Following on from last week’s entry on building resilience, it is important to state that resilience don’t just help you manage stress but it fosters inner strength to help you meet goals, life challenges and achieve success.
Most of my clients hold more or less physical tension which I would like you to think of as a bad habit that relaxation will help you break. Relaxation is like changing the idling speed on a car. When a car turns over too quickly, wasting expensive fuel and putting a strain on the engine, the mechanic can reset the idling speed to a much lower level. Similarly when busyness, concerns, time pressure have speeded us up too much, making us tense and irritable, we can learn how to let go and attain a much calmer state of being. So taking the time to learn what relaxes you!
It is worth re-emphasising the point that it is possible to make an enormous difference to your state of mind through yoga, tai chi, relaxation and meditation and all other sorts of physical exercise.
While most of celebrate our wins, it is also important to celebrate when we do good for others, as often other’s don’t notice. We all know life has its ups and downs, when your life is in turmoil, you may not do things "perfectly". Rather than worrying or simply surviving turmoil, why not ask what you can learn from the situation. But don’t beat yourself up, remember you always do your best, when you know better, you do better!
One habit that I try to cultivate to help put a smile on my face especially when I am feeling down is to cultivate a gratitude attitude. However bad my day goes, before I got to sleep I try to think of three things that I am grateful for. These don’t need to be big things; it can be as simple as “I am grateful that the transport system ran on time” as I had a busy day. A gratitude attitude helps foster joy, fulfilment & peace of mind.
