How To Reframe Negative Self Talk

/
How To Reframe Negative Self Talk

Thoughts of worthlessness, poor self-image, lack of belief in your own abilities, failure, and social out-casting, can run rampant in the mind and detrimentally impact your ability to function.

I know from first-hand experience the negativity cycle that these thoughts can put you into. When I am suffering from anxiety or depression, these thoughts can become particularly powerful.

They play on a loop in my mind, getting ever louder. The more they play, the more that I am negatively impacted. My functionality drops as I am less and less able to do the things I usually do. These losses ‘prove’ that the voices in my head are right…

Read More

Use Tools & Systems To Organise Your Life

/
Use Tools & Systems To Organise Your Life

If you struggle to remember plans, keep appointments, or simply track your responsibilities over extended periods of time, this post is for you, it will give you some tools and systems to help organise your life.

I know it can be frustrating and embarrassing, but the first thing that you need to do is stop being too hard on yourself. Be aware that some people simply have better memories, or were taught effective ways to plan while growing up…

Read More

5 Senses Mindfulness: How to Calm a Panic Attack

/
5 Senses Mindfulness: How to Calm a Panic Attack

The first time I had a panic attack, I thought I was going to die.

There was no exact triggering moment, just a quick, overwhelming onslaught of symptoms. Tight chest, sweating, heart palpations, racing thoughts, and a feeling of impending doom…

Read More

You Win Or You Learn

/
You Win Or You Learn

I lose every day. Each time I step onto the mat at the start of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training session, I know that I will soon be ‘tapping out’. Giving the signal that I have been defeated, and effectively admitting to myself, to my opponent, and to everyone watching, that I was bested. ‘You win or you learn’ is an aphorism that we learn to live by, and in most sessions, I lose more than I win. Yet I return, day after day, and plan to continue to do so for the rest of my life. By the end of this chapter I hope to convince you of the reasons why…

Read More

Learning Life Skills You Were Never Taught As A Child

/
Learning Life Skills You Were Never Taught As A Child

Learning how to adult is a challenging prospect. There is so much to do, and so many different skills needed to successfully maintain a household, pursue a career and have successful relationships, all of which involves learning life skills, that we may not have been taught…

Read More

Feeling Unsupported? How To Handle The Negativity The Comes When You Make Positive Life Change

/
Feeling Unsupported? How To Handle The Negativity The Comes When You Make Positive Life Change

When you start to make changes in your life in any positive direction, you will encounter haters. There are people who will share with you all of the reasons that you should stop doing what you are now doing, and why you will fail. They cause you to doubt yourself, question your goals as well as the methods that you are going about acquiring them…

Read More

Why Prioritisation Beats Procrastination Every Time

/
Why Prioritisation Beats Procrastination Every Time

Procrastination kills dreams.

It causes the ‘must do’ tasks to build up and never get done. It takes away our leisure time. It makes us stressed and causes us to scramble over approaching deadlines. It makes us feel guilty and worthless whenever we recognise all of the things we haven’t yet completed….

Read More

How To Make Positive Habits Stick

/
How To Make Positive Habits Stick

I exercise at least 10 times per week. These sessions involve running, weights or swimming in the mornings and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at night. I didn’t just start with this exercise routine. I slowly built it up over years, taking time to develop the conditioning and lifestyle needed to support this level of training.

Read More

How To Deal With Death, Disability, & Displacement

/
How To Deal With Death, Disability, & Displacement

Given enough time, life will cause us to suffer in one way or another. We will all become injured or sick at some stage, sometimes quite seriously.

Some of us will suffer significant setbacks, both personally and financially. A large percentage of the population lives with disabilities, mental illness and issues carried over from their past.

Read More

The First Step To Healing Is Always Acceptance

/
The First Step To Healing Is Always Acceptance

Before you can properly address a problem, you first need to accept that the problem exists.

This is true for all aspects of life, but in my experience, particularly true for addressing the impact of past trauma, and dealing with mental afflictions…

Read More

Stop Worrying Because It Won't Matter In Five Years Anyway

/
Stop Worrying Because It Won't Matter In Five Years Anyway

It is easy to get caught up in the emotion of the moment and then to overstate its importance.

Take being cut off in traffic as an example. The feelings of anger and self-righteousness can linger for hours. For some people, a minor incident can even lead to outbursts of yelling, hitting, swearing, anger, and even physical conflict…

Read More

What Is On Your Mental Health Checklist?

/
What Is On Your Mental Health Checklist?

When the symptoms of a mental affliction begin to arise, it is important to take action to address the problem as soon as possible. This way the severity, duration and impact of the affliction will be minimised. Unfortunately given the nature of mental illness, it is often very difficult, if not impossible to even realise that action is needed, or to develop the motivation to do so….

Read More

Why Multi-Tasking Is A Toxic Lie

/
Why Multi-Tasking Is A Toxic Lie

Multi-tasking simply doesn’t work. Not for you, not for me, not for anyone.

Although it may feel like you can do more than one thing at a time, you actually can’t – at least not well. In reality you are doing two things poorly, and often taking longer to do them compared to if you did them one after another…

Read More

Yes, Even You Are Allowed To Relax

/
Yes, Even You Are Allowed To Relax

You are allowed to relax.

It is okay to look after yourself, and you should be occasionally spoiling yourself. Rest, recover and heal. Self-care is a vital component to ‘Defeating Depression’ as well as preventing all forms of mental affliction. Yet self-care is often overlooked, discounted or put so low on the priority list that it never gets done.

I know I am guilty of this…

Read More

Why Reading Fiction Daily Is A Mental Health Must

/
Why Reading Fiction Daily Is A Mental Health Must

Reading is a healthy form of escapism. If you find a good book, or better yet an author that you connect with, you will have a tool to escape your current situation and draw you into a new one. This allows you to put aside your current woes, stressors and issues, to instead immerse yourself into a new world. True, this world may have challenges of its own, but from the vantage point of the reader, you get to safely experience another life…

Read More

Why You Should Be Exercising Daily

/
Why You Should Be Exercising Daily

The mind and body are completely interconnected. If something is wrong in the body, the mind may be the first place to show it. Irritability can be caused by tiredness or feeling cold. Headaches and mental tension can often be cured by hydration. Heightened anxiety levels can be significantly reduced by eating. The symptoms of depression are very similar to those of overtraining.

Read More

Depressed? Do A Status Check.

/
Depressed? Do A Status Check.

The mind and body are completely interconnected. If something is wrong in the body, the mind may be the first place to show it. Irritability can be caused by tiredness or feeling cold. Headaches and mental tension can often be cured by hydration. Heightened anxiety levels can be significantly reduced by eating. The symptoms of depression are very similar to those of overtraining.

Read More

Big Decision? Why You Should Always Sleep On It Before Acting

/
Big Decision? Why You Should Always Sleep On It Before Acting

Typically the advice to ‘Sleep On It’ it is given when somebody is working themselves up over a decision. The suggestion is offered in the hopes that it will cause the person to take a breath, detach from the situation and approach finalising the decision from a calmer place.

I wish that I had seen the light on this one long ago. It would have saved me countless days of emotional suffering. A review of my past decision making process has taught me that I need to take a step back, calm down and detach prior to taking action.

Read More

Despite What Your Brain Tells You, There Is Always A Solution To Your Problem

/
Despite What Your Brain Tells You, There Is Always A Solution To Your Problem

If I am in a bad place mentally, any problem, challenge or complication has the potential to derail me completely.

I become overwhelmed with the onslaught coming from my mental afflictions combined with the stress of completing the new task. My self-talk becomes negative, directed at my inability to handle the problem, and then at me as a whole for once again ‘losing it’ over something so insignificant.

Read More