Christmas cheer all the way through to the new year?
Ah, Christmas, time with friends, loved ones and distant relatives. A time of giving, of gratitude, and would it be Christmas without a family argument?
Personally, I’ve always loved Christmas and I truly treasure all the traditions my own family have created over the years.
But once the sparkle of Christmas starts to dim, then comes the new year. Congratulations, you made another turn around the sun!!
It’s time to say goodbye to everything we thought was wrong about the year and begin to make promises to do things differently in the year ahead.
Regardless of our best intentions, we’re human and life has a habit of getting in the way of the plans we thought we’d made, the dreams we hoped would become real and, the bad habits we wanted to leave well behind.
For me, in this modern, tumultuous world, reflecting on how much or how little peace and joy I have in my life seems to be a worthy goal.
Should finding peace and serenity be on your list of achievements too?
Where do we find it?
You may ponder as I do, can we really find peace in everyday living and can a sense of peace make so much of a difference? Our wellbeing, our relationships or even our prosperity?
Is this the year to push back, and not let the modern world disrupt our sense of personal peace and serenity? Is it too much to hope for? Can we really control stress and find peace?
For me, the answer is a resounding yes.
Minding your mind.
A while back I wrote an article about minding your mind and the mind-body connection. The article was inspired by the story of Shannon Harvey who, after suffering from the debilitating consequences of an acquired autoimmune disease went seeking for more than was currently being offered by conventional medicine.
As a journalist, with a natural instinct for research Shannon’s quest eventually led her to the work of Dr.Chris Hassad. It was a turning point for Shannon as she began to realise the stressful life she’d been living had led to a chronic illness. Was it her body speaking to her?
A story that held me in its grasp.
I lingered in my car, listening to Shannon’s story coming across the airwaves. Hearing that someone could change the course of their chronic illness by learning how to manage their stress is not a new idea, but, on this day, her words resonated. It was as if she was speaking directly to me. I needed to hear it. The mind-body connection was not just an idea, it was backed up by science.
Stress, worry and anxiety plunder our wellbeing.
If left unchecked stress can lead to chronic illness. But, the good news, as Shannon discovered; we can actually do something about stress.
But surely, we can just learn to manage our stress? Right? Of course, but, we get caught up.
We worry far too much about things beyond our control. Hanging on to a job or relationship that’s just not right for us or burning the candle at both ends, all the while, failing to protect our body in the way we should. Forgetting to appreciate our own unique gifts to the world and even worse, subconsciously sabotaging progress when we do make it.
Berating ourselves daily on what should’ve been, what might’ve been or what we should’ve said, or when we just should’ve shut up and walked away.
It’s a noisy place in our head.
Sure, some of us manage to walk through life peacefully immune to the stress of modern living, but even for the most chilled, they too have their battles. In fact, couldn’t it be those we least expect, suffer the most?
Managing our stress should be easy. But for many of us, we’re so busy we don’t even realise the impact stress is having on us. Hey, I know!! I’m talking to myself here, but perhaps this resonates with you too?
But are we prepared to listen?
To find a way to hush the noise and listen to, well, nothing. To somehow find a way to make peace with the racket in our head. To find a place of silence amongst the din of the world. Not so easy.
In her 90-minute documentary, Shannon discusses the Mind-Body Connection with interviews by many notable individuals in the medical world.
The film is not so much a how-to but more of a gateway to opening your mind to what can happen to the body when we fail to nurture our minds or pay attention to how stress is manifesting itself within us.
Maybe, it’s your time to find a way to slow down, to find peace and begin to nurture your mind-body connection or perhaps Shannon’s doco could help someone you know who’s struggling. Either way, I hope you find the film as useful as I have and it leads you to make a few little changes in the year ahead and with possibly a huge life-changing impact for the rest of your life.
And now you.
If you decide to buy the movie, and it helped you and Shannon’s documentary, The Connection could help someone else then please share this article with them.
See you next time.
