Do You Know When To Stop?

Do You Know When To Stop?

After jumping out on a colleague from behind an office column and shouting stop, it occurred to me not everyone knows when to stop. That particular colleague just had to be approached about his cucumbers. Cucumbers? Yes! He has been sneaking around the office wielding organic cucumbers and depositing them on unsuspecting colleagues’ desks. I caught him the other morning in the very act of cucumber delivery. Something about it rang alarm bells. Since I run a social media team for a large corporation, I considered how best I could utilise the covert cucumber mission to best effect. So in the Social Media meeting today, we came up with all manner of cucumber anecdotes and titles for the blog including the Cucumber Surprise, Covert Cucumbers, Corporate Cucumbers and how to make your cucumber grow by speaking to it (the last one was a considered a little too rude to corporately publish - booo!!!). To accompany the article we decided to get the official photographer to photograph cucumbers with ‘googly’ doll eyes so we could maintain surprise cucumber expressions around the office. Of course we do very corporate articles too; however, I am having two weeks off work from Friday to focus on finishing my current book and felt the need for a little mischief prior to having a holiday. That way any repercussions would have been complete by the time I leave.

The cucumber interview questions included

‘How did you discover your cucumber love?’

‘Do you talk to your cucumber to make it grow?’

‘What attracted you to cucumbers?’

‘If you were a cucumber what advice would you give?’

‘Of all the cucumbers you have grown, has one particular cucumber jumped out at you?’

The thing is the blog has to be approved, so we will see what happens. 

So back to my original question – do you know when to stop? This covers many topics? Exercise, food, health and book promotion.

In terms of exercise where do you have to reach to stop? Today I crossed a paddleboard threshold: a line of yellow buoys mark my limits. I usually stay within them but today I was blown beyond them. Once I had experienced ‘unchartered’ paddle territory, I turned the board and paddled in. I realised I had gone beyond my limit and had to stop and turn around. That made me question when is the point when we know when to stop. So how ill do you have to become before you actually stop and rest? I watch so many people at work descend into complete flu and infect the whole office before they take the day off. Their martyrdom should have stopped and saved others from the infection.

What about food? If you were in front of a buffet when do you decide when to stop? Do you have to feel ill? I worked on cruise ships for years and watched gluttonous buffet bonanzas. People kept eating and eating and certainly did not know when to stop! The attitude was: I have paid for it and I want to get my money’s worth.

Finally, I have noticed that when it comes to product promotion and book promotion, there is a finite time that things can be rammed down an audience’s throat before the audience become blasé, bored or ignore a repetitious. So the question for me is when do you stop? Tonight is my final night of promoting The Hairy-Legged Mystery and Tingle Dingle and The Little Mischiefs. The way I see it is you can do as much as you can to let the world know and then those little literary lovelies have to fend for themselves. It is a case of freeing the pigeon and letting it navigate its way home. In this case I released two fun children’s stories into the world, let the world know and now it is time to stop, move on and allow them to find their readers. Nice eh? It is great to know when it is time to stop and start new.

Enjoy my books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

NEW RELEASE: TINGLE DINGLE AND THE LITTLE MISCHIEFS

 https://www.amazon.com/Tingle-Dingle-Little-Mischiefs-Allure-ebook/dp/B01G9C0XC2?ie=UTF8&keywords=Ruby%20Allure&qid=1465049617&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

NEW RELEASE: THE HAIRY-LEGGED MYSTERY

https://www.amazon.com/Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Ruby-Allure-ebook/dp/B01G2C0Y9Q?ie=UTF8&qid=1465049724&ref_=sr_1_2&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

Chocolate and Other Baking Experiments

Chocolate and Other Baking Experiments

 

 

Well you would think you could leave what appears to be chocolate biscuits on your desk without them being abducted. Oh no... Not in my work place. So what happened? Two of the naughty boys I work with spotted a Tupperware box filled with biscuity creations on my desk. Of course they thought they would nab one while I was at the drinks machine.

Please note I had not mentioned I had made biscuits to share. I had not offered these biscuits and I certainly thought that no one would nab a biscuit. So when I returned from filling my water bottle I discovered my manager and one colleague guzzling water and coughing. They pair had bitten into my chilli-based creations and had the hottest shock of their lives. Now what do you do with that?
The pair had been caught red-mouthed swiping my chilli chocolate biscuits. What was the result? Well I was banned from baking by my team. Was that fair? On the bright side it meant that I had more opportunity to eat my own special chocolate creations without having to share.

So today was a momentous day... I made raw chocolate. The reason that I made it myself is because I wanted to eat coconut virgin oil and make the stuff taste nice. To me taste nice is different to most people because I don't eat sugar anymore. With that in mind, I knew I wanted chocolate but without sugar. I came up with using either date syrup or maple syrup or stevia.

 

So the chocolate is made like this:
Please note there are no measures because I am experimental.
Coconut virgin oil - quite a few lumps.
Macca powder (apparently is should be lacuma powder but I didn't have any)
Date syrup  or maple syrup to sweeten
Pure cocoa powder.

I am sure you are wondering how these creations came about: I melted the coconut oil in a pan and experimentally added everything else. I then spooned them into the chocolate shaping tray and messed up most of my kitchen! Amazing. I had quite a lot of mixture left so I added in oats to make them into choc-jacks rather than flap-jacks. I hope this experiment inspires you and since the creations are somewhat experimental (as with all of my cooking) that is the best direction that I can provide.

Here is how they look:

Well I have to say that I was very pleased with the outcome; however,  I may well have offended the people I offered them to. Admittedly I work on a different team now, although my notorious baking reputation follows me  thanks to my manager. Incidentally he will not try any of my food explorations anymore - he said he was chilli-scarred for life!

I just want to add that I am no cook. I make experimental creations because I decided not to eat sugar, cut out diary and have stopped the gluten. When you stand in a supermarket and look at the choices then you realise you may well become creative to find ways to know what is residing within in your food.

Managing Stress with Good Nurtition

Managing Stress with Good Nutrition

 

 

Do you really think that the food you put in your body can actually affect how you respond to stress? Well, a recent webinar I took part in, Managing Stress with Good Nutrition, provided an insight into how to combat stress by using nutrition.

 

In our modern society there is no doubt there are far too many things to do in too little time. That constant sense of urgency generates a sense of anxiety. What’s more, anything can trigger stress:  deadlines, relationship struggles or financial worries. The question is how do you respond to that stress and actively maintain your health?

 

We have all heard that stress triggers a fight or flight response. That response provides our bodies with access to an energy resource that enables us to run up to a mile to escape threat. Now that was useful in prehistoric times; however, the same reaction does not work with looming deadlines. You can try it; however, the deadline won’t disappear, even if you launch into an urgent dash. If you think about it, there could be fascinating scenes taking place in offices all over the world if the urgent dash became the standard response to even the smallest stressful event.

 

 

The thing is that fight or flight has a strong effect on the body because the energy for that dash has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is all the repair and maintenance jobs taking place around the body as well as the digestive system. This is why prolonged stress often results in stomach ache or irritable bowel syndrome.

Signs of long term stress:

·         Lower energy levels
·         Low blood sugar
·         Dizziness
·         Irritability
·         Insomnia
·         Physical pain/ tension
·         No focus
·         Reduced capacity to deal with stress
·         Mental fog
·         Slow metabolism
·         Thyroid issues
·         High blood-pressure
·         Weight gain

So how do you manage the stress with nutrition?

First understand that stress affects your body and it perceives you are under threat. With this in mind, the body fuels up for attack and when it is not attacked, it holds onto that fuel. Unless you do something physical then that fuel is redistributed as fat, usually around the middle because the liver converts fat to energy in the form of glucose. When under stress the body is constantly hungry and desires carbs such as biscuits, chocolate and cake for quick energy access.  This is how the sugar and caffeine roller-coaster begins and what goes up fast will descend at the same velocity. What you might not realise is caffeine stimulates adrenaline which in turn releases sugar into your blood for fight or flight. The cycle of highs and lows begins. When your body is in this cycle it is in a cycle of nutrition stress. So the stress in your inner world is perpetuated in the outer world. The question is: what are you willing to do to break the cycle? Imagine a life which felt effortless and you had the energy to experience life fully. Isn’t that enough of a motivation? Go on try the following – dare you!

 

 

How would you feel about not having sugar? Well that is the first step. Sugar actually has no nutrients and uses nutrients already in your body to be metabolised.  It is then a case of introducing good nutrition into your day. The ideal way to start the day is either with eggs and salmon or porridge made with one of many varieties of milks with berries and flax seed. Snacks can be transformed from chocolate and crisps to nuts, humus and carrots.

 

Ideally you want to eat three meals a day with the potential of two healthy snacks. Afternoon healthy snacks are important because we have a natural energy dip around 2pm. That is the prime time for temptation. Don’t skip meals. Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol. Always include protein in your meals with good fats found in avocado, nuts, olives and seeds. Finally stay hydrated with the main liquid intake being water. Try substituting coffee with green tea, herbal teas or hot water with lemon. The thing is we have developed food habits and it usually takes a few weeks to break a habit. So how about setting yourself one month without caffeine and/or sugar and see what happens. You may well find that because your food is not causing you stress that you transform your perception and discover that you respond and experience life in a very different way.

 

A few books by Ruby Allure
 

 

  

LINK TO AUDIBLE FOR LOVE HUNT http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srTtl?qid=1442567974&sr=1-4

Come on admit it - as much as we deny it - we ladies like a good love hunt.
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.
Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their "targets" are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?

TO LISTEN - SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/lovehunt1-sample

 

 OFFICE ZOO LINK TO AMAZON.COM Link: http://amzn.com/B013N51MNC

LINKS TO AMAZON.COM:

LABYRINTHINE AMAZON.COM LINK: Link: http://amzn.com/B012FAYI5U

A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING LINK: Link: http://amzn.com/B01390THLK

MONEY FARM LINK TO AMAZON.COM :Link: http://amzn.com/B010F04W9O

I thought I may as well add the most recent Money Farm review... Love it!

 

Extremely thought provoking...

BySusan Keefeon July 13, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

Gillian’s world is turned upside down when she is unexpectedly ‘released’ from her job. Her government funding is revoked after the board decides they did not like a paper she wrote on ‘Reactants, resistance, reflexivity and reversal in times of financial and social hardship.’

All of a suddenly her secure life has gone. What will she do? All around her people are getting into debt, being encouraged to spend more than they have, buy things they don’t need. Possessions are everything, all that matters. Why? How had the world gotten into this state, and why didn’t the powers that be want to hear what she had to say?

Not taking her redundancy laying down Gillian’s resolve hardens as she actively strives to understand the financial system and money handling. Living on her savings whilst looking for a job, she soon discovers that it won’t be long before she is homeless.

But what about M.O.N.E.Y? The people who work for M.O.N.E.Y live at the Money Farm, which was a series of huge walled islands, linked by bridges, which has been in existence for over 200 years. Gillian becomes obsessed with the M.O.N.E.Y concept. Who are these people, how are they chosen? M.O.N.E.Y is totally self-sufficient, secretive, she has to know more.

How do you become part of M.O.N.E.Y, this amazing organisation whose employees themselves are intriguing?

Then, one day she follows a M.O.N.E.Y employee out of a shop and asks the man the leading question “How do I become one of you?”

This simple question, and his reply changes her life forever.

As she trains and is inducted into the world of M.O.N.E.Y, Gillian soon discovers that she has in fact been chosen. Her militant nature and questioning attitude allows her to think outside the box. However, I wondered, as the story progressed, did M.O.N.E.Y have any idea of what her impact would be?

This was a fascinating book, deep and very thought provoking, it made you wonder…

I will certainly be looking out for more very interesting books by this talented author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wellness advice

Wellness advice...

Has anyone else noticed that the world is run on money, yet most people do not spend time learning about money and investment? I might also point out that the body is run on nutrition, yet how many people learn as much as they can about food and its contribution to health? Maybe I have an alternative perspective - yet surely nutrition, financial wellness and good sleep are fundamental to a happy life. Of course psychology and emotions are all part of wellbeing yet sickness, debt and lack of sleep are the prime contributors to an individual’s demise.

With that in mind, let me ask you ask the following questions:

How much do you know about money and how you can genuinely invest your money to accumulate?

How aware are you of the nutrition that goes into your body?

How much rest and recharge do you allow yourself?

If you get the above right, you may well notice that your mental state changes along with your emotions.  When you feel good the world becomes filled with possibility. Try it and see… Have a lovely dayJ

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