8. Dr Rangan Chatterjee & the Four Pillars

In my last blog I told you how I was helped immensely by P3, an amazing charity, it was Sian who lent me her copy of ‘the 4 pillars’ by Dr Rangan Chatterjee. I thought i’d try as i once read a book by Alan Carr (not the comedian!) on how to give up smoking, i read it with an open mind, not because i ‘had to’ or because the doctor said ‘i have to’ it was because i wanted to quit smoking. I read it and did what he said in the book, took in and believed what he was telling me and on the 2nd February 2004 i finished the book and smoked my last cigarette (not had even a puff since!) because of the succesful nature of the book i thought i would try reading Dr Chatterjee’s Four Pillars book and understand what makes us tick.

The Four Pillars are 1. Eating, 2. Movement, 3. Relax, 4. Sleep

I read the book within the week and was so impressed i wanted to put everything into practice straight away, anyone that has tried to keep to a New Year Resolution will realise how hard it is to change large parts of your life and stick to it.

I went back to the book and picked on small changes to do one at a time. I did 3 weeks without any alcohol at all which is quite good for me, i tried eating healthier which is going ok. Sian & Sarah then mentioned that he had a weekly podcast out and it would be worth a listen. My OCD kicked in and i had to download them from number one, luckily they were still available 🙂

I’ve become rather addicted to them now as i seem to be learning more and more, he has a guest each week that excels in different parts of science, they put things across in plain, understandable English which makes it easier to follow and live by.

There’s been some very interesting ones that i will be trying soon. One of the best i have listened to was from the founder of the meditation app ‘Calm’ i have been trying to do at least 15 minutes every day, when i miss one i do spend a lot of the day regretting it, when i do meditate in the morning i seem to be clearer in my thoughts, these thoughts are what led me to writing a blog, i felt my brain was storing more and more shit thoughts and stagnating, i kept thinking more and more towards further education but was struggling for time, writing a blog seemed to give me something to think about.

One of my proudest moments was when Sarah at P3 got in touch to say that her boss had read them and wanted to see if they could use them in their internal blog for P3 staff, not bad for someone that has never blogged before! It has given me a new lease of life.

My next one is going to be about the most important thing in my life, my wife, and what she has had to put up with, as L’Oreal once said ‘because i’m worth it’