What do you do when it's all going right?

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I can’t believe March is basically over already, especially after how slowly January moved! This year has definitely begun to pick up the pace, but for me it’s been a blessing to be able to settle down into a routine and get to a place where I feel physically and mentally good about myself as a result.

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Appreciate when it’s all going right

Let’s face it, things often don’t go right all the time. In fact, more often than not something goes wrong. Actually, let’s be honest with ourselves, it almost never all goes right, not within a day, worse a week, and even worse a month.

However, all things considered, despite what you could consider to be small/minor inconveniences throughout your day or week, things could at some point, be generally going alright. Everything in your life might be just fine.

And somehow, every time that happens, sh*t hits the fan. It all starts going wrong. And it doesn’t have to be in your own life, but maybe things from someone else’s life start to affect you disproportionately.

Either way, somehow, something always happens.

The crazy part about all this is that most of the time, we don’t even notice those periods in our life when everything is going right because we take those times for granted. Most people don’t stop and think about those times, and we don’t appreciate them until our lives are all of a sudden shaken up.

What do you do when it’s all going right?

Take for example when you’re sick versus healthy. If you’re in good health right now, take a DEEP breath in through your nose, ________ hold it… __________ and let it out through your mouth (ahhhh 😌).

Now think about when you were last sick, and how you couldn’t do that. Think about how hard it was to get half a breath in through your nose because it was so stuffy and how you just wish it would go away.

It’s little things like that - just being able to breathe normally - that we often take for granted. In turn, it also ends up making those sudden negative events seem all the more sudden.

It’s like “I was just over here minding my own business and then all of a sudden here comes this storm to mess things up”.

But that’s why for me, what I’ve begun to do as a mindfulness practice, is give space to appreciating those moments in which everything is going right. Give yourself some time to actually think about where you are in that current period of you life, and then appreciate the fact that you’re there. Simple.

Okay, so I’ve thought about where I am in life … now what?

The first step to appreciating that everything is going alright is to think about it, and then the second step is to actually be present in it.

For me, I find that when I actually bring myself to the thought “hey, I’m enjoying this right now”, whether it’s at a hang out with friends, at dinner with family or a live music concert, I become super intentional about things like putting away my phone, closing my eyes and taking in a moment or just greeting every moment with positivity and a smile.

And the reason?

Because everything in life is temporary.

Recognising that every happy moment is temporary - whether it’s at a concert, or an entire week of feeling great in the gym - allows you to appreciate them more when they happen.

And that’s the same principle that I apply to a period in life where it feels like everything is going alright.

Has it all been smooth sailing for you recently?

If you haven’t had a major disruption to your life in the past few days, and you’ve just been getting into a routine, pause.

Stop for a second, and think about how nice it is that you can do that.

Pause one moment, and just appreciate the fact that, you know what? Everything’s generally okay right now.

Trust me, I know there’s people reading this that have had major things happen to them maybe as recently as this morning or last night. And I bet you didn’t appreciate when everything was okay - when it all was just smooth sailing.

It’s funny, that metaphor, “smooth sailing”. Have you ever been in the back seat of a long car ride? Or maybe actually on a boat that was sailing smoothly? Be honest, what did you do?

You probably fell asleep. 💤 

It was so nice and smooth, that you could just relax and fall asleep, because you knew everything would be okay and that you’d get to your destination eventually.

Conclusion

Today, my message I want to get across to you is this: don’t fall asleep.

You’re gonna get to your destination, but it’s not going to be smooth sailing. You may have moments where you start to doze off because everything’s going just fine, but then you’re gonna hit a pothole. Or who knows, maybe something good even happens like a job promotion or unexpected college acceptance and you feel a positive disruption to your life.

The point is, on this life journey that we’re on together, you have to appreciate the good times.

You have to be intentional about appreciating the smooth sailing, because life is not one of those long car rides on a nice highway.

But that’s what makes it so exciting; the fact that it’s not smooth sailing but sometimes it is. The fact that you can appreciate it when it’s all going right, and find happiness in appreciating it because you know that it won’t always go right.

My friends, this week, appreciate the little things, the little moments and the short periods in life where you feel like everything is going okay. Give it space. Give it time. Allow yourself to be present.

It’ll make the next battle you face that much easier, and it’ll make you so much more grateful and content to be in the place that you currently are.

Until next Sunday,

Justin