Sometimes, I feel, or am drawn to, certain things, without a conscious motivation. It can be a jump in my heart, or a compulsive feeling to do something, learn something, see someone or go somewhere. There are times when these things have been trying to tell me something, when I've been shaken into change, either by other people or by circumstances. I think, with hindsight, I needed to tune into the messages and recognise that my soul has beeenbeen calling me to live a more spiritual life, which I'm currently trying to do.

I think I'm making moves to help me begin to live the right life for me, although I'm also living with a lot of uncertainty at the moment. Other people have a lot of say in what they want for me, but I'm unsure as to how well this would fit with my soul's purpose, and whether their decisions may be channelling a nudge from the Universe in a certain direction...

Almost everyone has a smartphone these days, and they have a multitude of ever-increasing purposes! Social media can be positive and supportive. My experiences of it are mostly good, but I also know a lot of people who have found it problematic. 

Anyway, I just wanted to mention a few apps I use on my smartphone which I find really positive for my mental and physical health, so here's some suggestions:

* Woebot (www.woebot.io) is basically a CBT coach who checks in with you daily, or as often as you choose, and helps you to understand and manage difficult thoughts and feelings.

* Calm is focused around guided meditation and mindfulness, with a 10 minute daily practice. It also has relaxation music and bedtime stories.

*Headspace also focuses around mindfulness, and offers a daily practice, themed 'bundles', and SOS de-stress meditations.

* Happify aims to make you happier through a range of themed courses, which work on the core elements of happiness, such as savouring, giving to others and taking action.

These are just a selection of apps I've tried and liked- there are many more out there! I'd certainly recommend trying a few of them. We tend to have our phones with us most of the time anyway, so why not add a bit of positivity to this age of technology?!! I'd love to hear your experiences too, so feel free to leave a comment or drop me a message 💖

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind"

Random Acts of Kindness, often abbreviated to RAKs, have recently taken the world by (very positive!) storm!!! 

A lot of people these days don't remember the movie 'Pay it Forward' (Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt), but this kind of brought the idea into the public arena, with the young Osment's character suggesting, for a social studies project, that he does 3 things that make a big impact on people's lives, then each of those people does the same, and so on. His idea was on a big scale, but it was a great movie  (though sad, so have tissues ready if you're going to watch...).

The difference with the evolved, modernized RAK is that they just have to be tiny good deeds, but ones that aren't expected, you don't necessarily claim credit for, and there's no obligation to pay it forward (though one would hope that being the recipient of kindness would encourage a kinder outlook). They can be literally anything, whatever you can do, with whatever you have.

Examples:

• Buy a sandwich and hot drink for a homeless person 

• Let someone with a few items go ahead of you in a queue 

•On a plane, train, coach or in a restaurant, write a positive message and leave it for the next person to find

• When you see someone slightly short if the balance of their shopping, give them the difference.....

.. and so many more!!!

These RAKs can be anything at all that you want and are able to do, maybe just smiling at a stranger or leaving a nice comment for a cashier or waitress. Hopefully you'll feel good, and kindness will spread as far and wide as possible. And whenever someone is kind to you, show them your appreciation, but also take any opportunity to show kindness to others whenever possible. 

BODHISATTVA: a friend of the world who, motivated by compassion, spontaneously seeks to improve his or her good qualities for the benefit of each and every living being.

So, my challenge to each and every one of you is to carry out a RAK, and see where it takes you...

💖💞💖

Cuddling the little people of Uganda!

Hello to anyone who is reading this. I'm Laura (nicknamed Lola) and, as it says above, I'm a somewhat crazy travel lover, currently a bit limited on actually taking trips, so I'm spending a lot of time looking through photos, enviously following other people's trips and planning potential future trips. I'm also a book lover (real books, NOT electronic ones!) and a slight addiction to Netflix :-)

Happiness and Sadness working in synergy!

So, I'm guessing a fair few of you will have seen the movie Inside Out. I loved it, not least because it outlined how happiness is relative, so we need sadness to appreciate happiness, and also as a social signal to others that we are not ok. Yet somehow in modern society it has become not okay to be not okay and so sadness and other difficult emotions get held in, making the more pleasant emotions less meaningful and less frequent. So, I just wanted to acknowledge the need and validity of ALL emotions, even those dreaded ones that people dare not speak... envy and shame! Be honest, be true to yourself and try and listen to your emotions as they're almost certainly trying to tell you something!