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© Jacquie Wise - Coach, Counsellor, Speaker, Trainer and Author, specialising in personal, professional and spiritual development (www.wiseways.com.au)
Eight Easy Ways to Chillax
You know how it is—a word or expression captivates you so much that it creeps into your daily speech. My favourite word of the moment is CHILLAX—a combination of 'chill out' and 'relax'. But what about those times when it seems impossible to still your mind long enough to relax? Really, deeply, relax.
Here are some ideas to choose from, depending on your mood, or on how much time you have at your disposal. There is no one better method than another, just the method that works for you at any particular moment. All are designed to still that chattering monkey in your mind and help you unwind, perhaps to help you fall asleep.
If intrusive thoughts disrupt your relaxation, bounce them off gently as you would a balloon, and return your attention to whatever you were focusing on. If you try fighting with your thoughts, they'll fight back, and inevitably, win. Sometimes, the best approach is just to acknowledge they're there; notice them, allow them to be, and then shift your focus. It becomes easier to choose which thoughts you'll focus on when you allow yourself to fully relax.
It's also important to deal with the issues that are making you tense in the first place!
Make time daily to 'brain dump', in writing, your 'to-do' lists and action plans, your problem-solving options and strategies. Make room in your mind to chillax.
- Take some deep breaths right down to your diaphragm to clear any knots in your stomach. A truly deep breath should feel as if your lungs would burst if they expanded any more. Try it a couple of times, until you can feel the tension in your stomach ease. Then allow your breathing to return to normal. Keep your mind focused on your breathing and the steady rhythm of your chest. As you focus on your breath, imagine and feel yourself getting heavier and floppier with every outward breath. With every outward breath, you are more relaxed and limp, like a rag doll.
- Imagine your energy swirling around you like an egg-shaped cocoon of coloured lights. Imagine it spinning around you very fast; nauseatingly spinning at breakneck speed. Then as you will it to slow down, see it slow down to a gentle, relaxed, pace, rotating slowly and steadily around you. Slow your breath as you slow down your energy field. Imagine everything slowing down to slow motion around you. Focus on this still, slow moment.
- Imagine golden rain drops gently pouring down over you from above, clearing your mind as it cleanses your energy, as would a spring shower of rain. Feel yourself as refreshed as if you had just had a luxurious, relaxing shower.
- Select a piece of music you find relaxing and soothing, and make yourself comfortable to listen to it. Focus all your attention on every note, every instrument. Allow the music to be absorbed by your every pore, influencing your feelings of relaxed comfort, encouraging emotions of calm.
- Starting at your toes, imagine a wave of warmth creeping slowly up your body, relaxing every muscle as it progresses.
- Starting at your toes, squeeze every muscle as tight as you can, three times each, with all your strength, then let go. Travel up your body in this way, squeezing every muscle including your jaw, your eyelids, your forehead…finally tense your whole body as tight as tight as you can—then let go. Do it until you can feel yourself tingling as you relax those muscles.
- Select a favourite object like a sculpture you like the feel of, or a flower. Focus all your attention on watching it, observing the play of light on it, the feel of it, the smell of it, the colour of it, the texture….Alternatively focus on a candle flame, again just allowing yourself to fall into a gentle hypnotic state as you gaze at it.
- Use your imagination: Take yourself to a beautiful, serene place in your mind and allow yourself to feel what it's like to be there; smell the smells, hear the sounds, feel the textures.
Extend that vision to any place or activity; imagine what you would be doing if you had the skills, the resources—the luxury of time!
If you find that hard to do, extend your favourite TV show or film into a story of your own and make up a new plot as you go. Have fun with it. It beats worrying!
I'd be interested to know how you go with these ideas if you'd like to shoot me an email.
Wise Words
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.
Robert Brault