For the last few months I’ve been feeling like life is flying by, and I know from past experience that when I have that feeling, it’s a sign that I am super stressed out.  It means that I am letting things get out of control, overwhelm me, instead of taking things step by step.

Step 1 – Understand where you are living from…
If you are living from your head, you just get dizzier and dizzier, until you eventually fall over. If you live from your centre, it is easier to focus on what is important to you and let everything else drop away.

Step 2 – Connect with what is important to you…
The first thing you need to do is create a vision for yourself, your family and your children. Next have a look at where you are expending your energy. Are you doing the things you love or the things you feel you should do? Are you nurturing and caring for yourself and your family or looking after everyone else? What are you doing to create a peaceful and harmonious home? Another useful tip is to look at your world through the eyes of your children.

Step 3 – Stick to your vision…
The final step is to stay focused on your vision. So when any new opportunity comes your way you can easily decide if it’s really what you want to do.

It is also important to learn to say no; schedule your time with lots of space to just hang with yourself, your partner and your children; and remember to look after your health.

………………………………………………

I hope you find these little steps as useful as I do. I can see there is lots I need to work on, especially the saying ‘no’ bit, and making time to hang out with myself. Life is full of lessons, non?

Thank you Karin!

As most of you already know, House of Orange is the styling agency that represents me as a stylist. Today I’m excited to tell you that they have just launched a new website, and there are heaps of new images from all the stylists and photographers.  I love the way they’ve created a collage/moodboard which changes each time you click on one of the links.  There are some new images in my portfolio too, if you like you can check them out by clicking here.

…if you haven’t already added your name alongside Robin Williams, Billy Connolly,  and the Dalai Lama to The Prince’s Rainforest Project to help stop tropical deforestation, please click here to do so – it will be the most day enhancing thing you could do on this fine Monday. I added my name on Friday, but if at least one or two of you add your name today then you will be enhancing my day too as you know how passionate I am about these things. Merci beaucoup.

summer stills by maditi

past and present by *peanut (lauren)

sweet lovers love in spring by amanda

haute fagne, belgium by me

autumn road from abby trys again

aaah. i needed that.

There are parts of the Netherlands that can still surprise even native residents of the country. While the west coast is heavily populated, busy and very urbanised, the eastern border regions are refreshingly rural, with lush rolling… well, ok, there aren’t any “hills” as such, but plenty of green grass and picturesque barns!

The land in this part of the Netherlands is older, the trees more mature, the waterways more naturally meandering – unlike much of Amsterdam, this side of the country has always been at least a couple of metres above sea level! The towns and cities of this region are some of the oldest in the Netherlands, and the land is fertile and flat and open.

Despite heavy bombing in the war, the regional centres of Arnhem, Apeldoorn and Nijmegen, and smaller towns like Deventer and Zutphen have retained much of their medieval market centres and ancient city walls, redolent with a quiet elegance that belies their more modern descent into ignominy. Spanning major waterways, such as the Rhine and the IJssel, these were once grand trading centres with illustrious histories stretching back beyond Roman settlement.

With the chill of autumn in the air, it was a pleasure to travel through the verdant fields, greeting black-faced sheep and short, fat little ponies enjoying the last of the lush summer grass, and catching glimpses of grand manor houses through the trees.

To cap off an enchanting weekend: the Hoge Veluwe National Park, a wild, mysterious woodland space, a legacy of the lifelong dreams of Anton Kröller and his German wife, Helene Kröller-Müller. Travelling in true Dutch style, quietly and peacefully, occasionally catching a glimpse of red deer or wild boar, revelling in the sounds and smells of nature in its element.

photographs and words by zoë yule.