Anxiety and stress.
If you're a busy bookkeeping business owner, you've probably encountered both.
As you know, they're not pleasant, but their negative effects can be reduced.
Entrepeneur.com's, Kim Lachance Shandrow wrote an article that will be very helpful to you.
It features 7 tips from world-renowned spiritual leader, business professor and medical doctor, Deepak Chopra.
Here they are:
1. Nourish your body and mind with healthy foods -- and splurge sometimes.
“Eating a pure diet, one free of toxins, is best for mind-body balance. That doesn’t mean you can’t have chocolate, though. Chocolate has been shown to release dopamine and serotonin, which make you happier.
“While I don’t partake in them, I don’t think a glass of alcohol, beer or wine, hurts. However, you should never go to bed intoxicated because that will mess up everything, including your microbiome, which is the 2 billion bacteria in your gut, something integral to your well-being overall.”
2. Get a good night’s rest.
“Head to bed on time as part of a calming nighttime routine. I go to bed every night at 10 p.m. and wake up at 4 or 5 a.m., ensuring that I get enough sleep for the day ahead, which I start with two hours of meditation and an hour of yoga.
“The secret to good sleep is dynamic activity during the day, and the secret of dynamic activity is deep, restful sleep at night. The two go hand in hand. When this equilibrium is achieved, good sleep is effortless,” Chopra wrote in a Heal Your Life blog post recently.
3. Just breathe.
“Take a breathing break to take the pressure off. Observe your breath where you are, at your desk or anywhere. Start by consciously breathing in to the count of four and breathing out to the count of six, with a short pause in between.
“The normal breathing rate is about 14 breaths per minute, but if you follow this simple practice, you actually decrease your breathing to somewhere between eight to 10 breaths per minute. Doing so has a very direct positive effect on your biggest nerve [the sciatic nerve], which is your stress-reliever and what brings about cell regulation.”
4. Take a gratitude break.
“Sit for five minutes and meditate and reflect on what you’re grateful for. Or, you can just be grateful for every breath for a couple of minutes at a time. Try using a simple mantra for manifesting gratitude, such as 'I am.' Repeat the mantra to yourself four or five times silently.”
5. Wind down once a day.
“Embrace an active, daily stress-management routine. Once a day, make time to care for yourself by doing yoga or running, walking, watching comedy or getting a massage. You can also take in uplifting entertainment and culture, like art and music, poetry.”
6. Engage in nurturing relationships.
“Make sure that the relationships you have are emotionally healthy and foster love, compassion, joy and equanimity. People who compliment you genuinely about your strengths actually have a great impact on your well-being and also on your productivity. Criticizing, condemning and victimizing aren’t helpful or productive…”
7. Get grounded.
“I’ve recently been fascinated with the practice of grounding. It’s when people walk barefoot on the beach, the grass or other natural surfaces on the earth. They report that they feel better, in body and mind.
“The earth is a biosphere with negative and positive forces, like a battery, and your body is part of the battery. So take some time to walk barefoot on the earth, absorbing the free electrons, and recharge your battery.”
Thank you Deepak for the incredible advice.
So, what are you doing to take care of yourself when you're at your busiest?
Yes, you may think you don't have time to take a break, but if you don't, eventually, you'll be focusing much more time on getting yourself out of a health scare.
Don't even let it get to that point.
Be good to yourself today.
You and your business will be better for it.
To your success,
Michael