All-Spark Hypnotherapy

13/01/2026

12/01/2026

Back on Track

09/01/2026

Day 5 is all about supporting the Sabres being a positive thing

06/01/2026

🧣 What Day Is It?
As we find ourselves in what’s traditionally the coldest time of the year, today’s National Day feels particularly well timed — it’s National Cuddle-Up Day.

The perfect excuse to snuggle up with a loved one or a pet, wrap yourself in a warm blanket, grab a hot drink of your choice, and settle in with a good book or a comforting film. If you’ve got a crackling fireplace to complete the scene, even better.

Now, this might sound like just a cosy way to spend an evening… but there’s some solid science behind why cuddling up is genuinely good for us.

🧠 The brain science bit
Cuddling, hugging, and close physical contact trigger the release of oxytocin — often called the cuddle hormone. Oxytocin plays a key role in bonding, trust, and emotional safety. It helps reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels, can ease anxiety, and promotes feelings of calm, connection, and wellbeing.

That warm, relaxed, slightly sleepy feeling you get when you’re snuggled up with someone (or something furry)? That’s your nervous system shifting out of stress mode and into rest-and-repair. Even cuddling a pet, hugging a pillow, or wrapping yourself tightly in a blanket can activate similar soothing responses.

So while it might look like you’re “doing nothing,” your brain and body are actually working hard to rebalance and recharge.

✨ So here’s today’s gentle challenge:
Celebrate National Cuddle-Up Day by going full-on Hygge this evening.
Slow down. Get cosy. Share a hug — with a partner, a pet, or even yourself. Pair it with warmth, comfort, and a little intentional self-care.

Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do… is curl up and be kind to yourself.

05/01/2026

What’s Been Good?
Christmas, Twixtmas, and New Year are a strange time when it comes to food.

Normally I’m pretty organised—meal plans, cooking from scratch, eating well (snacks aside). But over the holidays? That all goes out the window. Meals get indulgent, snacks are consumed with enthusiasm, far too much bread is devoured, and the fridge becomes a chaotic battleground of leftovers and forgotten ingredients.

With the decorations coming down yesterday, the intention was to return to normal as from today.
However, while sorting the fridge, planning meals, and getting the shopping list together during yesterday afternoon, I uncovered a hidden treasure: some black pudding, lurking at the back and nearing the end of its use-by date.

Somewhere in the darker recesses of my memory, I recalled a Nigella recipe for beef and black pudding meatballs. I tweaked it slightly (changed the herb profile and used a pork and beef mince) but the spirit remained the same.
And honestly? If I do say so myself, it was fantastic.

Kirsten loved it. Familiar meatball comfort, but with a deeper, richer, earthier flavour from the black pudding. Add a rich tomato marinara,and dinner turned into an unexpected little win. Proof that good things can still come out of a chaotic fridge.

Today though, it’s back to routine.
🥣 Breakfast: yoghurt, fruit, and granola
🍤 Lunch: prawns with a yuzu, chilli, and smoked paprika mayonnaise, plus lettuce, pea shoots, spring onion, radishes, and capsicum
🍗 Dinner: chicken thighs with sushi rice, edamame, and a coconut-based, Japanese-inspired curry sauce

A nice balance. One last festive flourish followed by a return to normality. And that feels very good indeed.

25/11/2025

What’s Been Good?
I feel like I’m repeating myself from a month ago: after a period of being completely derailed by a horrendous bad back, I’m… back at my desk again. Though much delayed from expectation as life decided to throw in a few extra curveballs after that (thinking we were losing Vimto, my 19 year old doggo, as well as another health issue), which meant my social media basically fell into a coma.
So here we go.
Let’s try again.
I’m back.

What’s encouraging, though, is that earlier this year I finally proved to myself that I can maintain a regular posting schedule. For the first time ever, I was consistent—5 or more posts every week across this page and for four and a half months. Even September, with all its chaos, saw 20 posts.

So no promises—just a goal:
3 or more posts this week, and 3 or more next week.
Small, attainable, doable.

And that’s important. Lofty goals may sound inspiring, but they’re far more likely to overwhelm the brain. When we set big goals and fail, the primitive brain fires up—stress, guilt, avoidance. Serotonin dips and motivation tanks.

But small goals? Achievable ones? Each success gives us a little serotonin lift—a “well done” from the brain—which strengthens confidence, consistency, and resilience. Tiny wins compound. We build momentum, not pressure. This is how habits return, and how they stick.

To help me stay on track, I’ve sat Polar Star on my keyboard as an accountability buddy. Guess tomorrow I’d better do a “Where’s Polar Star?” post to show him supervising.

And the picture for this post? Absolutely nothing to do with any of the above. It’s just a few cool things I’ve managed despite the health nonsense:
🎬 Watching Act Two of the Wicked movie
📚 Returning to Stephen King with the 50th anniversary edition of Carrie (which I first read back in ’79!)
🏒 Watching the Sabres finally break out of their recent funk

So yes—What’s Been Good is simply being here, at my desk, trying again.

30/10/2025

What’s Been Good?
Over the years I’ve had a very on-again/off-again relationship with wrestling. As a kid I went to live shows all the time… then “grew out of it”… returning in my mid-20s as the Monday Night Wars (WWF vs WCW) rekindled the spark. Then life changed, work changed, and wrestling slipped away again.

In 2009 I discovered Chikara Wrestling, a little promotion from Pennsylvania, and it reminded me of everything I loved as a kid: fun, colourful, pantomime-style characters, comedy mixed with genuine skill, good guys vs bad guys, totally family friendly, ridiculousness cranked to the max.

From there I dipped into the UK scene between 2011 and 2018, but then I stopped going to live shows and shifted to US indies on IWTV, especially Uncharted Territory until January 6th 2022, when Beyond launched Wrestling Open.

Wrestling Open built new stars, mixed them with established talent, and focused on narrative without turning into a soap opera. The wrestling-to-story ratio is spot on.
And from a mental-health perspective, this actually matters: regular, enjoyable routines give the brain predictability and comfort. Knowing that every week I can sit down, unwind, and enjoy something familiar releases serotonin and lowers stress. Following long-term stories and characters also activates the brain’s reward system - those little dopamine hits that come from progress, payoffs, and “what happens next? Plus I get to boo and from home

So What’s Been Good?
Tonight, Wrestling Open reaches its 200th show.
For a small company, that’s huge. Even more impressive: they’ve run two weekly shows (adding Wrestling Open Rhode Island) for the last 30 weeks.

Since October 2nd I’ve been playing catch-up, 59 episodes in 29 days. Now I have just one episode left, perfectly timed for tonight’s #200

So congratulations to Beyond Wrestling… and to me, for finally being up to date and able to watch like a normal fan. Just a few hours a week, without a marathon!

22/10/2025

What’s Been Good?
Do you ever get those days when you just want comfort food—but without spending hours in the kitchen?

Despite loving the creativity of cooking, tonight I didn’t have the brainpower to whip up anything complicated. I’d been a bit stressed earlier in the day, worrying about our young rescue dog, Rufus, going to the vet for the first time since joining the family.

Given his difficult start in life, I was worried the new environment might overwhelm him. But I needn’t have. He was a total star, managing to stay calm, friendly, and he didn’t even flinch when he had his injection. 🐾

Still, the concern for his mindset definitely affected mine. So when it came to dinner, I went for maximum taste with minimum effort:
🍗 Cumin & Tamarind Chicken
🍚 Jeera Rice
🥕 Smoked Paprika Fried Veg

Simple, quick, and unbelievably satisfying. Jeera rice, in particular, is one of my ultimate comfort foods. The subtle flavour of the rice with those pops of toasted cumin seed is pure joy. And the chicken? Easy as it gets: plain yogurt, tamarind paste, tomato purée, cumin, salt, paprika—mix, marinate 20 minutes, pop in the air fryer. Done.

Taking the thought out of what to make gave me a chance to unwind, enjoy the meal, and reflect on how proud I am of Rufus for how far he’s come already.

So yes, this dinner might not win awards for originality, but it definitely earns its place as What’s Been Good.

What about you? What’s your go-to dish when you want big flavour, minimal effort? 👇