Thousands, if not millions, of people across the globe must have looked at/squinted at/sworn at/snoozed/ignored their alarm clocks this morning when it cajoled them with “Wakey-wakey, get ready for work!” – that’s what my alarm says to me, anyway 😉
It is particularly difficult not to feel negative towards the alarm clock when you have been having nice long lay ins for a couple of weeks before enjoying the Christmas and New Year holidays. This certainly was the case for me this morning – after a quiet fortnight at home I was reluctant to roll out of my warm and cozy bed and resume the old routine of early mornings, joys of peak time commuting, working hard all day and counting down the days left until the weekend. It all sounds very pessimistic, the fine drizzle and grey skies outside are not exactly helping to alleviate this feeling and the sensation of almost magnetic force pulling you back towards the bed…
Well, such is life, one has to fight the Monday blues and get going. I find it helpful to think of the positives that the day may bring. For me, the first positive thing to think of is usually a prospect of enjoying a delicious fresh coffee lovingly made by my dearest. I have a nice bean-to-cup coffee machine that makes fresh coffee at the touch of a button (or can even be programmed for a set time!). I do not consider myself to be a coffee addict as I only drink 2 cups of it per day, and I do not usually drink it during the weekend.
For the last year or so I have been buying coffee beans from Pact Coffee – it is a very convenient way of having a regular supply of freshly roasted delicious coffee grown on the small coffee farms. I have linked my personal Pact coffee code above, so if you want to try Pact Coffee for just £1 for the first bag, use the above link or just enter “TATIKPRICE” in the code field when you sign up 🙂 I genuinely enjoy Pact Coffee and I am not employed or paid by them. If you would like me to give a full review of my coffee machine or coffee (and how Pact works), please let me know, and I will happily do that! I also have a super tea or coffee mug that is probably one of the best purchases I have made – I do not go to work without it – I would be more than happy to share the details with you.
Anyway, when I eventually get dressed and drag myself downstairs, I try to “be present” – hunched on a barstool at the breakfast bar in my kitchen I sip my black coffee, inhaling its aroma, listening to Nick Ferrari on LBC radio telling me about the latest news and transport updates, enjoying Simon’s and usually Nikki’s, company. How can purring and gentle head butting with a friendly happy kitty not give you a positive charge for the day ahead? I never have breakfast on weekdays (bad habit, I know, but I simply do not feel hungry enough to eat that early in the morning) so my morning routine is quite uncomplicated.
When I get on the bus and then the train, I briefly switch from “being present” mode to “what would I like to achieve today” mode – it helps me get through the unpleasant part of the journey by mentally going through the things I feel I should concentrate on during the day. I avoid making any firm plans for the day as I know that I can only set an intention but things will run their own course most of the time so there is no point stressing over them. This is probably the only time during the day when I do not want to “be present” (being squashed like a sardine amongst strangers is far from a pleasant experience and does not exactly float my boat), but I suppose if I was to think on the lines of “I am lucky I have a job to go to and I am enjoying what I do, I am fortunate to have great colleagues, and that I am alive and am able to stand on my own two feet, etc”, it does make it easier to cope with.
I have come across the concept of “mindfulness” on so many occasions lately, even saw a man reading a book on mindfulness on the train this morning which made me smile. Mindfulness is very much an “in thing” but I do believe it is very powerful. For the New Year, I received a few wishes from friends saying “enjoy today”. I remember my parents saying the same thing to me years ago but I never really thought about their advice in great detail. Maybe now as I am growing older this is starting to make a better sense to me. All my life I have been either thinking about the past, or making plans for the future, hence forgetting to enjoy the “now”, missing the life itself by chasing something that has not even happened yet or analysing something that can no longer be changed. I am still learning to focus more on the present, but I can feel that staying present is making me happier and less stressed.
I am sitting on the sofa now after a long day at work, and I am happy with what I have achieved today. I am enjoying the evening with my beloved husband sitting next to me, I am writing this blog post and simply enjoying doing it, it is very therapeutic 🙂
There are plenty of websites and blogs about mindfulness on the Internet, please just Google “mindfulness” or “being present” – and I hope you will find my post interesting or useful. I just wanted to share with you a picture I have borrowed from a Beauty Broadcast blog of Emily Eddington, the first Blogger/YouTuber I have come across many many years ago:
