Ever had a “Beach Day”?

Now, if you are a woman, you probably already know what I mean by that. Men – bare with me and I will explain.

A beach day is one of these days, when you have the burning desire to be at a beach, on a mountain, in the desert – anything, that is wide an open and allows your mind to expand. We women experience these kind of days more often (and sometimes even regularly) than men and as much as they sometimes start out being a curse, they almost always contain the potential to become a blessing.

You have a bit of a cry – often without knowing why, let alone the ability to explain what is going on. Very confusing for someone who is around, especially if they never experienced it themselves. Have you ever heard of expanded awareness? It is a state of mind, where you focus on one point and allow your senses to experience the peripheral intuitively.

The desired outcome from being in that state could be greater awareness of what is going on around you, to get in a state where you can accelerate learning and soak in information quickly. If you are a trainer or presenter, this will be the state you ideally are or want to be in while you are sharing your information, because you can better sense the mood of other people and what is going on in the audience.

This is also the reason why knowing how to get into expanded awareness is essential for everyone in a leading role hence why it is part of the life leadership/management coaching program

Expanded awareness has another benefit that makes it an important tool for personal and professional development: in expanded awareness you create a space, where negative emotions or limiting decisions can rapidly be dissolved. This state can be achieved any time and anywhere, and it comes naturally and instinctively when we are at a place that is quiet or with calming constant sounds, like the one of waves washing upon the shore.

The great thing about these kind of states is that once we experienced them, we can always take them with us, wherever we go. You simply give it a special place inside you, lock it in and allow it to come to the surface whenever needed.

Initially I wanted to go to the beach or more specifically to “The Strand”, which is a beautifully built, 2.5 kilometres long esplanade that shapes the city beach, starting with the Marina at one end and the “Rockpool” at the other, with views to Magnetic Island and its forests all along the mind- and purposefully landscaped walkways. The island itself is a great target to focus on and let your mind drift away.

Because on this side of the earth it is summer in March, it was very hot outside and I chose to visit one of my other preferred places… …the Townsville Tropical Museum of Queensland, home of thousands of different corals, a constant exhibition about the famous HMS Pandorra including a reconstruction of a part of the ship as well as informative and educational sections like replica of the rainforest, mangroves or a typical Australian garden and its animal visitors.

The “science room” is a wonderful place to explore and experience gravity, measure how fast you can throw a ball, get confused by mirror effects, listen what someone is whispering at the other side of the room no matter how loud it is around, test your ability to match the frequency of a sound (my favourite!) and many other interesting phenomena. The changing display is always presented with sensible dedication and commitment to the topic and to detail.

Anyway, this building has a foyer with a really high, curved, wooden ceiling (to fit in the”Pandorra”) and glassed walls with a view over the new Marina on the one side and to Castle Hill on the other. Voila, a perfect place. Even more on a hot summer’s day, because the air condition produces a nice and comfortable room temperature.

Have you ever felt stuck and thought you need room to breathe? Did you ever want to be left alone but not necessarily needed total isolation? Do you sometimes feel like you will soon explode if you have to stay (wherever you are) for one minute longer? Then why not considering a beach day? Or a mountain day or desert day or whatever you prefer. It does not have to be the whole day. An extended lunch break in a gallery can be miraculous.

Expand your awareness now and then and give yourself the opportunity and the gift to “loose your mind and come to your senses”. You will thank yourself later.

If  such a place is hard to find in your area, you may want to learn how to expand your awareness for yourself and decrease, manage and prevent the unhealthy dis-stress as much as possible in your life.

Download the check-list  ’50 Symptoms That We Do Not Connect With Stress At First and explore how many apply to you.