Maintaining tip-top Emotional & Mental Health

Leyo – Lead Yourself to Happiness – is all about mental and emotional health and wellbeing ….. and helping people overcome their opposites – stress, anxiety, and depression. These have now reached epidemic proportions in the western world.
This makes this topic of interest and importance to everyone.

Anxiety, stress, and depression are getting more and more common, in fact, mental illnesses have taken over from back pain as the LEADING cause for people taking sick time off work. Work-related stress alone accounts for nearly half of days lost in the workforce every year (43% in 2014/15 and rising), which is costing our economy billions of pounds.

And it doesn’t just concern people who work. In today’s high speed, high-pressure environment, one in 4 people are depressed right now and the World Health Organisation warns that 1 in every 3 people will encounter these problems in their life. That figure doesn’t include people who have no diagnosable ‘problem’ but experience more troubling emotions than they would like. (Isn’t that most people ?) After all, where do you draw the line between coping with life being ‘a problem’ and coping with life being ‘a bit of a struggle at the moment’? You could say that nearly everyone is finding negative emotions are getting a bit more usual for them, or harder to shake, as outside stresses and pressures connected with living in today’s society become part of the commonplace.

Difficulties coping are even becoming common during childhood now, and for some children, the stresses of exams or peer pressure are too much, and by their teens or twenties, they are already starting to experience symptoms of panic, anxiety or depression, or something else.

It doesn’t have to be that way! And Lead Yourself is out to change those statistics!

Despite it being so common, in our society, awareness of these problems is still so low. Most people who suffer may not even know until they get diagnosed – with depression or anxiety, for instance. And many people are afraid to talk about it or admit it. There is still a stigma, whether real or imagined, and some people even feel ashamed of themselves for suffering.

Yet, consider this question. Who has never suffered from low self-esteem, insecurity, inferiority, procrastination, guilt, stress or worry, frustration, panic, sadness, or irritability? No one, right?!

What is ‘mental ill-health’ if not these ordinary everyday emotions, magnified? So it’s no wonder that anyone of us could literally be only 48 hours from long term chronic anxiety or depression, no matter how healthy or happy we are right now. This isn’t meant to scare you, but a sudden stressful life event can happen at any age or stage of life, to anyone, no matter what their background. A relationship breakdown, acrimonious divorce, highly stressful job or a nasty manager, redundancy, court case, bereavement, getting into debt, house repossessed etc, can happen to anybody – no one is immune.

No one is immune… That is unless we build up our mental and emotional resilience. That’s our immunity.

As with most things, prevention is far, far better than cure. And nearly all mental and emotional difficulties are preventable. Exactly the same way that many physical problems are preventable by good diet and exercise. And although prevention is better than cure, most are also completely curable too. Especially while they are relatively mild.

And it’s easier than you might think to do that.

When we think of mental health difficulties we think of drugs and months or years of therapy. And if you go to your doctor, that’s probably what you’ll be offered. But the good news is, that’s not usually necessary …. it can be done educationally. We can learn, with just a few minutes a day, (designed for busy people) to both overcome, and prevent mental health difficulties ever occurring, to generally build emotional resilience, and achieve vibrant happiness and wellbeing.

This is all part of a new …. (or, not so new perhaps) … approach.

In the same way, we eat healthily and exercise to prevent physical problems, how about doing similar things for our minds, to prevent mental problems? If you think about it, our bodies don’t work very well if we don’t give them a good diet, some daily exercise, and time to rest. That is, they work for a time but pretty soon, by our 30s, 40s or 50s, or if we’re lucky 70s or 80s, they start to break down. Well, our minds and brains need THEIR version of the diet, exercise, and R&R, too.

If you look into it, you find that there is nothing mysterious about happiness, wellbeing, and good mental health. Nothing. You do x and y and you’re happy, satisfied and relaxed in life. You don’t do x and y, or you do z instead, you are unhappy, dissatisfied or stressed.

Also, there are not 1 but 4 areas of life – body, heart, mind and spirit. We all know about diet, exercise and getting enough sleep for the physical part. But that leaves 3 out of the 4 not covered. That’s quite a gap – and that’s where Leyo comes in.

Because life is going to happen, regardless. Life involves difficulties, problems, things crop up. That’s what life is, for everyone. When you get knocked down as we all do, can you jump back up or do you have to haul yourself up slowly and painfully? Whether you get tripped up by every little (or big) thing that goes wrong, ride the waves of life, or use them as a springboard to great heights, is down to you – your thought patterns, habits, approach to life – all things that you can modify with just a few minutes a day, to ensure that you win the game of life. It’s just like going to the gym and drinking a green smoothie – for your mind. Leyo is your mind’s green smoothie.

Doing a few simple things like that also prevent and cure problems like anxiety and mild depression, permanently. There are simple steps everyone can take, incorporate into their daily routine, that will keep you happy, and maximise your mental and emotional wellbeing, throughout your life, no matter what the circumstances. As you progress, your performance at work increases, your level of happiness increases, your satisfaction in life increases,

What are those things? There are lots of options. Most great and successful people have been doing them for years. What you choose will be up to you and your preferences. But that’s what Lead Yourself to Happiness is all about. It’s like a one-stop-shop designed to achieve vibrant happiness and wellbeing in every area of life and to enable you to overcome the stress, anxiety, anger, and other unpleasant or unwanted emotions that get us down. You will start from wherever you are and end up with a complete toolbag of resources. You will be able to beat the blues and deal with whatever emotions trouble you in life, keep your well-being tip-top throughout your life, and enjoy fulfilling and satisfying relationships. Also, you’ll be a good way along the road to high emotional intelligence, raised consciousness, and the ultimate sign of wisdom, ‘Knowing thyself’.

Disclaimer

I am not a qualified doctor and this is not intended as an alternative to going to the doctor or seeking expert advice for any problem. Leyo does not advise or instruct. What it does is put you in the driving seat, because medication or therapy can only get you so far, as can even the most qualified expert. If all experts were definitive, and there was only one right answer, why would anyone ever need a second opinion?

Whatever you do to combat stress or anxiety and regain balance and wellbeing should always be in line with what you feel is right for you, rather than blindly following what someone else tells you. We believe you are the expert on your life, and you can choose whether to take the ‘one size fits all’ approach most often prescribed, or to continue with it, or work with us, or both together. Our approach is to start with you as a unique individual, to empower you in your progress or recovery, and to hold your hand throughout your journey toward lifelong vibrant happiness and wellbeing.