What Mental Health Day, Facebook Outage, Squid Games Can Teach Us
Also there's Hello Universe - a fun and light-hearted newsletter on poetry
Hello friends,
Welcome to another post from The 3Min Club, where every 2 weeks, you’ll receive 3Ms (movement, mindfulness, mantra) from me to do in 3 minutes. No matter where we are right now, taking the right actions is the key to live well, move well, and be positive.
Happy Thursday my friends. Are you feeling my positive and happy, energy? Lol.
I am not over-caffeinated. In fact, I haven’t had much coffee since I started my TCM sessions 3 weeks ago. I have slept more than 12 hours most days. My body needed the space and time to rest fully from the myriad of issues.
When we are well-rested, you instantly feel like every day is a new day, your mind is clearer, all your organs sync up well, and your perspectives about life just shift upwards.
This brings me to mention why I started the 3Min Club newsletter - to send out pockets of actual good vibes regularly to your inbox, to help you adopt one positive practice, or read something positive about the world we live in today.
As a cancer survivor, a serial entrepreneur, a health and fitness coach, I have not only personally experienced the dark side of the soul with moments of depression, suicidal and emotional burn-out, I have also witnessed others battling them. Some caved in by ending their lives prematurely.
I am not one to promote false positives where we just put on a happy front and bury the pain or trauma we need to face, but rather to be conscious of how we think, who, and what we surround ourselves daily, especially when you first wake up and just before you go to bed.
They determine how we show up in life not for others, but for ourselves.
There is no denying that we are bombarded with so much negative and gory news in media and entertainment, that it is no wonder that South Korean hit drama Squid Games on Netflix became the #1 show in over 90 countries in just days. It is trending everywhere and billions of #SquidGame hashtags have been used over the last few weeks. I don’t know about how you interpret this but it reflects on what the subconscious minds of the majority are drawn to these days! Games, gore, and “survive or be killed.”
When Facebook and all its app went down for nearly 7 hours, how did you feel? Did you press the panic button? Did you get all frustrated, scared, and stressed up that you yelled at a family member, friend, or colleague? Or did you enjoy the unintentional “break” where the Internet breaks down?
I was asleep when it happened, so the impact of the disruption was kept to minimal. I have also not been a fan of Facebook for a long time. I kept my account because there are some websites and productivity apps that use Facebook for quick login.
I am just grateful that I am able to share my content and build a small community on other platforms such as this newsletter and YouTube. I am open to other platforms for sure.
In case you aren’t aware, this Sunday 10th October is World’s Mental Health Day. Reflecting on the events that have taken place the last 2 weeks, I find it apt to draw our attention to not just care for our mental health, seek professional help when needed, and also to create healthy safe spaces for open conservations about mental health to take place.
You aren’t alone if you are fighting something, I promise you that.
When you are ready to start the day, let us all tune in and raise our good energies together. Trust that you will enjoy today’s 3Ms in 3 minutes.
Yours,
Yan
(P.S. I am writing a guest post that will be published on World’s Mental Health Day about my cancer journey. I will share that in my next post.)
For each M, set a timer for 1 minute each.
For the First Minute,
1) Movement - PLANK HOLDS
“Ooo, I am hearing that cringe — ‘Yan, Why Planks!? I hate planks. Planks are so hard.’ In my career as a fitness and Pilates coach, almost everyone has a love-hate relationship with planks. (Burpees are the top least favorite movement, by the way.)
People find planks hard because it is a static dynamic move - which means your body isn’t supposed to move but to hold that bodyweight in stationary. It requires immense strength and endurance. It demands not just the entire core muscles, but also your joints, tendons, and ligaments to engage well.
Besides, your entire body weight is effectively against gravity. Since you are really just 10 inches away from the floor, it makes it is even more tempting to give up and reach for the floor. HA!
One trick many will perform is the incline planks, where you elevate your body on the edge of the bed, bench, or chair. That works too, but I find the most effective way to train planks, is to widen your legs stance and gently squeeze your buttocks. Learn to “brace your core” as well.
The wider your base, the more area your weight is distributed. Simple Physics 101!
Try it. 60 seconds, no less no more.
For the next Second Minute
2) Mantra - “I HAVE EXACTLY ALL THAT IS REQUIRED TO DO ALL THAT I DESIRE”
Start a timer for 1-minute. Repeat the above statement, either silently in your head or out loud. Do this with slow and deep breaths or whatever feels comfortable for you. Repeat until 1 minute is up.
For the 3rd Minute
3) Mindfulness - Tickle our senses to E4 (329Hz)
In today’s mindfulness practice, we are going to “tickle” our senses to the E4 note.
(Note: This is not connected to any spiritual or religious practice.)
To begin, set your phone on Airplane mode to avoid any incoming calls or notifications
Tap into your SoundCorset app, select Tuner, and tap on the tuning fork symbol near the top right side.
Select E and set it to 4. That’s E4 for you.
Now set a timer for 1 minute. Sit comfortably and just listen intently to the E4 note. You may take in deep belly breaths or walk around while tuning in.
Note: If you find this frequency disturbing, stop the practice.Once the timer is up, reflect briefly on how that feels to your ears and other sensations that might surface.
What songs, images, or memories come into your mind?
Don’t forget to turn off the Airplane mode on your mobile after you are done, if you desire to do so.
Other things I created for you:
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinions than our own.” — Marcus Aurelius
in The Amulet To Your Inner Critic, Once and For All (1 min read)
🔦 Community Love & Spotlight:
Newsletters, writers, artists, and other interesting content may support us in taking the right actions to positive, well, and good living.
Today’s community spotlight is on a light-hearted newsletter - Hello Universe, where an original poem is shared in every post.
Created and written by Punit Thakkar, he started this newsletter to share his love for poetry.
I started writing poetry as a way to capture the lost poems of my childhood that had a catchy meter, fun rhyming schemes and were really memorable as a result.
And just like I can enjoy animated shows with grown-up themes now that I've grown up, I believe that catchy, rhyming and memorable poetry can speak about some grown-up themes while being fun and thought-provoking.
Hello Universe is such a fun read as I find by saying “Hello Universe”, it is akin to forming a friendship with the big wide open Universe. And you never know what Universe might bring to you today.
Do check it out and subscribe too. You soon get his infectious positive vibes.
Appreciate your hearts and comments.
Click on ❤️ to show a little support for this post.
Your comments are welcome too.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great week ahead.
Yours,
Yan
Thanks a lot for featuring Hello Universe, Yan! You're an incredible human being with an incredible story, and your writing is super inspirational. Keep on keeping on! ☺️