Mindfulness and Men: Starting the Year with a Clear Mind

Today I want to share some mindfulness strategies that I'm currently adopting, that I think will help you. Recent research indicates that winter in the UK is seeing an uptrend in peoples stress levels due to their reluctance to heat their homes. Data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study has explored the effects on our mental health on whether living in a cold home causes harm. And the effects are not good. 

The cost of living crisis is impacting us more than people think. You might think that people are fighting the cold in their warm pea coats and woolly hats when you see them in the street, but they are fighting the cold in their homes. Now, with a recent cold snap on the way, a lot of people will 

I'm well aware that many people reading this are feeling the pinch. And I have two pieces of advice. One is to get help from Citizens Advice Bureau to help manage your energy bills. Your energy supplier is not the mafia. They have to help you manage your payments and if you're struggling you can contact an energy advisor here. 

Secondly, if you're working from home and spend primarily more time in one room, you do not have to heat the entire house all day. I know this can be a pain,  to manage the temperature in separate rooms, but I have a solution. Turn your central heating off if you're going to be in one room for longer than two hours. Instead, use a Daewoo Halogen heater on Amazon for £25 which is more cost efficient and have it pointed at your legs if you're working at the desk. The lamp only heats what it is in front of it, and not the air around it. 

Outside of the heating crisis, I want to talk about how I start my day to clear my mind of any cobwebs and negativity. I set my timer on my phone for ten minutes and I stretch while drinking my morning coffee. I'll let the dogs run around me and play. Sometimes I might even put some classical music on, and just let my mind roll around and envisage how my day is going to pan out. 

It's a form of meditation, there are other ways you can meditate. You can subscribe to local yoga classes. You can go on long walks. Meditation in whatever form or guise you imbibe it, is good for your mental health. I recommend you get out of the house, move around, maybe call someone on your long walk and discuss future opportunities, or ideas. Which leads me onto my next point. 

I'm sure you've all seen that meme doing the rounds, that says it’s better to talk about ideas, than it is to talk about people. I'm a big believer that when you talk about ideas, people are more receptive, than if you talk about idle gossip just so you can affirm your prejudices against people. So challenge yourself to come up with more ideas, how you can improve your fitness regime, how you can take your business idea to the next level, or how you can start monetising your hobby. Seek out advice from your friends over coffee, and this will improve your mindset considerably. 

They say the devil makes work for idle hands. I can see this happening in a current family relationship. I won't go into names, but let’s just say I have a close family member that only works a few hours a week, and the rest of her income is subsidised by government handouts. Instead of getting her teeth into a new project, or getting an idea off the ground, she has become so consumed in other people's affairs, that she has become toxic to be around. 

So get moving. Get off your arse and start mobilising your business ideas and call up the people that you think, will be able to contribute even if you think they will strip your ideas to the bone and laugh at you. Those people might be negative, but you can't be an echo chamber with your ideas, with everybody slapping you on the back and telling you how creative you are. You need people that are not afraid to tell you why your ideas might fail. 

Lastly let us talk about the importance of Vitamin D. A study carried out in 2020 suggests that taking daily Vitamin D supplements during the winter months may be important for stress resilience. I regularly take Vitamin D in a spray form which you can pick up on Amazon for under £7. 

These are just thoughts that have been circling in my mind today, I hope you've enjoyed them. Please stay positive. Encourage others they are doing well and check in on your friends that are living alone.