Wouldn’t it be lovely just to switch off

I haven’t written anything in almost a year and every time I looked at the Medium App on my phone, I felt guilty.

Now when I am writing, I feel good, I feel focused and I leave all the noise behind. It is the same as being engrossed in a good book or even movie.

So why haven’t I been writing more often? Is it a lack of inspiration, writers block (not like I’m writing a novel or anything), fear of trolls, low self belief. Well it could be a bit of all of that, but what stands out most is pure “distraction”.

Busy Lives

We are bombarded day in and day out with “other people’s problems”, well I am at least.

Besides other people, there is also news, social media, work, family and other issues that pull me in different directions.

It got me thinking:

How much time do I actually give to myself, mindfully?

How often do I ever allow myself to STOP and reflect on this, or have I been too busy?

It is very hard to do as we constantly process information and it is humanly impossible to stop thinking, feeling & even doing.

Unless “medicated” 😂 we rarely have an opportunity to switch off on our own.

We spend a majority of our lives mindlessly, in automatic pilot

When you actually take stock of this, from the time any of us wake up, we are straight into routine, from getting dressed, making breakfast, brushing teeth and even commuting.

I drive to work and don’t even remember the journey!!

I do the same at work, even when facilitating support groups. My mind wanders and becomes Un focused.

It was group work that made me concerned as I have to be present, especially in groups.

Most of the noise though is not external, it’s all internal. We distract ourselves.

But there is a solution….

We can make “space” to just switch off, in fact it is not a luxury to do so, but a necessity.

It’s very easy to blame and deflect and use excuses to get out of taking responsibility for ourselves.

“I can’t do it because of….”

The amount of times I don’t take 15 to 20 minutes to meditate and then blame life circumstances is a complete contradiction in itself.

Our short comings become everyone else’s fault.

In all honesty, the buck stops with the self.

The only person who stops you is YOU.

Practicing Mindfulness

No longer new age or eastern, mindfulness is very much accepted in todays western culture.

It’s easy to do but very hard to do consistently.

That is why so many people do give up practicing mindfulness or being present as we have all been preprogrammed for the quick fix.

Practicing mindfulness takes just that: practice, and consistency. Once you make practicing mindfulness a habit or routine, you WILL start to see the benefits, & if you don’t your family will.

Besides meditating you can do many activities mindfully. Just pay attention in the present, using all your senses.

Besides meditation, You can eat mindfully, walk mindfully, reflect mindfully, even breath mindfully.

A Calming Effect

In our very busy rat race world, most of us suffer from chronic stress and we are almost permanently triggered.

Cortisol runs through us like blood, literally. Our amygdala is fired up. Our thoughts are in a distorted hyper drive, our emotions are on edge. Many of us are a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen.

What do we do?, most cases self medicate using alcohol, drugs, food, porn …….

When you are stressed you become more stressed trying to sort out the stress or de stress. Put fuel ⛽️ on the fire 🔥.

Our Parasympathetic nervous system is our savior and mindfulness is how we can activate it, to counter act the sympathetic nervous system and get rid of all that cortisol.

Being Present

5 to 20 minutes can do absolute wonders for you. If you don’t have the time even 5 — 8 breathing, will calm you down and ground you.

Think of a stressful thought or if you are stressed reading this, scale measure your level of stress on a 1 to 10 scale.

STOP 🛑 what you are doing, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed or distracted (especially by your own thoughts). Close your eyes, breath in through your nose for the count of 5 seconds and then release your breath for the count of 8 seconds. Focus on the breath entering your nose and leaving through your mouth, sighing when you exhale helps.

Do this for about 5 minutes and then re measure your stress level on the scale

Where your focus goes your energy flows

Whatever you pay attention to or focus on you will think, feel & do.

The reticular activation system takes over and we notice more of one thing.

Try this experiment, next time you are on or by a roadside: tell yourself to notice a Toyota (for example). Guaranteed, you will notice a lot of Toyotas.

You can do this with anything, like colors, shapes, people with bald heads 👨‍🦲 etcetera.

Although the RAS works mainly on the subconscious, it does get triggered and brings our awareness to what we focus on. The Law Of Attraction is based a lot on this.

So if we can train our minds to mindfully focus on specifics, then why not focus on the positives.

By default most humans focus primarily on the negative. It’s how life has conditioned us and continues to influence us. Take the News for example.

Habit and routine has a lot to play and so does our insatiable need for drama.

If you’ve noticed, all these negative “distractions” are external or outside of us 🤔.

So if we can or do focus on the negative dramas in life, by default, then what is to stop us changing our focus 🧘‍♂️ on the positive and our inner selves.

It’s food for thought & is not that difficult to change and do, so long as you commit to active repetition and practice and a little bit of neuroplasticity.

So moral of the story:

You can turn around your mindless autopilot state to a mindful aware state.