Thursday 24 September 2020

How To Lift Your Mood Instantly

If you’re feeling a bit blue, you might be surprised to hear that are lots of ways to lift your mood in less than a minute. Skeptical? Try these and see!

1. Put some drops of lavender and orange essential oils in a diffuser. These oils have been shown to help with anxiety and to promote calmness and positivity.

2. Have a snack. A handful of nuts or a square of dark chocolate will send endorphins flooding into your brain and lift your mood fast.

3. Get some sunshine. Go outside and get some fresh air and some sunshine. Exposure to sunlight triggers the brain to release Serotonin. Serotonin helps to regulate mood and anxiety. Studies have shown that people who have significant exposure to light have less depression, fewer sleep problems, and are even more productive. If you can't make it outside, go and look out of a window.

4. Go for a walk. Even walking around the block will help to lift your mood, heart rate, and energy levels.

5. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Breathe in and out deeply three times. Focused breathing lowers your blood pressure and calms the mind. Deep breathing can help reduce stress levels instantly.

6. Lift your shoulders up to your ears and then let them drop. Do this three times and feel the tension ebb away. It’s easy to hold onto a lot of tension and stress without realizing it.

7. If you’re feeling nervous before an interview or presentation, go into the stairwell or the restroom. Breathing in, open your arms wide, breathing out give yourself a big hug. It’s almost impossible to do this without smiling.

8. Smile! Smile and make eye contact with a colleague or the guy in the coffee shop or the person serving you at the deli. The physical act of using your smile muscles can genuinely make you feel happy. And it's contagious. Chances are you'll make them smile too and improve their day.

9. Stand up straight, lift your head, and throw your shoulders back. Adopt a Wonder Woman or Superman pose and feel the change in your energy.

10. A cup of tea or coffee will instantly lift your mood. You probably know that caffeine is a stimulant, but even low or no caffeine hot drinks will give you a boost or calm you down whether it’s chamomile or green tea, a chai latte or hot water, and lemon.

11. Listen to music that you love. You can choose custom mood music, or play your old favorites. Music has been shown to have a powerful effect on mood.

12. Ask for a hug. Probably not from your boss, but a family member or friend would love to give you the instant comfort of an embrace.

Wednesday 23 September 2020

Tools To Help You Achieve Your Goals

Many people think that they have to rely on themselves to stay motivated when striving to reach new goals. This is actually not true. There are many tools that you can use to make reaching goals much easier.

Some of the most popular motivational tools you can use include simple things like blogs, journals, online calendars, vision boards, and planners. All of these things can really help you stay on track and achieve your goals.

A blog or journal can really help you plan out your steps to reach your goal. You can keep a daily or weekly journal, whatever works best for you. Many people start off by using a weekly journal and then switching to a daily one. As they find that writing down accomplishments and struggles is really helpful, plus it acts as a reference in case the situation happens again.

Calendars and planners in all forms are available online. You can even download apps to your iPhone, iPad, or other mobile devices. This makes sure you can access your planner regardless of your location. There are even apps that allow you to share your progress in places like Facebook and Twitter. You can even challenge your friends and family to friendly competitions. This helps you set and achieve weekly goals, by incorporating a little bit of fun into them.

What motivational tool you use will depend upon your goal and your personality. You may enjoy writing and are automatically drawn to using a blog to stay motivated. You may be more of a private person and prefer the idea of using a planner or app for motivation.

You don’t necessarily have to make any of your writing or blogs public you can make them private and can only share with people you choose. Don’t forget that you can just use an online notepad or word processing software and create your own personal motivational book on your own computer. Another idea is to record videos if this is something that appeals to you. You can record a video about your goals, achievements, ups, and downs. Again, you can make your videos private or public.

Other great tools to use include using motivational tapes and quotes. Personal development tapes are great to take with you as you can listen to them while driving. Vision boards and quotes are fantastic for placing on your wall, mirror, or fridge so you can read them every day. Quotes are very good for reinforcing your goals and abilities on a daily basis, so don’t overlook using them.

Do you use any of these? Which ones have you found the most effective?

Download your Practical Goal Setting Guide And Workbook Below

Read Here: Goal Setting Guide and Workbook

Listen Here: Goal Setting Guide and Workbook

Tuesday 22 September 2020

How To Have A Clutter Free Mind

Decluttering your life and becoming organized starts with one important but easily-overlooked step. You need to have a clutter-free mind.

If your home and office are cluttered and disorganized, chances are your mind is too. Mental clutter is restless, moving from brooding over the past to worrying about the future.

It’s going through your mental to-do list and fretting over having too much to do. Above all, mental clutter is exhausting and fruitless. It stops you from getting things done.

Here are some top tips for getting back in control and decluttering your mind.

1. Declutter your environment

If all you can see is chaos, your mind will be in overdrive all the time as there’s always something that needs doing.

When you tidy up your space, things stop being overwhelming and you will be able to see if in fact anything needs doing.

2. Start writing lists

Free up your mental space and keep anxiety at bay by writing lists. Checklists and to-do lists will keep your tasks ordered and allow you to prioritize.

Use whatever method suits you best – a notebook, diary, planner, smartphone app, or an online tool.

3. Journal

Get all those worries, ideas, and what-ifs out of your head by writing them down. That’s especially useful if you can’t sleep because your monkey mind has gone into overdrive.

Keeping a journal will help you work through whatever is worrying you. Often things look a lot less worrisome when they’re on paper. In fact, studies have shown that writing problems down helps the brain to process and find solutions.

4. Leave the past behind

A lot of mental clutter is caused by brooding over past events, whether it’s past hurts or things you wish you had said or done, opportunities you wish you had taken or actions you regret.

All of these preoccupations take up space and energy in your mind that could be available for much more creative projects. Worst of all, mulling over the past is fruitless.

You can’t change the past, but you can let go of things that are distracting you in your present life.

5. Focus on one thing at a time

Lets’ face it, multitasking is overrated. Trying to answer an email, take a phone call, and do your monthly budget all at once is likely to leave you with lots of things half-done and feeling exhausted.

You’re much more likely to make mistakes and become overwhelmed. Focus on doing one thing at a time, and you will be calmer and have a completed to-do list of tasks completed properly.

Thursday 3 September 2020

Changing Your Attitude

Do you sometimes feel that life hasn’t gone the way you had hoped? Do you find yourself complaining and blaming others for your misfortune? Do you find people trying to avoid you? Do you find that you get set off by the smallest incidents?

The problem could be not having the right kind of attitude. Your attitude may need some adjusting. You may want to explore changing your attitude and see if that doesn’t result in the changes you need. Developing a positive mental attitude can definitely change your life.

How do you develop a positive mental attitude?

Having a positive mental attitude is not just about smiling and laughing all the time. It is the belief that being optimistic in every situation can attract change and success. This definition by Kendra Cherry explains it perfectly.

''Positive thinking actually means approaching life's challenges with a positive outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light.''

Positive thinking can affect your health positively by improving cardiovascular health, reducing stress and depression. It also helps you to cope with difficult situations.

Here are 5 ways to develop a positive mental attitude:

Practise Gratitude

Focus on things you are grateful for in your life right now. Take a step further by getting a journal and writing at least two things you are grateful for every night.

Let go of the past

Focus on today and let go of the past. Learn from the mistakes of the past to do better today. You can't change your past but you can write the future.

Surround yourself with the right people

Your company matters. Surround yourself with the right people. Make friends with positive thinking people who are going after their goals. You can take a step further by seeking out mentors you can learn from.

Meditate

Take time every day to be quiet and reflect on your day. This practice can help you let go of your fears and anxieties.

Use Affirmations

Affirmations are simple positive statements you say out loud to reprogram your brain. They can help you to counter negative thoughts and limiting beliefs. Get audio positive affirmations you can use here

Tuesday 1 September 2020

How Much Discharge is Normal in Pregnancy

Vaginal discharge is one common sign noticed during early pregnancy. But how much discharge is normal in pregnancy?

Let's start by talking about normal vaginal discharge.

What is vaginal discharge?

Vaginal discharge is the normal fluid released by glands in the vagina, uterus, and cervix. The colour can vary from clear to milky white. Consistency can vary from thin to thick white discharge. This variation depends on the time in your menstrual cycle.

Discharge is thicker when you ovulate, when you breastfeed or when you are sexually aroused. Vaginal discharge can also increase with pregnancy. Normal vaginal discharge performs the function of helping to clean and protect the vagina.

So yes, it is possible for normal vaginal discharge to increase during pregnancy. Almost all women have increased vaginal discharge during pregnancy. The increase is caused by increased estrogen and vaginal blood flow during pregnancy. This discharge helps to prevent infections from moving up from the vagina to the uterus in pregnancy.

Vaginal discharge changes during pregnancy just like in the menstrual cycle. It is usually thin, milky white or colourless. Another name for this is leukorrhea. As the pregnancy progresses, the discharge helps to form a mucus plug that blocks the cervix to prevent infections from travelling up into the uterus. At the end of pregnancy, the mucus plug breaks down and comes out as clumps or pinkish mucous streaks. This is called the "bloody show" and means birth is approaching.

However, it is important to note some types of discharges could be signs of an infection or pregnancy complication. Speak to your health care provider if you notice any of the following:

Itching around the vagina
Pain or soreness during urination
Foul or fishy smell
Green or yellow coloured discharge
Bleeding
Very watery or excessive discharge

It is important to visit your doctor if you notice any of these types of discharge so your doctor can prescribe the appropriate medication and manage any impending complications.

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