Anxiety & Mood | Healthy Routines | Mindfulness | Stress

Mindfulness: Body-scan part 4/4

Here comes the last parts of the body-scan exercise, in total 10 minutes long. This is the essence/instructional parts of one version of the 3 major meditations within mindfulness. The body-scan usually lasts over 45 minutes with long parts of silence. In my research I have found that even this shorter version, together with 2…

Anxiety & Mood | Burn out | Healthy Routines | Stress

Stress – The 2d building block: Part 1 – Handle your stress sources

There are 3 important building blocks of stress management: 1) regulate you stress level, se techniques in earlier post 2) handle stress sources and 3) use stress management habits. The second building block, handle your stress sources, is about 2 main components: 1) secure sufficient recovery and 2) minimize stress sources or their intensity as…

Healthy Routines | Life goals | Relationships

Rest and Reflections: Critical incidents

Sunday – time for celebration, rest and peaceful self-supportive reflection. Another way of enhancing your reflections, which you then can use in honouring yourself, but also in planning what you would like to change in your life, is analysing critical or important incidents. This exercise, which is adapted from Hatcher 1996, focuses on analysing an…

Anxiety & Mood | Healthy Routines | Life goals | Mindfulness | Mood | Self image | Self-esteem | Stress

Self-esteem: The Importance of Lust Driven Activities

Another way of reconnecting to yourself and find your inner motivation and drive is adding activities that you miss or are interested in. Our own stories about ourselves are a part of self-esteem/self-worth. These stories are partly constructed by what we cherish and do with our time. Research has shown that when you validate yourself,…

Anxiety & Mood | Burn out | Healthy Routines | Mindfulness | Stress

Mindfulness: The Body Scan Exercise Part 3 of 4

Here comes the 3d of 4 parts of the body scan exercise, in total 10 minutes long. This is the essence/instructional parts of one version of the 3 major meditations within mindfulness but it usually lasts over 45 minutes with long parts of silence: … Now pay attention to the pressure from the floor or…

Anxiety & Mood | Healthy Routines | Mood | Self image | Stress

Stress: Exercise is Key

You have heard it before, but one of the absolute best way of handling stress short and long run in addition to recovery activities, see last week’s post, is exercise. Research has shown that both aerobic exercises, like walking, running, swimming and biking, and building muscles, as in strength training but also work around the…

Healthy Routines | Mindfulness

Celebration, Rest and Reflection: The Reflection Diary

Last week the theme was the importance of writing a daily diary, preferably in the morning, to get to know yourself but also to show to yourself continuously and symbolically that you, your feelings and thoughts are important. If you have read my other posts you will recognise my suggestions of other posts to include…

Anxiety & Mood | Feelings | Healthy Routines | Mood

Feelings: Hot and Cold Emotions

There are many important dimensions with regard to feelings as sources of information. As with all information we have to evaluate the truth/probability and the quality of the information that triggered the feeling. If we are scared of spiders and we see one we will get highly aroused by fear and move briskly away from…

Feelings | Healthy Routines | Life goals | Mindfulness | Self image | Self-esteem

Self-esteem: Gratitude Diary

Another important part of self-esteem is to get to know yourself. Through writing a daily journal you can get objectivity and therefore is one way of acknowledging what is working and what your already are doing to get closer to who you are and where you want to be. One way of accomplishing this is…

Healthy Routines | Life goals

Celebration, Rest and Reflection: Diary Challenge

There are many good reasons to consider writing a diary. Amon other things, it will help you get perspective and new insights. It also improves your access to your inner creativity and problem-solving. There are studies showing that writing also about tough experiences and negative feelings can increase wellbeing and help you heal, se later…