Taking My Own Advice

It’s easy to get lost in your own little world.  Wrapped up in what matters to you.  Deadlines to meet; places to be; people to see.  Nothing surprising or unusual about that, I know.

What I’ve realised about myself is that if I go too far into this space I begin to lose perspective; getting things out of proportion and becoming too narrow in my thinking.

Inspiration and ideas; perspective and positivity need nurturing.  And I’m often found sharing these nuggets of ‘wisdom’ here on this blog and in various other settings.  Yet like people everywhere, when I get into the zone, working and striving, I sometimes forget to take my own advice.  Now there’s a confession!

I’m getting better at ‘listening’ to the warning signs but I still have a tendency to ignore them.  Especially when I’m in full-steam-ahead mode.  Plus I’ve always been this way so breaking the habit has been, and still is, a challenge.

To help free myself and freshen my perspective I have to consciously make some changes.

One way I do this is to purposefully put on the brakes.  To stop and then quietly observe and listen to life as it plays out around me.  Looking out of the window, sitting on a bench, watching and purposefully trying not to make any judgements on what’s happening.  I suppose this is what the mindfulness dudes call ‘being present’.

I also spark conversations with people I don’t know.  In a natural way, of course, not by ambushing people on the street 🙂 .  Taking an interest in other people’s stories brings a realness and sense of humanity that can really refresh your perspective.

For example, last week, while buying a coffee, I met a writer and poet and learnt about their new book project and their aspirations.  A few weeks ago I was discussing social history and resilience while doing some banking transactions.  Tomorrow?  Who knows?!

I’ve made a promise to myself to generally do more pausing and to spark more non-work-related conversations.  Hopefully, this will mean I’m less likely to go over to the dark side!  So if a strange woman with short hair and glasses strikes up a random conversation, don’t be scared, it might just be me 😉