Meditation Mindfulness GratitudeAttitude

New Year Resolutions?
Meditation, Conscious Breathing, Mindfulness and A Gratitude-Attitude.

Part of an article I wrote for an online magazine about turning failure into success. The full article is shared as a paid resource for £5.00. There is a lot of material here to help in reducing stress, building resilience and increasing happiness - tried and tested, practical strategies which you can fit into your day.

Since I retired I switched from teaching RE to working in Health and Wellbeing. I am keen to serve my wonderful colleagues. - so here is the first part free…

A New Year has begun. Lots of people are talking about New Year’s Resolutions. The opportunity to make a fresh start is important – but it is not just restricted to New Year’s Day. Each day offers us the opportunity for a new beginning.

Stress
My work is all about reducing stress, building resilience and increasing happiness. I have developed a unique programme I call ‘The Seven Steps to Happiness’ which was in face to face workshops before 2020 but is now online. Most people know that a lot of stress is related to the thoughts we hold in our mind.

Conscious Breathing is a strategy which gives our mind something positive and powerful to focus on. It is with us all the time. The outside situation may still be stressful. We may not be able to reduce the causes of our stress, but with this simple exercise, our mind can become our friend and ally instead of our chief tormentor. It’s like having an umbrella on a rainy day. The rain is still falling but we are not getting wet. In this case it is the mental exercise of consciously taking our mind away from our fears or negative mental chatter and directing it instead to our breath, then choosing to make our breath gentle, slow and deep. When we do that, our brain does not perceive the situation we are in as so alarming or dangerous anymore so stress is reduced and happiness increases.

When we are in danger, our brain releases cortisol and adrenaline to prepare us for fight and flight. This is called the Stress response. If we are in physical danger, it prepares us for immediate action. But if the source of stress is not physical – and keeps recurring, these hormones build up and can cause both physical and mental illness. That is called Chronic Stress and is one of the biggest causes of ill-health in the world today. But by using conscious breathing, because we have calmed our mind, our brain stays quiet. No stress response. Risk of Chronic Stress - eliminated.

Feelings come and go
Like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing is my anchor.

Thich Nhat Hanh