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Allostatic load is the wear and tear on our body caused by stress and worry. We can get stressed by dealing with actual events. We can also get stressed by imaginary events. Our body reacts the same to real or imagined events. Mark Twain wrote that we all have tragedies in our lives…some of which actually happen.

Managing your thoughts will lessen the wear and tear of imagined events. A good practice is to treat your thoughts as thoughts. Say to yourself ‘ I am having the thoughts that I can’t deal with this much pressure’. Decide what is real and what is imagined and treat them differently. If you focus on the present you won’t have to worry about an uncertain future. The present is certain. You can regret the past but not the present.

There is still time to establish your new normal. We are likely to get past coronavirus this year and settle back into what we call normal. There is still time to decide what we want this normal to look like. Do we go back to what we did before or do we deliberately decide what we want to change or do differently? New habits are difficult to get started but become our friends with use. What can you do differently to care for your health and wellbeing? How can we listen better? Build stronger relationships? View everything through kind lenses? What have you enjoyed during the restrictions that you want to continue doing?

It will be easy to rush back to the old normal but then we won’t have learned anything from lockdown. Make the changes now and get the benefits for the rest of your life. Don’t rush back to the old normal. Design your future.

One of our body functions that we can control, to some extent, is breathing. We can calm down or agitate ourselves with our breathing. If you feel anxious about speaking to a large group, you can calm yourself down by slowing down your breathing. Your body will speed up your breathing when necessary. I suspect that we breath more deeply and more quickly than we need to. When at rest we can slow down considerably.

Try this exercise.

Breath in slowly to the count of 4

Hold the breath to the count of 4

Breathe out slowly to the count of 4

Wait to the count of 4 before starting the cycle again.

If you feel that you need to breath more deeply or quickly to catch, you probably don’t.

This process will calm you down before going to sleep or before an activity or situation that is likely to cause stress.

Try it even for a few minutes each day or just before going to sleep.

Aren’t we fortunate to live here during these trying times. Not to be smug but we are so fortunate to be able to enjoy a near normal Christmas while others are heading into harder times.

Thank you for being a regular reader. I hope my information is helpful.

I am not a fan of New Year Resolutions but I have one anyway.

I understand that the human brain can process about 110 bits per second. A conversation takes about half of this computing power so we can do two things at once but not very well. If you focus on one sense entirely it will seem brighter, tastier, more colourful and more enjoyable. Try eating something and just focus on the taste. Give all 110 bits to a conversation and hear more. Some will be missing if you divide your attention.

Make 2021 the year when you will give your full attention to everything you do. Also try viewing everything through kind lenses. Hold the judgement. Assume kind motives to others. This will help you listen better and become more focused.

Enjoy Christmas and ease into the New Normal.

Best wishes.

Paddy

The secret to improvement in ball games like golf and tennis is to watch the ball. Sounds too simple don’t you think? This focus and intention helps the mind to see what is important and ignore distractions. ‘Watch the ball ‘also applies to every thing we do. When listening to another, this focused attention will help us to hear what is being said and not said. When observing, it helps us to see more and more clearly. Multi- tasking prevents us from seeing and hearing properly.Watching the ball is a good life habit. Be where you are. See what you see and hear what you hear 100% instead of dividing your attention.

Try this. Look at something like a tree, flower or bird. Really look. If you get distracted, gently nudge your attention back. Try the same when listening to someone. This habit of focusing will help your ball games…and your life.

It certainly helps Roger and Rafa.

I know it is premature to thank people for the help they gave you during lockdown but there is no harm in thanking people twice. Once now and again when this is really over. The recovery in this State has been extraordinary and the work done by everyone has bordered on heroic. You will know who has helped you personally. You can also acknowledge the work of many especially health professionals, police and military.

When this is over we will get back to normal quickly and may forget to say Thanks. We really did work together to get this result.

Now is a good time to show your gratitude at every opportunity that comes your way.