This Week’s Thrive In Five Is About Being Present
It’s the final part in our series for Zombie Awareness Month (playfully done, of course!). In week one, we talked about sleep, week two was about blood testing, and week three was about blood sugar regulation. This time, I want to talk about being present.
Stay Tuned
When I say, ‘wandering around like a zombie’, I mean that we tend to be either on our phones, or in a bit of a daze. We’re walking around not really focusing on what’s going on around us, and not being present. The other day, I took a group of people out to the woods. As we stood in a circle at the top of a hill to recover, I asked them to close their eyes and breathe deeply. Then, I asked them what it is that they noticed. Some noticed the faint whirr of the M25, others the birds, and even my dog sniffing and scratching around. And then one person said that they noticed their breathing. They were so tuned in to what was going on both in and around them, that was what they chose to focus on.
Be Aware
There is no right or wrong way to be present: it’s about noticing what is in front of you. It could be taking a moment to look out of the window and admire the view or observe other people going about their lives. It’s being aware of how we feel right now, what has gone well for us today, where we’ve had opportunities to learn. All these things will help us to feel less zombie-like, wandering through life with our blinkers on.
In The Moment
Recently, I’ve started doing weekly reflections. Some people prefer to reflect more frequently, in which case you could do it at the end of each day. This is a particularly helpful technique when it comes to business. When you run or operate within a business that is always looking forward: sales results, product launches, team building, it can be difficult to stay in the moment. Therefore, it might be useful to reflect on what has gone well at the end of each week. You can also reflect on the things you’ve learned, but I prefer to focus on the positives. So, what’s gone well this week? What have you achieved? And that really helps me to snap out of zombie mode and be present and active in my life.
Being Present
And that brings us to the end of this series – I hope you’ve found it helpful! Don’t be a zombie, get on top of your sleep, hormone levels, and be present. If you do all these things, you will see improvements in both your mental and physical health.
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