1. Unplug
Think for a minute about all the messages and mediums vying for our attention. We have text messages, email, television, YouTube, social media private messaging, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Linked In, Instagram, Tumbler, Pinterest etc. So many ways to get information and that didn't even include the newsfeed built-in to your phone home page or computer web-browser. Its no wonder we feel stressed out and tired, we are getting too many messages. If you begin to feel like you are on this treadmill that keeps getting the speed increased, its time to get off the media train and take some time to shut down the many methods of input. Maybe you can't go without it all for your job, but if you are being honest, you could easily find hours reaching or even exceeding the double digits of unnecessary media time. That movie or latest episode of your favorite show can wait. You can take the social media apps off your phone or turn off certain notifications so you aren't clicking to see each like or comment.
2. Be Silent, Be Still
If you are as old or older than me, you may remember a movie in 1999 called, "She's All That." There is a scene where during a piece of live art, the actors chants, "Be Silent, be still," repeatedly. It brings home the point that we need to bring all the noise to a stop. If the mess of noises listed above weren't bad enough, we have a few more bouncing around our brain. They can be summed up with one word - expectations. We allow the voices of others in our lives and even our own self-talk, to bring craziness to our thoughts with an endless supply of limitations and criticisms. It's time to shut it out and just silently be still. That may be meditation for you or it may look more like what Craig Groeschel describes in his 5 minutes of quiet each day. Just take time, even if its 5 minutes to sit quietly. It may seem awkward at first, but you will grow to appreciate what it offers you.
3. Put on your Mask
I don't know who you are or what you do, but I bet involves taking care of others. That my friends is an amazing part of life, but sometimes we give and give without any balance of caring for ourselves. Its become cliché, but truly the airlines know what they are speaking to when they tell you to put on your oxygen mask before assisting smaller travelers. If you put the mask on our child first, you could pass out in the process due to your bodies need for oxygen. You need to sleep, eat, exercise at minimum. If you are like me you also need relational time to fill that love tank. My mom suffers from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and needs to go to certain yoga and water aerobics classes each day to manage the pain levels. It is a need. If she ignores it she becomes debilitated by pain. If I ignore my need for relationships I can become debilitating depressed. I don't know what that looks like for you but its time to figure it out and schedule it so that you have what it takes to do your life.
4. Choose Gratitude
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and honestly its a holiday we have all but forgotten. Its just become a day off work to stuff our faces (and now start Christmas shopping) instead of a season of gratitude. Gratitude prepares our hearts and minds to center our souls between reality and desires. Gratitude allows us the ability to recognize what we have. Let's face it, if you spent $2.50 today, you are doing better than 50% of the population (I know I've quoted this before) but isn't it something to celebrate?! Each situation has a positive and negative spin and its your choice to pick a path. Gratitude quiets the unsettlings inside ourselves. It keeps us rooted in the here and now and keeps us from either living in the past or too focused on what's next. What are you grateful for in this one moment? I once sat in the woods for 5 hours and during time made a list of everything I could think of that I was grateful for from birth until that very moment. It was a humbling and truly rewarding experience. Its time I do it again. Focus on what is beautiful in your life. Sometimes it does take some digging but it can be that one thing in the midst of the storm we face that can bring us comfort.
5. Re-evaluate
Greg McKeown's book "Essentialism: The Discipled Pursuit of Less" or Marie Kondo's books on tidying up both bring to our attention the need for re-evaluation of what we are aiming at in life. When we hold onto things and develop a hoarding mentality or we overwork ourselves in an effort to do it all, we are creating dysfunctional habits and aren't aiming at anything. The result isn't satisfaction and success, but instead stress and anxiety within an unsettling reality. We must pause long enough to look at see what we want from life and if our current daily actions support or fight against our goals. If this is an area of struggle for you, I suggest you check out one of the resources I listed at the beginning of this paragraph. Get some tools to working smarter, not harder.
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