Mini Celebrations: The Five Minute Time Out

Mini-Celebrations – The Five Minute Break

As I sip my favorite roobios tea, I am in deep thought about what the upcoming season will bring to us, for Oct. 9 marked our first anniversary living in Roswell, Georgia. The school season is now in full swing and the holiday season is quickly approaching.

During the busy holiday season we tend to forget to take care of our bodies and take time out for our well being overall. Therefore, I would like to make an important note that being aware of what goes on outside of our bodies is just as vital to our well being as being aware of what goes into our bodies.

So, with that said, I am going to share an excerpt from a previous blog post I wrote on my website.

“I am going to spend some time on this blog to discuss ways that I like to spend my time-outs. It should help in providing you with other ideas of what to do on your time-outs or what I like to call mini-celebrations. I use the phrase mini-celebrations as a way to show accomplishment.

For those who already know how to take breaks when overwhelmed, please feel free to share your moments and ideas with your comments.

Five Minute Mini-Celebrations

Before executing any of your mini-celebrations you must abide by the following rules:

• Always take deep breaths.
• Focus on the present moment.
• Keep it simple.
• Do not sweat the small stuff.
• Promise to take a time-out whenever the need arises.

Breathing

This is first and foremost. Whether you choose to do this time-out alone  or you choose to to do this as a prelude to another time-out. Breathing must be performed deeply and slowly. Inhaling form the nose and exhaling through the mouth. The exhale should be longer than the inhale.

Temple Massage

Use a 100 percent natural oil such as grape seed oil, or jojoba oil with a a drop of lavender essential oil. You can get this at any health food or bath and body store.  Put a little massage oil onto finger tips and rub onto temples for a few minutes while breathing in the scent.

Eye Compress

I use chamomile tea bags cold or warm, it depends on my mood and the season. I keep the tea bags used for the cold compress in a sealed jar in the refrigerator after steeping them for a few seconds. Then, when I am ready to take my “mini-celebration,” I gently squeeze two tea bags (cold or hot) and place them over my eyes. Remember, this is a five minute break, not eight hours!

Scents for the Senses

Rub a scented lotion on hands. I have allergies and asthma so I am very careful when I use scented items. I will pick a lotion that is 100 percent natural with essential oils of lavender or vanilla. If you prefer something invigorating as opposed to relaxing use a lotion scented with peppermint or a citrus essential oil.

Meditate

Most of the time I will use a meditation app on my ipod or Pandora to help me with this time-out, but when I only have five minutes to re-group, I will just take a five minute quiet time in my bedroom or any room that is not occupied, even the bathroom if it is available. Sometimes I just go outside on my deck and just sit while taking in the fresh air, weather permitting of course.

Water or Iced Tea Break

What better way to rejuvenate your body and mind by replenishing it with fluids, especially if you are able to add an anti-oxidant rich beverage such as iced green tea or iced roobios tea to the menu. I always keep iced tea available in the refrigerator. I prefer iced for this particular time-out because it takes longer to sip hot tea. Let’s save the hot tea for the 15 minute break.

Listen to voice messages/Read e-mails/Write a To-Do list/Make an appointment/Pay a bill on-line

I posted this celebration only because I can’t always get to the phone or read my e-mails when I want. Therefore, these “tasks” become “mini-celebrations.” Why? Because it is a relief for me to find out who is trying to contact me. I may not always have the time to call or write back, but at least the anxiety has been taking care of. Writing things down, making appointments or paying at least one bill will get the stuff out of my head. When I complete these tasks the stress starts to fade away.

Five Minute Hand Scrub

I love to do this “mini-celebration” because I love to pamper myself. This is a rarity for me. I use a nicely scented sugar scrub. After washing my hands, I take a quarter size amount of scrub and rub my hands for a few minutes all over, making sure I concentrate on any rough areas and cuticles. I, then, rinse off and apply a scented lotion. Knowing I did something to enhance my mental and physical well being makes me feel good all day.

Five Minute Facial

Once again, the key point here is pampering you! Purchase a facial product that has a warming effect to it or heat your favorite facial product slightly under running hot water. This type of facial has some sort of calming effect on me. Especially since I can only take five minutes to accomplish this very rewarding and deserving “mini-celebration,” I need to feel the facial is working. Call it psychosomatic. I say, whatever works!

Daydream

I think this is one of my favorites. Just letting your mind drift away onto some exotic island can be very comforting. Just make sure you snap out of it in five minutes so no one in your family catches you smiling while wishing you were somewhere else.

Dessert Break

I love to indulge on my breaks. Well, I would not really call it indulging since my vegetarian diet is dairy free with very limited sugar. But I would still like to think that I am providing myself with one of life’s sweet treasures. My favorite dessert for this time-out is a gluten free brownie, or two, which I warm up in my toaster oven. Along with my brownies I will make a cup of hot roobios tea and add a little agave and coconut milk, or pour a glass of cold vanilla flavored homemade almond milk. This dessert may not be a very indulging dessert, but knowing that I haven’t filled myself with a lot of artificial additives and unhealthy processed foods is more beneficial to my mind, body and soul.

Ok, so there you have it, my list of the five minute mini-celebrations.

I hope you make it a priority to incorporate these time-out solutions into your schedule or develop your own as you go along.  Start by writing down the things that you like to do.  Then squeeze them into 5 minute intervals.  It has helped me tremendously.  This is also the first step to stretching the 5 minute time-outs into the 15, 30 and 60 minute time-outs.   You deserve it!  And, your family deserves a better you.

Take some time out to just be.

Enjoy Life.  Celebrate Life.”

Find out how to care for your overall well-being, both inside and out. Join Perfect Harmony Wellness' .

Resource:

Perfect Harmony Wellness (2011). Mini Celebrations – The 5 Minute Break. Retrieved on October 11, 2011 from Perfect Harmony Wellness.