Loneliness is one of the deepest of all our emotions. It’s right down there with feelings of worthlessness that create a hollow feeling inside. It’s a dreadful feeling. Even if you’re not feeling lonely now, I know you’ve been there. We all have – often.

The next step down from loneliness is hopelessness and despair and the feeling that life has no meaning. This is a dark place to be.

Is this something I should be talking about with Valentines Day just around the corner? However, if you’ve got something planned you’ll probably not be reading this. But, if you’re lonely right now – then this is something that is uppermost in your mind.

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Do you recognise any of these traits in yourself?

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Exam time is upon us once again. There is huge pressure on our teenagers to do really well in their exams.

Bach Flower Remedies are a natural and simple way to help with the anxiety of exams (and all anxieties and fears). They can diminish anxiety and fears and boost confidence.

Clematis
If your child seems indifferent to the exams and would rather sleep than study, then Clematis will help. Clematis is indifferent and don’t want to be involved in life. They are day-dreamers. Clematis will ground them and help them to remember what they’ve learnt.

Elm feels the heaviness of the responsibility of getting good results – which can lead to depression. It’s not so much about the lack of confidence, but the huge responsibility of doing well. The weight of the responsibility will erode any confidence your child had.  

Elm will give them the confidence they need to get good results.

Larch
Larch is a wonderful remedy and I feel we should all take it every day, because we’re dealing with stress every day. Larch is the confidence flower. It works subtly (as they all do) so your child wont really notice being more confident…but in 3 days, you will!

White Chestnut
Another wonderful remedy. This one is for the merry-go-round of unresolved thoughts that open stop sleep. You can’t stop these thoughts going around and around, and there’s no way out. White Chestnut brings clarity and therefore a solution.

How to take the remedies
The most effective way to take the remedies is to make up a Treatment Bottle. This is a small, brown 30ml bottle with a dropper. If you don’t have one, you can get one from a health shop or sometimes from a well-known High Street chemist.

Treatment Bottle
To make up a Treatment Bottle, fill the bottle to the shoulder with either mineral, filtered or cooled boiled water.

Then add 2 drops of each of the chosen Remedies (add 4 drops if using Rescue Remedy) – up to a maximum of 6. Remember: When you use Rescue Remedy in a Treatment Bottle, it only counts as 1 remedy.

Then take 4 drops from the Treatment Bottle that you have just made at least 4 times a day.

Or you can use your child’s water bottle as a treatment bottle. Put into their bottle, 2 drops of each remedy for ½ ltr of water and ask them to sip it frequently.

Or the remedy can be dropped straight onto the tongue (but don’t let the dropper touch the tongue) or you can put 4 drops into a glass of water and sip it frequently, every 10 to 15 minutes or so.

The frequency of the dose is more important that the quantity.

If you have any questions, please get in touch.

And over to you…

As always, I love to hear from you, so please leave your thoughts and comments in the Comment Box below. I read and personally reply to all your comments. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Back to School or going into ‘Big School’ can be traumatic for both children and parent’s. There was a lot of anxiety in the Cartwright household on the night before the First Day of school.   Mother had heard about the Bach Remedies, but didn’t know which ones would help her and her children through this very anxious time.

Just in case you’re going through the First Day Anxiety, I thought I’d give you some suggestions that might help your children – and of course, you too.

First day of school

Through the corner of his eye, even in his dimly light bedroom, Noah could see his new school shirt on the hanger on cupboard door. Although he tried not to look at it, he could see the neat pile of his shorts, undies and socks all ready for tomorrow.

It was not ‘back to school’ for Noah, it was his very first day at school – and he couldn’t sleep! He was tossing and turning. and his stomach was churning. He said it felt as if he had “butterflies and grasshoppers in his tummy”. He told his mum, he felt as if he was on the merry-go-round at the playground, as his thoughts kept going around and around.

Somtimes Noah was excited to go to school for the first time. Several of his friends from Preschool Nursery were going to the same school and that gave him some comfort. He’d been to the school many times with his Mum, to collect his eldest sister, but somehow, starting school himself was a very big step. He was not sure he was ready to be a ‘big boy’ just yet. Noah couldn’t sleep!

Back to school

Annabelle peeped through the crack in the door in her brother’s bedroom. He was tossing and turning, just as she had done all those years ago – and as she would probably do tonight as well.

Although Annabelle was going back to school, she too, had first-day-nerves. as she was now going into High School.

She walked softly to her own room to get her clothes ready for the morning. First day in High School! It’s really a big deal going from being a “big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond” and she was anxious.

As she took her new (and freshly pressed) uniform out of the cupboard, she felt her stomach lurch and start to churn.  She too had some friends going to the same school, so she knew she wouldn’t be on her own. But…high school is a big deal!

As she prepared for bed, Annabelle thought: “HIGH SCHOOL”! I’m not grown up enough for High School! How am I going to cope? What happens if I get it wrong?”

..And she couldn’t stop these thoughts! No matter what she did, the thoughts came back, again and again.

And Mother and Father too

Mother was down stairs. She’d settled Noah the best she could and now Annabelle was getting ready for her big day.  Mother busied herself in the kitchen, tidying up things that were already tidy! She too was anxious about her ‘chickens’.   She’s been dreading ‘Back to School’ day for weeks.

Of course she was anxious for her children – but she also was worried about herself. It was a big step for her too, as she’d no longer have her ‘chickens’ at home to care and fuss over.  What was she going to do with her day?  There really is only so much satisfaction one can get from housework! 

She’d been thinking of joining some sort of group or club. She’d been ‘mother’ for so many years, that she didn’t have the confidence to go into the world again!

Just like Noah and Annabelle, mother’s thoughts were on the merry-go-round – going too fast and going nowhere.

The Back to School Bach Flower Mix

Although Mother, Annabelle and Noah are facing different challenges, they are really all have the same problem – they’re anxious about the changes and worried about not have the confidence to take the next step.  This mix of Remedies will help everyone who is facing similar situations.

Rescue Remedy – it does just that, it ‘Rescues’. It helps with panicky feelings and ‘sticks you back together again’.

Mimulus – is for ‘known’ anxieties. If you know what you’re worried about (back to school, a new life etc.)– then Mimulus will help you.

Larch – the brilliant self-confidence remedy.

Pine – for feelings of ‘getting it wrong’.

White Chestnut – to stop the merry-go-round of repeated thoughts.

Walnut  – both children and their mother are facing ‘life changes’ -going from one ‘life’ to another’. Walnut is the remedy that helps us deal with our change of circumstances.

This mix of remedies is not just for the first day of school, they will help you through any new situation!

Click here to find out how to make the mix and how to take the remedies.

The Bach Flower Remedies (you might call them Essences) are not just ‘sometimes’ remedies, they can support you all your life, as they have done for me.  Not only have they seen my family and I through new schools, they’ve seen us through changing continents 4 times! 

They’ve seen me through leaving my homeland, settling in foreign countries and then through the emotional financial trauma of divorce (at 62) and finally to settling in England and starting a business. 

Once you know about the remedies, they can help you through every situation, bringing balance, harmony and a sense of well-being.

Then you too, like me, will come to know which remedies your family need to help them through difficult situations.

And over to you…

As always, I love to hear from you, so please leave your thoughts and comments in the Comment Box below. I read and personally reply to all your comments. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

The post How Bach Flowers can help with ‘Back To School’ appeared first on The Bach Flower School.

You might not realise it, (unless you’ve experienced it) that a lack of confidence has far reaching effects. It can bring deep despair and a “depression” that affects every area of life. These days the word ‘depression’ is handed out to almost everyone who has difficulty dealing with some parts of life.

Like a rotten apple in the barrel, it only takes one apple to infect the whole barrel…and a lack of courage and confidence is the same – it infects every area of life.

Here’s Jessica’s story

Jesscia had been self-conscious since early childhood. She can still remember how embarrassed she got when people talked to her and how she always felt she couldn’t do as well as the other children her age.

She didn’t mix well with others, so was inclined to kept to herself.

But there’s more and I wonder if you can relate to any of these:

• You automatically feel inferior to others.
• You admire people who are successful, but don’t believe you’re capable of being successful yourself.
• You expect failure.
• Have used illness as an excuse so you don’t have to tackle something.
• Feel useless and have no feelings of self-worth or self-esteem.

If so, your problem is simple – just like Jessica and you’re filled with self-doubt, you lack self- confidence.

It’s so quick and simple to say, and yet the lack of confidence, and having no courage, has a profound effect and influences every part of your life – it is the ‘rotten apple’ that affects the whole barrel.

Back to Jessica

As you can imagine, Jessica never made much of her career – even though she was quite capable. She did her work – but never any more. She’d never take risks or applied for promotion.

Jessica sat at the back of the office and plodded along. She was not prepared to step ‘outside the  box’ because she was absolutely convinced she would fail. She knew what she could do and she stuck to it.

Do you doubt yourself and lack confidence? 

It’s a blunt question I know, particularly as we might not know each other well. If you do then, relax, I know how you feel – because I’ve been there – more often than I’d care to admit!  And I have a solution for you, so read on. I’ve suffered with self-doubt and have felt the knock-on effects all my life.

How well I remember trying to work out which remedy I needed when I first started to use the Bach Remedies. Not only did I find it difficult to identify how I felt but I couldn’t work out which remedy I needed. I didn’t realise then that we could have more than one feeling at once!

But we do, all the time. No wonder you find it difficult to identify how you feel.

A Nervous Breakdown

Jessica had never been good at handling the stress of life and some years ago had a nervous breakdown.

How does a  ‘nervous breakdown’ show itself? For Jessica, it showed at first as an extremely severe bout of debilitating ‘flu, which hung about for months. She was emotionally and physically exhausted. She didn’t have the power: the confidence to face the world.

She was severely shaken by her bout of flu and she lost what little confidence she had and so had not been able to return to work.

During this time Jessica felt very alone. She’d often felt lonely but didn’t have the courage or confidence to meet new people and try new things. She blamed herself for not doing what she felt she should have done to live a fulfilling life. She said she felt she was constantly living with an undercurrent of shame and guilt that she hadn’t done more with her life.

Not Sleeping Well

Jessica wasn’t sleeping well either.  She would wake around 3 am with the same anxieties: the same worrying thoughts night after night.  She said it was rather like all her thoughts jumped onto a child’s merry-go-round and played there for hours. She couldn’t find a solution to any of her problems and night after night she would be awake while her troubles played on the merry-go-round.

Jessica was tired – exhausted in fact. She wanted to feel better and hoped to regain enough confidence to be able to go back to work.

So I mixed the following remedies together, especially for Jessica’s feelings.

The Courage and Confidence Mix

Larch – for self-confidence

Mimulus– gives courage to face the anxieties of life

Pine – to help heal the shame and guilt she felt for not trying to live a happier and more fulfilling life.

White Chestnut – to stop the unresolved thoughts from going around and around.

Olive – to help with fatigue and exhaustion

Gentian – as she was very discouraged from the set-back of his illness.

I’m sure you can relate to some of these feelings (if not all of them) and you can see how these remedies all work together beautifully to strengthen and give courage and confidence.

If you’re not sure to take the Remedies, click here for the most effective way to take Bach Flower Remedies.

If you’re lack of confidence has gone so deep that its turned into depression, perhaps this article will help you.

Over to you…

As always, I love to hear from you, so please leave your comments in the Comment Box below the blog – and of course ask your questions too. 

I look forward to hearing from you. Rose

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Different things stress each of us and we react in different ways.  But I think you and I probably have similar stresses: anxiety, irritable, perhaps even a little intolerant?  Lack of confidence, feel you’ve not done enough and are unable to sleep?

So I’ve decided to make up a mix of remedies which I use at Christmas time and which we’ve called

Bach Flower Christmas Survival Kit. 

This is the mix I make up to help me when I have a too much to do and too little time to do it!

The Christmas Survival Kit is only available in UK (due to Custom difficulties)

Click here if you’d like to know more about my ‘Christmas Survival Kit’

Just in case you’re not in the UK, I thought I’d let you know what’s in my Christmas Survival Mix, just in case you have some of the remedies yourself. There are 6 remedies mixed togethger. (6 is the maximum you can mix together).

1. Rescue Remedy – it contains a)Impatiens for when you’re cross and irritable because people and life aren’t going fast enough for you.
   b) Rock Rose is for when your anxiety is so intense it seems as if it’s running your life.
   c) Star of Bethlehem for shock, trauma and grief. It’s also the remedy that will ‘stick you back together’ when you feel as if you’re ‘falling apart’.
2. Beech is similar to Impatiens. Beech is for when you’re critical and irritated by what others do, and the way they do it.
3. Larch is to give you the confidence to do all that need to be done.
4. Pine is for when yiou feel you should have/could have done more- and done it bettrer.
5. White Chestnut is for when you’re unable to sleep because your thoughts of your endless To Do lists are rushing around on a merry-go-round and you can’t stop them.

This mix of remedies has helped me through many a Christmas. I particularly remember a Christmas when the children were small and money was very, very short. I had a job in a kitchen washing dishes (no dishwashers in those days) and scrubbing the kitchen floor and I earned £114. That £114 paid for our entire Christmas that year and goodness we had fun. But I wouldn’t have managed without the help of my beloved Bach Flowers.

Click here if you’d like to know more about my ‘Christmas Survival Kit’

Over to you.
As always, I love to hear from you. So please leave your thoughts and comments in the Comment Box below the blog. I always answer every Comment myself. I really do enjoy hearing from you. (After all, you’re why I’m here! :))

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