We all experience temporary feelings of stress as part of our daily life; but when these feelings become long-lasting or chronic, they can have a severe impact on our health and wellbeing
Long term or Chronic stress can seem overwhelming, and at times you may feel unable to regain control over your life, hence it is important you don’t suffer in silence but seek professional medical guidance, advice and support from your doctor who could also refer you to specialist.
Some self-help techniques you can try includes include;-
Finding what is causing your stress and finding ways to deal with them yourself or seek professional advise
Developing a tool box of tips and techniques you can use
Sharing how you are feeling to others you trust
Practising breathing, relaxation, laughter yoga, and many other techniques.
If the self help techniques are not working for you than you should seek professional medical advice from your doctor or specialist in this area.
I must say initially, I was a bit uncomfortable with mediation, as I thought its was just weird. As I started to do some research, I was amazed at the different forms of meditation. I tried a couple before selecting a few techniques which I use.
I must say, now find meditation helps me to cast aside my stress and worries as I get into a deep state of relaxation which helps my mind to be calm and help to reduce stress. There are different forms of meditation which you can try. Just google simple meditation and then browse trough and try a few so you can find the one which suits you.
Meditation can be used as a quick-fix stress reliever to help you reverse your body’s stress response and get you into a relaxed sate. If you are new to the idea of meditation keep practising and you will for sure enjoy the benefits as I am.
Do share you experiences here with me. Rember, keep clam and don’t let stress steal you joy and happiness.
Stress is part of life and though we cannot avoid them, we can have a set of techniques we can use. One way to reduce stress is the use of mantras to help ease some of the tension and quiet the mind.. As we can use exercise to train our bodies, meditation and mantras can be used to train our minds .and help reduce stress. I have a number of mantras I use on a regular basis which help me especially moments when I feel stressed or overwhelmed. I also record them so I can listen to them.
According to Dr. Herbert Benson, president and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard Medical School, those who chanted mantras experienced psychological changes. These changes ranged from reduced heart rate, lower stress levels, and slower metabolism. Benson also documented that repeating mantras can benefit the immune system and relieve insomnia, leading to reduced doctor visit.
Mantras can help us reduce stress by repeating them and by combining them with sound, breathing, and rhythm. This then evokes a relaxing quality and allows for your mind to stop wandering and for you to just be still.
Write down some mantras put them everywhere. At the office, at your desk, at home. Put it anywhere so you can glance over at it when you get overwhelmed. You could also record and listen to them when needed.
Thanks very much for taking time to read this, and I hope you found it useful,
Stress is linked to physical, mental, and emotional health. During Stress Awareness Month we are encouraged to learn about what triggers our stress and how we can best manage it using various tips and tools. I will be writing weekly blogs every Monday in April sharing things I have done to help me cope and manage stress based on my experience and from other individuals and organisations.
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I have also written a self help book Crown of Smiles, which is a very practical. I share my journey from the time when I became divorced and a single parent of two boys, At about the same time my house was going to be repossessed, I had a lot of debt and was made redundant from my job.
The struggle was real and though at times I felt like giving up my faith kept me going and when I saw the smiles on my children’s faces it gave me hope and motivated me to seek help to cope with the sadness, depression and stressful moments. The book’s title is all about putting down my crown of sadness and replace it for the Crown of Smiles with hope, faith and gratitude that life will work out maybe not as how I had hoped, but hw it was meant to be.
According to the Mental Health Foundation in the United Kingdom, it seems that 74% of UK adults have had a moment where they’ve felt so stressed that they’ve been too overwhelmed or unable to cope with the situation. Not only that, but it has been estimated that between 75% and 90% of all visits to doctors are related to complaints or concerns whose root cause is stress.
So if we can make time to understand what cause us stress we can find ways to mange it, as we really cannot avoid stress. It is part of life.
Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. It also helps people who don’t think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support – Read more here https://www.carersweek.org/about-carers-week/
For carers week, I am running my fun session – Escape 2 Happiness Island to feel good and relieve stress with like minded people. Using our imagination and all our senses we visit happiness island via zoom, where in 15- 30 minutes we enjoy ourselves with a selection of activities. Why not book a taster 15-30 minutes session for your group
Escape to Happiness Island is a practitioner-led wellbeing session lasting anything between 15 minutes and an hour, which is transforming the lives and outlooks of people.
The pure joy of these sessions is that they adapt to needs of the participants – each session is tailored live to the audience.
People leave these sessions ready to take on the world, filled with a new-found sense of lightness, a glow of happiness inside them that stays with them in their personal time and in their working life.
To sustain the positivity and benefits of the sessions, Genny Jones, discoverer and caretaker of Happiness Island, has developed a simple booklet, which every participant can take home and use as a passport back to the island!
To find out more about availability do email me and start encouraging everyone to start packing for a trip to Happiness Island today!
Benefits of the session
Connect with each other in a fun way
Relax and Unwind
Relieve Stress
Instant Feel Good
Tips on maintain a positive attitude
Fuel yourself with some feel good hormones
Feel energised and positive
What to expect
The session is fun packed and can include:
Singing
Dancing
Laughter yoga
Visualisation
Relaxing through meditation
Tips to help you sustain your daily dose of happiness
Before you join the session
1. Be open to have fun and feel good
2. Know its ok to be silly with like minded people
3. Come dressed for fun in something colourful or even fancy dress
4. On zoom you don’t need to put your video on, you can just use audio
Genny is herself part time carer to her parents and she understands the need for self care and making time for fun with others. Genny has over the years delivered her sessions for a number of organisations who run support groups as well as for individuals in a group setting.
Genny’s Awards and Nominations
Nominated for the ITV Meridian ‘Pride of Britain’ Award for the work she does helping people to feel happier. https://vimeo.com/75320740
Listed on Independent on Sunday List of top 100 Happy people in UK making a difference.
Finalist of the Happy Team Award at the National Happiness Awards
To book an introductory chat: – Email: relax@happinessIsland.net
I have created a happy space in my home, where I can just go, relax, meditate and use my imagination and all my senses to achieve inner peace and happiness away from the business of every day life. I am grateful I have space in our home to do this. Further along this blog I share other ideas of creating your happy space if you don’t have the space in your home.
My Happy space at at home
I have created my own happy space by getting the backdrop of a beach scene. I also bought a folding sofa bed which I can also use as a chair. I then lie on my chair, with some lovely relaxing music playing in the background, and I imagine myself having a wonderful time in my own happy island.
My Happy Outdoor Place
Our Local Promenade – When I go to our local promenade, I feel very relaxed as I can sit down, watch the boats go by and watch the swans and listen to the sound of the waves. I spend time imagine myself on a boat going on a cruise to different parts of the world where I meet new people, have new experiences and just have fun. I can also feed the swans, and make new friends as most times people will just come and sit next to me and start to chat.
I love spending time meditating by focusing on the waterfall and taking in the sounds it makes, as this helps to clear my mind.
Over to you now – Where is your space or place?
Remember it’s a place you can go to chill out, change your environment and zap up some energy, enthusiasm and passion for life.
Your happy place can be:-
A small area in your bedroom
In your garden
In your car
In your imagination – you just visualise being in your own happy Island – check my blog http://wp.me/p1aWbA-iz
Their was a time in my life when i lost my zeal for life as a result of my divorce and at about the same time I was made redundant, I had so much debts and was finding it hard to cope as a single parent. Even though I had friends and families who could have helped me, I felt very sad and embarrassed. It took me time to sum up the courage to ask for help and when I did, it was the beginning of a beautiful journey.
I decided in 2009 to really focus on helping myself and others to be happier. As a happiness spreader I want to help give hope and encouragement to others in a world which at times can be full of so much negativity. I am on a mission to recruit as many happiness spreaders as I can.
Who can be a happiness spreader – Anyone can be a happiness spreader so long as you have a passion for helping others to feel good and have a reason to smile.
How you can be a happiness spreader – Just complete the form at the end of this blog and I will send you a welcome letter and add you to the list of Happiness Spreaders. This is all done on a voluntary basis and you are free to spread happiness in anyway you feel. I will send you the Happiness Spreader digital badge which you can also proudly display.
Updates – I have a lot of plans for us Happiness Spreaders which I will send via email. I will also set up a zoom meeting where you can meet other happiness spreaders so that we can connect and share ideas.
Some photos of me spreading happiness -( because of COVID you may want to make use of social media and use the #HappinessSpreader in your postings)
This middle Monday of January according to researchers is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year which is based on some scientific calculations which takes into account things like the weather, the fact that we are recovering from christmas, worrying about at our debts from overspending at christmas and now with COVID19, Lockdown and tiers.
As a happiness spreader, I really don’t like this idea of linking depression or sadness to a particular day. I want to encourage you instead to try and make it a habit of having a reason to smile each day. Start with being grateful and thankful you are alive to see another day.
So, I invite you to join me on my Confident Queen Facebook page for my live 15 minutes of positivity and good vibes which includes, singing, dancing and laughter.
Please also print out and learn the words of the booboom song
Continue to put colour and positivity into your life by connecting with me here. Thank you.
This has been quite an unusual year for a lot of us as we try to take one day at a time coping the best we can with the effect of COVID19. A lot of us have shed so many tears of sadness. Now with the festive season, it’s time for us to take in this season of hope and joy. Lets shed tears of happiness knowing that better days are coming. #KeepHopeAlive #KeepSmiling
A friend of mine explained to me that she was not in the mood to celebrate, as the business she has worked hard to develop for nearly 15 years is in the brink of her closing it as she has got no orders for her products and looking at her cashflow projection it seems all doom and gloom. She was in tears. I felt so bad as I did not know how to help her or what to say. She said it was ok that I could just sit down and listen to her vent out all her anger and frustration at the situation.
That night going home, I felt so bad for her, I could not even sleep as I tried to think of ways to help her. In the early hours of the next day I called her to see how she was doing. She was in a state as she had spent the night drinking herself to sleep. I was able to call one of her children who I know to go and check on her as she lived closed to her mum, but was not aware of how bad things where. My friend is now trying to take care of herself and getting help from her grown up children and coach to help her through this period.
Like many other self employed, I shed a tear as I saw the blank diary with not much paid work for a while. But I have decided to take December as month of taking stock of my businesses and to fill my days doing voluntary work and making time for my family. and friends, Doing voluntary work helps me a great deal as i get to help others and give them hope and a reason to smile during this festive period and beyond.
I will still dress in my Christmas outfit and go about spreading Christmas Cheer
Tips on how you too can shed tears of Happiness during this period and beyond,
Know that this situation you are in will pass.
2. Focus on the things that you can do something about
3. If you can, volunteer your time to help others – can be a simple thing like sending cards of hope to your neighbours,
4. Do something each day to make you feel goo – I have created my own advent calendar so that each day I am doing something to make me and others feel good.
5. Join a safe online group where you can connect and network with others
6. Create a playlist of your favourite songs, and have a part just for you – woohoo! Now dance ance like nobody’s watching
7. Get in the festive move – put the Christmas Tree with lights on and make your home look festive
8. Wake up everyday and do the One Minute Smilence – this is about recalling happy thoughts whilst smiling for a minute
One thing #Covid19 has taught some of us is to #SlowdDown and take stock of our lives. “A dog has four feet, but it doesn’t try to walk down four roads! So slow down and establish a pace that’s sane and sustainable.” UCB Word for today.
I must say at the start of #COVID19 I was very stressed as I am usually a busy bee, combining running my business, working part time as an employee, looking after my sons, managing the home, taking part in various community events and spending time with my elderly parents. I felt frustrated that I was stuck at home with nothing to do.
By the second week, I started to ponder about life, and it then occurred to me that this period was also for me to slow down, and reflect on the things I was doing and why I was doing them.
I set up new priorities with the aim of firstly to take care of my health and enjoying the time I have with my family. I even joined a walking group and started walking 2 hours every saturday and at least 1 hour every other day during the week. I loved our walks as it connected me with nature, we discovered some amazing places locally and connected with may new friends.
So please take care of you and slow down. Your health is wealth. Your family needs you and someone out their needs your smile and encouragement.
I use this guided meditation i found on youtube to help me pause and recharge – why not give it a try https://youtu.be/8Xdwr4cRTVA
Also do check out y facebook page and join any of my free 15 minutes sessions – Escape 2 Happiness Island
Confident Queen Genny 