So – this is a day late due to the interview with Dax Moy for the podcast running over.
And me being 15 minutes later due to not being able to get the microphone working 🙁
The third edition of the podcast is out officially on Monday, but I’m going to try and get it out on Facebook later today.
Join the group here if you’re not already in it.
We’re going to shift Dax up to Episode 4 in a week as the content was so awesome.
An hour of Dax’s genius would normally cost you £200 – so don’t miss out.
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Right then – Stress.
Members and long term readers will know we often talk about stress being one of the main factors in people gaining weight and struggling to lose it.
When we talk about stress, we don’t just mean what we often think of when we hear that term.
You know “fretting and worrying”.
Stress is any strain on our self.
It can me mental, but also physical, emotional, biological and environmental.
It’s anything that challenges the natural balance of our being – our ‘homeostasis’.
There are, very broadly speaking, two types of stress – Eustress and Distress.
Stress that enhances our function and performance (physical or mental, such as through effective exercise or challenging work ), can be considered eustress.
Persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation is referred to distress.
Difficulty at work and in our personal life that we can’t / don’t know how to deal with are a distress.
As are aches and pains and injuries.
And illness.
Bloatedness too.
Challenges to the senses (breathing, sight, vestibular system, spatial awareness, and proprioception in the order the body ‘prioritises’ them).
Generally, anything that affects that ‘homestasis’.
Most of these distresses will have a negative impact on the bodies balance of it’s essential hormones.
Chronically elevated Cortisol levels are a big one.
That’s the one that gives us that near constant low level of uneasiness type stress.
You know – can’t quite switch off and relax.
It takes us the whole first week of a holiday to properly chill out.
And it’s the one (particularly in conjunction with insulin) that causes us to store fat like there’s no tomorrow.
And makes us hard for us to shift it.
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So – what do we do about it I hear you ask?
I’m going to mention two things.
One is the ‘one toy in – one toy out’ concept.
It comes from a story I heard recently about two parents who let their kids have whatever toys they wanted (within reason), but on a one toy in, one toy out basis.
You want something new?
Then something else has to make room.
It’s the same with our lives as adults.
I don’t want to give you more and more stuff to do.
And to feel crap about when you can’t fit it in.
I bet you’ve got plenty on already.
So, going forward, any time you decide to do something new, remove something else from your life that takes the same amount of time / effort / money.
So you’re “net nil” as my accountant girlfriend often says.
Hey Al – do some work and stop reading these emails at work 😉
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And the first thing I’m going to ask you to do is to meditate.
Yup – meditate.
In western society we have a preconception that meditation involves sitting cross legged, in half lotus, finger and thumb together, humming softly to ourselves.
It doesn’t have to though.
And I’d personally say it shouldn’t.
As this approach puts most off.
Just take a certain amount of time in your day to make a conscious effort to empty your mind.
It’s hard to start with.
To try and think of nothing.
So start with 30 seconds, twice a day.
And build up as you get the hang of it.
You can do it anywhere.
At home – before or after a meal, or before you go to bed.
At work – just sit back into your chair, close your eyes for 30 seconds and try and clear your mind.
It’ll wander all over the place to start with.
And you’ll probably find it pretty boring.
But, like anything, you get the hand of it with practice.
When you can do 30 seconds comfortably, build up.
To a minute, then two.
All the times ‘taking one toy out’.
Removing something else to make time and energy.
A minute’s less TV or lunch break, etc.
I’ll cover more on this next week.
But I don’t want to give you too much now.
I’d need you to throw all your toys out 😉
Much loves,
Jon “Room for 5 toys in my life” Hall
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