All-Spark Hypnotherapy

15/01/2026

12/01/2026

Back on Track

09/01/2026

Day 5 is all about supporting the Sabres being a positive thing

06/01/2026

🧣 What Day Is It?
As we find ourselves in what’s traditionally the coldest time of the year, today’s National Day feels particularly well timed — it’s National Cuddle-Up Day.

The perfect excuse to snuggle up with a loved one or a pet, wrap yourself in a warm blanket, grab a hot drink of your choice, and settle in with a good book or a comforting film. If you’ve got a crackling fireplace to complete the scene, even better.

Now, this might sound like just a cosy way to spend an evening… but there’s some solid science behind why cuddling up is genuinely good for us.

🧠 The brain science bit
Cuddling, hugging, and close physical contact trigger the release of oxytocin — often called the cuddle hormone. Oxytocin plays a key role in bonding, trust, and emotional safety. It helps reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels, can ease anxiety, and promotes feelings of calm, connection, and wellbeing.

That warm, relaxed, slightly sleepy feeling you get when you’re snuggled up with someone (or something furry)? That’s your nervous system shifting out of stress mode and into rest-and-repair. Even cuddling a pet, hugging a pillow, or wrapping yourself tightly in a blanket can activate similar soothing responses.

So while it might look like you’re “doing nothing,” your brain and body are actually working hard to rebalance and recharge.

✨ So here’s today’s gentle challenge:
Celebrate National Cuddle-Up Day by going full-on Hygge this evening.
Slow down. Get cosy. Share a hug — with a partner, a pet, or even yourself. Pair it with warmth, comfort, and a little intentional self-care.

Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do… is curl up and be kind to yourself.

05/01/2026

What’s Been Good?
Christmas, Twixtmas, and New Year are a strange time when it comes to food.

Normally I’m pretty organised—meal plans, cooking from scratch, eating well (snacks aside). But over the holidays? That all goes out the window. Meals get indulgent, snacks are consumed with enthusiasm, far too much bread is devoured, and the fridge becomes a chaotic battleground of leftovers and forgotten ingredients.

With the decorations coming down yesterday, the intention was to return to normal as from today.
However, while sorting the fridge, planning meals, and getting the shopping list together during yesterday afternoon, I uncovered a hidden treasure: some black pudding, lurking at the back and nearing the end of its use-by date.

Somewhere in the darker recesses of my memory, I recalled a Nigella recipe for beef and black pudding meatballs. I tweaked it slightly (changed the herb profile and used a pork and beef mince) but the spirit remained the same.
And honestly? If I do say so myself, it was fantastic.

Kirsten loved it. Familiar meatball comfort, but with a deeper, richer, earthier flavour from the black pudding. Add a rich tomato marinara,and dinner turned into an unexpected little win. Proof that good things can still come out of a chaotic fridge.

Today though, it’s back to routine.
🥣 Breakfast: yoghurt, fruit, and granola
🍤 Lunch: prawns with a yuzu, chilli, and smoked paprika mayonnaise, plus lettuce, pea shoots, spring onion, radishes, and capsicum
🍗 Dinner: chicken thighs with sushi rice, edamame, and a coconut-based, Japanese-inspired curry sauce

A nice balance. One last festive flourish followed by a return to normality. And that feels very good indeed.

25/11/2025

What’s Been Good?
I feel like I’m repeating myself from a month ago: after a period of being completely derailed by a horrendous bad back, I’m… back at my desk again. Though much delayed from expectation as life decided to throw in a few extra curveballs after that (thinking we were losing Vimto, my 19 year old doggo, as well as another health issue), which meant my social media basically fell into a coma.
So here we go.
Let’s try again.
I’m back.

What’s encouraging, though, is that earlier this year I finally proved to myself that I can maintain a regular posting schedule. For the first time ever, I was consistent—5 or more posts every week across this page and for four and a half months. Even September, with all its chaos, saw 20 posts.

So no promises—just a goal:
3 or more posts this week, and 3 or more next week.
Small, attainable, doable.

And that’s important. Lofty goals may sound inspiring, but they’re far more likely to overwhelm the brain. When we set big goals and fail, the primitive brain fires up—stress, guilt, avoidance. Serotonin dips and motivation tanks.

But small goals? Achievable ones? Each success gives us a little serotonin lift—a “well done” from the brain—which strengthens confidence, consistency, and resilience. Tiny wins compound. We build momentum, not pressure. This is how habits return, and how they stick.

To help me stay on track, I’ve sat Polar Star on my keyboard as an accountability buddy. Guess tomorrow I’d better do a “Where’s Polar Star?” post to show him supervising.

And the picture for this post? Absolutely nothing to do with any of the above. It’s just a few cool things I’ve managed despite the health nonsense:
🎬 Watching Act Two of the Wicked movie
📚 Returning to Stephen King with the 50th anniversary edition of Carrie (which I first read back in ’79!)
🏒 Watching the Sabres finally break out of their recent funk

So yes—What’s Been Good is simply being here, at my desk, trying again.