I was in the middle of lunch when the email came through. Julie had some news she was absolutely bursting to share. She’d just had one of those moments of excitement where everything made sense and she wanted to share it. ‘You know Neil,’ she said, ‘I thought you were joking. Here I was in debt, trying to work around kids, and to be honest struggling because I felt like a hypocrite – I mean, whose going to come to a stressed holistic therapist for relaxation!’ It was a few minutes later, as I returned to my salad, that I actually got the power my work had on her. Because later in that email she said, ‘Suddenly things you told me about clicked into place – about time you’re probably thinking! I mean it is a few weeks since we last spoke!’ Julie went on, ‘When I got things straight in my head, I began to do things differently and suddenly the debts are reducing, the kids are playing nicely and five new clients have found me.’ Julie agreed that I could share her personal story with you, because she felt – and I agree with her – that maybe you or some people you know will find inspiration from it. Personally, I’m always moved by people overcoming the odds whether that’s: how a woman from Rwanda escaped, learned English and wrote a book that told her story; or an ordinary woman from the Midlands mastered some fundamentals. You see, a lot of people relate to Julie: an “ordinary” mum of two while struggling to balance the kids, self-emplyment and cash flow. But she changed it all around. With Julie we’re talking big picture, life changes. But last night I had to practice what I preach to improve my own state of mind. Because to be honest, at 7.30pm it wasn’t looking good. You see, I’d had a busy day of meetings and when I got home I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was tired and I’m sorry to say, I was a bit grumpy. The TV was on and it would have been easy to just accept it’s programming and sleep with my eyes open for a few hours. But I thought to myself, ‘No, I am really alive and my brain does work and there must therefore be something better than this to do.’ So I sat back and had a fantasy about what would be better than staring at the TV. I played out the fantasies in my mind and began to feel more energized and happier. I then did some gentle exercise and took a bath. Come 9pm, having spent almost 90 minutes caring and nurturing me, I had a buzz again (which I doubt TV would have given me – unless I put my fingers in the back of it! . With Julie it was more of a ‘holistic-overhaul’ than a one day choice. What I worked on her with Julie was her goals, then we worked on her awareness of what was in the way of their achievement. Julie is just one example of a process that works like a dream. With love and good wishes Neil