Breathe

Breathe Issue 22

A life story can be many things – a tale of unwavering self-belief and an eagerness to tackle fresh challenges regardless of others’ perceptions; a narrative choked by self-doubt, opportunities missed; a chronicle where self-belief is ever-shifting, sometimes towering above the rooftops, occasionally disintegrating in the basement, but mostly at street level, with chances taken …

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Just the way you are

How do you think and feel about your body? This year, Mental Health Awareness Week (13–19th May) focuses on a theme that affects (or has affected) most people at some point in their life: how they see themselves when they look in the mirror. Body image issues are a common problem in a society that …

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Breathe Issue 21

Breathe Issue 21

‘Did I do okay?’, ‘Did I say the right thing?’, ‘Did I seem professional?’. Questions, questions, questions – all hinting at self-doubt, all suggestive of a desire for reassurance and a need for external validation. And all common parlance in the workplace, which, when you think about it, is natural. There can’t be many people, …

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Breathe Issue 20

Breathe Issue 20

Solitary. In Western society, it feels a loaded word, pejorative even. In fiction, the image of a solitary house, be it on the moors, in a glen or sitting atop a cliff often provides the doorway to a wretched history and inhabitants who led the most miserable lives. Similarly, a person who stands, sits or …

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Top 5 Women Ahead of their Time

Today is International Women’s Day, so let’s celebrate women’s achievements by better understanding how they changed the world. Brave and bold women have played a part in changing history for the women who came after them, and today, they are the reason young women can dream big and feel able to follow those dreams. Teen …

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Breathe Issue 19

Breathe Issue 19

‘Do what you want to do.’ On the face of it, it seems a benign (if overused) statement. But what if what you really want to do challenges or goes against society’s norms? In this case, ‘Do what you want to do’ can suddenly feel contentious, complicated and even fraught with difficulty. It doesn’t matter …

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Breathe Issue 18

Breathe Issue 18

Get out more, set ambitious intentions, ditch the morning muffin – advice (wanted or otherwise) comes thick and fast at the start of a New Year. But who really needs to be told what to do (at any time), especially when the person who knows what’s best for you is, well, you? It might not …

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Breathe magazine own your goals

Own your goals

At the turn of a new year, reflection often brings a raft of resolutions. It’s the perfect time for fresh starts, sowing the seeds to different habits and positive changes. No matter how much planning you do, however, daily tasks can take priority ahead of seemingly inessential goals. Instead, these get sidelined, lost in a …

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Breathe magazine self-acceptance

Embrace the whole idea…

What is self-acceptance, anyway? I see it as being as honest as you can with yourself. It is the ability to take a long, hard look at yourself and see the original truth of who you are, as opposed to those self-judgements that you’ve learned from others, be they parents, siblings, friends or peers. If …

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Breathe Issue 17

It’s good to talk, isn’t it? Well (mostly), yes. But, sometimes, no. And not always because it’s unwanted, but because no one’s listening – not in a way that’s attentive and mindful anyway. And not in a way that will help to ease worries, solve problems or uncover positive strategies to cope with life’s bolt-out-of-the-blue …

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