Welcome to my blog
There is a lot of information around on the importance of looking after our health, like maintaining a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. This is all well and good if your aim is just to keep your body healthy. But what about your brain?
From chocolate to coffee and sleep, to sharper smarter thinking, join me for an article or three as I share insights, tips and ideas on what it takes to keep your brain operating at full speed, so you can wake up feeling refreshed, happier and healthier every day.
Welcome to my blog
There is a lot of information around on the importance of looking after our health, like maintaining a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. This is all well and good if your aim is just to keep your body healthy. But what about your brain?
From chocolate to coffee and sleep, to sharper smarter thinking, join me for an article or three as I share insights, tips and ideas on what it takes to keep your brain operating at full speed, so you can wake up feeling refreshed, happier and healthier every day.
Why Uncertainty Can Be a Blessing
If living in the “Time of Covid” has left you feeling more than a little unsettled, anxious and fearful for your future, it’s hardly surprising. Uncertainty has become rife. It’s everywhere. It taints our outlook. It colours our world view. It peppers our conversation as the endless debate, blame shifting and finger pointing around who did what, said what, didn’t do, leaves us feeling breathless and exhausted.
The antidote is not certainty, although having some certainty can feel reassuring. The sun will rise tomorrow. The pandemic will pass, eventually. The solution is to be more present to what is happening right now because uncertainty, just like certainty is an essential human trait.
How Your Fragility Can Reveal Your Strengths
Are you feeling a little fragile?
One year into the global pandemic we have all endured so much. So much uncertainty, fear for our future and that of our families. As we anxiously await the roll out of the vaccination program here in Australia, our reality is we will continue to experience further outbreaks of the virus, lockdowns of hot spots and restrictions on travel.
Our fragility can make us afraid.
But it can also serve to uncover our strengths.
Why respect matters greatly and how to create more
How often do you hear of whistle-blowers ending up being the one who loses their job, bad mouthed in public while the perpetrator gets off scot-free, with no repercussion for their bad behaviour, or even gets a promotion? How many whistle-blowers are being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements because the company doesn’t want a stain on its reputation and would rather brush the highlighted issue under the carpet?
It reveals a disappointing lack of respect for our fellow humans.
Why there’s more to great happiness than just being happy
There’s no doubt we feel better when we are happier. We smile more, we’re healthier, we live longer, we have a lower risk of anxiety or depression and the world seems a less frightening place.
But happiness on its own isn’t the whole story of what creates a good life. There are so many other emotions available to us that add richness to our experiences because they are all a valuable source of data, helping us to make better sense of what’s happening.
Does nurturing happiness matter?
Yes, but as Sydney J Harris said, “happiness is a direction, not a place.”
Which is why chasing happiness is an illusion. It’s the positive actions we take, big and small that create greater happiness in our life.
And it’s the anticipation of a special event that makes us especially happy.
Is it time to change your mind for the better?
Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
An introvert or an extrovert?
Are you open or close minded?
We like to label ourselves as being one or the other but in truth we are neither and both. While you may tend more towards one than the other, it is your ability to flip towards one or the other depending on the circumstance that contributes to your ability to adapt and thrive in all environments.
Your mindset determines your outlook, your energy and your outcomes.
When you believe you can achieve your goal, you’re more motivated to take action.
When you choose to upskill or learn something new, it raises your self-confidence and ability to understand.
How to get the best out of your day by taking a break
Sure, you’re a committed professional with the best of intentions, a high achiever, a perfectionist and with a personal reputation to uphold. Naturally you work hard, you put in long hours and the extra, because that’s just par for the course, it’s expected. You don’t tolerate anything less than 110% commitment to anything you do.
There’s just one problem.
Not only does this make your work less enjoyable over time (no matter how much you’re
passionate about it), the paradox is it leads to lower productivity, effectiveness and efficacy, and I’m sorry to say this, it makes you a proverbial pain in the backside for your colleagues who are fed up with your irritability, mood swings, worsening negativity and constant litany of complaints about your colleagues, your clients, the economy, the government, parking fines and anything else you’ve turned your attention to.
Bah Humbug!