Free Inquiry- Episode 2:The One Where I Turned My Week Around

I had a hard week. I felt very off, agitated and emotional by the smallest things. I tried very hard to put my mindfulness into practice but I was in a rut. I searched up some mindfulness practices and came across this article,  “Five Ways to Find Time to Pause.”

It suggested to start your day with a drink such as coffee or tea, and to not just make it and drink it, but to notice the intention of the experience. How does my body sense when I make it, and drink it, the sounds in the room,  the aroma of the coffee, the warmth of the cup in your hand, the taste as you take that first sip, and the feelings of warmth as the coffee is swallowed. Don’t multitask, just sit and experience the drinking of coffee.  The article then says, “When we begin our day with this Purposeful Pause, we are intentionally engaging in a mini-training of our mind to be present. We use our body’s sensations to keep us grounded in the present. And, rather than letting the coffee get cold while we are distracted by texts or to-do lists, or missing the experience completely so that we wonder if we actually had a cup of coffee, when we finish and turn to the next task at hand, our attention is rested and ready to engage.” 

I really tried to focus on this for the week so that I could start my day off in a calm way and so that I was present with myself. Once I slowed down in the mornings and actually just sat with my coffee and scanned my body, it became my favorite part of my day. This made me very happy, and I am now going to try and incorporate this practice in my everyday life in the mornings. My mornings did start off great, but through the day I still felt very agitated, and so I practiced mindfulness through breathing, pausing and taking a moment and I found it calmed me down so that I could proceed with my task. 

This week I also started the chapter “negativity”  in my book Think Like a Monk, by Jay Shetty and it was one of the most beneficial chapters I have read. I can talk about the chapter forever, and I think I will touch on it every week because the practices and information really stuck with me. One of my favourite quotes that stuck with me this week allowed me to open my mind. 

“You wake up. Your hair looks terrible. Your partner complains that you’re out of coffee. On the way to work some driver who’s texting makes you miss the light. The news on the radio is worse than yesterday. Your co-worker whispers to you that Cadence is pretending to be sick again… everyday we are assaulted with negativity. No wonder we can’t help but dish out as well as receive it. We report the aches and pains of the day rather than the small joys” (pg.22).

My favourite part of that quote is,  No wonder we can’t help but dish out as well as receive it. We report the aches and pains of the day rather than the small joys. I loved this quote, and as I reflected on it, it made me realize there is a lot of unwanted useless negativity in our everyday lives, and it often weighs us down and consumes our minds over the good things that happen in our day. I read this quote on Wednesday night and on Thursday I tried to really practice being aware and present in the ways negativity could affect my day and instead of letting that negativity dwell on me, I focused on the positives of my day and tried to not let the negativity get to me. Becoming aware of this made me realize that there is lots of negativity in our everyday lives, but once we become aware of that, and choose to focus on the positives, you mindset will change for the better. On Thursday I decided to focus on the positives. I had a presentation that I was nervous for and negative thoughts came into my head of messing up, but instead of focusing on that, I thought about how good it will feel when i’m done, and there are no horrible consequences if I stutter or mess up my words during the presentation, so I told myself to  just relax. I then drove home and instead of getting mad about the traffic, I soaked up the sun and rolled down my window to get some fresh air. I got home and I sat outside and noticed one singular flower sprouting from my lawn and I just sat there and admired it and thought about my day. It felt so good to be aware of the negativity that comes up in my life and to not allow it to ruin my day.

Photo by Ashley Hall is licensed under CC BY 4.0

To end off this blog and reflect on the learning that occurred for me this week was that I had an off week that I couldn’t seem to shake, but once I put my mindfulness practices into place, I turned my week around. I became very aware of how I both receive and give negativity in my everyday life and how to become aware and produce a more positive outcome out of my days!