29th January – A random act of kindness
Fit in a random act of kindness everyday. This does not have to be a big gesture, or something that takes a lot of time or money. Some of the best random acts of kindness are those small thoughtful actions which show another person that someone cares. It’s not all about altruism and giving your time and effort to others., as both the giver and receiver of random acts of kindness experience positive psychological benefit, as both have increased feelings of social connection. Sometimes the recipient of an act of kindness may know the giver, but this is not necessary, an anonymous act of kindness can be just as good.…
- 30 Days of Healthy Living, Living Lifestyle Medicine, Mindfulness, Relationships & Connectedness, Stress Reduction
18th January – gratitude
Be thankful A daily gratitude practice at the end of the day really helps me to reflect on the day and be mindful of the positive things that happened during my day. Our brains are hard-wired for survival, we are pre-programmed to be alert and on the look-out for threats – this was how we as a species have survived and evolved through the last 100,000 years. However, it does mean that we automatically tend to focus more on the negatives, and conversely we discount the positives as less important, so we are less likely to remember good things. In fact, we tend to remember 6 negative things for every…
- 30 Days of Healthy Living, Lifestyle Medicine, Living Lifestyle Medicine, Mental Health, Relationships & Connectedness, Stress Reduction
15th January – self-compassion
Practice having self-compassion At the moment we are all dealing with so many different pressures and sources of stress. I am hearing every day from my patients about the challenges they are facing: changes to work, working from home, being furloughed, being out-of-work, key-workers being overworked and busier than ever to meet the demands of the pandemic, parents trying to juggle the demands of homeschooling and working at home, people who have been unwell, people with unwell relatives, the list just goes on and on and on… One thing which almost all of my patients say to me when they tell me how difficult they are finding things is “I…
