Changing perspective to overcome challenges

Keywords

Resilience – Mindfulness – Breathing – Breath Work – Wellbeing

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled Michael O’Brien, a qualified meditation teacher, executive coach, and endurance athlete, talks about stopping a bad moment becoming a bad day and accomplishing hard things through mindfulness. Michael shares his career journey in healthcare pharmaceuticals and his personal experience with a near-death cycling accident.

Michael discusses how his perspective on life changed after the accident, which occurred when a driver crossed over into his lane, causing a head-on collision. He shares his bleak prognosis from doctors following the accident and how he struggled with anger and uncertainty about his future roles as a father, husband, and employee. He also highlights how a mentor helped him adopt a more positive perspective by emphasising the importance of self-labelling, practicing gratitude, and mindfulness. This shift in perspective helped him overcome his challenges and gradually move forward in his recovery journey, which included both progress and setbacks.

Main topics

• The concept of mindfulness and its benefits

• Using breath work to manage stress and improve focus and decision-making

• The importance of creating space between stimulus and response

• Cultivating a more thoughtful and neutral approach to decision-making

• The importance of connecting with one's breath for overall health and well-being

• Different patterns of breathing

• Using shorter mindfulness practices to promote mindful living and improving overall health and wellbeing

 Action items

You can find out more about Michael at https://www.michaelobrienshift.com/pause-breathe-reflect/

  You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
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It's easy to meditate. Just sit down and get started.

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled – It’s easy to meditate. Just sit down and get started.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Adam Weber, an author, speaker and highly successful commercial real estate business owner who is based to the north of New York City. Adam also has a progressive form of Multiple Sclerosis and uses meditation as a way of helping him to calm his mind, reduce his stress and see improvements in his pain and other symptoms. Now, he also helps other people learn to deal with their stress though meditation.

14 years ago, whilst working in the highly stressful world of commercial real estate, Adam was diagnosed with MS. The diagnosis came as a complete shock and left him struggling to walk and at times unable to eat. MS is aggravated by stress and Adam suffered with anxiety and depression as he tried to meet the demands of his day-to-day life.

Although both his parents worked in the medical profession, Adam wasn’t happy in taking a solely medication approach to his MS. He had used meditation infrequently in the past so he became interested in using it as a way of managing his MS. Once he realised how meditation could help with the mental, physical and emotional problems created by stress, he started helping other people use meditation to deal with their stress.

Adam wanted to take the ‘woo woo’ away from meditation and make it simple and easy to practice so he created his own ‘Easy to Meditate’ programme. He feels meditation is really about resting your mind and taking yourself out of the world we live in so you can concentrate on your breathing and focus. By closing your eyes and breathing in though your nose and out your mouth, you can start to focus on a place where nothing is going on so you can let your thoughts go and slow down your body and mind.

There are so many benefits in reducing stress and Adam wants people to be able to practice mediation anywhere – to be able to leave their business environment and be able to go to their car, the park or a spare office and take time for themselves.  There’s no need for incense, flowers or special clothes, you just need to sit down and get started.  

There is a difference between simple relaxation where you sit down, read a book or watch TV and meditation. Mediation physically changes the brain and works with heart to help you compartmentalise where you are

Adam feels that mediation is a skill that people can learn at their own pace. It needs practice and to develop good results it can take a few weeks. A good habit generally takes 21 – 30 days in place before you see results but the more you do, the better the results you’ll see.  

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Adam here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available.

Our full blog archive is also available.

You can find out more about Adam and his book at here.