I recently had lunch with a couple of my besties, Dijanna Mulhearn, director of Wardrobe 101, and Dena Danis, designer for fashion label Constantina and Louise.

The three of us over-40 mums were desperately trying to find the answer to perfect balance, and wondering why on earth we had chosen the relentless slog & risk of entrepreneurship?

Hadn’t we all felt satisfied and fulfilled in our roles as mums and homemakers?

We agreed that running our own business’ left us feeling stressed out, flat out, crazy, insanely imbalanced, and much had been sacrificed in the form of family, self-care, friendships and downtime.

Why then?

The answer came quickly that day as we came to the excited realisation that we do what we do because we feel compelled to do it. Each of us is answering our individual calling, what we feel to be a divine purpose that embodies us and spurs us on.

As theologian Frederick Beuchner is quoted as saying, “True vocation joins self and service.” He defines vocation as “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”

And, strangely, it feels like we are going with the flow…..the flow of what life wants us to do.

So having a calling doesn’t mean it’s easy to follow. And who knows if we’ve chosen the right expression for our calling?  We all trust, however, that we will ultimately be led there.

Perhaps the confusion my friends and I are feeling is because the pendulum has swung with too much force in this different direction?

And as we realise that honouring our calling also means being clear about our core values, we are starting to feel the pendulum slowly swing back to equilibrium.

For me, that means back to my family, integrity, connection, to gratitude, communication, health, friendship and peace.

Do you have a calling? I’d love to hear what it is.

Bren x

Or let’s paraphrase Einstein and say that if you think you can live a truly healthy life on an unhealthy diet, then you’re bonkers!

What is a Ful Life?

A Ful Life is a healthy and abundant life where we can be joyful, purposeful, soulful, thankful and youthful in equal measures.

A healthy lifestyle is important because our bodies are designed in such a way as to accept nature’s nutrients and the various combinations of them. Our bodies crave natural foods in order to grow and evolve, and to ensure our immune system, brain and bodily functions can deliver us sustained health now and into our older years.

We are the sum of our experiences, and our health is certainly the sum of our health choices. We only have one life on this earth, so is it not best to nurture it from childhood to old age in order to remain strong, vibrant and robust? Now that’s a Ful Life worth talking about. A joyful one too!

My passion is in educating and assisting my fellow human beings to understand what foods generate energy, positivity and long-lived health in our bodies. At the same time, it is crucial to understand why health benefits accrue by choosing our foods wisely.

This is why I now offer my 40 Days to a Ful Life program. It is a “personalised program to guide you and your family, step by step, to making sustainable changes and improve your family’s health and wellbeing.”

What Benefits Can I Expect to See?

The program is specifically designed to assist you set your health and lifestyle goals, and then achieve them!

Establishing good health habits is always a sensible long term plan, but they aren’t always easy to accomplish on your own. The 40 Day Program guides you through this process and, along the way, helps you to understand the merits of such as exercise:

• Appreciate how food and health interact
• Understand the nature of cravings
• Optimise the family’s energy levels
• Feel good in your body as you maintain your natural weight
• Create balance in your life, emotions and relationships (oh yes, your health choices really do affect your moods and personality)

The Significance of 40 days

Making any type of significant change requires a purposeful commitment. The old rule of thumb is that it takes 21 days to form a habit. It is a number that caught on from a 1960’s book, but which has little real application, though it sounds catchy. University studies claim that it can be anywhere from 18 to 66 days for most people, but really, the individual and the habit explained most of the variation.

Rather than be “somewhere in the middle”, 40 days is associated with times of testing or trial, a time of rebirth and transformation in many religions and cultures. From fasting traditions to birthing rituals, it is a practice that has come down to us through the ages. The Yoga world also sees 40 days as how long it takes for a bad habit to change to a good one.

A healthy lifestyle is more than a habit. It is a way of life, and 40 days is a period that is long enough to ingrain good practices in a way that a mere 7 or 14 days cannot. Once you’ve invested a certain period of time in anything, it becomes far more difficult to throw your good work away.

And once you see the tangible benefits, you won’t want to.

Check out my “40 Days to a Ful Life” program here.

Right, off to get forty winks!

Bren x