Burnout. It’s a modern concept, by all accounts, but it’s been going on since forever. We work to hard. We get too ambitious with our time. We say ‘yes’ to one too many things. We try to be there for too many people. We don’t sleep, eat, or drink consciously. We crumble. We burnout.

Most of the time, before we realise we are burning out, we have been burning out for longer than we should have been. We are running on an empty tank. I do it often. I wish I could tell you how to notice this looming personal collapse before it begins, but I don’t know how. I do, however, know how to notice it mid-burn… and one day, I will learn to act on it sooner rather than later.

So, wondering if you are in need of a rest? Here are some of the starkest of burnout signposts.

1.     The Patience of a Hungry Dog

I have kids, so I’m very familiar with this one. You snap over every little thing. Minor issues that would otherwise be almost imperceptible become huge problems. This low tolerance for any irritant is a fairly clear sign that your brain is overflowing in some way.

A short-term solve, if you have the capacity, is to stop before you react and reflect on whether the situation warrants the reaction (it rarely does). Breathwork and regular walks also help.

2.     Tired After Rest

Ever woken up after a long night’s sleep and felt just as, maybe even more tired than you did the night before? Chronic fatigue despite sleep often means emotional or mental exhaustion. Sleep is a big part of rest, of course, but this situation is a sign that your brain is craving more than sleep. It may be craving joy, or exercise, or creativity.

3.     Overwhelm

Life is always busy. But when you are burnt out, everything, big and small, feels like too much. All the little things that need addressing pile up, and it feels impossible to contemplate how all of them might be seen to. There are a number of solutions to this. In the short term, it is helpful to prioritise only what needs to be done and to put the rest on hold. Complete a small number of ‘active’ tasks before you take anything else off the ‘to-do shelf’.

4.     Disconnection

When burnt out, you tend not to find time for others, and certainly not for yourself. You become distant, not just physically, but emotionally too. The things that normally bring you comfort or laughter feel dull, and conversations begin to feel like a huge effort instead of a worthwhile connection. You start living in your head instead of in your life.

When you notice this, try returning to small things that ground you. Watering your plants, perhaps? Standing barefoot outside, making eye contact with someone you love. It doesn’t need to be big. You’re not trying to fix it, you’re just making space for presence again.

5.     You’ve Forgotten What Brings You Joy

Joy is often the first thing to go and the last thing we reach for when we’re overwhelmed. You may find yourself going through the motions, eating food you don’t taste, listening to music without hearing it, being in places you used to love but feeling nothing. The colours get muted.

Start with something tiny. Rewatch a movie you loved years ago. Pick up a pen and doodle. Hum a song while you make toast. You don’t need to “feel better” right away. You’re just reminding your nervous system what joy sounds like, smells like, feels like. You’re leaving a trail of breadcrumbs back to yourself.

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 5 Signs You’re Running on Empty (And What to Do About It) appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

There are many ways to make your Christmas more mindful. Indeed, this won’t be the first time we have thrown out some thoughts about how to make your Christmas season a more conscious one. But once again, a year has passed, and the world feels a little different than it did this time last year. So, what are good mindful Christmas ideas in 2023?

1.     Shop Local

In a year when everyone is struggling, maybe consider spending your money at those smaller businesses. Christmas is a big change for businesses to do good, well, business. In this world where bigger companies with many resources make it super easy to shop at the click of a button, local businesses have a lot to contend with. You can help make their festive season a happy one by supporting them… by boosting their resilience in both personally and commercially.

2.     Socials Off

Give your brain a break. The world is busy, noisy, and messy right now. Maybe more so than ever. As much as it is important to engage with the needs of others, it is also important to clear your mind and to give yourself enough mental space to regain some clarity and calm. Try to pull away from your phone while with loved ones and focus on what is right in front of you. Reconnect with your immediate surroundings. Disconnect with the digital to reground yourself and stock up on resilience for the year ahead.

3.     Quiet

As an extension of the last point, make sure you find time to be silent. To be alone with yourself in a pure sense. You may even carve out some time to meditate. For me, in the new year, it always feels like my brain has had a mass sort out, and that my goals and thoughts are clearer. This is because I have found some time to let my brain process at some point over the holidays. I have allowed my brain to have a big sort out and clear out. In contrast, by this point in the year, my brain feels like it is cluttered up with the mental debris of 12 months of living… so this is needed.

4.     Don’t Pressure the Big Days

Try to remove pressure from the whole season. What helps this is to simply be present, let each moment exist without judgement, and to avoid piling expectations or comparisons to other years on the big days. Christmas does not have to be, and often will not be, perfect. This is ok. To be resilient throughout the festive season, the best policy is to move through it with kindness, flexibility, and calm.

5.     Quality Time

Try and be mindful of not just spending time with loved ones but spending QUALITY time with them. This means putting aside distractions, and consciously engaging with those you hold dear on a simple human level. Do something together that is tactile, engaging, deep. Do a puzzle. Play a game. Cook together. Curl up in front of the fire with a drink and have a proper catch-up. Make a point of it. Be together… properly. Because, as we know, once the year gets going, it will be a good while before you get such an opportunity again.

All in all, to be mindful is to be present, conscious, and connected to what is in front of you at any given moment. Enter Christmas with this in mind, and you are bound to enjoy a quality Christmas with you friends and family.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 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 Christmas Ideas 2023 appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

For many years I have foregone giving and receiving personal gifts at Christmas. There are a number of reasons for this all of which roll into one idea about modern gift-giving at Christmas.

About seven or eight years ago, when I was in my mid-20s, I was finding the pressure of both affording Christmas gifts and selecting gifts that the ever-expanding pantheon of friends and family would actually use and enjoy, well… overwhelming. Stressful. Not at all fun. The other main reason was that, at the time, my friends and immediate family were all adults with income to spare. People who, if they wanted something or needed something, would go out and buy it. How do you gift something to someone who can buy whatever they want at any time?

I was an outlier in my family for requesting this for a while, but now my family have come around to not spending money on buying other people mountains of tathatround Christmas. This is in part due to the reasons above, but also due to the fact that, for us, Christmas is much more about spending time with one another, cooking together, hanging out… all that stuff, than new possessions. Also, in a world where many have so much material need, excessive frivolous spending doesn’t actually feel especially conscious or Christmassy.

Where Does Gift Giving Come From?

The reasons listed above all point, as stated, to one thing. In today’s world, where profit is king, we have kind of forgotten why we gave gifts in the first place.

The festive season hasn’t always been about multiple gifts, swapped at equivalent monetary value regardless of circumstances or personal wealth. The older generations used to give to younger generations, primarily on wedding days, in order to set them up for their lives with essentials when they were still too young to have much to their name. The principle was that, when that younger generation grew up, after they had accumulated their own wealth over many decades, they would then pay that forward to the generation under them, creating a circle of gift-giving.

Then the mid-20th century came along, capitalism crept in, and gift-giving exploded.

Sometimes You Take More Than You Give

It may feel like you are treating someone when you buy them an audacious gift or an abundance of stuff. However, if this person is not in a position to reciprocate your generosity you can trigger pressure, guilt, embarrassment or even shame on them. Gift giving can be such a minefield, and we would do well to think more consciously about how and why we exchange gifts at Christmas, and whether it is adding to the occasion or taking away.

A Few Thoughts On Mindful Ways to Give… 

1.     Secret Santa

My sister-in-law’s family does Secret Santa with whoever is going to be in their house on Christmas day. There is a budget set, and everyone receives and gives a single gift. This has numerous benefits. Spending a little more on one gift costs much less than having to cater to several people. The stress of thinking of what to buy for multiple people is gone. The day is not completely taken over by gifts… and so, there is more time to enjoy simply being together.

2.     Ask

Don’t buy blindly. The worst thing, for me anyway, was receiving gifts that I had no use for. I had the awkwardness of performing elation, and the gift giver would have had the pressure of trying to know, magically, exactly what I wanted. Ask people what they want. Tell people what you want. Do a shortlist if you still want a surprise. Take some of the pressure and awkwardness away.

3.     Agree on Budget

Gift giving can often mean spending the same on one another even if your financial statuses are hugely different. If you HAVE to swap gifts with everyone, maybe have a conversation about budget first.

4.     Gifts to Share

Instead of single gifts, my family often each bring something to contribute to the celebration of the occasion. Maybe one person will bring a new board game, another will bring a cheese board, another might supply a fancy breakfast, another might buy everyone new slippers… and on and on.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 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 Why We Give: A Brief History of Gifting appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

As I have written many times before, meditation really can be done anywhere. However, as with all things, some places are better than others to meditate. Sure, you can focus on the breath in a clattering train carriage, full of hot and bothered members of the public on their way to work. And even though there is an armpit in your face and an elbow in your side, you can still plug into some rainfall ASMR, close your eyes, and create a bubble for yourself.

But, preferable by far is somewhere calm. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere is conducive to finding peace for your head and heart. Beaches trump buses, trees trump trains and solitude trumps sardine-like situations.

Today I am focusing on the best locations to offer you a perfect sensory experience to go with your search for a moment of mindfulness.

 1.     Near Water

Flowing water makes for wonderful ASMR. Babbling river sounds sit hand in hand with rainfall and ocean waves when I am in search of a soundscape to help me relax. If you can put yourself next to actual rolling water, even better. The smell, the breeze, the coolness of the sound, the sparkling reflection… it is sure to help you release.

 2.     In Water

One better. Get yourself in some water. Let the body of water take your weight. Relieve your body of the tensions of life, as well as your mind. This could be a soothing bath, a revitalising shower, a twilight swim, or a blissful nap on an inflatable ring in some swimming pool. 

3.     In A Quiet Park

If you are lucky enough to be near an open green space of any kind, use it. Here, in the city I live in, little public parks are sprinkled among the many hard urban streets. I have spent many a lunchtime in parks like this. I find myself a little nook, away from the stresses of my workday, to enjoy the surprising tranquillity of a city green space. 

4.     The Car

The gentle sway, soft hum, and muffled atmosphere of a car ride send babies to sleep for a reason. Even if I am driving, I often resist the temptation to put music or a podcast on. There is real pleasure in opening the window at night when the streets are not busy, and in hearing snippets of life grow and fade as you cruise through the world.

 5.     Somewhere High… and Outside

For many years, and I’m sure some to come, I performed at the Edinburgh Festival. If you have been, you will understand that it is a wonderful, but very intense experience. If ever I needed to get away, I would climb the hills on the outskirts, settle on a cliff edge and take in the view. I was always silent, save for the cool and unpolluted wind whistling around my ears. Get up and away from it all, take in a view, and enjoy feeling like you have taken yourself out of the rat race for a few moments.

 6.     Under A Blanket

Weighted blankets. Game changer. Like a hug made of cloth. Can recommend!

 7.     In A Dead Quiet Room

Sometimes the best sensory experience is to remove as much sensory stimulation as possible. Indeed, so much stress can come from sensory overload; to-do lists, kids, pets, music, questions, traffic noise, and notifications. Shut yourself in a room and get yourself some of that sweet sweet nothingness.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 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 7 Sensory Everyday Meditation Spots appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Meditation often feels very ordinary – so don’t expect too much at the beginning and remember – there is a practice of stillness in every wisdom tradition – so you know how to do this – it is as instinctive as eating, drinking, or keeping warm.

Is it just something that is done ‘in the mind’? 

Meditation might seem at first to be a mental exercise because often the body is static – however meditation teaches the skill of welcoming awareness into both body and mind, and links us to the deeper ways in which we might experience ourselves as human beings. In many traditions meditation also offers a path to spiritual development although this does not need to be the focus of your practice.

How do I meditate? Do I need to be sat cross-legged and hum like the stereotypes?

Yes of course. (No – just kidding!)

Meditation is best approached in a comfortable seated position. This could be on a normal chair or with your hips raised on a cushion and feet resting on a wider cushioned mat (traditionally known as zafu and zabuton). It is a good idea to begin with a form of guidance or tuition such as an audio meditation, an app, or a piece of inspiring music – something that you find calming and instructive.

What are three benefits of meditation?

1. Meditation builds stress resilience. The reason we associate the stereotypical meditation image with a calm serene landscape and stones balanced one on top of the other is because meditation teaches you how to align, come back to centre and find stillness when you are stressed or anxious. By returning consciously to the breath and the sensations of the body, you learn how to direct your attention towards peaceful stimuli and away from alarming ones. As many of the daily catalysts of stress are perceived rather than actual dangers – this skill is hugely valuable to anyone seeking calm in an uncertain world.
2. Meditation builds self-awareness and empathy. Meditation offers a map that allows you to know your interior self a little more intimately. As you become more adept at navigating your thoughts, emotions, and sensations a space opens up for intentionality and heartfulness which develops empathy, generosity and connection.
3. Meditation as a commitment to your self-care enhances your overall sense of happiness and wellbeing. The skill of being able to attend to the present moment, enrich it with presence, and practice appreciation becomes its own reward.

How long should I do it for?

There are always lots of questions about frequency and duration but it is important to remember that there is no set target here. If you were to build up to 20 minutes once or twice a day, that would be fantastic – but my usual suggestion is to simply meditate more than you currently are now.

So, if you’re not meditating at all – just try it once. If you meditate once a month – how about trying once a week – if it’s twice a week – build up to a weekday practice and so on.

Start small with just a 5-minute practice and gradually build up, not worrying that sometimes it feels easy and some days it feels really hard. Just keep showing up! Perseverance and a little discipline is key to get throught the first weeks and build a habit.

Is it ever possible to truly clear the mind?

Yes it is, but trying actively to clear the mind tends to have completely the opposite effect. In fact, if you ask someone to seek out a thought in their mind right now – this actually is much more likely to give them the experience of thought-free awareness. Try it now if you like: Go find a thought…what happens?

How can I get started?

There are many ways to begin so it is more about finding the one that suits you best. I wrote my first book: 100 Mindfulness Meditations – The Ultimate Collection of Inspiring Daily Practices to offer beginners a simple and structured way to build their skills and confidence day-by-day.

If you prefer an app, the most popular ones like Headspace, Calm, and Buddhify are very sophisticated and well-designed. Insight Timer is another wonderful resource that links you to a huge array of recorded meditations and courses from the world’s best teachers.  So, my advice is to experiment, find a teacher, writer, or guide that resonates. Instead of being overwhelmed by choice – pick one app and go deep into it, or choose one book and read it slowly – twice! You can bring your mindfulness to how you learn too!

Should I incorporate breathing techniques?

Up to you. Mindfulness meditation includes a lot of breath awareness in the guidance because the breath is the doorway – we follow the breath into the body from where we continue the exploration of interior self. If you enjoy the breathing practices in a yoga class you may wish to explore a pranayama class or try breathwork. All of these practices have many benefits and it is up to you to find the ones that feel right for your particular likes and needs.

Practice Time:

Got 1 Minute – Try a STOP

If you are feeling stressed or anxious I recommend practicing STOP, a pocket-practice taught on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses to help regain clarity and calm:

• Stop and pause. Feel gravity pushing the weight of the body down – feel your feet on the floor.
• Take a conscious breath. Feel the warmth and energy of your body.
• Open – gently observe what is happening internally and externally. Is there an opportunity here to redirect?
• Proceed

Got 5 Minutes – This practice is called: Slow Down

• You have arrived. Take five slow breaths here.
• Acknowledge the whirl of activity that the mind is still chewing over as you begin your practice. Observe it neutrally and welcome it by allowing it to be just as it is. Know that it will settle in its own time.
• Offer your breath an invitation to Slow Down and take five easeful breaths here.
• Now, bring the same invitation to the body: Slow Down.
• Take five breaths as the Energy of Slow circulates gradually through every bone, every muscle, every artery, every cell.
• Next, take the focus of your awareness to mind and offer it the invitation: Slow Down.
• Take five breaths here and before bringing your practice to a close, contemplate how the Energy of Slow can be welcomed into daily life.
• Return to wakefulness in your own way.

Got 20 Minutes – Try the Body Scan

• Breathe and notice the body. Remember it. Discover yourself in this moment as a physical being with weight, temperature, texture, colour and energy. Take five breaths here.
• Are certain parts of your body calling for attention? An itch, a scratch? A shift of body weight? Attend to the body’s needs until it is quietly resting at peace.
• Now bring awareness to the feet and toes. What do you sense? What is present? And what do your feet want you to know about how they are feeling in this moment? Take at least five breaths here and gather information.
• On the next breath, allow your awareness to move up into the legs. How do they feel? Are they comfortable? Go slowly. Check in with the calves, shins, knees and thighs. Feel for temperature, movement and weight. Notice where you are holding on. Take at least five breaths here until ready to move on.
• Bring your awareness now to the central core of the body: the abdomen and chest. Check in. Listen. Feel. Be in your body. Notice all sensations, images, feelings and words that arise and take five breaths here.
• Next, bring your attention to the arms and hands. Let your awareness travel down through the upper limbs and into the fingers. Take your time and feel all of the sensations present. Simply notice. Whatever is there, whether it feels pleasant or challenging, take an inventory. Do not add any judgment or commentary to the sensation. Follow and breathe. Listen for five more breaths.
• Finally awareness moves up through the neck and into the head. Breathe. Listen. Gather. Observe. Witness. Take at least five breaths here.
• On the next breath set an intention to inhabit the body fully. Imagine the mind and body are one. Take five breaths here.
• Return to wakefulness in your own way.

By Neil Seligman

Here are some extra thoughts on how to use meditation to tackle your daily niggles and concerns: Mindfulness and Meditation Tips to Defuse Day to Day Worries

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

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

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. 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 Beginner’s Guide to Meditation appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

As someone said wisely – we are going through the same storm but we are not all in the same boat. So if you are feeling like your mindfulness practice is slipping and you would like it back here are seven tips to help you do just that.

1. Find Objects That Support Your Practice

You do not need to spend money on this but simply gather a few objects from around the house that will become part of your ritual during lockdown, and help you find your way back to your seat each day. You will need a cushion and mat (a folded blanket works just as well) if you sit on the floor. Sitting on a chair is fine too. I have a few sacred objects around me – a crystal I found inside a teddy bear in a gift store in California (yes really), a candle made by my friend Nid Ra, and a small singing bowl from my favourite retreat centre, Esalen. Choose something that is meaningful to you – a photo, a flower, an object that makes you smile.

You will also need a small kitchen timer with an alarm. Using a timer allows your mind to stop worrying about time and will also keep you from falling asleep and missing your next zoom. (I prefer this to using my phone as smartphones are mindfulness kryptonite).

Finally, select a notepad to be your Mindfulness Journal. Find one with a cover that inspires you or draw something beautiful on it. I prefer blank, not lined, inside pages as the space will challenge you to be creative as you journal. If you feel the urge to draw something alongside your notes, absolutely do so. Allow the doodles to mix with the words.

2. Start Small

Start with a five minute practice and build up to twenty if it feels good to do so. Learn how the body and mind respond to different periods of meditation and find the right duration for your lifestyle.

Allow yourself some flexibility, accepting that some days you will have more or less time to dedicate to your practice, and that is OK.

3. Create A Ritual

At the time of your practice each day go through the same actions. For me, that means picking up my cushion, placing it in front of the window, setting up my timer, Mindfulness Journal and pen and placing my cup of chamomile tea at my side. I then take my seat and begin my practice. Every day the ritual is the same and I try to bring present moment awareness to each of those simple actions of preparation as part of the practice itself. The ritual helps me orient myself towards mindful awareness even before I close my eyes.

4. Work With Distractions

A glaring distraction in my morning meditation during lockdown is that I am sometimes joined by Ty (a large labrador) who tries all his tricks to get my attention. I close my eyes, he nuzzles my ears. I centre myself, he licks my face. If I focus on my breath, he rams a toy in my hand. I ignore him, he sits squarely on my lap.

Now sometimes I acquiesce and we play together on the floor. In those moments I try to be fully present with him and the game becomes something of a meditation itself. Other times, he gives up his nuzzling and sits quietly at my side. We then both journey inward, he to sleep, and me into meditation.

Ty has taught me that an authentic mindfulness practice cannot be overly rigid and must include space for the spontaneous and the unexpected. So, do not wait for the time to be perfect, the house to be silent, or distractions to be absent to start. Mindfulness practice exists amongst the realities of daily life. The only perfect moment to practice is now.

5. Add Informal Practices To Your Day

The research shows that adding informal mindfulness practices into your daily routine as well as your formal sitting practice is highly beneficial. This is as true during lockdown as it is for ‘normal’ practice. An informal practice might be washing your hands for 20 seconds feeling the physical sensations of soap and water and the warmth of skin on skin, eating your sandwich mindfully at lunch and attending to physical sensations as you do so, or silently sending compassionate thoughts and intentions to others as you engage with them over the course of the day. Choose ones that will be easy for you to integrate in your busy life.

6. Keep Your Practice Varied

Different mindfulness practices develop different skills through lockdown. I like to keep my mindfulness practice varied by choosing a different focus each day. One day I will use an open-monitoring practice to simply notice what is arising within me. Another day I will take a single focus such as the breath or the flame of a candle and when my attention wanders I notice this and bring my focus back. Alternatively I sometimes focus on a person I love and take time to absorb the feelings of support and compassion that arise as I visualise them with me. A varied practice will keep you interested and keep you learning. My book 100 Mindfulness Meditations has plenty of daily inspiration if you need support with this.

7. Forgive Yourself Often

In order to create a long-term mindfulness practice, forgiveness is essential because there will be days, weeks and even months when you lose sight of your practice. Without forgiveness it may be impossible to find your way back. So, each time a practice is missed, forgive yourself as immediately and completely as you can and try not to let guilty feelings of missing practice to keep you away from the rich possibility of your next meditation.

Remember, your breath and body will always be ready and available to lead you directly into present moment awareness.

And breathe …

 By Neil Seligman

For more thoughts on how to keep yourself together during lockdown, checkout this informative piece from last week… Self Care During Solo Isolation

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

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

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. 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 7 Secrets to Keeping Your Mindfulness Practice Alive Through Lockdown appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Truthful and meaningful connection with your family can be encouraged and built in a number of ways, but perhaps none more so than through the activities that fill your family leisure time. Enjoying engaging activities together is a sure-fire way to build positive connections, treasured memories and to look after your collective wellness.

At the time of writing this piece, the UK is in full lockdown, so yes, these activities come from a place of keeping you and your family sane whilst living without the ability to go outside very much. That being said, these are amazing activates for family connection and mindfulness, whatever the national situation!

1. Family Cook

Not only is food essential to life, but I think for most people it is at the centre of the home. This kitchen is always where people congregate in my family home, and so it makes sense that spending time in here, making food together, is a fantastic way to connect. Food has an amazing ability to create memories; a source of comfort, nostalgia, excitement, nourishment (for body and soul) and wellness.

Create food together. It could be as simple as baking a loaf of bread or creating an entire feast. Preparing food together offers a fun and engaging way to encourage communication and teamwork. It is also something that gives you results in a relatively short amount of time… fantastic for those kids whose attention spans or energetic impulses might not manage a lengthy plight!

2. Garden Time

Gardens are full of joyous opportunity. Not only is the garden a wonderful place for activity, but it has bucket-loads of potential for projects! Yes indeed, TV, computers, consoles and tablets have their place in family entertainment; but the garden offers a place that is naturally pointed away from modern entertainments.

Why not organise an assault course in your garden? Maybe build a den? These are activities that take hours… even days. And more often than not, they are just as enjoyable for the adults as for the kids. Or perhaps a growing project is more favourable? Build some raised beds, pick some fruit, plant some vegetables. When it comes to the garden, the options for family connectedness and creativity are many.

3. Art Hour

Art projects are also a wonderful way to pass family time; tactile, imaginative, creative and, more often than not, messy! Your art time can take any form. Perhaps you favour a free for all; a table full of paint, glitter, glue, paper, stickers to get stuck into. Or perhaps you prefer a more focussed project? Create a cool superhero. Draw a map of an imaginary island. Build a rocket from household junk. Paint a picture of your favourite place. The possibilities are endless. Get connected through creativity.

4. Competition!

There’s nothing like a bit of light hearted competition to bring a family together! Little competitions bring joy, excitement, focus and learning. Here are a few suggestions…

Handstand Competition – Who will last the longest?

Family Quiz – Put it together like a pub quiz! A fun thing to both write and take part in.

Dance Contest – Ever remember making up performances for your parents when you were a kid? Why not introduce this to your family. Another brilliant way to spend a significant amount of time engaging with imagination and creativity.

5. Tidy Party

If you are stuck in the house with a whole family, one thing is for certain, things can get a little cluttered. For the wellness of both your body and sanity, why not make tidy up time fun! Whack on your favourite music, grab everyone’s favourite drink and make tidy up time an enjoyable and ultimately satisfying experience.

6. Movie Night

If you are going to snuggle in with the ones you love, why not go the whole hog? Get the popcorn going, shut the curtains, gather your cosiest and softest blankets and really enjoy a nest of comfort with your nearest and dearest human beings. Movies are magical; a source for great nostalgia for so many of us… why not create a home experience to match?

By Chris Thomson

Family is the source of a great many wonderful things. One of the greatest of these, is the wisdom of children: Lessons on Kindness from Children

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

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

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. 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 6 Mindful and Creative Activities for the Whole Family appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Empathy is a pillar of conscious communication. Yes, some people are naturally more empathetic than others, but it is not confined to the realms of natural ability. Empathy can be learned and developed by anyone with the will to do so.

Having empathy is so much more than simply caring for another. Expressing empathy and understanding is the key to building relationships, supporting friends and colleagues, trust, healing and even productivity. A work, or indeed home environment where people feel safe to express their worries and woes is a place that encourages healthy wellbeing and support systems.

Even if you are empathetic as a person, which I consider myself to be so, there are still times when you will fall short of this. Being generally empathetic is different to being consciously empathetic. Choosing to be constructively caring and open in a focused and conscious way is very important, and generally quite easy to do. Here are some examples of how to manifest empathy in a focused way…

1. Listen with Intent

Often we hear but don’t listen. One of the most important things when demonstrating conscious empathy is to listen really well. This means to listen without letting your mind wander to what you feel your response should be. How often do we drift off half way through somebody else’s sentence because we are now waiting for an opportunity to jump in with our opinions?

Also, when you listen with intent, you are showing the other person that you are fully investing your attention with them. And when you reply, do not be afraid of taking a moment to gather your thoughts in order to respond carefully and usefully.

2. Consider More Than Their Words

Look for other forms of communication. This is especially important with vulnerable people, or with people you do not know so well. What does their body language say? Do they seem to feel comfortable talking to you? If they don’t spear to be so, is there something you can do to help? Offering a drink or a seat, for example. Try and notice the whole person, not just the content of their words.

3. Other People’s Shoes

Sometimes one of the most difficult things about empathy is not agreeing fully with the views or decisions of the other person. Sometimes your opposition is unavoidable, but in many cases, putting yourself in their shoes helps you to understand their plight a little better. Always try your best to see where they are coming from.

4. Invitation

Invite the other person in. This can be done through the simplest of gestures; a smile. A smile says, ‘you are safe’, ‘I am comfortable with this situation’ and ‘you can trust me’. Do not underestimate the power of a smile and an open face. Appearing to be relaxed and understanding is also a simple way to gain trust and offer a safe space for the other person to get something off their chest, without judgement.

5. Advise Without Instructing

If somebody comes to you asking for guidance, it is easy to simplify your answer; ‘why don’t you just do this?’ It is important, when advising with empathy, not to judge and not to deal in absolutes. To be empathetic we can sympathise with others, and tell them what we think might be a helpful path. But the most empowering and useful path to set them on is one that they come to themselves. Do your best to guide them to a place where they find the answers based on their own decision making and their unique experience.

6. You Don’t Have to Fix It!

If someone needs to offload on you, very often, that is all that they need. Do not feel that you must always have the answer for them, because you may not have it. Indeed, always needing to fix things may lead to you giving poor advice. Just be there for them without feeling the need to close the case!

By Chris Thomson

Going to someone to offload in a time of stress is a great way to avoid burnout. Here are a few other tips on how to avoid such a thing: Workplace Resilience: How to Avoid Burnout

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

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

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. 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 Conscious Ways to Develop Empathy appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Remember this: YOU are the awareness of this chatter. The chatter is NOT you. So observe it. Remark to yourself, ‘This chatter is quite a peculiar happening. It is coasting along without me. I will sit calmly here and watch it, and see where it goes.’

The one thing not to do here is to give any energy to any particular thought that travels through. Simply let them come and go. Know that if there was a useful reminder about something important that it will still be available to you in 5 minutes time when you come out of your practice.

With repetition of this exercise and time, the chatter will give way to growing periods of silence or stillness as the mind releases its grip on the internal window and gains confidence to be without content for longer periods. This silence is intensely nourishing for the soul. Meditating for 10 minutes where 9 minutes are spent watching the chatter and 1 minute is spent witnessing the silence is a great achievement.

Even if you don’t find silence on your first attempts (and you probably will not) acknowledge your commitment and your intention. Keep the attitude clean and positive. Every time you are sitting down to practice, you are closer to finding the silence. Every step is crucial for the journey.

With practice, persistence, forgiveness and non-judgement, you will develop your ability to reach the point of silence or emptiness and maintain it for a few minutes. You have now become the neutral witness of your thoughts. You have learned through experience that you and your thoughts are separate. You now know yourself to be the awareness in which thought arises.

This is a huge lesson. It changes everything.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

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

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. 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 The Conscious Guide to Quitening Your Mind appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

According to Fred Kofman, author of ‘Conscious Business, How to Build Value Through Values’:

“A conscious business seeks to promote the intelligent pursuit of happiness in all its stakeholders. It produces sustainable exceptional performance through the solidarity of its community and the dignity of each member.”

A conscious business therefore has a firm eye on the holy grail of employee happiness. This can only be achieved by fostering a supportive corporate culture and through respect and attention being paid to professional wellbeing and the holistic needs of workers. In the conscious model, staff must be seen as whole human beings rather than cogs in the machine…and as we all know, happier employees perform better and are more productive.

2. Resourceful and Better Equipped for Change

The conscious business movement challenges firms to align the output, structure and culture of the firm with the values of the leadership and the individuals who devote their time and energy working within it. Instead of demanding performance at any human cost, conscious businesses develop and nurture conscious professionals who share the corporate vision and feel aligned with its goals and nurtured by its values. In this way, authentic excellence is generated within staff and loyalty to the firm is enhanced.

A further outcome of this shift is that the integrity of the firm itself is strengthened. It is better resourced with professionals who are committed to alignment and success and therefore it copes better with market challenges and change.

3. Comprised of the Best Recruits

It stands to reason that the best firms must demand the best people but you know that it is the best candidates that end up with all the choice.

Recruits from generation Z represent our most conscious intake to date. They will be expecting a values-driven approach to doing business, where focus on profit is balanced by a focus on planet and people. Whilst they will be expecting to work hard they will also expect their employers to train and develop them as a whole human being.

Firms that have taken the conscious route have therefore embraced a powerful recruitment differentiator which will enable them to entice the cream of the crop.

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

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

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. 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 3 Characteristics of a Conscious Business appeared first on The Conscious Professional.