Let's Talk For A Minute

With the advent of e-devices we have lost the art of human-to-human conversation. And it is hurting us. Communicating in person has many benefits which we miss out on when we send an electronic message.

Communicating in the presence of others goes back to our early days when all we had was each other. In fact, most things in life involving our well-being go back to these times. We would meet and talk about the problems of the day, share stories about how we killed a sabre-toothed tiger, how we hadn't washed for two months and it felt good, what your best friend is doing, how to keep safe when going for water, that sort of thing.

During these early communications, we were not just sharing stories, we were socialising. We were learning about life, learning about social skills, learning how to interact with others, telling others how we felt.  Importantly, socialisation involved emotions.

There is no emotional connection when we converse electronically. We don't learn about manners - your turn, my turn - when we use emails. We can't convey our true feelings in a text message, if we do we exaggerate it. We can't read body language in an instant message. We may say something hurtful on FaceBook. In short, we say in an e-message what we wouldn’t say in person.

Don’t get me wrong, I love communicating on e-devices. If you were to ask me what I thought was bad about e-devices, we don't talk enough to others in person. I say this as I send out an e-message on LinkedIn. That's okay, I have three meetings later today where I will be talking to people in person, actual people. Scary hah!

I will get my 'people' fix today, will you?

Why Me?

Why me? Why do bad things always happen to me? I am a good person aren't I? Life just isn't fair! How often have you heard someone say one of those statements or perhaps you have said it yourself. Bad things happen to us all. I don't know why, it just does. Karma, the universe, the world, who knows.

The good news is that most of us have said it at one point in our life, some more than a few times unfortunately. The bad news is that this sort of comment doesn't help you much does it? What may help is to know why we feel this way and how we can avoid disparaging ourselves through our thoughts.

We all know that our brain is wired to worry in order to protect us from danger, to be prepared for anything that comes our way. The 'Why me' emotion is just an extension of worry, although a lot more direct and personal because the event has now happened. Your worst fears have come to fruition.

As my dear departed Mum used to say, "It's not all about you son". And she was right. Often these things just happen for no particular reason and it is our response to these adversities that makes us who we are, not the adversity itself.

There is a saying that goes something like this 'It's not how we fall, it's how we get back up again'. I prefer to say "It's not that we fell, it's that we got back up".  That's what resilience is, getting straight back up rather than languishing in the 'why me' response.

The next time you wonder why you lost a business contract, why you got into trouble, why something terrible happened, don't waste your energy on pondering why. Just keep going, do your best that you can in the circumstances and ignore your brain's negative thoughts.  It's just trying to help after all.

What I Have Learned After 35 Years of Marriage

Today is my 35th wedding anniversary therefore time to reflect on what I have learned over this time.  I wish that I had followed some of these things in this list to make my life even more fulfilling than it has been;

• The honeymoon can last as long as you want it to. It is about doing different things each day and valuing those around you.
• Never take anything for granted. Everything can change in an instant.
• Look forward to happy things but always be in the moment, moments are what we live for and you may miss something great if you are always looking ahead.
• Our money requirements are back-to-front. When need money the most to support our family it is seldom there, when we have enough the family is grown and money the pressures aren't as great.
• Cherish your children in the best way that you can, they will remember the simple things that you do for them and with them.
• Give a little to get a lot.
• Guilt and regret will always tie you down so ignore the mistakes then make up for them in other ways.
• We sometimes hurt the ones we love because they are just there in front of us, it's not because we want to hurt them.
• In times of crisis just keep going. It may not get better but it will get different.
• People come into your life for a reason, stop and find out what that reason is.
• Ignore your prejudices, that's just your brain doing a bad job at protecting you.
• Be thankful for whatever you have.
• Sometimes you can't follow your dreams because you have other commitments. Don't worry, you will have enough time when the time is right.
• Dream big. Dreams keep us focused, extend us, make us happy. If you don't reach your dream, I bet you nearly got there.

Why is it that we learn these things as we get older? Because that's life! Now get out there and live it.

Get Fit Or Else!

There is now absolutely no doubt that physical fitness is something we must all do to help keep our mind and body in good order. The research is irrefutable.  Not commonly known, physiology and psychology go hand-in-hand. For every thought that we have there is a physical occurrence in our body somewhere and for every physical action there is a trigger effect in the brain.  By looking after your body you are also looking after your mind. 

So what are the direct benefits of exercise on your brain? Here is some of them;

·        Reduces insulin resistance.

·        Reduces inflammation.

·        Stimulates the release of growth factors, chemicals that keep the brain cells healthy.

·        Stimulates the growth and survival of new brain cells.

The indirect benefits of exercise on the brain include;

·        Reduces stress and anxiety.

·        Improves mood.

·        Assists with sleep.

One of the biggest benefits of regular exercise is the release of endorphins which interact with receptors in your brain to reduce the perception of pain. A side benefit of endorphins is the positive feeling that it gives you, your mood changes for the better.

There is also a suggestion that those who exercise have a larger pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls thinking and memory.

How much exercise do you need, about 120 to 150 minutes per week of moderate to high intensity. It is much better to spread the exercise out across the week so a 30 minute medium to fast walk each evening after work provides the optimal benefit with another bonus of allowing you to calm after a hard day.

The physical benefits of exercise include;

·        Strengthens the heart.

·        Lowers blood pressure.

·        Improves muscle tone.

·        Strengthens bones.

·        Reduces fat.

·        You look better so feel better.

Don’t wait, get those shoes on and start now.

Words Control People

There are a few things that you can do to control other people through the words that you use;

• Use the word 'important' in your communications with angry people - Saying "This is important to you" at the end of their emotional rant will acknowledge their emotion without actually saying "You sound angry". 
• If you really need to stop an angry person mid-rant, and I couldn't imagine why you would want to, say "I have an important question I need to ask you".  The person will think that they hold the key to the important information that you need so they feel important.
•  Rather than tell someone to take a deep breath when they are emotional, tell them "take your time".  They will in fact take a breath.
• You don't have to put up with people using offensive language. Rather than tell them to stop swearing, tell them that they are distracting you from helping them when they swear.
• Sad people are very emotional. If they cry in front of you, ask them how you can make it easier for them.  If you intend delaying the conversation to allow then time to gather their thoughts, give them several options to choose from.  This will give them back their control.

Most of all, make it about them. They are the most important person because they do not have control over their thoughts.  You do.  That's if you have been following my blogs of course :-).