We all have places that we have to go to or pass through on a regular basis and that place for me is London Bridge. I don’t choose to go there but it’s on my way to work and every time I cross it, whether it’s to go to or from work I think how lucky I am.

I’ve learnt to enjoy and embrace the view that London Bridge offers and I’ve come to absolutely love that part of my journey. I’m surrounded by iconic buildings such as the Shard, Gherkin, Cheesegrater and the Walkie Talkie and then there is the beautiful Tower Bridge. These sights all look different depending on the season and what the weather is doing. Some days they are shimmering in the sunshine and others they are shrouded in fog and mist.   I love the countryside but I can still appreciate the beauty of the City and it’s history.

There are also street entertainers that come out on certain days and my favourite is the fire-eater and juggler, he is always cheerful and he brightens my day, no pun intended.  Come rain or shine he pitches up without fail.

London Bridge is also a stop for tourist buses and tourists from all over the world pile off with their cameras in hand ready to take pictures of the River Thames, Tower Bridge and the iconic buildings. I always imagine how they feel at finally seeing something they might have talked about for many years and spent time planning to see and now here they are in person. It’s always very easy to take things we see everyday for granted but if we look at tourist faces it can sometimes act as a reminder to us to stop and take a look around us.

There is never a dull moment, the other evening on the way home a guy jumped up onto one of the large plant containers and started to dance – no music, just moves which made you want to stop and stare to see what he was up to. He wasn’t drunk and looked completely cold stone sober. He ignored all the stares and as he danced, he kept looking up at an office window, obviously trying to get the attention of someone. Passers by stopped to see what he was doing and it still makes me smile when I picture him now. I have a feeling he was trying to get someone’s attention and he was going to ask them to marry him.

Regular fashion shoots also take place on the bridge and that makes for interesting commuting especially when you see people wrapped up in Northern Face gear looking like they belong in Antarctica. Other times there have been brides with their bridesmaids all strutting their stuff looking so very glamorous and cool.

London Bridge is an excellent location for film shoots although as yet I’ve never seen any filming because I think filming takes place at weekends or during the quieter times of the day or night. I always recall the scene from the movie Bridget Jones when she has finally got it together with Daniel Cleaver and she is seen walking to work feeling oh so happy with herself, her held is held up high and she is smiling away to herself.   This is how I feel most mornings – just happy to be alive.

I also love the history associated with London Bridge and the many times it has been built and even sold.   I remember as a small child hearing the nursery rhyme (here I go again with songs) “London Bridge is falling down”.   There is so much history steeped in the City of London and especially that of London Bridge and if you are interested in reading all of it’s history since the Roman Army first built the bridge in 42AD to the present day the following website is fascinating and I am sure you will be surprised at what you read.  http://oldlondonbridge.com/history.shtml

I’d love to hear from you about any places that you have to go to on a regular basis as part of your daily journey and how you’ve learnt to embrace and enjoy it or perhaps you don’t but maybe can learn. The world really is an amazing place if we just open our eyes and really see it.

Wishing all my readers a wonderful happy week exploring and learning to love the places we see every day and maybe even take for granted.

This week I’m celebrating because yesterday was a very special day for me. Baby Bee, as I like to call him, and I entered a dressage competition with our local riding club, Limpsfield Riding Club. A club I joined at the beginning of the year and which has been nothing but friendly and encouraging in every way possible.

Before joining the club I didn’t think dressage was for me. I had a limiting self-belief that I wasn’t good enough even though, I learnt to ride at ten years old and have owned my other horse, Nadia for 19 years. However, when I learnt to ride at my local riding school we only learnt how to go, steer and more importantly how to stop, we didn’t learn the finer and more intricate details of riding but it never stopped us having fun and as kids we used to ride backwards, bareback and would jump anything. We were absolutely fearless.

So when I was lucky enough to get Nadia we were just happy riding out in the woods and exploring local bridleways and taking part in the occasional endurance and pleasure ride we never entered any competitions.  I thought to “do” dressage or enter competitions you had to have had a special instructor and know more than I did. This was a very limiting self-belief that I probably developed from the time when my friends and I worked at a local riding school just to get a free ride and we saw other children with their own ponies entering competitions.

However Bee, my new horse is young and as feedback on our training and to help with our progress I decided to enter some dressage competitions during the spring and summer time. Sometimes our results weren’t great and we were even beaten by an 8 year old, other times I went wrong however with continuous encouragement from the riding club and regular lessons from my trainer we gradually improved. On a few occasions we were even placed, but the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places seemed to elude us, that was until yesterday when we came first with a score of 66.74%. My goal is always to try and beat our personal best and that was 62%, so you can imagine how pleased I was when the scores came in.

Then to top it all, I had also entered us into a test in the next level up at the prelim level as I wanted to start to push and improve ourselves, raising the bar, it was to be an exercise and I was looking forward to receiving the judge’s comments. The comments I have received from the judges over the past few months have helped me improve and together with my trainer it looks like it is now finally paying off. Imagine my surprise when in the next level up we were placed 4^th with a result of 65%. This was a huge achievement for us, on a horse that I haven’t even yet had for a year. I love to learn and improve and dressage is a perfect way to do this, it is a constant learning curve and there are always new challenges to face, but that’s what keeps it fun.  Regular readers will recall our shaky start, but with hard work, time and dedication our partnership has gone from strength to strength and yesterday demonstrated how far we’d come and I am extremely proud of Bee and his progress.

I have always believed that anyone can do anything that they put their minds to, especially if it’s something that they really want to do. It’s possible to learn new things and take on new challenges, whether it’s learning to dance, learning a new language – I always remember my Dad learning Portuguese at the age of 65, taking up a new hobby or even changing careers, it really is never too late that is of course provided you want something enough. Nothing is out of our reach.

The key of course is to remove any self-limiting beliefs we may have. Self-limiting beliefs are those that constrain us in some way and seriously hold us back in life, they are usually based on fear of failure or past experiences. I know mine were based on “I can’t” and “I’m not good enough”. Well I proved to myself I actually can and I am sure you can also do anything you really want to do.

I have always believed that anything can happen and anything is possible in life, with sheer hard work and determination but I would say the best quality to have is sheer enthusiasm.   Enthusiasm is something we can have fun with it keeps us happy, it gives us energy and keeps us passionate about the things we enjoy doing.

I would love to hear from you if you have ever tried something new and was surprised at your achievement or if you are thinking of starting something new or if you also have any self-limiting beliefs that might be holding you back. My advice would be release your self-limiting beliefs and don’t let anything stop you or stand in your way, especially if it will enhance your happiness.  Be enthusiastic and go for it.

“There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to questions them.” ~Anthony de Mello

Wishing everyone a week full of love, happiness, success and discovery.

This week’s Blog is dedicated to a very special friend who has shared with me some of the stories I mention below.

I recently saw a quote that said “If you can’t handle me randomly blurting out song lyrics that relate to what you just said we can’t be friends”. This really did make me laugh as it is very true and something I do on a regular basis.

I am not a good singer, I am completely tone deaf and can’t hold a note to save my life but I love to sing and dance, it makes me feel happy and lifts my spirits. I usually find that whatever I am doing I will find a suitable tune that matches my environment or my mood. Luckily most of my friends are used to this and do not mind and will invariably join in (that is assuming they can recognise the tune I’m trying to sing).

There are also health benefits from singing and research has shown that our bodies release endorphins when we sing.   Singing requires us to breathe more deeply and in turn this oxygenates our brain and by breathing deeply it can produce a calming effect which helps us especially if we find ourselves in a stressful situation.

Singing evokes memories and when I sing, I find myself smiling as I recall memories, happy or sad. Regular readers will know that I enjoy music and believe that music is the language of the world, it breaks down barriers and connects us to each other. Music and lyrics raises our energy and make us feel alive.

Most days I will have a song of the day, inspired by something I may hear on the radio or will look at the sky whilst walking my dog and think of a time place or tune and that song will usually stay with me during the day. A game I sometimes play is choosing a song, usually based on the weather, or where I am and finding something to suit, for example whilst camping out under the stars in the Wadi Rum desert I couldn’t resist singing every song possible about stars.   Amazingly my friend and I still laugh and share fond memories about this almost ten years later and at the time we couldn’t sleep for laughing.

On another occasion we were travelling on a long flight and was tracking our flight route and just starting taking turns to sing a song about all the places named on the map and rather remarkably we managed it. Again, I still recall my friend breaking out to the song “Do you know the way to San Jose”, so from our silly game we have very fond memories and whenever I hear that song it reminds me of our trip together.

The other day I was singing to my song of the day and decided to also dance, but I didn’t want to see myself in the mirror (because the saying goes dance like nobody is watching) so I turned the lights out and decided to dance in the dark. Incidentally, I was not listening to “dancing in the dark” by Bruce Springsteen and I should say try because believe it or not it really is quite difficult to dance in complete darkness, mainly because if you spin it isn’t possible to focus on one particular point and you can become unbalanced very quickly. I am sure professional dancers can dance in the dark and like everything, with practice I am sure it is possible so I think some more practice might be required.

I sometimes wish everyone walking across London Bridge would break their morning ritual of looking at their phones and take  time to look up and see the beautiful world we live in, maybe sing, or even better, imagine if we all sang and danced across the bridge, I am sure everyone would feel quite exhilarated once they had overcome their shyness. Maybe one day I might ask some of my friends in the music and acting business to see if they could try and instigate it.

I really do believe that life really is a much richer and happier place with music, song and dance. I would love to hear from you if you enjoy singing and if you regularly pick a tune of the day or what song brings back special memories for you and your friends.

Wishing everyone a wonderful happy week full of song and dance.  Make your life a musical.

Last week I returned from a very special holiday with one of my best friends or a vacation as some of my new found friends would call it.

It was my first holiday for well over a year, so when my holiday finally arrived at the start of September I realised how much I was in need of the break. As soon as I boarded the plane at London Heathrow I forgot everything. I left it all behind.

When we arrived at our final destination, nothing had prepared us for the serenity and beauty of the place.  We were at Tsylos Lodge located on the Chilko Lake, surrounded by the BC Coastal Mountain Range. It was exactly what I needed. Peace, quiet, tranquillity in the heart of nature – all of my favourite things. Oh and horses, did I forget to mention it was a riding holiday? Another one of my favourite things.

Our days were spent mostly out in the saddle covering different terrain each day, some days riding in the forests, others alongside the beautiful Chilko Lake populated with sockeye salmon and bears waiting patiently to eat the dead salmon once they had spawned.

It is a beautiful and magical sight to see bears in their natural habitat with no fear of humans, being able to watch them swim and sit in the water eating their catch, cubs happily playing alongside their mothers, eagles soaring high above us. Absolute bliss. I was in my element, in the heart of nature, doing my favourite thing, horse riding.

An added bonus was there was no telephone signal or wi-fi which meant no sneaky moments of I’ll just check my e-mails or listening to other guests talking loudly on their phones.

As technology moves on it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find places that are completely free from telephone masts and wi-fi and I know some of my friends would find it difficult to be in such a remote place. However there is a saying at Tsylos Lodge that says “sometimes we have to disconnect to reconnect” and I am sure that the benefits of my week being disconnected from the hustle and bustle of city life will remain with me through to the depths of winter.

I regard myself as rather lucky because I have disconnecting myself down to a fine art.  To do this, I choose to get out in nature as much as possible, either walking my dog or riding my horses, this is where I’m happiest and if I don’t get my daily fresh air fix I can become quite cranky as any of my friends will testify.

On the flight home as I viewed the wonderful landscape of Canada from the aircraft window, I wondered how other people took time out and disconnected, if at all, and if they really even know how to.

I think it is really important for our health and well being to take time out, switch off and do things we enjoy and that make us happy. I know it’s not always possible to take a holiday on a whim and I am truly grateful that I am able to do so but there are still many ways we can relax and make time for ourselves.

Ways to relax and unwind come in a variety of ways and can include pursuing hobbies, walking, yoga, pilates, meeting up with friends, listening to music, getting out in nature (this one works every time for me), reading a book or just having “you time” or imagine this, just doing absolutely nothing.

It can be very therapeutic, if we allow ourselves to just “be” in the here and now, not looking forward or backward, just appreciating the now, the present time and all that we have. So this week, why not try to set aside some “you” time and really reap and feel the benefits, it might even be as good as taking a holiday.

As bears feature in this week’s Blog I thought I would include advice from Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne. “Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering”.

Doing nothing once in a while can be a very healthy thing to do and I would love to hear from any of my readers on ways they choose to relax and unwind and if they ever do just nothing.

Wishing everyone a happy week filled with love and happiness and maybe even doing nothing or if you are in the process of planning a holiday and you get a chance you couldn’t go far wrong with a visit to the magical place of Tyslos Lodge (www.tsylos.com).

I recently overhead two young women talking to each other about what had been going on in their respective lives.  One had lost weight and the other was complaining about her life and how boring it was and asked her friend how she had managed to lose so much weight.

The one that had lost weight said she realised that if she wanted to lose weight she had to make some changes to her lifestyle and said she first starting to cut out sweet sugary items and gave up alcohol only choosing to drink it on social and special occasions.  She also decided to start an exercise programme but didn’t want to be stuck inside a gym so she joined the local running club.  She went on to say that as a result she had met many new people and had a new circle of friends.  She tried to encourage her friend to join a club or take up a hobby in an attempt to get out more and change her life saying she would never know if she didn’t try.  She even invited her along to the running club to see if she might like to join.

As an outsider looking in I could tell this other friend who was bored with life was never going to make any move to change her life in any form whatsoever.  I was intrigued by how excited and animated one was and how lifeless the other appeared and would probably continue in this way for a long time.  Her attitude needed to change.

I have always been a great believer in the philosophy that we can do anything we really want to and can really change our lives but the only way this can happen is if we are willing to do so in the first place.    I’m not talking about major changes but simple things that can, in time, make big differences.  For example, taking up new hobbies, taking a different route to work or getting up earlier to make more time to exercise or do something when the house is quiet before everyone else gets up or even treating ourselves to a make-over or new hairstyle, generally being open to change.

We can’t expect things to change in our lives if we carry on doing the same old things, the same old way because that is always the way we’ve done things.  The universe is in constant motion, nothing stands still and neither should we.

A few weeks later whilst travelling to work I saw the friends again.  The one who had lost the weight and joined the running club was proudly showing off a sparkling diamond ring on her third ring finger.  She looked so radiant and happy.  It was at this point I think the other one realised if she wanted to change her life she needed to do something about it because I heard her say “maybe I should take up a hobby after all” and she actually smiled.

So if there’s something you want to do or something you would like to change, my advice would be just go out there and do it, it doesn’t have to be big but something small, after all, you never know where it might lead but at least you will have tried.

I would love to hear from any of my readers that have made a change that lead to something unexpected or an improvement in their life.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week full of love and happiness.