Pandemic recharge tip: Take a break to laugh

Photo credit: Adam Winger on Unsplash

This past week my friend Renée did a post in Instagram that made me laugh. This post had six super handsome Hollywood stars, including Leonardo De Caprio and Bradley Cooper. In the copy of her post—it began “Whom would you choose?”—she told us that she was sick of politics and, in lieu of political discussions, to vote for the most handsome guy.

After seeing this post a big smile came to my face. Instantly I commented—I vote for Bradley! I felt what my friend did has a deeper meaning. In times of a big political division, our ecosystems communicate certain narratives. Our communities, in turn, adopt those narratives. My friend felt she needed to do something about this. By focusing on other narratives, she chose to take the lead and create a funny moment.

My intention, like hers, is not to get into a political discussion with this post. I feel our society is very divided and sometimes having fun, and focusing in things that make us smile, is really wonderful, it also lets us tune into another frequency! Letting positive thoughts come into our minds allows us to shift from a status quo mindset and be recharged with laughter. Many times negative thoughts bombard us and all we need is to take a moment to breathe—laugh, take a break!

When we recognize that we need new narratives we also take ownership of our so-wanted shift. Remember that our narratives are powerful. Our narratives enable us to move to places that we never thought we could. They can also interfere and even create noises that will not let us dream, imagine or create!

Have you taken the time to introspect and think about the reality you want create? I feel my friend, with her post, started speaking into the world a reality of fun and laughter—a reality where the narrative is not strictly determined by political differences. She was successful enough to the point that she inspired me to write this blog post. I understand we are all very busy, however, for those that know me, I always try to find meaning behind the meaning and see the story behind the story that exists on the surface of a story and also try to challenge it and create a shift by trying something new. Here is my invitation: We can all take the lead and speak the words we choose to create the reality we want to create. Just by laughter our lived experience changes.

Which narrative we choose is critical. The gift that our narratives can bring to our experiences is that they allow us to open a new window where we engage emotionally. Engaging from our hearts is what makes a difference, the emotional attachment give us that extra energy we always need. Because of this, they have the ability to motivate and inspire us. Our narratives, or self-talk, are like the two sides of a coin, they can push us to achieve success and wellbeing and reach our untapped potential. Or, they can restrict us and make us become the victim of our own thoughts and make us feel unable to leave the rabbit hole.    

A key component of my work as a coach is to help my clients come up with their own insights. After they’ve arrived to their insights, or they have an Aha! moment, I always ask them, “What is one baby step you can take that can contribute to the reality you want to create?” A small stretch, even if it is a 3 percent every day, will add up overtime. This is about what conscious choices you can make that will change your reality?

I feel right now we are trying to live this new normalcy, our time all of the sudden might be demanded by so many: our institutions, our communities, our families, and our workplace and this reality we are creating by default is not letting us to take a break.  The Ferris Wheel of Life started again and many of us all went, by default, into the go-motion again without giving ourselves a minute to stop. We are not allowing ourselves to “choose to” because the go-motion sometimes operates from a “have to” default perspective. In working environments, we are either receiving orders or we are imparting orders to others.

After many months of feeling we were rushing at home, and balancing work and family life, and many of you might be even needing to homeschool your children on top of your responsibilities, we are all aware that the energy created by our thoughts does not make us feel great. Instead of sincerely choosing to do things—we feel we “have to” do them because it is our duty.   

I would like to make a distinction between choosing to and have to. In our daily lives, we usually talk using phrases such as, “I have to do this” or “I should do that,” without understanding the type energy that those arrangements of words create in our environments. “Have to’s” and “should do’s” sort of sound like mandates, don’t they? I do know that most of the times when we talk about our “have to’s” or “should do’s” our original intention is not to create a mandate—however, we are doing that because those words resonate with things we are told to do by others or by ourselves. When we talk about “choosing to” we are creating another type of energy—we are taking ownership and we are also honoring our choice.

I want to create an ecosystem—a world—where not only myself, but also my leaders, choose to make conscious choices, in all areas of our lives. There is an amazing difference by simply changing the words and referring to action—by simply emphasizing our level of choice!

Having said this, what is your level of choice?