Table of contents for Issue 15 in Planet Mindful

“Encourage yourself, believe in yourself, and love yourself. Never doubt who you are.”STEPHANIE LAHART A new year is a time for reflection – learning from the lessons of the year behind us – and of hope for what lies ahead. 2020 taught us many things, but the overarching message was that we need to live in harmony with nature if we are to avoid future pandemics and climate change. Get in touch WELCOME 2020 was also a year that brought mental health to the fore – we realised that we can no longer neglect our wellbeing, and that small changes to our self-care routines can make a big difference to how we feel and cope during difficult times. Kindness, compassion, love and friendship were held dear over material things, as…

January and February are the perfect time to declutter and organise your home spaces, but that can mean different things to different people. Whilst some of us will feel calmed by soft colours and clean spaces, others will attach more emotion to their home‘s aesthetic, using colour and keepsakes to create a more cosy and nurturing environment. If you haven't yet discovered tidying expert Marie Kondo, check out her Netflix series Tidying up with Marie Kondo, or her book Spark Joy. One of the notions behind her method is that if it doesn‘t make you happy, let it go. So spend some time looking around the spaces in your home and consider what possessions could be sent to a charity shop or given away. Marie then suggests visualising your ideal…

The Pomodoro Technique is a way of working in time-bound chunks. It was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s when, as a college student, he used a kitchen timer shaped like a pomodoro (Italian for tomato) to help focus on his studies, with great results. I came across this when working on a corporate project many years ago and immediately found it really helped to focus my easily-distracted mind on the task at hand. Since then, I’ve applied it to everything from digesting brain-busting reports to clearing overflowing cupboards. How does it work? In its simplest form, Pomodoro breaks a task down into four intervals – ‘pomodoros’ – each separated by a break. The general rule is to give the task your full attention for the entire pomodoro…

After all the excesses and over-consumption of Christmas, many of us start the new year feeling depleted physically, financially and environmentally. So if you’re looking for a feel-good antidote that will make a real difference to the world, look no further than Veganuary. As you might have guessed, taking part involves going vegan during January, so buying only plant-based products rather than animal products. The environmental and health benefits are staggering (see p49), but you don’t have to commit to Veganuary completely – you could just try it for one day or use it as motivation to cut down your meat and dairy consumption and add some vegan options to your shopping trolley. The point is to try veganism and see what happens. Trying veganism is exactly what I did…

Firtrade – not to be confused with ‘fairtrade’ or ‘Fair Trade’ – is a global movement with a strong and active presence in the UK, represented by the Fairtrade Foundation. When you think of Fairtrade, you probably think of the ethical label on supermarket favourites like coffee, bananas, chocolate, tea and wine. You may know that Fairtrade is about ensuring farmers and workers overseas get a fair wage, so they can thrive and live with dignity – but Fairtrade is so much more than this. Fairtrade is also about choosing the world you want: it’s about choosing to empower global communities that protect our shared environment. It’s about decent working conditions. It’s about giving families the tools to lift themselves out of poverty, and empowering millions of women to lead…

TOTAL WIPEOUT British people use 1.1 billion unnecessary wet wipes and plastic-stemmed cotton buds a year. Both can be easily replaced by using a washable muslin cloth and wooden-stemmed buds. TRUE GRIT Remember our old obsession with microbeads? Thankfully, UK legislation eliminated the 680 tonnes of microbeads that were being dumped into our water systems every year. Coffee grounds, sugar, oats, sea salt, even cinnamon all make for fantastically safe natural scrubs. WASTE NOT The average British woman uses just 12 products in her beauty regime but when you look in your bathroom cabinet, chances are there’ll be a fair few more in there gathering dust. Take time to assess which you genuinely use, finish products and give to friends what you don’t want. Multipurpose products like balms or oils…

Learn brush lettering and use it to freshen up your home spaces Brush lettering is a style of hand lettering formed from a mix of stroke thicknesses created by a brush. It differs from calligraphy as there are less rules about forming the letters; the process is more about drawing the letters. It is something anyone can learn and, as a result, has become a popular style for creating stationery and homewares. You don’t need to have ‘good handwriting’ or any previous experience with calligraphy. Brush lettering is simply about learning the techniques and then practising until you create your own unique style of brush lettering. Each letter of the alphabet can be broken down into individual brush strokes. You also need to follow the general rule that downward brush…

Leah Larwood Leah is a hypnotherapist, lucid dream coach and wellbeing writer. She teaches us how to harness the power of our inner world on p20 this issue. Nancy Levin The bestselling author and Master Integrative Coach reveals how to start setting boundaries for the benefit of your mental health on p42. Gabriella Clark Previously a London-based beauty PR, Gabriella shares the story of how she travelled around India, trained as a yoga teacher and gave up fast fashion on p60. Camilla Sacre-Dallerup Life coach, hypnotherapist, meditation teacher and best-selling author of three self-help books, Camilla, teaches us how to develop an abundance mindset on p26. Jill Ettinger The Director of Content at planetSHINE, a platform dedicated to making positive change to the world, explains greenwashing on p50. Meg Mathews…

1 Move more Anyone who has a desk job will know how easy it is to sit still for an hour or more whilst working. This can lead to stiffness, poor blood circulation, back pain and other problems. Try getting up a bit earlier and doing a couple of laps of the block, or walk down to the local park before you start work. Then try and get out again for 10 minutes at lunchtime, and finish the day with another walk. If there’s somewhere you need to go that’s within walking distance, make a conscious decision to leave the car at home. If you’re working from home, these regular walks could be even more beneficial as they’ll provide structure to your day with ‘start’ and ‘end’ markers around your…

Scenes of people diving into the sea in aid of charity frequently appear on news screens during the winter period. Many viewers immediately wince and think they are crazy, but wild swimming is becoming one of the fastest growing health activities. All year round, whatever the weather, people are seeking out places where they can enjoy swimming in rivers and lakes as well as the open sea. For many people, it is proving to be a vital lifeline. Jo Gifford is one of those swimmers. “2020 was tough on everyone. My dad died from Covid – he had dementia and was in a care home. I started wild swimming in local rivers and lakes to help deal with the stress and grief, and found that the open water really helped…

Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of a vegan diet for humans, animals and the planet. When it comes to your health, studies have linked vegan diets with lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer. According to Viva! (viva.org.uk), studies have shown that vegetarians and vegans have a lower risk of cancer than meat-eaters – in the UK, vegetarians have an 8-11 per cent lower risk and vegans 16-19 per cent lower. Vegan women have 34 per cent fewer female-specific cancers. Vegans are also less at risk of heart disease and have up to 50 per cent less chance of dying from it. If everyone in the UK ditched animal products, Viva! estimate at least 40,000 human lives…

There are 29 million homes in the UK, accounting for 30 per cent of the UK’s total energy use, 27 per cent of UK carbon dioxide emissions and around 24 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. If we all made some changes to how we run our homes, we could start to make a difference to the climate crisis. Start small What’s the tiniest change you can make? Do that first. Turn electrical items off at the wall (the microwave is an easy one to start with). From your thermostat to the temperature you wash your clothes at, consider what can go down a notch. Alternatively, pick one specific aspect of your home and try making that greener. Get through lots of milk? Ditch the plastic and get glass bottles…

“When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with ourselves.”JACK KORNFIELD 1-minute mindfulness This year, why not make a promise to yourself to make mindfulness a part of your lifestyle? It doesn't have to take up much of your time – in fact, one-minute mindfulness is the most recent way in which more of us are bringing mindfulness into our daily routines. Exercise ideas include listening to a short meditation on YouTube or an app like Headspace, hugging your loved one for one minute, or breathing slowly and really focusing on your breath. All of these things will bring you a moment of calm in amongst your hectic schedule or help when you're feeling anxious or stressed. Stress can affect everything from your…

Winter is the perfect time to slow down, embrace the dark nights, go deeper and tune into your dream world. With the world spending increasingly more time indoors, for some of us that has meant more naps, and for others that has meant an increase in disturbed nights. Whatever your sleep routine is like at the moment, the year ahead is a great opportunity to tap into your own resources to find solutions to personal situations – and to stay well. Once you have an understanding of the different sleep and dream states, you can begin to access your inner world. It’s a wonderful opportunity for you to boost your sleep, support your health and explore the issues that are causing you most concern. What is a lucid dream? A…

Setting a simple boundary may seem inconsequential, but it can actually be a real turning point. I find it helps clients build confidence and feel more empowered, no matter how small their boundaries may seem. The more comfortable we get setting beginner boundaries, the closer we’ll get to setting the most important ones – the boundaries we want and need the most for our health and wellbeing. Setting a boundary is a practice in progress. Often, we set a boundary – even a little one – and we have to set it again, and then again! Boundary setting requires small actions repeated many times over long periods. Choose your ‘beginner’ boundaries As one of my clients once said, ‘practise makes awesome’ – not just in terms of learning to set…

It’s nice to imagine us all living in sync – like in that scene from Snow White, where all the animals hover around her like one big, happy ecosystem. Or, perhaps you recall that Coca-Cola commercial from the 1970s, where fans of the soft drink all sing on a mountain top about living in perfect harmony. Those images conjure up a feeling – a sense of something greater than ourselves, but also deeply tied to our self image. We want to do better, don’t we? We recycle, drive electric cars, wear out our jumpers and running shoes until they’re barely more than bits of thread and rubber. Corporations know this, of course. They make every effort to keep us feeling like we’re making the best possible choices when we buy…

A survey in July 2020 showed that a third of UK women had recently made the move to solely sustainable beauty products, but that 74 per cent of us would choose a beauty product for its efficacy, rather than its sustainability. We want our skincare to show results and see the benefits of what we’re putting on but not at the cost of using up the planet. The good news is that now, it’s no longer a case of choosing between products that work and those that are eco-friendly – but choosing which great initiative you believe in most. Skin wins Firstly, perhaps it’s time to reassess what’s been labelled bad and what’s deemed as good? Plant-based skincare has improved immensely in the last five years and natural formulations are…

For many of us, time can feel like a scarce commodity. Like Lewis Carroll’s white rabbit, we charge around, fearing we will be late and worrying about fitting everything in. Why, you might ask, would we want to add baking bread to our already lengthy to do list? Making time to bake your own bread will help you reap many rewards. The more frenetic our lives, the more we need the balance that comes from activities that force us to slow down and reconnect us to our physicality. Making our own bread gives us these soothing and grounding experiences in spades. ‘Making time’ is a fascinating and helpful concept. While, of course, we can’t create more time than the 24 hours each day offers us, we can choose to pause…

Outside, the air is still cold and blue from the night and the odd street cleaner and lone car glide under fading streetlights. Inside, I am writing – describing what my life would be like as a tree. This isn’t my usual morning: yesterday, for example, I was writing a letter to my ten year-old self. Journaling has been a part of my life now for four years. Before I started, I had heard people talk about this ominous ‘journaling’, but it sounded exclusive and cryptic, and I assumed I wasn’t qualified or educated enough to ask more about it. In my mid-20s, I experienced a mental health crisis. The crisis came about after I decided to keep a weekly planner – another attempt to bring more order into my…

THE AUTHOR Sarah Dawson is a freelance writer who lives in rural Leicestershire with her husband, two children, rescue pup and very patient cat. 1 THE LITTLE RETREAT PEMBROKESHIRE Nestled on the magical Pembrokeshire coast, The Little Retreat is the ultimate escape for those who want to switch off from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Staying in a chic and cosy dome, you get to wake up every morning to unrivalled views of the Welsh countryside, as well as your own wood-fired hot tub or outdoor bath to relax in as the sun sets. How you spend your days is up to you – with varied programmes including open water swimming, outdoor yoga, foraging and art classes, there’s certain to be something that takes your fancy. Prices from…

Why do you think there is still stigma around menopause? There is sadly just not enough up-to-date information and support out there for the 13 million women this affects in the UK. I wanted to write a book that addressed all the questions I get via my website, with the top experts in the field of menopause – a book that was honest, that empowered and entertained, while taking on the menopause with attitude and style. Doctors only receive three hours on the menopause during their whole training, so women do need to do their own research, too. Employers and their HR departments need to be able to help support women during perimenopause and menopause. We need to empower women to talk and get the information and treatment they need.…