Blog — John Holley

Posts in Emotional Health

BREATHING & MINDFUL FITNESS

BREATHING & MINDFUL FITNESS

Incorporating mindfulness into exercise and daily movement also involves the practice of breathing. The fact is most people don’t breathe very well. Each inhale should involve the expansion of your abdomen and rib cage in four directions: front, back, and laterally left and right. Try to inhale without raising your shoulders and exhale all the air out of your lungs before your next, slow inhale. Breathing with intention and attention grounds you in the present moment and enhances your physical experience. This mindful breathing not only fuels your movement but also cultivates a calm and focus that extends beyond the gym.

Smart Exercise, Emotional HealthJohn HolleyDecember 11, 2024breathing, mindfulness, exercise, weight loss

GIVE THE GIFT OF LISTENING

GIVE THE GIFT OF LISTENING

This year give the people in your life the gift of active listening and mindfulness. Use mindful attunement, the practice of non-judgmental observation, and active engagement. As you cultivate these skills, your interactions will flow with grace, sincerity, and humanity.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyNovember 22, 2024communication, meditation, mindfulness, holidays

Listen to Yourself

Listen to Yourself

As you embrace the art of mindfulness and the practice of introspection, you need the courage to accept your shadows. As you do, you unlock the door to a realm where intuition becomes a guiding force, insight becomes a beacon of light, and self-understanding becomes a powerful tool for navigating the complexities of life. Through this journey, you shape your destiny with the wisdom, insight, and the profound understanding of your own mind.

Emotional Health, Mindful Eating, Smart ExerciseJohn HolleyNovember 11, 2024mindfulne, attention, acceptance, mental health, success, weight loss

MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

You make decisions large and small all the time. When the alarm goes off in the morning you choose to jump out of bed and get to your meditation . Then you eat a good breakfast and/or workout, get dressed and get on with a great day. While at work you choose to do your best, look for the good in your boss and express gratitude for your coworkers. When you get home the choices continue as you eat a healthy dinner, spend time with your family and read this book about mindfulness and meditation practices. Your decisions color your reality and determine the quality of your life.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyNovember 5, 2024decision making, mental health, mindfulness, meditation

IS SOME STRESS GOOD FOR YOU?

IS SOME STRESS GOOD FOR YOU?

First, understand stress is not all bad. It is a primal response designed to prepare us for challenges and threats. Stress can infuse you with heightened alertness and enhance your ability to complete tasks. In this sense, stress can serve as an energy source that propels you.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 28, 2024stress reduction, mindfulness, stress

HOW TO NAVIGATE CHALLENGES

HOW TO NAVIGATE CHALLENGES

In the realm of building resilience, mindfulness helps you reframe challenges and setbacks as steppingstones rather than stumbling blocks. Thus, you become an alchemist transmuting adversity into opportunities for personal growth. This reframing is a powerful tool. It is a shift in perspective, one in which you embrace challenges with a sense of purpose.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 21, 2024mindfulness, breathe, stress reduction, mental health

INCREASE YOUR RESILIENCE

INCREASE YOUR RESILIENCE

When it comes to emotional intelligence, mindfulness magnifies your ability to discern emotional subtleties. Are you upset you spilled your coffee or simply nervous about a presentation you have at work? If you tune into the physical sensations, thoughts, and impulses associated with each emotion, you gain a deeper understanding of yourself.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 14, 2024resilience, breathe, mindfulness

BE AN INNOVATIVE THINKER

BE AN INNOVATIVE THINKER

Mindfulness encourages you to be fully present When you cultivate mindfulness, you awaken to the world around you and within you. This heightened awareness becomes a wellspring of inspiration. This is the source from which innovative ideas emerge.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 7, 2024mindfulness, Clarity, problem solving, innovation

MAKE YOUR BRAIN BETTER

MAKE YOUR BRAIN BETTER

Research suggests that mindfulness exercises your brain and nurtures its growth. Through mindfulness, regions associated with attention, memory, and emotional regulation thicken. These mental exercises, much like lifting weights, sculpt your brain, making it more adept at navigating the complexities of life.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleySeptember 30, 2024mental health, meditation, mindfulness

How to Change Your Brain

How to Change Your Brain

The mind has intrigued sages and scientists since the beginning of time. The phenomenon of thinking has allowed humanity to cultivate crops to feed the world, build roads to ease movement, create medicines to heal, and write words which inspire. All are miraculous achievements and there’s more to come.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleySeptember 23, 2024mental health, meditation, mindfulness

Everyday Benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation

Everyday Benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation

This is not airy-fairy, woo-woo and whales in space. The benefits of present-moment awareness are profound and far-reaching. Check out this excerpt from my book Mindful Mastery.

Mindful Eating, Emotional HealthJohn HolleySeptember 4, 2024mindfulness, meditate, mindful eating

FITNESS THROUGH THE AGES

FITNESS THROUGH THE AGES

My dad lived 81 very active years. Carpentry was his profession and he also spent his nights and weekends remodeling the homes we lived in when I was a boy. Later in life, the 14 acres he owned in East Tennessee required year-round maintenance and he took pride in doing it himself. His daily movement was the key to his good health. Despite the fact he ate too much of my mom’s cooking, an active lifestyle protected him from many of the ravages of time.

Smart Exercise, Mindful Eating, Emotional HealthJohn HolleyMay 17, 2023Anti aging, fitness, exercise, clean eating

EMPOWERED

EMPOWERED

Who you are and all you are becoming improves your life and inspires others to do the same. When you let your light shine, you light the way for others to follow. This is what being empowered means.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyNovember 28, 2022behavior change, weight loss

GRATITUDE AND YOUR HEALTH

GRATITUDE AND YOUR HEALTH

The benefits of practicing gratitude are many. It’s not simply that you feel better because you appreciate rather than depreciate what’s around you, but you literally improve your physical and mental health. This is why an attitude of gratitude is so important if you want to live in a state of optimal health.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyNovember 21, 2022gratitude, positive thinking

HAPPY AND HEALTHY

HAPPY AND HEALTHY

You have chosen to live in a state of optimal health. This is unique to you and not just because of biometrics, your medical history or how long you can hold a plank. Your highest level of living is tied to how you view the world. So, does your perspective give you happiness?

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyNovember 1, 2022happiness, mental health, weight loss

THE CHANGES

THE CHANGES

One of the great things about being an adult is you can choose new interpretations about anything in your life. Moreover, you can consciously integrate new, empowering associations to any aspect of your wellness. At any time, you can recreate the meanings about your health.

Emotional Health, Mindful Eating, Smart ExerciseJohn HolleyOctober 24, 2022weight loss, workouts, behavior change

CLARITY IS POWER

CLARITY IS POWER

You are the master of your life. You are the guru. You are the one who gets to choose what optimal health looks and feels like. If juggling oranges while riding a unicycle is your idea of a fun way to workout – do it! – and send me a video. What you are doing must empower you.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 19, 2022Clarity, mental health, weight loss

ACCEPT AND ADAPT

ACCEPT AND ADAPT

I’m an optimist by choice, if for no other reason than life is better with a positive outlook. Looking at the bright side helps me reach goals even when I want to quit. Choosing to see the good in any situation empowers me to see possibilities above the challenges. This approach, balanced with a rational acceptance of what is, is being put to the test as I write this.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 12, 2022acceptance, mental health, optimism

WHAT YOU NEED

WHAT YOU NEED

If you haven’t noticed by now, the Empowered approach to creating a state of optimal health in your life, is about more than your body. This is about creating a beautiful quality of life by caring for your whole Self. Yes, that is a capital “S” because you are so much more than just a body. Having made it this far into the contents of the book, I trust you agree with this perspective.

Emotional HealthJohn HolleyOctober 6, 2022behavior change, choice, self care

EXCUSES BE GONE

EXCUSES BE GONE

Knowing that what you’re thinking in a moment of weakness is one thing, but you also need to know how to defuse the power of the excuse. What follows is a simple process you can use to regain your power whenever one of those self-defeating thoughts arise.

Emotional Health, Mindful Eating, Smart ExerciseJohn HolleySeptember 27, 2022behavior change, weight loss