Your weekly dose of mental sunshine...

Well, here we are - It's 2022 and I wish you and your nearest & dearest a year full of mental sunshine :)

I have lots more tips etc planned to share with you throughout the year to help make you think and make a difference to help your mental sunshine.

Lot's of people may be thinking about new year’s resolutions (and possibly some that have already gone by the wayside...)

However, I’m not going to talk to you about that today!

After all, a broken new year’s resolution so often becomes a stick with which to beat ourselves - and that’s the exact opposite of mental sunshine.

No, today’s mental sunshine is about something really simple that has nothing to do with resolutions.

It might however be relevant if you've spent the last month or so eating too much. Turkey, stuffing, mince pies, Quality Street along with leftover trifle with both custard And cream...

Not to mention alcohol - In fact, I've just gone a whole year without having an alcoholic drink - And I'll chat about that another week

Sound familiar?

Often by this point we can all feel a bit stuffed and fed up of eating

So now's the perfect opportunity to experiment with mindful eating!

After a week of mindlessly eating whatever is in front of us, stopping to really take note of how we feel can seem like a revolutionary act!

Mindful eating is not complicated at all. It just involves getting rid of all the "TV Dinner" distractions like Netflix or endless Only Fools and Horses re-runs, and really focusing on the food.

How do you feel?

Are you actually even hungry?

Perhaps you’re just bored or have gone to the fridge to look for snacks out of habit!

If you are hungry: is this the food you really want to eat or was it just the first thing you found?

Once you’ve decided you’re going to eat it, don’t just shove it into your mouth and wander off to the next thing whilst still chewing.

Stop and really pay attention. Chew the food slowly and enjoy the textures and flavours.

Put your knife and fork down between bites, and allow yourself to really focus on the food that’s in your mouth.

Close your eyes to heighten the taste bud sensations.

Allow yourself to completely finish one mouthful, to swallow, and wait before you put anything more into your mouth.

At each moment, ask yourself: how do I feel? How does this taste? Do I want another bite?

I know, I know - this sounds a bit ridiculous. But how often have you sat in front of a film or TV show and polished off an entire box of sweets or packet of biscuits without even really noticing?

When was the last time you really noticed your food?

When we are more mindful about what we’re eating, we often eat less - and we appreciate the food we do eat that much more.

This is not about “losing weight”.

It is however about learning to be more kind to ourselves by giving our bodies that time and space to chew, swallow and digest our food properly.

And really start to enjoy our food.

As always, I'd love to hear from you with your mindful food thoughts...

Catch up on previous weekly doses of mental sunshine here or share with a friend...

Keep smiling and have a bumper 2022 full of mental sunshine.

John【ツ】

Chief Joy Bringer

The Headshot Guy®

Bringing Joy Confidence and Positivity to everyone we meet and photograph

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