• User AvatarMiriam McKenzie
  • 11 Dec, 2022
  • 0 Comments
  • 2 Mins Read

It’s my birthday! Whoop whoop.

Yes, once more around the moon for me. I’m very lucky because some people don’t make this journey, so here’s a thought and a care for those people who have completed their journey, especially for those whose journey was stopped too short.

Success and celebrations

Every year many organisations plan events to celebrate success. Evenings, dinners, prize givings. All of these events combined; celebrating success, overcoming challenges we all face in our life are events that bring people together, where there is fabulous food, and entertainment at really outstanding venues, not only recognising and celebrating success but most of all, it’s also a time to catch up with people in our community, where we could ask ‘how are you going’. How are you celebrating your success?

Do you list your successes every year? Reflect on what went well? This can be a challenge for a lot of us, we just do our thing and do not expect to be recognised or celebrated but I think this is crucial.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just something to reward you and your team (family included in here too) with an actual list of your successes this year. This rewires your brain by growing your conscious mind into believing you succeed frequently, it’s easy and it’s fun.  If you struggle to know where to start with ‘reflecting’ see below for 3 templates that could help get you started. The first template you could use for your ‘2022 Successes’.

If there is a ‘yet to achieve’ on your list that has possibly been on there for a while and you’re not too sure how to go about achieving this or if there is some fear that is holding you back, fear of making a mistake, fear of people’s judgement, fear that you’re not good enough.

Whatever the reason, if fear is on one side of the coin* and courage is on the other, what flips that coin is your breath. Fear causes us to hold our breath. Not like cheeks puffed out, bright red holding our breath but our breathing becomes so shallow it freezes up our muscles and stops us from taking action.

Learn how to breathe from your diaphragm to release that fear and turn it into courage, progress, and excitement.

Here’s to your ongoing success.

*Thanks to Dr G Hendricks for the coin analogy.

Meri Kirihimete, Miriam.

Your breathing exercise for the week will help you develop the method of breathing that helps you to deliver any speech or presentation effectively but also helps reduce stress and anxiety.

Pretend there is a birthday cake in front of you with 50 candles on it. Breathe in through your nose and blow them all at once. Try again blowing one out at a time.