Try these ten ways to improve your self-connection and experience the benefits of paying attention to yourself!

1. Stop and ask yourself if you are in the present moment.
3 or 4 times a day, check to see where your mind is. Are you dwelling on something from the past? Are you worrying about the future? Are you distracted by all the work you have to do? Just catching yourself like this brings you into the present moment.

2. Take time to breathe.
I mean more than just enough to keep from passing out. Try breathing like this; Inhale deeply for a count of five. Hold for a count of five. Exhale slowly for a count of five. Do this for 10 breaths twice a day.

3. Take time to notice your surroundings.
Stop yourself wherever you are and look around. What do you see? Look until you notice something you have never noticed before.

4. Savour a meal.
Take some time by yourself to really enjoy something to eat. Sit down and dedicate at least ten minutes to this. Don’t read, talk, work or watch TV. Just take in all the sensations that the meal you are having brings on.

5. Feel Your Body.
Take ten minutes to scan your body and pay attention to how it feels. Start with your toes and work your way up through your ankles, calves, knees and thighs. Continue through your hips, pelvis low back and upper back. Move your attention to your abdomen and chest noticing all of the sensations. Work through your fingers, arms, shoulders and neck. Finish with your head. Where do you feel something? Where is it hard to feel something?

6. Compliment Yourself.
Go to a mirror and look straight into your eyes. Tell yourself one thing that you love about yourself.

7. Give yourself more Options.
Stop using the words “I have to.” This means you have no option. Replace these words with “I get to”, “I want to”, “I like to” or “I choose to.” This gives you a sense of more power over what you do.

8. Learn to Move Your Body in a New Way.
Many of our movements are so automatic that we don’t need to pay attention to them. When you learn something new, it requires your full attention to create new muscle patterns and new pathways in the brain. Try things like Yoga, Pilates, martial arts or dancing to stimulate your body.

9. Take care of things that drain your Mental Energy.
Write a list of 10 things that you have been putting off doing. One by one, take care of them and cross them off. You will be amazed by how much energy this liberates!

10. Get a Network Spinal Analysis Entrainment.
Nothing works better to focus your attention on your body, how it holds tension, where your breath can move and how your energy is moving.

Each of these tips can be a practice. Try introducing one to your life each week. Do it for seven days straight or until you are comfortable with it before adding another. Have fun and enjoy connecting with yourself!