For The Balance Of Life

How to Overcome Compulsive Shopping

2009-09-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

In the current financial climate, almost everyone is having to tighten their purse strings and cut back on a few of life’s luxuries.

But for many people, their shopping habits have become an addiction. They spend money to make themselves feel better. ‘Treating’ themselves here and there. ‘Comfort shopping’. Spending more money over the course of the month than they want to, or can even afford.

It’s not always easy to give up this habit as it is no different to be addicted to smoking, drinking or even gambling! Also, we are constantly bombarded with new gadgets and ideas by the media, so these tantalising purchases are constantly being shoved in your face.

The first step in overcoming this addiction is recognising the problem. You may already have recognised it. If not, take a look around your house and your wardrobe. If it’s full of things that have never been used or worn, then you may have a problem.

The next step is to stop beating yourself up about it. The only person who gets hurt and upset when you do this is you! It’s also important not to label yourself by saying things like “I’m a Shopaholic” as if you do, you are actually giving yourself permission to continue.

One of the key things to do to overcome this, is to keep yourself out of harm’s way as much as possible. Maybe limit our shopping time by allocating yourself some much reduced shopping time, and sticking to only shopping at that time. Also, set yourself a budget that you don’t allow yourself to go over. If you do go over budget one week, you then have to compensate by going under budget the following week.

And if you do go wrong on occasions, don’t use this as an excuse to give up on your new regime.

Spend some time coming up with alternative things you can do that don’t cost money to ‘reward’ or ‘treat’ yourself. Ideas include having a soak in a relaxing bubble bath with a glass of wine; or spending an hour pampering yourself; or taking some time out to sit and read a book you’ve always wanted to read.

Create a waiting period where you have to wait 48 hours before buying something you want to see if you still feel the same about it. Removing any credit cards from your purse or wallet so they are not easily available to you will help you achieve this.

Keeping a money diary can also be very worthwhile. This allows you to have a visual representation of your spending habits which can then make it easier to link shopping sprees to how you were feeling at the time. Enabling you to identify the times you chose to ‘comfort shop’.

Another option is to make yourself responsible to someone else such as a close friend. So that you have to ask their ‘permission’ before you can buy something. This is especially key if you’re struggling with your willpower. Having to call a friend to ask whether it is okay to buy something can really help you walk away that much easier.

Boosting your confidence and self-esteem will also help you. One of the main reasons people comfort shop is because they are experiencing low self-esteem or confidence. Having the need to ‘reward’ yourself for doing something well. Why not try listening to a self-help recording such as Total Self-Esteem Boost to increase your determination.

Or alternatively, you could use End Compulsive Shopping Now to help you change your habits once and for all.

How to get enthusiast about exercise

2009-06-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Do you dread the thought of going to the gym, or an exercise class? Maybe you want to exercise at home but find any excuse to get out of doing it? Well you are not alone!

So many people find it hard to commit to regular exercise, it requires a huge amount of willpower and motivation, which can be hard to find. Of course, one easy way to keep at your exercise regime is to hire a personal trainer or go to one of those army-style boot camp retreats, however, not all of us have the time or money for this!

Sometimes we forget though that exercise doesn’t have to mean joining a gym. We can begin to take small, easy steps each day to bring more exercise and movement into our daily lives.

Small steps such as parking in the furthest parking space from the shops so you have to take more steps to get there; taking the stairs instead of using the lift or escalators; sitting on one of those gym balls instead of the sofa whilst watching TV; or even doing bum clenches every time you have to wait at a red traffic light, or when the adverts are on during your favourite TV show! These are all little ways to start getting more exercise into your day with minimum effort.

We all get so caught up in what the word “exercise” means. It doesn’t have to be hours in the gym, or repeating the same old fitness DVD until you can repeat what’s being said parrot fashion. Exercise can be fun as well! Why not try dancing classes with a friend such as Salsa, or if you’re feeling adventurous check out the new pole dancing or burlesque dancing lessons that are taking the country by storm at the moment.

Another downfall for people who find it hard to stick to exercise routines is the negativity we choose to put on it. We say we “have” to do it, we “must” do it, whilst screwing up our faces and becoming aware of the feelings of dread or loathing inside of us.

A far better way to remain positive about exercise is to focus on what we are getting from it instead of the actual act of doing it, such as a healthier body, or losing weight, or getting into that perfect bikini, whatever your reason is. And it can be a good idea to come up with a positive affirmation or mantra that you can repeat to yourself such as:

“I’m getting closer to becoming a dress size smaller” or;
“I am going to fit into that bikini/dress/special outfit” or;
“I can feel my body becoming healthier every day”.

So begin to think about WHY you want to get more exercise into your life, and this will be your main motivation, and then make up your mantra around your reason why. You need to make this as personal and specific as you can though so it works for you. This will then help you remain focussed on your goal rather than the here and now of your exercise regime.

Whatever you choose to do though, make sure you allocate yourself some specific time each day and/or week when your are going to do your chosen activities and book this time out in your diary or on a calendar so you don’t end up doing something else in this time instead. After all, you are the only one that you are letting down by not doing your chosen exercise.

It has also been proven that having an exercise “programme” will also help you remain motivated. I.e. increasing targets set over a number of weeks. So, for example, you could start off walking around the block where you live once a day. Then, over a period of a couple of weeks, increasing this to twice around the block, then once round at a slow jog, eventually increasing to running over another couple of weeks. This then allows you to notice your improvements in fitness, helping you to keep up your determination.

However, if you are still struggling to keep going, you may find it useful to listen to a CD like Total Exercise Motivation to really fill you with energy and get you going!

IBS and how to overcome it

2009-05-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

1 in 5 people currently suffer from IBS in the UK, that’s around a whopping 20% of the UK’s population, and they’re just the people that have been diagnosed by a GP or Gastroenterologist. Many others are either too embarrassed to visit their GP about their symptoms or don’t feel it is worthy of their doctor’s time.

Symptoms of IBS range from diarrhoea, constipation, wind, indigestion, reflux, bloating, pins and needles, headaches, stomach cramps, feeling nauseous and can also create additional symptoms for women during their menstrual cycles. People can experience anything from just one or two of these symptoms to all of them, and the symptoms can range in severity greatly as well.

One known trigger for IBS is food, although again, different people have different trigger foods and some find that food doesn’t even seem to cause a problem for them. Out of the people that are affected by food though, the most common triggers are wheat and dairy. So to try to minimise these food groups in your diet can be a good place to start to see if your symptoms then reduce.

Keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks can be a great way to work out what your triggers are. All you would need is something like this:

Time

Food Eaten

Liquid Drunk

How Feeling?

You can download a PDF of this food diary here

Once you have filled this in for a couple of weeks you should easily begin to notice which foods affect you the most.

One of the main triggers for IBS though is stress. Now, it could be related to a particular event or time in your life when you are particularly under stress, causing the IBS symptoms to start. Or it maybe that you are someone who worries a lot generally in life and easily becomes stressed about things, in which case you are more likely to have experienced IBS symptoms for some time. If this is the case, working on building your self-esteem and techniques to help you stop worrying would be very worthwhile for you to help you reduce your stress level.

Whatever the reasons you are experiencing IBS symptoms, it is extremely beneficial for you to begin practising relaxation techniques. The reason for this being that the more calm you remain, the less you will experience the symptoms. Relaxation techniques can consist of learning to meditate, or trying yoga classes, or even just taking some time out for yourself each day when you can daydream and chill out, maybe having a relaxing soak in the bath, or listening to your favourite piece of relaxing music.

If you are someone who needs more structure though, or you are finding it difficult to focus on relaxing, you may find it beneficial to begin listening to a relaxation CD until you have got into the routine of relaxing, such as Total Relaxation.

Working on your self-esteem and putting an end to worrying on your own can also be challenging, so why not try a CD such as Total Self-Esteem Boost or No More Worries to help you.

Alternatively, a relaxation CD specifically created to help you overcome your IBS symptoms may be more what you are looking for. Try something like Total IBS Relief to help you get rid of your IBS symptoms forever.

How stress affects your body and how to overcome it

2009-05-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

The affects of stress on the immune system have been well researched. Stress an be the cause of many illnesses, both mental and physical such as migraines and tension headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, eczema, psoriasis, anger, depression, anxiety and many more. This is because the body can only deal with so much stress before it has to find an outlet for it.

Our bodies are not designed to deal with the stress we put them under in the 24/7 world we live in these days, especially in today’s current climate with the economic downturn we are struggling with. With so many things on our mind, it can be so easy to spend most of our time worrying about things. This, in turn, causes our stress levels to build.

Of course, this also affects how our bodies run. We maybe don’t sleep as well as usual; it can cause our blood pressure to increase, which then puts our immune system under stress, as our bodies aren’t running at their optimum level. This makes it much more likely that we will pick up viruses, colds and the like with a lower immune system. The biggest of which in the news at the moment of course is Swine Flu.

There are many ways we can begin to reduce the levels of stress in our bodies though, which in turn enables our bodies to run at a healthier level, boosting our immune systems again, which then makes it easier for us to fight off bugs and viruses.

The easiest and quickest way to begin to reduce the stress is to take some time each day to chill out and relax, now you may think this is easier said than done when you have things on your mind causing you to worry, but all you need is to just take 15-30 minutes each day to do something you enjoy that relaxes you.

The things you can do are so varied and will depend on what you enjoy as an individual. For some people going for a run is their way of relaxing, for others it can be a soak in a bubble bath, for others still it can be reading a book, or doing a crossword, or listening to their favourite music, or even just spending some time doing nothing other than daydreaming!

It can be so easy to find a little bit of time each day to do this for yourself. We spend so much time maintaining other things, our families, our careers, but after all maintaining ourselves and our health is the most important thing. You might find it easier to have a set time each day when you do this, or to block out half an hour in your diary each day just for you, or take 20 minutes before you go to bed each night.

You may feel you don’t have the time to do this, but maintaining yourself in this way actually makes you more productive the rest of the time!

If you are someone who needs a bit more structure, or you find it difficult to focus on your own, you may find it easier to listen to a relaxation CD for a while until you get into the habit of relaxing. Why not try something like Total Relaxation. Or if you already feel stress is a big part of your life, something like Total Stress Relief may be more suited to you. Alternatively, you may feel that something to help you stop worrying might be more beneficial to you, such as No More Worries.

These CDs are great for helping you learn how to relax properly and how to overcome stress and worry. You can even put them on an MP3 player or your mobile phone and listen to them on your work journey so long as you’re not driving!

So what are you going to do today to start to become more relaxed and calmer?

Is there such a thing as pain free labour?

2008-01-10T03:30:00.000-08:00

So you’ve discovered that you’re pregnant. You’ve probably been through (and may be continuing to go through) a wide range of feelings, emotions and thoughts about all sorts of things such as parenthood, your new baby, and the idea of labour, regardless of whether this is your 1st child or your 4th!

This is all very normal and natural considering how your life is going to change as a result of this new addition to your family, and is partly caused by the changing hormones pregnancy brings and because of any beliefs or ideas you have about pregnancy or yourself, you could also be remembering any past experiences of pregnancy and labour.

Labour can be a particularly scary thing though, even if you’ve been through it before (sometimes this can even make the thought worse!) especially as we in Western cultures attribute the idea of pain to labour.

So why is it we consider labour painful?

Well virtually all of the pain that women can experience during labour is caused by tension. Being tense restricts the flow of blood to all the tiny blood vessels that surround the womb, and this restriction of blood flow is what causes the pain.

So why are we tense?

This tension can be caused for many reasons but mainly it is caused by fear, fear of the unknown, fear caused by past painful experiences, fear brought on by stories told by other people or scenes seen on TV or in film.

Another reason we experience tension is from our beliefs that labour should be painful, after all that’s what we’re brought up to believe!

So why don’t women in other cultures or animals experience this pain?

Because they’ve been brought up to believe that labour is just a natural experience that shouldn’t be painful, just something our bodies were designed to be able to do for us, calmly and naturally. They have no misconceptions in their beliefs to allow them to think otherwise.

So how can we change these beliefs and remove this tension in ourselves to allow us to experience a relaxing, pain free labour?

Well there are several ways of achieving this such as visualisations of experiencing a calm, relaxing birth; different breathing techniques that enable you to stay in control; and releasing any fears or beliefs linked to the idea of painful labour.

One of the best ways of achieving this is by using self-hypnosis, giving you the ability to relax yourself fully whilst focussing your mind on whatever it is you want to achieve. Famous celebrities are even turning to hypnosis to release their fears, Simple Life star Nicole Richie is the latest, you can read the report by clicking here

There have been many studies into the benefits of using self-hypnosis for labour, which can be found on the internet that have shown results that mothers not only experience pain free labour but also reduced labour times and require less medication and intervention from medical staff. To check out one of these studies click here.

For people new to the idea of self-hypnosis you may find it beneficial to use a CD programme to assist you in learning the techniques such as the one offered by Field’s Hypnotherapy entitled Total Positive Birthing. This teaches you how to relax fully and includes self-hypnosis sessions covering all the different stages of labour plus feeding, bonding and healing for after the birth has taken place.

This is what one customer had to say after using this product:

I just wanted to say a huge thank you for enabling me to have such a positive pregnancy and birth experience. I found the sessions extremely relaxing and enjoyable. People would comment on how calm I seemed during my pregnancy and my positive approach to the birth. I did not see the relaxation sessions and visualisations techniques as giving me the perfect pain free birth as I didn’t think that existed but I was pleasantly surprised at how the birth went.

I had some bleeding after my waters broke so was advised to go to the hospital to get monitored. They decided to keep me in over night and if nothing happened to induce me in the morning. I had my tens machine on at this stage as I was starting to get mild contractions. These continued through the night so I used the techniques you taught me to distract from the pain and get sleep where I could. I was expecting a busy day the next day so needed all the sleep I could get.

When the morning came around I was moved to a labour room to wait for the consultant to examine me before they induced. She came in and to her surprise and mine found that I was already 9cm dilated! To think I got that far with what felt like stomach cramps amazes me even when I think about it now. It took me another 6 hours to give birth and I was able to manage with just gas and air. I was so pleased to have avoided any other drugs. I now have my wonderful daughter who is just as beautiful as I imagined she would be and I can enjoy her without having to get over a traumatic birth.

I have been and will continue to recommend this to anyone I know who is pregnant. I found the whole experience enjoyable and still use the relaxation techniques to help me settle after night feeds or when things can seem a hectic. Thank you so much.

To view more information about this CD programme click here
For more information regarding hypnosis visit www.fieldshypnotherapy.co.uk