Proceed positively…..

So as 2025 inevitably winds its way towards 2026, I can’t help but think ‘What have I learnt from my fifty-fifth year on this planet?’

There have definitely been some low points for me, but there have also been some incredible highs. In an effort to bring more positivity into my life (one of my 13 Magical nights affirmations for 2026, more of that later) have known for a long time about manifestation and ‘giving out what you would like to receive back, but never really took the concept that seriously, or embraced it whole heartedly.

Then a few weeks ago I was listening to ‘Movers and shakers’ a podcast about the trials and tribulations of Parkinson’s Disease and they were discussing clinical trials for new drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease. In these trials it had been identified that in the ‘placebo’ group (the group receiving the pretend dose of the drug) there were cases of reduced Parkinson’s symptoms just as there were in the group receiving the drug being trialled. There was actual documented scientific evidence which stated that, for some people believing they were being given something that would cure them, did actually cure them! Mind blown!

I am by nature a bit of a negative Nerys, a fact that I have hidden beneath the title of ‘being a realist’ for as long as I can remember . The belief that ‘if something can go wrong for me, then it will go wrong’ I believe stems from disappointments as a small child, explained and justified to my small-child-self by the feeling or realisation that I wasn’t deserving or good enough to receive the prize I had been hoping for. A belief that was reinforced with every subsequent hope that was dashed through life

That paragraph alone is loaded with so much negative energy I can almost feel it sucking the positivity out of me and channelling It away to someone more deserving. Now here comes the ‘but’…… (whenever I use the word ‘but’ I am reminded of a lovely man called Karl* who I met on an Advanced ETM instructor training course I did many years ago, who said ‘The bit before the ‘but’ is the bull-shit’ a statement that always makes me smile because it’s usually very true. In this case though the bit before the ‘but’ isn’t bull-shit, it’s the explanation….)

Imagine wanting to run yourself a lovely hot bubbly bath but the bath plug is hidden somewhere in the bathroom, you may have access to all the hot water you need and the most luxurious bubble bath money can buy but you are not going to get that bath unless you find the plug, or know someone who can tell you where the plug is, or even as a last resort find something to use instead of a plug. Although the third option tends to be less reliable in both this analogy and in real life because you are in effect denying the importance of the plug which will become an issue at a later date. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Anyway, I digress with my ramblings and analogies, my point is sometimes bad things happen. So when a bad thing happens how can we make it a positive? We turn it into a lesson and learn from it.

* Karl also had a massive impact on me when I had a huge failing of confidence on that advance instructor course. On the second day of the four day course I was massively out of my comfort zone and feeling hugely inferior to the other incredibly talented studio instructors also attending. I ended up in tears, begging to be allowed to leave when Karl took me to one side, gave me a hug, then gave me a firm talking to.

‘Now what makes you think you aren’t good enough to be here?’ He asked me, sounding genuinely confused.

‘They all know how to teach those mad, complicated moves, they all have dance experience, I’m a baby elephant in comparison to them. I can’t do those steps myself let alone teach them to anyone else. I teach the beginners. I teach them the basics, build their confidence so they feel brave enough to go into the classes where these guys teach them the fancy steps.’ I tell him tearfully

‘And who do you think is more difficult to teach? The nervous newbies who have never been in a class before or the participants who know what they are doing and understand the steps?’

Thank you Karl x