A great professional goal is to love what you do and feel invigorated by doing it. I, personally, am constantly evolving my career so it meets (or comes close to) these objectives daily. There were times in my life, however, when this goal was definitely out of reach. During my medical training I experienced several episodes of burnout, with fatigue, disenchantment, and an intermittently despairing mood. This caused me to embark upon a multi-year mission to heal myself and transform my career into something I could genuinely love and successfully manage without losing my balance.
Complete presence can feel like a difficult place to access, but being in a state of flow can happen in different forms, and people tap into it in various ways. Flow state occurs when you’re so engulfed in the present and the task before you that you cease to be distracted by anything else and lose sense of the past and future. It is the ultimate state of peace, presence, and no-mind. Some people can access this place by sitting in meditation, but for many, flow state occurs while they are either doing something creatively fulfilling or an activity that engages and challenges them enough to require their ultimate presence.
As families find new rhythms and adjust to the new school year, it is a good time to set intentions for joy, wonder, and purpose. There are simple exercises that families can do together to stay grounded and connected, things like:
Gratitude is a universal presence. Whether you make a point to spend time with it each day or it bubbles up spontaneously in a moment of contentment or wonder, you probably already know many of the gifts it brings. Gratitude makes us aware of the preciousness of our lives, puts us in touch with the love we have for those we share it with, and reminds us that we are already whole.
At the start of each year, my children and I sit down to choose our Word. This word becomes the focal point for our intentions throughout the year. Whether we’re starting a new project, working on relationships, setting goals, or choosing our community collaborations, we take our Word into consideration as we live, work and play.
When we think of the word abundance, we often think of material accumulation or “how much” we have. The way society frames abundance is almost always connected to material wealth which can leave us constantly reaching for more. If we get caught up in this mindset it leads us to believe that we are not inherently enough. Through constantly searching outside of ourselves, seeking validation for our enough-ness, our vision becomes clouded. We can’t see clearly that there’s a natural flow of abundance around and within us if we are stuck in a scarcity mindset.
Abundance is a baffling issue for most people because they approach it from a place of scarcity and lack. Changing your perspective is the first step is achieving genuine abundance. How much financial success you now enjoy, even if it is considerable, doesn’t necessarily improve an inner feeling that underlies a sense of lack: This is the feeling of “I am not enough.” As long as this is your baseline belief, abundance will be elusive.
Have you ever had one of those apologies that left you feeling worse than before? Where the person says the words, “I’m sorry” but follows it up with something that negates it. Those apologies that have a but. The ones that spend a millisecond in responsibility and validation of your experience and immediately make a quick 180-degree turn to let you know that you are actually at fault.
Trauma has been an increasingly popular topic of conversation amongst the wellness community in recent years, shining light on how different events and circumstances in our lives can shape how we live, feel, think, and operate.
Si algo aprendemos a lo largo de nuestra vida es que somos seres adaptables, capaces de cambiar en cualquier momento. A medida que navegamos por las muchas transiciones que la vida tiene para ofrecernos, se desafía nuestra capacidad de ser flexibles y movernos con, en lugar de en contra. Aunque a veces puede ser incómodo, todos tenemos la capacidad para este tipo de cambios.
New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult once said, “The human capacity for burden is like bamboo — far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance.”
