Relaxation Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Organised Life and Mind

Create your balcony oasis

2017-09-072017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

Enjoy the cooler temperatures on your balcony

I can feel the temperatures going down and it’s brilliant. The weather will finally allow us to sit out on the balcony and breath again. It’s going to be wonderful! If only our balcony wouldn’t equal a mini desert. There’s sand all over, thanks to me not cleaning it often over the summer. What better time to create our own little balcony oasis than this weekend?

Are you ready to update your balcony, too? Here are our tips to start creating your own oasis:

How to use your time wisely

2017-09-042017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

5 tips for better time management

“I don’t have time.” How often have you heard that? We all have 24 hours with 1,440 minutes in a day. How come that some of us seem to get everything done, just like they planned while others always seem to have an excuse? I remember the days when I’d hear “I’ll do it in a minute.” Guess what! That minute never came and it often ended in a big last minute rush.

Here are our top tips for using your time wisely:

Take it easy this summer

2017-07-172017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

Enjoy the slower pace

Have you ever heard of “Freizeitstress”? What?! This beautiful German word means recreational stress. Your leisure time is actually more stressful than giving you and relaxing. I’ve found many friends rushing from appointment to appointment and worse, they were so proud of being busy. How lovely was it to talk to this very interesting lady who said: “We’re taking it easy this summer!”

Make your bathroom your oasis

2017-07-132017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

Quick cleaning tips for your bathroom

Do you love those bathroom design ideas on Pinterest? I certainly do. Bathrooms that add a bit of calm are my favourite. A bit of greenery, some soft towels and tile colours I love… I love those bathrooms. In the morning, bathrooms may look anything but not like that.

To help you get that spa feeling no matter what time of the day, here are 6 wonderful tips:

The benefits of doing nothing

2017-06-262017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

La dolce far niente or the sweet doing nothing

When was the last time you did nothing? Intentionally nothing? You’re probably scratching your head. Why would anyone do nothing on purpose? Isn’t that just plain laziness? No! It’s time for you to intentionally do nothing and reap its benefits.

We fill our schedules like crazy. It seems if we don’t have an activity going on, we’re not really doing anything. Our mind gets into this overdrive mode. It’s so difficult to slow down and enjoy the now and then. Even doing nothing has a negative association. We have to be constantly occupied. When was the last time you queued for something and didn’t check your phone? These days, almost everyone on the metro is checking their phone or listening to some music or something else. How often do you see two people actually talk to each other while riding the metro?

Being constantly switched on, our brain is struggling to cope with not checking our phones or emails on the laptop. It’s almost an addiction to see who posted what on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. To follow the news 24/7 and to respond to work emails when waking up in the middle of the night seems to be the desirable goal. But this is really what’s good for us? Why is it so hard of doing nothing for a while?

There’s the negative connotation. We have to be doing something. After all, what’s the purpose of doing nothing. Being busy is such a great thing. It’s how we measure our success. Yet, it’s counter-productive. But can we be lazy doing nothing?

The benefits of doing nothing

Doing nothing is not the same as being lazy. That stigma is out and scientist are working on illustrating the benefits of doing something. After all, doing nothing does lead to something positive!

By doing nothing, we’re giving ourselves the opportunity to step back.

We become more creative and more productive.

We become more used to being in our own company.

We learn to live and experience the very moment.

Better quality of life

Scientist have even discovered that doing nothing actually increases our quality of life. Who would have thought that was one of the benefits? Having some down time, our brains have the time to digest our experiences and thoughts. It consolidates memories and reinforces learning. It also gets the chance to empty out the clutter which often occupies so much headspace.

By actually resting, your brain maintains its level of attention and stay sharp. This in return leads to us being able to discover new ideas, new concepts, see situations from a different angle, find new solutions. Our creativity is being refreshed and our productivity increases, too.

Taking a step back, we are giving ourselves a priceless gift: A better quality of life! And who doesn’t want to experience their life its the fullest and truest? Without constantly being sleep deprived, sluggish and exhausted, worried about not getting everything done and anxious about ever being good enough! Doing nothing can help you improve your life! I certainly want more from my life and if I can get that by la dolce fare niente, bring it on!

A little exercise

Are you a workaholic or a Fidgety Philip and still want to reap the benefits from doing nothing? Start small. Turn your TV, radio, email and internet off. Set your time for just 2 minutes, just 2 minutes and start do nothing. How does make you feel? Not sure what do with your time? All these unfinished and seemingly pressing projects popping up in your head? Allow them in, recognise them and yet, don’t write them down or even do them. Try to enjoy these 2 minutes of doing nothing.

When you do it for the first time, it probably feels very odd and strange. Or at least it did for me. Do this activity for a week and notice how your thoughts and emotions change during these 2 minutes. Gradually increase your time to 5 minutes, then 10 minutes and 15 minutes. Can you last 30 minutes, a whole half hour, doing nothing?

I’d love to hear what your experiences of doing nothing has been. What was challenging? What came naturally to you? Write me a short comment below.

Until next time,
Agni

What do you want to do this summer?

2017-04-272017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

How will you spend this summer?

This week, temperatures have gone up to 40 C/104 F. For most places, that’s really hot. Not for us in this region. Summer is not even here yet! But has that stopped you from thinking what to do this summer? With Ramadan being early, we’ll have almost 4 months of summer! Why not start thinking about your summer plans this weekend?

I’m going for a walk

2017-04-132017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

And so should you

Do you ever have that your knees are hurting because you haven’t moved all day? When you are so focused on your work that you don’t want to interrupt your flow? That was me last week! Different projects were finally coming along so nicely, I didn’t want to stop the progress but could feel my knees cringing for a walk.

How to entertain your visitors when the weather isn’t great

2017-02-232017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

I love this region and the sunny weather we experience 350 days per year. It seems though like climate change is also leaving its marks here. My visitors are arriving tomorrow, looking for warm sunshine which has been hiding a bit recently. Now the question is what to do when it’s not lounging at the beach weather?

Here are my top 7 tips to entertain your guests when the weather isn’t that inviting:

How to work when there’s so much work

2017-02-162017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

Have you ever had one of these days or weeks when you didn’t know where to start because there was so much work ahead of you? I had one of these weeks and it went super smooth. Even I was surprised by it – hahah! So how did I do it?

Get moving again

2016-12-262017-12-15 by Agni Skafidas

5 easy ways to get moving after the Holidays

How many additional calories did you consume this Christmas? While I’ve consciously limited my indulgences, sitting so much over the Holidays got me down. Luckily, I could get my loved ones out for a walk in the rain, typical Christmas weather.

This afternoon, we’re off to our local football stadium and I can’t wait to get moving again. Do you too want to make small changes and get active again? Here are 5 easy activities which will get you moving now!