Work/life balance & meditation

The 21^st Century is filled with ways to communicate and ways to be entertained, and it can be very difficult to switch off. This can lead to a number of problems; stress, anxiety, and sleep deprivation to name a few.

Whether you work full-time, run a home or have your own business, there never seem to be enough hours in a day to get everything done. Here are a few tips to get back the balance in your life.

Ditch the guilt
‘Having it all’ is an overused, dangerous phrase that suggests that if you work around the clock and never make time for yourself, this will somehow improve your life. Working hard is wonderfully rewarding, but if you sacrifice the other areas of your life, you can really suffer in the long run. Make time to sit in the garden, play with your children, talk to your friends and family, practice meditation, and just to ‘be’, without feeling anxious or guilty that you aren’t working. You will find that you feel better for it.

Turn off the tech
Mobile phones and tablets have been proven to upset sleep patterns, with blue backlights (which simulate morning light, tricking the brain into waking up) and Electro Magnetic Fields that disrupt our relaxation and ability to rest. If you can, turn off your work phone in the early evening, and don’t look at it again until morning.

Empty your ‘stress bucket’
If you live a busy life and have many demands on your time and energy, make sure you do other activities that balance out your lifestyle. Think of the analogy of a ‘stress bucket’, which stores any stress that you accumulate. When you have many stressful things happening, your bucket will gradually fill up over time and eventually overflow. When it overflows, your stress levels are out of control and will cause major problems. These problems can vary from an uncharacteristic loss of temper, to becoming ill. It is not a single stressful event you are reacting to but the build up of accumulated stress. When you practise relaxation, play a sport, or use meditation techniques, you will be regularly emptying your ‘stress bucket’ and preventing it from overflowing.

Create time for exercise
Work out a schedule where you incorporate one or more healthy activities into your week so that you offset your workload with plenty of relaxation time. If you work for forty hours or more in a week, make sure you exercise for at least fifteen minutes each day or more. If you feel that you don’t have time to do this, cut back on watching TV, surfing the internet or any other idle pursuit that doesn’t serve you well. You need a little discipline to get this work/play balance right but, once you do so, the healthy pursuits will become an integral part of your week. If you are top heavy with work then push yourself to find new hobbies or activities that will alleviate stress. These activities will counterbalance the pressures and stresses you face elsewhere.

Recharge your mind
Giving your mind a chance to recharge is a fantastic way to ensure that you are working at your full potential, which consequently ‘buys back’ more time for you. The following technique is a great way to recharge, refresh your mind and unlock your creativity. Use it in your lunch or mid-afternoon break to re-energise.

Allow yourself to get in a comfortable sitting or lying position. If you are sitting, sit upright with your feet flat on the floor and your hands flat on your thighs. Close your eyes and begin to breathe very slowly and deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth. Make each circular breath long and deep, and continue this relaxing rhythm. Breathe away any tension in your body with every outbreath.
The important thing is to clear away any thoughts so your mind becomes still and centred. This can be a challenge if you have had a busy day or there is noise around you. If that is the case, affirm to yourself that any outside noise will fade into the background and will help you to relax even more. Remember when you state this as a fact your unconscious mind will accept it. Don’t worry if you get the odd unwanted thought. Just centre your mind again and allow the thought to drift away. Focus on your slow deep breathing and staying centred. Even if there are loud distractions let them fade away so they do not bother you and allow yourself to go that little bit more deeply relaxed by stilling your mind.
If you want to simply relax and re-charge, stay in this relaxed state for twenty minutes and then allow yourself to come back to full waking consciousness. Or you can use this time to connect with your creativity to find a solution to a problem. When you are in a deeply relaxed state ask yourself to find solutions to the problem. Don’t intellectualise it, or think about the problem itself, just ask your mind for the solution. If suitable, visualise a positive outcome to the problem. Keep it simple as you are communicating with a different part of yourself, which requires clear direct communication. Simply state that your creative mind will come up with the right solution at the right time, and then switch off from it.

You will find you are able to work much more effectively by accepting that you cannot and should not work 24 hours a day. Once you have made peace with this, and can find guilt-free leisure time, you will naturally feel more inspired and effective in your work. You will be making time to connect with your creative mind, and there is nothing more powerful.

Glenn

P.S. My hypnotherapy recordings can help you learn more about using hypnosis to manage your work/life balance. Click below to find out more: