How many times have you gone to a restaurant and watched families eat disconnected from each other, looking at their phones instead of talking to each other. So many times I have gone out and watched as families eat in silence. Fork in one hand and phone in the other.

​I'm all for technological progress and all, BUT its really starting to encroach on our family time.

​I can't count how many times I have came into a room and found my husband checking and replying to emails in the evening oblivious that one of the kids is asking for help.

​Many of us are hooked on checking our phones every couple of minutes.

​Since the creation of email, laptops and smart phones the lines between work and family life have become increasingly blurred.

​Many companies expect employees to continue to work outside of the workplace.  International companies now expect employees to take early morning or late night conference calls regardless of their family commitments.

​Before the era of technological advances workers went to work and did their job then clocked off at night and enjoyed their family time without any work related distractions.

​Depression, stress, insomnia and anxiety are all on the increase, a coincidence? No!

​People now feel that they never REALLY get away from work, its always there in the background it's always present on your smart phone and you are always expected to be "available".

​Many peoples are being paid for a 40 hour work week and yet many, many workers are racking up double that.....even though they are not receiving a penny more for it.

 Many people are not taking their annul holidays stating that they are simply too busy at work to take time off.  Millions of annual holidays are going unused every year.  People are working harder than ever and yet are not receiving an adequate salary to even afford a vacation for those holiday days. Crazy I know!


​Companies would really benefit from taking a step back and allowing employees to disconnect.  If this was implemented many companies would see productivity increase as well as stress related absences decrease.

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing has gone right?  You know, the ones where you oversleep, stub your toe getting out of bed and then spill something on your clothes right before you are due to leave?

We have all had days like these.  Some more than others!  Did you know that it's depends on your mindset whether these days continue to get worse and worse?  It depends on whether your mindset on those days is positive or negative.  Often if we start our day with a negative mindset then we will actually look for things to go wrong and focus on them rather than any good things that happen.

When we start the day and it feels like things are stacked against us.  It can change our perception of how the day is going.  People who start the day in a negative mindset will actually expect for more things to go wrong.  People with a more positive mindset will acknowledge that the day didn't start well but will expect things to improve and have a tendency to look for the good in the situation. Therefore their perception of the day will mean that they will look and expect good things to happen.

Our perception is how we view the world and our mood can affect our perception.  If we are in a bad mood, we look for all the negative things happening that day that confirm to us that this is really "one of those days."

If we accept that the day day didn't start too well but can keep a positive mindset then our perception of the world is that everything is good, then we will look and expect things to go well.

When we can stay in a positive mindset then we can control our mood and then our perception of the world expects only good.  If something challenging happens in our day we respond and not react to it.  This in turn means that we cope better with the everyday stresses of life and our stress is then perceived to be less on those "bad days"

Working each day to respond to challenging situations instead of reacting to them can help life flow easier and you will find "those days" become less frequent and more manageable.

Everyone experiences a particularly challenging day when your patience becomes tested and it can feel like the world is against you, but you can control how much it affects you and how much stress it creates.

Some tips for getting through one of those days:

1.  Don't berate yourself for your mistakes, we all sleep in once in a while

2.  Try to keep your mind calm

3.  Take a moment to breathe if someone or something annoys you

4.  Try to respond not react to challenging situations

5.  Look for the positive in that day and not the negative

6.  Keep your sense of humor

Staying positive can really get through you day with relatively little or no stress.  Remember it's how you perceive the situation that will decide your mood and if you go through the day acting like Anger from the film "Inside out" then lets face it your day is only going to get worse!! :)