• Having a Bad Day? Head Here…

    Bad days happen. Sometimes you know why you are stuck and struggling, but don’t see how to change it. Other times you can’t see a reason for your mood, but still can’t get out of it. I know what that’s like, and I’ve made a list of tiny actions to shift your energy, your thinking, your perspective and hopefully shift your mood too. I hope these tiny actions make your day, (however dark) a little brighter. (Click to Tweet!) * Wear a hat, because hats change perspective and make nearly everything better. * Watch a duckling running. * Read something that makes you smile. * Wrap up in a soft quilt with…

  • Guest Post: Thank You for Wearing a Swimsuit in Public

    I hope you enjoy this beautiful guest post from one of our amazing Trail Blazers in the Trail Blazers’ Cafe. I am taking a week off to rest after the amazing experience of speaking at TEDx. A video of my talk is on its way, so sign up for my newsletter below to be notified as soon as it arrives. A huge thank you to this person for sharing these beautiful words with us here. See you next week, darling. Grace xx Thank you for wearing a swimsuit in public. Thank you for not shaving your legs and showing them anyway. Thank you for wearing glasses. Thank you for eating…

  • Trailblazer Interview: Esmé Wang & Creativity in Healing

    Esmé Weijun Wang is a writer and speaker. Her site, at esmewang.com, is where she provides resources for artists, writers, and makers seeking to build a creative legacy. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she attended Yale, Stanford, and the University of Michigan, went from intern to Assistant Editor for an international lifestyle magazine, and was a writer and editor at ModCloth before launching Esmé Weijun Wang Productions. Author of the book Light Gets In, Wang has written for and about in The New Inquiry, Salon, the New Yorker Online, the New York Times, and Clementine Daily. I’ve admired Esmé’s work for many years and I’m delighted and honoured to share this interview.…

  • TEDx Here I Come

    Although I’d wanted to be a TEDx speaker for a long timer – after all, the TED stage is legendary – the experience is quite different to what I’d imagined. If you are wondering what it’s like to be a TEDx speaker, or how to manage a big event when living with chronic illness and life challenges, then I’m here for you. I’m sharing my experience in the hope that it’s useful – which in many ways, is what speaking is all about. TEDx begins with an idea worth spreading. Once you find your idea worth spreading, it needs to be summed up in one sentence. If you can’t do…

  • Loving My Body: An Act of Resistance

    I had a realisation in yoga recently, while I was struggling into a pose my newly numbed limbs couldn’t quite reach: I love my body. It doesn’t have to work the right way for me to love it. It doesn’t have to look a certain way. I will love my body and take care of it. I love myself, in fact. Always and always. And I love you, wherever you are in your journey with your body too. However, I have, sadly, spent many years acting like this wasn’t the case, and pushing my beautiful body to go further than she could. I’ve been angry at my perceived ‘failures’, and…