Jean Edelman Word of the Week: Reset

Find An Opportunity to Reset Every Day To Find the Quiet Time We All Need 

Great to be with you this week. Today, I want to talk about meditation. Don't stop listening. I know that this is an intimidating word because we have visions of somebody sitting in silence and letting their thoughts float by. And quiet. The purpose of meditation is to create relaxation and reset us and give us balance. But it doesn't. I think it stresses a lot of people out to think that, Oh my God, I cannot just sit. I cannot let these thoughts just float through my mind and I just can't do it. And so we have very doable opportunities to put in our day so that we can find quiet, an opportunity to reset and just time for ourselves. 

So I'm not even going to use the word meditation, but this is an opportunity to reset and find quiet for us. And so I know they'll resonate with you and I know you'll be able to fit one of them in your day. 

Get Outside and Breathe

So the first one, easy. Be outside. Breathe. Don't have your phone with you don't have your dog with you, don't have anybody with you. Just find 5 minutes. Be outside. Notice the color. Breathe in the different scents. Just notice where you are. Notice your steps. 5 minutes, just be outside for a mindful little walk. Then you can pick up your phone, you can pick up the dog, you could do whatever. But just 5 minutes of being outside. It grounds us. It takes away our stress from the day. It helps us bring a natural breath into our body when we swing our arms and we have a nice, gentle, mindful walk. Eventually the chatter will go away and we will find, even if it's a breath of quiet, it will be there. And so that's the first opportunity. 

The second opportunity is just to take a hot soak with some sea salt, relax in the warm water, focus on our breath. The chatter will start, but then it will just fade away as the water just takes away all of our worries and our thoughts. Salt is known to cleanse negative energy. And so when we've had a bad day, a stressful day, a super busy day, a little soak will help it all go away. And we will have wonderful restful sleep at night. 

Cooking Is A Creative Outlet

The third one. I know we all do it. Cook. Find an opportunity to be creative and use it as a therapeutic outlet. Take some time. Don't have the news on. Don't have the TV on, maybe have everybody go do something else while you're getting the items ready to put together for the meal. But cooking - the action of creating a nice positive space where we can relax, where we can be creative, and we can prepare a meal for those we love - a wonderful opportunity. 

The fourth one is to listen to music. 5 minutes, just put the earbuds on, close the door, put on some nice music. Just relax. Put our shoulders down away from our ears. Take some nice, deep breaths. 

Removing Blocked Energies in our Bodies

And the fifth is to move the energy through our bodies. When we are stressed, it gets stuck. It gets stuck in our shoulders. It gets stuck in our back. It gets stuck in our brain. It just gets stuck. And so we end up with these aches and these pains. But when we breathe and we move and we are active, all this just floats out of our body and we're not irritated all the time. And it is very important for our mental health to be moving. Walk, bike, swim. It's warmer weather, join a yoga class, find an opportunity to move just for you each day. 

So my action item. Choose one. Choose one a day. Choose one each day of the week. Try it. Notice first how simple it is. I can do this. I can add this to my day. Second, how enjoyable it is. Third, do we want to do more of it? The goal is to relax, to breathe, to be where we are, not to dwell on the past or stress about the future. Just be right here, right now. Breathing, cooking, smoking, listening to music. We can do that. 

So my word of the week is to RESET. 

The R is to Renew,

to make new or start over. This is so important in our day, our mind. We get so overloaded with everything that's going on, but we're healthier if we can just find moments to renew and reset ourselves. 

The E is to Elevate,

to lift. When we have given ourselves the permission to stop and reset, we can feel like we're just floating and it's just such a much more enjoyable day. We will feel lighter sometimes. We'll feel like the lights have actually come on and the world feels and looks brighter. And then the great thing is that we can carry that to others that we interact with every day. 

The S  is for Serene,

calm and untroubled. I think we'll be surprised how much better we feel when we can commit to 5 minutes a day to renew and reset ourselves. I think we'll feel awesome. 

The E is to Enhance,

to improve. Hopefully we all want to improve. And I know some days you're like, Oh, you just want to stay under the covers. But if we are looking forward to our 5 minutes of mindful activity, I think it'll bring a smile to our face. 

The T is for Try.

You know what? It's all we can ask. Just try. If we do nothing else, we have nothing to lose. 

It's hard to live in this crazy paced world, and it makes us unhealthy and unbalanced. 

But I think if we can find our 5 minutes every day, those around us will catch that great vibe and we will be able to pass it on and pass on a lot more smiles. So have a great week, everyone.