Conscious Mind
How to Move from Overthinking to Inner Knowing
When overthinking takes over, clarity can feel out of reach. This gentle reflection helps you shift from mental effort to inner listening — and find a quieter way to know what’s true.
Mindful workplace
Back to work: how do you keep the relaxed feel from the break?
Many of us have now gone back to work. After the long Festive break, you will be adjusting back to the relentless pace of business.
Stress resides not in the mind but in the nervous system. Our ‘fight or flight’ response raises our cortisol level causing the sympathetic nervous system to activate. Our bodies are designed for a raised cortisol level but only in short bursts to aid our survival. However in our modern ‘always on the go’ life style, many people live with chronic raised cortisol levels leading to slow digestion, sleep disruption and other side effects.
Rest and relaxation reduces our cortisol level. Some will have achieved this in the long festive break, but the question is;
How do you maintain an appropriate cortisol level once you are back at work?
Taking a break of not less than 15 minutes has a big impact on your cortisol level. These breaks can and should be simple such as a walk, a coffee and a magazine, sitting in a park, taking a bath, listening to some music. All of these breaks should be discrete and separate. There is little value in a break where you spend the entire time worrying about a problem.
Nature
Feeling jaded?: Mother Nature can assist
So often we are so busy with our lives – work, partners, family and friends that we forget to do something for ourselves. I am as guilty of this as anyone else. Since I stepped out of corporate life, Your Soul Family has been with me on holidays, festivals and family time. I have never been strong with defining my boundaries and I needed to take a look at how I was living.
At the beginning of July my husband suggested a trip to France to look for a new home. France is a large and beautiful country. On previous trips we had narrowed down the areas we were interested in. At the last moment we decided to go camping, something I have not done since my 20s. We bought some kit and the tent only arrived the day before we left. We had no time to practise pitching it before we needed to do it for real to sleep in it.
My husband assured me he had looked at the instructions and the tent only took 15 minutes to pitch, so if we took four times that it was still only an hour. We arrived at the camp site in the late afternoon and set about pitching the tent! I did not find the instructions very helpful and it felt like we were doing an enormous jigsaw puzzle. We considered giving up and hiring one of the cabins but that felt like a poor start to a hunt for a new home. Two hours later after much perspiration and having to view YouTube, the tent was finally up!!! Hooray, success.
The location was magical and more than compensated for the effort with the tent. We pitched under a willow tree for coolness and there was a river flowing on two sides of the tent. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to be in Nature. As a child I was an outdoor girl and stood with my wellington boots in hand at the door on a rainy day waiting for the rain to stop.=&0=&
Mother Nature soothed me again and time seemed to slow. There was very little mobile phone signal so I was not able to do my usual video broadcasts, an activity I find quite stressful. I had no choice but to settle into the arms of Nature and just ‘be’, wonderful. We discovered that the sun set over the river and there was a seat under a tree where you could watch the sun go down. The ducks slept around our tent and you could hear them moving about and quacking in the night. Bird song woke us in the morning. Five minutes walk away was a place where you could swim in the river overlooked by a little restaurant that served great French food and wine. It is a long time since I have felt so content and calm.
What surprised me was that when we came home, I found it hard to go back to living in a flat. Everyone was amazed at how much I loved the camping and thought I would miss life’s luxuries. However what I missed on my return was the close connection with Nature. It has certainly made me re-evaluate how I should be living, prioritising taking breaks much more and walking in Nature to re-capture that closeness. From my time in France my soul feels revived but my heart longs to return to the countryside. Roll-on our next visit.
If you relate to this article and need some more help and guidance in your life Get in touch with Alison. Here are her contact details.
Click to contact me Here
Tel: +44 7966 137568 Email: [email protected]
Available face-to-face or via video conferencing depending on location.
Meditation
Meditation: Meet the Spirit of the Wood for healing energy
Feel in need of relaxation and de-stressing?
Perhaps your life has challenges such as always being on the go, feeling alone, feeling bored with your life, feeling unloved…..
This meditation will bring you some love and nurturing.
Listen to Alison Wem’s FREE meditation that takes you out into the beauty of an ancient wood. Experience the soothing and re-vitalising energy the trees offer you. Go on a journey in your meditation and meet the Spirit of the Wood. Receive healing energy from your special tree.
Conscious Mind
Living with balance in your life
Finding balance in all you think, feel and do brings you calmness. In my experience, when you feel calmness there is much more clarity on who you are and what is happening in your life.
In the northern hemisphere the Spring Equinox is coming on the 21st March. It brings us out of winter and officially is the start of the spring season. But what exactly is the spring equinox?
First, let’s get into the equinox, which actually occurs twice a year. We have already mentioned the Spring Equinox. Another equinox occurs on the 23rd September and takes us into autumn. The word
Mindful workplace
Relaxation: learn to breath deeply and consciously
Mindfulness is a commonly used term these days. However it is true that breathing consciously or just being still brings calmness which enhances your concentration, lowers blood pressure and aids sleep quality. All are good for enhancing your performance at work and improves your well-being.
The simplest way to induce stillness is to take deep breaths.
I work at home on my own. It can be hard to keep my boundaries between home and work life. Each day I go for a walk, preferably in the park. Today I tried conscious breathing to see if it improved me living in the moment and finding happiness in that moment. It is a simple exercise;
- Take a deep breath in – say ‘In’.
- Breath out – say ‘Out’.
Repeat this at least 3 times. As you breath in, your mind and body becomes peaceful. As you breath out, all that you do not want leaves you, it may be frustration, upset, boredom.
Recently I have found that when I go for my walk I am thinking about all the things I need to get done, my back is bowed and I am looking at the ground. This is not good for me. Today I did this exercise in the park with people walking around me with some surprising results.
I was standing amongst some trees and I noticed the brown, dry autumn leaves on the ground. A rather fat squirrel was running towards me. I suspect he had got used to being fed by humans. When I did not offer anything, he ran off. Two big, black crows were looking amongst the leaves for grubs. Suddenly they took to their wings and flew to the tree tops. My eyes followed them. I noticed a green parakeet, you increasingly see them as they have escaped captivity. They add a splash of colour to our parks. Then I noticed the clouds scudding across the sky and heard the cry of sea gulls. It must be stormy at sea and they have moved inland. As the crow flies, London is really not far from the sea.
All of this happened in a matter of a few minutes. I felt calm, contented and happy. For this precious time, I had left my worries behind. Afterwards I felt both relaxed and energised. A good way to start my afternoon.
The exercise is simple, can be done anywhere and gives great benefits. Try to repeat it everyday at the same time to make it a habit. When I was in a stressful corporate job I did this exercise after my drive to work before I went into the office. I started my day … feeling calm and competent.
Be kind to yourself – learn to relax
If you relate to this article and need some more help and guidance in your life – get in touch with Alison. Here are her contact details.
Click to contact me Here
Tel: +44 7966 137568 Email: [email protected]
Available face-to-face or via a video call depending on location.
Upcoming events with Alison Wem – look here
Mindful workplace
Is work about more than money?
Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. Listen to Alison Wem’s views on how work takes you there and what you can gain from it. Know it consciously and get the greatest benefit from it.
If you relate to this article and need some more help and guidance in your life Get in touch with Alison. Here are her contact details.
Click to contact me Here
Tel: +44 7966 137568 Email: [email protected]
Available face-to-face or via video conferencing depending on location.
Upcoming events with Alison Wem – look here