How to Relax

Has someone ever told you, “you need to relax more”?

When I started doing neurofeedback therapy to feel calmer and more regulated, my therapist said this to me. He said, can you paint or draw in a quiet room for 1-hour a day? Yeah right! I had 2 little kids and was growing my keynote and leadership development business. But, he got me thinking and I started reading about slowing down and relaxing and contemplating my thinking and actions around relaxation.

Thich Naht Hanh writes, “The wisdom of stopping and healing is still alive in animals, but we human beings have lost the capacity to rest.”

If you want to increase the time that you relax and rest, here are 7 tools from Thich Nact Hanh for you:

1) Return to your breathing - become aware of the air moving in and out of your body.

2) Meditation - stopping and connecting to the present moment and to ourselves.

3) Cultivate joy - choose to engage in activities that elevate this emotion.

4) Create a relaxing space - dedicate a space in your home restore your tranquility.

5) Lazy days in your calendar - days in your calendar that do not have any scheduled activities (you or the kids ;)

6) Relaxing in nature - trees, water, sky, plants, animals, and air.

7) Letting go - it is a practice and an art. Fear is an element that prevents us from doing so.

Which of these would you like to try this month?

You are enough.
Your kids love you so much.
Everything is going to be ok.

Tia