Last week I challenged you to find happiness in the moments of everyday life: connecting with a friend, writing a letter, listening to the birds, noticing spring opening up, setting down your phone… the list can grow and grow! I know it sounds simple and maybe even naive, but there is good science to back it up. When we feel stressed, anxious, overwhelmed and burned out, it is our brain auto-responding to certain inputs. While we cannot control or avoid these inputs, we can stop our brain’s auto-responses. We can notice the stress and shift our focus. We can be awake to a live awareness of now by focusing on our breath, our bodies, our senses. This awareness moves us away from negativity, worry, judgement and pain. It brings us into our reality rather than letting our brain guess at our reality.
All of the little moments in our lives can be unnoticed, forgotten, lost in rumination and worry OR they can be intentional, beautiful and filled with enjoyment. Studies show, that even if we are doing a task we don’t want to do (think washing dishes/cleaning toilets) and we are awake to what we are doing, we enjoy it more than when we mindlessly do a “fun” task.
So this weeks challenge is to stop and notice when you are experiencing negative thoughts and emotions like stress, anxiety, overwhelm, burnout… then notice the birds singing, go out and observe a tree unfurling its spring green leaves, or tune in to your breath and notice the rise and fall of your belly and chest. Become awake to your being. Bring your awareness into life right now.
You don’t need solutions, analysis, figuring out… you just need to shift focus, listen, see, touch, breathe.
