Just Ten Steps

When people ask 'How are you feeling?', the only answer I can normally muster is 'fine'. And that is also fine, but I find I can normally not be more eloquent, not even to myself. Because I normally simply do not know the answer. So I looked for ways of solving this. Every morning when you wake up, note in a diary how you are feeling. Just need to be one word. Happy, Content, Anxious, Agitated ect. If you struggle to find a word start by describing it in a more verbose manner, but when you are done try to distill it down to one word, if you still can't keep being more verbose till you are clear enough to yourself to use one word. Write it down in a place in context with a date. Observe the pattern over time. This makes it much easier to discuss your feelings with others, and with yourself. Our general impression of trends frequently tend to be wrong. Paging through your dairy will give you a very good idea of what your mind space has been over a period, not clou...

How well we sleep sets a the stage for the next day. So improve your sleep and improve your life! Look at your bed, pillows, duvet, sheets and blankets and decide if any of it negatively influences your sleep. If it does then change it! At night observe the amount of light in the room. See if you can darken it by using blockout curtains and reducing the amount of electronics with lights. Observe the amount of noise at night. If you life on a busy street consider double glazing. Put phones on silent (without vibration) or airplane mode. Observe if there are any smells in the room that bothers you and try to eliminate it. You can also experiment with introducing aromas into the room with essential oils that you find soothing. Be conscious of your sleeping position. Try to work out an optimum position. Have a switch off ritual. Before going to bed do your final planning for the next day so that you can get that off your mind. Keep a sleep diary. When you wake up the next mor...

It is difficult to get a objective definition of fitness. Here is a way to test your fitness on a ongoing basis to see improvement. "Test your fitness" technique:  What you will need:  A 30cm (12 inch) high step or box Stopwatch (or use the timer on your phone) Heart rate monitor or if you don't have a heart rate monitor you can place your index and middle finger on your wrist just below the thumb, or along either side of your neck, so you can feel your pulse. Count the number of beats for 30 seconds and then double it to get the beats per minute. Metronome to keep pace at 96 beats per minute (use metronomeonline.com if you do not have one) Procedure: Make sure you have not done any exercise or had coffee for at least 2 hours. After sitting very relaxed for a couple of minutes, take your pulse. This is your "resting heart rate". Next, for 3 minutes, step up and down the box (or step) at 96 beats per minute. Up, up, down, down, up, up, down,...