Smart Self Growth

Have you lately found yourself  not getting things done?  Do you plan and plan and plan but it never materializes because you just don't get on it? Join us on this episode as we discuss procrastination and help you get a better understanding of what you are going through and how to get things moving finally.

Have you lately found yourself not getting things done?  Do you plan and plan and plan but it never materializes because you just don’t get on it? Join us on this episode as we discuss procrastination and help you get a better understanding of what you are going through and how to get things moving finally.

The main difference between empathy and sympathy is understanding a feeling versus actually experiencing another’s feelings Instead, you are able to understand what the person is feeling. Empathy is firstly not to judge the other person’s situation and then to relate to their emotion or suffering in such a way that you can support them and love them for what they are going through. Giving them the space to feel their emotions There is no judgement in compassion. We feel other people's pain and we know and can feel they need help. And we help. 

To sum up the series of episodes it all boils down to taking responsibility. You have to accept yourself. Make peace with the fact that you're not perfect and that you are not a failure when you make mistakes. Mistakes gives the opportunity to learn. We need to show up everyday and do the work. To be consistent.  Habit of consistency - Self discipline Develop the ability to keep going. Start with discipline on small hardships then go bigger.

Welcome to Season 2. We are on a truly blessed journey and it has been amazing. God has brought us here and given us a chance to inspire the uninspired and help all that look for help. On this episode we discussed Self Esteem, the causes, the behavior and how to improve ourselves. Blessings, Piece and Love to you.

On this episode we spoke about communication as a whole. Love Peace and Gods blessings on all. Please share with friends and family also like our page on Facebook. 

Autosuggestion is a psychological technique related to the placebo effect, developed by pharmacist Émile Coué at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a form of self-induced suggestion in which individuals guide their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviour. The technique is often used in self-hypnosis. Through the dominating thoughts which one permits to remain in the conscious mind, (whether these thoughts be negative or positive, is immaterial), the principle of auto-suggestion voluntarily reaches the subconscious mind and influences it with these thoughts. Without mixing emotion and FAITH with your words, you will experience no desirable results. Your subconscious mind recognizes and acts upon ONLY thoughts which have been well-mixed with emotion or feeling. Plain, unemotional words do not influence the subconscious mind. You will get no appreciable results until you learn to reach your subconscious mind with thoughts, or spoken words which have been well emotionalized with BELIEF.

Autosuggestion is a psychological technique related to the placebo effect, developed by pharmacist Émile Coué at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a form of self-induced suggestion in which individuals guide their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviour. The technique is often used in self-hypnosis. Through the dominating thoughts which one permits to remain in the conscious mind, (whether these thoughts be negative or positive, is immaterial), the principle of auto-suggestion voluntarily reaches the subconscious mind and influences it with these thoughts. Without mixing emotion and FAITH with your words, you will experience no desirable results. Your subconscious mind recognizes and acts upon ONLY thoughts which have been well-mixed with emotion or feeling. Plain, unemotional words do not influence the subconscious mind. You will get no appreciable results until you learn to reach your subconscious mind with thoughts, or spoken words which have been well emotionalized with BELIEF.

Emotional intelligence is built upon five pillars in they are the following Self-awareness  Self-management  Social awareness  Relationship management  Motivation  So let's look at the first one which is self-awareness. What do we know about self-awareness? We have done a podcast based on meditation and self-awareness. You are welcome to check that out if you haven't listened to it yet they are still available.  and you can find it on our Facebook. Self-awareness is knowing your emotions, and feelings and not being controlled by them. To clarify for listeners emotional regulation is more so responding to the actual emotional feeling and the self-awareness is just being aware of your emotions and feeling the actual emotion  You're not driven by your emotions you can't control them also but you just observe them We found that meditation helps with becoming more mindful and: more self-aware so if you're looking for a way to practice self-awareness you can certainly take on meditation. With meditation comes the following things you can experience the feelings that flow and you can also ask you to self the question are your emotions accompanied by physical sensations that you experience and then also you can ask yourself do you experience individual feelings and emotions and can you experience these intense feelings I do pay attention to your emotions. So other words practising mindfulness purposely forcing yourself to the present moment.  Self-Management  Emotional Self-Control, an important part of emotional maturity, controlling your feelings and/or expressing them in the appropriate settings is a key skill. Being goal-oriented and being able to work toward your goals. Being self-motivated, Showing resilience and the ability to change course when necessary. Optimism, having a positive outlook, hoping for the best and preparing for success. Emotional control is probably the most important because it makes it easier for you to set goals, motivate yourself, be more resilient, and be more optimistic if you know how to regulate your emotions properly. Social awareness. It's the nonverbal Cues that we come in contact with every day and that's where we share empathy and compassion reading someone's body language to see if they are angry or sad or happy or whatever, having good listening skills, the ability to explain yourself well and being aware of how you are being understood. Now when you pay attention to other people you become more aware of your emotional state as well.  Relationship management. The relationship between you And everyone you interact with. Maturity levels come to mind, being able to use insight, mutuality and emotional regulation when you are interacting With those people. So at work, this might affect your ability to Influence People, How you work in a team and  even  exercise leadership or delegating tasks etc  Also, high moral values come to mind here. Having these strong social skills make you a team player and you rather focus on helping others develop and shine. And of course, when we talk about relationships you also bear in mind how to be compassionate And to be empathetic. Motivation. People with a high EI (Emotional intelligence) are willing to defer immediate results for long-term success; they are highly productive, love challenges and are effective in whatever they do. So motivation forms part of self-management, But it stands as a pillar on its own. Because a person with high emotional intelligence can motivate not only themselves but others as well. 

Emotional intelligence is built upon five pillars in they are the following Self-awareness  Self-management  Social awareness  Relationship management  Motivation  So let’s look at the first one which is self-awareness. What do we know about self-awareness? We have done a podcast based on meditation and self-awareness. You are welcome to check that out if you haven’t listened to it yet they are still available.  and you can find it on our Facebook. Self-awareness is knowing your emotions, and feelings and not being controlled by them. To clarify for listeners emotional regulation is more so responding to the actual emotional feeling and the self-awareness is just being aware of your emotions and feeling the actual emotion  You’re not driven by your emotions you can’t control them also but you just observe them We found that meditation helps with becoming more mindful and: more self-aware so if you’re looking for a way to practice self-awareness you can certainly take on meditation. With meditation comes the following things you can experience the feelings that flow and you can also ask you to self the question are your emotions accompanied by physical sensations that you experience and then also you can ask yourself do you experience individual feelings and emotions and can you experience these intense feelings I do pay attention to your emotions. So other words practising mindfulness purposely forcing yourself to the present moment.  Self-Management  Emotional Self-Control, an important part of emotional maturity, controlling your feelings and/or expressing them in the appropriate settings is a key skill. Being goal-oriented and being able to work toward your goals. Being self-motivated, Showing resilience and the ability to change course when necessary. Optimism, having a positive outlook, hoping for the best and preparing for success. Emotional control is probably the most important because it makes it easier for you to set goals, motivate yourself, be more resilient, and be more optimistic if you know how to regulate your emotions properly. Social awareness. It’s the nonverbal Cues that we come in contact with every day and that’s where we share empathy and compassion reading someone’s body language to see if they are angry or sad or happy or whatever, having good listening skills, the ability to explain yourself well and being aware of how you are being understood. Now when you pay attention to other people you become more aware of your emotional state as well.  Relationship management. The relationship between you And everyone you interact with. Maturity levels come to mind, being able to use insight, mutuality and emotional regulation when you are interacting With those people. So at work, this might affect your ability to Influence People, How you work in a team and  even  exercise leadership or delegating tasks etc  Also, high moral values come to mind here. Having these strong social skills make you a team player and you rather focus on helping others develop and shine. And of course, when we talk about relationships you also bear in mind how to be compassionate And to be empathetic. Motivation. People with a high EI (Emotional intelligence) are willing to defer immediate results for long-term success; they are highly productive, love challenges and are effective in whatever they do. So motivation forms part of self-management, But it stands as a pillar on its own. Because a person with high emotional intelligence can motivate not only themselves but others as well. 

We will be talking about self-discipline. It’s the ability to make yourself do things that should be done. The series of episodes it all boils down to taking responsibility and internal narrative. If you degrade yourself and punish yourself for failing you destroy any good chance of persisting. Shaming yourself will make you hate yourself. Willpower does not equal self-discipline. Willpower is like a muscle and if you overwork it will fatigue and fail. So rather find the real reason you want to do or achieve things. The real reason is rewarding and your self-talk or criticism of yourself will be the determining factor if you’ll achieve it. If you have a flat tire and you are tired are you just going to wait and sleep in the car? NO, you’re going to change the fucking tire because of your must. And the reward is your destination and journey. This is also a metaphor for life and failure. Change the tire and get going on your journey because you’ve got somewhere. Find your purpose. Just start doing what you want to do every day. Everything in your life depends on you. We need to show up every day and do the work and be consistent.  The habit of consistency = Self-discipline Develop the ability to keep going. Start with discipline on small hardships then go bigger. External factors are terrible for developing self-discipline. Discipline is not punishment. Self Discipline is the definition of self-love, if you love yourself, you will develop the behaviour towards yourself that is loving.  With self-discipline, you give up immediate pleasure (smoking) for the exchange of long term self-respect. Choose actions that are within your own best interest. In the end, you stop yourself from getting what you dream.  If we love ourself we will discipline our behaviour. It's a struggle, some call it war, we have our own mind but we need to fight it and beat it to achieve that self-love. Why, because if you love yourself you need to do things that are within your interest. With this, you can be happy, discipline your behaviour and achieve self-love. Love yourself because you owe it to yourself. Other people's derogatory opinions are a really shit way to determine how we feel about ourselves and we base our self-esteem on their opinion.  Be around people that nourish and inspire you and you do the same, do you feed each other's flames or throw water on it. Self-love is when you say to yourself, hey man you want to smoke that cigarette, I can't let you smoke that because I love you too much to let you continue smoking. Keep your goals updated as you become more productive and ambitious. Wins and losses can help you refine your definition of success.  Remind yourself why your success matters. Use applications/technology that is within your best interest and tracks your activity. Combine "should do" with "want to’s" - repeat a healthy behaviour is more likely if you do it like that. Do not lose faith in yourself when you fail. Pick out one thing that you could have done differently. Know your nature - if you know you work better at night don't squeeze it in the morning. Use your biological clock to your advantage.  Temptations - try to think ahead of what might break your concentration and what will be your biggest distractions when you're busy with something you need to get done. How to stay motivated - separate your day in smaller time frames and do separate tasks in those time frames, then you don't do it all at once. Boost your glucose - important energy source - excess is bad bad low blood sugar can have negative effects. Maintain momentum - easier to stay productive and discipline when you don't take long breaks.

We will be talking about self-discipline. It’s the ability to make yourself do things that should be done. The series of episodes it all boils down to taking responsibility and internal narrative. If you degrade yourself and punish yourself for failing you destroy any good chance of persisting. Shaming yourself will make you hate yourself. Willpower does not equal self-discipline. Willpower is like a muscle and if you overwork it will fatigue and fail. So rather find the real reason you want to do or achieve things. The real reason is rewarding and your self-talk or criticism of yourself will be the determining factor if you’ll achieve it. If you have a flat tire and you are tired are you just going to wait and sleep in the car? NO, you’re going to change the fucking tire because of your must. And the reward is your destination and journey. This is also a metaphor for life and failure. Change the tire and get going on your journey because you’ve got somewhere. Find your purpose. Just start doing what you want to do every day. Everything in your life depends on you. We need to show up every day and do the work and be consistent.  The habit of consistency = Self-discipline Develop the ability to keep going. Start with discipline on small hardships then go bigger. External factors are terrible for developing self-discipline. Discipline is not punishment. Self Discipline is the definition of self-love, if you love yourself, you will develop the behaviour towards yourself that is loving.  With self-discipline, you give up immediate pleasure (smoking) for the exchange of long term self-respect. Choose actions that are within your own best interest. In the end, you stop yourself from getting what you dream.  If we love ourself we will discipline our behaviour. It’s a struggle, some call it war, we have our own mind but we need to fight it and beat it to achieve that self-love. Why, because if you love yourself you need to do things that are within your interest. With this, you can be happy, discipline your behaviour and achieve self-love. Love yourself because you owe it to yourself. Other people’s derogatory opinions are a really shit way to determine how we feel about ourselves and we base our self-esteem on their opinion.  Be around people that nourish and inspire you and you do the same, do you feed each other’s flames or throw water on it. Self-love is when you say to yourself, hey man you want to smoke that cigarette, I can’t let you smoke that because I love you too much to let you continue smoking. Keep your goals updated as you become more productive and ambitious. Wins and losses can help you refine your definition of success.  Remind yourself why your success matters. Use applications/technology that is within your best interest and tracks your activity. Combine “should do” with “want to’s” – repeat a healthy behaviour is more likely if you do it like that. Do not lose faith in yourself when you fail. Pick out one thing that you could have done differently. Know your nature – if you know you work better at night don’t squeeze it in the morning. Use your biological clock to your advantage.  Temptations – try to think ahead of what might break your concentration and what will be your biggest distractions when you’re busy with something you need to get done. How to stay motivated – separate your day in smaller time frames and do separate tasks in those time frames, then you don’t do it all at once. Boost your glucose – important energy source – excess is bad bad low blood sugar can have negative effects. Maintain momentum – easier to stay productive and discipline when you don’t take long breaks.

The definition of resilience for physics from Mirriam-Webster dictionary: The capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress The first thing would be to believe that you ARE capable of bouncing back after going through something difficult. This belief will give you hope in tough times to know that I can do this, I’ll get through this, this too shall change. Resilience is like a muscle and is build over time especially through considerable emotional distress. The Connor Davidson resilience scale lists about 25 good Characteristics or qualities that he listed that people have that are resilient. Those people are able to adapt to change, under pressure they can Focus and think clearly,  they are able to bounce back after hardships, They know where to turn to help when they need it. They can make unpopular or difficult decisions. Follow this link: https://positivepsychology.com/connor-davidson-brief-resilience-scale/ Thomas Edison said:  “I found 10 000 thousand ways not to make a light bulb” That's quite a significant amount of failures before succeeding and that's cognitive flexibility. Every time you fail or adversity or struggle comes along you rephrase it into something positive. Failure is usually a method of learning and growing. If you're resilient you'll be able to adapt to failures and turn it into a life lesson and grow from it. Have you ever failed but then gathered your thoughts and tried to find another way to make things work, to rephrase it for yourself and learn from that experience? Do that with anything that comes across your life path.  It's way easier to resist and ignore or suppress the failures but go back, be creative and show self-discipline to find another way to make things work. When things get though you should ask the necessary question ARE you trying to control outside factors which you have no control over or do you focus on that which is in you your control? Your view of this world and situations and phrases you tell to yourself during difficult times.  Change your mental perspective or change your internal narrative and rephrase it to something positive and you start to break the habit of thinking negatively. Our podcast about breaking habits and routines. Thomas Edison had the goal of making a device that could emit light from electricity that was his goal and he was going to get to that no matter what happens. He just kept on learning and adapting until he eventually succeeded. So it's crucial to set detailed goals... ask yourself who, what, where and when it's important to make it as detailed as possible so that you can achieve it no matter what. Having detailed daily actions will help you to persevere through adversity and failure. Lucy Hone and wrote down the strategies she mentioned, I believe this would clear up what we can do or how we should behave and be resilient:  Resilient people get that shit happens. When the tough times come they seem to know that suffering is part of every human existence and knowing this stops you from feeling discriminated against.  Choose carefully where you select your attention. Focus on the things you can change and accept the things you can't.  Don't diminish the negative but work out a way of tuning into the good. Choose Life, not death. Don't lose what you have. Hunt the good stuff. People with higher levels of gratitude higher levels of happiness show less depression over the course of a six-month study than those without. 

The definition of resilience for physics from Mirriam-Webster dictionary: The capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress The first thing would be to believe that you ARE capable of bouncing back after going through something difficult. This belief will give you hope in tough times to know that I can do this, I’ll get through this, this too shall change. Resilience is like a muscle and is build over time especially through considerable emotional distress. The Connor Davidson resilience scale lists about 25 good Characteristics or qualities that he listed that people have that are resilient. Those people are able to adapt to change, under pressure they can Focus and think clearly,  they are able to bounce back after hardships, They know where to turn to help when they need it. They can make unpopular or difficult decisions. Follow this link: https://positivepsychology.com/connor-davidson-brief-resilience-scale/ Thomas Edison said:  “I found 10 000 thousand ways not to make a light bulb” That’s quite a significant amount of failures before succeeding and that’s cognitive flexibility. Every time you fail or adversity or struggle comes along you rephrase it into something positive. Failure is usually a method of learning and growing. If you’re resilient you’ll be able to adapt to failures and turn it into a life lesson and grow from it. Have you ever failed but then gathered your thoughts and tried to find another way to make things work, to rephrase it for yourself and learn from that experience? Do that with anything that comes across your life path.  It’s way easier to resist and ignore or suppress the failures but go back, be creative and show self-discipline to find another way to make things work. When things get though you should ask the necessary question ARE you trying to control outside factors which you have no control over or do you focus on that which is in you your control? Your view of this world and situations and phrases you tell to yourself during difficult times. Change your mental perspective or change your internal narrative and rephrase it to something positive and you start to break the habit of thinking negatively. Our podcast about breaking habits and routines. Thomas Edison had the goal of making a device that could emit light from electricity that was his goal and he was going to get to that no matter what happens. He just kept on learning and adapting until he eventually succeeded. So it’s crucial to set detailed goals… ask yourself who, what, where and when it’s important to make it as detailed as possible so that you can achieve it no matter what. Having detailed daily actions will help you to persevere through adversity and failure. Lucy Hone and wrote down the strategies she mentioned, I believe this would clear up what we can do or how we should behave and be resilient: Resilient people get that shit happens. When the tough times come they seem to know that suffering is part of every human existence and knowing this stops you from feeling discriminated against. Choose carefully where you select your attention. Focus on the things you can change and accept the things you can’t. Don’t diminish the negative but work out a way of tuning into the good. Choose Life, not death. Don’t lose what you have. Hunt the good stuff. People with higher levels of gratitude higher levels of happiness show less depression over the course of a six-month study than those without.

The most important behaviour you should adapt and work on should be self-discipline.  That's really the most important aspect of training because everything else goes along with it.  Without self-discipline, you don't go to the gym and you won't stick to your workout routines. Self-motivation goes along with self-discipline because besides being disciplined you need that motivation to get you to the gym. Diet. You can find everything about eating online,  you can find exercise routines online and there are tons of apps for the same purposes.   You should eat at least 3 times a day that is a healthy intake,  however, you can eat it up to six times a day.  Depending on your body (BMI) weight and height there's a certain amount of calories that you should at least take daily to maintain healthy bodily functions but to sum it up three to six times a day.  if you want to gain weight find out how many calories you should be taking in daily according to your body weight.  Determine your calories, weight loss or gain, choosing the workout routine that fits your goals will add to that.  If you want to burn more fat, look at exercises like high-intensity workouts or cardio combined with weights,  and weight-training tones the body more than cardio.  women do not have to worry about bulking by doing a lot of weight training to the extent of looking like a bodybuilder because you don't have enough naturally produced testosterone for that, a healthy male has 30% more testosterone than a female, so don't be scared to try weights. Personal trainers. Find one that it's cost-effective, have good credentials and a good track record and one that specialises in what you are trying to achieve. Hydration. Keep an eye on the colour of your urine if it darkens, drinks some water and if it's clear you are still well hydrated.  If you like to drink coffee or drinks with high caffeine you will have to increase your water intake. A good rule of thumb depending on your workout intensity and fitness level would be to rest 20 to 24 hours before your next workout. Fasting has amazing benefits.  It helps to reset your mitochondria which then leads to your body getting rid of old and poor functioning cells. It also helps with your metabolism so your body makes better use of the food or nutrients that you eat. Track your energy levels and weight gain or loss be that muscle or fat. Tracking results takes a lot of time because you have to at least try it for a month to be sure.  Muscles are made of protein. there's absolutely no disadvantage taking in protein. that is with moderation too much protein could cause weight gain and I mean fat cuz it's directly related to calorie intake. Brands we recommend are NPL, Nutritech whey protein,  Nitro tech from Muscletech. Indoor training at home. There are many apps that you can use to train,  some of them have actual examples of how to do a specific exercise some of them just tell you how to do it. We recommend Nike NTC it's a very good app that we prefer to use training indoors.  The type of equipment you need will vary. We recommend having a rubber mat, a skipping rope and weights.  During the lockdown, I learnt that it's always a good thing to have one or two weights laying around you never know. Rotate training major muscle groups to prevent overworking. Remember to check with your doctor what kind of exercises you can and cannot do and supplements you may take. Mental health. The beauty of dopamine and other endorphins the brain releases when exercising. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Exercise. Stressed about work and finances. Exercise. It's a simple equation if exercise makes you feel and think better only for a day it would make sense to do it every day. Start with a small goal and increase a little every day or week.

The most important behaviour you should adapt and work on should be self-discipline.  That’s really the most important aspect of training because everything else goes along with it.  Without self-discipline, you don’t go to the gym and you won’t stick to your workout routines. Self-motivation goes along with self-discipline because besides being disciplined you need that motivation to get you to the gym. Diet. You can find everything about eating online,  you can find exercise routines online and there are tons of apps for the same purposes.   You should eat at least 3 times a day that is a healthy intake,  however, you can eat it up to six times a day.  Depending on your body (BMI) weight and height there’s a certain amount of calories that you should at least take daily to maintain healthy bodily functions but to sum it up three to six times a day.  if you want to gain weight find out how many calories you should be taking in daily according to your body weight.  Determine your calories, weight loss or gain, choosing the workout routine that fits your goals will add to that.  If you want to burn more fat, look at exercises like high-intensity workouts or cardio combined with weights,  and weight-training tones the body more than cardio.  women do not have to worry about bulking by doing a lot of weight training to the extent of looking like a bodybuilder because you don’t have enough naturally produced testosterone for that, a healthy male has 30% more testosterone than a female, so don’t be scared to try weights. Personal trainers. Find one that it’s cost-effective, have good credentials and a good track record and one that specialises in what you are trying to achieve. Hydration. Keep an eye on the colour of your urine if it darkens, drinks some water and if it’s clear you are still well hydrated.  If you like to drink coffee or drinks with high caffeine you will have to increase your water intake. A good rule of thumb depending on your workout intensity and fitness level would be to rest 20 to 24 hours before your next workout. Fasting has amazing benefits.  It helps to reset your mitochondria which then leads to your body getting rid of old and poor functioning cells. It also helps with your metabolism so your body makes better use of the food or nutrients that you eat. Track your energy levels and weight gain or loss be that muscle or fat. Tracking results takes a lot of time because you have to at least try it for a month to be sure.  Muscles are made of protein. there’s absolutely no disadvantage taking in protein. that is with moderation too much protein could cause weight gain and I mean fat cuz it’s directly related to calorie intake. Brands we recommend are NPL, Nutritech whey protein,  Nitro tech from Muscletech. Indoor training at home. There are many apps that you can use to train,  some of them have actual examples of how to do a specific exercise some of them just tell you how to do it. We recommend Nike NTC it’s a very good app that we prefer to use training indoors.  The type of equipment you need will vary. We recommend having a rubber mat, a skipping rope and weights.  During the lockdown, I learnt that it’s always a good thing to have one or two weights laying around you never know. Rotate training major muscle groups to prevent overworking. Remember to check with your doctor what kind of exercises you can and cannot do and supplements you may take. Mental health. The beauty of dopamine and other endorphins the brain releases when exercising. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Exercise. Stressed about work and finances. Exercise. It’s a simple equation if exercise makes you feel and think better only for a day it would make sense to do it every day. Start with a small goal and increase a little every day or week.

Disclaimer:  We are not in any way proclaiming that we are experts in mental health. Please seek professional help if you are suffering from a mental illness. We also do not condone the taking or use of illicit drugs. Because mental health has got such a huge stigma that pervades it, it is of the same importance as any other life-threatening illness. Like heart disease or cancer,  it would be better to see a professional rather than to self medicate.  If you are starting to push people away try to go against that urge and if you are trying to help someone please be patient with them. Remember a developing mental health problem means you or they are not in a  normal state of mind.  Believing that your state of mind and brain is malleable is crucial. You can change your thoughts and feelings and rather observe them than be becoming them. The best way is to talk to someone that will show you compassion and empathy. The other method is to write it down and with compassion and empathy towards yourself reason it into a positive and kind wording.  The reason is your action changes your brain chemistry, which means to bring about brain chemistry that influences fiscal actions like lethargy, sadness and many more.  The greatest brain hack that works for me is to do the exact opposite action to influence and change my brain chemistry to a positive state of mind. Feeling lethargic and low on energy try to jump up and down or exercise. Feeling sad then try to laugh out loud. Believing that you could influence or change that feeling or thought with a little self-discipline to take the needed action is critical and has far-reaching consequences. Now suppression of thoughts and feelings is detrimental. Give yourself the space to feel and acknowledge your emotions and then move forward by taking the necessary actions or activities. One of my favourite quotes by Tony Robbins is: "Motion creates emotion". For the supporting partner, friend or family member. Remember that you are the crutch, not the wheelchair. Look after yourself. You cannot control the outcome of the person you are caring for. Their choices and the consequences that follow are their own responsibility. You are only there to assist, love, endure and motivate where possible. If they do harm themselves it remains their choice and you should not for whatever reason resent yourself for that.  Routine is king. Without a meticulously-planned routine, things can go south pretty quickly. So from what I've learned, seen and experienced having a well-planned routine is gold.  Even if you think that you hate having a routine, your brain needs it.  God loves you and He is with you on this terrible journey of suffering. You are not alone, you are loved and cherished and you will get through this. You have a mental illness and that mental illness distorts our reality to a sort of black goo that sticks to even the best gestures and features of life-sucking out all the joy and ruining relationships. But there is hope. God is by your side. There is also great medication that helps and new discoveries made to improve wellbeing. And by some unexplained reason or grace and by a willingness to fight, live and to be helped you get through the black goo and life regains colour and brightness. Hope, happiness and love prevail with its normal ups and downs. If you or your loved one is stuck in a fast downward spiral seek help as quickly as possible. Keep on trying to get better, keep fighting and try everything! Link to test optimism or pessimism. This is a quiz and not 100% science it's just there to give you an indication. https://www.seemypersonality.com/Optimism-Test#q1

Disclaimer:  We are not in any way proclaiming that we are experts in mental health. Please seek professional help if you are suffering from a mental illness. We also do not condone the taking or use of illicit drugs. Because mental health has got such a huge stigma that pervades it, it is of the same importance as any other life-threatening illness. Like heart disease or cancer,  it would be better to see a professional rather than to self medicate.  If you are starting to push people away try to go against that urge and if you are trying to help someone please be patient with them. Remember a developing mental health problem means you or they are not in a  normal state of mind.  Believing that your state of mind and brain is malleable is crucial. You can change your thoughts and feelings and rather observe them than be becoming them. The best way is to talk to someone that will show you compassion and empathy. The other method is to write it down and with compassion and empathy towards yourself reason it into a positive and kind wording.  The reason is your action changes your brain chemistry, which means to bring about brain chemistry that influences fiscal actions like lethargy, sadness and many more.  The greatest brain hack that works for me is to do the exact opposite action to influence and change my brain chemistry to a positive state of mind. Feeling lethargic and low on energy try to jump up and down or exercise. Feeling sad then try to laugh out loud. Believing that you could influence or change that feeling or thought with a little self-discipline to take the needed action is critical and has far-reaching consequences. Now suppression of thoughts and feelings is detrimental. Give yourself the space to feel and acknowledge your emotions and then move forward by taking the necessary actions or activities. One of my favourite quotes by Tony Robbins is: “Motion creates emotion”. For the supporting partner, friend or family member. Remember that you are the crutch, not the wheelchair. Look after yourself. You cannot control the outcome of the person you are caring for. Their choices and the consequences that follow are their own responsibility. You are only there to assist, love, endure and motivate where possible. If they do harm themselves it remains their choice and you should not for whatever reason resent yourself for that.  Routine is king. Without a meticulously-planned routine, things can go south pretty quickly. So from what I’ve learned, seen and experienced having a well-planned routine is gold.  Even if you think that you hate having a routine, your brain needs it.  God loves you and He is with you on this terrible journey of suffering. You are not alone, you are loved and cherished and you will get through this. You have a mental illness and that mental illness distorts our reality to a sort of black goo that sticks to even the best gestures and features of life-sucking out all the joy and ruining relationships. But there is hope. God is by your side. There is also great medication that helps and new discoveries made to improve wellbeing. And by some unexplained reason or grace and by a willingness to fight, live and to be helped you get through the black goo and life regains colour and brightness. Hope, happiness and love prevail with its normal ups and downs. If you or your loved one is stuck in a fast downward spiral seek help as quickly as possible. Keep on trying to get better, keep fighting and try everything! Link to test optimism or pessimism. This is a quiz and not 100% science it’s just there to give you an indication. https://www.seemypersonality.com/Optimism-Test#q1

Habits are built on many emotions, skills and measurements, like time, patience, consistency, sacrifice and even rewards too. Some of them might even go together. For example, you might have to sacrifice time on one thing, for another, if you don't have time for both Start by identifying your goals, what's important to you and your personality plays a big part in this as well.  This will give you the platform for building and breaking habits. so now that I've established what my goals are, I can establish what I would need to achieve those goals.  and to achieve these specific goals, I would need to do XYZ.  x y and z would, of course, be habits that you would need to learn for the benefit of your goals. Daily exercise could be considered as an excellent habit to have when you have fitness goals. Eating healthy can be a good habit as much as eating unhealthy foods can be a bad habit.  Leave some room for failure with habits, as we should leave room for failure in most aspects of our lives because failure is part of Being Human and somewhere along the line you will fail and it's ok, so if you are trying to quit smoking and you had a cigarette when you weren't supposed to it's okay to a certain extent. When you do make mistakes or you have one or two failures it's important to take ownership. Common mistakes people make with habits They don't give themselves enough time,  they rush it,  in other words, they are impatient. People don't take it easy on themselves,  so once again being very self-critical on a daily basis.  for example today I didn't achieve my goal so now I am angry at myself and feel like a failure because I didn't achieve today's goal. NO! Take it easy. People are not consistent.  They want to adopt a daily habit but they are only willing to practice once a month or once a week.  that, of course, will not help you in building that habit if you are that inconsistent.  Building new habits or breaking old ones can really be complementary to each other.  you would find it easier to break an old habit that you are currently struggling with while you are adopting a brand new one.  The new one is drawing attention away from the older bad one,  and if you do eventually get into the position where you are performing the bad habits, the new good habit will be motivation to draw you away from the bad habit if that makes any sense.   So some scientists call it replacement behaviour: you replaced the bad one for the good one. There's no real time frame when it comes to breaking a bad habit,  it's unpredictable but yet again we would work on the rule of the average person and according to science. So let's just say roughly between a month and 2 months for argument's sake. Just planning, for now, is okay. Remember to add actions to your planning and continue to improve yourself and add one or two more good habits whether they are social, unconscious or activity-based

Habits are built on many emotions, skills and measurements, like time, patience, consistency, sacrifice and even rewards too. Some of them might even go together. For example, you might have to sacrifice time on one thing, for another, if you don’t have time for both Start by identifying your goals, what’s important to you and your personality plays a big part in this as well.  This will give you the platform for building and breaking habits. so now that I’ve established what my goals are, I can establish what I would need to achieve those goals.  and to achieve these specific goals, I would need to do XYZ.  x y and z would, of course, be habits that you would need to learn for the benefit of your goals. Daily exercise could be considered as an excellent habit to have when you have fitness goals. Eating healthy can be a good habit as much as eating unhealthy foods can be a bad habit.  Leave some room for failure with habits, as we should leave room for failure in most aspects of our lives because failure is part of Being Human and somewhere along the line you will fail and it’s ok, so if you are trying to quit smoking and you had a cigarette when you weren’t supposed to it’s okay to a certain extent. When you do make mistakes or you have one or two failures it’s important to take ownership. Common mistakes people make with habits They don’t give themselves enough time,  they rush it,  in other words, they are impatient. People don’t take it easy on themselves,  so once again being very self-critical on a daily basis.  for example today I didn’t achieve my goal so now I am angry at myself and feel like a failure because I didn’t achieve today’s goal. NO! Take it easy. People are not consistent.  They want to adopt a daily habit but they are only willing to practice once a month or once a week.  that, of course, will not help you in building that habit if you are that inconsistent.  Building new habits or breaking old ones can really be complementary to each other.  you would find it easier to break an old habit that you are currently struggling with while you are adopting a brand new one.  The new one is drawing attention away from the older bad one,  and if you do eventually get into the position where you are performing the bad habits, the new good habit will be motivation to draw you away from the bad habit if that makes any sense.   So some scientists call it replacement behaviour: you replaced the bad one for the good one. There’s no real time frame when it comes to breaking a bad habit,  it’s unpredictable but yet again we would work on the rule of the average person and according to science. So let’s just say roughly between a month and 2 months for argument’s sake. Just planning, for now, is okay. Remember to add actions to your planning and continue to improve yourself and add one or two more good habits whether they are social, unconscious or activity-based