How to find the answers within yourself: an exercise (because I’m not feeling other obvious ideas like meditation right now)
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What advice I would give my 6 year old
Step 1: Stop listening to others (outside of emergencies or mealtimes)
Note: Obviously my 6 year old doesn’t have the same distractions as me but here’s how I’m trying to follow my own advice.
- I’ve been unsubscribing from a lot of email, mail and other forms of distracting input.
- I’ve made it harder for me to access the super distracting things like the news. Goodbye Google Feed.
- Mute WhatsApp groups that are distracting
- Social, just no. Luckily I’ve never been into social media very much and I have it all in a separate folder on my phone so it’s a bit annoying to get to. I kinda keep forgetting about it actually.
Step 2: Sit for a moment and think about how some of those info feeds were making you feel.
- It’s a bit freeing.
- People love “getting away” when they go on vacation. Do you really need to physically leave to get away from lots of the noise?
- I’m feeling less guilty for things I’m not doing.
Step 3: Step away and do something fun.
- There’s privilege in this statement. We can’t always do what we want because we have obligations. But try and just do a small thing that makes you happy. I just watched a video on learning to Skateboard.
- Feeling a bit reset. I may do more of this happy stuff depending on how I’m feeling.
Step 4: Pause while you’re content and think about the questions you have for yourself.
- Just trying to articulate the questions are helpful.
Step 5: Pick one of the questions and think through it. Possible ideas? Can you test your ideas?
- Talk through the ideas with people that care about you, if you can and need to.
- Maybe, find a complete stranger that is willing to help but doesn’t have any relationship to the outcome. An innocent advisor.
- Do the ol’ flip a coin trick to make a decision and see what your gut says. Apparently this is called Flipism.
- Double check that you’re making choices with intention and gratitude. (I’m trying to help guide my 6 year old, remember)
Step 6: Go back to step 2 and sit and reflect how things are going. Continue through the other steps as you need.
- Iterations work for me.
- This is usually the last step in processes I’ve observed.
I always thought hypocrites give great advice so I thought I’d try it on myself. Fingers crossed!
