"If the thoughts that I'm thinking aren't me, then who is me?"

It's the end of February 2018 and I have to say that I'm ever so pleased. No. Really.

It's been a difficult month, I'm not gonna lie. I've felt hugely over-stretched and exhausted for much of it but I'm pleased to say that I've started to feel a tiny bit brighter now, especially with the return of the slightly lighter evenings.

I realised after I had posted my January video that I had wanted to call this series untangled but for some reason I forgot this decision right at the pertinent time. This month I've rectified the situation and I'm pleased to do so because untangling myself has been a bit of a theme lately and the word means a great deal to me, especially in the context of what I do for a living. I'll be talking more about this soon.

Doing

Birth Chart - you can create your very own birth chart here, making sure that you know the exact time of your birth. When you arrive at astro.com click on Free Horoscopes and then Natal Chart Ascendant (sounds very posh), then click the guest section and it will take you to a series of questions about where and when you were born. Complete the questions, hit continue and you will be the proud owner of your own birth chart (I love it).

I have the book The Signs by Carolyne Faulkner to help me decode my birth chart, it's a really great astrology book, although not as great as the ever special Sun Signs by Linda Goodman, but you can find out what the planetary placements in your birth chart mean at astro.com too.

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach is one of my most favourite books and I refer to it, and Sarah's wise words, almost daily.

February arrives cold, wet and gray, her gifts disguised for only the most discerning spirits to see. Gentle is our path. Gratitude is the thread we weave into the fabric of our daily lives this month, giving thanks for our simply abundant lives and asking for the gift of one thing more: grateful hearts.

For February 5th she quotes from a William Wordsworth poem that really struck a chord, because if William was talking about this stuff in 1802 what would he think of us now?!

The World Is Too Much With Us ~ William Wordsworth

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

Reading

I've been doing a lot of reading this month, my favourite book by far is The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. I like the depth of his message but also the simplicity with which he delivers it and as such I read it in a day and plan on going back through it and highlighting all my favourite bits (total geek)!

It's very similar in message to A Course in Miracles which is another one of those books that sits by the side of my bed and gets dipped in to fairly often.

I also read and really enjoyed The Witch Finder's Sister by Beth Underdown. I found it utterly compelling, terribly sad and a touch spooky and unreal - a perfect read.

I didn't really enjoy Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor although it was one of those book that I felt I should have liked because it has a lot of nature references in it. It won the Costa Novel Award last year so I was hoping for good things but he never stayed with a character long enough for me to fall in love with them and so I quickly lost interest.

Watching

Mum on BBC2 with Lesley Manville. Series 2 is on right now but I highly recommend you watch Series 1 on the iPlayer first, I think you might like it as much as me (I hope so, fingers crossed, let me know).

Eating

We eat out at Zizzi quite a lot because they have a great vegan menu (with fake cheese pizzas and everything) and this month I tried to recreate their amazing vegan lentil ragu with a fair amount of success, I amazed even myself!

Green Lentil Ragu

You will need:

1 cup of dried green lentils
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic sliced or crushed
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp dried oregano or thyme
2tsp vegetable bouillon powder or similar, I use this Marigold one
Salt and pepper to taste

About an hour before you want to start making the dish, wash your lentils, put them in a pan with lots of cold water and boil for half an hour, then simmer for another half an hour. When cooked, drain and leave to one side.

Lightly heat the onion and garlic in a pan with the olive oil and when soft add the cooked green lentils, the chopped tomatoes and the herbs. Cook for a further 15-20 minutes and you have yourself an amazing vegan dinner, just add spaghetti.

Giving

I donated some toiletries to the amazing Beauty Bank, an idea from Sali Hughes and Jo Jones to provide homeless people with basic hygiene items such as tampons, shampoo and deodorant. There is a great article about the Beauty Banks here with all the details on how to donate. The amazing thing is you can donate directly through amazon (or boots and superdrug) and they will deliver straight to the girls, genius and wonderful and I love this idea an awful lot, I hope it gets bigger and bigger.

Buying

Merkababox - I renewed my subscription for another three months with Merkababox because I really (really) flaming love them.

I think that's all I talked about, I hope that you have had a great month, surely yours has been better than mine, and I bet you're all looking forward to March already as much as me.

If you want to watch the video you can do so by joining the Patreon community here.

february, untangled | 2018