Welcome back to the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY PODCAST.  This is the third and final part of my very special ‘RELEASE & RECEIVE’ series. I’m really pleased to be gifting you with this three-part podcast series for you to listen to, in your own time and at your own pace.. Now, if you haven’t yet listened to the first two episodes, please go back and listen to them before listening to today’s episode…. It’s ok, I’ll wait!  This final part of the process is all about welcoming in 2023 and creating your vision for the next year. Some of us find this part very exciting. But for a lot of us, it can feel very daunting. There is so much noise around at this time of year about changing our habits, improving, growing, expanding, doing something new, being someone new. Perhaps you’ve gotten swept up in some of those messages yourself already.  The temptation can be to want, and need, to change absolutely everything, all at once. And whilst I appreciate the enthusiasm, this very often leads us to feel totally overwhelmed. We get so paralysed by everything that we need to do and so we end up doing nothing.  That’s really not what I want for you as we step into this new year, so before we go any further, please do approach this with lots of compassion for yourself. Transformation takes time and very often requires steady, grounded and consistent action.  As you start to dream up and imagine your new year ahead, remember to stay true to the deep yearnings, the whispers of your intuition and what it is that feels right to you, rather than being distracted by what you think you should be doing.  You’ll need your notepad and pen again, as we’ll work through another series of journal prompts to help you clear on what it is you want for this next year. We’ll explore what it is you really long for, what goals and intentions you wish to work towards, how you’d like to feel next year and what boundaries you desire to set for yourself in 2023.  In this episode, I’ll also guide you to set an affirmation for the new year and to decide on your ‘word’ for 2023. If you’re a client of mine, you’ll know how much I love a good morning practice, so I’ll guide you to create one of those for yourself as well.  The year ahead is yours to make of it based on what your heart really wants. And what is it your heart wants? Listen carefully to what it has to say. And then do that. However long it takes, whatever help you may need, promise yourself you will do it. And believe that you can. Then watch while the magic happens.  Thank you so much for listening to this series, and I hope you enjoyed it. I’d really love to hear from you and to know what you’re calling in for 2023. Sometimes sharing it can make it feel more real!! The TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast will be back again in 2023 with a brand new season. I very much look forward to sharing more with you in the months to come.  In the meantime, if you haven’t yet got a copy of my book, ‘Get Unstuck’, I think it could really help you as you step over the threshold into this new year. You can get your very own copy here: www.niamhennis.com/book. Happy New Year!  From my heart to yours,  Niamh xx

In this second instalment of my special three-part ‘Release and Receive’ series, I’m sharing with you my ‘Bridge Meditation’ which I wrote and recorded especially for this occasion.  Now, if you haven’t yet listened to last week’s episode on ‘RELEASING 2022’, please go back and listen to that and have your journal and pen at the ready. Your thoughts and reflections from the journaling prompts will inform how this week’s special episode resonates with you.  Once you’ve listened to episode one, you’re ready for the Bridge Meditation. And it is exactly as it sounds, it’s a bridge between this year and the next, a guided journey to help you release everything you’ve experienced in this year and to make space to receive the new year ahead.  It’s a beautiful practice, and I hope you’ll take the time to work through it at some point in this in-between space between 2022 and 2023. (and can always be listened to again and again) It’s a closed eye exercise, so please do listen to it in a safe and comfortable space. You’ll want to make yourself really comfortable as you work through it, perhaps you might like to light a candle and wrap yourself up in a favourite blanket.  I hope you enjoy the meditation and I’d love to hear how you get on with it. I’ll be back again on the 31st December with the final part in this series, ‘RECEIVING 2023’. You won’t want to miss it! Thanks for listening.  Until next time, much love, Niamh xx

Hello and welcome back to the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY Podcast. We’re back with a very special three-part series to finish out the year, which I’m so excited to share with you.  For the last couple of years, each December I’ve hosted my popular ‘Release and Receive’ online workshops, as a way of reviewing and letting go of the energy of the current year, so that we can create space for all that we desire and want in the year to land. Many of you have been asking if I am planning to run it again this year. Well, I really wanted to find a way to thank you, my community, for all the support you have given me throughout this past year and especially with the release of my debut book, ‘Get Unstuck’ (find out more here). I also know that there’s a lot going on for everyone right now, so this year, as a special gift from me to you, I’ve decided to release the workshop as a three-part podcast series. This way it can be accessible to as many people as possible right now, and you can listen to it at a time that best suits you.  In this first part of the series, we’ll be looking back on 2022. Before we can begin anything new, we must first acknowledge what has been and what has happened, both to us and for us. The pace of the world we live in, means that we often don’t allow ourselves the time to do this; the time to allow one chapter to properly come to an end, before we’re already racing off on to the next thing.  But, if we don’t make time to do this, our emotions and feelings can get caught up in a bottleneck, and that’s when overwhelm can kick in.  So, in this first episode of the series, we’ll begin by taking a good look back at the lessons we learned in 2022, so that we can know with certainty what we want to bring with us into the new year. We’ll take the time first to release all that has NOT served us in 2022 in order to make space for all the things that we want to carry over into 2023.  We’ll also acknowledge and identify what we really loved about 2022, what went well,  what we achieved, what we’re proud of. It’s important to get clear on this too, so that we can pack in our flight bag for 2023!  You’ll want to have a notebook and pen handy as you listen to this episode, as I’ll be guiding you through a series of journaling prompts to work through. And as this is a podcast, do feel free to hit pause as often as you need as you work through the questions. Are you ready? Then let's begin... Remember to be really kind and compassionate to yourself as you listen to the episode and consider your answers. Above all, please be honest with yourself – these answers are for your eyes and ears only, and there is absolutely nothing to be gained by pretending or shying away from the truth. Your honesty will help you identify what needs work and improvement, as well as what went well and what you’d like to keep doing. It is so important to get clarity on that for yourself as we head into the New Year.  Thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode and working through the journal prompts. A reminder that my debut book, Get Unstuck, is now available – it will make the perfect stocking filler for a loved one, or even as a treat to yourself. You can order a signed copy from my website here (purchase your copy here).  I’ll be back next week for part two of this special series, which will be a calming and grounding meditation.  Until next time, much love, Niamh xx

This week’s episode of the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast is the last episode in this current series, as I'll be taking a short break over the summer months. All the themes in this second series were requested by you and included topics such as procrastination, discovering your purpose and what it means when you see signs everywhere. This week’s episode is no different and focuses on picking yourself up after a crisis. We all know the feeling. You get knocked down. You cry. You feel the pain. You wallow. You get angry. You plot your revenge. You cry some more. You feel a bit better. You brush yourself down and off you go again. Until the next time. The biggest challenge though is in knowing just how long we will stay at each stage, and what it will leave us with when we emerge. What will we have learned? And will we be more likely to believe something happened to us rather than instead believing it may have happened for us?  Life can be special, joyful and beautiful, but it always has the potential to unexpectedly pull the rug from underneath us. Bad things happen to good people, and each of us will at some point experience loss, disappointment, adversity and hurt. But what makes the difference between someone who barely survives these challenges in life, and someone who meets these challenges head-on and is able to thrive and bloom? This podcast will answer that! In this episode, I share with you six things you can do to help yourself navigate through your next crisis. I also ask you to remember that, when you do emerge from a personal crisis, whilst you may be different and it may have changed you, this is what growing and evolving looks like. It’s when you stop trying to control life that you actually start living. I hope this episode is useful and helps you to be kinder to yourself when you're next faced with a crisis. While this may be all for this series, I might pop in with a bonus episode or two over the summer. And don't forget, there are plenty of past episodes available for you to listen to whenever you like.  As always, I love to hear from you - and if you have any topics you want me to cover in the next series, please do send them over to me.  Have a great summer & thanks for listening! From my grateful heart to yours. Niamh x

TOUGH LOVE ENERGY – SEASON 2 EPISODE 7 This week on the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast, I'm asking the question, why is it that so many of us are reluctant to tell people that we pray? Why do we feel we need to keep to ourselves that our own personal belief is that there is something bigger that just might be guiding us and helping us in life? Since I was very young, my faith has meant so much to me and is a big part of who I am. Yet the upheaval and damning negative press that religious institutions have quite rightly received in recent years, left me wondering where it was I fit in anymore. I've really struggled with just how to reconcile my need for connection to something bigger than myself with everything that was happening with the Catholic institution. Yet it's worth reminding ourselves that it's not all that long ago that meditation was considered 'new-age' and 'hippy', yet now it is an accepted and medically proven practice that we can all benefit from. Deepak Chopra addresses this so beautifully, when he says that 'prayer is for asking the questions and meditation is about listening for the answers'. Being religious and being spiritual are two very different things, and you must remember that you don't need to be religious to pray. When I realised that my faith didn't require an institution and that I could engage my spirituality without that religious practice, I began to feel a lot more liberated. In this episode I offer an answer to the question "so what is prayer?" To my mind, it is is a conversation you have with whoever, whatever you believe in. The chances are that you already pray quite regularly, you just may not recognise it as prayer. If you are struggling with your own beliefs, don't overthink it. Prayer is just another way of ensuring that you get that little bit of extra help that you need along the way.  When we pray, we simply hand over the desired outcome to something bigger than ourselves without feeling that we are burdening anyone.  I truly hope that this episode will resonate with many of you. I'd love to hear your thoughts and what prayer means to you. Until next time, with much love, Niamh x

This week on the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast, I’m talking all about moving the goalposts in our lives.  Do you find yourself pushing forward to get somewhere or achieve something only to get there and that feeling of satisfaction proves elusive?  My own coach pointed out to me recently that I have, in her words, ‘unrelenting standards’. Whilst I initially received this as a compliment, after sitting with it for a while, I realised that it should in fact be considered a flaw of mine.  I know that I expect a lot from myself. I have a tendency to push myself to get as much done as possible, and I’m motivated by trying to do better each time. I believe these are positive traits, and there’s nothing wrong with any of that. However, where it starts to become a problem is when I don’t give myself the time to celebrate or even recognise what I’ve done. My focus and attention are already on the next thing that needs doing.  The reality is that I’ve always been like this, but it really hit home a few months ago when I achieved what has been a childhood dream of mine. I share the full story with you in the episode – but essentially, this situation has made me realise that I never allow myself to feel like I have arrived.  To use a sporting analogy, I run up and down the pitch, shifting the goalposts ever so slightly each time I score a goal. And you know what? It’s incredibly exhausting. My feeling is that this week’s episode will resonate with many of you and I hope it inspires you to consider if, and where, this might be showing up for you in your own life. As always, I love to hear from you, so do let me know if it resonated.   And before you go, I wanted to remind you about my 5-week self-study course, The Change Accelerator, which is now open for enrollment. If you’re looking to make changes in your life, work or business, this programme will give you the tools to create change with increased confidence. Find out more here: https://www.niamhennis.com/accelerator Until next time, much love,  Niamh x

Have you discovered your purpose?  This week on the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast, I’m exploring the topic of purpose. Most people like the idea of pursuing their purpose, but they just have no clue where to start.  So, what does uncovering your purpose really mean? The actual dictionary definition of purpose is the reason that something exists. For some people, their purpose is deeply connected to their vocation and what they do. But it doesn’t have to be about that - it can really be, and  often is, something much simpler. My personal belief is that your purpose is that thing that creates real meaning in your life at any given time. Not only can it shape your goals and influence your behaviour, but it can also give you a deep understanding of who you really are.  In this episode, I share a little about my own experiences discovering my own purpose and the path that my purpose has ultimately led me on throughout my life. And because I want to make this as practical as possible for you, I’ll also share my three tips for finding and discovering your purpose for yourself. These three simple ideas will help to connect you with what you love doing, what others appreciate and value in you, and to discover how to find a deeper meaning within your own challenges and struggles.  Whilst the idea of purpose might seem a bit ‘fluffy’, I believe that living a meaningful, fulfilling life has a huge impact on your mental and physical health – and we can never underestimate that. I really hope that you find this episode helpful and that it inspires you to take some time to think more deeply about some of the things I cover here.  And if you’d like my support on your onwards journey towards uncovering your more meaningful life, my 5-week self-study course, The Change Accelerator, is open for enrolment now. If you’re looking to make changes in your life, work or business, this programme will give you the tools to create change with increased confidence. Find out more here: https://www.niamhennis.com/accelerator Enjoy your journey towards your purpose! Until next time, much love,  Niamh x

Welcome back to the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast. This week, I’m sharing a topic that I’ve been receiving a lot of requests about in recent weeks, and that’s procrastination.  In today’s episode, I consider the question of why some of us will do things today and others will always put them off until tomorrow.  From the offset, I want to say that I consider myself to be one of life’s doers. I’m definitely an action taker.  I like having a deadline and something to aim for. I also know that I like to do whatever it is I need to do well ahead of time. But, I have friends who are the complete opposite! And so, I know that for some people, the last-minute pressure of a deadline helps to drive and motivate them, and they work best that way.  Whether you thrive on getting things done last minute, or like to have it all sorted sooner, it's likely you've faced procrastination at some point and put off doing something because you simply don’t want to do it. What I want to focus on in this episode, are the reasons why we procrastinate in the first place. What is it that drives us to put things off, versus doing them right now?  First of all, let’s take a look at what procrastination means. Procrastination is the ultimate act of delaying or postponing a task or set of tasks. When people procrastinate, they are deferring or delaying priorities and instead choosing to focus on less important, more attractive or simpler duties. Procrastination can be considered as another form of self-sabotage. Your fear of failure, or being seen to fail, your concern of being judged or laughed at, your anxiety of not being good enough may all overpower your desire or need to get things done.  Despite what you might have been told in the past, procrastination is about more than just being lazy or unable to manage your time better, so you can stop feeling bad about your propensity to postpone or put things off! It’s a much more profound problem than we may realise – and yet, the good news is that you can definitely work on it and overcome these tendencies.  During the episode, we’ll explore the three main types of procrastinators that I’ve identified. Listen in and see which one you recognise yourself in the most. I’ll also share some of the reasons why people procrastinate. Some of the most common reasons are around low confidence or self-esteem, or a fear of failure. It’s important to remember that when we resist doing something, there is usually a pretty good reason, even if it doesn’t make any logical sense at first.  The key to overcoming procrastination begins with realising that you are doing it, and instead of beating yourself up about what is a very common problem, try and investigate more deeply just what’s causing it and where it began. When you understand the reasons behind your behaviour, you can have a much better chance of uncovering the right strategy to manage and overcome it. In this episode, I’ll also walk you through my four tips for overcoming procrastination. You’ll find here some strategies that will really help you to take action, and realise where your tendency to procrastinate may be coming from.  I hope that you find this episode useful and that it helps you to understand yourself and your tendencies around procrastination a little better. I’d love to hear from you and what resonated for you from today’s episode.  As I mention at the end of the episode, my brand-new self-study programme, The Change Accelerator, is now open for enrolment. If there’s something you’ve been wanting to change, this 5-week programme will help you to do just that, at your own pace. Find out more here: https://www.niamhennis.com/accelerator.  Until next time, much love,  Niamh x

Welcome back to the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast. In this week’s podcast we are exploring our friendships. The good ones and those we need to let go of! This is a hard topic because none of us ever want to contemplate having to let friendships go. It feels unkind and even cruel but the truth is often it can be the kindest thing we do for them and for us. In this episode I talk about what happens when we release the people pleaser in ourselves and do everything in our power to make ourselves indispensable to our friends, in the hope that they won’t leave us. I did this and it didn’t end well! Letting go of friendships is hard. At some point, you may feel that you and a friend just don't connect anymore, you might find that you have less in common or even feel that they're treating you differently and are taking from your life rather than adding to it. Similar to a romantic relationship, you may know that it’s no longer working for you, but when the time comes to end the friendship, to ‘break up’, it can be next to impossible to do. Why is that?  So, what does friendship really mean? I talk about what it means for  me, how I know what a true friendship looks like now and more importantly how it feels like. I resisted letting friends go until I realised it was actually quite healthy. People come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime we just need to get better knowing which is which. We also look at those friendships that are not good for us – the toxic ones – and how to recognise when they show up in your life. This is not an easy topic I get that. I still find it hard but I’ve recognised that by removing people who take from me all of the time I am creating space for those who know also how to give and that makes it something worth doing.   We crave connection and to build a network around us. We may have different groups of friends that serve different purposes and that can be a really positive thing to have, but the reality is that sometimes friendships can just change. In the long run, it's much better to cut ties, and to find people who truly appreciate and support you, as you are, right now.  To help I share with you my top five signs to watch out for that might indicate a friendship needs to be released. I’ll be interested to see which of these resonate with you. Our friendships should, by definition, make us feel better, but if you find that every time you've been with a certain friend, or friends, you feel worse afterward, then you really need to explore why this is happening. This episode I hope will inspire and encourage you to do just that. You can connect with me over on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/1niamhennis and over in my free Facebook community, The Changing Room, here: www.facebook.com/groups/thechangingroom1. And if you haven’t yet taken my free People Pleasing Quiz, you can do that here: https://www.niamhennis.com/quiz.  Until next time, much love,  Niamh x

Welcome back to the TOUGH LOVE ENERGY podcast.  In this week’s episode, I’m exploring something slightly different. As much as possible, I try to share practical tips and tools to help you around a particular topic, but this week, I wanted to share with you some more about the idea of ‘signs from the universe’, and what exactly it means when we see these signs around us.  Not that long ago, I was a little worried that I was becoming obsessed with seeing signs in just about everything, and so I put this question into Google to try and understand further - ‘What does it mean when you keep seeing signs?’  What came back was this: the describing of signs as ‘tricks of the mind’ and as ‘confirmation bias’. It went on to say, “we unconsciously seek such information out and then ascribe meaning to it, and that the real truth about seeing “signs” is that people often only look for them – or think they are seeing them – when they are uncertain.”  Whilst I didn’t agree with this entire definition, I would say that they were right about the confirmation bias. We can definitely interpret signs to mean whatever it is that we want them to mean. But, it also made me realise that my looking out for signs and the meaning I ascribe to them has, in reality, given me enormous comfort over the years. As someone who has experienced a number of close personal bereavements in my life, I remember searching for signs that the person I was grieving wasn’t totally gone. In the early days, when I wasn’t sure who it was that I should be grieving (having experienced multiple losses in short succession), seeking and finding signs gave me a great deal of reassurance.  Naysayers and sceptics will write off the idea of seeing signs as mere coincidence - and if that’s you, that’s totally okay. When it comes down to it, only you know if you’re open to the belief that the universe is sending you signs all the time.  During the episode, I explore some of the common signs that tend to show up for me, and others – such as dates of significance, repeated numbers and signs from the natural world. I also share an experience that happened to me recently, which felt very much written in the stars and that I just can’t explain away rationally.  Whether you’re a believer or not, signs can help us to make greater sense of the world around us, and find validation in our choices and decisions. I hope you enjoy the episode and that it gives you something to ponder over;  perhaps a new way of looking at the idea of signs and what they might mean to you.  As always, I love to hear from you so do share with me what you thought of this week’s episode. Does the idea of seeing signs resonate with you? Is there a particular sign that you keep finding or noticing?  You can connect with me over on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/1niamhennis and over in my free Facebook community, The Changing Room, here: www.facebook.com/groups/thechangingroom1. And if you haven’t yet taken my free People Pleasing Quiz, you can do that here: https://www.niamhennis.com/quiz.  Until next time, much love,  Niamh x