Stop and smell the roses
So really how often do you take time to ‘smell the roses’ in your life?
By this, I mean making an effort to stop and think about the people in your life, the things you have, the experiences you get to have which make you happy. Do you feel a sense of appreciation when you think about them?
Well, there is a different way to a deep appreciation. Want to know it?
Imagine your life without it all.
It has been found that this effect of mental subtraction created a higher life satisfaction than those who did not complete this activity. This life satisfaction was increased across many different parts of your lives- ie. relationships, career, friendships, belongings and home location.
This little hack seems to be a beautiful way to boost gratitude if you are already practising gratitude or a nice place to start if you haven’t found your gratitude flow yet. I like that it makes you feel curious about what you appreciate and properly be present and mindful about all the good things you have.
It can also be really easy to not notice the good AND also take things for granted. WE can forget the good people we work with, our many little and big accomplishments each day and the freedom we have to live life how we want.
So give it a shot:
Take out a pen and paper (or fire up your laptop) and follow these steps:
1.) Pick something in your life you are appreciative of. Ie your job, your health, your safety, your belongings, your partner, your parents, weekends, holidays, house.
2.) Imagine your life without that one good thing. Spend time thinking about the impact. How do you feel?
3.) How your life would be different without it. Describe your feelings.
4.) And now re-evaluate how you feel about that good thing and how you can keep being appreciative of it.
These sort of tips and tricks are our bread and butter within our yearly membership for nursing who take intentional, calm and focused attention to love their work and life. The Phoenix Protocol, is a membership to help nurses find career fulfilment, prevent burnout and love their life, has a monthly self-care calendar for you to tick off each day. For more information on TPP click here.