De-stress & Mindfulness Tips 4-6
In our busy, busy lives our heads can quickly become filled with the white noise of our list of musts, shoulds, and shouldn’ts. No matter how much is ticked off your To Do list, there’s always more. There’s that underlying, nagging feeling that you should be able to do it all, you should be enough, and you are not. The louder the white noise, the harder it is to focus, be productive, patient and, heaven forbid, actually relax and enjoy life’s adventures.
Here are the next in the series of mindset tips to help you relax, de-stress and take back control.
- Be present, not past. The past is gone, and no longer exists except in your memory. Rehashing negative memories, or blaming an event in the past for your present circumstances keeps you powerless and stuck, perhaps also suffering physically with illness, pain or excess weight.
Tip: Acknowledge you did the best you could at the time with the resources you had. You are a different person now with the wisdom of hindsight. Get your learnings and let it go back to the past where it belongs. If you need expert help to do this, just ask. Life is too short to live in the pain from the past. Reclaim your personal power.
- Be present, not in the future. The future does not yet exist, so what you imagine may not come to pass. However, the more you focus on what you don’t want, the more likely you are to attract that into your life, but fortunately focussing on what you do want also increases its probability.
Tip: Spend time imagining the future you want, and come back to the present and take action towards that. If you imagine the worst, then come back to the present and take action to ensure either it doesn’t happen, or if it does, you are well prepared. Then imagine all going well.
- Self-talk is self-programming. Are you talking yourself into or out of success, whether in business, relationships, wealth or health? Be aware of what you tell yourself you can or can’t be-do-have, and your use of words such as “never”, “always”, “but” and “because”.
Tip: Instead of saying, “I’ll worry about that later.” Say, “I’ll focus on/find a solution for that at X o’clock on Y day.” Diarise it for then. That’s now one less piece of stressful white noise in your head.
Like any new knowledge and skill, the more you practice these, the better results you’ll achieve, and the easier you’ll deal with stressful situations. Look out for tips 7-10 next month.
