A Quick Read
Rather than a long post about a specific topic, I thought it might be fun to produce a post of short snippets, tools, and tips.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think in the comments. Your feedback matters.
Here’s an interesting fact . . .
Stress Can Affect Body Posture.
Up to 3 inches of our natural body height can be lost with poor posture. Good posture can enable us to keep our full height.
I do my best to maintain what a physiotherapist friend describes as positive posture. He’s like an annoying voice on my shoulder when I slouch at my desk. Yes, I know; it’s for my own good.
Keep your chin held up, shoulders back, stomach tucked in.
Sat at your desk, feet flat on the floor legs bent 90 degrees perpendicular to the floor, buttocks touching the back of the chair, weight even over your hips. Arms and elbows rest on the desk when you can because it reduces shoulder strain.
Avoid sitting for prolonged periods; get up every half hour to 45-minutes . . . I manage this by drinking plenty of water.
Bathroom visits are frequent. I tried an alarm although quickly discovered that it was too easily ignored.
Of course, there are times during the day when a 90-minute client session for example makes bathroom visits difficult. No problem, I take a slightly extended movement break at the end of the session.
As I said in this post, “Stress may contribute to shallow breathing or overly-contracted muscles, which can compromise your body posture”.
Positive posture doesn’t remove stress although it certainly helps, and you may even gain a couple of inches.
Are you sitting comfortably?
This Challenging Limits video from the Wired For Success team looks at how ignoring our challenges can lead to bad habits that challenge our limits. Bad habits can limit our beliefs, limiting beliefs limit our experiences.
One of the first things I do with new clients is to get them to identify their Top-5 Superpowers. AKA Signature Strengths.
There are a number of reasons why I do this, the first is because it enables us to start from a position of strength and positivity.
Identification of Superpowers alone is not enough and writing them down and running a quick daily check of how and where we used them adds strength and gives us a positive high-five.
Research shows that knowing and using your Superpowers can strengthen relationships, boost happiness, and improve well-being.
There is a wonderful online survey that takes only 15-minutes to rank your strengths and identify your Top-5 Signature Strengths.
The survey is research based, free, confidential, and offered by the not-for-profit VIA institute.
Once you’ve completed the survey make a note of your results, you can’t get back to them once you click away.
Thinking about your Top-5:
How do they contribute to your life and relationships?
Did you find any surprises after completing the survey
Don’t hesitate to leave a message if you need support. It won’t be published so it will be confidential.
How often do you step outside one of your experiences to review and appreciate it?
Or do you find yourself moving from one activity to the next without stopping to savor the positives?
Often, we don’t stay in the moment and turn our attention to the enjoyment we found. We miss out on the micro moments of positivity that we could have enjoyed.
Repeated and noticed micro moments of positivity intensify positive emotions and they lead to greater happiness at home, work . . . this is evidence based.
Here’s a great task that will help form positive habits.
Choose one experience that you enjoyed very recently.
It doesn’t need to be earth shattering. It could be the refreshing shower you took, the walk by the river, dinner with your partner . . .
Once you have identified the experience, share it with another person, think about how fortunate you were to have that experience, write it up into a journal, take a photograph. Sit back for a moment, genuinely appreciate it, and briefly remind yourself of it the next day.
Your Challenge
Set yourself a reminder and repeat this exercise daily. Eventually you won’t need the reminder.
How To?
A couple of weeks ago I received some news of the type that is challenging and difficult to process.
I put everything on hold and, two days later I was on a flight to England.
Knowing that the outcome was never going to be the best (as if I could choose), I opted for the highest level of sensitive positivity I could muster.
A few days after my arrival, doctors suggested that the best they could offer was to maintain life, recovery was not an option.
There seemed to be only one way to see this.
With sadness.
That was until the person suffering reminded me of a funny incident. Followed by several more.
I started to see things differently.
On Day-6 of my visit to England another family member shared that his experience with cancer was beyond recovery.
Two close relatives in one week.
Seriously ! ? !
No sympathy: that is not the point of this short account.
I practice and teach mindfulness, yet I was in danger of not practising what I preach.
Events threatened to affect me until I remembered the outline of a quote from Marcus Aurelius made in the 2nd
century A.D.
“You have the power over your mind – not outside events. Realizing this finds strength”.
When challenging events come your way, are you able to see the events as things passing through your consciousness rather than things that threaten to pull you under?
If you need support with this, don’t hesitate to message and learn how you can see things differently.
Are You a Mind Wanderer?
Research shows that people are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and doing so usually makes them unhappy.
Fortunately, there are proven techniques that can help us to get out of our minds and ground ourselves.
One solution is to savor the moment.
In a happiness study, researchers found that savoring good feelings boosts the emotional impact of positive events and people who savored their good moments were happier than people who did not.
One particular study showed that reflecting on or re-running a happy memory in your mind for 8 minutes leads to a happiness raise that can last several weeks.
Imagine the effect of doing this daily.
A little time with self for 8 minutes each day.
Allowing your mind to wander to a positive memory from the past, can be a good thing.
More Information
Responding in the comments section of this post with your questions is a secure method of contacting us. Your comments will never be published unless they are of a non-personal nature. Alternatively, you can email Steve Costello at steveexgro@gmail.com or Leo Faerberg at Leofaerberg@gmail.com
You can also contact us via direct messaging on Facebook .
Coaching and Tools That Help
Relating to these there are plenty of tools that can help with your Personal Growth and Development whether you feel challenged or just seek to advance the way you respond to your world and expand your success.
Leave your contact details in the comments and you will receive a prompt response. Alternatively, you can send an email. Please understand that your contact details will never be shared outside ExGro or published on this website.
Confidentiality is always assured.
More Information
If you would like to know more about ExGro Therapy, Coaching Services and Events, please click over to the Education For Life menu item.
Comments and Questions
Leave yours below. Your thoughts or questions may well ignite a positive spark in other readers thinking. You will always receive a prompt response to your questions and there is no such thing as a bad question; only the one that was never asked.
Namasté
I bow to the place in you that is love, light, and joy
Peace & Light
Steve Costello is a British Community & Youth Studies and Psychology honors graduate with over 30-years academic and practical experience coaching in the Personal Development public and private sectors. He founded ExGro in 2018 with business partner, and friend, Leo Faerberg.
Leo is also a qualified psychologist with over 20-years experience in supervised and private practice.