Good morning everyone!I trust you all had a fantastic weekend.  Bryan Thirsk here, as your guest blogger and Monday Motivation writer for this week!

First of all, many of you (and most of my patients) will know that I had a rather bumpy April and May with a family bereavement that took me back and forth to Canada a number of times, and which chopped up my regular clinic schedule quite a bit. So I thought what better way to start than with a little bit of GRATITUDE.

Firstly, a huge thanks to all my patients for being so understanding, and for altering your treatment schedules to both keep on track and to accommodate the changes that allowed me to get back home a few times. An equally huge thanks to our dedicated CA team at Putney Chiropractic for juggling the logistics of all that to make it happen. And finally, thank you to all who conveyed messages of kindness, compassion and support – there were so many of you, and I was deeply touched.

Speaking of gratitude, the events of the last few months have me thinking recently about the “practice” of gratitude, and how it can impact our perceptions and positivity in daily life. Here’s a great article, or for those who want a super quick video, try this.

Basically, gratitude has the power to do three things: to heal, to energise, and to change lives. More than just being thankful, the daily practice of gratitude can offer us a powerful shift in mindset to help us live more happily, healthily, and to overcome our greatest challenges. Personally, I like set aside three to five minutes just before I go to sleep at night to quietly reflect on what and who I am most thankful for in my life. I find it’s a great way to end the day and a nice way to fall asleep. Give it a try!

Locally, on the summer agenda, I’ve been looking forward to both The Queen’s Club and Wimbledon Championships! Our good friend Jamie Murray has started the grass court season sporting a new doubles partner, fellow Brit Neil Skupski – we will be wishing them huge success! Andy Murray has also made his return to professional tennis in the doubles’ competition at Queen’s, sporting his newly “resurfaced” hip. At the time of writing this, he’s currently competing in the final alongside Féliciano Lopez, who’s just won the men’s singles tournament – what a way to return to competitive tennis!

Like many of you out there, I am also a rugby enthusiast, and I am avidly looking forward to the Rugby World Cup, which takes place in late September in Japan. Poor Canada has been thrown into a “pool of death” with New Zealand and South Africa, while my boys in green (Ireland) seem well poised in their respective pool. And how will England fare?  All in all, it should be a great month of rugby with some absolutely cracking matches… can’t wait!

Also (re)commencing in September are the ice and inline hockey seasons. For those who aren’t aware, I’m an avid fan of both and have even played the latter for Team GB. My goal for the summer is to steadily up my training and to return to some regular running ahead of the season return. Taking a hiatus from this year’s Inline Hockey World Championships, I will see how my summer training goes and decide in the autumn about trialling again for Team GB. Oh, how I do like wearing the Blue, Red and White!

Signing off for now, I am wishing everyone a fantastic summer!

Best wishes,

Bryan