Drive change in your life and be happier

The last two months of posts were based on two main themes that are important for us to be happier, to be less stressed, to be more effective at work, and those themes were setting goals and then working on focus.

For that, I shared with you some techniques that I usually work on such as meditation and mantras. These can help you perform better.

Now, I would like to comment in the next ones about the importance of change at work and how essential it is for both our well-being and our professional development. And I can tell you that in so many years of work experience, there was only one thing that remained stable, and that was change.

Everything changed from when I was a child to today in my role at Alfa Laval. Many young professionals when I meet them are curious and ask me, what happened to you that you started selling magazines on the street and now you are the President of a Multinational Group? It's a nice question and when I open and close my eyes, I see a flash of many changes that happened in my life and continue to happen every day.

Probably the same thing will happen to you or maybe not, but the way in which we manage our own attitude when change knocks on our door is what will determine, for example, if you are going to go to the right or to the left in your professional life.

Some people just deny change when it's coming because they just don't want to change, they feel like they're fine where they are. Others do not see the need for change, some others are afraid, but some others choose the path to generate and promote change in their lives.

Surely you have heard of leaders. They have skills and competencies such as: cognitive flexibility, curiosity, openness and acceptance of multiple alternatives, and long-term vision. In this way they mobilize many people to generate even greater change, and I would like to talk about this in my next posts.

When I started to approach spiritual life I also learned and understood that there are many things that can help you manage your own attitude towards change. If you practice them, you realize and understand better that there is nothing worse than stopping the change, it is like trying to stop a thought that comes to your mind when you are meditating. It's simply impossible, that's why you have to treat them with compassion and care and in this same way, the change will happen anyway and it will be up to you if you treat it with care and attention or deny it.

For this, I found that practicing Pranayama breathing techniques is a very good tool to help you on this journey.

The word Pranayama is composed in Sanskrit of the words prana: "breath" and yama: "control" and therefore, Pranayama literally means "control of the breath".

Why for me? Because with Pranayama I can visualize how my body changes to the different types of breaths, I can see how my mind becomes softer and calmer after each breath and this is a tremendous change that you can see for yourself. With Pranayama I can observe the effect of energy in my body moving and changing from one area of ​​the body to another.

These are some of the change factors that I can observe with this technique, and release a lot of stress that is also a barrier to having a better attitude towards change.

How does it work?

Let's start with the simplest, which is abdominal breathing. Just by sitting comfortably you can do it in the office or anywhere. Simply place the palm of your hand under your lower belly and breathe in through your nose starting the inhalation from the abdomen.

Then the exhalation will also be only with the abdomen. Practice this for 5-10 minutes if you can, just focusing on your abdomen and notice the changes in your abdomen with each breath, watch your mind change as it slows down after a few minutes and watch the energy change in your body. Remember that if your mind wonders something while you are breathing, simply return to the movement of your abdomen.

Each inhalation should be deep and slow. When you breathe this way, the vagus nerve is activated. The vagus nerve runs from the brain to the abdomen. It is responsible for activating the relaxation response and deactivating our fight or flight reflex, which often occurs with stress.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and that being able to apply these breathing techniques can better prepare you to be open to change! Let me know what your experience is like and you can share it here so other leaders and managers can learn from you.