I believe that mostly my clients understand why we have Massage or Reiki or Reflexology. There appears to be a good understanding about the benefits of these treatments….in much the same way as we understand what foods are good to eat and what foods are not! The key is prioritising yourself, your health and your emotional wellbeing. Just because there is a lot of information in the public domain, the responsibility for making choices about you, are completely and only down to you!

I have a lot of clients who like me, are in what I call ‘maintenance mode’. They use sessions with me once a month to maintain their level of wellness. Their diet tends to be good, stress levels are managed well, they are able to listen to their bodies when necessary because they have a relationship with their body and therefore can pick up signs of difficulty, they exercise regularly and they take personal responsibility for their health. When you come to me for an hour, we work together. That is Holistic Therapy…it is done with you and not to you.

It might be easier to help people who don’t necessarily understand this as an approach, to talk about what happens if you don’t make this time to care for yourself. New clients can come to me with:

• Stress (sometimes acute)
• Poor eating habits
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Depression
• Anxiety

So what might happen if we don’t look after ourselves when this is how we are living life? If you’re signed off sick from work, where is the money coming from? If you get so ill that you wander off towards a heart attack, who will look after your children or your partner?

Looking after yourself when you are good health is a preventative way of staying in good health! So many people wait until they are ‘forced’ by illness and the GP to take responsibility and some control over their wellness. Do something different and do it today!

In describing boundaries, we can think of them as invisible lines that are easy for others to recognise and therefore respect and also easy for us to convey. Having strong boundaries keeps our body, mind and spirit safe.

What happens when we don’t teach boundaries to children? It is no accident that the girls groomed in the recent child abuse case in Manchester, by nine men, were all easy targets. Traditionally this is the way of the paedophile. They seek and groom the ‘boundary less’.

One was in care of the local authority and the others were from shattered families that had created an environment whereby the girls were not in school regularly, were drinking all day and were clearly searching for some sort of ‘belonging’. Teenagers generally hang around in ‘packs’ and therefore being included and being part of a group can be essential to many young people. When we don’t teach children boundaries, we open the doors for abusers and poor choices in relationships with others. Here are a few examples of how we can teach boundaries to children from the very beginning.

• Teach them what their gut instinct feels like. If they describe a situation that left them feeling uncomfortable, tell them that this is their gut telling them that something isn’t quite right. Teach them how to trust this.
• Never make them kiss or be touched by anyone and I mean anyone (and yes that does include Granny if necessary) so that they learn that who touches them is up to them. It helps them protect their body and understand it as their own.
• As soon as they want privacy and doors closed, respect this.
• Teach them to respect your boundaries and needs for privacy so that they can see the boundaries of another.
• Teach the concept of respect!

What happens to adults who lack boundaries? This can result in the ‘people pleaser’ syndrome of never being able to say no and trying to be all things to all people. A lack of clarity and definition about who we are and what we will and will not tolerate comes from poor boundaries. By definition then, many poor relationship choices can follow, particularly around domestic violence and lovelessness. Here are a few examples of how you can put boundaries in place in your life.

• Self-awareness is the first step to identifying your needs. In doing this, you can learn to respect your needs and subsequently the needs of others and establish the validity of your needs. You are important. You have needs.
• Practise in the mirror the art of saying ‘no’.
• An example raised with me the other day was by a friend. She was struggling to tell someone that she didn’t want them to continue to touch her. Their tactile approach, he was a man and she was a woman, was making her feel uncomfortable and he hadn’t listened when she had tentatively explained to him that she didn’t like being touched in this way. In this example, eye contact is crucial. Practise looking into your eyes in the mirror and saying “Can you please stop touching me now. I don’t like it.” And here’s the thing. You don’t have to explain to that person why. You can if you want. But you really don’t have to. If they understand respect, they will stop. If they don’t understand respect then this isn’t a friendship at all.
• Friendship is about respect.
• Relationships are about respect.
• If you are not respecting yourself or being respected by others, then this is the time to work on your boundaries.

This is an area of work that takes time and I have only written a small article on it to raise it as a question to be explored. I hope you’ve found it helpful and if it’s raised more questions than it’s answered, or this resonates with you in some way, then please post them in the comments box below. Thank you….

The Setting Your Intention workshop that I ran on Saturday with Kirsten from Aspiring Change left everyone with a clear vision of something that they wanted to achieve but had previously felt overwhelmed by its magnitude…they even left with a YouTube video reminding them of their goal/dream/vision. They all said such lovely things at the end of the day that we’ll have to run this one again and soon!

If I could share my TOP TEN with you that would not only help you move forward with something and have a positive emotional effect on you (the two are of course intrinsically linked), it would be this:

• Don’t be frightened of your own dreams. Saying something out loud over and over again is powerful on so many levels. It makes it feel real, it sends out a clear message about what we want to do and it reminds us that we have only one life so it is to be lived!
• Always understand that you get back in life, what you put in. I often think that if every single person in this country put in one hour per week (yes…per week) our communities would be thriving and places of care and nurture. Imagine!
• Watch an inspiring film and then sit still for 15 minutes thinking, really thinking about what you’ve just seen. What does it tell you? What can it give you? Who can you share it with?
• Do something that you loved to do when you were a child but haven’t done for years; painting, dancing, drama, a sport.
• Plant some seeds (takes moments really). And then spend a few minutes every day appreciating them and watching them grow. It enhances our understanding of the cycle of life and that seeds grow when they are ready to grow, in their own time.
• Take some time to read inspiring stories by other people and soak it up!
• Live your own story. It’s only you that can. Fact.
• Spend some time brainstorming using an online tool to help you plot your ideas.
• If you end this article with the feeling that you don’t have any time, then read The Guardian’s article on Time Management Tips from some people who really know!
• Make time! J

What would you add to this list?

All this rain can seem like a bit of challenge. It has rained for days. Not just sprinkly rain but rain that if you step into it, waters you in the same way a shower does except you’re dressed.

For some people, grey skies, endless rain, thoughts of a long hot summer are not enough to shift the mood.

So how can you stay happy in persistent rain?

I decided to ask readers on my Facebook page how they stay happy and positive in the rain. The answers were lovely and I hope you like them too…

• Maria - by connecting with higher energies and going for a good soggy walk to wash the negative energies away! (providing of course there is a nice cozy fire to sit by and cup of tea waiting when I get back!) ;o)
• Kristina - well I always think about what the rain gives us! It gives to our garden, which saves us having to water them!! It gives a washing to everything around, a fresh start! It helps by lowering the fire dangers right now and then I always think of a saying I heard as a child “April showers bring May flowers” (its only the first of May)
• Beverley - Positive thinking. Embrace the day no matter what the weather, it’s a gift, no matter how badly it’s packaged. And SMILE!
• Sue - I remind myself how fortunate I am that I have created a business which means I can stay indoors and be warm and safe, and not out delivering the post in the rain like my husband… x
• Jenny - ?”Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass it’s about learning to dance in the rain” – one of my favourite quotes up on my office wall!
• Rachel – Whack on a pair of wellies and go puddle jumping!! Making massive splashes is so satisfying and you can’t help but smile xx
• Louise – “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing. Get yourself a sexy raincoat and live a little” – Billy Connelly
• Nicola - Put my bright red wellies on – always cheers me up. And then walking in the woods with my boys to see who can get the muddiest!!! xx

How lovely is that little lot? So if you’re feeling a bit  blue and a little bit like it’s all a lot like hard work right now, I hope these lovely messages bring you some sunshine….

Here’s the thing, you can’t have it all, have your cake and eat it and have a balance; it’s not possible nor should it be desirable.

Balancing is about juggling, giving a little part of yourself to many different things but never doing one thing with conviction. The vision of standing on one leg, eating cake while writing a project, breastfeeding, tweeting on your blackberry while asking your teenager  not to use the F word at the table come to mind. It’s a nonsense.

Put the cake down (and the other leg for the matter). Stand on two feet and make some decisions about where your focus is going to be for a while.

I have just written a book and I learnt so many things about this through the process of focusing on one thing:

• I have learnt that I couldn’t really give very much time at all to my business. Its ok, it’s only been for four months. Nobody died.
• Writing a book has meant that my angst ridden teens have been told “you’ll have to wait“. This is ok. This is a good life lesson. We have to wait for things sometimes. Children who don’t learn this become adults who think the world revolves around them. I have always tried to teach my children that we are all important, we all have times when we are available and times when we are not. They value their own space now and we have a mutual respect for each other’s spaces.
• They have also learnt (I hope) that to achieve something outside of your comfort zone needs conviction, passion, consistency and dedication. It’s not handed out on a plate. It needs your full attention and sometimes, this will be to the detriment of other things.
• Reflection time is a necessity not a luxury. Sitting and ‘doing nothing’ is now an integral part of my day (I’m only talking about 15 minutes because ’doing nothing’ does not come easily to me) but I’ve come to appreciate and value it in a different way than before.
• The chaos of life is always there whether we choose to run round the hamster wheel with everyone else or not, so being the best mother, the best worker, with the cleanest house, the whitest smile and the most hectic social life is not even achievable (or desirable in my humble opinion).
• The rhetoric that shouts “you are your only limitation” is punishing talk dressed up in ribbon. Limitations are real in life and this idea that we don’t have them only serves to feed the privileged notion that we should have it all. The key is to understand what it is that you can do something about and what you cannot.

As someone who has always worked, has spent most of the time raising my family single handed (financially and literally) without having any family of my own to support that in any way, I have never had the luxury of guilt around what I can and cannot give to those around me. I appear to have raised two happy healthy and ‘balanced’ human beings. So give yourself a break.

You can’t be all things, in your best dress (so to speak) to all people, all of the time. Let it go.

Through my work with people who are on a journey of discovery and exploration, it has been shown to me that more often than not, they are given an opportunity to make a move- whether it is to move house, a new job or a travel experience. So this got me thinking what is that all about?

When someone is working hard at creating and maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle and is looking hard within to find strength and empowerment to do manifest what they want, there is often large elements of change required- be it eating patterns, sleeping routines, thoughts, or behaviours. This can be difficult to adjust to at first but eventually your mind and body feel the benefit and will make the necessary adjustment. This will be your new reality.  Unfortunately in this case, we do not live in isolation- we are generally social creatures and the make- up of our modern living is that we have multitudes of interactions every day. So why is this unfortunate in the context of making change?

When we change, it does not occur in isolation with effect only on ourselves.

If you think of yourself as standing in a pool of water- routine or inactivity keeps the water still. The minute you move, step out of your routine and make a change, ripples appear. Those ripples will radiate outwards into your world and will make contact with those who inhabit it with you.

You will know when your change and life shifts are becoming reality because you will begin to hear things like:

‘Why would you want to do that? You’ve never done that before?’

‘I don’t recognise you anymore- what is going on?’

‘What has got into you?’

‘Don’t do that, you wouldn’t be you if you wore that colour/lived in that city/ did that job’

This is evidence of the Ripple Effect of Change. Your shift to a different reality and new way of being has rippled out and touched those in your life. You will hear a lot of these comments and quite possibly much more aggressively worse as people in your life are suddenly hit with something they don’t recognise. What they will respond back with is normally a reaction to the unknown based in fear and anxiety. They don’t know how to be around you anymore. They don’t know what your change will mean for them.

Take these reactions as reassurance- you are changing. Your efforts are paying off. However, be aware that the Ripple Effect of Change has happened and you are going to have to manage those around you who are fearful and anxious that something in their lives is new. It can be quite frightening for them to have a comfortable and predictable friend become different and react differently. It will be their automatic reaction to pull you back to the old reality- to what they know and are comfortable with. That is when you will start hearing those phrases above. They are trying to hang on to your old habits and way of being as it is what they know. And you will be tempted to too.

Again that is very reassuring- that you have made change enough that it feels uncomfortable- you are shifting your reality and your mind is uncertain, but persevere, you are nearly there in making this change your new reality and something that you will soon be comfortable with.

So how do you manage the Ripple Effect of Change?

It is worthwhile remembering that you have been thinking about this change and living it for quite awhile so you have accepted it and embraced it; people around you haven’t had the time you’ve had so allow them that at the least.

Explain to them the benefits you are feeling and how those benefits will impact on them in a positive way- people are always open to hearing about good things coming their way!

Try to put yourself in their shoes to understand what exactly the fear and anxiety is about: that you won’t be their friend anymore? That it will be the end of your relationship? If that fear and anxiety is unfounded, reassure them and explain how things will be different, but again, for the better. You are living a more authentic life. You are happier. You are healthier.

If their fears are true, and your change is bringing about the end of relationships or friendships, they will either accept it or not. Support you or not.  It is up to you to stand in strength and with empowerment knowing that you are the orchestrator of your life. You know what it is you need and want and it is your responsibility to strive to attain that for yourself.

And that is where the Universe seems to step in with an opportunity presented to move away in some aspect or your life. It is an opportunity that allows you to start fresh where the ‘old you’ is unknown; where there aren’t old habits/ friends/ family/ colleagues to entice you back through fear and anxiety to your old default setting. You are not running away, as we all know our problems follow us where ever we go- you are facing yours and doing something about it.  You are offered an opportunity to begin somewhere as the ‘new you’ with a new starting point from which to make new relationships, friendships, or working environments.

It is almost the Universe saying ‘well done you- now go out there and start living the life you are meant to be living!’

Kirsten Sheat

www.aspiringchange.com

Thank you Kirsten….

The Hun is your access point to what we call the universal consciousness, or universal Shen. It is the part of your spirit to leave the body after death, those mysterious “21 grams” that disappear, and so it most closely related to what is commonly known as your SOUL.

The Hun is the only aspect of your spirit that is said to leave the body, and it does this when you go to sleep.

As you go to sleep, your Hun leaves your Liver and goes to gather the information you need to make important decisions Have you ever heard the expression “why don’t you sleep on it?” Well, this is the reason why.

The Liver and Gallbladders’ predominant time lie between the hours of 11pm and 3am, and a sign that your Hun might be affected is waking up between those hours, especially if your mind is on hyper-drive.

As with the mental aspect of your Liver, the Hun is related to planning and organisation, imagination, and bringing into fruition. Quite often, those “mental blocks” in life (of which I have just suffered one trying to write this blog!), are due to some kind of disharmony in your Hun.

So, what can cause a problem with the spiritual aspect of your Liver?

Generally, when we start to talk about the spirit, people are divided into believers and non-believers, but what we are really talking about are feelings that are sometimes indescribable, but can be felt deep within a person.

That general feeling of discord, where things in your life aren’t necessarily going the way they should be.

For the Hun to leave the body at night, gather the information it needs, and return to the body and provide you with the necessary answers, it needs a well-rested, cool and Blood enriched Liver to return back to.

But, modern day life provides all manner of things to heat up the Liver, create stagnation and deplete its Blood.

Alcohol abuse or the long-term use of recreational drugs can cause the Hun to become restless and leave the body more and more.

The Hun opens out into the eyes, and have you ever seen someone who seems to be unattached from the world? They’ve lost their sparkle in the eyes? That is their Hun that has gone wandering.

Long-term stress is another cause of Hun disturbance. The amount of time I see people who will wake at 3am, with their mind on over-drive, because they are in a job they can’t stand, they are living with a partner they no longer have feelings for, or they feel they are forced into living a life “for the sake of someone else”, is unreal.

Emotions such as guilt, shame, jealousy and anger are all forcing us to lead lives that aren’t in accordance with out true path in life.

So, how do you change these things? How do you get you Hun feeling harmonious once again?

Well, as discussed in the previous blogs, using exercise and nutrition is important, but by this stage, some kind of THERAPY is important.

The kind of therapy at this stage would be some kind of energetic therapy, such as ACUPUNCTURE, REIKI, SPIRITUAL HEALING, or a talking therapy such as COUNSELLING, LIFE-COACHING, or PSYCHOTHERAPY. It’s actually largely unimportant, but what is important, vital even, is the CONNECTION you have between yourself and your therapist.

There are specific points in ACUPUNCTURE that help treat the SPIRIT, but whilst some practitioners will tend to treat at the physical level, others will be able to reach the spiritual level. This is the sign of not just a good practitioner, but a great practitioner.

All energetic therapists work in different ways, but to try and ultimately bring about the same response, to make you feel better.

The most important thing is to find the one that works for you.

I hope you have found some useful information over the last 3 blogs to do with your Liver. If you believe you may have a physical, mental or spiritual problem with your Liver, now is the time to get it rectified! The springtime! Any questions or advice you may need, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Wishing you all the best in health and happiness.

Phil Haxby-Thompson
Philip Haxby-Thompson Dip Ac MBAcC

International Acupuncturist

Web: www.philiphaxbythompson.com

Twitter: @PhilipHaxbyT

Blog: www.blogspot.philiphaxbythompson.com

Mobile: +44(0)7884 334704

I have learnt that there are actually only a few things that really matter and what other people think about you, your lifestyle and whether your kitchen floor is clean enough just isn’t one of them!

• The people who love you, who support you, who are there for you when you’re really tired and don’t mind if you’re grumpy and will just tell you that you’re doing just fine and give you a hug and (hopefully) some cake. These are your people. Surround yourself with them and give and receive this wonderful gift of love. They are your tribe. They matter.
• Your health is everything. All the money, all the cars, all the holidays and all the material possessions are worthless and meaningless if you do not have your health.  So sleep well, eat well, spend time on your own wellbeing, don’t fill your body with the toxins that society provides you with to ‘cope’ with the aforementioned demands.
• A sense of purpose and of feeling fulfilled matters. I wish I’d known this years and years ago. If we don’t feel these things, very little in our lives actually makes sense.
• Being true to yourself matters. Not in an uncaring and disrespectful way to others….absolutely not. But when you give yourself time to be still in your life, you can hear the directions you need to take and they can often be in conflict with others. That’s ok. They have their opportunity to be still and listen to their own direction.
• Giving for the sake of giving matters. This is for many reasons, but when you start your day with the thoughts and care of another’s needs above your own, your day will be filled with gratitude. You are also part of the energy of love that circles the Universe as you give, you will inevitably receive and that swirling mist of loving energy will make a difference!

“So, as discussed in the previous blog, today we’re going to look at the mental and emotional properties of the Liver to see how you can release those feelings of stress, frustration and anger.

The Liver corresponds to the Wood element in Chinese Medicine. The Wood element relates to Springtime, the colour green, a sour taste, the climatic condition of Wind, an upward moving direction, the capacity of decisiveness and the emotion of ANGER.

Thinking of Wood in nature, think of an acorn. Harnessing the power of water to transform into wood, pushing boundaries, growing, expanding, the acorn has a keen and direct sense of purpose. It wants to become an oak tree. Pure and simple.

It is the acorn inside of you that gives you the strongest side of the Wood element. The ability to PLAN and ORGANISE and to follow through with those plans.

Wood, in Chinese Medicine, is the mother of Fire. So let’s just think about how you create fire.

Firstly you need to plan. What do you need?

You need some good sized dry logs. You need some dry tinder. You need to build in a dry area. You need to build the fire to allow air to circulate through to allow the flames to grow.

So good planning, as you can see, can allow you to enjoy the benefits of your hard work. A nice, warm fire.

The acorn has planning built into it. Its own genetic code means that one day, given the right conditions; it will become a mighty oak tree.

So, when the acorn starts to sprout into a young oak tree, it starts to push away at the earth, striving, reaching upwards towards the light. But what does it do when it encounters a rock in its way? Does it give up? Does it stop growing? Of course not! It finds another path, a way around the rock. And in this it has a sense of FLEXIBILITY.

So the abilities of planning, organisation, bringing into fruition, and being flexible, are all built into you. It’s just that some people are better at it than others.

Quite often, if your Liver isn’t entirely healthy, when you encounter those “rocks in life”, you can’t find a way around. What rocks do I mean? Perhaps, a difficult or challenging boss. A friend who pushes your boundaries. An overly controlling parent. An abusive partner. Being told “no, you can’t do that”. These are the emotional rocks that you can encounter in life. And given how many “rules and regulations” you have to follow, health and safety overload, it’s not surprising that that you can often feel STRESSED, TIRED and FRUSTRATED.

The emotion associated with the Wood element and the Liver is ANGER. And anger, of course, can present a whole spectrum of emotions.

It can be the full-blown, red-faced, “I’M ANGRY!”

It can be the underlying, speaking through gritted teeth, irritability.

It can be a complete absence of anger. Apathy, indecision, depression.

So, what can you do to help smooth out your Liver Qi (energy of the Liver), and get the natural flow back into your life?

Firstly, as mentioned in the previous article, EXERCISE! I can’t stress enough, how much of a benefit this is, especially if frustration and irritability are your primary concern. Exercise releases endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers), and boosts levels of serotonin (the “happy” neurotransmitter) so you feel good afterwards. It gets your Qi moving! I once remember seeing an episode of Grand Designs, where a couple were building their dream barn conversion. The husband had a brain tumour, but had managed to battle it, through extremely good nutrition. But it was the wife I was most impressed with. She took on everything. The household, the children, looking after her husband and all the planning of the majority of the build. She had been dealt some pretty large “rocks”. How did she combat her stress? Kick-boxing! She loved it! They showed a clip of her at the gym, beating out her frustrations on boxing pad, and boy did it work!

In fact, BEATING CUSHIONS is another great way to relieve frustration. Take yourself off, into a quiet room, away from the family, and start by rhythmically beating a cushion with your fists. Start off slowly, but allow those pent up feelings of anger, resentment and frustration just to flow up and out of you. You’ll soon be walloping those cushions, and I bet you you’ll feel much better afterwards!

But sometimes in life, we find it all a bit too much, especially when we get to end of the spectrum, towards apathy, indecision and depression. So, this is definitely the time to get some help. There are several therapies that I think are ideal for helping with those feelings of “stuckness”, frustration and depression.

ACUPUNCTURE helps to not only to clear your energetic blockages of Qi, but gives them a boost as well. It works by finding the root cause of your problem and treating that cause. And its actions will not only help your emotional problems, but physical ones as well. As you have already seen, Chinese Medicine does not differentiate between what is commonly seen as a problem with the mind or a problem with the body. They come from the same root source.

REIKI is a fantastic way to help you relax and clear blockages and move forward with your life. It is very calming and will quite often bring things to the surface which you can then deal with. Feedback from your therapist at this time is always very useful

Or perhaps, it’s time to seek some other therapies such as LIFE COACHING, COUNSELLING or PSYCHOTHERAPY. I’ll be the first to admit, I have recently started attending a psychotherapist, to help me find a way round my own mental “rocks”. It’s been incredibly rewarding. A large proportion of people see seeking therapy as a weakness, but I’m here to tell is most certainly is not! It actually shows an incredible amount of bravery and courage, and a true determination to rectify your problems rather than bury your head in the sand.

So, those are the mental and emotional properties of the Liver, the Wood element, and what you can do to help solve those pent up feelings of stress.

Next time, we’ll be looking at the SPIRITUAL side of your Liver. The Hun, your Ethereal Soul. How does your Hun affect your life? And how do you know if your Hun is troubled?

Now, go and beat some cushions!!!

Philip Haxby-Thompson Dip Ac MBAcC

International Acupuncturist

Web: www.philiphaxbythompson.com

Twitter: @PhilipHaxbyT

Blog: www.blogspot.philiphaxbythompson.com

Mobile: +44(0)7884 334704

A definition of trust that I found is a “Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.”

In writing my book, trust has come up over and over again. From the very beginnings of the project, I had to set about choosing who I would trust to work with me. And then of course those people had to decide if they were able to trust me. This proved a useful ‘filtering’ out process although I wasn’t clear at the time about this but it highlighted clearly that need for trust on both parts.

Those initial conversations with people were fraught with my own anxieties about what people would think about my ideas and who I could trust with them. Who could I show my writing to? What would people do with all the information I was giving out?

For the people wanting to be involved with the book, it has been crucial that they have trusted me. Whether it has been about trusting me with their story and treating it as the precious gift that I believe it is, or whether they trusted that I knew what I doing, that I was capable of achieving what I was setting out to do.

Throw into the mix an attempt at starting a new personal relationship and trust has been something that has been a constant part of my thinking.

• For yourself and then ultimately those that you have personal and work relationships with, know yourself. When you understand who you are and what your particular issues or buttons are, it all becomes a whole lot easier to ‘own’ what is yours and therefore what you can do something about.
• Trust, forgiveness, acceptance and love sit together. Ultimately, all of this starts with yourself, forgiving yourself, for getting it ‘wrong’, for making a ‘mistake’, accepting yourself as a flawed human being. My daily mental and emotional workout!
• Learn to say sorry.
• Share who you are with someone and they will want to share who they are too. This is fundamental to a loving relationship whether a friendship or a partner.
• Trust needs constant attention. As we all know that it can be lost in a moment.
• Respect and understanding are pivotal in the building of trust.
• When all else fails, repeat The Serenity Prayer over and over again!

The Serenity Prayer

God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.