Subconscious-Wisdom

Check out this TED-Talk: Research showed that stress isn't actually making us sicker, it is OUR BELIEF that stress is harmful to our health that increases our risk. An important reminder, especially in 2020.

How to make stress your friend | Kelly McGonigal Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Stress. It makes your hea...

Wow, yes! P a s s it on.

I had a recurring theme with two of my clients yesterday: chasing happiness - and feeling unfulfilled, slow, unsuccessful, 'never doing enough' in the process.

We talked about the fact that 'happiness isn't a destination'. You've all heard that nice little quote, I'm sure. What does it mean, though? Because even though we understand it rationally, we still think (at least most of us do) that happiness is something we'll have once we've accomplished X, Y and Z.

In reality, happiness is the sum of many pleasant moments, so to get there we need to actively create those moments. How do we do that? We bring mindfulness to small tasks! Some also refer to it as 'single tasking'.

The term mindfulness is often used when referring to having a daily meditation practice. In fact, this was one of the mind traps of one of yesterday's clients who thought she just needed to finally get her s*** together and simply do it. "Everybody is doing it. Everybody loves it. Everybody tells me it's changed their lives for the better." Unfortunately, she simply doesn't enjoy it, so she has a hard time doing it. At the same time, she beat herself up about 'having to' clean house daily, clearing out drawers, tidying up spaces, etc.

In our conversation about mindfulness I suggested becoming fully mindful while doing small daily tasks, enjoying them and giving them her full attention. This was a big lightbulb moment because she realized that she actually WAS doing that when she cleaned house: she enjoys it, it makes her happy, it calms her mind. But instead of realizing that, she only focused on what she wasn't doing (meditating). When I reminded her that her breathing exercises that she loves also count as wonderfully mindful moments, she had an epiphany. In that instant she understood that she IS DOING A LOT OF THINGS RIGHT ALREADY because they make her feel good and happy and that she needn't focus on the ones that make her unhappy.

I was thrilled to watch the wondrous expression come over her face when she realized this. It was an absolutely beautiful moment to witness.

So, let's all celebrate what we ALREADY ARE doing in our lives, all the small steps that we are taking towards the goal of being happy. Because happiness is the sum of MANY SMALL things.

Below is an article I found that has some great ideas on how to introduce mindfulness into the small moments in our everyday life.

11 Ways to Bring More Mindfulness Into Your Daily Life Today Here are 11 strategies I use to infuse mindfulness into my whole day. I hope you try them out for yourself and experience first hand the transformative power of mindful living.

Or take a more active role in your life and...

Choose people who inspire and bring out the best in you. Choose people who take care of you, who understand what you need in this moment and who love to see that beautiful smile on your face. Choose people who make sure you know that you are their number one person. Choose people who know when they are right AND when they are wrong and who are strong enough to admit it freely. Choose... Its your choice!

Interesting read on happiness research by deconstructing some clichē happiness quotes. Check it out and let me know what you think:

19 Cliché Happiness Quotes & The (Lack Of) Science Behind Them You don’t have to look far to find some of the many happiness quotes online. But do you ever wonder how these quotes hold up when you consider the evidence?

I couldn't agree more