Monday Motivation - July 16th

Good morning and welcome to Monday!Life in London is usually pretty intense… It’s easy to feel time and energy poor and be left wondering “where has the year has gone?”  I think this is partly why we have many conversations with clients that lean towards the idea of “balance” - in life & health.Have you ever noticed that balance often means something very different for each of us depending on what’s important to us?  I wonder if “balance” is the best thing to aim for at all!Many great things have been achieved by people who were totally obsessed about one thing and focused all their attention and efforts towards that one goal, very “out of balance”.  As a result I’m more inclined to believe that bringing more presence to each moment (& task -whatever that may be) can be a healthier way to think about balance.For example, when we’re with our family and friends being fully present makes our time together even more special, unlike if we’re still thinking about work or scrolling through Instagram.  The flip side is when we’re working on a project it makes sense to be fully present and focused on the task at hand and give it all you’ve got and not be thinking about picking the kids up from school or what’s for dinner tonight!I wonder where you think your life is in (or out) of balance and what difference bringing more attention or presence to these areas may make.  Have a play with it and let me know what you notice...1. Is balance overrated!?  You can listen to Rich Roll (plant based endurance athlete) and Michael Gervais (performance psychologist - helped the Red Bull dude jump from space to Earth) hash it out on one of myfavourite weekly podcasts…2. My new toyI recently become re-inspired to run more - so much so that I bought an Apple Watch off Facebook Marketplace (didn’t even know that was a thing) for crazy cheap!!  Boom.  I’m loving being able to leave my phone at home, stream music/podcasts to my earbuds and upload my SW London jaunts directly to Strava!  I’m slowly building back up towards 30 miles a week, feel free to keep me honest by following me here.  (If you want to see some crazy numbers follow Craig here!!)3. Cheap healthyIt’s easy to think that being healthy is expensive.  Organic food is generally more expensive than highly processed food, gym memberships add up and that’s before we throw in all the “stuff” (see “my new toy” as a prime example).  But does being healthy need to cost lots of money?  I think not.Here are some top cheap tips that will almost certainly improve your health without breaking the bank.- Drink more water- Go to bed one hour earlier- Mediate (or focus on your breath) for 5 mins a day- Walk somewhere- Eat more fruit & vegetables- Use the stairs instead of an elevator/escalator- Go outside and see the sun- Sit by a tree- Hug someone (that will be ok with it!)- Spend time with friendsPretty much all of these have well documented positive health benefits and don’t cost much!Enjoy your week, moment to moment…be present and enjoy the gift of life.Big love,Luke XX"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did."~Mark Twain