Overdoing it at the weekend and feeling overtired at the start of the week has left me pondering the balance between activity and rest. In the modern world, we focus so much on the doing and can view non doing as laziness, but that is counterproductive, as we will find out…

As I discovered, doing too much leaves us feeling tired, but doing too little can leave us feeling low in energy in a different way, sluggish, flat, ineffective. The sweet spot between doing too much and too little will vary from person to person and from day to day, so really tune in to how your body and mind feel moment to moment. Most of us are more prone to doing too much than too little, so plan rest into each day as well as activity, and enough of it for your level of activity. 

As John Munro explains so beautifully in Between Heaven and Earth “True health and wellbeing comes not just from rest, and not just from activity, but from alternating between these in healthy ways. We see this natural pattern throughout the universe. The alternating between day and night. The movement of the seasons from summer to winter and back to summer again. The coming and going out of the tide. Everything in nature alternates between activity and rest, full and empty, yin and yang.”

Meditating the other day, I had a sense of how I feel on holiday, and it made me realise how we can forget how it feels to be properly rested and relaxed, at our best. It would be good to feel like that all day every day, but realistically even a taste of that sense of deep wellbeing every day would be good. What could you do to make that happen? Go to bed earlier? Meditate? Have a hot bath? Make time to read or be creative?

Rest can be a fairly passive activity like sitting down in front of the TV or reading a book, or it can be a more active one, but still relaxing, like the creative process of cooking, gardening, art, crafts, writing or music. For an athlete, a rest week would be a lower intensity and/or volume of training, not complete rest. You could say that play is a form of rest, from work at least.

True rest, though, is about allowing the brain to be still as well as the body, which requires meditation or sleep. Most of us struggle to switch off our thoughts completely, but the act of turning the focus inward during meditation and away from external stimuli can give the mind some rest. To help settle my mind, I visualise a calm lake and imagine my mind as flat and still as the surface of the water. To help relax my body, I imagine floating on the surface of the water, fully supported. It is amazing how my breath responds to that by slowing and softening to almost nothing. Play with it and find what form of meditation works best for you; there are so many to choose from and plenty of guided practices online to start with. As the old Zen saying goes: "You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you're too busy, then you should sit for an hour."

Prioritising sleep rather than viewing it as a nice to have (or worse a weakness) will pay dividends in productivity as well as in mental and physical health in both the short-term and long-term. In Essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less, Greg McKeown summarises that “In a nutshell, sleep is what allows us to operate at our highest level of contribution so that we can achieve more, in less time.” And, I would add, it allows us to enjoy the process more too. I talk more about optimising sleep quality and quantity in my post The Does and Don’ts for a Good Night’s Sleep.

I will leave you with a quote from the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu:

We join spokes in a wheel,

but it is the centre hole

that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,

but it is the emptiness inside

that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,

but it is the inner space

that makes it livable.

We work with being,

but non-being is what we use.

Writing regularly in a journal has a surprising number of potential benefits, including: venting negative emotions, boosting positive emotions, reframing a bad day or experience, providing personal insights and inspiring creativity. It was learning more about the power of journalling during my training in wellbeing coaching and supporting clients on their recovery from chronic exhaustive conditions that inspired me to start a regular journalling practice. I have found that I feel much calmer for it and when the habit has slipped occasionally I have noticed a sense of dis-ease creeping back in, which has then motivated me to get back to it!

You may think that writing about negative feelings could make you feel worse, but studies have found that people who regularly write about their thoughts and feelings have better mental health than those who do not. To help you express yourself as fully as possible, keep your journal somewhere private so that you don’t worry about anyone else reading it. It is for your eyes only. You may choose never to re-read what you have written or you may wish to keep your journals to refer back to. It is up to you. I like to record the key learning points from each completed journal.

There is no right or wrong way to journal. Find what works best for your needs. It very much depends on what you want to get out of it. If you can, though, find a quiet place for your journalling and schedule 15-30 minutes every day for it. It is best to write your journal by hand, but typing it or recording it as audio are other options if you prefer. 

Lauren Ostrowski Fenton, who is a counsellor, life coach and meditation teacher, describes journalling as a tool to learn about your authentic self. (I can recommend her guided sleep meditations on Spotify by the way!) Journalling prompts that Lauren suggests are to describe the day, then talk about:

• What are your goals and how are they going?

• What gives you joy or what are you grateful for?

• How did you care for your body today?

• How did you care for your soul today?

• What boundary have you set for yourself/what did you say no to?

• What negative self talk has come up and how have you reframed it?

• What did you learn today?

• I am [fill in the blank] today.

In The Stress Solution, one of the tips that Rangan Chatterjee gives for reframing a negative experience is: “Write down the experience. When we write, we tend to automatically adopt a more rational and distant viewpoint. We’re able to give the situation context and clarity in a way that we can't when we replay it over and over in our head. And when we write, we tend to be kinder to ourselves.”

In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron recommends journalling as a tool for boosting creativity. If that is your aim, she advises writing first thing in the morning “Three pages of whatever crosses your mind…. If you can’t think of anything to write, then write, ‘I can’t think of anything to write…’” The idea is that it gets you to the other side of what is blocking your creativity. These ‘morning pages’ as Julia calls them are simply a brain dump, they are not meant to be big or clever.

I hope this has inspired you to give journalling a go or to pick it up again if your regular practice has lapsed. If making the time for it is a barrier for you, try starting with just 5 minutes a day, perhaps listing the three things that you were most grateful for that day and see where that takes you…

The subject of managing the barrage of information fired at us from our devices was one that came up in a discussion with a friend recently while we were out on a walk and it keeps coming up in my mind, so I thought it would be a good one to explore here. The internet also happens to be the theme of Men's Health Week (12th-18th June 2023) this year. I will start by looking at some of the negative impacts of information technology (IT) on health & wellbeing and finish with ideas for maintaining a healthy relationship with it.

Our devices can have many adverse impacts on our health and wellbeing, including mental health, productivity, relationships and sleep. Frequent checking of social media feeds and the internet can cause anxiety by shifting our focus from the task in hand and overwhelming us with information. As anxiety expert Wendy Suzuki says,“ We are surrounded by too much information to filter and too much stimulation to relax.” Comparing ourselves unfavourably with those we see online can lead to low self esteem, and over exposure to negative messaging can cause or aggravate depression.

Rangan Chatterjee makes a sobering observation in The Stress Solution “...Dan Nixon, a senior executive at the bank of England, went public recently, saying he was worried that digital disruptions were having a significant impact on our productivity… Studies confirm that when we complete a task but are distracted while doing it we perform it with an IQ that is ten points lower than if we had performed it without distractions. That loss of IQ is the same as the loss from missing a night’s sleep. Without phones at our sides we are going through our entire lives less intelligently than we might be.”

Studies have shown that just having a phone at a dining table even if you are not using it, can negatively impact the quality of the social interaction over a meal. That is why some restaurants are now offering a 10% discount to customers who stow their phones in a designated holder for the duration of their visit.

IT can negatively impact sleep in two ways: blue light exposure in the evening and mental stimulation. As Sachin Panda explains in The Circadian Code, “Staring at most screens at mid- to high brightness introduces more blue light to our retina and brain. The blue wavelengths - which are beneficial during daylight hours because they boost attention, reaction times, and mood - seem to be the most disruptive at night. Exposure to them reduces melatonin production and suppresses sleep.” Scrolling social media before bed can expose you to more than blue light, seeing or reading something that sets your mind racing is not conducive to a good night’s sleep either.

Ten tips for maintaining a healthy relationship with information technology:

1. Track your non-work IT usage over a week so that you have an accurate picture of how long you are spending online.
2. Be selective about what people or groups you follow to avoid overwhelm and to make your online experience a positive one.
3. Schedule set blocks of time in the day to check feeds and surf the net so that it is a proactive task instead of a reactive habit. If you find that you tend to over run the allocated time, set a timer to remind you to stop.
4. Leave your phone behind when you go for a walk so that you can mindfully focus your five senses on what is around you and make the most of the time outdoors. If you really want it with you, put it out of sight in a bag or pocket, preferably on silent.
5. Try to have at least one day a week when you don’t use IT other than to speak on the phone with friends and family or to message someone that you are meeting up with that day if you need to update them on timings or location.
6. And how about a tech-free holiday when you leave all IT behind (or at least out of sight) for a weekend break or longer trip? You can even find accommodation geared to support you in that, for example Unplugged.
7. Give whoever you are interacting with your undivided attention and avoid checking your phone.
8. Have phones out of sight and so out of mind at meal times if you value the experience of sharing a meal with others.
9. Set your devices to night time mode after 6pm to minimise your exposure to blue light at the end of the day and so to optimise the quality of your sleep.
10. Set a watershed time in the evening an hour or two before you go to bed when you turn off all devices to avoid the stimulation spoiling your slumber.

I hope this post will help you to navigate a safe passage through the sea of information and distractions out there. Do let me know if you have any other strategies that work for you, I would love to know.

Mental Health Awareness week is in May, so this post is about using mindfulness to move out of your head space and become more aware of your body. The best way to do that is a body scan.

A body scan can be performed standing, seated or lying down, but I would recommend lying down as that is most restful. This version can be particularly helpful for releasing tension (which you may or may not be aware of) from the body, which can help calm the mind and the breath, as body, mind and breath are all connected and influence each other.

Scan slowly through your body, top to toe, saying the following (or similar) silently to yourself:

• Scalp relaxed

• Forehead smooth

• Eyes heavy in their sockets

• Third eye (the space between the eyebrows) open

• Cheeks softening over the cheek bones

• Throat soft

• Neck relaxed

• Shoulders heavy on the support of [what you are lying on]

• Arms heavy and relaxed

• Hands and fingers relaxed

• Chest and abdomen relaxed so that the breath can move freely

• Back of the body sinking heavily into the support of [what you are lying on]

• Pelvis relaxed, let go

• Legs heavy and relaxed

• Feet and toes relaxed

• Whole body relaxed

• Soften

• Melt

• Let go…

If you drift off to sleep, don’t worry, just acknowledge it and accept that you probably needed the sleep. At least you had focussed in and relaxed enough to get to that point.

As well as being an excellent daily meditation practice, the body scan is a lovely way to revive yourself if you are feeling jaded in the day. Even 5 or 10 minutes can be beneficial, but aim for 20 minutes or more if you can. Set a timer for however long you intend to meditate so that you are not distracted by thoughts about the time. The body scan can also be used to help you to settle if you are struggling to sleep at night. I hope that you can give it a try and enjoy it!

My previous post was about optimising health and wellbeing by bringing the outdoors in with biophilic interior design, but now feels a good time to start looking outward once more. As I write, in February, it is definitely feeling more spring-like, with longer, brighter days and real warmth in the sunshine. I can see why 1st February is the Celtic start of spring, Imbolc, and I am sure I am not the only one whose thoughts are turning to the garden again. I wanted to share something that has helped me to get so much more out of gardening and being in the garden: gardening for wildlife. It is something that you and your local wildlife can benefit from whether your green space is a window box, a balcony, a courtyard or a garden of any size. Pick what ideas will work for you and the space that you have available. “Wildlife needs four things – food, water, shelter and a place to breed. By providing these things you will bring your garden to life,” Wildlife Trust.

Food

Butterflies, Bees and Other Insects

To attract butterflies to your space from spring to autumn, choose nectar-rich plants like primrose, aubretia and sweet rocket for early in the season; lavender, catmint, thyme, heliotrope, red valerian, hebe, buddleia and knapweed for the summer; and Michaelmas daisy, sweet scabious and hyssop for the autumn. You can buy seed bombs suitable for butterflies or bees, which can be sown into pots or flower beds. Creating a meadow by mowing an area of lawn less frequently (try a 'No Mow May') or creating one from scratch by sowing a suitable seed mix will benefit all sorts of insects. Boston Seeds is a good supplier of wildflower seeds and plants. 

Birds

You can plant for birds too. Goldfinches love the seedheads of the dandelion family and teasle seeds. Black caps will drink nectar from mahonia over the winter when insects are in short supply, and of course the thrush family (including blackbirds, redwings and fieldfares) especially love berries like holly, hawthorn, pyracantha and ivy if you have room for shrubs, hedges or trees.

Water

Water is as important as food to wildlife, so providing it in your space will make it more attractive to them, whether that is as simple as a saucer of water or more involved like a bird bath or pond. I love watching insects drinking from the bird bath in our garden in the summer as much as I do seeing the birds using it year round.

Shelter

Nest Boxes

As the ever-increasing volume of the dawn chorus suggests, the birds are starting to think about nest building, and some early nesters will already have started. Although autumn and winter are the ideal time to put up nest boxes so that the local birds can suss them out before the breeding season, you may well be pleasantly surprised if you provide one early in the season. Check out the RSPB's Ultimate Guide to Nest Boxes for all the inspiration you will need! Be sure to check nest boxes in the autumn or winter and to clean them out with hot soapy water if they have been used so that they are ready for new tenants to move in.

Insect Hotels

Insects are becoming more active by February and it won’t be long before they are looking for nesting places too, so an insect hotel might be worth considering for the right spot. I had the thrill of seeing different species of solitary bees move in when I put one up in a little meadow area last summer. As well as attracting insects, an insect hotel can be an aesthetically pleasing feature for us to look at too! CJ Wildlife supply all sorts of products for wildlife gardening, including insect hotels. A simple, undisturbed pile of logs or some upturned plant pots can also provide valuable shelter for insects year round.

Hedgehog Homes

For later in the year, how about providing a shelter for a hedgehog to hibernate in if you are lucky enough to have them visiting your space. That could be as simple as a compost heap or a pile of leaves or logs, or as elaborate as a purpose-built hibernaculum. The Hedgehog Street website has plenty of advice on all things hedgehog.

Bat Boxes

If you noticed bats flying over your property in the summer, they might appreciate a bat box or two or three situated high up on a tree or wall as a roosting site. The Bat Conservation Trust has comprehensive advice on their website on choosing and positioning bat boxes.

Ponds

If you have the space, a pond can be a valuable garden feature for wildlife. It doesn’t need to be huge, even a mini pond will provide a home, food and water for wildlife. The Wildlife Trust website has plenty of advice about creating a wildlife pond. Inspired by that, I had fun last year converting some old metal tubs that had been discarded in a garden shed into mini ponds!

Access

Last, but not least, consider how wildlife can access your garden. “One of the main reasons hedgehogs are struggling in Britain is because our fences and walls are becoming more and more secure, reducing the amount of land available to them,” Hedgehog Street have plenty of advice on making your garden accessible for hedgehogs on their website here. We have agreed with a neighbour to leave a gap in our boundary fence to allow hedgehogs, foxes and deer to move freely between our gardens.

I hope that you have found something here to inspire you to attract wildlife to your green space for the sake of your own health and wellbeing as well as theirs. Happy gardening!