Key Takeaways from the Mind, Body & Soul Series
For May our theme has been ‘Navigating rest, productivity and ambition’ and to start it off we hosted a week long instagram live series on Mind, Body & Soul. Everyday we interviewed different women on how we can achieve this throughout different areas of our lives.
Nutrition with Nancy Odogwu
Our bodies are machines, from the day we are born to the day we die they never switch off. Therefore to help our body thrive we should be giving it the food it needs. What we eat is what will influence how our bodies function, our food can help us avoid getting sick and can even slow down the ageing process.
Often it can feel like eating healthy is a complex process but in actual fact, it doesn’t have to be complicated. If we prioritise eating fruit and vegetables with every meal, that can have a huge impact on our health. A lot of the vegetables we eat can actually be eaten raw or don’t take long to cook. If we want to increase our vegetable intake, we should just pile up on them in our meals and when we purchase them, chop them up and put them in the freezer. That way when we do feel like snacking, the healthier options are easy to access. Preparation is key.
Psychology & Productivity with Ana Loback
Photography By Michal Burchardt
Styling By Georgia Medley
Makeup By Olamide Fetuga
A key factor that influences our wellbeing is taking responsibility for the things we can do, i.e. what we focus on and how we approach circumstances. Choosing what we focus on and analysing it can hugely impact our experience of reality. We need to learn to focus and how to direct our focus to the things that will be the most productive. If we only focus on the negative, then that is all we will see. We need to take 100% control of the things we can control and what we can focus on so that we can place all our attention on making sure we are not filtering out the good stuff. Similar to how plants grow towards the sunlight when we begin to focus on the positive things we will grow and thrive.
Another area explored from a psychological perspective was procrastination. Procrastination is something many of us deal with and there are some steps that can help us tackle it. We need to first realise that it is an active choice and habit to procrastinate. When we are procrastinating it is important to recognise it and then work out why we are doing it. It is here that we need to be honest with ourselves as well as kind and try and meet the underlying issue. Then we need to adopt behaviour that will tackle this habit, the could be forgiving yourself, giving yourself a reward for the things you do and even getting a friend to check up on you. It is important to remember that when you are procrastinating you are not being lazy but instead you are needing to address an issue. So take that time to address it and adopt behaviour that will tackle this mentality.
Skincare and Selfcare with Adeola Gboyega
Often when it comes to skincare, it can be quite overwhelming on where to start and where to invest our money in. Thankfully Adeola has broken it down for us, so there is really now no excuse. The essential items for our routine are a cleanser, a chemical exfoliant, Vitamin C serum, retinol and an SPF. It is the items that have the active ingredients, the serum, that are where we should be spending the most as that is where we will see the biggest return. Great skincare, is the base and the foundation of our house and if that is secure than the rest of the decorating (makeup) is going to look so much better. SPF is a crucial step to this process as the sun is the biggest factor in terms of ageing and the health of our skin.
It’s important to remember that in the age of Instagram and Photoshop, when it can often feel like everyone's face is smooth and perfect. When in actual fact we are humans and we are going to have lines and wrinkles and that is natural and okay. Our skin is doing what it needs to be doing. Embrace it.
‘Once you make it the norm, it doesn’t become a chore.’
Health with Dr Eleanor Worthington
Stress is something we all face but it's not something that we need to hold onto. Some key ways we can tackle this to achieve rest is by making the effort to realise what is happening around us and tackling that mentality that ‘ we don’t have what it takes to meet this challenge’. If we can change the way we think, it will change how we feel and behave. We need to change the narrative and tell yourselves that ‘ we are going to be okay and we have what it takes’. It can also be helpful to recognise what is actually within our influence and what is outside of it. Letting go that sense of control of needing to be in control of what is going on in the world. Each day reminding ourselves that today is a new day and a gift and I’m not going to spend my time worrying about tomorrow.
Sleep is crucial to our not only physical health but also our mental health. One way to recognise if we are getting enough is when we are waking up, do we feel refreshed and do we know that we’ve slept. Even Though when we sleep we look very inactive, it's actually a time when so much is happening within our bodies. It is a crucial time for our brains to function and helps ensure that we are able to think clearly, have optimum memory and can concentrate. If we are not getting the appropriate amount of sleep, we can become very emotionally vulnerable. Therefore sleep is key for relationships, lowering our blood pressure, managing weight and reducing stress. Some tips Dr Eleanor suggested to help us get to sleep include, not looking at screens and limiting our exposure to blue light when we are starting to wind down, turning down the lights, having a bath or even setting candles. Anything that is going to tell your body that you are calming down.
Fitness with Dr Folusha Oluwajana
When working out is not only the body that is being equipped but also our minds as hormones are released. This group of hormones are often known as the ‘ happy hormones’. These release and help our moods stabilise, relieve pain, make us happy and bring pleasure. It is important to remember that everybody's response is different and that is why some people may enjoy working out more than others.
Engaging in fitness can also teach us how resilient we can be. As we are putting ourselves through uncomfortability, we learn just how far our bodies can take us as well as how much we can go through. This skill can then be transferred to other parts of our life and we can remind ourselves when we feel uncomfortable or out of control that we’ve got this and we will get through it.
‘Stress isn’t necessarily when life is distressing but when life creates demands on us.’
Mental Health with Dr Kate Middleton
We are all wired for communication and interaction which is why being with others and online all the time is attractive but the less downtime we actually have to ourselves the less rest our mind will get. When we communicate a hormone called dopamine that brings pleasure is released and it can become an addicting response. That is why we can often become addicted to the response we get from social media. We need to recognise what this is doing to us and put boundaries in place to protect our wellbeing.
When we enter a short term crisis and when we enter more of a longer-term crisis we react in different ways. During the short term, we can have denial based coping strategies and we often suppress what is happening as it is only temporary. Whereas in a long term situation, we need to process and deal with our emotions as they will keep bubbling up and will lead to our overall health declining. It's during this time that yes we need to find the positives and be grateful but we also have to be honest about what we are finding hard. This is when self-compassion is crucial to our wellbeing.
Rest with Pastor Joy Blundell
Pastor Joy shared the story of the Israelites who were taken out of Egypt after being enslaved for 400 years. It was while they were in their new land and trying to make a new culture for themselves God showed them how to be human again and find rest after not resting for 400 years. God brings to them the importance of a sabbath and rest every 7 days, to show them what they were created to really be. To find delight in life itself and not just in the things they were achieving. And it's not just for humans that this 7-day cycle of rest is needed but it has also been shown to be prevalent in all kinds of life.
We are living in an immediate culture, where things need to happen straight away. However it's important to remember that the best things do take time, like a fine wine, and it is those things that are the most mature and strong. To fully adopt this into our lives, we need to understand who we really are and what boundaries we need to put in place in our own lives, which might mean no longer making impulsive decisions but instead taking time before saying yes. This helps bring rest as we are able to fully analyse if this decision can work whilst ensuring we are able to fully meet it whilst giving ourselves opportunities to rest.
WORDS BY
Priya Raheja
