The holiday season draws to a close, time to think

As the annual holiday season gradually draws to a close, now is the time to consider life.

Often the summer holiday is the only time we give ourselves to reflect on our direction in life. The daily grind is for a short time put on one side as we get on with the rest of life.

During these considerations and reflections we might start to think about whether our career is really what we want and whether our choices have delivered what we were looking for.

These are useful moments to embrace, the next time this happens might be a year away!

So just for a while, go with the flow and think about the rest of your life.

Best Wishes

John Burns

Nailbiting, anxiety and shame

Nailbiting is one of those habits that hang around from childhood often starting as a way of relieving anxiety or boredom.

In an adult context the the habit can go on for years unless checked, sometimes leading to embarassment or feelings of shame about one's hands.

At Gift4life.com we are working on a new down-loadable MP3 to deal with this but until it is finished we have a PDF helpfile that you may find useful if you or someone you know is a nail biter.
Take a quick visit to http://www.gift4life.com/acatalog/nail_biting.html
and download the nailbiting file from there. There are some great tips in there that we think you'll find very useful.

John Burns

Losing (or shedding) weight

Weight loss and dieting is a huge industry; but not always a successful one. Diet programs can and do work very well if you stick to them.

I find that often the clients who come to see me have often been through the yo-yo cycle of diet-weight gain-diet.

So if you are thinking of shedding unwanted pounds (or kilos) what practical steps can you take today.

1) Keep a food and mood diary it is surprising just how taking this simple step can enable you to take control of just when and why you eat.

2) Try moving your main meal to the middle of the day, this is when we tend most active and so most able to burn of the calories.

3) Stay well hydrated throughout the day, a good water balance will tend to balance out your mood and so stop the tendency to comfort eat.

4) Consider taking a multi-vitamin; as you make changes in your diet it can help you retain all the nutrients you need to start the metabolism working more effectively.

5) Take some moderate exercise each and every day, reducing your calorific intake alone is unlikely to be successful.


6) Try moving your carbohydrate (rice, potatoes, pastry etc.) foods to the beginning and middle of the day and focus on proteins (meat, mushroom etc.) and vegetables to the end of the day.


7) Remember that changes are for the whole of your life going back to regular jam doughnut sessions will just take you back to the old cycles of diet and weight gain.

If all of that still doesn't deliver what you need then give me a call!

What do you do?

I do often get asked about what I do; the usual expectation is that I spend my time persuading smokers to leave the weed behind. More often however I am to be found working with anxiety sufferers and insomniacs.

For most of us insomnia is nothing more than an occasional irritation when we feel overloaded by job or personal worries. For some people though it becomes a way of life, almost never having enough sleep to function during the day. If this sounds like someone you know (or even you) then do get a check up with your doctor, there are several medical reasons why sleep might be difficult.

If after that there is nothing medically wrong, you may be offered sleeping pills to help. These can in the short term be effective but it is far more effective to deal with the underlying issues. That is where your local therapist can help or some self help audio can be a way forward. Old issues can sometimes make us feel axious and this in turn can lead to insomnia.

Let the issues go and often you will be able to sleep easily once more.