The summer is almost over and back-to-school is just around the corner. September can bring exciting new beginnings as well as a feeling of overwhelmingness. What if we had well-being practices in place to support our busy lives?
My morning routine, which is aimed at setting myself up for a positive and productive day, includes EFT Tapping, the Hoffman Quadrinity check-in, and a 17-minute Joe Dispenza meditation.
My goal with each of these tools is to set intentions for how I want to think and feel each day, release anxiety, and to rewire my thought patterns.
Tapping allows me to surface my anxiety and reset my nervous system. The Hoffman Quadrinity has me check-in with my overactive thinking self, tell it I will call on it when I have a problem to solve, and reassure it that I’m safe. I also check in with my body, emotional self, and spirit to make sure we are all aligned. Lastly, I do the Dispenza meditation to change the patterns of thinking I have developed that no longer serve me.
I share these details with you because taking care of our well-being takes time. I spend 30 minutes (of the 1440 I have) each day on these practices. As someone who has taught time management skills to thousands of legal professionals, I can vouch that making time for your well-being is the best investment of time you can make.
Why? Because we can’t show up at work and home and be our best selves when we are stressed and depleted.
In addition, most of us have an innate negativity bias because our primitive brain was designed for survival. I know that my brain is always on the lookout for danger and thinks its job is to alarm me if it spots anything potentially threatening.
Let me share a recent example of negativity bias: A few days ago, when I was walking at the beach, I saw a dolphin and felt deep joy. When I showed the picture on my phone to my husband, he said, “That’s a shark!” After looking up the fin of a dolphin vs. a shark, he did conclude that what I saw was a dolphin.
Our negativity bias often has us see dolphins as sharks.
Here’s what I have found on the mornings I’m too busy to do my morning well-being routine: I find my mind defaults to negativity and out of nowhere I hear my inner critic say things like, “Why aren’t you better at…” or “You’re in danger and better beware of…”
When I don’t make the time to proactively manage my mind, it defaults to negative thinking. But when I make time for my well-being practices, the quality of my day and life is much better.
What well-being practices do you have in place to support your success and happiness?