Staying in a positive mindset is greatly challenged in today’s complex and ever-changing work environment and for many of us it is a constant daily practice. One of the techniques used for maintaining a positive mindset is what my friend and colleague, Sharon Campbell-Rayment (www.sharoncampbellrayment .com), calls the ‘APB’ (no, not the police jargon) … it is the acronym for “Awareness, Pause, Breathe”. The APB is one of many strategies that Sharon developed during her journey back from a severe concussive brain injury.
The instant we become aware of and/or feel the negative … we immediately must take an APB … and adjust to the positive – any positive … as long as it’s a positive thought that brings a positive feeling from which to choose our behavior! The more often we execute an APB, the more automatic it becomes. Sharon has given me permission to share her writing with you on the APB – Awareness, Pause, Breathe.
Sharon writes: Awareness is the key to everything! Once you are aware of something you can change it, redirect or eliminate it altogether from your life.
When life becomes too overwhelming, too fast, and too frustrating just take 3 deep breaths and immediately the negative effects of stress begin to lessen. Your heart rate will begin to decrease, tension will release and you will become more aware of what is happening around you to help you deal with the stress you are experiencing.
So the instant you are aware of the need for adjusting to the positive, pause and take a deep breath. This will help you to regain focus, decrease the stress response and give you just a moment to think about what you are thinking about. (Did you know that it is said we have 40-50,000 thoughts per day, and the vast majority of these we are not even aware of. Yet these thoughts are affecting how we think, feel, act and respond in every moment.)
When we are under stress, we tend to breathe shallow and do not get a full invigorating shot of oxygen that we need. To get a full inhalation, focus on drawing the air in through your nose, and allow your abdominal muscles to relax – this is a time when we can let it all hang out rather than hold ourselves svelte, sexy and tight.
By relaxing your abdominal muscles you will allow your rib cage to expand, your diaphragm to extend downwards freely, your abdominal muscles to loosen and relax which allows the upper part of your lungs to fill as well. You get a full invigorating breath!
Then release, and this time tighten your abdominal muscles, to push the diaphragm up, and empty your lungs as completely as you can.
In a stressful situation three deep breaths will reset the body and begin to decrease the stress response, but I would like you to extend this practice to times that you are not feeling stress. This will assist the body to feel relaxed more often and imprint this feeling so it will become a habit and a regular part of your day.
The skill of Positive Presence™ is an innovative thought model making the connection between workplace behaviour and emotional energy, and provides a systematic, programmatic methodology of techniques and exercises for developing and sustaining the behaviour skills indicative of an energized work force.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.