by admin | May 29, 2014 | Emotional Intelligence, Emotions, Inspiration, Mindfulness, Resources
Gratitude is a powerful emotion that we feel and implement into our day to day life. Gratitude is defined as feeling the quality of being thankful for something, or showing appreciation to those who treat us well and expose us to acts of kindness. Whilst most of us will subconsciously show signs of gratitude in our day to day life, in this article we are going to look at the importance of gratitude, and how our quality of life can be improved by further understanding our knowledge of gratitude and the way that we use it. A study was recently conducted in which two psychologists studied gratitude, and the effect that it had on our well-being. Michael McCollough and Robert Emmons selected several hundred participants for the study. The participants were off mixed sex, race, backgrounds and social groups as to make the study as impartial and accurate to the entire United States population as possible. Split into three groups, the participants were asked to keep a daily diary. The first group of people were instructed to document their day without being told to focus on good or bad things. The second group of people were asked to document unpleasant experiences only, whilst the third group only wrote down a list of things that they felt grateful for each day. After they had written in their diaries for a set amount of time, the results were collected and studied by the psychologists and their teams. The results showed that completing simple daily gratitude exercises such as keeping a diary helped all participants to experience higher levels of enthusiasm, alertness,...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Abuse, Anger, Domestic, Emotions, Inspiration, Media, Mike Fisher, Mindfulness, Self-Awareness, Shame, Stress
Aaaaargh! We are a nation of hotheads who can’t get through one day without getting irate. In a bid to calm down, Stylist investigates anger management I knew I’d made a mistake the moment I pushed her. It was as if my arms had become separated from my body, fuelled by the heat rising from the pit of my stomach and spreading across my chest. Yes, we were both drunk, and yes, we were having a blazing row, but I was the one who made it physical. When I look back on that night I can see I was out of control. I’d never laid a hand on anyone before, let alone one of my oldest and dearest friends. And although it was only a shove, it was enough to dampen our friendship forever. This is not the only time I’ve given my mind over to anger. There have been thoughtless spiky comments which reduced my mother to tears; a close call with the LAPD after an argument with a bouncer on holiday (I told him he’d never satisfied a woman); and an entire five-year relationship that was blighted with snide, passive aggressive taunts. I look back on these occasions and feel physically sick (although I can raise a smile about the bouncer) because most of the things I regret in my life happened when I was angry. But I know I’ve got company. Picture how you felt the last time someone sidled in front of you at a bar. Or when you were on hold for 45 minutes, only to be passed between five people, just to get...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Anger, Mindfulness, Resources, Stress, Work
9am- 5pm- stuck on a rotating chair, in front of a screen, making the same small talk with the same people since you started work. Deadlines are looming, e-mails are flying, and the pressure is mounting. Let’s face it anger, tension and outbursts in the workplace are inevitable. So how do we keep conflict clean? How do we express our anger and frustration in a productive way? The balance is delicate. On the one hand, by biting your tongue you may eventually explode. However, if you are constantly aggressive you might lead yourself down a path of abusive behaviour. Sharing your frustrations with your work colleagues and letting your anger out can actually serve to strengthen your work relationships, and perhaps lead to a more productive team. On the other hand, shouting alarms people and could drive them away and impede on their ability to be productive. Conflict is healthy and can be very productive. This is why learning how to express your anger in a clean and healthy way is so important. Next time you feel angry try and follow these tips: · Try to listen when the other person is talking. This is a sign of respect, and entitles you the same platform to voice your opinions. · Something to remember is that your opinions are not fact, and that everyone is entitled their own opinion. · Expectations are a waste of time; they only lead to disappointment because they are unrealised resentments just waiting to happen. · At the end of the day, an important lesson to learn is that it is ok to agree to disagree. But in the heat of...
by admin | May 29, 2014 | Anger, Mike Fisher, Mindfulness, Statistics, Stress
· About 6,400 people were hospitalised with stress in the last year · Stress is the biggest cause of sickness in the UK · 105 million days are lost in the workplace due to stress I don’t think that the impact of stress has been fully realised. The mere fact that thousands of people, in the UK alone, are being hospitalised due to stress, elevates the severity of the epidemic. Can we call it an epidemic? In light of these statistics I think we can. This is because stress is normally a trigger for illness, not an illness in itself. 1 in 5 Britons in the working population are affected by stress. It is easily understood considering: the recession, widespread job insecurity (people losing their jobs, and those working in fear of losing their jobs), workers failures reaching the public, and a reduced workforce means more pressure on the individuals who do have jobs. A survey of people in their 30s by the Institute of Psychiatry found the most stressful jobs were head chefs in big restaurants and construction workers under pressure to complete a building on time. Working to deadlines where failure is publicly visible, in extremes of heat or cold and without encouragement or support were the most stressful work environments. Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at Lancaster University and an expert on stress, said that: “On many scales stress now passes musculo-skeletal problems such as back ache as a cause of working days lost.” Hospitalisations for stress are usually short, providing a refuge from the stressful situation, with supportive therapy to get...
by admin | Mar 24, 2014 | Emotions, Mindfulness, Self-Esteem
Instability or disruption in relationships in the care system may give infants or children major problems in their ability to trust and therefore attach to parents or caregivers. The specific kinds of problems that are frequently shown by children who have experienced faulty attachments to their parents are as follows: Conscience Development May not show normal anxiety following aggressive or cruel behaviour May not show guilt when breaking rules or laws May project blame on others Impulse Control Exhibits poor control; depends on others to provide external control of behaviour Exhibits lack of foresight Has a poor attention span Self-Concept Sees self as undeserving Sees self as incapable of change Is unable to get satisfaction from tasks well done Has difficulty having fun Inter-personal Interactions Lacks trust in others Demands affection but lacks depth in relationships Exhibits hostile dependency Needs to be in control of all situations Has impaired social maturity Emotions Has trouble recognising own feelings Has difficulty expressing feelings appropriately, especially anger, sadness, frustration Has difficulty recognising feelings in others Cognitive Problems Has trouble with basic cause and effect Experiences problems with logical thinking Appears to have confused thought processes Has difficulty thinking ahead May have an impaired sense of time Has difficulties with abstract thinking Developmental Problems May have difficulty with auditory processing May have difficulty expressing self well verbally May have gross motor problems May experience delays in fine motor adaptive skills May experience delays in personal-social development May have inconsistent levels of skills in all of the above areas Unattached children have difficulty relating normally with others. How do the above problems relate to...
by admin | Mar 11, 2014 | Mindfulness
Gratitude is a powerful emotion that we feel and implement into our day-to-day life. Gratitude is defined as feeling the quality of being thankful for something, or showing appreciation to those who treat us well and expose us to acts of kindness. Whilst most of us will subconsciously show signs of gratitude in our day to day life, in this article we are going to look at the importance of gratitude, and how our quality of life can be improved by further understanding our knowledge of gratitude and the way that we use it. A study was recently conducted in which two psychologists studied gratitude, and the effect that it had on our well-being. Michael McCollough and Robert Emmons selected several hundred participants for the study. The participants were off mixed sex, race, backgrounds and social groups as to make the study as impartial and accurate to the entire United States population as possible. Split into three groups, the participants were asked to keep a daily diary. The first group of people were instructed to document their day without being told to focus on good or bad things. The second group of people were asked to document unpleasant experiences only, whilst the third group only wrote down a list of things that they felt grateful for each day. After they had written in their diaries for a set amount of time, the results were collected and studied by the psychologists and their teams. The results showed that completing simple daily gratitude exercises such as keeping a diary helped all participants to experience higher levels of enthusiasm, alertness, optimism, determination...
