Aspire Therapy

The Greenhouse

Tucked away on a side street in the small Lancashire town of Longridge, near Preston, is the largest independent health food store in the North-West of England.

The Greenhouse Natural Health Food Store has recently been chosen as the best independent health food store in the UK at the National Natural Health Awards at the Harrogate International Centre.

This is not the first time they have won the award either. They have become the only health food store in the UK to win the award twice. So what is it that makes The Greenhouse so special?

On Not Seeing the Wood for the Trees

How frequently do you find yourself looking for something and not being able to find it – the car keys, a purse, an item of clothing, or a mobile phone?

This is an experience which happens to even the most organised of us, usually when we are panicking about getting somewhere quickly.

But isn’t it often also the case that having searched high and low for that elusive item you then find it in exactly the place where you would have expected to find it - the place, in fact, where you started your search. For some reason you just didn’t see it the first time around.

What the Fox said to The Little Prince...

‘It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.’

At first glance, Antoinne de Saint-Exupery’s most famous novel, ‘The Little Prince’ appears to be a simple child’s fable – but although written from a child’s point of view, it is in fact, an enchanting metaphorical tale, making many profound observations about life, love and learning.

Are the Winter Blues Getting You Down?

It is estimated that up to half a million people suffer from what has been termed ‘The Winter Blues’, or its more severe counterpart Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), between September and April each year.

But what exactly is the ‘Winter Blues’, how would you know if you had it, and what could you do to combat the condition?

Change One Thing

You may have seen the recent TV promotions for the Boots ‘Change One Thing’ campaign, a simple, yet innovative approach to improving health and well being.

It is linked to the irresistible compulsion we seem to have for making numerous New Year resolutions – the vast majority of which are broken within the first week!

This campaign recognises that most of us make half-hearted promises to ourselves, which have little or no chance of succeeding, mainly because they are unrealistic, vague and lack planning. Many people also try to do too much – attempting several new challenges all at once.

What’s Your New Year’s Resolution?

I’ve never been a great believer in New Year’s resolutions, but I am a believer in the possibility of change.

The choice of New Year as a time to make changes in our lives seems to me a bit arbitrary. It’s as if we are letting the time choose us rather choosing the time because it is right for us.

Under these circumstances we tend to pluck our resolutions rather randomly out of the air. And having plucked them out of the air we let them wither all too quickly - because, after all, the air can be a trifle cold, grey and dispiriting in early January.

Then we console ourselves with the thought that we are as we are and we can’t really change; or we’ll put change off just a little longer. The truth often is that we don’t really want to change, because staying as we are is easier and safer.