What we all are experiencing right now, whether it’s affecting us directly or indirectly, on a big or small scale inevitably brought us together as humans. Whether we want it or not, we are all in this, and only together we can get through this. Everything in this world is interdependent and connected, and the current situation is clearly demonstrating the extent of that. When we go about our regular lives, dealing with challenges, and having all kinds of concerns, we rarely take time to reflect and ask ourselves, “Is what I’m doing right now helping or hurting my desired future?”. Now is an excellent time to start asking that and also add another question, “How what I’m doing may affect my environment?” Our livelihoods depend on our internal state and what is being reflected in to the environment.
So what can we do when we can’t literally get up and act on the problem and are forced to sit and wait? Well, sometimes acting on problems isn’t the best idea because our minds tend to try to avoid the unpleasant feelings associated with the problem and frantically come up with every possible bad scenario, so it’s prepared just in case. This is how we become anxious by avoiding unpleasant feelings and thinking ourselves out of bad situations/past memories that come up and reacting to them. So let’s not give in to mass anxiety and fear, it will not benefit anyone.
This is a major test for everyone, a test on whether we are willing to be understanding, kind, and appreciative of what we have. This is a test for determining what is really important and what has been imposed on us. The final exam will be on whether we learned our lessons and will change the ways that don’t work anymore. So it begins, we should get on with studying, we no longer can have an excuse that we don’t have the time or that our minds aren’t in it. In this unprecedented time, we are given an opportunity to introspect and reflect on how we live our lives and really ask: What’s important to me? What role do I have in this world?
We couldn’t slow down before and evaluate what we were doing, this is a perfect opportunity to do that and change what we didn’t notice before and understand how to refocus ourselves on the important.
Here is what I want to share with you. Mindfulness really helps my clients to work with anxiety, worry, depressive states, etc. We are all capable of learning to live in the present moment, the benefits of which are endless. When we are in the now, we are focused on tasks at hand, we are not mood dependent or easily distractible. Taking three minutes out of our day (or any time we feel like it) to look inside and really understand how we feel and what thoughts are dominating our minds will help us be more conscious, focused, and present.
So here is what you can do over the course of three minutes:
Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and tell yourself that right now, you can’t do much about what’s happening out there and ask yourself, “How am I doing?”.
Scan your body from head to toe to see if there is any tension or uncomfortable sensations, don’t try to analyze or fix, just acknowledge it.
Pay attention to the feelings you are experiencing, is there any emotional discomfort or anything unpleasant happening, don’t think about it, just acknowledge it.
Pay attention to the thoughts in your mind, don’t try to analyze or change them, just acknowledge them.
Now pay attention to your breath, inhale, exhale, physical sensations associated with your breathing. Whenever your mind is trying to escape somewhere, kindly bring it back to the breath without judgment. Paying attention to breathing is a way to be aware of the now, not letting the thought carry you away somewhere else.
Try to expand your awareness of yourself and your breathing back into the place you are in and your day.
Once the exercise is over, reflect on what you experienced, you can write down what you noticed. Try to do things in your day more mindfully, acknowledging what you are thinking and feeling.
This exercise helps learn how to react in the face of uncertainty and not give in to fears, intrusive thoughts, worries, and negativity.
Embrace the now, because life happens in the present moment. Introspection through reflection will lead to expansion and evolution.
Growth starts from within!
To be continued…..