Busting the Myth of Busy Rushing from place to place and feeling a constant crush of pressure is familiar to many. MiNDFOOD’s resident psychologist asks, what are the true costs of living this way and how can we change our lives to put happiness first? Hurry hurry. Hurry hurry. The heartbeat accompanying our daily lives.…
Traditionally the best way to deal with workplace bullying was to find a job elsewhere, unfair as that may seem. We find out if this is still the best advice. Most of us like to believe we live in a just world. A world where good triumphs over evil and the bad guys are punished.…
Negative connections with people can be a drain on us emotionally, mentally and physically. But there are ways to cope with, and limit, the effects of toxic relationships in your life. Last year, Katie, a client, received an email from an acquaintance with a mocking tone, wishing her “so much bad luck in the future”.…
“There’s something wrong with me,” Sally whispered staring at my office floor, having just told me she is depressed, “everyone else can do it so why do I find it so hard?” FINDING IT HARD While Sally is struggling with the question of work life balance, it doesn’t matter what “it” is. It might be…
How many times this week have you heard yourself saying “I’m stressed?” Chances are when you said it, you were trying to convey something about a state you didn’t like and didn’t think was good for you: maybe a tense neck and shoulders, maybe a racing mind, maybe difficulty sleeping. But what if everything you…
Feeling overly busy, tired and irritable? Eating too much or too little? These are all signs we may be suffering from the bugbear of modern life: stress. But what if there was a positive way to look at stress? Rethinking stress. How many times this week have you caught yourself saying, “I’m stressed”? Chances are…
Websites: A site for “Mindfulness: finding peace in a frantic world” including free meditations you can download. My favourite is the chocolate meditation. A UK site that has a program and an app (headspace) and the first 10 mindfulness exercises are free Helpful podcasts on meditation and relaxation can be found at Computer assisted learning for the…
Faced with overload: a need to find focus by Tony Schwartz What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning, before you even brush your teeth? Is it checking the e-mail that’s flooded into your inbox overnight? Does the pull feel increasingly irresistible, even Pavlovian? Do you get so immersed in…
I recently came across “10 guideposts for wholehearted living” in the book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Dr. Brené Brown. Brown researches connection and has found that the people who have the courage to be imperfect end up with love, connection and…
A book we recently came across that is available free online is Explain Pain. It may be useful for anyone who has struggled with chronic pain. It has easy to read sections on the physiology of pain and busts some common misunderstandings, with a good section on management of pain. Also remember that mindfulness within…