Let me tell you a story. Imagine the lead act in the most important circus in the world. He’s a famous juggler, who’s known for all his amazing balance, focus and dexterity. He adds so many new tricks to his act, that they all see him as a genius performer.
But he begins to feel tired. The more things he has to juggle with, the more difficult his focus gets. His mind is now the one which plays tricks on him. His performance will suffer and so will he. Too much to handle. He blames himself. He’s a bad performer. He feels angry and ashamed. He no longer has the will and drive to do his best and to constantly grow his act.
He eventually settles with being a clown. An act that just makes people laugh. At least they won’t all laugh at him. When he takes of his mask and looks in the mirror, his reflection is sad, overwhelmed. Day in and day out, every evening, he plays the clown. He makes people laugh. But he cries inside. He wants his purpose back.
The next day he opens the chest where he stored his juggling equipment and only takes out the three spheres and the balancing board he used to love so much. He goes outside and steps on the board. His hands instinctively begin to throw the spheres into the air. Bit by bit, his act gets better, faster. A smile comes back to his face and more and more people gather around, cheering him on. He’s the famous juggler again.
But what if he always was the lead act? What if he made it harder on himself by becoming overwhelmed instead of keeping it simple? That’s what made him happy after all, isn’t it? He loved juggling and sharing that with people. Now, when the people laugh, he laughs with them.
The juggler is in fact all of us. The many things added are the ones we constantly add to our life. Those things that got piled up into our lifestyle and now make our lives miserable, tense and sad. We need to go back to basics, rediscover what made us smile and what we did with joy.
Make conscious choices about what’s relevant to our lives and what are the things that are essential to our happiness and wellbeing. Personal and professional. Integrate. We are the same persons who do them all. Choose our spheres and balancing board carefully.
Here’s three reasons why:
- Better mental health
We are constantly bombarded with information, messages, emails, things to do. It never ends. When we take time to declutter, our brain thanks us and refocuses all that energy into making us healthier and more alert. Our neurons are constantly working throughout the day. We need to learn to relax and do one thing at a time. Which brings me to reason number two...
- Better focus
Our brains cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. Multitasking is just another word for overwhelming your mind. You have a limited amount of energy and time everyday. Choose the three most important things that you need to get done today and two chores. And that’s it. Do those to the best of your abilities. Use the rest of your time to learn, rest and connect with loved ones. Here’s reason number three...
- More time for what’s important
As much as we would like to think that relationships can wait for us to send that important email, that’s not true. The most important things in life are the people we surround ourselves with. We are wired for connection and need human closeness. The real, old-fashioned one. The one without a screen in between. The one where we actually have a normal conversation, and be totally present in that moment, not on our phones. But that takes space, energy and knowing our priorities.
We live our lives by choice. What decisions we make and what things we pick is up to us. We each have a certain life, we are all unique. But one fact is universal: simplicity keeps our minds healthy and our relationships stronger.
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Sincerely yours,
Denisa
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