Adam Shaw grew up within the grounds of a Psychiatric Hospital, where his parents worked and lived. Since commencing his own career as a health professional in 1992, he has qualified in several fields of health, including nursing, Reiki, NLP, Hypnosis and Vortex Healing. During his career he has worked with thousands of people with health challenges, journeying into the deeper-rooted realms of wellness. He has now created The Secrets of a Cardiac Nurse - The Prescription Doctors Don't Give, a step-by-step guide to better health and wellbeing and now shares his learnings through writing, speaking and events. He provides on-line resources via his website adamshaw.co. Follow Adam on Twitter @adam_shaw
Recently, Adam Shaw reported on Step 2 of Walk Innovation. Now he talks about Step 3: Intent. Watch his video here.
Now that you are committed to DOING this programme and you know to ground yourself regularly, we will now talk about intent.
In everything you do in your life your intent will determine your outcome. If you intend to find fault – you will. If you intend to improve your life – you will. If you intend to love – you will.
As non-positive intent yields non-positive outcomes we will only ever be focusing on POSITIVE intent
Being aware of your intent at any given moment is the fastest way to move towards positive outcomes more often.
Intend for what you want – or you will get what you don’t want.
Have fun walking now that your intent is positive.
Comments Off on How Do You Bounce Back When The Chips are Down?
Life has a habit of sending us testing situations to navigate during our life. When these things happen it is not always easy to bounce back. Having had a few of these moments in my life I know a thing or two about this. It can be a huge challenge remaining positive when testing times visit you. In this weeks video I offer my reflections, just hours after receiving some not so good news and feeling pretty rough!
Occasionally I have one or both of my nephews around to stay with me at the weekend, they are currently aged 6 and 7. This usually gives me the opportunity to regress a bit and have a lot of fun.
I get to play games and eat unhealthily for a day or two whilst they get the freedom to do pretty much what they like. As they are not ready to own the merits of eating healthily I have adopted their mentality whilst they are staying. Meanwhile, I get to pick their brains for the pearls of wisdom that they occasionally present.
I have a habit of asking them questions that I have yet to find an answer to and indeed probably never will. “What is the key to the universe?†and “What is the secret to life?†are things I have pondered for many hours.
Over the years I have asked them such questions and have been given answers that both astound and amuse. “Doing good farts,†was an old favourite of them both in response to the above questions, for a good while.
Whilst sitting down for lunch last weekend I asked “What is the secret to everlasting happiness?†My eldest nephew, Connor, looked up and said “Look after yourself.â€
His tone was questioning, yet his response struck a chord with me. I knew that looking after myself was a good idea but I do not always do it. I do meditate. exercise and walk a lot “but I could do more,†is a well rehearsed line that soon followed.
The tyranny of the word “but†suddenly came into play. In one second I had dismissed all of the good work that I do. But dismisses all of the content that has gone before it. It is dismissive, finite and pointless in a context like this.
I know that as far as health is concerned that I am in the higher reaches of the population in looking after myself. Using the word and, instead of but, is a much more productive linguistic structure after acknowledging something positive.
It is certain that I could do more to be healthier and look after myself better but (and this is a good context to use it) when I compare myself now to where I was last year I walk more, drink more water, eat healthier and exercise more. It is about momentum and mine has been in the right direction.
Most of my changes have been slight and manageable, without causing major or immediate shifts. However (a word that is virtually the same as but!) over time major shifts occur.
So, the lesson from Connor has deeper reaches. Looking after myself is not just about taking action to feel better it’s about giving myself proper credit for the changes that I have made.
Part of this process is allowing myself to venture into less healthy practices occasionally, like eating occasional junk foods with my nephews. It is important for me to realize the lessons that I learnt whilst nursing. Namely, that how I speak to myself will have much more impact on my health than what I do to myself.
Only by becoming my own best friend will I ever be a truly healthy individual. The key to happiness is indeed looking after myself, by giving myself more credit for what I have done and being less harsh for what I haven’t. It also helps to play a lot, laugh a lot and let loose.
1 in 4 British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health challenge in any one year, according to mentalhealth.org. Furthermore, major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million adults in a given year in America, according to the NIMH.
What are the symptoms?
Depression will often manifest as a lack of motivation. When you don’t want to get out of bed in the morning or you start to hate your life, for whatever reason, then you have been feeling increasing symptoms for a while. You may feel hopelessness, anxiety or helplessness. Your may be less tolerant of others. It is possible that you have considered suicide. You will have less energy and could be experiencing changes in your sleep pattern, appetite or even your menstrual cycle.
Depression affects friends and family members.
All in all, depression affects a vast number of the population and this has ramifications on not just the person who is depressed, but on everyone who cares about them. It is likely that most of the population knows someone who is depressed, whether they have been diagnosed or not.
This page has been created to help those who have depression and those who know someone who is depressed. How can you help them? What do you say? What advice can you give to someone who asks for your help or advice?
What can you do?
Our wellbeing e-course will offer you simple, but very powerful, ways to move in a more positive direction. Getting active is also a great way to start moving to a more positive place. Our Walk Innovation System is a good place to start. By leaving your name and e-mail with us in the box on the right of this screen, you will access the numerous free resources available to you. If you are ready for a big shift then you may be ready for a Wellbeing Breakthrough Session.
What will happen if I don’t do anything about it?
You will suffer, your friends and family, who care about you, will suffer and you may soon feel suicidal. It could cost you your job, your relationships and your life. The true cost of long-term depression cannot truly be measured. The ripple effect caused by negative interactions has the potential to affect thousands of people, maybe more. Ultimately, those who go on to commit suicide do so because they did not get help when they started to feel depressed.
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This week Adam Shaw reports on the final step of Walk Innovation: Step 4 – Breathing. Read more about it here and watch his video.
Now that you know the value of the first 3 steps as you set off on each walk……
1.Commitment 2.Grounding 3.Setting a positive intent
It’s now time to talk about step 4: breathing.
Walk Innovation uses simple principles to get you maximum benefit.
Your breathing controls your mood and most people spend most of their lives not breathing properly, thus not energising their bodies. When you realise that you can regulate your breathing and develop this through walking, your energy will increase quickly.
For a 1min 45sec demonstration, join me as I walk and breathe
This technique alone will change your life forever, giving you extra energy every time you walk.
Breathe deeper, walk longer and have fun with this.
If you are interested in Walk Innovation and want to learn more, click here.
Comments Off on Be Grateful Because Walking is Good For You
Gratitude alone has been proven to improve your health and wellbeing and walking can also help to:
– reduce excess weight sustainably
– lower blood pressure naturally
– regulate your blood sugar
– strengthen your body
– reduce stress
Health and fitness are two completely different things.
It is possible to be fit without being healthy. This is why people sometimes drop dead whilst exercising.
Activities that cause fitness do not always improve your health. During my nursing years I saw many athletes do damage to their body – sometimes crippling themselves.
Walking is a great health tool and can add years to your life.
It is also possible to get help with walking, such as hiking sticks, for your comfort. All in all, you Can Be Grateful Because Walking is Good For You.
Comments Off on Living and Dying. Which Will You Choose?
Do you ever feel that maybe something is missing from your life?
Life is a curious thing. When did it begin? What is really true? Do we live on in spirit once our body dies? Will we be made accountable to all of our actions at some point? What is our purpose for life?
These are just some of the questions that I have had the opportunity to consider at length over the years.
The one question I would rarely ask.
During my nurse training, I was taught a model of nursing that involved 12 sections. The Roper model of nursing was to enable us to get a complete assessment of each patient’s physical and spiritual needs. We needed to know things like their ability to mobilise, communicate, wash and dress themselves, sleep, eat and drink.
There were 12 such sections, the last of which was: living and dying.
In theory, by asking this question I would be able to assess people’s beliefs about death so that they could be nursed from a more spiritual perspective. In practice, I felt that asking a patient who had just been admitted to hospital with an acute illness, their thoughts about dying to be slightly inappropriate. I usually left this section blank or, just to have a bit of fun occasionally, would write “living†in.
Just the mention of death or dying may give some people the wrong idea.
My sense was that for most people it was not necessary or appropriate to assess their beliefs about dying. Especially when they have been admitted with an undiagnosed lump in their body or a symptom where recovery was almost guaranteed.
We tend not to address dying in the western world until it is on our doorstep.
Nursing taught me many things. Perhaps the most important and lasting lesson that I have taken away from over 13 years of working in hospitals is the importance of considering death occasionally. I witnessed hundreds of people through their final moments of life and saw how this impacted the families and friends left behind.
Have you ever taken enough time out of your daily life to consider what your life will have meant just before the moment you die?
I know that this may appear as a strange question. After all, who wants to consider death when you feel that it is nowhere close?
Talking to people about death just before they die has been one of the most profound and incredible experiences that I have ever had. I have witnessed plenty of pain and regret by people who were about to die and the families left behind about what they wished they had done or said.
Issues with family, bitterness and unspoken feelings are just a few of the recurrent themes that I have witnessed as people stare death in the face.
An excellent, if slightly morbid, exercise to do now is to ask yourself what your biggest regret would be if you died today.
Who would you have told that you loved more?
What would you regret not doing the most?
What urge do you regret not acting upon the most?
The above 3 questions are your key to what is missing the most from your life at this moment.
So many people sit at the end of their lives reflecting on what they could have done different to make their final moments of life more meaningful to them. So many people wished that they had told people how they really felt about them, after years of holding back through one fear or another. Others rue the opportunity that appeared hugely exciting at the time but they had held back through the uncertainty of the risk involved.
Not taking that leap of faith on an intuitive pull is often the biggest lament of many of those who were about to die.
Beyond this is always the fear about death being finite. I have asked several hundred people who were about to die whether they believed in something beyond death. It is easy to speculate on your answer whilst life is pumping through your body. It is not quite so easy when you are about to die and doubt creeps into your mind.
Giving someone hope when they are about to die is one of the most liberating things that anyone can do.
I could write a book on the various individual experiences that I’d had whilst navigating people through the dying process. So many profound changes occur when people move to the place that feels the best. Those who were filled with doubt can be filled with hope when they have nothing left to lose.
Ultimately, there are only two choices: living or dying.
Those who choose to live are usually filled with hope at the point of death and tend to be peaceful and relaxed as they die. Those who are filled with doubt tend to suffer more. There are no exceptions to this rule that I have ever found. Some have had varying symptoms but peace is a state of mind.
By asking yourself whether you have really lived a meaningful life up until this point, you will know whether you are currently living or dying. If you feel that something is missing from your life right now then just imagine that you have just found out that you are about to die: What is the first thing that you wish you would have done to make you feel better, that would also feel better to everyone involved.
Assuming that fate intervenes to give you life beyond that moment: Do it!
Comments Off on Free Hugs – a Fast Way to Feeling Good
“We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.†Virginia Satir
It has taken me many years to simplify the potentially complex subject of wellbeing or wellness. Years of study have taught me some incredible and esoteric things that are infinitely complicated to the curious, western mind.
Study of medicine, energy, meditation, yoga, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Time-Line Therapy, Hypnotherapy, to name but a few, have given me some varied techniques and perspectives along the way. However, keeping the sustained feeling of change and positivity is something that had been illusive throughout this journey.
How is it possible to get so many breakthroughs intellectually and not translate them into sustained action afterwards?
For the past few months I have been giving out free hugs in London, with a few dedicated friends. On occasions I have woken up and not really felt in the mood to face the unpredictable moods of the general public. Each free hugs session will provoke just about every sort of emotional response possible. I have seen people get angry, hostile, insulting, rude and dismissive, each time I have gone into London free-hugging. This is part of the reason that it is so magical.
The contrast in perspectives just make the interactions of those who do understand that hugging feels good all the better. Feeling good is the only thing that matters in health and wellbeing. It is not what you do – but how you feel about it that matters.
For many years I have questioned myself as a wellbeing role model.
“Do I have the healthiest diet possible?†No. I am prone to eating and drinking things that would not be considered healthy by purists. Though I enjoy what I eat.
“Do I have the healthiest exercise routine?†No. I sometimes have a lapse in my routine. But I always go back to it.
“Do I have the healthiest lifestyle?†No. I am human and have what many would consider flaws in the way I live. Yet I have stories and memories that make me smile every time I think about them as a result of these quirks in my character.
There will always be people who are better at certain areas of health and wellbeing than I am. There will also be those who sit in judgement of how I live my life.
However, ask different questions like, “Do I know how to feel good, instantly?†Yes – Everytime.
“Do I know how to be kind to myself, even when others are not?†Yes – Everything in life is a test of my congruence to my current path.
“Do I know that hugging random people feels fantastic?†Yes – Because I do it regularly.
As human beings we need to connect, we need to have physical contact and we need to FEEL GOOD. Every time I go out hugging there are always enough people who experience amazing shifts in the way they feel – instantly. These are the memories I take from each free hugs session that I do.
We were even passed by a large group of people who were hugging policemen! It was a most interesting experience – and great fun as they queued up to hug us.
Forget the research, forget the complex systems of wellbeing and alternative therapy and forget the judgements of others. The fast track to health and wellbeing is feeling good and the fastest way to do that is to spend a day giving out free hugs. It will make you smile and change your mood and your life – forever.
Please feel free to join the group and maybe join us the next time to share the feel-good vibe.
Comments Off on Happy New Year: Walk Innovation Can Be a Bridge for Sustainable Results
Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?
Another year ends and a new one begins. There is always talk of new year’s resolutions, most of which will not be kept for long. Many a person has vowed to give something up, whilst doing it. I’ve heard many smokers promise to quit on New Year’s Eve, whilst puffing away on a cigarette. Personally, I find this approach intriguing.
What is your goal?
Goals to be fitter, happier, healthier and wealthier are frequently made, without sufficient motivation or understanding of what caused the thing or habit that has now become a problem. In my time as a Health Consultant I have found that there are only two ways to achieve SUSTAINABLE changes in your life – 1. Find a good enough motivation (for one client, who wanted to give up smoking it was his daughter grimacing when he kissed her after he had been smoking). In he absence of this, a true understanding of the origin of the problem must be reached (usually a family programme, installed at a very young age).
Is your goal achievable and sustainable?
Without either of the above in place most changes or resolutions will not be permanent. This is why moderation and balance can be good starters for change. Smoking, eating or drinking one less cigarette/meal/alcoholic indulgence a week will lead to a noticeable improvement over the year. Walk Innovation can supplement this and even accelerate this process.
Are you looking for more realistic starting point?
If you are looking for a bridge between wanting results and having a serious understanding of an issue or motivation for change then Walk Innovation can be that bridge. The steps of this process are powerful and the steps are available free on this site when you leave your name and e-mail for our e-course. Just look at it as a New Year’s gift from us to you.
Comments Off on Taking Responsibility on Life’s Ride
Adam Shaw reports on taking responsibility. Watch his video on City Connect
In life we all get dealt seemingly good and bad cards. How we see them is important and by seeing them as separate it is possible to lose the bigger picture.
Only by realising that everything that happens in your life is inter-related can you move through life’s challenges with a smile on your face (even if it doesn’t happen straight away!)
Comments Off on How to Lose Weight Without Going on a Diet or to a Gym
The idea of being able to lose weight without going on a diet or to a gym may appear like an elaborate claim. However, having been overweight myself during my former years, navigating myself out of it and witnessing the struggles of hundreds of people with weight issues, I have discovered certain things in my life.
So many people go on extreme diets, losing weight quickly, only to put it back on again. This cycle creates misery, frustration and pain. This can lead to depression, low motivation and even in a lack of will to live. Life for you if you are overweight can be intensely frustrating and feel like an impossible task at times. This is a very common concern and one that I battled with for my entire youth.
I once spent a Summer at an American “Fat Camp.†Here I saw the struggles of hundreds of kids with weight challenges. I couldn’t help but wonder whether it would have benefitted me to attend such a camp during my youth.
Each day the children were made to exercise for several hours, whilst only being given tiny amounts of food. During their dietary lessons they were clearly taught that a healthy diet allowed them to eat anything that they liked, as long as it was part of a balanced eating plan.
Simultaneously, the children were banned from eating sweets and French fries during their stay at the camp. Clearly, this provided a contradiction in what the camp was teaching and what they were doing.
So many diets focus on strict and extreme changes that are unsustainable to most dieters.
All of the children at fat camp lost weight. However, the process was designed to be so difficult and emotionally draining that almost all of them would put the weight back on and return the next year needing to lose weight again. That is the cruel, business-like efficiency of a place that makes money through returning custom. If someone is exercising for 4 hours a day more than they do usually then surely it would be better to allow them to eat at least as much as they were eating before?
By educating people about food groups, balance and the need for exercise it would be possible for attendees to lose weight without going on a diet or to a gym. This would be a friendlier, more sustainable way of losing weight.
There are 2 ways to lose weight sustainably.
If you are currently eating too much then it is possible to lose weight through two different methods. One of them is by going on a diet and staying on it. Re-frame what the word diet means to you. A diet is for life – not just a short-term fix that is a struggle. By slowly introducing changes that add up over time – you can lose weight naturally and sustainably. Keeping a food journal is one way to do this. List everything you eat, what time you eat it and why you think you need to eat it. By having to do this for everything you eat, it is far more likely that you will eat less.
Hunger is often dehydration in disguise.
So often dehydration can lead you to think that you are hungry. By introducing a new rule into your life it is possible to lose weight and improve your health. If ever you feel yourself become hungry in between meals then make a rule to drink a pint (600mls) of water first. If you are still hungry 20 minutes after doing this then you can eat. By doing this the worst case scenario is that you will use your excess eating to keep yourself properly hydrated. You may find that this reduces your hunger significantly and leads to natural weight loss.
The second method is to add balance to your life.
If you are going to eat extra food then you can balance this by adding something that is good for you. For some they may see going to a gym as the answer. If you are like me and do not feel inspired by gyms then you may want to consider something a little less extreme. For this reason, I have created The Active Energy System. This is a way to add balance to your life by harnessing your walking time in a more productive way.
Whether you are walking to work, going shopping, walking your dog, walking around your house or trekking around the globe, you can turn your body into an Active Energy Dynamo, raising your motivation, confidence, focus and general health and wellbeing.
How The Active Energy System can help you to lose weight and keep it off.
By balancing any extra food that you eat with extra walking with The Active Energy System you can bring balance to your life. It’s a simple principle – if you eat more, you walk more. By doing this you can use your eating habits, whatever they are, to feel better, get fitter, more motivated and focused. The Active Energy System can help you to do all of this. So, if you are not ready for extreme dieting or exercise routines then The Active Energy System can be your best friend as you lose weight naturally and sustainably.
According to a 2008, 12 year study of 10,308 London-based civil servants, chronic work stress was found to increase the risk of Coronary Heat Disease by 68% and is higher in employees under 50 years of age. This study also found that work stress was also associated with further poor health behaviours that could compound the risk. Coronary Heart Disease is one of many medical symptoms that is compounded by stress.
During over 13 years of nursing I saw many things. During this time I became increasingly interested in the psychological aspects of illness. For the last 6 years of my nursing life I would always ask my patients the same question, “Have you been experiencing more stress than usual lately?â€
The answer was always, “yes.â€
There were two main areas in the lives of my patients that continually contributed to patients presenting with strokes and heart attacks; relationship problems and work-related stress. Both of these were big indicators of people who are at risk of more serious illnesses developing.
Let us look at why.
Stress causes our body to go into fight or flight mode. Blood to our non-essential organs is diverted to your muscles and brain, which is why stress can cause indigestion and contribute to weight gain. Your body is also flooded with adrenaline, which is why sleeplessness is common in those with higher than average stress levels. You are also filled with energy, causing your blood pressure to rise and your heart to beat faster, which is why hypertension is common in those who have stressful lives.
This response literally prepares you to either run or fight for your life.
Because office-based jobs that are stressful involve you having to deal with these surges of energy, without giving you a chance to offload the symptoms, it can literally leave you wanting to put your foot or fist through a computer screen. This is because you are prepared to fight for your life.
What can cause this?
The danger of stress is that your brain has not learned to distinguish between a real and perceived threat. Consequently, a dismissive or critical comment from your boss or a work colleague can put you into fight or flight. Clearly, your life is not in immediate danger but your body is preparing you as though it is. Just by thinking about the same criticism, slight on your character or threat can literally have you preparing to fight for your life, repeatedly several times a day.
With the current recession causing pay cuts and redundancies, it is likely that many employees are living on a knife-edge as they fear for not being able to work, pay bills or even feed their families. Constant worry about such issues has the same affect on your body as living in the jungle and seeing lions arriving to feast on your family.
What can you do to reduce your stress at work?
When you find yourself experiencing symptoms of fight or flight then it’s time to focus on your breathing. Deeper breathing is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reverse your body’s stress response. Also, tell yourself “I am safe.â€
This may sound ridiculous but your body is preparing you to fend for your life. By repeating the message that you are safe and making a conscious effort to deepen your breathing, you are putting yourself on the fast-track to a more relaxed day at work.
Something to think about.
Ultimately, unmanaged stress will kill you early and then you will not be able to earn money, spend time with your family or enjoy the wonders that life can bring. If you are spending your time focusing on stressful things and the above technique does not appear to be helping then get help. Most people who get ill and die early are those who did not ask for help until it was too late. There are plenty of free tips, resources and easy to use alternatives available to you but you will need to invest a little time in learning them.
City Connect introduces “Walk Innovation” – an initiative by Adam Shaw:
Thank you for investing your time in getting to know me better. I like to think that you will get to know yourself better. However, the only person that matters on this journey is you.
For me, life is precious and all we have is this moment. A moment spent walking my talk is a moment well spent. Life is an accumulation of experience. We can only experience life fully by loving every moment we can. In this moment I invite you to share a part of my journey and start your own.
My dad has always told me, “If ever a genie offers you one wish son, ask for luck.†This has served me well. I have not yet met a genie but I think about it a lot. Luck is a relative term. By learning to find a gift from every challenging situation, sooner, life gets better.
Why I do what I do.
I spent many years as a nurse. During this period I looked after thousands of people who were deemed “terminally†ill. When someone was labeled terminal they would frequently come to me and ask if there was any hope. To not be able to say that there was took a little piece of my soul.
Consequently, since 1992 I have been studying systems, energy, beliefs, different cultures and personal development techniques to find possible avenues of hope for people. After several years of looking into such complex systems I finally discovered that the answer to a better life, better health and more hope is amazingly simple.
Because I couldn’t find any one system that worked easily for me, I created one that did.
Finding time for my health and wellbeing was always one of the biggest factors. As I became busier with work and life, it was frequently my health and wellbeing routines that suffered first. This led to guilt and that led to me seeking refuge in more unhealthy habits, which compounded my misery.
I tried so many other things, venturing into the worlds of Reiki, Vortex Healing, NLP, Hypnotherapy, Time-Line Therapy, Meditation, Yoga and many other healing systems. However, I found that I never felt compelled to do any of them. I wanted something more convenient that fitted in with my current, busy, routine. From this need, Walk Innovation was born. I love Walk Inovation’s Walking Energy System and believe that it will positively influence everyone who does it.
My history….
From the age nine I had a paper-round. Since then I have worked as many things, including a caddy, waiter, chef, merchant banker, counsellor at a children’s summer camp, fitness instructor, restaurant/bar manager and as registered nurse with over thirteen years experience in the NHS, in many areas. I now work as a Holistic Heart Consultant. You can find out more about that at www.wellbeinginnovation.com.
I spent almost six years traveling and working overseas. During this time I trained as a Reiki Master, Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Advanced Practitioner of Time-Line Therapy™ , Hypnotherapy and Vortex Healing™. I have studied many areas of alternative and complementary medicine, personal development and partake in yoga and meditation.
However, even with this vast array of tools I still wasn’t taking action on a regular basis. I also still had a propensity to do things to my body that common health belief systems would deem unwise. However, I always aim to have fun. Life is better when you laugh. I am not a role model from a health from a purist perspective.
Through working with energy I discovered that my energy followed my thoughts. I wondered one day, “What if I only thought about how I could feel better – right now?â€
One day I started looking for solutions to feel better more often. For many years I wondered whether I would ever find a technique that would compel me to take action on a regular basis. Although I had learned an impressive array of personal development tools, I was not using them that often. Nor had I found an exercise routine I loved to do every day that was kind to my body. This was not down to the tools or exercises; it was down to my personal motivation.
It is a lot easier to motivate myself to walk than it ever was going to a gym or attending a fitness class.
Eventually, whilst on holiday on the Greek island of Zakynthos, I discovered Walk Innovation™. The simplicity, effectiveness and clear bridge between the body and mind made this the most exciting, sustainable and fun method of feeling better that I have ever encountered.
This method was turning my body and mind into an energetic dynamo.
I was already walking every day. I just had to walk a little more when I talked and pay attention to things I loved. Through doing this I became happier. This Dynamic, Walking Energy System then became a part of my life because it effortlessly fitted into what I was already doing.
I have since made it my personal goal to spread this method and create a world-wide community of individuals who love to feel better by helping themselves in their journey to happiness, and feeling better.
I am always looking for people to share their journey. Walk Innovation is not about my journey – it is about your journey – one step at a time.
By signing up to the Walk Innovation newsletter I will show you how to start now.
Ultimately, we are responsible for the sustainability of this planet for our future generations. My vision for Walk Innovation is that it will cross cultures, religions, creeds and beliefs to unite people all over the world with one common theme – loving life and our planet.
Walk Innovation proposes to do this one step at a time and my vision is to create a global community that is committed to serving themselves first so that they can serve the planet better.
I invite you to join me. You can get in touch with me through City Connect or my website.
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Adam Shaw talks presents the Healthy Heart Academy. Get in touch directly if you have any heart-related issues or need some advice for your friends.
Welcome to The Healthy Heart Academy – Your Healthier Heart Resource
According to the World Health Organisation heart disease kills at least one person every 4.5 seconds.
Heart Disease is the biggest killer in the world.
This free, content packed Healthy Heart Academy video training series shows you how to identify the early warning symptoms of heart disease in you or your loved ones, giving you exercises that could slow down, stop or even reverse the process.
Avoid being one of these alarming statistics.
Do You Have a Healthy Heart?
Would you like to find out? If so, we can help you.
You can quickly and easily identify who is at risk of heart disease amongst your friends and loved ones and offer them tips and exercises that can really help them. Enter your name and e-mail now on the following page to access this invaluable, free resource now.
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Comments Off on Can Your Thoughts Can Heal Your Body?
Since opening my mind to interventions outside of nursing within the NHS, there have been a few barriers for me. I never really believed that the worlds of energy medicine and personal development were so easily accessible. In this week’s video I offer you an entry that I made last year in Zakynthos that encapsulates my thoughts on the subject.
One of the most frequent things that I hear when I talk to people about loving yourself first is “How do I deal with negative family members?â€
This is a great question.
There are no absolute answers to this but I will offer my opinion on the subject.
Every relationship that you have with your mother, father, son or daughter is not just a relationship between two people. It is the result of generations of family conditioning, beliefs and habits that have been passed down. We learn and model behaviours of our parents whether we like it or not as children.
An unconscious belief or pattern that you are currently running could have originated hundreds or even thousands of years ago by a long distant relative and you are just playing it out on one person who is close enough to listen to you and believe what you say to them because they trust and love you.
We are born into this world with a desire to connect and our parents are the ones who spend most time connecting with as kids. When one day they start shouting, saying negative things and appear unhappy, we take that on board emotionally and energetically. This was probably what happened to them – as they were conditioned by their parents.
All negative family members are the result of generations of conditioning that they did not have the tools to process. They were not prepared for this. They did not have the realisation to know that these feelings were not personal – just an opportunity to change their conditioning.
Because you will have hard-wired and well rehearsed responses to close family it is important to maintain a distance from anyone who is blaming you on a consistent basis. They do not realise that it is not you but generations of sameness that they are blaming.
Being big enough to grasp this concept and change the conditioning is the ultimate objective for anyone looking to move forward in a way that supports their wellbeing.
This change has 4 phases.
1. Awareness (it is not only my mum/dad/son/daughter who is negative but many years of genetic conditioning being passed along)
2. Forgiveness (everything that has ever happened has brought me to this point in my life where I am ready to be at peace with who I am)
3. Acceptance (I accept who I am and who my family are and will learn and grow from everything)
4. Positive focus (I choose to see, hear and feel only what feels good for me.)
In short – see the bigger picture, forgive the person in question and focus on what you want (or you will get what you don’t!)
Forgiveness may not happen overnight, right now. Continued focus on positive outcomes and a desire to unlearn anything that no longer serves you will certainly help though.
Before we discuss how to get more positive energy it is important to understand exactly what energy is and how it is generated. In short, everything is energy.
Your universe is energy, your planet is energy, your body and mind are energy and so are your thoughts. In this article I will only be discussing the implications that your thoughts have on your energy.
Energy follows thought.
This is a key principle in all energetic equations. In more simple form; when you focus on problems you will attract more problems. When you focus on solutions you are far more likely to find yourself in a positive energy space.
Because the news in our papers, on our televisions and scattered in the various other media sources tends to focus on problems, we are programmed as a society to spend our energy and thoughts attached to what isn’t working in the world. Every time you think about or discuss something that isn’t working, you surround yourself with non-positive energy.
It is not easy to detach yourself from a world that likes to publicise bad news.
There will be those reading this who think it is important to know what is going on in the world. I agree. However, is it not just as important to know all of the good things that are happening in the world as well?
There is no balance to our current main-stream media. When was the last time that you watched the news headlines and found out something positive and inspiring? Surely this news is as important, if not more important to know than all of the murders, car crashes, crime, suffering and murders that are happening all over the world.
The current main-stream media sources do not offer a balanced report. Consequently, whenever you watch the news or read a newspaper you are often left focusing your thoughts and energy on problems.
Do you know what you want in life?
So often I ask my friends or clients what they want in their lives. It often takes me 4 or 5 times of asking exactly the same question before I get a positive response. A typical answer would be “I know that I don’t want…..†Knowing what you don’t want is a world apart from knowing what you do want.
Have you recently thought to yourself, “I want to attract more happiness/love/luck/opportunities/positive people into my life?†Because your energy follows your thoughts, it matters what you think about and what you want to attract into your life.
Your Reticular Activating System (RAS).
Your thoughts and focus are like magnets. Whatever you set your thoughts and focus towards will be highlighted in your everyday life. When was the last time that you thought about something and started to see it everywhere?
If you have just bought a red car, it is highly likely that you will start to see more red cars than you have ever seen before – this is because your RAS has been set to see them. Maybe you have decided to go on holiday to a certain destination and suddenly magazines and tv programmes keep showing up featuring that particular destination – this is your RAS in action. Perhaps you have been looking for a post box in a place that you have been to on numerous times before and not noticed them. Then you start to see them all over the place – this is your RAS.
Set your RAS to what you want.
So, if you want more positive energy, start by setting your thoughts in a positive direction. Stop criticising others, stop judging others and know exactly what you want to get more of in your life. If you can do this then you will become a positive energy magnet.
What would happen to me if I stopped judging other people?
There are many other such questions, though this is a good one to start with.
I still find myself judging others occasionally, though this now happens much less since I made a decision to focus more on my actions and less on the actions of others.
Every time we judge others we are projecting our beliefs on them. We don’t know the real reason why others act as they do. Upbringing and life experience moulds different people differently.
By judging others you judge yourself. By accepting that life is unpredictable and relatively short it is possible to spend more time thinking about how to make the most of YOUR life and less time thinking about how other’s could make the most of theirs.
Is it possible to go one day without judging anyone or anything?
What will your power question be today?
Part 2:
Ask yourself “Who do I have to forgive today to allow myself to be happier?â€
Non-positive emotions towards others are not a productive way to spend your time or energy. Many people I have ever coached or spoken to about health issues, especially those who were admitted to hospital, have deep-rooted family anger.
For many years I shared this tendency. Family issues have been passed down for generations. Usually, the abuser has been abused and learnt the same unconscious behavioral patterns as the person who they blame the most. Consequently, through continued focus on the problem, they have become the problem and passed it on. I have watched many people die rather than change the pattern and their story.
Life will always present you with people who will blame you for things that they do not fully understand. By learning to forgive others you will learn to forgive yourself. From this place you will become empowered. EVERYTHING that happens to you can be used to do one of two things….
1. Create a story that places you as a victim and allows you to drain energy from yourself and anyone who is sympathetic or unfortunate enough to listen to it. or
2. Learn the lessons, move on and help and inspire others as you give them the positive energy of your insight.
I’m choosing to love every lesson that my family has ever taught and be happy that I am able to learn and grow from even the most challenging of circumstances.
You can do the same and Walk Innovation can show you how.
Recently, City Connect introduced Adam Shaw and Walk Innovation. Read now more about Walk Innovation. This week Adam Shaw talks about Step 2 and you can watch his video here:
Welcome to Walk Innovation’s Active Energy System – Step 2: A technique to help you get more motivation, focus and health.
Step 2: Grounding…
“Grounding is to working with energy what water is to a swimming pool.â€
Adam Shaw
Once you have made the first step, the most important one of all, it’s time for the second most important step…..
Grounding is essential when working with energy as it connects you to the energy of the earth. If this doesn’t mean anything to you yet then I ask you to trust this process and be curious.
It only takes a second to do this and can be done anytime at anyplace.
Have fun walking now that you are properly grounded!
For more information on Walk Innovation click here.
Detoxing is something that I do occasionally to give my system a flush and raise my energy levels. The outcomes are increased energy, motivation and drive. Not to mention extra time, where I would have been eating.
The experience also comes with challenges. Not eating is not natural to most human beings. Changing the habits of a lifetime are never going to be an easy task. I have seen my will power stretched and undergone numerous trials and tribulations in the past week.
I have also listened to numerous opinions on fasting. Most people that I spoke to believed that they would not be able to last that long. Others have told me that there are better ways to detox and some just didn’t see the point at all.
Many people were impressed by my will power and wished that they could do the same. It is my belief that there are many beliefs that are incredibly restricting. It is never a case of not being able to do something like this – it is only a case of having sufficient motivation.
If your life was at stake you would most certainly be able to go a week without food.
Being a Health Consultant with a liking for coffee, chocolate, cake and pizza I take the rough with the smooth. Over the months and years I have reduced my intake of these foods and increased my healthy foods intake, yet I still enjoy indulging occasionally.
During the past week I have discovered the wonders of drinking hot water with lemon, lime, maple syrup and cayenne pepper – a veritable taste sensation. My daily drinks gave me more pleasure than I can describe!
I believe that life is about balance. Focusing too strongly on what you have denied yourself is the fast track to failure. For example, how many smokers stop smoking, only to start again? They are so focused on not smoking that they inevitably do. Only by focusing on the benefits will change ever last.
I decided to distract myself from food by focusing on what I did want. I wanted to take action on things that I was passionate about. One was feeling great (and I did during the fast) and another was running an event that could change lives in a positive way – and maintain the results.
Where do I begin?
I decided to ask the person who had made the most change in my life in a short time, Sidra Zaidi, to work with me. She agreed – that was surprisingly easy – all I had to do was ask. Secondly, we need an idea. A few hours with Sidra saw the creation of The Journey To Empowerment.
Thirdly, we need a date – we quickly agreed that we could both do the 6th December and that it was better to do it sooner, rather than later. Next we needed a venue – it seemed like a daunting experience having had no dealings with this before. So, I put a plea on Facebook for help.
Within minutes two people had given me leads. One phone call later we had a room booked at a reasonable price. Finally, we needed to create some advertising material. That night a good friend spent two hours on Skype going through our advert with meticulous detail.
The result – within two days I had taken an idea and made it real. Furthermore, I had even called another friend and arranged to get it filmed for future marketing material. This was what is possible when I channelled my focus into the benefits of the fast and the extra energy that I had. In this time I felt no hunger – hydration is a great replacement.
Fortunately, during my fast there was a time limit on how long I had to do this for. As I have no intention of giving up anything I was happy to indulge in several puff pastry mince pies upon my completion. I did this experiencing taste like I never had before.
I feel better now than I have all year – and that’s after my cake indulgence. Focus, balance, belief and action are an incredible combination.
How could you feel better right now?
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Comments Off on Emotional Intelligence at the Work Place
Poor emotional intelligence at work can lead to increased stress and sickness.
According to Mind, British businesses lose an estimated £26 billion each year in sickness, absence and lost productivity. With greater awareness and mental health support they said that businesses could save one-third on these costs – ‘a mammoth £8 billion a year.’ Increasing Emotional Intelligence at work will help to do this.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
There are many different interpretations of what exactly emotional intelligence is. I will only offer you my interpretation – “The ability to go swiftly to the place that feels the best in any situation.â€
How does this happen in the work place?
With the added pressure of a recession, lay-offs and cut-backs in the current work climate, it is more essential than ever before to gain a higher degree of emotional intelligence. When bosses or colleagues undermine, criticise or threaten you and you do not respond in a way that feels good then this is not emotionally intelligent.
Often at work employees have a problem with someone else and tell everybody except the person that it concerns or those who could do something about it. This divisive practice can cause stress, frustration and can translate into illness, low productivity and a factitious work force. Nobody wins when this status quo remains.
Over time this can cause hypertension as the stress response is triggered in the employees experiencing this. The result is often sickness or absenteeism. Worse still for companies is that employees experiencing these symptoms can be like a cancer for a business, spreading slowly through the system, via the channel of complaints to other employees.
Honesty is the best policy.
If you have an issue with anyone at work it is your duty as an employee to address the source. Do this by stating calmly and assertively how you feel, what caused it and how things could improve in the future. This at least gives the person who is perceived to be at fault a chance to address it and ameliorate the situation. They may even surprise you and were probably not aware how their behaviour has affected you.
If they are not so accommodating then you have every right to take it to their boss, or directly to the CEO of the company. If your issue is with the CEO and they are unreasonable then a new job may well be the answer – before your health suffers the inevitable demise that occurs.
If you are the CEO or department head then it is your duty to encourage an environment of honesty and constant employee feedback. By giving your staff freedom to express them selves honestly, you will be establishing the foundation for more emotionally intelligent employees.
A key factor in communication.
Often when faced with a loud and overbearing employee or boss it is tempting to reply in a softer, more dulcet tone. Just remember that when we are like each other we like each other. Often by matching the tonality of the person that we are communicating with, we increase rapport. Since our tonality represents far more than our language in effective communication, it is a useful tool to match the tone of the person who we are with.
Get it off your chest.
If you have an issue with someone at work then tell them. If you don’t, you may get ill and that would not be emotionally intelligent.
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When you start doing the more mundane tasks that have been building up it is easy to lose focus, energy and motivation as you feel yourself get progressively more stuck in unhelpful and unproductive thoughts. This can be debilitating and lead to stress, guilt and nothing getting done. When this happens it helps to do something that can improve your mood, focus, motivation and energy.
Unfortunately, life can be stressful. Worries over money, especially in these economically challenging times, can often divert focus of the things that are truly important in your life. By questioning your current focus and how happy you are, it is possible to save yourself a lot of pain down the line.
Money is vitally important in order to live a happier life, but at what cost is its accumulation having on you right now? This video offers you my opinion on the subject…
Thank you for taking your time in getting to know me. Your time is precious and can never be replaced. I truly appreciate yours used to connect with me here.
A different start in life.
I grew up within the grounds of a Psychiatric Institution. My parents both worked there, as nurses and we lived in the staff housing within the grounds. During my youth I used to answer the door to old ladies and gentlemen, sometimes in their nightgowns or pyjamas, asking for cigarettes. I saw many crazy, sometimes very funny things and people growing up.
I learned that laughter is a great gift.
Much of my time growing up was spent exploring the natural surroundings of the hospital, playing with my friends in nature and getting very curious about what mental health was.
After brief careers as a waiter, chef, banker, children’s counsellor and supermarket checkout clerk, I trained as a nurse in 1992. Here I discovered drugs for both treatments in the hospital and recreational use in the nurse’s home. I simultaneously worked part-time as a circuit-training instructor.
Did you ever experience a paradox in your life?
I found a health service that, although providing some critical and life-saving interventions, was very dependent on drugs. I also became dependent on drugs.
I was extremely fit physically, yet increasingly unhealthy mentally by being surrounded by sickness, death and various herbal and pharmaceutical interventions.
I have spoken with hundreds of people who were about to die and witness them realise what was truly important to them in their final hours.
Some people suffer because of things that they had done but couldn’t change. The people who suffer the most always get to regret what they didn’t do. Some had huge shifts in their final moments. If only they had been helped earlier, much pain could have been avoided.
Not only did patients suffer but many families were destroyed by the aftermath of a relative’s death and the unresolved issues left behind. Witnessing this several times led me understand that your heart is always guiding you. Unfortunately, many people become experts in ignoring these messages. Then one day a loved one dies and it’s too late to say and do the things that were unsaid and undone for so long.
Death is so final.
One day we will all be dead. In my experience, very few people consider this and what they hope to have done before that day comes. The only question that will matter at that point is what purpose did your life serve?
A very common theme in hospital was people full of regret because they spent so much of their lives investing money in their retirement, whilst compromising their happiness in jobs and relationships that made them feel trapped.
So many people waste the best years of their life being too unhappy to appreciate their health.
Many people hold regret about things that they could have done in the past. However, if you have any health at all then you can change. I became aware that all was not well in my world and that I was not particularly happy. Consequently, I used my nursing years to save up money and travel the world.
As others collected assets, I collected experiences in 6 different continents, spending over 6 years travelling overseas.
During these adventures I was caught up in riots, where hundreds of people died (I was not involved, just happened to be there!), earthquakes, hurricanes, pursued by gunmen on mopeds, rolled down a mountain in a vehicle with no seat belts and entertained by witch doctors at a party! These are just some of the adventures that I ended up on.
I then decided to leave nursing and discover the worlds of personal development, complimentary therapies and energy medicine. Despite spending over £100,000 on courses to find the answers to life’s questions I still felt that something was missing. Yet, I had no idea what it was.
For all of my classroom-based learning I realised that I was more productive and better able to think when I was on the move. It is a simple principle, yet incredibly powerful when used regularly. It fitted in with my time issues, as I walk anyway.
I realised that physical movement, when associated to learning, was the missing link to all that I had learned.
How was it possible that I had learned so many potentially powerful tools but was not using them regularly?
Time was my biggest issue and I stopped using my many tools for positive change and searching for something that I would remember to use regularly.
I then discovered my own method for enacting positive change at my pace.
By using a set of simple steps each time I walked I could work on my issues at my own pace, taking positive steps every day towards a better place.
In the past 3 years this process has led me out of a job and relationship that I did not love and into a life of discovery. I sold everything that I owned and used the money to learn all of the things that I had been putting off. I spent 3 years training in personal development, energy medicine and business-based courses.
Simultaneously, I took many risks, made many mistakes, had many hard lessons and ended up over £20,000 in debt. I had no assets and had to rely on friends and family to even be able to afford to eat. This was a humbling place to be and taught me many lessons. The main thing that I knew from this place was that I would never make a difference in the world if I didn’t look after myself first.
My natural instincts were to help everyone else and not ask for anything in return. Whilst this made me popular , I found that it was not working for me in the world of business. In order to help more people I had to help myself first. Installing this principle in my life and the lives of others is a key principle to having a healthier heart.
In the past, I would have dropped out and retreated back to my comfort zone, taken a job that I didn’t love and lived a life of mediocrity. However, this process has guided me towards many people who have supported me, believed in me and helped me through the toughest periods of my life.
Despite this, it was only discovering a renewed belief in myself that allowed me to pursue my goals and dreams beyond my comfort zone. This has led me to a much happier and healthier place.
Most of my interventions and resources will not offer you a quick fix for instant happiness. My path has been one of daily, positive steps. There have been ups and downs and still are. What is different now is that I have created a wonderful network of friends and my vision for The Healthy Heart Academy has carried me through many dark days along the way.
I believe that true health is accepting all aspects of oneself, balancing the less healthy aspects of my life with ones that restore balance. Through balancing any activities that may not be considered 100% healthy by some experts in the field, with the techniques that I have developed, I have cultivated a more harmonious relationship with myself.
It is my aim to not just improve the heart health of the world but also to create a movement that leaves a legacy of a healthier, happier planet for our future generations. I am not sure exactly how this will happen but I do know that unless I spend the rest of my life moving towards this goal then I will not be living a life that is true to my heart.
I invite you to join me. You can get in touch with me through City Connect or my website.
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Comments Off on Your Heart Attacks When Your Head Doesn’t Get It!
Your heart has a separate intelligence to your head and it will attack you if you don’t get the message. In this step we look at how to tune into the message of your heart.
Tune into the message of your heart or it will attack you eventually!
You can never be truly happy on any sort of consistent basis until you understand how your head and heart work.
Both have different functions.
Your heart communicates to you through your emotions. How you FEEL is your heart’s communication to your head.
Only by getting your head and heart in alignment will you truly optimise your energy. Your ability to tune into your emotions and act accordingly will determine how much happiness you allow into your life.
Tune into your emotions and trust them
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