Lena Tolkien

24/02/2023

Exciting news!

We're doing an evening talk to help people both understand and learn ways to manage stress from several angles. That way you can get help to feel calmer, freer, and have more energy to do what you want to do.

Tickets are available on Eventbrite - search for "Stress less Live more".

Warm welcome Lena x

07/02/2023

20/12/2021

I'm taking a Christmas break now and wishing all of you a happy, healthy Christmas 😊
Lena🧡

07/12/2021

This is my mum putting the finishing touches to a pepparkaks (Swedish "gingerbread") house. It was a town competition and she won against the town architect 😊. ⁠
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To me, the build-up to Christmas brings back the smells of baking pepparkakor shaping them into hearts, pigs, Santas, elks, angels;⁠
the lit up windows in Swedish houses from all the advent candle holders in December; ⁠
of people I love, past and present. ⁠
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To me, in the middle of all the rush, it's also a soft, reflective period.⁠
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Maybe you'd like to join me in wrapping up in a throw, light candles, drink some Glögg (Swedish mulled wine full of cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, ginger and often some brandy - highly recommended 😀!) and consider who and what has shaped you in a way that you are pleased with?⁠
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Much love 🧡⁠
Lena⁠
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PS What you are pleased with often comes from how you have managed and grown from situations; not just the lovely things.⁠
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05/07/2021

🌻I'm taking a break over the summer and will be back in early September🌻

I will use the time to plan, prioritise, and of course have some time off to take care of myself and the people I love.

If you want to read anything from me, I'll be posting blogs on my website and also a bit on LinkedIn (where I'm most active).

Wishing you a wonderful summer and that you too will have some time to regroup and reenergise yourself 😊.

Much love
Lena 💛

29/06/2021

💛 I believe love is something you do 💛

It's active and thoughtful, more than something you just feel or that happens to you.

Loving makes you feel good and that affects how you turn up towards others. It really does change the world!

Loving can be big gestures but mainly it's the smaller, everyday acts done consistently that count.

It can be to talk kindly to yourself in a difficult situation, telling a friend something you appreciate about them, cook something with the conscious intention of making somebody (incl yourself) pleased, taking care of yourself with a walk, give a family member a hug.

I'd love you to heart this post if you agree - it would help this post reach more people and hopefully act as a small reminder to those people to think about how to show even more love for themselves and others 🙂.

Much love
Lena 💛

28/06/2021

Your brain is not hardwired. It is livewired.

The neurons in your brain connect in a new way with every new thought you have. Your brain is not a machine; it's a living, constantly reorganising organ.

Think of what you want more of in your life, and you will wire your brain for that more alive version of yourself.

Solution Focused therapy and SF Hypnotherapy focuses on helping you find more of yourself, live with more joy and trust in yourself, faster and more easily.

Lena💛

PS I have a free relaxation download on my homepage (URL on picture and bio) if you'd like to feel lighter and more positive now.

25/06/2021

🌼Happy Midsummer 🌼

The Swedish Midsummer is a celebration of all things growing, fertility and the magic of the shortest night of the year (sort of - it's on the Friday after the Summer Solstice).

Midsummer is as big a celebration as New Years Eve in Sweden and we eat, drink, dance around Maypole and celebrate long into the non-existant night.

If you want to see something amusing, look up the traditional dance "Små grodorna" 🤣

I wish you all a wonderfully happy midsummer 🧡
Lena 💛

23/06/2021

I got this lovely text from a client the other day 😊
It always makes me so happy when my clients manage better in a way that suits them 😊

Lena💛

21/06/2021

I went to a bbq the other Saturday with a some of my best friends 😊 .

We all brought different dishes - my friends are good cooks! Eastern rice, tabouleh, warm carrot salad with feta, walnuts and dates, potato salad with herbs in dressing...

It's the first time since lockdown I've met with them as a group and it really hit me how much we all need each other to feel happier, safer, stronger.

Not a very ground breaking thought but do we actually prioritise enough being with people who lift us up, inspire us, help us be more of who we truly are? How much do we prioritise doing the same for them?

I'm going to schedule my diary now with what's important for me to get done this week. In that I've included seeing friends and going for walks.
What are you going to put in your diary 😀?

Much love
Lena 💛

18/06/2021

Life happens, sometimes wonderfully and sometimes in more difficult ways.

What you tell yourself about those events will shape if you grow or if you feel out of control. One way to do this can be to look back at something difficult and ask yourself: how did you manage to handle it?

Lena 💛

17/06/2021

Do you feel stuck?

You don't need to have it all figured out; you just need to start - one tiny step at a time. Small but consistent changes lead to big shifts after a while.

Pretend you intended to fly a plane from London to Sydney and took off just one degree from your planned route - you'd end up way past Canberra instead!

What's the smallest step you can take to just get moving?
If you imagine moving towards your hopes - what would you notice?
What would other people notice about you?
What of that is already present in your life?

Your confidence in your own abilities will increase with each small action you take. Your trust in yourself will build stronger and stronger with each step you take.

Lena 💛

You can read more in my blogs "Why choose Solution Focused Brief therapy to relieve stress & anxiety?" and "What has hypnosis got to do with resilience?" - both on my website under blogs (URL on picture).

14/06/2021

Do you think it's too late to start a new career or get a new job? That you can't change the way you are? Maybe that you're too old to date again?

A lot of what we think is subconscious. We categorise, have biases and beliefs.

For the most part, this is enormously helpful. We just wouldn't manage all the information we come across every day otherwise.

But sometimes, we also learn things that hold us back. We all have some limiting beliefs, big and small.

A limiting belief is simply a thought that we have thought many times. So many times it's become subconscious and an automatic response when you meet certain stimuli.

At some point, it was useful so you did it again, or you learnt it through your parents or through society.

The important bit is that it is learnt. And what is learnt, can be unlearnt.

It's not a fact, it's not hardwired, and it's not The Truth.

It is a way of saving time and brain effort so we don't become overwhelmed. So how can you change a belief that is subconscious?

Question yourself, are there times when this does not happen? When things go the way I want?

You may feel resistance to doing this. We don't like to be wrong and it takes a lot of effort to come up with something new. We evolved to conserve energy and thinking takes a lot of energy.

Because you can choose what you think, you can decide on purpose to choose more useful thoughts. Think them often enough, or with enough conviction and they will be your new beliefs.

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy specialises in helping people think in ways that support them. For more information, look in the bio😀

Lena 💛

09/06/2021

How often do you ask yourself what you really want?
Not what you don't want. Not how to solve an issue. Not for something else to change.

It's much easier to reach your destination, when you focus on where you want to go instead of where you don't want to go.

I'd love to hear of any of your dreams or aspirations, if you'd like to share. Big or small, doesn't matter. What's important is to think of what you want.

This is one way Solution Focused Hypnotherapy works. I've got a free relaxation download if you'd like to try. You can access it from my website's homepage 😀.

Lena 💛