Wellness workshops

Managing Work Stress with Journaling

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 23:25:55 -0700

Work Stress is a real thing for everybody, even for those of us who love our jobs and love our coworkers, stress can creep in. Some of the many causes of work-related stress include long hours, heavy workload, job insecurity and conflicts with co-workers or bosses.

Job related stress can be one of the biggest stressors in our lives and journaling can really help you to work through some of these issues on your own without creating any more friction in your workplace. For example, if you bottle it up and don’t let it out, you will probably explode and do something you might later regret, equally if you don’t bottle it up, you might still act unaccordingly or feel pretty bad, because in both situations you haven't processed these feelings properly.

So the best thing to do is let it all out on paper first, let all those angry, jealous or frustrating thoughts come out where nobody else can see, so that your Amygdala (the emotional and feelings part of the brain), can work together with your Prefrontal Cortex, to process them and decrease the intensity of these emotions.

Some of the benefits:

It can help you work through these issues without creating friction in your workplace (and cause you even more stress)
It can help you pinpoint your actual frustration
Can allow you to reflect on your emotions
Can help you with self discovery

Positive Affirmations

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 23:07:31 -0700

Repeat these affirmations everyday. Repeating "I am" affirmations is intended to utilise law of attraction, by raising your positive vibration, release negative thoughts, and encourage a positive mindset in your life. Remember; what you think, you feel.

Gratitude opens your heart to the abundance you might have overlooked and it creates a rip of joy and positivity in every aspect of your life.

Take a deep breath in and out, relax your body, and say:

I am grateful for my life
I am grateful for a new day
I am grateful for the sun, the air, the earth
I am grateful for the food that nourishes my body
I am grateful for the beauty of nature around me
I am grateful for the simple moments that bring me joy
I am grateful for the opportunities that come my way
I am grateful for my health
I am grateful for the challenges that lead to growth
I am grateful for my strength and resilience
I am grateful for my unconditional self-love
I am grateful...Read More

The Feelings Wheel

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 23:05:14 -0700

The Feelings Wheel was created to help us understand and process our emotions. For a lot of us, we can find it difficult to express our feelings and even understand them, as we don’t have the words to explain them.

The Feelings Wheel can help you identify and find the words to explain to yourself how you are feeling. When you understand how you’re feeling, there’s an increase in your self awareness which ultimately will help boost your overall positive mental health and wellbeing.

The Feelings Wheel is the brainchild of Dr Gloria Wilcox and draws from a diverse range of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics.

For a downloadable version from the creators of the meditation App 'Calm', please check out the below link:

Gratitude Journaling

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 13:33:08 -0700

You’ve maybe heard a lot about gratitude journaling when done on a regular basis, and the scientific backed benefits it has in reducing stress and calming your nervous system.

Gratitude journaling focuses on being present and being aware of your experiences. It’s designed to help you acknowledge and appreciate the aspects of your life that contribute to your happiness and your mental wellbeing. In neuroscience, gratitude journaling activates the amygdala, the brain’s emotional center. The amygdala plays a crucial role in processing your emotions, particularly fear and stress. By writing about your experiences and emotions both positive and negative, you can reduce the amygdala’s response, leading to a decreased intensity of negative emotions. Even with a negative thought, your amygdala along with your prefrontal cortex will help to rationalise it or prioritise it and lift the fear and stress associated with it.

Because gratitude, (being thankful), is an antidote to negative emotions, it’s almost impossible to have both positive and negative feelings at the same time.

Why not try it. Below is a list of twenty prompts to help you get started. Try a couple of prompts a day and watch your day become a beautiful one.....

What is the best thing that happened to you today?
Who is your favorite person and why?
What is something that makes you happy?
Half the battle of getting what you want and being the person you’ve always wanted to be, is actually believing that you are capable of achieving it and believing you are worthy of all those great things.
If this is you, then how do you get to that point of believing in yourself, especially when we’ve experienced things not going our way, or the world in such chaos?
There are ways for everyone to feel better, think positively and achieve their goals. Just like a business that develops a new product or service, you need a strategy and a process. I’m sure you have all been involved in executing your company’s goals but we often forget or neglect our own personal growth and development and how it also needs a plan and a strategy.
At work, if you were developing or working on a new service, you would have ideas on how it would best serve the customer, make the customer feel good and ultimately increase the brand’s likability and profits. If you thought in any way it would fail, you wouldn’t do it right?
The same applies to you and your dreams, goals and desires. If you have ideas on how much better your life could be, make a plan to make it happen. Part of the process involves manifesting; the practice of thinking aspirational thoughts with the purpose of making them real. Just like you would your business idea.
Manifesting is not a new practice. Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling 2006 book, The Secret, that sold more than 30 million copies, promotes the ‘law of attraction’ and claims that people can think various things into happening. In fact, world renown thought leaders and motivational coaches such as Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and even Oprah, believe that you can manifest thoughts into reality.
Think about it. If you’re having a bad day chances are your thoughts are negative. If you’re having...Read More

How to have an amazing week

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 06:44:22 -0800

The following article is made up of extracts from the Look Good Feel Good - 8 week transformational programme blueprint. (10 min read)

HOW TO HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK

Imagine a life where you woke up in the morning, jumped out of bed feeling on top of the world and everything you did that day, you did with brilliance, creativity and success, as well as inspiring those around you. Well you can. The only thing that’s stopping you, is you.

The reason you’re not living your best life every single day of the week is due to your own self sabotage, which has been created by the default patterns of your mind. You can’t help the way you grew up, what you were told and how it all affected you. Whether you like it or not, these experiences have shaped you into the person you are today. Your mind will automatically repeat the same messages over and over again until they become habits and you become stuck doing things or saying things that will not help you or serve you well in life.

Our mind is our greatest tool but it is also our worst enemy. Mastering our minds can lead us to be happier, more effective and reach our true potential. If you can master your mind you will dramatically improve your performance and satisfaction in all areas of your life, be it professionally or personally.

Life is full of ups and downs but it’s how you deal with them and more importantly, how you can create less of the bad ones and more of the good ones that will help you achieve your success. It’s all down to you, you have the power to be the best simply by thinking positively and creating habits that make you feel good.

Make positive changes to your life...Read More

Why is Ultra Processed Food such a big deal?

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 04:32:33 -0700

As a society we are emerging out of our isolated slumber, rubbing our eyes, weary, slowly re-integrating, remembering how things used to be done, appreciating just how important being in the physical presence of others truly is.

A far less abrupt change of our behaviour has occurred over the last few generations, a gradual erosion of ties that had bound us since we arrived as a species. The agricultural revolution gave way to the industrial revolution, people flocked to cities, individualism reigned whilst collectivism decayed.

Out of this industrial revolution, ultra processed food (UPF) was born: a small number of basic ingredients, usually stripped of any nutrition, would be combined in a myriad of ways through industrial process, padded out with sugar, salt and fat, a vast number of chemicals such as emulsifiers, thickeners, flavour enhancers and preservatives, as well as artificial flavourings: all to make this food hyper-palatable and addictive so that you eat more, and buy more product. Finally, nutrients are added back in to much hype and pomp on the packets (think cereal trumpeting added vitamins and minerals): this reductive approach doesn’t work: a given vitamin may well do nothing on its own, without a number of co-factors which also exist in natural foods.

We are only now finding out just how bad this food is for us, and in many western nations, UPF makes up 60% of our diet (remember, even supermarket bread is a UPF), and in the developing world they are catching up fast. Our doctors and hospitals spend trillions of pounds treating these ‘lifestyle’ or ‘Non-communicable’ diseases caused by food: think obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease. As Jamie Oliver once said ‘“Homicide is 0.8% of deaths. Diet-related disease is over 60%. But no one talks about it.”

Get rid and go green

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 16:18:21 -0800

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or do not believe to be beautiful” William Morris (1834-1896)

I’m sure we’re all looking forward to putting 2020 behind us and starting the new year afresh. One of the first things to think about doing whilst creating new year goals, is to also think about how the environment you live in affects your mood and behaviour. Does your living space make you happy? Can you relax in it, and now that most of us have to work and exercise at home, are you calm, focused and productive?

If the answer is no to all or some of these questions, then there will definitely be a need to make a few changes to your living space. By getting rid of objects that you don’t need or don’t serve a purpose and using products that are ethical and environmentally friendly can help to make you feel better, both mentally and physically. Here we interview our “Feel Good At Home” coach, Tash Fanshawe, Declutterer and Eco Warrior, about her passion for decluttering and being green.

TheLodge.space: Hi Tash. What made you become a declutterer?

In January 2015, I knew I was fed up with my home and all the stuff I wasn’t using. I wanted to sell a few things, so I took a bottle of wine (to drink) and a pair of shoes (to sell), to a friend’s place, so she could teach me how to sell on ebay. From that day on I was hooked. I’m also very interested in knowing where the stuff goes and that's why I didn’t want to just chuck those shoes away, but rather have someone else make use of them. When I work with my clients, I offer to take stuff away and although I can’t promise I’ll make them lots of money, I do promise not to use landfill where possible.

TheLodge.space:: How can we avoid landfills

In the Feel Good At Home programme, I will talk in more detail about how to avoid landfills. Yes, things can be recycled, so make sure you are recycling, but there are a few myths we can bust. Basically the recycling system...Read More

How to achieve your goals

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 07:15:19 -0800

How are you getting on with those new year resolutions? Do any of them involve building habits into your already busy lifestyle? With only 24 hours in a day, tell me who’s got the time to sleep 9 hours, meditate, hit the gym, make breakfast, do yoga, network, take up a hobby, have dinner with friends, read a book, study, go food shopping, call sis for a chat, look after the kids (or not), go on dates and get some “me” time, and all in twenty-four hours! Crazy right? Wrong. There are millions of people out there who actually live like this and are blissfully happy and successful.

In a recent study carried out by Ucci Wellness, 150 people were asked if they set any goals for 2020. A surprising 73% said yes, although 64% admitted that it’s difficult to form the habits required to achieve their goals or even make a start on them, with a sorry 3% giving up already!

But to be happy and successful you need to create good habits and this is the bit that isn't so easy. How many times have you simply just forgotten to do them or tell yourself you just don’t have the time? So I’ve created this article covering the essential “must do’s” to help you create those good habits and achieve success in 2020.

Firstly, change doesn’t happen overnight, so try not to be too hard on yourself when you haven't done what you set out to do. On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behaviour becomes automatic, 66 days to be exact according to a study conducted by Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at the University College London. One very important rule is to remind yourself everyday of why you’re doing it. That reason alone will trigger action. By thinking about your goals everyday, they will manifest into reality and if you need a prompt to help you remember and learn how to dream big why not try creating a Vision Board or journaling everyday. Sit down in a quiet place and just stare at your Vision Board for 5 minutes working through each...Read More