The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 21st May, 2018 – Surrender to What Is

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 21st May, 2018 – Surrender to What Is

Dear Positive Habit People,

I hope as you read this you are fully present and give it your full attention.

“The secret of health for both body and mind is not to mourn the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live wisely and earnestly for the present.”

These are not my words, they are the Buddha’s but a lot of The Positive Habit online program focus on the ability to be present.

I am currently doing a series of free videos on mindfulness as part of my Positive Habit weekly video content and I encourage you to follow them for the coming weeks as they will form the central part of this blog. In this week’s video I look at  how mindfulness can lead to happiness even if it is not so easy for us to actually be mindful. I also touch on why being present is the springboard to self-generating positive emotions and how to cope with moments when we are challenged. In short, we need to learn to surrender to what is on our pathway to enlightenment.

Please do, as always, send me your feedback and questions; I am always happy to engage. 

I’m happy to report that these videos are really helping people so please do share with anyone you feel may benefit from some extra love and care.

The Positive Habit – Anxiety-Free, Stress-Free – Week 16
Surrender to What Is

Relax NOW Naturally: Easy Practices That Bring You Sanity, Calm and Less Stress in Minutes.

Relaxing the mind and body and finding true peace of mind as well as calmness in our hearts is so important for healing.

I’m participating in this and I’m excited to be able to invite you to join me and 20 other experts from all over the world for FREE!

In these interviews, you will:

 Breath easily & feel yourself relax immediately
 Be taken on a guided meditation
 Use 5 Steps every day for inner focusing
 Only you can say I AM
 Speak like a Buddha

And much, much more…..

Just click here to claim your FREE spot in Relax NOW Naturally!

surrender to what is

Social Anxiety affects 16.8% of Irish people. Social media is a place where people judge and compare themselves to others.

The Positive Habit self-therapy program builds true inner confidence and helps people to feel calm in any social situation whether at work or with friends.

This program helps people to face the world, both virtual and physical, with true self-belief. It costs €99.95 – a small investment in time and money given the true benefits it delivers.

Please take the Anxiety Test

To register for a 30-day, risk free, trial please click below. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee – 6 Months Access.

If you are in financial difficulties then please consider the bursary scheme. Our goal to help as many people as we can to feel calm,confident and in control.

Register Now!

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 14th May, 2018 – Darkness into Light

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 14th May, 2018 – Darkness into Light

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 

Albert Einstein

Dear Positive Habit People,

I hope this email finds you well and happy.

On Saturday last over 200,000 people across Ireland and the world took part in the Pieta House “Darkness into the Light” 5k run/walk.  If you were one of these people, well done! The work Pieta house do for families affected by suicide and self-harm is so important that my heart lifted to see so many people take part.  My 10-year-old son, Luca was the first child to finish in our local event and I was so proud of him not just for his fitness levels but more for his desire to help those who suffer from severe mental health issues.

I believe we all have a duty to educate society and particularly our young people on the issue of mental health. Young people are among the most vulnerable and Ireland has the fourth highest rate of teenage suicide in the EU. The teenage years are a vulnerable time even for those with good mental health but if a young person suffers from depression or anxiety they are in a very high-risk group. On a neuroscientific level, the pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for emotional intelligence and reasoning, isn’t fully developed until we reach the age of 25. In the teenage brain the connections between the emotional part of the brain and the decision-making centre are still developing but not necessarily at the same rate. That’s why when teenagers experience overwhelming emotions they often find it difficult to later express what they were thinking. The truth often is that they weren’t thinking as much as they were feeling. The problem with this is that when we feel too many negative emotions we will do anything we can to escape them.

On Saturday morning I came across a Tweet Bressie had posted of an interview on Today FM about a young girl, Milly Toumey, who at only 11 years old took her own life. This interview is heartbreaking to watch but the message of hope from Fiona, her mother, is one worth spreading. This harrowing interview also highlights that as a society we urgently need changes to the mental health system to be able to access the necessary services to help people before it is too late.

You can listen to the interview with Fiona Toumey here. I recommend you watch it – it is hard but really worth it.

Helping young people to release their feelings in a positive way is essential so take the opportunity to reach out and help in any way you can.

Please watch my latest video: “The Positive Habit, Stress-Free, Anxiety-Free – Week Fifteen – The Ark Technique for dealing with negative thoughts and anxiety. K is for Kindness.”

I’m happy to report that these videos are really helping people so please do share with anyone you feel may benefit from some extra love and care.

The Positive Habit – Anxiety-Free, Stress-Free – Week 15
The Ark Technique for dealing with negative thoughts and anxiety

darkness into light

Relax NOW Naturally: Easy Practices That Bring You Sanity, Calm and Less Stress in Minutes.

Relaxing the mind and body and finding true peace of mind as well as calmness in our hearts is so important for healing.

I’m participating in this and I’m excited to be able to invite you to join me and 20 other experts from all over the world for FREE!

In these interviews, you will:

 Breath easily & feel yourself relax immediately
 Be taken on a guided meditation
 Use 5 Steps every day for inner focusing
 Only you can say I AM
 Speak like a Buddha

And much, much more…..

Just click here to claim your FREE spot in Relax NOW Naturally!

darkness into light

Social Anxiety affects 16.8% of Irish people. Social media is a place where people judge and compare themselves to others.

The Positive Habit self-therapy program builds true inner confidence and helps people to feel calm in any social situation whether at work or with friends.

This program helps people to face the world, both virtual and physical, with true self-belief. It costs €99.95 – a small investment in time and money given the true benefits it delivers.

Please take the Anxiety Test

To register for a 30-day, risk free, trial please click below. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee – 6 Months Access.

If you are in financial difficulties then please consider the bursary scheme. Our goal to help as many people as we can to feel calm,confident and in control.

Register Now!

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 7th May, 2018 – a Walk Under the Blossom Trees

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 7th May, 2018 – a Walk Under the Blossom Trees

Dear Positive Habit People,

Happy bank holiday and I hope you are getting a chance to enjoy the glorious weather.

Last Thursday, having brought my son and his pals to the park and given that the weather was lovely, I decided to take a mindful walk under the many blossom trees. I gazed in awe at the beautiful cherry blossom which takes only one week to fully blossom after which it starts to shed and lasts only a few short weeks. Such beauty seems even more precious given its short life span.

As I walked, soaking in as much of the beauty as I could, I came across a young man, probably in his early twenties, poised at the side of the lake, shoes off, sitting underneath one of the magical trees, sitting upright with his legs crossed and deep in meditation. I could feel his calming energy radiate towards me so I decided to sit on a bench behind him and savour some peaceful moments for myself. As I opened my eyes a gentle gust of wind caused the tree to shed so many beautiful petals and my little buddha friend became surrounded by the gentle fall of pink and white leaves like confetti at a wedding. I spent the rest of the day radiating serenity although the best people to validate that are probably my family!

Today or one day this week, take a cherry blossom walk, appreciate and soak in their beauty while you can. Indeed your life is like the cherry blossom; it is precious and wonderful and in order to appreciate it you need to stop, take a moment and soak in all that you bring to the world.

Please watch my latest video: “The Positive Habit, Stress-Free, Anxiety-Free, Week Fourteen – The Ark Technique for dealing with negative thoughts and anxiety.” R is for Release

I’m happy to report that these videos are really helping people so please do share with anyone you feel may benefit from some extra love and care.

The Positive Habit – Anxiety-Free, Stress-Free – Week 14

“The Ark Technique for dealing with negative thoughts and anxiety.”

walk under the blossom trees

Social Anxiety affects 16.8% of Irish people. Social media is a place where people judge and compare themselves to others.

The Positive Habit self-therapy program builds true inner confidence and helps people to feel calm in any social situation whether at work or with friends.

This program helps people to face the world, both virtual and physical, with true self-belief. It costs €99.95 – a small investment in time and money given the true benefits it delivers.

Please take the Anxiety Test

To register for a 30-day, risk free, trial please click below. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee – 6 Months Access.

If you are in financial difficulties then please consider the bursary scheme. Our goal to help as many people as we can to feel calm,confident and in control.

Register Now!

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 30th April, 2018 – the Story of Things

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The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 30th April, 2018 – the Story of Things

Dear Positive Habit People,

During the week I was in the bedroom of the 12-year-old daughter of one of my very good friends and I noticed these tiny dolls clothes that had been framed into three lovely pictures that hung on the wall.  When I asked my friend about their origin, she told me that her grandmother had made them for her dolls when she was a little girl. She had always treasured them and wanted her daughter to do the same, so for posterity, she framed them. Many years ago my mother did a similar thing and made me a toy dog from patches of old dresses she had made and no longer wore. Every time she looked at the toy dog she was reminded of the dresses and all of the memories associated with them.

I just love this, it is so ‘hygee‘, a Danish word that has no exact translation in English. This brings me to, ‘The Little Book of Hygee – The Danish way to Live Well,’ a book I have been dipping in and out of all week and can highly recommend as a way of injecting some simple, positive vibes into your life. One of hygee’s main principles is to connect with friends in an informal way, finding cosy spots in your life to enjoy the comforts of a warm blanket, a cup of tea and a good old natter.

The hygee manifesto, as outlined in the picture above, sums up both my friend’s lovely dolls’ clothes and my mum’s patchwork dog; both have a story to tell of loved ones and memories and remind us of what is truly important in life – the people we love and their stories.

“Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience,” Wiking, the author explains, “it is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe.”

You know hygge when you feel it.

Have a lovely week and remember to spread some ‘hygge” by sharing this blog post.

Please watch my latest video: “The Positive Habit, Stress-Free, Anxiety-Free, Week Thirteen – The Ark Technique for dealing with negative thoughts and anxiety.”

I’m happy to report that these videos are really helping people so please do share with anyone you feel may benefit from some extra love and care.

The Positive Habit – Anxiety-Free, Stress-Free – Week 13

 

“The Ark Technique for dealing with negative thoughts and anxiety.”

The story of things

Social Anxiety affects 16.8% of Irish people. Social media is a place where people judge and compare themselves to others.

The Positive Habit self-therapy program builds true inner confidence and helps people to feel calm in any social situation whether at work or with friends.

This program helps people to face the world, both virtual and physical, with true self-belief. It takes 66 days and costs €99.95 – a small investment in time and money given the true benefits it delivers.

Please take the Anxiety Test

To register for a 30-day, risk free, trial please click below. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee – 6 Months Access.

If you are in financial difficulties then please consider the bursary scheme. Our goal to help as many people as we can to feel calm,confident and in control.

Register Now!

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 23rd April, 2018 – Sunshine

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The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 23rd April, 2018 – Sunshine

Dear Positive Habit People,

On Thursday afternoon, I cycled through St Stephen’s Green in central Dublin and could feel a tangible joy in the air; people were smiling, laughing and full of life. The citizens of Dublin were finally getting some all-important vitamin D! People were stretched out everywhere and literally soaking up the sun in as if they had never seen it before.

It has been a long winter, I don’t think anyone would argue with that.  It’s not long ago our country came to halt as it was inches deep in snow and ice. It would appear that climate change has made the weather more unpredictable now than ever.  If you compare the weather to your moods you will see that they also change, sometimes dramatically and at other times less so.

Amongst other things, developing the positive habit is about finding and maintaining your “inner sunshine” and not that which is dependent on external circumstances. The sun certainly makes everything easier; people emerge from hibernation and the world literally becomes brighter. However, it is important to remember that we need the power of contrast to be truly grateful for what we have. Think of work and rest, thirst and water, sun and snow!

If you have moments of sadness, anxiety or worry this week, give yourself time to let it pass and remember your inner sun which shines bright if you let it. The mpre compassionate you are to yourself in dealing with negative emotions the better you will deal with them and your sun will truly shine.

Have a lovely week and remember to spread some positive sunshine to anyone you can by sharing this blog post.

Please watch my latest video: “The Positive Habit, Stress-Free, Anxiety-Free, Week Twelve  “Turn Your Inner Critic into Your Inner Companion.”

I’m happy to report that these videos are really helping people so please do share with anyone you feel may benefit from some extra love, care and sunshine.

If you missed my regular slot  on ‘Mind Yourself Now’ with the uber positive Dermot & Dave (Today FM) last Monday you can hear the podcast here.

The Positive Habit – Anxiety-Free, Stress-Free – Week 12

“Turn Your Inner Critic Into Your Inner Companion”

sunshine
sunshine

Social Anxiety affects 16.8% of Irish people. Social media is a place where people judge and compare themselves to others.

The Positive Habit self-therapy program builds true inner confidence and helps people to feel calm in any social situation whether at work or with friends.

This program helps people to face the world, both virtual and physical, with true self-belief. It takes 66 days and costs €99.95 – a small investment in time and money given the true benefits it delivers.

Please take the Anxiety Test

To register for a 30-day, risk free, trial please click below. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee – 6 Months Access.

If you are in financial difficulties then please consider the bursary scheme. Our goal to help as many people as we can to feel calm,confident and in control.

Register Now!

The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 16th April, 2018 – Share Your Shame

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The Positive Habit Weekly Blog – 16th April, 2018 – Share Your Shame

Dear Positive Habit People,

I have a confession to make! When I was seven years old I stole two fancy erasers from a friend of my parents. I then carried the shame and guilt of this around for months until one day my Dad asked me what was bothering me and I confessed my ‘terrible’ crime with the drama of someone who has committed murder. I have never forgotten the relief I felt when he told me that it was okay, that many children steal small things and that I was not a ‘bad person’ because of it.

Shame, is something that we all experience on one level or another at some point in our lives. The sooner we get a handle on it the better because shame is toxic, erodes self-esteem and keeps us blocked and locked in a spiral of negativity.

Most of the actions about which we feel shame are not deserving of such a strong, negative emotion. Now, while I do believe in having healthy remorse for when we behave without compassion, many of us carry around shameful feelings unnecessarily for things that we have no need to feel shame over: the way a mother, father or child has behaved; if we don’t know the answer to a question; if we forget someone’s birthday; for not being a ‘perfect’ parent or not having a ‘perfect’ house. We can also feel shame for our social status, for not having children, for being single, for not being able to afford something and the list goes on and on.

This week I’ve been reading the bestselling book, ‘Daring Greatly’, by Brene Brown, a researcher and writer famous for her work on vulnerability and shame.  The book highlights how shame isolates us from others and prevents us form making authentic connections. Brown believes that the only way to deal with shame is to name it, to take it out of the dark and into the light and writes,

“If we share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.”

The very act of naming and speaking about shame kills it softly.

To return to my rubber-robbing incident, let’s make it clear that am not condoning stealing in any shape or form; if we do something wrong we should suffer the consequences. However, it must be recognised that we are human and make mistakes. In the words of my father, “the important thing is that we learn from them,”  which I agree is such a ‘parent’ thing to say and I now find myself echoing those very same words to my son!.

Reflect on your own life and see if you can recall a similar experience when you really felt shame. Did you open up to someone and if so did the shame pass?

The healing process of putting gratuitous shame where it belongs allows you to move with grace and goodness through your life.

Have a lovely week and remember to open your heart and mind to anyone you think may be experiencing shame. You can be the person who offers the empathy and love they need.

Please watch my latest video: “The Positive Habit, Stress-Free, Anxiety-Free, Week  Eleven,  “Self-Love is Selfless”

* Thanks for all the great feedback on the buzzing bee technique video last week and just to clarify, you need to put your thumbs into your ears as the idea is to block out any external noise.

I’m happy to report that these videos are really helping people so please do share with anyone you feel may benefit from some extra love and care.

I’ll be discussing social media anxiety on my regular, ‘Mind Yourself Now’ slot on The Dermot & Dave show (Today FM) this morning (Monday, 16th April) at 10.15.am so please tune in. If you miss it don’t worry – I’ll podcast it here next week.

The Positive Habit – Anxiety-Free, Stress-Free – Week 11

“Self-Love is Selfless.”

Share your shame
Share your shame

A big thanks to Professor Patrick Flood for inviting me to speak to his HR Masters students.

“Fiona Brennan is an outstanding speaker on the topic of positive well being as well as an acclaimed clinical hypnotherapist. She presented to a large group of HR managers at DCU (11th April, 2018) on the MSc in HR Strategy with great skill, humour and insight. I strongly recommend her for speaking and teaching engagements- if you need inspiration and empathy – Fiona will provide it!”

Share your shame

Social Anxiety affects 16.8% of Irish people. Social media is a place where people judge and compare themselves to others.

The Positive Habit self-therapy program builds true inner confidence and helps people to feel calm in any social situation whether at work or with friends.

This program helps people to face the world, both virtual and physical, with true self-belief. It takes 66 days and costs €99.95 – a small investment in time and money given the true benefits it delivers.

Please take the Anxiety Test

To register for a 30-day, risk free, trial please click below. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee – 6 Months Access.

If you are in financial difficulties then please consider the bursary scheme. Our goal to help as many people as we can to feel calm,confident and in control.

Register Now!