The mantra of busyness is one that people are familiar with. A different approach focusing on self care is becoming popular and it is one where you actually schedule or plan for periods of quiet in your day. Designing your day to have quiet time allows for creativity to come to the forefront. It also allows for a break from linear logic and that may in and of itself have tremendous personal benefits.
Times of quiet in your day lead to the reduction of stress and anxiety. When less stressed and anxious we tend to experience greater clarity in terms of thoughts. Clearer thoughts lead to enhanced transparency in terms of action steps.
When the time is taken to have consistent periods of quiet in your day several benefits occur. These include the following:
- Planning for the areas you desire to learn more about. goal and a desire to learn are essentially different. A desire may be expressed without taking further action. Having learning as a goal is action oriented. With a period of quiet you can actually think about your learning goals and act toward achieving the result.
- Practice skills that need to be developed. All of us have skills that we would like to develop. There are habits we have that are automatic processes of doing things and having the same results over and over again. Practicing another way of approaching a task or a situation requires being willing to take on another approach. It may take trial and error until we find a method that delivers changing results. The time investment in having that altered result is the reward.
- Contemplation in relation to achievements and failures. The expression of taking a walk outside, if possible, to clear your head is commonplace and sound advice. A walk is beneficial in terms of assimilating an experience or a lesson learned. It is also helpful in the development of ideas. Taking time to contemplate provides opportunity for creativity to flourish.
- Solving of issues or problems as they occur. With quiet time built into your day the opportunity to solve an issue that has occurred is available. The need to push the issue aside and stick to a to-do list is mitigated. The end result is a reduction in stress and overwhelm.
- Experimentation with different techniques or approaches broadens your horizons. The process itself may not work. However, it is still a valuable opportunity to learn from and test and modify other new ideas that you have.
All the best,
Marie-Helene