Many times when you find yourself in the midst of needing to keep afloat your first instinct that manifests is to grab onto something, to hold on and to not let go. In that moment, you need to do what is most counter-intuitive and do the opposite and let go, relax, breathe and allow yourself to be held.
While this is all far more easily said than done, what turns this into more easily done than said 😉
Well much like you don’t normally learn to swim in the first moment, practicing allows your body to learn to do what you are wanting to achieve.
Stay with me here, the idea is to gently teach yourself to relax and trust – to do this you need to pause and move into the moment and allow yourself to just be. In the world we are blessed to be living in today, this can be challenging with so many distractions and pulls on us – but just like floating takes only a moment to achieve – pausing into the moment, can happen as often as you are able to, countless times in a day. Much like your breath, you can start to practice bringing mindful pauses into your day.
Take a few moments right this moment and do the following:
1. Notice your breath
2. Consciously allow yourself to deepen your breath (long inhale and exhale)
3. Stay with your breath and become aware of yourself, where you are, what you are feeling?
4. Now gently move into the next moment while letting go of this moment with all its attachments (feelings and thoughts).
5. Try setting a timer for times throughout the day where you can pause and try the steps above to help you reconnect with yourself and moving away from grasping onto external distractions.