I have met many brilliant men through my work who are outwardly capable, successful and composed, but internally carrying more than anyone knows. They may be holding pressure, responsibility, self-doubt, grief, exhaustion, loneliness or the quiet fear of not being enough. Often, they are not lacking intelligence or resilience. They have usually been resilient for a very long time. The issue is that resilience without honesty can become another form of self-abandonment. We keep going, but we stop listening.

This is why emotional honesty matters. It is not weakness, self-indulgence or a failure of professionalism. It is self-leadership. It is the moment we stop outsourcing our worth to performance and begin listening to the truth of our own inner life. For many men, this can feel unfamiliar because the permission to speak honestly about emotional experience may not have been available in childhood, education, sport, work or family culture. Some men have learned that vulnerability will be punished, mocked or ignored. Others have simply never been shown a language for what they feel.

Men’s mental health is not only a private issue. It affects leadership, relationships, communication, workplace culture and the quality of decisions people make under pressure. When emotional strain is hidden for too long, the person may still appear to be functioning, but their inner resources may be quietly depleting. This is one of the reasons I believe we need a more mature conversation about strength, especially in professional environments where performance can so easily become a mask.

The trouble is that what is not expressed does not disappear. It often finds another route. It may become irritability, withdrawal, overworking, numbing, cynicism or a private sense of disconnection. In professional life, this can show up as difficulty asking for help, reluctance to admit uncertainty, defensiveness when challenged, or an inability to rest without guilt. At home, it may show up as emotional distance, impatience or the tendency to disappear into busyness just when connection is most needed.

There is a different kind of strength available. It says tell the truth, ask for help, let someone in and listen to what the body is trying to say. This strength does not require us to collapse or make our emotions everyone else’s responsibility. It asks for something more mature than that. It asks us to become conscious participants in our own inner life. It asks us to notice what is happening before it becomes a crisis. It asks us to build the capacity to say, “I am struggling,” “I need support,” or “I do not know how to hold all of this alone.”

In leadership, this matters enormously. When leaders model emotional honesty with appropriate boundaries, they create cultures where others do not have to pretend quite so much. This does not mean turning every meeting into a therapy session. It means allowing humanity to be present in professional life. It means recognising that clarity, creativity, empathy and good judgement all depend on the state of the human being making the decision. If people are exhausted, afraid or silently overwhelmed, performance will eventually suffer, even if the mask holds for a while.

This is where emotional honesty connects with Conscious Confidence. Confidence is often misunderstood as certainty, control or a polished performance of strength. But Conscious Confidence is not bravado. It is the capacity to stay present with what is real and take one honest, values-led step from there. Sometimes the honest step is decisive action. Sometimes it is a difficult conversation. Sometimes it is rest. Sometimes it is asking for help before the situation becomes unmanageable.

There is a profound difference between saying “I am fine” as a reflex and saying “I am finding this difficult” as an act of courage. The first may preserve the appearance of control, but the second opens the door to connection, support and change. For many men, that door can feel uncomfortable at first. Yet on the other side of it there is often relief. Not because everything is solved immediately, but because the burden is no longer being carried in isolation.

I often think about how much energy is spent maintaining the image of strength. What might become possible if some of that energy were redirected into honesty, connection and repair? What if strength were measured not only by endurance, but by responsiveness? What if asking for help were seen not as a collapse of confidence, but as an expression of it? What if men were allowed to be whole human beings rather than endlessly competent performers?

For Men’s Health Week, my invitation is simple. Notice where you may be performing strength at the expense of truth. Notice where your body has been trying to get your attention. Notice where you might need support, space, rest or a more honest conversation. Sometimes the most powerful thing a man can say is, “I need help.” And sometimes the most loving thing another person can say is, “I’m here. Tell me more.”

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten

2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here

3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post Men’s Health Week: The Strength of Emotional Honesty appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Like many professionals, I focused on diaries, deadlines, and efficiency. If I could just structure my days more intelligently, I assumed capacity would take care of itself. It took me much longer to understand the limits and dynamics of my energy, and the fact that it has needs of its own.

That understanding did not arrive through insight alone. It arrived through consequence.

Over the years, I have worked with many clients, particularly those approaching or recovering from burnout, who discovered the same truth the hard way. It is not possible to burn the candle at both ends indefinitely. Something always gives.

Often, what gives first is clarity. Decision-making becomes harder. Patience shortens. Creativity fades. The body keeps score long before collapse is obvious.

Time management does not solve this.

You can have an organised calendar and still feel depleted. You can be highly productive and quietly exhausted. Energy, not time, is the real currency of sustainable performance.

Energy shapes how we show up in meetings, how we communicate under pressure, and how we lead. It determines whether work feels purposeful or heavy. When energy is low, even simple tasks can feel effortful.

Most professionals are trained to override this. We push through. We normalise tiredness. We interpret depletion as weakness rather than information.

What I eventually learned is that energy is not just physical. It is influenced by emotional load, cognitive demand, and alignment with values. You can sleep well and still feel drained if you are carrying unresolved tension or working against yourself.

Working with energy starts with awareness. Noticing when you feel naturally focused. When momentum is available. When your system begins to tighten or withdraw. These signals are subtle, but they are consistent.

Ignoring them comes at a cost.

Another key shift is respecting limits without making them wrong. Limits are not failures. They are part of being human. When we deny them, we compensate with willpower. When we respect them, we work more intelligently.

Recovery is also often misunderstood. It is not just rest or distraction. True recovery restores. It reconnects you with yourself. That might be through movement, silence, time in nature, at a gallery or play, or in meaningful conversation. The form matters less than the effect.

Energy is also deeply connected to meaning. When work is aligned, effort feels different. When it is misaligned, even success can be exhausting. Many of the professionals I work with who have experienced symptoms of burnout have been living out of alignment with their energy and values for too long.

Small changes make a difference. Cleaner boundaries. Pauses between meetings. Letting the nervous system settle rather than carrying momentum from one task into the next.

When you begin to work with energy, not just time, something shifts. Work becomes more sustainable. Focus improves. Presence returns.

Time will always be finite. Energy, when listened to and respected, can be restored.

Learning this earlier would have saved me some wear and tear. Learning it now allows me to work with greater ease, depth, and longevity.

How can you be more attuned with your energy and values today?

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten

2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here

3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post Working With Energy, Not Just Time appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

The other morning, a question dropped in that had been hovering around my consciousness for a few weeks. I thought I’d ask chatgpt:

“From your global perspective, how would you rate humanity’s current level of integrity—if 100% reflects a spiritually evolved, harmonious civilisation, and 0% reflects complete moral collapse?”

AI answered:
“About 34%.”

It stopped me in my tracks.

While nobody would claim this figure is objectively true, it feels, eerily, about right. After all, we live in a world where conflict, inequality, ecological neglect, and digital delusion continue to dominate headlines. And yet, within that very same world, kindness, brilliance, courage, and deep inner transformation unfold every day.

Humanity is not broken, but we are most definitely in a process. A process of becoming.

The Adolescent Phase of Humanity

It’s tempting to believe we’re at the peak of our evolution. We’ve mapped genomes, launched satellites, built neural networks, and decoded ancient wisdom. But emotional maturity, spiritual grounding, and global unity still feel light years away.

Perhaps this is the adolescent phase of our collective becoming, brimming with potential but scattered in focus, inconsistent in values, and still learning how to care deeply for the self and beyond it.

As a conscious leadership coach, I often notice how transformation requires an honest look in the mirror. The same is true for us as a species. We cannot ascend into our higher potentials while denying the truth of where we are.

Is Integrity Rising?

So I asked a second question:
“Given your global perspective, would you say that humanity’s integrity is rising or declining at this point in our collective evolution?”

The AI replied:
“Integrity is increasing—but slowly, unevenly, and not without resistance.”

That felt encouraging.

All over the world, people are awakening, asking better questions, calling for justice, investing in self-awareness, tending to their communities, and seeking purpose. The integrity of individuals is shifting. The systems, corporations, and institutions will follow, eventually.

The path ahead will not be linear. Consciousness expands in spirals, setbacks, surges. But the movement towards evolution is real.

An Invitation to Reflect

We each contribute to the integrity of the whole. Every interaction, decision, and expression of truth or compassion ripples outward.

So as we cross the midpoint of 2025, I offer this contemplation:

What does integrity mean to you today?
Where is it flourishing in your life, and where is it being invited?

Perhaps if more of us tuned in to that question and lived its answers boldly, 34% would soon rise.

And maybe that’s how we change the world, not all at once, but one choice, one presence, one being at a time.

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten
2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here
3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post Humanity at 34% Integrity appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

The world is noisy. Fast. Uncertain. Polarised. It’s tempting to either numb out or get swept up.

But there is another path. The path of holding centre.

To hold centre is not to be passive. It is to root into truth while the winds swirl. To act with clarity, even when the field is foggy.

For the Conscious Professional, this is essential. When systems destabilise, our values must solidify.

When noise rises, our discernment must deepen.

This isn’t a luxury. It’s a spiritual responsibility.

How do we do this?

• Begin your day in stillness
• Protect your inputs: choose what you consume
• Return to your core values often
• Speak truthfully, kindly, and simply
• Practice daily grounding (breath, nature, meditation)

And perhaps most importantly: pause before reacting.

Not every fire is yours to put out. Not every invitation is yours to accept. Not every headline deserves your energy.

Discernment is a superpower. And so is kindness.

The world doesn’t need more noise. It needs more presence. It needs people who can see through illusion and speak from clarity.

To be conscious is not to disengage. It is to engage from awareness, rather than reactivity. To speak not because you’re triggered, but because you’re called.

Hold centre. Speak truth. Stay kind.

This is not about bypassing the pain of the world. It is about meeting it with an open heart and a steady spine.

You are allowed to be a lighthouse.

Keep your light steady. Others will find their way.

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten
2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here
3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post Holding Centre in a Frantic World appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

In the swirl of deadlines, screens, and schedules, nature offers a direct route back to presence.

No words, no notifications. Just wind in trees, sun on skin, the pulse of life.

We are nature. Yet so often we act as if we are apart from it. This disconnection creates not only ecological crisis, but spiritual fatigue.

When we walk barefoot on earth, pause under a tree, or watch the light move through clouds, we remember. We are not just beings with jobs. We are beings of the earth, held by a vast intelligence.

Conscious Professionals need this remembrance. It’s not optional. It’s spiritual hygiene. Nature recalibrates our nervous systems, expands our awareness, and reawakens awe.

Nature doesn’t need us to perform. It just asks us to arrive.

Try this:

Take a walk alone. Leave your phone. Let your senses lead. Touch leaves, listen to birds, notice colour and texture. Let nature speak to you. Don’t try to get anywhere. Just be.

Notice:

• How does the pace of nature differ from your usual rhythm?
• What details become visible when you slow down?
• Where does your breath land when you rest against a tree?

Nature teaches:

• Change is constant
• Growth is not linear
• Silence is sacred
• Beauty is medicine

In Japan, they call it shinrin-yoku – forest bathing. In spiritual language, we might call it earth communion. In either case, it’s about allowing nature to re-attune our field.

In the presence of trees, the mind softens. In the presence of water, the heart speaks. In the presence of sky, something lifts.

The world might be loud, but nature is always whispering.

Presence is not found in effort. It is found in return.

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman is a pioneer in the field of conscious leadership and a passionate advocate for mindfulness, presence, and spiritual growth at work and in life. He is the author of Conscious Leadership and 100 Mindfulness Meditations, and the Founder of The Conscious Professional.

Ready to go deeper? Here are three ways to connect:

1. Try our 10-day online mindfulness course: Zen in Ten
2. Explore 1:1 Coaching or Energy Work: Schedule Here
3. Explore Keynotes and Team Trainings: Let’s Talk

The post Presence in Nature: The Path of the Living Earth appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Retreating, as in ‘the art of stepping back’, is important. Sure, its amazing to be able to drop everything for a week or two and disappear, away from your life and responsibilities for a little while. However, we can’t go on a big holiday every month, can we? So, how do we find space and time to recharge on a regular basis? Where can we retreat to every month? Every week? Perhaps even every day?

Relaxation means different things to different people. What counts as a retreat is up for debate. However, I believe that the following list offers a range of ways to find mini retreats in a regular, normal life. Which one suits you best?

1.     A Still Start

It’s a simple one. A daily one. Don’t dive straight into the noise of life as soon as you get up. Don’t switch on the news, don’t open your laptop, and, under no circumstances, look at your phone! Start slow and silent. Get up. Put the kettle on. Look out of the window as it boils and notice things; the weather, the trees, the sound of the morning. Drink your hot drink in silence, or with some classical music, or with a chapter of your current book. Go for simple pleasure first thing in the morning. Don’t shove the world right into your face before you’ve wiped the sleep from your eyes!

2.      A Five-Minute Floor Ritual

Lie on the floor, palms open, eyes closed. Meditation music is optional.

Let your body be held by gravity. Imagine the floor coming up from the centre of the Earth and pushing against your back. Imagine it is holding you up, not that you are pressing down.

Then work up your body in your mind, focusing on each part, from the feet to the head.

This simple exercise grounds you. It releases your muscles. It brings you back to yourself. No fancy props needed, just you and the earth.

3.     A Wander

All without a destination. We are always going somewhere. Even when we aren’t, we tend to plan a walk. Try not to do this. Notice the world around you and be present. See where your feet and your interest take you. Just let your curiosity take you where it wants to.

4.     A Special Shower

I know that, for me, I all but disappear in the shower. I lose all sense of urgency and time. My mind wanders. And that’s just a normal shower on a normal day. It puts me in a good place. So, what if you make it even more special? Dim those lights, add a scent, move slowly, use the fancy scrub. Let the water wash away the day. It’s not just hygiene, it’s healing.

P.S…. this works just as well if you are a ‘bath person’!

5.     Tech-Free Teatime

Brew a cup of tea (or coffee, or chocolate, or Bovril?) and sip it without distraction. No screens, no scrolling. Just warmth, breath, and the experience of being. This simple act becomes sacred when you’re fully present to it.

6.     Finish as You Began

Just as you did not leap into the day, do not put the emergency brakes on it just before you go to bed. Try to wind down to your bedtime. Turn off the big lights, screens off an hour before sleep, take time washing your face and teeth. you might even like to do a short meditation. This helps your nervous system to gradually shut down, as opposed to surprising it with a demand for sleep!

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Mini Retreats: Creating Sacred Space in Everyday Life appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Christmas, if yours is anything like mine, is chaos. It’s joyful, of course. But there’s always a lot going on. I, being an actor, am often engaged in some kind of Christmas show throughout December. I also have to cram in the wider family stuff, spend time with my wife and kids, decorate the tree, deal with gifts and stockings, ferry all of us around to various houses full of various people that we love… and the list goes on.

Like I said, it’s all fun and games. Sure. But there is very little time for personal peace. No time, really, to be mindful of oneself and find time to reflect. Or even for your brain to have a bit of quiet. That is why I am always looking for the odd slice of time to give my brain and body a rest. If you are someone who struggles to find this too, perhaps my thoughts on finding pockets of festive peace will be helpful to you in some way!

1.     A Moment Outside

Nobody really wants to go outside at Christmas, right? It’s cold. Often wet. Being England, it might well be a bit grey. But the beauty of stepping outside is the silence. The sound of a world where everyone has huddled inside for the day. There is something extra peaceful about silence in a place where silence rarely visits, and if you can bear to pop out for a walk, or even (as I do) a walk around the garden with a nice drink, do.

2.     Cook

I always offer to cook. I find cooking quite peaceful. If cooking at Christmas stresses you out, maybe don’t do this. But if you are the opposite, offering to cook on Christmas day might be just the ticket. I love nothing better than wandering around the kitchen, checking on pots and pans, chopping a few things, and listening to music with a glass of wine on the go. For me, it’s an exercise in living in the moment, and all other worries tend to fall to the side for a while.

3.     Living Room Book Club

This happens less than is used to. Mostly because there are young children in the family now. There used to be a slot of time allotted in the day where we would all sit in the living room and read our new books. All sitting in a comfortable silence disappearing into an exciting new world. If you can master the un-awkward silence, without expectation of one another or judgment, you’ll have found something strangely special.

4.     The Early Morning

It depends on where I am, and who with. But I either get up before everyone else, make a really nice coffee, and sit in the living room in the crisp, still morning silence for a while. Or, if the very small people among us have risen with the sun, I shall be the one to offer to leave the madness of stockings and make the hot drinks. I’ll take my time over boiling the kettle and pulling out the biscuits, and just enjoy the reality that this is a moment in which I do not need to rush.

5.     Nap

I used to feel like a nap was cheating. Or like it was rude to take one. Or that I’d be missing out if i disappeared for a little while. I no longer feel that way. A mid-Christmas nap is perfect. It gives you time away from the madness. It gives you a change to reset and recharge. It is a mindful way to ensure that you have energy throughout the day, as opposed to spending half of it lagging and not getting the best out of time with your loved ones.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Find Peaceful Pockets for Christmas Mindfulness appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Recently, I have been suffering from high anxiety, stress, overwhelm and a general lack of resilience. Resilience, unfortunately, is not something that is retained without conscious effort. This is true with me, for sure. No matter how good my ability to pick myself up and stay in motion at some points in my life, it all gets forgotten when my brain gets too crowded.

Ironically, for someone who writes about the mindful lifestyle every month, I am remarkably bad at putting this knowledge sometimes. Meditation is something I know a fair bit about but I often forget that it exists as a resilience tool. It is useful for so many issues. Not only this, but it is a remarkably simple thing to access if a simple tool is what I need at a certain moment.

Here are some examples of how everyday mediation has helped me in recent months…

1.     Keeping Calm with My Kids

Parenting is stressful. It is hard. If you are a parent, you will likely feel the same way (unless you are some kind of miraculous super parent!) My wife and I are right in it at the moment. I work from home, and in that home, we house a four-year-old and a six-month-old. We are in the heavy graft years. Needless to say, we are tired, dealing with growing people who are constantly developing, and short of temper.

When my four-year-old will not listen, get dressed, eat his supposedly favourite dinner, leave for school or stop jumping on his brother, it takes all the will I can muster not to scream at him. However, what has really helped recently is returning to my breath. If I have enough reflective energy in a potentially explosive moment, I close my eyes, take five deep and conscious breaths, and return to the situation. Sure, I’m rarely 100% calm when I’m back in the room, but I certainly have much more patience for it than I did mere seconds earlier.

2.     Juggling Jobs

I’m a freelance writer, right? This means working for several clients at a time. Also, each client requires writing in a different style or voice, and they tend to have vastly varied opinions as to what is good and what is not (my work, by nature, is subjective to the consumer). Therefore, code-switching is a daily practice for me, and weeks with a lot of different projects can become incredibly overwhelming. The people-pleasing part of my personality can also take a massive hit in these situations. Just sitting where I am sitting (often with rainfall or ocean waves plugged into my ears), and observing my surroundings (its sights, smells, details) is a fantastic way of pulling away from those worries. This meditation often leaves me a little less stressed and more clear-headed when diving back into those workplace expectations.

3.     Domestic Worries

My flat needs fixing. My kitchen needs decorating. I need more work. The kids need new shoes. My mum’s coming to stay tomorrow, and we have no clean sheets. The bins need taking out. We need to move house. The emergency service light has come on in the car. I haven’t put that shelf up yet. We don’t have any more cat litter. What am I going to wear to that wedding? Who’s going to take the kids when we are at said wedding?

There’s so much to think about, sent there. Things big. Things small. Things that all need to be addressed, but in what order? When will I have time to simply do nothing?

Essentially, the best way to take all of these things is to slow down, make a priority list, and do them one at a time. Even though I feel as if I have not time, I try to set aside a time at the beginning of the week to lay out a plan (that time usually involves coffee and toast). Also, when I am taking on the tasks, I do my best to focus only on the moment and the task in question, and not to worry about any of the other things on that list!

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post How Meditation Has Helped Combat My Resilience Issues appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

There is no avoiding the fact that adult life, whether the professional, circumstantial, or personal area of it, comes with periods of stress. Resilience is crucial to getting through these periods in a successful way. Indeed, resilience is defined as one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations, to retain physiological wellbeing, and to come out of the other side having grown in some sense.

There are many ways to bolster your resilience and to be more equipped to adapt when life becomes hectic and demanding. Here are some thoughts on how best to adapt to stress using mindfulness as your tool.

1.     Meditation

Times of high stress often involve a mind that is far to full of far too many thoughts, problems, fears, opinions, musical earworms that you have no idea how they made their way into your mind-stream… all sorts. Meditation, in all its forms, is a way to cut through all of that mental noise and focus your attention on a single thing; an image, the sounds of the world around you, the breath (we’ll come to that later). Meditation helps you to adapt as it gives you the mental space to arrange, discard, and troubleshoot all the things that are on your mind, aiding you to plot a clear path through the situation.

2.     Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is another great way to focus your mind on something other than the brain jumble piling up in your head. Mindful eating is all about being conscious of what you are eating. It is about focusing on the sensations of it; the aroma, the texture, the temperature, the taste. Once again, this act will have you refreshed and thinking more clearly by the end of it.

3.     Exercise

Exercise is good for you. Who knew, eh? Of course, it makes you stronger and fitter, gives you improved blood flow (great for the brain), and all-round better physical resilience. In terms of mental resilience, however, it is brilliant for making you feel good. It makes you feel more positive, inspired, and mentally clear. This is because exercise manages stress hormones, releases physical tension (which is often a knock-on effect of mental tension), and increases endorphin levels.

4.     Being Conscious of Your Inner Life

Simply being conscious of your feelings and how certain events and subjects trigger them is very helpful for resilience. The more familiar you are with your own emotions, the better you become at managing them, and not leaving them unaddressed for longer than is ideal. In order to do this, it helps to get in the habit of checking in with yourself regularly (daily even) and reviewing how the events of a day have affected your inner life.

5.     Body Scan

Lie down on the floor or a bed on your back and close your eyes. Bring your attention to your body and concentrate on individual areas, one at a time. Whenever you come across a particularly tight or tense area, pause and direct your breath towards it until it releases. Again, this focus work helps to release a lot of the tension around stressful situations.

6.     Returning to the Breath

The simplest thing you can do in a stressful moment, a thing that takes no time at all and can be done anywhere, is to return to the breath. It is, perhaps, the simplest form of meditation there is, and it’s amazing how effective it can be. Stop. Close your eyes. Focus on the breath, but do not amend the breath. Simply notice it. Focus on it solely for a few minutes to create am ounce of calm and clarity.

7.     Focusing on a Finite Memory Exercise

This is a personal invention (as far as I know). My job, as a freelance creative writer, very rarely has finite answers. Therefore, finite thinking is also a rarity. What I mean by this is that everything I produce is subjective, and there is never a right or wrong answer, as everything comes from my imagination. Therefore, when overwhelmed, I like to focus on some facts. A list of facts. At the moment, I’m learning all the British Prime Ministerial administrations since World War 1 in order. I am also now trying to memorize the years they were active and the parties that made up those governments. Sounds weird, I know. Intense, perhaps. Maybe you think it’s boring. However, I sometimes need to shift my brain from an exhausted creative space to a fact based space in order to reset my mind. Maybe this will help you too.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Mindful Ways to Adapt to Stress appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Of relationships, there are many kinds. Our lives our run on relationships. And so, that being the case, every relationship we have is important. However, not every connection you have to another person requires the same kind of work, and not every one is of equal value. That said, they must all be nurtured to remain fruitful.

1.      Workplace Relationships

Professional relationships are often not invested in by us, they are perhaps seen as a side effect of working with other people, but a professional relationship that has been consciously worked on by both parties can bring both support and productivity. When in difficult work situations, it is important to have allies and trusted individuals by your side.

2.      Romantic Relationships

When we think of relationships, most of us think of our romantic ones first. This relationship is perhaps the most complex, yet the most rewarding. These are often deep, intense relationships that leave you feeling both vulnerable and safe simultaneously. This type of connection is important because of our human need for stability and foundation. A good romantic relationship should make you feel safe and that you have a safe space to return to, as well as presenting you with a challenge and an ability to grow. These relationships are also where we learn to compromise, to listen, to work through problems and to love even when we don’t always like. Last of all, we all deserve intimacy, trust and love, and all the best romantic relationships offer these.

3.     Friendships

Friendships, certainly close ones, can also be defined as ‘chosen family’. Your friends are the people you gravitate towards, the people that you consider to be like you in some way. Friendships can serve many purposes, all of which can probably be boiled down to ‘relief’. Friends are the people you lean on and rely on to take some of your cares away, or to allow you to vent tension.

4.      Familial Relationships

Familial relationships. One of the most useful things about these is that they are constant. We are stuck with our family, forever linked, and there is nothing we can do to change that. You go through a lot with family, and this is one of the reasons why you end up so close to family whether you like them or not. Familial relations are forged not just by blood, but by galvanising circumstances; the trials and tribulations of growing up together. Family offers stability and unconditional love, a constant required by us all.

5.     Casual Relationships

Casual relationships, like the ones that you have with a local shopkeeper, your neighbour three doors down or local dog walkers, are opportunities for moments of positivity throughout the day. Offering connection and positivity to these people, even with a nod or quick ‘good morning’, helps to inject their day and your day with positive vibes!

6.     Relationship to The Self

This, one might argue, is the most important relationship in your life. You are the person that you spend most time with, and you will like some parts of yourself and not others. You need to come to terms with who you are, be comfortable with that, and have confidence in who that person is. Sure, you can have all the best friends, lovers, and relatives in the world, but only when you invest in your relationship with yourself will you become truly resilient and happy.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Being Mindful of All Your Relationships appeared first on The Conscious Professional.