Switch Off and Find Calm, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 10 Phase 3: Refocus

Another high-five coming your way! By now you should feel like you have the tools and strategies to switch off when you need to. You should know how to take a step back when required and how to create the space to think and rest.

In phase 3 of switching off we flick the switch. We can’t always be in a zoned-out, disconnected, chilled-out rest zone. Now it’s time to draw on the perspective and energy we have gained through taking time out and to plug it in where it’s needed. But before we get too excited let’s take the opportunity to shift our focus to how we are going to do things from this point forward. We were brave enough to stop, we were willing to open ourselves to noticing what is happening within and around us, and we learned how to surrender ourselves to being well rested. Now is the time for us to ask, ‘Knowing what we know, what are we going to do about it?’

To be effective we need to know how to flick the switch.

Generally, this sort of reflection is dismissed as a waste of time. We hear the saying, ‘The past is past, the future is in the future. What matters is the here and now’. And this is right … in a way. But if we don’t take the time to look back at our experiences and learn from them, we will often keep on repeating patterns of behaviour that do not serve us well. When we focus solely on moving forward we don’t take the time to identify these patterns and make the changes needed. This final phase is about refocusing and bringing ...