Ace-Energy

Mind Body:The Post-Christmas Energy Plan

Don’t let the post-festive slump get you down – try these holistic energy-boosting tips from Deborah Durbin

Don’t let the post-festive slump get you down – try these holistic energy-boosting tips from Deborah Durbin

The after-effects of the festive period can bring with it a feeling of lethargy, sluggishness and a complete lack of energy; as if all your get-up-and-go has got up and gone. Whilst many of us will be concentrating on losing those post-festive pounds, there are other areas that could also do with a little work – your mind and your spirit. When your mind, body and spirit are in sync with each other you feel fantastic, but there’s little point having a fit and healthy body if your mind and spirit are still lacking energy

Mind matters

According to Rhonda Byrne, best selling author of The Secret and more recently, The Power, our minds are the main influence to how we live our lives.

Every thought we have and how we feel about life is reflected in the way we live our lives, so if we expect the worse in life, then the worse is what we get. If we constantly moan about everything from the weather to the current government’s policies, our minds become full of negative thoughts, which in turn manifest themselves into how we feel about ourselves and the world in general.

Added to this, studies have shown that people who are positive are more likely to live longer and happier lives than those who are negative. Studies into how our minds work have also shown that negative thinking saps our energy levels, making us feel permanently tired and drained of life.

EXERCISES FOR YOUR – MIND

1 Record your thoughts

For one day keep a record of your thoughts, whether they are positive or negative. If the negative thoughts outweigh the positive, then it’s time to reassess your thinking patterns. The good thing is that a thought is just a thought and can be changed very easily. You are the only one in control of your thoughts, so for every negative thought you’ve had throughout the day, change it to a positive one. For example; if you thought despairingly: “Oh gawd, it’s work tomorrow. I really don’t want to go,” change it to: “At least I’m in a job which pays the bills and soon I will get a job I really love.” The following day, try to counteract every negative thought you have with a positive one. If you do this every day for at least seven days, you will find that you become a naturally more positive person and your spirits will lift.

2 Detox your brain

Our minds are such ingenious machines, capable of doing many things at any one time: we can walk, talk, eat, breathe, think, sneeze etc all at the same time, which is a fantastic ability to have. We can also overload ourselves with anxiety, worry, fear and a whole host of other negative thoughts at the same time as we carry out our daily lives. Try giving your mind a complete detox by emptying it from time to time. To do this, visualise a big wishing well by your side. Imagine turning the handle on the side of the wishing well until a huge, wooden bucket appears in front of you. Now imagine all your worries and problematic thoughts leaving the top of your head in the form of white, sealed envelopes. Every worry that you have is sealed in a single envelope and is flying into the wooden bucket, which is going to take all your worries away. Once you have cleared your mind of all your worries, push the handle on the wishing well, lowering the bucket as far as it will go into the darkness. You will find that by doing this on a regular basis, your mind feels a lot clearer and the solutions to much of what you were worrying about will come, as if out of the blue.

Body basics

Our bodies are amazing and nothing can replicate the complex mechanisms of the human body, which is why when we fail to look after ourselves we feel awful. Overindulging in food and drink at Christmas parties can be forgiven; we all do it, but come the New Year we often pay the price, resulting in a complete lack of energy and discover that our get-up-and-go has got up and gone. The reason why we feel so sluggish when we’ve overindulged is because our bodies are not used to toxins and it’s the body’s way of telling us that we’ve consumed too many.

Fortunately the human body has a wonderful ability to bounce back very quickly. Some cells in our bodies can replace themselves within a matter of days and with a bit of tender, loving care we can be fighting fit again.

EXERCISES FOR YOUR – BODY

1 Five renergising fruits

There is nothing better for a quick energy boost than fruit, and the fruits that have the most health benefits are strawberries, plums, watermelons, kiwi, and avocados. Strawberries actually have more vitamins than oranges and will clean out any harmful toxins in the blood quickly. Plums contain vitamin C, B2 and A and have beta-carotene and potassium in them, which helps absorb iron in the body. Watermelons contain a good source of potassium and vitamins A and C. They also contain the antioxidant lycopene, which fights against cancer. Kiwi fruit has been shown to reduce blood clotting, which leads to heart attacks and is said to be better than an aspirin. Avocados supply the body with cancer-fighting antioxidants and contain monounsaturated health-boosting fats which are good for you. If you don’t have time to combine all these fruits in to your daily diet, why not make them into a delicious smoothie?

2 Re-alkalise your body

When our bodies are out of balance it results in many symptoms, such as weak hair and nails, joint pains, bloating, headaches, irritability, frequent colds, bad skin, lethargy and allergies. Many of these are due to the body being too acidic. Our bodies are supposed to be slightly alkaline so that they can fight diseases, repair themselves quickly and provide us with the energy we need to life a full and healthy life.

Re-alkalising your body is not as hard as it sounds. The most alkaline foods are green vegetables which will help your body to counteract the acidity. Every morning, drink half a freshly squeezed lemon with a glass of water. Lemons are thought to be acidic, which they are in their natural state, but they turn alkaline after they have been metabolised in the body.

10 minute booster

Hold the acupoint known as ‘Stomach 36’ for a few minutes whenever you need an instant lift. You can find this point in the indentation a couple of inches below your knee cap and about an inch outwards.

We reason why we feel so sluggish when we have overindulged is because our bodies are not used to toxins

Soul survivor

Our souls incorporate the very essence of our being and many believe that our bodies are just the packaging for our souls to live in for as long as we are alive. Without our souls we are just empty packages.

Our souls consist of our feelings, thoughts, our confidence (or lack of it), our intuition and everything that makes us who we are.

We can often feel tired and lethargic if we are not connected to our souls and this in turn affects everything about us. If you are connected to your soul you feel good, regardless of what’s going on in the outside world. You feel fulfilled and passionate about life and it gives you a purpose to live.

EXERCISES FOR YOUR – SOUL

1 CALM YOUR SOUL

We can often feel tired and lethargic if we are not connected to our souls

Clear your mind: Our minds are constantly busy. In order to calm your soul you need to let go of what’s going on in your mind and try to think of nothing. One sure-fire technique is one that Deepak Chopra suggests in his writings: close your eyes and focus on your breathing. If thoughts enter your head, like what you’re going to make for dinner, just let them go and go back to focusing on your breathing. Start with just 10 minutes per day and then increase it by five minutes each day until you can manage 30 minutes.

Release your emotions: By learning what emotions we feel in any given situation we become more in tune with our souls, says psychologist Carl Jung. Our emotions can vary from one minute to another, from sadness to happiness, anxiety to reassurance, anger to calm. When we realise why we are feeling how we feel, we can better manage our reactions to any situation. It’s okay to cry if you are sad or laugh when you are happy, or get angry when there is unjust in the world. Repressing your emotions is not good for the soul, so express them regardless of what anyone else thinks.

2 LISTEN TO YOUR SIXTH SENSE

We all have a sixth sense. It’s that gut feeling or intuition that we get from time to time when we just know who is at the other end of the phone before we answer it, or we sense that we are going to bump in to someone we haven’t seen for years. Listening to your sixth sense is beneficial to your soul because when we do really listen we become more aware and are often forewarned of what is going on in our lives.

Take a piece of paper and a pen and sit quietly for a moment and think of a situation you want to know the answer to. Try to just listen to what your intuition is telling you. Sometimes this will come in the form of a thought; other times it will feel like a ‘eureka’ moment, when you say: “Oh yes, I hadn’t thought of it like that!” Write down whatever comes to you. With practice you will be spot on and will be able to predict the outcome of any given situation just by listening to your gut feeling.

Article by

Deborah Durbin

Article by

Deborah Durbin