The Benefits of Audiobooks – Let’s be Practical

Benefits of Audiobooks

I used to be an avid reader many years ago, especially before kids! Now I have 4 adorable children with one of those darlings now an adult. If any of you have children you might relate to how challenging it is to get the chance to read. Especially by the time it’s bedtime, Some of us don’t have the energy to stay awake reading. Daytime is spent running around doing errands, housework or working which takes away precious reading time. Plus, when I find a good book, it’s hard to put down so can spend too much time reading instead of ticking off my to-do list. Over the years, I’ve really missed not being able to read books. Until now. I’ve discovered audiobooks perhaps later than others, but I am glad I finally have. Books are now on AUDIO! Woohoo! This makes life that little bit easier, so allow me to share with you the benefits of audiobooks and show you how to incorporate them into your life.

Learning Styles

If you are reading for the benefit of learning, it can be quite a challenge for some people who don’t have an auditory style of learning. What I mean by this is, that we all have a particular learning style. The most common is visual. Many of us fit into visual but what if you have an auditory style of learning? This makes it harder if you need to read something but find it hard to concentrate due to either the content of the book or you’re struggling because you have an auditory style of learning. Until now that is. You can download audiobooks instead as an alternative to reading books. This will allow you to learn using your preferred learning style instead of struggle.

Time Management

With so many of us burning the candle at both ends, rushing from one activity to the next, we just don’t find time to sit quietly and read something of value. Having an audiobook, however, would be the perfect time to pop in the headphones and utilize our time effectively listening to an audiobook. This will help make it easier to learn something new while doing our errands.

I know people who have to travel for an hour or longer to work. Being able to listen to an audiobook will help you use your time efficiently on your way to and from work.

Holiday Travel Time

Maybe even on your holiday, you can zone out listening to an audiobook instead of taking your book everywhere with you. In particular while making your way to your destination. Whether you’re driving or the passenger, being able to listen to an audiobook can help you get the chance to listen to a book you’ve been wanting to read but haven’t had the chance as yet.

Books Are Bulky

The bulkiness of books can also be a hindrance, especially when going from one place to the other. I don’t know about you, but if I have a couple of books on the go, I don’t want to have to decide which one to take with me to work or on holiday and increase the weight of my bag. At least when you’ve got your books on your device, you can take your library of books where ever you go and they won’t weigh you down. Also, you don’t have to make a decision on which one you want to take with you. You will have to decide at some point though when you press play on your book :).

Minimalist’s Dream

Having Audiobooks can also be a minimalist’s dream! I have many friends who are minimalist. I’m sure they will be nodding their heads in agreement. Books can take up a lot of space which can be too much for a minimalist. By having them stored on your device instead, you reduce the amount of space they can take up in your home. It also means less dust :).

Vision Impaired

Having audiobooks available now is a blessing for those who are vision impaired. Audiobooks have been around for a long time for the vision impaired, however, the number of books was limited until the boom of technology.

Disinterested Readers

Did you know that there are people out there who aren’t even interested in reading? I didn’t until one of my children came under that definition. So it’s been a challenge encouraging her to read. Now, however, she can listen to books alongside her learning how to read. You might be worried that using audiobooks for children might impact their ability to learn how to read. If they are still exposed to doing the school curriculum and practicing alongside audiobooks, it can actually help build their interest in reading along with the book.

Another benefit of audiobooks is they can also help build on critical thinking. So fear not, your child can still learn valuable skills when listening to audiobooks. Audiobooks can also help improve memory and learning.

Attention span

While listening to audiobooks, one’s ability to focus is enhanced, thus increasing one’s attention span. With so many children struggling to focus, incorporating audiobooks into one’s daily routine could help improve their attention span.

Annunciation and Fluency

When listening to an audiobook you can also hear how words are said, as well as the pace and intonations of sentences. This can help build on how to read with fluency and say the words clearly. this can be helpful for children and young people, as well as those learning English as a second language.

Mental Health

As a parent, and perhaps when you were little yourself, reading to young children has a warmth and connection from the caregiver/reader who’s voice and presence is comforting as they read stories. Storytime can be a calming and comforting time for children. This fosters a love for listening to stories, as well as having a positive connection with.

Stress Relief

It helps relieve stress and takes your focus off everyday stress and thoughts around this and redirects those thoughts to what you’re listening to.

Different Senses

In a world so driven by technology and visual overstimulation using your hearing sense gives you a break from using the visual sense and helps your eyes relax.

Shifts Negativity

Our minds are flooded with negativity. By listening to audiobooks it makes us shift where our negative thoughts are focussed on and instead allows room for alternative emotions.

Heart Mindfully’s focus is within the realm of Mental Health and Wellbeing. We focus on self-love, self-care, self-awareness and being present. There are also books that can help with various aspects of one’s wellbeing and emotional health. Here are a few of the audiobooks that I feel are relevant to this website’s focus…

Final Words

So by considering getting audiobooks into your life, you will have heaps of practical benefits as well as mental health benefits to suit everyone in your family. Fear not that it takes away one’s ability to read. If anything it is a valuable tool in helping build interest in reading, increasing one’s critical thinking, and memory. Audiobooks are also time-saving and save on space.

Do you have any questions or experiences with audiobooks? Share your thoughts below.

September 12, 2019October 10, 2019

How to Practice Self Love and Why it Matters

How to Practice Self Love

Learning to love oneself is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself. Being human comes with all sorts of challenges. We make mistakes daily, we don’t get things finished that we want done, maybe we have awesome days too! So much can happen in one day and throughout a lifetime. But if we struggle to love who we are and aspects about ourselves, we miss out on so much that life can offer. Learning how to practice self-love can be such a valuable part of our living experience on this planet. What we show to the world around us is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves.

What is Self Love

Self love is not narcissistic as some might believe. When we don’t love ourselves, our mind turns against us which creates havoc with our mental health and wellbeing.

Self Love is to deeply love yourself with a strength no matter what. When we have a healthy attitude towards ourselves, we foster our own self-worth, self-acceptance, and self-love. Practicing self-love is also essential for healthy relationships.

Love Yourself First

As a parent, I know how hard it is to be the best parent I want to be. If I am not able to love myself, how am I going to pass on positive self-esteem and self-love to my children. Children absorb so much from us, things we wouldn’t even expect. Even learning how to love oneself is a valuable skill that is learnt from our environment. When we don’t love ourselves, it will have more likelihood to have a negative impact on our children. Whether we teach them otherwise or not. No matter what we think we are teaching our children, they pick up on even subtle things. So if you are mindful of how to love yourself, you will give out a positive vibration to those around you.

Also, if you don’t look after yourself, which is closely connected with self-love, then you won’t be able to look after others around you.

What about if you are single? It’s still going to make a big difference in your life if you practice self-love than if you don’t. How do you think you will attract people into your life friends or a partner if you don’t love yourself? As humans, we need a social connection with others, it’s how we are made up. It’s one of the pillars of well being. For more information on the Pillars of Wellbeing, check out this post where I discuss it in greater detail.

Negative Opinions of Others

When others share their negative opinion about you, it’s very hard not to have it get under your skin. This is a trigger for me personally, so I know it’s hard when it does happen.

I’ve learnt through living these experiences not to take it personally. My self worth is more than someone else’s opinion. That being said, I go through hundreds of questions about what the other person has said to the point where I question everything about my choices.

Then, I realize it’s not about me. Whatever that person has said is about themselves. They are having a negative reaction to something going on in their own life. They are projecting something about themselves and throwing it out to the world. If it’s directed at me, then I think to myself, what is it about me that is triggering this response from them? What are they struggling within themselves that they perceive as being related to me somehow? And you know what, every time I go through this process, it has always led to them having something going on in their lives in some way. This process also helps my brain settle down with all of the negative thought patterns that arise once I remember it’s their stuff.

The main thing to realize is how you continue to be yourself instead of relying on someone else’s faulty opinion. What is your self worth? Your opinion of yourself isn’t tied to someone else’s opinion. so don’t allow it to be. This is where you will be affected unnecessarily. It’s not their life, this is your life and no one has the right to take how you see and feel about yourself away from you.

Accept that you can’t change them. Only yourself, so don’t let them push you around. Set boundaries around how you are treated by others. Don’t give them any power to change how you see yourself or affect what you think. Choose how you want to live, how you want to do things your way without anyone else’s negativity.

Acceptance

When we don’t accept ourselves, we engage in an ongoing internal battle that will just keep going endlessly until we make a conscious choice to let go of the resistance. Have you ever noticed that when a thought keeps running round and round in your mind about yourself, you try to push it away, or you have a negative response to yourself. I’ll show you a snippet into my mind when I was younger…

Thoughts: “Uggh, I hate my freckles. I wish they weren’t there. I’m so over them. They make me look weird. I just want to cover them up, Winter is my friend so I don’t have to expose these stupid freckles.”

What is going on here with all of those unnecessary, irrelevant thoughts that keep running on replay, over and over again, with no end in sight? What am I doing to myself?

What’s happening is that I’m resisting their existence. I’m fighting with my thoughts about the fact that they are there, and they are something that I’m not happy about. So the endless thoughts keep barraging my brain which if left unchecked will contribute to more than just negativity. It will be a struggle to accept myself the way I am.

The negative thoughts are reinforcing more negative thoughts. This also creates an emotional response to the thoughts, which feed into the next thoughts. This actually used to happen in my mind when I was younger. I was so embarrassed by the freckles, I used to try to cover them up and try not to get too much attention to them. Fortunately, I’m older and wiser and have learned a thing or two about dealing with such negative thoughts and nurturing self-love.

When one isn’t accepting of something, in this case, my freckles, then it causes discomfort, negativity, self-consciousness, and a wide range of other feelings. This can have a big impact on how one views oneself and feel about oneself.

Now if we practice acceptance, the tug-of-war stops, the war on hating oneself evaporates.

Here’s one way of how to practice acceptance…

Thought: Uggh, I hate these freckles.

Acceptance: Hmm, okay, the freckles are a part of me. I can’t stop them from being there once I get them. I have fair skin, so it’s inevitable that I will get some freckles. It’s okay to have freckles. They aren’t ugly. Some people say they’re cute. It really doesn’t matter whether they are there or not. they are part of me, so I am okay to have them there. I will accept them being a part of me.

This creates less of an internal argument within myself and instead creates acceptance.

Acceptance Exercise

Here’s an exercise you can try for yourself.

Think about an aspect of yourself that you struggle to accept. Okay, now with that thought, imagine it floating up to the sky in a bubble. You watch it float up to the clouds. You watch it sit on the clouds. It moves with the movement of the clouds. Stay with it and watch it for as long as you want to.

What did you notice while you did that floating thoughts exercise?

I’m going to guess that you may have found yourself fighting less with the thought being there in your mind and created distance between the thought and your observer part of your mind. This exercise allows you to let go of the struggle with the thought you’re not happy with and allows you to sit with it. You can do this exercise with any thoughts you are struggling with.

The key here is learning how to sit with the thoughts that make it hard to accept. When acceptance happens, the fight reduces and creates a sense of calm. When we can accept ourselves, we can learn to love ourselves deeper and with greater self-awareness. I’m not saying this happens overnight. It’s something to practice on a regular basis so you can learn to love yourself. You are human with all of our imperfections and troubles. Learning to love and accept yourself is a valuable skill that can be learned and nourished.

“We all make mistakes, it’s how we respond to those mistakes that will determine our direction” ~kat

Negative Self Talk

How many times to do you say something to yourself which has a negative tone? We all have a negative self-critic. Its whether we decide to listen to it or not. Become more aware of what our inner voice is saying to ourselves. It can take some time before we notice it and get used to hearing it. Once you are aware of it, try to write down when you notice the negative thoughts. This will give you an insight into how frequently your inner critic has been actively contributing to your negativity.

Don’t be hard on yourself once you discover this internal world if you didn’t realize it before. Growing in self-love and self-acceptance takes time. It’s a process that doesn’t happen overnight. If you’ve been hating on yourself for years, then give yourself a break and be kind to yourself. By being more aware and taking small steps towards a more positive you, things will change and shift over time.

Practice noticing your thoughts daily – write some in a journal when you become aware of them. It’s important not to keep feeding into those thoughts, simply notice it, record it, then keep doing what you were doing. See how many times you might notice any negativity.

Allow me to share a relevant quote from Louise Hay. She said,

“Whatever is happening out there is only a mirror of our own inner thinking.” Louise Hays

When our inner world is negative it will show through in many areas of our lives.

Make a Commitment to Love Yourself

This means you need to make the decision to keep working through the process of learning to love yourself, even on bad days. Cos bad days do happen. If you’ve committed to working on developing and building on yourself love, then this will help you be consistent and it will improve how you feel about yourself.

Reframe It

Once you’ve kept a record of your negative self talk for at least a few days so that you don’t dwell and get stuck on those thoughts. you can create a list of how to reframe those thoughts into something more positive.

For example, let’s say you had the thought,

“I’m so useless with this subject, I’m so dumb at this.’

Reframe it to, “I’m aware that I’m finding this subject challenging and I choose to speak with my teacher about it in the morning. I am working hard and concentrating on this work. I’ve already done some of the work and understand some parts.

Practice Mindfulness

Through the practice of mindfulness, you can become more aware of your thoughts and manage them with focus and kindness. Acknowledge their presence but don’t have a discussion with yourself over them being there. It’s okay to have thoughts, they are normal. The trick is to not engage with them, get angry with them for being there or push them away.

Forgive Yourself

We all make mistakes. We are usually tougher on ourselves than others. This creates an unkind internal world that decimates self-love. Especially if we are prone to dwell on these mistakes. Think about it this way, would you forgive your friend for the same thing you’re upset wit yourself about? If so, then be kind to yourself too and forgive yourself. You’re human and it’s okay to not be perfect.

Many of us are busy and have high aspirations which can lead to high expectations. When this gets challenging it’s common for many to criticize themselves which can have a strong impact on mental wellbeing and love for yourself. Many perfectionists tend to be prone to this type of inner criticism which can wreak havoc on self-love.

Hypnosis Nurture Self Love

Hypnosis is a valuable tool in helping to shift thought patterns that may impact how we feel about ourselves. Especially at the subconscious level.

If negative self talk, a strong inner critic and being unkind to yourself has been an ongoing theme for you, it might take multiple approaches to address changing this pattern. Hypnosis is a very effective way of accessing the subconscious mind and help you adapt new behaviours and changes that you might struggle to do without this additional tool.

Below is just a few that are offered through ehypnosis.com In particular, the self-esteem hypnosis as well as connecting with your body can help one increase self-acceptance and self-love.

Inner Peace Hypnosis

Find Your Inner Peace For Women Hypnosis

Learn To Forgive Hypnosis

Boost Your Self-esteem Hypnosis

Connect To Your Body Hypnosis

Stop Overthinking Hypnosis

Practice Self Care

I value self-care immensely. It’s the action of doing something you enjoy for yourself, not for anyone else. Something that nurtures you, that you relate to and have an interest in.

It might be yoga or going for a walk before everyone gets up. Be sure to look after yourself so you can look after others around you. This also fosters and builds on your self-love and compassion.

Summary

So in order to nurture you and build on your self-love, take action and work out your plan on how to practice self-love in your own way.

Remember to be kind to yourself, be kind to others, and accept the wonderful person you really are. Learn to love your imperfections.

August 27, 2019December 15, 2019

It Was a Good Day Afterall – Turn Around Negativity

How to Turn Your Day Around

I saw this quote on a board out the front of a nursing home and thought this was very apt for all of us. What does it mean to have a good day? How can you learn to say it was a good day when things just don’t go your way sometimes?

We don’t always have good days. Some days just don’t end up the way we intended. Sometimes, we make mistakes, we say something stupid. Or maybe things don’t happen the way we were hoping. Perhaps you hear some devastating news, or something tragic happens. There are things we can control, things we can’t control and things that simply just happen. When we happen to have one of those not=so=good days, it’s important to not take them to heart. We need to self-preserve and not let things get out of proportion.

Reframe It

Reframing is a very handy tool in our coping strategies toolbox. When you can see things from a different perspective it can change the way we feel about it and change our responses. The above quote helps to reframe a bad day and think about how to look for things that happen within that bad day and see them differently.

Here’s a possible day:

Bad Day

You’ve been to the dentist, you’ve had to pay a stupid amount of money to get one tooth fixed. this has increased your stress levels. That money was going towards your new laptop. Instead, you have to put it towards that darned tooth. How frustrating. During that same day, your kids are driving you crazy with their constant fighting. Then you say something to a friend that came out the wrong way which triggers your anxiety. Now you feel this ongoing anxiety with its relentless critical barrage of thoughts running around your mind making you feel worse.

Same-Day but See the Good

You can reframe your dentist appointment by saying to yourself, ‘I am able to keep my teeth healthy. I am no longer be in pain’. Also, remind yourself that you actually had the money to be able to pay for the emergency dental appointment. This took the stress away from figuring out how you will pay for it.

You get a random hug from your eldest daughter and you go for a walk with your dog.

You spent valuable heartfelt time with your friend who was very understanding and compassionate. Even though you said the wrong thing to your friend, they talk about it with you and you feel better for it. The reframe here is, “it’s helped me talk more openly with my friend instead of allowing the anxiety to take over.’

When we notice and become aware of the positives from our day, it can actually help the anxiety lower, as we focus on something else rather than fueling the anxious thoughts. For more ways to deal with anxiety pop over here and have a read.

Within this day, although having to spend hard-earned cash on a tooth might seem like it’s a bad thing, you also had some really cool, positive things that happened too. By reframing the way you perceive the events, you can shift your emotional response to them.

Acceptance

Being able to accept that events have turned out the way they have will help in being able to release the negative feelings about it. Instead helps to sit with what happened. This creates less resistance around the event and lowers the feeling in response. Finding ways to sit with the way things go allows one to find acceptance in it. This doesn’t mean that you accept being treated like crap if that happened. It’s about letting go of your internal battle inside your mind of trying to either get rid of the feeling or wish things didn’t happen the way they did.

We all have an observer part of our mind. It’s the part of our mind that can witness what we are doing, notice how we think. Notice how we respond. When you can become the observer and notice how you think, feel, act, this can help in being able to create distance with the negative thoughts that rampage through our minds. By noticing and being aware of the thoughts instead of resisting them, we can accept them being there. Even find it easier to handle the thoughts being there. Then we might also be able to notice the other parts of our day instead of just the ones that stand out as being awful/bad/crap etc.

End of the Day

At the end of your day, be sure to write down at least one thing that went well during the day. Something you can say that allows you to have bring to mind the good parts of your day.

Ask yourself, “What happened today that went well?’

Maybe your child gave you a random unprompted hug which brought a smile to your face. Maybe it was having someone shout you a coffee during the day.

Focus on remembering what was more pleasant or positive than the other not-so-good parts of your day. This shifts your focus from negative to more positive.

Write down things you are grateful for if you are struggling to remember any of the good parts of your day. There are many benefits to being grateful that I’ve written about here.

When we think of the positives at the end of the day before we drift off to sleep, we are allowing our brains to simmer for the next 7-8 hours on this which can help with waking up with a positive refreshed focus for beginning a new day.

Hypnosis – Another way to do this can be to do a guided hypnosis every night before drifting off to a deep slumber. Here’s a freebie to get you started.

Final Thoughts

Everyone has a bad day here and there. It’s how you deal with it that determines whether it actually is the whole day that went sour or look at it from a different perspective to keep it in perspective. Think about what were the good bits that happened in your day.

Reframing, acceptance, and gratitude are all ways to help shift the way we see things no matter what they are. It can relieve stress, and shift a negative mood to a positive one.

August 7, 2019August 8, 2019

Cute Baby Animal Pictures – For Emotional Wellbeing

Promote Positive Feelings with Cute Baby Animal Pictures

Use of visual pictures to help manage moods can be very effective in shifting how you feel. Have you ever felt a bit down, stressed or low and needed a little pick me up? Here we will discuss the benefits of looking at cute baby animal pictures to help with doing exactly this. Research has shown the benefits of having these images to look at have many positive effects and benefits.

SItting with feelings can be a real struggle to manage at various times and stages of life. Feelings are normal, and it’s good to learn how to sit with them. If you need a break from their intensity however, it can help to simply look at ways to shift how you feel until you can work with those feelings. In my previous post, I’ve outlined the value and grounding effect that having a pet can do for our mental health and wellbeing.

I’ve found that using visual cues can be very effective in helping an individual to manage their mood, while also giving them something different to focus on.

Anyone can benefit from looking at cute baby animal pictures at any age.

Effects on the Brain

A study involving students looking at cute baby animal pictures, showed that tasks they engaged in were done more deliberately and with greater time and care. Looking at adult animals made no difference to the performance of tasks. For details on this research go here.

Help productivity at work.
It also helps boost attention and focus.
A hormone called dopamine is released when we see an image with the cute factor. So it can act similar to cocaine as it can be addictive to want to get that dopamine boost but it’s a much healthier option.
It also promotes empathic responses when looking at cute baby animal images.
Baby animal pics also makes us feel happier

Baby Schema

The baby schema of large eyes, large head and high forehead typically has a positive effect on individuals. Researchers believe the baby schema has the same effect when looking at baby animals.

Shift negative feelings

So if you’re not feeling the best and struggling to sit with how you feel at the time. Or need to shift where your thoughts are taking you, have a look at some cute baby animal pictures to help boost how you feel. Think of it as a fun but effective way to shift the not so good feelings if you’re working through a tough time.

If you are finding you’re having a bit more of a hard time and struggling look into getting some face to face support or online counselling.

Cute Baby Animal Pictures

So without further ado, here’s a few images to help boost those happy hormones and shift how you feel if that’s what you need at the moment.
Remember it can also make you more productive so have a sneak peak while at your desk to see if it helps improve your concentration and productivity.

Babies

And even though these are babies, we too are mammals. So I thought I would include some cute baby pics to boost your feel goods.

Moving Forward

1. So start your day with some cute baby animal pictures so you can set yourself up for a good day with positive brain activity already boosting your dopamine

2. Save your favourite pics as a background on your phone so you can look at them often to help give you some positive feels daily

3. Get creative and print out a few pics. Make a collage, hang it in your office or a space you look at regularly for positive vibes.

4. Save this post for future reference 😉

Can you think of any baby animals that you find are adorable that helps you feel joyful and positive?

Share your comments below for how you have found looking at baby animals make you feel.

August 6, 2019August 13, 2019

Create a Meditation Space – For Calm and Tranquility

Meditating for Inner Peace – Create a Meditation Space

When you meditate it can be a bit difficult to get in the zone sometimes, especially if you’ve been actively running around or feeling super anxious or down.

It can help to have a space that’s been carefully and lovingly created just for your peace of mind.

This is where creating your own meditation space comes into play.

Benefits of Having a Dedicated Meditation Space

Helps you get in the zone. When we have a space that is conducive to meditation, it helps us to surrender to sitting still. It helps create the atmosphere for getting into that way of thinking and prepare your mind for some me time.

Creating a meditation space facilitates a sense of calm and peacefulness to allow your thoughts to slow down and you can focus on being in the moment. Being in the moment is important for managing anxiety as discussed in this post.

It can be reminder for you to practice meditation on a daily basis.

You can also look forward to your meditation as it’s a space that you have created with your own tastes and preferences in mind.

It’s more focussed on meditation making it less likely that you will be distracted by other competing demands in your world.

It is also one way to practice your self care strategies to help manage anxiety levels. For more information you might like to read this post.

Why Meditate?

Research shows again and again how valuable meditation is for our mental health and wellbeing.

In today’s way of living, stress is very high for so many people causing increased physical as well as mental illness. Meditation is an inexpensive tool that can be practiced on a daily basis in a number of different ways.

It has been shown to reduce the stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline which are the hormones involved in the fight or flight nervous systems of our bodies. Although this bodily response is valuable to help us either fight or run away from a threatening situation, it isn’t helpful when we experience this state in an ongoing way. So in order to be able to manage your ability to cope with the daily stresses you are exposed to, it helps to develop a routine of meditating daily.

How to Create Your Meditation Space

Choose an Area

First choose an area in your home where you can have at least a bit of space to put a cushion and some shelving of some kind.

This will be important in helping you create somewhere comfortable to sit or lie down.

Your meditation space will need to be an area that you can keep as your own space, that will have less likelihood of having interruptions. Although even if it’s in a more public space of your home, it can be an addition to your home’s style and create a sense of tranquility for those who visit too.

Have Some Soothing Aromas

This might be incense sticks. Be sure to use a holder designed to catch the ash residue.
You might like to have an oil burner to create a calming space using essential oils.
Or perhaps you enjoy scented candles.

The choice is yours. Personally I love incense, but occasionally I also get out my relaxing essential oils.

The ones that facilitate lowering stress levels also help create a calm space.

These include:

ylang ylang
lavender
bergamot
basil
geranium
vanilla
rose
German chamomile

Inspiring Decor

Adorn your space with items that you enjoy and appeal to you that can create a sense of safety, relaxation with your own personal touches. What kinds of things represent you and your personality. This helps you relax while meditating and feel comfortable being in your own space and will make the meditation process flow easily.

Use Meditation Malas

These are beads that help you maintain deep focus while practicing your meditation. They help to enhance your energy and help you channel the mantra you might use during your meditation. Not everyone uses these, but they can be helpful in getting into the zone of meditation, particularly as you go through mantras. As you move through your mala beads, they help you know when your meditation will end without sudden sounds or vibrations by electronics. Allowing you to embrace your meditation time without interruption.

Meditate with guidance or use a Mantra

Meditation can be guided where you are talked through to help you relax and concentrate on calming your mind while you lower your heart rate and slow down your breathing. Here’s some you might consider.

Mantras are chants that help you focus on what you want to achieve in that moment. It can be repeated inside your mind or out loud. It can be what your intention or purpose is at that moment of time for you.

Running Water

If you have the space for a fountain, consider incorporating one in your meditation space. The sense of tranquility the sounds of running water can have have facilitates profound effects on how we feel. Have you ever been to a rainforest or creek bed that has natural running water? These sounds of nature are very calming and tranquil, so bringing these sounds into your home can have a positive effect on your mood and sense of peace. Using our senses are an easily accessible way to also calm how we feel. There’s more information about this here.

Final words

So if you are struggling to remember to meditate on a regular basis, consider creating a meditation space for yourself. It is a memory cue to remind you to engage in self care and has numerous benefits for you wellbeing to practice on a regular basis. It can also have a calming effect simply looking at the space you have created for yourself. You can feel proud of your choices in include in this space that brings you joy. It also helps facilitate a sense of serenity and calm.

Namaste

August 1, 2019August 1, 2019

How to be in the Present Moment in a Fast-Paced World

Breathe and Be In the Present Moment

Do you ever find yourself rushing around, short of breath. Or find yourself overwhelmed randomly for no reason that you can pinpoint?

I wonder if you have ever thought of how your breath might be like during those moments.

Many times we can be super busy, and thinking about all of the things you need to do and make sure you don’t forget which takes you away from the present. This has a huge impact on how you feel. It also affects our physical well being.

Or you might find that you feel stressed or upset about a situation. What are you thinking about at that time? Be honest with yourself here. Usually your thoughts are likely to be focused on the future or the past. Unless you are feeling threatened in some way which is immediate and biologically programmed.

The value of being present can’t be emphasized enough. It has real benefits to our health, our mental well being. It is also linked with our self talk. When we engage in negative self talk, focus on the past or the future, we are not being present and giving all of our attention to this moment.

It’s possible to be in a state of calm more often than we realize.

Benefits of Slow Breathing

Lowered cortisol levels

Cortisol is related to high levels of stress. Which is handy where we are running away from some kind of threat, however when it’s ongoing these high stress levels, are not healthy for our physical systems. Our bodies are designed to respond to the stress at the time of threat, then calm down which in turn shifts the hormonal response from the fight or flight to a clamer state with sufficient dopamine, GABA, serotonin and oxytocin. When these are activate, we feel calmer and more peaceful. These hormones aren’t activated when cortisol is raised. This is why being in a state of calm is preferable for your physiological health and wellbeing.

Stabilises blood pressure and heart beat

The parasympathetic and sympathetic systems both work together with getting blood around the body. When breathing is fast it makes more blood pump around the body which isn’t a healthy way to function at the biological level. Breathing fewer breaths in a minute is more beneficial to these systems as they need to work less and allows your heart to beat less frequently and with less pressure to move the blood around.

Lowers anxiety

Simply by slowing down your breathing and bring yourself to the present moment, you shift your focus from anxiety contributing thoughts to the here and now.

Builds resilience when facing stress

By keeping present and breathing slowly, you can also be more level headed when managing increased stress. This allows one to operate with increased resilience to help get you through the stressful time. Resilience allows you to respond with less reactivity to stress with better coping strategies.

Enhances cognitive performance

When the body is tense, and functioning at a higher level of stress, the logical part of our brain is less activated. Instead the amygdala has increased control over the emotions, making the frontal lobe less responsive. By lowering your stress levels with slowed breathing and being present, it helps your frontal lobe function better so you can think more clearly and enhances cognitive performance.

Naturally relaxes your muscles

Slowing down your breathing helps your muscles relax naturally which also aids in lowering anxiety and stress and the hormone cortisol.

Link between Being Present and Mindfulness

Breathing and being in the present moment are closely linked with mindfulness. Mindfulness is a tool that can help one be focused on the present rather than allowing the thoughts that take us away from the present take over. When practicing mindfulness it can lead to lowered stress hormone cortisol. It also enhances self awareness and allows you to learn the skill of clearing your mind.

There’s many ways to practice mindfulness while being active or going about your daily activities. Here’s an example. As you make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, bring yourself to this moment by being more aware of what you are doing. We often go about doing our daily actions without any attention to what we are actually doing. So fill the kettle, press the boil button down and notice how it feels as you do this. Do you need much pressure to press it down? Next notice the steam rising as it’s nearly boiled. Also notice any condensation from the steam cooling. Not fill your cup with your choice of beverage ie coffee, tea, chocolate etc. Watch the water as it fills the cup. Notice the colours change from clear to your beverage choice.

Now notice how it changes as you add milk if you use it. Then as you drink it how does it feel on your palate? What’s the temperature. Watch the steam as it rises while you focus on your cup. when you notice any thoughts while practicing this, simply acknowledge it. That’s all. No negative responses towards the thought, just notice it and refocus back on your cup of tea/coffee beverage. What did you find happened for you while you practiced this activity? This is another way of practicing mindfulness through actions rather than sitting still and meditating.

Practicing mindfulness helps you connect with the breath and allows you to use the breath as anchor to being present.

Breathe and Be

Sometimes when we aren’t breathing calmly and slowly, we need to consciously learn how to do this to help maximise our ability to calm ourselves and be present.

As you take a breath in

notice how the air feels on your nostrils
Breathe in for 5 seconds.
Hold for 2 seconds
with your mouth slightly open breathe out for as long as you need to
notice how the air feels as you breath out
with your next breath in, follow the same process only notice how your body moves as you breathe in
be aware of your torso moving, your chest rise and fall, your stomach move out and in.
Release slowly

As you become more aware of your breathing and your body as it moves, notice how it makes you feel as you practice this purposeful breathing. This is being in the moment regardless of where you are and what you are doing.

You can do this anywhere. No one will be aware that you are practicing being present. It’s something you can take with you where ever you go.

Tips for Reminding Yourself to Breathe

I know you breath all the time right! Sure, without stating the obvious, this is correct. But have you ever noticed that when you stop and think about your breathing, you realise you haven’t been breathing slowly after all? And when you do slow your breathing down it feels really good yeah? That’s what our goal is today, to help you remember to stop and breath purposely.

A trick to help yourself remember to take a slow deep breath in is to connect it using a memory cue. A memory cue is something you link actions together.

For instance:

Every time you look at your watch or a clock, or check the time on your phone, stop for a second and take a slow breath in, hold then release.
Perhaps you look at your phone only infrequently during the day. When you do look at your phone, take in a deep breath.
Maybe you can wear a special bracelet or ring – every time you look at it, that’s when you take a slow breath in.
Every time you check your facebook/instagram/twitter account. Stop, Take a deep breath in, hold then release.

Free Guide

Remembering to be present can take practice and time. In order to help fast track this, you could consider doing a hypnosis on a regular basis to help retrain your mind. Hypnosis helps by guiding you through a relaxation process then gives you subconscious messages. As we usually function using only 5-10% of our brains it’s harder to consciously remember everything we need to do. Enter hypnosis which communicates directly to the subconscious. You can incorporate as an additional strategy to help relieve anxiety, stress and slow down your breathing.

Here’s a free guide to focus on slowing down your breathing.

Final Words

So if you find yourself feeling stressed, anxious, worried, or scared about something that’s going on for you, do yourself a favor and check in to what your breath is doing. Notice if it is fast or if it could be slower. Even if you think it is slow, make a conscious choice to slow it down.

If you can do this on a regular basis, who knows how much better you will feel and build on your resilience while having extra coping strategies to manage your responses to stress.

If you found this helpful or have experience in the benefits of being present share your comments below.

July 23, 2019July 24, 2019

Foods That Help With Anxiety and Depression

Nourish your Body to Reduce Anxiety and Depression

The idea that anxiety and depression could be linked to the foods we eat might be considered strange. You might be wondering how can foods help with how we feel emotionally? Working through and beating anxiety and depression isn’t only done through seeing your therapist or taking medication. If you’ve found that you are still struggling despite your best efforts with engaging in therapy and taking medication, maybe it’s time to look at what you’re putting inside your body. There is growing scientific evidence to show what we eat can influence how we feel. So let’s look at foods that help with anxiety and depression specifically.

Please note however that eating the right foods alone may not necessarily improve your anxiety and depression. Improving one’s mental health usually takes multiple strategies and actions.

Nutritional deficiencies can alter the brain chemistry and the formation neurotransmitters which can affect moods such as anxiety and depression.

So it can help to look into foods that can support the brain so let’s take a look below.

What is Anxiety and Depression

Anxiety is where one feels a heightened nervousness, worry, and fears that can either be acute or ongoing. It can be debilitating for some while for others, it depends on the situation. Often one’s thoughts are focused with a future orientation. Some thoughts will often start with ‘what if’ and many think of things that haven’t happened yet, but these thoughts contribute to anxiety. It is a very common condition that can be treated through either medication, talk therapy or nutrition. A combination is usually most effective rather than medication alone.

Depression is a mental health issue where one feels ongoing sadness for over 6 months continuously. It can lead to loss of interest in usual activities, increased sleep. Find it hard to get out of bed. Can lead to individuals not wanting to engage in social interactions. Many find that ongoing ruminating negative thoughts contribute to how this condition can evolve and develop.

Links between Physical and Mental Health

Our gut health is vital in being able to utilize the nutrients that we put into our body. The gut is now considered to be the second brain of our body. Since it’s where we get all foods digested and then used by our organs, including out brain, it’s essential to put into our body nourishing nutritious foods.

Gut health needs to be balanced with 80% good bacteria and 20% bad bacteria. Our gut health can get out of balance if we take antibiotics, or eat foods that are processed such as take away and sugary sweet foods.

Fibre also helps in the digestion process helping maintain the 80/20 ratio balance for our gut which has also been linked to improved gut health and better mood.

Hormones Involved in Mood

You may have heard of happy hormones, but what are they exactly? Our bodies function with the production and effective use of hormones. When our hormones are being produced optimally, our general well being increases too. The hormones that we need in order to feel good include oxytocin, GABA – or gamma-aminobutyric acid, dopamine and serotonin. Studies show that when these hormones are depleted or low, an individual reports higher anxiety and depression.

Impact of Inflammation

If we are eating a diet high in processed foods with trans fats and processed polyunsaturated fats, our body becomes inflamed. When our bodies are under stress in cases such as inflammation, some hormones don’t work well such as insulin. This leads to health conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes. This can be prevented by eating foods that are real, not processed, and nutrient dense. If our bodies are being inflamed, we experience a wide range of health conditions as well as mental health concerns. Our brains too can be affected by inflammation which is in turn affects our mental health. So in an effort to reduce inflammation, it’s important to ensure the body receives what it needs to allow it to heal including antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and nutrition.

A low carb high healthy fat diet is recommended in reducing inflammation in the body. When inflammation is reduced, our organs function better which lead to our hormones responding better and working more efficiently. This is how important reducing inflammation is to allow our brains to work well and lower the incidence of anxiety and depression. As mentioned earlier, anxiety and depression is higher in those who aren’t producing the neurotransmitters that are created from hormones such as serotonin, dopamine, GABA and oxytocin. Hence the importance of having a diet high in nutrient dense foods, and low in processed, unhealthy fats.

Nutrients that Decrease Anxiety and Depression

There are a number of important nutrients that help build and promote neurotransmitters that are required for reducing anxiety and depression.

These are listed below:

Magnesium
B vitamins
Vitamin D also aids in promoting calming neurotransmitters which help reduce anxiety
Omega 3
Folate
Selenium
Tryptophan is an amino acid that helps produce serotonin in the brain.
Antioxidants also help with boosting ones mood and helping lower levels of depression and anxiety.

Foods That Help with Anxiety and Depression

Animal Products:

Fish – specifically salmon, mackerel, sardines, trout are all high in omega 3 which is important for our brains to function properly.
Meat including beef and chicken, turkey
Eggs

Fruits and Vegetables

Asparagus
Avocados – as they are high in magnesium and vitamin B6 which both help with anxiety.
Blueberries are also high in antioxidants which can also increase serotonin
Kale
Mushrooms
Bell Peppers
Strawberries

Nuts and Seeds

Almonds are high in Vitamin E
Walnuts – high in Omega 3 which is good for the brain
Brazil Nuts – high in Selenium
Cashew – for zinc which also helps lower anxiety.
Chia seeds – high in Omega 3 (benefits the brain)
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds – contain high magnesium and potassium

Herbs and Spices

Chamomile – contains antioxidants which contribute to reducing inflammation that helps manage anxiety and depression levels.
Turmeric – also known as Curcumin which helps brain health. It too is an antioxidant and anit-inflammatory

Healthy Fats

Hemp seed oil – due to it’s fatty acid content, polyphenols and anti-inflammatory properties.
Flaxseed oil – also due to it’s omega 3, and is anti-inflammatory.

Dark Chocolate

Low or sugar free

It improves brain health and allows the brain to adapt to stressful situations. It has been shown to increase levels of serotonin. You do not need to eat much of this to gain the nutritional benefits!

Probiotics

Yoghurt,
Sauerkraut,
Miso,
Tempeh
Kefir and
Some cheeses

These all contain probiotics which also help decrease anxiety and depression too.

They feed the good bacteria in your gut which helps your body digest all those nutrients you are feeding it.

Drinks

Green Tea – as it contains polyphenols, antioxidants and L-theanine which has been shown to reduce anxiety. L- theanine also helps increase dopamine, serotonin and GABA.
Water – studies have shown that mild dehydration can contribute to increased mood problems. So keep hydrated.
Chamomile tea and herbal teas in general. Excluding Ginseng as this increases anxiety.
Kava Kava

Supplements

If you are struggling to consume the variety of the above foods, it can also help to use herbal supplements. You won’t likely need to take supplements if you are eating a wide range of the foods listed here. However if you are time poor or not able to have the variety for some reason, consider taking supplements as a way to support your mood and body to ensure you can reduce your levels of anxiety and depression.

The Natural Approach

As a way to combine strategies that help you lower your experience of anxiety, you can also consider doing things listed in a previous post which tackle anxiety naturally. This includes meditation and yoga. Also consider that you are meeting the 4 pillars of wellbeing to allow you to manage the anxiety and depression. When at least one of these pillars aren’t being met sufficiently, it’s really hard for the rest of your body to function optimally.

The 4 Pillars of Wellbeing include

a good sleep routine
nutritious food choices
movement of some kind
social network

Support Options

If you have been dealing with anxiety or depression alone without any support, it’s okay to ask for help and find someone who can help you through this. Talking through problems can really make a big difference. It’s cathartic and can help you get out of your head and hear it outside of yourself rather than the ongoing inner cycle that can happen.

I recommend Online-Therapy for US residents.

Or alternatively, you can consider doing a counselling program online that is the equivalent to 8 sessions of counselling in one program.

Another option is to do the work on your own with the Self-therapy Journey that I have written about on this post.

Final Words

You’re not alone in your experience of anxiety and depression. Many people suffer these sometimes debilitating mental health issues. Know that there are ways to work through the challenges you are facing. There can be many options available for you. consider what your body is getting nutritionally as this can help your body produce the neurotransmitters required for improved mood.

To lower your anxiety and depression, work towards including the list of foods above. You may also need to engage in doing the strategies that help with managing these moods. No one can make it go away for you. It requires you to acknowledge the problem and work on shifting it so it has less of an impact on you.

Consider your food habits and lifestyle and choose sugar free, unprocessed, whole, real foods.

In particular consume the foods listed here to help your brain do its job with lowered inflammation. This in turn will help your brain produce the necessary neurotransmitters that increase serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and GABA.

June 30, 2019August 13, 2019

What are the 4 Pillars of Well Being

The 4 Pillars of Well Being

Firstly let’s explore what wellbeing is. Wellbeing is acknowledging that we are a whole being so we need to consider our well being from a holistic perspective. An individual is more than just physical health and wellness. It considers and acknowledges the emotional, physical and social well being of a person. Well being describes essential parts that need to be met by ourselves that help us function at an optimal level. It is incorporates how we feel, cope, and manage our responses to life’s stresses. If any of the 4 pillars of well being aren’t met, we will tend to function at a reduced capacity and struggle.with lifes challenges.

Basic Needs

Through my observations as a counsellor working with complex client situations, mental illness, and abuse, I believe that pillars of well being need to be simple and meet one’s needs necessary to allow one to flourish. If the 4 pillars of well being listed below are met, then other areas of life can build and flourish.

However, if one of these areas are not met, it seems that one’s resilience is affected and ability to cope amidst stress is compromised. The individual is less able to work through the problem as effectively as if these pillars of well being are met.

In my view, pillars of wellbeing are where the needs of an individual are met before a sense of well being can be felt. Having these main areas of life met allows for the development of resilience and improved positive feelings can be experienced.

I have broken these up into Primary and Secondary PIllars of well being as if the primary pillars of well being aren’t met, then the secondary components also won’t be met until the primary ones have been.

4 Pillars of Well Being

Primary

Sleep

Sleep is essential for us humans. Without sleep, researchers have shown that we become delirious, hallucinate, can’t think straight and even put on weight.. We know how much babies need their sleep for their growing bodies but also to rest their senses from stimulus overload. The same is true for adults, if we don’t sleep, our bodies don’t produce the necessary hormones, and recovery that we need.

For example what if you haven’t been sleeping well for a few nights? How do you feel? Some people can manage on only a few hours, but over time, this can affect one’s mood and cognitive function, Without getting quality sleep, other areas of your life suffer. This shows how important sleep is. When our mood is affected, our well being is affected. It’s harder to cope with a stressful situation. If you are struggling to get quality sleep, check out these tips to help get you sleeping well.

Movement

Our bodies are designed to move. It’s that simple. During our evolution, we were on the move frequently. We would hunt, play, move around. Then we started living in communities, towns evolved, cities grew. As time progressed, we have become more sedentary. We are the most sedentary than we have ever been. We need to move to allow our muscles to do their job, help us get from one place to the next.

I’m not talking about running a marathon or even jogging, unless that’s what you enjoy. Movement can be walking, swimming, skating, pilates, stretching. It can be anything you enjoy that allows your body to move. Personally I have started doing taekwondo at the age of 44. Within a year, I’ve been able to get more height in my kick which I never thought would actually happen. When we do some form of exercise in particular, our bodies have this amazing effect where hormones are released that make us feel good. So there’s so much more to movement than just working up a sweat. It also helps with mental health.

Nutrition

The need to make healthy nutritional choices also has an effect on our well being. When a person doesn’t eat well, eats mostly processed and nutrient deficient foods, it affects the brain and the gut flora. This in turn affects how we feel physically and mentally. Health issues have been on the rise for decades at an alarming rate leading to obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease among numerous others. Research is increasingly finding that diets low in carbohydrates as effective for turning these health issues around. For more information on this click here. and here.

Social Connections

Through interacting with others you ensure you aren’t isolated and can talk through your experiences. Research shows that those who are socially isolated have a much higher incidence of mental illness than those who interact with others.

Having a sense of connection with others allows the nurturing of relationships and a sense of belonging.

It also allows us to share our experiences with others while also having someone to talk to if things are not so great. By engaging with social connections and relationships our emotional needs are also met. It’s important to talk to someone so that our minds aren’t going round and round in circles.

Through social connections we can also consider participating in our community. This also helps in connecting with individuals, while engendering a sense of being part of something bigger than yourself. It can also help build on your sense of altruism if you become a volunteer, participate and get involved.

Secondary

Once the above pillars of well being are met, then a natural progression is to focus on the following areas to support your well being.

Attention

Be present, practice mindfulness, reflect on your environment. Pay attention to your interactions, purposely doing what you do in a conscious way. Take notice of yourself in your space eg how you interact with others, how your body feels when breathing etc.. Taking notice allows you to broaden your awareness around you. Be fully present in your interactions and activities.

Ways to practice this includes:

Mindfulness
Breathing
Grounding using your 5 senses

Relax

Take time out for yourself. Self care and focus on ensuring you get some essential ‘me time’. If you give too much of yourself, you can get burnt out. If we allow our stress levels to build up, this will inevitably affect our sleep, physical health and emotional health which will impact the 4 pillars of well being. For help with learning how to relax try this program.

Connect with nature. This helps you be more aware of your surroundings increasing your ability to pay attention while also be present. Nature can have a calming effect on our senses and help ground us.

Find something that you get a sense of relaxation from. If you don’t have much time, listen to your favorite music and not do anything for at least 5 minutes. Stop and be. .

Attitude

With a negative perspective, it’s likely to influence how you respond to your environment which impacts how you feel. With the right attitude, we can conquer the world, however that looks to you. If you notice that you are thinking from a negative perspective, instead of berate yourself for doing this which becomes a vicious circle, reframe the negative into a positive. One way that can help you shift your focus to a more positive view is through thinking of something you are grateful for. Here’s a guide to the health benefits of gratitude.

Final words

When we look after ourselves from a holistic perspective, we can function at a higher level, achieve more, and feel more positive towards life and our way of being in it. .

Please share your thoughts of what you find are the pillars of well being for you below in the comments.

June 27, 2019July 3, 2019

What is a Self Care Plan and Why It’s Important

Have you given yourself much time to you lately? What does ‘me time’ mean to you? When we think about self care, we need to have a plan to be able to practice this idea of self care and incorporate it into our lives. Here we discuss what is a self care plan so we can nurture ourselves.

Self care is the number one thing that I believe is essential to our well being. Do you actively, consciously and purposefully do something that you would define as self care on a regular basis?

Self care can mean a lot of different things to many people.

Self care can be in the areas of physical, emotional, professional, spiritual, psychological and relationships.

Definition of Self Care

Let’s look at what self care might mean

The definition of self care is the practice of taking care of one’s well being and happiness especially during times of stress.

This means it needs to be purposeful and intentional action of doing something that you value as being something that nurtures your well being. It helps to manage how you feel especially during times of stress. It gives you some ‘me’ time to allow you to connect with yourself to restore your health.

The Importance of Self Care

When we don’t look after our needs and give ourselves time out, we can get burnt out from the exhaustion of the stress of our lives. Life can get hectic, stressful and busy. If we ignore our own needs and don’t look after ourselves, we won’t be able to keep doing what we’ve been doing. If anything it can make us sick if we don’t take time out for ourselves. Stress can build up. Being humans, we are also prone to not coping after an excessive amount of exposure to the stress in our lives. Our mental health will suffer.

One thing that I often remind my clients is, ‘how can you look after your family or kids if your health or mental health suffers?’ Realistically, we need to look after ourselves so that we can be available and of any help to support those around us. For ideas on how to manage stress have a look at my blog post

When we practice self care on a regular basis it helps to reduce anxiety and restores and uplifts one’s mood.

What is Self Care

Self care needs to be something you do that you feel is a self care action. If you do things that you don’t consider as part of a self care routine, then it won’t be a form of self care for you. It needs to be a conscious decision that you give your time and energy to creating intentional self care.
Set boundaries around what you don’t want to do. This is okay, give yourself permission to not check your emails, facebook, instagram for a set timeframe. Untether yourself and know what you don’t want to do as part of your self care routine.
Start with small things that feel like self care for you. Don’t over complicate it. Keep it simple, especially at the beginning of your self care routine creation.

What Self Care Isn’t

It’s ensuring you don’t force yourself to do something you’re not comfortable with.

It’s not selfish – many people think that doing something for ourselves can be perceived as selfish. This is definitely not the case.

Any addictive behaviours and substance taking. This might be a no brainer, but I’ve included this here, as for some people, they might consider having a wine or beer every night is a form of self care. It might be, but if this is something you do out of habit, or actually find very difficult to stop, consider this as a possible addiction. It’s not self care. Look into getting some support for this if it’s become an addiction.

Create Your Self Care Plan

Allocate time in your day to do at least one thing that you would consider as self care for yourself. Be consistent in practicing and putting this activity into action. It can be hard to change habits and create new ones. So be assertive with yourself so that you prioritise your needs to make sure you can nurture yourself and practice self love and compassion.
Are you the kind of person who needs to remind yourself what you need to do. Set yourself an alarm on your phone to set aside your ‘me time’ and make sure you put it into action.
Turn your phone and all other distractions off during your self care activity.
Let others know this is what you’re doing so you can be accountable for actioning them rather than putting it off and not making your self care a priority.
Be aware of what your self care activity is, why you’re doing it, how you feel when doing it and be purposeful when you practice it. This is key to ensuring you get benefits from doing self care.

How to Practice Self Care

Enjoyment

Think of the things you used to enjoy doing but haven’t had the opportunity or time to do for a while. What helps you feel good?

Exercise

Helps lift one’s mood due to the effects of neurotransmitters released aka serotonin. It doesn’t have to be intense, just get moving.

Consider doing:

Yoga
Tai Chi
Pilates
Walk your dog

as these activities are relaxing as well as grounding for your body. Your body needs to move as it’s one of the pillars of well being. That’s another post I will bring to you in the near future. For now, just know that movement is important.

Sleep

Develop good sleep patterns – get into a regular sleep routine. When we have good sleep, our health is improved, our body can produce the right hormonal balance. When we don’t get enough sleep, we can overeat simply due to not enough leptin being produced during the night which helps us with appetite suppression. More info on this here.

Social Support

Arrange a catch up with a supportive friend or someone you haven’t seen in ages. Nurture your social support networks.

Nutrition

Eat nutrient dense foods that fuel our bodies and allow our body to heal and do their job properly. When we eat processed foods and fast foods, we aren’t nourishing our bodies with nutritious foods which puts our physical health at risk. My suggestion is to cut out carbohydrates as increasing research shows how damaging burning glucose is on a long term basis. Find out more here.

Meditation and Relaxation

Learn how to simply sit for a few minutes a day and listen to your body and mind. Slow your breathing down and focus on your breath. Read through my previous post for ways to incorporate meditation into your daily routine.

Practice Mindfulness

When you notice that you’re thinking too much, it’s time to practice being mindful. Here’s an example… Simply sit where you are. Focus on your breathing and slow it down. Notice how your body moves as you breathe in, then again as you breathe out. Notice what you are thinking about and slow the thoughts down. Just notice that they are there without any judgement, they’re not good or bad, they are simply there. Keep breathing slowly. Pay attention to the things around you, their colours, movements, textures etc. If you notice thoughts, acknowledge them and be present with them. For a program that will guide you through mindfulness using a 7 minute approach try this program.

Get out in Nature

Go for a walk around your neighbourhood or find yourself a park to walk around in. If possible, go for a drive to a local nature reserve and breathe in the fresh air and connect with nature around you. Listen to the sounds, take in deep breaths and notice the smells. Do some gardening.

Do something you enjoy

Find something that you enjoy doing and do it for yourself. Be sure to allocate time to yourself and don’t allow your time to be interrupted. The list is endless. Here’s a few ideas to get you thinking. What appeals to one will be different to the next person.

Do some cooking
Make a cup of tea while practicing mindfulness
Crochet, knit or craft of some kind
Play an instrument
Sing like no one can hear you
Draw
Write in a journal
Dance
Get a massage or facial
Soak your feet in a foot spa
Have a relaxing bath in peace
Read a book that you have been wanting to read for ages

What ever you decide to do, do it regularly. Have purpose in your activity knowing that it’s your time. Give yourself an activity that you can feel and gets you in touch with who you are and what your interests are.

For your mental and emotional well being.

Tell me what you like to do as part of your self care plan. Leave in the comments below.

June 23, 2019July 6, 2019

The Healing Power of Gratitude – How it Helps

The Healing Power of Gratitude

Have you ever wondered how gratitude can make any difference? The healing power of gratitude is something that can often be misunderstood and unappreciated.

Seeing news events where refugees are displaced, war torn zones of Iraq, African civil wars, and closer to home child abuse, domestic violence, shootings, drug addiction among many other issues that people face, it’s hard to know how to deal with all of these sad events knowing that we are limited with our capacity to stop the pain. There are many ways we can show our love and compassion. Shifting our own energy and looking for volunteer opportunities and donation opportunities can help various groups around the world. I know we can’t change the whole world or donate to every charity we come across. What I’m suggesting here is simply considering our own fortune, privilege and what we have can help us be more aware and consider finding a purpose to give and show compassion within our capacity.

When we think about just how much we do have, this can help us build on our compassion for others, and opens us to considering others perspectives and circumstances. This helps build on kindness and love for each other. I know each person’s circumstances are different, but it’s also about perspective. While some might have the latest iphone and sports car, another person can appreciate and be grateful for a second hand phone and a car that gets them from A to B. You don’t have to have a big house, expensive clothes and the latest stuff. Simply thinking of what you do have can help you feel more thankful for your own circumstances and build on compassion for others.

What is Gratitude

Gratitude is the feeling of being thankful for what you have in your life. Both physical, psychological and spiritual. Gratitude can be for circumstances rather than material things. It is a feeling that produces longer lasting positive emotions which has a positive effect on behaviour. According to the Harvard Medical School is,

‘a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives … As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals–whether to other people, nature, or a higher power’.

How can it heal?

Healing here is in the sense of our mental health and well being. We are a whole person with physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual aspects. It is thought that our emotions can show themselves through our physical health too. According to the late Louise Hay when there is emotional disease, there is physical disease. One of her 100 quotes is, ‘my happy thoughts help create my healthy body’. Louise Hay believed that when we have negative emotions, they will show themselves in our physical body. So if you practice gratitude regularly, this can help heal your body as it can lift your emotions and help you practice self love and compassion.

Practicing gratitude can also increase feelings of love for those around us. This in turn increases our interactions with others, our energy and how we communicate. It also builds on our social connection with those around us.

Through gratitude or appreciation one can build on one’s spirituality and be grateful for breathing and being on this earth. It can be a rewarding feeling too.

It is based on giving of oneself in some way selflessly without expecting anything in return.

Either through positive thoughts or through positive interactions with others. This can heal social connections and nurture relationships. Being connected with others is essential to our general well being. Those without social connections struggle with their well being. As human beings we need to have social interactions of some kind. When we incorporate consciously building on increasing feelings of gratitude, we can build on our social connections with others, thus enhancing our personal well being.

Since gratitude can help boost one’s mood and create positive feelings, incorporating the practice of gratitude on a regular basis can be a strategy among various treatments to help support someone suffering from this complicated illness. Those who practice gratitude have also been shown to have a positive satisfaction to life.

What else can it do?

Gratitude can help to shift your mood. If you’ve ever found yourself feeling cranky or upset with something, it can be quite a challenge to shift those feelings. Especially if you feel hard done by, or that you’re not at fault for whatever the incident was. Instead, gratitude fosters positivity in those who practice it on a regular basis. Positivity has also been shown with improving one’s health through being able to make healthy choices.

I’ve even talked about this with my children as they often have lots of feelings including frustration. When we drive in the car, or sitting together on the lounge, it’s a good time for us to talk about and say at least one thing we each grateful for. This helps us bond with our children. It can also help them develop using gratitude as a strategy if they have a hard time with something they come across in their world.

Practicing gratitude can have a positive effect on our optimism.

Increased Happiness – Those who practice gratitude also feel happier within themselves. Research has also shown that this feeling lasts for a weeks.

Manifesting

Gratitude is often linked with manifesting something you want in life. This is based on physics where everything is energy. When one practices building on feelings of gratitude, one can manifest things they want in life. This might be in the area of improved friendships, attracting a partner, increasing wealth or improving health.

How to Practice Gratitude

Gratitude can be practiced in many different ways. Here’s a list of things that you can be grateful for just to get you started.

I am grateful for:-

a roof over my head
the career I have chosen
the support I have available to me
my health
my family
fabulous friends

These are just a few examples to get you thinking about the possibilities. I’m sure you can come up with numerous more, many and varied things that are relevant for you.

Journal: Some people find it helpful to write in a journal, either upon waking up, to start the new day or before going to bed. Both of these times help set up your mood for your day.

Before Sleep: What we think about before we go to sleep is very important as those thoughts get marinated for the next 8 hours. So practicing gratitude before going to sleep at night can help you have a restful, pleasant sleep and wake up in a positive mood.

Throughout the Day: On our way to work, driving, on the train or bus, we can practice and think about things we are grateful for.

When Feeling Stressed: When you notice your thoughts having a negative effect on your mood, it can help to think about something we are grateful for.

Guided Meditation: Some people like to practice gratitude with the help of a guided meditation. Here’s one of my favorite youtube people Jason Stephenson sharing his thoughts on gratitude.

I hope you have found some value in discovering the healing power of gratitude. What have you noticed when practicing gratitude yourself? Leave your comments below.