Overcoming burnout,
Your 10 second vacation.
Find yourself in a comfortable seated position with your eyes closed or gently gazing down.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Focus inward on your breath,
Your inhales and exhales that naturally flow through your body.
Continue to focus on your breath as you listen to my voice.
Burnout is often described as feeling worn out physically and emotionally
or feeling useless,
Powerless,
Hopeless,
Or empty at work or at home.
When we think about overcoming burnout,
We often focus on the external physical body.
We tend to hear about the importance of healthy eating,
Sleeping enough,
Drinking plenty of clean water,
Exercising,
Among others.
And while these healthy habits are critically important for our well-being,
Unfortunately,
The inner self-care we need is often overlooked.
As opposed to focusing on physical actions to take,
The focus of inner self-care is how we are
in the world,
How we show up,
And how we relate to others.
If we are experiencing burnout,
We are not likely to be showing up as our best and highest self.
In fact,
We tend to get overwhelmed by anything and everything that happens in the physical world.
So here's a quick and easy practice for transforming the moment in the moment,
Even when you feel overwhelmed.
I call it the 10-second vacation.
Once you've practiced it,
That's all it takes to go from overwhelm to a calmer,
More focused self who's ready to take on the next challenge,
Sort of like coming back from a relaxing vacation.
And the best part is no one will even know you're doing it,
So you can do it anywhere.
So you can do it anywhere,
During a meeting or in the midst of a challenging conversation.
It can transform how you feel in the moment,
How you interact with others,
And even how others relate to you,
Whether at home or at work.
Let's get started.
In your seated position,
I invite you to start counting your inhales and exhales.
More specifically,
I invite you to inhale for a count of four at your own pace,
And exhale for a count of six.
Continue to inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of six.
Continue this pattern.
You see,
When your exhale is longer than your inhale,
It activates your parasympathetic system.
Which serves to calm you down.
It tells your brain it's time for your nervous system to settle down.
When we are calm,
As you know,
We are much better able to handle whatever situation is coming up in
our lives.
It also allows us to more clearly focus on some of the things that are important to us.
It also allows us to more clearly focus on some of the things that are important to us.
So rather than reacting to what's going on,
You create a 10-second vacation to breathe
and respond to what's going on.
You don't even have to close your eyes.
You can just pause and inhale for four and exhale for six.
After doing this just once,
We tend to feel refreshed,
Renewed,
And a little bit more relaxed.
Whatever is going on is still going on,
But your response to it can be substantially different.
I invite you to continue practicing the 10-second vacation whenever you find yourself in a state
of overwhelm.
It's something that you can do at any time during your day,
Whether you are late
during your day,
Whether you are late for a meeting or waiting in line getting more and more
stressed.
You will most likely find that by the end of the day,
You're not quite as stressed out
as you might have been.
See what this practice can do for you over the course of a few days,
A few weeks,
And perhaps in time,
It just becomes natural for you to take an inhale for four
and an exhale for six at any time in your life that you feel stressed or overwhelmed.
This practice can serve to preempt or alleviate burnout.
When you're ready,
Take one more deep breath before we conclude.
Then go ahead and flutter your eyes open.
Give yourself a good stretch
filled with gratitude for allowing yourself this time for inner self-care.
Welcome back.
