Positive Reflection Friday
I believe some reflection is beneficial for us as human beings. By reflecting we can learn from the past so we don’t repeat past errors, but we can also repeat behaviours that give us successful outcomes. I have often heard it said that writing our thoughts down gives us a better understanding of an issue and this is something I do at night. I write my Today Result which is a list of all the things that went well in the day. I can focus on this rather than all the ‘perceived’ failures. We can have anywhere between 20,000 to 40,000 thoughts in any one day and it is said that 70% of these thoughts can be negative! This is why I always focus on the positives, to redress that balance.
Secondly, I write my Tomorrow Promise which is one or two promises I am going to make myself tomorrow. By focusing my brain in this way, the RAS (Reticular Activating System) is looking for these positive things to happen and helps train my brain to look for these positives, or even instances when my promises are being created.
Social Interaction Saturday
No man is an island was a phrase first coined by John Dunne in the 17th century and means that we cannot function solely independently. I believe it is true today in terms of being connected to other humans. This connectivity is best entered into face to face, rather than in social media. Feeling part of groups that have similar interests and generate mutual trust and belief are the foundation for building good mental health. So, try and meet friends and professional colleagues, but also try to grow your circle – it will help you more than you think. I say this because when we are in conversation, we are distracted from life’s woes (likewise when we exercise) and this helps the brain take a break from negative cyclical thinking.
Social researcher Brene Brown noted the feeling she got being in a stadium of over 90,000 people in Sydney Australia when the famous Liverpool song You’ll Never Walk Alone was sung. Her feeling of positive emotion and connectivity was beyond limits. In line with this, I met a teacher a few months ago who booked music concerts every month. He told me he did this as it was a great stress relief strategy for him – who am I to argue with that, especially as he has been teaching for over 40 years!
Belonging Sunday
Belonging to a family, a like-minded group, or even a professional organisation helps develop our sense of belonging. This gives us support and identity which are two crucial ingredients to developing an emotionally balanced life. Many fractured lives of young people I have worked with, through no fault of their own, often display a lack of belonging and identity. I have seen first-hand, how emotional well-being can be at best transient with these unfortunate children. More often than not, this lack of belonging and identity is at the root cause of many mental health issues. We cannot choose our family, but it can be a great source of strength. Nevertheless, we can choose our friendship and business groups and these could become an integral part of our emotional well-being.Ross McWilliam BA Hons, MSc, PGCE, Dip Man, PhD on-going
Say Goodbye to Stress 