Did you know that being out in nature can help reduce your stress levels?  There have been a number of studies about the calming effect nature can have and this article from Yale explains what researchers have discovered in a bit more depth.

In fact, just looking at an image of nature can help reduce your work stress.  So if you know a nature photographer or are lucky enough to take your own nature photos, be sure to put a few of your favourites up on your walls where you can see them while you’re working.

My favourite nature photos at the moment were taken by nature photographer and bee lover, Kathy Hayes, from A Garden Tells A Story.  Her video of a bee collecting pollen from clover flowers is so soothing!  To see it, go to agardentellsastory.com.au and scroll just a little bit.  I hope you find it as relaxing as I do.

Listen in as Counselling and Clinical Psychologist Katrina Streatfeild talks with Trudy Rankin, host of the Online Business Launchpad podcast about managing mindset.

• Are You Languishing?  How To Get Back To Your Best After Lockdown
• How To Understand And Get Past What Your Limiting Beliefs Are In Business (Or In Life)
• 5 Tips For Dealing With Imposter Syndrome 

Here are a few good resources that talk about dealing with work-related issues.

• How To Combat Imposter Syndrome At Work:  Finding Your Window Of Tolerance With Katrina Streatfeild
• 4 Ways To Overcome Loneliness As An Entrepreneur With Michael Bauman
• Easy And Simple Self-Reflection Habits For Managing Imposter Syndrome With Katrina Streatfeild

If you have a business, or want to start a business, mindset can be a real barrier to success.  Here are some resources that may help you.

• How To Start And Build your Business Using A Strength-Based Approach With Katrina Streatfield 
• One Simple Thing You Can Do As An Entrepreneur Or Small Business Owner To Improve Your Well Being And Happiness
• How To Understand And Get Past Your Limiting Beliefs In Business With Katrina Streatfeild
• How Finding Your Voice Can Help Your Business Succeed
• Can Introverts Be Good Community Managers?
• Well-Being And Happiness Tips For Entrepreneurs
• Mental Health And Small Business

There are some great tips here for building habits that will help you start living the life you want for you.  We’ll be adding more useful resources soon.  Let us know what would be helpful for you.

• Easy And Simple Self-Reflection Habits For Managing Imposter Syndrome With Katrina Streatfeild

aParenting is one of the toughest jobs in the world.  It doesn’t come with a built-in manual.  And how our parents “parented” us, is not necessarily the best way to parent our own children.  Here are some resources that can help you get it right while you’re learning on the job.

Practical Parenting Tips From Someone Who’s Been There

• Newsletter:  If you’re after great practical parenting tips, Finley Robinson can help.  Finley has years of experience with his own 3 children, as well as working with young people as a mentor.  He is the author of a weekly newsletter for parents of children age 3-13.  And there is a lot of wisdom there.  You can start getting those practical parenting tips by subscribing to his newsletter. 

Helping Your Child Regulate Their Emotions

•  Book:  The Explosive Child by Ross Greene – The description on Amazon says that “An explosive child [is one] who frequently exhibits severe noncompliance, temper outbursts, and verbal or physical aggression. If this sounds like your child, you’re probably feeling frustrated, guilt-ridden, and overwhelmed. At last, Dr. Ross Greene offers help for you and your child. Now updated with new practical information, The Explosive Child lays out a sensitive, practical approach to helping your child at home and school, including: reducing hostility and antagonism between the child and adults, anticipating situations in which the child is most likely to explode

• Video:  Why Do We Lose Control Of Our Emotions? (aka The Lid-Flipping Framework)  This short video (6:47) explains why we can lose control of our emotions using cartoon visuals and very simple, easily understood dialogue.  Suitable for you to watch with your child.

Helping You To Develop A Healthy relationship With Your Child Through Your Parenting Style

• Book:  Parenting From The Inside Out by Dan Siegel – Now on it’s 10th edition, this child-raising classic has helped a lot of parents.  Amazon says “In Parenting from the Inside Out, child psychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and early childhood expert Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., explore the extent to which our childhood experiences shape the way we parent. Drawing on stunning new findings in neurobiology and attachment research, they explain how interpersonal relationships directly impact the development of the brain, and offer parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories, which will help them raise compassionate and resilient children.”

• Book:  The Whole Brained Child:  12 Revolutionary Strategies To Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Tina Payne Bryson, PhD and Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.

• Book:  Circle of Security Parent Book by Bert Powell, Glen Cooper, Kent Hoffman, Bob Marvin, Jr, Charles H. Zeana – This parenting strategies in this book have been taught to thousands of families.  Learn how to nurture and train children from babies through to teenagers, all while fostering their independence.

• Website:  The Positive Parent Ally – Lots of practical advice and deep insights here for parents wanting to really bond with and understand their child.

Going through a separation or divorce can be really tough.  There is no one right way.  These resources can help.

•  Free Download: Love Languages Worksheet – The Love Languages worksheet lists the five languages, along with examples of each.

• Video:  Rules Of Fair Fighting – The Fair Fighting Rules will help couples discuss issues tactfully, without hurting the other person’s feelings or damaging the relationship. They tell us what’s OK, and what’s crossing the line, in an argument. In this video, Woody Schuldt, LMHC, discusses 9 fair fighting rules to help couples argue safely. 

• Book:  The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People:  Powerful Lessons In Personal Change by Stephen Covey – This book is full of timeless wisdom.  You may not be able to change the other person, but you can work on yourself.  Practical and well-worth reading.

• Book:  Shared Care Or Divided Lives – What Is Best For Children When Parents Separate? by Dr Phil Watts –
  

  Dr Watts’ book serves as a timely reminder of just how important it is to keep your children’s happiness and wellbeing as the focal point of the separation process. He answers questions you may not have thought to ask, providing a range of practical suggestions for a variety of different situations.

Getting a new job or going back to work after being out of the workforce for awhile can be really, really stressful.  These resources can help.

•  Book:  Psychological Safety:  The key to happy, high-performing people and teams by Dr Dan Radecki PhD, Leonie Hall, Jennifer McCusker and Christopher Ancona – The introduction to this book on Amazon says “research shows that a “hit” to our psychological safety can have a deeper and longer-lasting impact than a “hit” to our physical selves. In fact, social rejection has the same impact on the brain as a punch to the face.”  The book focuses on how to “identify and manage the triggers that threaten your psychological safety and hijack your brain”.

• Book:  Mental Health And Wellbeing In The Workplace:  A Practical Guide For Employers And Employees by Gill lHasson and Donna Butler – Amazon tells us that this book is “a valuable resource for those in the workplace wanting to look after their physical and mental wellbeing, and those looking for guidance in managing staff with mental health issues.  And it also “Explains why understanding mental health is important and its impact on businesses and employees.  Provides guidance on managing staff experiencing mental ill health.  Addresses dealing with employee stress and anxiety.  Features resources for further support if experiencing mental health issues and Discusses why and how to promote mental health in the workplace and the importance of having an effective ‘wellbeing strategy'”
• Book:  The Self-Care Prescription:  Powerful Solutions To Manage Stress, Reduce Anxiety & Increase Wellbeing,  by Robyn Gobin –  This book does indeed provide a prescription for self-care.  It explains what self-care is, how to come up with a plan that will makes it possible for you to have self-care and gives you strategies you can use when things are tough.

• Book:  Daring Greatly:  How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms The Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead by Brene Brown – This is a book about vulnerability … what it is, why it’s not a weakness and how revealing our vulnerability can liberate us in ways we’d never imagined.

Having big changes happen in our lives can be very stressful.  Going through Menopause, having your last child leave home, retiring, the birth of a new baby … so many things!  Whatever transition or change you’re going through, these resources can help.

•  Book:  Transitions: Making Sense Of Life’s Changes by William Bridges  One of the most important self-help books of all time, TRANSITIONS is an essential guide for coping with the inevitable changes in life.  Amazon tells us that:

  “TRANSITIONS takes readers step-by-step through the three perilous stages of any transition, explaining how each stage can be understood and embraced. The book offers an elegant, simple, yet profoundly insightful road map to navigate change and move into a hopeful future”.

• Book:   Embracing Change: Adjust, Transition And Adapt by Jana Firestone   Jana Firestone is a therapist and host of The Curious Life podcast.   In this book, Jana helps us take a slightly different view of change.  One that’s the opposite of viewing change as a bad thing.  What if we embraced change and saw it as a doorway to new opportunities!

The Healthy Boundaries 5 Day Challenge is a Beginner’s guide to feeling whole again.  If you feel like you’ve never been able to say no to anyone, if you are ‘always there’ for everyone, if you learned to be a people-pleaser early in life, you’ll probably also feel exhausted, sometimes used, but mostly just plain flat out over this being a one-way street… 

 

Our Healthy Boundaries 5 day challenge is the first step to understanding how to feel whole again.  Start with this FREE challenge and see what difference some insight, knowledge and practice can do for you.

At Beyond Trauma we specialise in providing a peer support and mentoring service to trauma-affected women over 40.  Our programs are universal in application and therefore available for anyone and everyone to learn and use.  You are always welcome here.

Learning Guilt-Free Living is the first course in our Beyond Trauma – Surviving to Thriving Series, and the first step forward in your journey to feeling emotionally whole.

When healthy habits are not modelled or taught to us, it can be difficult to navigate the adult life without being subject to or succumbing to the whim and will of those that would take advantage of you.