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    12Nov, 2024
    Mental Wealth for Team Success at NHS

    On 12th Nov 2024, the NHS hosted a highly successful Team Away Day which included a Mental Health Session, attended by over 40 participants, all eager to learn strategies for managing stress in both personal and professional settings. The workshop, held at Salesforce Tower, aimed to equip the NHS Informatics Team with knowledge and practical tools to reduce stress and improve overall well-being.

    The session, led by Eddy Quah, covered various techniques including mindfulness, relaxation exercises, and cognitive-behavioral strategies. Participants were guided through practical exercises designed to help them recognize stress triggers and adopt healthier coping mechanisms.

    A central theme of the workshop was Personal Resilience. Eddy helped attendees deepen their understanding of how the heart, mind, and body respond during stressful and chaotic moments. The session also introduced practical tools and techniques designed to regain control, reduce stress, enhance resilience, and maintain a more balanced state of well-being.

    Feedback received on the session includes:-

    • Extremely valuable investment of time
    • Very good session, great skills learnt and my knowledge expanded
    • Eddy Quah was very good. Explaining concepts in very sequential manner with frequent activities
    • It was great to see a session on Mental Health and stress on the agenda. Clearly demonstrated that how we manage stress can affect individual performance (including some helpful tips on how to do so). Really good team session.
    • Excellent session with an excellent Instructor who is obviously passionate and genuine about what he is teaching.
    9Dec, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – “Humility”

    A new dawn and a new beginning for us all. Having let go of the past, we can now start the year afresh with ‘humility’ as our focus for January.

    Begin by knowing who you truly are and accept your strengths with gratitude, your limitations without any judgement, and the world around us all with appreciation. Heart Humility is being honest with yourself and others and then expressing your gratitude and respect for all involved.

    Heart Humility can help you walk through this world with confidence and integrity. It does not mean or require timid postures in your interactions with others. True humility does not fade your personality into the background but instead, increases your charisma and effectiveness. Here are some ways to practise humility in your day-to-day life.

    Exercise: Practising Humility

    1. Admit that you don’t have all the answers
    2. Be receptive and open to feedback from family, friends, and colleagues
    3. Be generous in listening without judging or interrupting
    4. Engage with and accept different points of view
    5. Be willing to admit one’s own imperfections
    6. Set aside your ego
    7. Make others feel valued, important, and appreciated
    In practising these aspects of humility, some of the major benefits include earning the respect of friends, family, and colleagues. More creativity, harmony, and peace at the end of each day can be expected as an outcome as well.
     
    As you practise putting more compassion and love into your interactions with others, you will find that your “heart humility” increases organically with ease and flow, and it comes naturally without having to give it much thought. This takes you to a stage of reduced stress and will help you stay more balanced.
    9Nov, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – “Forgiveness”

    As we reach the end of the year,  it is time to reflect on how our year has been. In the upcoming festive season and our personal time-out, think about the events and experiences each of us had this year. Can this be a time to take a step towards forgiveness for things that should not have happened or words that should not have been said during the year, or even the years before?

    FORGIVENESS is a personal decision we have to make in the quietness of our heart. Intuition can prompt us to start thinking about it but it is ultimately our personal action to step into it. Learning to release these feelings of disharmony is a powerfully effective tool for our personal peace and happiness. Do not miss this wave of opportunity that’s provided when our spirit is knocking on the door to get our attention to be forgiving.

    Holding onto and replaying these hurt or resentful feelings built over the year or years block our heart’s care, which is important for creating harmony and a healthy balance in our system and with others. Do you know that sustained and unchecked acrimonious energy release hormones and neurochemicals that drain our system and can put our personal health in harm’s way, especially if it’s imprinted with lots of emotions? These negative feelings can siphon our energy levels, resilience and reasoning capacity.

    Delivering forgiveness may sometimes be hard. However, it is a giant step in self-care if we can go to our heart and gently start the process even if it is a little at the time. Go beyond the mind in delivering forgiveness, reach into the heart as well as our heart has the secret sauce for forgiveness. It’s the heart that adds the love, understanding and patience to stick with the intention of truly forgiving. Once the connection gets deep enough with the heart, you will feel that instant relief where forgiveness is complete.

    December is a good time for a reset and for delivering forgiveness. As we prepare to start afresh with the new year, let us genuinely put our heart into our intention to forgive and free ourselves from the negativities of the old.

    13Oct, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – 6 Techniques

    Stress is everywhere and it hits us every day, consciously or unconsciously.

    Stress affects us all in a number of ways – physically, emotionally, mentally, and in varying intensities too. We know that stress, when short-lived, is positive as it makes us more alert and helps us perform better in certain situations. Unfortunately, as Stress often intensifies stealthily on us, we embraced it unknowingly even when it had transitioned into long-term excessive stress.

    Sadly, this leads to illnesses such as heart disease, mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, and in some cases deaths. 

    We all experience stress but when it is affecting our life, health, and wellbeing, it is important to tackle it as soon as possible.

    In July/August, I shared 6 methods on how to take back control, reduce your stress and stay balanced. 
    Here are the 6 methods/techniques again:

    Anchoring
    Being Compassionate
    Attitude
    life-g38690d8b6_1280
    Inner Dignity
    Coherent Communication
    At Ease

     

    If you feel that you are struggling to manage on your own, it is okay to ask for professional help. Try to get help as soon as possible or contact me at health@quahassociates.com

    17Sep, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – “At Ease”

    When called to “ATTENTION”, we tensed up; standing straight with chest puffed out and quietly awaiting the call of “AT EASE”. The moment we hear the call of “AT EASE”, we let go and felt relieved, more relaxed and calm. 

    The state of ease is a highly regenerative state that helps us flow more easily through challenges and builds our resilience capacity. Inner ease is not merely a state of relaxation. It is characterized by a balance between the mind and emotions which allows us to access a sense of inner stillness while on the move. 

    It is beneficial to start your day by being at ease as this reduces mental and emotional static which often clouds clear thinking and our reasoning capacity.  Why not develop your ability to be at ease (at will) where you can bring the essence of calmness and stillness into your day-to-day interactions?

    Breathing the feeling of ease supports the cooperative agreement between our heart, mind and emotions when we are making decisions, communicating, and planning. Our minds and emotions often fight each other for quick decisions. In the state of adrenalin rush, this confusion blocks our sensitivity to our heart’s intuitive choices for the highest outcomes.

    Learning to move in a state of inner ease gives us more pause to register our intuitive guidance in all of our interactions. The pause allows us to make conscious choices rather than mechanical reactions.

    Exercise: Inner-Ease (TM) Technique

    1. Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual.
      (Suggestion: Inhale 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds (or whatever rhythm is comfortable for you))
    2. With each breath, draw in the feeling of inner ease to balance your mental and emotional energy.
    3. Set a meaningful intent to anchor the feeling of inner ease as you engage in your projects, challenges or daily interactions. 

    View inner ease as a state of “active calm” in which our mental and emotional energy is composed, yet ready for swift intelligent action if needed. Inner ease is not necessarily about moving slowly physically, unless some situations call for it – it’s about moving smartly. This is a powerful tool for preventing and neutralizing stress or sorting out solutions and directions.

    11Aug, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Inner Dignity

    Dignity is one of the most important things to the human spirit. It means being valued and respected for what you are, what you believe in, and how you live your life. Treating other people with dignity means treating them the way we’d like to be treated ourselves. 

    The strength of our dignity is determined by the fluctuations of our energies such as resilience, determination, courage and care. Some people seem to have a knack for maintaining an even temperament. Their dignity and composure never seems to waver. For the majority of people, the state of their inner dignity is one of ebb and flow. It changes daily for some, seasonally for others. Somewhere in between is where most of us fit.

    Situations such as disappointment, illness or general challenges will occur in our lives from time to time. it can leave us out of sorts, and depressed, and if we’re not careful, our inner dignity and esteem can plummet as well.

    “When you strive to become your true self by following your heart,
    you nurture and increase the available power of your inner dignity.”
    —Doc Childre

    As Inner Dignity is one of the primary motivators for self-empowered actions, it is crucial for us to find a reliable path to an optimal state of inner dignity. Dignity lifts us to realms of new possibilities where things begin to transform, creating more stability in our lives. Those undesirable patterns will begin to disappear and new patterns emerge as a new way of life. 

    We can achieve Inner Dignity with our hearts and trained breathing techniques. This takes a little practice, and here is a technique to help you along.

    Technique: Increasing your Inner Dignity 

    1. Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area with a 5-secs in and 5-secs out-breath. If you find this uncomfortable, try breathing a little faster or slower but keeping it at an easy rhythm that’s comfortable.
    2. As you breathe, imagine you are increasing your inner dignity, inner strength and poise. This increases your power to maintain your higher principles through life’s interactions.
    3. When you practice breathing a sense of inner strength and inner poise, do so for at least a couple of minutes, with feeling. Our dignity is the foundational baseline of good character. It’s a source of extra strength, especially at times when we are low on the initiative.

    Explore how increasing your inner dignity can encourage you to follow through on choices that are best for you, even though they are not always the most appealing. Dignity provides a strength that keeps us aligned with our higher principles. This can only strengthen with practice and use.

    3Jul, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Being Compassionate

    Let us focus on the topic of Being Compassionate“. Being Compassionate or Compassionate latitude is an attitude of compassionate understanding that every one of us, is always doing our best against the stress overload, anxiety and the clouded thinking so many of us are experiencing.

    Practising compassionate latitude and being compassionate with each other – families, friends, colleagues, etc. – will help reduce and prevent the stress build-up from our anger, judgements, and resentments. This increases our tolerance, patience, and deeper understanding of each other’s situations.

    Being mindful and respectful that all of us can come up short at times in our choices and that we can make mistakes in our words or actions, will help us maintain our balance, resilience and flow during those pressing times of change and unpredictability. By skipping the drama and forgiving each other, we can move on quicker from those stressful moments.

    As we practise compassion, care, and kindness with each other, this opens our heart to increased personal and collective intuitive guidance for the best choices and direction through whatever life brings us. Remember to be kinder and more compassionate with yourself too, because the lack of this can quickly stack your stress deficit and compromise your personal well-being.

    As this takes a little practice, here is some guidance on becoming more compassionate

    Exercise: Being Compassionate / Compassionate Latitude

    1. Start with quiet breathing while radiating feelings of gratitude. This helps to shift our energy from the mind to our heart.
    2. Next, ponder for a while where you could give others more compassionate latitude at home, at work, watching the news, sorting out miscommunications, etc.
    3. Now visualise yourself replacing judgements, angered responses, lack of tolerance, and separation with compassionate latitude such as care, kindness, acceptance, cooperation, and tolerance, for others and yourself. Use the Anchoring Technique from Week 1 to anchor in this valuable habit by practising it over several days in a row.
    4. Now, radiate compassion and latitude to people with different biases whose polarising views are creating separation, stress and chaos. The giving of unconditional love and compassion increases our well-being and resilience.

    The need for love and compassion has been philosophized for aeons, and now is the time for us to bring it to the street and see the positive impact it can have on everyone around us.

    27Jun, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Coherent Communication

    This week, the focus is on communication. Life experiences had shown many of us that the most sincere and effective form of communication is connected communication where it comes deeply from our heart. Sadly, the pace of life these days, causes our interactions to lack the heart warmth of connected communication.

    Connected or Coherent Communication implies genuine listening and speaking in a tone that reflects care and non-judgement. Practising this is effective for transforming much of the communication distortions we often experience daily. 

    It is important for our mind and emotions to be aligned with our heart’s care which sets the tone for true connection.

    As a exercise, try this Coherent CommunicationTM Technique from HeartMath

    1. Shift into a heart coherence state i.e. a heart-felt, caring attitude, before sharing and receiving information. 
      Suggestion: Set an intention to be respectful of each others’ views or situations.
    2. Listen for the essence of what is being said without prejudging or getting pulled into drama before the communication is complete.
    3. Speak from a genuine tone and consider what you are going to say and how it may impact others. 
      Suggestion: Remember to re-centre in your heart if you start to overreact or lose emotional composure.
    4. It is effective to reflect or mirror the essence of what you hear and be open to refinement to confirm mutual understanding. A rushed communication often overlooks this step.

    Practise this “Coherent Communication” technique anytime you are communicating – to prepare before phone calls, meetings and giving or receiving instructions. Shift back to your heart if you become reactive, aren’t listening, or are interrupting.

    We all know how it feels to be on the downside of communications that are not heart connected. Use this to inspire deeper connections in your communications and interactions going forward.

    20May, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Attitude

    Many of us have old attitudes and perceptions that we want to change for the better. We recognize these attitudes include being judgemental, getting edgy with others, being impatient, and often unforgiving and self-critical about others and ourselves.

    If we replace these undesirable attitudes with more positive ones, it will minimize the accumulation of stress. 

    This week, I would like to introduce you to the “ATTITUDE BREATHINGTM” technique.

    Once again, we can reach into our HEART to alert us to all those unpleasant old habits and patterns that don’t support our personal well-being. Use this technique when your heart intuition alerts you with uneasiness.

    Practise this exercise:

    1. Recognize the feelings or attitude you want to change and identify a positive replacement attitude. Example: If you are over-reactive and easily frustrated with people, the replacement might be increased patience and kindness.
    2. Focus your attention in the area of your heart. Now, imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual. Find a rhythm that you are comfortable with.
    3. As you continue this heart-focused breathing, practice increasing the feeling of your new replacement attitude. If you can’t find a replacement attitude, just breathe a feeling of calm, neutral, or the beauty of nature through your heart or chest area. This accumulates the feelings that lift our attitudes and perceptions.
    4. Practise maintaining your new feelings and perceptions as you move through your day-to-day interactions to strengthen them.

    Use this “Attitude Breathing” as often as needed to integrate your new feelings so that they become your new attitude. In enhancing it further, use “Attitude Breathing” to inject positive feelings whenever you experience uplifting feelings such as kindness, gratitude, compassion, etc., as the practices will make them return more often.

    With a little practice of “Attitude Breathing”, you will surprise yourself with increased inspiration and heart power to remove many unwanted feelings, emotions, and mindset, and ensure you enhance your energy, resilience, and your ability to feel good.

    13Apr, 2023
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Anchoring

    Central to many things in our life is our HEART. With good heart qualities and positive renewing emotions, we can shift our personal life and the life of those around us, into one filled with love, patience, compassion, and kindness. Accessing those heart qualities inside us takes practice and will get easier over time.

    This will also help you feel more at ease, less anxious, and more resilient as you navigate life with more peace, balance, and less drama.

    Let me introduce you to a simple concept called “ANCHORING“.

    Reflect on those occasions where you were inspired and motivated by new information, videos, tools & techniques that helped you manage your well-being, anger, frustration, or other energy-zapping habits. Remember how speedily you embraced it. Many times, this initial inspiration and excitement fade away very speedily as well. It is soon forgotten, and you start experimenting with new toolkits again.

    Inspiration is magical as it drives us quickly into action – you were inspired enough, and your intention was strong enough to get you started. As you practice it initially, you gained new insights and perspectives. Unfortunately, old habits come back to slowly move you away from your new discovery.

    This is where ANCHORING is important. It is beneficial for you to anchor or hook into those specific tools or exercises that you find helpful in eliminating and preventing stress while supporting your health, well-being, and clear thinking.

    Important steps to remember:

    1. Step into inspiration and insights soon after experiencing them.
    2. Then revisit those insights throughout the day and breathe in the feelings and memories that are associated with your intention.
    3. Daily, practise this with deep intention. This will really help you anchor it in.
    4. Appreciate any positive benefits from your practice of anchoring the insight. Enhance that spirit of commitment with regular reinforcement.
    Inspiration is a spirit-filled moment, As we move forward with the first nudge of inspiration, we can beat the human tendency to waste that intuitive gift from our heart. Sometimes it is many months before another inspiration returns. Anchoring it will ensure it does not slip away after the first pass, especially if it works for you!