Google Calendar has several simple features that can be used to organise your day, help you focus and carve out time for self-care.

Holistic health is an approach to wellness that considers the whole person – mind, body, and spirit – in the pursuit of optimal health and wellness. Unlike conventional medicine, which often focuses on treating symptoms and diseases, holistic health aims to address the root causes of health issues and promote overall well-being.

Sound healing is the ability of sound to heal elements of ourselves that are in imbalance. Discover what to expect from a Sound Healing session.

I love myself.

That is not the end of the story. It sure as hell isn't the beginning of the story.

Mental illness is often regarded as an "invisible" illness because symptoms may not be easily visible to others. However, the effects of mental illness within the community are far from invisible.

The Joy Retreat May 2023

My happy face outside the Barbados Museum and Historical Society

There were many interesting artefacts and paintings that would require another visit to take it all in. However, the thing that captured my attention the most was the Black anatomical model in the medical section of the Children’s Gallery.

Throughout studying for my herbal medicine degree, and the other courses I have done over the years, I have never seen a Black anatomical model. You may be thinking, “but Louise, the structures and the organs are the same”, and of course you would be right but there was something more important for me.

Patience is considered to be one of the Seven Capital Virtues. However, how practical is it to be patient every day?

Over the last few months, there have been a lot of posts online and reports in the news of violence. CCTV footage of shootings are becoming a common occurrence. The scenes are very disturbing and the language used around them, I feel, pulls us further away from understanding the root causes and therefore the ability to find solutions.

“Gun violence” or “knife crime” are ambiguous terms that place the emphasis on the object and almost suggest that if those items were not available that the violence would not occur. As seen in many of the comments online, people are questioning where the guns are coming from, calling on the police and the army to have a greater presence or advocating for the death penalty. 

It is terrifying that these things are happening on this small island, often in broad daylight but when I see the reports and videos, I see people who are in a huge amount of pain - and I don’t just mean the people whose loved ones have been killed and whose families have been torn apart, I mean the people who are killing and committing violent acts.

How do you stay clear and intentional in your daily interactions?

Where does the time go? I find myself asking this question a lot during the week. I use several apps to help manage the various tasks I have to complete and keep some order to proceedings. Although the majority of these apps are used for business, some are invaluable for my personal life too but are not always well received.

Scheduling apps such as Calendly are used for scheduling meetings, more specifically it allows people to choose my available times to book a meeting. The appointment is neatly synced to my calendar and I receive notifications ahead of the meeting. It is easy to see how useful this would be as a business tool but what often makes people recoil in disgust is when they receive a Calendly link from a loved one to book an informal “catch-up”.  Understandably this may seem like a boujee, detached way to connect for some. However, the opposite is often the case.

The volcanic eruptions of St Vincent’s La Soufriere provide many moments of clarity.

Recent terminology used in the press and by politicians to discuss the pandemic has reminded me of the saying 'what we resist, persists'. Paraphrased from the psychologist Carl Jung, this means when we attempt to resist anything within our reality or present, the more that thing will remain in our reality or present. The more thought, effort and energy we place on trying to stop that thing, the more power we give to it. Another way this is expressed is in the Law of Attraction. This philosophical approach states that positive thoughts (which are a form of energy or vibration) produce more positive thoughts. Conversely, negative thoughts produce more negative thoughts.

In the 70s-80s we had a War on Drugs followed by a surge of drug use, addiction and drug-related crimes and incarcerations. It is estimated that 21 million Americans aged 12 years or older has one form of substance use disorder. In the 00s there was the War on Terror which led to acts of terrorism around the world, major wars, thousands of people killed, and millions displaced. Despite all of this, the war has lasted for over 19 years.

Military terminology and metaphors have also infiltrated healthcare. We often hear that someone is “battling cancer” or someone is “fighting a flu”. This suggests that somehow there is a winner or loser in this battle, that the patient must be “strong” throughout their process or that they were not strong enough to overcome their disease. Now we have been told there is a war on an invisible and deadly virus. We must “suit up” in personal protective equipment and healthcare workers are described as working on the “frontline”.

We are all sensual beings, this is evident in the language we use – ‘a sight for sore eyes’, ‘hard ears’, ‘heart-warming’. Sensuality is ‘the enjoyment, expression, or pursuit of physical, especially sexual, pleasure’ or ‘the condition of being pleasing or fulfilling to the senses.’ The terms sensuality and sexuality are often used interchangeably however, sexuality refers to our ability to experience and express our sexual feelings. Our sensual experiences do not have to involve sexual activities, but we cannot have sexual experiences without sensuality.

Sensuality connects us with our senses and our sensory organs – sight, taste, touch, hearing, smell and affects the way in which we perceive the world and how we are perceived. As we can see, being in tune with and expressing our sensuality may involve far more than just sex or sexual experiences. It is about connecting us with our bodies, our emotions, our memories, and with our truest expressions of self.

How a few words made me incredibly aware of my physical being and helped shaped my view on beauty.

Our everyday lives are filled with a considerable amount of uncertainty. How we choose to react may determine how we weather the storm.

It has rained for the past two days which is ideal for a little at home facial.