In my recent work with corporate clients and their teams, and in my own personal experience, my observation is our hearts are heavy. Regardless of where we are in the world we are feeling the impact of the ongoing pandemic. We all are needing to feel a little lighter.
What can we do when our heart feels heavy? Here are three tips to get you started moving towards finding some relief and lightness.
Tip 1 – Laughter
Last night in a writing circle sponsored by the International Association for Journal Writing (IAJW) we explored laughter. We wrote about either: a time we remembered laughing; or who makes you laugh and why? At first I couldn’t get past the heavy feeling to even think about laughter. So I wrote about that. Then I recalled the time my brother and sister got into a fight in the kitchen with Mom’s pots while I was babysitting. Thinking of this incident led to other memories of gut-splitting laughter with my two siblings.
When it came time to share what we had written I found myself laughing out loud more than once at hearing other people’s stories. At the end of the hour my heart and I felt so much lighter.
Tip 2 – Moments of Joy
Several years ago, while walking to the hospital for daily radiation treatments I developed the practice of looking for five things that brought me joy. I would try to notice how my body felt in these moments. These things might be the colour of a flower, a child’s smile, the smell of the ocean, the foam on my delicious latte.
I called this practice looking for moments of joy. It helped to break up the apprehension I felt about my treatments. Instead I could focus on little things that brought me joy. It helped me to tune into positive body feelings, instead of feeling the tension and dread.
Developing a practice of looking for moments of joy can be very healing. It can break up feelings of fear or apprehension. It helps us to tune into our bodies in a new way. When we look for moments of joy it is my experience that we begin to notice more of it.
Tip 3 – Engage in a creative practice
Engaging in a creative practice, one that fills you up and excites you can do wonders for the heart and soul. Recently I’ve been focusing on spending more time each day creating (sketching, hooking, writing, spinning, dyeing fabrics). I’m noticing a few things as a result of this shift in how I organize my days. First, I feel lighter. There is a skip in my step as I move about my day. Second, I am getting more done in my business, despite spending less time working. This is not surprising, as creativity in one area of our lives has been shown to have massive spillover effects to other areas.
Did you know that employees who are encouraged to be creative are more engaged in their work? That engaged employees are more creative? And that engaging in a creative practice can help to relieve stress, prevent burnout and promote well-being? So it is no surprise that as I spend more time in my creative, happy place that I feel more excited and energetic about reaching out to promote my corporate services.
How can I help?
If you are a leader looking for ways to support your team members, consider sharing this blog with them.
I can help engage your employees with a creative process that will help them to de-stress and reconnect, and that will have a lasting impact. Contact me when the time is right for me to work with your team.
