I wrote my series of blogs - Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit primarily to keep our minds and bodies healthy during lockdown. How many of these habits will we continue as we slowly return to the new normal? It is a great time to reflect on what life we want after lockdown. The best way to keep a new habit is to start small. Embed micro habits into your daily life and make sure you give yourself constant reminders.
Habit 1 - Exercise
If you want to start or continue a new activity of exercise - perhaps walking or jogging, commit to going out for 5 minutes a day and put your trainers somewhere that can be seen, not tucked away in a cupboard as you need to be reminded until the habit becomes a way of life. Congratulate yourself for going. This will encourage you to go out longer every day. My new habit has been to strengthen my body as I get older. I leave the weights in the garden so I can see them when I come in from my morning run. If they were not in a prominent place my mind would forget because it isn't a habit yet. Some scientists say that it takes between 21 and 60 days to install a new habit in our minds.
Habit 2 - Morning Routine
How we start the day often reflects how the rest of our day will turn out. As soon as we awaken, make a habit of thinking 3 things that you are grateful for and gradually increase this. This will awaken the happy chemicals in our body.
Habit 3 - Finish your hot shower with cold water
You need courage to try this one but the benefits are amazing. Start with turning the shower to cold for 10 seconds and gradually build up to 30 seconds or more. As you feel the benefits you will be able to go for longer.
Some of the benefits:
Feel amazing at the start of the day and throughout the day
Wakes your body up and stimulates higher levels of alertness
Reduces stress - encourages the happy hormones
Increases the amount of white blood cells in your body to protect your body against diseases
Weight loss - stimulates the brown fat which is a specific type of fat tissue that in turn generates energy by burning calories
Have a go and let me know if you are a convert.
Habit 4 - Start a new skill
If you have started a new skill during lockdown, you may be wondering how you will fit it in post lockdown. Tell yourself that your target is 5 minutes a day. This will ensure that you keep up the habit and gradually you will find that you want to fit this in for longer to become a way of life.
Habit 5 - Create an Intention
Cut out pictures from magazines or use photos, postcards, inspirational words that represent something about the life that you want going forward. Stick on a white board and put somewhere that you can look at every day. Take in all the different pictures, close your eyes and imagine the life that you desire as if you have it right now. This will set the intention in your mind about what you want. As you practice every day, the stronger your intention the more your intuition will work to give you ideas to achieve your vision. You will be amazed at the number of coincidences that come your way.
Habit 6 - Mindfulness
I have been sharing the benefits of Mindfulness every Monday evening from 7.00 - 8.00 pm over Zoom to develop self awareness and understand how important it is to pause and go inward to enable our mind and body to relax and create calmness. Worry, concern and stress create a spike in cortisol and too much cortisol is very bad for our health. My advice is to start with 3 minutes a day. Get into the habit of stopping, close your eyes and be aware of your breathing - this is all it takes to get into the habit.
We have a thousand thoughts a day and when we are aware of what we are thinking, this makes a huge difference to the emotions we feel and subsequently the chemicals we are creating in our bodies. If we are worried and concerned about the current situation without being aware of what we can do about it, this ends up in a spiral of negative, even scary thoughts. When we are aware of our thoughts we can observe them and choose our response. Taking up this habit of giving ourselves time to look inwards is a good way of being kind to ourselves. If you want to join these free sessions, please send an email to
Let me know what habits you want to continue after lockdown.
Wishing you a 'Radiantly Alive' life
Love Lynda
Read the rest of the blogs from the mind, body, heart and spirit series: