Before we go any further, I can reassure you that this is not a blog about travelling on the London Underground.
The gap we are talking about is the one between your ears, your brain.
I was attending a Mind-that-Gap Personal Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing session organised by the Business in the Community.
And really the top and bottom of it is this: we should look after our brains in the same way we look after other parts of our body and other things going on in our lives.
As Neil, a fully trained counsellor, explained, we need a ‘care package’ for our brains.
The session focused on stress, thinking habits and coping tips.
Neil highlighted many behaviours that can make us feel overwhelmed and stressed – such as seeking perfection, ‘compare and despair’, catastrophising, future fretting, past ruminating and constantly pressing the emergency button triggering fight or flight.
“I must tidy the whole house before I sit down and have a rest.” That one resonated with me.
Here’s a few of the take-aways from the session:
- Set your own standards and benchmarks
- Don’t seek perfection – perfectly adequate is great!
- ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent’ (Eleanor Roosevelt)
- Make everyday activities a mindful experience
- You can still form new habits even as an adult – come off autopilot and change your thinking patterns
- Live in the moment – be more dog
If you really want to be more like a dog, I would recommend a book called Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis. It’s a novel about 15 dogs bestowed with human intelligence and the ability to talk. A fascinating read and I’m not even a huge dog lover.
Our thanks go to Business in the Community, The Prince’s Responsible Business Unit, which organised the Mind-that-Gap Personal Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing session.
Neil Sladen is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy – you can find him on LinkedIn.
Julie Hackett
Account Director
