Last week, was a busy Qlick week. We went to the launch of Bieke Ilegems’ book, the conference ‘Made in Antwerp’, we gave an interactive session on personal leadership at Vlerick Business school for Mizbiz, we prepared our 10 year anniversary event, we had a few intense coaching sessions and the start of a new training.

Life was ‘moving’ in all different meanings of the word. Today is Sunday and I am tired.

I feel that my body and my brain need to relax. And yet my mind is racing with lots of thoughts and ‘to do’s’ and maybe even more importantly ‘want to do’s’. The list is long. I am trying to apply what we wrote in our book but it is hard. Where is my ‘stop button’? How can I recharge my batteries? So this is what I do:

• Deep breathing: I notice that I do not sit up straight and re-adjust my body posture. I breath by blowing up my belly without caring how it looks. I close my eyes and continue to breath as deeply as I can. I feel my body and my mind relaxing.
• Connecting: I am sitting in the same room with my family members. We are all doing different things and yet I notice how we are connected. Not by talking; by ‘being’ together. It is peaceful. I experience the ‘social nervous system’ which we have as mammals and which is key to build up resilience.
• Activating all my senses: I sit still, very still and finetune my senses, like I finetune my violin. I hear the wind outside, the breathing of my husband, the sound of a distant plane. I see the last roses in the garden, the first autumn leaves, the pile of old photo’s my daughter just looked at, the orange nailpolish on my toes. I touch the new velvet pillow covers I bought last week and enjoy how it feels. I smell…not much since my nose is blocked with a cold.
• Allowing my mind to wander: I flip through a magazine and allow my brain not to ask me what I read. I consciously exit my need for immediate performance.

I helps; it really does. I feel more relaxed and trust that these tips may benefit you as well. Later today, I will start reading ‘the day after tomorrow’ (P. Hinssen). But before I start focusing on the future, I allow myself to be in the here and now.

As for my next ‘move’, I have decided to take a nap.