Articles from Susan Leigh | Hypnotherapist, Counsellor, Writer & Media Contributor

25/07/2022: It's Fun to Share Your Summer Food

How hospitable are you? Sometimes the thought of asking people round to ours, of agreeing a date, planning a menu which accommodates everyone’s preferences, deciding on who to invite & who’ll get on w

11/07/2022: The Best Way to Start Your Day

The Best Way to Start Your Day Many of us no doubt fall into bed each night without really thinking too much about how we’re going to start the next day. We probably only tend to think about it if we’re anticip

03/07/2022: Why Don't You Act Your Age?

Photo of Sue Baxter @getswankstyle with permission Why Don’t You Act Your Age! Why don’t you act your age! I’m guessing that’s a phrase many of us have heard on occasion and perhaps even used ourselves at times

06/06/2022: When Do We Talk About Money?

Many of us are uncomfortable at talking too much about money. It can feel unseemly, a little vulgar to be too heavily interested in what things cost, how much someone’s paid for something and certainly not what

15/05/2022: Refresh Your Relationship With a Holiday

Refresh Your Relationship with a Holiday Many people have high expectations of their holidays. They spend weeks, even months, hoping that everything will be blissful, idyllic. Reality can mean that things don't

05/05/2022: Do You Compete Against Yourself?

When someone is being competitive they’re often regarded as having heightened levels of motivation, so fuelling their desire to improve, stretch themselves and elevate their game. At certain times many of us ma

28/03/2022: Do You Sleep Well When You're Away Overnight?

Do Sleep Well When You’re Away From Home Overnight? We will all have had occasion to stay away from home, whether it be through work, a holiday, an overnighter at a friend’s house, in hospital. But being in tha

23/03/2022: Do You Join Your Staff on the Shop Floor?

Do You Join Your Staff On the Shop Floor? We’re all likely to cheer when we hear of excellent members of staff doing well, being promoted and moving upwards into more senior, management roles. It’s encouraging

16/03/2022: How Are Your Children?

How Are Your Children? As we emerge from an unprecedented, stressful and emotionally draining two years now could be a good time to take stock of its impact on our lives and consider the aftermath, as well as r

14/03/2022: Do Serious Same Sex Relationships Exist?

Do Serious Same Sex Relationships Exist? As children attending primary school we will most probably, have formed close relationships with other children of the same sex. From our earliest days in class or when

13/03/2022: Some Thoughts for Mother's Day

As we get older our relationships with our children and our mothers change. Our strong, independent mother may become fragile, lacking in confidence, less active and we may have to be increasingly supportive of

30/01/2022: Come Out of Hibernation and Enjoy Easter

For many of us Easter is the time when we emerge from our Winter mindset and start to notice the lighter nights, the onset of Spring and the better weather. Let's look at some ways to really kickstart the proce

16/01/2022: Is It Time to Walk Away from the Negative People in Your Life?

Is it Time to Walk Away From the Negative People in Your Life? As we progress through life we come to learn that not everyone shares our views, tastes and outlook on life. And indeed, this past 2 years has seen

16/01/2022: Make Every Day Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is treated as the special day for love, where we may look forward to receiving flowers, cards and declarations from our special one. Whilst others are cynical of Valentine’s Day, viewing it as a

13/01/2022: How Do You Spend Your Sundays?

Remember when Sundays were sacrosanct, all about church and family? No shops opened, so people used to worship, visit relatives and enjoy an easy day. These days shops open 7 days a week and family dynamics ar

11/01/2022: When a Good Friend Treats You Badly

There are no guarantees in life that everyone in our inner circle will continue to like us and yet it can be a tough realisation when a good friend, a longstanding relationship, is discovered to be harbouring

08/01/2022: Could You Use an Extra Day a Month?

Would gaining an extra day a month be of interest to you? Just think what you could do with all that additional time; enjoy a day at a spa, play a leisurely game of golf, arrange time with family or friends or

07/01/2022: Ever Ask Yourself If You're Good Enough?

How often do you berate yourself, feel that you've fallen short, not achieved what you set out to do or done as much as others in your orbit? A 2020 survey of 2000 adults by a weight loss company has found tha

06/01/2022: Are You Born Lucky or is it Just an Attitude of Mind?

Way back in the day world-class golfer Jack Nicklaus was asked how lucky he felt at being so successful. His reply was that the more he practised, the luckier he got! How true is that! Belief, determination an

04/01/2022: Don't Want to Be Single Any More!

There are certain times of the year when being single can be especially tough. Long Bank Holiday weekends, Valentine's Day, family holidays and key social events can often appear to be cosy twosome or family a

04/01/2022: Do You Prefer to Be Alone or With Others?

The last twelve months of being in lockdown has taught us a great deal about ourselves and nudged many of us into reviewing what we value most in life. For many of us our priorities have changed. It's also bee

03/01/2022: Do You Need to Take a Sabbatical From Your Relationship?

There has been much coverage in the media of late on the value of taking a sabbatical from your relationship. The reasoning behind taking a sabbatical is that it provides a breathing space to reflect on your l

02/01/2022: Five Top Tips for Better Sleep

The quality of our sleep impacts on every area of our life, our health, well-being, our general demeanour and enthusiasm for life. Recent studies have revealed a link between poor quality sleep and health cond

30/12/2021: Stop the Silence & Start to Talk

How many of us hate the thought of any whiff of confrontation? It's often a scary, unnerving prospect, as we cannot know in advance how we will be received, what will be unleashed or what the outcome might be.

03/12/2021: A New Year, New Business Goals?

Many businesses have had to face some serious lessons throughout the last eighteen months or so, often being forced to rethink their strategies in some detail. Quite a few of those valuable lessons anticipate

21/11/2021: Are You Living in an Apology Cycle?

Many of us use the word 'sorry' frequently throughout the day. Even when we're innocent, when someone has bumped into us or has made a mistake we may find that we're the one who's quick to apologise and say 's

20/11/2021: Do You Always Look on the Bright Side?

A recent UK survey has revealed that 87% of people have a positive, optimistic outlook on life whilst only 13% tend towards pessimism. It's a heartening result, considering the long recent months of lockdowns&

12/11/2021: Make Your Day & Get Out of Your Way!

Sometimes we need to get out of our own way and take a chance. However, fear of failure, of being laughed at, not liked, thought badly of, can prevent us from pushing ourselves into the unknown and stop us fro

05/11/2021: Why Are You So Tired All the Time?

Many people complain of feeling tired all the time, with as many as 90% adults saying that they don't get enough sleep. But feeling tired isn't just about the hours spent asleep. Quality of sleep is also a sig

17/09/2021: Make Your Goals a Habit

When we're starting out, it's tempting to treat goal-setting as an all or nothing mindset, where aiming to excel, establish a great reputation and be recognised as successful are the daily focuses of our lives

16/09/2021: Take the Stress Out of Stress

How would it be if you awoke every day feeling refreshed and confident about the day ahead, with enough energy and resilience in reserve to tackle whatever might be thrown your way? Yes, unexpected challenges

16/09/2021: An Abusive Relationship Can Creep Up On You

Imagine you went on a first date with someone who was sarcastic, nasty, disparaging towards you. It's hard to believe that you would agree to a second date. Yet an abusive relationship can creep up on us and ha

16/09/2021: Do Your Friends Know What's Best for Your Divorce?

Divorce is so commonplace that many of us will know someone who's been divorced, maybe more than once! And yet, when it happens to us it's devastating. Our plans, dreams and normal routine are smashed to smith

14/09/2021: Relax and Take a Break

How often do you relax and take a break? Statistics reveal that increasing numbers of us are loathe to take time away from work, with some 19 million days of UK holiday entitlement remaining untaken in on

13/09/2021: Would You Rather Be With Your Friends or Family?

The saying, we choose our friends but not our family, often causes a wry laugh. But, on reflection, those relationships are rather different. Do our friends typically see us having a 'bad hair day' or have to

12/09/2021: Should Your Staff Also Be Your Friends?

There should be a big difference between our friends and the people with whom we're friendly, but many of us struggle to make the distinction. We may refer to everyone in our circle as friends, but all too oft

11/09/2021: The Best Way to Have a Great Weekend

Some people obsess about their weekends. They jealously guard their time, refusing to make plans or commit anything to the diary because they're so focussed on their desire to chill and take it easy. Their just

11/09/2021: How Fair Is Your Life?

I'm guessing we've all had some experience of that friend who always orders the most expensive item on the menu, who's never in time to pay for anyone's coffee or who disappears to the bathroom when it's their

09/09/2021: The Best Way to Have a Great Relationship

There are two separate times in the year when divorce lawyers ready themselves for an influx of new clients; one of those is the post-Christmas fallout and the other is post-holidays. Both are times when peopl

01/09/2021: Make Your Goals a Positive Experience

Setting goals should be a positive experience. They should inspire us and keep us moving in the right direction. But it's important to set our goals well or we may find ourselves distracted by other people's a

26/08/2021: What Does Being Successful Look Like to You?

Many of us regard academic results and earning potential as important markers and measures of success but they're only part of a many-faceted picture. In reality, success has many faces. So many of us are infl

14/08/2021: Is Any Attention Better Than None?

For many of us it's important to be noticed, recognised and appreciated, but for some people, attention is their life-blood. It's what motivates all their actions. And if they don't get positive attention, lik

13/08/2021: When You Have No Successes to Report

How do you measure success? Do you see it as winning big contracts, promotions and pay rises, awards and effusive letters of appreciation or are you happy with a simple 'thank you', knowing that you've done a

08/08/2021: When Life Doesn't Go to Plan

Bad news and setbacks can catch us all out from time to time, creeping up on us unexpectedly, sometimes with little or no warning. We may react angrily at first, looking for someone to blame, or shed tears and

03/08/2021: When You Can't Believe What They See in You

'Wow! You're amazing. I couldn't have done what you've done. You've done an incredible job! How fantastic!' How do you react to someone's effusive praise? Do you shrug it off, hardly noticing what they've said

29/07/2021: Sorry Can Be the Hardest Word

11/07/2021: Are You As Young As You Feel?

Recently a top sportswoman was quoted as saying that she felt the same in her fifties as she did in her thirties; I'm guessing many people would echo her sentiments. And as the baby boomer generation hit

28/06/2021: Please Don't Ask for More!

How would you feel if you'd recently helped someone out of a jam? Perhaps they were struggling to meet a financial obligation and you were in a position to help. After confirming how much they needed you gave

26/06/2021: Are You Too Good Looking to Be Clever?

I'm guessing many of us either know someone personally or have seen someone in a magazine or on TV and speculated that they've only succeeded because of their looks. It might seem to be sour grapes, but those

22/06/2021: How Do You Heal?

Healing tends to happen in its own time. Whatever is entailed, whether it be verbal, like an apology, an appeaseatory gesture of a bunch of flowers, or a medicinal treatment, perhaps a cream or an ointment or

21/06/2021: Help Me to Better Understand You

Isn't it interesting how, when we're in a long-standing relationship, we expect, and even assume that our partner will know our likes and dislikes, how we think about certain things. We can become disappointed,

17/05/2021: Why Say You're Fine When You're Not!

Many of us enjoy exchanging pleasantries as we pass each other whilst taking our walk in the countryside, or nod and share a few friendly words in a familiar work or social setting. There's often a smile as we

05/05/2021: Let's Not Forget the New Fathers

When a new baby first arrives the focus is on the new mother and child, fussing over them, caring for their needs. And that's understandable. Everyone wants to see and hold a new baby, check in on the new mum

09/04/2021: When It's Time to Return to Work

Many of us have seen first hand how quickly our children have become disenchanted with getting up and dressed for school each day, how demotivated they've become about learning and education. But that los

07/04/2021: How Can I Ever Thank You?

Many of us have found increased reasons to be grateful and appreciative this last twelve months or so, perhaps due to the change of pace. These unprecedented times have led many of us to realise how much our c

02/04/2021: Moving Forward From Redundancy

Some of us may remember the concept of a job for life, where you worked for a large blue-chip company or solid family business and received opportunities for training, promotion, travel and even relocation, le

01/04/2021: Do You Have FOGO, the Fear of Going Out?

Over the past few months we've been besieged with constant news updates, orders, commands and admonishments about the dangers of going out due to the global pandemic. We've seen outrage at pictures of lar

28/03/2021: Who Looks After You?

Are you one of those people who everyone turns to in a crisis? You're calm, confident, together and never seem to flap under pressure. People trust that when they turn to you for answers you'll be there for th

17/03/2021: What Needs to Happen for Women to Feel Safe?

The recent kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard has again called into question the issue of women and their safety. A young woman walking home at 9pm, after visiting a friend, to then be savagely attacked an

13/03/2021: Do You Think That's Funny?

We all enjoy a good laugh on occasion, and indeed humour can be a very effective way of easing areas of tension or breaking the ice in a new relationship. But one thing to remember when using humour is that we

23/02/2021: What Would They Think?

Have you ever dressed for an evening out, only to then go and change your clothes, suddenly doubting their suitability, concerned at what others might think? Or rejigged the tone of a presentation due to

22/02/2021: It's the Little Things in Life That Count!

In life it's the little things that count and make all the difference. Something big, like a major insult or offence, or, conversely a grand positive gesture, would be acknowledged and dealt with openly and im

13/02/2021: When Will I See You Again?

Many people frequently express their distress at not being able to see their close family and friends during the global pandemic and, indeed, this lack of contact has caused serious emotional and mental hardsh

06/02/2021: Do You Like to Lie In?

Many of us like to lie-in and spend extra time in bed at weekends, enjoying a much-anticipated break. We maybe have breakfast in bed, read the papers, intermittently doze, catch up on our sleep, get cosy with

01/02/2021: Five Top Tips to Help You Deal With Disagreement

We all at times have occasion to disagree with someone. It may be in a personal relationship, in a business situation, with a family member, friend or colleague. How serious that disagreement becomes can be de

01/02/2021: 8 Top Tips for Better Sleep

Sleep and sleep-related habits are frequently scrutinised in the media, with statistics highlighting how important quality sleep is, and how few of us seem to be getting it. 90% adults report not getting enoug

31/01/2021: What Are You Like & Is That Okay!

How often do we see the people who know us well shrugging their shoulders or stifling a shriek at the things we've said or done with a, 'what are you like!' How often do we find ourselves in stressful situatio

30/01/2021: What If They Don't Forgive You?

Throughout our lives we may well have experienced hurt, bullying or bad treatment from some of the people in our sphere. It may have started years ago, with the original negative experiences being reinforced o

27/01/2021: Single & Alone - How's That Working Out for You?

Would you agree that there are few places lonelier than being in a loveless relationship? Spending time with someone who's clearly bored, disinterested, perhaps even angry at your mere presence slowly destroys

25/01/2021: Starting Again, But Where Are My Friends?

Have you ever changed school, moved home, left one job for another and realised that by doing so you're starting again and leaving all your friends behind? Going away to university, getting divorced, moving on

22/01/2021: Start by Prioritising Your Happiness

Some people treat happiness as their main goal. When you ask them what they want in life they say, 'to be happy'. But happiness can be elusive. It creeps up on us when we least expect it, when we find ourselve

20/01/2021: Sometimes You've Just Got to Say 'No'!

Many people find that it’s their automatic default to say ‘yes’ whenever something is asked of them. They may have learned to respond without even thinking about it, maybe regard others’ needs as more imp

16/01/2021: Sex and Your Ex

Most of us will have at least one ex. We may even have to see them from time to time, perhaps because of children, work or a shared social circle. At times it might be painful, awkward or embarrassing, especia

13/01/2021: Planning Your Lockdown Days

Many of us are finding ourselves 'locked down' at home, with no discernible end date in sight. What at first may have been viewed as a short-term opportunity to focus on other areas of our lives has, for many,

01/01/2021: Is It Time to End Our Relationship?

Recognising the time has come to end an important relationship is often especially stressful. We may have shared many good and bad times together, grown up with them, certainly loved them for a time. We m

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25/07/2022: It's Fun to Share Your Summer Food

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