The Art of Self Care: How to Strengthen Your Psychological Well Being

During the expert session, Zoia Mahjoubi engages the audience through various means, including a Q&A session, live demonstrations using the Mentimeter app for interactive exercises, and debunking common myths surrounding self-care. Participants use the app to share their thoughts on personal hygiene routine and self-care practices they desire to engage with more often. Zoia emphasizes the importance of self-compassion, setting personal boundaries, and practicing gratitude for improved psychological well-being. She recommends making self-care practices a habit and encourages participants to define their personal non-negotiables for long-term well-being.

• Debunking Common Self-Care Myths: Recognizing that self-care is not a luxury, but rather an essential practice for managing stress and maintaining overall well-being, and that it can involve both simple acts and challenging decisions.

• Setting Personal Boundaries and Practicing Gratitude: Learning how to define and communicate personal boundaries effectively to improve psychological hygiene, and practicing gratitude as a powerful tool for emotional well-being by acknowledging the things we appreciate in life.

• Developing Self-Awareness and Cultivating Self-Compassion: Understanding the importance of self-awareness in identifying our true needs and developing compassion towards ourselves through practices like mindfulness, writing, seeking feedback, and practicing self-kindness during negative situations.

In this expert session, Zoia Mahjoubi shares insights on the importance of self-care and psychological well-being. Beginning the session, Zoia introduces herself as a program manager from Germany, emphasizing the significance of self-care in today's complex world. Zoia clarifies that self-care is not just about functioning but truly flourishing, sharing her personal experiences and growth in this area. To engage participants, she uses the Mentimeter app for a quick check-in on recent self-care practices. Debunking common myths surrounding self-care, Zoia addresses misconceptions such as self-care being a luxury, an act of self-indulgence, requiring full self-love and acceptance before practicing self-care, or being selfish.

Self-care is defined by Zoia as the intentional, proactive pursuit of integrated wellness that balances our mind, body, and soul. She emphasizes its essential role in managing stress and maintaining overall health. To clarify the difference between needs and wants, Zoia encourages participants to share their thoughts.

Mindfulness and self-awareness are key components of self-care, helping individuals identify their true needs. Mindfulness is the practice of observing thoughts, feelings, and the environment with focus, clarity, and acceptance, while writing forces us to clarify our thoughts and feelings. Seeking feedback from trusted individuals can help increase self-awareness.

Physical hygiene and mental well-being are closely connected. Zoia emphasizes the importance of setting personal boundaries as an effective self-care practice for psychological hygiene, involving defining and communicating desired boundaries clearly to others. Setting boundaries helps improve self-esteem, confidence, emotional stability, and relationship quality.

Saying no is also crucial in practicing self-care. Using the "yes, yes, no" formula enables us to acknowledge other people's needs while expressing our own empathetically and setting clear boundaries. Developing a positive self-attitude through self-compassion, recognizing human suffering, and practicing kindness to oneself are essential for improved psychological well-being.

Gratitude is another powerful tool for emotional well-being, as focusing on the positive counteracts negativity. Practicing gratitude by acknowledging things we appreciate in life increases happiness by boosting serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitters.

Conscious choices about time management and prioritizing self-care practices can lead to significant improvements in overall well-being. The session concludes with Zoia encouraging participants to define personal non-negotiables, such as exercise or personal time, and consistently practice them for long-term well-being.

How to Make Decisions

Life is full of decisions. Everyday we are being greeted by a barrage of decisions from the moment we open our eyes: what to eat, what to wear, which project to tackle first — the list is endless. The effectiveness of our decision-making determines our effectiveness as leaders, colleagues, parents, partners, and friends — and lies at the heart of living a content life. Research suggests that we make about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day, from strategic life decisions to mundane tasks. However, every choice we're faced with depletes our cognitive resources, leaving us vulnerable for decision fatigue. In this session Zoia helps you to assess your decision-making style, tackle important questions to overcome decision obstacles, and apply techniques for better decision making.

Mindful Communication

Skillful communication and warm connection are needed today more than ever before — whether that be in your professional or personal life. Mindful communication combines effective communication with the principles of mindfulness, which include kind and non-judgmental awareness as well as genuine curiosity. In this leqture, Zoia demonstrates how being mindful in our communication helps us deliver messages clearly, decrease the potential for conflict, and create genuine connection. So, whether you’re looking to excel in your career or improve your personal relationships, in this session you'll learn about the potential of mindfulness skills, and how you can apply them to level up your communication.

Cultivating Psychological Flexibility — The key to resilience and growth

If the question 'How to cope with life’s inevitable adversities?' sounds important to you, it’s because it is. We all take our psychology with us wherever we go — whether we are at home, work, or elsewhere, our level of psychological flexibility influences how well we can adapt our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in response to the increasing challenges of the modern world. The good thing is, the skills that allow us to develop psychological flexibility and resilience can be learned. In this session Zoia demonstrates why the skills that build psychological flexibility are so powerful and how you can begin developing them in yourself.