How Self-Care Practices Help You Make More Time
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AURAKROWN BLOG
HOW SELF-CARE PRACTICES HELP YOU MAKE MORE TIME
EVEN WITH A BUSY SCHEDULE
Imagine this scenario:
You rush your kids to school, get stuck in traffic and are now late to work. You get to your demanding job where some unexpected events have taken place and now you need to do extra work to get things all sorted out before a very important deadline. On top of that, the school ends up calling you asking you to pick up your child because he had an accident. Your mind is scattered, your heart is racing, you’re holding your breath, and you are panicking. Usually, you would have a nervous breakdown, get angry, cry - basically have a not-so-pleasant reaction - which then makes it very difficult to come up with solutions. These negative energies drain you of more energy - like a parasite. This brings you into a downward spiral which can affect the rest of your day(s) and the people around you.
Now imagine this:
On the way to your kids' school you have a family ritual of practicing mindfulness. You and your children are doing breathwork, practicing gratitude, and what you are looking forward to about the day. They get to school, but you still get stuck in traffic. You call your boss to smooth things over, then put on an uplifting podcast or healing music. You get to work and find out some unexpected events occurred that need to be dealt with before a very important deadline. Soon after, the school calls you and you have to pick up your child because he had an accident. You have a calm and clear mind from the self-care practices that you’ve been implementing in the morning, and you are now able to execute the best solutions and get it all done. Implementing self-care practices gives you a positive mindset, less reactivity and more responsibility, more energy, more clarity, and more time.
It’s not always about adding more and more onto your to-do lists, especially when you’re super busy. Some of the self-care practices can be implemented through substituting or tweaking things in your daily schedule, just like the story above.
Here are some examples - (Major, major tip at the end):
Tweaking Things You Normally Do:
Whenever you take a sip of coffee, take a nice deep breath.
Whenever you’re stopped at a red light, recite some affirmations. Here’s one: “I am balanced!”
Whenever you’re playing with your kids on the floor, sneak in some sitting stretches.
What is something simple you could tweak to sneak in some self-care?
Substituting Self-Care For Things You Would Normally Do: Let’s go over these.
Instead of going straight to messages or social media in the morning…
→ go outside and get some sun on your face for a few minutes.
Instead of sitting in a chair for hours while working…
→ find ways to incorporate sitting on the floor or standing while working.
Instead of listening to the news…
→ listen to an inspiring podcast.
What is something you could substitute for self-care in your life?
Major, Major Tip:
Here’s the one thing that has drastically helped me create more energy, and therefore more time, in my life: Practicing gratitude.
It might be a challenge at first, but if you practice finding at least one positive thing out of a “negative” experience, you’re putting your energy on an upward spiral. Finding things to be thankful for can drastically change your perspective and mood, and ultimately your reality. What you focus on is what will show up in your life. The great thing is that you don’t have to change your schedule at all to do this!
Example:
You’re cooking food and get distracted. The food ends up getting burnt to a crisp. The negative aspect is pretty obvious: The smoking heap of inedible waste. The perspective shift could be: “I’m grateful that this experience is serving as a lesson to be more present with my cooking!”
Closing Thoughts:
A slight tweak or an easy substitution performed consistently and a gratitude perspective shift can change the entire trajectory of your life.
Gameplan: Start small. Choose one easy thing to tweak or substitute until it becomes automatic. Find one positive thing to be grateful for about all the outcomes in your life and watch your life transform. This is only the beginning!