20 Oct Stop and Smell the Roses!

In our world today life seems to move at a very fast pace as we are more and more connected to each other as a human race. Communication comes in many different forms such as audio, visual and textual. We receive news, adverts, critical day-to-day information and communication from our friends, families, companies and work through these different forms. With the introduction of the Internet and our mobile phones the rate at which we now receive information has sped up exponentially.

Of course the human being is known for its adaption techniques and so has adapted to this massive increase of information.

WOW, slow down please!

Us humans without realizing it are processing so much more information than we used too. Of course information received by the brain requires an action to deal with it. Even if the information is useless it is still stimulating a response.

The response might be to disregard the information, store it for later (Bookmark tab J in your computer browser) or react and take action on it. Our brains are constantly powering through!

So you see your brain is constantly reacting to information unless you make an actual effort to stop the stimulation. Yoga, meditation, some quiet time or even closing your eyes are some of the ways we are learning to slow our information intake down.

So going back a paragraph or two we spoke about us humans adapting to this information increase! Has this been a positive or negative adaption?

Well that is a fantastic question! You tell me what you think when you take five minutes out of your day to observe people. Try it out, the infamous sport of people watching. When you are parked at traffic lights have a look at the other drivers around you and just observe how the are reacting to their information overload. Guaranteed there will be one or two people trying to look at something on their mobile phones. If you use public transport, have a look around and watch how people are consumed by this influx of information.

So is it a bad thing or a good thing?

Well we are more informed about everything now days, which serves us in very positive ways. For example, how to exercise, what to eat, what not to eat, which professionals you need to seek so they can decipher all of the information and tell you what the actual truth is behind eating J. So that is a positive. There are also so many negatives. People are disengaged from their immediate surroundings because they are following somebody on Instagram half way around the world. This can be dangerous. People start to live virtual lives trying to be something that they are not and forgetting about the here and now of life. This also may inspire someone to become better at what they do, so you see there are both negatives and positives.

But if you don’t know how to slow down or turn that influx of information off you are most likely going to suffer from lack of sleep, being distracted, working too long or too much, not knowing how to take a break or when to take a break and forgetting to eat properly etc. Constant neglect of yourself/health and wellbeing will eventually land you with more serious health problems.

So stopping to smell the roses will give you those few seconds in your day to come back into your life and be present. Walk barefoot over grass, listen to the birds sing, go and sit next to water and have a look at nature. Even 2 minutes for a very busy person can give you that sense of relief and relaxation. This stop and pause technique will grow immense happiness in your day to day life J

Challenge yourself to try it just once over your next week.

Good Luck!