It followed a survey of 2,000 workers which found that a quarter of them reported that their employer expected them to answer calls or emails outside of work hours. It made the news on Mental Health Day, but was also flagged in August when Ireland’s Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys announced that an interdepartmental group had been set up to explore the issue and make recommendations before the end of the year. You don’t have to wait for the

Resilience is not a trait that people either have or don’t have. It involves behaviours, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed in everyone. Resilience is about being adaptable. It’s about being flexible. It’s about recognizing that we’ve got strengths that perhaps we never knew we had until we have to use them. And like many things in life – the more we practise, the more we learn. You already have EVERYTHING you need within you to be resilient, you just nee

Quick explanation: Beta is when we are fully awake and alert and working.  Alpha waves occur during relaxation or hypnosis. Delta is when we are deeply asleep and not dreaming.  Theta waves occur when we are day-dreaming or engrossed in a manual task and unaware of time passing. This week I would like you to think back or keep a record for a couple of days, of how often you think your brain has had those different types of brainwaves, and how often you have stopped yourself f

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It has become so prevalent that the World Health Organization (WHO) added burnout to its International Classification of Diseases, IDC-11,  describing it as a syndrome “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed…” There are many ways to avoid or manage burnout, one proven tactic is to have a hobby that’s purely for leisure.  Nowadays w

Listening is sometimes called an art and a science.  (In fact, I counted once – coaches are trained to listen in 11 different ways!). It is really important for our mental health to actively listen sometimes because it encourages our brain to work the way it’s supposed to.  Listening tunes our brain to the patterns of our environment faster than any other sense, and paying special attention to sounds, the non-visual parts of our world, feeds everything from our intellectual p

‘Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted’ is a common expression to describe the futility of closing the gate too late. Did you know that there is a way to ‘close the gate’ of your mind – to be more focused, less distracted, better able to concentrate, and happier, every day? The latest video I’ve uploaded to The Resilience Hub explains in detail how to do it with a demo and the neuroscience behind it so that you will have a better understanding of how it works. If y

Researchers at Yale discovered something really interesting about the importance of temperatures in adults – and specifically how holding a hot or cold drink can affect behaviour and attitude. This is backed up by neuroscience and brain imagery, so it’s based on solid evidence. There is a new video this week in the ‘You Have What You Need‘ section of The Resilience Hub that explains this and how you can use this to your advantage to prepare for a difficult conversation at hom

This is the bridge network that connects the two hemispheres of your brain – the right creative side – and the left analytical side.  It integrates the motor, sensory and cognitive functions of your brain. Corpus Callosum is Latin for ‘Tough Body’ and that’s appropriate because it’s the largest connective pathway of our brain.  It’s even shaped like a letter ‘C’ – C for Corpus Callosum. It starts forming in the brain about 12 weeks after conception, although its development c

The Resilience Hub will find a brand new section in there today, called ‘You Have What You Need‘ This will be a collection of short videos explaining some aspect of your human physiology that’s in place already, that you may not know is there, that you can harness to build resilience and manage stress, and that you can use to your advantage. The beauty of this is that you don’t need to have a certain level of education or IQ.  You don’t need to be any particular personality t

Our negative self-talk is possibly the most disempowering aspect of our mind.  It’s an extension of our survival instinct, honed over millions of years of evolution. Our mind is always watching out for danger.  In today’s world actual life and death situations thankfully rarely occur, so when it can’t identify a danger easily, it looks harder. When it still can’t find anything to be properly scared of, it makes stuff up, exaggerates small things and remains on high alert beca

There are many reasons for this but one cause is the stress of working harder to finish up before our time off. We’re in a state of well-being when there is a gentle ebb and flow of hormones. Small amounts of stress are beneficial: – cortisol helps us to metabolise cholesterol – and adrenaline fights off cold viruses With small amounts our body bounces back easily. But, when we have excessive stress our body loses its balance and bounces back too far at first, and our immune

This week I posted a very short video on Facebook each day with one positive action you can take that day to spark more energy in yourself, your business and your leadership. This series proved to be very popular so I have posted all seven videos in the Resilience for Business section of The Resilience Hub so that members who have signed up to the full dashboard can quickly access them any time. Being in business can be a tough challenge, but with small changes you can make i

We all know that stress doesn’t feel good, but did you know what effects it has on your individual organs? Here is a tour of your body in the minutes after a stressful trigger… SKIN: pales as blood diverted to vital organs. HEART: begins to pound, sending blood around body carrying sugar (energy) and hormones (eg. adrenalin) MUSCLES: tense in readiness for action. LUNGS: air passage dilates, breathing becomes more intense to provide more oxygen to feed increase blood supply.

Or a more direct question would be…how often do you listen – really listen – to someone who is trying to convey their feelings to you? There are plenty of quotes about the subject such as “You aren’t learning when you are speaking” and “We have two ears and one mouth.  Use accordingly” and – this one is on the button! – “Most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand” One way to practise this is when you are thinking about your answer while someone is speaking

You can imagine the scene.  The noise.  The screeching.  Chimpanzees running around wildly.  Some inconsolable.  Youngsters huddling under the big arms of their parents.  Parents rushing to scoop up their youngsters and carry them away from danger. They would be fraught with worry.  Needing reassurance but unable to hear it. Sometimes this scene is borne out within our own minds when we feel threatened. Our mind screeching.  Irrational and excessive reactions.  Unable to reas

Being ‘hooked’ is when you are listening to someone telling a story and something they say brings back a memory of your own.  You tune out of what they are saying because you are now watching the movie of that memory in your head. It reduces your ability to concentrate or focus on what they are saying.  You definitely will miss the subtle cues as they continue to speak – their tone, body language, facial expressions, choice of words. If your memory is negative it may cloud yo

If you long for the peaceful vibe of this picture just look inside yourself. Mindfulness is the best way to do that, so download an app or go to a mindfulness practitioner. It has been proven to have really positive benefits on mental health and stress management. No time? Sit now, for 60 seconds and let your mind wander freely. No judgement, just let it go where it wants to. Gently listen to the sounds around you. Notice what’s happening in your body; your core, your heart,

Here are five things to do when you find you can’t leave work behind and the stress is starting to take its toll on your mental or physical health. Be in the moment while doing each task at work. By this I mean really focus on what you’re doing, not on the 10 other things you need to do. Easier said than done I know but if you can it will help your brain to park it once you’re done. Notice what you DID, rather than what you didn’t get around to. This is a glass half full mind

When the going gets tough you tap into your ‘Well of Resilience‘. If your well is deep and full – if you have effectively maintained it through focused action and attention – you will quickly return to a sense of calm and clarity. If you haven’t been refilling your well when resources were plentiful, it will quickly run dry – resulting in burnout. When your ‘Well of Resilience’ is deep and replenished, you will be supported by: A sense of calm Clarity and very clear focus on

I’d like you to view yourself as your own resilient role model. We often think that others are more resilient than we are.  We look at them in awe and think “How do they keep going?”, “I could never do that”. I would like to challenge those thoughts. If you are a parent who found hidden depths of energy during period of exhaustion (night-time feeding, teething, tantrums, illness, unexpected trips to A&E) – you are resilient. If you are a carer who yearns for a break, but who