Being in the Moment
Attitude has been on my mind a lot lately. Through the current situation with COVID, I’ve been struggling with my attitude. Maintaining a positive attitude has probably been my greatest challenge. It seems like I do great for a few hours, maybe even a few days, but then I fall back into a slump. One day I love working from home, the next day I’m exhausted and feel like all I’m doing is working. And then I do it all over again...
Valuable Tools
As a coach and a mental health professional, I know all the right things to do and say. I have coping skills – lots of them, and most of them work well. In fact, on April 27th, I did a lengthy post on creating and maintaining a positive attitude. In that post, I talked about 15 of the most valuable tools for creating and maintaining a positive attitude. Tools that I have used personally and with my clients with great success. Yesterday I posted again about the benefits of a positive attitude.
And yet, when I sat down today to write my weekly post, attitude is what came up for me again. In the work that I’ve been doing with my personal coach over the past two weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at intentionality – I’ve recognized that through this COVID ordeal, I haven’t been being intentional. I’ve been letting life live me. I know – crazy, right? That’s my tagline! It’s what I spend all day supporting others to do – so how can I not be doing it?
Live Our Best Life
Well, o.k., here goes and I know that this is going to shock you - so, hold onto your hair! I’m human and like all other humans I get stuck. I stop using the tools that I know work so well, and I flounder and feel sorry for myself. The thing is, I’m tired of floundering and feeling sorry for myself. I want to live my best life. I want to live intentionally and reap the rewards of living a value-driven life.
Even more importantly – I want you to live your best life. I want you to live intentionally and reap the rewards of living a value-driven life. So, let’s do this together – let’s create and maintain a positive attitude together! Over the next 15 weeks, let’s explore some of the things that we can do to create and maintain a positive attitude so that we can live our best lives, live our values, and live intentionally. This is going to be such an exciting journey; I am so glad that you are on it with me!
Savor the Moment
The first stop on our journey is to begin the practice of being in the moment. If we genuinely want to live our lives, rather than letting our lives live us, we must figure out how to SAVOR the moment. I chose this as our first stop. Studies show that people who take a few minutes each day to actively savor something they typically hurry through begin experiencing more joy, happiness, and other positive emotions and fewer symptoms of depression.
This stop is all about being super-present, not thinking ahead or remembering the past, but practicing BEING. This is a PRACTICE - meaning you will have to do it repeatedly - bringing yourself back to the NOW. Don’t worry, though, over time it gets easier, and it's a great skill to have.
Come on, give it a try! Relish or luxuriate in whatever it is that you’re doing right now. Maybe you're drinking a cup of coffee, watching your kids play a game, or basking in the sun. Maybe you’re listening to music, listening to your child read, or watching your dog chase a butterfly. Be in the moment, be present.
Other tips for being in the moment include:
using your senses to ground you
getting into nature
accepting what you don’t know
challenging habitual behaviors
creating personal rituals and,
daily reflection.
All of these things will help you to slow down and create physical time and space. Doing that will free up your energy so that you can be more present for the things - and people - that are most important to you.
Over the next week, practice BEING. Savor an experience that you would normally rush through, breath and notice what’s around you, and just BE with whatever is happening in that moment. I’ll be practicing too! Please stop by the Intentionally Me FaceBook Group – Attitude is Everything – and share your experiences. Learning and practicing are more rewarding when you’re doing it with friends. I want to hear about your experiences and celebrate your successes with you!
