By Are your days grey or do they vibrate with different colours and sounds? Sometimes, we can go through the hours of the day being little aware of the secrets that life offers us and that connect us to it. That’s why we’re going to tell you some key points.
Sometimes we can resist going with the flow of life. We resist for many reasons; one of them is the pace at which the days pass, which can be frenetic, relentless and almost wild.
Therefore, it is healthy to reflect. It is advisable that we stop for a few seconds and ask ourselves about the aspects of everyday life that have the potential to connect us through a hug. Those moments that fill us with magic and provide us with warmth. Those daily situations in which life connects with us .
«Life is a river, flow with it and enjoy the ride.»
-Maxime Lagacé-
The art of dancing with life
Is your life journey a straight line or does it have curves? We can sometimes forget that “today,” i.e. “now,” is “life.” It’s that term that we sometimes narrate with longing (“I remember when I was younger than…”). It’s the seconds and minutes that pass as you read this article.
We started this section with a question. We asked it because sometimes we go through our days with a predefined objective (for example, work) and, almost without realizing it, we find ourselves at the end of our day. We may surprise ourselves by thinking “how quickly the day has passed!”
However, when evaluating how the day has gone, it is possible to come to the conclusion that “nothing remarkable has happened.” We ask you: are you sure?
Perhaps things happened during the day that you have been less than receptive to . By overlooking what life has to offer, we are depriving ourselves of the factors that make us connect with it. These can be a smile, a hug, a coffee or the mere effect of the breeze on our skin.
We can go through life with or without martingales. Martingales are the equipment that horses are put on to make them look straight ahead, and that means that these animals are unable to look to their sides to admire the landscape. Their paths are straight and boring, instead of curved and full of beautiful views.
“Happiness is a butterfly which, when you chase it, always seems to be just beyond your reach, but if you sit quietly, it may light upon you.”
-Nathaniel Hawthorne-
What do you do to make life embrace you?
There are countless ways to connect with life. Mindfulness philosophy can be a good friend to achieve connection with the moments that give us energy and make us vibrate. When you feel that time moves too fast and you are short of breath, use some techniques to increase your receptivity to the pleasures of living.
Mindfulness in the “now” is often confused with “emptying the mind.” This is a misconception. Mindfulness is a philosophy of life. A path to follow. A way of learning from life. It allows us to increase our awareness of what we do, with the aim of making life connect with us. In other words, it makes us more receptive to what happens in the present moment.
« Mindfulness is not just a practice, but a way of life that can transform our relationship with ourselves, others and the world.»
-Sharon Salzberg-
Mindfulness: a tool to train our gaze in the “now”
Going through life with your mind fully focused on what you are doing, in addition to preventing anxiety and depressive symptoms, changes the way you relate to what surrounds you. Seconds, minutes and hours are no longer “empty” and gradually, with practice, acquire a vigorous energy.
A preliminary exercise: introspection to connect
We may think that “meditation practice” is a waste of time. However, meditation is a mindfulness procedure that allows us to reach a state of relaxation. Try focusing for two minutes only on your breathing (Shapiro, 2006).
If your attention “slips” out of your control, that’s normal. That is, focusing on your breathing can cause thoughts and emotions to emerge that have little to do with observing how you breathe.
When this happens, simply bring your attention back to the air filling your lungs and the rhythmic movement of your ribcage. Observe your thoughts, from your breathing, without considering whether they are “good or bad” or whether “they should or should not be in your mind.”
“Mindfulness is the practice of opening to present experience, without judgment or resistance, and simply allowing it to be as it is.”
-Tara Brach-
A matter of perception
Observe your body. How does it feel? Stiff or relaxed? How does it feel if you focus your attention on the big toe of your right foot? Do you notice the contact with the shoe? Focus on that sensation. Little by little, move to other points of your anatomy. Get in touch with the sensations it provokes in you, without evaluating them. Without judging them.
When you walk, do you feel the contact of the sole of your foot against the pavement? A good way to “get in touch with life” is to increase awareness of the sensations and perceptions we experience throughout the day. Look at the trees. Or at people. Look at the sky. What do you see? What does it convey to you?
Observing our surroundings can bring us extraordinarily positive emotions. Our surroundings are full of vibrant colors and sounds. The sun has the potential to caress our skin and provide us with a hint of warmth, even on the coldest of days. Have you ever stopped to reflect on these aspects? These are the little things in our daily lives that have the potential to make us feel better and comfort us.
«Life is what we make of it. Adventures are everywhere, and it is our responsibility to find them.»
-J. W. Goethe-
Thank you
Gratitude is a faithful and loyal friend . You can trust that practicing gratitude will potentially bring you intense feelings of positive valence. Gratitude or the ability to give thanks for what we have is the “capacity to perceive and recognize certain things that have benefited us at some point in our days” (Cerdan et al., 2022).
Developing this ability through things that are done for us or through things that life offers us (for example, and as we mentioned, the chirping of a bird or the sound of the wind between the buildings of the city) increases the perception of the positive things in the life we go through (Seligman, 2011). It increases our ability to connect because we give meaning to the events we experience.
As we have seen, there are many ways in which life contacts us. Sometimes it can be difficult for us to pay attention to the situations, colours, people and sounds around us. But we can make use of “ mindfulness technology ” which, through meditation, observation and gratitude, helps us to stop and enjoy. To vibrate. To live. And you, how do you connect with life?
«Gratitude is a powerful form of energy that can transform our lives.»
-Oprah Winfrey-