Dear Readers,

Where to Begin ? 

You might be asking yourself this question.  It is not easy to answer and not everyone is the same.  But the best place to start is at the beginning with a positive mindset to make a change or changes to promote better mental and emotional health for yourself.

We all have regular habits in our lives that can lift us up or put us down. Certain coping strategies, such as practicing meditation or exercising to relieve stress, can help you navigate the world around you. But other coping strategies - like substance abuse and eating disorders - may be unhelpful, and these damaging behaviors can contribute to other health consequences or impact on your quality of life.

Reinforcing a situation by using a negative coping strategy can also lead to a behaviour  becomeing ingrained. For example, if somebody is depressed and they engage in meaningful steps such as therapy, healthy eating, good exercise habits, and keeping their environment clean and stable, they are more likely to achieve a fast recovery.

But by neglecting your body's needs, oversleeping, or not sleeping enough, neglecting to exercise, or not washing or tidying your surroundings, you are likely to feel worse, and this can cause the cycle of low mood to repeat.

Overcoming ingrained coping mechanisms is a difficult process, but it can be done, one step at a time. Here’s a list of the 3 bad habits to quit for better mental health.

1. Substance Abuse

The truth is most of us have some substance that we feel dependent on to get us through the day. Maybe you’ve never touched an illegal substance in your life, but you like a glass or two of wine every night. Or perhaps you don’t drink or do drugs, but you consume large amounts of coffee to keep you awake and alert at work.

All psychoactive substances affect the way your brain and body work. Alcohol, for example, can cause an initial euphoric 'buzz', created by the rush of dopamine to the brain.

But excessive alcohol use can cause depression, mood swings, a range of health conditions including heart and liver diseases, high blood pressure, stroke, and cancers, and can also lead to an increased risk of injuries and violence. Alcohol abuse is also significantly linked to social problems and may increase the risk of issues such as domestic violence.

Meanwhile, caffeine is generally considered to be a 'harmless' drug - but drinking too much can increase feelings of stress and anxiety and can even raise your blood pressure.

While moderation is always key, and not everybody will want to go completely teetotal, cutting down on your consumption of substances such as illicit drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and even sugar can help your mental health significantly.

2. Poor Sleeping Habits

Evidence shows a close link between mental health problems and sleeping habits.

According to The Sleep Health Foundation, 60-90% of patients with depression also struggle with insomnia, while Harvard Health found that 50-80% of patients in typical psychiatric practice suffer from chronic sleep problems - suggesting that sleep quality plays a significant role in mental health conditions.

Sleep is important for mental health for two reasons. Firstly, sleep is a regenerative process where your body repairs itself after the day has ended, helping to maintain your cognitive abilities, memory, and attention. Secondly, the R.E.M. stage of sleep helps your brain process what you have experienced each day, allowing you to manage new information, store it, and recall it later.

Under sleeping can lead to symptoms such as mood swings, fatigue, irritability, and depression. Oversleeping, however, has similar effects and can lead to increased lethargy and feelings of low mood. For a good night’s sleep, you should be aiming for between 8-10 hours. If this is difficult due to work commitments - such as working night shifts -it’s important that you catch up on sleep time where possible.

If you are struggling with insomnia, speak to your doctor for advice. Home remedies may include improving sleep hygiene by limiting electronic use and lighting, reducing caffeine use, meditation, and herbal remedies such as chamomile or valerian teas.

 

3. Not Exercising

Exercise is a miracle cure for depression. In fact, according to JAMA Psychiatry, being active three times a week may reduce your risk of depression by 16%.

Doing a workout also helps you to stay mindful and, in the moment, taking your mind off stressful situations and keeping you mentally and physically active.

If you're struggling from high stress and anxiety, opt for low-impact sports such as yoga or swimming. Low-impact sport helps to reduce levels of cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone. Doing at least 1 form of higher impact exercise weekly also helps to regulate your cortisol levels over time.

If you’re struggling with depression and low mood - there’s no rush to get active; you don’t have to run a half-marathon next week. But today, get out of bed and go for a walk around the block. You might find it helps.

In the end, please be gentle with yourself as change takes time and the mind is a complex organ. But decideing to be your best is the first step to better habits , a better mental and emotional state, and a better life overall.

Peace Be With You,

Cheryl

Dear Readers;

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a Leader is a noun that acknowledges "leadership as a state or position of being a leader".  The Lexico Dictionary (a part of the Oxford Dictionary) acknowledges that leadership is an "action of leading a group of people towards a common goal while motivating them". 

Leadership is a key component in the formation of any group or community organizational setup in our society.  Good leadership is crucial to a successful social or professional community for direction, motivation and especially growth for the members and/or participants. Leadership is not just a title that one assumes but rather a "state of being" that one becomes and an "action" that one takes for the support of others.  As a leader in any leadership role the individual has a responsiblity to exercise a combination of know-how, people skills and personal responsiblity to transform ideas into reality.   Leaders know how to inspire those around them. Leaders learn the skills necessary that demonstrate their abilites to solve problems proving their capablity as a driven and teamwork -oriented individual.  Ledgendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said," Leaders are made, they are not born".

What are some quatlites that make a good leader and how can you implement them? Check out the following:

1)Leaders know how to listen with empathy. How? What does this Mean? What does this look like in reality?

In the process of problem solving leaders look at not just the aspects of the problem itself but at the people around him/her and how the challenges/problems are really affecting others.  Good coversation with someone who is experiencing the problem/challenge is key to make sense of the situation and especially, for the leader to see things from the other person's perspectives. A good example would be the Baseball Coach who sees the Player struggling to hit the ball but aimlessly trying. The Coach remembers how he/she had to struggle at first to be a good player and understand the game, this is empathy.  The result,  the Coach and Player collaborate on new visionary perspectives for the game and realistic techniques to make the player an exceptional baseball hitter. Eventually,  buliding on skill, time honoured practice and insightful conversations the Player becomes an exceptional winning baseball hitter and an asset to the baseball team. 

2)  Leaders know there is no hard and fast solution to every problem or challenge.  It takes time to make changes for the better or for the best.  Leaders know that along with the empathy and the conversations, there is the listening process.  Active listening means that a Leader will be able to reiterate the sense of what the person's pain point is and what he/she is really looking for in a solution. A Leader's words are important for these problem/challenge discussions because he/she as a leader must make sense of the situation and know where the other person is coming from on his/her journey.  Finally, in this process for a solution, a Leader must offer constructive feedback.

3) Leaders are always learning and researching leadership styles.  Remember leadership is something that is learned and must be cultivated consistently in the learning and application processes.

a) Leadership styles may include such things as delegating, whereby the leader knows the right people to assign a task or a team to respond to problems or challenges.

b) Leadership styles may also include Coaching, whereby the leader is a leader by example to inspire and empower others around him/her.

c) Leadership styles could also include visionary perspectives, whereby the leader is a person of "ideas" that help others see the big picture beyond the confines of a particular problem or challenge. Thinking outside the box.

The role of a Leader and Leadership is an important one. Leadership is a skill and an approach that individuals must learn and grow into for optimal proficiency.  The learning and growth process never stops for a true leader because overall, good leaders inspire, support and transform ideas, people and things into visionary realities that promote success for all.

-Peace Be With You-

Cheryl

Dear Readers:

What is Procrastination? 

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Procrastination is “to be slow or late about doing something that should be done."  (www.merriam-webster.com)                 

On Wikipedia the definition is “the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences….” (www.wikipedia.com)

Procrastination is sometimes characterized by certain emotional and psychological tendencies that can hinder and even hurt a person’s overall wellbeing. Some emotions that procrastination is associated with are anxiety, feeling overwhelmed and fear of failure in doing or completing a task believed to be too difficult. Some psychological tendencies associated with procrastination are perfectionism, no clear goals or direction, too much abstracting about the situation and not seeing it concrete; and, lack of motivation or sensation seeking  with no substance of purpose. (www.solvingprocrastination.com)

From a business perspective, some of the most common and significant procrastination demons are fear of failure and low self-efficacy.  Self-efficacy is “a person’s belief in their ability to perform the actions needed to achieve their goals." This is the person’s subjective belief of his/her ability to perform the actions needed to achieve success. (www.solvingprocrastination.com)

Upon further reflection of the concept of procrastination, especially in the entrepreneurial sphere, procrastination begins with a belief one has about oneself to be successful. Beliefs can be adjusted or changed to make room for positive and self-empowering thoughts and actions buy changing the story playing out in one’s mind. Some solutions to address the problem of procrastination are as follows:

1/  Identifying and addressing the fears that are holding you back and taking into account if these obstacles are only in your mind or anxiety driven.

2/ Reflecting on your past successes.  It is always a motivating boost to one’s self esteem and self-empowering to acknowledge past challenges one overcame and rewards one enjoyed.

3/ Through the power of mind management techniques such as meditation and visualization, one can image, actually start to see themselves as successful by tackling the tasks that must be done to achieve future successes. (www.solvingprocrastination.com)

For words of encouragement to motivate and self-empower you to take some small action to move forward in life, look to the words and wisdom of the movers and shakers of world history who overcame some insurmoutable odds and challenges.

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-

Peace Be With You

Cheryl

 

 

 

 Dear Reader,

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, Mindset is understood as a "person's way of thinking and their opinions ."    The Merriam -Webster Dictionary defines Mindset as " a mental attitude or inclination." 

Although these definitions give a basic idea of what a mindset is, they do not realy identify the crucial meaning behind what mindsets are and what they mean for the individual. Also there are two particualar types of mindsets worth examining.

Dr. Carol Dweck, psychologist, has a better definition for mindset and identifies two types that we as human beings could have.  Basically she identifies mindsets as a set of beliefs (hence "set" in "mindset") that shape how we make sense of our world and  ourselves. Mindsets influence how we think, feel and act. (Dweck, Carol)

In the general sphere of our mindsets is either a fixed based belief system or a growth based belief system.  The difference is that someone with a fixed mindset would perecieve that he /she has character traits and abilities that they cannot change, for better or worse.  That is just the way they are from birth.  This type of mindset can easly generate negativitiy in feelings and lead to lack of decisive actions needed for success in life. 

On the other hand, a growth mindset takes into consideration that many things can be learned and that a solution can be found if one is willing to work hard at it. Growth mindset individuals see that regardless of their character traits or abilities they can grow and change for the better.  Growth mindset tends to generate more positivity in feelings and can lead to taking action and resilience in facing life situtations and persuing success.

But fixed mindsets can be changed by the individual simply choosing to change for better.  This can simply be making a conscious decision to focus on the journey of life and the opportunities to make changes in the process of living.  The fixed mindset must understand that nothing changes without a journey and a process. 

So , the point is, even if we have a set of beliefs that shape who we are and our perceptions about our life and world, there is alway room for growth, if we choose to make it so.

Thanks for reading.

-Peace Be With You-

Cheryl

Dear Reader,

In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a Goal is defined as "an END towards which EFFORT is directed". This means the outcome or result that you are looking for is, in essence, your goal.

Once you understand your motivations for doing, being and having your hopes , dreams and desires, you must set a goal or multiple goals as the object to direct all your energy and efforts towards.  So , what is the result or results you want to achieve ?  This is your goal and what you are directiing your motivation, self-discipline and focus towards.

There are some aspects to Goals of which I will touch on only two:

1)Goals are comprised of many levels of sub-goals.

2)Goals require prioritiizing and  focus on the prioritizing.

Goals are often varying and comprised of   levels  and sub-levels that in turn create more goals and greater goals.  For example, if you wanted to become an attorney at a big, famous law firm. Working at the famous law firm is your greater goal, or "grand" goal.  So you would have multiple levels and sub-level goals such as  completing  your university degree. You would then go on to graduate school, then law school and continue the processes of obtainining your law degree, expereiences, career sucesses until you are a well known attorney at your famous law firm.

Goals require prioritizing and focusing on those set priorities.  Once you have set your goals you need to priortize what are the first steps to take, such as in the case of becoming an attorney your  first priority would be to apply and get into university , then study the subjects that are relevant to becoming an attorney, and so forth.  Once you have your priorites set , you focus on one at a time. So your first focus would be to apply and get into unversity , so your focus would be on getting good grades so you are accepted to the institution. However, life happens and sometimes our priorites can get lost in the weeds, but that is the purpose of focus going hand in hand with your priorities.  When you are focused on a priority then you will have to make sacrifices to achieve your priority and not let distractions take you away from your pursuit of your goal.

Again, remember to go slowly and be gentle with yourself when you get off course.  Goals take time to achieve and is a part of your life, not a separate entity unto itself.  Incorporate your goals into the rhythm of your life and try to enjoy your pursuits.

Peace by with you.

Cheryl