In 1999, I dropped out of university suffering with depression, which included moments of feeling like I just wanted to leave this world. I had spent much of my teen years and twenties feeling ‘oversensitive’ and ‘weak’ because I was constantly overwhelmed by my emotions. Leaving university signified the beginning of the most important journey of my life – the journey into self-love.
It began with a series of break-throughs facilitated by various health professionals and programmes, alongside my spiritual awakening, which has guided me to the importance of regular practice of these transformative techniques:
Meditative practices – occupying the mind with layered high vibrational practices (e.g. singing uplifting mantras, visualisation, breathing, a combination of these and more) to develop kindful self-awareness and tuning in to higher guidance from a Divine Source of energy to take meaningful steps towards my unique purpose
Self-kindness – giving myself what I need, in balance, and without question or judgement.
Gratitude – being present with the millions of daily miracles that keep me alive and enable me to live the privilege of working towards my dreams.
In my early 30s, I had a further significant breakthrough after several ‘wake up calls’ in my family, and left a financially stable but toxic work environment to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher. Supported by my family, this courageous move heralded a new energy for my journey – the divine energy of Gratitude. In awe of the survival of my nearest and dearest, along with finally feeling free of the clouds that had darkened my world for so long, I felt a blanket of blessings upon me – I felt so grateful to have all my basic needs taken care of, and having the freedom, independence and opportunities to go for my dreams – simply feeling grateful was not meaningful enough for me. I felt moved to pay forward my gratitude by setting up…Club Gratitude (‘nee’ Club Sandwich!). It was through the development of this charity project that I began to cultivate a practice of being more conscious of my daily gifts and incorporate that awareness into everything I do. It went on to expand into my spiritual practice, and in 2017, I created Gratitude Goldmine, my gratitude practice blog.
As I began to tune in to my intuition more and more, I was guided to be kinder to myself – to turn the kindness that I so readily show others, to myself.
Once I started to learn to trust my inner voice, and accept that it was guiding me towards my purpose on this earth, my life began improving through one courageous step after another. On top of living my teaching dream and bringing people together through the charity project, I began spreading my positive vibes in environments that really needed them, and that made me come ALIVE! With these successes under my belt, thanks to the mental wellbeing tools that had strengthened my resilience, I tackled my degree once again, but this time, I flourished, and it was this victory over my history that helped me realise that using my intuition to create techniques to improve my wellbeing was something that could benefit others. I kept hearing more and more people say how they were stuck in jobs they hated, and I really wanted to help them. They would ask me how I stay so positive, and I told them that I was tuned in to myself regularly and connected with my purpose. We are not here to simply exist, we are here to thrive! It was then that I decided to use what I’d learned to help others uplift themselves.
After running a Feel Good Friday event at the Museum of Happiness, to counteract the Brexit referendum gloom, I started growing warm connections with the amazing souls there, and in 2018, I qualified as a Happiness Trainer. I was delighted and encouraged to find that much of the content they offered was what I had learnt through my own experience and personal growth.
Through embedding all these practices into my life, I have transformed my perspective of it from a violent rollercoaster, to more of an adventure. I know how it feels to struggle with myself and with difficult emotions, to feel lost, lonely, hopeless and more. But I don’t know what it’s like for YOU. I truly hope that you will find something that helps you within my website and services, and I want everyone who feels any of this to know:
You are precious.
The world needs you.
You are always doing your best.
There is always help, and if you can’t find it here, there are many organisations who are well-equipped to help you take care of yourself when the going gets too tough to deal with on your own:
Mind or the NHS has a list of services, even if you just need to talk to someone.