YODA YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS AND WELL-BEING
Curious as to what Yoda has to do with unlocking your true happiness and well-being?
In this blog, I will share how in today’s world we have forgotten to use our innate powers of wisdom. I will also share a few tips on how, if we only just slow down enough to listen, we can begin to become the masters of our happiness, balance, and well-being once again.
As I sit here snuggled in my jersey, a cup of tea in hand and my eyes gently closed under the soft glow of the meek Spring sun, my whole body feels soothed, calm, and nourished by the stillness and this sense of freedom.
Right now, I feel at peace and at ease with life.
Right now, I feel calm and aligned.
Right now, I feel happy and free.
Isn’t this how we were meant to feel in life?
Absolutely YES!
Just like every organism in nature, we are magnificently designed to be able to find our natural homeostasis or ideal sense of balance and happiness. You only need to look at a young child or at an animal who listens to their natural body’s rhythm and needs to decide whether they want to play, sleep, or eat. They trust in their instincts about the present moment and then take action to adapt their behaviour to self-soothe or re-energise so they can find their homeostatic happy place.
This is why I cherish children and animals. They are in sync with their purest form of intelligence. Skipping or bouncing down the road instead of walking. Finding the sunny spots in the garden and basking in it for hours. Or sleeping belly up with arms and legs like stars when rest and sleep become the priority.
We are naturally designed and perfectly primed to be able to be in control of how we feel. We only need to slow down enough to listen to what is going on inside for us that allows us to then choose the appropriate action or adaptation to find our congruent happiness.
There is wisdom in our intuition.
Just set your mind back to the past. We only need to look back a few centuries ago to remember how capable and powerful our minds and bodies can be.
Back then, we used our minds and our intuition to track our distance or navigate our future path. We were observant and respectful of the weather and we were guided by cycles of Nature, especially the seasons to know what we needed to hunt or gather in preparation to thrive for the next few months.
Even in the last 100 years or so, when communities and societies had started to develop, we did not want for much more other than to find safety and meaning. This means that we only really activated our survival mode of “Fight, Flight or Freeze” when we were faced with real dangers, like a predator on the plains or when our food store or home was at risk of being destroyed. The rest of the time, we lived in a peaceful and harmonious state of “Rest and Digest”.
We were masters at being able to listen, understand and adapt to the immediate world around us, both externally and from within. We were our very own living and breathing Yoda’s and we thrived!
Why Yoda you may ask?
Well as those Star Wars fans already know, Yoda is a wise and immensely powerful character because he was keenly attuned to the Force. Listening and trusting in the ancient wisdom of Universal intelligence. As a youngling Yoda was trained to guard peace and justice in the Universe, becoming one of the most legendary Jedi Masters.
Back in the days, we acted like Yoda. We lived in harmony and balance with the world around us and within ourselves. Trusting in the gift of intuition and how we felt to guide our decisions. We ensured that we only consumed or changed what was necessary, thereby guarding the symbiotic relationship between ourselves, Nature, and those around us. Thereby ensuring that we could thrive and survive.
So, where are we going wrong today?
Quite simply put- we are thinking too much and forgetting to trust in our feeling or our instincts!
One of the key drivers of our human evolutionary success can be attributed to the rapid expansion of our Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC) in our brain.
The PFC is a part of the brain which is responsible for our executive functioning and much like the CEO of a company, the PFC helps us to set and achieve our goals and our vision. It is also commonly known as “the voice inside your head” or the Conscious mind. It is where we create and control our life’s story (our reality) which in turn then influences how we feel and experience life.
Our PFC’s ability to “imagine” and ruminate about creating a new way of living resulted in a few of today’s greatest achievements, namely; Technology, Modern Medicine, and Globalisation.
Would it blow your mind to realise that it was ONLY 47 years ago (1973) that Robert Metcalfe* figured out a simple way of linking computers together that he named the Ethernet?
Yes, that little cable which initially connected our computers. That is less than an average lifetime ago and look at how much we have advanced since then. (Biometric watches, video calls, virtual operations, drone delivery and so much more.) It is mind-blowing to see how quickly we have advanced in such a short space in time.
We live in a time where there is a proliferation of information. But the questions we must ask are:
Is it helping or hindering us? When is it too much? Is it wise to stop trusting in our internal information and be guided purely by the masses' latest thinking or trends?
Beware: Bright Stars can create shadows.
For us, our brain’s ability to ruminate on opportunities and advancements sadly also means that it has the same potential to ruminate and focus on our fears and worries.
Humans are instinctually driven to focus on possible dangers in life to ensure survival. However, in today’s world, it is not only the unexpected tiger (big adverse events) that we only experience anymore. Today we place so much focus and meaning towards our “Be More, Do More and Have More” modern-day society metrics, that our daily lives are swarming with these Stress Tigers. It is our feeling of stress or anxiety, driven by our fear of rejection or failure by society, which leads our bodies to interpret the situation as life-threatening. As a result, it initiates our “Fight, Flight or Freeze” defence response, which if initiated constantly can lead to Mental and Physical Illness.
Do I have the right status? Am I wealthy enough? Am I the fastest? How many followers do I have? Do I have a Kardashian's waist? Does my skin look Insta perfect? Am I the perfect mum?
How can we expect to compete or measure our success when we are comparing ourselves to the world and its constantly changing benchmarks? This feeling of lack triggers our minds to become fixated on limiting thoughts, self-doubt, and our fears. As a result, we spend so much time in our heads running through these fictitious scenarios that we become disconnected from ourselves, our bodies, and our present environment.
We only need to look at the dramatic rise in mental health and stress-related health issues of late to begin to understand the importance of ensuring that our Conscious mind is focussing on things that will move us forward in life and not things that will hold us back and make us feel unhappy.
It is for this reason that I am writing this blog today.
I wanted to share my insights and learnings as to how and why I believe so many of us feel disconnected from ourselves and our ability to be able to master our experience of life.
I also wanted to offer you a few handy top tips on how you can get started retraining your brain to focus on resourceful thoughts and feelings.
So, how can we get back on track?
As you may have already gathered, the key to being able to influence the way that we feel is to ensure that we start to re-train our Conscious mind to focus and ruminate on resourceful thoughts and actions which will help us to enhance our happiness and well-being.
To do this we will need to learn how to slow down, clear away any unnecessary thoughts and then begin to listen to our body’s intuition and natural wisdom once again.
Much like I had done when I was sitting outside in my garden, you can do the same in your everyday life. Just follow the simple principles below and incorporate them into your life, little bit by little bit, until you have embedded a new way of thinking and being…
1. Create the space and time to practice refocussing the mind. Just like any muscle the more you work at it the stronger you will be! See it as starting to attend school to become a Jedi master.
2. Using meditation, mindfulness, or just focus on one of your senses to quieten the chatter of your mind. For me, it was the gentle warmth of the Spring sun on my skin that helped me to declutter my mind. Stilling the mind is one of Yoda’s most powerful abilities.
3. Now focus the attention of your conscious mind on the environment around you. Use each of your 5 senses – sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste – to observe and notice your surroundings. Notice what you notice.
4. Then scan your body. Noticing any tightness, pain, or tension. Raising your awareness without judgement. Just offer kindness and acceptance to your body and how it feels. Perhaps even ask yourself what your body needs right now. Trust your intuition to tell you. Be compassionate and supportive of yourself much like Yoda was with his students.
5. Connect with 3 to 5 words of how you want to FEEL for the day, task, or quarter ahead. (I want to feel e.g., calm, confident, radiant, inflow, courageous, grounded, open, etc.). Choose words that will help you to feel positive and aligned to how you want your life to be.
6. Think about what you need to do or change to act in alignment with these words for the next time frame. What do you need to start doing? What do you need to stop doing?
7. Ensure that you are acting ecologically for those around you. Meaning that you are making the situation as positive or neutral for others as possible. This will minimise any negativity or resistance from others as you move forward towards your vision. Guard Peace and Justice.
8. Check-in with yourself as often as possible. This is the key to ensuring that you are on track or that you can adjust or realign your thoughts, actions, or behaviours back towards your intended feelings.
9. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat! Humans are creatures of habit. The more you practice the above principles, the more effective and engrained your life will be to ensuring you are getting out of your overthinking head and moving into a more positive and resourceful mindset!
10. Enjoy!! Have fun with it. Don’t judge yourself for the past. Just listen to where you are now and where you would like to be. Let life be your adventure and allow yourself to be the captain of your ship and Yoda your way to happiness.
Each of us can navigate, adapt and learn in our lives to ensure that we lead the life we desire.
If you have any questions or thoughts with regards to the above, I would love to hear from you.
Much like a personal trainer in the gym, we may need help guidance or a few extra tips to keep our minds and our approach to life on track or heading in the right direction. If you feel that you would like some extra help or support, then please feel free to book a Free 30-minute Discovery call and we can discuss how I may be able to possibly help you.
Slow down enough so that you can listen more.
This is the key to stepping into your true potential.
Source: * https://www.explainthatstuff.com/timeline.html
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The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this “Yoda your way to happiness” (article) is not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. Nicky Massyn of Authentic Me Coaching disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this blog post above.
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