Top 5 habits for busy minds
When you are a perfectionist, time is by essence your main struggle. We all know the importance of eating healthy, sleeping and moving, still we struggle to incorporate this into our busy lives.
As the years go by, I have experienced a lot and only recently managed to find consistency with certain things which I would like to share. Those habits are genuinely helping me feeling less overwhelmed despite having to juggle a lot every day. It’s not a perfect science, one day you rock at this the other you barely find time to leave your desk but as anything the more you practice the more it starts being an automatism, freeing headspace. Which to me is really where the value lies as well, given everything constantly fighting to get my attention. Because those habits are small, easy to implement and work, they seamlessly squeeze into your busy life.
1.Wake-up 30 minutes earlier
Now that I have two young kids, it’s hard to predict what the day will look like so I am waking up earlier to ensure I have some me time. I don’t have a specific morning routine, sometimes I do a short yoga flow, sometimes a meditation, or I have my breakfast and start working. This window of stillness at home instantly fills my cup and makes me much more available to my kids with a degree of patience I never have otherwise.
2. Salty over sweet
Food is by nature something we all use to compensate something. Whether it is boredom, stress, desire… this, we believe is a quick win as we have created though pattern and emotions around food. We have convinced ourselves that food will make us feel better. Because this take times to rewire our brain and change habits, so if you cannot resist, choose a salty snack over a sweet one. Concentrated and processed food (made of sugar concentrated) release much more dopamine than our body really needs. So yes we feel great as that’s what dopamine does but we also create an addiction to this dopamine level making us willing to eat more….
3. Legs-up the wall for 10min before sleep
I have tried to get rid of my phone but this is a tough one for me. To calm my monkey mind, I am spending 15 minutes legs up the wall while reading in bed and this truly helps me fall asleep faster. I am a lucky good sleeper but it always took me a long time (between 20 and 30 minutes) to fall asleep, it does not anymore.
4. End your day with positive thoughts
You don’t need to write it down in a journal, when lying in bed with your eye closed list something you are grateful for, something that inspired you today and someone you would like to forgive. Staying angry only serve you badly, increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, so make peace with whoever you need even if this is you. I do this with my 4 years old son as well who cutely tries his best to come up with something but repeats the same answers every evening. Kids love routines and so do I. A simpler version is to list all the things you did during the day, nice ego boost to end your day.
5. Test the power of vulnerability
Being on top of our family life, career, social network and in peace with our body does not come without struggles. When we drop the armor and accept to be seen as vulnerable, we not only open ourselves to the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives, but we build more constructive relationship with people around realizing that we are not alone. In brief, you realise you are not alone struggling with what you struggle with and this is the first step to feeling better.
I had a very inspiring chat with Anne Colin on this topic which you can watch here.
Finally, while yoga is best to unwind your body and release tensions, if you had a really bad day and crave for a glass of wine, go for it. We are not looking at perfection here, but being happily imperfect. They call this wabi-sabi in Japan. If you prefer turning on Netflix and watch Emily in Paris that’s works well too.
