On My Cloud

Sunday, 31 August 2014

Lucky Star

As I’ve commented many a time over the months, I often feel I should make the time to blog more often. In the beginning I did really well with sticking to my once-a-fortnight rule, but have become pretty lax with this and post a lot more sporadically these days! However, what I’ve realised is that rather than forcing myself to write more regularly, it’s more important for me to write quality stuff that people will (hopefully!) find engaging and enjoyable to read. With this realisation, I also feel it’s important to go back to basics and remind myself and my readers of why I’m even bothering to blog in the first place!

As you can see from my introductory post, the main aim of the blog is to share my ideas and observations on life and the world with whoever wants to hear them or happens to stumble across my blog. I hope to do this in an interesting and engaging way, as well as writing persuasively about things I feel strongly about (getting people ‘on my cloud’, hence the blog’s title!) and perhaps elicit some sort of discussion or debate on important topics.

The majority of my posts all follow the theme of being at least in some way to do with wellbeing or mental health. Interestingly enough, I noted in my very first post that this was the case, and although my interests and aspirations have developed and refined a hell of a lot over the last couple of years, my passion for this field and my desire to be influential in improving people’s wellbeing remain strong and constant.

Natural beauty is great for mental wellbeing!

People often ask me where my passion for this area comes from; why do I feel so strongly about it and care so much? The answer is I don’t really know, and I’d imagine it’s a combination of factors, which perhaps I’ll write about in more detail at a later date. What I do know is that through a combination of my studies in psychology, working in mental health, and general interest, I’m fairly good at being self-aware and looking after my own wellbeing.

To me, self-awareness and coping strategies are the kind of skills that everyone should be empowered to develop from a young age, and that by building a more resilient population in this way we can in turn, ultimately, work towards reducing the number of people who experience difficulties with their mental health. I’m not naïve enough to believe that this is the sole answer to the complex and multi-faceted mental health minefield, but I certainly think it’s a great place to start (I plan to elaborate further on this in a later post!)

We'd all be a bit happier if we stargazed more often; do you agree?!

At this point I find myself coming full circle with some of my original posts from back in 2012: You Could Be Happy describes some coping strategies and tools for wellbeing, whilst in Staring at the Sun I make a case for education and schooling being used to enhance awareness and understanding of mental wellbeing. The direction I’m taking my career in has totally changed two years down the line, and yet this is still exactly what I want my life’s work to revolve around!

I also find myself looking back at my post My Heart is Open and the Sky’s on Fire. Odd title I know, but feel free to check it out if you haven’t yet seen it. I wrote this post when I was feeling at my most amazing, and although now I read it back I feel it could have been better written, it’s still a piece I’m happy with because of the general messages I endeavour to convey. It’s a real attempt to show the reader some of the essence of me, so to speak, and is a good reminder for me of how amazing the world is and how good it can make me feel.

With the above in mind, I realise that whilst (as noted earlier!) I do a pretty good job of looking after myself, as with most avenues of life there’s some room for improvement, and that I may need to address a few things to maintain my own wellbeing and get back to that feeling that the world is incredible. I think I started to rectify this last night, when I was lucky enough to attend a wedding reception in a stunning location with little light pollution, providing the ideal opportunity for a spot of star gazing. Seeing and feeling the beauty of the world is another factor that’s important in wellbeing (although I’ve not yet talked about this elsewhere in my blog!), so taking the time to stargaze, spend time in places of natural beauty, etc, is something we should all make the effort to do more of. The piece of music I've featured here, Fractured by Lights & Motion, is what I consider the perfect accompaniment to a good stargazing moment!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, and if you’ve got this far, thanks so much for taking the time to do so. I’ve reconnected myself with the purpose of this blog and hope I’ve done the same for my readers. As always I welcome and actively encourage comments and constructive criticism!

Thanks for reading, and whatever you’re doing, I hope you’re having a lovely day and taking the time to appreciate the beauty around you :)

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Keep On Moving

Welcome to part two of my series on lifestyle and wellbeing. This time I’m focussing on the benefits of physical activity for wellbeing. We all know about exercise releasing endorphins and all that stuff, so what I’m going to do here is take a closer look at how exercise benefits me personally and give some examples of my favourite activities.

First and foremost, exercise is essential in order to be physically fit and healthy. This is one of the main reasons I do it, and the great thing about being physically healthy is you feel physically healthy too (and mentally of course!). Of course a by-product of this is perceiving oneself to look good, which is great for self-esteem. For general fitness and toning, one of my favourite things is the humble exercise DVD: it costs little to buy one and you can use it time and time again in the space of your own home. They usually have different workouts that you can pick and mix depending on how much time you have, what you feel like doing or which body parts you want to work on. Personally I’ve used Mel B’s Totally Fit and a couple of Davina’s DVDs and can thoroughly recommend both!

Another huge benefit is that sport and exercise can give you an immense sense of achievement. This is especially true if you’re training for something specific, but even if you’re not, you still get that notion of improvement that brings with it psychological benefits, and again self-esteem. Unfortunately, it’s not the case with everything in life that you get out what you put in, but with sport/fitness, you will always get results when you do the work. I’ve experienced this myself through my recent endeavours in track cycling, helped by having a coach and tracking my progress using online software TrainingPeaks. If you are thinking of getting into sport seriously, I’m an advocate of hiring a coach or personal trainer to keep you on track and motivated, if you can afford it.

Depending on what type of exercise you choose to do, a further potential benefit is time spent outdoors. We all know the sun is great for enhancing our mood, and I think there’s a lot to be said for the benefits of being at one with nature on wellbeing. Try a long walk or bike ride in some woods or a forest. This can also be great for clearing your head and having some thinking space if you’re alone; otherwise it’s a fantastic opportunity for socialising, the benefits of which I’ll discuss further in my next post!

In my previous post I looked at the psychological benefits of having fun and experiencing child-like states. Discovering a sport can bring about these benefits and offers great opportunities for fun and trying new things. During my time at uni I used to occasionally have a knock-around on a badminton court with my best friends. I was terrible at it but it was great fun, got the blood pumping and offered a much-needed break from revision! I always felt so good afterwards. So, even if you think you’re no good at a sport or feel that you are inherently not suited to exercise, I strongly advise that you experiment a bit and find the sport for you. I think there’s something out there for everyone!

Finally, physical activity provides distraction and the opportunity to release stress and have some time away from whatever pressures we may be experiencing. My favourite example of this is climbing, a sport I was into at uni and have started to take up again in recent weeks. Climbing requires real concentration, meaning it’s pretty much impossible to think about anything else whilst doing it: perfect if you’re struggling to switch off from the stresses and pressures of life or having a hard time for whatever reason.

So, that’s it: my summary of the benefits of physical activity on wellbeing. This is just my take and I’m sure others have different examples of alternative sports and how these improve their lives; as always I welcome comments with open arms. Thanks for reading; now go get exercising!

Monday, 14 July 2014

Grow Up And Be Kids

As you will be aware if you know me well or read my posts regularly, I’m really passionate about wellbeing and getting people looking after themselves better. Our lifestyle choices such as eating habits, exercise and sleep hygiene all have an impact on both physical and mental wellbeing, as does the way we spend our time; for instance, working, being with loved ones and partaking in leisure activities. I believe that by educating people from a young age about the impact of all these factors on health & wellbeing, we can potentially make a significant reduction in the number and severity of people requiring the use of mental health services and generally experiencing emotional distress.

The coming series of posts will each focus on a different aspect of lifestyle and the impact of this on wellbeing. This one looks at the benefits of releasing the inner child and having a bit more fun.

As noted by Stephanie Davies in her highly recommendable book Laughology, babies and toddlers laugh up to 300 times a day, whereas for adults the average figure is just 17 times. She states that this could be largely a result of coming to care too much about what others think, plus the increasing pressures and stresses we find ourselves under as we get older and take on more responsibilities.

Just because we have more responsibilities and things to worry about as adults (although most of us probably do a disproportionate amount of worrying, myself included!) this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the time to have fun. Why is it that as adults it becomes less socially acceptable to play, to have fun, to laugh? There are actually a lot of benefits to doing these things, both physically and cognitively.

As I learnt from Laughology the physical benefits of laughter include the following: It both tones and relaxes muscles, makes us feel happier and more alert, is good for the immune system and even helps to alleviate pain and other symptoms of illness. Allowing time for play can also be good for our physical health if we decide to devote more time to a sport or other physical activity. What I find more fascinating though is the impact of play on cognition and the wider implications of this on day to day life.

In a recent article in The Psychologist, editor Jon Sutton proclaims that there is a crisis in the way in which children are expected to learn and grow up these days. Play is vital in learning as it allows us to problem solve, take control of situations, be reflective and recognise the positives in things not going to plan. We try something, it doesn’t work, so we try something else, that might not work; but eventually we succeed. It seems obvious, but children aren’t being encouraged to learn in this way in as the fact-storing and examination culture in schools grows. Not only is this stressful for children in itself, but it means they do not build a tolerance to failure, leading to a lack of resilience in later life.

Another benefit to unleashing the inner child, as noted by Stephanie Davies, is its ability to make us think more creatively and less restrictively, therefore improving our ability to think outside the box and come up with new concepts and ideas. Think of the way a child speaks and all the questions they ask; they haven’t yet had all the restrictions engrained into them that we apply to everyday life. Thinking in this way as adults can have real benefits in intellectual and creative arenas, leading potentially to improved outcomes in professional and personal aspects of life. In other words, work and play should not be compartmentalised and kept separate, as it so often is the case.

The benefits of this child-like thinking style in achieving outcomes is also recognised by NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), which is all about using your thinking and behaviour to achieve excellence (or, at least, the outcomes you want). As the author of 5-Minute NLP states, “Curiosity and experimentation increase choice. They were part of your behaviour when you were a child and you had an open mind towards the world. When you want to know more and try new things, you are more likely to succeed, as more choices of action will be open to you”.

I’ve adopted the technique of having more fun in my own life to positive effect over the last couple of weeks: I was getting pretty stressed and decided to take a load of pressure off of myself and spend more time doing fun stuff that I want to do. So, I’m taking a break from my cycle racing and top-end training, spending more time with family & friends and starting to go climbing again, which I love but haven’t done for ages. The result is that I feel far happier and more relaxed, as well as more ready and willing to tackle tasks such as writing my blog and taking productive and practical steps towards other projects I want to start up. In other words, releasing the inner child really does work and you should try it!

In summary, allowing yourself to have more fun and be more child-like has a range of benefits, both for your wellbeing and for achieving favourable outcomes in life. If you let your hair down a little more often, try new things and free yourself of the belief that play is for children only, you are likely to enjoy life more, feel happier and healthier and achieve better results in your work or study. I'll wrap up by quoting two songs by one of my favourite bands, The Cab:

'We're all just kids who grew up way too fast', so let's 'Grow Up And Be Kids'!!!

References:

Boyes, C. (2013). 5-minute NLP. London: HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

Davies, S. (2013). Laughology. Camarthen: Crown House Publishing Ltd.

Sutton, J. (2014). 'Play' is not a four-letter word. The Psychologist, 27(6), 393.

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Bringing in the Light: Songs Guaranteed to Make You Happy!

Hello readers! As always, thank you kindly for visiting my blog and taking the time to read some of my stuff. This is the final post in a series about one of the things I’m most passionate about: music. One of the things I love most about music is its ability to alter or enhance moods, especially when that mood is a happy, cheerful or joyful one! So, I’m finishing this series on a high with a collection of some of my favourite up-beat, happy songs. Some of them are really well known, others will be new to many people. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

On My Way by Phil Collins

Probably my absolute favourite happy song!