Do you want to make the same health mistakes this year for Christmas or do things a little differently?

One of the main elements of my 3 month "Back to You" nutrition programme is that I focus on the idea of stopping, listening and taking time out.

I find that one of the main benefits of this is that when we actually take time to stop and be still, there is a wealth of information and knowledge available at our finger tips. We break the pattern of go, go, go and as we breath and reflect, we can start seeing the wood from the trees.

We are entering a busy time of the year, for some of us it will be manic. For some, we will continue a pattern that started, who knows when, and we will replicate it again this year. We will let go, feel an overwhelming desire to overindulge, put on weight and not feel great about ourselves as we come up with a long list of health resolutions in January.

Whatever pattern you find yourself in this Christmas, I'd ask you to gently reflect on it over the next week or so. Did you enjoy yourself last year and do you want to replicate that again this year? Were there things that didn't go great last year and you want to avoid those situations again? Whether you are thinking about your behaviours, relationships, conversations or habits, gently probe and think about how you could react differently this year.

Because the way things are or will be, are not necessarily the way things have to be.