DSTSS - the charge of the light brigade

83. Lighten up

I like to sit and people watch and I get amazed how many people I see wandering around who just don't look present - happy is a whole other ball game, but present is where we need to be in order to get to that happy place. It's like behind their eyes they are just weighed down with life and its problems and worries and there is a constant ticking over of thoughts. I get it, I understand life and its problems and worries and I understand that we can be consumed with things that perhaps we don't need to give so much air time to, but we do it without even consciously thinking about it. Line up here front and centre and get in the moment.

Don't sweat the small stuff was written 20 years ago with a focus on mindful living and here in 2017, we are now riding the wave of mindfulness. The wave that encourages us to stop and neither look forward or backward but to be right in this moment and acknowledge and enjoy what is. This book is still so relevant in its approach.

So what does it mean to lighten up? To live lighter, to tread lighter and to weigh up our problems and interactions and let the ones go that frustrate us unnecessarily. Our levels of perspective are all different, but what if we were to give our problems a rating scale. A bit like on family fued where they poll the audience and come up with the top answers to our problems and frustrations? What would we see?  Would the highest rating problem be queuing at the supermarket, or caring for a family member or friend who is ill? Would it be missing the walk sign at the traffic light and having to wait a few minutes or trying to save a relationship with a loved one? Would it be interruptions from your children when they want a hug or needing to finish a task? What about talking to a friend who has called you or scrolling your feed? Would it be yelling at your partner because they forgot to do something or being grateful that you have love in your life? What would the survey say? What do you say?

By deciding which are the things that we really need to carb load and use energy to get through, we could then offload those small frustrations, let them float away thus lightening the load and bringing us into a different state of awareness - mindfulness......

What is weighing you down? What are the little things you can let slip to lighten the load so you can enjoy life in this minute and use that energy to solve true life affecting problems or to even have fun with your friends and family.

My ex husband used to tell me i was enlightened, but it was never a compliment, my sister on the other hand also tells me i am enlightened and it is a compliment. Either way, I consider myself pretty enlightened and you know how I got there, by doing my own survey and deciding to lighten the fuck up.

Note to self: Survey says lighten up! I say lighten up! Jesus says lighten the fuck up! And even turning on a lamp could help to lighten things up. Flick the switch and give it a go. You might find yourself feeling so light that you begin to float right back to this moment and enjoy all it has to offer.