With the debut of the movie Eat, Pray, Love based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s popular book, it has made me and others think about getting in touch with ourselves and taking time for the things that really matter in life. This applies not only for our personal lives but also for our professional lives. Although we are in the midst of a recession and money is tight, there are still some free and low-cost ways that we can practice the Eat, Pray, Love principles in our personal and professional lives. Here are my top three tips:

• Eat. When was the last time you called a business associate and invited him or her out to lunch to reconnect? If it has been more than three months, now is the perfect opportunity to catch up. It’s great that we are connected on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and others but we still need to maintain our offline relationships. Also, why not make it a point to try a new restaurant once or twice a month? To help you stretch a dollar to save, why not use restaurant.com to save money on your next meal? Every penny counts!
• Pray. With the demands of our professional and personal lives, it can be easy to become so busy and forget to pray. Try starting each day with prayer. Likewise, don’t forget to pray for the success of your business as well as for guidance to make it a success. Luke 18:1 tells us that we should pray consistently and never quit. This is good practical advice. Furthermore, don’t forget to pray for others and their success as well (Ephesians 6:18). Prayer changes things!
• Love. Everyone would love to have some love shown to him or her, right? When was the last time you showed some love online? Show other bloggers some love by using Stumbleupon, Facebook, and other social networking sites to “like” blog posts that we find interesting and think others would find interesting as well. Likewise, don’t forget to retweet tweets that others may find interesting. Also, let’s not forget to show our customers some love by sending them a card or gift basket to let them know how much we appreciate them. Lastly, let’s show ourselves some love daily by taking time to rejuvenate our bodies and minds and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. We only get one life so let’s make the most of it.

By incorporating these simple actions into our daily lives, we can definitely start to see a difference and increase in our personal and professional lives. What do we have to lose? Give it a try!

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