Looking for a brain break?

Your Zoom meeting ended early for once. (Thank goodness!) You took a bio-break, you ate, and now you’ve got just a smidge of time before your next marathon of meetings and to-do tasks. Before you dive back in, give yourself three minutes for a creative reset.

Yes, just three minutes. I promise. You can thank me later.

Here are a few of my favorite resets:

1. Reset your creativity (1-minute activity)

Just have 60 seconds? No prob. Let’s breathe in some creativity.

> Connect your index finger and thumb (think yoga fingers) on both hands.

> Focus on the tip of your nose.

> Say, “A river of creativity flows from me.”

> Take 10 deep breaths.

That’s it! Pretty easy, right? Take a sec to check in with yourself and see if you feel any different than you did before you breathed.

2. Reset your brain (3-minute activity)

> Grab a small square of paper, about the size of a Post-it note, and a pen.

> Consider this thought: “Our minds need relaxation and give way. Unless we mix work with a little play.”

> Set a timer for 3 minutes start to draw any pattern or image that comes to mind.

> Place your image where you can see it and resume your day.

3. Reset your resilience (2-minute activity)

This is a great activity to clear your mind so you can resume your focus and ease.

> Make a fist with the right hand. Extend the right thumb like you’re a hitchhiker. This your pestle.

> Cup the left hand, sealing the fingers, as if you’re creating a chalice. This is your mortar.  

> Think of a negative or triggering thought. Mentally place it in your left hand.

> Using your pestle, or hitchhiker’s hand, grind the negative thought into dust inside your mortar.

> Say, “I release these thoughts and make room for positive ones.”

> Blow away the dust of the thought, and step back into the world.

 Yes, these are simple. Yes, they work.