Even as a child I was alone with my thoughts, contemplating, working things out. I didn’t know about autism back then.

I have always been alone with my thoughts, but I could never have known then what I now know with 10 years of blogging behind me. The CP Diary is a lifeline.

Through my blogs, I write about life, as I continue to look for explanations through a lifetime of my own struggles. In difficult times when we have things that we need to think about and with a torrent of emotions, reflection and solitude is exactly what is needed.

As a child, solitude became my 'go to place' without realising or understanding why. It became a support like no other. As the adult, using my intuition as my guide in the midst of unfamiliar circumstances, reflection and solitude help me find my path. Through silence and solitude, I have got to know myself and both have encouraged spiritual deepening within me.

Where some might feel uneasy around silence and solitude, I have chosen to embrace both. Without embracing silence or solitude, we cannot evolve, or step forward on to new paths. We should get to know ourselves and find new ways to emerge into the world.

Being alone with our thoughts allows for contemplation, and contemplation helps us grow. We need to step into our emotions once in a while, it is our emotions which help us find answers and which help us shape our world positively.

Something inspirational:

"All persons ought to endeavour to follow what is right, and not what is established."

ARISTOTLE

Among younger children, the rates of obesity are alarming, with one in ten children aged four to five years now classed as obese.

National Records

National records have been kept in the UK since the mid 1990’s and these show that one in five 10 to 11-year olds are obese. If overweight children are also included, the figures show that around one in three children are overweight or obese – that’s over four million children and within a decade these figures have more than doubled.

The Research on obesity being left untreated

Research suggests that if this is left untreated, up to 85% of these children will become obese as adults. Weight gain occurs when we take in more calories from food and drink than we use up in our day-to-day activities. Obesity arises from a combination of factors, reduced levels of activity and access to cheap, energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods and drinks.

Weight issues

Weight issues can affect a child at any age, with studies showing many parents don’t recognise when their child is overweight and so they don’t take any action. However, given the right kind of support, children who are obese can achieve a healthy weight as they grow, and can maintain this into adulthood if healthy habits are learned and continued. Obesity is common in all social classes, although it is twice as common among those families in the most deprived areas of the UK compared to the least deprived.

Short term and long-term issues with Obesity

There are both short and long-term consequences of obesity in childhood. In the short term, obesity can cause problems with bone health and breathing difficulties, and can affect social and psychological well-being. Children with obesity problems may also be bullied and may have self-esteem issues. Obese children are also more likely to become obese as adults, with increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, as well as joint and muscle problems.

Good Nutrition

We all know that good nutrition is essential to children’s growth and development, and for many children, some small changes to food and activity levels mean that over the growing years, slowing down the rate of weight gain, rather than losing weight per se, will help to achieve a healthy weight for their height.

Overweight children often know they have a weight problem, and they need to feel supported and in control, so it is important to listen to a child if you or others have any concerns about their weight.

On-going support for children who struggle with 'Obesity'

For children who are already struggling with severe obesity problems, more specific help may be needed, and this should be discussed with a family doctor, who may refer a child to a specific healthy weight programme, led by expert practitioners. Typically, these programmes are family-based and include nutrition, physical activity and behaviour components.

The key to achieving healthy weight is:

Overall, the best way is for children to achieve a healthy weight from a young age and developing a lifelong love of good food as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Source: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com

Living through trauma isn't easy, but how we see our experiences through the other end is important. No matter how negative my experiences or life was, it was important I didn't sugar coat those, in terms of my mental health; it was important I was able to stay present and positive.

Positive Mental Attitude

A Positive Mental Attitude allows you to assert yourself positively, so that no matter the situation your positive disposition attracts positive change.

Anyone who is mentally positive will always seek to find and execute ways, to put a positive slant on what could be very negative circumstances and to find a desirable outcome for themselves. How we come through the other end is important.

Seeing and having a positive slant on your situation, doesn’t mean we dismiss what’s happening to us or that what happened didn’t happen. Those things will still be part of our experiences, but it will allow us to take a more balanced approach on what we deal with.

We choose the life we live

I could either continue to think positively on my trauma, or I could continue to see my trauma negatively and that would negatively impact my mental health. Being positive, carried me through my experiences, through my life. No matter what I dealt with around a disability I didn't know I had, I always put a positive slant on things.

Thinking positively can help us seek out positivity

Putting a positive slant on our experiences, doesn't take away the initial deed, what’s been done is done, but it will always allow us to focus on and look for the positives and that helps us come through the other end with a more positive disposition.

Paella

Ingredients:

4 boned chicken thighs

1 tin tomatoes

100g sliced mushrooms

1/2 tsp Paprika and 1/2tsp smoked paprika

100g of chopped chorizo

6 rashes of pancetta or bacon

1 chopped large onion

4 chopped garlic cloves

2L chicken stock

2 pinches of saffron thread or teaspoon turmeric powder

500g of paella rice

100g Peas

200g Prawns

200g Mussels

Sprig of parsley

Lemon wedges

2tbl olive oil for frying

Method:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed paella pan or large frying pan

Add onion and fry gently for 10 minutes on a low heat, continually stirring

Chop the chicken into chunks, then roll chicken in flour and add salt and pepper, shake until it’s all covered

Add chicken to the pan

In the same frying pan, add the pancetta or bacon and fry until brown and crispy

Then add the chopped large onion and chopped garlic cloves

Cook until soft

In the meantime, make 2L chicken stock and let it infuse with 2 pinches of saffron threads or just add the turmeric

Add a heaped tablespoon of paprika, and smoked paprika, with 500g of paella rice and tinned tomatoes

Then about half the stock to it and let the rice cook for approximately 20 mins on a low-medium heat, stirring occasionally

Paella rice tends to stick to the bottom of the pan quite easily, so be careful to avoid that

Adding the stock gradually helps keep the rice from going dry and sticking

When the rice is almost cooked, add handfuls of mushrooms, peas, prawns and mussels, they will cook really quickly

Once cooked, sprinkle over parsley, lemon wedges

Something inspirational:

"Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven."

HENRY WARD BEECHER

Bringing nature into our everyday lives will help us connect with ourselves and each other as well as think about and value nature, encouraging us to incorporate more sustainable behaviours.

Nature needs our help

It is desperately needed. Nature is struggling to survive and need our help. Nature and the human species share the same eco-system, therefore it is important we look after nature and start to experience nature and all that nature has to offer us. By us basking in nature in all weathers, we can start to reap the benefits for ourselves.

We need to value nature so that nature looks after us. Nature has other rewards too. It is good for our mental and emotional health. In light of the coronavirus, making a connection with nature, has never been so important.

Nature not only helps us to connect and appreciate wildlife, but it helps us to connect with ourselves, sometimes in solitude, sometimes not, but always connecting with nature and ourselves.

Sir David Attenborough's 'Extinction' Documentary

As Sir David Attenborough concludes in his 'Extinction' documentary, the human species and nature must coexist together if nature and the human species are to survive. Spending time in nature is good for us.

Connecting with 'nature'

People who spend time in nature are happier, healthier and more relaxed about their lives, even with any issues they may have to deal with. Connecting with nature helps you think about your life in the whole, nature helps us identify with yourselves, which means you’re more likely to change your outward behaviour.

Looking after nature has never been so important

Looking after nature has never been so important. So, no matter the weather, bask in all its glory. Get yourself wrapped up and get out there. If you have a back garden, why not put nuts and seeds out so birds can come into your garden and you can give them a home.

Push through it, push through the emotional pain. I pushed through the pain of not knowing about my disability, or what that even meant, how it played out day to day. I pushed through the pain of not being able to talk about it in the early days.

It's easy to ignore our unconscious thoughts

It’s easy to ignore our unconscious thoughts, we don't have to think about those, right? It's not true, because we will always have to deal with what is meant for us, even if it's not obvious to us in the beginning; eventually it becomes obvious.

Pushing through the pain

But no matter what we deal with, we need to push through the pain, so we can come through the other end. We may often have no choice and that's the reason we need to push through. I needed to push through the 'disability' pain.

The World is fighting a 'pandemic'

Now the world is fighting a pandemic we should all individually and collectively work together, to push through it. There should be support, we should all want and work to the same end, so we limit its damage and continue to do 'what's right.' Where we're not doing that there will be discord and harmony, we can struggle and the virus will continue to grow.

Pushing through changes lives

Pushing through means challenges can be addressed, and attitudes can change. It also means a changed life through the other end with us becoming better people, but for that to happen, we need to address what we have and continue to work together.

In 10 years of writing on my blog, the political landscape has changed and it doesn't feel comfortable. I feel I am left with little choice but to write about what is happening and because I want to feel better.

The truth will always continue to exist

I am sorry these blogs don't make for comfortable reading, but the truth doesn't not exist because we don't talk about it. The truth is out there whether we accept it, or not. The political landscape has always been fraught with difficulties.

I shudder to think what may happen at the end of the year when Brexit is ‘done’ and our lives are changed completely. In my 57 years of life, I have never seen such incompetence.

Brexit

When all we can do is sit back and watch 'Brexit' pan out, made worse because of the pandemic, 4 years in and the ripple effect of everything it stands for, is clear.

the media talks about banks taking away credit cards for ex-pats living in Europe unless they still have residence in the UK. The Government promised that the £350M sent to the EU each week, would go back into the NHS and that is what the 2016 referendum vote was based on.

Their initial reasoning isn't matching up to what we’re seeing unfold and those in politics should backtrack on the new facts in front of us. All we can do is sit back and watch our lives being snatched away.

I hate the fact that Brexit is even a thing or the fact that I'm having to use my blog as a platform to talk about these things, but not talking about them simply creates more anxiety. Each blog I write, is based on our universal truths.

A non-caring country

Having to deal with Brexit around a pandemic, isn't going to end well and all we can do is sit back and watch. Politicians running the country care about themselves more than they care for people and won’t mediate with anyone.

Brexit issues

Jobs are being lost. Manufacturers, shops and offices are shedding jobs, smaller businesses are continuing to close; farmers are struggling to survive, to make ends meet. With an ever-shrinking economy, firmly set in recession and Brexit still looming, it's time the government put the brakes on. (https://www.independent.co.uk)

The UK should have back-tracked

Everything I have written here and the fact that the world is facing a pandemic at the same time is enough for politicians to backtrack. Where none of us can vouch for ignorance, or ego I shall continue to write about the things that affect us all.  All I can do is sow a seed for hope and positive change one blog at a time.

Something inspirational:

“Today and onwards, I stand proud, for the bridges I've climbed, for the battles I've won, and for the examples I've set, but most importantly, for the person I have become. I like who I am now, finally, at peace with me.”

HEATHER JAMES

“I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Not everyone wants to understand what we deal with or what we do, particularly if those don't concur with their own thinking, but if those are your own experiences, it important you learn how not to care so much about what others think, what's important is what you think.

When it comes to what you do, your passions are up to you. It’s not up to others to have an opinion, it’s for them to have their own opinions on what they want to do. When it comes to support, it should be unconditional, but it’s not how that works.

Whether you get the support or not, follow your instinct so you don't look back with regret for not using your gift. To know what could have been if you did what you wanted to do but didn’t. 'My story' worked out because I followed my instinct.

We should be happy for everyone, not just when things are working out for us, it’s not what the universe expects. The only expectations you should have are the ones you place on yourself.

But in any event, when others fail to support it says everything about them; whatever their reasoning for non-support, if you've played everything by the book and there is nothing you would change, it’s not about you.

If you fancy reading either of my books, you can grab paperback and Kindle copies on Amazon, or through the following link https://linktr.ee/Ilana_Estelle

A new study in the “HealthDay News” in January 2020, suggests those who deal with autism have shallower than normal brain waves which may play a role in serious sleep problems.

Previous research has shown that between 40% and 80% of children with autism have sleep issues, such as trouble falling asleep, waking frequently during the night and then waking up early.

Ben-Gurion University Research on Autism

According to researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, identifying the causes of these sleep disturbances is important in being able to find ways to ease them. Researchers recorded the brain activity of 29 children with autism and 23 children without autism throughout an entire night’s sleep.

Research recordings

According to the Study Leader, Ilan Dinstein, Head of the National Autism Research Centre of Israel found that children with more serious sleep issues showed brain activity that indicated more shallow and superficial sleep.

Normal sleep patterns start with periods of deep sleep marked by high amplitude slow brain waves, the study’s author explained in a university news release. This study found the brain waves of children with autism are on average 25% weaker and shallower than those of children without autism.

The Study Results

The study also showed that children with autism, had trouble in entering deep sleep, the most crucial part of achieving rest and rejuvenation, according to the report which was published recently in the journal ‘Sleep.’

The next step is to determine ways to promote deeper sleep and larger brain waves in children with autism, the researchers said. It could include increased physical activity, behavioural therapy and drug treatment, such as medical cannabis.

57 years in and I now have my answers.

Source: https://www.webmd.com

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