HEALTH + WELLNESS
BEAUTY BEGINS ON THE INSIDE cont .
Soul :
GO A DAY WITHOUT COMPLAINING
What with thoughtless memes and outright trolling , there ’ s a lot of ugliness that ’ s thrown at people by people that don ’ t even know said people these days . It ’ s not good , for anyone , so flip it and start upping your positivity quotient . OK , there might not be any tomatoes left in Tesco , the weather might be grey and dreary , or Monday morning might fast be approaching , but every time you complain , you ’ re heaping a big dollop of negative energy not just into your life , but into the world overall . Complaining breeds complaining , so before you start waxing lyrical about your peeves , stop and try to think of a way to solve the problem – there will be other tomatoes ; you ’ re lucky to have a warm , dry home ; and , Monday marks a fresh week full of fresh opportunities . If you can ’ t solve it , move on , it ’ ll free you of the stress .
HEAD OUT INTO THE FOREST
Not your run of the mill walking route , forests are enchanting – where else are you likely to encounter more squirrels and horses than people ? – and the Forestry Commission are encouraging us all to get out and explore the abundance of forest right on our doorsteps with a constantly evolving ‘ Active Forests ’ programme . Besides off-road cycling courses available at various sites and accessible to everyone from toddlers on stabilisers to hardy mountain bikers , # RunForestRun running routes cater for beginner runners with 3km , 2km and 1km trails marked out at various forests across the UK , and last year ‘ Wild Running ’ was established allowing more experienced runners to download routes across off-piste , non-waymarked trails – head to the website to find out about forest activities near you then get out and be at one with nature for a while : www . forestry . gov . uk .
SPEAK UP
It ’ s all very well being appalled at how badly the trains are running , or shocked that you ’ ve found out your favourite cosmetics are tested on animals , but in order to make change happen , you need to take positive action . When petitions that you support pop up on your social media feed , sign them ; if you really feel the road outside your child ’ s school needs a lower speed limit , write to the council and your local MP ; if you ’ re outraged by the government ’ s treatment of the refugee crisis ,
stage a march or mass meeting and call them out on it . Turn your mental complaints into tweets , Facebook posts , forums , letters and meetings in a measured and pro-active manner and you ’ ll find your voice and actions have the capacity to make a profound impact on the topics that niggle you .
BE KIND
Sounds simple . Is simple . You might think karma ’ s a load of airy-fairy nonsense , but thousands of years of philosophical thinking would disagree : what you put out into the world is what you get back . If someone irks you and you lose your rag , you ’ ll irk them and likely irk the person who they go on to tell ; it ’ s a whole chain of unnecessary irking that can be stopped short if you take a step back and assess if the situation is really worth all the aggravation . Smiling at a stranger , carrying someone ’ s bags who ’ s clearly struggling , or being patient with the shopper in front of you who ’ s taking an age to pack their shopping are all small , simple acts of kindness ; practice them whenever you can and you ’ ll think , feel and look better .
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