Creating Calm - Part 1 of 2

By Dr. Toby Silverton & Dr. Bev McLagan

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Do you sometimes find it hard to get past the stress-provoking, negative sound bites that play in your head? Many clients are looking for strategies to shake them loose and create moments of calm in their day. So, what can you do when your brain hits that groove and you begin to listen to the inner-chatter that rattles your calm and fills you with doubt?

The usual strategies offer a lot of psycho-babble about old patterns from bad childhoods, thinking sabbotaging your future, or teach you thought-stopping techniques like the old elastic band trick! These are all perfectly legitimate options, but instead we are offering you a 'simple LOW TO NO TECH SOLUTION' that is right in front of you -- at the very moment you are fully and inwardly focused on the "shock talk" going on in your head....look up and out instead. That's how you can quickly refocus and create a moment of calm.

This simple strategy presented itself in the form of a bird landing in the birdbath outside the office window. In the midst of mind-numbing self-talk, my attention was diverted, my perception and focus changed from inner turmoil to outer beauty, and in that "moment of refocus" my stress level dropped to a blessed moment of calm.

The solution was in recognizing a POINT OF OPPORTUNITY to break out of my negative news cycle. Where negative thoughts once morphed one into another, similarly one positive moment of awareness led to more: the splash of water drops off the bird's wings, it's lilting song, the quick flight through the trellis. I began to notice the beauty of the entire garden: the glorious colours of the flowers, how the poppies bent in the wind, the garden looked alive and so were my senses once again.

Next time you get caught listening to the negative chatter in your head or are having one of those moments when nothing seems to be going right, look up, look out and refocus. Renew your view with a moment of calm.

Building Solutions:

Creating calm doesn't require long breaks in already stretched days. Here are 4 great tips from clients who found simple ways to create moments of calm in their busy everyday lives.

1. A renewed view immediately brings a change in perspective. Get up from your desk and go look out the window at the clouds. No sky view? then watch the cars driving below, or pidgeons flying from window to window. It's the fresh, renewed view that relieves brain lock.

2. Take a short walk in the neighbourhood near your office. Purposely focus your awareness on checking your environment instead of listening to what's going on inside your head. If you find it hard to shift your focus, take a digital camera along on your walk. Looking through the lens at flowers in a local garden or the urban landscape can truly create a new focused attention.

3. Share a laugh with a colleague. It's well worth the few minutes away from your desk. Laughing can literally shake your body and mind out of the doldrums. Did you know that laughing actually changes our brain waves?

4. Really can't get out of the office? Then hang a photo of a favourite relaxing place of yours, or just tear out a picture of your idea of paradise and prop it up on your desk. Next time you feel stuck in that revolving door in your head...stop, breathe, and stare at your favourite view of tranquility.

Okay, maybe this sounds kind of "new age", but there is plenty of evidence that taking one of these breathers can actually change your physiology and lower your stress level. Just how simple can stress management get? Creating calm, a living solution that you can use at work, at home, in your daily life.

If you are interested in more simple ways to create moments of calm in your life see our Part 2, Ten Ways to Create Calm in Your Daily Life.