Health Day

The unswerving support from our Experts on the site is tremendous.  I want to say a huge thank you to them.  Look out for Marisa’s live chat coming soon on the forum.

We have also joined forces with two great companies whose products have a fantastic reputation for helping depression:

• Igennus - http://www.igennus.com
• Vegepa -  http://igennus-hn.com/products/vegepa/
• Little Herbal International - http://www.littleherbal-international.com
• Filisa - http://www.littleherbal-international.com/acatalog/Filisa.html

This has been a great year and if we carry on this way hopefully the site can continue to reach and help more people which is what it’s all about.

My hope is that people can share their experiences both positive and negative and gain from other people’s experiences.  There are such amazing and inciteful words of wisdom and support from fellow sufferers and carers on the site.  I want to thank all the members for sharing them and look forward to welcoming more visitors and sharing more. 

Best wishes, Helen

Celebrating World Mental Health Week

Posted on: Oct 09, 2009 - 04:57 PM

I’ve been celebrating World Mental Health Week with the NHS this week.  Today I was in Nottinghamshire at the Rosewood Centre in Ollerton.  It has been an amazing day and there’s more tomorrow so do come along and join us!  There are lots of activities like Ribbon Dancing, Henna Painting, Belly Dancing with ‘The Rosehips’ (I managed to escape that one today much to my relief and probably everyone else’s).  There is also relaxation, reflexology and massage taster sessions.  Plus there is lots of information about the many services available to people suffering from all kinds of mental health problems and their carers. Oh and there are lots of yummy refereshments to keep everyone going.  What a fantastic day.  Thank you to everyone for an amazing day and for raising the awareness of mental illness in such a positve way.  Helen

The last day of summer…

Posted on: Sep 20, 2009 - 10:46 AM

I know that I can’t put it off any longer. I don’t know about you but I’ve been putting off the last day of summer until the last possible official date on the calendar.  Depending on which reference point you take, summer can end anywhere from mid August to September.  Astronomy says that mid August is the end of summer.  Meteorology says it’s the end of August.  If your reference is schools going back after summer vacation, it’s late August to September.  I prefer to wait until the day before the first day of the fall which is officially 21st September which means that today is the last day of summer.  I’m still holding out very naively for an Indian summer though which could happen in October/November.  I hope that you’re all taking advantage of the sunshine to tide you over the winter months.  If not, I hope that you’ve got a good imagination or a light box or a holiday booked!  I’m sure it won’t be that bad.  Each season is indeed beautiful.  Autumn is full of colour and brisk walks in the fresh air through piles of fallen leaves are great for lifting your mood too.  Please do share any other ideas for autumn on the Positive Suggestions and I’ll post them to the site for others to try.  Have a great autumn.  Helen

‘Static happiness’

Posted on: Sep 01, 2009 - 09:10 AM

According to psychologists, we are experiencing ‘static happiness’ -  living faster but not better.  In 1957, 52% of people in Britain described themselves as happy.  In 2006 it was 36%.  If you are on this site you may not be that happy right now but I hope that that is everyone’s aim to be happy as everyone deserves to be happy.  No-one should feel guilty about feeling happy.  You deserve to be happy in your life as much as anything else like energy and health.  It doesn’t have to be deserved.  Happiness is our original state.  It is how we feel when we accept ourselves and are true to ourselves.  It can get blurred along the path of life if we let it and sometimes it seems impossible to be happy.  Dr Robert Holden, psychologist, author and director of the Happiness Project, says that most of our blocks to happiness are in the past and that to be happy we have to be willing to give up all hopes for a better past; then we can move on with our life.  Happiness is about self-acceptance.  If you want to know how happy you are, ask, ‘How happy am I today?’  Then score it out of ten.  Say you score seven; you can then tune into that and say, ‘OK, what would have to happen for me to be at eight?’  I found that quite interesting.  I hope you do too.  Helen

Emotional Support is just a click away

Posted on: Aug 01, 2009 - 08:20 PM

The website is our lifeline for pretty much everything these days from knowledge to shopping and dating but now it can help with our emotional problems too.  We can have emotional support 24/7 like we expect of anything else these days at the click of a button.  I feel honoured that the site features in a fantastic article in Easy Living Magazine this month in their Emotional Intelligence section about websites that can offer help and support for a whole host of emotional problems from depression and relationship problems to addiction and alcoholism.  It is a fact of life that we all feel down sometimes or have a problem and need someone to talk to or to get it off our chests.  Sometimes we don’t feel able to tell family and friends for fear of shocking or upsetting them or bothering them. It’s reassuring to know that we can find support online from the comfort of our own homes.  You don’t even have to use your real name which makes it even easier to say what you are really feeling.  It sometimes helps just to know that you are not alone.  So if you’re feeling down or are struggling with a problem, try it. Help really could be just a click away.  Helen

Summer therapy

Posted on: Jun 23, 2009 - 01:43 PM

Welcome to Summer.  Here comes the sun, that powerful remedy and excellent therapy.  Soak it up when you can and enjoy!  Best wishes, Helen

Acknowledgment and recognition for carers in Carers Week

Posted on: Jun 09, 2009 - 02:40 PM

Carers unpaid contribution is £87 bn each year which is the same as the NHS costs each year.  So it’s a pretty big job! In fact, the role of a carer is invaluable.  1 in 8 adults in the UK is a carer.  There are 6 million carers in the UK.  Carers often assume their role with no warning, training, support, or financial security.  They often have to give up their jobs, income, future employment and rights to a pension and their social lives to dedicate themselves to the role of carer.  Caring is more often than not a full time job.  The role of a carer seems to be synonymous with that of a ‘fighter’.  They fight for care for their patient; they fight for financial support; they fight for knowledge; they fight for recognition by GPs and social workers and support staff and family and friends.  Many are pushed to the point of stress and depression as a result of caring and cannot get support themselves.  Carers Week is about raising recognition of carers and awareness of services.  Here, here!  Click here to find out more. http://www.carersweek.org/index.asp

Here comes the sun.  Soak it up and store it for winter!

Posted on: Jun 03, 2009 - 07:42 PM

Looks like summer’s here.  Although summer doesn’t officially start until 21st June, it looks like it’s eager to get started!  Most of us know that the sun boosts serotonin and lifts our mood but did you know that soaking up more sunlight in the summer could increase your chances of preventing or reducing depression in the winter?  Light stimulates the production of cholecalciferol which the body turns into vitamin D.  Vitamin D helps the body to maintain higher levels of serotonin and keeps your mood and energy levels higher.  So getting more light in the summer months may help you build a store of cholecalciferol and spur your body to produce more vitamin D and keep you going through the winter.  Don’t forget your suncream!

Mind Week 9-16th May is telling men to get it off their chests

Posted on: May 11, 2009 - 08:57 AM

Depression is not discriminatory.  It doesn’t care who is sweeps up in its path.  Men, women and children of all ages, nationalities and social status can and are victims of depression.  Then Mental Health Charity Mind is devoting this week to focusing on Men and Mental Health. 
We have no problem going to see our doctor if we have a sore throat but how long does it take us if we think that we are suffering from depression or a mental illness?  It is often hard for women and men to seek help and admit to seeking help for a mental illness.  Fear of appearing weak; fear of losing jobs; fear of losing friends and partners are just some of the reasons that make it hard.  We all know that men find it harder to talk about their feelings than women, and with recession hitting hard and many losing jobs, this can add to the pressure men (and women) feel.  There are details of lots of events going on this week and helpful information and downloads on their site in aid of Mind raising awareness of Mental Health in Men.  http://www.mind.org.uk/News+policy+and+campaigns/Campaigns/Men+and+mental+health/index.htm
I worked in a male dominated environment and felt weak when I suffered from a breakdown and depression.  If I had sought help sooner, I might have avoided years of depression.  Since then many of my male friends have felt able to talk to me about feeling low.  If you are feeling depressed, please go to see your doctor.  Depression is an illness like any other illness and as such can be treated and cured.  The first step to getting and feeling better is seeking help and talking. 

Happy Easter

Posted on: Apr 10, 2009 - 03:13 PM

There’s never a better time than Easter to use the valid excuse that chocolate boosts your serotonin levels to eat your Easter Eggs without feeling guilty!  Best wishes for a lovely Easter from Helen.

British Summertime’s here at last

Posted on: Mar 29, 2009 - 07:50 PM

Did you all remember to put your clocks forward?  For most of us it wouldn’t have been so important today but here’s a friendly reminder before Monday morning just in case!  I’m sure you’ll all agree that the hour less in bed was almost worth it for the beautiful sunny day and the longer evening.  Blue skies are here to brighten our days and hopefully boost our mood and lift our spirits.  I know that depression is much more complex and tortuous than being affected by bad weather and it will take more than a sunny day to feel better but hopefully it will help.  Here’s hoping the sun keeps shining.  From Helen

Spring’s Here…

Posted on: Mar 20, 2009 - 02:38 PM

And the weather knows it!  I hope the sun is shining where you are and that you manage to find a few minutes out in it to recharge depleted batteries after a long and depressing winter.  Most of us feel brighter when we fling back our curtains to rays of sunshine but Vitamin D that we get from the sun is also known to boost our immune system and lift our mood so let’s make the most of it and long may it last!  Wishing you all a lovely sunny Mother’s Day weekend. Helen

Love Makes The World Go Round

Posted on: Feb 12, 2009 - 11:35 AM

As Valentine’s Day approaches, the pressure is on to show publically how much we love our nearest and dearest.  That extends beyond boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, husbands and wives to anyone and everyone in our lives we love, including friends and family and even pets.  We don’t want to upset them by not getting them what they are expecting from us on the 14th February so we all feel obliged to ‘join the queue’ and spend lots of money on cards and flowers and surprises.  Many people I know are even as organized as to have ‘A Plan B’ for the Big Day! 
Even if we show our love every day we get ‘bullied’ into paying for it on Valentine’s day which is the day that commercialism decided we should tell people we love them.  Martin Lewis has some great ideas for avoiding the price of Commercialism on Valentine’s Day!
We all like to feel loved and that someone cares. Who could say truthfully that they don’t like to get a card that says ‘I love you’.  I remember sitting eagerly by the letterbox every Valentine’s Day as a teenager (in as cool a fashion as possible) to see how many people - if any - loved me.  Even if we don’t get lots of cards on Valentine’s day, it doesn’t mean we’re not loved.  Sometimes it’s hard to believe or know if and how much someone cares or loves us but someone always does.  Love comes in many forms and from many sources.  Often loved ones don’t show love as we would like to be shown it or as we show it.  We are all wonderfully different and unique and do things differently.  We all have our own way of telling or showing someone we love them.  Many people find it hard to say how much they love someone and prefer to show it.  They do say that actions speak louder than words. Look out for those signs!  Happy Valentine’s weekend.  Love to you all from, Helen

Today is officially the most depressing day of the year

Posted on: Jan 19, 2009 - 12:20 PM

The weather seems to think so!  So hopefully it’s uphill from here!  If any of you have any positive suggestions of how to get through today or any day actually and would like to share them on the site, please use the ‘Feedback’ or ‘Post your Stories’ option within the Interactive page and we will post them to the site.  We are setting up a permanent facility to do this through a ‘Positive Suggestions’ tab but don’t let that stop you in the meantime. People who have been through depression or are going through it are experts in knowing what helps and works and their suggestions and methods are tried and tested!  I very much look forward to reading them. My contribution today is this very funny version of ‘My Favourite Things’from the legendary movie ‘Sound of Music’.  On her Birthday, Julie Andrews changed the lyrics:
(My suggestion is to Sing It!) - If you sing it, its especially hysterical!!!

Botox and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts, hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak, When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don ’ t feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pain, confused brains and no need for sinnin ’ ,
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin ’ ,
And we won ’ t mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache, When the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I ’ ve had,
And then I don ’ t feel so bad.

Life is something that happens when you’ve got something else planned

Posted on: Jan 15, 2009 - 11:17 AM

We are two weeks into the New Year with the whole of 2009 in front of us.  I wonder what it will hold?  No doubt there will be challenges as no one’s life is without challenges.  The word itself suggests hard work.  We often cannot change the challenges we face or our fate but we can decide what attitude to take towards the circumstances and challenges in our lives and that attitude affects the quality of our life. If we find that the way that we react to our circumstances and challenges isn’t helping us, we can change how we react to and deal with them in a way that is more helpful to us. It is a fact that life is a series of adjustments.  It could be far easier and life could be much more enjoyable if we just adjust with the adjustments instead of fighting against them or getting depresssed or frustrated about them.  I often find that it is much more how I react to something than the thing itself that determines the outcome and the quality of my life.  Often, our immediate reaction is defensive, aggressive and not very helpful to us.  If we can take a step back, take a deep breath, put the kettle on and have a cuppa, get some fresh air, count to 10 or even have a good scream (or whatever works for you) and go back to the challenge, our solution is much more helpful to us and maybe we can even turn it to our advantage (maybe that’s too optimistic but you know where I’m coming from).  Whatever this year holds for us all, I hope that it is a good one and that we can embrace our challenges and enjoy trying to turn them to our advantage.  Lots of love,Helen x

Happy New Year Everyone

Posted on: Jan 02, 2009 - 06:13 PM

Welcome back to normality after a whirlwind week of family, friends, children, Santa, presents, travelling, shopping and copious amounts of food and drink and whatever else Christmas and New Year celebrations have meant to you.  It’s exhausting just listing what we’ve all been doing.  Christmas holidays are rarely a break for people and we all seem to go back to work and school and every day life after our ‘holidays’ with colds, flu and viruses and spend most of January in a hangover like state.  I decided to drive to the coast at the last minute on New Year’s Day to blow away the cobwebs and make some resolutions. By the time I got there it was very dark, I couldn’t see the sea and the tide was in so I couldn’t walk on the beach.  It wasn’t quite what I had in mind but it certainly cleared away the cobwebs and hopefully any germs as it was about -3 degrees and I enjoyed it nevertheless.  I made my resolutions in record time and quickly sought refuge in a cosy pub by the fire.  Most of my Christmas and New Year plans were last minute this year actually.  In fact, despite very little planning and much worrying about so little planning for Christmas and New Year, I enjoyed both very much and it has taught me a valuable lesson.  My usual rushing and planning at Christmas isn’t really necessary.  It’s a pressure I put on myself.  No one enjoyed themselves any less for less planning.  We all rush at life 100% and put so much in and are sorely disappointed when we don’t seem to get as much out of life as we put in.  We put pressure on ourselves to do this and take things so personally when they don’t go as we expect.  Life isn’t being waged against us personally although it can feel like it a lot of the time so here’s wishing you all a gentle, peaceful and hopeful 2009. Helen

Seasons Greetings

Posted on: Dec 27, 2008 - 08:25 PM

Whether it has been watching childrens’ excitement or carol singing or beautiful Christmas lights or Christmas trees lighting up the bay windows in peoples’ homes or the giving or receiving of gifts that has been your most vivid memory of this Christmas, I hope that the Christmas spirit has touched you in some way or other this year.  I wish you all a very Happy New Year. See you in 2009!  Best wishes from Helen

You can catch happiness

Posted on: Dec 13, 2008 - 02:05 PM

The good news from the British Medical Journal last week was that happiness is catching.  When someone gets happy, that person’s friend experiences a 10% chance of becoming happy.  A friend of that friend experiences nearly a 10% chance of increased happiness, and a friend of that friend has a 5.6% chance of increased chance of happiness.  This means that even a stranger’s mood can do more to lift your mood more than a $5000 salary raise which only increases happiness by 2% according to the study.  Take a look at http://www.msnbc.msn.com for more happy data. So my advice is to spend time with happy friends.  Hopefully you’ll be able to find even more of them happy at the moment given the Christmas Spirit that is in the air!
Several studies have linked happiness and health that found buoyant personality types catch fewer colds than people who are down.
All good reasons to do something that makes us happy, whether it be spending time with happy friends, turning on a happy tune or watching a funny film or TV programme!  So go on and spread a little happiness!  Love to you all, Helen

White Christmas

Posted on: Dec 05, 2008 - 06:04 PM

Right now it’s certainly cold enough to give us a White Christmas but given the principle of ‘Sod’s law’, if it can get warm for Christmas Day to give us a Grey Christmas, it probably will!  However, not to be too negative and in the words of my father. ‘You never know what’s round the corner’!  So I will reserve judgment and Wait and See.  I do hope that none of you have fallen victim to the snow and ice that seems to typify every day at the moment.  My brother slipped and fell over in the car park at work much to his colleagues amusement.  What’s happened to sympathy these days?  If you have suffered a similar fate, you have my sympathy.  Wrap up warm and keep smiling.
Much love, Helen

Time flies…..

Posted on: Nov 27, 2008 - 04:02 PM

I cannot believe that this is the last November blog that I will write and that we are on that slippery slope to Christmas much quicker than I and I am sure many of you would like.  I used to hear my grandparents; then I used to hear my parents, and now I hear myself saying: ‘The older you get, the faster time flies’. They also say that ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’.  Does that mean that we have more fun as we get older?  I think that a more realistic reason for time flying as we get older is that with age seems to come more responsibility and hard work and juggling and people running around like idiots wishing that they had more hours in a day. Maybe that saying should be brought update for adults to: ’ Time flies when you’re running around like a headless chicken!’  That means stress for most people but if you can have fun along the way too, so much the better.  Whatever your diary looks like on that slippery slope to Christmas, I hope that you manage to have fun while you are running around.
Best wishes from Helen

Winter Sunshine

Posted on: Nov 18, 2008 - 01:51 PM

Hello everyone.  The sun is shining here.  I hope it is with you too.  It’s days like today that make us appreciate the seasons rather than moan about them!  I hope that some of you have managed to get outside to get the full benefit of the suns’ rays and that the rest of you are enjoying the warm rays through the glass while you are inside.  If you are inside you can almost imagine yourself on the continent somewhere as we are sheltered from the cool winter air and just see and feel the wonderful light and heat on our faces and bodies.  There is something wonderful about the sun on your face.
It reminds me of family holidays as a child and my mum always saying to me: ‘Get your face to the sun!’
We always seemed to take holidays when I had exams to revise for so I spent most of my holiday with my head in a book.  Wish I’d listened to her then as it is only as a child that we don’t seem to be worried about ageing and wrinkles these days!
So, get your faces to the sun everyone and absorb that vitamin D that is very good for lifting our mood. A study by the mental health charity, Mind, showed that a single walk in the park improved tension and depression in 90% of people surveyed.  Just remember to look down and watch where you are walking as I would hate to be responsible for you tripping!
Best wishes,
Helen

Welcome to my new blog

Posted on: Nov 05, 2008 - 10:10 PM

First Blog Entry
Hello everyone.  Well, I have to say that the weather won’t be helping anyone feel much better today. Even if a walk in the park does improve tension and depression, not many people will want to walk in the dank, drizzle and mud that I see outside today or expect to feel much better after it. We all begin to feel like moles at this time of year as we go to work in the dark and come home in the dark.  Why do we have to put the clocks back again!?  All in all, if you weren’t feeling too bad this summer, it may well be catching up with you now.  Try and spend some time in some natural light and if you have a good imagination, even go as far as imagining yourself to be somewhere where the sun is shining.
The seasons are wonderful but adjusting to short days of grey doesn’t help us when we are feeling low especially as a lot of viruses seem to be floating around and people are feeling generally below par and sorry for themselves feeling that there is little in life to smile about.
I hope that something has made you smile today.  If not, I would like to share with you what my nephew said to me today that made me smile.
I had to pick my nephew up from school today.  I was wearing pink cord trousers and jumper.  He came running out of school to greet me in his usual fashion that always makes me feel so special and happy even when I am feeling miserable and then asked why I had come out in my pyjamas?
Only a 4 year old could get away with that but at least I know now and I won’t be wearing that combination again!
Thinking of you all and sending you best and bright wishes on this miserable winter’s day,
Helen

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