10/27/2020
I had a recurring theme with two of my clients yesterday: chasing happiness - and feeling unfulfilled, slow, unsuccessful, 'never doing enough' in the process.
We talked about the fact that 'happiness isn't a destination'. You've all heard that nice little quote, I'm sure. What does it mean, though? Because even though we understand it rationally, we still think (at least most of us do) that happiness is something we'll have once we've accomplished X, Y and Z.
In reality, happiness is the sum of many pleasant moments, so to get there we need to actively create those moments. How do we do that? We bring mindfulness to small tasks! Some also refer to it as 'single tasking'.
The term mindfulness is often used when referring to having a daily meditation practice. In fact, this was one of the mind traps of one of yesterday's clients who thought she just needed to finally get her s*** together and simply do it. "Everybody is doing it. Everybody loves it. Everybody tells me it's changed their lives for the better." Unfortunately, she simply doesn't enjoy it, so she has a hard time doing it. At the same time, she beat herself up about 'having to' clean house daily, clearing out drawers, tidying up spaces, etc.
In our conversation about mindfulness I suggested becoming fully mindful while doing small daily tasks, enjoying them and giving them her full attention. This was a big lightbulb moment because she realized that she actually WAS doing that when she cleaned house: she enjoys it, it makes her happy, it calms her mind. But instead of realizing that, she only focused on what she wasn't doing (meditating). When I reminded her that her breathing exercises that she loves also count as wonderfully mindful moments, she had an epiphany. In that instant she understood that she IS DOING A LOT OF THINGS RIGHT ALREADY because they make her feel good and happy and that she needn't focus on the ones that make her unhappy.
I was thrilled to watch the wondrous expression come over her face when she realized this. It was an absolutely beautiful moment to witness.
So, let's all celebrate what we ALREADY ARE doing in our lives, all the small steps that we are taking towards the goal of being happy. Because happiness is the sum of MANY SMALL things.
Below is an article I found that has some great ideas on how to introduce mindfulness into the small moments in our everyday life.
Here are 11 strategies I use to infuse mindfulness into my whole day. I hope you try them out for yourself and experience first hand the transformative power of mindful living.
