All posts tagged: Discipline

10 Ways to Outsmart your Smartphone

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Keep your phone on charge away from your bed It’s so tempting to check emails just that one last time before bed, or thumb straight for social media apps as soon as you’ve turned off your alarm. So put a stop to these unhealthy autopilot habits by charging your phone away from your bedside. Buy an alarm clock Yep you heard right, a battery operated alarm clock! Stave off the temptation to check emails first thing in the morning, by keeping them out of reach and don’t rely on them to wake you up! Erase social media apps You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can break the habit of automatically flicking through all your social media apps every time you pick up your phone. Remove multiple email accounts Our bosses might be livid, but surely you aren’t paid enough to be on call 24 hours a day? To be answering emails at 10pm or on the tube into work? Respect your sanity (and savour your free time) by deleting any possible email accounts from your phone now. Go on be ruthless! Check …

25 ways to Unplug

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The weekend provides an ideal opportunity to put our digital devices down and reconnect with this wondrous world around us! Not to mention ourselves and each other. But wonder what on earth you would do without them? If inspiration’s lacking, we’ve come up with 25 ways you can entertain yourself offline: Wrap up warm and go for a fresh Spring walk leaving your phone locked at home Finally pick up the forgotten cookery book found in your Christmas stocking, choose a recipe and whip up a delicious meal Hang out with friends – go for coffee, wander markets, make each other laugh Sit and write postcards, letters and cards for friends, buy stamps and post them – there’s nothing quite like receiving hand written mail! Invite friends over and play a game of cards or a board game round the kitchen table Spend some time with your pet – bath it, play with it, pet it Pick up a diary and write about your experience, including noting 3 positive things about being unplugged Take a hot bath with candles Discover the …

10 Benefits of Meditation

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Evidence suggests meditation has been around since 1500 BCE, making it over 3500 years old. Yet the art of meditation only spread to Western society thousands of years later, and has only really gained household popularity in the last decade. What is about this ancient art form that’s survived the test of time and why do so many religions and gurus swear by its healing properties? We’ve chosen our top 10 benefits – It boosts Positive Emotions
 Powerful contemplative meditations like loving-kindness act as triggers for positive emotions. When we recall and allow ourselves to cultivate loving feelings, not only does it boost our mood, but we can more easily access those feelings after the mood has passed. Positive effect on our Physical Health Meditating encourages us to relax and therefore helps to reduce our stress level and boosts our immunity. It has also been proven to boost our immunity. Helps fight Depression Results now show that MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy) is just as effective as anti-depressants in fighting mental illness. This is revolutionary for those who are …

How Well Do You Look After Your Mental Health?

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Our brains produce up to a staggering 50,000 thoughts per day (National Science Foundation). 95% of those thoughts are habitual and repeated on an almost daily basis. If you’re a naturally skeptical or negative person whose mind is filled with worry and anxiety, it’s inevitable this storm of gloomy, negative thoughts is going to have a frightening impact on your mental health and wellbeing. Especially since our thoughts govern our actions – “All that we are is a result of all that we have thought.” Buddha One very important way to look after our mental health, is to take a regular mental inventory of our thoughts to assess what we’re creating in our lives. How much time is spent worrying or complaining? Criticising ourself and others? How much time appreciating the things we do have instead of noticing everything we don’t? Looking at our lives with wonder and gratitude?  If what we experience now is a result of our past thoughts, then we’re creating our future with every new thought. If our thoughts are positive and encouraging, then we’re more likely to act in an uplifting …

9 tips to help manage your time online

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Generation Y (also known as the millennials) are estimated to pick up their phones 150 times a day, checking emails, whatsapp, social media and logging into a million and one different user apps from Tinder, to Clue, Wunderlist to Framatic. No wonder this highly distracting online world can leave us feeling lost and overwhelmed, inadequate and insecure. For these very reasons, it’s more important than ever before to take control of our digital dependency and be more selective with the time we spend online. Streamline the beneficial stuff and start to quit the useless distractions. Here are nine easy tips to help you become more mindful and take a healthier approach to your online habits – Use a blocking tool such as Anti-Social or StayFocusd to improve your productivity by locking your computer away from social media sites for a certain amount of time, time of day or day of the week. You’ll be amazed at how much more you get done when you can focus without distraction. Get into the habit of putting your phone down at 9pm and not checking it again until …

Put your phone down and pick up a book! 10 ways reading can boost your mental health

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Technotox is here to try and encourage each of us to switch off to the drains and distractions of digital technology – emails, social media, addictive computer games – we spend far too many hours devoted to our screens, in fact the average person now checks their phone 150 times a day and unsurprisingly, it’s affecting our mental health. Being a slave to our phones can leave us feeling brain dead, overwhelmed and lost. So it’s time for a technology-detox and to rediscover more traditional activities that help promote our well-being, those which nuture rather than neglect our mental health. Reading is one such activity and has lots of wonderful merits, here are my top 10 – Stimulates the mind Reading keeps the brain sharp and the mind active. Unlike watching TV – a passive pastime, it stimulates our brain cells, helps build the memory muscle and gives our minds a workout. Reduces stress Reading is incredibly relaxing and can help us unwind after a hard day. It’s proven it reduces stress levels; as an engaging activity that requires …

new year. new book. new perspective.

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The Road Less Travelled is a ‘classic work on relationships, spiritual growth and life’s meaning’. Written by best-selling author M. Scott Peck, it draws heavily on his experience as a psychiatrist and is a compelling book full of wisdom and tips to a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. It’s one of the few books I’ve carried around that gained a great deal of attention. Sat in coffee shops, on the bus, waiting for a friend in a restaurant, endless people noticed I was reading it and felt compelled to comment; “Great book”, “That’ll stay with you forever”, “Wonderful read” and I completely understand why. It is a life-changing book and one I will no doubt revisit again and again. Topics covered include – Discipline and the art of delaying gratification, giving up comforts in the present for future gain. Love as a choice not a feeling, extending one’s self for the purpose of nurturing another’s spiritual growth. Finding Grace within ourselves, evolving our conscious minds and making the unconscious, conscious. It’s a thought-provoking journey that took me …