4 Things Busy People Can Do Today
Self Care for the Busy
How do we make time for self-health?
Finding time to invest in self-care can be challenging, especially when you live an extra busy life. And, it must be done so that you can continue getting things done and being busy!
This is not about you stopping the actions needed to complete things. It IS about you making small, incremental changes in your attention, schedule, daily habits.
While assessing your commitments, there can be little time left to catch your breath let alone take time to care for your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health.
But,
You can find ways to take care of yourself even if you are a busy person.
In these times we are busier than ever.
Children that used to go to daycare are home.
Spouses who used to go to work, are home.
You are home.
Our routines have been upended and we find ourselves re-evaluating what is important.
Today I Am putting your attention on you.
You are important.
In the world we have today, it is most important that we start/, continue to take care of ourselves in ways that keep our spirits high, our immune systems functioning properly, our bodies fit and free of excessive stress and, our minds focused and sharp.
In this series on Self Health ™,
We will together, begin an inquiry to uncover the best ways to empower you to simply and effectively take care of yourself.
After this series-Your mind, body, spirit, and emotional health will be balancing, healing, and properly detoxing.
You shall be on the path of wellbeing in every area of your life.
If you struggle to find time left in your already busy life,
this is for you.
Here are the first 4 items for your consideration on our path to self-health.
1. Schedule it
Put your attention on self-health. Make this important in your list of priorities. Add it in.
There is space for you.
Do you have a morning routine that works?
When you arise, take just a moment to breathe.
Before your feet are flat on the floor take slow deep breaths.
Put your attention only on your breath.
When you breathe in your belly pushes out (visualize a melon belly)
When you breathe out, visualize your belly button touching your spine.
Do this 3-5 times.
Now you are ready to hit the floor with your day.
This small change to how you awaken will Center your mind and body every morning.
By the way, if you also do this at night just before you get into bed, it will relax you and you just might fall asleep easier than you have in a while.
2.Take more frequent breaks in your schedule
Working at our desks for long periods cramps up our bodies, not to mention the stress of thinking, thinking, thinking.
We now must take zoom meetings, FaceTime appointments, and calls.
We run to the restroom in between and hurry back to our desks.
If you are working at home, it is just as important to have broken as when you went into work and had scheduled breaks on the clock.
It can be easy to find yourself in a cycle of continuous activity without a break.
Put breaks in your daily schedule.
Take time to breathe, walk outside, or just stand quietly for 3 minutes.
I know,
most of us have not been intentionally quiet or still outside of sleeping, for a very long time.
Do shoulder shrugs:
Stand up and shrug your shoulders-
Pull shoulders up to ears and then let them just drop. No need to guide them back down.
Your arms and hands know where to go.
Lift your shoulders to your ears and then just release them.
Do this 3-5 times.
Don’t forget to breathe while doing this.
You feel all the tension leaving your cramped upper body?
Can you even breathe effortlessly deeper?
Some of you have been “wearing your shoulders for earrings” for a very long time.
Taking scheduled breaks allows you to relax a bit and rejuvenate
Both mind and body. And, of course, having a break scheduled, lifts your spirits in anticipation.
3. Get Sleep
Do you get enough sleep so that you wake up refreshed and ready to start your day?
It’s very easy to prioritize everything else oversleep.
Stop it.
Getting enough sleep allows the body to heal, and the mind to restore.
Your system is energetic- meaning that only enough sleep re-energizes this system.
There are vast amounts of studies and research on sleep.
How much is enough?
When you should sleep, how you should sleep.
Maybe I will write a series about this much-debated topic.
Let Me know in the comments if you want to know some of what I know, about sleep from a holistic perspective.
For now, get enough sleep so that when you awake you are not still feeling tired.
4. Hydration
Staying hydrated keeps the fluids in your body circulating and optimally regenerating and releasing toxins.
We can survive more than 2 weeks without food.
We cannot survive more than a few days without liquids.
Your body is over 70 % fluids!
Drinking fluids is important. Have fluids at your desk and refill often.
After breathwork in the morning, take your feet to the kitchen and make a cup of HOT liquid.
Drinking hot fluids will get all the night’s gathered toxins moving out!
Some of my favorite morning drinks:
- Green tea – replenishes the kidneys, pancreas, and bladder. Also, starts your lymph system expelling.
- Apple cider vinegar and honey- move your colon system
- Hot water and lemon- help the lungs to expel toxins.
Listen, there is a reason you brush your teeth and hair daily.
Yet, we don’t give all those other hard-working systems a moment to replenish.
Drinking something hot first starts our body systems outright.
These are my 4 things for the busy.
Now, it is time to take action and make them habits.
Your body, mind, and spirit will reward you with:
Better productivity
Vitality and
More Focused attention on better and better Self Health ™.
To your Healing,
Doc Raheem