It’s no secret.
Many people in our community are currently struggling with a massive amount of stress, distress, and mental health challenges.

Witnessing this can be distressing too, and while you may want to help, sometimes you hold back through fear of doing or saying the wrong thing.
You worry that you’re not qualified.

Nothing could be further from the truth because the only qualification needed is your kindness and compassion.

It’s as if the world has gone mad.

We’ve spent several years battling a global pandemic and now it’s as if we are hell bent on self-annihilation through conflict and war.

If you’ve been left shaking your head and wondering what you can do as one person to bring about positive change, don’t underestimate yourself.

You have something so powerful, it never be nuked by an intercontinental ballistic missile.

It’s called kindness.

What has been happening in Afghanistan is truly horrible. Watching the news bulletins of the chaos, the fear and an increasingly desperate situation, it’s hard not to be touched by the human suffering.

Are you an empath?

Are you a person highly sensitive to the emotions of others that, courtesy of your mirror neurons enables you to feel what they feel as a shared experience?

Or do you see it as just another example of woo-woo, irrelevant touchy-feely stuff and found only in “Petals.”

Empathy matters because it is essential to your mental wellbeing, and studies have shown how empathetic leaders are seen as more trustworthy, and fair.

The problem is, our ability to show empathy is becoming endangered courtesy of a hostile environment and even some of the medications we use.

But like other aspects of wellbeing, empathy can be learned and strengthened.

What do you do to stay empathetic to the needs of those around you?

Despite the fact 2020 will be remembered as a basket case of a year associated with terrible loss and grief, hardships and fear, there has been some good. Acknowledging this and counting our blessings is important, firstly to remind ourselves that even in times of adversity, there will always be some positives though we may have to look really carefully to find them. Secondly, that focusing on those small things that give us a sense of joy or happiness is essential to being able to find the motivation and confidence to move on.
In this blog I share 5 ideas on how to show more gratitude and the benefits gratitude provides our mental wellbeing

Despite the barrage of doom and gloom and scary images of people on ventilators and health care workers gowned up in white suits, what I’ve noticed recently has been a huge surge in human kindness and compassion. Have you seen this too?

We’re looking out for each other in ways not witnessed for a very long time. We’re checking in the elderly and vulnerable in the community. We’re digging in deep to help out with donations to Foodbank and showing a willingness to contribute to the greater good and
complying with the request to stay home because that act of kindness works to keep others safe.

Whether singing to each other from our balconies (as in Italy) enjoying a virtual workout with Joe Wicks from the UK, saying thank you to the harassed person at the supermarket check-out or sharing a toilet roll with a friend in need, sharing that moment of kindness does us all a power of good.

What would you choose?
A higher paying job where profits came before people or a lower paying job, where you felt you were being treated as a person, listened to and encouraged to grow professionally?
Empathy matters because it makes feel cared for.