Why You Should Start Keeping a Journal

From Richard Franklin to Winston Churchill, many of history’s greatest achievers have kept a journal or diary at some point in their lives.

Now of course, I’m not saying that journaling is what made these great figures what they were. Nor am I saying that journaling alone will be enough to make you ‘great’. But what I am saying is that they can’t all be wrong. And actually, there are a ton of very valuable benefits to journaling that make it worth your consideration. Here are just some of them…

It’s a Record

When you write a journal, it of course means you have a record of everything you’ve done and this in turn is something you can look back over in order to learn important lessons and to put your life in perspective.

It can sometimes be a great feeling looking back and seeing all the exciting things you’ve done. But if that’s not the experience you get from your journal then perhaps it can highlight that something needs to change. Either way, this lets you honestly appraise your life.

And imagine being able to read over this in 20 years – there will be so much detail that you would otherwise have forgotten! This is a way to immortalize yourself and to hold tighter onto those memories.

What’s more, is that it keeps a record for others and means that they can potentially learn from your experiences.

It’s Meditative

A lot of what most of us do on a regular basis will involve using technology, working on things that make us stressed and otherwise being wired and on the go. Writing a journal at the end of the day is an excellent alternative to those activities that is almost meditative in its ability to encourage focus. It’s quiet, it doesn’t involve a glaring screen and it’s a great way to unwind before bed.

It Can be a Powerful Tool

You can also use a journal as a tool. As well as writing about your day, why not also write down what you ate? Or what you dreamed? Or make a note of each day you worked out? You can even just make a note of your mood. This lets you assess your performance in any goal at a glance and also to get some useful contextual data that might help you to find correlations in your routine and the way you feel/act.

Understanding Flow States and the ‘Default Mode Network’

If you’re trying to cut back and simplify your life, then you really need to understand the impact that your activities have on your brain and how this alters the very chemical balance of your grey matter.

Once you recognize this, you can then start to be more aware of what you’re doing to your mind and of how you can make sure you’re getting the rest and recovery that you need.

Focus, Alert and Stress

Whenever you’re working, whenever you’re being productive and even when you’re playing games or watching TV, your brain is in a state of focus and alert. What this means, is that it’s wired and fixed on what’s going on because it thinks it must be important and must require your focus. In these circumstances, our brain acts just as though we’re facing off against a lion or otherwise doing something that is a matter of life and death. Our brain therefore produces cortisol, dopamine, norepinephrine and we become highly focused on whatever is happening right in front of us. This also causes our heartrate to increase and means blood is directed away from the important-yet-less-pressing functions in our body such as our immune system and digestion. In the short term this makes us more focused and productive, in the long run it takes its toll and makes us ill.

Flow

A flow state is what happens when you’re incredibly engaged with something because it’s dangerous or just fascinating. Similar chemicals to the regular ‘stress’ state are produced alongside others like endorphins and anandamide. In this state, we become so focused on what’s happening in front of us that we stop thinking and lose our inner monologue entirely. This results in heightened performance and feelings of exhilaration. In neuroscience the term for this state is ‘temporohypofrontality’.

Default Mode Network

Conversely, the default mode network is what happens when we’re in the opposite state. This is when our brain is allowed to wander and we find ourselves daydreaming or making plans. It often occurs when walking or when engaging in menial tasks like washing up.

The default mode network is just as important as these other states as it lets us recover and helps us to overcome stress. What’s more, it’s associated with heightened creativity.

The point is not that one of these states is ‘better’ than the other. Rather, we need to get all three in equal doses and everything in between to have a happy, calm and relaxed mind.

The Power of Taking a Walk (And How to Fit Them In)

If you’re trying to live a calmer, less cluttered and less stressful lifestyle, then going for walks is a fantastic way to achieve this.

Walking has a vast number of benefits for your body and your mind which we will look at here. What’s more, is that it’s something anyone can do and that anyone can fit into their routine. Read on to find out more.

The Power of Walking

Going for a walk is right away one of the best things you can do for your health. This is a very gentle and low-impact form of exercise that will help you burn calories and keep your heart rate up. If you sit for long periods during the day, then it’s very important to ensure you are occasionally getting some exercise as otherwise you can actually shorten your lifespan!

What’s more though is that walking has a number of powerful benefits for the brain. When you walk, it causes you to activate your brain’s ‘default mode network’. This is the series of brain areas that come to life when you’re not focusing on anything particular. Using the default mode network allows your brain to recover from lots of focus and it helps you to come up with creative ideas. It’s almost meditative!

This is only then heightened when you additionally start taking walks in scenic areas. Studies show that simply being in the presence of greenery is enough to help us lower our heart rates and to instill a sense of calm. What’s more, it also further enhanced creativity.

If your life feels constantly busy, rushed and hectic, then a walk might just be the perfect escape that your body and mind are crying out for.

How to Fit Walks Into Your Routine

So how can you make this work within your current routine?

One option is to go for more walks while doing other things. A particularly good example of this is speaking with a friend. If you have a friend over for tea, why not suggest catching up while going for a walk? Alternatively, if you are on the phone, why not take it with you for an amble?

Another option is to walk places that you might otherwise have driven or gotten the bus. The old tip is to try getting off of your bus one stop earlier and then just walking that last stretch to work/your home.

The Importance of Saying ‘No’

We’re constantly being told to ‘say yes more’ and to embrace every opportunity that life throws at us. In fact, there is even a popular book and a popular film called Yes Man which is all about saying yes to things and living life more fully as a result.

And this is a very nice idea in theory. In practice though? It’s actually commonly counterproductive and can even end up being destructive!

The Problem With Always Saying Yes

In books like Yes Man, the main character finds himself accepting all kinds of exciting opportunities; going on adventures, meeting new people and learning new skills. That would be nice – but in reality it’s often not how these things pan out. Instead, we find ourselves saying yes more often and ultimately that just means that we go to the pub more and we go on every stag party/hen do.

The result? We get very tired, we spend lots of money and we have less time to spend doing the things we love.

The Power of No

This is where saying ‘no’ comes in.

The problem is that saying ‘yes’ to one thing, ultimately is the same as saying ‘no’ to another. Saying ‘yes’ actually limits your options more than saying no!

When you say yes to a night out for instance, you are actually saying no to a night in – and to a different night out. When you say ‘yes’ to helping someone move, you actually say ‘no’ to working out that evening, or spending time on your new side business.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that this is all really easy. The problem is that many of us feel compelled to say yes to people and as though we’re letting our friends down if we say no. This is a point of view that needs to change though.

While there are some situations where saying yes is the kind and helpful thing to do, we are in no way obligated to always say yes. What’s more, is that we shouldn’t find ourselves feeling guilty for saying no.

The secret is simply to make sure that you know what your priorities are and that you have a reason to say no. In other words, don’t say ‘no’ and then just watch TV – say ‘no’ and then use the time the way you want to.

And there’s a balance to be struck here too. The simple solution? Treat your solo activities with the respect they deserve. Book them into your calendar and then treat them like any other indelible appointment!

How to Declutter Your Surfaces and Declutter Your Brain

In many ways, the state of your home is a reflection of the state of your mind. What’s more is that this correlation can work the other way around too – so that the state of your mind ends up mirroring the state of your home.

How does this work? Well, when we’re very busy and rushed, we often find that we don’t have time to keep our home tidy and in order. As a result, it ends up looking a mess and we struggle to find things in the morning.

On the other hand though, when we’re on top of things we find that we are able to organize our belongings in a logical manner and stay on top of where everything is.

So with that in mind, one of the very best ways to go about improving your calm and focus is to start by getting your home organized. And one of the best ways to do that is to throw out unnecessary clutter.

The Problem With Ornaments

Most of us have several ornaments and other items in our home that we keep because we think they look nice. They adorn our tables and cupboards and other surfaces and for the most part look good.

But the problem is, the more we get, the more claustrophobic we start to feel. Light can’t move as freely around the room and we just end up feeling very busy and very stressed due to the amount of information that’s there to take in.

What’s worse, is that the more we have on our surfaces, the more there is to clean and tidy. This ends up resulting in our surfaces getting more and more untidy.

What to do About It

So what do you do?

The first tip is to go through your things and to just dispose of 60% of anything on a surface. That sounds like an extreme challenge but in doing this you will now be left with a much higher average quality of item remaining. What’s left will be only the things you really love and they’ll now draw more attention to themselves.

Moreover, having fewer items now means that tidying is a matter of just wiping around – there’s nothing to pick up and nothing to attract dust of its own.

Don’t put these things in boxes though. In fact, dispose of boxes under the bed and on wardrobes too. You’d be surprised what a huge difference this makes to you unconsciously!

A Very Quick Guide to Meditation

Meditation is something that all of us can benefit from. And in today’s hectic and busy world, there has never been a more important time for us to give it a go. Unfortunately though, a lot of people don’t really understand what meditation is or how to use it. And many people even find themselves with some kind of prejudice against meditation – assuming that it’s only for people who want to ‘achieve enlightenment’ or that it’s a purely spiritual or religious practice.

What is Meditation?

In fact though, meditation doesn’t have to be about either of those things. Instead, meditation is primarily just the practice of focusing your mind and paying attention. Think of it like weight lifting but for your brain.

There are different types of meditation and these have different end goals. However, the main objective in any case involves focusing your thoughts and choosing what you want to focus on and what you’re going to think. Instead of letting your mind run away with you as you worry about things you can’t change or feel generally stressed, meditation teaches you how to focus on the things that make you happy and how to shut out the things that don’t help.

Types of Meditation

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate this is to introduce some meditation techniques.

One is ‘mindfulness’. Here, the objective is not to stop yourself from thinking but rather just to detach yourself from your thoughts and to become almost like a third party observing those thoughts. The expression often used is that you’re going to watch them ‘drift by like clouds’.

The value in this is that you can prevent your thoughts from controlling your emotions. When you’re scared of heights, you can stop worrying about falling and instead just note that you’re having that thought in a detached manner. Mindfulness is also used by psychologists to help people better understand the contents of their own minds.

Another type of meditation is ‘transcendental’. This is the type that most people are most familiar with and that involves trying to ‘shut out’ your outside thoughts. Instead you’re trying to make your mind completely quiet and often this involves a mantra – a phrase that you repeat over and over.

Eventually, you can use this type of meditation to stop all and any stress: just quiet your brain for a moment of peace and relaxation!

Ayurvedic Medicine and the Chakras

In Western medicine, we look at the body, its organs, and blood vessels and so on, in order to check for disease and try to find a cure. In Ayurvedic (EYE-your-VEE-dik) medicine from India, practitioners of this ancient form of healing look at the energies in the body to explain disease and dis-ease. In doing so, they can then balance the energy in the body.

In particular, Ayurvedic doctors can tap into seven powerful energy centers of the body in order to increase health, vitality, and greater mental and spiritual powers. These centers are known as chakras.

The word chakra means wheel or vortex in in the ancient language Sanskrit. The chakras are pictured as being located at certain points of the body and are viewed as a flat disk spinning from the back of the body to the front and back around again.

The seven chakras, their location and their colors are:

1-The Root Chakra-buttocks,-red
2-The Navel, Sex or Sacral Chakra –belly button, orange
3-The Solar Plexus Chakra –the spot just underneath the center of your rib cage, yellow
4-The Heart Chakra-the center of your chest, green
5-The Throat Chakra-your neck,-blue
6-The Third Eye Chakra-the point between your eyes just above the bridge of your nose, indigo
7-The Crown Chakra-the top or crown of your head, violet

Chakras that are out of balance can result in a range of health and relationship issues. Chakras that are in balance can lead to harmony, prosperity, and high mental and spiritual power.

If a doctor were to cut us open, they would not see the chakras. This is because they are contained within the subtle energy body. There are also three main channels in the body, the right, left and central channels. The right and left are narrow and balance male and female energies and are pictured as white and red. They begin at the navel chakra and meet at the third eye chakra in the middle of your forehead.

All of the chakras are connected via the central channel, pictured as broad, white and just a bit in front of your spinal column. It runs from your root to your crown chakra. Working to balance each chakra or move energy up and down the central channel is said to promote the health of body, mind and spirit.

If you’ve been feeling stuck in your life or experiencing poor health, it might be time to explore Ayurvedic medicine to balance your chakras and improve your life.

Balancing the Chakras

There are a number of ways to balance the chakras in order to harness their power and live a life that is more in harmony with the world around you. If you are feeling stuck in a particular area of your life, try balancing your chakras and see what a difference it can make in your life.

The chakras are powerful energy centers in the body, associated with different areas of the body and different kinds of power.

The easiest way to balance the chakras is through focusing on the one’s you wish to balance, or working on the full set of 7. You can focus mentally though meditation, picturing each colored swirl.

Each chakra has a visual representation called a mandala, which means universe. Meditating on the mandala will focus your energies. So too will chanting the mantra for each of the chakras, either silently or aloud, as part of your meditation or yoga, as we will discuss in a moment.

Touching the chakra also works well. You can rest your hand on the area, front or back. Or if you wish to magnify the energy of the chakra, lay a chakra stone upon it.

Massage, either self-massage or massage done by a professional or a partner, also uses the power of touch to balance and open each chakra. You can reach all of your chakras easily from the front, and most of them from the back. If you want to reach your solar plexus and heart chakras from the back, either do it in the shower when your hands are slippery with water and soap, or rub them vigorously with your towel when you are drying off.

Massage can be done on its own, or with aromatherapy, that is, using special botanical oils to balance the chakras. There are a range of fragrant oils to choose from, to uplift, center, and surround yourself with wonderful scents.

All yogas are good exercise, but Kundalini yoga offers a range of ways to stimulate chakra energy and move it up and down the body to harness its power to create profound changes in your life. It uses a range of poses, or asanas, in sets designed to accomplish certain goals, such as losing weight or improving intuition.

Many of the poses drive the energy up the chakras to balance them and transform any areas in which you find yourself stuck. You will also chant a range of mantras, some of them related to the chakras. The most well-known mantra is OM, which is related to the third eye and crown chakras.

Use any and all of these methods to balance your chakras and see what a difference it can make to your health and energy levels.

Chakra Work to Increase Energy

If you’ve been walking around feeling like a flat battery recently, it’s time to balance your three lower chakras to give you a solid, healthy foundation so you can accomplish all of the important task in your daily life.

The first thing to remember is we are not human doings, but human beings. Allowing time for rest, meditation, contemplation and relaxation can often be as important as the hours we spend driving ourselves through our to-do list. In fact, they can be even more so, for they can help not only recharge your battery but channel powerful energies you never even knew you possessed.

The chakras are 7 energy centers in the body connected by the central channel. Learning the meaning of each chakra and the type of energy it contains can help boost your energy and improve all areas of your life.

The three lower chakras are the root chakra, the navel chakra and the solar plexus chakra. The root chakra is literally your foundation. It is associated with your buttock and anus and its energies are all to do with the essentials of life, such as food, water, shelter and warmth. These may be easy for you, or a struggle all the time.

Balancing the root chakra through yoga or massaging the buttocks when you are in the shower each morning should soon give you a life that is easier and more plentiful. The energy you harness can then be brought upwards through massage and meditation to the navel chakra.

The navel chakra or sex chakra is the seat of passion, creation and procreation. If you’ve been struggling at work to come up with inspired ideas or to complete all your projects on time and to a high standard, this is a good chakra to balance. If you have also been struggling with your intimate relationship because you lack energy, this is also a good chakra to focus on.

Then you can move the energy up to the solar plexus chakra, which is the seat of your willpower and personal power. Solar refers to the sun and plexus to a network. A very important bundle of nerves in this area below the center of your rib cage looks like the sun with rays of light spreading outwards, hence the name. Yoga such as sun salutations, deep breathing, and chakra meditation can all balance and move the energy upwards.

Once you have balanced your three lower chakras, you should be amazed at how much energy you have. Keep it circulating there, or move it up to the higher chakras for even more energy in your intellectual and spiritual life.

Chakras and Meditation

Meditation is a mental exercise in which a person tries to access a higher consciousness, gain wisdom, or both. Meditation is a vital tool for anyone who wishes to grow spiritually. It is particularly useful for balancing and focusing the energy in each of our seven chakras.

For those who ignore meditation, they tend to suffer from chronic dis-ease. Notice the origin of that word. Dis-ease and disease are the same thing, though one is mental and the other physical. Meditation can improve your overall health and well-being, plus make your mind more peaceful. You can reduce stress and gain a greater sense of contentment through skillful meditation on each of your chakras.

Meditation done every day for a short time a couple of times a day has been showing to change the brain and make it easier to perform complicated tasks. It is also used as a means of transcending ordinary thought and existence in an effort to achieve enlightenment, a heightened mental state.

Meditating by repeating the mantra for each chakra, either on its own or in a series, can move your chakra energy. If you can’t remember every mantra, just think or chant Om or Aum (which should sound like 3 syllables (ah-oo-mm) and you will vibrate the energies needed to balance and heal.

One very powerful chakra meditation is to picture each chakra one by one, starting with the root chakra and working your way up. As you picture each one, feel it spinning and spreading its energy through every pore in your body. Once you get to the crown chakra, picture yourself radiating love and blessings outwards to every living being in the universe.

Then work your way back down from the crown. Picture yourself receiving all sorts of blessings from the universe so that they fill your body with a glowing white light. Then have that white light split up in to the colors of the spectrum, violet, indigo and so on, as you work your way back down all the chakras to the root chakra.

You can do with meditation on its own, sitting or lying down. You can also do it lying down and placing your chakra stones. If you wish, you can also use your essential oils. Sit up in this case and be sure that your oils are lined up in a row correctly so you do not need to fumble for them and break your concentration.

Meditation is a great way to focus the mind. Use it for chakra work as well and see what a difference it can make to body, mind and spirit.