Our environments have a bigger emotional impact on us than what we think. By tricking our senses into thinking that we are in a more peaceful place, our mind will enter that state of peace as well.
With that being said, today we speak about how we can create a more mindful space at work or home in order to help you be more relaxed, productive, focused and most importantly… stress free!
Transcript
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Jason Mefford: Welcome to another episode of the fire and earth podcast i’m your co host Jason method.
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kathygruver: And I am Kathy gruver and today we’re gonna be talking about today we’re gonna I can’t talk.
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Jason Mefford: we’re going to talk about we’re gonna be talking to.
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kathygruver: Talk about we’re going to be talk we’re gonna be talk.
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kathygruver: As opposed to a talk.
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Jason Mefford: or a see talk.
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kathygruver: or see yeah we can do a seat cool hey i’m Kathy.
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kathygruver: As goofy episodes clearly so we’re going to talk today.
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kathygruver: about creating mindful space having a mindful office and mindful house, whatever that is and how that can help you be more relaxed more present more focused.
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kathygruver: Did it.
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Jason Mefford: Here we go.
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kathygruver: So I had a client that was incredibly stressed out she was an investment banker, and she was working with other people’s millions.
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kathygruver: Which is got to be a very stressful thing and so she was coming to my office for massage actually thinking that would help.
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kathygruver: And we’re you know, during the massage she was talking to me about how stress she wasn’t she never got to have a lunch and she was working till like seven or eight at night, and she just felt so unproductive because she was so stressed and so crazy.
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kathygruver: And I kind of thought about it for a while I knew she couldn’t take time off I knew she just was so overwhelmed and so I said, well, let me ask you a question.
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kathygruver: I said, do you have your own office, she said yeah I do and I said, like with a door, are we talking like a cubicle thing here she goes no I actually have a door I say Okay, are you allowed to close the door.
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kathygruver: She said yeah cuz some offices, like some law firms if you’re not a lot of close the door she can I could totally close the door nice Okay, can you do anything in your office you want.
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kathygruver: Like to the office, and she goes, I guess, so and I said Okay, what is your like safe space you’re like perfect vacation things you oh my God it’s Charlie Hawaii and I went OK cool so here’s what i’d like you to do.
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kathygruver: I said I want you to find the perfect blue whether it’s the sky blue or the ocean blue I want you to paint the wall in front of your desk that color blue.
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kathygruver: She goes oh that’s a really good idea I said yeah I want you to go to bed bath and beyond, or the equivalent and get one of those sound machines that sound like the ocean.
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kathygruver: She goes oh that’s a great idea I said, and while you’re there, I want you to get a candle that smells like the ocean because they’ve candles it smell, like everything and it’s a little creepy so she got a candle that smells like the ocean.
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kathygruver: I said, do you have photos on your desk she said absolutely I said, what is the picture of she said, my kids I said hey you know what your kids look like get really picture your kids.
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kathygruver: I said put up a picture of you with the ocean or that selfie now we all take with our legs coming out of the chase lounge with the ocean in the background, because oh God, I actually have one of those of course you do.
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kathygruver: Great but that the picture frame I said i’m assuming you have a computer she goes yeah I have to I went on juice okay.
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kathygruver: I said what’s on the screen right now, like the screensaver and she was oh it’s like the white be thing that came with a computer I said no, and I get rid of the wifey thing.
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kathygruver: I said put up a picture of a beach scene, the ocean palm trees, whatever image works for you is your background I said and here’s the final thing.
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kathygruver: What kind of desk do you have, and this was several years ago, so she had one of those big old metal desks like that had the drawers on the side right.
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Jason Mefford: Like.
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kathygruver: The old school old school desks.
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kathygruver: And I said you look at a desk job, and she told me, and I said oh that bottom drawer that’s for files that we filled with crap what’s in there, and she goes oh it’s filled with crap and I went okay.
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kathygruver: Take all the crap out I said I want you to go to the beach, because this was in California, I said I want you to get a bucket and fill it with sand.
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kathygruver: And I want you to put it in that drawer and every day for about five minutes a day I want you to light the candle I want you to turn on the sound machine, I want you to stare at the picture of the beach, I want you to put your hand in the damn bucket of sand for five minutes.
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kathygruver: And she’s like wow that’s a lot, I went, I know, so the next time I saw her I said how’s it going she goes I picked up the paint I got the sound machine she did everything she goes my my staff thought I was insane walking through the office with a bucket of sand.
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kathygruver: But she did it and she found herself so much more productive.
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kathygruver: She was getting so much more work done, she was going to leave the office at like five or six as opposed to selling o’clock.
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kathygruver: She was able to take a couple minutes for a lunch, where she didn’t have to like show food her mouth, as she was doing her work.
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kathygruver: She was more productive more relaxed, she was the happiest woman in the world, because she incorporated these things into her office.
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kathygruver: This is why we do the what’s on your desk stuff because we want to surround ourselves by things that trigger relaxation joy happiness productivity, all that kind of stuff so that was my client and what I assisted her enjoy with her office.
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Jason Mefford: When I think this is great, and especially for us to be talking about now for a couple of reasons right is is you know, especially with kind of the whole pandemic bullshit that we’ve been going through.
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Jason Mefford: A lot of people are working from home right and and your the environment in which you work in does have a big impact on you emotionally right and how your how you’re feeling.
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Jason Mefford: And, and you know, again I know everybody’s space is different right and I I worked for a lot of time my office you know was kind of part of the living room for a long time, and the place where I was where I was living one time.
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Jason Mefford: But the more that you can you know in in your physical office there’s a lot of stuff you can’t do that, you may be able to do more at home now right.
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Jason Mefford: And so you know again if you’re feeling stressed if you’re you know all of this kind of stuff, what can you do to make.
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Jason Mefford: Your surrounding a little bit more mindful and Cathy just did brilliantly in describing you know what she did, but this one client.
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Jason Mefford: On some of the types of things that you can do right, so we talked about a camera all about paint about a sound machine about a picture screensaver on your computer about this see now why all those different kinds of things Kathy are you trying to get her to do something.
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kathygruver: I was so, the more you incorporate every sense into what you’re doing the more your brain is going to.
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kathygruver: Your brain thinks it’s real so like if we imagine that we’re all on a vacation or or if we’re thinking about the most horrible thing that ever happened, please don’t do that.
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kathygruver: Our brain thinks that’s real it can’t tell the difference between what is thinking about imagining and what’s actually happening.
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kathygruver: This is why visualization so powerful, this is why incorporating all of your senses is so powerful.
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kathygruver: The more you can do that, the more your body’s going to relax and think it’s actually in that space, and if you can’t paint the walls and do all these changes, if you don’t have an old fashioned desk where you can keep a bucket of sand in it.
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kathygruver: Because we don’t all have that, what can you do is it just the candle that smells like whatever they have it that smells like everything right now.
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kathygruver: You know, is it just a picture of you at the beach, is it a seashell that you picked up, it could be the smallest thing that is just an anchor to trigger you to go.
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kathygruver: Hawaii wow hmm OK and go back to work, it doesn’t have to be this long drawn out, you know ritual that you do every day in your office, it can be something small that just triggers me to go back to that space yeah.
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Jason Mefford: Well, because what it does, you know, usually we end up so frenetic effectively during the day that any of these little pauses in our day.
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Jason Mefford: Whether again it’s sticking your hand in a bucket of sand if it’s getting up and walking in your grass barefoot outside for a few minutes right because there’s the whole idea with grounding.
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Jason Mefford: as well, and a lot of people say well how much do I need to do well, it doesn’t really matter do what you can do because anything more that you’re doing than what you’re not doing now is a benefit.
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Jason Mefford: rightfully so yeah yeah even if it’s even if it’s 10 seconds oh there’s that picture of us, so why wasn’t that so great.
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Jason Mefford: Right take 10 seconds.
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kathygruver: Well, and to that point people think oh I don’t have time to do all that this isn’t this isn’t crunches this isn’t you do too and that’s enough.
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kathygruver: You know exercise, you need a little bit more, but with this kind of thing it’s like if you can only take 10 seconds.
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kathygruver: don’t skip the 10 seconds, because you don’t think that’s an apple will I don’t have 15 minutes to do this.
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kathygruver: Now, take six minutes take you know, whatever you can, and if you still have a commute if this is the kind of thing where you’re still getting leaving your House getting in the car driving somewhere getting on a train getting on whatever.
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kathygruver: You could do this in the car you could put something on the dashboard of your car.
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kathygruver: or an aroma therapy sense, then, in your car that reminds you to be grounded as you’re going to your destination, this is not just reserved for those people that.
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kathygruver: have an office to go to or have something in their house set up, you can put it in your car put it in your wallet put it on your phone, you can control whatever picture you want is on your phone, so you know there’s many ways to have just those triggers to remind you to take that pause.
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Jason Mefford: Well that’s great and like I said, because I know I know a lot of a lot of people i’ve been talking to have been very stressed out.
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Jason Mefford: yeah I mean I was just reading, something that I think, since the in the last year, the average American is working like two and a half hours more a week than they were before.
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Jason Mefford: or so it was Maybe it was a day I don’t know it was something crazy to where you know people just were on the go all the time now.
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Jason Mefford: And so again anytime if you can take one minute two minutes 10 minutes to just pause again that’s bringing more of the mindfulness in.
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Jason Mefford: And the more that your senses, that you can actually engage the better right, especially like that, if you’re feeling stressed what What helps you feel calm so for your client, it was Hawaii right.
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Jason Mefford: yep so okay so i’m going to make my office feel like Hawaii so that I feel more calm at work that are actually a lot more productive, I mean you, you.
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Jason Mefford: said, for her standpoint, she was she was leaving earlier, she was a lot more efficient as well.
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Jason Mefford: So it works.
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Jason Mefford: It works it works it works.
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kathygruver: yeah and to that point, and then I know we’re we’re wrapping.
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kathygruver: there’s so many people that don’t know, I have to work I can’t take that 10 minutes you’re going to be so much more productive, if you take that 10 minutes don’t think you have to power through the entire day.
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kathygruver: without stopping that’s that’s insane that’s you’re not going to be as productive, because when we’re stressed or cognitive function starts to go awry or memory.
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kathygruver: or higher brain functioning all of that goes away when we’re stressed, so if you try to power through thinking oh I gotta get this done it’s actually more efficient to stop for five minutes.
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kathygruver: Decent rate relax meditate breathe light your candle and then go back to it you’re actually going to get more done.
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Jason Mefford: yeah well and don’t just take our word for it right it’s like there’s actually been a lot of scientific studies done on this, you are much more effective and efficient working 50 minutes out of the hour yep than the full 60 minutes.
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Jason Mefford: So.
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Jason Mefford: relax create more of a mindful space around you and and you’ll notice you’ll notice a change in your life in it, and in the emotions that you’re actually feeling.
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kathygruver: Absolutely more productivity for less work.
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Jason Mefford: Exactly.
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kathygruver: We love it yay excellent i’m Kathy gruver I can be reached at Kathy Gruber calm.
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Jason Mefford: And i’m Jason method, I can be reached at Jason method calm to go out create the space around you make it more mindful and take a few minutes to pause every single day and you’re gonna feel better and we’ll catch you on the next episode of the fire and earth podcast see ya.
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See ya.
