Even for people who adore their job, work can still be stressful, exhausting and all-consuming. It can come home with you, lingering through dinner and stealing your supposed relaxation time.
(If you work from home — like I do — unwinding may be trickier because you’re technically physically still at work.)
Maybe you’re like me and reply to emails in your head or rewrite stories you’ve already published. (Yes, I realize this is a problem.) Maybe you check your smartphone before bed and scramble to answer a few emails. Maybe your laptop has a special place on your bed. Or maybe you’ve created strict boundaries between work and home, but you still can’t shake the stress of an upcoming project or the usual day-to-day grind.
If you need some help with leaving work at work, here are four activities from the book Five Good Minutes in the Evening: 100 Mindful Practices to Help You Unwind from the Day & Make the Most of Your Night by Jeffrey Brantley, M.D., and Wendy Millstine, NC. In many of their activities, the authors suggest breathing or listening mindfully.
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These tips sound like really good, useful advice. One method I use sometimes is to imagine that I remove one work issue with each piece of clothing when I undress for bed. Then, if I should start ruminating on for instance a difficult meeting while in bed, I can think “No, I cannot think about that now because it’s in my T-shirt on the chair”. I learnt the trick in elementary school when our teacher told us about the 17th-century politician Axel Oxenstierna, who apparently did this every night
I totally agree that mindful breathing or ‘Focusing on breathing’ is a simple, doable and no-cost technique to detach the mind from nagging and useless thoughts and help focusing on the present. It reduces anxiety, improves focus and concentration. It works even for pre school children. The simplest mode of practicing this technique is –
**** TIP MODE: Touch the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger. Breathe in and out three times, counting in the mind, every time you breathe out. During the first out breath count ‘one’, second out breath ‘two’ and during the third out breath ‘three’. Repeat the same steps at each of the next three finger tips. When you are at the thumb, place the tip of the index finger at the base of the thumb and breathe three times. Then switch to the other hand and repeat the same process. Continue practicing, switching the hands. You will feel its calming effect, by the time you complete 4 to 6 hands, which takes 2 to 3 minutes. You can use this mode, anywhere and anytime, even for a few seconds, to avoid stress, regain focus and concentration!****
Five other modes of ‘focusing on breathing’ can be seen in this page http://countingbreaths.com/fob/relax/how-can-i-do-it/