What % of time do you feel you are living in your mind and thoughts vs ‘in the moment’?
What % of your time do you lose focus?
To what extend do you feel your battery is empty and even during the weekends you cannot recharge it?
How much does all this affect your performance at work and your career?
If the answers in some of the above questions are worrying, you need a quick boost in your ability to become mindful again and your summer vacation is the best time to shoot for it!
Apart from having a really great time in your vacation, you may reap the benefits after you return to work with a new (refreshed) ability: to be able to see things at will -any time you need to- with the clearest perspective, free from unwanted thoughts, feelings and stress.
The way to do this is to systematically train your mind to really ‘live in the moment’, where everything happens. Gurus call this ‘mindfulness’.
Here are some practical tips to effectively boost mindfulness during your vacation, while you are relaxing:
- While you travel, stay focused on body sensations: view of the sky, sun, see, on the road, smells, feeling of warmth-cold in your body.
- Store your smartphone in a drawer and set 1-2 specific times (5′ max per day) to check call / emails etc.
- If you have kids, fully follow your kid’s program, priorities and playful way of thinking for at least 1 hour / day.
- Whenever your mind goes to work, issues or anywhere else than the ‘here and now’, just observe your thoughts, accept the fact that your mind works like this and just let go. Avoid either judging your thoughts, or be carried away by your thoughts. Just observe and let go.
- Make a habit on focusing on your breath as many times in the day as possible. Remember to carry this ‘deep breathing’ on the side wherever you are.
- When you swim, focus solely on body sensations. Feeling and temperature of water and air, breath, heartbeat, smells, sounds etc.
- During meals just focus on the taste, smell, texture of food. When you eat, just eat.
- Forget about the thought: ‘am I doing this right?’. It is just another thought, so whenever it comes just let it go.
- When you are with your spouse, pretend you just met him/her, for at least 15′ minutes a day, and focus on sensations and feelings.
- For half an hour every day, pretend you are a 5-year old and everything you live is new for you. Again, focus on sensations and feelings.
When you return back to work, just observe the difference in how you feel.
What do you observe about you and others?
Which practices and feelings can you deliberately maintain in the office every day?
Which are the best -for you- practical ways that will make you benefit from the new perspective you gained ?
Becoming mindful again is not just a skill. It is a multiplier for ALL the skills and strengths you base your career on, plus you get to enjoy life again !
