Life Coaching

Psychological Winter Resistance, SAD and YES, I CAN help myself

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Psychological Winter Resistance, or Enthusiasm Plateau. 

Today I am sharing about Psychological Winter Resistance, also known as enthusiasm plateau, motivational dip or valley, self-sabotage, as well as Season Affective Disorder (SAD) and suggestions how you can help and support yourself. I feel these topics are linked, perhaps one is given insufficient attention over the other. That is regarding resistance which may be related to the seasonal change, as well as something I think we all go through at times, as we travel through life.

Let me talk first about how weather affects your mood; Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). You are most likely aware of this physical phenomenon, which is a commonly held and these days, accepted, actual condition that so many of us feel.

Weather conditions affect us, let’s face it, we are basically animal creatures, connected to the earth, dependant to an extent on the time of the year for our survival and feelings of genuine well-being. Recently I wrote about the Summertime Blues, which people experience at the end of summer holidays, when there seemed to be so much time to achieve things. Maybe we had a list of everything we wanted to do and yet, it all took much longer, perhaps our priorities changed due to unexpected circumstances.

Many of us are affected due to the shorter hours of winter and what it may mean. Less time to go and walk the dog at the end of the day, the wet weather, preventing us from being outside, especially gardening, where growth slows right down.

SAD is more serious than feeling down in the winter, is a type of depression. It can cause low energy, constant sadness, and a want for more carbs. If your family has a history of depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety, you might be more at risk. I know several people who are affected and it has been a relief to understand the effect that the weather has on their mood, and they have become self-accepting, understanding of the situation, and able to deal with it.

SAD usually begins in autumn, continuing on throughout winter. Winter has been far colder the last couple of years and you will notice, both within yourself and observing people you know, more feelings of disparity because of the wetter, darker winter conditions. People who live in Alaska experience SAD more, having little daylight and conversely, it is rarer in very sunny countries.

People have had enough and are yearning for warmer weather and springtime. I have noticed the birds seem to feel the same way and are starting to their build nests while still in mid winter, brought about by some slightly warmer days.

Ways we can help ourselves move through SAD.

Sleep and diet are very important along with more light, exercise and implementing self-supporting routines, which all of us will benefit by when we create new life giving daily habits!

A consistent routine helps; the basics are very important. For instance, to develop supportive routines upon rising and retiring at night. In the morning I like to go outside and greet the day, even better to walk barefoot on the earth for six minutes, which is a grounding practice. Open the curtains as soon as you wake up and go outside as soon as you can to take in the morning light. It assists with our circadian rhythm. Have breakfast or morning cuppa sitting by a window. If natural light is limited, a light therapy box would be very helpful. I know people who use this therapy. It’s a great idea.

Diet

Hibernating in the winter can be helpful when we spend more introspection, preparing inwardly for springtime. Many put on weight, as most of us know, we can prefer heavier, warming meals, with more carbs and very little exercise. I suggest paying good attention to your diet, to have plenty of fruit and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. Consult your health professional and ask about vitamins, as I heard taking Vitamin D and C is essential, as well as zinc and echinacea which will support our immune system, thus making us stronger, fitter and unlikely to catch colds and flu.

Sleep

Limit blue screens before bedtime and have a regular bedtime schedule, going to bed and rising at a regular time. Also to sleep in a dark bedroom.

Light therapy, talking to a therapist, taking certain medicines, and getting enough Vitamin D can make a big difference. These treatments can help people feel better despite the weather.

Stay connected

Resist withdrawing from social activities, staying connected with family and friends. Do find time to exercise, there are many free YouTube videos if you cannot attend an exercise class like we do. There are plenty around in the community. It is also ok to have fun, to be kind and loving to yourself and plan something to look forward to. The movies, library talks and activities, various groups. Make a decision to be involved in life with other people.

Laughter Yoga

Regular exercise releases feel-good endorphins and dopamine, which help improve one’s mood and energy levels. Laughter yoga, which we do at laughter club, does this also, and is an aerobic exercise.  You are welcome to join us any time and in the case of bad weather, we go behind the Ferntree Gully Library under the eaves, on the decking, where we are very protected. It is indeed extremely invigorating.

Psychological Resistance

That is, when we have goals, focuses and so on that are of prime importance and we feel flat, in a lull, unable to get involved and be moving effectively forward as would be required to achieve the level of success we wish to achieve. Many of us feel ourselves in a motivational dip in wintertime but it may be at any other time of our lives also, when roles, work, family, situations and the like come about. It may be that we are bored, not having sufficient stimulation, a multitude of reasons may be at play.

Resistance can also be for many other reasons, and we may self-sabotage our pursuits with negative actions and lack of enthusiasm. There may be excellent intentions and yet it can be too easy to break the good intentions in a moment. A familiar one is how we make resolutions to diet and lose weight, finding ourselves quickly giving in, letting ourselves down, coming down psychologically with negative self-talk.

There is always a reason for doing so and it may be outside of our conscious awareness. Subconsciously we may be in conflict and behave in a way that is diametrically opposed to what was planned. One example would be low self esteem or deep psychological trauma, which means we begin on a high note and have a fall, we feel a failure, then give up. The feelings of self-doubt can be subtle. Then we can have hidden away, the fear of success and what it may entail. It brings us to question whether we really do want success after all? We think too much and it can sound very rational, listening to the quiet whispering within.

Negative self-talk can cause us to fail, perhaps we are more comfortable where we are and for whatever reason, our envisaged achievements are drastically diminished or fail for the time being. Which just means we were not up for the change at the time, and we receive the learning from the new situation. Similarly, we begin something new, there is an initial rush of dopamine, providing excitement and motivation. Can you relate to wanting to do something important and not being able to get into the groove to do so? You have been waiting for the time when you could apply yourself and then, when it comes, you become distracted and can’t become absorbed as you would like to and had envisaged beforehand.

This may be in relation to anything in your life, perhaps work, where you can’t apply yourself wholeheartedly to what is required for whatever reason. Work can give us opportunities and experiences to work through, which are invaluable to our personal growth, our evolution.

How about resistance we are unconscious of? Often this can relate to past experiences and conditioning, trauma and fear make it that we feel frozen in time, unable to step forward. Some of us love new challenges and others may say they do but when push comes to shove, back away or put it off, perhaps losing the prime time in which to achieve whatever that was.

Much of our resistance, and many of us can relate more to the word procrastination, is due to low feelings of self-worth. This can be unconscious, due to our programming and habits of survival we have taken on throughout our lives. I am not even going there, suggesting we may pick up from other incarnations, which we bring forth into this embodiment.

From the negative ego point of view, it is doing its best to carry out our instructions to keep ourselves safe. From this viewpoint, when we let ourselves down, there may be deep seated programming which comes into action. I wrote about this in relation to enneagrams, programs that are installed to protect us, as a mother would protect her precious child.

However, resistance can be a ‘good’ thing to encounter and work through, which takes diligent application and determination. Ideally, it requires introspection, journaling, meditation, self enquiry, at times outside support such as a coach or counsellor.

New projects can raise our feelings of wellbeing and positivity and put us in an initial high when positive endorphins are released into the body. Rather like a honeymoon phase which inevitably passes away, when we move into the next stage of application.

Working through resistance, feelings of flatness, going nowhere, a dip or plateau, and mind you this can be applied to many situations in our life, we can come out the other side stronger. Many share feelings of agility in handling their challenges, feeling stronger, more self determination and psychologically fitter than before. Once we do so, we develop new, enduring habits which support us and are stepping stones towards our goals, future self and worldly endeavours. Life is meant to thrust us into new situations and of course, new things become familiar, comfortable, the old ways of doing things.

Personal and spiritual ways to support us.

This section is more geared for people who may have lost motivation, whether it is the winter blues, that of feeling flat, tired, without it being the serious medical condition of SAD.

The human body seeks comfort, the easy way to do things, to be in control, know what lays ahead and we love to organise our lives neatly into boxes or compartments, instead of being open to interruptions and life happening moments, periods, difficulties etc.

It may appeal to some readers who are drawn to meditation and self-support, to spend quality time in introspection, rechecking and reviewing your life. What effort and focus are you putting into it and are you doing your best to greet anew every day. Daily journaling, which I like to do last thing at night, and meditation are most helpful. Remember to be patient, kind and tolerant towards ourselves is imperative.

Self Determination Theory SDT

Acknowledge the dip or plateau without judgment, because judging one’s actions exacerbates the situation. If we manage to keep going, our self-determination becomes stronger, we build endurance. The alternative to doing so risks not evolving and as energy is moving, we actually devolve, we lose the gains we have made in this lifetime. That is not something I ever wish to bring about, not at all.

We can do all sorts of things to help ourselves or find a teacher or coach you resonate with. Imagine becoming the best, highest, brightest, version of yourself and work towards it. It may be you can develop strategies and organise your time better, or cut down on what you are doing, becoming more of a being type of person. I used to be busy being busy and prefer to focus on more coming from a centred state of being. When in that centred and aligned place, the doing comes out of the being and not the other way around.

Rekindle with your WHY

Don’t wait for motivation to come to you, because motion creates energy. When you put your energy and action into it, the path is slow to begin with and then you build up momentum, which will then help to carry you forward. Motivation is tied in with self-determination which is fuelled from within you.

To get out of the motivational slump, revisit your WHY. There needs to be a sold reason to begin with which set you up, your direction, which becomes lost as time goes on.

It is not happening now

We may be feeling things that are unresolved from the past and create self-doubt, which is dreadful. Stop listening to them and create a plan of action if you want to succeed. Above all be kind to yourself, lose the judgment and be happy to get out of your comfort zone.

That being said, it may well be that you hadn’t thought through before embarking on a project and did not know enough about it. It may be time to give it away, move on, or modify the goal or project.

My motto is to Never ever give up. We need to apply ourselves and learn to trust our feelings more than our thoughts. Not easy to know what is up or down at times. That is why the spiritual growth activities of meditation, journaling, introspective, positive affirmations – all of it, are advised and necessary.

Patience, Tolerance and Kindness

Okay, you have read it this far. Well done! There is a lot in all this, if it is of interest to you, as it is to me. Basically, live your life making progress and don’t beat yourself up!!!

When we meet

The Ferntree Gully Laughter Club meets at 11am on the 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month.

We are at the Ferntree Gully Library 2pm on the 4th Tuesday of the month and the Boronia Library 11am on the 3rd Saturday of the month. I also run periodic laughter yoga and spiritual growth classes and workshops. First timers, please contact me, Lynette in case of a meeting change.

Let me know if you wish to receive my email newsletter and an email reminder when the laughter club is on next. You may even like to join the Ferntree Gully Laughter Club Facebook group, or receive an email reminder when laughter club is on, let me know. Thanks.

Cheerio for now and be kind to yourself. Lots of Love, Laughter and Blessings. Lynette Mitchell.

Phone:         0425 799 258
Email:          lynette@laughterforliving.com.au

Laughter Yoga and 3 other ways to help you get over Fear.

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Laughter Yoga and 3 other ways to help you get over Fear.

Fear is Debilitating!

Laughter Yoga and other ways to help you get over fear, may be useful to consider and ponder, as fear is far too prevalent in today’s age and we are surrounded by it all the time.

There is so much fear in the world, it is impossible not to be affected by it and yet, you can live a life feeling joy and closer to nature. Let me tell you a little of how you can do so. Any advice shared here is intended to be thought provoking, enabling you to consider, feel into, ponder upon, implement and/or reach out to professionals if needs be. It may be the beginning of an area or time in your life which is timely for you to look after yourself, because we are unable to help others if we are not strong, which means we first have to attend to our own basic and healthful needs.

Danger is real, not imaginary. Look at the news on television. Many people refuse to watch it and I wouldn’t either, excepting John, my husband feels it helps him to stay in touch with what is going on in the world. It would be fantastic if good news stories were prevalent, instead of the shock and horror ones that are aired every night on the free to air channels. Apparently bad news sells and is more popular than positive uplifting stories.

I do enjoy watching some shows on TV, the animal and nature ones which are uplifting, entertaining and informative. But you probably agree, TV like social media, can take a hold on us and not let go. They are such time wasters and bad habits are formed, we get lazy, become couch potatoes, sit too long and it’s very unhealthy to spend an inordinate amount of time watching too much television and spending too much precious time checking our social media apps on our phone, computer or tablet.

The world is somehow geared towards us being and living fearfully. Which can be disastrous, where it is like the metaphor of a frog in a pot, whereby the water slowly comes to the boil, it is boiled to death, because of not noticing the temperature slowly rising.

That must be the reason why people hang out for their holidays and do activities to make them forget the world as it is, and provide relief from stressfully lived lives. Our challenges feel so difficult, when history tells us that there have always been seemingly insurmountable difficulties, appropriate for the age we live in. Difficulties, challenges and the like evolve and change according to the times and places.

Have you heard of or considered that our thoughts are not even original, as we are connected energetically with other people and things, which you may not even be aware of? People can come up with the same ideas and be travelling along the same path as others, following their inner guidance, and thoughts are little energy forms that zoom out from us.

Enneagrams are something that I have heard about, have a general idea of, enough to be helpful for me at present. Some people reading this may be experts in this area. What I feel to express here is that basically, human beings are animals, more evolved and with more on board of course.

We are creatures of habit, and I often write about patterning and conditioning which we take on throughout our lives and about releasing it, creating new positive, supportive patterns and habits, ditching ones that no longer serve us in our life where we are now.

Fear Related to Enneagrams

My understanding of enneagrams is how we behave automatically, in a protective way, which is more limited. When a traumatic set of circumstances has happened and something ‘bad’ happens in our life, the set of circumstances are recorded in our subconscious mind. If that set of circumstances happens again, we unconsciously expect the same result and react out of irrational fear. Even though intellectually we know there is no need to be fearful, think of the example of people who have massive fear around spiders, snakes, rats, or whatever. They may believe the person helping them to overcome the fear and it takes great courage to work through the subconscious, irrational fear they are facing and are able to transform it into a correct understanding of the situation, removing the ingrained fear.

Would you agree with this so far? What we need to do is create a future where we are living in more awareness, grounded in our body, connected to earth, nature and consciously able to hum away at living a productive life, irrespective of our life situation. If needs be, seek out a professional if the fear is debilitating, stopping you from living a fruitful life.

Realistically, fear and danger are real, we can benefit by having a respectful awareness of these two gremlins in our life, instead of avoiding or supressing these feelings. Fear can be a great motivator to learn to deal with and overcome it. A certain amount of stress and fear is normal, when we are being stretched, possibility having self doubt from our feelings of being unworthy. It is normal to have fears and challenges to work through and overcome; fear can make us give up, give in and not make any effort at all. Hold strong and don’t give up, never ever! There is always hope. It is not lost, maybe we’ve simply mislaid it along the way.

A healthy habit is to face our fears, which may be irrational and tied in with feelings of low self-worth, not wanting to fail etc. we can develop a good habit of facing fears, let us call them a common term, challenges and using that as a positive experience to develop self mastery in our lives. Yee hah!

Facing Fears

1st step – improve your self-talk and use affirmations.

It is important to face our fears, using positive self talk, such as ‘it’s unlikely to happen’, ‘I can do this’, ‘I am safe’. Basically, learn to switch things around, when you are able to understand and see that your outlook is irrational and apply yourself to lovingly, caringly, get out of your comfort zone (obviously without doing dangerous, unwise activities, using common sense) and try new things.

From my recent experience, I managed to overcome and clear an old fear, which was instilled in me following a bad car accident many years ago.

The fear was underneath my radar, I wasn’t questioning it, feeling nervous in a car on the road seemed normal and acceptable. This was both with my husband driving and when I was driving. Learning more about enneagrams, I started to positive talk myself ‘an accident is unlikely to happen’ being the main one and choosing to let go of being fearful of driving or being driven. I would also affirm to myself ‘I am safe’. It happened recently when my husband was in hospital for two nights after an operation and then unable to drive for 4 weeks. It seemed like a good time to get over my fearful self and switch things around, which was very quick in fact. I was surprised. I am now back to being a confident driver and not wimpish. They say be careful of what you wish for, and it was time to change the unconscious belief of being afraid of having an accident. It’s great! I am loving driving now again.

2nd step – be quick to act on inspirations

Especially if you know in your heart, have a feeling about, doing a new activity, whereby the feeling comes to you for a split second and then your rational mind steps in, persuading, thinking your way out of it in another direction. I imagine some of you lovely readers will get this. You have a feeling and if the inspiration is not acted upon straight away, the feeling becomes dulled and you have talked your way out of doing that thing which initially seemed like such a good idea. The negative ego is chit chatting with you and it’s purpose is to run the body, which it does amazingly well and keep you safe.

3rd step – come to laughter club

Give this a go, you will be stepping out of your comfort zone into an unfamiliar territory. This is a ‘good thing’. New people come from time to time and I encourage them to come at least two or three times, before deciding it is not for them. I am not alone in suggesting that you will not know if it will be a very positive and beneficial activity in your life, without coming more than once. Fair enough, people may know immediately it is not for them. Many people find it very uncomfortable, which is their body type/personality, set in their ways and very likely, inhibitions or deep-set fear such as unconscious trauma, may be at play here. Given time, people become confident, relaxed and embrace the light-hearted fun way that laughter clubs are renowned for.

For instance, we don’t always know what is good for us. I once was leading laughter at a nursing home and it was obvious that the people who were low care, joined in and appeared to be uplifted. It felt like a mistake that the activities organiser asked the residents if it was an activity they enjoyed, instead of seeing the bigger picture that in time, the magic works when people come together, laugh and sing. They did not give it a fair trial, which would have far benefited the residents in the long run. I am suggesting if you have resistance to coming along, look at the bigger picture. There are so many gains to be had from it.

Laughter yoga is an aerobic exercise with innumerable benefits. It isn’t for everyone and you will not have a clear understanding of it being ‘right’ for you, without attending a few times. And it’s free too! We go along to the Ferntree Gully and Boronia Libraries and the laughter club meets twice a month behind the Ferntree Gully Library.

4th Step – We are all in this together

Human Beings are creatures of habit and beneath our seemingly distant exteriors, hide ones who are genuinely kind and helpful towards each other. We have a need to belong, as we are mostly like animals who feel comfortable gathering together in packs, or tribes. A sense of belonging, which helps us feel happy and at peace, coming together and sharing with other like-minded people. It gives us more purpose in our life.

Essentially, and summing up, laughter yoga is a great physical exercise which makes us feel better. Our communication and listening skills improve. We become light-hearted. It is a rich experience. Everyone benefits. Yet again, I encourage and invite you to come to a laughter session in the park, or inside the Ferntree Gully or Boronia Libraries. It is never too late, and people have taken fifteen years or longer to do just that!

Please think about it. Come along and satisfy your human by interacting with other human beings.

Alternatively, if you do not have a social life, think about, feel into and enquire about, what would be a suitable group for you to be a part of. There are many in the community and the Knox Council is brilliant at supporting its residents. We love being in Knox. From what I see, all councils have the wellbeing of their residents at heart as well. Look after yourself. Get moving, grooving, do something you love and remember firstly, to love yourself. Warts and all!

When we meet

The Ferntree Gully Laughter Club meets at 11am on the 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month.

We are at the Ferntree Gully Library 2pm on the 4th Tuesday of the month.

Let me know if you wish to receive an email newsletter and a reminder email for the laughter club or wish to join the Facebook group.

Cheerio for now and be kind to yourself. A strong mantra that I use and hold in my awareness on a daily basis is ‘Patience, Tolerance, Kindness’. Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you, or whether you need more assistance and guidance in using it, such as combining with one’s own breath.

Lots of Love and Laughter. Lynette Mitchell.

Phone:          0425 799 258
Email:            lynette@laughterforliving.com.au
Website:       www.laughterforliving.com.au

The purpose of life, being grounded and present.

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Hi there, I have been pondering about life, how as time passes, it is embraced more and at the same time, there is an awareness that what I once knew and felt to be like my ‘true answer’, my beliefs and understanding etcetera, continues to evolve. We all know that the only constant in life is change, that is for sure. Today we have some musings and questions to contemplate about life. For many of you, this could be waffle and lacking substance. Yet, some readers have shared that they look forward to what I write. Either way, it would be great to hear from you, if you wish to connect with me in one way or another. Thank you.

Do you wonder what life is about, whether there is a purpose and meaning to it all? My experiences are that being grounded, and present helps us be in touch with our life’s purpose. We are more receptive to guidance and intuition, including answers to our enquiring energy. The alternative may be a too busy mind and life, which takes us back to the past or into the future. Our energy leaks out and is all over the place when this is the case.

It definitely helps to live as much as you can totally present, rather than off in dreamland and away with the fairies. It is widely accepted that there are filters which we live and view our lives through. These have been referred to as veils. We have experiences that we draw to us by what we think and our actions, which is in accordance to what our focus is on and the energy that we send out.

In other words, we send out our own unique wave of energy, expectation, via either conscious or subconscious patterning and programming. Our personalities adapt, learn, grow and contribute to what develops as our own individual understanding about life. Our belief systems develop from a little baby and every one of us is a small part of the whole, we are all part of the same energy and connected, whether we have been aware of it until this point, or not.

So true is the saying “we cannot always change our circumstances; what we can change is our attitude”. We can decide to accept our life and make the best of it, as it may not be possible or the ‘right time’ to do anything else. As time passes, circumstances may change without input from us often for the better. Then we can review our life and the direction we are headed in.

Following are thought provoking questions you may wish to take paper and a writing utensil or the computer to begin a self-dialogue. If you haven’t yet dialogued and wish to receive instructions in this area, then let me know and I will email information to you. I enjoy dialoguing and find it helps me a lot.

Some questions for you to ask yourself are: Are you enjoying where you are in your life at present? Do you feel stuck in a rut, settled, without opportunities to keep evolving and growing? If not, what would you like to change? To have more of? To have less of? How is your support, outside and self-support going? Are you there for yourself? Do you feel dependant on others and if so, in what way is this happening? Are your main family or friendship relationships healthy or formed through weakness and fear-based patterns? Are they co-dependent or inter-dependent relationships?

There are no right or wrong answers, rather opportunities to recognise where you are at in humility and to gather together a handle on where you would wish to be heading.

Next time I will talk about being present and greeting anew, which all the above relates to in many ways, as to be grounded in our life and focused, we do need to be enjoying the present moment. We do also live a happier and more fulfilled life when we greet each situation, moment, person and ever incident in a fresh way. There are many reasons for this and I hope you look forward to what it will be.

Cheerio for now. Lots of love (and laughter). Lynette xo

Disclaimer: Information shared here is from my personal understanding and experience. Advice given is general and as I am not a medical doctor, take no responsibility for how it is received, my intention is that articles will be supportive and assist in living a fuller, holistic life.

Meditation Made Easy – the Benefits and How to…

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Meditation is made easy if you have the desire and need to do it

Learning to meditate is made easy with the right tools and instructions and you would probably agree that if something works for you and you feel the results, you will keep it up. Yet learning anything can be trial, error and a lot of faith that it will provide the benefits you seek, which requires considerable persistence.

My Meditation Journey

This all began in 1963 when as a student of the Gita School of Yoga and for many years I followed the Eastern meditation ways of how to meditate. This involved focusing on the breath, a mantra and candle meditation, spoken of as witness consciousness, which brought varying results.
I last wrote a meditation article when facilitating a Laughter Yoga session for staff at Wantirna Secondary College in 2009, entitled ‘The Basics of Meditation’. Since then I have had far greater personal growth success since joining a modern day mystery school. Recently it felt like the time had come to renew my How to Meditate document, partly because I frequently share about meditation and self-care with people.
Personally I have found greater success using this method, which firstly attends to one’s energy field. It is about clearing negative energy and invoking positive energy, together with cord cutting and clearing.
Here, hot off the press is my new version of how to meditate which I felt to call Meditation Made Easy. It is fairly concise, explaining about What Happens in Meditation, the Benefits of Meditation, How to Meditate and finishing with Meditation Tips to Make it Easy.
I wish you luck and welcome comments and questions about the practice of meditation.

Love and Laughter,
Lynette xo

Disclaimer: This post is written from my personal understanding and experience and is not to be misconstrued. Advice given is general and as I am not a medical doctor, take no responsibility for how it is interpreted. Posts are intended to be supportive and assist you to live a holistic, joyful life.

12 Month Letter to Future Self

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There is considerable power in manifesting your future, goals, aspirations, when we use tools that can assist us when we need to find more clarity in our lives. Writing a letter to yourself which will be opened twelve month’s from the date of writing is understood in some cases to wield an almighty power in your life. If you can write it from a non-linear perspective, with the mental body, your mind, disengaged, the letter has the potential to become quite magical. Here is my take on it and I wish you well in this lovely task. Please contact me with any questions, suggesions and to share your experience, as I am interested to hear how you go and would love to hear about it.

Best of luck,
Wishing you Lots of love and laughter,
Lynette Mitchell xo

12-month-letter-to-future-self-laughter-for-living

Disclaimer: This post is written from my personal understanding and experience and is not to be misconstrued. Advice given is general and as I am not a medical doctor, take no responsibility for how it is interpreted. Posts are intended to be supportive and assist you to live a holistic, joyful life.

Seniors Festival, Time and Self Renewal

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The Seniors Festival is coming up in October and is celebrated nationally. This blog was prompted and written firstly as an article for a local newspaper, when I was pondering a topic related to our laughter club. It struck me that due to October being the month for seniors Australia wide, it would centre around seniors, leading on to self-evaluation if we choose to do it. The Ferntree Gully Laughter Club is involved with the Seniors Festival in Knox, we are on page 19 of the booklet. Please click here to read, thanks a lot and take good care of yourselves.
Love,
Lynette xo

Doom and Gloom – Breathing Exercise Helps Rid Negative Feelings.

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Let’s talk about doom and gloom, then move to talk about positivity and hope and what you can do on an individual level!

There is so much doom and gloom in the world, locally, nationally and internationally and I think you will agree that there is a lack of good news stories. How uplifting it is to watch, read or hear about news of a positive nature. Someone’s great achievement, overcoming odds, people banding together, donating time and money for a cause they believe in.

It is so true, that bad news travels fast and the media thrives on bad news. I wonder what that is all about? Could there be something there within us also, that thrives on drama, this thing  somehow relates better to negative things which actually increases our stress levels. Maybe on a deeper level of consciousness, it makes our lives more bearable, our crosses lighter to bear.

Let’s turn this around to focusing on and holding the intention of improvement and hope. Begin by bringing things back to ourselves and when we read, see, or hear bad news, choose to release our feelings of judgment. We can choose to imagine and understand that the universe does work in mysterious ways. Let us hold the vision of an ideal of ‘it’ being for a reason and that there is growth in it for the ones involved. To take away suffering can deny ones the ability and opportunity to be self determining and learn through trauma.

On a personal note, are we focusing outside ourselves to distract from self-effort? Or are we putting responsibility and blame outside ourselves onto others? Usually we are in situations of our own making (I believe this to be 100% true). This leads to a realisation that if we are unhappy about what we have created, we can also seek help outside of ourself with a person, mentor, counsellor or other person we may think of who is a few steps ahead of us on the path.

Bringing it down to small managable steps, what about baby steps? Instead of trying to solve all of our problems in a day, what is one thing that we can do to take ourself forward today?

Oftentimes we take one step and do something, which creates movement; unseen forces then work with us and support us moving forward. Rather like that beautiful poem ‘Footsteps in the Sand’ by Mary Stevenson.

I will share how easily you can change your state with some laughter and simple breathing and this way, you can just ‘fall into doing it’. Take note of how your body is feeling right now and then go ahead as follows.

Laughter is the best medicine and now, take a deep breath and as you are breathing out, quietly or loudly, laugh, hahahahaha. Now breathe in again and as you laugh out again, do so more deeply. And again, do it three times.

If you prefer, it can be quieter laughter with the mouth closed. If you feel to open your mouth and laugh wholeheartedly, please do. It is your exercise and experience.

Now how do you feel? A little or lot lighter? Your perspective has probably changed for the better.

Here is another little thing that you can try. Standing is preferable for this exercise; we will do a little deeper breathing, using our arms and hands. Try this two ways, first with one long deep breath and then two short, deep breaths.

It goes like this. Standing if you will, arms stretched out straight from the shoulders, on the in-breath, bring your hands in to chest then stretch them back out in front on the out breath saying ‘ha’. Rest a little being conscious of your body limits then repeat with two or three breaths in, breathing through the nose. This can be described as sniffing breaths. Then a long breath out through the nose. The hands can be left to do their own thing, naturally you will bring them in on the in-breath as fists or open hands on the chest.

My suggestion is to do this exercise in the morning to get your energy flowing and at night, even as well in the middle of the day and monitor the difference it makes to you. Once you have mastered it, it can be done at any time, even without the outstretched hands and arm movements. If you hold the intention of it assisting your body, however you need it, your subconscious mind will work with you and make it automatic and success is assured in helping you to be freer from stress, conscious, in the moment and grounded.

As I am a Laughter Yoga coach, I enjoy combining Laughter Yoga and coaching, believing there is a lot that we can do to help ourselves lead a happier, less stressful life. This can be done as outlined, in baby steps, to simply decide to do small, regular practices to experiment and if they work, incorporate these helpful things into our everyday lives. When we are happier, less stressed and becoming more joyful, finding fun in little simple things, the world around us changes and our upliftment helps those around us and ultimately, is a positive effect on the planet and those upon it. I invite you to email me about this sharing if you wish to or need clarification about the breathing exercise.

Love and laughter blessings.
Lynette Mitchell xxx ooo

How to Coach Yourself to Harmlessness

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Harmlessness, does that mean lying down and being passive, not causing trouble, or could it be about actively avoiding causing harm at any cost? Are you open to consider the subject of harmlessness in a completely new and different light? Then let us begin the positive habit of being a coach to oneself of harmlessness!

To not cause harm has been bandied about, we have possibly picked up from other people’s beliefs tied in with a particular religion, that to live in this way is a paramount belief to foster. We can take on beliefs, make them our own, make them a habit without reviewing our life and attitudes in it.

Do not stand on an ant, or you become a vegetarian for instance. That is all very well; however is the attitude coming from a fear based reason, say from the head rather than the heart? Or when from a narrow viewpoint, you can be eating vegetables, thanking the food in an unbalanced manner? Your behaviour may become extreme and I believe that harmlessness is frequently used out of context, rather than in an integrated, loving way.

This article is from the point of view of harm towards oneself. How you treat yourself, your daily habits, the general nurturing that you do for other people, whether it be your partner, children or other members of the family or outsiders. Sometimes it is so easy to follow wonderful principles of not causing harm and we do this for others and forget about ourselves.

This could relate to your diet, exercise, hobbies and work. It could be about books that you read, television shows you watch, whether they are scary, funny, uplifting and informative. There are numerous ways of taking care of yourself and I believe that care giving to yourself is a great preventative medicine, as well as things that you take in the form of a healthy diet, vitamins and so on.

What you feed your emotions, mind and spirit are equally as important as to what you feed your body either from food or feed in through your five basic senses.

It is dishonouring yourself to focus on looking outside of you and then to forget that if you are not as well, strong and balanced as you can be to begin with, then over time you will become weaker and succumb to dis-ease. The well known bible saying that ‘charity begins at home’ may be applied firstly to yourself.

When you put others’ needs before your own, especially because of not having enough time, ask yourself is this really what you want? If the answer is ‘no’ you can change this if you choose to. Life is running at such a pace and you can put things off, especially for yourself. You make lists of things to do and things that you want to do, without prioritising. When you do the most urgent, they may not, in fact, be the most important. It is important to make an appointment with yourself to do something that you love, both for your self expression and to not feel dry, that life has become meaningless.

I invite you to spend the next twenty minutes or so to make a list. First sit where you will not be disturbed for half an hour and breathe. Feel yourself relaxing as you breathe and connect with your heart. Next write down a list of the things you have done that have been nice, caring and special for yourself in the last week. You may discover that your list is bare, barren! You had great intentions to spend time doing something for yourself and somehow other things got in the way, it did not happen. Again.

You are your own creator and I urge you to take this opportunity to make a different list. This will be of things that you would like to do. It can be several lists if you wish to break them down for practicality. Such as a daily, weekly or say, a three monthly list of desires and goals. Make it realistic and achievable, starting with something that is comparatively easy, which will set the new, beneficial habit of success towards harmlessness towards yourself on the right track.

Good luck with this exercise, as to succeed with it, you must first recognise that you are important and do need to nurture yourself on every level. And then you have to choose to have the right intention to carry this through into your daily life, to make it a habit. Habits take time to concrete, so be patient with yourself and know that absolutely and positively, YOU ARE WORTH IT!