Add Meaning to the Mundane
A Month of Being Present
Kicking off the month of June, focused on being PRESENT has been a lot of fun. Since being present is a prerequisite to being able to enjoy our lives, it's a great step toward having the summer you want.
Whether peace at home, progress at work...or maybe some play on vacation...being present while you do it will make the entire process valuable.
Breathing on the Beach
This week we focused on how to simply breathe, in and out, even doing a guided breathing exercise live from the Beach on the Gulf of Mexico. Do it again (or for the first time) with the replay:
Wild + Brave Challenge
We also focused ourselves with this week's Wild + Brave Challenge to choose a "mundane" task and let it be our connection to being more present. It's the kind of challenge that can be done with family members, and can be applied to lots of mundane things like...
Common Mundane Tasks:
Putting on Makeup
Packing a Bag
Cleaning the House
Doing Laundry
Making Your Bed
Mowing or Yard Work
Taking Out the Trash/Recycle Bin
Washing the Car
Grocery Shopping
Getting Dressed for the Day
Fixing a Meal
Taking a Shower
Each thing you do can energize and nourish you so much more if you pay attention to what you're doing, and protect your brain from multitasking. You also increase your happiness and reduce the impact of stress on your health by turning your brain on to the meaning in the activity.
Maybe the make up you put on your face protects your skin and helps you feel ready to do your best work. Perhaps making your bed improves the feel of the room and puts a smile on your partner's face. Taking out the recycling may be a heavy job...but just think about the importance of recycling what we can for our planet?
The meaning is there...open yourself to it.
How to Do It: Uncovering Meaning in the Mundane
Watch the replay of this week's free Training called, Add Meaning to the Mundane, for some detailed examples and answered questions about how the chores we hate to do, and the silly time drains we deal with every day can actually help us be less stressed and happier in our lives because we are present and connected to the meaning they hold for us and others.
Key factors include:
- Let yourself focus on the task you're doing: multi-tasking makes us frenzied and reduces our finishing power.
- Guard your mind from "Worry-Tasking" or "Angry-Tasking": Let your mind be focused on the value of your task.
- Feel the meaning: every thing we do has meaning...we don't have to invent it, only allow ourselves to focus on it.
- Breathe: Being hurried and anxious does not improve our performance or make us happier; but being present can!
Next Week: Worry ≠ Love
Join us next week for another part of being Present. We're calling it "Worry ≠ Love" and we'll be BUSTING one of the biggest bullies that keeps us from being present: WORRY. Escape the burden of worry and unify your focus again when you learn to stop equating worrying about people with loving them. The same goes for stressing about goals or work and thinking of it as "caring."
Whether you're just trying to be responsible, or want to avoid unnecessary loss; it can be tempting to think that worrying about problems in the past and risks int he future helps make you safer. Unfortunately all it does is steal your ability to be present and decreases your resourcefulness. We've got an alternative that we look forward to sharing next week! Join Us