Recharge Your Phone - Change Your Life

You likely have a cell phone. The brand doesn’t matter much for our discussion today, but let’s say it takes 1.5 hours to fully charge your phone if it is without power. You likely do that many times a day. Recharging a phone is the lifeblood of the service. If you don’t do that, the phone is useless.

As humans, we also have a “recharge” need. Part of that is done when we sleep. Our brain shuffles our day in nice neat boxes for storage, processes good and bad experiences in cupboards somewhere and our body recovers from a day of work. We now know, however, that just using sleep to recharge isn’t going to fully recharge your brain. Here’s what I think you should do.

When you plug your phone in to recharge it (not while driving), I want you to engage in a purposeful activity to recharge your brain. When you give your brain complete rest and place it in a relaxation mode, many good things happen. Your heart rate drops, your blood cells are more able to fight disease, your blood pressure drops and your thinking becomes more rational and clear. If you are creative minded, the thoughts will flow more clearly and have more relevance. Here are some possible “recharging” activities for you to do at the same time your phone is charging.

1. Chair Yoga. Yup. While seated you can do all kinds of things that seem simple, but have an impact on your brain. There are many videos on you tube on this topic.

1. Deep breathing and meditation. At a free web site I developed to help people quit smoking, we have a 10 minute relaxation audio presentation that is actually a form of self-hypnosis. While seated at your desk or at home, in 10 minutes you can recharge: www.trackquitsmoking.com.

1. Go fishing. Ok a bit hard to do in the middle of your work day, but I do this regularly when I can. Floating on my boat in one of the most beautiful bays in the world, just 10 minutes from my house, does it for me. I try to do this 2-3 times a week. Even one hour does it.

1. Sit in the outdoors and do nothing. I’ve talked about this one before. You can find more instructions here: www.healthanytime.ca. This one works, but takes a great deal of discipline and focus to get through the first 10 minutes or so.

1. Deep hobbies. If you have a hobby or leisure time activity, do you get so involved that time passes, minutes fly by and before you recognize it, you’ve spent an hour on it? That would be an example of something that will recharge your brain. Do it.

1. Stop thinking about things you cannot change. “Think less about the things that don’t matter, more about those that do” is something you need to concentrate on. During a 30 minute intensive session focus on those things that are really important to you. Write them down. Read them. Write them down again. Think about them…….Read them……repeat.

1. Be who you are. You may be spending your day working at a job that you enjoy, but may not be passionate about. During your 30 minute recharge session, be who you are. What matters the most to you. Take those 30 minutes and focus on those.

When you plug in your phone, make that a reminder to recharge your brain. Even 10 minutes will make the world of difference.