Amidst the chaos and flux of our daily lives, it’s quite common to find ourselves entangled in the web of unforeseen events and challenges. From the mundane mishaps to the more significant setbacks, each instance can feel like a disruption to the rhythm of our existence. But as we take a moment to pause and reflect on the broader scope of our journey, a realization begins to emerge: perhaps these disruptions aren’t as defining as they initially seem.
Consider this: how do these events and challenges fit into the vast panorama of our existence? Do they truly hold the same weight as we assign them in the heat of the moment? It’s a question worth pondering. Will tomorrow be dominated by the same concerns that consume us today? And what about a week from now? Or a year?
The truth is, that very few events retain the same magnitude over time. What seems like a catastrophe today may fade into insignificance tomorrow. Our lives are a series of ebbs and flows, with each challenge molding us into stronger, more resilient individuals.
In the grand scheme of things, our experiences are just small fragments of a much larger picture. They shape us, they teach us, but they do not define us. The setbacks we face today will soon be overshadowed by the triumphs of tomorrow.
So, the next time life throws a curveball your way, take a step back and put it into perspective. Embrace the lesson it brings, but don’t let it overshadow the beauty of the bigger picture. After all, in the globality of our lives, very few events are truly worth the worry and stress we invest in them.
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I came back from a fantastic trip to Cuba where I had a chance to walk a lot on beaches.
We all know that spending time outdoors is good physically and mentally, but the benefits of spending time at the beach have just been revealed by science.
That incredible feeling of peace and calm you get on the beach is now called “blue space“. This is what scientists have dubbed the effect that the combination of soothing perfumes and water sounds has on the brain. The blue space is enough to make you feel comfortable in a hypnotic way. Overall, this blue space strikes you in four different ways:
1. It reduces stress. Water is nature’s remedy for life’s stressors. It’s full of natural positive ions that are known to have the ability to make you feel comfortable. So whether you’re swimming or just dipping your toes into the water, you’re sure to feel a sense of relaxation. It’s an instant mood booster that we could all use from time to time!
2. The beach stimulates your creativity. Do you feel like you’re in a creative routine? Well, scientists now believe that walking on the beach helps the creative process. Being in the blue space allows you to clear up your mind and tackle problems or projects more creatively. Just like meditation, being on the beach triggers a sense of calm that allows you to tune everything else together and reflect on what you need to focus on.
3. Going to the beach can help reduce states of depression. Just like the effects you have on stress and creativity, walking on the beach also offers some relief from states of depression. The hypnotic sound of the waves combined with the sight and perfumes of the beach can put you in a meditative mode. You can clear up your mind and reflect on life in a safe space away from the chaos of your daily life.
4. Overall, spending time at the beach will change your perspective on life. And that perspective will change for the better! Nature in general has always been a factor for a healthy and happy life, but being on the beach in particular is so good for the soul.
So grab your sunscreen because it’s time to go to the beach! It’s winter on my side of the world but you can dress properly and enjoy the positive effects of walking on the beach.
Did you like this article? For more on wellbeing, please have a look here.
Our mind is fascinating. It has its own rhythm, unique perceptions and we are not aware of all its possibilities yet. Waves of thought run through our mind but I must say that unfortunately most of them are negative. However, you need to know that there is a way out to go around your negative inner monologue: positive affirmations.
I read about the importance of positive affirmations in one book of Louise Hay.
Affirmations are short positive sentences that motivate you, inspire you and encourage you to take action to achieve your goals. To make them work you have to repeat these phrases several times throughout the day, to make them stay etched in your unconscious mind.
Repetition can change your habits, behaviour, and point of view. As you may know, words are powerful. Regular repetition, aloud, but also within you, turns into thoughts that create your reality. Positive thoughts have the power to overcome internal negative speech. You may find it odd to say phrases like “I choose to be happy” in front of a mirror, but I assure you that these statements really help you reinforce the good vibes. Regular repetition of affirmations becomes your truth.
A statement firmly and confidently declares a positive thought and transforms it as a truth. By integrating these positive statements into your daily routine, you help your mind prioritize positivity.
According to some researchers, affirmations can help you work better. Spending a few minutes reflecting on your abilities before a stressful meeting, for example, can calm your nerves, increase your confidence, and improve your chances of success. Affirmations can also help you relieve stress.
Here are some of the benefits you can get from practising affirmations regularly:
Become happier. Affirmations allow you to recognize the things that keep you from being happy, because you focus on what you really want in life. In addition, your mood will get better.
See things in perspective. We often take the simplest things for granted. Using affirmations allows you to remind yourself that the simplest things are the most important. For example, if you are in good health, by using the statement “I am in good health” you can focus on this point and appreciate it more.
Reduce negative thoughts. Since most of our thoughts are unconscious (and negative), positive affirmations allow you to become more aware of your thought patterns and feelings, thereby reducing the risk of creating a recurring negative thought.
To get the best out of affirmation practice, you need to observe these three basic rules:
Plan repetition during specific moments throughout the day. Good times could be in the morning as soon as you get up or in the evening before going to bed. Each of us will find the best time to devote to repeating affirmations.
Use the verb in the present, because you want results now and not in the future. Furthermore, the brain only understands the present tense.
Do not use the negative form (for instance, do not say “I don’t take into account judgements from the others” but “judgements from the others are irrelevant to me”).
There are no strict rules on the frequency of repetitions. Nevertheless, according to psychotherapist Ronald Alexander of the Open Mind Training Institute, the statements can be repeated three to five times a day to reinforce the positive effect.
Do you like to write? Perfect! Writing your affirmations in a journal and reading them in front of a mirror is an effective way to make them more powerful.
Here are some affirmations you could practice if you want to try if they work for you too:·
I believe in myself and I trust my abilities.
I am the creator of my thoughts.
I am a successful person.
I choose to be happy.
An amazing family and very good friends surround me.
I am strong and courageous.
When I go to bed, everything is as it has to be and I fall asleep peacefully.
I have been receiving Miguel’s emails for some time, cannot really say how long. Recently, I received this article in my mail box that perfectly matches with the purpose of my blog. Actually Miguel, also published a video, in case you prefer watching to reading. Enjoy it!
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Humans have a natural tendency to gravitate towards negative thinking.
We could assume that tendency is there because it gave our ancestors a small survival advantage.
Those that were happy-go-lucky optimists got eaten by wolves.
Those that were pessimists and hoping for the worst didn’t get eaten as much.
So here we are today with a lizard brain primed to expect the worst.
Although there might be an evolutionary advantage to being pessimistic, living your life pestered by gloomy doomy thoughts is no fun.
The truth is today we live in a much more safe environment than hundreds of thousands of years ago.
It’s very rare for people to succumb to hungry tooth sabre tigers and such.
Yet, we live in a constant state of alert and fear triggered in part by nature only exacerbated by the news and social media.
So how do we escape negative thoughts?
Besides recreational drugs, alcohol, mindless social media binging, and meditation, I dare to propose a new way to lead happier mental lives.
You could think of this method as a thought experiment, a new mental model to deal with pessimistic thinking.
I call it the thought landscape.
Disclaimer: if you have trouble using your imagination or suffer from aphantasia, it won’t be easy to implement this approach.
The concept is quite simple to understand but tricky to master.
It goes like this:
A: There is a large number of thoughts we can have (negative, positive, neutral)
B: However, at any given instant, we can only think of one thing.
C: We can choose what we think at any given instant (focus)
D: Therefore, we can choose to substitute any current thought with any other available thought from A.
These are vast assumptions so let me elaborate a bit on each point.
A: This one everyone should agree. The number of thoughts a human can have is between 0 and Many. Many could be thousands or millions, a lot.
If you have a working brain, A should always be many. 0 is only for dead people.
B: This could be debated. However, we could safely assume that we can only hold one thought at a time. Thinking two thoughts simultaneously is not possible. I.e., you cannot think blue or black simultaneously (“Bluk” is not a colour!)
C: This could be more debatable, but If I tell you to think of a white elephant, usually you’ll think of a white elephant, not of a purple platypus. So you were able to change your thinking deliberately.
D: If the three statements above hold true, then it has to be true that we can control what we think at any given moment.
And if D is true, then it is good news for all of us!
This means that thinking negatively is, for the most part, a choice.
So, if you catch yourself stuck on negative thinking, now you know it’s because you chose to do so.
Great, and then what?
Then you can discard that thought, take a step back and look at what other thoughts are available from A.
The goal of taking this imaginary step back is to gain a new perspective.
Is to gain some altitude and contemplate which other thoughts you could choose from.
In A., we established that there could be many other thoughts you could have.
The range of available thoughts is what I call the thought landscape.
Like a physical landscape, you’ll see valleys and hills.
Photo by Claudio Testa on Unsplash
Now that you’ve momentarily elevated yourself over your thought landscape, it’s time to choose.
What other thoughts do you see that you could choose to think next?
Let me give you a concrete example of how this would play out for me.
So here I am, thinking I’m not good enough, smart enough, that people suck, that the pandemic sucks, that politicians are hypocrites, etc.
I’m feeling like shit. This is no fun. Then I realize I can choose what to think.
I take a step back and look at what other thoughts are currently available across my thought landscape.
In the beginning, it’s hard to see past a few meters because all the negative thoughts are fighting for attention, clouding my vision.
I try to rise a bit higher, past the dark fog.
I know there are other thoughts across the dark valley of shitty thoughts.
There you go… I see some light.
About 2 km away, I see a couple of green hills peeking through the clouds.
I take a closer look.
I see my family on one of them.
They love me. I feel happy to know they are alive and they love me.
I see food. Yum! I can see I have plenty of food, and I can afford more if I need to.
That makes me happy.
Another hill. Wow! I’m relatively healthy. How lucky I am! I can still walk, play sports, dance, use my body. My hands work… I can build things!
Another hill further away.
I see people in need. People whose lives I could make better. It makes me happy I could help other people. That’s important.
This exercise took only a couple of minutes, and my outlook has completely changed.
I feel gratitude. I feel alive. I feel happy.
My thought landscape is full of wonderful thoughts to choose from.
I don’t want to discriminate against negative thoughts. I just don’t want them to dictate how I feel 90% of the time.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember a single day of my life where I didn’t have a moment where my mind wasn’t imprisoned by negative thinking.
Negative thinking is inevitable. It’s there for our survival. We just need to learn how to keep it at bay.
The thought landscape will always offer you plenty of alternative thoughts, equally or even more valid than the negative thoughts you currently hold in your mind.
Crisbie Coach 