This is the 2nd post in a series looking at different ways to live a more balanced life. You can read the first post in the series here.
We humans have a tendency to focus on future events; from the simpler what am I going to have for dinner tonight to the more serious am I going to be made redundant – something which plagued my mind very recently. We also tend to cling onto the past, more so if it was a negative experience which is understandable as our natural instinct is to protect ourselves from unpleasantness. However these distractions will detract from your positive outlook, some are even outright destructive to your health.
The key is not to allow such thoughts to take up more time than is necessary which is not as easy as it sounds.
Let Go of the Past
Relatively speaking past events are easier to deal with, the first step is to accept that there is nothing you can do to change what happened. That realisation can be a powerful factor in itself, all that is left to do then is to learn from your mistakes (if any).
In a similar vein we need to learn to recognise what future events we can and cannot control and more importantly not to focus on what if scenarios that will never come true.
The following are some exercises I’ve put together graded in order of difficulty. Bronze level is something we can all do regardless of experience. Silver is a slightly more challenging while Gold requires some more time and in some cases effort.
Bronze Medal
- Sit or lie quietly and comfortably and close your eyes.
- Try to identify as many sounds as you can.
Silver Medal
The following is an exercise I once read somewhere on developing your intuition.
- Find a nice comfortable spot to sit in. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. The key here is to empty your mind. Try to recognise a stray thought when it enters your mind and imagine it being washed away by a river.
- After a minute or two answer the following without thinking about it, “How am I feeling?”
- You can change the question and/or act on your answer accordingly. Trust your instincts.
Gold Medal
Do part 1 of the Silver medal exercise daily. Start off slowly, no more than a few minutes and gradually build from there. Don’t worry about when or by how much, you will know.
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