Calm Week 3

“Today I choose calm over chaos, serenity over stress, peace over perfection, grace over grit, faith over fear.”

-Mary Davis Author

Davis ‘s quote leads us to the conclusion that we have a choice in our reactions. For many people this is difficult, in part because they never learned to relax the mind and the body. Some may consider themselves easily bored and need to be entertained, constantly searching for ways not to think, and as a result, not allowing themselves to just be. You may not recall experiencing calm or developing that critical skill. Pause and ask yourself what is it like to feel calm, to be calm? If you realized you don’t know, then we begin here. If you are aware of calmness, then enhance your practice.

After talking to others about finding calm and being calm, I recognized starting small was the first step. Think simple, sit in the sun, stare at the ocean or any body of water, sit on a bench in a park, sit in your yard.  If you can’t get outside, look out the window. Sit or stand quietly, submitting yourself to this first step towards calm. Now the second step, which is harder, is to stay there until your body tells you it is time to move. That is, it. For many of us it will be your biggest challenge of the day. Repeat as often as you can.  The added benefit is you are doing hard things, which is improving your brain. 

Affirmation: I am calm.