First Impressions last a lifetime. It’s not something that you can “do over”. In a day and age where people will spend thousands on the perfect clothing, creams, potions and lotions, it’s quite surprising that most people seem to neglect the one thing that everyone loves looking at: The smile.

Dr Emil Jansen, a dentist in Gauteng shares with us: “A lovely smile can enhance and open up any face, taking it from attractive to truly beautiful.

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The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.”  I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

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To drink or not to drink – it’s all about moderation

I love red wine. Red wine just doesn’t love me. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying a good glass from time to time.  I was told that my post consumption sinus congestion headache was a result of the sulphites and while wine naturally contains these, modern viticulturists add additional sulphites in the wine making process.  It was suggested I try organic wines as these contain a lower percentage of these aggravating supplements.

I decided to do a little reading on the matter and came across the Vrede En Lust blog, which not only expounds the health benefits of a few glasses of wine, it also says the following:

‘The articles also cover the much debated issue of what causes headaches for some after drinking wine. This is obviously for causes other than too many bottles of wine! The finding is that the much maligned sulfides and histamines in wine are unlikely to be the cause, as they appear in many other popular foods in much higher levels.’

Now I know dried fruit is one such food that I need to be wary of, however, it has never had the same headachy effects on me.  Could it just be that it is worse for me in liquid form?

So I decided to try out a bottle of Organic wine this weekend (with an anti-histamine precautionary tab) and was delighted to find no detrimental side effects from a couple of glasses.  So if you’re like me, and have been avoiding that glass of red for similar reasons, may I be so bold as to suggest you try out a few glasses of Dixon’s Peak organic wine.   If you’re not like me, Vrede En Lust has a wonderful range.

If you Google ‘Red wine health benefits’ you will find tons of information on it’s health benefits from raising good cholesterol, lowering bad cholesterol, good for arthritis, heart disease etc.

We’d love to hear from you…

Has your health care professional recommended you drink wine?

S2S Editor © 2009

Head vs. Heart Decisions

Head, Heart or both?

Most of us use both when making decisions, although some of us favour one over the other. 

I ensure I use both when making decisions, perhaps a little more heart… after all that intuitive feeling I get has been pretty right most of the time.  I like to weigh up my options and then let my heart lead.  It works most times   In my early 20’s I was definitely all heart, very impulsive and I made gut influenced decisions.  The older I’ve become I realise that I do cross over and use logic, rational and objective reasoning.  (And at times, I’ve ignored my heart and been stuck in my head)

Knowing when to use head or heart it is up to you and the situation you face, although developing the means to cross over and use both sphere’s adds to the richness of our decision making power.

When I reflect back on my decision making prior to starting my own coaching practice I realised that I was primarily operating in the head zone. It was fear driven.  I evaluated everything, over analysed it and found myself not doing anything due to fear and my own limiting beliefs.  This lead to procrastination.  Once I allowed my heart into the decision making process I could not deny myself the knowledge that this was the right path for me.  My intuition told me this is the way to go.  I didn’t have all the answers I would need to begin but I had faith that I would be guided on the way.  Instead of thinking “I should” I starting thinking “I could” and the “have to” idea was easily replaced with “I want to.”

Our ‘heart’ decisions are made with our right brain which is holistic, subjective and intuitive, while ‘head’ decisions are made with our left brain.  This is our rational side, where we analyse information and make use of objective reasoning.  This can leave us being in two minds when making a decision.

Being in 2 minds

This happens when there is a perceived conflict between our head and heart.  Our rational left brain looks at the facts, analyses and looks for the logic while our creative right brain goes with what feels right.

No decision is a decision

I’ve found myself at times in a quandary as to which way to go, sometimes thinking I’ll take no action just yet as I can’t decide.  But taking no action is a decision in itself.  Being indecisive is a decision we make to take no action.

Why is this?

Well to me, taking a decision one way or another means committing to it and by choosing a particular path means I have to reject others and this could close the door on other possibilities.   Sometimes there is a sense of loss even.  Have you felt like this?

Just do it

While we’d love to always be making the right decisions, on occasion we do miss the mark.  And that’s okay.  As long as we are making decisions that move us towards our goals that’s good as if they are not ideal we get to find out soon enough and take action towards rectifying it.  We can then look at the other possibilities that we previously rejected or have new possibilities from our learning from the previous decision. Taking no decision leaves us sitting on the fence.  It’s not as easy to move forward when we put our life on hold. So… just do it.

How?

Weigh it up and go with your heart

Considering all the facts and logic, weighing up the pro’s and cons gives us information we need to consider.  We should be wary of making decisions that are fear driven. 

Once we have used objective reasoning on the facts we have, then we go with our heart.  This leads to a balance between our intuition and logical choice, providing us with better quality positive decisions that are right for us.

Intuition – that Gut feeling

What does your gut tell you?  Intuition decision making may not show you the steps to get there, it is more about trust and faith in yourself.  You act in the belief that you know the way.  Sometimes, after I’ve made a decision I get a gut feeling – something just doesn’t feel right.  Instead of ignoring this I know that to me it means that something is not right about the decision I’ve made.  Perhaps I need to reevaluate it, perhaps I need to chat to someone about it, and perhaps I need to do something to change it.  What does your gut tell you?

You made a decision to read this article.  We are presented with choices all the time; it is just up to us to make use them.

You Unlimited 2008 © Camilla Hazell

Inspirational Quotes

‘Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.”

Henry Ford

10 tips to banish negativity

“If scarcity is what you see, it’s scarcity you’ll find. If prosperity is what you see, it’s prosperity you’ll find. Which would you choose to see?” Camilla Hazell

Almost everywhere we turn, from friends, to family; to colleagues to the media we hear reports of financial doom and gloom.  Retrenchments here, property sales down there… And doesn’t misery love company? We have little choice about what everyone else is saying, but we certainly have a choice in what we say, what we think & our perception of the situation. Read the rest of this entry »