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Showing posts with label physical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physical. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

When BIGStuff Happens to you, what do you do?

What do you do when you hit a wall with one of life's BIG Stuff events?
What could you do, when you feel over whelmed? Who do you connect with? When? 

Trigger Warning: For some this column could contain trigger words or phrases.

  First there is no wrong answer(s), feelings or thoughts unless self harm or harm of others is a potential.

Second each of us use language differently. So words and phrases that I find easy to use  and 100% acceptable you might not enjoy or find mildly to very disrespectful. I look forward to a respectful discussion if any of the content you find here you disagree with.


So, all words and phrases used here have been used with respect by others in conversation with me as their coach, trainer, friend and or neighbour.  Do let me know what you think.


Many of them I've heard many times and a few are relatively new to me 

So what do you do ... what have you done, what should you do to support yourself when life's   BIGStuff challenges strike? That could be personal, relationship, family, friend, classmate, or a current or past neighbour.

So it happens to all of us. Something BIG happens and hurts. What do you do?

Create space that is ours and use quiet time for

  - read a book
 - watch a movie
 - take a soak in the tub
 - call a friend
 - write a letter
 - write in your journal
 - visit a friend
 - go to a special spot for reflection 
 - calming through steady movement or stillness via music, sounds of nature, a mediation practise

Create and use active time for
 - energizing through activity and or conversation and or observation
 - go to a special spot to burn off some energy and unwind 

Get out and about 
 - a walk Around your floor, your building, your block, to the park, around the office
 - a walk and a talk  A good business friend Gail taught me this 
 - Meditative walk No talking 
     You practise walking with slow to mid range speed with a  steady pace & steady breaths
 - Yoga
 - Martial Arts
 - Hiking
 - Biking
 - Swimming
 - Hobbie

Going to the:

 - Therapist,
 - The Mental Health Expert,  
 - The Crazy Doctor,
 - The Stretch Coach as in stretch thinking and feeling into better patterns 
 - A Wellness Coach
 - Mental Health Tune Up Coach
- Volunteering 

Going in for a:
 - Check up from the Neck Up! 
 - A Mental Health Tune UP,  
 - A Good Old Fashion Check Up
 - A Rant and Rave!!


Here I'm at a favourite spot enjoying the coffee.

After a time of reflection
 - make a list 
 - a call to action lets get the feelings acknowledged and thought out next steps to move forward


This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list.
However it is to get you thinking and moving into action for your sake.


When should you start? 

Why not right now?
I have a gift for you. No strings attached.
At this link you can down load a 30 minute progressive muscle relaxation exercise. 
Practise it gently, for at least 21days in a row then 3 or 4 days a week for another tow or three weeks. Then once or twice a week for maintenance. I had a coaching client (Who I only took on after I knew she was under a doctors care and had had recent CT Scan and blood work to ensure this was not a medically caused migraine) who had had 5 - 7 migraines a month and many many serious head aches each month. This was one of the main exercises she did to break the cycle of those darn migraines. Within about four  months she had them down to 0 - zero every month! She helped her mind/body create added ways to cope and an outlet to release stress on a regular basis. Plus her headaches reduced in frequency and intensity and they also disappeared by the fifth month. Exciting news for someone who had had migraines for 15+ years. 

Your helping develop and deepen your ability to notice stress and learn how to relax sooner and more completely. You'll be surprised at how effective it is. Click on The Chair a Relaxation Exercise and you can listen to the audio there and follow the link to download.  The Chair a relaxation exercise  It has helped me change how I now respond to stress and anxiety. I had a seven year battle with 2 bouts of cancer and a failed medical procedure that ended up with me having emergency surgery at midnight. This exercise can help you make a significant different in your life.

Here is another way to help you practise calmness. the exercise is called a:
Quick Tension Scan or a QTS 
This is another one to do for 28 days I suggest before every meal and about 10 - 20 minutes before bedtime. Then three or four times a week for maintenance. 

So this article was not intended to be a through list. It's meant to stimulate a conversation with yourself. With someone you can trust. Stuck. Not fun. Ask for help. 
So let me leave you with a  couple of question.
 - How do you see life's stressful situations?
A time to learn lessons or an ultimatum? For those of us who work towards seeing each stressful situation as a lesson to be learned it can be much less stressful. 
 - Who do you have on your support team We all need and deserve one. The time to build one is now.


So until next time, Imagine Yourself with more Resiliency for Life.


Michael

Michael Ballard specializes in helping people, schools, teams
organizations and communities learn how to become more resilient.


Hiring and Contacting Michael
To book Michael for your next event or to contact him you can do that at:
Inquiry@MichaelHBallard.com

You can purchase Michael's programming on:
Udemy.com video programs at:

 iTunes.com audio programs at:


Michael’s Social Media includes:
    

Monday, 1 February 2016

When and how will you declare Victory?

When will you declare Victory?
With Michael Ballard your tour guide through the land of Resiliency for Life


 "There comes a time when you have to declare your victory even though you may be losing the fight." Richard grabbed my attention! I'd never thought of it that way or said it even close to that way. Yet I'd thought along the same lines during several "fight for my life" moments during three very serious challenges with cancer and a daunting medical complication that cause me to have to have emergency surgery late one night. 




In such times, it is not just about strength. It is about faith. Faith in self, faith in others, perhaps faith in a higher being or power. Yes I’d pushed and fought while fighting my cancer. However I’d never said it so directly. I was going to win my battles with cancer. I had cancer. The cancer did NOT have me. First Battle Won! Then I will win emotionally I have cancer it does NOT have me. Oh don't get me wrong I cried big sobbing earth shattering sobbing tears. Down on my knees pounding the tiles in the shower room. However it was not all about PMA Positive Mental Attitude It was about feeling the pain acknowledging it ,then building a team to help me fight back!! In thought word and deed. In pray and play. In music and in praise, in family and friendships! Victory was declared. Yes I was quite ill death walked the hall ways and hovered in the door way Yet having learned at an early age that inner strength with faith and a team that would walk beside you makes for a very powerful combination. So I declared Victory every morning as I woke up and every evening as I lay my head on the pillow. Yes I had cancer. Yes I might die. However I was winning intellectually, emotionally and spiritually! Amen! Oh and 20+ years later it's safe to say I won physically.

When will you declare victory? Over what?
Richard Paa Kofi Botchwey 
 I owe a thank you to my friend Richard Paa Kofi Botcheway for causing this blog to fire off in my brain with this quote of his. Richard is a writer and rising star on the literary scene in Africa However increasingly I'm reading and hearing about him in Europe. I look forward to learning from him and cheering him on. One day we'll have to have a face to face. Coffee or tea Hmmm I wonder what he’ll chose.

So until next time Imagine Yourself with more Resiliency for life!



About Michael Ballard 
Michael specializes in helping people, families, organizations and community’s learn how to thrive with resiliency. Resilience is a process, a set of key assets, skills and beliefs that can change our lives. Resiliency can changes the quality of our journey and often the quality of the outcomes.


Michael Ballard specializes in helping people, schools, teams
organizations and communities learn how to become more resilient.


Hiring and Contacting Michael
To interview Michael, book him for your 
next event or to contact him you can do that at:
Inquiry@MichaelHBallard.com

You can purchase Michael's programming on:
Udemy.com video programs at:

 iTunes.com audio programs at:


Michael’s Social Media includes:
https://soundcloud.com/michael-h-ballard

His upcoming book The Gift is due out late winter 2016.

His audio programming can be found on iTunes at:

Thursday, 14 May 2015

Why are you Happy?

It’s all about choice 
Michael H Ballard of Resiliency for Life

It was a question I got several times during my often frightening challenges with two bouts of cancer, multiple treatments and life saving midnight surgery. Those where very intense times. I still have the gift of 77 medical clip and several big scars that help remind me of that time and those years of treatment.


After attending yet another doctors appointment at a clinic for a check up I was pulled aside and asked by one of the administrators “Why are you Happy?” Seems out of the 2650+ people the clinic served I was one of six or seven they noted where for the most part happy.  It also turns out that morale at the clinic and keeping staff turnover down was an ongoing challenge. So many of the patients took their frustrations out on staff or where “sour grapes” to deal with for the staff. Staff were doing their best to help the patients and often the family cope and manage a very unpleasant illness. Yet some patients where out and out nasty to deal with.

So back to the question “Why are you Happy? Well mostly it is a choice. Don’t get me wrong a chronic illness that was very painful is not an easy to deal with issue. However I decided after the diagnosis and reflecting on choices that it was better to be happy in life than bitter. That choice made fighting cancer easier as by then I'd had several years to practise. So, I do understand the downside from illness and life's BIGSTuff issues. However I chose to frame and reframe each issue, ask for help and learn from it what I can. So bitter... yes visited that place a few times. I however refuse to live there. 

I didn't and don’t like having to fight cancer. Yet if you don’t fight how you going to live with the circumstances if things don’t work out?  So, the old expression my grandparents used from England “In for a penny in for a pound” came to mind. In other words if I was going to fight a little why not fight a lot. So I decided to jump into the deep end of the pond and develop several teams of care professionals to help me fight for my life.


Note I said care professionals. Not health care professionals. I had several types of care teams in place. That is another column for another time. Let me leave you with the thought “how have you allowed your present circumstances to define you? What are you doing to define your current circumstances?

So, until next time, Imagine Yourself with more Resiliency forLife. Wishing you the very best.

Michael

To interview Michael, book him for your 
next event or to contact him you can do that at:
Inquiry@MichaelHBallard.com
www.MichaelHBallard.com

You can purchase Michael's programming on:
Udemy.com video programs at:
https://www.udemy.com/u/michaelhballard/

 iTunes.com audio programs at:
https://itunes.apple.com/album/id997763796?ls=1&app=itunes

Michael’s Social Media includes: