Even if it’s just 5 minutes to do something you really love.
Do it.
Life’s too short to be working, stressed and busy all the time anyway.
Take some time out every day to do something you really love.
It could be something as simple as reading a good book.
Watching a funny video on Youtube.
Playing the guitar or an instrument you love.
Whatever it is you love doing, do it
Your mind and body will thank you for it in the long run.
How open are you to new experiences?
When someone asks if you want to try out something new or visit an unfamiliar place, etc?
How comfortable are you with unexpected situations?
When things don’t go as planned, when coffee spills on your clothes, when you meet with an accident?
How reactive are you when you experience negative situations?
Do you panic, complain, fixate on the problem?
Although openness to experience measures how receptive someone is to novel situations, what’s arguably more important is our response to negative situations.
After all, certain negative situations can be considered new experiences.
Such as the death of a close friend.
Missing a big project deadline.
Or maybe even eating lunch alone.
How open and ready are you for these kinds of situations?
If you’re not, don’t worry.
It’s something that can be trained.
It’s never too late.
The secret is in re-framing negative situations.
If you’re experiencing the death of a close friend, think about how they’re in a better place now.
If you missed a big project deadline, think about how you can prevent it from happening again.
If you’re eating lunch alone, think about how you don’t have to spend energy talking to others.
Instead of being fixated on negative thoughts and self-talk when something bad happens, focus on solutions and alternative thinking.
It’s all about building positive mental habits.
Stoicism is a philosophy founded in Athens that dates back to the early 3rd century BC.
One of Stoicism’s famous advocates include Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of Rome.
It’s becoming an increasingly appropriate philosophy to adopt in this day and age.
Even more so now than ever.
We see more people being depressed, unhappy and discontent with life.
Yet, contentment and happiness seem to be largely a result of unfulfilled expectations and wants.
Of all Stoicism’s core principles, here are perhaps the three most important ones for us to live better.
Love everything that happens.
Turn obstacles into opportunities.
Focus on what you can control, accept what you can’t.
When you learn to love everything that happens, you’ll learn to accept that things won’t always turn out the way you want them to.
When you learn to turn obstacles into opportunities, you’ll learn to re-define stressors as challenges and become a better problem solver.
When you learn to focus on what you can control while accepting what you can’t, you’re saving so much energy by not being upset over outcomes that you have no control over.
Be more stoic today.
This workout is perfect if you want to start exercising but you’re not sure where to start.
It’s a cardio workout targeted towards fat loss and improvement of heart health.
In the long run, it results in the prevention of heart attacks, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
The best part about it is you can do it anywhere too.
You don’t need any equipment.
You don’t need a lot of time to complete the workout.
You just need some space.
Here’s what you’ll do.
30 seconds of jumping jacks.
Rest.
30 seconds of high knees.
Rest.
30 seconds of mountain climbers.
End of the workout.
Pretty simple right?
Now do this every day and build the exercise habit.
There’s no excuse for you to miss it because it literally takes less than 5 minutes to complete it.
If you haven’t already cultivated a daily habit of exercising, this is where it begins.
Do you have a constant need for validation?
Acceptance?
Recognition?
I think we all do to various extents.
One person may feel the need to be constantly praised and complimented.
Another person may have the need to be checked out for their appearance.
Another person may just want attention.
Nothing wrong with that.
But there definitely is healthy and unhealthy validation.
Take a look at your own need for validation as an example.
How do they make you feel?
If your need for validation causes you to feel insecure, inadequate, stressed or any other negative emotion, that’s most likely unhealthy validation.
If your need for validation causes you to work harder, inspires you, makes you want to do and be better, then that’s good.
But what if you realise that you have an unhealthy need for validation then?
No worries.
You can always work towards changing that.
A lot of unhealthy validation stem from poor management of thoughts.
Wanting to feel accepted, validated or recognised isn’t bad.
It’s the self-talk that occurs when we do or don’t receive validation that matter most.
Work out every day.
Not just a few times a week.
It’s better to work out every day for 5 minutes than to exercise for an hour once a week.
That’s the secret.
Sure it would be ideal if we could all work out for an hour every day.
But that’s just not practical.
For a person who works a 9 to 5 job.
It’s not practical.
For a person who hasn’t exercised in years.
It’s not practical.
For a person who has tried and failed so many times to maintain a habit of exercising.
IT’S NOT PRACTICAL.
It’s time to start thinking realistically.
Our time is becoming increasingly limited in this busy day and age.
That means we can only do so much in a day.
And to think about introducing a new habit such as exercising only makes it harder on us since it’s competing with what little free time we already have.
Keep your workouts short but frequent.
Even if it’s just as little as 2 minutes of exercise a day.
Just remember short and frequent.
One of the most overlooked parts of our lives is the speed at which we’re consuming our food.
More often than not, we’re eating way too fast than we should.
Even more so when we’re eating alone and don’t have anyone to socialise with.
It’s so normal in this busy day and age where we’re rushing to get a ton of things done for the day that we’re unconsciously speeding up our eating habits.
We don’t get to savour our food.
We tend to overeat.
And in the long run, eating no longer becomes the enjoyable activity that it once was.
Slow down.
Treat eating like a meditative session.
Mindful eating, if you’d like to call it that.
Chew slower.
Notice the flavours of the food.
Notice the texture of the food.
You’ll find food interesting again.
You’ll lose weight from feeling full while eating lesser.
And you’ll be doing your digestive system a favour.
Make eating an experience again.
