Recently I had the chance to get away for a few days. A change of scenery from spending a lot of time at home of late. Late afternoon one day found us looking out to sea watching the sun set. The sea that day was amazingly calm it looked like a mirror, there were a few clouds around the sun as it was setting, it looked as though they were catching fire as they turned a deep orange. I could look at things like that for hours. Those kind of things for me speak to my soul.
Last week we looked at what we focus on the things we take in. Today I want to ask a simple question what gives you a lift?
In times like these where hope can be in short supply and the length of time, we are in a crisis is an unknown then we have to pace ourselves.
It is important then to build things into your day that will help you develop resilience. When you work from an office there is often a routine, you break for a coffee, lunch chat with colleagues. There are breaks built in, the temptation can be just to keep going when working from home. However, if you do this your fatigue will increase, so build in regular breaks.
I asked you what lifts you up? It doesn’t have to be something expensive or extravagant it could be a chat with a good friend, a walk, some exercise. Whatever it is you need to think about the environment that you cultivate inside you.
For me as you may have guessed it is about getting outside and inhaling some fresh air. I am inspired by being able to see a long way, so whilst I love trees and the variety and colours particularly in Autumn, I also like to get up higher and see further or look out to sea so I can see the horizon. Each of us is wired differently. Developing resilience is about feeding our souls, it doesn’t mean that everything is going well in our lives, but we need areas from which we can draw strength.
Other ways we can draw strength from our environment is through our work. Think for a minute about your work and identify, out of the activities that you engage in through work, what are the activities that invigorate you. Those are usually things that you do that give you some form of joy.
You may be interested to know that those things do not need to be a high percentage. Research that has been carried out by the Mayo Clinic a non-profit medical centre based in the States has discovered that if just 20% of your working week is invigorating then the incidence of burn out drops significantly.
I have said it before and let me say it again, these things don’t happen by accident. If you are serious about building and developing your resilience, then you must be intentional in engaging with these things.
I hope you are lifted by your sunset moments this week. Stay safe!
