[Structure Supports Flow]
Some days are just a little more trying than others, a little funky, a little “off”, you know? Life happens, upsets occur – we all have days like this.
I figure they are part of the ebb and flow of life. I was not always like this – events would throw me off and it would take a little while to get me out of my upset.
Instead of hoping for “perfect” days (ha!) all the time, what I strive to do is shift out of the funk and back to feeling good (or at least neutral) as fast as I can.
For a small upset, this could be a few minutes or hours, and for bigger upsets, a couple of days. While I absolutely believe in honoring my feelings, I want to do what I need to do to “reboot” myself so I avoid being off balance for very long.
When I notice I’m feeling off, I begin my own reboot sequence, a structure created to support my feeling better as quickly as possible.
Here’s what I do, so you can give this a try:
- Notice IF and WHEN we’re feeling off – it could be big, or a low grade feeling of “something is not quite right.”
- Look inside to see what may be upsetting us, and figure out what needs to happen to reboot ourselves.
- Identify a handful of ways we can choose from to help us shift into a more positive state of mind.
- Have an immediate reboot plan you can do in 5-10 minutes, and a longer one you can come back to later for bigger upsets.
Some of these reboot ideas may seem obvious – “here we go again, talking about exercise” – but often what is obvious become so because they work.
Some ideas to quickly reboot yourself – and add your own:
- Call a friend, someone who always makes you feel good, even if all you talk about are day-to-day things.
- Laugh about something – find a video online that always makes you laugh.
- Dance – this works, too – it goes without saying, dance to your favorite song.
- Meditate in whatever form makes you comfortable. Even sitting in silence and thinking calm thoughts can work.
- Take a walk / exercise – remember that as over-used this advice is, it works!
- Do something fun that you enjoy – only you can decide for yourself what is fun for you.
This is a fantastic structure to support our shifting out of upsets and feeling our best as much as possible, regardless of the ups and downs.