resilience routine

Welcome to your daily routine. The plan is to start your day totally analogue. Just you with a pen and a notebook. No phone, no checking emails, Facebook,

news etc.

The idea of Resilience Routine is that YOU set the agenda and the tone for your day. Not someone else, not some notifications. Not some negative news. So don't

reach for your phone.

Get up, get a glass of water or coffee and go and sit at your

desk or table.

THE DAILY ROUTINE

1Gratitude

To start write down a few things that you are grateful for. As the first thing you do everyday this puts you in a positive frame of mind and

starts your day on the right foot.

Try to think of one good thing that happened to you yesterday. It doesn't have to be massive, just something that went right, someone who helped you, someone

who smiled while you were out.

I start every day with 'I appreciate and am grateful for my health, my family and friends.' That gets me started and then I'll add one or more things to be grateful for to

that list.

This 'gratitude attitude' is step one every day to start building optimism and train your brain to look out for the little positive things that happen all the time to us. We'll come back to this later, but for

now start every day this way.

Free writing, a diary, journalling. Call it whatever you want, but this is a key part of Resilience Routine. Some of you will find this easy, but some of you will stare at a blank sheet of paper and think you have

nothing to write.

We're going to start small and build on this every day. So, after your gratitude statement, just

start writing.

Write what you feel, write what you woke up thinking about, what is preoccupying you at the moment? Whatever it is - get it down on paper. Once you start writing you will find it easier to

keep going, I promise.

2Journalling

If your mind is a blank write 'my mind is a blank' 'There is literally nothing I am worried about' 'I

have no concerns whatsoever'Write what is in your head.

The point is not to think, but just to write. Don't let your inner critic say "You can't write that". If you've ever done any brainstorming it's like that - there are no bad ideas. If

you think it, write it down.

Before long you'll be writing faster than ever. It doesn't need to be neat, you just need to get it down on paper. If you do think of something you have to do then make a note of it somewhere else

and then get back to writing.

Allow 10 minutes to start with. Spend a minute or two on gratitude and the rest of the time journalling. Don't stop early if you

have lots to write.

You are effectively doing a brain dump of all the thoughts you have in your head. Getting these thoughts down on paper means they are not circulating round in

your head.

Some people say they prefer to type on a laptop or an iPad. But I think that something magical happens when you physically write

with a pen on paper.

This process builds over time - you can't just do it once and think it's done. It's more like an onion and you peel back the layers by

repeating this process every day.

Your writing may have brought an obvious question to mind. If this is the case, write it down and then

write some thoughts after it.

Asking a question at this point gives your subconscious mind something to work with in the

background.

I'm sure you have seen a picture of a floating iceberg. 10% or so is on show above the water. The bulk of it, the 90% is hidden underwater. Your mind is like this. The 10% is the mind you are normally aware of. Your subconscious is the powerful 90% that is hidden away

in the background.

3Ask one question

You are normally only aware of it when an answer or inspiration just pops into your head. But by carrying out these daily routines you can exercise this mental muscle and get the most out of the

whole of your mind.

By giving your subconscious mind a question to work on you will get some additional, often powerful insights. You can review these at any time, but may come back to them tomorrow morning when

journalling.

There are many different ideas about meditation, and if you have something that works for you then

please stick with it.

For anyone who has never tried then I suggest a 10 minute meditation by Matt Lewis - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u0e

uo9SUO4

You will need your phone for this - but don't read any notifications, news etc. Just click the link and relax and follow the guided

meditation.

4Meditation

Hopefully you will find this very relaxing and cleansing. This is also something that works better with

practice. So don't give up!

5Exercise

Obviously there are lots of restrictions with the current lockdown, but I would suggest at least 30 mins of exercise per day. It may be taking the dog/ kids out for a walk, a run or even an indoor workout - there are hundreds online.

Exercise is a great way to feel better, even if it is only light exercise. You don't have to do your exercise in the morning - fit it in

whenever you can.

So that is the routine I want you to do every day. I have suggested 10 minutes of journalling to begin with. I now typically spend 30 mins journalling most days, sometimes longer. You just need to build up

the time daily.