TIPS FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND SELF-LOVE!
26 May 2022 | DIYA RAJGURU
Our toughest critic is often the one staring back at us in the mirror. We’re quick to shame ourselves for a mistake that we made, or for not meeting the expectations we had for our lives. Research shows self-acceptance is the key to a happier life, but it’s also the habit many people practice the least. So how can we start and show ourselves some love and kindness?
Today, let me share, 10 things you can do to help you start feeling good, in your own skin. Remember! Self-love brings happiness and happiness brings productivity.
1. Self-Care: Self-care is about fostering the relationship and connection you have with yourself. It’s about giving your whole self, your mind, body and soul, exactly what you need to function at your highest and happiest level—which can, in turn, make you more productive. Self-care works magic as it provides you some alone time - We all need some solitude occasionally. Science shows that alone time can spark creativity, build mental strength, and increase empathy and productivity. It allows you to reflect, process ideas and thoughts, solve problems, and get better acquainted with yourself. It’s hard to know what you want or need when you’re always listening to what others need and want and not listening to yourself. So think, which are those activities that make you feel good? Is it painting, simply sit and colour, skincare, haircare, a warm bath, go for walk, talk to someone. Whatever it is embrace it whole heartedly and without guilt. 2. De-stress - Yoga & MeditationStress reduces our productivity and peace of mind. So its important you de-stress yourself by doing some yoga and meditation. Do it in a calm and peaceful environment. Just 5 minutes of deep breathing will calm you down. I am doing naadi shudhi here. Nadi is a Sanskrit word meaning “subtle energy channel” and Shuddhi means “cleansing or purifying”. So practicing this breath purifies the subtle energy channel, allowing oxygen to flow freely throughout the body. This will bring a strong feeling of clarity, focus and peace. Combine this with, Aromatherapy, and it can be a natural remedy for stress relief. Sweet smelling oils are great way to create a corner of relaxation where worries and concerns are not welcomed.
I am using, Calm Mind blend here by Asakuki. Its a blend of various essential oils that lifts up your mood and easing stress. We live in a world, where stress, anxiety, depression are common everyday emotions. But is it normal to feel such emotions? As BK Shivani says...our mind is like a baby...remember the times when your little baby would cry in the cradle? You would keep everything aside and attend to baby first. Isn't it. Likewise when your mind baby is crying, keep aside everything and attend to it...As stress leads to anger, which leads to depression. So attend to mind baby, at first signs of crying. Yoga and meditation is your tool to connect to your mind, body and soul.
1. Self-Care: Self-care is about fostering the relationship and connection you have with yourself. It’s about giving your whole self, your mind, body and soul, exactly what you need to function at your highest and happiest level—which can, in turn, make you more productive. Self-care works magic as it provides you some alone time - We all need some solitude occasionally. Science shows that alone time can spark creativity, build mental strength, and increase empathy and productivity. It allows you to reflect, process ideas and thoughts, solve problems, and get better acquainted with yourself. It’s hard to know what you want or need when you’re always listening to what others need and want and not listening to yourself. So think, which are those activities that make you feel good? Is it painting, simply sit and colour, skincare, haircare, a warm bath, go for walk, talk to someone. Whatever it is embrace it whole heartedly and without guilt. 2. De-stress - Yoga & MeditationStress reduces our productivity and peace of mind. So its important you de-stress yourself by doing some yoga and meditation. Do it in a calm and peaceful environment. Just 5 minutes of deep breathing will calm you down. I am doing naadi shudhi here. Nadi is a Sanskrit word meaning “subtle energy channel” and Shuddhi means “cleansing or purifying”. So practicing this breath purifies the subtle energy channel, allowing oxygen to flow freely throughout the body. This will bring a strong feeling of clarity, focus and peace. Combine this with, Aromatherapy, and it can be a natural remedy for stress relief. Sweet smelling oils are great way to create a corner of relaxation where worries and concerns are not welcomed.
I am using, Calm Mind blend here by Asakuki. Its a blend of various essential oils that lifts up your mood and easing stress. We live in a world, where stress, anxiety, depression are common everyday emotions. But is it normal to feel such emotions? As BK Shivani says...our mind is like a baby...remember the times when your little baby would cry in the cradle? You would keep everything aside and attend to baby first. Isn't it. Likewise when your mind baby is crying, keep aside everything and attend to it...As stress leads to anger, which leads to depression. So attend to mind baby, at first signs of crying. Yoga and meditation is your tool to connect to your mind, body and soul.
3. Keep your space tidyYou may not realize it, but your surrounding environment can have a big impact on your mental state. When your brain feels just as cluttered as your desk, you might have trouble concentrating or grasping the ideas you’re searching for. As a result, you end up finding ways to distract yourself from your lack of productivity.
Putting your house, back into order can help you refresh your thinking process.
4. Nourish your body - Only this mattersIt is essential when learning to love ourselves that we focus plenty of time and attention on our bodies. How we feel in our bodies directly affects how we feel in ourselves. Often feelings of loneliness and lack of love actually stem from our own disconnect with our bodies. You want to keep that gorgeous body of yours feeling energised and full of vitality. So it’s important that as part of your self-love routine you do things that make you feel great in your body.Nourishing your body is the most basic form of loving yourself, so this week become mindful of what you put in your body – give it what it loves.Also, move your body a little more through exercise. 5. Find physical movement that feels like a reward, not a punishment Data show a good chunk of people ditch their New Year’s resolutions ― like hitting the gym ― pretty early in the year. Reasons for ditching a fitness goal may vary, but there’s likely one commonality: They signed up for something they never really wanted to do in the first place.
The physical and mental health benefits of exercise are well-known, but it can be hard to reap the rewards if you’re forcing yourself to do something you dislike. Choose physical movement that feels good for you, not like a punishment. “You need to find your version of physical movement that makes you come alive, and feel amazing, and that you look forward to."
6. Practicing Mindfulness One of the best ways you can take care of yourself, and increase productivity, is bringing your attention to the present with mindfulness. “Mindfulness is really your ability to focus on things which are in here right now….its really being present in the moment."
Research from Griffith University in Australia found that regularly practicing mindfulness, such as being present in the moment, letting thoughts and emotions enter and leave without reacting to them, and having a non-judgmental attitude, helps secure self-esteem.
Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, can help boost mindfulness and relieve stress by teaching you to sit with distracting thoughts, acknowledge them, and let them go.But even if meditation doesn’t work out, you can still use mindfulness to increase your awareness as you go about your day. Here’s how: Use your five senses to fully tune in to the experiences of daily life, however mundane they might seem. Making dough, cooking, cleaning... Pay attention to the rhythm of your hand kneeding dough, the smell of herbs, the sound of utensils...
You’ll probably notice your thoughts continue to drift occasionally. This is normal, so try not to criticize yourself for not being mindful enough. Instead, just return your thoughts to whatever you want to focus on. It can take time to pick up this skill, but eventually your mind will grow accustomed to staying present.
7. Get musicalMusic is one of the best stressbusters out there. It lowers your blood pressure and your cortisol levels. Listening to music is an easy way to alter mood or relieve stress.
We all have that one song that brings us to tears, at the same time as having a song that really pumps you up and gets you going again.
Music can have a massive effect on emotions. Music affects the body in a whole host of different ways, and listening to music on a daily basis could really help promote your overall health and wellbeing and hence productivity. 8. Reframe Rest / Sleep it off There’s a huge correlation between productivity and sleep. When people have had poor sleep, their ability to concentrate and focus is diminished.
Several studies have found that just a 20 to 30 minute afternoon increases our alertness and our productivity. The trick is to time your nap right. Not too short, because you need enough to feel a difference. Not too long because you don’t want to fall into a deep sleep that could mean you wake up feeling groggy. ‘Just right’ means about 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon or straight after lunch.
The problem with us is that, we believe rest is self-indulgent. But if you want to grow flowers, you need to plant seeds first. Once they’re in the soil there is a period where, on the surface, not much seems to be happening. But underneath a new life is beginning, energy is being released, and big changes are taking place.We are the same. In order to live full, rich lives, we need those times to plant and nurture the seeds of whatever is coming up next for us. This is what rest is all about.
9. Make your world smallerWe spend much of our day seeking affirmation from others, especially through social media.
We automatically go external instead of turning internal, which is really where most of our answers live.
Take the social media apps off your phone for a period of time or only use your phone as a camera on vacation to quiet the external chatter and refill your cup. 10. Focusing On Your Self-Talk We all talk in our head constantly. Dont we? Focus on what you are talking? Shift the way you are talking...
"If you notice that you're constantly beating yourself up in your own head, zero in on these thoughts. Find ways to zero out such thoughts by replacing them with more loving and compassionate in nature. Show yourself that there is another part in the conversation."
Divert your self talk from holding grudge, feeling guilty to something positive. Hold your horses then and there and reframe your thoughts.
Think of doing all of above and rest and revive and make yourself more positive and Invest in a beautiful tomorrow.
Putting your house, back into order can help you refresh your thinking process.
4. Nourish your body - Only this mattersIt is essential when learning to love ourselves that we focus plenty of time and attention on our bodies. How we feel in our bodies directly affects how we feel in ourselves. Often feelings of loneliness and lack of love actually stem from our own disconnect with our bodies. You want to keep that gorgeous body of yours feeling energised and full of vitality. So it’s important that as part of your self-love routine you do things that make you feel great in your body.Nourishing your body is the most basic form of loving yourself, so this week become mindful of what you put in your body – give it what it loves.Also, move your body a little more through exercise. 5. Find physical movement that feels like a reward, not a punishment Data show a good chunk of people ditch their New Year’s resolutions ― like hitting the gym ― pretty early in the year. Reasons for ditching a fitness goal may vary, but there’s likely one commonality: They signed up for something they never really wanted to do in the first place.
The physical and mental health benefits of exercise are well-known, but it can be hard to reap the rewards if you’re forcing yourself to do something you dislike. Choose physical movement that feels good for you, not like a punishment. “You need to find your version of physical movement that makes you come alive, and feel amazing, and that you look forward to."
6. Practicing Mindfulness One of the best ways you can take care of yourself, and increase productivity, is bringing your attention to the present with mindfulness. “Mindfulness is really your ability to focus on things which are in here right now….its really being present in the moment."
Research from Griffith University in Australia found that regularly practicing mindfulness, such as being present in the moment, letting thoughts and emotions enter and leave without reacting to them, and having a non-judgmental attitude, helps secure self-esteem.
Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, can help boost mindfulness and relieve stress by teaching you to sit with distracting thoughts, acknowledge them, and let them go.But even if meditation doesn’t work out, you can still use mindfulness to increase your awareness as you go about your day. Here’s how: Use your five senses to fully tune in to the experiences of daily life, however mundane they might seem. Making dough, cooking, cleaning... Pay attention to the rhythm of your hand kneeding dough, the smell of herbs, the sound of utensils...
You’ll probably notice your thoughts continue to drift occasionally. This is normal, so try not to criticize yourself for not being mindful enough. Instead, just return your thoughts to whatever you want to focus on. It can take time to pick up this skill, but eventually your mind will grow accustomed to staying present.
7. Get musicalMusic is one of the best stressbusters out there. It lowers your blood pressure and your cortisol levels. Listening to music is an easy way to alter mood or relieve stress.
We all have that one song that brings us to tears, at the same time as having a song that really pumps you up and gets you going again.
Music can have a massive effect on emotions. Music affects the body in a whole host of different ways, and listening to music on a daily basis could really help promote your overall health and wellbeing and hence productivity. 8. Reframe Rest / Sleep it off There’s a huge correlation between productivity and sleep. When people have had poor sleep, their ability to concentrate and focus is diminished.
Several studies have found that just a 20 to 30 minute afternoon increases our alertness and our productivity. The trick is to time your nap right. Not too short, because you need enough to feel a difference. Not too long because you don’t want to fall into a deep sleep that could mean you wake up feeling groggy. ‘Just right’ means about 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon or straight after lunch.
The problem with us is that, we believe rest is self-indulgent. But if you want to grow flowers, you need to plant seeds first. Once they’re in the soil there is a period where, on the surface, not much seems to be happening. But underneath a new life is beginning, energy is being released, and big changes are taking place.We are the same. In order to live full, rich lives, we need those times to plant and nurture the seeds of whatever is coming up next for us. This is what rest is all about.
9. Make your world smallerWe spend much of our day seeking affirmation from others, especially through social media.
We automatically go external instead of turning internal, which is really where most of our answers live.
Take the social media apps off your phone for a period of time or only use your phone as a camera on vacation to quiet the external chatter and refill your cup. 10. Focusing On Your Self-Talk We all talk in our head constantly. Dont we? Focus on what you are talking? Shift the way you are talking...
"If you notice that you're constantly beating yourself up in your own head, zero in on these thoughts. Find ways to zero out such thoughts by replacing them with more loving and compassionate in nature. Show yourself that there is another part in the conversation."
Divert your self talk from holding grudge, feeling guilty to something positive. Hold your horses then and there and reframe your thoughts.
Think of doing all of above and rest and revive and make yourself more positive and Invest in a beautiful tomorrow.
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