Why we stopped offering healing sessions – and how to avoid burn-out

Back in August we stopped offered healing sessions to clients with the idea that we needed a break and could recommence in September, but it is now nearly the end of October and we’re still out of commission. Out for the count more like!

Particularly for me, my body got to the stage where it ‘refused to cooperate’ in terms of doing energy work on other people. After all, if you want to give energy, you have to have some first! Which is, rather, the moral of this story! If you’re constantly giving out, whether it’s looking after your family and friends, or being run ragged at work. If you never give yourself a break, always put yourself and your needs last, then — eventually — however fit and healthy you are, however strong-willed, there will come a point where your body will make its feelings known. And when you ignore those feelings or those physical symptoms then your body will try something else.

Now, I hate to be negative and I don’t like people who proclaim that certain things will happen to you, as though it is ordained from on high, so please don’t take it like that! I am just talking from my belief and my experience.

If you’re the exception to this great — keep going if that’s what you want — but otherwise, please pay attention to the signals that your body is giving you that it has had enough and you need to make some changes. Otherwise, it will just start shouting louder and eventually, as with me, it may take over completely and make the decision for you!

Which, of course, is where I am now, and I am fortunately in a position that we can still keep going even without the income from clients. Phew! It’s not ideal though, especially since the energy work is really my raison d’etre — my ‘prime directive’ if you like — and NOT doing it feels very strange, as though part of me is missing. However, I got myself into this — gotta put my hands up here! — and so I’ll have to do the work to get myself out.

In this case, the ‘work’ is ‘no work’ and I have been listening hard to what my body wants, whether it is doing more exercise and getting out in the fresh air, growing things in the garden or taking up a new creative hobby. In fact, it is sobering to think that I have so many hobbies that I don’t ever indulge in!

So maybe it’s time to learn from my mistakes and ask yourself what do you like to do outside of work, whether work is looking after your family, or a different career. And do you do it?

Just from a basic self-care point of view, are you (at least trying) to eat right, exercise enough, get a reasonable night’s sleep, limit your screen time and do things to keep yourself grounded? Any of those would be a great start.

And before you start with the ‘oh, buts’, think about how you’d have to make it work if you didn’t have a choice, or what advice you’d give to someone else in your position.

Multi-tasking is good, like listening to a podcast in the car, or on the bus, going to bed half an hour later to give you time for some self-care or getting up half an hour earlier (not my personal favourite I have to say!)

What are you doing that you don’t really HAVE to do, or you feel obliged to do, or you feel others would criticise you for giving up? What do you do that really makes your heart sink and drains your energy for the rest of the day? And what would happen if you stopped doing it?

Would the world REALLY end? Do the sheets really have to be washed every week? Can you let the garden go wild for a bit? Just because you’ve always done something for someone, does that mean you have to do it for ever?

And all the time, ask yourself the question — what if you really couldn’t do it anymore and the choice was out of your hands? Of course, that’s a cop out. Some of us would rather wait for our bodies to pack up, and make the decision for us as it takes away the responsibility, but, as always, it’s your decision.

You’re in charge. I know it might not always feel like it but, not making a decision is still making a decision. And with the world the way it is, now would be a very sensible time to take extra care of yourself.

Cosmic Cats and the Zodiac

Daniel has recently been working on a series of illustrations exploring the western zodiac.

The zodiac itself is made up of twelve signs, each with a unique energy or feeling. Every sign has one of four elements and a ruling planet/planets. These affect the signs in various ways.

When you observe the zodiac as a whole it reveals a complete narrative, initiated by the fiery spark of Aries and completing with the transcendental power of Pisces. As the narrative progresses there are moments of light and darkness, expression and introspection… All are necessary aspects to drive the narrative forwards.

After Pisces, we jump back to the beginning with Aries. However, this is always with a greater level of experience and awareness!

Autumn is part of another cycle. A cycle of seasons. As we move into autumn, consider taking some time for yourself to self-reflect. The zodiac is just one of many cycles that can affect our daily lives. Cycles like the zodiac allow for growth and expansion by their design (if you allow them).

Unfortunately, some cycles can be destructive. It is up to us individually to use discernment to identify these cycles and to disempower them. This, as always, begins with awareness…

What cycles are you currently participating in? Are they serving you? Take some time to sit with those questions and see what answers come to you.

If you are interested in exploring astrology further or booking a reading, we can highly recommend Soul Sloth Astrology with Colbe Barrett.

Daniel spent time meditating with all of the signs individually before bringing their energies onto paper. You can visit Instagram to see the completed set of illustrations.

“I’ve been working on a series of channeled drawings exploring the different energies and aspects of the zodiac. (Featuring our cat, Moo!) I had a lot of fun working on these and experimenting with various compositions and colours. I also used a mix of traditional and digital media with a technique I hope to explore in future artworks.”

– Daniel Saunders

Prints available on Redbubble, as well as T-shirts, and other merch.

You can also support Daniel’s work by visiting Ko-Fi and
“buying him a coffee”!

Who do you think you are?

This month I have learnt something really important. I have learnt about me! To thine own self be true seems to be the theme of this year. And having (re)discovered myself, that is exactly what I am going to do.

What about you? Are you being the real version of yourself? Or are you, instead, embodying the version of yourself that others want to see, or your boss prefers, or your family needs you to be?

When you peel away everyone else who has an input or an opinion on who you are – what is left? Or rather who is left? Who would you be if you weren’t having to adapt to other people’s demands, or conform to other’s expectations? Take some time and think about that. Mull over it in the bath, or maybe do some journaling. It’s a big question!

It is true that you can’t contain energy. The energy that makes up who we are cannot be limited. And yet we impose limits upon ourselves. DOH! Why do we do it?? We make ‘boxes’ for ourselves, and we label them and ask ourselves to stay inside them.

I’ve never been very good with people imposing limits on me from outside. In fact, just try it! I will kick over the traces in no time. But what about ME placing limits on myself? That’s just fine and dandy it seems.

Well, after my recent wake-up call I’m calling time! NO MORE LIMITS! And I suggest you do it as well. Firstly, souls can’t be contained and restricted and secondly, why on earth would we do this to ourselves instead of being everything we can be and came here to be.

So… it’s coming up to Halloween. A good time to look back on your year. On who you SHOULD have been and who you are GOING to be. If you’ve been hiding your light under a bushel then give yourself a quick slap round the face (with a wet fish if necessary) and snap out of it.

I’m limitless, you’re limitless. Get with the program and get your real self out there in the world where it’s needed.

‘Nuff said!

It’s the end of April – what happened? This is what happened…

Since it seems I completely forgot to post a blog this month I will take a slight detour from the theme of being true to yourself, to outline a big lesson we have learnt in the last few weeks.

This whole year has been a big pile of STUCK – and not just because of Covid either! We have been dealing with a very big issue that I won’t go into here – but please look out for the bestseller! 😉. It has only been through, dogged persistence, (some might say bloody-mindedness!) keeping going when we should have given up, together with a lot of creative ideas and out of the box thinking that we have found a way out of the situation!

This harks back briefly to the theme of being true to yourself, as we had to demonstrate absolute trust in ourselves – even when everything looked barmy and so did we! We kept going back to check in with our inner truth to check we were on track with what we were doing and not just making stuff up to suit our narrative. This has been ultimate test in ‘trust yourself’ and we’re not out of the woods yet, but we are finding a way through them.

The interesting thing we’ve noticed as we’ve managed to forge a path out of the maze is that as we have become unstuck so have the people around us.

The thing that was key in the whole saga of these past months, has been to turn away from trying to influence external issues and people and turn inwards instead to work on ourselves – which we had been totally neglecting. Yes, I know we should have known better!

It was at the point that we started to focus on ourselves and what we needed, that everything started to change. We forget that working on self is actually a way of helping others. The people who are connected to us will start to benefit from the effects of that energetic change. We have seen the results of this only recently in our friends and family and it has given us an enormous boost (and kick up the backside for not realising it sooner!).

So, for all those busy people out there who are fighting what might seem impossible circumstances and being drained in the process, remember that in order to create (and keep) balance in your life, you need to look after yourself. Listen to what your body and your inner self are saying to you and put it first. It is very difficult when there are so many demands made on us from every angle, but if you are not in balance then you have little to give to other people anyway and everything will be a lot harder because of it.

So, take a little time to restore yourself, whether that means time out, setting boundaries or doing something therapeutic, so that you can be the beacon of light in the world that you want to be. Remember, investing in yourself is one of the best things you can ever do for others!

What is truth? What is YOUR truth? Do you embody it? Or are you embodying someone else’s?

It seems that this year’s theme is all about ‘to thine own self be true.’ This reminds me of another quote, not from Hamlet, but from ‘The Mists of Avalon’ which ends: ‘…and to every man his own truth, and the god within.’

Ever since I read that line, I resonated with it. I could feel the truth of that statement at a deep level – for me at least, since truth is about what is right for each individual.

If you want to know what is true, you have to know WHO YOU ARE – otherwise how can you know your truth?

We enter the world as our own person, but also as a blank slate and that blank slate is influenced by the people around us, by their values and beliefs. That goes not just for our upbringing but for school, college and the workplace – even friends and authority figures. All those sources will be feeding us ideas and beliefs of what is true, and it is up to us to accept or reject those concepts. We do this naturally growing up.

Unfortunately, we don’t consciously realise that is what we are doing, so when we take on someone else’s belief, perhaps because we admire them, want to be like them or want to impress, we don’t realise that it may not be in line with our inner truth. We take it on board as part of self, where we soon forget it actually came from another source.

Sometimes we hear truth that is OUR truth and we take that on in the same way. The difficulty is, separating the wheat from the chaff!

It takes work but it is an interesting exercise to write out who you believe yourself to be. Write a list of your personality traits, your beliefs and ideas about the world; what is right and what is not.

Then take each one and see whether you can trace it back to where it came from. Is it an idea you got from a friend, a parent, even a celebrity you admire, or what you consider to be a reliable source of written information such as a book or website? (NB Remember to read this article through, but don’t accept my ideas unless it resonates with YOUR inner knowing!).

Once you know the source, it helps you look at it more objectively. Try saying the belief or character trait out loud. Here are some examples:

I believe I am powerful.

I believe I cannot change my circumstances.

I am loud and exuberant.

I am quiet and non confrontational.

Ask yourself some questions:

How do you feel when you say these things out loud?
Does it feel right?
Do you feel uncomfortable?
Does it trigger some kind of emotional response? If it does – pay attention as that is useful information.

Try to notice if there is any physical response from your body – e.g. you might get a sinking feeling, a cramp in your stomach or a feeling of shortness of breath. It could be as subtle as an eye twitch or clenched teeth. Those are all important clues that can lead us to understand how we really feel about the ideas, beliefs and character traits that make up who we are.

If you are patient (or even if you are not!) you can slowly sift through your list. Some statements may be in line with your true self, but you will find some that are not.

It can be a very liberating experience but can also take some courage because when you peel away all the stuff that was never really you and decide what IS, you may have to deal with disappointment and dismay from other people.

Not everyone will be happy when you do not live up to their expectations, especially if it means you have changed the dynamic between you in a way that does not suit them. This is actually a massive subject, so I’ll need to come back to that in a future blog – watch this space!

So, what about the aggrieved outcries of “You’ve changed”? Well… newsflash! We are evolving and changing all the time. We don’t just arrive at our true self and then stop developing. Life is continuous growth and progress. However, you want to evolve from a clear, uncluttered place that is authentically you, so that, from there, you can move to the next bigger and better version of yourself.

Life is a journey and an important part of that journey is the unfolding of who you really are. Go for it! There are no limits – only those you impose upon yourself.