Time to set some real goals! 10 things!

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Admin

Now that we’ve got January out of the way it’s time to set some real goals. We’ve moved past the New Year resolutions we’ve probably already forgotten about (!!), we’ve finished off the Christmas sweets, and now we have the rest of the year to go at! Come on!

Here’s 10 things I’m going to do, that you could do too, to make you feel great!

Get outside more

I’ve always ran and cycled a lot. I enjoy a good walk. I’ve set myself the challenge of running, walking and cycling 500 miles this year. I love outside time! And there are great benefits to being outside..

You will experience a great sense of well-being. Breathing in fresh air, embracing the space around you, feeling the cold upon your cheek. Even at this time of year getting wrapped up and going out for a walk will give you a boast.
And you’ll burn some calories! And let’s be honest we’ve probably all had too many of them in the last week or so! For those a little fitter get your running shoes on, on get your bike out and go out and get breathless and feel that cool refreshing air in your lung. Outdoor workouts are better than indoor ones. For example, running. Outdoors you are contending with different terrains or you are running against the wind… all better for you than the treadmill!
Green exercise – or exercise in a natural environment – has been shown to boost self esteem and mood and you’ll get a well needed, at this time of year, boost in vitamin D which is reported to be good for your immune system. Now that’s got to be good! Read more.

Get lost in the moment

This one is simple. Just experience what is currently happening to you. The water on your skin in the shower, the air passing into and out of your lungs, the taste of the food in your mouth, the song on the radio….. Do any of these things or any others to the exclusion of other thoughts and distractions. The benefits of simply taking some time out to be mindful of a particular thing will reap benefits. Before you know where you are at you might find yourself wanting to try meditation! You never know!

Get more organised

Not matter how organised you are you can always be more organised! Being organised gives you a great sense of control and fuels your well being. As I’m fond of saying – if you don’t control it then it will control you. Try applying the two minute rule or grab a copy of David Allen’s book ‘Getting Things Done’. I’m going to blog about this more (as well as the other things in this list very soon) so ‘stay tuned’ for that. I can tell you, hand on heart, at work and at home my life is so much better for getting myself organised. I can do it better though, especially at home, to make sure I make the most productive use of the time I have. For me time is the most precious commodity we have and we waste it at our peril.

Drink more water

This one should be easy to do surely! How hard can it be to go to the tap and fill a glass up and just drink it! I know!! So why don’t I do it! I even have my phone remind me to drink water every few hours and still I don’t drink enough! Water is refreshing, calorie free, and it’s absolutely crucial for you body to function effectively. So come on! Flush those kidneys and feel great. Read more.

Drink less coffee and alcohol

I don’t know how this one is going to go for me! I love coffee! And I do like the odd tipple on an evening. I read somewhere drinking coffee borrows time from later in the day…. You will crash later and be less productive. And drinking alcohol borrows time from tomorrow as it will affect your sleep and therefore your feeling of well being the next day.

Read for 15 minutes a day

Knowledge is life improving, how could it not be! Reading for 15 minutes a day at an average speed of a page a minute will get you through a 300 page book in 20 days. That will get you through at least 15 books a year. Not a bad start to enhancing your knowledge! And I bet if you get the habit you’ll read more! Add the next thing on the list in and you’ll be amassing information at a fair rate of knots!

Get into more audio books

I said earlier that, for me, time if the most precious of commodities and I want to put as much of it as I can to good use. It takes me 40 minutes to drive to work and the same to get back home. That’s and hour and a half a day. Sometimes I listen to music – that’s a good thing. Sometimes I listen to the news on Radio 4….. but now mostly I listen to audio books and they are great! I get mine through Audible. I pay £7.99 a month and this gets me one credit that I can use to buy any book. The download to my iphone and play through the car stereo seamlessly! The books are anything from 4 to 7 hours long and one lasts me through most of the month when interspersed with other things…. And that’s another 12 books in a year… done! Sorted!

Set small achievable goals

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Several books I’ve read talk about setting achievable goals and some of the models I talk about in some lectures show that breaking down big tasks into smaller steps achieve progressing better than big steps. Problems or projects seem daunting when you just think of the end goal. But if you think of the many small steps and tackle them one at a time you stand more chance of achieving success! My goal for this year is weight loss – more about the steps I’m taking later. I’m currently reading Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise where he talks about setting himself the target of doing one sit up a day… that was all! Just one! And he explores where that got him! Worth a read!

Sit quietly from time to time

This is a bit like ‘getting lost in a moment’ but slightly different. Getting lost in a moment can be about getting in grossed in an activity. But sometimes we need to just sit quietly. It could be, but doesn’t need to be, meditation. It could be sitting quietly while clearing your mind but, for me, more than this, sitting quietly can be a time for you to think things though in a calm, focussed way. In the rushing about of modern life our responses are, dare I say, reactionary rather than well though through often. I’m going to sit and experience time just passing in a quiet state from time to time, maybe first thing on a morning…. Now that’s good use of time!

Once a month mix it up

Don’t get into a rut. Of all the things above keep mixing it up. Been out running a lot this month? Then next month go out walking! Been spending quiet time on a morning? Then, for the next month do it on your lunch break… you get the idea. From an exercise point of view your body gets used to what you ask it to do so mixing it up challenges it to ‘re-think’. As for your mind, giving yourself space at different or being in the moment for different experiences will help you understand yourself and what works for you and what will, hopefully, lead you to a greater sense of well-being, a greater sense of inner-peace.

I’m going to try all of these things and I’ll let you know how I get on. Let me know what you get up to!

It takes longer than you think…

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Admin

Turns out writing a book takes longer than you think and takes up more time than you could ever imagine!

I’ve recently finished writing a book with Lisa Watson and Steph Hunter and it’s been wonderful experience to get my words onto paper ‘long form’. I love writing blogs that are quick to read but for anyone who enjoys writing then writing a book has to be something on your things to do list! So the book “How to Thrive in Professional Practice: A Self Care Handbook” will be out in the spring – in early May! Now that’s exciting! Available now to preorder. We talk about stress and burn out in social work and the context in which social work takes place because we’re all social workers but, to be honest, social work barely gets a mention in a lot of chapters. So it won’t matter what profession you are from what we are talking about will resonate. The reality is that all professional practice is blighted by the same problems these days. Too much to do, too little time, too few people to do it.

That means that people short change themselves by not prioritising their self-care. In professional practice and, to be honest, in all walks of life, self care is a necessity not a luxury.

So here’s the ironic thing! While writing the book on self-care my own self care took a bit of a nose dive! This means I can completely relate to people when they say, “But I don’t have time to go for a run / meditate/ eat well [delete as applicable or add your own!!]”. I didn’t lose the thread completely. My nutrition wasn’t too bad, I still did some yoga and meditation (but not a lot), and I still managed to run at least once a week.

But you see, this is the point with the model of self-care that I endorse. Life does come with its ups and downs. Your available time comes and goes. Your motivation waxes and wanes. But, if you know the golden rules you know where to get back to when you’ve ended up in the undergrowth. You won’t have completely ‘got lost’ along the way. You’ll have still done some things because once you create habits the are difficult to completely break free from. Good ones and bad ones.

So if you find you’ve lost your way a little, don’t sweat it. We all do. Make those small changes, step by step, that I talked about in the last blog and get yourself back on track. Don’t set your goals too high but do set them.

Here’s mine for the coming weeks:
Have more nights per week with no alcohol than nights I have alcohol (because I do like a glass of red)
Run twice a week (I already do parkrun every week so that’s just one more)
Cycle once a week
Meditate for 5 minutes a day
Drink more water
Eat exactly what I’ve been eating but smaller portion sizes

Doable? I think so!
You on board
2020 is going to be great!

You can preorder the book at the following link
How to Thrive in Professional Practice

Water, water, everywhere.

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Admin

You’ve probably heard this before…. Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. The brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79% water. Even your ‘solid’ bones are 31% water.

I’m watching the Rugby and the England manager Eddie Jones is sipping on his water and I say to Christine ‘what’s he drinking for he’s not done anything to break sweat’. Then I got to thinking – I suppose being England manager in such circumstances is quite stressful. I wonder what the relationship between hydration and stress is?

Turns out there is a two way relationship. Being dehydrated can cause an

increase in cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone present when we’re feeling the pressure and too much of it coursing through our bodies is not a good thing. It makes sense really as being dehydrated is putting your body under physical stress and stress is multi-faceted – physical, emotional, mental.

You are also more likely to become dehydrated when stressed because of elevated heart rate and heavier breathing. So it’s a vicious cycle. Dehydration leads to stress and stress leads to dehydration.

So how much water should you drink? The NHS recommend drinking 1.2 litres per day while other advice suggests nearly 2 litres. The difference, it is suggested, is due to our climate not being as warm as others. However you’ll need to increase the 1.2 litres if you live and work in a warm environment and are taking exercise. You also need to take into account your size and weight.

My suggestion is drink little and often until you find your level. After all we are all different. The colour of your urine can be a good indicator. It should be light yellow, almost clear. It’s useful to start the day with a glass of water and end the day with one. Always drink during and after exercise. And remember even just sat at your desk can be dehydrating you, given its relationship with stress.

Stay well!

Small steps end in big results

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Admin

What’s your relationship like with exercise at the minute? What historically has exercise meant to you? What exercise did you do in the last week?

I used to find that how I felt about exercise was rooted in how I felt about it as a teenager. With my only reference point being PE at school. Cold cross country runs and feelings of inadequacy. The secret is not to compare yourself to others – do what you can and what you feel comfortable with. And crucially – find something you actually enjoy! There will be something out there!

You might well find that you already do more exercise than you think. Low level stuff like gardening, washing the car, walking the dog and pegging the washing out. These are all good things. They involve activity and they involve stretching – both great things. Maybe we need you to push it a little further and get a little breathless? The recommendation of 20 minutes per day still holds good – so we are not talking about hours in the gym or becoming a marathon runner – fine as those things are if they are right for you.

Exercise is a pleasurable activity… honest. Engaging in it releases

dopamine – the body’s feel good hormone. Dopamine deficiency is shown to have links to depression so the more of it you have coursing around your body the better. Exercise is also great at mitigating against the effects of stress by ‘using up’ cortisol and adrenaline that are produced by our fight or flight response. These chemicals prime you for physical action but when the stressful event is occurring with you sat at your desk you don’t burn them off. And too much of them has a negative effect on your health and overall well-being.

Exercise:
Gives you faster processing
Gives you faster reaction times
Clears you head
Makes you more effective at planning
Gives you better short term memory performance
Gives you more self control

A study by Bristol University found that a 20 minute walk at lunch time could enhance mood and motivation by 41% and could improve the ability to deal with stress by 20%. A Sit Less Move More program evaluated by Pulg-Ribera and colleagues in 2017 noted improvements in staff retention in the work place, less sickness, more mindful work, and a reduction in stress. Now that’s good stuff!

So….
Make a plan! What are you going to do and when are you going to do it?
Start small and take incremental steps… start with a 10 minute walk and take it from there.
Write down your plan… writing things down enhances the chances of them actually happening.
Exercise with someone else – it helps motivation.
Tell other people what you’re doing… there’s evidence if we ‘go public’ we’re more likely to do what you say.
And most importantly find something you enjoy
And Just Do It (as Nike would say!)

I have to tell you speak to your doctor if you have any health conditions or haven’t exercised for a long time! I’m not a doctor! Take advice if you feel you need to. This advice is given in good faith based on my own personal experience and reading. Take care.

Discipline! Let’s get to work!

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Admin

Last night felt like a watershed moment in some ways. Although as with most things about self care these moments are simply reminders of things we already know either instinctively or because we’ve been told them and are choosing to ignore our knowledge.

I was reading Daily Self Discipline by Martin Meadows and he said simply that succeeding in anything is about discipline. And I thought – you are so right! Think about sports men and women. We often fall into the trap of thinking that people are just naturally talented – and there is an element of that. Some people have the physiology or the genetics that maybe gives them a leg up. But none of the great sports people have got to where they are without sheer hard work born out of discipline. In Mindset, Carol Dweck, talks about having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. The person with a fixed mindset says – this is the life I have been dealt and nothing I do will change it. The person with the growth mindset says by diligent hard work, exploration, education, and discipline I can achieve anything. And this is true! She talks about a conversation with tennis superstar John McEnroe who explained that he had a fixed mindset and that he feels, looking back, that this led to his on court tantrums and antics. He felt he was gifted and had a right to win simply because he was John McEnroe. He skipped training, didn’t focus, because he felt he would win no matter what because he had ‘it’ and others didn’t. He feels he would have been even better, making more of what he had been given, if he had a growth mindset.

We can achieve a great deal with discipline. The other example would be eating a healthy diet. It is so easy to give into temptation and can feel so hard to prepare food in advance to take to work or make the healthy choice. But if we do this we will feel more positive and more in control. I know that my healthy choices slip when something is going on that I don’t have control over. It’s then a vicious cycle. I eat something unhealthy or I have a few glasses of wine on a night, and before I know where I’m at my diet has shifted away from my usual healthy eating and a measures approach to being negative in terms of my well-being.

Discipline is easier when you have a plan and integrate things into your routine. I was thinking of all of the positives of my morning walk with the dog. I use it as a kind of meditation, more like mindfulness really. I love just watching the dog being a dog. She loves just doing what dogs should do – without a care in the world. The morning walk with the dog (or without for that matter) has lots of self care pluses! Here they are:

Being outdoors is good for beating stress
Being outdoors in the early morning sunlight primes the process for sleep at the end of the day
Walking for 30 minutes beats stress and means you’ve already had some great physical exercise without barely trying
Walking mindfully, and deep breathing, is good for you. Research with social workers who engaged in mindfulness showed a reduction in sickness and stress levels…. suck in that fresh air!

But, it takes discipline to get out of bed early enough to do this and to undertake the walk without cutting it short or rushing it. Here’s the rub when it comes to discipline. You will feel better if you focus and get things done. Be that walking the dog, or getting that report written, or saving a little money every month, or preparing healthy food to take to work. Life is not easy, happiness is not a given. If you are disciplined in the way you approach the elements of your life you will initiate change…. and then you need the discipline to keep going. It’s hard, not going to lie. But keep going, and when you fall, pick yourself up, refocus, and crack on!

Have a great day!

Get outside!

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Admin

Outdoors is great! We love walking or being away in our folding camper. Get the sun on your face and the wind in you’re hair!

We’ve spent the day at Aysgarth Falls in North Yorkshire and it’s been wonderful! Some gentle exercise, some sunshine, some beautiful scenery…. and coffee and cake! Walking through the forest to the falls was wonderful. But interestingly did you know that a study found that forest walks resulted in decreased levels of anxiety and improved mood!?

Also a study at the University of Michigan showed students performed 20% better in memory tests after a walk around an arboretum compared to those who walked around the city. A further study on people experiencing depression showed that walks in nature boosted working memory much more than walks in built environments. Time in the forest has also been shown to reduce cortisol which is a by-product of stress.

My particular favourite is that time outside on a morning prepares you for the day and activates the brain chemistry you need to be awake and alert.

Research in America has also shown that just spending some time outside can improve sleep particularly for men and everyone over 65! Good stuff!

So how about starting your day with some time outside…. or how about having a walk outdoors during your lunch break…. and when you can get out amongst the trees and experience nature!

Gonna make you sweat!

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Admin

So, what’s your relationship like with exercise!? On and off? Non existent? Gym bunny!? What exercise did you do last week? What are you planning this week? And why does it matter?

Exercise is the second element in the self care trinity (more here). We’ve already talked about the importance of sleep so let’s grapple with this component and figure out why it’s good for us… because it is…. honest!

There are obvious physical benefits to exercise like improving bone density, promoting muscle growth, keeping you supple, promoting healthy skin …and the list goes. But I’d like to concentrate here on the impact on our psychological and emotional well being. Is exercise a stress buster!?

You are sat at your desk and you have a million things to do, so many things you don’t know what to do next, and your boss pitches up and asks if you can fit in doing something else! How do you feel! Overwhelmed, angry, tearful? People feel a range of things in these situations and sometimes these emotions are not helpful. Some of these emotions activate our ‘fight or flight’ response. When we feel threatened in some way our body prepares us for action by flushing us full of cortisol and adrenaline so that we are ready to respond. This useful reaction harks back to our days as hunter gatherers where we would need to run away from big scary things like tigers! These chemicals prepare us for flight – a physical response…. or indeed ‘fight’ ….but maybe not in the tiger scenario!

But the modern world is not like that. For a lot of us we are sat at our desks when we feel threatened. Here we are threatened by the demands of the job, not an animal with hostile intent (unless that’s how you think about your boss! ;0)). But our bodies don’t know that. So, they sense the threat and prepare the response and you then…. continue to sit there. But your body is ready! Fully armed to fight or flee. In his book “When the Body Says No, The Cost of Hidden Stress”, Gabor Mate tells us that “stress affects and involves virtually every tissue in the body” (pg. 33) and acts on tissues in the immune system. When stress is chronic, that is long term, it leads to an overactive immune system that produces toxic chemicals in the body. He goes on to explain that for many who are in constant state of stress they normalise what stress feels like so are not conscious of feeling stressed despite their body still initiating the internal chemical stress response. He gives many examples in the book of current research that is making strong links between chronic stress and diseases like Alzheimers and MS.

So, what does this have to do with exercise? Well, exercise reduces, burns off if you like, cortisol and adrenaline. As I say, the fight or flight response has produced these chemicals to prepare you for physical action, so, physical action is required to use it up. Given the reality that stress is unavoidable in life, and in many ways short periods of stress can be useful as it give impetus and motivation, exercise needs to be an essential component of self care to mitigate against a bodily chemical response that, for most office based stressors, is not required in the way it once was.

Not only does exercise use up cortisol and adrenaline it produces dopamine. Dopamine is released during pleasurable activities like enjoying food and sex as well as physical exertion through exercise. Deficiency in dopamine has been linked to depression. You may well have heard the term ‘runners high’ which is that euphoric feeling you feel after a run. That’s where it comes from! Exercise also produces noradrenaline, which regulates mood, learning and memory, and produces serotonin, a lack of which has been linked to a range of health conditions.

Rest easy though… we are not talking about turning you into a marathon runner! One single session of exercise has been shown to improve mental performance, give faster mental processing, clear your head, make you more effective at planning, improve memory, and improve self control!

A study by Bristol University showed that exercise boosted mood and motivation by 41% and increased the ability to deal with stress by 20% …..and we’re only talking about a walk that leaves you a little out of breath – the perfect thing to do on your lunch break (have a look here to read about the importance of a lunch break)!

Researcher Pulg-Riberia and colleagues analysed a Sit Less Move More worked based programme and found that by simply engaging in some gentle exercise during the working day there was an improvement in staff retention, sickness levels, and a reduction in stress which led to more mindful work practice. What a huge benefit to employer and employee!

So, how are you going to go about this? Are you going to ‘go about’ it? I hope this little insight into some of the evidence suggest to you that you should….

Firstly, if you’ve not exercised in a while, or ever, get yourself checked out at you GP surgery and then make a plan! I love a plan! And here’s some tips!
– Walk before you run! Literally and metaphorically! Start small.
– Do what you love. If you try running and don’t like it – don’t do it! There are so many options… walking, yoga, resistance training, exercise classes, gardening, washing the car – they all count! Just do them at a pace that leaves you a little breathless
– Write it in your calendar. There is so much evidence that shows if you write it down you are more likely to do it.
– Prepare. Make sure you have what need. Make it easy for yourself. Put your kit out the night before, our your trainers by the door.
– Exercise with someone. This is probably the best advice for people starting out. If you commit to do something with someone else you won’t want to let them down. So get yourself a walking buddy and get going!

The Department of Health (UK) recommend 150 minutes of moderate exercise like walking or swimming per week. That’s two and a half hours, or, half an hour a day over 5 days. So if you go for a half hour walk everyday in your lunch break (….have you got the point about taking a lunch break yet!?) you’ll have done what the government recommend! That’s it! You’re done! Go you!!

If you want to be more vigorous and go for a run they suggest only 75 minutes is required! That’s a couple of half hour plus a bit runs and you’re done! Easy!

You should also include some stretching (have a look here) and strength training. Strength training doesn’t need to be lifting weights but can be simply engaging in some exercises that use your body weight. Have a look here.

There is also a fabulous workout for weight loss program here and lots of other very useful articles – check it out!

…and I’ll leave you with this

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Let me introduce you to the triangle!

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Admin

Here it is! Your route map to self care. My self care model (lovingly drawn for me by one of our fabulous students Anna Short). It’s simple and straightforward but it’s what you need to get sorted. And over the next few days I’ll tackle each element of the triangle in turn and then we can get on to figuring out how to organise it all!

The three things in the triangle won’t come as any surprise to you. In fact most of what I have to tell you won’t come as a huge surprise. Looking after yourself is one of those things where we all know what to do but we don’t always do it. And we don’t always fully understand the impact on us and our productivity.

So… we’ll talk about sleep, we’ll talk about exercise, and we’ll talk about nutrition. This is not to turn you into tofu eating (although I like tofu), marathon running (although I’ve ran marathons), zen like (although I like some meditation) creatures, but rather to show you how these three things interact and have a massive impact on your productivity in your job and in your home life.

Current research tells us that lack of sleep has a significant impact on the risk of us developing things like cancer or alzheimers, never mind the impact of a poor nights sleep on the next day. Your brain and your gut are connected directly by the vagus nerve and scientists are showing how the quality of what is going on in your gut directly effects your mood. And exercise has been shown to be effective in reducing levels of stress. Also, they are are interlinked….

I’ll tell you more…. stay tuned!

I had the most exhausting weekend yet……

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Admin

What a weekend I had last weekend! I actually never stopped! Yet, I woke up on Monday morning morning feeling refreshed and excited about how much I was going to get done! Why’s this! Why was I not shattered and daunted by the week ahead!

Well, for all it was busy, the weekend was choc full of things, all of which I consider as self care. There’s a meme kicking about that I see that says something like, “self care is not about chocolates and pamper days, it’s about creating a life that you don’t want to escape from”. This weekend has been awesome and tiring both at the same time – and I didn’t want to escape from it! Let me tell you about it.

It started Friday tea time with a 14 mile bike ride home from work. I just took my time, I wanted to be home, but I also wanted to delight in the scenery around me. So, I took a detour down to a little place off my route called Cox Green and I just spent a few moments there looking at the river and the beautiful vista. I then continued my way home. For me, exercise is mindfulness in motion. You can think of all sorts of things if you want to while you exercise. It’s just you. On your own thinking things through and mulling things over. Or it can be you thinking of nothing. Just you and your body doing this thing to the exclusion of everything else. I love the loneliness of a solo run or bike ride. Some quality time with yourself.
Self Care checklist: Alone time, you time, exercise, getting outdoors tick!

Saturday started with Parkrun, starting at Durham’s Maiden Castle and ending by the River Wear in the shadow of the glorious Cathedral. We’ve got quite a little team going on now for Parkrun and we’ve pretty much ran it every weekend this year. So my eldest son Jonathan picks me up and, in the car are usually the Whellan’s brothers and Oliver’s girlfriend Sarah (although she didn’t make it this week). The run and the scenery is great and is an absolute delight. Parkrun is 5k which is doable and not too tough. But for me the most important part of this is the camaraderie of the whole thing. We are all at different levels of fitness but all in it together. The banter in the car on the way there and on the way home is great. And it’s wonderful that these young pups tolerate this old guy tagging along!

The Sunday saw me running again with two of my colleagues from work. We were doing the Sunderland 10k. It was an absolute delight. A huge group of people all with one endeavour in mind. To test themselves against the distance in front of them! There was a great atmosphere as the gun went off and we started and it continued all the way around and into the finish funnel!

Then, in the afternoon, tired and weary I had a gig to play. I’m a musician in between other things (!) and I was playing in the Union Rooms, a lovely bar near Central Station in Newcastle. Music is a gift to us all. I love playing on my own at home or in front of people in a bar. Music lifts the soul. Or ‘resets’ it, as I like to say. And it creates a wonderful connection between people. It was great to watch people chatting and enjoying themselves as I played, and from time to time joining in singing along to the tunes they recognised.

There’s a Stoic ‘saying’ that ‘the obstacle is the way’. When confronted with an obstacle don’t avoid it – go through it! Because it’s in doing so that we grow and develop. My tiring weekend left me re-energised because of how the things I did contributed to who I am – my idea of ‘self’ – and therefore to my self care. Connections made, existing connections enjoyed, exercise engaged in, getting outdoors, the healing properties of music – food for the soul – all meant that the busy weekend was a refreshing weekend.

The obstacle really is the way

Embrace it!

Sort out your morning first!

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Admin

The establishing of a morning routine is vital to starting the day on the right foot (that’s the ‘correct’ foot not necessarily the ‘right’ one – you could start on the left one if you want!). Your first ‘steps’ into the day are crucial to how your day goes. Some advocates of this suggest creating a 30-60 minute routine to benefit yourself and start you off on the day right. (Although 30 to 60 minutes feel like a bit of an ask for most of us). This comes as no great surprise to me, but it is nice to have what you know affirmed. You want something that will physically and mentally prepare you for the day. Ideally it should involve a period of mindfulness or reflection. Visualising the day ahead had been shown to help.

Thinking about our day, visualising what you want it to look like and what your objective is, has been shown to have a significant impact in how it actually turns out. Neuroscience has plenty of research to tell us it is so.

My morning routine has changed since we got a dog because she won’t wait for her walk until I’ve sorted myself out!! So my mindfulness and visualisation takes place while I’m in motion!

But it used to look something like this….. On waking I’d start with some deep breathing – this is before I’ve even got out of bed. Next, I’d press play on the music that is the backdrop to my yoga stretching the Om Mani Padme Hum (Ven. Dharma Nauka). I do sun salutation, downward and upward dog, pigeon pose (which I completely struggle with!), cat and cow pose and some additional stretches for good measure ….and it usually takes me the time of the full mantra to do this. I then sit on the floor for more deep breathing and some meditation – just for a few minutes. I still do this as often as I can… but now after the dog walk! She sometimes joins in and shows me how to do both downward and upward dog… and she’s much better at it than I am.

Next – water. Then – coffee and settle down to read for quarter of an hour or so – something that’s currently intriguing me about the human condition ….and then I’m done ….and all ready for breakfast!

The reality is, for me anyway, is that I still fit all of these things in at various points but it has to be flexible. With a little planning I generally don’t have to miss too much.

And what are the benefits? For me (at my age!) I feel physically ready for the day. I feel aches and stiffness when I wake up – but if I get my stretching in early I feel none of it for the rest of the day. But more than this I feel energised and ready to face the day in a state of calm. It certainly benefits me as if I miss too much of this out I’m convinced I don’t have as good a day. If I do these things, including the dog walk, I feel I’ve activated my body, activated my mind, and started my day by achieving a great deal. And that’s before I start on the other things that are waiting for me.

Start your day well and your day will go well – I’m convinced of it!

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Category Archives: Exercise