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So the kids are well settled into school or college, the Ploughing is on the horizon and the days are shortening. The feeling of freedom of that beautiful summer holiday is just behind us and our thoughts turn back to routine and perhaps the dreariness of the winter time.
I think we often associate the summer as the time of frivolous activities, days at the beach, picnics in the park and Sundays spent travelling the country watching GAA games. It’s a feeling of joy and freedom sprinkled with nostalgia for many of us as we remember doing the same thing with our own parents perhaps.
This month, I’m going to talk a little bit about what we can do for ourselves to help us maintain this joyous sunny feeling, even into the winter months. Now, perhaps you’re reading this and thinking: “I’m grand sure, I don’t need to feel any better than I do.”However, in my experience, people generally don’t realise how good they can actually feel and how good life can be for the majority of the time, not just for two weeks’ holidays in the summer. In my opinion, that belief stems from the fact that we often don’t take enough time to pay attention to ourselves or place enough importance on our happiness levels or our emotional state. In short, we often do not take due care of ourselves.
Sometimes we forget that this life business is supposed to be joyous, instead getting ourselves in the habit of thinking that it’s supposed to be difficult! But is that true? Do you actually believe that? Do you want it to be like that?
The other thing is, we think we have the time. We think: “When I’ve made this much money, when I’ve increased the herd by this much, then I’ll be happy.” But what’s wrong with being happy now? What’s stopping you? If you feel like there is something missing in your life, we need to put the time in to happiness and joy, feeling good and working on your mindset.
Physical exercise of the month
Dance! That’s it. There’s something about putting on your favourite song and just letting rip. Is it any coincidence that social dancing classes are so popular at the moment? If you dance, it stirs something in your soul. The key to letting go in dancing is to not think too much about what kind of a dancer you are. Do not give any attention to how you look when you’re dancing. Try to give all your attention to the dancing. You can do it at home in your kitchen or join a group and get to it. If you don’t feel like dancing straight away, perhaps instead dedicate some proper time to listen to some of your favourite music. Decide to spend a half hour a week just listening to music; not driving or cooking or feeding cattle with music on in the background. I mean proper time, giving all your attention to really listening to music. See how you feel afterwards.
Mindfulness exercise of the month
Smile. Even when you don’t feel like it, even when you think you have nothing to smile about, bring a smile or even a half smile to your face and see what a difference it makes. Because you see, sometimes it’s the joy in our lives that makes us smile, but sometimes it is the smiles in our lives that make us joyful. Give it a go every day this week. See if it makes any difference to how you feel.
Something to ponder
You might be reading this and thinking, “My life is the way it is, I’m too old and too tired to change it, this joyful business is just not for me!” But just think about this for a second. The best time to plant a tree is 40 years ago, but you know the second-best time to do it is today. It’s never too late to bring back the joy.
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