If you suffer from food obsession, you could find that it is starting to rule your life. You might constantly question how to stop obsessively thinking about food, or be constantly on the lookout for the best diets or ways in which to change your life so you are no longer ruled by food.

An unhealthy preoccupation with food can start to have consequences in all areas of your life, from your job, and health to your relationships. You can find yourself thinking about meals that you are going to be eating instead of concentrating on work, spending too much time planning meals instead of being with family and you can discover that it takes up too much space in your mind, leaving you with little room to think about anything else.

There is, of course, the major issue of health. An unhealthy obsession with food can leave you either overweight with health issues or underweight with health issues, which in both instances can be mental problems as well as physical problems.

January 1st….must start the new year off with a whole list of resolutions that I am going to achieve this year. January 8th…..well seem to be back to my old ways and have broken all of my resolutions already! Have you heard this before? Are you guilty of this? If so you aren’t alone, in fact, research has shown that only 9% of people see their resolutions through until the end of the year.

stationary goals journal

Why is it that we pick possibly the most depressing time of the year to set new goals and resolutions for ourselves, in the northern hemisphere anyway? Why do we find it so difficult? Shouldn’t we be given a manual on how to set goals and accomplish them?

Coping with life can seem overwhelming at times. No matter how old or what our circumstances are, we can all find moments when we feel out of control in our lives.

Although we live in an age where we have many time-saving devices and technology to hand, more money and free time and better living conditions than in any period in history, we can still feel that we have too much to do, are burdened down and are unable to control many situations in our lives.

When situations are out of your control or can lead to a build-up of stress and anxiety, it can affect everything from your relationships with yourself family and friends to your jobs and social lives.

You can also feel overwhelmed by the pressures of the world and find that life can at times be daunting.

What you think about becomes your reality. This is a certain fact that we can’t escape. You need to be thinking about how to make your thoughts become the reality that you want to be living and release thoughts that don’t serve you.

Imagine if we treated everybody in our world the same as we treat ourselves at times. Have you ever noticed that voice inside your head telling yourself all of the things that you do wrong and thinking “How do I stop being so hard on myself?” This constant habit we have of knocking ourselves down, criticizing ourselves and causing pain is something that needs to stop but how do you go about it?

Do you know what you will be doing in 5 years’ time? How about 5 months’ time? Tomorrow? Does it matter if you have no clue as to where your life is heading and what you want to be doing with it? The answer is yes if you want to succeed in life, if you want to grow and progress and see yourself flourish and live life to the full.

Goal setting is there for you to get the best out of life. Without goals in front of you, you will lack focus and drive. Goal setting gives you not only the impetus to get out there and do something, but it also gives you structure and determination.

Newly divorced, separated or bereaved and starting your life again on your own can be overwhelming. All of the couples things that you used to take for granted, dining out, holidays, always having a plus one may now have ended but that doesn’t mean that your life has. Navigating through can certainly have its hard moments but there are ways that you can get through and come out much stronger.

Life coaches work with you to clarify your goals and ambitions and to set plans for them to be realised. During your sessions, they can identify any obstacles that may set you back and can give you tools to motivate and keep you on track. They will identify strengths and weaknesses, gifts and talents that you can use to change your situation and become the person that you want to be.

As the year ends and a new start is just around the corner, it is traditionally a time that many of us start thinking about making changes in our lives, goal setting and developing positive intentions for the coming year. On average a quarter of the population will make new year resolutions, resolutions such as to lose weight, quit smoking reduce drinking, exercise more, live a healthier lifestyle, improve relationships, get a better job, set new goals and start relaxing more.

People are naturally more optimistic at the beginning of the new year, it’s a fresh start and they fully believe that they will stick to the resolutions and goals that they have set and will accomplish them. Despite all these grand plans and ideas though only a small number of people will achieve their goals, with the majority of people giving up before the month of January is out.

Anchors can also be used metaphorically by coaches with clients during NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) sessions when they are experiencing stress or anxiety, want to appear more confident, or want to change learned behaviour from a negative into a positive. These anchors are usually external stimuli, that when applied can trigger an internal response or feeling. If you thought of your own anchors for instance, how do you feel if you hear a particular piece of music that reminds you of a favourite time or a smell that reminds you of a loved one? Or think about an alarm going off and it may bring back memories of stress or fear.

We are often led to believe in life that following a certain path and achieving set goals will give us everything that we want and that this will lead to us being happy as if in some way, happiness is a goal to be reached, an endpoint in life. This is not what being happy is about. Happiness is not some final destination or something to be earned once you have put in the hard work, happiness is about living, day to day doing things that you love, that bring you satisfaction, and things that you want to be doing.

We will all have many varied relationships during our lifetime, from school to work to home life and social life. These relationships will bring us joy and sorrow, will be complex and long-lasting, fun and fleeting. They will see us through the good times and the bad times of our lives.

We live in a society where we are led to believe that there are certain markers we should hit by a certain age; finishing school, college, getting your first job and meeting your life partner usually by your late 20s. Then marriage, family, buying a home, career advancement by your late 30’s. Life up until this point is all mapped out. We are programmed from an early age to follow this formula to bring us success and happiness, and to set us up for our later years, with a family we can rely on as we get older, financial security as we retire, and all the trappings of the world that we live in.

When people think of investment their minds will go straight to shares, hedge funds, property, or business. These are the areas in life that people tend to place real value on when it comes to investing short-term for long-term gain. The reason generally is, that people value wealth and material possessions above everything else. For many, it’s a way of showing their worth, other people can see how far they have come.

CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy is a non-medical treatment that focuses on how what you think and believe has a direct effect on how you feel and behave. It teaches you tools and techniques for coping with the problems that you are experiencing. CBT as a treatment involves talking with someone to identify any negative thoughts and patterns that you may have and then investigates ways that you can change your thinking and feeling enabling you to make changes in a positive way behaviorally in the future. CBT treatment combines cognitive - things that you think and behavior - things that you do. It is a common treatment for a range of mental problems such as anxiety and depression.

Are you the type of person who finds it hard to say no? Do you say yes to everything even when sometimes you are screaming No!! inside? Do you want everyone to like you and so find that you are never true to yourself? If this is you then it’s time you learned to stop trying to please everyone and focus on yourself.

Are you experiencing a midlife crisis? How would you know if you were? Are the symptoms that you are feeling to do with hormonal changes, is it the onset of menopause that is making you feel the way that you do? Are you suffering from a bout of depression and can’t identify why? As many women move into the second half of their lives, they have a feeling that they are at a crossroads in life and they are not sure which direction they should be going in. They are dissatisfied with their life but don’t know which way to turn to fix them. There are ways though, to make the second half of your life the best half, to move you away from feeling dissatisfied and stuck to feeling fulfilled and free to live your life the way that you want to.

As revolutions go, the Pro-aging revolution will have up to now have passed many people by. But that is something that is changing. This is a movement that is starting to take hold of the beauty industry, bloggers, media, and major influencers. This is a revolution that is changing the way society views age and all the connotations that go with it.

We all know the benefits of a good diet and exercise for the well-being of our physical health but they are also fundamentally important for our mental health as well. Following good holistic practice in life is one way that will keep you mentally fit and healthy. More and more people are seeing the benefits of following a holistic lifestyle when dealing with conditions such as anxiety, stress, and depression as a way to deal with their symptoms.

As we move into the final days of the year, many of us will start to set goals and resolutions for the coming year. Whether it is wanting to lose weight, get healthier, exercise more, get another job…..whatever it is, the New Year always seems like the ideal time to start a new chapter in your life.