"Focus on what you can control"
" You have power over your mind - not outside events.
Realise this, and you will find strength". - Marcus Aurellus
When you feel like your life is falling apart then you need to reach within to find your inner strength. We all have this inner strength and it helps us focus on the things we can control in life.
Your mind is so powerful as it helps us to think positive and brush away any negative thoughts.
Don't waste your energy on worry, anxiety or anxiousness. Use your inner energy towards keeping your mind healthy and focus on the things you can control.
Focus on building a healthy mindset such as eating healthy, your fitness and controlling your mindset by remaining positive with a "CAN DO, WILL DO" attitude.
It is important to know that each one of us has inner strength. It's through hard times that you reach for this, to get you through the challenging paths ahead. It's important to focus on your inner strength and always have a positive mind.
Your soul is a stamp mark of who we are and deep down it can bring inner peace that allows us to heal. Have you have ever gone into an empty church and let yourself pour out all your emotions that you are not dealing with through tears and prayers? Letting everything out in such a place can actually bring inner peace during difficult times.
It has been written that our lives have already been foreseen before we were even born and we never know what's around the corner for our self, children or family. We should focus on things that we can control, not things that we have no control of as this just depletes our energy. Worry can bring about more stress that can lead to sickness. Your mind and body need to be in a peaceful harmony for your soul to be at peace.
YOGA
Yoga can quickly change your physical and mental well-being.
Yoga helps relieve stress and un-clutter the mind. It helps you focus more on your body from the inside-out, so you just don’t look good, you feel good too.
Yoga is not just about working out, it’s about a healthy lifestyle.
The practice of yoga allows students to be still in a world consumed with chaos. Peace and tranquillity achieved through focused training can appeal to everyone.
Yoga’s deep breathing and meditation practices help foster an inner shift from to-do lists, your children and spouse’s needs, financial concerns and any relational struggles relating to something bigger the you can face.
Yoga helps relieve stress and un-clutter the mind, and helps you get more focused.
HEALTH
Your brain health is so important for maintaining your physical health. Your brain functions best when it is interacting with the world and engaging in social relationships.
To have a positive state of mind, you need to be well in your body and happy in the way you interact with the world.
While it's tempting to withdraw when you are stressed -don't! When people quit their jobs, leave their relationships and disengage from the world, their brain function slows, and they deteriorate further psychologically, physically and spiritually. This is not the road you want to take.
A strong sense of spiritual connection is usually found in people who are extremely engaged in the world. The spiritual connection feeds back into the health of their brain, and the brain feeds back into the health of their body. The brain by itself is just another organ, but it mediates your overall sense of wellbeing.
Challenge your brain, play chess, travel, learn a musical instrument, enrol in an online course or a subject that you have always been interested in.
WELLBEING
Your wellbeing is what will get you through life, and something you have control over.
Think about doing plenty of mental exercises that helps stimulate your brain like crosswords, scrabble and keeping up with current events that are happening around the world. Reading books, magazine and doing puzzles will help keep your mind sharp.
Watching a stimulating movie that you can discuss about with people you know. It is also good to start a hobby, or something that you have always wanted to do such as enroling in a gym, joining your local club where they have activities, excursions etc.
Sometimes you need to focus on the things in your life that cause you to stress as they only cause you harm. Life is too short to stress about things you have no control over. Ask yourself “is this something I can control?”. If your answer is no, then let it go!
Learn to enjoy the little things in life and have fun! Find time away from work to enjoy the things you love to do Think positive and you will discover that your approach to life will be less stressful. This will help you feel empowered to make things happen and really appreciate what life has to offer you. Sometimes just purchasing a pet can also help take away some of the stress you are experiencing.
NUTRITION
How to look and feel great, what foods will make you feel better? It's about increasing the variety and quality of the food in our diet. Portion size is so important and eating lots of fruit and vegetables. The saying goes: "everything in moderation".
Are you getting enough vegetables in your diet?
Eating more fruit and vegetables gives us better health and wellbeing. They are packed with important vitamins and minerals, disease fighting antioxidants and gut healthy fibre.
Which oils should you be using? Olive oil is the best oil that you should use for cooking.
How to lighten up your diet? Consider your portion sizes. A very light meal is fish which is high in Omega 3.
Do you have unhealthy diet?
Are you missing out on the most important meal of the day, which is breakfast? Are you skipping lunch, constantly snacking on sugar cravings, or sitting at a desk all day and not getting up to exercise?
Do you eat diet foods and drinks? Diet or sugar-free drinks contain either artificial sweeteners like aspartame, or naturally derived sweeteners like stevia. These substances are around 200 times sweeter than sugar. Whilst the sweeteners don’t contain the kilojoules of sugar, emerging evidence has shown that this intensely sweet taste may ‘drive’ our brains to seek out more and more sweet food. It is best to avoid both regular and diet soft drinks. Both contain preservatives, and the effects of real sugar and artificial sweeteners can be detrimental to our health.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE
To help clear your mind take a walk along the beach and listen to the waves crashing on the shore.
Take a chair and sit next to a river. You can have calming thoughts by simply watching the river flow. You could also take a book to read or do some fishing.
Go for a walk every day to get outside and smell the fresh air. You could walk on your own or take your dog. Perhaps you could even join a walking group where you could meet new friends.
Get involved with swimming or go to a gym that will keep your body fit and mind active. Many studies have shown that exercise can help reduce symptoms of depression.
Make a daily effort to always get out of the house, even if it's for gardening.
Enrol in a dance class.
Play a round of golf or tennis, something that will relax you and take stress away from your mind.
Full body massage for relaxation.
Be social - Join a club or volunteer and it can make a difference
MEDITATION
Meditation can be the key to change your thoughts and your life. It can help you through the process of training your mind and redirecting your thoughts. It can help improve the quality of your life and release you from whatever is causing you tension, stress or anxiety. It can help you to sleep better, promotes emotional health, can lengthen your attention span and reduce aged related memory loss. It has also been known to reduce your blood pressure, helps fight addiction and can control pain. The wonderful benefit to meditation is that you can do it anywhere.
Relax your body
Gentleness - Being gentle with yourself.
Faith-During meditation, you surrender your thoughts with faith and let go of the need to make sense of what goes on in your mind. This faith develops in your life as well. You become more comfortable with not understanding certain things or not having all the answers. You allow yourself to be a little more vulnerable to the natural unfolding of life, which makes way for healing. This creates resilience to help you bounce back when the challenges in life become overwhelming. This can ultimately help you to evolve into your best self.
Focusing your energy- Focus on yourself, and the things you can control in your life. Focus on having a positive mind and always thinking that you can get through each day, and that the next day will be a better day