Welcome to the myth of either/or. There is a third way. It’s not that other things need 100% of our time and energy or we shut them out – it may be a 45-second hug, offering 5 minutes to see what your children want to show you, and then they move on and you move on to your thing. I also quote a study about distractions in this podcast as… Read More »The Third Way: Goodbye Either/Or, Hello “And” | #26
It’s okay to not be creative right now. And it’s okay to be upset about your lost creativity. Today, I’m discussing the frustration of not having our natural creativity, due to the high levels of stress we are under in this pandemic, even for those of us who have not personally been affected by the direct loss of someone through the Coronavirus. And I share my experience of using vanilla… Read More »Why We Are All Creative (Without Trying To Be) | #24
If you know me, you’ll know a favourite mantra of mine is that ‘baby steps add up’. I don’t tend to succeed if I try to go for big shifts. Some people get a sense of momentum from big changes. Personally, they exhaust me. So if you’ve tried the new year’s resolution, the big “right that’s it” moment and created a grand plan to change your life… and it hasn’t… Read More »The One Reason you Should Commit to Taking Baby Steps
I spoke last time about how 2019 reduced me to a soup. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I want to talk about my reinvention for 2020. We’re two weeks in, and things are plodding along at a steady (and manageable!) pace. My 2020 Goals Plan Essentially, I have 3 ‘life projects’ that are split into 14 tasks. However, before you narrow your eyes, and my mind… Read More »Reflection on the Year: Part II – My Goals
In 2011, I began picking a word of the year. I’d researched it in 2009, and picked one for 2010. It felt good to have a way to turn from goals to a reflection at the end of the months. But 2011 was when it all came together for me. This gave a new approach toward resolutions and goal-setting. I chose “Strength” and three particular facets: Mind, Body and Spirit. I… Read More »Reflection on the Year: Part I
Back in September, my business coach Michelle asked me to define how I wanted to feel, how I want people to feel after working with me. We spoke for a while, I did some reflection, but the very first word I came up with on that call was “steadfast.” I wasn’t quite sure how I got there, but there was this very clear message in my mind that this is… Read More »Word for 2020 — Steadfast
One of the most common obstacles I hear from reinventors, is that of not having enough time. Now, to some extent, there may be a truth to how much free-time your specific situation allows you. You may be a carer or have two jobs in between meals and sleep: often the only pauses to breathe are those transitions between tasks. However, in many cases, this is a choice of prioritisation, where… Read More »How to Make Time out of Transitions
Delilah Dawson, whom I follow on twitter, had a set of tweets back in 2018 about being okay with emotional triggers and the thoughts which often follow them. On Being Okay She commented that when she is close to burnout, and does something which triggers her (certainly for me, triggers occur when I feel afraid, I am mentally taken back to a past negative event or a genuine sense of… Read More »Being Damn Fine as a Work in Progress
I began supporting young adults in Anger Management courses back in 2011. The groups ran for 6 sessions, mixing lifestyle choices, peer-support and neuroscience in the education aspects. Practically speaking, we led mindfulness exercises, drew on flip charts, and used boxing gloves. Integration This was the job where I truly learned the power of mixing education and theory with practise and guided support. During one session, a phrase about commitment came… Read More »Lessons from Anger Management: The Strength of Commitment
I began studying the psychology of my own experiences in 2004 with a book on Psycholinguistics and one on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Since then, I’ve studied a bunch of qualifications, and have worked in social care, education, mental health and youth work fields. Yet, there are some ‘lessons’ you don’t fully comprehend until you’ve lived them. Mind-Training A few years ago, Christine Kane wrote an article about smiling after challenge, and… Read More »Happiness: The Truth about Self-help Tools