Mindful moments~find a little space…
Benefits of taking mindful moments can really start to make a positive impact to how you handle things when you are under pressure.
When we are busy past our usual limit or capacity, it can get more difficult to catch ourselves before stress and overwhelm creep into daily life. We can find ourselves rushing around from one job to another, sometimes not really completing the thing we started before moving on to next and the next and so it continues. We become multitasking heroes yet not really feeling like we are getting anywhere fast- hence we try to get through the to-do list faster- instead of stopping & re-assessing “What am I actually achieving?”
It is useful to be able to recognise your own personal triggers which could include physical signs such as;
being more clumsy/ dropping things
feeling your shoulders tighten
breath & heart rate speeding up
Or emotional signs such as;
being short tempered & snappy
becoming tearful or angry
feeling oversensetive
This is ‘your’ trigger for you to stop and notice what is happening, say it out loud for example “I notice that my shoulders are really tight” or “I notice that I am feeling tearful” then take a deep breath & for a few minutes take yourself out of the situation.
If you have done meditation or yoga before then you will maybe have techniques in your toolbox already which you can use, this will be something you can incorporate into the day for a few minutes here and there. It really doesn’t need to be an hour long session or even half an hour, although I certainly will not deny you that time if you have it- go for it!
So, while reading this, lets try a little mindful moment with the breath…find a quiet spot, maybe outside, to sit down & pop one hand on the belly & the other on the chest…
-Breath in through the nose into the belly (feel that hand raise) for the count of 1-2-3-4-5
-Hold the breath for the count of 1-2-3-4
-Slowly breath out through the mouth- as if gently blowing out candles to the count of 7-6-5-4-3-2-1
-Let the shoulders drop as you breath out
Repeat three more times.
Think about how that feels & try to bank it in your memory…
Then if you want to, go back to the job you were doing or the list you were working through, this time set a time limit for each job, can the list be realistically done all in the same day or timeframe you have imagined, if not allocate it to another time slot in order of importance.
Taking a mindful moment & revisiting your schedule with a little more space shouldn’t take you more than a couple of minutes but can make an impact on reducing blood pressure, lowering heart rate & activating the ‘rest & digest’ parasympathetic nervous system. Now I think we can all benefit from a bit of that!
