Five Tips to Boost Your Relaxation

Have you ever had these limiting thoughts about your ability to relax?

“Oh, I’m long overdue for this”, or

“I definitely earned it”, or

“I just don’t have the time to relax”, or

”You know, sometimes I feel like I’ve forgotten how to relax”

Would you like to add more relaxation to your life? I sure hope so! Relaxation will help you to strengthen your relationships, restore your body’s natural good health, boost your productivity, calm your restless mind, and bring balance into your life. Relaxation will also replace the negative impacts you feel from stress.

Relaxation is important! Your goal is to make it happen regularly on purpose, not just every once in a while by accident.

In this article I’ll zero in on five Essential Relaxation Concepts that I believe you need to embrace in order to create a relaxed life that significantly improves your health and happiness.

I’m Mark Gibson, a certified life coach for stress relief and relaxation. I coach relaxation from my experience: I transformed four hobbies into overlapping professions while I traveled extensively throughout North America. So far I have more than 50 years of experience with relaxing, and I’ve enjoyed more relaxation in my life than anyone I know. Here’s what I’ve learned that I hope can help you relax more:

Essential Relaxation Tip #1: You are in charge of your life.

As a thinking and feeling human being, you are always empowered to control your life. Although we all have challenges where we wonder, “Am I really in charge here?”, please understand that you make all of the critical choices that affect your life’s experiences. Your time management - or lack of it – has a profound effect on what evolves in your future. Is there too much work, too much clutter, or too many demands in your life for you to get away and relax and spend more time with your family? Know that you have the intelligence, resourcefulness, and strength of will to adjust your life so that you can make it happen. You do know that, don’t you?

Don’t waste your time blaming others for how your time is spent. And learn to work around the people who tell you, “You can’t do that!” You will choose where your trade-offs are, and if you really value relaxing, you will adjust your schedule to allow for your planned - priority - relaxation time every day, week, month, and year

Essential Relaxation Tip #2: Know what relaxation is.

Has your mind been so jammed up with so many personal and professional tug-of-wars that you’ve forgotten how to relax? Does persistent mental static bouncing around inside your head keep you from de-stressing and enjoying the serenity of peace of mind?

Here’s a practical definition of relaxation: Remission from attention and effort, and indulgence in recreation, diversion, or amusement. More important, however, is that relaxation is more a state of what you are thinking and feeling than what you are doing. You need to do a personal inventory of what you enjoy doing so that you can behave, think and feel as a relaxed person. Make a list of what you enjoy doing, and what you would like to try that you have never done before. Contact me and I’ll share some relaxation resources with you.

Essential Relaxation Tip #3: Know what you need.

What do you need to be happy? It’s a question that few people have taken the time to answer completely. Without this knowledge you can expect to enjoy life’s fulfillment only on a random chance basis. Most people need to feel loved, they need to create and be productive, they need to belong to a social fabric, and they need to sustain their health. Once you have carefully identified your specific personal fulfillment needs and cleared your mind of nagging issues (to get rid of guilt that compromises peace of mind), you are freer to enjoy the full bliss in any type of relaxation you choose.

Essential Relaxation Tip #4: Practice HOW.

That’s a capitol letters H-O-W. It’s a wonderful acronym for Honesty, Openness, Willingness. These values work great to increase your pleasures from relaxation because they will encourage your spirit of adventure. If you are honest, open, and willing, you will find yourself saying “yes!” to creating more time for exploring a tremendously wider range of new opportunities for recreation and relaxation. Honestly accept that your personal risks in many activities you can choose are actually very low. Open your mind to new opportunities, and boost the adventurous aspects of your plans by being Willing to experiment to add new, gratifying directions in your life.

Essential Relaxation Tip #5: Go with your flow.

I’ll be the first to admit that the high degree of relaxation that I have enjoyed all of my life evolved out of my childhood tendency to be a wanderer. I didn’t plan it that way – I just went with the natural flow of my energy and interests as I matured from childhood into adulthood. Early on I learned not to fear life or people, so I always was off on new adventures. Sure, I had to get an education and make money, but I did so with my wanderlust, not in place of it. Then I stumbled into the concept of working smart, not hard. Unknowingly, I was practicing the principals of H-O-W.

In my late twenties, when I hit the lowest point in my life from a clash between my values and my current reality, I decided that I was going to end my emotional pain and take charge of creating my foreseeable future. So, after tallying up what I really valued, I reorganized my life and peddled off on a 14 month, 7,000-mile solo bicycle camping trip around the United States. In many ways I’ve never come completely back.

I mention all of this to you now because I believe it is essential for you to find and blend yourself into your natural flow of spirit and energy if you want to create more relaxation in your life. Resisting your flow will only create friction and stress, which preclude relaxation. Search for and find your life purpose, identify and prioritize your highest values, create and adhere to your Personal Values Framework, and then strive to not compromise your values for anything or any person. When you achieve this, you will have the motivation and time to keep relaxation as one of your top priorities. Believe me, your body and mind will be healthier for it!