Giving ourselves physical and mental space is so important when working from home. Consider your family situation, your circumstances, where you live, who you’re living with, who you’re not living with, and find a balance while working from home.
We all know how different society has become due to social isolation and physical distancing. We may have good and bad days and that is alright. However, on the good days, it may be an opportunity to make the most of them. If negative thinking comes in, it can create an environment of fear and feeling static. Try to break the pattern of negative thinking as the aim is to not allow negativity to take over and have control over our thinking.
What can we do to help ourselves and find the balance?
Create the space within your own mind. In terms of internal dialogue, it is important to remain positive even if you feel things are not going your way. Live in the present moment and practise deep breathing and meditative living. Meditative living is to be consciously aware of every task that you do. When you wash your hands and wash the dishes look at everything you do and observe your surroundings, be in the present moment and do not think in the past or the future. Instead of watching television in the evenings, break the pattern. Light a candle, play some music, meditate, read, paint. If you feel the ongoing monotonous routine is somewhat tiresome, it is at that point in time to break the routine. Do different tasks, chores or relaxation, creating enthusiasm and satisfaction within yourself.
Deep breathing can be powerful to bring us in to the present moment. Your breathing is not in the past or the future, it is here, right now. It is important to learn to make the most of your breathing. To simplify it, it is to focus on the here and now, to focus on your breath and not to be thinking in the past or the future. This is the method to help you start the process of living in the present moment and to help gear you towards meditative living. The 4:7:8 breathing technique can have profound effects.
Breathe in for the count of four, hold your breath for the count of seven and exhale for the count of eight. It is useful to practise this on a daily basis. Think about practising this technique before an important challenge ahead, whether it is an important presentation or a client meeting.
As part of our daily routine, it is crucial to keep up with stretches, yoga, pilates, walks, runs, cycles, swims. One will reap the benefits in terms of overall mood, energy, motivation, enthusiasm and creativity. Movement is essential in everything that we do. A balanced diet will help us feel good and reap the benefits rather than an over consumption of sugar. It’s important to have a disciplined routine, build on positive habits, go at your own pace and make the most of the days. Repeat your morning and evening routine until it becomes automatic and eliminate distractions.
Visualisation can help here. This means visualising the outcome before you do it. For example, if you wake up in the morning and you find it increasingly difficult to think about going for a walk or a run or to do exercises visualise ahead and think what the outcome will be. If I go and do the exercise, I know I will feel good after. I know I will be in a positive zone. I know I will have a good amount of energy for the day. If I don’t do it, visualise the outcome. Before you make a decision on doing or not doing something, visualise the outcome. After all, you want to benefit from it and feel good. That’s where self-care also comes in to the equation.
As we make space around our physical environment, we begin to create a state of flow. Flow is when you create the space on a physical and mental level. Once the space is created, attention, focus, energy levels and productivity are increased. As we stay in an optimistic mode, we will be able to deal with external pressures. Whether that is pressure coming from your boss while working from home, pressure in your relationship, pressure with working from home while teaching and looking after your children.
It could be the pressure you feel what you don’t have and should have had over the past year, pressure of living alone and single, restricted and not being able to live your normal life. Pressure if you have a disability, pressure for parents who are looking after their children who are disabled. Pressure if you are young and in the development cycle of your life. Pressure if you are a business owner. There are so many pressures every person has to deal with.
Being optimistic and proactive are the best factors to maintain a positive, enthusiastic outlook. Once you go on the negativity mode, sometimes this could last for a long period of time where it starts a rut of chaos where you don’t want to be. Ultimately, you will be the one who will be hurt, no one else. It is your health and wellbeing after all. The decisions you make are important and you want to be in an optimistic mode to make these decisions.
To summarise, it is important to live in the present moment, be kind to yourself and one another, appreciate the little moments and be comfortable in your own company. A beautiful song to listen to is Enya’s inspirational piece ‘Caribbean Blue.’
Eimear’s new book ‘Say It As It Is’ is now available on Amazon Kindle.
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