Tag: lifestyle

lifestyle, positive

Let Autumn be your winter Prep!

brainbiscuitscoaching

With autumn well and truly here, it’s a season full of change and I use it as a season to prep for the winter and enjoy all the wonderful inspiration autumn has to offer. It’s a great time to declutter, forget spring cleaning enjoy  “Autumn Organising”.

This time of year, I like to make changes to my living environment as I know over the coming weeks I will spend more time indoors as winter approaches. I like to change items in my living space as it creates a new mood and therefore a new energy in my home. My living room is the heart of my home so I always focus on this space and of course my bedroom. Things I aim for is looking at soft lighting as this keeps me feeling positive in the darker days as unfortunately unlike summer there isn’t long amounts of natural light so this is important to me and of course colour, I tend to change colours in my home once for spring/summer and then autumn/winter, choosing colours you are drawn to is so important. Right now, I am drawn to a cosy soft grey and warm autumn pink. For my living space. I like to change my throws, cushions, flowers and try to minimise things ahead of Christmas. This also could be items you can change, update, up-cycle or find on-line with little to no cost.

Autumn for me can affect my mood I notice now that I start off feeling a little flat when October approaches. However interestingly, Autumn tends to be a great season for me personally to focus. Autumn for me has a pattern I notice where anything I set out todo goal setting wise works. It’s important to work out if you have a season which you are at your best! Make a mental log of what season works best for you, this is a great tool and should be used when planning something that needs lot of focus and motivation, as this is when you’re at your optimum peak of positive mindset!

My Personal Autumn must dos are;

1, Take a bag and fill it with anything in your house you feel you’re ready to move on from, no-longer wear,use or need. Fill the bag and send it off to your local charity shop collection bags that come through the post or find out what food banks etc in the area are accepting at this time.

2, Try a new recipe and make something hearty to enjoy. I personally love using a slow cooker this time of year for seasonal vegetable stews, soups and dishes.

3, Pick a space in your home such as an area your drawn to and want to change. Try quick go-to changes first for example if it’s the sofa in your living room change the cushions and throw and see if it makes you feel uplifted or any different feeling to the space, more cosy, calm etc. Put up new photos and pictures that inspire the changes and new things going on in life right now, positive Visuals are great!

4, Pick a new scent, try a new perfume for you, a candle for your home, I went with an Autumn scented candle, lots of Sandalwood, Amber and burnt Orange to bring the crisp Autumn feeling in the home! 

5, Have a go-to basket for inspiration and when you’re feeling inspired to do something like goal set, list right, plan-things or get creative. Have things in the basket like notebooks, pens, books, craft projects you want to do this season. This positive pod,means they are all conveniently ready for you, prep again is key!

6, With the darker night’s drawing in, I like to review my exercise routine, either get equipped for running in the dark or make routine changes and try some new remember winter creeps up on you so plan your new exercise routine now. Remember with exercise preparation is key!

7, This time of year can get expensive so maybe look at any positive changes that you can make to your shopping and outgoings, sometimes being organised with homemade lunches, prepared meals from scratch not only healthier but cost affective to, these things can really help make a positive spin on the pennies

8, Have list of things you want to go and do this season, step outside the comfort zone and do something that challenges you in a positive way, from on line zoom classes, to on-line learning, reading that book, visiting new outdoor spaces or trying a new hobby or exercise, go for it!

9, Go through your kitchen cupboards/pantry and see what you have that’s in date, but you won’t really use that you could give to your local food bank most super markets now have a trolley at the front you can give items to. You could even get some extra bits to give, I like to get pasta to add to my items I donate.

10, This is one of my favourites, get your diary full of social catch ups with all your friends, it’s so important to keep connected especially with people who make you happy! Organise face time or zoom catch ups outdoor walk meet ups,social distancing of course.

11, Something you might want to do is set a goal that can be complete between now and Christmas or winter ask yourself,

Q: By Christmas I would like to (blank)

Fill this answer in with something you would like to achieve in these time frames.

12, I like to go through my clothing and make a capsule wardrobe (collection of a few essential items) and put a few full out fits together that I want to wear and that make me feel positive. It’s fun to sometimes get ideas for AW20 fashion, hair, accessories and makeup for inspirations.

Enjoy your Autumn Organising!

accountability, Identity, lifestyle, Mental health, motivation, Self development, Uncategorized, Well-being

Accountability a powerful life tool!

brainbiscuitscoaching

It’s such a strength to own up to where you are in your life and if your not happy do something about it!

If you want things to change you need to be accountable and stop the rut you find yourself in. Own the current situation, draw a line it’s happened and for whatever reason you are where you are and more importantly your ready to face up to it, Your accepting that your the one responsible and in the driving seat and only you can steer yourself the way you want to go!

when you become accountable you will find yourself to have better clarity on things and that you are so much more stronger than before. From this moment of change you make happen results you want can take place and you don’t have to be in that same stagnant place of denial any more! Ever heard the line of you always done what you always do your always get what you’ve always got! It’s so true!

When your know longer scared of your current reality anymore and face things such as where you currently are in life how are you ever going to know what you want?

When you finally established a starting line and what you want the finish line to look like (the change) you then can move forward and take steps and go get your goals. We often slip into ruts with things and don’t put ourselves first but until you do put yourself first how can you ever move on!

Be aware of Selfsavatarge mode, this is another way of ruining things for yourself, when things start to go right for you are you someone who then trys to stop it from happening because it’s new Territory and this terrifs you? Meaning you go back to what was to feel safe back into the “comfort Zone” do you put obstacles in your own way. If you think yes this is me than you need to plan strategies of what you can do when you find yourself in this position along the way again your being accountable and showing up for yourself! If you no certain things trigger this behaviour avoid it as much as you can.

The thing is when you face things and you make changes and you become more the you that you want to be,it can really push you at times when you have nowhere to hide from things and face things and be challenging to not slip back into old habit, it’s much harder to fully accept the new you to even yourself and also for others to accept this change to.

Remember Your not being selfish because of this change either you have just hit a point where you have to put yourself first. So you can really start living again and in the moment and most importantly feel happier.

When you start owning your feelings and emotions your are then allowing things to be released and no longer have them bubbling away inside and just think any negativity that’s inside from this you can finally let go of! just think how liberating and emotionally lighter you will feel, accountability really is a detox in its own right.

If You feel yourself start to slip back off the wagon again with your goals the steps I would recommend are;

1) checkin with yourself are you experiencing lots of emotional or physical stress at the moment?

2) ask yourself do you feel in control or out of control?

3) who can help you when you face the current situation? And how can you contact and reach out to this support and help?

4) workout the current reality of the situation, where are you right now? What are you able to change?

5) write down what you want to happen next

6) write down the steps you need to go from where you are to where you want to go

7) remember what triggered this off before for you and plan strategies to keep you on track.

8) surround yourself with motivation, be it people, environments, photos, items whatever sparks joy and makes you want to succeed.

9)Remember to Remind yourself how far You’ve come. How You felt before and how You feel when all your steps and goals You set are reached and use that to motivate yourself back on track again

10) show up for yourself every day your responsible for ensuring your worth. write down steps and tasks that will help get your where you want to be and tick them off your list as they are completed. There is lots of proof that when you write things down your more likely to stick to what’s written.

The above steps should help you identify with the life you want and person you want to be, remember having accountability is a key life tool which will keep you on track, it will ensure You don’t steer off course and remain responsible for go getting what you want in life.

health, lifestyle, lock down, Mental health, Uncategorized, world mental health Day

Mental health awareness week!2020

brainbiscuitscoaching

Mental health awareness week has fallen at a time where many of us are in lockdown or just starting to come out of it! to a new way of being and living until changes and vaccines are hopefully made!

This is a time where we all will feel a change in our mental health, wether we are fully aware of it or not. It’s a time to be kind to Ourselves and listen to our needs especially if we feel we need support, space or some me time.

We all have mental health just as we have physical health however, it is not always something we look at regularly supporting and training, or exercising and reviewing. It would be wonderful to think we soon will be in a world where we could openly ask each other ” how you feeling today and how’s your mind”, without it being uncomfortable. We all have those moments in life where things can cause us to feel lower in our mood. This often affects our mental health. Times of this “low mood “ or any ongoing sadness can happen to any of us at any time, feeling as if it comes upon us without any warning. It is important to recognise your own personal triggers. It’s important to ask yourself

1,what are my triggers?

2,What sends my stress levels over the edge?

3, Is there any changes you can make to help you manage these things?

4, what helps you to keep going when you feel like this?

The triggers could be anything, such as a memorable date, topics you are sensitive to and don’t want to face yet, family, relationships, self-limiting beliefs, traumas, life events, medical reasons, life pressure, public speaking, anything! It is so important to take the time to look at any trigger patterning you have.

By looking at triggers you can possibly unlock a resilience strategy for yourself that just might help you cope better when you are in need.

Emotional stress can be really overwhelming, it can impact both your physical and mental state. Strategies to support your resilience can work wonders in helping you through this time, along with of course any support groups, professional outreach etc available to you.

Examples of resilience you can use when this happens are things such as supportive building blocks to help manage your stress levels. Some of mine are below:

  • When life is busy I have to make sure I  have me time
  • Personal head space-time, walk, read, chill out somewhere away from everything to just clear your mind (a pause moment)
  • Something that is physical such as sport; for me my main choice of activity to spend my “me” time on is running
  • Something that makes you feel a sense of belonging such as socialising with the right community
  •  Things I enjoy, things that make me happy, as happiness is so important!  Such as hobbies (Creative Diet)
  • I try to goal set my activities into my weekly plans, looking at how I can review and improve and identify the priorities I have. These keep me on track and both my physical and mental health are in better shape for it (Muscle Motivation)
  • Predict my stress triggers.  When I know something is coming up that is likely to cause stress good planning is key.  I look at what I can do to manage it as best I can, and what best supports me
  •  Make sure you tell someone.  If I am worried about things or stressed, just saying things out loud to someone can make a huge difference as you then own your true feelings
  • Choose to hang out with people on your level.  Someone you can text, call, meet and have that support with
  • I ensure I take regular pause moments; so important!
  • Even when you don’t feel like it connect with the world daily so you don’t become withdrawn.

Remember you are often not alone with these feelings and it is so important to tell someone. Don’t suffer in silence, it will only get worse.

lifestyle, lock down, Mental health, self isolating, Thinking space, Uncategorized

Managing your thoughts during lockdown and self-isolation.

brainbiscuitscoaching

You may find yourself worrying more than usually at the moment especially given the situation in the world. I wanted to share some things that I felt have helped me at this time which you may find helpful.

It’s a simple exercise to get all your thoughts down on paper. First take a piece of paper and in the middle draw a line through the centre then in the middle of that line draw a circle, this circle is centred it to the whole page.

In the left-hand side I make a list of everything that is on my mind that I am in control of examples of this may be the way in which my attitude is over this time I’m giving to my health and well-being, the exercise I will do, the food I will eat, how I’m going to homeschool my child, how am I going to line my finances up in light of the isolation, how I am going to continue to socialise with my friends and family such as online phone calls, emails, etc. how can I get on top of any food shortages such as organise meal plans have little waist dig out recipes etcn the left hand side of the piece of paper I write down every think that I feel I am in control of that is worrying me such as:sorting out food shopping sorting out finances sorting out homeschool activities how am I going to look after my health and well-being how can I still keep my running up how can I still socialise from home? These are all examples of course, we all have different priorities of thoughts.

Then to the right hand side of the page I list all the things I am not in control of for example how the virus is spreading, the way in which others are behaving, how long the timeframe of lockdown and isolation will happen etc. All of the items I list in this section I then with a line underscore as they are not in my control so I’m visually telling myself this by drawing a line under them they are not in my control.

Now for my favourite part of this exercise the large circle in the centre of your page is what I like to call your happy bubble.

In your happy bubble list out as many things as you can that make you feel better, lift your mood, stop you worrying so much and generally make you happy.

Examples you can put here are; creative projects going for a walk, reading a good book, exercise, talking to your friends or family, taking part in something .( online of course) doing some charity work or donating, community projects etc. your bubble of happiness will be based on what you like and activities that you Draw upon as strategies to continue to help you get through this time and keep your mood good, positive possibly and therefor as a whole and help you through.

Please see below a really rough example of this whole exercise on paper it’s not about anything being perfect this is solely for you again just an example of some things below.

Stay safe, keep well and hope you find this helpful.

lifestyle, Mental health, self isolating, Well-being

Self isolating, how we are trying to waste as little as possible

brainbiscuitscoaching

First off I want to again wish you all strength, health and positivity at such a turbulent time. My blogs at the moment are sharing how I am coaching myself and family through our self isolation and to share this with you. I hope that you find it helpful, and if nothing else something nice to read about.

We are trying to make a positive bubble in our home at the moment for us all to live in as comfortably and as stress free as possible. with all that’s going on in the world right now this is essential

We are trying to take positive from the simplest of things and of course value our precious time together.

We also are monitoring our foods supplies, planning menus for each day so not to waste anything. We are even using left overs such as peals and skins of fruits and packaging food comes in, so for example really over ripe bananas can be used to create a cake or loaf, which provides more for the whole family as long as you have eggs, flour, sugar and butter or vegan variations lying around.

Then we also looked at the leftover waste of these products and found out what can we do with them? the egg shells and banana skins can be used in the garden to help with the growing of our vegetables, we planted some runner beans this weekend so we should have crop for summer in case vegetables are hard to get, which currently it’s very hit and miss in the stores.

We have found some canes in our garden and string in the shed and used the soil that was good in our garden so didn’t need to buy anything in addition to the seeds we had in storage.

I’m enjoying learning about things that I wouldn’t have made a priority before and simply didn’t have the time to do before. These tasks have all been in some way creative, which again keeps us as a family seeing progress with visual results. We also have tasks set for the day so then indirectly have small goals, which we are achieving. This helps us feel a sense of accomplishment; it’s great to see results of our efforts for the day as a household. The most important part to this is that we can show our child that it’s important to be as sustainable and self-sufficient as possible.