May 22, 2020
This Friday’s Feel Good Blog at EAC is a break from routine. It’s decaffeinated, unplugged and fully acoustic: it’s break time!
In a society where we are constantly bombarded with minute by minute updates on network news channels, we can feel pressure to react, to form an opinion, to do something (anything!) to make sure that we’re informed and ready! But…ready for what exactly? The world’s financial markets go up, and then they go down. Rinse, lather, repeat. Your sister just posted a new selfie on Insta – wait a minute, is that a filter or has she lost weight?! Your former colleague twice removed just updated his status on LinkedIn with a new role in a schmancy company in New York. Everybody (even their pets) seems to be doing something. Goals, productivity, achievements: Huzzah!
The onslaught of such minutiae can feel like watching ticker tape (or golf on TV … sorry golf enthusiasts!). But, whatever your joy (maybe it is watching golf after all) we can find ourselves handing our attention, our wallets and our mental well-being over to powers beyond our control. Or, simply beyond our conscious intentions causing unwanted feelings of envy, anxiety and stress. So why is it then that we are called human beings, not human doings?
There are many moments of perfection in daily living to just ‘be’, and they do not require expensive travel or death-defying feats like rock climbing or cliff diving to experience. We have five senses, and senses beyond even those to intuit. To feel and enjoy the present moment. We have an ability to imagine and experience creativity in all of its forms in ways that bring unexpected joy. For me, the real highlight of the past year took place over a couple of days in September spent in the company of my four- and seven-year-old nieces walking down the lane and back to offer the horses on a neighbouring hobby farm the apples we stopped and picked along the way. Live in the city? Look no further than all of the sidewalk chalking going right now – adults and children alike! If ever there has been a time to still the mind and surrender to just being, the time is now.
Here are a few other ideas that make for easy experiments and do not cost any money. How about taking a walk unplugged from your fav beats so you can hear the sounds of spring and notice the goings on around the neighbourhood. Or, how about waiting to ‘tune-in and turn-on’ upon waking by just an extra 30 minutes to allow yourself to set your own agenda for the day? Or maybe deciding which social media apps to use and how often, or who to follow and then whittling it down even further to just the essentials would provide more space to just ‘be’. That Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) evaporates within less time than you might think. What ideas do you have on switching from doing to being? You are your very own best guide for living life the way you want to.