Inspirations

With levels of anxiety currently sky-high around the world I felt it was time to put together this little ‘toolbox’ of tips to reduce stress and ease some of the worries many people are facing.

I’m not a GP, I don’t have a qualification in psychology, and I’m not a therapist. Nor am I one of those cool, unflappable souls that breeze through calamities without getting a hair out of place.

I’m a stress-head by nature.

But over the last ten years I’ve learned some incredibly effective tools for staying calm – even when life is very, very tough.

My hope for you, if you are struggling with anxiety and stress in these uncertain times, is that you find some of these ideas helpful in maintaining a calm, resourceful state – for yourself and those around you.

I’ve also included details of a free web class and resource site that my wife and I will be running throughout the pandemic. This will provide the means to expand on strategies outlined in point ‘7’ below, as well as provide additional...

For people living in Cumbria who would like to learn mindfulness we offer a number of courses in Carlisle and Penrith.

The ‘Quiet Mind’ meditation and mindfulness course is a progressive course, taught over 8 weeks in a live class, and offers residents in Cumbria the opportunity to develop their own daily mindfulness practice which they can use for the rest of their lives.

The benefits of mindfulness are many and the course will suit anyone who is:

• Unable to concentrate
• Worn down, often tired and unable to sleep properly
• Finding it difficult to relax
• Generally unhappy and depressed
• Tense and anxious
• Worried about physical and mental health because of the above

If you would like to learn mindfulness in Cumbria and would like more details please contact us.

We’re all dealing with stress. Day in, day out, things happen which put pressure on us. Our jobs, relationships, traffic, politics… the list goes on. These are incredibly stressful times; our lives are getting busier and busier, faster and faster.

The question is, how much is all this affecting you?

Because if you’re suffering from stress and you don’t do something about it, it is almost certainly going to impact on your health and happiness, (if it hasn’t already started to do so).

I’ve put up a quick test to find out how stressed you are on this page: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Q8RB78L

If you’re happy to do so, please leave your score in the comments section below.

All the best,

Rob

Working life is stressful – you don’t need me to tell you that.

Regardless of what job you do, in any one busy day you face pressures of all kinds. People, technology, traffic, bureaucracy, deadlines and sheer workload all add to the energy-draining frustration of trying to get by in today's busy world. And that’s in addition to the demands we must manage in our private lives – relationships, financial matters, health issues, children, running a home, the list goes on and on.

Like I say, you don’t need me to remind you how much stress these things can cause, but are you aware of the damaging effect this can have on your health?

You see, every time you experience a stressful event or situation you become flooded with what is effectively a cocktail of toxic stress hormones. Over time, the effect of these on your body can be devastating.

Just in case you’re not familiar with the Fight or Flight process I’ll explain it briefly here because it is the very reason why so many of us are su...