Week four.
nervous system resets
time and energy cultivation
The nervous system is built up of two sides:
Sympathetic Nervous System: Designed to upregulate you. Fight, flight or freeze response.
Parasympathetic Nervous System: Designed to downregulate you. Rest and digest.
The only way to consciously influence your nervous system is through breathing. Your goal is to be as parasympathetic as possible and to return back to this state following any sympathetic upregulations. A simple and effect way to do this is two fold:
1. Nasal breathe. (Only breathe through your nose)
2. Make your breaths as slow as possible, especially on the exhales. Additionally, breathe low into your belly instead of your chest.
Nervous system resets:
When you notice you are getting into an upregulated place, based on our physiology, you are designed to focus solely on survival rather than cognitive function. As a result, you will create a list of personal nervous system resets - think quick things you can do to help refocus yourself and begin the downregulating process. These resets are built for you to aid in recognizing you are getting ramped up to serve as a pause and collect yourself to aid in making appropriate decisions.
Examples of resets:
Taking 5 deep diaphragmatic breaths
Listening to one predetermined song
Reading one page of writing that helps you see the big picture, etc.
Time is constant. You only have 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 12 months per year.
Energy is always changing. Prioritize building in more activities that give you energy while minimizing activities that 'cost' you energy.
A few things to consider:
- Batch similar activities together.
- Be aware of your environment - both physical and digital.
This is a skill and takes time to build proficiency so stay with it!