Master mental health life skills

Kirsty Jackson Perrin, from mindset coaching company Winning Edge, shares her expert tips on how to make sure our thoughts aren’t holding us back

This past year has been like no other and our mettle has been well and truly tested. However, it’s crucial we know we do have some control in all of this – control of our thoughts. There are six important steps we can take every day to feel more in control of the now and to ensure we are moving forward. And it only takes 15 minutes each day.

Visualise: who do you want to be and what do you want in life? Use visualisation to program your brain that this is possible. Make that mental movie and constantly replay it so it becomes your new normal.

Intentional: are your thoughts helping or hindering you? Kick unhelpful thoughts to the kerb and replace them with intentional thoughts to help move you forward.

Take personal responsibility: your feelings, actions and habits stem from your thoughts. When you take full ownership of your thinking and full responsibility of how you want to show up for you, you will feel empowered and liberated.

Assumptive affirmations: it’s possible to reset your brain and manage negative thought patterns. Affirmations are deliberately constructed sentences which, when repeated daily, realign neural pathways and patterns in the brain, enabling you to boost your self-belief. You could try: ‘I know I have the resourcefulness, resilience and self-belief to overcome challenges.’

Let go: identify the things you cannot control in life and let them go. We can’t change the past or other people’s thoughts and actions. Focus on the things you can change.

Self-talk: positive self-talk fuels self-belief, which then encourages you to go for the great things in life. winningedgemindset.com