➡️ 1. Simply Take A Five-Minute Break ⏰️
Set a timer on your phone and when the timer goes off, stop what you’re doing and move away from your desk and sit down somewhere quiet. Close your eyes and take in a couple of deep breaths 🙏.
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➡️ 2. Go Outside 🌲🌳
Studies have shown that getting outside into nature is one of the best things you can do for your mental health 🧠. Exposure to nature lowers stress, improves your attention span, improves your mental health and even can help you increase your empathy.
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➡️ 3. Take The Stairs, Walk Around, Simply Move Your Body 🏃♀️🤸♀️
This one can be harder to plan so make sure to look at your schedule at the beginning of each day and identify one or two opportunities to move your body. The more you do it, the more you’ll find new ways to move your body 💪.
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➡️ 4. Notice Your Eating And Drinking 🌮🥤
Get out a journal and for three days write down everything you eat and drink as well as how you feel an hour after each meal. After those three days, you’ll start to notice where and when you eat too much, not enough, or foods that make you feel sleepy or hyped up.
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➡️ 5. Acknowledge Your Accomplishments 🏆
Start collecting email messages 📩, notes, and performance reviews where someone is singing your praises. Every time someone sends you a message that makes you feel good about yourself and your work, save it. Each time you start to feel down about work or wonder, “What am I doing here?” open up that folder and re-read all of those notes as a reminder of how much you’ve accomplished 🤗.
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And how do YOU practice self-care at work? 😚
Source: https://www.forbes.com
Tag: rest
SELF LOVE: 2 Breathing excercises
➡️ Lion’s breath (Lion’s Pose or simhasana in Sanskrit)
Lion’s breath is an energizing yoga breathing practice that is said to relieve tension in your chest and face.
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To do this:
🔸️Come into a comfortable seated position
🔸️Press your palms against your knees with your fingers spread wide
🔸️Inhale deeply through your nose and open your eyes wide
🔸️At the same time, open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue, bringing the tip down toward your chin
🔸️Contract the muscles at the front of your throat as you exhale out through your mouth by making a long “ha” sound
🔸️You can turn your gaze to look at the space between your eyebrows or the tip of your nose
🔸️Do this breath 2 to 3 times
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➡️ Humming bee breath (bhramari)
The unique sensation of this yoga breathing practice helps to create instant calm and is especially soothing around your forehead. Some people use humming bee breath to relieve frustration, anxiety, and anger. Of course, you’ll want to practice it in a place where you are free to make a humming sound.
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To do this:
🔸️ Choose a comfortable seated position
🔸️ Close your eyes and relax your face
🔸️ Place your first fingers on the tragus cartilage that partially covers your ear canal
🔸️ Inhale, and as you exhale gently press your fingers into the cartilage
🔸️ Keeping your mouth closed, make a loud humming sound
Continue for as long as is comfortable.
Source: https://www.healthline.com
5 things you NEED TO remember
🔸️ Rest can be/is productive 🙏. Never feel bad about taking a break. You need it to reset your body, to rest and be more productive later on, to get new ideas and be more creative.
🔸️ Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness 🤝. Don’t work your a** off just to prove somebody you can do it by yourself, it’s not worth it. Simply ask for help when you need it and help others when they need it.
🔸️ You don’t have to have it all figured out. I’m almost 30 and I think I know what I want to do for the rest of my life yet it keeps changing every couple years and that’s fine 😅 I change my dreams whenever I find some new passion because.. :
🔸️ You’re allowed to change your mind. Whether it’s about your job, a city where you want to live and other big decisions as well as on each everyday step like saying you’re not gonna go to a party even though you RSVP’ed because you don’t feel like it 🤷♀️.
🔸️ You can keep as much of your private life to yourself as you want. Just because somebody else starts talking about his/her problems, his financial situation, family drama etc doesn’t mean that you have to be open about it as well 😉
Appreciate your time
Do you appreciate your time? Do you value it? 🤔
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„Time is a currency you can only spend once” – remember about it! ⚠️
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There are plenty things that you can get back after losing it 😉 – any material thing of course but abstract things like relationship 💏, trust 🤝or confidence 💪 can be brought back to you too!
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Yet there are 2 things that you can’t get back once you lose it – health and time 😬. As much as with modern medicine and some cures you can get your health back in some cases, you will never get lost time back. 😔
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That’s why it is so important to choose wisely what you do with it but also to cherish your time, to appreciate the time you have for yourself 🙏.
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If you don’t feel like you belong somewhere (you’re bored and not learning anything at work 🤷♀️, you’re invisible and being ignored at a party 🙄, you’re pouring your heart out and not getting anything in return in a relationship 💔…) just drop it. Don’t waste your time on a job you dislike, on hobbies you’re not passionate about or on people who don’t care about you 😚.
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Cherish your time, this is the most expensive value/currency you’ve got 💰. Use it to spend it on something that matters to you, something that is important to you 😉.
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Also remember to save some time for yourself 🙏, to regenerate, to get your energy back. Stop putting others’ needs first – if you booked some time for yourself and somebody calls you asking for help or simply to spend some time with him/her just be open about your needs and say that you want and need to spend some time on your own ❤ (unless it’s really urgent and somebody really needs your help). There’s nothing bad about it! 😉
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Everybody needs and should have some me-time from time to time! This is the time where we truly relax, truly are ourselves. Respect that need and that time! 🙏
Why is self-care so important?
Why is self-care so important? 🤔
First of all when you take care of yourself, when you are rested and calm you look at world differently!
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I got to a point couple months ago when I was so tired and so burnt out that nothing was bringing me joy, I was tired, stressed and annoyed all the time 🙄 When one small thing went wrong I’d instantly explode like a bomb.
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And then I finally learned to rest, to take care of myself, to have some me-time and I felt so much better! Not only I felt rested, calmer and was doing everyday duties or working on my projects with a smile on my face 😊 but also I wasn’t so tense and e.g. I wouldn’t explode when something unexpected happened or when something went wrong 😊 I was happy and excited to work again! I was nice to people around me again 🤗
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Second of all, you can’t feed others from an empty bowl! So you can’t take care of others unless you take care of yourself first! 😉 You NEED to be joyful, calm and rested to be able to help others and to be happy about it 😊
Smiley Future – Step 52
How do you find mindfullness practice so far? 🤔 Today I want us to practice mindful awarness 🤩. This excercise is to boost your awarness while doing everyday, normal activities and to appreciate their results 😉.
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Think of something that happens couple times a day everyday, something that you take for granted and don’t bring any attention to 🤷🏼♀️. It can be e.g. opening door 🚪. For one day, everytime you grab a handle stop for a second and bring your attention to where you are, how you feel and where do these doors lead you to 🤔.
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A moment that you choose doesn’t have to be a physical activity. You can focus on a point where a negative thought appears 💭. Stop then, notice your emotions and that thought – see if it’s needed and then push it away 👊🏻.
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It can be a moment right before a meal – before you start eating bring your attention to smell 👃, color of the meal 👀 or focus on the fact of how good it is to eat a meal with family or friends ❤.
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This excercise helps you switch from automatic thinking 🧠 to experiencing mindfullness and gratitude for every little (and so far – boring) thing or action 🤗.
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Next week: Practicing mindfullness: listening 👂
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
SELF-LOVE: Work on your dreams no matter what vs rest no matter what 🤔
You need to listen to your body and rest when needed 🙏
I have been working too much + had too much stress in November and December and I still ‘feel it’ in my body 😫. Even though i’m not working that much now in January, I have finally lazy weekends and sleep well 🛌, I still feel tired and don’t have that energy to jump into spiral of work 🤷🏼♀️ and have been taking it slowly so far in the 1st half of January and that’s ok 😉. I’m still moving forward, just taking small steps.
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Don’t push yourself if you don’t feel like it ⚠️. Don’t say “I’ll do it no matter what!” if you don’t want to do it ⚠️. It may seem contradictory to me pushing you to follow your dreams and to work on yourself but it’s not, you just have to find that balance ⚖.
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If you’ll be pushing yourself and not feel like it not only your body will give up and you will feel tired all the time but you’ll drop that dream/project quickly as forcing yourself to work on it won’t make you happy 🤷🏼♀️.
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Create a healthy, individual routine for yourself 😊. Try what works for you and what doesn’t. I work 8h at my full-time ‘normal’ job, then work 4-5h on my projects/dream and always need those 3-4h of rest in the evening when I watch Netflix with my husband 🤩, workout and/or play PS4 🕹. And as for weekends I work on my projects for couple hours on Saturdays (but not each Saturday) and always leave Sunday fully off to do nothing and let my body and mind rest 🤗.
What works best for you?
Smiley Future – Step 40
If you still lack motivation think whether you’re not too tired or too overwhelmed 🤷🏼♀️.
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Maybe you need regeneration? 🧘🏼♀️ If yes, think what do you need most to feel better? Being active or relaxing? ☺ Rest or new wave of inspiration? To be alone or to be among others? More sleep? 🛌 Healthier diet? 🥦 Contact with nature? 🏞 Maybe it would be good if you’d went to have a massage or see a doctor? 🏥
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Treat rest and rebuilding your strength (physical or mental) as ESSENTIAL step in reaching your goal 💪. If you’re lacking strength you can’t demand from yourself to be motivated and to have the will to work 😉. Task for this week: take care of youself!!! 🙏
What helps you rest, regenerate?
Next week: Motivations vs pleasure
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Healthy balance
You know what’s one of my main rules in life? Healthy balance about EVERYTHING 😉
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We live in crazy times where everybody is in a rush, everybody wants to be the best at something 😬. Some people risk it all to get what they want. Is it worth it though? 🤷🏼♀️
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I’ve heard some people say that in order to be successful you need to totally limit your time off and focus on work 😶. That you need to drop Netflix, drop the time with your loved ones and spend every minute of your day self-evolving 😏 That instead of watching a tv show on Netflix in the evening you should focus on broadening your skills, your knowledge and read a book 📖
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I understand that in order to succeed you need to work hard and I totally agree with that 👍 I highly encourage everybody to self-evolve, to learn new skills… sure, that too ☝️. But to limit your time off? 😕 To never watch Netflix (apart from the fact that you can always learn something from a tv show/movie/documentary 🙄)? To never have propper leisure time? 😒
Na-ah 👎
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There needs to be balance⚖. Not only you NEED TO REST regularly in order to rebuild your energy to work, to get new ideas 🤩, to stay fresh 🙂 but if you work your ass off and never rest you’ll lose your motivation, lose your will to work and it will all become a torture for you and in the end when you succeed it won’t bring you any joy 😏
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Another example are people who want to lose weight or muscle up and they work out every day or even twice a day 🙄. That ain’t the way to do it 🚫. Muscles grow on your rest days! You need at least 1 day break from working out a week for the body to recharge and for your muscles to grow.
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You should make sure that there’s heathy balance ⚖ in every part of your life:
Between work 💻 & rest 🎬
Between working out 💪& regeneration 🧖♀️
Between your career 👩💻 & private life 💃
Between the time you’ve got for others 👥 and time you’ve got for yourself 🧘🏼♀️
Between physical development 💪 and mental development 🧠
Between caring about what’s important ⚠️ and ignoring what’s not 🚫
Healthy balance is the key, believe me 😉
Smiley Future – Step 28
How do you relax? 😉
Today’s last part of „Be good to yourself” series.
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Do you remember when we talked about factors that weaken your strong will? 🤔 It was stress and tiredness and lately we’ve been talking a lot about the danger of treating yourself badly and punishing (and getting into a trap of „everything or nothing” thinking” ⚠️).
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That’s why sometimes in order to rebuild and strengthen strong will you need rest, regeneration and pleasures that will give you energy and motivation to work 🤗.
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Task for today: Make a list of your ways of relax and pleasures. It is important so that they wouldn’t be contradictory to your goal (so e.g. don’t write on your list „eating huge pizza” or „eating chocolate cookies” when your goal is to eat healthy 😉).
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It might be an evening with a good book 📖 or a movie 🎬, talk or meeting with a friend 💬, relaxing bath 🛀, walk around the neighbourhood 🏞, playing with dog 🐶, relaxing yoga session etc. 🧘🏼♀️
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So what are your ways to relax? Tell me! 😊
Next week: Sometimes it’s better to postpone
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
How to be HAPPY 