The Ultimate Guide to Planning a Destination Wedding: Tips and Tricks

A destination wedding can be a dream come true, but the planning process can be overwhelming. From choosing the perfect location to coordinating travel arrangements for your guests, there are many factors to consider. But don't worry, with the right tips and tricks, you can plan the destination wedding of your dreams without breaking a sweat.

First and foremost, it's important to choose the right location for your destination wedding. Consider the climate, accessibility, and overall vibe of the location. Are you looking for a tropical paradise or a scenic mountain getaway? Do you want a location that's easy for your guests to travel to, or are you okay with a more remote location? Are you looking for something ultra luxurious where money isn't an obstacle? or would you like something more cosy? Or would you just like to elope and plan a party later? Once you've narrowed down your options, it's a good idea to visit the location in person to ensure it meets all of your requirements.

Once you've chosen the location, it's time to start planning the logistics. Coordinating travel arrangements for yourself and your guests can be a daunting task, but it's important to book early to secure the best deals. Consider booking a block of rooms at a nearby hotel or resort to make it easy for your guests to make reservations. You can also work with a travel agent to create a custom travel package for your guests.

Another important aspect of planning a destination wedding is securing the right vendors. This is especially important if you're getting married in a location that you're not familiar with. Research local wedding planners, photographers, and caterers to ensure they have experience with destination weddings. It's also a good idea to work with vendors that speak your language to avoid any communication barriers.

When it comes to the guest list, it's important to be realistic about who will be able to attend your destination wedding. Keep in mind that not everyone will be able to make the trip, and that's okay. It's a good idea to send out save-the-dates well in advance to give your guests plenty of time to plan their travel.

Finally, be sure to factor in additional expenses such as transportation, meals and activities for your guests. A destination wedding can be a little more expensive than a traditional wedding, but with the right planning and budgeting, you can make it work.

In summary, planning a destination wedding can be a daunting task, but with the right tips and tricks, you can plan the destination wedding of your dreams. By choosing the right location, coordinating travel arrangements, securing the right vendors, being realistic about the guest list, and budgeting for additional expenses you will be able to plan a beautiful and memorable destination wedding.

What is Mind-Body, Energy Healing?

This afternoon I found myself writing to a friend who is, currently, not very well and I thought my reply would make a nice blog post for people in a similar situation. If it helps even one person to overcome some form of dis-ease in the body, I'll be a very happy person. 

I introduced the concept of Qigong Energy Medicine in a previous post. I said that in Qigong Energy Medicine, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, we believe that all dis-ease in the body starts in a person’s energy field. That energy comes from our immediate environment, (people, places, thoughts, actions) but, as we’re all interconnected with everything in the Universe, it’s also influenced by the energies of world events that don’t necessarily affect us in our immediate circumstances but they still, none the less, take a toll on us. 

The most important influences on us are our thoughts (related to what’s going on in our lives) and the energy they produce. Since this is now proven by scientific research, based on placebos, it follows that - just as our thoughts can damage our health, so too can they restore it. 

Anyway, I don’t know how much you, the reader, knows about me but, as well as Psychology, I studied Naturopathy and then Reiki, which led me to Qigong energy medicine. I’m not against allopathic medicine, but I do believe in Integrative Medicine, i.e. Mind-Body-Energy and how the co-relationship between them brings about good & bad health. As a matter of interest, I watched two interesting TED talks a few weeks ago where two separate allopathic doctors were finally bringing my long held beliefs to mainstream allopathic practices. 

One of the interesting concepts one of the doctors said was that: “All our lives, we all oscillate between health and dis-ease but we don’t give our bodies a chance to heal naturally because we seek medical intervention somewhere in between or we wait too long relying on medical intervention” - When I relate this oscillation to energy and things going on in our lives, it makes perfect sense to me because energy is like the tide, it comes and goes in ebbs and flows. (That even rhymes! :-D) - My point is that life has highs and lows, so our minds have highs and lows, which means our energy follows the same format.     

          

This brings me to my knee as a perfect example. In Energy Medicine, the knee represents movement and our ability to stand, ground ourselves, walk, run. Meditating on it, I realise now that it was obvious my knee would displace. I should have seen it coming. I’m fully conscious of the fact that it was triggered by: 

a) The upheaval in my life which uprooted me when I suddenly had my father back in my life after nearly 40 years of

             estrangement. 

b) My fear of having to uproot my life again.

c) The fear of letting everything I've built until now and having to start my life all over again. 

Once I acknowledged, accepted and came to terms with the root of the issues in my life, the decisions I now face and all my fears head on, I was able to critically analyse everything and change my Mindset. Now that I’ve done that, I’ve changed the energy polarity from negative to positive, which has cleared my mind and infused me with a new sense of: “Ok, this is what I’m going to do.” In fact, I’ve set myself a new challenge, with new goals, that has also given me a renewed sense of purpose and an infusion of new life force (will power, determination, interest, wonder and so on.) These are all essential components, in my view, for continuing to live each day with something to look forward to;  something to get out of bed for with enthusiasm and not procrastinate, which I did a lot of during my 10 year cycle of depression. 

I feel like I’m playing catch up, for that, but I forgive myself. I needed time to heal and learn. If I hadn’t been what I’ve been through, I wouldn’t be where I am now nor would I be back to who I truly am - and not the person I didn’t recognise anymore in the mirror - if I even bothered looking in a mirror - because that’s another thing. As symbolic as it seems, when we get to a point where we detest who we’ve become (for whatever sad reasons) we avoid even looking at ourselves in shame, guilt, regret etc. because it’s painful to face it all. But unless we do, we can’t compassionately forgive ourselves and rebuild. I’ve never seen it happen but they say a phoenix is born from ashes. So, sometimes everything has to be destroyed for us to begin to rebuild bigger and more beautiful than before.  

So, anyway, the stronger and more determined my mind is getting, the more I feel happy and the more my knee has started to get better on its own. In fact, today I can manage the stairs pretty much un-aided. I didn’t take the conventional meds that the doctors prescribed but I did take natural alternatives. But, the biggest healing factor has been finding compromising solutions, in this new mindset, to what “duty” dictates I "should do" and what I would be happy with without entirely giving up the life I built during the last, nearly, 40 years of my father’s absence in it. 

Nothing in life is an accident nor coincidence. There is always some kind of Divine plan involved. But … I believe that everything, and I mean everything that happens in life happens because we’re meant to learn a lesson and pay off our Karmic debts for every time we’ve caused suffering through our speech and actions -  If it’s true that we’re all on the path to enlightenment or back to God or the Highest Spiritual Self we can be, we’re not going to get there if everything is smooth sailing and we never learn anything. 

If you'd like to purchase my book - Please Click HERE

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Getting married in Gibraltar or Elope to Gibraltar

Having worked for so many years in Gibraltar on weddings, I often get asked about getting married there; how easy it is, what documents are required, how long it takes etc etc. 

So, I decided to compile a complete guide for anyone interested in eloping or getting married in Gibraltar. 

The guide contains valuable information about documents required, venues available, accommodation and the general process of booking your preferred date with the registry office. The "Getting married in Gibraltar Guide" is full of clickable links for ease of booking. I've even included links to service providers for any extras you might require. 

To get the full guide - CLICK HERE

Every dawn is...

Mind - Body, Energy Healing

Namaste! Welcome back to my blog! 

Today I’m talking about energy and how it relates to the mind body interrelationship I spoke about in a previous article. Everyone has probably heard about chakras and how they shift energy through the body and how that energy can become stagnant and blocked but, let me introduce you to the concept of Qigong Energy Medicine. 

Qigong, also spelled "qi gong" or "chi kung," is a practice that originated in China and involves various movements, breathing techniques, and meditations to cultivate and balance the body's qi (energy) for the purpose of improving physical and mental health.

Qigong is believed to work by regulating the flow of qi throughout the body, which can become blocked or imbalanced due to stress, injury, or illness. By unblocking and balancing the qi, practitioners of Qigong hope to improve their physical and mental well-being, and prevent or treat various health conditions.

Qigong is often used as a complementary therapy to help manage chronic conditions such as arthritis, cancer, and heart disease, as well as mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

It is also believed that Qigong can help by promoting relaxation, reducing stress and tension, and improving sleep. By promoting a sense of calm and balance, Qigong may also help to reduce symptoms of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that all dis-ease, in the body, starts within the subtle energy field that surrounds us. Many people talk about our aura but, in actual fact, we are influenced with energies that go way beyond that. 

All day long, we are exchanging energy within our environment and with the people around us. We are constantly creating energy with our thoughts and actions, which have an impact on the world around us and the people in it. Similarly, we are affected by the energy of people and events taking place in the world around us.

To understand how to heal the body naturally, we need to understand the co-relationship between areas of the body that are affected by dis-ease and what’s going on in our lives. Qigong believes that emotional and psychological issues manifest as physical symptoms in the body. 

A perfect example, and very appropriate right now, is I have a dislocated knee. This means I have an energy blockage in my knee. 

Physically, the knee is considered to be the "root" of the body and is closely associated with the body's ability to stand and move. A blockage in the knee affects that ability causing pain, stiffness and difficulty in walking, running or doing any physical activity.

Energetically, the knee is associated with one's ability to "let go" of things such as past experiences and move forward in life. We might not have chosen to move in the direction that is in keeping with our Higher Self. We might be moving in the wrong direction or we fear moving in a direction we don’t particularly want to. 

If we allow it to, an energy blockage in the knee will not only affect our physical ability but also our mental and emotional well-being. Practicing Qigong, meditation or being mindful of events in our daily life can help us to release blockages and restore balance in whatever area of our body we find dis-ease, and improve our overall well-being.

Every organ and every cell in the body is affected by the energy we are immersed in. If you tell me what’s wrong with you, chances are I can identify what’s going on in your life and what needs to change in order for you to heal. 

For more information or to attend a retreat with me in 2023, Click HERE

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To listen to the audio version - Click HERE 

Transforme su mente

Transforma tu mente

Trasforma la tua mente

We are a POP society!

Hello and welcome to my blog. If you’re new. Welcome! Make yourself a brew and have a seat with me. 

It’s really saddening for me, nowadays, to see just how many people all around the world are hooked on painkillers, prescription drugs, over the counters meds and dangerous illegal substances. 

We’ve become a POP society - “Pop a Pill.”

If we have a headache, we pop a pill. If we have acidity in the stomach, we pop. If we have a muscle spasm, we pop. We literally take medicine for everything and anything. 

BUT…

I wonder if you are really aware of just how much our mind influences our health? More specifically, just how much our thoughts, the energy they produce and the emotions we attach to them causes physical change within the body. 

You’ve probably heard of the mind-body connection. It refers to the interrelationship between the mind, which produces our thoughts, and physical state of our health.

Every thought we have produces a certain type of energy, which can be positive, neutral or negative. If it’s positive, happy days! We attach a positive emotion to it; like joy and we face the world as if we could conquer it; or at least try. We feel energised. Why? Because we are feeding our cells with healthy, radiant energy; the positive polarity of energy.

When a thought produced energy is neutral, it means it doesn’t affect us one way or another. We’re impartial because we haven’t attached any particular emotion to the thought. 

However, when the energy produced is negative, that’s when we start to suffer all kinds of health issues. For example, submitting our minds to chronic stress can lead to a variety of physical symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension, and fatigue not to mention metabolic, digestive disorders, heart disease and diabetes.

Additionally, the mind-body connection can also be used as a tool for healing. Various techniques such as meditation, yoga, and visualisation can be used to reduce stress, improve mood, and promote physical healing.

In summary, the mind-body connection highlights how our thoughts and emotions can affect our physical health and how we can use this connection to promote healing.

Want to find out more, email me for more information about my new transformational course HERE!

Alternatively, you can purchase my book HERE!

Strangers!

I'm not good enough!

The one mindset that makes so many people fail, in life, is thinking “I’m not good enough.”

Where does that thinking come from? Are you willing to find out? Are you ready to face it and move on?  Unless you do, you will never live your Highest and best possible life. Success, in anything, depends on having strong self confidence and belief that "we can" no matter what the obstacles are. 

The only person stopping you from becoming who you want to be and doing what you want to do in life is you. Nobody else.  

It's sad that in today's society,  millions of people think they are not good enough just because, to their way of thinking, they do not fit the standard of beauty, wealth or body type the media would have us believe "should be" the norm. Some come to believe they're not smart enough, lucky enough or even efficient enough because their bank account doesn't match the Hollywood lifestyle rammed down our necks at every opportunity. 

Not feeling good enough is a fear just like any other. It's a self doubt that arises from somewhere in our past; sometimes even as far back as childhood. Someone or something knocked our confidence. Whatever it was made us feel small; knocked us off our feet. 

Instead of bouncing back we shied away once, then twice and then continued to do so until this issue became ingrained in our soul. 

As harsh as this may sound, we allowed this to happen. We create our own fears and complexes on the basis of something that nine times out of ten is just someone else's opinion. Everyone has one. It doesn't mean they are right. Yet, somehow, we accept their opinion as something written in stone. We take it onboard and allow it to harm us and hold us back. I should add here that the more we hold someone dear to us, the more importance we give to their opinions. 

Judgements, criticisms, constructive criticism, liking, disliking; they're all just one person or another' opinion. Believing the "I'm not enough" paradigm is what, ultimately, puts us into a victim mentality. It also stops us from taking risks and going after opportunities. 

It's also worth noting that the more someone says something to us, the more likely we are to think about it. The more we think about it, the more we end up believing it and soon, before we know it, we have reaffirmed that belief so much that we end up imbedding it as a new reality into our subconscious mind. Once a belief has that status in our life, we begin to base your actions on it and create the world around us in accordance with it.

This is not who we are though. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. We all have the same potential and capacities as anyone else in the world. The only difference between us and a successful person is that the successful person acts upon his world and does not let the world just act upon him. 

In order to overcome paradigms like the "I'm not good enough", we need to learn to forgive ourselves our harsh judgments. We need to forgive others because perhaps they knew no better. You see, everyone creates their own reality based on their own circumstances and influences in life. 

There is no such thing as a perfect life. Everyone has baggage. The important thing is how you deal with the baggage that you are carrying. If you cannot love yourself, forgive yourself and be at one with yourself, the chances are you will not succeed in having successful relationships with others. Look deep into the inner you and discover even the most painful of content. Let it rise to the surface, analyse it, cherish the lesson that may be contained within it and then let it go. 

Create new realities for yourself based on what you love about you, the things you are best suited for and what your passions are in life. Give yourself all the validation you need to restore the belief that you can be and you will be. Once you restore this self-confidence you will find that the only limiting factor is your own imagination. 

Thank you for reading this article and if you are interested in transforming your mind. 

CLICK HERE 

Healing the body naturally

There are many benefits to healing the body naturally, rather than relying on traditional medicine or other forms of Western medicine. Some of the most significant benefits include:

1. Reduced risk of side effects: Natural healing methods, such as herbal remedies, acupuncture, and yoga, carry a much lower risk of side effects than traditional medications. This is because natural remedies are typically derived from plants and other natural sources, which have been used for centuries with relatively few reported side effects.

1. Cost-effective: Many natural healing methods are relatively inexpensive, making them accessible to people of all income levels. This is in contrast to traditional medical treatments, which can be costly and out of reach for many people.

1. Promotes overall well-being: Natural healing methods often focus on treating the whole person, rather than just the specific ailment. This can lead to an overall improvement in physical and mental well-being, rather than just treating symptoms of a particular condition.

1. Empowers individuals: By taking responsibility for their own health and using natural healing methods, individuals can take an active role in their own healing process. This can be empowering and can help to foster a greater sense of control over one's own health.

1. Can be used in conjunction with traditional medicine: Natural healing methods can be used alongside traditional medicine to provide a more holistic approach to healing. This can be particularly beneficial for chronic conditions that may require ongoing treatment.

1. Can help prevent illnesses: Many natural healing methods, such as yoga and meditation, can help to boost the immune system and prevent illnesses from occurring in the first place.

1. Can improve mental health: Natural healing methods such as meditation, yoga, and acupuncture have been shown to have positive effects on mental health, by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression.

1. Can be used for chronic pain: Many natural healing methods, such as acupuncture and massage therapy, can be used to effectively manage chronic pain.

1. Can be used for sports injuries: Natural healing methods such as physiotherapy, massage and acupuncture have been found to be effective in treating sports injuries and promoting recovery.

1. Reduce dependence on drugs: Natural healing methods can help to reduce dependence on drugs, which can be harmful to the body if used for long-term.

Overall, natural healing methods can provide a safe and effective alternative to traditional medical treatments, and can offer many additional benefits such as promoting overall well-being, reducing risk of side effects, and empowering individuals to take an active role in their own healing process. However, It is important to note that natural healing methods should not be used as a substitute for traditional medical treatment in case of severe or life-threatening conditions. Consult with a doctor is always a good idea before trying any new healing method.
If you want to read more about natural Healing, there are a few books I can recommend for good healing advice with remedies:

• 1. The Ayurvedic Encyclopedia
• 2. Herbal Medicine
• 3. The Native American Herbal Bible

Transform your mind

Transform your mind - Click Here!