Written by Kerstie Blue
I’m guessing your eyes are going to quickly glance over this article, wondering if it is worth your time, before ultimately deciding to keep reading because I read your mind. Possibly. So many of us navigate incredibly overly-busy lives, driven by an organized chaos that we know and, dare I say, love. In order to survive, we’ve become experts at identifying what is and is not worth our time.
But are these judgments of worth made accurately? Are we investing our time in a way that will deliver lasting value to us? At times it looks like few of us are in it for the long haul. Could it be that we feel so much insecurity and doubt about a bright future that we only deem tasks with immediate results worth our time? Nobody can predict the future with 100% certainty, but we (the collective humanity) seem to live in a state of impending doom. Of course, this mentality just adds to the organized chaos we seem to be addicted to.
In reality, Americans are living the most physically comfortable lives in history while dealing with the highest prolonged levels of clinical anxiety, stress, and depression in history. Why is that? Why is it that our most intelligent, logical, and scientific advancements are not able to produce our happiest, most peaceful lives ever?
I’ve contemplated this question for a long time, and I think the answer is simple: We’ve lost our ability to live life wisely.The majority of our day depends on our ability to operate our minds intelligently. Some of us also engage our bodies intelligently through exercise, which we agree on an institutional level is necessary for longevity. But, we seem to have completely pushed out the fact that humans have a soul, or spirit, that also needs to be incorporated intelligently. The mind, body, and soul together create a trio that, when properly balanced, enables us to live our most happy, most peaceful, most joyous lives.
So how do we find the proper balance? And how do we even use our souls “intelligently,” anyway?
In that spirit, before I go, I would love to leave you with a vision of possibility. What if when you wake up tomorrow morning, everything feels effortless?
At the exact time you need to start your day, your eyes flutter open gracefully. The perfect amount of morning sunlight streams into your bedroom, allowing your vision to awake seamlessly. You take a full-body stretch and inhale deeply, with a smile on your face, before calmly stepping out of bed to start your morning routine. You feel no grogginess, no pain, no strife, no tension toward anything you encounter.
Your day is beginning perfectly – there is plenty of time to accomplish your morning to-dos. You don’t even feel like you need a coffee to get going! No reason to rush, no reason to hurry. No arguments or non-cooperation from those around you. You wonder how it was never this easy before.
Pulling up your email, a full inbox doesn’t send you into panic mode today. Casually, you click through and recognize that everything is being handled by the appropriate team members. Your body is relaxed and your mind is focused. Yesterday’s unresolved dilemmas are so much clearer today.
One at a time, you effortlessly complete your highest priority items feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment. You’re in the zone and have accomplished a great deal already today. Everything will be completed on time and accurately, no doubt about it. Your team is supportive, encouraging, and understanding. You are delighted to be a vital part of such a buzzing organization. You experience no frustration towards any interactions with people that would have previously would have set you off. You feel completely calm and in control. You are going to have an incredible day, no matter what. You know it and feel it.
And you do have an incredible day. Same thing tomorrow, and the day after. Imagine if this is your experience every day.
Take a minute and jot some notes down – what tiny stressors set you off each day? From the moment you wake up until you go to bed, jot down all the hiccups, the malfunctions, the people, the tasks, that annoy you. Even if it is ever so slightly. Maybe you think, “ugh, here we go,” or maybe it’s big enough that you can’t help but exclaiming your distaste out loud. This list – it is my goal to help you re-train your mind until nothing on this list has any impact on you. Do you think it’s possible?
AA wise life feels like peaceful, calm, graceful existence. The path to achieving it, like I said, is unique to everyone, but through this quarterly column, I’m going to guide you on your way to attaining it the best I can. In the weeks between magazine publication, I’m going to be on the BLOOM platform to share with you the same processes and prompts that I lead my clients through. Like I tell my clients, my job is to show up and teach but it is your job to implement what you learn. You are the catalyst to change in your own life. Nobody else can do this for you, but if you need more support and hands-on help, reach out and I would be happy to get you set up with the right plan of action. I’m rooting for you! Until next time, live Lifewise.
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