Feel Good Factor

“REMEMBER JUST enjoy it!” Those were the words from my husband as I was about to get on stage to do my Tedx talk this weekend and I loved that, I loved his reminder to enjoy the experience.

We often remind each other of this because so often we can get caught up in the sheer enormity of an occasion, maybe something that we have looked forward to or have done lots of preparation for and we forget, to simply enjoy each and every moment of it.

As I was thinking about what to share with you this week, my mind turned to how because life has been so busy recently (with Tedx talks and trips to Canada) that we have an awful lot to do before Christmas and how it is so easy to get caught up with that too, and we forget to simply enjoy the festivities.

So how do we enjoy something more, especially when it either means a lot, or we’ve been looking forward to it or it’s taken a lot of work?

For me, the key to all of it is to observe your own mind, it may be that it is racing, you may be reciting a list of all the things that you have to do, or the things that you don’t think you’ll be able to do or maybe it ping pongs from what happened last year or even last week to what you think may happen next week on Christmas Day (especially if something doesn’t get done!). All this thinking may be churning up a whole lot of feeling inside as it starts to trigger your stress responses so your body feels like it’s getting ready for some action.

Our minds can work overtime and create so many things to think about, but what is so useful to remember at times like this is that whilst we may not control any of this thinking, what we can do is not pay attention to it! What I have found is the less attention that I pay to my mind when it is like this (yes, sometimes it happens to me too), the easier it becomes for it to settle and then I become calmer.

And for me, this is when a little reminder to enjoy the moment that I’m in is really useful. Because it reminds me that I have a choice whether to get sucked into the thinking that makes me feel bad, or, I can simply let it all pass and enjoy whatever life is unfolding for me at the time.

What I have learnt is that life doesn’t always pan out as we think, even with our family, at Christmas we’ve had sickness bugs, frozen water pipes, no electric and a whole lot of other unforeseen things happening! But it’s not all as dramatic, sometimes it’s the little moments that just happen unexpectedly that create the best memories, the funny games, the jokes, the laughter, even a conversation that you may not have foreseen.

I find that when we are stuck in our busy minds, worried about all sorts of stuff, trying to make it what we think it should be rather than what it is, we are so less present to what is going on around us at that moment, less aware of how life is unfolding in the beautiful way that it does.

So this Christmas, remember whatever gets done was meant to, and what didn’t, wasn’t and remember to enjoy each and every moment.

■ Andrea Morrison is a Personal Performance Coach, Speaker & Author. You can find her at andreamorrison.co.uk