Mental Health Training

6 key steps to develop your personal power.

Personal power encompasses your confidence, strength and self-assertion. Central to personal power is striving for ultimate meaning and satisfaction within yourself and your life.

Unlike negative types of power, the goal of personal power is to master oneself and one’s own world. It is rooted in a specific state of mind that when adopted results in an attitude of empowerment that allows you to become a proactive actor in your life, versus a victim of life.

Increasing your sense of personal power helps you in many ways, one of the most important of which is Maslow’s idea of self-actualization, which is “the realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.”

Personal power supports you becoming your best self, and as it elevates your sense of self-empowerment many benefits follow, including a more fulfilling life and a much more satisfying relationship with yourself. Let’s look at six key steps to develop your personal power.

Number one, declare your ambitions. Acknowledging what it is you want to do in this world, and declaring it aloud to others, is a powerful step toward reclaiming your personal power. If you want to be successful, you must not be afraid that you want to be successful.

Number two, admit your fears. The negative thoughts that have kept you feeling powerless or unable to reach your dreams are all driven by fears of some kind, which sabotage your ability to succeed. Learning to admit your fears helps you see them simply as emotions that have no power over your life.

Number three, silence negative self-talk. Negative self-talk is keeping you from realizing your dreams and accepting your personal power. Instead of telling yourself why you can’t do something or what is wrong with you, replace these negative words with a positive affirmation.

Number four, stop playing the victim. You choose how to react to all of life’s events. You can choose to learn from what has happened to you and use it in the future, or you can choose to be victimized. Being a victim means you are giving your power away to the world, life and others.

Number five, adopt a growth mindset. A growth mindset is one that is open to learning and self-improvement, and since knowledge is power, this will help you reclaim your personal power. Becoming more curious, listening more to others, and keeping an open mind are all examples of a growth mindset in action.

Number six, take action! You can only create positive outcomes when you act. And when you do, you will feel more powerful. Seize opportunities to make things happen. Action is crucial to developing personal power.

Your personal power is your ability to change the direction of your life, just as much as it is your ability to make the conscious choice to stay the course. Your developed and natural strength, confidence, self-assertion and competence are all rooted in your personal power, fueled by it and feel it in return.

Your personal power can either represent or be the end result of all the work you’ve put forward for self-realization, and it has a symbiotic relationship with your intrapersonal relationship. The benefits of having a high level of personal power are plentiful, here are just a few.

A clearer sense of direction. When you embrace your personal power, you are able to finally see where it is you want to go with your life. Personal power allows you to feel confident in your abilities to achieve your goals, which means you can think clearly about what you want to do and who you want to be.

Better relationships. Enjoy stronger relationships with others because personal power gives you the confidence to accept you have much to learn from other people, which makes you more open and accepting of others.

Improved self-awareness. If you want to improve your life and embrace your personal power, you have to become more aware of yourself. You must accept responsibility for your actions and feelings, you must confront the regrets and mistakes of your past, and learn the triggers that cause you to give away your power to others.

Become more resilient. We all experience tough times in life, but when you embrace and honour your personal power, overcoming those obstacles is much easier.

When you have personal power, you have the confidence, resilience, and interpersonal skills to deal with whatever comes your way. 

Ask someone to name a common mental health complaint today, chances are they would say depression, and that wouldn’t be surprising because depression is the predominant mental health problem worldwide, followed by anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

It is not uncommon for people to suffer from two disorders or illnesses at any one time.

Approximately 50% of people diagnosed with depression can also show signs of an underlying anxiety disorder.

Depression is essentially a single illness, even though it has lots of different symptoms, the term does refer to a single solitary condition.

Mindfulness Inspiration

“Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn’t more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.” -Sylvia Boorstein

“In today’s rush, we all overthink - seek too much - want too much - and forget about the joy of just being.” -Eckhart Tolle

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention to. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” -Amit Ray

“In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility.” -Victoria Moran

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way, which it won’t.” -James Baraz

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” -Buddha

“The way to live in the present is to remember that ‘This too shall pass.’ When you experience joy, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ helps you savor the here and now. When you experience pain and sorrow, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ reminds you that grief, like joy, is only temporary.” -Joey Green

“There’s only one reason why you’re not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it’s because you’re thinking or focusing on what you don’t have...But, right now you have everything you need to be in bliss.” -Anthony de Mello

“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” -Rabbi Harold Kushner

“The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life, reaching far beyond the people and places you can see.” -Earon Davis

“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in the small uncaring ways.” -Stephen Vincent Benet

“We have only now, only this single eternal moment opening and unfolding before us, day and night.” -Jack Kornfield

“Mindful and creative, a child who has neither a past, nor examples to follow, nor value judgments, simply lives, speaks and plays in freedom.” -Arnaud Desjardins

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention to. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn

“The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

“Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

Don’t Let Brain Fog Keep You Down

While brain fog is not a medical condition, it is debilitating because it affects your ability to think clearly and therefore affects your focus and productivity.

Some of its symptoms include

Fatigue

Mental confusion

Inability to concentrate or hold a train of thought

Low motivation

Forgetfulness

Poor cognitive skills

Some known causes of brain fog include

Lack of sleep

Overwork/Overwhelm

Stress

Depression

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Certain Medications

Menopause

Cancer treatment and certain chronic illnesses

There are effective ways to clear your mind and stop brain fog from interfering with your life. First is getting consistent quality sleep. Most adults need 7 - 9 hours each night. Power naps that last no longer than 20 minutes are a great way to restart your mind during the day.

Processed foods that are loaded with sugar, fat and preservatives wreak havoc on our systems. Choose to eat a clean healthy diet filled with whole foods. Eat brain food, including fatty fish, avocados, blueberries and broccoli and seeds.

One of the main reasons behind brain fog is a lack of oxygen reaching the brain. Exercise enhances blood circulation, pumping blood through your veins and giving your brain the oxygen, it needs to work at its optimal level. You don’t have to do a full hour of cardio, you can take a brisk walk at lunch, garden, swim or anything you enjoy that gets you moving.

While it may seem trivial, it has to be mentioned because so many people forget to drink enough water throughout the day. Even a little bit of dehydration - as little as 2% - can cause major brain problems, mainly because 73% of your brain is made up of water.

Most important is getting your stress under control. Stop working too much! Over work and overwhelm really impact your cognitive processes. Tuning out stress with the help of a mindless activity can help decrease the effects of brain fog. Doing something enjoyable reduces stress which, in turn, reduces brain fog symptoms while boosting productivity.

Stress reduction techniques include,

Meditation and yoga

Enjoying a hot bath

Reading

Listen to soothing music/sounds of nature

Working less

Regular relaxation moments throughout your day

You can stop brain fog from interfering with your life and improve your life quality with the power of healthy, positive habits. Stay well and take care!

5 Mindful Practices To Start Your Day

The benefits of mindfulness are plentiful, including improved focus, concentration, reduced stress and inner peace. One approach to boosting your mindful techniques is to incorporate them into the start of your day.

A simple mindfulness meditation helps you start your day right. Sit in a comfortable quiet place and just breathe. Pay attention to your breath. As you mind wanders gently bring it back to your breath. Do this for about 5 to 8 minutes each morning.

Another morning mindfulness activity is do some light planning. What will your mindset be throughout the day?

Don’t get bogged down by details, but instead set your intention for the day. Your intention can be something vague but should be something positive, like today I will pay attention to each moment or today, I will focus entirely on the present moment.

Do a bit of inspirational reading to jump-start your day. Use the language of the material to momentarily challenge your thoughts, assumptions, and ideas about your values and lifestyle. Allow the reading to boost your spirits and to draw you into and inspire your day.

While eating breakfast, focus on how each bite tastes as it enters your mouth and continues down your throat. Be mindful throughout an entire meal, focusing directly on the taste, smell and texture of each bite, and enjoying all the components of your meal.

One of the most mindful things you could do each day is journaling. Writing down your thoughts and ideas in a journal is an excellent way to identify, explore and examine your innermost thoughts. This process can draw you into the here and now driving you to acknowledge your feelings and develop an awareness for what it is you need to be happy.

Ask someone to name a common mental health complaint today, chances are they would say depression, and that wouldn’t be surprising because depression is the predominant mental health problem worldwide, followed by anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

It is not uncommon for people to suffer from two disorders or illnesses at any one time.

Approximately 50% of people diagnosed with depression can also show signs of an underlying anxiety disorder.

Depression is essentially a single illness, even though it has lots of different symptoms, the term does refer to a single solitary condition.

Most people get the heebie-jeebies about something. Nevertheless, there are times when this worry becomes an intense, irrational fear when they face a particular situation, activity, or an object and it is called a phobia.

However, there are three types of phobia recognised by the American Psychiatric Association.

These include:

Specific phobia: This is an intense, irrational fear of a specific trigger.

Specific phobias are known as simple phobias as they can be linked to an identifiable cause that may not frequently occur in the everyday life of an individual, such as snakes. 

These are, therefore not likely to affect day-to-day living in a significant way.

The other two most common types are:

Agoraphobia - the fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or help wouldn't be available if things went wrong.

Social phobia - which can be an overwhelming fear of social situations.

A phobia can impact all areas of your life. 

Phobias cause people to change how they live in order to avoid the object of their fear.

Nevertheless, their life is also affected by their attempts to conceal the phobia from others. 

Although phobias can be influenced by culture and triggered by life events, they tend to run in families. 

Treatments available

Desensitisation is a process of gradually exposing someone with a phobia to circumstances that resemble what they fear.

Over time, the fear lessens as the person builds confidence.

This is often accompanied by cognitive therapy (talking therapy) to help the person change how she or he thinks.

You may also had Mindfulness based cognitive therapy to this treatment.

It is developing new patterns of response to situations that might trigger the emotions associated with your phobia.

The good news is treatment helps 90% of people who follow through.

Medication

Medication is not usually recommended for treating phobias because talking therapies are usually more effective and do not have any nasty side effects.

If you have any concerns, please contact your GP

More information in https://mentalhealthtraining.info/course/lets-talk-about-phobias