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Mental Health Awareness Week: Best Selling Author of ‘The Little Book Of Positivity' Shares 5 Tips on how to Create a Sense of Calm.

This month, entrepreneurial mum of two, Faye Edwardes, who moved from South London to a forest in Herodsfoot, Cornwall, is celebrating getting another step closer to her goal to empower over 1 million people world-wide to take action and take control of their own happiness and well-being as her new book, ‘The Little Book Of Positivity - A First-Aid Kit For Your Well-Being’ stormed the Amazon charts, to become a No.1 in almost 10 categories.

Positive Mindset Expert and a Positive Psychology Coach, Faye, 46 is an entrepreneur, property developer, author, writer, podcast host and Founder of the Positive Living Movement, helping people across the world, no matter what their background or circumstances, transform their lives and business by integrating positivity into their lives in healthy and sustainable ways.

Faye explains; “The reason I wrote the book, is because I want to change lives – a bold statement I know, but I really do! You see, just a few years ago, my life was so completely different. I was tired, drained, stressed, riddled with self-doubt, low self-esteem and social anxiety. Then, from the depths of desperation, I saw a light. Literally. It was mental. It was all down to ME. I could choose to change my outlook and mindset and work on me.”

In her continued quest for freedom and happiness, having spent most of her life city living, in 2015, Faye and her family made the huge move from South London to a forest in the middle of nowhere in Herodsfoot, Cornwall. Faye said; “It was a huge, exciting challenge that provided the best platform for my continued personal growth journey and this move really was to change the direction of the rest of my life. In 2016, I started to study and learn and developed a tool kit of skills, knowledge and techniques that I could rely on when I needed them. I qualified as a sound therapist, meditation leader, Reiki practitioner and NLP practitioner. I began meditating regularly, cut out alcohol and adopted an early morning routine, and very quickly, my outlook and mindset got more and more positive. This is when I decided, to go all in and change careers from sustainability and publishing to positivity.”

Faye began studying Positive Psychology and in 2021, she became a certified Positive Psychology Coach with the PPCA (Positive Psychology Coaching Academy). Faye continued to study positive psychology and is now a Master Positive Psychology Coach with the PPCA and is also a consultant coach for a number of other international organisations.

Faye was blown away by the science involved; “At the start, what I didn’t realise was that Positive Psychology itself, is an actual science and its approaches, interventions, exercises and tools are all robustly scientifically tested and data driven and when the evidence was there I was suddenly like - WOW! Positive Psychology is now this huge movement that acknowledges that positivity is a contagion – so the more positive that we can feel day to day that then spreads to the people around us. This can simply start with a smile… my children and I set ourselves fun challenges as to how many smilers we can get on our walk or day out! All of us are buzzing and it’s a really good feeling.”

Faye continues; “I have done so much studying over the past few years and it can be really complex and heavy when you start to dig a deeper into the scientific evidence, neuroscience and quantum physics, so, I wanted to write something that everybody could access. The way I have written ‘The Little Book Of Positivity’ is very conversational, like it’s me talking you through it. The reader will find secrets and tools that they can implement immediately, that will change their whole way of being. It’s all about finding and making small, achievable changes to our daily lives to significantly increase positivity and happiness. Every single one of us can play a huge part in improving our own well-being, our own mental health and our own happiness and over time, you will see that you start to do the techniques without thinking about them.”

Within the book Faye shares some great positivity tips and tricks we can all use ourselves and also with our children, topics include; self confidence, calm, mood, focus, gratitude, courage, early morning routines, daily habits, relationships, fun…

Faye now works with people all over the world helping people to change their lives and business dramatically. In 2019, Faye founded the Positive Living Movement and the Positive Mindset Academy. Over her life, Faye has run a number of businesses and having overcoming imposter syndrome, self-doubt and overwhelm, she now feels this is where her true joy is – she is happy and free and able to thrive and flourish. “I don’t feel like I am working – this is joyful!”

Faye is passionate about sharing her message with the future generations of leaders, parents, business owners, corporates, educational organisations and training institutions.

One of Faye’s focus areas in the books is around staying calm because she believes that dealing with stress is quite possibly the biggest threat to our well-being. Here she shares her top 5 tips on how to create a sense of calm, no matter what’s going on in our chaotic lives:-

1.Reframe Reframing is one of the most powerful mindset and positivity tools we can ever have in our arsenal of handy go-to toolkits. We are socially conditioned to perceive things in a certain way and, as with everything, it is totally within our power to decide to perceive things in a different way. We just have to break free! Reframing enables us to do this. We can take a situation that we may automatically have seen as negative and instead look at what we might be able to take from it that makes it a positive experience. Reframing is one of the most important life skills we can develop. It is super contagious so we can pass on our wonderful, golden energy to those around us.

2. Say ‘No’ We are all just so busy these days. It is an accepted part of life in the 21st century, but being busy is stressful. It contributes to chaos and feeling rushed and stressed. There is a fine balance between doing all the things that you enjoy and want to do in life, and being so rushed off your feet that you don’t have time to savour the moment, or spend true quality time with your family. This impacts your well-being, which impacts your relationships, which impacts your well-being even further. One of the main reasons that we end up too busy, is that we do not have the ability to be able to say no to things that we don’t have the time for. Have a really honest conversation with yourself about what you DO enjoy, and which of those things that you DO have time for. You will end up with a wonderful list of things you want to do and can devote yourself to.

3. Have a break from the booze In 2019, I made the decision to stop drinking alcohol. At the time, I didn’t know how long for, but I just went with it. Immediately, a sense of calm descended. Softly and quietly at first, then slowly becoming more obvious and long-lasting. I am not telling you to give up alcohol – that decision is a personal one. What I will suggest though, is that you try to go alcohol-free for one month per year. Dry January, Sober October – any other month in between… you decide. It’s a great treat for your body and mind, even if you don’t drink very much.

4. Be mindful of the people around you Stress is a contagion and our responses to the events in our lives are significantly influenced by those around us. We absorb the responses and behaviours of those around us over time and, without realising, our behaviour becomes closer and closer to others, even if we don’t want it to. If you know people who are often moaning and bitter about people and life in general, you will notice that the rest of their families and friends may have that approach to life too. The best thing you can do for yourself is to distance yourself as much as possible from those exhibiting these behaviours. Our relationships form such a huge part of who we are and we therefore need to choose our influencing relationships so wisely.

5. Create a strong daily routine The other main area to focus on when we want to feel more calm, is our daily routine. Life itself can feel manic and chaotic. Family, work, children, hobbies - these can all contribute to life feeling the opposite of calm. Try and introduce a daily routine that works for you and you will soon find that home life feels much calmer for everyone. Simple steps such as making sure the kitchen is tidy in the evening, laying out clothes for the next day, and leaving plenty of time for contingency, all contribute towards a lovely morning.

An exercise to help you find calm, when your life is feeling chaotic is ‘Take Five Breathing’. Here is what to do:-

1. Spread out the fingers of one hand,
2. Very slowly, begin to trace a finger up and down each finger on the other hand,
3. As your hand moves up, breathe in deeply through your nose,
4. As your hand reaches the top, hold the breath for three counts,
5. As you hand moves down, breathe out through your mouth and empty all the air,
6. Hold for three counts before moving onto the next finger,
7. Repeat for all fingers (and thumb!) and notice how much calmer and slower you feel.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .