I have read some recent scientific research that suggests that consciousness emerges from the brain and the body acting together and that the heart plays a particularly significant role in the process. What that suggests to me is that we need to nurture both. Which brings me round to one of my favourite questions “What Makes Your Heart Sing?” If you ask yourself that question you can’t help but take yourself into your heart and away from your brain. Try it!

I was in supervision the other day and this question came up as we reflected on why it seemed so difficult for women to find time for coaching even though they want it. And of course it is! So many women are looking after their families, running homes and a full time career and there is a great tendency to put their needs after everyone else’s. But what about the air stewardesses who ask that parents give themselves oxygen before their children so that they are able to look after them in the event of an emergency? I think I’m talking about the same thing here. If women would only attend to themselves and their own needs not only is there untold benefit to the woman but the rest of the family gain too.

However I realize that to find that time may require superhuman effort. But I encourage you to take a few minutes and listen to your heart. What has made it sing today? And then think about what would help you have more of that; maybe attending a women’s workshop or some life coaching?

“Connect” is one of the five ways to wellbeing identified by the New Economics Foundation that we can build into our daily lives to improve and maintain wellbeing. There are many ways we have lost the readiness to connect with the break up of extended families, the advent of technology which makes the diminishes the need to be or speak with people. But we are social animals and our wellbeing depends on it.

I know that when the day started my spirits were low for various reasons and I went out networking and met some lovely people and was lifted by that. But I know that I could easily have chosen not to go. And many women I speak to on a daily basis tell of the isolation they have felt when suffering from a mental health problem such as postnatal depression. They know it is of their own doing when they put on the pretence of everything being ok because they fear the stigma of being labeled as having a mental illness. Lack of connection is both cause and effect of mental illness.

Today’s connections have led not only to a rise in my spirits but to new business opportunities up here in Cheshire; developing a women’s workshop with Diva Dressing for This Lady Loves and a wellbeing workshop with Rise and Shine for Essence of Life UK and connections have led to the offer of an interview for a national paper and the opportunity to be involved in a new charity. And I feel excited and energized.

So if you could do one thing today to ensure you connect with someone who would it be? Get up from behind the computer and make a real quality connection with someone. Invest the time in developing new and existing relationships on a daily basis and see how you feel.

I’ve written about postnatal depression before and I’ve no doubt that I will again. I delivered another workshop this week down in Croydon, quite a journey from Chester! But well worth it to deliver training to people as passionate about making a difference as Elaine Hanzak (www.hanzak.com) and I both are. It was really well received. Whenever we do this I am struck by the hidden nature of this condition. Women feel guilty about feeling so bad, fear they will be judged and at worst have their baby taken away.

Now fears are being expressed in research carried out by the charity 4children, Netmums and The Community Practitioner and Health Visitors association that parents will be less able to access support from Childrens’ Centres due to government cutbacks. It also seems that the decline in health visitor numbers means that they are less able to do this very important work. Research has shown that a series of listening visits by health visitors can make a real difference to women with mild to moderate depression.

In terms of providing support for women any cutbacks are most likely to affect middle class mothers. But there exists a myth that if you live in a nice house, you are happily married and have a fantastic career, postnatal depression will not happen to you .. you’re not the type. But it can happen to anyone and every woman deserves help and support to get through this very difficult time. I have heard Elaine use the word “hell” to describe her experience of puerperal psychosis, the most severe form of postnatal depression. At best a woman can feel very isolated and lacking in confidence. At worst it can lead a woman to take her own life and in fact suicide is the highest cause of maternal death.

Most of us know that the impact of this condition is felt by the whole family and indeed the impact on the baby can be serious. As well if left untreated it can lead to further depressive episodes in later life. And now as I write my book and reflect on my life I firmly believe that is what happened to me. I am now well but the impact lasted 20 years. I know that I can help women particularly women here in Cheshire, Wirral and North Wales but that is only a tiny part of the answer. Is postnatal depression, despite everything that is known about its effects, going to get swept back under the carpet because of government cutbacks?