Stridi

  We all have some poor habits, whether it's: Eating junk. Having one too many lemonades on a school night. Playing that game on our phone at times when we shouldn't. It can become an unpleasant cycle of Cue, Craving, Response and Reward.   But.... did you know that we can use these stages to our advantage?  Habits aren’t just a part of your life – an annoying tendency that you can’t seem to shake. Or a surprising trait that you developed out of nowhere. Habits are developed – often accidentally, but we can also create habits. Creating a habit is very much like learning a new skill. We keep practicing until it becomes natural, or until we reach our desired level of competence. With a new skill, perhaps you just want to be able to perform the activity successfully in one take? Or maybe you want to be able to do it naturally, with barely any awareness that it’s happening.   Developing a habit is similar. The activity in question may be a skill or activity t...

Hi everyone, Happy Sunday. Happy Day Of Rest. Photo by Tatiana Syrikova from Pexels Are you sitting in a comfy chair? Cool, we’ll begin. As it’s the Day Of Rest, I thought I’d talk a bit about mindfulness and meditation. You’ve probably come across it before, maybe you even practice these techniques on a daily basis. Or maybe only occasionally. However, if you’ve never tried it before, I’ll explain the basics: Meditation itself is the act of sitting still, in a quiet room, and focusing on stillness. It’s most effective with your eyes closed (but not compulsory), as this will encourage and allow you to access that deeper, relaxed state of meditation. The idea is to clear your mind of all thoughts, stresses, anxieties and anything else you might be feeling, and just relax. Get in touch with the spiritual world.  Photo by Valeria Ushakova from Pexels There are a few different types of meditation, including mindfulness meditation, which is all about focusing on the...

Hi everyone! Happy weekend. What if I told you….. there was no such thing as failure. What if I told you that you could live in a world where failure, or failing at anything, was not a thing?  Photo by Pixabay from Pexels Well, guess what? You already do. Let’s look at some definitions: Failure “A lack of success”. Feedback “ information which is used as a basis for improvement.” Photo by Pixabay from Pexels Life is all about the words you use, the language you live by. Your thoughts. Failure is just feedback. When we remove the concept of failure from our lives – granted, you may not necessarily always do things brilliantly at the first attempt, but you can at least come away from that activity thinking about how you can improve for next time. You’ve just done the activity and it wasn’t to your satisfaction. So, what would you do differently next time? It may mean waiting until tomorrow. It may mean waiting until next week. Or maybe you can have another go in ...

Relationships can be tough and while Valentines Day is a great excuse to spoil your significant other, how can you maintain a healthy relationship beyond Cupid’s Special Day?  Relationships take effort and dedication it’s not as simple as meeting "The One" and living happily ever after. What do you want from your relationship? What are your relationship goals? How well do your individual goals align with that of your significant other?  Here are some quick skills to work on to make your relationship as healthy as possible - these are great places to start, rather than the final solution. Empathy Everyone talks about empathy but it is a skill you have to work on. How often do you get into an argument which, after a cooling down period, you realise could’ve have been avoided if you thought about their point of view? Photo by Vera Arsic from Pexels Empathy is not just a great skill for a romantic relationship but all social relationships. You ha...

Hey guys! It’s that time of year again.  Christmas feels long gone, January has finally ended, and the new decade is in full swing. The next date in the diary is fast approaching. Some love it and some aren’t quite so fond of it. Yep, that’s right! Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us. Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels I was just discussing our next article with Josh last week, and he suggested that, with Valentines approaching, we could write about “Maintaining a long-distance relationship at university”. Many of us have been in that situation and I had several housemates who would often have their partner stay over.  I had one housemate in second year who’s girlfriend practically lived with us. I had another housemate who alternated weekends with his other half – one week he went to her, the next she would come to us. I also had a guy in the room next door one year, who couldn’t leave the house without skyping his beloved first. It just goes to show that ...