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Salutations to you my friend, This is your cue. Your permission to pause everything and dedicate a few moments of guilt-free time for yourself. Allow your mind to unwind from the worries of the outside world. If not now, then when? Slow down, reflect, reset. Be inspired and uplifted. Fill your cup and nurture your soul with a few minutes of Green tea & Gratitude. I. Create a circle of calm, your own little sanctuary. Clear the way. Last week we cleared our physical space and created a calming environment with plants and candles, away from distractions. This week let’s create some mental and emotional space too. We’re naturally equipped with the most powerful tool for clearing our mental clutter and emotional overwhelm, but funnily enough we’re never taught to properly use it. In fact we often use it to our detriment. Our breath - a mighty resource at our disposal to create space wherever we may be, whatever we are doing. How often do we stop and just breathe? How many of us breathe short and shallow breaths through our mouth, into our chest? Creating more tension in our neck, in our shoulders. Perpetually looping the fight or flight response; stress causing short breaths and short breaths in turn signalling to our bodies that we are stressed. Let’s counteract that with 10 deep breaths into our belly. Find a comfortable seated position. Relax your shoulders away from your ears. Put one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. Gently seal your lips. With your eyes closed, take 10 deep breaths in and out through your nose. Notice your mind feeling a little bit clearer, your body a little bit lighter with each breath. II. Press play on the tunes, and press pause on life. If you listen to just one song today, let it be Ariana by Tony Anderson. Let it take you on an ambient journey of soft sounds and beautiful rhythms, let it awaken your spirit and tell it a magnificent story. “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” — Victor Hugo III. Fill your cup. Use tea to recall momentous moments. One of my all time favourite teas is actually not a green tea at all. It’s a black tea from a little tea shop in Malmö where I grew up, called Ehsan & Pappas Tehus. This tea has such intense celebratory smells and flavours of champagne and strawberries that you can almost feel the fizz on your tongue and the jubilance in the air as you drink it. Not only does drinking tea with all your senses settle you into the present moment, it has the ability to vividly transport you back to momentous moments too. Reflect on flavours that take you back down memory lane. IV. A simple gratitude practice to boost happiness levels. A negative mood and negative emotions, like fear and anxiety, are all “survival mode” emotions. They’re designed to detect and focus on what is wrong, and eliminate it. They induce critical thinking, and are so effective at tripping us into surviving that we forget about the beauty of living. A positive mood, on the other hand, jolts us into an entirely different way of thinking. In a positive mood we are more creative, tolerant and constructive. Our lens is one that detects what is right, rather than what is wrong. So when positive thoughts evade us, it is worth actively assembling them again. Gratitude Practice 002 : Close your eyes and think about the following 3 things, allowing yourself to fully feel the emotions surrounding each one: a) One thing that makes you smile b) One thing that makes you know you’re not alone c) One thing that makes you feel alive V. A little something to lift your spirit. There is a village in India whose inhabitants plant 111 trees each time a girl is born. Watch this 2 minute video about it and let it uplift you.
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