Life.
Duality.
I was reminded of this a few weeks back, celebrating the success of my recent NLP Graduate students - what an awesome group! And the same week hearing news of a friend that unexpectedly passed away.
On one hand I wanted to jump for joy and celebrate the success of my students... on the other I wanted to cry, grieve - shocked at the sudden news of my friend.
It was a BIG reminder on how valuable life is, and how we can take it for granted.
Hours passing by scrolling Facebook or taking the 100th photo for the perfect Instagram selfie. I read a post once by Karly Nimmo who has a two shot rule. She won't take more than two photos - and then one of those gets posted.
Or perhaps we binge eat, binge watch Netflix, use alcohol or smoking to disconnect from pain we may be feeling.
If endless social media or another vice really fulfills us deeply then by all means we can continue as long as it doesn't harm our health. More often than not it doesn't fulfill us in the long term - if we're really honest with ourselves, we're looking for something else deep down.
Love, belonging, connection, acceptance, excitement, variety, significance... the list goes on.
It's when we move through challenges, finding insights and learning from those moments that we transform the need to stick a 'Netflix plaster' over how we feel.
There can be ups and downs.
Life can bring moments of joy and love... and moments of anger and grief. Much of how we experience things is to do with what stories we tell ourselves about things. Whether we're conscious of this or not. Our thoughts & beliefs create the frustration, struggle, stress and more. Sometimes we may not want to acknowledge this, because when we do we can't point the finger anymore. We're responsible.
For our life.
How we choose to live it.
Whilst we may not be able to directly change all circumstances in the world and other peoples behaviour. One of our greatest gifts in life is that we have the gift of choice. Choice on what actions we take or don't take. How we choose to respond to things and see situations.
And this needn't mean an overwhelming list of do's and don'ts, feeling angry with ourselves if we are triggered yet again by a particular person or situation. Or feeling pressure to create big changes out of fear, setting goals looking for perfection as we believe it will bring a sense of belonging, rather than out of love for ourselves and our future.
Choice can simply mean choosing to make most of the simple little things. To really LIVE this life we are living in this human experience.
For example...
- Stepping outside and breathing deeply rather than take our freedom to do this as granted.
- Observing the beauty of a flower rather than hurriedly pass it by.
- Closing our eyes and feeling the sunshine on our skin rather than think about endless to do lists.
- Hearing the sounds that surround us as individual sounds of a larger orchestra rather than noise.
- Noticing what we say to our self when we reconnect to the beauty of life in this way rather than beat ourselves up.
The list is endless.
There are many options and choices available.
Let's start with small, micro actions and experiences. It can be the small and simple things that often are the most powerful and beneficial.
I wonder... how many valuable things can we experience today?
Now I'd love to hear from you: What little blessing do you notice right now in your experience? Let me know in the comment section below. And join us in the online community.
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And if you want more information on trainings and how you can transform your life experience using NLP with heart - check out the latest trainings here.
