Micro-Reframe #8
Rest and Recharge
I want to begin today with wisdom from my dear friend Erin Hansen: energy needs space to transform.
These resets and recharges to up regulate or down regulate your nervous system do just that.
They create space for your energy to transform.
We are going to look at one-act resets and recharges along with longer ritual versions.
So let’s dive in.
Returning to the Middle
If we remember back to the reframe on the nervous system, the sweet place we are aiming for, is that middle portion of the baseline around 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Where 1 is a de-energised state where you’re unable to think or physically move, and 10 is perpetual restlessness of the body and thoughts. Neither are optimal places for moving through the world.
Let's be clear, the resets and recharges are short term refills for difficult situations. They are not the holy grail to performance manage you into being a better human for others.
These are to help you get through tough portions of your day.
Reset
A one-act reset is a single activity that can support your nervous system to down-regulate.
Here we are working with overwhelm.
These are my top three resets:
* sitting in the bottom of a shower (especially at night when I can sit in the dark, it's perfect for when I have pain and wild, circular thinking.)
* sending a voice memo where I can blurt out everything that’s swirling inside me and then it's outside of me.
* sitting on my back verandah and watching the trees for 15-30 minutes (this one literally saved my life)
My anam cara, Christina’s, favourite reset is to clean her kitchen bench. She also swears by a cold pack on the back of the neck.
The Ritual of You
Then there is the longer version which I call The Ritual of You. It combines several (or all) of the senses into a single ritual sequence.
This habit stacking at it’s finest.
Christina’s given me permission to share hers.
* She goes to her bedroom and closes the door.
* Opens the windows (if the Auckland weather is conducive to it).
* Turns on her essential oil diffuser.
* Pulls several tarot or oracle cards to approach what’s underneath the overwhelm through a side door (also acts a visual cue).
* Rolls out her yoga mat and runs through a series of stretches.
* If she needs more, she'll climb into bed with her journal.
If it’s a day that feels like a no return, she simply goes into her room // Lies on the floor // Puts on Spotify, with earphones// Closes here eyes and waits for the song that will break the stronghold on her overwhelm.
Recharge
The one-act recharge is a single activity to support your nervous system to up-regulate without sugar or caffeine.
Here we are moving upward out of underwhelm.
My top three recharges are:
* music (I always start here)
* the shower; standing rather than sitting.
* change my physical location.
Jessica Maguire says the nervous system will up-regulate when we change our posture to lengthen our spine.
The Ritual of You (or Rethinking the Morning)
I don’t have an example of the more elaborate Ritual of You in this upswing space.
I did wonder though — how many of our morning rituals and routines are up-regulation versions of The Ritual of You?
Is it worth thinking deeper about what each of us needs in the morning (other than caffeine) to give as a sense of possibility, momentum and anchoring.
Either to top up where sleep has left us wanting or to mitigate those start-of-day drains, so we have more energy moving into, and through, the day.
Reflection
1. Are you more likely to need a reset or a recharge (or do you need them equally)?
2. Where and when are you most likely to need them?
Emergency Triage
Part One
One-Act Resets
What would work as single act resets? (To down-regulate overwhelm or stress).
List them and place the list somewhere you can find them.
Use them. Adjust the list if any don't work.
Add at least one reset you can use at work.
Part Two
One-Act Recharges
What would work as single act recharge? (To up-regulate out of a de-energised state).
List them and place the list somewhere you can find them.
Use them. Adjust the list if any don't work.
Add at least one recharge you can use at home
Part Three
The Ritual of You -- The Reset Edition
Take your sensory first aid list from early last week and combine 3 or 4 different things into a ritual sequence.
Place the sequence in a place you can access it when you hit overwhelm.
Experiment with the components of the ritual until you have the best fit for yourself.
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