It’s the 31st of October, the day of ghouls and witches and other tormenting creatures set out to threaten our peaceful lives. That’s right, it’s Halloween. Historically it’s a day of spirits of the dead, as the Celtics believe that after the end of the summer, the barrier between our world and theirs had become dangerously thin. This left us exposed and unprotected from all the horrors of the underworld! To protect ourselves from these peculiar entities, parties were thrown to scare the creatures off, leaving us in peace and untouched from the presence of the dead. With everything this holiday has now become, it is sometimes forgotten about its origin (which includes more than this reason here) and why we hold such traditions to this day.

My main concern: if this were the case, why aren’t we protecting ourselves from these creepy, Transylvania-esque creatures every other day of the year? If vampires, ghosts and other such things can rule the roost on Halloween, what makes all other days so safe?

My conclusion: we ought to carve pumpkins, dress up and throw parties all the time, just in case, for our own safety – obviously! Well… maybe, not. 

I suppose it’s not likely big ol’ Count Dracula is going to be knocking on your door every other Tuesday for a game of cards and some casual blood sucking. So, maybe we don’t need to go through the trouble of scaring him off afterall. That might not be so real a thought or threat, but what about all the day-to-day things that keep you down and threaten your happiness whether big or small? These persistent and sometimes worrying thoughts can disrupt the peace of our daily lives as they corrupt and haunt the mind. Okay, a smidge dramatic, but who doesn’t love a bit of drama?

Why shouldn’t we find ways to protect ourselves from these real horrors? Every day? We should, quite simply... There is nothing wrong with finding little tips and tricks to carve the pumpkin for your mind, scaring away the thoughts that stop you from being the best you that you can be!

Here are two tricks that we learnt from The Peoples Conference 2018 that can help you form a positive mind in your every day life, making those niggling thoughts a little less threatening.

The 2 Minute Rule:

How often do we put things off by saying “I don’t have time”? Whether that means cancelling plans with a friend, or not calling your mum, or maybe not making your bed or having your breakfast in the morning. The phrase “I don’t have time” is constantly and continuingly stressing you out! The more it’s said, the more you feel you need to do and the more pressure you put yourself under. But, what if you do have time? Told to us by our very own Liam Wood, the two-minute rule is essentially "if something take’s two minutes of your time then do it RIGHT NOW".

It’s only two minutes of your time, but those two minutes help you box-off the little jobs that you needed to do, freeing up more time for the bigger jobs. Those two minutes can help you form microhabits that can then be used to start doing things that are good for you...

Making your bed takes two minutes, and a made bed can make a bad day good and a good day better! Making a bed sets a tone for the day, it’s the first task for you to do and by doing it you gain a sense of achievement and pride in that achievement.

You want to eat healthier? A banana only takes two minutes to eat!

Or get more active... taking the stairs or doing two minutes worth of star jumps could help.

Those nagging and demoralising thoughts of “I didn’t do this” or “I need to do that” or “I don’t have time for this” will eventually disappear.

The 4 Minute Rule:

This is your free ticket to be your best self. The theory is that it only takes four minutes for you to change your mindset and put yourself at the top of your game. If you ask yourself "how often are you at your most energetic?" or "your most positive" or maybe even your "happiest"? One day a week? Three? 75% of the time? How do we make that all the time? There are many things that happen throughout the day that bring us down, dampen our moods or maybe just annoy us and we can’t seem to let go of it. Not only does this affect us, but it affects everyone around us also.

If you set aside four minutes, maybe on your way home or on your next 600 to make the time to think about what makes you happiest, or what good things have happened today, what it is you’re looking forward to and what you can get excited about, then you are actively changing your mind set. After your four minutes of thinking positively, you have made yourself more positive and eradicated the negative thoughts or grudges from your thoughts that were previously preventing you from reaching your best self.

Each of these rules take less than 5 minutes but can help you move your mind into a better, more positive version of itself. Using these to develop microhabits to protect yourself from demoralising thoughts or feelings of negativity can help keep yourself at your best. Start carving your mental pumpkin to make that barrier between positive and negative thinking much thicker and help create the best mental space for you to live in! Dracula would be proud!

Watch the below for an overview of this year's Peoples Conference...