Keeping cool in the Summer Heat

Tips for keeping cool

We are in the middle of a heatwave and it can make it difficult to cope during the day and sleep at night. The advice from New Scientist to cool your body is to immerse your hands or feet in cold water. Both contain many nerves and blood vessels so it can cool a large volume of blood relatively quickly. If you exercise regularly you are able to to pump blood around the body more effectively. Also you can take trips to the sauna in advance of heatwaves to build up a tolerance to heat.

Cooling Foods

In Chinese Medicine there are different categories of food. Some are heating, others cooling, some salty or sweet etc. In the Summer especially during a heatwave it helps if we eat cooling foods. The manner of food preparation also matters. Uncooked foods are obviously the most cooling with fried foods being the most heating and boiling and steaming foods being somewhere in between. Fruits are cooling.

Some examples of cooling foods are as follows: mint and chamomile teas. Apples, cucumber, watermelon, limes and lemons are all cooling fruits.

Heavy foods on hot days will cause sluggishness. These include eggs, meat and excesses of seeds nut and grains. Eating less in summer can be a good practice.

Breaking Habits

How to break habits

1) What new habits to you wish to create

a) How do wish to feel, what should your new life look like, what sounds will you hear?

b) What habits need to go before this can happen?

c) What habits do you need to form for 2015 for you new life to become manifest?

d) Are these goals attainable and within the realm of possibility. What's your gut feeling? Trust your intuition.

2) What specific goals are you aiming for?

a) Which habits are you releasing? Write them down. and tell as many people as possible. Check back with them regularly on how you are progressing.

b) What habits are you replacing them with?

3) Create the desire for this to take place by:

a) Visualizing what your life will look like. Draw pictures, cut them out of magazines or download them. Make a vision board. Look at it regularly.

b) What new sounds will you hear? Find some music that reflects the new you.

c) What will it feel like? For example what will you be able to do having lost that weight or worked out at the gym every day.

4) Develop a plan for what you wish to do and by what date.

For example if you wish to lose weight how much do you wish to lose and over what time period? Break it down into sizable chunks that seem realistic and obtainable to you.

5) Plan which goals need to happen and in what order.

For example if you plan to climb a high mountain it would make sense to climb some smaller ones. By gradually increasing the height of the mountains climbed you will get nearer to the goal.

6) Regularly review your goals.

It helps to tell as many people as possible. Check back with them regularly on how you are progressing. 

Friends

My friend posing by a canal boat

I went for a walk by the canal with a friend of mine. We are both walk leaders for a meetup group called "Manchester Hiking." It was a sunny day and a pleasant stroll by the canal allowed us to have time to relax and unwind. Casual conversation with my friend allowed me to feel at ease. The pace of the walk changed with our mood. It started with a slow pace when we strolled through Dunham Park where there was wildlife to see and photograph. The deer are quite tame on the whole and they can come quite close to you. It increased as we moved onto the canal. We had a chance to sit by Lymm Damn and chat while we ate. Sharing problems allows us to feel heard. In Chinese Medicine the Fire element is what allows us to open up to other people and form relationships. We should open up appropriately. We shouldn't share the same personal information with the Postman as we would with a close friend.

Deer in Dunham Park