An intentional morning routine
There’s something about January that always makes me reassess my routines. As you’ll know if you’ve followed me for some time, I have a complex relationship with routines. I love them, but I’ve had to learn not to become too reliant on them as I can quite easily get stuck in them (and therefore feel anxious when I do anything out of routine). This is why constantly reflecting on my…
Looking up – a shortcut to calm
A couple of months ago I went with Dan on the train somewhere (London, possibly). At the station we were both a little tense after some words of frustration were shared (about what, I can’t recall). As I sat, waiting for our train, I looked up. The sky was bright blue and the clouds were fluffy, white, perfect. A small breeze was pushing the clouds around in the sky, morphing…
How to stop and smell the roses
I had a conversation with a friend over coffee recently and they were telling me how happy they were. They said things were going well in work and life and that things were just… falling into place. They also said that this makes them uneasy. They’re worried about what’s around the corner. They think this moment of happiness can’t possibly last – so what’s going to go wrong? They said…
Recognising (and following) joy
Most of the time, I like to think I’m pretty good at recognising what makes me happy and joyful in life. I have certain activities that I know make me smile, but recently a sense of absolute pure joy crept up on me and caught me a little off-guard. In my day job I help to run a wellness initiative which involves running workshops and making PDFs on certain subjects,…
The importance of boredom
How often do you do nothing? And by nothing, I mean literally nothing – no TV, no scrolling on your phone, no reading. Something I’ve come to realise about myself is that I am VERY good at distracting myself. If I’m not at work I will either be on my laptop working on the blog, on social media, reading or watching TV. I barely ever let a minute pass without…
Turning exercise into a mindful practice
If you’re a regular exerciser – why do you exercise? Is it to feel physically healthier? Or perhaps to get a little headspace? For me, it’s a combination of the two. Of course feeling physically strong and healthy is at the back of my mind, but exercise makes me feel so much better mentally. It’s a break from staring at a screen for one, and it’s a chance for my…
How to make every day that little bit lovelier
Human brains are more attuned to negativity than they are positivity. It’s something called the negativity bias and it means it’s physically more difficult for us to focus on the positive. OK, this may be a slightly dark note to start on – but stick with me here! What this means is that we need to invite and inspire more positivity into our daily lives to tip the scales back…
How to find happiness in every day
For my first ‘happiness’ post, I wanted to talk about what happiness means to me and how everyone can find joy in every day. I used to think happiness was this big ball of magic that was always on the horizon, always out of reach. I thought if I could just do X… or if Y happened… that would be it – I would be happy. It was an elusive creature I…