Tag: hidden disability

5 Top Mindset Shifts For A Fulfilling Life

If someone told you that a shift in your perspective could improve your lived experience with your hidden disability, would you want to know more?

Well my friend, then this is for you!

Your mind is so powerful. It’s where it all happens. But somewhere along the path of life, we pick up this faulty, unhelpful conditioning and sometimes it sticks. And we start to believe it. And you start to think that this ‘fake news’ is really true. And you start to bend your life to fit into this belief.

If like me, you’re living with a hidden disability, there’s an even stronger need to fortify your mind so that it better serves you and supports you to be your best version of You! There’s just no space for unhelpful belief systems. The risk is too great!

Though there are many mindset shifts worthy of the spotlight and further consideration, let’s dive into these 5 here, as they also resonate with me and can bring about big changes from such comparatively small shifts.

Are you with me? Let’s do this.

Mindset Shift #1. From Limitation To POSSIBILITY

With a hidden disability, the message in the world is often one of limitation. The culture can make you think and feel that you are somehow ‘less than’. What’s that all about? Then you start to believe it to be true, and suddenly your mindset is all about limitation.

Well I would encourage you to shift that to possibility! Infinite possibilities no less! You may have become used to a low ceiling over your life. Well, in fact, there is NO ceiling!!

How about you start to view your challenges as opportunities for growth instead? Expanding your idea of what could be possible, rather than a starting point of what you think you can’t do?

Your potential to achieve greatness is HUGE! It’s about creating the space to think about your potential and allowing it to take seed in your mind, and then you can start to really believe it.

Mindset Shift #2. From Self-doubt To SELF-BELIEF

Ooooh I love this one, and its been huge for me. Cultivating a strong belief in your own abilities and potential. This is so important. You’ve gotta believe in yourself. You’ve gotta be your own #1 cheerleader. Your biggest fan. It’s like a self-belief muscle that needs to be nurtured and flexed and built and exercised so that it gets stronger and stronger.

Perhaps there is scope for you to develop and practice techniques that will help you build more self-confidence and more resilience. Trusting yourself more and actually telling yourself that. Out loud if you need to. For me, self-confidence grows from a place of knowing yourself more and better, getting clear on what I am about and why, loving myself in my skin (lumps, bumps and all) and moving forward in quiet contentment. This leads on to building resilience, because you keep moving forward. Keep moving forward. Keep moving forward.

Mindset Shift #3. From Isolation To CONNECTION

Now for me, living with a hidden disability has made me pretty familiar with isolation. It comes in all forms and shapes and colours. You can sometimes be with someone in a relationship and still have a dominant feeling of isolation. However, isolation isn’t all bad, and depending on what we’re talking about, can be quite enjoyable. But in the context a mindset shift that could positively impact your enjoyment of life with your hidden disability, there is real value in building your own supportive connections and community.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a community of thousands, or hundreds. This is about connecting with others who are on a similar journey to you. Those people you connect with who are on your wavelength. It might be that you’re a positive person, but your loved ones and immediate circle are negative by default. They may not be bad people, but they may have picked up a negative mindset that just isn’t healthy for you to be around. You can choose to connect with other people who have a similar outlook, a similar energy, to you.

Mindset Shift #4. From Fear To COURAGE

Fear is like this pool of quicksand that keeps your feet glued to the spot, without attempting to move or change anything in your life. Living with your hidden disability may bring up a whole other category of fears: the fear of starting a new recommended treatment, the fear of starting a family, the fear of dying too soon, the fear of sharing the ‘secret’ of your hidden disability with someone you’ve just started dating……….the list goes on. Living from a place of fear holds you back.

Often, on the other side of that fear is your path to achieving personal growth. After all, courage is not the absence of fear. It’s about feeling the fear, but moving forward anyway.

Being open to strategies to help you step out of your comfort zone could be a great tool here. Embracing new experiences is often a gentle way to get yourself more used to that feeling of being uncomfortable. I always love it when Tony Robbins does his teaching on ‘getting comfortable with being uncomfortable’. Have you listened to that one before? So powerful. Because it is so true. When you can get out of your own way, and gently push yourself out of that ‘comfort zone’, and you do the thing, and the world doesn’t end, then you think ‘okay, that wasn’t so bad. What’s next?’.

Each time gets easier. And you’re building that courageous muscle. 6, 12 months from now, you may not be able to recognise yourself!

Mindset Shift #5. From Reaction To INTENTION

Hmmmm this one is so good and so powerful! Giving yourself permission to move away from living in this place of reaction. Living your life constantly reacting to the circumstances around you. Constantly ‘fire-fighting’ the emergent dramas that keep coming up. Living from one medical appointment to another. Living from one media or news headline to another. Stacking these media headlines of doom into your daily rhythm. Living from one family drama to another. Getting pulled into other people’s ’emergencies’ and latest gossip.

You’re knocking out dramas like you’re knocking baseballs out of the park. Staying in your world on your path feels like an intense workout on your abs as you try to keep your balance and your body upright.

How about practising living from a place of purpose and intention? Rather than reacting to circumstances? When you have a strong mindful and present connection to what you’re about, what’s important to you, what you want to achieve, what you need to get done………. it starts to feel like a strong magnet that’s pulling you towards it. you simply have to head in that direction. Anything that takes you away from that direction, is just not worth your time.

How can you get clarity on your clear goals or clear intentions? It can be quite powerful when you align your actions with your personal values. It can really help to keep you more purposeful and intentional. Maybe one of your important values is having peace in your life. Perhaps you’ve learnt the hard way that a lack of peace in your life aggravates your hidden disability. You’ve promised yourself that you’ll do more and more to maintain peace in your life. Pretty soon, your internal satnav gets locked into that direction. Anything that comes up that ‘steals’ your peace, you’re just not interested in, and it has less and less power over you.

If any of these resonate with you, I encourage you to implement these mindset shifts and continue to embrace your journey to self-improvement and a fulfilling life.

I look forward to hearing how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

How To Navigate Life Transitions With Grace – 7 Ways

Do you feel anxious about change in your life? Do you worry about how to handle change? Well my friend, this blog and video is for you!

Change is one of those things that is inevitable in life, is it not? It could sometimes feel like an unwelcome visitor that turns up at the most inconvenient time. A big turbulent wave that comes crashing into your life, knocking out and making a mess of all the order and calm that you’ve spent time cultivating!

Well, if there’s one thing we know for sure, its that change is invevitable. It comes whether you like it or not. Living with a hidden disability can bring an additional layer of complexity when dealing with life transitions, right? You may find that your physical and emotional triggers kick in because of all the STRESS!!!!! Nice. Just what you needed!

Well, let’s not get frozen in fear and anxiety. Then you’re no use to anyone. Rather, let’s have a look at some strategies that I hope could give you a different perspective, and enable you to better navigate life transitions with grace.

Are you with me? Let’s dive straight in. I have 7 ways for you to consider.

1. Acknowledge and Accept Change

First get this out of the way and then you can begin to channel your energies wisely. Acknowledge and accept that this period of change is here. Change comes whether you like it or not. Change is a part of your life. Fighting it or bemoaning the timing of it, just takes up precious space and energy that you need for yourself to navigate the path forward.

Perspective can be your friend. Why not embrace this transition as an opportunity for growth, rather than a negative setback? It doesn’t have to be that way my friend.

2.Reflect on Your Strengths & Past Successes

You are already living with your hidden disability and I know that takes courage and determination everyday. Everyday you are doing your best and making decisions from a place of inner strength. That quiet, inner determination to keep moving forward. You are stronger than you think! Identify your personal strengths and how you have achieved successes in the past.

When you reflect on how you’ve gotten through challenges in the past, it can be a springboard for you to build more and more confidence in yourself in dealing with these transitions.

3. Set Realistic Goals

It’s always helpful to look at what you need to do in bite-size chunks. Just focusing on one step at a time. When you break down the transition into manageable steps, and just keeping the immediate next step as the next main thing, the transition can start to seem a bit less daunting. You’re making progress and that always makes us feel happy.

Remember there are tried and tested goal setting strategies already in existence. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Maybe on your personal development journey you’ve already come across a mentor or coach or teacher with helpful tips on completing goals. This isn’t what this blog is about today, but the point is to leverage these strategies for your specific transition. Things like taking each step of the goal that you have chunked down into small actions, the take those actions and put them directly into your diary or calendar, giving it timings of when you’re going to do it. This makes it all much more real and manageable.

4. Cultivate a Supportive Network

It is important to be able to connect with others who understand where you’re at and what your journey is. This can help to lighten your step and make it feel less like you’re all alone.

It may be that you could benefit from relevant support groups for encouragement and advice. Maybe you have understanding friends and family, or maybe you don’t. Not everyone in you vicinity, or within close proximity will necessarily be the people who understand you. So it may be that you need to give some careful thought to who you ‘choose’ to be in your corner.

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5. Practice Self-Care and Mindfulness

You’re under all this pressure and so your body needs your support. Prioritise your physical and mental wellbeing. What are those routines that help you better manage stress? What can you give more of to your body so it has the space and gentle time to breathe and expand and just recharge and relax? A hot soak in the tub? Unhurried time at the sauna or steam room? Lying down flat on your back with arms and legs spaced out and just listening to gentle music or engaging the senses with some soothing incense or essential oils?

Whether its mindfulness or meditation, you want to look to practices that will make you feel grounded and reconnect to yourself. A sure way to offset the stress out there.

6. Stay Open To Learning and Adaptation

Be willing to learn new skills my friend! No need to feel overwhelmed, its just about making a decision to stay ‘open’ to your ability to learn. Sometimes it may be that you already have skills but you need to dust them down or adapt or tweak them a little bit to see you through this new transition.

Flexibility is your secret weapon! Think of all those trees that seem to be swaying in the ind of a storm. They bend and shake. They rarely break. This is you my friend. Being flexible is a super strength. you want to be able to bend, not break.

7. Celebrate Small Wins

You’re doing so well! So celebrate! Celebrating the small wins and the steps forward is going to add to your happiness and make you feel good!!! No matter how small. You are your biggest cheerleader after all, right? Only you know, deep down, just how challenging this has been, so celebrate every bit of progress you make.

These mini-triumphs will also give you more motivation to continue to move forward and to keep going.

I am excited for you and I look forward to hearing how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

Who Else Wants To Discover Your Unique Gifts? 5 Ways

How important is it to know your unique gifts? You can grow into your authentic self better. You can know yourself better. You can enjoy more fulfilment and meaning in embracing these special parts of yourself. They are part of what makes you YOU.

Of course there is another element to this. Because its not just about you my friend. Knowing and nurturing your unique gifts can lead to you being better able to serve others. To help others. Perhaps even by using your unique gifts to help others discover THEIR gifts.

The ripple effects of you doing this inner work could really be significant…….

Not to mention that if you have a truer sense of who you are, and how you can help people, it leads to and amplifies your own personal happiness! And who doesn’t want to cultivate more happiness?

So I’d like to share 5 Ways, or 5 Stepping Stones to get you closer to that discovery.

Are you with me? Let’s do this!

1.Time To Reflect on & Review Your Passions and Interests

It is really insightful when you allow yourself the space and time to reflect on what you’re truly passionate about. What do you like? What do you love? What lights you up? What is that fire in your heart? What activities make you lose track of time? Sometimes, it helps to ask the opposite question too : what do you dislike? What gets under you skin? What makes you think that you have to respond? Or do something about?

Sometimes its refreshing to take a step back and consider what you loved doing when you were younger. When you were a child? Do you have photographs of things you always seemed to prefer doing when you were a child? Really allow yourself to search the recesses of your mind and heart. I remember back when I had to decide on what to study at university. With my Dad giving strong support and encouragement to a Law degree and legal career, it was my first choice. But, I had a real interest in Psychology and positivity, and I loved creating things with my hands using paint, or coloured pencils or pastels, and designing spaces. And I enjoyed writing, doodling, sketching…. Hmmmm.

2.Paying Attention To The Feedback You Get From Others

It can be interesting to consider what those who know you say about your strengths. Or say about your character or your personality. Why not ask those around you what they believe are your strengths? Not everyone in your life is necessarily the right person to ask………..unfortunately some people just want to pull you down to join them in their preferred pit of miserable-living. Especially when you’re trying to do something to better yourself or improve yourself. So think carefully about who you ask. Those who know you and what you’re about. Those who want good things for you. Those who care.

It can also be quite unexpectedly revealing, when you listen carefully to the compliments or the positive feedback you receive from people in general. And not necessarily those in your inner circle. You might actually start to notice a pattern or some repetition in specific qualities in you that people appreciate enough to make a comment about. Make a note of it. Write it down. Pay more attention to what you hear. It may resonate with things you had already identified about yourself or that come up in #3 below. It may serve as corroboration about what you’re doing. It may be completely out of the blue. All good intel.

3. Identify Your Unique Skills & Talents

Okay my friend. Time to do some work. Make a list of all that skills that come naturally to you. Sure, it could relate to your job, or have nothing to do with it. It could relate to you as a person, as a parent, as a woman, as a man, in your dealings with people. Maybe you have an affinity for numbers. Maybe you can transform into the world’s best Santa Claus! Maybe its to do with your physicality, or maybe its to do with your mind. It may be an obscure skill. You may think its a more common skill. The point is, all of this is unique to you. And as there is only one you, and you only express yourself as you, then every skill you identify is valid and important. And don’t forget a talent you may have or a way of doing something which you have noticed about yourself.

Then go back to the passions and interests you considered at #1 above, and have fun seeing where there may be connections or where some of them align. You’re looking for patterns or combinations that catch your eye. And nothing is off limits. If you were in charge of creating new and different ice cream flavours, you wouldn’t hold back right? There is something for everyone!

4. Be on The Look-Out & Explore New Experiences

You are on a journey of adventure otherwise known as your life. You are constantly changing and your lived experience changes. Cultivate that openness mindset to try new activities which may help you uncover your hidden talents. Sometimes a flicker of an interest in something, even when you have no idea where it came from, can lead to something else entirely!

Remember that a gentle regular push against the temporary wall of the room known as your ‘comfort zone’, is part of your job description in your journey of adventure. Reminding yourself that this is the area of growth. And if we’re not growing, like all of nature, then we’re dying. You can do this.

5. Be Intentional & Practice Self-Reflection and Meditation

Some of the best ways to reconnect with yourself and get into your innermost heart and mind, include journalling and meditation. Blocking out the noise and distraction and just being with yourself and letting all your thoughts and feelings and observations just flow out on the page. Writing it out. This has helped me so much to get better connected with me . It would be great if this could help you too. You can direct your journalling exercise specifically on this area and look at the points we’ve discussed above. Bring all this into your journalling. Similarly with meditation. Some people prefer mindfulness. Having quiet time where your focus is purely on your breathing and a mantra and your eyes are closed. Even if its just for 10 minutes at a time. you may be surprised what insights come up to the surface afterwards. Remember to capture any insights on paper, to look over later.

Start to think about those times or moments in your life when you felt full of vitality and aliveness. When you felt most fulfilled. Ponder over them. Sit with them. These too can be invaluable in pointing out to you what you should be doing more of. What you should be leaning in to. Again, look out for any patterns that may pop up.

These exercises are precious and may really surprise you.

I look forward to hearing how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

What Everyone Ought To Know About Celery Juice? How To

Why is Celery Juice, a herbal extract, on another level with unique healing properties? Keep reading to find out! Drinking 16 ounces of fresh celery juice daily on an empty stomach? Epic benefits my friend!

No not eating celery sticks, celery leaf, celery seeds or celery powder. None of this comes close to the benefits of drinking 16 ounces of fresh celery juice daily on an empty stomach.

I’ve been drinking celery juice now since 2021. I was introduced to the work and teaching of Anthony William, the originator of the global celery movement and New York Times Bestselling Author of several books including ‘Celery Juice: The Most Powerful Medicine Our Time Healing Millions Worldwide’. I was blown away by how this humble celery, when juiced, had transformed the health of so many people.

Having been born with and living with a hidden disability, and having a keen interest in specific areas of health, I did my due diligence and decided that I had to start getting celery juice into my body. I have had amazing results and continue to drink celery juice daily on an empty stomach, though I’ve increased from 500mls (16 oz) to approx 800mls or so, give or take the size of the bunches of organic celery I buy.

This post is about highlighting some of the main benefits from drinking celery juice, as prescribed in the Medical Medium protocol, from the great book mentioned above ‘Celery Juice’. I have selected 10 of my favourite benefits:

1. Neutralise Toxins e.g Heavy Metal Toxins

So important. And specifically, heavy metal toxins like copper, mercury, aluminium. Celery Juice goes into the bloodstream, and neutralises toxins. Excellent!

2. Fights Off Unwanted Bacterial, Fungal, Viral

Those Sodium Cluster Salts (this undiscovered powerhouse ingredient according to MM which does so much – and its not like salt that you cook with) in Celery Juice are so powerful. One of the many things it does is enable Celery Juice to actually kill off bacteria fungus and viruses.

3. Supports The Liver In Producing Bile

Celery Juice supports your liver in producing bile. Hard-working livers that deserve awards!

4. Ultimate Electrolyte Source – Complete & Active

Yes, our bodies run on electricity. We need electrolytes to communicate between the cells. This is the ultimate complete and active source of electrolytes.

5. Unique Digestive Enzymes

Now these aren’t your standard enzymes that digest food in the digestive tract. They these enzymes revitalise other existing enzymes in the body. I think of them as next-level enzymes!

6. Antioxidants

Specific antioxidant function in tackling the fatty deposits around heavy metal toxins. It’s very important work.

7. Vitamin C Superb – No Methylation Process Needed

This has a more remarkable source of Vitamin C, than your broccoli, your tomatoes and even than your orange! The source of Vitamin C we’re talking about here, is already ready for the body to absorb. It doesn’t need to go through the process of methylation in the liver, that usually changes it into the type of Vitamin C that your body can readily absorb- it’s already in that desired absorbable format. Very exciting.

8. Significant Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Let me say that again. Celery Juice has significant anti-inflammatory properties.

9. Strongly Alkaline

Alkalinity is great. You want to have more of an alkaline internal environment.

10. Helps Clear Up Skin Problems

Boom! This is huge! This alone is a reason to start drinking Celery Juice.

Well, I’ll stop there.

If you want to dig deeper, check out the Celery Juice book by MM and also the website.

I will always be drinking Celery Juice. It has helped my health so much.

Can you imagine what it could do for you?

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

Thank You Old Year. Hello New Year. Be Intentional.

The start of a new year. I can’t remember a new year where I didn’t feel excited. Like there was some freshness in the air. A chance to hit the reset button of my life, or at least the reset button of my feelings and emotions. A childlike feeling of excitement that momentarily forgets about the challenges or difficulties of the outgoing season. Something curious about the fact that everyone in this massive world community is pondering over this transition into a new year, all at around the same time, and being a part of that. A part of something so much bigger than ourselves. All of this creates a build up and so many different emotions.

Well, how do you approach this special transition? Do you talk about resolutions or goals? Do you use the language of becoming new or renewed? Do you dread this time of the year and simply ‘opt-out’? Perhaps you make promises to yourself about changes you would like to make in your life? Perhaps your excitement transitions into guilt 8 weeks later when you realise your life hasn’t really begun to change in the way you intended?

Hmmmmm……….

I’ll share what I tend to do. Feel free to try it out if you like the sound of it.

Look over your shoulder and smile

Well, I like to start with looking back. Looking back at the old outgoing year. I like to see on paper what my highlights were and what I enjoyed about the year. I also like to see what big events or challenges or hurdles I had to overcome. Successfully or not so successfully, and just acknowledge them, good or bad. An exciting trip, an admission to hospital, a friendship that withered away. A delicious meal, designing my book cover, the feelings of bodily peace. The times you caught a glimpse of your true authentic character unfiltered, and the laughter you had from a nourishing friendship.

I jot these down with pencil on paper, preferably in little circles or squiggly shapes like clouds, and just get it all down, out of my head. This is fun, and the larger the piece of paper the better. I do like using my journal, but I run out of space so I prefer to use a larger sketch type pad that I keep tucked away for big creative moments like this.

Or if you’re not much of a writer, you could try going for a walk while recording yourself on your phone, saying all your highlights out loud. I did both this year and it was really fun, especially as my thoughts were rolling out faster than I could write! So later on when writing, I could use the audio to check I hadn’t forgotten anything.

Give space for acknowledgement

Then when you’re quite done giving acknowledgement to the outgoing year, start the process again for what you would like to see happen in your life for the new year.

Hello new year! What’s occurring?

This should be fun! Remember, if there are things you are afraid to say because you think there’s no point in wishing for it, then write it down! Don’t hold back. Sometimes it takes writing something down to bring it to life, and really admit it to yourself. Because I’ve done this a few times, I now know that you want to be as specific as you can. Also give things a deadline, like a date for when you want something to happen or to start taking shape.

This starts to take you into the territory of writing goals, which isn’t really what this post is about, so more on that another time. But this process is all about bringing clarity and focus and deliberate intention to what is important for your life. It’s about taking the time to give breathing space to your thoughts and to what’s in your heart. To really bring it to life and help you make real authentic decisions about what direction to take next, to get to where you would really like to be.

I’d love to hear how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

How To Thrive With Your Hidden Disability

Well it has been a while my friend………… Je suis tres desolee!!! Can you forgive me? In my defence, I have been completely absorbed in the deep cave of writing my book…… and though I wanted to do everything…. I soon realised that I couldn’t, and something had to give.

I’m delighted to be back here on the blog, and oh how I’ve missed writing this blog! You really do appreciate something more when you’ve not had it for a while. I hope that I meet you well, and hope that you may forgive me and decide to share some of your precious time with me by reading my renewed blog.

And good news by the way…….my book manuscript is FINISHED! Hooray! Well, AS finished as it gets! For all the creatives out there……………… it can be hard to say that you’re DONE! There’s always one more point to make, or one more name to acknowledge, or one more story to share, or one more read through of the edits…..aaaaargh! I am so happy and grateful for arriving at this point of the process, and now its time to start working through the checklist of important tasks to complete in the countdown to publication, which I hope will be by November 2025!!! Nearly there now!

What is it all about I hear you say? Well, I won’t say too much now, but this short introductory video will probably give you the gist of it all.

So yes my friend, I am following my heart, the prompting on my heart, and a real sense of purpose and mission as I step forward in this direction.

My mission is to Help You Thrive With Your Hidden Disability Without the Pain of Settling For Less Than You Deserve.

As someone born with a Hidden Disability, that has been really debilitating over the years, and has often left me feeling like my body has been in a war zone…….or has in fact been the war zone….. I am at the point of my journey of life where I feel the healthiest I have ever been, and incredibly happy and grateful and I have spent the last 10 years or more cultivating tools and strategies to get me to this point. I now want to help others to thrive with their hidden disabilities, just as I am gratefully thriving in life with mine.

So……..

I am excited to journey with you, and for us to develop together, and also help others to do the same.

Stay tuned……. and I’ll see you in the next blog post. I look forward to hearing how this may resonate with you.

Sending you my light and my love, Tessa x

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

3 Ideas To Start Simplifying Your Photos

Are you like me, at that point where you’re starting to think about how you can tackle your collection of photographs? You want to simplify all of these photos that you have collected for years and years and years and years? Well my friend, this video is for you! You are in good company.

I think it is important for us to clarify whether we are in the same boat.

What Is Your Objective

Well, maybe you’re reading this and thinking about preserving your entire collection of maybe 20, 30, 40 or 50 years plus of photographs! That is not what I am going to talk about today because my objective is completely different. If you are trying to simplify your photos by getting rid of some of the paper, the physical photos and streamlining your collection, then you and I are aligned my friend!

If you want to keep all of your photos then you’ll want to be thinking more about storage options and how to store them. If you want to save just those that are perhaps the highlight reel of that year or that decade of your life, then you’re going to want to look at ways that you can have limited storage but easy access.

You want to dig through all the unnecessaries and just have your focus. So think about what your objective is here. I can share that I have allocated just one basket. The photographs basket! That’s it. I really want to cut down on all the paper stuff. So clarify your objective.

Pick Your Method

You’re going to need a game plan in how you start to attack the photo collection. Are you going to look at photos based on your age, say from age 0yrs to 10 yrs in one pile? 11 – 20? 21-30? Is it going to be by theme? Maybe before something happened in your life, and then after that thing happened? Could it be that you’ve lived in a few different countries and you want to categorise your photos by country? I don’t know. So have a think about your method. That’s going to really help you start to get to a place where you think, okay, I know what I’m doing. I have picked by decades, but also by age, as my method.

How Are You Going To Start

So maybe you’ve selected all your photos by decade. Sure, that’s all good, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to keep them ALL. So I like Marie Kondo and her methods for organising your life, and she often says that you want to hold an item and see whether it sparks joy for you. How do you feel when you’re looking at this particular photo?

I found a photo the other day, I must have been maybe 3 or 4 yrs old, and it was me sitting with my Dad, on a Sunday afternoon, and I was mimicking what he was doing and actually, he was reading the Sunday papers. So I must have grabbed part of his paper, and I was holding it up in front of me, copying my Dad.

I don’t know what I was doing, but I looked at the camera and I was laughing. That’s when the picture was taken. So I had forgotten about this photo, and I picked it up and OMGoodness! I couldn’t stop laughing, and even now that I speak about it, I’m laughing. So you know, that totally sparked joy for me. Definitely a keeper!

But there was another photo that I saw which was like, photo 5 of 10, of this same one tree, back in my university days, and I don’t even remember the story behind the tree! It must have been very significant then, but why do I have 10 different photos of this one tree??!! So you know, no joy there, just frustration. What is going on Tessa??

So I would encourage you to maybe think of that method for you, in terms of how you are dividing up the photos that you have, what to keep, what sparks joy for you, and what you’re going to say thank you to, and let go.

Are you with me?

Emotional Disposal

If you are a minimalist at heart like me, then you might want to (now please don’t hate me) get over this emotional block of the sacrilege of ripping up a photograph!!! Don’t get overly emotional about disposing. Unfortunately, it appears that because of the chemicals used in printed photographs, you can’t recycle them like you would paper (apparently). I looked into this because I was thinking surely there has to be a way I can recycle these prints. But alas no. So you’re going to have to make your peace with tearing them up and getting rid of them (or another way you choose). However, all is not lost………

Aspire Towards Digitising Those Photos That You Are Keeping

So there are some great scanners available, that just have the one purpose of scanning photos really quickly and easily, so you can feed them through quickly and get through lots of photos at a time. That is something really great to aspire to because then you can digitise your photos if you choose.

You then have the option of having no paper at all, if that’s your heart’s desire or maybe it gets you excited just thinking about it though you’re not quite there yet! And obviously that is much better for the environment. So, something to think about my friend!

So there you are. Some ideas planted to get your mind buzzing and the juices flowing. This is something that you CAN do. You CAN do it!

I look forward to hearing how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

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Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

7 Ways To Reduce Scars Naturally

Have you ever thought, well you’ve had surgery and you’ve got these scars and in your eyes they’re pretty ugly, and you’d like to reduce the size of them, or at least minimise them. And you’re not too keen on having additional treatment or special professional procedures to get rid of it. Well on this video, I’m going to look at 7 natural ways to help you reduce your scars.

I also, perhaps like you, have surgical scars, and so I was interested and did some research on what was out there. My scars are pretty old and also hidden from the parts of your body normally on show, and because of what I’ve used, are starting to fade and not be so fiery and sort of blend in with the surrounding skin. But I often wondered, if I had got in there early and made a better effort earlier, would I have had a better result? Anyway……

So I was reading up on this and I found this amazing article that looked at many many natural ways to help you minimise the look of your scars. So I extracted 7 which I thought were fantastic, and one of them is actually the one I’ve been using, which is great!

So let’s dive straight in!

Frankincense Essential Oil

Now the smell of Frankincense is pretty amazing, but I didn’t know you could use this to help you get rid of your scars! So a couple of headline points are that it has natural anti-inflammatory properties, it is really great for dry skin, and it is known to help reduce the signs of ageing and very good with stretch marks, including scars.

Rosehip Seed Oil

This sort of buddies up with Frankincense Essential Oil. This also is very high in anti-oxidants and essential fatty acids which are going to soothe, nourish and rehydrate the skin. This is great. Now combined with Frankincense Essential Oil, it becomes really good for anti-aging! An extra tip there.

Aloe Vera Gel or Gelly

Full disclosure, this is what I have been using over the years to really just soothe, dampen and blend the scars that I have, so this is a top one from me. Now what you want to get at is the lovely oozing gelly that you get in the inner leaf. Now even though I’ve been using this consistently for years, I didn’t know that it is the hyperpigmentation in the scar that the aloe consistently fades.

I knew that it gave a rejuvenating appearance to your skin. I know from my own use that aloe very gel is anti-aging which is fantastic. I also know that it is a natural anti-inflammatory. Now you want to make sure that you are very careful about the quality of what you’re using.

So even though I have been using Aloe Vera Gel for many many years now almost 10 years, I do not extract it from a pot plant on my kitchen window sill, because the quality is not the same. You may choose to do that, but you may not get the same effects that I have been getting. So where you source it from is very important, so more about that at the end.

Lemon Juice

I found this quite interesting. I do drink lemon juice in water everyday, but I didn’t know it would be a really useful natural way to help with your scars. And apparently it is the sort of bleaching effect of it that lightens the discolouration you can get with scars. And it fades it over time with consistent use, which was very interesting.

Watch the Video Here

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Gosh, this is good for so many things isn’t it? So it has this ability to heal up wounds really nicely. It loosens the dead skin cells and it kind of softens the scar.

Cocoa Butter

This is so fantastic and it has been around forever! Preferably organic or raw. It is very highly concentrated. But did you know that it is a fat? It’s a highly concentrated fat! I know that sounds a bit yucky, but cocoa butter is amazing. It penetrates very deeply into the skin. It’s a bit like the Aloe Vera you know, which penetrates 7 layers deep into your skin which is partly why it is so effective.

But cocoa butter penetrates very deeply into your skin, and it also has anti-oxidants which helps you to heal and specifically it helps to prevent the ageing effects of the UV rays from the sun. So I thought that’s really interesting. And of course it has that lovely smell which you just want to eat 🙂 Well there you go, cocoa butter.

Lavender Essential Oil

Now this is probably one of two favourite essential oils for me and I use all the time. I did not know that it was really good for scars. It improves the way that your collagen is made, and we know don’t we, that collagen is one of the important building blocks of the skin. It’s got healing properties, soothing properties, that help to diminish scar tissue. And we know don’t we that when you’re using Lavender oil on your body or as a fragrance in the room where you are, it just soothes you and it helps you to reduce any anxiety, stress or tension, so it is a powerful potent oil.

So those are my 7 natural ways to help you reduce your scars.

And the thing about natural ways is that it is going to take a while, so consistent regular dedicated use, and thinking about how you are applying this daily, maybe twice a day. And especially with the oils, you’ll need to do a patch test first as you may have an allergy or your skin may not be loving that particular oil, so make sure you always do that. If you have any other medical concerns, be sure to check with your medical practitioner or your healthcare adviser.

I think it is wonderful that there are so many options out there to help you deal with surgical scars, which can often really bring you down, especially if you don’t like how they look. There are so many different types of scarring, so if this is a big area for you, I would encourage you to get out there and do your own in depth research. For natural ways, this may not be good for everyone, maybe you’ll need a specific procedure or some other type of surgical remedy, to get rid of the scars, if that is for you.

If you’re interested to know a bit more about my preferred choice of Aloe Vera Gel or Gelly, as I mentioned in the video – I apply it topically but I also drink it – then you’re gonna want to check out my Free Download, my Get the Glow Guide. See the details below.

I’d love to hear how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

4 Health Benefits Of Walking 10,000 Steps A Day

So maybe you’re like me and you’re wondering what all this talk is about 10,000 steps and walking 10K steps a day? Why do I need to know? What’s the magic in that? Well on this video, I’m going to share with you 4 health benefits from walking 10K steps a day.

I was reading this great article, as you do. And I too was intrigued, because a friend of mine said that she was enjoying getting in her 10 K steps a day and kept checking her ‘steps’. Anyway, I found out that 10K steps works out at just under 5 miles and there are so many benefits and it made me think, wow, this is super important, and so I thought I’d share the ones that resonated with me most, with you.

So let’s dive straight in.

Improved Mood and Brain Function

So when you exercise, you release these feel-good chemicals in your body called endorphins, and they lift your mood. So you get that benefit from walking 10K steps a day. If you’re going to do your 10K steps outside, in nature, then that’s great too. The release of those endorphins is going to reduce your stress levels and reduce your anxiety, which is brilliant as we don’t need that! Now walking generally, improves your cognitive function and memory, which is important for all of us, no matter what your age. And this will make you feel more focused, having less physical tension and feeling lighter. So that gets my vote.

Help You Improve Your Mobility

Now we all need this, again, as we’re talking about improving your joint health. Now I’m someone who has a personal interest in joint health so I was really intrigued to read about this. I mean, you know walking generally is very good for you. It’s about the movement and how it releases all that lovely lubrication, that synovial fluid, in your joints, which is what you want. I was interested to read that specifically around knee joints, walking 10K a day can help to reduce pain, the type of joint pain that you often get with arthritis. And it increases your circulation. So that’s really interesting. Even if you don’t suffer from joint pain, you want to get into a groove of movement in your life that is going to help prevent joint pain, which this actually does. If you do have pain, I know that when you’re in pain you’re thinking, well, I’m not going to walk because I don’t want to push it. Well, it’s one of those things isn’t it….walking is actually going to help you get out of that painful place. So wherever you can, if it is safe for you to do so, then please do.

Are you with me?

Watch the Video Here

Helping You With Healthy Weightloss

This is of course as part of the other things you would do to lose weight. How does it do that? Well its going to get your heart-rate up which is fantastic. Its going to increase how many calories you burn. Also fantastic. So that will support you if you are intentionally trying to lose weight. Also, we often can take walking for granted. But it works specifically a set of muscles that have to be engaged to enable the movement of walking. Maybe when you’re walking you don’t even think twice about how your leg is naturally lifting up your foot and your ankle. Maybe you don’t think about the muscles, the quadriceps that are needed to ensure that your knee joint is moving. All these muscles in your legs, back, core, abdomen, glutes, these are all working and getting engaged. So it’s great for weightloss.

Helping You To Recover More Quickly

So what do I mean by that? Maybe you’re like me and yes you like walking, but you also like to workout, and you like your weight training, or your yoga or your Pilates practice, or all of those. Well walking 10K steps a day can really help to soothe your muscles and prevent soreness, so good quick recovery from a workout. And also it is stimulating your blood flow which is going to carry the nutrients that are needed around your body after your physical exercise. So that’s really important for recovery.

So many good benefits!

I’ve been aiming towards 10K steps a day for a little while now and it helps if you can monitor your step count. Whether you have an app on your phone or one of these things that I have on my wrist which can also monitor your heart rate. And I love it. I love how I feel. And its exciting. It becomes like a bit of a game. You’re checking how many steps you’ve done so far, and maybe its lunchtime and you’ve hit 5000 steps, and you’re thinking ooh where can I get some more steps. Your body is going to thank you for it, and if you are physically able to do so, you might want to check this out.

So there you have it.

I’d love to hear how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe

3 Little Known Factors That Could Affect Your Friendships

Have you ever felt guilty about your friendships? Thinking that you’re not great at keeping in touch with friends, or because of your hidden disability, you have had to cancel so many plans with friends at the last minute and disappointed friends? Perhaps you’re feeling like you’re not really a very good friend? It just bothers you.

Well my friend, this video is for you!

I am a big fan of Brendon Burchard. I love the way he teaches and it resonates with me. I was listening to one of his talks on friendship, and it really struck a chord with me. I was thinking that this is something that I struggle with, and carrying around that guilt, trying to understand how I can do better, and where to put your energies. It’s important to be able to let go of the stuff, the heaviness that defeats you. And sometimes carrying around guilt, just adds to the heavy baby!

Brendon talked about putting friendships into three categories, to help you manage them better and say adios to the guilt. It really helped me, and as I share my takeaways, I hope they help you.

Let’s dive straight in.

Old Friends

So here we’re talking about friends you have had from a long time ago. Friends from the past (not old as in age!), maybe from school or from old workplaces. Friends who you may not have been in touch with for a while, but you have some good memories about those friendships. What I learnt from Brendon when he was talking about this group of people, is that actually, it is okay to have peace with letting go of friendships because they have lived out their timing. People come into our lives, sometimes for a season or a particular time, and we can have a lot of guilt about that like, ‘why didn’t I keep in touch?’.

Sometimes the fact that you haven’t kept in touch, is a bit of an indicator of where you’re at, and whether or not those friendships still have value for you. So I encourage you to think about that in your life. If you have friends in this old friends category, you have permission to just be at peace, and let go of that guilt of not staying in touch. It is important to embrace and give thanks for those wonderful memories that you have with them, but let go of the guilt. Are you with me?

Watch Video Here

Maintenance Friends

These are the kind of friends that you maintain. So this is like friends that you might be in touch with once or twice a year. Actually, in all honesty, maybe some of your family, extended or immediate, might fall into this category. Maybe you send them a birthday card, or Christmas card, and when you do connect, it’s great. ‘How are you doing? What’s new with you? It’s really lovely to speak with you’, and you can feel joy for that person. And it’s okay. It’s fine if you have friends in this category.

Growth Friends

So these are people that you have a real heart connection with. You just ‘get’ them. You love being around them. And you do kind of grow together. So you want to have regular contact with these friends, whether that is speaking each week, each month, or maybe daily! These friends might be your besties, if you have them. They might be friends that you just deeply resonate with and you have such deep laughter with. You want to give a commitment to nurturing that friendship because these are people that you’re going to grow with.

Brendon said a number of things about this category that I found really interesting. It might be that you’re really fascinated by friends in this category. Perhaps you’re loving their personal development journey and you’re inspired to become a better person yourself. Perhaps you both bounce ideas off each other, with that level of connection. Perhaps you have deep trust for them and you may confide in them in a way that you wouldn’t with anyone else. You respect their journey and you understand what goals they are working towards.

Then of course your attitude will be completely different for these friends. You want to prioritise making the time to have some good quality connection. You want to put it in the diary when you’re going to meet up, and to create new experiences together. And there shouldn’t be any guilt here, because you’re aligning yourself with these friends, and consciously putting in the time to be with, and to grow together.

Food for thought?

Maybe this might resonate with you and give you permission to let go of that guilt you’ve been carrying. To feel a bit lighter about the people that you haven’t kept in touch with and perhaps have a different point of reference for how you relate to friends and people in your life.

So over to you. I encourage you to take this opportunity to do a bit of soul-searching of the friendships in your life. Perhaps get your journal out and really work through this. Take an inventory of your friendships. The answers you get may be illuminating. You move through different seasons in your life, and so your friendship desires also change.

I’d love to hear how you get on.

If you liked this then hit the ‘FOLLOW’ button, COMMENT letting me know what was your biggest takeaway, and tell a friend!

If you’d like to watch more videos then hit the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button on my YouTube channel so we can journey together. I’d love to hear from you.

Many people ask me to share what health, wellness and beauty products I use. Instead of listing out each item individually here on the blog, I made a list of my Top 20 favourites, the ones I personally love and use here linktr.ee/tessafyffe