How do you define R&R?

This morning I read an email from someone in Australia. He’s had a busy week and felt like he had already seen 100 clients by Tuesday. He writes, “I can’t wait for the weekend to come again and it’s still early yet. Maybe I need a holiday.“

Most of us believe a holiday will fill a void within us or give us something to anticipate. We look forward to birthdays, holidays, family get togethers, births, vacations, cruises, etc.

Although I agree completely that everyone needs some rest & relaxation (R&R), I’ve just finished reading The Other Side of the Card by Mike Morrison. Within these pages I found a better definition of R&R that provides longer-term benefits than rest & relaxation.

Reflect & Reframe

When we spend time reflecting on who we are and what we are doing, important insights usually appear. We rush so much during our days that life becomes a blur. We focus on solving problems, corporate fire-fighting, and cramming too many activities in too little time.

Part of this book describes the benefit of focusing on meaningful change. “If the starting point is always the problem, then it is the scope of the problem that will define the scope of the solution. In other words, we will unwittingly limit the meaningful change we can create if we cannot move beyond the urgency of our current problems and challenges.” (Morrison, p. 105-106). He continues by describing how our time to reflect actually expands the possible solutions we need.

Reframing is another key element to creating long-lasting success, happiness, and health. It has been well documented that people with an optimistic perspective are healthier and live longer. Optimistic people also enjoy more fulfilling relationships and achieve greater career success according to some researchers.

I believe an optimistic attitude is learned behavior, and it is possible for everyone to learn how to look on the bright side. The ability to reframe what is happening is crucial to your ability to react differently.

No, you do not need to become Pollyanna to reframe your difficulties. [tangent: click on the Pollyanna link because Wikipedia does a great job explaining how a positive story became a derogatory term] However, when you can see some good in what is happening in the moment, you are able to move through the difficulty more easily.