It’s been 6 weeks since The Great Disruption wrenched us away from our (now former) lives; It may be another month or so before we can begin to venture out. Many of us feel deeply uncertain about what is to come. What kind of mental activity helps us feel safer?
Noticing the Good Enough: This mental practice helps you view your life through a lens of ‘good enough’ vs. perfect. This has powerful downstream affects:
- It stops catastrophizing, because it is ‘present focused’.
- It treats chronic depression/self-pity: states of self-alienation caused by perfectionism
- It conserves crucial energy for your own self-care; you don’t have to be perfect
- It stops the self-abandoning cycle of perfectionism/shame
Self-inquiry can uncover the ‘good enough’ in your life…
- Are you safe and financially ok during these unstable times? That’s good enough.
- Do you have friends that you can talk to and that care about you? That’s good enough.
- Are you able to offer help to others with your time, direction, resources? That’s good enough.
- Does your technology work? That’s good enough
- Are you currently in good health? That’s good enough
A human being is a system: a small positive change in the system has a larger positive impact on that system. So, if 10% of your internal focus is spent searching for & finding the ‘good enough’ in your life, your mood would lift by more than 10%. This upward shift of baseline mood could lean you toward noticing even more good, and a snowball effect–of ‘noticing the good”—could result: A bene-ficious cycle.
Backdraft: This term was coined by Dr. Kristen Neff (www.self-compassion.org) to describe the strong negative emotions (fear, shame, guilt) that flood us after we talk about or experience forbidden feelings—like self-love and self-compassion. Use EFT tapping for any backdraft that comes up as you practice ‘Noticing the Good Enough’. Backdraft is an echo of your past.
Try to practice “Noticing the Good Enough” daily, even for just a few minutes. See how you feel after a week.
Resources
- Center for Mind Body Medicine: The Wisdom of the Body
- Grief Expert David Kessler’s Facebook group for anyone who as experienced loss: Grief: Releasing Pain, Remembering Love & Finding Meaning
- Jim Gordon leading a shaking and dancing meditation: The Transformation Self-Care Resources
- Spirituality & Practice: Spiritual Resources for the COVID-19 Pandemic
*2013 Hanson, Rick PhD. “Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence”. Harmony Books, Random House, NYC: NY