Do you ever feel like you are missing a piece of your puzzle or that you are a puzzle piece trying to fit in another puzzle and feel frustrated and confused and the only thing reverberating in your mind is the Talking Heads song, ‘Once in a Lifetime?’… And you may ask yourself, “what is this beautiful house, and you may ask yourself, where does this highway go and you may ask yourself am I right or wrong and you may ask yourself, how did I get here?”
This is because we are letting the days go by and we are largely unconscious. We operate on autopilot, and we react to life instead of creating the life we want, a life that is authentically ours to own.
"Like trying to remove water at the bottom of the ocean, there's no way to stop life moving on".
I had one of these moments last week. It was my 49th birthday and I had this existential pounding at my heart that I am letting the days go by. It is at times like this that I can get reflective and questioned where did the time go and how much of it did, I miss?
I realized how I can undervalue the importance of ordinary moments, because when I did reflect, my nostalgia was not about the big milestone events. My nostalgia was those seemingly ordinary moments.
Insignificant moments are so fleeting and yet are tattooed in my mind. Like how my son’s corner of his mouth gets the better of him and turns up when he does not want to smile, the smell of my dog after the groomers, a captured lock of eyes with my husband across a crowded room when we both notice something amusing. These moments are gone in a second and yet lasts a lifetime. When I am distracted and on autopilot I will no doubt miss it and I have no doubt at times I have missed many of these precious moments.
So, it is my intention to move into my next year with a raised Conscious Awareness and not let my days go by but to be present with gratitude to as many ordinary moments I can muster. I know we are human, and distraction is inevitable, however, my aim is to catch myself as often as I can and return to the gift of the present moment.
Here are my 5 Tips to Living More Consciously:
- GRATITUDE: When you wake up in the morning think of three things that you are GRATEFUL for and feel it on a cellular level. For instance, “I am so grateful for my coffee, imagine I forgot to buy milk today”. Think of what it would feel like without it.
- INTENTION: Make an intention for the day. “Today I do not care what happens, I will be joyful or grateful, productive …you fill in the blank
- KNOW YOUR OUTCOME: If you are making a call to your mom, know what you want to achieve. For instance, I want to make her feel good. Know your purpose of what you are doing with everything you do before you do it.
- TAP INTO YOUR SENSES: 5,4,3,2,1. Tune into 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can smell, 2 things you can touch and 1 thing you can taste. When we focus on our senses, we are brought back to the present moment.
- BREATHE: Take a deep breath in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds and breathe out for 5 seconds and repeat 5 times. This slows your rapid thoughts in your head and calms your body down on a cellular level.
Have a beautiful month and here is to the gifts of the ordinary moments.
