There are only good children here!

I wasn't surprised this morning when I woke up and realised I had caught a bad cold! It's almost comical! I have had and have a huge stress load from various sources and the sum of these has broken down my immune system and after a few bad nights sleep, the cold breaks out. When I don't give my body the opportunity to rest and recover it immediately punishes me, bam! And I am grateful! Grateful because I am so sensitive and because I know how my body works.

The 6 basic principles, initiated by Paul Chek, are based on creating a balance between yin and yang. The yin principles consist of diet, hydration and sleep, while the yang principles consist of breathing techniques, positive thinking and movement. The 6 basic principles for a healthy lifestyle are described in more detail in my previous blog series: Introduction, Diet and Fluid Balance, Sleep, Positive thinking, Movement and Breathing Techniques and Discussion.

It has been raining and the sky has been grey for many, many days now. It affects me and it affects others. Fortunately, I can find one pleasure in the autumn weather and that is to light candles, lots of candles, to make it as cosy as it can get when there is autumn debris outside. And just before bedtime, it's almost a must to curl up on the couch wearing a fluffy sweater with a warm cup of tea on my lap.

Some days are completely impossible. To do lists are long and numerous, the phone rings, important emails pop up that need a quick response, the mobile phone beeps countless times, daydreams take over, meetings interrupt the writing when it's flowing best etc etc.

The ability to focus and be present is the key to good productivity, at work and in everyday life. To focus is to narrow your attention to something specific, to keep your eyes on a specific goal. It is the key to concentration, efficiency and clarity. The problem is that attention is a limited resource and distractions are all around us. There are many different things competing for our attention all the time, and that poses a bigger problem today than ever before. The brain is not built to "have too many balls in the air" all the time.

You can use your gut in many different ways, but one thing is for sure, you should never defy it. That's one of my basic principles.

A simple example from earlier today was when I came back after leaving the kids at school and preschool. As I entered the kitchen, my gut told me to check the bags from the US one more time, because that's where the missing Manuka honey lie. I don't know why my intuition was giving me these signals at the time, but I did what my intuition told me to do. And sure enough, at the bottom of one of the bags in another bag lies the honey! Just like that. As I had thought and searched before without getting anywhere. And how appropriate that it turned up just today, as the girls and I are struggling with a sore throat.

The biological evolution is going on all the time, albeit at a very slow pace. We humans, like all other living things, change over time by natural selection whether we like it or not.

Another type of evolution that is more evident in today's society is the cultural one, how we learn new things and how we use our bodies and interact with each other based on learned information. This is also a type of evolution that affects us greatly.