A charm bracelet as a mood board for life

I've just bought myself a new Thomas Sabo bracelet and some new charms.  While I know that the fashion for charms has passed, I bought this as a concrete statement of my dreams, plans and even ambitions.  Charm bracelets were originally meant to say something about who you were or where you'd been, a tangible souvenir of your journey through life so far, but when they became fashionable this seemed to be forgotten.  

Personally, I wanted a wearable mood board, to be a constant reminder, a snapshot of who I am, what I love and what I would still like to achieve.  In my opinion, the act of selecting, buying (and paying for) the charms meant that I really had to think about what mattered to me most.  The charms I selected were; a maypole, because Swedish Midsummer is one of my favourite times, a heart with a Starfish, I love the sea, the Eiffel Tower, because Paris is one of my favourite places & to remind me to brush up my French, a plane, to remind me to travel more & my trusty hamsa, (which Ive had for years), to protect me on my adventures.  I still have a couple which I would like to get, namely a cat  (I love my Russian Blue boy) and a car (because I'm finally planning to buy one).

Even if you don't want to actually buy a bracelet, why not go online and browse some charms and work out which would reflect who you are and where you want to be.

Taking control of your health - Prevention and detection of illness

This is a slightly different blog post today, although it is still on the topic of health and wellbeing.  Above is a picture which I took today of the David Bowie memorial wall in Brixton, sadly he lost his battle with cancer today.  

I just want to say that cancer, heart disease and other similar illnesses are truly terrible and sadly, the damage they do is not always treatable.  Having said that, many of these illnesses are now detectable and treatable, especially if the are discovered early enough.  For this reason, I would urge anyone reading this to take advantage of any screening programs they are offered and to have any symptoms or health issues which are bothering you, always, always checked out.

It's the start of a new year and many people have made resolutions to improve their health and fitness through exercise and diet, that's wonderful and can offer many benefits including reducing the risk of developing certain illnesses, but also be aware of screening, monitoring and checking any issues which may seem trivial today, but could develop into something more serious later.