You want to know what always fascinates me? People who seem to have this inner calm and
control. They’re just there and it’s all fine. It’s comforting. Can you think of
anyone like that? I feel like I don’t meet those kinds of people very often. I’d like
to think I am that person sometimes. Or at least, when I picture my best self, that’s
what I see….How about you? Do you feel that way often? Just completely calm. There. As
present and alive as one can feel.
When do you feel that way? Do you even care to?..I’ve asked myself that question a lot.
I wish I could answer “oh, you know, pretty much all the time!”. But that wouldn’t
exactly be the truth….But there are moments when I do feel that. Fully. Completely. Sometimes
it’s random, like when I catch myself dancing while cooking, and then it proceeds to singing,
and before I know it, I’m feeling incredibly alive. Everything else can wait. Let’s just
say I’ve burnt my food more than a couple times…Other times, I can’t feel that way
even if I try!
I’d like to share some of the routines that bring me to, or at least close to, that state
of mind. I wish I would explain more clearly what exactly I mean with that feeling, I think
it’s quite difficult, but if I had to try, I’d say “being able to experience the
moment for what it is without disruptive thoughts”. Now, none of these routines that I’m about
to bring up are epic or groundbreaking by any means, but they’re moments during the
day when I disconnect from everything else. And in today’s world, I guess calling it
groundbreaking wouldn’t be that farfetched. In all seriousness though, I’m not here
to deliver anything groundbreaking, I never have been. I'm just a fellow human going through
life, trying to find things and ways that make this journey here on earth feel more
pleasant, and I want to share some of what I've found, and perhaps it’ll make your
journey here a little bit more pleasant, too. try to take you through these routines in
the chronological order of which my days usually play out. So… Alright… good morning world.
I’ve been starting each morning on my yoga mat. Now, yoga isn’t new to me, I’ve been
doing it on and off for years, and each time I’m back, I ask myself, “why the hell
did I ever stop?”. So strange, us humans are. We know something will make us feel great,
yet we deliberately choose not to do it.
When I do yoga, I don’t think about the past or the future. I acknowledge how one
of my arms seems to be significantly stronger than the other. I notice how stiff my neck
is. I take not of how I’m slowly but surely becoming more flexible. I’m just there.
My morning coffee comes with a side of French. Not French toast – French as in the language.
Yep, I’m doing it. I’m setting the bar low, one word or phrase a day, in the hopes
that I will choose to stick with it. I mean, imagine this, if you learn one word per day,
that’s 365 words in a year! If you learn two words per day, that’s 730 words! That’s
a lot more than you knew when starting out! It’s quite incredible.
So, okay, what Lana? I’m confused. Studying a language makes you feel cool calm and collected?
Cool? No doubt. As for calm and collected, yes, actually. It’s yet another thing that
forces me to be in the moment, and I find it really soothing. And fun, of course. Now,
if I were to study French in school and have to take tests, it might’ve been a different
story, but I’m doing it on my own, at least for now. No pressure. No rush. I’ve painted
this picture in my head of me living on the French countryside, being able to fully communicate
with the locals. So, if I ever feel like quitting, I’ll just return to that picture.
Alright, let’s talk about taking walks. Now, I know, I know, I talk about going on
walks so much you’d think I’m an 8-month-old baby who just learned to use her legs and
is fascinated by it, but you know it had to make the list. There are just so many variations
of walking! 1) You could go quietly, with no headphones in, just you and your surroundings.
2) You could listen to a song that makes you feel like the main character of any movie
of choice. I sometimes listen to “raindrops keep falling on my head”, and I walk down
the street feeling like the world is mine!
But usually, I’ll just put on my best shoes (that part is crucial), I’ll pack a light
bag consisting of an umbrella, a water bottle and something to sit on, and I’ll set a
destination, because I feel like it adds to the fun and it motivates me to keep going,
even when the raindrops actually start to fall on my head, which they’ve been doing
a lot recently here in Stockholm.
Now, I’d like to tell you something and see if you can relate. Here we go. So, there’s
this one thought that I get sometimes that can make me feel pretty anxious. It’s the
thought of all the books that I want to read and all the things that I want to learn, and
the devastating reality that a lifetime is not enough to read or learn even 0,0001 % of
that. So, at the start of this year I made a commitment to myself to read more. I got
myself a kindle, and while I don’t intend to transform into a reading machine, I’m
definitely reading more now, which has been great. But another unexpected benefit has
been that my kindle has replaced a lot of the scrolling that I would do on my phone.
I bring it with me to bed and to the bathroom. I feel a lot better putting my kindle down
after having spent an hour on it, as opposed to to putting my phone down after having spent
an hour on it. For that reason alone, It’s definitely been one of my best purchases in
a long time. I assume I don’t need to explain why reading brings me into that state of mind
that we’re talking about, there’s just nothing quite like getting lost in a different
world for a moment. Also, it has re-kindled (see what I did there)
my love for some of the poetry that I would enjoy in the past. I’ve been reading Mary
Oliver and… it’s an absolute bliss. I’ll leave a link below for some of my favorite
work of hers.
When do you find yourself in the moment and without disruptive thoughts? I’d love to
hear it and I know everyone else would as well. Let’s exchange some ideas. Also, was
there ever anything that you used to be sceptic about, but then once you tried it, it totally
proved your skepticism wrong? Thank you so much for showing up here today, and as always,
I will see you in the comment section.