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Promoted by Pepper Money
2020 has been a year like no other, and in recognition of the mental toll this has had on many, Pepper Money proudly leveraged its sponsorship of St Kilda Football Club to host a Mindfulness 101 event for accredited mortgage brokers. The session was facilitated by the club’s sports psychologist, former professional AFL footballer Dr Ben Robbins.
Almost 400 brokers from across Australia and New Zealand attended the virtual session to hear about the tools St Kilda uses to manage the mental health of their players. The session addressed some common myths about mindfulness and explored ways that brokers and their families can apply it to everyday situations.
Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive, with 100 per cent of attendees finding the session useful. Many brokers commented on the relevancy of the session for today’s environment and felt it would help them better manage stress at work and at home.
Commenting on the session, Aaron Milburn, general manager, mortgages and commercial lending, said: “To be able to help brokers and their families personally navigate this difficult period is something I’m very proud of. Mental health is something that I’m personally quite passionate about.”
During the event, Dr Robbins shared practical tips and techniques to manage focus and shift negative thoughts, including:
Mindfulness is a skill of attention control.
Training in mindfulness helps us to become more aware of our thoughts, feelings and body sensations. It helps us shift states of negative thought patterns and mind wandering to being more present and focused on the task at hand. This self-awareness helps us manage stress, improve focus and ultimately leads to better performance.
Bend, don’t break.
By practising mindfulness, we can build ‘psychological flexibility’ so that we bend, not break, in challenging situations. As you learn to stay in contact with the present moment, psychological flexibility helps us choose our behaviour based on the situation, regardless of unpleasant thoughts. In other words, it is not the presence of negative thoughts or emotions such as anxiety or anger that predict performance, it is the degree to which we can accept these experiences and maintain our attention on the task at hand.
The benefit of practicing mindfulness daily.
While mindfulness is a habit that you must develop over time, meditation can be a simple way to become familiar with the practice. Start by dedicating a few moments each day to focus on your breathing, be it through taking a walk or finding a place to sit that feels calm and quiet to you. If you notice your mind has wandered, try to return your attention to your breath. There are also a number of resources available to help you practice mindfulness, including apps, websites and podcasts. By regularly implementing these practices, you can develop the ability to be present throughout the day, every day.
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