Shutterstock / Dejan Dundjerski©Just ten minutes until our “regular relaxation session” – time to relax!
For the mental health of its employees, our company runs a regular session last thing on a Thurs. We’re talked through a half-hour of self-awareness – controlling your breathing, being aware of your body and mind. It’s a wonderful way of starting the calm-down before the weekend.
Most of the time these days, we all feel like we’re spinning plates, trying to keep things going! Which is at it should be, really. As well as actual work, there are children, cats, chickens, hobbies and friends for us all to organise and spend time with. It’s easy to pine after those childhood days when it didn’t really matter if you fell asleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon, or disappeared into the woods for a few hours.
Mixed Blessings
Technology has brought mixed blessings, as we all know. Smartphones and tablets can stop us from feeling lonely, but can also exacerbate other problems we might have – as well as making us always available!
Relaxing doesn’t always come easily, with so much on the mind. I like that these days we’re starting to reframe time for yourself not as an indulgence, but as self-care. A bit of time doing what you love – or doing nothing at all – is good for you, which is good for everyone around you.
When I was once a bit stressed, I went to hypno-therapy. I was a bit too good at that, unfortunately. I remember the therapist would try to take my whirring brain down a few notches to start with. He spoke of descending steps to a beach, and leaving all your mental baggage behind at the top of the stairs. I was asleep before I ever hit the beach, and dozed gently through most of my sessions.
This Week’s Issue
Pic courtesy of WildstreamTV.
In this week’s issue is a lovely piece about Wildstream TV. Their aim is to take real-time clips of wildlife into care settings – hospitals and the like – to bring the benefits of watching nature to those healing up. What a lovely idea! The footage isn’t hurried up or cut to be exciting action footage. It’s just the sort of thing you might see if you were, say, on the riverbank yourself, watching through binoculars.
Some folk say they find our Willie Shand’s videos similarly relaxing. He certainly finds some stunning spots to film, and does so week after week for us. His 4am starts don’t sound quite so relaxing!
What About You?
What do you do to relax? How do you find a sense of flow? We’d love to hear from you about the hobbies and activities that keep you balanced! Get in touch through Facebook or Twitter and let us know.
In the meantime, I better head off and start relaxing!
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Alex Corlett I am the "Friend's" Features Editor, working with the talented Features Team to bring you everything from cryptic crosswords to financial advice, knitting patterns to international travel and inspirational real life stories. Always on the hunt for a new feature idea, I also enjoy cycling and love a good tea room.
