Woody Wonders

  ... although let's be honest, it's usually not that joyful!  It's cold, dark, and a very, very long time to the next payday!! You know my thoughts on New Year resolutions by now, I'm not a great fan despite the fact that I absolutely love planning, organising, goals, targets etc etc.  However, it's simply not a good time of year to put pressure on ourselves.  Every year we think that something magical is going to happen on the 1st January and we'll morph into super motivated human beings.  I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being realistic and whilst it's brilliant to have the goal of changing something in your life for the better, you need to go about it in the right way. Instead of charging into the new year like a bull in a china shop, use January and February to re-group so that you are ready to emerge in Spring, along with all the other new shoots and things in nature that have been resting and recuperating.  Don't be too complacent though, th...

What does positive mental health look like? As we near the end of mental health awareness week, it's made me think about my own mental health. I consider myself to be extremely lucky in that I've never suffered from depression or any kind of mental health issues.  I'd go as far as to say that I believe I'm incredibly strong in terms of my mental health.  Why?   Is that down to my genetic make-up or is it the things I do in order to keep a positive mindset?  A combination of the two?   I simply don't know.   A number of years ago I lost both my own sister and my sister-in-law within 3 weeks of each other.  If that isn't a good enough reason to be depressed then I don't know what is.  But, even though I had some horrendously bad days and was incredibly sad, I don't think I ever felt depressed.  I remember one particular day where I sat in my dressing gown all day and cried.  I also remember thinking to myself "this is ...