Stress is an everyday process your body is designed to flow in and out of, but that doesn’t mean it’s any more pleasant when it does show up! Learning to recognise your body’s unique nudges allows you to consciously (and compassionately) respond to what you’re feeling and rebalance rather than unconsciously reacting to your experience.

Anxiety is both physical and emotional, it is not only in your mind! Moving from feeling overwhelmed or unsettled to a grounded space can be challenging which is why it’s so important we learn to understand anxiety and how we can recognise and respond to it with compassion.

Journaling for me is a release; my thoughts become words on a page that are no longer swirling around in my head. Our thoughts cross the bridge into our bodies, reminding us that body-mind is one and the same. If you can learn to change your thoughts you can change how we are feeling, but first, you need to recognise how your thoughts are impacting your well-being.

Are there days when your mind simply won’t shut up?
Do you get stuck in your head and start to doubt yourself?
Are your thoughts often racing so much it’s hard to keep up?
The thoughts you have, especially self-critical ones, play havoc with your well-being changing how you breathe, and the way you behave and impacting your mood. Your breath gets faster, your chest feels tight and your stomach ends up in knots. These physical changes in your body are reactions to your thoughts…

Grounding has become a daily practice and one of the most important things I do to support myself when feeling flustered, anxious or overwhelmed, whether I am worried about an experience or an event in the future it is a simple practice self-care that works by bringing me back into the present and helping to reconnect to my body.

Let me tell you a story… About 5 years ago I started practising mindfulness, in a small way every day because I needed something to focus my mind on and help cultivate more positive thoughts. My internal chatter had become pretty challenging and it was hard to silence the negative self-talk especially at night, I was unhappy but didn’t think I had any justification for feeling the way I did.

My own lived experience of mental illness, grief and the challenges faced by those around me are the very reason I am here today doing the work I choose to do. I changed my whole career to create Big Love Movement although I didn’t realise I’d been shifting towards this change for a long time. Throughout my life I have felt anxious, depressed, disconnected and sometimes, very lost and alone. There have been tremendous highlights along the way, inspirational experiences and people to share it all with however it is the most challenging times that nudged me to create Big Love Movement.

Mindfulness supports you by helping you cope better with stress by drawing you back into the present, slowing things down and quietening the internal worry; the mind-chatter.

When you learn to slow things down, even for a short while, you’ll find you have more focus, what you’re focusing on will flow better and everything you do will get a little kickstart!

If you were managing to keep yourself calm and grounded while the rest of the world entered panic mode, by now you may be finding it all a little overwhelming. By ‘it’ I mean the anxiety, nervous energy, fear, and panic. To me it feels like smoke or fog that’s seeping in through the walls and into my thoughts no matter how hard I try to keep myself away from the hysteria.