You have to do the work yourself, you get to take your own credit. You get the win!

The wellness industry promotes the idea of handing your healing over to somebody else.

I observe this myself with some clients (more often with potential clients). The ones that drop away. Looking for a quick fix, a pill, a guru to follow.

Stop outsourcing your healing, only you can do that. For yourSelf. I can, of course, walk with you. I can support and guide you.

You are born to feel well. You are stronger than you realise. Take that power back.

Let’s Veranda Together.

The answer is closer to home than it might first appear but still I can catch myself wondering about external worth. Of course I know that external value is based on someone else’s standards and metrics so why look outside ?

We are but humans, wanting to fit in and feeling valued is normal.

But to what extent does this matter, is that a better question?

True worth is internal and wholly personal. Learning to trust yourSelf can take a little practice but I have found that it becomes easier over time.

Small steps.

Small shifts.

Repeated.

The internal metrics are likely different than those applied by others. Asking too much, placing expectations and standards that no one else is even aware of.

The standards I apply to myself are often higher than those applied by anyone else. Expectations appear from everywhere and nowhere. Rules inherited, conditioning dressed up as a truth. A backhanded compliment. And the deadly comparison game.

But what if we chose our own measures? How much do the scales move?

Even our internal valuation skips into serving others. Have we done enough in our duty to care for family and friends?

Supported enough?

Loved enough?

Let’s redefine our measures, let’s use our own yardstick.

You are enough, you give enough, your value is enough. And enough can look different at different times. Each chapter is a shift.

Right now I feel I have done enough.

I am not finished but I am different.

Let’s Veranda Together

I contemplated this for quite some time, each time asking the same question in different ways but not feeling brave enough to answer it fully.

Life had shifted, so where was I heading next?

Priorities changed, friendships drifted. Family became a little more complex, different. Children were adults.

Life is dynamic.

But life is also beautiful.

Nature teaches that change is inevitable. Ayurveda teaches the same

I was certainly in a new season, less familiar but equally exciting! I leaned into Ayurvedic wisdom.

Beginning a new chapter, an unfolding and a new weaving of life’s thread for me to follow. Was I resisting, was I fearful? The truth is, yes I was. Resisting as I felt uncomfortable about judgement. Fearful that others wouldn’t like or accept me as I unfolded. Broken chains that wouldn’t be repaired, that didn’t need repairing.

And then I remembered that my inner world is mine and mine only. That is the place where I create my dreams and my reality. Can they become more entwined? Could I allow that?

Embodying my beliefs in daily living does not mean I am no longer a good mother, wife, daughter or friend. It simply means I have gained control over my internal environment. The bonus is that I may become better at those things.

So the question wasn’t that complicated after all. It just wasn’t the only question. Each answer was tied together but ultimately I had the answers all along.

Allowing them to surface was the unfolding that I needed.

Where do you find yourSelf right now?

Let’s Veranda Together

My grandmother often said, “Nourishment not punishment.”

It inspired my name of Inner Nourishment.

But she wasn’t speaking as a nutritionist or any kind of wellbeing ‘expert’.

In fact, her diet would not impress any modern health professionals. What with her love of egg and chips, sausage rolls and strong milky tea. In her latter years there was always whiskey in her morning tea – convinced that a nurse had once approved this as medicinal !!

Yet she lived until 93.

What she did do was take life as it came, rarely phased and was always up for family fun, holidays and any kind of outing. She often took herself off to her own beach to have tea and watch the world go by.

She walked at a pace we had to keep up with, she travelled abroad into her eighties and permed her own hair.

As a child I remember her singing while doing housework and there were always warm sausage rolls on arrival (frozen not homemade!). So she wasn’t the queen of the kitchen but she always offered a warm welcome.

She lived her life with ease, something I don’t see often these days.

Which makes me wonder...

Where are we going wrong?

What if nourishment is not only about what we eat?

What if it is about how we live too?

Nourishment is bigger than food. Perhaps my grandmother knew that all along.

When did you last look up?

Not just a quick glance

Not just to check for rain clouds or the sound of a plane.

What do you feel when you look up?

This is a new question I ask each day.

Why?

Become better at being grounded – tick

Taking photos of my feet – tick

Allowing mySelf to feel expansive – not so much

Calm and grounding is on repeat

Regulate, slow down, sit in silence, meditate

Yes, yes

And I am pretty good at it.

But who wants to meditate all day?

What about having fun? What about growth? What about feeling expansive? Maybe even a little wild?

When did you last experience these?

Everything is in balance so surely we need to be expansive and rooted.

I can feel rooted easily but what about feeling expansive? How easy is that to achieve?

How do I tap into that energy? Shall I try things that have an unpredictable outcome? Not every action needs a measured approach. There are other experiences that don’t require sitting with my legs crossed.

Stillness serves many purposes and in this fast paced world is very much needed. But I need to feel alive too. To feel expansive. To feel vibrant.

Are you able to root and expand?

Let’s Veranda Together!

A word that can mean different things to different people at different times.

‘The state or situation of being alone’ by definition is not quite deep enough.

For me solitude is chosen. There are no negative connotations, only positive.

Whereas loneliness is another thing altogether.

‘Sadness because one has no friends or company’

Of course, loneliness stems from being alone, but one can feel lonely while surrounded by people or by busyness. Feeling lonely isn’t only a result of having no friends or company. Being alone is both physical and emotional. It involves sadness and isolation but feeling lonely isn’t a result of having no friends or company. Loneliness can lead to depletion and eventually depression. In Ayurveda, that is expressed as tamasic energy.

Being lonely feels like it needs fixing, a feeling that something is indeed missing. Comfort, support, friendship, special bonds perhaps?

So while solitude and loneliness can be physically similar in situation, they are rather different in reality.

When the opportunity arises for a morning, or an hour or two, alone, what would I choose for rejuvenating mySelf? An opportunity to reduce mental activity and stimulation from the outside world. It can look like contemplation and restfulness. Or maybe not.

Solitude offers choice. Time on my own to indulge in mySelf, with a goal of finding peace and quietening not just my external world but also my internal world.

It mostly feels light and airy to me, but somehow results in feeling grounded. It supports. It has no prescribed outcome. Just space and time.

In contrast, loneliness feels empty and at the same time heavy.

How did I move from always wanting to be ‘doing’ rather than mastering the art of ‘being’?

Maybe life slowed down enough, or maybe I steered my world towards finding that space.

Perhaps the difference is choice and perspective? I choose rejuvenation, like a reward, rather than choosing to feel lonely and empty.

It’s as if all the ‘re’s’ bring me something positive.

Rejuvenation

Release

Relaxation

Rejoice

Reimagine

Remember

Returning

Recharge

Reclaiming

This all feels like a state of mind rather than an action to take. I don’t need to climb a mountain (even metaphorically) to find inner peace. It is how I choose to spend my time alone.

Even smaller pockets of time can work if I hold on to the aim of quietening my mind. That can feel like enough.

Let’s Veranda Together X

Welcome to my wafting era.

Does this require ability or capacity or both? Who knows…

So what is it to waft?

Wafting has some specific qualities in my mind. It has lightness, it is breezy but also slow and intentional. Like a light fragrance and floaty dresses. It is cotton and linen mixed with flowers and maybe a little sparkle. Sparkle and dappled shade – yes.

Wafting has an ease about it, graceful and feminine, almost suspended and walking on air.

“Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet” the famous Thich Nhat Hahn quote – that has a wafting quality.

Indulging my senses more freely and more often. Being aware but at the same time being less attached to stuff.

Spending days unattached to tangible outcomes. Practicing the ability to immediately let go when something pivots, when life’s events are out of my control. With practice this will become easier. That’s what I feel unfolding in me. Perhaps that is what wafting feels like.

Will I shrug nonchalantly as dynamics shift? Accepting what is. Allowing intentions to move freely as needed. Noticing but not grasping.

What will this really feel like?

Having less resistance in my day. Being of service with no attachment to reward or recognition will surely free my mind. Allowing more space for joy, happiness and contentment. To experience unconditional love. Really feel it, slow down enough to feel it all.

So each day as I waft a little more, witness the beauty and promise in the simple things , in the everyday. Enjoying and appreciating and noticing, looking for the dappled shade, the sparkle, the warm glow but all felt with ease and grace.

Will you waft with me?

Let’s Veranda together X

^{The veranda is a place to look at both the inner and outer being. It is the threshold. The place to pause and reflect.}

^{I invite you to come sit a while. To observe, to notice and to wonder.}

^{The veranda is neither indoors nor outdoors, a space that sits somewhere in between.}

^{Occupying a place for contemplation. A place to witness what comes and goes, what lingers for longer and what is almost gone before it arrives.}

^{As each changing season bringing its own opportunities, its own lessons and invitations.}

^{So fill your cup with tea, settle into a comfy chair and simply listen to your own thoughts. Explore without judgement.}

^{Modern life often focuses on productivity, visibility and achievement. We are encouraged to keep moving forward, to keep striving, always doing. But what about the value in pausing. There is wisdom in reflection.}

^{This veranda is an invitation to step away from the noise for a while. To find a quiet space that honours reflection and pondering.}

^{A quiet corner where curiosity matters more than certainty. Where pondering is valued. Where we can explore what it means to live with greater awareness.}

^{Are you drawn towards finding a sanctum for yourSelf, somewhere for your own thoughts and feelings?}

^{If so, you are very much welcome on the veranda.}

^{The veranda is not a wellness trend, it is perhaps the opposite. It is a return home to yourSelf. A place to notice what is unfolding with openness rather than resistance.}

^{If you are looking for your own veranda, pull up a chair, fill your cup. Lets veranda together.}

^{You are always very welcome here.}