In the midst of a global pandemic, you may be feeling extra anxiety, stress or in general a feeling of dis-connection. With work-life suddenly thrust upon your home life, things can get a little topsy turvy with regards to balance. Add to that, everyone working from home in a shared space, and suddenly you have quite a different routine panning out.

So, what do we do about it? How do we keep ourselves calm and centred and still face the day in the best possible way?

With any work/life balance, the key is to set aside time and space to complete each task. This approach is needed more than ever now, so let’s take a look at how incorporating meditation/mindfulness into your working from home day can look like.

Keep your morning routine as if you were going to work. That may include a shower, getting dressed, breakfast. You may indulge in a morning coffee or tea, or a health shake. However your ‘usual’ morning routine looks when you are actually going to work is what we are going to build on.

Make use of your usual morning rituals and incorporate a little mindfulness into them.

Examples:

• When you are having a shower, visualise the water streaming down upon your body, like a light. Feel the water cleansing and relaxing you as the ‘light’ streams over your body.
• Whilst eating your breakfast, take time to be mindful about the food you are eating. If you are eating toast and jam, take a moment to actually taste each ingredient as you are eating. You may like to take it further and imagine the process that was taken to make the bread and the jam.
• A hot cuppa or a cool drink is the perfect time to use mindfulness with every sip of liquid, take time and feel the warmth or the coolness in your mouth.

What I’ve listed above only takes minimal time, but are significant ways in which you can incorporate mindfulness into your morning routine to engage in a relaxing and positive start to the day.

The more you incorporate mindfulness into your day, the more productive you can be and this leads to greater feelings of joy, happiness and good health. The benefits are numerous - all from small and simple approaches.
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To add to this, add a few minutes of meditation which can be done at any time of the day. The key is to build the time into your daily timetable. I would recommend scheduling a regular time so that you remain in a routine.

You may have started working from 8:00 a.m. and at 10:30 a.m. you feel the need for a break. This is the perfect time to incorporate some slow breathing. It doesn’t have to take long. The key is to just make it a priority in your break time.

Examples:
Stretch your legs, go for a walk around the house, or better still, go outside, in the garden or on to the balcony. Stretch your body. If the prospect of meditation is daunting, and you feel that you’ll need a half hour to complete this – I can guarantee that even 1 minute of focussed breathing will have a positive effect.

If you can, close your eyes and focus entirely on your breathing. If your mind wanders, just re-focus on your breathing. Keep doing this – eventually the thoughts will just come and go the more you work on this. You can set a timer so that you feel like you can let go and know when to stop.

Breathe in through your nose slowly to the count of five, and breathe out through your mouth to the count of seven. Do this a few times, as much as you feel comfortable. Take notice of how relaxed you feel.

These are just simple ways in which you can create a foundation for yourself to come back to at any time. It really is a wonderful tool that you can utilise anywhere and for any length of time – well beyond working from home.

If you like to schedule a guided meditation into your day, I can guide you through a meditation online. We can schedule a time, and this can be incorporated in your schedule. For more information, contact me through my website or any of my social media channels. 

 
If you would like to have a chat with me to work out how I can help you achieve an achievable work/life balance with regards to your meditation practice, call me on 0413 311 870 or drop me an email on meditationplus1111@gmail.com
Alternatively, I can be reached through Facebook and Instagram @meditationplus1111
 
#stayathome #workfromhome #corporatewellness #meditation #mindfulness #relaxation #calmness #worklifebalance #stayathomemum #lookafteryourself #selfcare #loveyourlife
 

I thought I would touch on this subject being the beginning of a new year. The tendency for many people is to map out their goals, dreams and wishes and these are usually, but not limited to areas like: Exercising more; Eating healthier options; Giving up cigarettes/alcohol/sugar etc

However, have you considered your mindful goals?

Mindful goals are extremely important, because they support you in your daily life. They can be the foundation for all those other goals as listed above. In fact, mindful goals can set you free of being on that never-ending cycle of making a goal, starting off with a bang and heaps of enthusiasm, and then slowly lagging in momentum, only to find that you have fallen by the wayside, and thoroughly disheartened and let down.

So, let’s talk about mindful goals.

Create at least 5 minutes of your day to being absolutely present. By this, I mean to carve out 5 minutes with your focus being entirely on you! Keep your mobile phone away, television and radio off and minimalise any distractions that will keep you away from focusing on yourself. It’s only 5 minutes!!

• You may like to sit in your favourite armchair, or perhaps sit in your backyard or in a quiet spot at work. The location doesn’t matter, it is the intent of stillness that does.
• If bringing your awareness to the gentle flow of your breath isn’t comfortable, then do a body scan. In your mind, scan how every part of your body feels. As you sit here for 5 minutes and work your way down from your head, slowly bringing your focus to each body area, you are totally immersed in the present moment. There is no need for judgement when you feel something or have an emotion – it is just the process of being aware.
• Just by scanning your body and focusing on each body area, you are being mindful and aware of just yourself in this moment! Congratulations!
• This practice can be an easy way to build into your daily life.
• Have you ever heard of the saying, “You can’t pour from an empty cup”? Well this practice will surely energise you when done on a regular basis. All those other goals that you set yourself are more likely to eventuate because you are “filling your own cup” and therefore have more to give those other goals. This also has a flow on effect that can help you in your general daily life.

Other ways to incorporate Mindful Goals into your life could be:

• Positive Affirmations – Remind yourself of positive affirmations throughout your day. Examples: ‘I believe and trust in myself’, ‘I accept myself just as I am’
• Positive Words – Make a list of positive words and allocate a time to read through your list. The more you read through this list, the more you may take these attributes on in your daily life. Examples: ‘Happy’, ‘Love’, ‘Success’
• Creative visualisation – Do you have a happy place? It might be at the beach, park, mountains, relaxing in a rowboat on a still lake. Take 5 minutes of your day to ‘spend time’ in your happy place. This is a wonderful meditative exercise which is relaxing and has positive effects. You may start by visualising the place, then feel the sun/water/wind etc in that place. You may then visualise yourself exploring this area, or seeing the colours that surround you. There are limitless possibilities!
• Guided meditations – Short guided meditations, where you listen and visualise where the guide will take you. This is a good way to just be guided into relaxation.

What Mindful Goals are you going to incorporate into your life?

If you would like to attend my meditation classes or prefer to have a personalised meditation, please contact me.

www.meditationplus1111.com

#mindfulness #mindful #corporatewellness #timeout #relaxation #meditation #relax #positivegoals #newyeargoals #wellness #healthy #motivation #energy #manifest #mind #gratitude #calm #believe

Your life as you know it comes from a place of love, and as the valley and great vastness of the landscape opens before you, you will see that there are beautiful patches of green lush areas. There are also areas of rich red soil. You see a vastness before you that is breathtaking – yet expansive and at times treacherous for those who seek the dangerous route, yet such beauty prevails, for those who seek to act accordingly to the breathtaking landscape.

This landscape is the metaphor at which your life is placed upon. See it as a vast array of sunshine, rain, drought – and let the beauty, however it appears, whether it is lush green, rich red or dusty brown to unfold.

Nature holds the key!

You see, nature doesn’t hold any expectations. Yes, it needs nourishment from rain and sun, but it still manages to thrive in times of hardship. It always does. If sheep once grazed in a green field, and the rain dried up, leaving little for the sheep, it is evolution that the sheep will find another field to graze and live in.

Therefore, wherever you see a ‘drought’ in your life, have faith because in the greater plan, there is a reason for this. And that reason could well be that there is a better solution.
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You can apply this to your life now. Where there was once such love and happiness, and seemingly now there is only a shell of memories – seek solace to find where this love and happiness will turn up. You shall find it! It is just a matter of evolution, time, belief and love ~ Gillian ~
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© Meditation Plus 2019