Happy New Year – Now What?

Now What?

Expectations met at Christmas – and on Near Year Eve? Do you now feel more fulfilled and content? I hope so but we know we cannot hold onto that feeling, yet we try, and when we are unable we get depressed and low, we need a lift, we may feel ‘empty’- needing something to lift our spirits.

And so, come Monday Jan 21^st, historically reported as the most depressing Monday of the year with festivities ended, midwinter for many and feeling too long before the respite of Spring and Summer, we sit back and wish for something to make us feel alright again.

What Are We Waiting For?

Many of us have plenty to be happy and grateful for! Just look within yourselves rather than some external and time based reference point that is misleading us to believe that “when we have this or that… everything will be okay”. (It will not!)

These satisfactory moments can only last as long as the Christmas festivities and the joy of the new relationship, car, house, and holiday… all of them, when you reflect bring only temporary fulfilment. So what else is there to do?

Try a Dose of ‘Mindfulness’

Gather your senses, in fact, use your five senses and start to bring yourself and your thoughts to the only place you can ever really be – the here and now – the present. Take every opportunity to practise listening (not judging) to the sounds of life around you, the smells permeating your environment, taste in your mouth from fresh coffee or your favourite food, feel what is under your feet or what your hands are resting on and truly appreciate the texture. See, (really see) what is around you.

When was the last time you truly took in your environment?

When you try employing just a moment of ‘mindful’ appreciation using the senses, you cannot be anywhere else wishing for that something to make things feel better. You cannot keep falling back into the past and worries associated with that, and you cannot keep jumping forward wondering what the future will look and feel like. You will be that only place you truly can be – present in this moment!    

We fight the impermanence of life, yet impermanence is inevitable. From our subatomic world – our cells, to our galaxy and the cosmos, everything is in a state of flux. What might it feel like to be more accepting of this than constantly seek that which is outside of us to bring us our brief moments of joy?

Enjoy and try to appreciate each and every moment – and life takes care of itself. You lose nothing but worries and concerns yet you gain greater peace and perspective and start to really live life how it is meant to be, in this and every moment.

Mindfulness is easy to learn and practise and is outside of religion. Circa 5,000 years in existence, it is growing exponentially throughout the Western world, having been born in the East. It is unnecessary to become a Buddhist Monk, the teachings and ways of life are there for us all, without expectation or any payback required.

For more on ‘mindful’ practise in your everyday life check out my mindfulness articles or contact me.

About the author

Bob Brotchie

Managing Director / Counsellor at Anglia Counselling Ltd | 07747042899 | [email protected] | Business Website

Bob Brotchie is a counsellor, mindset consultant and creator of "Conscious Living by Design"™. He writes for Anglia Counselling, is featured on various other websites and introduces us to many guest writers all covering topics related to mental health and wellbeing.

Bob provides bespoke counselling services to individuals and couples in the privacy and comfort of a truly welcoming environment at his Anglia Counselling company office, located near Newmarket in Suffolk, England. Bob also provides professional online counselling, for local, national, and international clients. The therapeutic models offered are bespoke to the client’s needs, especially those in receipt of 'childhood emotional neglect' (CEN), whilst integrating a mindful approach to psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) principles. For clients experiencing trauma and/or phobia, Bob offers EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing).