Fight or Flight?

Gosh what a day!

Have you ran away from a Sabre-tooth Tiger lately? 

Maybe you haven't but the stress you feel when you're late to work or the growl your stomach makes when you haven't had anything but an energy bar or coffee in the morning, is the same stress response that we had when we were cave-men and cave women!

That stress response is called 'Fight or Flight'. Your body doesn't know the difference between running from a tiger or rushing your kids to school. Your body's stress response is triggered in both situations so your blood pressure, heart rate and food digestion is the same for both.

The difference between you and the caveman, is that he was able to relax in his cave soon after the chase but you, on the other hand, may have to deal with the stress of racing to school, traffic, work, relationships and everything else life throws at you. Plus, add in the stress from the chemical foods you may eat, and it's like running from the sabre-tooth all...

What Three Words stand out for you?

For me it's:

Realistic, Helpful and Informative

This has become my measure for what a good social media post should be. If you tell yourself it needs to be  realistic, helpful and informative, then you're most likely to create engaging content that attracts attention ... or so they say! Further to this, if you use these as your hashtags they may steer people in the direction of your newest Blog, Insta post, TikTok or Facebook post.

Expectation

We're told, aren't we? ...

• Engage your audience
• Inform and Interact
• Make it relevant to add value
• Post at peak times
• Research your hashtags! (Hey?) 

Reality

Yet in reality, our approach is often a case of throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks!

Do beware of posting social media content, however, that doesn't serve you well.

It's all very well having a social media post that gets attention ... we all love to be loved. We adore the 'likes' and 'loves' and 'applause' emojis...

Have you heard the term Future Pacing?

Well 'Future Pacing" is a type of mental visualisation.

The suggestion is that setting a future target or destination, and anchoring or connecting changes and associating resources to this future situation, brings us clarity by helping us focus on the target ahead and then to think backwards from our end goal.

It is used a great deal in coaching and NLP, in fact I've created an entire course based around this theme but I simply call it 'Think Backwards' (to fast forwards your life)!

So let’s future pace what you need to do to reach that illusive goal ...

Well to start with I recommend proceeding with caution and that's because, if we set ourselves hard and fast goals, rather than looking to simply keep ourselves focussed on our target, we can set ourselves up to fail. 

So why not ask yourself, 'what's the bigger picture?'

If you can't think of what it is that you do want, then begin by noting the things that you absolutely...

Think About Your Future Self!

Let's be honest.

Finding Balance

Healthy balance - where we’re mindful of our wellbeing.

For me, MESS = STRESS!

I've been clearing clutter from my house recently. A long overdue task and it amazes me how easy it is to collect, but for me, mess equals stress. I can't think straight when everything is just dropped and pushed into corners 'to be dealt with'.

I've come to realise that a chaotic physical space can equate to a chaotic mental space, so I've come up with some practical solutions, that help me overcome that sense of overwhelm that creeps in, when I don't feel I'm being organised. In turn, I feel as though I can achieve and succeed.

What is your physical space saying?

Well to begin with, each time you look at it, if it makes you think 'Ughh, look at the state of that', as you make a mental note that it needs dealing with, then you need to do something about it, as these small daily stressors can add up. In truth, you feel bad about it and the mental agitation that stirs within...

What makes a Happy Workplace?

 Yet again we hit upon a topic that is searched an infinite number of times world-wide! In fact Google Search throws up about 248,000,000 results! So if it's such a hot topic, why is it so hard to achieve? 

 I remember choosing this topic as the subject of my dissertation in 2012, when I undertook my MBA (Masters in Business Admin) at DeMontfort University, UK. I was keen to research Employee Engagement.

I'm in Spain on holiday as I write this, so don't have my dissertation to hand, believe it or not (haha), but for all the research and interrogation of results, the one thing that stood out, above all else, was that employees wanted to feel empowered. They also wanted to be appreciated. The two went hand-in-hand.

After all, the employee had secured their role, primarily because their essential and desirable skills were a close match to the Job Description. They could therefore be trusted to make that role their own,...

"Too often we underestimate the

power of a touch, a smile, a kind

word, a listening ear, an honest

compliment, or the smallest act of

caring, all of which have the power

to turn a life around”. [Leo Buscaglia]

What small act are you going to do today that will make a difference to someone’s day?

Small Steps, BIG DIFFERENCE!

A smile, a thank you, a kind word can make such a difference.

#thankyou #smile #todayistheday  #happiness

Soothing Touch Meditation

I am not a Happiness Guru!

I am not a Happiness Guru but I can tell you ...

There's an Evolution Happening ...

Right Here!

Right Now!

The past months have been a catalyst for change.

Something BIG is happening and it's time to take notice of how we live our lives.

There’s never been a better time to recreate ourselves!

I was still wearing my chemo wig when my husband was hit by a car (and survived) some years ago.

My story is one of strength, courage and resilience.

You'll have heard the expression:

'Mind Over Matter'

That's all very well but ...

What if the 'matter' is all consuming to the point where it becomes totally OVERWHELMING and debilitating?

Let me tell you ...

After years of learning, studying, reading and qualifying in both the Teaching and Business profession, culminating in a Masters in Business  - MBA (having followed my dreams and co-authored a book with a lecturing colleague), I've discovered that the #1 most effective way to manage my mindset,...

As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I've decided to focus on happiness .... and why should I choose this as my key topic?

It's a hot topic!!

Happiness isn't something you can pluck from a takeaway list of essential and desirable characteristics, and yet, if you Google the term 'happiness' it returns about 4,360,000,000 results!

In fact Happiness was searched more than ever on Google Search in 2020 (and 2021). People went online to look for hope. 'Google’s year-in search term proved how much people across the world were struggling throughout to survive the COVID-19 pandemic'.

One of the top topics (no surprise here) being 'Health and Happiness'. They go hand-in-hand. I'm sure you'd agree but they are both equally distinct and bear no relationship to one another in terms of definition and to assume so leads to confusion.

For example, you can be of poor health and yet still feel a sense of inner peace and contentment. You may be happy but blissfully...

1) Conversation Starters

However you approach this... start a conversation about improving our listening skills under the banner of improving our mental health.   Here's a poster to get you talking:

2) Time to Talk

Create a poster around dealing with the sense of overwhelm that sometimes comes over us. Make it fun and upbeat and offer guidance, under the banner of the heading 'Time to Talk Day'.

There are some great resources you can download from time-to-change.org.uk

3) Elevenses!

This may be an English tradition but talking time for elevenses means taking a short break for light refreshments, usually with tea or coffee, taken at about eleven o'clock in the morning!

Start a group meet-up or virtual meet up at eleven every Wednesday and get people to join in.

Have a go - I've had great success with this. In the winter I called it 'hug-a-mug' day!

4) Run an Event

All the materials you'll need to run an event or activity in your community,...