Act with full awareness.
Deliberate living
Deliberate living is the practice of aligning your actions with your values rather than reacting automatically to pressure, emotion or habit. These resources explore relationships, boundaries, direction and the choices that shape the life you lead.
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We’re responsible for our own feelings and behaviour, but that doesn’t mean we stop caring about how we affect each other. Emotional responsibility helps us hold cleaner boundaries, raise what matters with care, and let go of what we choose not to voice, rather than storing it as resentment.
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Depression doesn’t always look like staying in bed. Sometimes you function on the surface while something underneath has gone quiet. Sometimes there’s an obvious reason. Sometimes there isn’t. This is a piece about what it actually feels like, why deliberate action still matters when nothing feels like it will help, and when it’s time to…
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Sadness is something we all experience, but when it’s present it can feel hard to move through. It’s one of the most impactful feelings as it can stop you in your tracks, which not only feels difficult in the moment, but it can have a knock on impact on your relationships, health and work. At…
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The space reflex is the instinct to fill unstructured time with activity, and knowingly or not, avoid emotional exposure. It can be difficult to catch, because we’re busy and life doesn’t typically have much natural space to “just be”. It’s true that productivity and progress can be a form of happiness. But so can peace.…
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Putting yourself first can feel uncomfortable for some people. For others, it’s instinctive. Some lean too far toward themselves, prioritising their own motives at the expense of everyone else. Deliberate living requires balance. It means holding your needs alongside the needs of the people you care about, rather than consistently elevating one over the other.…
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What you with it does, because none of us know how much time we actually have. We can all consider how we spend our time and what feels best. Some of us choose the mindset that the world happens to us, others believe we get to drive. I think it’s a balance. Some things present…
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Mental health rarely drops suddenly Mental health changes are often gradual rather than sudden. Small shifts in energy, focus or patience can appear long before anything feels like a serious problem. Because the changes are subtle, they’re easy to ignore or explain away as stress, tiredness or a busy period. Over time those small signals…
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Not because you’ll be liked more, but because you’ll attract people who you’re more compatible with. It’s only fair on you and those who may fall in love with you. For example, if you pretend to be into socializing more than you are, and you meet someone in the process that really is more on…
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That’s what I write at the top of my pad during important meetings as a reminder for how I want to behave under pressure. And this is what I do before, during and after. Before During the session After I reflect on how it went. What I could do differently next time and give myself…
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Out of the seven habits of highly effective people, by Stephen Covey, this is my favorite. Understanding first creates stronger relationships because people feel heard; means there is less chance of making a mistake by suggest the wrong solution; helps reduce conflict by disarming emotional situations; and from a practical point of view, makes conversations…
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There are pros and cons to high EQ. The ability to self-regulate by understanding what you’re feeling and manage it well, is a huge strength in both work and life. When that sits alongside empathy and strong motivation, it can make someone especially steady and valuable to be around. They’re more able to keep going…
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For me, happiness is made up from the following ingredients: relationships with loved ones, personal growth, helping others in their journey, living, exploring and enjoy what the world has to offer. We all get to choose our own recipe, but the ingredients list is the same…
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I believe the meaning of life is life itself. By that I mean we’re here to continue the human story. To live, to grow, to experience the world and, ultimately, to help life continue beyond us. If that’s true, then the real question becomes how we choose to live the life we have. In that…
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Take a moment to think about how you feel when someone talks over you, rushes you along or simply doesn’t listen to what you’ve said. Conversely, consider the feeling of being understood…
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Patience is one of the most difficult things to master, but vital to long term, meaningful success. I like to use the sand jar analogy…
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What do you think will happen if you hang out with expert chefs, fast runners or people who laugh a lot?