One of the greatest limiting factors in life is the imagined worry of what others will think of us.

• Why do we care so much about the opinion of others?

• Why do we live our lives based on the opinion of others?

• Often we make a decision solely on what others will say.

• We buy clothes in the hope of a compliment. We buy things to impress others. We live to impress others.

  This is not living but desperately trying to get a bit part in somebody else’s show.

The only reason we ever fear others Gossiping about us is when we have done something that we know in our heart was not the correct thing. Otherwise people love to gossip. It is the hobby of people who are not living the way they desire and have nothing else going on in their lives. Live your own life the way you choose. You might even enjoy it more.

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Would you like to increase your energy, reduce stress, improve your focus and enjoy peace of mind? Try Forgiveness. Its priceless!

Forgive & Forget

Live Life Now

Forgiveness is a powerful and noble attribute of a person. It can be one of the most traumatic stages of healing and breaking free from the severe control of the mind. The mind feels powerful in its bitterness and anger. To forgive would mean the mind would have to surrender this power and superiority that it feels it has over the other person and the wrong it feels that has been bestowed upon its life. It vows never to forgive and absolutely never to forget. We lead a miserable existence when lived in this state of mind.

Forgiveness is the way to peace in life. Forgiveness is the way to a healthy body in life. Forgiveness is the way to clear skin. Forgiveness is the way to a clear mind. To forgive another human being for their stupidity and ignorance is a powerful act of strength.

Extracts from the Wellbeing Book 'Same World New Mind' by Teresa Spelman

Transform

today

Real solid self-confidence comes from a positive pride as a result of hard work. There is a different type of confidence that is projected when one has nothing to show. It is ego confidence. It is full of air with no substance. It’s all talk and no action.

When we make a firm decision for our self and our life and we continually make strides to achieve this we gain self-confidence. When we talk a lot and do nothing we gain ego and nothing else.

Many of us are able to talk about doing but not so many actually make efforts to do what they talk so much about.

It is not the success which gives us the confidence but the efforts we make and our perseverance along the way. Failures lead to success just as success can lead us back to failure. They make no difference to a person with a clear and focused vision for their life. They are mere obstacles to be overcome or walked around on the journey of the bigger picture and higher focus

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When we try to sit in silence with our mind, it can be a daunting and noisy experience.

We have been programmed from an early age to live our lives in a constant state of distraction from our self. We keep busy often to avoid having to face our deep inner thoughts and feelings which we suppress daily.

So when we first sit with our mind in silence & watch the stream of people and thoughts rushing in to greet us, it often overwhelms & irritates us. We want to run away very fast. We get up after only a few minutes of frustrated silence & turn on the TV, read a book or call a friend, anything but really see what is going on in our mind.

It is a gruelling task to face the interior demons. The emotional attachment we give to our thoughts can cause us much pain and unnecessary suffering. The good news is when we take the time and muster up the courage to face these thoughts & associated feelings, they slowly begin to dissolve & eventually in time disappear or certainly no longer have the power they once had over us.

The objective of a meditation practise is to create new more logical and eventually positive thoughts.

Extracts from Same World New Mind:The Wellbeing Guide for the Mind Body & Soul

WellbeingSuperstar

The Guide

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Love Life Now

The Present Is A Present

Have you ever wondered why we have such a significant amount of mental and physical sickness in a world where we have such sophisticated medicines & highly technical hospital equipment available? Since the beginning of time, the world has been going through constant change & development. However, the body & mind that we have been given as our passport to live in the world has not evolved in the same way. We live now in a world so far removed from nature & from the simple lifestyle of our ancestors that our bodies and minds are struggling to cope.

At a first glance, the complementary wellbeing therapies like naturopathy and yoga can seem like a whimsical & quirky way of living. We read stories about Yogis in the Himalayas in India standing on one foot for a number of years to gain salvation and peace of mind in this life. Rest assured there are simpler methods we can all master & easily integrate into the modern day medical and educational setting to enable us to live well without having to resort to standing on one leg for too long.

Naturopathy and the complementary therapies are not some new trendy form of lifestyle, but a recognised scientific method of healing that has been practised since the beginning of time. Hippocrates is regarded as the greatest physician of his time, and he himself believed in the natural healing process of rest, a good diet, fresh air & cleanliness. He advocated treating the body as a whole & not just as individual parts. This is where the power of the more holistic complementary treatments like meditation, yoga based stretches and proper diet come into their own.

Meditation and medication have only one letter that suggests their differences. Maybe it's time we began allowing meditation to be part of our medication. 

Rumi once wrote ‘Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is a field I will meet you there’. This field of neutrality, equality and respect is the place where the western practises must meet with the eastern practises in moving forward and creating a new world of wellbeing.

Teresa Spelman

Naturopathy Doctor & Yoga Teacher
Mobile: 00353864674507

World Wellbeing

Teresa Spelman

Publication in The International Wellbeing Conference NUIG

Living WITH BULIMA

PUBLISHED IN Galway Now Magazine

by

Teresa Spelman 

Everyday we put food into our mouth. Some of us eat and forget about food till we feel hungry again, for others it is a daily emotional nightmare of ‘Will I have this’ or ‘am I allowed that’ and ‘will this make me fat’?

I was 14 years of age when I first noticed I had a body. I was 15 years of age when I noticed I had a body that was not perfect. I was 21 years of age when I began to feel such hatred, loathing and frustration towards my body that I turned to bulimia as I did not have the willpower to be anorexic.

During those times of desperation when I felt the suffocating pressure of stress on my chest, I would turn to the fridge and the cupboards and eat with such a focus and concentration that I could have been mistaken for a Buddhist monk. Of course monks focused on emptiness and not the smooth taste of Nutella as it melted down their throat or the satisfying crunchiness of a packet of ginger biscuits combined with chunks of milk chocolate.

The funny thing about an eating disorder is that it has nothing to do with food at all. Food is just the drug or focus of choice that is used to suppress and distract from any and all feelings that you are too frightened to face. Looking at unrealistic body shapes in magazines and on the television was not the cause of my experiences with bulimia. Being called ‘fat ass’ or ‘Hey chubby cheeks’ was not the cause of my experiences with depression. Life itself does the job of triggering what you need to face about yourself. It is only when I stopped and started observing what I needed to change within myself could I begin to slowly transform my daily life. I needed to face my own ego pride, my once deeply hidden fears of death, the helpless need for control and know my purpose and meaning in this world.It was not the food which I needed to purge and be rid of but all the unexpressed feelings and emotions, the rampant and fierce thoughts and the loud constant judgement of the mind.

Truths

'Surgery can help to remove a damaged organ but only meditation & quiet time can remove emotions like anger and fear to calm and soothe a disturbed mind'

It took a number of years, but the hell that is Bulimia which had taken life years earlier with an innocent jar of Nutella in France, finally ended for good on a weighing scales in a naturopathy hospital in India. I remember the morning very well. I was heading out to see the naturopathy Doctor for the usual check up. I glanced at myself in the mirror and my mind said I was still too fat and I would have to fast for a few more days. I was no longer throwing up the food and so strict rules were still in place with regard to what I could and could not eat. I was so tired of it now. I left my room feeling hopeless and helpless. I had already been fasting for days. I had a few minutes to wait before I could see the naturopath and so I popped onto the weighing scales,something I never allowed myself to do. I was shocked & confused at the (extremely low) numbers flashing in front of my eyes. How could this be? My mind had said I was still too fat and yet the scales were saying something very different. Were they broken? I weighed myself a few times just to be certain. And that was it. I was already (too) thin and had been for many years but could not see it. That was the moment the mind truly lost the war and it was over and it was time to make a return to health and living again.

There are many things I don’t miss about that time in my life. I don’t miss feeling cold all the time. I don’t miss feeling weak and the accompanying dizziness. I like that I can concentrate for longer than 5 minutes. It is such a joy not being forced to exercise to earn the food I might be allowed to eat later. I don’t miss those bony painful ribs sticking out of my body. I like when I sit down now that it doesn’t hurt. I definitely do not miss the endless criticism from the mind while out clothes shopping with comments like you are too fat for that, too ugly to wear that, too fat thighed to wear that, too fat ankled to wear that, too big bumpy nosed to go out like that and so on. I like that my thighs are affectionate and on good terms with each other again. I like not having to check a mirror every 5 minutes to see if I have lost any weight or have an altered/better body than the one I had woken up with that day. I especially enjoy not having that desperate unrelenting desire to be thin.

So long to the daily strict exercise regimes, the controlled feeding frenzies and the self-hatred that had once been a silent yet powerful companion. Having lived for years not knowing that it was OK to be myself, even when that meant at times, disappointing others or not living up to their expectations, was a liberating realisation and one that has set me free in so many ways. I love that life is once again full of possibility & wonder.