Welcome to your Monday moment of pause...

What a pallaver last week when I discovered my newsletter had been swallowed up by an internet black hole and hadn't actually reached you.  Big thanks to my friend Sue who alerted me to that when she checked in to see if I was ok.  I'm naming her my unofficial 'Editor' as she also spotted that the link to the boys dancing video didn't work so here it is again for your viewing pleasure.  Definitely a heart smile moment.

Fingers crossed this sends - if it doesn't I'll forward by email again. 

Sowing flowers for loved ones

This lovely little seed paper heart was inside the pack I received when attending the Sue Ryder Celebrate a Life service in December.  I've been waiting until Spring to sow it to produce poppies, daisies and forget-me-knots in the summer.  I picked up some extra hearts from work last month to share the love.  A dear friend had had a sudden and crushing bereavement so she has been able to share some flower seed hearts with the family and friends of her loved one.  As you can imagine they are all feeling the heartbreak of wonderful memories of their person and the agony of now being without him.  It reminds me of the utter grinding pain of grief and how joy bleeds out of life in the blur of it all.  

As I potted up these seeds on Sunday I thought of all the people who have passed through our doors at Sue Ryder.  Too many to count but as it's 2 years in April since I started working there we're definitely talking hundreds.  All special, all very much remembered.  

Joy comes back

''When you finally realise that joy is less fireworks, more firefly; less orchestra, more birdsong, she will come back more often.  For joy will not fight with the fast pace of this life, she dallies not in the shiny or the new.  She breathes in the basic, shimmers in the simple and dances in the daily too and fro.  Joy has been beckoning you for many a year, my friend.  You were just too busy doing to see.  The very next time joy wraps her quiet warmth around you, as the garden embraces your weary body in it's wildness, tip her a nod.  You cannot force her to stay but if you are a gracious host, joy comes back.'' - Donna Ashworth, The Essential Collection Joy Chose You

Walking away the worries of the day as a family

We all know that taking a walk clears your head, boosts circulation and eases stress.  But did you know that an evening walk can help to calm the nervous system by signalling an end to the day.  Neuroscientists suggest that the brain needs a physical signal sometimes to switch off stress and a slowly paced evening walk can do just that.  For kids an evening walk helps the body release the stress of school or screen time overload.  For adults it releases work tension, is a chance for connection and a clearer mind for going to sleep.   

Research has show that evening walks lower stress hormones without actually talking about feelings (it's a chance to ''digest'' the day).  Movement after dinner lowers cortisol and helps to regulate emotions.  Adults report feeling less wired and irritated.  Emotions are calmed by slowing down the body and giving the brain a chance to release instead of ruminating when your head hits the pillow.  The body learns calm through gentle and connected presence.  Overtime this lowers anxiety, improves focus and reduces evening resistence. 

After a walk children fall asleep faster and wake less at night.  Adults enter deeper sleep stages.  Walking helps melatonin rise at the right time.  It's not about tiring the body but calming the nervous system.  I can't say I've ever noticed the next day how I've slept after an evening walk but I definitely resonated with why it's a good idea.  When the boys were younger they loved ''park in the dark'' walks where they'd zoom up and down the path with only the light up wheels on their scooters visible.  They still talk about it now and we have many smudgy, out of focus dark smiley pictures to show for it.  The resounding memory we all have of those walks is the love and connection we felt.  

Springtime wellbeing offers throughout March 

Hoorah, Spring is offically with us this month and I for one am delighted with the blue skies and sunny days emerging.  It's been a hard winter for many and it's when we are stressed emotionally that our bodies get run down.  So this month Weleda are continuing to offer 10% any orders with the code MAR10.  

If you hair is in need of some TLC we have 3 for 2 on the fabulous new Hydra range.  This can be free different items (like shampoo, conditioner and hair oil) or 3 of the one you love most.  And all baskets over £50 will receive a free 250ml citrus body lotion worth £9.95.  Postage is free over £40.

We need more hippies

I loved this when I read it so quoting as is and thankful for all the hippies in my life keeping me sane!

''We often forget that we are not machines built for constant output but living beings that need to ebb and flow like the tides. There is a unique comfort in surrounding ourselves with friends who remind us to take our shoes off and feel the earth beneath us to remember where we came from. These are the gentle teachers who show us that productivity is not the rent we pay for living and that time spent dreaming or healing is never wasted time. It is a blessing to have people in our lives who turn to the garden for answers and look to the sky for peace because they anchor us back to simplicity. They invite us to drop the mask of perfection and engage in the kind of deep spiritual intimacy that feeds the soul. In a loud and rushing world their presence is a quiet invitation to just be.'' - @_awaken_one

This week's heart smile was from a walk in our local gardens.  Picture the scene.  Freezing weather, all trussed up in hat and gloves.  Children tearing around getting hot and shedding hats.  Euan had to rescue this hat from the pine tree behind me after lobbing it up there.  He then decided to give it to me to hold by putting it on over my hat.  I quite happily let him not really comprehending what he was doing.  I figured I probably just had a fat hat look and didn't realise how tall it was.  I happily stood in the gardens with not a care in the world.  Then a lady with a dog stopped to chat to us and I noticed she kept giving me a puzzled look.  I quietly turned to Euan and asked him to take a picture so I could see if I looked different to explain her strange glances.  Oh my goodness, talk about laughing so hard I could barely catch my breath.  Hysterics ensued for many minutes before I had the sense to remove the blue hat.  It still tickles me now so I hope it brought a smile to your face too. 

Wishing you a wonderful week

with love, Nic x