15 Easy Ways To Improve Your Health & Be Happier

I imagine that the idea of being able to incorporate 15 simple changes to your lifestyle that will very quickly make you feel healthier and happier sounds like an unrealistic claim. Believe me when I tell you that it really is that simple! Taking care of yourself should be fundamental, but with busy demanding lives, often we can easily overlook certain aspects of our physical, mental and emotional health. What follows is a list of recommendations that you can follow to revitalise yourself in every way, giving you more energy and a more positive outlook. This list is not exhaustive, there are many, many other things you can also do to improve your quality of life, but these are things that are easily achievable and require no special equipment and won't take a great deal of time to do. Most of the recommendations here simply require you to make alternative and informed choices. It is simply a matter of taking care of yourself. Taking care of yourself equates to loving yourself, and as we all know, you can't love others until you love yourself!

• Drink Well & Wisely. Drink enough water! Water is essential to good health and a general daily recommendation for the daily amount a person needs to drink is 1.5 litres. That might seem like a lot, but that is the equivalent of eight glasses in a 24 hour period. The human body is, in a healthy adult, approximately 75% water. Water is necessary for all for all biological and chemical changes, elimination and cell renewal. The effects of mild dehydration can lead to lowered immunity, illness, headaches, constipation, bad skin and feeling sluggish, which over a long period of time can radically deplete your energy levels. Severe dehydration is how you feel when you are hung over and too much severe dehydration can lead to serious problems. It is a good idea to cut out or at least cut down on alcohol, because as I have just indicated, alcohol dehydrates you, which is why after drinking you feel that way! Now it is known that the occasional glass of red wine can contain anti-oxidants and that stout contains iron etc, so if you decide not to abstain, please remember to have two glasses of water for every glass of alcohol you drink! Tea and coffee are the morning pick me up of choice for most people, but are addictive and because they are stimulants, give you a little energy high that is followed by an energy low, that requires another cup to recover from! Tea and coffee are also diuretic (which means they make you urinate more) so can actually increase your need for fluids. They have also been linked to migraines. Why not try alternatives such as herbal teas or fruit juice (fresh and unsweetened). It is important not to indulge in fizzy drinks for three reasons, the sugar and/or caffeine content leads to the energy high.....energy slump pattern, carbonated drinks play havoc with the digestive system and actually leach calcium from the bones (women especially are often warned of the dangers of osteoporosis but rarely is this mentioned) and the acidity is very damaging to teeth enamel. Drinking enough and choosing what to drink is as important as choosing what to eat. Often thirst is interpreted as hunger by the body. You may find that as you increase your fluid intake, you become more aware of the symptoms of thirst.


• Eat Healthily & Regularly Throughout The Day. So what does eating healthy really mean? The fundamental requirements from the diet are carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Now if you have read my personal information you will be aware that I am a vegan, and I do advocate vegetable proteins as the most easily digestible and healthy source of protein. The aim of this article is not to convert though. Suffice to say it is common knowledge that the conventional western diet is too rich in proteins and that this causes many health problems. For more info I recommend you take a look at this site http://www.nwhealth.edu/healthyU/eatWell/protein_1.html The best way to view a healthy diet is not (in most cases) to change how much food you eat but what type of food. I will come back to the subject of healthy carbs and fats as opposed to unhealthy carbs and fats in a moment. The issue that diversely affects most people is a lack of fibre. The UK government has spent a lot of money promoting the concept of "5 a day" Eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables is key. By insuring a daily supply, you will increase the amount of fibre in your diet, improving your digestion and the elimination of waste from your body, making the absorption of nutrients more effective. By being able to receive more of the goodness from the food you eat, you can reap huge benefits. In addition to fibre, fruit and vegetables contain valuable and essential vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and phyto-nutrients such as bioflavonoids and essential fatty acids. Some have even been claimed as "super foods" because of their host of beneficial nutrients. By making your plate as colourful as possible, you increase the range of nutritional benefits e.g.....orange carrots and pumpkin, green broccoli or spinach, red peppers and tomatoes, purple cabbage or beetroot yellow sweetcorn and bananas and make it more appealing. Get as creative as you can! Switch to wholefoods. For example instead of white bread, eat wholemeal brown bread, instead of white rice eat brown rice or try buckwheat or quinoa, try wholewheat pasta for a change. This is easy to do and results in better fibre, nutrient intake and a lower GI. GI stands for Glycaemic Index and is the measurement of how quickly a food raises your blood sugar level. Carbohydrates are our main source of energy and sugars and "starchy" foods fall under this category. In simplistic terms there are simple carbs and complex carbs. Simple carbs are usually sugars, such as sucrose, glucose, fructose etc. These are digested and converted to energy very quickly. Many parents will be aware of the infamous "sugar rush" and its affects on their little darlings! Complex carbs are digested more slowly and the energy gain is more consistent. Many people hit that mid afternoon energy slump and have a quick bar of chocolate or sweet to compensate, only to feel a greater energy slump sometime later. A baked potato or pasta salad would boost energy far more effectively and for longer! Some foods provide both fast (simple) and slow (complex) release carbohydrates, so for an instant pick me up try a banana! By understanding how different types of food nourish you it is easier to make choices that are suitable for your health and lifestyle. The subject that seems to cause the most confusion is the differentiation between healthy and unhealthy fats! People dieting are encouraged to go on a fat free or low fat diet, but fat is not actually bad for you, in fact it is essential to good health. What needs to be considered is the form of fat you eat. Saturated fats are usually fats that come from animal sources and lead to the production of cholesterol. Healthy fats are poly-unsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats are found in primarily nuts, seeds and some fruits (sunflower seeds, walnuts, avocados and olives being very good sources of healthy fat) and some can actually lower cholesterol. The important thing to remember is that any oil can be bad for you when highly heated, as this destroys nutrient content and increases the action of free radicals in the body, so chips aren't a good way to get your fat quota, but pasta drizzled in an olive oil based dressing or an avocado with houmous will do wonders! Essential fatty acids (omega 3,6 and 9) are very good for you and partially hydrogenated, hydrogenated oils or trans fats should be avoided at all costs. Look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/transfats.shtml for more info. Salt is also something to be aware of in your diet. Too much salt is addictive and it kills. Food manufacturers include it in our foods because it tastes nice (encouraging the addiction and ensuring we buy more of the product) and preserves food for longer. Salt has been linked to high blood pressure, strokes and heart disease, osteoporosis as it depletes calcium, kidney stones and other urinary system problems, diabetes, cataracts and stomach cancer. If you are a salt addict try and wean yourself off. Your health could depend on it! There are so many "hidden salts" in food that it is best to avoid using salt when cooking and never add salt at the table. Although trace amounts of salts are required by the body, vegetables naturally contain adequate amounts of mineral salts for health. The long and short of it is that highly processed and refined foods, convenience foods and those containing high levels of additives, preservatives colourings and so on are best avoided as they are usually the highest in saturated and trans fats, salt and sugar and the lowest in fibre and nutrient content! Experiment with organic foods and see if you notice a difference in your vitality! This recommendation is not intended to give you hard and fast rules to follow, but to give you information that can guide you to make the best choices and to moderate your intake of foods that dont really nourish you. Indulge when you want to and don't feel bad, but bear in mind what good food really means and ensure you get more good food generally.
  
• Exercise. People groan at the mention of exercise, but being active doesn't require you over exert yourself and doesn't have to be boring! Good for you if you want to be a gym bunny and go to exercise classes 5 times a week, but that isn't for everyone! Dance round your living room like a maniac shaking your booty and singing at the top of your voice, walk up and down the stairs instead of taking the lift, go for a brisk walk with the dog, clean out the shed or tidy the garden. Be imaginative and do whatever you feel able to. All you need to do is increase your heart rate for 10-20 Min's a day and you will begin to feel the benefit. If you're feeling stiff, stretch! (stretch anyway before any form of exercise to avoid strains!) Try Yoga or Pilate's or dance classes, make it fun and build your tolerance gradually. You'll feel more energetic, flexible, your circulation will improve, as will your digestion, skin and stamina. As your muscle tone improves it is likely that your posture will too, so no (or less) back pain and more confidence. Your hair will be shinier and your skin will glow. Also remember, if you don't use it you lose it!
  
• Get some sleep! Now this one can be easier said than done. Sleep is vital because it is during sleep that our body cells regenerate. There is also considerable evidence to show that the mind is active during the different stages of sleep and that each stage is essential to mental and emotional health. My belief is that the dream state also is very important for our spiritual health. If you're eating three meals a day, try not to eat your last meal too late, as this can interfere with your sleep pattern. As I have stated above, exercising can help you sleep by releasing excess energy and tension. Have a wind down period before you go to bed, such as reading or a relaxing bath. Avoiding stimulants such as tea coffee and sugar is wise too. Other reasons why people find it hard to sleep are harder to pin down. Often during the day we have so many distractions, we don't really process the things that are on our minds until we get into bed and turn off the light. If this is you, try and make some quiet time to think things through earlier in the day or talk things through with someone you trust. You could try having a notebook by the bed and writing down any persistent thoughts with a promise to yourself to examine them in the morning! Aromatherapy can be very helpful for insomnia. You can try placing a single drop of lavender on your pillow. For more specific help or advice on applying oils contact an aromatherapist for qualified advice! Herbal remedies such as Valerian can also be useful, but I would caution that a person who is pregnant or breastfeeding, has a physical ailment or condition or who is taking medication get advice from a qualified practitioner and / or doctor before using essential oils and herbal or other remedies.
  
• Relax. Relaxation is vital to good health. During each day in response to various stimuli, our adrenal glands release adrenalin which creates a heightened state of responsiveness and our muscles tense in readiness for physical action. Blood flow is diverted away from "non essential organs" i.e. digestive or other organs and sent to the muscles.(non essential in terms of making an escape or fighting your way out of trouble that is) It's called the flight or fight response or "stress". Now in the distant past, this suited our ancestors very well, when facing real physical danger. Nowadays though, our bodies can be pumping with adrenalin at the thought of a particular stressful work meeting or when contemplating the monthly bills. Often the situations that illicit this reaction are far from physical. Now let me point out that stress is good for us. Without a burst of adrenalin here and there, there would be no excitement, no thrill, there would be no competitiveness or desire, but continuous low level stress is not good and is extremely draining, lower our immunity to disease and depleting our energy. So what do you do about it? You need to learn to relax. Relaxation means different things to different people. Some people relax by reading or listening to music, baking cakes, painting a picture or drawing or spending time in nature. Think about whatever may have been bothering you. Is it really a life or death situation? Is it something you can do anything about? If yes do it, if no, stop worrying. Try to put it in to perspective. Make it less of a focus. Do whatever it takes to bring your stress levels down emotionally and mentally and also make time to relax physically. For all you restless folk out there that means doing nothing much. Try lounging, putting your feet up, having a long soak in the bath, or meditating. Try and become aware of your body, starting with the tips of your toes and working your way up feel and sense how each part of your body feels. Do you have aches and pains, muscle tension or stiffness? Place your awareness there and stretch. Ease the stiffness. Relax the muscle. Spend some time (everyday if you can, even if its only for ten minutes) trying to relax. You will feel happier and you will be healthier. As your body relaxes, the muscle tension will release and your blood supply will be servicing all your vital organs, the adrenalin levels in you body will normalise as you come off of red alert!
  
• Step Away From The Computer And Turn Off The Telly. (After you've read this of course) This may not seem so obvious but hours spent watching TV and using a computer or playing video games are leading factors in a sedentary lifestyle. I like this web page on the topic http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article393.html. Long periods of inactivity in a slumped position in front of a VDU don't amount to a fulfilling lifestyle and can give rise to back problems, eye strain, headaches and physical lethargy. Yes watch some telly, yes read my blog, but try to limit it! Its good to do other things. Phone a friend, talk to the people you live with, (now there is a novelty for some folk!) play with your kids, or GO OUTSIDE and view some real life or connect with some people who aren't on line! You never know, it might be fun! My point is that all things should be in moderation, including TV and computer use. You could also tackle my next recommendation with the time you are able to free up!


• Clear your clutter. Ever heard the saying as within so without? It means that your external environment is a reflection of your internal environment, or to put it another way, messy home, messy mind. If your home is blocked up your body probably is too. Often we hold on to things not because we desire them but because we have forgotten the liberation of letting go. Get rid of the junk. Clear your wardrobe of anything you don't feel happy in, doesn't fit you, and unless you do it now, anything that is waiting for a repair. If you haven't worn it for over a year, what are you keeping it for? If you have clothes that are too small, you may be thinking that they are an incentive to lose weight, but they are more likely to be a reminder of not being happy with who you are right now. Love yourself and only keep what looks good now. Are you holding on to unwanted gifts? Well if you don't like them, get rid of them. Are they not yours to do with as you please or were they given conditionally? If so, isn't that a sign that they were not really given freely at all? If they are not to your taste give them to a charity shop or ensure they go to a good home. Your home should reflect your taste and contain the things that you love! Have you got drawers full of things that might come in handy one day? Or worse still, might come in handy for somebody else one day, you just never know? Let go. If you can trust that the universe will provide what you need when you need it, you will cease to need this kind of security blanket. By making space you make room for the new and the wonderful to enter your life, so don't just take my word for it, give it a go! It feels great and it will get you being active, and feeling energised, and in the process you may be amazed at the events that get triggered off in your life as a result!
  
• Breathe Well. Breathing is fundamental to life. When we stop breathing, we die. Unless you are into meditation or complementary health it may be that you haven't taken time to consider the quality of your breathing. When we take breath into our bodies it enters our nose and sinuses where it is filtered and our brains are sent valuable information from the scents we breathe in, travels to our lungs where it enters our blood stream via the alveoli and then using our circulatory system travels to every cell in our body to nourish with fresh oxygen. The air that is breathed out has taken the reverse journey and carries with it the waste products of cell respiration, carbon-dioxide. So getting good quality air has a huge impact on health. How do you breathe? Its a question that many of us rarely ask ourselves. Do you take quick shallow breaths? Long drawn out breaths? Do you breath from your chest or from your diaphragm? What is the best way? Well shallow breaths tend to mean you are not getting enough air and that you may be stressed. Try breathing like a cat or a baby. If you watch them their chest doesn't move up and down as they breathe, their bellies do. This is relaxed breathing. So many of us are tense, breathing from our upper chest holding our stomachs in without even being aware of it. Relax and take in breaths and allow the air to expand your diaphragm (as though you were breathing into your stomach) and just take it nice and easy. You don't have to hold the breathes or make them especially slow, just try and be aware of any tension and calm your breathing down a little if you notice you are stressed. Relax. As you take better quality breaths, the air you breath will oxygenate your body more effectively and energise you. If you are able to, get regular fresh air. Sea air is probably the best you can get. If you live in a city try and go to your local park. The trees and plants filter pollutants out of the air, so it will be of a better quality even in a busy metropolitan area. If you pollute your own air with chemical sprays, try to find more natural alternatives, and if you are a smoker, well I won't go into the lecture here, I'll save that for another post, you know what you've got to do. You can do all of the other 14 reccomendations and it still wont make that much of an impact on your health if you smoke. So get real with yourself and quit. Its not as difficult as you might think. I should know! (Ex smoker 11 yrs, giving up still the best thing I have ever done for my health)
  
• Stop Procrastinating. Procrastination holds you back. So many of us are walking around with this mental "things to do list" in our heads, taunting and mocking us, making us feel bad with "shoulds" and "have to's" and accusing us with "you haven't got round to dealing with me yet!" This personal guilt trip may be added to by loved ones friends or colleagues reminding us "you said you were going to (fill in the blanks) 6 months ago and you still haven't done it". The longer the thing remains in the back of your mind the harder it seems to become to actually achieve. It stops us doing other things because we think "I can't do (xxxx) because I really should do (xxxxxx) first". Worst of all are the ambitions and dreams that we never make time for, the longer we leave them, the less obtainable they become. What has been nagging you for the longest? Try actually writing these nagging shoulds, have to's and would like to's down. How many of them are still relevant. If you promised you would do something for someone else and didn't do it, do they still need it done, or did they just find another way to get it done? Has not doing stoopped you from having a good relationship with that person? What is the simplest item on the list? Can you do it now? Try and do one thing you have been putting off each day and the list will get gradually smaller. What about the way you have been talking and thinking about these issues? Do you really have to, or was it that you would like to? Is is it really a matter of should or is it a could? words like "have to" and "should" are disempowering and make you feel like a victim, even if the shoulds and have to's are self imposed. Realise when you are doing this and rephrase the task in your mind. try using phrases like I could, I want to, I need to, I can, I intend, in order to free yourself from the victim perspective. It might seem pointless to try to tackle all these things you have been putting off, one item at a time, but it'll free up energy and your list will become nonexistent a lot quicker than deciding you'll do it when time allows for everything to be tackled all at once.(Lets face it that just not going to happen is it?) Try not to put conditions on these things. I can only do (xxxx) once I have done (xxxx), I have to have to (xxxxx) before I can (xxx), I can't do (xxxx) because I havent got (xxxxx). Decide what you can do right now and do it. Once you direct your energy to that end, you'll be surprised how miraculously circumstances conspire to help you get other things done!
  
• Count Your Blessings. We all know at least one positive person. That person is usually a positive person. They walk through life seemingly untouched by the harsh realities of life. Are they merely blessed by the fickle twists and turns of fortune that leave some of us scarred and negative and others blown along on a breeze of good luck and positivity? I believe that people are blessed when they feel blessed. Having gratitude for everything in your life, the good the bad and the ugly and turning every downside into an upside is a skill. Some people have it naturally, but even if you don't, it can be learnt. You can choose to be a glass half empty person or a glass half full person. It is a choice that you make! The more you appreciate the gifts that the universe bestows on you, the more gifts you will be given. Gratitude is a wonderful state of mind. By being grateful and seeing the inherent lessons or gifts in every situation, even when misfortune occurs, we will be able to glean some treasure from it. You might not feel it , but as the saying goes, fake it till you make it! So go on, be ridiculously positive, have a Pollyanna day!
  
• Forgive. For every resentment, slight and hurt that you harbour against a person or people, there is a wound that doesn't heal. You and that person are bound by your holding on to the pain and you will be unable to move forward with your life. Forgiveness isn't actually about the other person, it is more about you making a conscious decision to no longer let a past situation have any sway over your happiness. Letting go and moving on is what forgiveness is about. It doesn't mean that you suddenly become best friends with your adversary. It also doesn't mean that you would let that person put you in the same or a similiar position. It does not even require the other person to show remorse. It simply allows you to free yourself of the pain and resentment and to tell the other person, "I have moved forward. I have learnt from this and it is no longer of consequence to the person that I am now." What if the person you need to forgive is yourself? The same applies. You did what you did, and your frame of reference was that of the person you were then. Who you are now is not who you were then. You can learn from your mistakes and move forward. If you have wronged another, by all means, if it is appropriate, let them know that you are sorry and would not act in the same way now, but don't make their forgiving you a condition of forgiving yourself. Does living in a state of self imposed purgatory benefit the other person in anyway? Does it assuage your personal guilt? Forgiveness is not always easy, and letting go of past hurts can be painful, but if you start small it will get easier and you will feel free of the burden that you had carried. Forgiveness is the way to freedom! For inspiring stories on the subject of forgiveness look at this site http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/anne-gallagher
  
• Be Authentic And Honest With Yourself And Others. Ok this is a toughie. Being honest requires being assertive. Now what exactly am I proposing? That you are brutally honest to the point of hurtfulness? No. What I am suggesting is that you are authentic with how you really feel and communicating that to others. Now this doesn't mean blaming others for how you feel, you will still need to take responsibility for your own feelings. I do mean that it is a good idea to stop agreeing to things that you don't want to agree to. Learning to say no! It means telling people in your life that, for example, perhaps feel a certain way about some issue that you don't agree with them and instead of agreeing with them to keep the peace you state your true opinion. In other words say what you mean and mean what you say, tell people what you do and don't want to do rather then doing things you don't want to do and not doing things that you do want to do. If the people in your life place conditions on their support, affection, friendship or love that are dependant on you behaving how and being who they want you to be and do, then they are not valuing the real you. Do you want people like that in your life? If you live your life to please others, both you and they are living a lie, and although you may be able to please some of the people some of the time, you will never please all of the people all of the time. Often the people we try to please the most are never pleased. Dont enslave yourself to the expectations and conditions of others. Go your own way and free yourself!


• Avoid Hypothesising Negatively And Reject Regret. Or put another way, try to live in the moment. Some people live their whole life in the past. Sometimes out of a sense of nostalgia, as in the grass was greener, the sky was bluer, and everything was rosy. Other times it may be a feeling of being trapped by memories of a traumatic and unhappy time from which they are unable to move on. The problem with either approach is that memory is subjective and the reality of that past time may have been less one-sided than it now seems, was it really so much better? Was it really so much worse? Both ways of living in the past hold you back from appreciating your life now, and sometimes from even living your life now. Better to think of your past positively and recognize the elements of your past that have shaped the person you are now, but don't live there! Enjoy now! Then you have people who spend their life ahead of time. Planning, strategising, dreaming how things will be, what they need to do, what they are going to do, how things will need to be. Most damaging to their own emotional health are the people who spend their life anticipating how such and such a person is going to think about what is going to happen and how that will make them react and what will happen as a result and then who else will probably get involved as a result and how much worse that will make everything and some one is bound to say (xxx) and that will have (xxx) up in arms and the whole thing will turn into a riot, and everyone will say it is my fault etc etc until they have created a picture of an intense reality that they then turn over and over in their minds obsessing on and filled with dread when in reality NONE OF IT HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. Now I believe that moment to moment we are creating our own reality. This is not a new idea. How we do this is by what we do, how we feel, what we think, what we say and what we visualise about now and how we do these things in relation to our future. By creating a negative and elaborate hypothetical situation surrounding how we believe the our future will be, as in the example I have given, we are doing all of these things, feeling the dread, imagining the events, acting and feeling as though these things had already taken place, and guess what? What that person has feared and obsessed over is probably exactly what is going to happen. Some people do this because they are scared of dissapointment, so would rather be unhappy than contemplate the possibility of happiness. It becomes their default setting. Now doing the same thing but positively will achieve a similar result. If we imagine a scenario in the way we would like it to be, and we behave as though that event had already taken place, think about it positively and feel happy about, the strength of our vision, feeling and thoughts can bring it about, but no need to take my word for it. Try it for yourself! Remember though that this is a powerful tool that will bring results. I'd recommend that when your hoped for and anticipated future turns up that you enjoy the benefits that it brings, savouring the moment and allowing it to be, instead of jumping straight to the next thing! Enjoy the moment and live it now!
• Recognise the wonder of nature. You are not an isolated being scattered on the planet separate from all other things. You are a component of a much greater whole. You may be the centre of your own universe but you are not the centre of THE universe. You are a piece of this incredible puzzle that is the whole of creation. You exist through the union of others. That is how you were created. You are part of a system that is dependant upon every other part of the the system. The spark that makes you unique and spectacular, the soul that you possess, the part of you that is divine is in union with every other spark from every other entity and life that exists or has ever existed. You are like a snowflake, unique, beautiful and one of many. If the creative force that is within you is the snowflake, contemplate the snow. Nowhere is this creative force and interdependance more evident than in the ecosystems and forces of nature. Every blade of grass, every ant, grain of sand or tree is unique. Every cloud form or ocean wave original and like no other. Take time out to spend time in nature and contemplate your place within the world, and how amazing, unstoppable and abundant creation is. By viewing things from this perspective, how much better will your life feel?
  
• Don't be a victim, take responsibility for your life. Now this might sound like tough love, and it probably is. Your life is what you make it. If you don't like your present circumstances, you need to do something to change it. Whether you make an internal change or an external change, you created what you are living now and can change what happens next. There is no one else to blame and it is no one else's responsibility to make your life better. What do you want? What are you going to do to bring it about? Circumstances good and bad happen to everyone. Awful things happen to good people. Do you give up then? Negative events shape your past but they don't need to define who you are now or who you are going to be. Decide on your direction and take the first step and the next and just keep going to get to where you want to be. If limitations block you, take a detour or re-evaluate your goals, but please don't stop moving. When you allow anything to become an excuse, a deterrent or a block to your happiness, you have allowed yourself to become a victim. Be a survivor, a striver, an achiever and overcome you personal limitations instead. This is your life now and you don't get a second chance to live it. (Ok you might believe in reincarnation, but thats a different life not this one. Try and get it right this time round!) Allow yourself to succeed and claim the hapiness that is your birthright!

So here ends my 15 recomendations for being healthier and happier. I believe they are the building blocks for a work in progress (life). Making positive changes, choosing different options to those you might be choosing now and trying to find more positive ways of being in and percieving the world, this is what I suggest here. I hope these bricks are something that you may be able to implement in your lives as a foundation to further build upon and develop from, for a happier future!