Episode 94: B3 Breaks: Take A Moment To Be Still
Listen to the podcast here:
B3 Breaks: Take A Moment To Be Still
This series is all about getting honest with ourselves and noticing the things that we carry with us. We each have our own life experiences to go from and sometimes it's hard to truly understand what it's like to be someone else. What we can do to create change is to start with ourselves. If each of us took one action each day in our own lives, we could collectively change the world around us. What does it take? It takes work and practice. We have to be honest with ourselves as we get there. To do that, we have these B3 Breaks in order to pause and assess our thoughts before we speak. To take an honest look at our interactions in our day and the energy that we may be creating around us.
We ask other people questions and learn their stories and experiences. We create positive energy with the people around us and find peaceful ways to show our support to our friends, family and acquaintances. We observe all of this without judgment. We are present with the people we are with and we show up in love. What can we do? We start with the little things. This series is all about short practices that you can put into your day. Practice this each day for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or whatever it takes so that you can observe your energy and be intentional with the energy you create around you because if you believe you can, you will.
---
For our B3 Break, we're going to talk about getting still, which can sometimes be one of the hardest things to do. We've got lots of chatter that goes on in our head and energy that's moving through our body throughout the day. We're affected by all the different meanings that we have or the tension and anxiety that we might be building up. Taking two minutes in our day can help us reset and center ourselves so that we can be better for the people around us.
How we're going to start our week is to do a two-minute break. If you'd like to join me, go ahead and put both feet on the ground and make sure your legs aren't crossed. If you're sitting in a chair, sitting back on the back of your chair, sitting tall and drawing the tailbone to your seat and the crown of your head all the way up to the ceiling. What I would like you to do is take your hands on your thighs and start slowing down your breath. Inhaling to a count of 1 and exhaling to a count of 2. If you like, you can keep a soft gaze or what you can do is close your eyes and start visualizing that breath as it comes in and as it comes back out. Inhaling through your nose, filling your belly and exhaling that back out.
Be Still: Close your eyes and start visualizing your breath as it comes in.
Keeping that count moving. Noticing when your thoughts drift. If they do come, just come back to the count, inhaling and exhaling. As you start noticing that breath coming in and out, notice the quality of that breath. Do you notice that you can slow it down? Does it seem shallow? Are you able to get a full breath in and a full breath out? Noticing if you're able to inhale that breath into your heart space or all the way down to your belly. As you exhale, visualize that breathe coming back through your body and out your nose.
What I want you to notice is how your body feels in this moment, any shift in energy, any stillness and even thoughts that came up for you that are good for you to observe and let go. Taking a breath in and out, start coming back to your natural breath, wiggling your fingers and your toes and slowly opening your eyes. Coming back into your space and cultivating this feeling of stillness that you can get back to throughout your day when you need it.
---
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this blog. I hope you will take a moment to pause before entering back into your day to reflect on this show and note 1 to 2 actions you are inspired to do from this conversation that you could incorporate into your life. There are related videos on my YouTube channel. For daily inspiration, follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn @AmyVetterCPA. I hope that you will choose to like this and subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify and more so that you can join us for more inspiration on our next episode.