5 simple actions to help you refocus and relax

Many clients I work with find they get overwhelmed with life’s pressures and things seem get on top of them.

As a result, they often feel a high level of anxiety, increased stress and a sense of feeling stuck, not knowing how to move forward as there is not enough hours in the day for the tasks they feel they need to achieve.

 As usual my Vlogs and Blogs are ALWAYS about finding simple solutions to challenges and are never rocket science.

What people experience when they follow these suggestions can be profound if practiced regularly, I have experienced some really calming effects and have put the actions in my ‘tool kit’ to use.

I know for myself when I get overwhelmed it’s not easy to feel calm and focused, so these are my suggestions which can really make a difference.

 1. STOP whatever you are doing a take 3 deep breaths.

 When you breathe deeply messages are sent to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body. When you are stressed you increase your heart rate, experience fast breathing, and  your blood pressure gets higher, all  these decrease as you breathe deeply to relax

2. Pay attention to relaxing your body

Tightness brings about tension in the mind and body, when we relax more it decreases the tension and allows us to feel more calm and be able to focus more easily

3. Drink a glass of water ( and repeat regularly)

This will hydrate your body and  again help you regain focus , a lack of water in the body dramatically reduces our mental agility

4. prioritise what actions actually must be done now

Allowing a more structured realistic action plan for now, and then for today, will automatically start to reduce pressure anxiety and stress.

5.  Focus on one small tiny action to do next then repeat

By having a small action to focus on without distraction followed by another allows us to feel back in control, and less overwhelmed

I find these actions so helpful and hope you do too, also I get movement into my daily routine even if its just a walk in the fresh air to clear my head.

 My longer  recent blog with the effects of overwhelm and and more solutions may also be a good read to help you.

http://www.innavision.co.uk/news/2021/3/23/managing-overwhelm

The knock on effect of kindness

Kindness has a wonderful knock on effect for our wellbeing ,check out this weeks vlog.

3 tips on how to help manage anxiety

How to ooze self confidence

The road and rewards of radical self-care

Self- care seems to be banded around in this present pandemic period and I guess understandably.

Every health professional in the world would suggest if we are in good health we are less likely to suffer so badly from many ailments, including the effects of Civd.

As a person who drank too much, smoked ,was overweight, in an unhappy marriage with 3 kids, and seemingly stressed all the time I would have been at high risk right now!

This blog is not about the ‘blame game’ as I was truly doing the best I could and could see ‘NO way’ of actually finding time to put myself first.

As a Nurse at that time I seem to spend my time caring for others, my family and myself last, where would I find time for me?

There was not enough hours in the day for me with my tight schedule as it was, so what could I do differently?

I guess the real nub of the issue was my mind set, it had to change, like the oxygen mask on the aeroplane advice, I needed to put me first.

I now realise after years of actually putting myself first the AMAZING benefits I enjoy.

A healthy active body, a focused mind, more energy, more empathy, more mental stability with less up and downs, a happy marriage, greater respect for others as well as myself,I have learned to create better boundaries and can now say no in a loving kind way.

My self-care is now my priority and I help others to achieve the same.

As you can imagine this turn around for me did not happen overnight so the secret is doing one small tiny action and then building on it .A great book I read called ‘The Slight Edge’ by Jeff Olson complete changed my thinking and really helped me achieve the results I have today. My own book ‘Know The Truth’ may also be hugely helpful.

 I also got help with my addictive issues in a recovery program and allowed myself to become vulnerable, more open and honest and admit I was overwhelmed.

As I write this blog I feel so blessed to have had another chance at living my life in a more healthy happier way, and in turn helping others achieve the same.

NEVER give up on improving your health, but just remember Rome was not built in a day, it takes baby steps in the right direction to achieve a healthier more fulfilled life.

Let the work begin!

The magic of self-discipline

We all love the benefits of self discipline but the real magic is to bypass the profound negative effects of not honouring commitments to oursleves.

Help to ease, physical, mental and emotional pain

We all experience pain of some sort or another but this vlog will hopefully help at least ease the pain.

2 powerful tiny tips to help you slow down

The circle of concern versus the circle of influence, you choose

This really blew my mind as it’s so obvious and so simple but SO hard to apply! I have had a knee injury over the past few weeks and it can spiral me into a negative place as I am such an active person who just loves being on my bike and outside.

I guess we all have situations we can’t control that challenge us sometimes, but staying really focused on the circle of influence really is the way forward.

I know from bitter experience if I go down the road of concern it just does not serve me, and notice I get lethargic, I feel sorry for myself, I am demotivated and often moody which can overflow onto others.

I am not saying it is easy, but we have a choice about what we think about and I feel it is really important to apply the three A’s I often mention to help us shift into a better place and they are:

‘Acknowledge, Acceptance, and Action,’ first I need to identify the justifiable feelings and in my case  I feel, Angry,  frustrated, disappointed, and sad.

The next difficult stage is to Accept the situation, I may not like the situation, but it is what it is and finally, the golden power tool, ACTION, what can I do about it?

This is where the shift from the circle of concern starts to get better by now focusing on the circle of influence ( ie what can I do to help the situation). So what can I think about and do?

For me I went and drove to the park instead of ride and sat in there which helped my mental well-being as at least I was getting outside into nature, I did a gratitude list as I have had 2 weeks off and at least rested, I wrote this blog to help others which always makes me feel better and I did things in my home I might not have got around to.

I really hope you find some help in this tool as I do believe it can dramatically help with how your whole well-being can improve with just a small shift of focus. Try it what have you go to lose.

Being your true self

Make yourself feel better with 5 easy top tips

The importance of self compassion

The power in kindness

 I watched a wonderful film on Netflix yesterday that was really amazing and touched me in many ways.

The film was called ‘Wish man’ and left me wanting to share this guy’s message too.

Life at present for myself and many others seems to be a roller coaster of uncertainty and insecurity which seems to bring with it a plethora of emotional ups and downs.

In the mix for many is anxiety, stress, worry, and of course fear.

My purpose on the planet, I believe, is to help others by encouraging, supporting, empathising and just listening to them.

Many people know writing is not my strength, but I push myself out of my comfort zone by writing a blog once a month as I know it is is an area, I want to improve in.

There is much research on the benefits of kindness (not just to others but to ourselves )  and that is what I want to focus on today.

 The health benefits of kindness…

• Helping others feels good.

• It creates a sense of belonging and reduces isolation. ...

• It helps keep things in perspective.

• It helps to make the world a happier place – one act of kindness can often lead to more!

• The more you do for others, the more you do for yourself.

 Being kind boosts serotonin and dopamine, which are neurotransmitters in the brain that give you feelings of satisfaction and well-being, and cause the pleasure/reward centres in your brain to light up. Endorphins, which are your body's natural pain killer, also can be released.

 For me personally I notice I can dip into low moods and often feel a bit sorry for myself for various reasons and just being kind takes the focus off me and my own thoughts, it can be a welcome distraction to help me feel better.

 So whatever is going on in the world that you cannot control always remember that a kind word, deed or thought will not only have a wonderful effect on others by making them feel better, it will also give you a real sense of connection and fulfilment.

The power of vulnerability

Being vulnerable takes courage and is something we all need to expose to help us connect more with others

The benefits of having a routine

The amazing power of actions!