“In the midst of a lot of negativity happening at the moment in the world,” Pete says, “I thought I’d talk about something I’ve been asked about a lot.”
While Pete Bucknall comes across as a pretty positive person, he points out in his latest video that that is often not the case. The video starts with him talking about how he’s often asked if he’s okay. Which, he says, sounds pretty crap when you put it like that – “How are you doing okay? You don’t look like the sort of person who should be okay!” But this isn’t a sad video at all. In fact, Pete is cheery and helpful, offering some valuable tips on maintaining a positive outlook.
“There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking or amazing that I do,” Pete explains, as he launches into a chat about how meditation and mindfulness have improved his mindset (for the most part). He talks about this with the caveat that, while it may help, it isn’t a permanent solution to serious mental health issues, and he urges anyone suffering from such to talk to a doctor or someone else they trust who is looking out for their best interests.
Addressing some misconceptions about meditation, he points out that completely clearing your head wouldn’t be helpful as “if we did that we’d probably be dead. Yeah. So the better option is to stop trying to think about nothing and, when thoughts come in, acknowledge that they’re there and let them go.
“Imagine you’re sat by the road and you’re watching bikes, cars, vans, lorries, everything go past,” he advises. “The road is your mind. The different vehicles are different sized thoughts coming into your mind. So instead of them driving past and stopping […], you see them in the distance and go, ‘that’s a vehicle’, and then you let it go off and drive off to wherever it needs to go.”
The rest of the video follows in very much the same vein, with Pete talking about looking at the bigger picture, letting go of nostalgia, and exercising (and yes, he’s definitely aware of the cliches). It’s really quite refreshing to see Pete’s positivity and dedication towards bettering himself in this video, and to see him sharing his tips so that other people can maybe do the same.
Closing out the video, Pete says that “basically this has come from me being in really shitty places and coming out the other side and not wanting to be there again, so I do everything I can to not let myself slip back into that mindset”.
Referring to his tips as “non-bullshit”, he points out that there are no magic cures, but changing little things about each day can really make a difference. Here at TenEighty HQ, we completely agree!
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