THE SECOND SET OF BOOKS AND COURSES THAT HAVE HELPED ME ON MY JOURNEY Continuing where I left off in the last post in this blog series, Books and Course 1 , here are more books that have helped me along my healing journey. Hopefully, it will prove helpful to anyone else who is in need of some physical, emotional and/or spiritual healing. As before, I will continue to add to this list gradually, and new entries will appear at the bottom of the post, so scroll down if you're returning to this post and go directly to where you left off. You can also see a list of all the books that will eventually be mentioned in these blog posts by clicking on the button below.

WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS At the end of February and early March, Bob and I were away in Norfolk for my birthday and had a wonderful trip. Plus, what a lovely birthday treat I had with both calendars produced by the Sussex Wildlife Trust showcasing two of my photos in the month of March! (Though rather disappointingly, they incorrectly attributed the one of the Common Seal to someone else). On the inside cover of the Rye Harbour calendar they also used my photo of mating Migrant Hawker dragonflies. This is a first for me, so I was thrilled they've used some of my photos.

Winter is an excellent time to visit the north Norfolk coast, in terms of wildlife opportunities. It seemed the perfect area for my partner, Bob, and I to explore for our most recent holiday, which was for my birthday. It's a place we're both very fond of and yet we'd not been there together before, so it was lovely to return together and share some fabulous new wildlife experiences. We'd booked a lovely cottage in Morston for one week, but as usual, we made the journey there part of our adventure. We had an overnight stop in Lowestoft on our way north, which allowed us to visit RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk before heading to Norfolk. We had two great days before we'd even reached our accommodation for the week. In the weeks leading up to our trip, the weather was either wet, dull or windy, or all three! We didn't have high hopes for how many dry or sunny days we'd have for our trip, so I packed a few books, just in case! That also meant we'd packed all the necessary waterproofs and wellies, ready for anything. As it turned out, we had a really glorious week of lovely sunny, dry weather. What luck! Our previous visits to Minsmere have always been great and this was no different. We were really hoping to see some Woodcock, without spooking them and having the usual rear view as one rapidly flies away. I've only ever seen them a couple of time before, so I was eager for my first good view of one. Perhaps it was fitting, therefore, that I was the one that spotted one, at the precise moment Bob was saying, 'We probably won't find any!'

THE FIRST SET OF BOOKS AND COURSES THAT HAVE HELPED ME ON MY JOURNEY I began this blog series, Living My The Best Life Possible , back in 2022 after a series of events, and a couple of chronic injuries, quite literally stopped me in my tracks. Having followed conventional approaches to try and turn things around, but to no avail, I felt compelled to seek out help from alternative approaches. I opened my mind to the possibility they could help me, taking a more holistic approach to my healing. Along my journey, I've done some serious soul searching, dug deep to uncover suppressed and hidden trauma, and held a mirror up to myself, realising there were things I needed to let go of and much I needed to change. It's been uncomfortable at times and emotional, but completely worthwhile, as I've worked through things and persevered. Awareness was key . From that I had the power to change my thought patterns and my view of the world. I know all my relationships are better for it, including the one I have with myself, and I wouldn't be where I am today without what I've learned. I've discovered there are many different ways to heal and I've been amazed by what I've learned. It's been surprising, uplifting and most of all, empowering. Along this journey I've been led from one book to another, then another, and on it goes. Sometimes the books have been recommended to me by family, friends or health practitioners, other times they've merely been mentioned in passing or in another book, and I've felt as though it was something that could help me further my knowledge and understanding. In many ways, they were like signs guiding me along at just the right moment when I needed them. My curiosity to learn more has led to a voracious appetite to read, which I've never experienced before. I love it! I feel like I'm on a fast train to somewhere, but the landscape out of the window isn't a blur as I whizz by, metaphorically speaking, but a glorious view of the world around me, simply seen from a new perspective. There is still much I wish to share in this blog series about my experience, in the hope it helps others and not just myself. But, it will take time to write it all whilst I'm still working. So, in the meantime, I decided to share some of the most significant books that have helped me along the way. It isn't the full list, by any means. For now, I'm only including a summary and snapshot of the significance to me, but hopefully this will be interesting and/or useful. Perhaps one of them will grab your attention and be something you might wish to read to help you on your own unique journey. You can see a list of all the books that will eventually be mentioned in this blog series by clicking on the button below. However, I'm going to split them over two or three posts, so each one doesn't get too long!

WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Bob and I have visited West Rise Marsh a few times this month to look for Jack Snipe, but sadly without much success. We did see one, we think, on one visit, but it flew off before we set eyes on it. It's much the same with the Common Snipe, which as their name suggests, we see more of, but they're super skittish and fly off well before we're even close to where they're hiding, around the boggy wet marshes. With so many wet, windy and dull days, plus the fact I still have to go to work, I was starting to wonder if my February Highlights would be virtually non existent, so I was content with photographing and observing a Heron, standing in the water. They can stand motionless for ages, and move very slowly, stealth-like through the water to new areas. Unfortunately, I was just moving into a new position, when it actually caught a fish. I missed capturing that moment when its head quickly and unexpectedly darted downwards and snatched its prey from the water. But, you can see the Heron in mid-gulp (first photo).