Being busy is not always optional if you are a parent, care-giver, have a career or are dedicated to achieving goals in your life, but carrying around stress is.
Anyone else feeling a bit (or a lot) of pressure from a crazy full schedule these days?
It’s such a busy time of year and I hear people commenting on it, so I know I’m not the only one who can relate.
Busy can be fun, exciting and exhilarating…it can really light our fire to get things done! And, it can also be stressful and overwhelming, causing mishaps, errors and a lack of productivity.
When my schedule gets really busy, it’s often full of many things I actually enjoy doing, but when the pressure is ON the ‘joy part’ can get sucked out and chore-mode sets in. Not fun!
During these demanding higher yield times of the year, it’s important to have a plan to not only keep your sanity but to enjoy the process and be genuinely productive.
In the words of Dr. Paul Dennison, co-founder of Brain Gym® a system that uses movement to stimulate brain function, “if you don’t notice yourself doing something, why bother doing it at all?”
Our lives are meant to be experienced and enjoyed. That can only happen if you are in the moment and aware of what you are doing, not robotically going through motions or on auto pilot ploughing through your to-do lists.
I’m not sure how I would handle a full schedule if I didn’t have some useful and easy to implement strategies to draw upon. I’d like to share some of these with you.
Have you ever heard the saying, “If you need something done, give it to a busy person”.
Why is this? Are chronically busy people better at juggling life’s many demands? …Maybe they have some tricks up their sleeve?
Recently I was the keynote speaker for the Circle of Care volunteer appreciation and awards night. A room full of people who make time in their already full lives to be of service to others. They are an example of busy people who get things done in a productive way.
So what’s their secret to handling busy?
I’m not sure, but I know what I would recommend and it looks like this:
CLEAR BRAIN CLUTTER SO YOU CAN THINK CLEARLY AND BE EFFECTIVE.
When life gets busy most people hold extra tension in their physical body thus impeding cognitive functioning. The result: culminating unhealthy stress and inability to think clearly because information from your sensory system that travels through your nervous system to your brain and into action doesn’t get channeled effectively when stress and tension are on line.
If you want to be healthy and productive, it’s mandatory you do something about this.
Movement is a wonderful way to release stress and tension from your body and put your brain back in the game, but ironically during a busy schedule it’s less likely you have time to get to the gym, fitness classes or play sports.
This is when Brain Fitness activities become your new Best Friend!
Thanks to the ease, accessibility and flexibility of these activities you don’t have to leave your home or office to use these strategies. No equipment is required and not much time either!
One of my favourite Brain Activation Strategies is walking. Yep, heel toeing it around my neighbourhood and local trails is an amazing way to clear my mind; uplift my spirit, problem solve and connect to my creativity.
Regular walking is proven to grow brain cells in the hippocampus, which is the learning and memory center of your brain, How cool is that?
During a busy schedule you may not have time to go for a walk. When this happens to me and tension is mounting, my energy is dropping and my brain is getting foggy, I step back from my computer and take a minute or two to do some cross lateral movement, like the Cross Crawl activity in Brain Gym®. This brief break reignites my brain powers and I am much more focused and productive when I return to my work space…only minutes later!
For this activity, you are doing an exaggerated walking motion on the spot.
Cross the midline of your body as you alternately move one arm across your body and touch the opposite leg, then bring the other arm across your body and connect it with its opposite leg. As you rhythmically touch each hand or elbow to its opposite knee, notice if you can you feel this contra-lateral movement originating from the core of your body?
If you would like to see me doing it and a few other Brain Gym® activities, watch this interview and follow along. Let me know how it goes!
In the meantime, know that life will get busy and stressors will arise, but staying in stress is an option. If you have a few tips and tricks up your sleeve, balance and connection are literally only a step away.
To your productivity and enjoyment,
Jill