Entrepreneur Toolkit Essential: A Connected Brain, Body and Heart. Guest post by Heather Rees.
Entrepreneurs use a lot of brain power, even if we do spend a lot of time being led around by our hearts.
We’re prone to grinding through long days at a computer or running frantically from one activity to the next – or ping ponging between the two all week long. We do this from sun up to sun down and after a while, it grinds us to a halt.
Quite literally.
Spending so much time in your head often means that we forget that our bodies exist entirely.
Ever found yourself sitting at your desk one minute and the next you’re suddenly snapping out of a daze, realizing any awareness of yourself or your surroundings was utterly gone for who knows how long?
That’s your brain stalling out because it’s exhausted. It’s been chugging away for your completely disconnected from your heart and body, whom it depends on for inspiration, respiration and general go-juice.
Stalling out is your brain signaling that it needs to reconnect or you’re headed for burned out, fed up, frustrated and exhausted-ville. Somewhere along the way, we’ve all ended up there.
You see, your brain, body and heart were designed to work together – each feeds the other. Each needs the other.
Together as one they’re powerful magic. Together they create the mojo that fuels your brilliance and the stuff that happens through you. It’s the jet fuel that makes your engine go with grace and speed.
Separately, the brain and body are as efficient as Fred Flintstone’s car – lumpy mechanical parts that require tremendous energy and effort to pad uphill. It can be done, but it leaves the so-called drivers exhausted by they time they reach their destination and in need of a break.
Don’t make your brain act like Fred. There’s no need.
The alternative is, even as we rely heavily on the brain’s function and output, to regularly reconnect all parts of us so the fuel can flow.
Here’s a few ways to reconnect easily at your convenience:
-
Behold Beauty
This is one of my favorite and often-used ways to come back to the present moment and remember my body. Look up right now and find 3 beautiful things in front of you.
Even if you’re in a cloth-covered cubicle beneath fluorescent lights, there are magnificent things before you: the color of your nail polish, the face of a loved one pinned to your wall, the highlights in your colleague’s hair. See them, and really see them. Take several moments to appreciate. Notice the details. Make a mental note about why you find this thing beautiful.
And while you’re doing this, notice how your body reacts to each thing you see and appreciate. Where do you feel it?
Touch
Give your eyes a rest and use your fingers to explore what’s in front of you. Touch the skin on your arm, the fabric of your pants, the desk in front of you. Notice the texture and landscape of each object.
As you experience this sense, pay attention to your body (beyond the fingertips). Do any of the things you touch bring up different sensations within you?
Stand Up
This is as simple as it sounds – but don’t underestimate it. Just stand up. And as you do, pay attention to how your body feels going from sitting to standing. What changes?
Do a couple of simple twists, swing your arms and breathe. Raise your arms over your head and stretch. Breathe. And all the while, pay attention to how it feels.
This needn’t be complicated. It’s really about paying attention to bring all your energies to the task at hand: Reconnecting heart, head and body to keep the fuel lines clean and make your system purr.
So take a moment, shift your focus and listen deeply. Your business and your brain will thank you deeply.
About Heather
Heather Rees is a career change coach, personal catalyst and strategic ally for people who want to do meaningful work. In a soulful but practical way, Heather illuminates your talents, skills and vision while helping you make the changes needed to do more of what you love. She is also the newly launched Soul Revival: a Return to the Senses (reconnect and fill up your fuel tank!)
