The ‘new year new you’ sentiment does not work for everybody, as January can be the worst time to set personal goals other than surviving the winter, so fear not – this blog is NOT about jumping through ridiculous hoops and committing to a list of fearsome new years resolutions whilst drunk over the holidays. It is not about guilt and self-punishment, regret or masochism, this blog is about kindly and calmly taking responsibility for your health in a loving way – and feeling inspired to do so.

Step One - What Is In The Way?

The place to start is by identifying all the things that are not contributing to your health and wellbeing in your life right now. I invite you to stop what you are doing, for a moment and consider this. Your list might include lack of sleep, stress, procrastination, eating too much sugar, worrying about the planet, unbearable pain, not enough time to get to the gym, an injury that is stopping you run etc. Don’t hold back just dig deep and reveal to yourself all the blocks to radiant health and wellbeing that are going on in your life. It is only by really rooting out the issues that we can then move on and take responsibility for them. You might be very accustomed to not thinking about these things in case they multiple or grow bigger but let me reassure you that the first step to health is knowing what is not serving you. Let me also reassure you that we are not going to fix all these things at once, this would be overwhelming and impossible so don’t panic.

Step Two - Find Your Positivity

Now think for a moment about a positive role model, coach, friend or mentor you have had in your life who really helped you achieve things you thought you never could.  Recall the kindness, understanding, encouragement, and belief they held in you. This could take some time, if you have never experienced this kind of mentor relationship, maybe you are a mentor or good friend to someone else, focus on recalling the positive ways of encouragement, praise and reassurance you express in this relationship. Last resort if you cannot think of anyone you know or do not recognize this quality in yourself then think about a character in a movie who has superpowers and can move mountains and defeat all negativity. 

Step Three - Lets Get Honest

Now it’s time to get even more honest and identify the way you talk to yourself when you are stuck behind one of these blocks on your list. Chances are your self-talk will not be very nice, hopeful or positive. What do you actually say to yourself? Listen and see, you may be shocked by what you hear. Your limited belief system about yourself may be running the show, and just at the point where you need to be your own best friend you may be subjecting yourself to a set of negative, self-effacing thoughts and suggestions that you wouldn’t inflict upon your enemies. Common self-talk scripts can include punishment, scorn, anger, blame, shame, hopelessness, victim/persecutor and panic or fear. This negative self-talk and cycle of self-limiting thoughts and emotions is not surprisingly really bad for your health and wellbeing. You can be living a healthy lifestyle but if this is dominating your thoughts then you are not going to feel very well.

Step Four - Choose Your Goals

So back to that inventory of blocks to health, now its time to choose the biggest issue on the list, or the issue that you are ready to work on in your life. Just focus on this one issue, and allow your positive mentor, friend, superhero voice to talk to you about the issue, just sit back and really listen to this voice of encouragement, reason, positivity and self-belief. Keep listening until you have fully internalized this voice of self-care.

Step Five - Make A Plan

So now you are ready to set your health goals for 2019. Setting a health goal is like making a promise to yourself, ‘I will look after you well this coming year and I will prioritize what you need and want’.  Writing your health goals down is a really good idea and posting them up somewhere in your living space where you can see them every day strengthens this commitment.  We are all different, so start by identifying what you need to put in place to achieve your goals.

Person A really benefits from having one single clear goal pinned to their fridge, eg: RUN 10K By THE END Of JANUARY, and then they just get on with it.

Person B needs to develop a bit more of a plan to support their own success such as –* Train Monday, Wednesday and Friday, *Take supplements every morning and *Make high protein smoothie every day to take to work. This person benefits from having a strategy and plan, as it breaks things down a bit and gives them stepping stones to reach their goal.

Person C enjoys being involved in a movement that supports their personal goals such as #veganuary or #dryjanuary and really thrives on daily communications and group encouragement.

Let’s imagine your health goals was to get more good quality sleep. Ask yourself these questions:

What is currently stopping me from getting good quality sleep?

• Drinking too much coffee
• Scrolling through facebook after 10pm
• Anxiety
• Restlessness
• Inability to fall off to sleep

So now make a promise to yourself about each one of these ‘blocks’ to good sleep - The Plan:

• Drinking too much coffee – replace coffee with decaffeinated coffee, herbal tea or morning smoothie
• Scrolling through facebook after 10pm – digital detox from 9pm onwards on a weeknight
• Anxiety – include some calming herbs into bedtime routine such as chamomile tea
• Restlessness – take 30 minutes of exercise every day, preferably including fresh air, even if it’s a walk
• Inability to fall off to sleep – conducting further research into supplements such as melatonin to assist the circadian rhythm

Step Six - Put Your Finger On What You Need 

Now you know what you want to achieve, and you have your very best mentor/friend/coach voice internalized and on hand - we invite you to do some research on the Indigo Herbs Natural Health Guide about which herbs, superfoods and natural health products can help you achieve your health goals for 2019. Simply use our search bar at the head of this page (and every page of the website) and add your enquiry such as ‘sleep’ and you will find both articles and products relevant to your search. Now you can make a decision about what you need to support you on the road to success.

Health Successes from 2019 from a few of our customers who were kind enough to share their stories. (thanks!)

Chilblains
Submitted by oshi owen
I suffered for years every winter with pesky painful itchy swellings on my toes and fingers. One year it got so bad my fingers swelled up like sausages. I went to the doctor who said he could give me steroid cream. I didn't want to go down that route - then miraculously remembered some of my herbalism course from years before - ginger and hawthorn berries. Made a tea for three days three times a day and the fingers went back to normal. Have hardly had any chilblains at all since. Five years on I forget I ever used to get them.

Mental Health
Submitted by Sarah Johnson
I've suffered with PTSD and PBD for a few years, the symptoms came out of nowhere from past abuse, and have never left me since. It turned my life at the time upside down and had to leave work due to the symptoms. I have been on a lot of medications that have never helped or been very addictive and have made me worse off. After so long I wanted to try something natural to try help myself. Help myself calm down when I'm heightened in fear or emotion. It has been so hard to live with, so I’m grateful I finally found Indigo Herbs. I use wild lettuce tea, chamomile tea and cat nip tea throughout the day. And these have really impacted on calming me down and helping me get through daily life more easily, and to sleep which was very difficult. I recommend this to others in my situation. Obviously, I have to have more psychological therapy to help the actual issue. But in the meantime, these teas have helped me more than any medication I have had. It's made a huge difference for my life.

Immune Support
Submitted by Melanie Clark
I have been using Echinacea from Indigo Herbs for around 2 years, I have to say that ABSOLUTELY this is the herb for me. I am a Type 1 Diabetic which means I have an auto immune disease so should pick colds and flu up easier than someone who doesn't have Diabetes. I have been around colds/infections a lot including a 12-hour flight there and back surrounded by people coughing. I up my dose when I know I have been around infections and I may feel tired for a day or two, but it passes. At Christmas I was in people’s houses who were very ill and yet again echinacea saved the day. I have used various other echinacea products (not from Indigo Herbs) and the quality has been nowhere as good, nor the results. Their tincture actually makes your mouth tingle it’s so fresh, amazing quality. I also love dealing with Indigo Herbs, efficient, friendly and 1st class service. Thank you so much x

Restoring Jung Energy
Submitted by Mayane Lahcen
I have looked for many products to restore depleted energy especially Jing. I tried a lot of products with no result. But when I used Indigo Herbs Fo-ti powder for a long time I saw remarkable results. My face looks younger, my hair brighter, my muscles and digestive system are well. I begin my day with a meditation and Shaolin exercises then I take a cup of Indigo Herbs Fo-ti tea. I take another tea in the afternoon mixed usually with honey or Mint. I also take Shisandra Chinensis which I found really tasty and enters all the five organs. This formula has helped me to restore my Jing especially Yin Jing. For those who want to restore their Jing, I recommend Indigo Herbs Fo-ti to be taken at least 2 or 3 months. You may have question why Indigo Herbs? Just because of the quality they offer, despite the powder is raw but better than lot of sellers we found.