Holistic Holistic Health Associates :: Meditation, Frederick, MD

Is efficiency not the hallmark of any good business? Too often, I have seen business leaders break down in the face of rising work hours and increased stress. Working efficiently means maintaining a healthy level of balance, which is often easier said than done. We all know that we can maintain a healthy level of balance by following the three cardinal rules of health – eat well, exercise and get enough sleep? Yet when I ask business professionals if they’re following these three rules consistently, I’m often met with uncertain glances or rationalizations as to why it’s not possible to do all three in the throes of multiple commitments and crushing deadlines.

So how do we find balance amid our hectic schedules? To answer this question we must first understand what balance truly is. Think of balance not as a destination, but rather as a process based on change and reassessment. Changing and reassessing how we work, how we play and how we recharge our batteries. This balance can be achieved by reconnecting to ourselves through measures of self care.

We rarely allow time for self care, believing that our productivity will increase if we work longer hours. Yet Webster’s defines “productivity” as the measure of the amount of output per unit of input. An increase in productivity has a direct correlation to health, wellness and a positive mental attitude. Self care is choosing to find time for ourselves as business leaders, so the productivity of our business increases. Find time to rejuvenate through a healing modality such as massage, acupuncture or chiropractic can stimulate our musculo-skeletal, circulatory and nervous systems, to increase immune response and regulate the release of natural chemicals controlled by our brains. These processes can limit sick days, allow us to maintain clarity of thought and limit those work days where our health, and therefore our efficiency, is not optimum. Finding time to rejuvenate through an exercise practice such as yoga, tai chi or meditation, allows our bodies to slow down and our minds to clear. If we truly wish to remain happy in our current status as business leaders, we must constantly search for ways to increase our productivity, permitting us to find true happiness in our lives.

So I urge you to begin a regimen of self care. Think about something you can do this week, every week and every month to take time for yourself so you can be more productive when you really need to be.

Self care is a stepping stone to all things controlled in the business world. Self care allows us to reflect on ourselves and the world we have created and see those things through fresh eyes. It allows us to find a much larger, global or universal perspective. It allows us to feel positive physically, mentally and spiritually which feeds directly into our businesses, employees and families. If one hour per week dedicated to self care returned a five hour per week rise in productivity, who wouldn’t leap at the opportunity for such a tremendous gain? Now multiply that number by all of our employees and you’ll see the productivity mounting! Remember, our employees follow our lead, and many of them will be interested in our personal choices whether they admit it or not.

Simply making self care a priority for productivity is not enough. Self care represents a movement, an evolution, of the current state of our world. As business leaders we fall into a class of humanity that is looked upon with awe, admiration and respect. It is our right and our duty to change the state of business by choosing to reward self care in ourselves and our employees. As the world evolves around us, we must adapt our businesses to remain on the cutting edge.

Self care can be accomplished through weekly massage, acupuncture, chiropractic or any number of modalities. Even a simple practice of sitting quietly for ten to fifteen minutes a day can provide a sufficient break from activity that ultimately can lead to increased focus on the job. These practices help the cellular regeneration process, offering us the privilege of continuing to perform what we love most, our work, at the highest level possible.

Spring has historically been the season of birth and renewal. A perfect time to foster a new hobby, plant your garden or institute key policy changes. The change of season also creates change within our bodies (seasonal allergies, for example), and is the perfect time to begin developing or refreshing our practice of self care. This practice becomes a personal value which in turn empowers our employees to follow our lead. The end result of this empowerment creates a more productive and happier work place.

Self-Care Through The Chinese Medicine Model

Renewing Connection to Ourselves—Making a Commitment to Self Care