Elaine St James, the author of Simplify Your Life and Simplify Your Work Life, is a mentor to me as I try to negotiate my way through the tangled undergrowth of urban life. One of her memorable tips is that when your schedule is really tight and you are drowning in work, take a break. And in fact, the time when you can least afford to indulge in one is when you most need to.

She cites the instance when she had to meet an impossible deadline. One of the first things she did right away was take a day off. She revelled in a stroll along the seashore eating ice-cream, had a delicious meal at a beach restaurant and even took in a matinee show. By the time she went to bed - tired but happy - she had worked out in her head how she was going to meet the deadline, which she did with two days to spare!

Distance yourself
St James makes a valid point. When we are so immersed in an issue or a problem, that we have lost our perspective and innumerable emotions overwhelm us, the best thing to do is to take a break, distance ourselves from the situation and see it from a bird's eye perspective. Not only will many things become clear, but the new outlook might actually help us to resolve the situation.
When I work on major stories or even smaller ones, I find that letting the article lie fallow for a day or two and looking at it afresh, always helps me to add more depth and meaning to it and to eliminate the fluff. No matter what our situation, we will never really see it for what it is until we step back and view it from an outsider's 'eye'. That is why breaks are essential. They are therapeutic, enlightening and of course, corrective. All too often, we jog along through life, completely caught up in the inertia of motion, doing things simply because we have always done them. When we stop doing the tried and tested, for whatever reason, we finally get a chance to ask ourselves if this is really what we want to do or be and if not, what is the option?

Explore the unexpected
A friend of mine took a month's sabbatical from her corporate job, dabbling in a variety of arts. That experience spawned a determination to ease out of her job and make an occupation from art. If she hadn't explored the unexpected she would have never known about this alternative livelihood.
I also know a busy executive whose life stopped in its tracks when he had a heart attack. As he lay in his hospital bed, wondering where he went wrong, he had an epiphany. He realised that this was not the life he wanted to lead. He left his job and became a Reiki master instead.
Accidents, illnesses and other unfortunate events are nature's way of forcing us to take a break if we don't do it ourselves. So, take time off before a crisis at work or health or relationships begins to snowball.

Review your dreams
A few days of exploring a new place, meeting new people and having fun is a fabulous idea. You’ll come back refreshed and charged with novel ideas of enhancing your life. Even going to your ‘native place’ can be a soul-nurturing break. To meet up with family and relations, to spend time in your ancestral home, to wander through the old haunts of your childhood can recall long memories and put you back in touch with your essential self. Too often, we fill our lives with the wrong priorities and motives. We aspire towards social success, financial success, to have our photograph appear on Page 3, to marry a millionaire and so on. Amidst the more innocent environs of our youth we can review these and recall our original dreams and ideals.
However, there are even more enriching ways of spending your break. Do a course or learn a skill. Go to the Kerala Kala Mandalam and learn Mohini Attam, enlist in a rural development programme and help the underprivileged in any way you can. Make up your mind to educate some street children, do theatre or join a choir. A friend recently did a week’s course in theatre. It has given fresh impetus to her desire to act in regional plays and she is currently working out a plan to implement this.
Another friend is deeply involved in the Habitat for Humanity movement. This non-governmental organisation, started by former US President, Jimmy Carter, aims at providing affordable housing to the underprivileged. The significant aspect of this NGO is that it encourages donors to actually go out there and put together the bricks and mortars of homes. Students, celebrities and ordinary people take a weekend off to actually build houses! Often described as transformative, it helps the privileged to experience the pain of the dispossessed.

Reinvent your inner self
The best kind of break is a spiritual one. Go to a retreat, a meditation programme, an ashram or even a nature cure sanitarium and use the opportunity to delve into your inner self. Our daily routine is too crammed with little details to help us see the big picture. Away from the hurly burly of our hectic life, days of pared-down simplicity with a focus on your inner world can give you the most rigorous alternative to our everyday existence.
If you think ashrams are huts inhabited by sadhus in topknots, perish the thought. Most are modern constructions and very comfortable indeed. The food is usually fantastic – something to do with the intention and focus with which it is cooked, I suppose. And you will meet wonderful people there, most of who are on the path and have learnt to eliminate their masks and be their true selves. In their company, you will loosen up too and let go of some of your pretensions and defenses.
The most important aspect of a spiritual retreat is the opportunity to reinvent your inner self. Our lives are lived on the outside, led by our roving senses. Here, we get a chance to go within and observe our thoughts, feelings, words, reactions, prejudices and so on. Quite often, the contents of our mind will astonish us, but this is the first step towards freeing ourselves from the hold of the mind. We can even uncover our innate and authentic desires and dreams, our values and visions. By accessing the best part of ourselves, we can enrich our lives immeasurably when we return from the break.