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Boost your experience of life

How a calm mind, an energised body and a happy heart helps you experience life to the fullest.


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Paul Wallas

3 years ago | 7 min read

Life is one big experience. Whether you’re someone who lives life to the full or someone who enjoys the smaller things in life, these experiences can be amplified when your mind is clear, your body is energised, and your heart is filled full of happiness.

However, life isn’t always easy and our work-life balance alongside our relationships with technology, social media and other digital services means we now have less time to check-in with ourselves and afford ourselves the luxury of some much needed “me time”.

Our busy mind

For many, our minds are never truly free from the stressors of modern-day life. From the moment we wake, we’re immediately exposed to negative bites of information which our mind has no choice but to process.

Whether it be local or national news, Twitter or Facebook news feeds, or work communication in the form of email, our sensory organs are immediately engaged, our cognitive processes are firing on all cylinders and we’ve yet to enjoy our morning coffee.

And this is our template for the rest of our day, constantly transforming physical stimuli into electrochemical signals forcing our mind to remain highly active and busy.

Our inactive body

Modern-day life is comfortable, convenient and for many of us, we live a sedentary lifestyle. We commute to work where we spend the best part of eight hours remaining seated. We commute home, enjoy our dinner, and spend the remainder of our evenings also seated.

We associate fitness with a place away from our home. We commute to the leisure centre and for the best part of an hour, we work extremely hard. For some, this may be once or twice per week while for others, it may be four to five. Frequency aside, the majority of us have a lifestyle which is heavily weighted towards a sedentary lifestyle and not one which is full of movement and activity.

Our unhappy heart

Today’s world is one rich with material goods. In the US, and in many other advanced countries, consumer spend grows year on year* and in some cases, supply fails to meet demand.

For many, we live in a world where our purchases are fuelled by dopamine and our neurotransmitters surge when we consider the anticipation of updating our phones, cars or simply adding new garments to our wardrobe.

Consequently, we lose sight of gratitude. Rather than feeling content and grateful for everything that we do have in life, we’re left feeling dissatisfied and saf for the things that we don’t have. We chase happiness believing it will come with our next purchase. Yet happiness in this format never arrives.

A calm mind, an energised body and a happy heart

Over the past few months, me and my wife have been working on an app called LifePockets. LifePockets aims to improve how many of us feel by taking a well-rounded approach to health.

We want to help people achieve a calm mind and one that can switch off from modern day stressors. We want to help people feel active, without having to go to the gym or the place they associate with fitness. And we want people to experience a happy and full heart.

We understand that considerable changes to your lifestyle are not always possible, so we’ve intentionally created a range of activities that can be performed at home, without equipment and in less than 10 minutes. Understanding that existing lifestyle commitments are not always moveable, we’ve deliberately created activities that can be incorporated into your daily routine.

Our activities target three key areas; your mind, your body and your heart and by completing one activity for each area per day, you can experience calmness, more energy and true happiness in less than 30 minutes.

Mind (calming) activities

Our activities to help calm the mind

Mind activities focus specifically on improving your state of mind. Activities range from mindful sessions to meditation sessions with most activities requiring on average, only 5 minutes to complete.

We’ve created these activities to naturally blend into your day-to-day life, for instance our Mindful Tea activity can be performed while making your morning tea or coffee and our Awake Meditation is designed to be the first thing you do as soon as you wake up. Both of these activities help to reduce your levels of stress but also leave your mind feeling calm, relaxed and ready to face the day’s events.

As free taster, here’s our Awake Activity that you can perform each day to help you feel relaxed.

Awake Meditation Activity

01 Once awake, remain in bed and sit upright. Gently close your eyes or soften your gaze and bring your awareness to your breath.

02 Think of three things in your life that you are grateful for and the benefits they bring you. For instance, you may be grateful for a wardrobe full of clean clothes or owning your own car so you can experience an enjoyable commute to work.

03 In your mind, think to yourself: “I’m grateful for my (item) because of (the benefit)

04 After identifying your 3 items, say a little thank you, either aloud or in your mind.

05 Slowly open your eyes and enjoy your day.

Body (energising) activities

Our activities to help energise the body

Energising activities focus on exercise and movement. They help your body to feel re-energised, active and fit. Energising activities, like all activities that are available in the LifePockets App, can be performed within your home in 10 minutes or less and we’ve specifically designed these activities to be performed without equipment.

There are HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) activities, yoga poses, stretches and activities suited to those who may be less mobile. There are activities that suit a range of abilities from beginner to advanced.

For instance, our Beginner HIIT Workout only requires 5 minutes to be performed and so it is the perfect activity to perform while waiting for your evening meal to cook. Research also suggests that an increased heart rate can help to speed up metabolism* so performing this activity before meals has additional benefits.

As a free taster, here are the instructions for our Beginner HIIT Workout that you can perform at home today.

Beginner HIIT Workout Activity

01 Jog on the spot
As fast as you can, jog on the spot for 30 seconds. Once the 30 second timer has finished, take a 30 second rest.

02 High knees
Stand with your arms out in front at waist height with your palms facing the floor. As fast as you can, jog on the spot raising your knees to touch your palms. Try and make your knees reach your palms for the full 30 seconds. Once the 30 second timer has finished, take a 30 second rest.

03 Star jumps
Stand with your arms by your side and your feet close together. As you jump in the air, bring your arms out-stretched wide above your head and spread your feet shoulder width apart. Perform as many star jumps as you can for 30 seconds. Once the 30 second timer has finished, take a 30 second rest.

04 Jump lunge
Stand in a lunge position, one leg out in front of you at a 90-degree angle with your other leg stretched behind you with a slight bend. As you jump in the air, swap leg positions so your back leg is now in front and your front leg is now stretched behind you. Repeat this for 30 seconds. Once the 30 second timer has finished, take a 30 second rest.

05 Butt kicks
Stand upright with your arms behind you and the backs of your hands touching your butt. Quickly kick one leg backwards so your foot gets as close as possible to touching the palm of your hand. Bring your leg back to the floor and repeat with the opposite leg. Quickly repeat as many as you can for 30 seconds. Once the 30 second timer has finished, take a 30 second rest.

Heart (happiness) activities

Our activities to help the heart feel happy

Happiness activities focus on your heart, soul and feelings of positivity. We’ve created these activities to help you feel gratitude for everything good in your life and to also help you to reconnect with nature and our natural environment. These activities can be performed at home or at work and almost all require less than 10 minutes to complete.

Ranging from gratitude exercises to ‘thank you’ activities, our happiness activities help to fill your heart full of love and happiness.

As a free taster, here is our Natural Observation activity that you can perform at home today, either indoors or outdoors, to help reconnect your heart with nature.

Natural Observation Activity

01 Choose an object from nature such as a butterfly, a bird, a tree or a house plant. Now relax and focus on this object like you have never seen it before.

02 Use your eyes to explore all aspects of its shape, form and beauty. E.g. if you’ve picked a plant, explore how the leaves move in the gentle breeze or notice how some stems may be smooth while others may be in the latter part of their life cycle.

03 Now consider the role of your chosen object and how it connects to everything around it in the natural world or home environment.

04 Perform this observation for 3–5 mins or a time of your choice.

Performing one activity daily from each of the mind, body and heart categories will help you live a life that is full and give you the ability to make time for yourself without making major lifestyle adjustments.

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Created by

Paul Wallas

https://paulwallas.medium.com/


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