Pause/Break: Take a break to enjoy yourself, your partner, your pet, your co-workers, your family. . .
January 23, 2015 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
A pause for the cause does wonders for your productivity and your soul. Slow down on that super highway or get off the beaten path and find a trail. The mind, body, and spirit all need downtime to refresh, relax, recuperate, rejuvenate, recreate, and regenerate for what lies ahead.
After the pause, you will come back with more vigor and vitality to take on life. Employers have found that allowing workers to telecommute, job share, or have a flexible work schedule to accommodate other facets of their lives will improve loyalty, dedication, productivity, and focus at work. Work-life balance and mental health breaks are critical to our health and the health of an organization. Performance research from the Swiss Polytechnic Institute shows that when workers perform a task for longer than 20-30 minutes straight, the time they need to solve the problem increases by 500%. It would be wise to take a short break at least each hour to improve your concentration, your productivity, and your problem solving ability.
Other studies have found that if you perform an activity that uses the opposite side of the brain than the side you have been using for the task, the benefits are even greater when you come back to your task because you have let that side of your brain take a break. Studies out of the National Recreation and Park Association show that even short leisure moments in your day build resilience to future stress.
Why not incorporate your pet into your break. Animals significantly contribute to your peace of mind and playfulness. Pet popularity has been on the increase and their psychotherapeutic affects are long-lasting. Our “best friends” can give us a boost like no other with their unconditional love and affection. My newly-adopted doxi, Fozzi, is proof positive of the positive affects of pets.
Research indicates the positive effects of pet therapy and the calming, yet energizing effect pets have on the people around them. Stroking them and being around their happy dispositions create a positive connection, adding joy to people’s lives. Their only reason for being is to enjoy life. Why not take a queue from our animals? Have you ever noticed how excited your pet is to see you after you’ve been gone all day? Do your kids, your spouse, or your family members exude a similar reaction? Why not try being as enthusiastic with your greetings as your pet and watch the reactions to your newfound energy.
Matt Weinstein’s book How to Work Like Your Dog is a great read on how to lighten up and be more like your pet.
Escape: Escape for a Mental Health Break
April 24, 2014 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Physically fleeing the scene of stress for a holiday restores personal energy. Sometimes all we have is a “holimoment” where we can purposefully escape into daydreams or meditation if we can’t physically escape to take a break. Americans lag far behind most of the world in reaping the rewards of longer vacations and time to escape the real world responsibilities.
Employers in Europe know the secret to having employees be refreshed, renewed, and recharged for more productivity is taking longer or more frequent holidays. Europeans average five weeks per year holiday time as compared to the paltry American two weeks annual vacation. If you are saving up those vacation days, or worse yet, losing them because they have expired, you are doing yourself, your family, and your colleagues a disservice by not giving them the best you can be at optimum performance levels.
We need a break to clear our minds and re-connect in order to perform at peak performance at other times. If you must hang around the office, surround yourself with items that bring back good memories or that state your affirmations boldly. Take a mental health break by gazing at your memorabilia while you wait on hold on the phone. (Research suggests we are on hold an average of 15 minutes/day or 60 hours/year). Fresh air and movement do wonders, as do office toys or a personalized treasure map of things you want to accomplish in your life.
Treasure maps are collages of pictures and words representing your desires, goals, or affirmations. These posters filled with cut and past magazine photos and headlines are a physical and mental reminder of what’s dear, and act as a magnet to attract you closer to your goals and aspirations. The more you use the powerful force of visualization; the imagery of your dreams becomes imbedded into your subconscious and you start behaving in a manner to elicit responses to move you towards your image. There have been numerous studies of athletes and performers using guided imagery and visualization to help them compete and win. When you start imagining the possibilities and show your brain concrete images, it sends your body signals to help make that image materialize.
Travel can generate excitement, adventure, intrigue, and other awesome feelings all rolled up into one package. Experience other cultures and new ways of life, or just get out of town for a weekend escape. We need this time for creative renewal in order to be our best to meet our challenges. Seeing how other cultures live gives us a fresh perspective on what may be out of kilter back home. Flexibility and an attitude of discovery go a long way in creating positive travel experiences. Where are you going next?
Space: Is Your Space Energizing or Draining?
April 2, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Is your space pleasant, comfortable, and workable or does it create stress? Are items easily accessible? If you are left-brained (analytical), are things stored vertically or behind closed doors? If you are right-brained (creative), are they stored horizontally or within plain view? (A.k.a. piles) These left-brained and right-brained preferences have been shown to work well with the work styles and organizational styles of each type of person. Where are you on the continuum?
Figuring out how to adapt your systems to fit your style will relieve both stress and lost items, and earn you more time for fun. Do your desk accessories accommodate these preferences? What is the color of your space, what type of furniture is in that space, and how is it positioned in the room? The key here is “organize to energize”. We save valuable time, energy, and mental frustration when we are more organized and working with our brain-hemisphere preference.
Research from the National Association of Professional Organizers suggests messy professionals waste up to six weeks per year (over one hour per day) looking for lost things. Does your space project a positive image for you or your organization? Seek out furniture, accessories, and storage devices to help you instead of hamper you in getting yourself organized. Write down what your ideal work or living space would look like and let that be a guide to what needs your attention to work towards that idea.
Using full-spectrum or natural lighting can increase your energy and productivity by 25% over fluorescent or incandescent lighting. Studies in hospitals, schools, and businesses found that fluorescent lighting could sometimes give people headaches or irritate them with the buzzing and flickering, and also annoy the eyes with its unnatural glow. Those who can work or live with more light from the sun or with full spectrum lighting which better mimics the sun will have more energy.
A HarvardUniversity study confirms this fact that the impact of light on the eye improves attention focus and energy production in the brain. Other studies have also linked the body’s hormonal and biochemical balances with sunlight and darkness as it relates to our personal energy. Moderate exposure to sunshine helps boost our immune system and our body produces vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Healthcare professionals have known for years that patients who get fresh air and sunshine have a better attitude and improve better than those who don’t. Those with Seasonal Affective Disorder or the Winter Blues have a sensitivity to lightness and darkness. Those living near the Arctic Circle must contend with the light situation in other ways such as wearing light masks to improve their energy.
Take inventory of your space. Is it filled with light and beauty? Beauty in any form is intoxicating. Surround yourself with beauty to raise your spirits. Be mindful of what you see in your home, your office, or out your window each day. Create your world so you see scenes to delight your eye and rid your environment of unsightly obstructions. Place a birdbath outside your window, hide your air conditioner with potted plants, hang stained glass in a window with a dreary view, collect great art, or display the art projects your children or grandchildren made for you. Live beautifully.
Interior designer and philosopher Alexandra Stoddard has several super books on living a beautiful life. How are you contributing to the beauty in your life? What do you see out your office window or kitchen window? How can you improve upon your surroundings or interior spaces to improve the beauty? What can you do personally to improve your own beauty because you are part of other people’s environment? Adult learning theory states that we learn better and are more productive when we are in pleasant surroundings. Take a look through fresh eyes at your surroundings and make some changes to bring in more beauty and enhance your vital energy.
Keys to Energize Your Life, Pump Up Performance & Practice Safe Stress
March 15, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
By popular demand, I’m offering a series based on my first book Keys to Energize, A Caffeine-Free Guide to Perk Up Your Life. The ideas have built a career, launched over 500 articles, inspired over 1500 programs and touched many thousands. I’d like to share one key at a time – the idea being that you have the answers at your fingertips – on your computer keyboard. Each of the keys in front of your nose hold the answers to dynamize your life so you can live and lead hartfully.
I dedicate this series to everybody who is burned out, stressed out, rusted out and looking for a way out of the energy drainage trap.
Are you feeling tattered, tired, tested, toasted, and roasted? Are you overworked, overwhelmed, and overdue for a personal energy overhaul? Look no further than your fingertips for your solutions to sanity, less stress, more fun, and more energy. The keys to practicing safe stress and energizing yourself and your life are right in front of your face on your computer keyboard. Knowing that one in four workers suffer from an anxiety related disorder brought on by stress, that 80% of the hospital beds are taken up by stress-related afflictions, that five minutes of exposure to negativity can affect our central nervous system for up to six hours, and that Americans consume at least 15 tons of aspirin per day is enough to move me to action and share my insights and inspiration with my audiences and my readers.
Use this series as your easy-reading travel guide, and your keyboard as a visual reminder to lighten up and unlock the secrets to revitalization. Filled with quick bytes to give you a quick boost to recharge your batteries and refresh your memory; your keyboard holds the keys to quick quality tips for distressing, decompressing, and delighting yourself. So hang up your phone it’s time to get re-connected with yourself and access your energy stores.
From research, reading, interviews, personal experience, and interaction with thousands of people around the world; I would like to share my insider secrets for the keys to enhanced personal energy and the simple, yet effective coping mechanisms I’ve come to believe are the key ingredients to a more satisfying and more energized life.
It’s all about energy and our total energy force field which includes both physical energy and emotional energy. Emotional energy comes from our spirit, our hope for great things, our passion about life, and our sense of vitality for living. What I have witnessed is primarily an emotional energy drainage from those feeling less than optimum. These are the people who feel emotionally fatigued, unable to cope, irritated at the slightest thing, feeling that their heart isn’t into whatever it is they think it should be, or just going through the motions and not really being able to make an effort.
Other researchers have confirmed my findings in interviews with energy experts such as endocrinologists, nutritionists, and specialists in sports medicine. Mira Kirshenbaum’s work studying the emotional energy factor in her book The Emotional Energy Factor, reports that only 30% of our total energy comes from physical energy while 70% of the energy we need to make up out complete energy comes from emotional energy. That’s why some people going through tough times can get all the rest in the world and still feel fatigued, while others in love or going through a boom time at work can get very little rest and still have boundless energy.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it just takes on different forms. This book will give you some tips on how to mold energy into the most positive form for your use. The good news is that since energy cannot be destroyed, it is still inside of us and under our control to tap into it. Once we know how to tap into this wellspring of well-being, we can begin approaching life differently in order to keep that well from running dry, and to keep ourselves from running on empty. It stems from the universal truths of giving to get, or what you throw out to the universe will come back to you.
I appreciate all my clients and attendees who have demonstrated the dire need for this book and who have asked for more information on this topic. From those inquiries, I offered Live Wire, my monthly E-zine with the freshest ideas to refresh, renew, and recharge your team, your family, and yourself for 10 years. I offer my blog with tips to ignite work, wealth and well-being and the art of living and leading Hartfully to give you the ammunition you need to stave off stress and revitalize your life.
Stress itself isn’t all bad. There is good stress called eustress that we need to keep us interested, engaged, and alert and that some of us thrive on to keep us going. Then there is bad stress called distress that can be disabling and distracting. When the stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline remain elevated, they suppress our immune system, making us more susceptible to colds, flu, and infections. They also increase blood pressure, may contribute to memory loss, and raise the risk of heart disease, depression, and autoimmune diseases like type I diabetes. And then there’s smoking, overeating, drug abuse, drinking alcohol, and not exercising which are other common results of stress. The longer those stress hormones course through our veins, the greater the chance for mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical damage.
Stay tuned for more of the Keys to Energize series – there are many more keys to come.
Ergonomics Improve Personal Energy
October 30, 2013 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
When my friend Sharon told me she was an Industrial Hygienist, I had no idea what that term meant. Did she do dental work in manufacturing areas? I found out that she deals with the workplace environment to ensure a safe and comfortable place of employment. Ergonomics is one of her fields and is essentially the study of what makes our bodies most comfortable in relation to light, sound, movement, temperature, air quality, and our furniture. Since the average office worker now sends and receives 52 phone messages, 106 e-mails, 8 pieces of mail, 5 faxes, and 28 texts per day; we need to be comfortable doing all these things.
Here are some insider secrets on how ergonomics can help increase your personal energy and your health while you are at your office so you don’t have to go home from work exhausted. Posture, type of furniture, work organization, and other personal space practices all work together to affect fatigue, stress, strains, or injuries. Follow these pointers and you will have more energy left over at the end of the day to play with your kids, your pets, your partner, or your friends. And playing as hard as we work is what leads to a balanced life with less stress and more fun since our work hours have increased by 20% and our leisure time has decreased by 32% since 1973, we need to make the most out of what leisure time we have and be sure we have the energy to enjoy it.
Have a seat:
* Working for long periods of time without a break in an uncomfortable position can lead to headaches, eye-strain, and loss of concentration. Moving within your range of comfort zones and various postures is good for your spine, muscles, joints, and circulatory system. Get up and stretch to get the blood flowing into your limbs and to allow your left brain and right brain to integrate more readily by focusing on something else for a while. You will come back refreshed.
* Find your various comfort zones which may include standing or a more upright posture when speaking on the phone to enhance the voice by opening up the diaphragm. It may include a more relaxed position when using the computer. I find myself doing all my writing on my comfy couch on a lap desk, while my antique writing desk goes untouched for that purpose. I can’t seem to get creative while sitting at a slant-top desk. Use what works best for you.
* Your chair should be of comfortable height with your fee firmly planted on the floor or on a footrest. Shorter people may have back strain if their feet cannot touch flatly on the floor since their backs must arch to get their feet to touch. Footrests can alleviate such a strain – this goes for airplane seats, buses, bleachers etc. I have found a box of copy paper or a file box is just the right height for someone 5’ 2”!
* The backs of your knees and the underside of your thighs should be free of pressure with enough space under your desk for your knees and thighs to clear should you cross your legs or decide to use a footrest.
* Your lower back should be supported. If you are in a hotel room – use the blanket draped over the back of the desk chair and a pillow or rolled towel behind the lower part of your back. There are also portable back pillows for conferences and road trips to help support your back. Your mother was right – avoid slouching forward as it impedes breathing and fatigues the back.
* Your shoulders should be relaxed with your hands, wrists, and forearms aligned in a straight, neutral position. If you use armrests, your shoulders should be relaxed with your elbows in near your body when they are resting on the chair. Your forearms should make a 90 degree angle to your upper arm when poised at the keyboard to aid in bloodflow to the fingers. Avoid resting your hands and wrists on sharp edges which will impede circulation.
Technical Difficulties:
* Your computer keyboard should be directly in front of you and sometimes it may be in your lap to change positions. Your hand should be relaxed when holding the mouse and if you are not actively using it, rest your hand elsewhere. Practice typing and clicking with a light touch and clean your tracking mechanism regularly so it moves effortlessly. Your keyboard slope should allow your wrists to be straight.
* Do you refocus your eyes intermittently on distant objects or get up and walk around to give your eyes a rest. Position your monitor to avoid glare on the screen – by reducing ceiling lights, or positioning the monitor between lights, or by using a glare-reduction filter. If you wear bifocals, avoid tilting your head back to see the monitor. Your monitor should be about arm’s length from your face just below eye level, and directly in front of you or a bit to the side if your document holder is the main thing you are focusing on in front of you. By properly positioning your monitor, you will reduce eye strain, and muscle fatigue in your shoulders and upper back.
* After switching from a very active job to become a computer jockey, I noticed my arm going numb and tingling in the fingers. I found out from my chiropractor that I had huge knots in my shoulders from improper chair/desk height and from scrunching the phone between my shoulder and my head. Even though you may take a break from the stresses which caused these ailments, the muscle knots do not go away on their own – you must have them worked out by a massage therapist. I have found freedom from tension knots by purchasing a cordless headset telephone and by having preventive massages on a regular basis. Sometimes we need to listen to our bodies when they tell us something is askew.
Lights, Sound, Action!:
* Fluorescent lighting can cause headaches from the constant buzz and flicker. Natural light or full-spectrum lighting can increase your productivity by 255 and reduce headaches as well.
* Avoid assaulting noises or sounds which disturb your natural rhythms. For some people white noise helps drown out unpleasant, distracting sounds. For others playing soft music with the tonalities of smooth jazz or classical is more energizing.
* Getting fresh air during the day helps boost your energy along with getting some sunlight and vitamin D from the sunshine. A short walk outdoors will help breathe new life into your during the afternoon slump. Some buildings are known for their toxic air or sick building maladies. Oddly enough, the Environmental Protection Agency had some of the worst air in the country until they took steps to rectify it.
So Ergonomics plays a big part in personal energy – even though I could not find ergonomics in 3 of my dictionaries and thesauruses which were printed in the 1970’s. We’ve come a long way in detecting what makes our bodies comfortable and most productive. In the end, it is an individual choice on what makes us comfortable. All we have to do is sit still long enough to really listen to it.
Practicing Safe Stress for the Holidays & Any Day: 25 Tips to Good Moods
December 6, 2011 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Some people, it seems, are just born with a more optimistic attitude and outlook, while others focus on the gloom and doom. The research on optimism fills volumes and I wanted to give you some quick tips on practicing safe stress, being more happy and how to be in a better mood for the holidays and every day. It may take more effort during the blustery gray, rainy/snowy days of winter amidst the holiday bustle; but well worth it for your own well-being and for the sake of others in your path. Our energy is contagious – just ask Caesar Milan – the Dog Whisperer – our energy is everything to a dog…and to your neighbors, co-workers and your spouse and friends.
Since your time is short, I’ll make this snappy:
- Get moving – I prefer to think of it as “activity” vs. “exercise” – it just seems more palatable to people to relieve stress and release endorphins. It can be a full-blown cardio/strength/flexibility workout or a brisk walk in the park or even mall walking (before the stores open and before the crowds arrive). If you haven’t tried Zumba or hip hop classes – the music alone will put you in a good mood, even if you’re out of breath.
- Eat breakfast and include protein – some research says eating 60% more protein if you’re lifting weights – donuts don’t count.
- Be smart about your diet, less white stuff, more color, more water-content food/drink, variety and healthy. Enjoy some of your favorite good mood foods in moderation – whatever that may be, cookies, mac and cheese, eggnog, dark chocolate…. think comfy food.
- Hug it out – physical affection and the power of touch helps with happiness – petting a puppy or kitten can help lower blood pressure and calm your nerves.
- Get outside – breathe in fresh air, get out in the woods and catch the negative ions from the pine trees -leave your cell and texting activities in your pocket – this is about nature and you communing and not about you tweeting that you’re in the woods.
- Be in the moment, experience it fully and decide what types of moments you want to have. Don’t like crowds – then avoid the mall, agitated in line – change the time of day for this activity. Stressed over the big holiday feast – suggest a nice restaurant or change it up. Financially stressed about all the gifts you need to get – let everybody know you’re opting out of unfettered consumerism this year and want a pot-luck social gathering instead – don’t fret about the future. Choose wisely where your brain is and focus on the here and now.
- Be grateful – fear goes out the back door when gratitude walks in the front door. Decide to be in a state of grace and gratitude and you will be granted more things to be grateful for.
- Say nice things to others – compliments share positive energy and that’s contagious. Help make the holiday bright with sincere positive praise.
- Focus on making happy memories – invest in experiences and bring others along for the ride. Shared experiences amp up the positive vibe.
10. Listen to upbeat music, dance, sing.
11. Play with your pet or visit a dog park and delight in their bouncing energy.
12. Smile more and stand/sit up straight – good posture promotes elevated spirits. Smiling stimulates the thymus gland, which produces T-cells, which means people who are smiling get sick less often and feel better than those who don’t smile. Smiling is also contagious. At least a hundred studies on how smiling can actually lift your mood – it fakes out your body into thinking it’s happier.
13. Wear comfortable shoes – comfy clothes too. Comfy doesn’t equal sloppy or baggy – when you feel better about your looks and your looks feel better, everybody is happier. A recent survey found 41% of women felt happier when they felt prettier. I’m guessing the men felt happier too.
14. Cashmere, cashmere, cashmere – who couldn’t be in a better mood when you slip on some cashmere?
15. Friends, friends, friends – in any way shape or form of personal contact and socialization elevates our energy. Choose positive friends and be a positive friend – nobody likes being around negative people.
16. Avoid over-obligations and over-scheduling, especially during the holidays. If you need a holiday from the holidays, you missed the point.
17. Laugh out loud – cultivate your sense of humor. As a Certified Laughter Leader who studied how laughter and fun affect us in positive ways; it actually changes your brain chemicals and changes the chemical make-up in your blood. They’ve found markers in your blood which change even when you anticipate a good time or a funny movie or fun activity – even days before the activity.
18. Be kind – kindness also changes your blood chemistry and raises serotonin, which counter-acts depression. Whether you are the giver, receiver or witnessing by-stander, kindness works.
19. Positive self-talk – it’s a tried and true tip to blast yourself with positive self-talk and avoid beating yourself up through your self-talk. Our mindset is EVERYTHING. Our behavior starts with our thoughts – choose wisely to change your outcomes.
20. Try something new – enjoy beginner’s brain again and experience some wonder and awe in your life – discover something new you didn’t know how to do before: cooking, weaving, skiing, dog-sledding, volunteering, wearing red lipstick, painting, riding a unicycle or Zumba.
21. Upbeat live entertainment: comedy clubs, karaoke, theatre, ballet, concerts, coffee shop guitarists and children’s plays.
22. DECIDING to be in a good mood – just change your mind to change your energy and you can change your life and also change the energy of those around you. Your colleagues and friends will thank you.
23. Get plenty of sleep, or take naps. Most Americans get far too little sleep – no wonder we’re a nation of tired and cranky people. It’s hard to be in a good mood if you’re completely exhausted. Can you get help, delete some of your chores, set boundaries, close the door, do not disturb.
24. Keep a check on what you watch on TV or view on your computer or listen to over the airwaves – we’re bombarded with negativity.
25. Outsource the things you don’t enjoy or are not comfortable doing, barter or negotiate something different. Hire somebody to do whatever is not in your zone of excellence or genius and pay them for their skills to make both of you happier.
26. Volunteer to help out your community, a favorite cause or favorite place – being of service serves all involved and puts you in a better mood to feel needed and worthy and that what you’re doing matters.
That’s enough to get you started on the right path to save yourself this holiday and every day you want a little mood lifter. And as a gift to you, 1 extra tip…always give more than expected! A happy life is just a bunch of happy moments and good moods all strung together. I invite you to create your own list or maybe cut your list into strips and put in a jar. Whenever you’re feeling low, grab a piece of paper with one of your activities or ideas on it and do it right then.
Here’s to happier holidays by practicing some safe stress and being purposeful about putting yourself in a good mood. Everybody else wants you there as well. Cheers!